Buzios

The next day is Saturday: oh no it isn’t. I’ve lost track of the days what with all these sun-bathing ‘groundhog’ days and it’s actually Friday. This means that we’re double booked in Rio and Buzios. We manage to get a refund for a night in the former and take a taxi with our new found chauffeur buddy Elias to the latter. Buzios is charming little town 200 kms NE of Rio, made famous by Brigitte Bardot in the 60’s when she fled here from the Brazilian paparazzi. The 3hr drive is fairly uninteresting apart from the views back to Rio from the giant bridge across the Baia de Guanabara.

The Hibiscus beach hotel is aptly named, with hundreds of the eponymous plants attracting the occasional hummingbird. Our room is up a bloody great hill and I foolishly offer to help with the luggage. God I’m unfit. The views make up for it across a pretty valley to a sliver of ocean in the distance. All the roofs are tiled in the Portuguese style but with a hint of Chinese pergoda adding to the quaintness. We walk along the trademark cobbled streets to Ossos for dinner. It takes 15 minutes but 5 of those are just to get back past reception. Luckily we manage to persuade a French restaurant to open an hour early as shortly afterwards the floodgates open. We are pleasantly trapped with some good minimalist cuisine (makes a change from over-ordering with the huge Brazilian portions) and a charming French manageress who tells us all about North Brazil as we are the only customers to brave the weather that evening.

By the next morning poor Karen has caught my dreaded lurgy and stays in bed whilst I take the kids out to explore. I decide to take our lives into my hands by hiring a sports buggy for £15 a day. This is great fun to drive and the kids love it, but it is a tad scary with the bumpy cobbles and practically perpendicular roads in places. After an invigorating spin round the peninsular we pick up Karen and zoom into town. The whole place seems very safe, almost sanitised, with some good little restaurants and quaint little shops worthy of a good browse. We bump back via two of the 14 beaches with great views of the sea, islands and fishing boats.

The weather turns on Monday and Tuesday and the battery on our buggy dies. Shortly afterwards the ignition key breaks too so I upgrade to a ‘superbuggy’ with plusher seats, flashier lights and extra va va voom. We enjoy a great lunch at the popular ‘el barco’. In fact it’s so good that we’re still there at 5pm and inadvertently save on a day’s buggy hire as the rental shop is closed by the time we stagger back. We check out Orla street where Bardot’s original house still stands along with a statue of her. As Karen pointed out, they’d need a lot more metal to make a statue of her nowadays.

The weather’s still not improving and we spend one day bombing around the peninsular without really knowing where we’re going and another at the rather chilly pool next to our new upgraded family room. Things deteriorate with the weather as Karen is still a bit groggy, Harley chunders at breakfast narrowly missing our fellow diners who flee ‘en masse’ and room service is shit. The ‘chef’/receptionist is too busy chatting up her boyfriend and we end up cold chips and ‘croque monsieur’ 2 hours later.

Finally a day of sunshine and we lounge on Brava beach. We rent beach mattresses,
but the tide comes in at an alarming rate and we have to retire to the charming greensward overlooking the rocky bay we’ve just abandoned. Unfortunately the bay is North facing so the sun sets early. That evening I tuck the family into bed (Karen included) and check out the local nightlife. Sadly there isn’t any at this time of year but I do enjoy a brace of rather good lasagna pancakes and foaming ale. I’m back by ten o’clock, so who says I’m a dirty stop out?

Flights in Brazil are expensive but we manage to sort out a good deal to Salvador. We can now spend the last day relaxing on the best beach of all Jaoa Fernandez. Not only is it easy walking distance as we’ve taken the car back, it also has beautiful white sand and a protected bay for safe kiddie swimming. I enjoy a long swim followed by caipiroscas, fresh snapper and a massage while the kids splash around in the sand and the sea at a healthy distance. I’m beginning to feel that life isn’t that tough after all.