A post showing the historic gold trail.


Gabriel explained to us that once gold was discovered in the mountains of Minas Gerais in the 17th century, Paraty became an export port for gold to Rio de Janeiro and then on to Portugal.

To help transport the gold, the "Caminho do Ouro" or "Gold Trail", a 1200 kilometer road, was constructed. Due to frequent attacks by pirates on the gold laden ships bound for Rio de Janeiro from Paraty, a safer overland route was constructed from Minas Gerais to Rio de Janeiro and the Gold Trail subsequently fell into disuse. The gold began to run out in the late 18th century and lead to the eventual decline of Paraty.

Our next stop was Cachaça Pedra Branca, a boutique Cachaça distillery in the hills above Paraty.


Gabriel gave us an indepth lesson on how the Cachaça is distilled from fermented sugarcane juice.


Cachaça, like rum, has two main varieties: unaged (Portuguese: branca, "white" or prata, "silver") and aged (amarela, "yellow" or ouro, "gold") in oak barrels.


We then headed inside to sample some of the different types of Cachaça.


They also had a good range of liquers made from Cachaça, ranging from chocolate and coffee to banana and caramel.


As we only had carry-on luggage, we just opted for a couple of small liqueur bottles of banana and chocolate.


Biking past a Harley Davidson motorcyle club out for a ride as we make our way back down the hill.


A truck selling oranges beside the road.


Back to Paraty.


Rostos.