First stop on the Brazillian tour was Arraial do Cabo. A couple hours east of Rio de Janeiro, this place has awesome beaches and is one of the few well known scuba diving places around. For me, it was a chance to try out my Portuguese and get a feel for being a tourist in Brazil.

My first day I struck out to find a beach and (thanks to a friendly neighbour at the hostel) ended up at Praia do Forno. A quick and scenic trail away from the main dock in the downtown, this beach is one straight out of a tourism commercial. The sun was hot, and I was fresh from December in Canada, so I stayed half the day and then headed back.

Day two I had booked a dive. It’s pretty different here in Brazil - I think that most Brazillians do “tourist” dives where they have someone carry them around under water rather than certified dives, so it took a few tries to find a dive shop, but overall it worked out great. The dives were bright and there were tons of things to see. It was all super close to the city as well!

That evening I went for a little hike up to a look out with my new friend Alex from the hostel and then we had dinner and drinks and watched the sun go down at Praia Grande. The sweeping beach faces west and is a great place for sunsets. Plus it is still building up to high tourist season here so the beach bars are still pretty quiet - so it was easy to get a good seat.

The last day I went to Ponto do Atalaia. This beach was a little further away, but the trek was totally worth it. The beach had a big wooden staircase that took you up to an awesome view of the water and the hills all around. Another snapshot of a tourism booklet here! Unfortunately I only had a half day here as well because I had a flight this evening.

Overall it was a great few days and perfect way to kick off the month in Brazil. Next it’s off to meet up with Lucas in Minas Gerais.