South America: South America

Buenos dias
That's Spanish, but the Brazilians use it even though they speak Portuguese, what a language! Part French, part Spanish and part something else all on its own! T's are pronouced as CH, ZZZ is a prominent sound in the language. Written, it looks like French, but spoken, its anybody's guess.
We arrived in Sao Paulo 3 hours late, of course we have to leave in the middle of a snowstorm. We we delayed waiting for other flights to arrive and then when we de-iced and taxied to Montreal (or so it seemed), they revved up the engines but did not take off. Guess what, back to the terminal for replacement of an "air conditioning unit". Thank goodness we were in executive class, as they would not let us move around and the flight took an extra 3 hours.
Sao Paulo is a huge city, over 20 million (they figure its more as people are continually moving there due to the economy). We spent one night there in a safe district, although its not advisable to walk around at night, but is safe during the day.
We then traveled to Parity, a lovely colonial seaside town. It prospered during the gold rush in Brazil in the 1600's. After the gold rush it was left, pretty much untouched. As a result, it is a beautifully preserved historic town with lots of colonial churches, streets and buildings. The streets are cobble stoned, a bugger to walk on, especially after a few drinks. It is well kept and much the same as it was hundreds of years ago. It is also a port town, the original one the Portuguese used to ship gold to Europe. It is in a very protected bay full of gorgeous beaches, coves and islands. We spent the day motoring around the waters, swimming and snorkeling. We stopped in little cove and saw golden lion tamarins and black ones (not sure what the are called) and a couple of lizards. We fed them bread and fruit. It was cool floating in the water and watching them on shore (Dan dutifully stayed in the boat to take pictures for all of you!)
We are staying in a small hotel in the old town that dates back to the 1600's. They put rubber boots in the closet as the streets flood during high tide. Seems the Portuguese did not account for high tides when they built the town!
It is hot 30+ and sunny. Tomorrow we are off to Rio! Should be an interesting drive, all the Brazilians drive like they are racing drivers. Hang on!

This is the restaurant we ate in when traveling from Sao Paulo to Parity, yes everything was covered in plastic. Food was good and it was the cleanest place I have ever been in.