Last few days- Buzios, Saquarema, Recreio

We stayed in Buzios.  During the day we hired a sea kayak and paddled around with sea turtles.  I was less convinced of the idea of paddling one of these things at sea so we did not stray too far.  The turtles were quite cool, although only saw them from the boat.  Later on had a quick surf but the waves were kind of small and weak, with a few short rights and a left

Headed out into the town and I bought some boardshorts- was short of non-salty ones.  We finished off with drinks by the port near the hotel.  Maria said ‘really romantic’. J

The next morning I awoke and wandered down to the nearest beach.  Sadly the waves were smaller than expected- again got a few short ones but nothing too special.  I also couldn’t remember where I put my Brasileiro Haviannas which I bought last time so had to walk back in bare feet which was not great.  We headed back to the same beach surfed the previous day, but by now the wind was on it and it was still small.

So headed towards Saquarema- the drive was not too bad as well- along the highway this time.  At Saqua we grabbed a cheap lunch at a local place.  The woman at the bar was quite interested in us and the colour of my eyes- not many people visit Saqua.  She also told me I should not get a Neymar haircut. 

We found a nice Posada nearby after cruising the town a bit.  I was able to catch 15 mins of the first half of Atletico Chelsea on the TV. It seemed a tight match as expected so headed to surf.  The conditions were not too bad considering the wind was on it.  However I ended up getting quite smashed and catching no waves which was a bit s***. L

On the way back we passed a bar which had been playing the game- I chatted a bit to this bloke who said he (lets call him Junior) was backing Chelsea- with the standard ‘Oscar, Luiz, Ramires, Willian’ talk.  We grabbed a snack dinner and played some pool.

The next morning’s breakfast at the Posada was great.  Headed down to the beach around 9.  Conditions were really good and clean- although there were a few out already.  Again didn’t have the best surf but got a few- the best one ended with a local dropping in on me.  Also got a few wipeouts.  There was a really nice right over towards the Church but was a bit packed with Brazilian rippers so gave it a miss.  Nice wave though. 

Whilst we were about to go I saw this 6 yr oldish kid come out the water- he had a bodyboard, but sadly only one arm.  We had a great deal of respect for this guy who was in pretty solid waves at a young age.  Really inspiring to see.

We left Saqua to head to Recreio which is where I spent a brief period after my last Saqua trip.  The journey was alright expect for some of the Brazilian driving which is frankly dreadful.  We stopped for a quick lunch in a shopping centre that turned out to be a lot more of a journey from the motorway than signposted.  Finally got into Rio- I glad I don’t have to cross that bridge again- long and scary.  Actually the journey here was quite easy in the end.

Sadly I didn’t have a chance to surf.  Staying in a different place- it’s not so great, but we are only here one night.  For dinner we headed to this all you can eat buffet which was actually good- it included nice sushi too.  The walk back was okay although Maria found it a bit dodgy and we were careful after this guy seemed to be following us briefly.   Unfortunately it confirmed Maria’s fears about this area being a bit dodge.  Tomorrow we are going to explore the nearby National park and coast- making use of our last hire car day.