Buzios is essentially a beach town, and as we soon found out, an expensive one at that.  Our plans are not to go to the beach (of course, when do we ever?) but to hike up into the hills above the beaches for viewpoints that look stunning in the photos.  We are of course, up and into the gym early, trying to avoid the other idiot passenger who is on the treadmill hacking his lungs out.  Oh, and then he moved to another treadmill closer and didn’t clean off the first one.  Yikes!

After that excitement, we have a quick breakfast and are out on the first tender.   Even though we had AllTrails all mapped out, sailing in I saw a trail leading up the side of the hill where we were going, and thought that might be the main trail access.  Nixed that idea fast, it was straight up the mountain on this little narrow sand path.  I think not. 

Instead, we headed out to the State park of Costa do Sol and hiked there, but while a good walk – straight up another hill with tons of those huge cacti – there isn’t much of interest besides a couple of lagoons past the trees and some great viewpoints. 

There is only 1 main trail and at the end we a barbed wire fence with a little path next to it.  The path leads in the direction of the AllTrails hike, so we decide to explore and walk down the fence line.  But it becomes fairly obvious that this is just a clearing for the fence and not a real path. After we walk a bit further, we decide to give it up and head downhill on the main path.

We found another trail that looked like it should meet the AllTrails trail, but it didn’t. After bushwhacking our way through (where is Pablo when we need him?), ducking under trees and skirting an algae filled lagoon, the trail abruptly ended.  Abort. Abort.

Course reversed, we head back down the main trail to town, where things are just opening up.  We went to look for coffee, enjoying the eclectic buildings and bar decor that seem to include a lot of VW vehicles.  After some wandering, we lucked into this little strictly local place that had excellent café con leite and pao de queijo!  We’re in heaven!  Figured out how to order – not an easy feat with no English spoken – at all!  But we managed, paid for our $2 order (seriously) and settled down with our little rolls and coffee to reconnoiter. 

Coffee done, we figure we might as well try to tackle the AllTrails hike, what have got to lose but time?  So we walked out to the end of town and onto the beach to find the trailhead.  Talk about feeling out of place, we are the only people without bathing suits on!  Oh well – tourists.  I’m sure nobody bats an eye since this is definitely a tourist town.

The trailhead is clearly marked and we begin our climb up the hill – not on the trail I spied from the ship fortunately.  It is a great hike, well signposted, with great views across the water, the first of which we find at the Mirante dos Amores.  Here there is a narrow and steep trail that overlooks the Praia dos Amores.  We can see all the way across the beautiful blue water with the Quest out in the bay.  And the cactus!  They are everywhere and huge – and you have to watch out for them on the trails or they will tear you to shreds.  Hey, it’s an adventure!

We continue back out on the main trail, but it isn’t maintained at all. We know it is the correct trail because of the signposts, but phew.  Wilderness!  We bushwhacked through more high weeds, climbed over fallen trees, ducked under overgrown bushes and tree branches.  It was a unnerving, but we made it through to the Praia Virgens viewpoint and beach trail that was signposted as dangerous – um yeah, no way we’re going down there.  We realized that this was the trail that I had seen from the ship. Danger is right!!! 

Continuing on, the trail opens up with more excellent views across the bay, with the cactus and steep drop down to the beaches lined with more boulders than sand.

We kept hiking up to the what we were hoping was the top of the hill, heading toward our ultimate destination the Mirante da Tartaruga.  We found a turn off that we thought might lead to the viewpoint, but it was super steep and completely hard rock and sand, making footholds almost impossible.  Going up might have been ok, but coming down would have been totally treacherous.  Bummer on that lookout.  But safety first.  We kept heading on toward the other side of the peninsula, only to find tons more tall weeds and a completely overgrown path that looked pretty narrow and treacherous as it started heading down toward the beach. 

It was at this point we decided to turn back – it wasn’t worth trying to go further and risk life and limb.  The port call was short anyway, and we figured we’d go back to town, do our shopping and then grab lunch.

The walk back was still beautiful and fun and filled with more bushwhacking adventure.

Once in town, we circled around all the different restaurants – mostly pizza, for heaven’s sake – and quickly realized it wasn’t worth it to eat outside.  Everything was really expensive and nothing was traditional Brazilian.  Pizza, as I mentioned, burgers, sushi, Italian.  Nope.  We are doing our shopping and heading back.

Which is what we did.  Supplies for the crossing and gifts handled, we hit the tender and realized that the MSC ship we had seen sailing past while we were hiking was actually mooring here and tendering passengers in. Oh yes, best decision to boogey out of here now.  4,000 more people in this place? Uh, no.

Plus, let’s face it, it is hot and humid out here and we are melting.  The A/C of the ship is more than welcome!  Purchases stowed, we head upstairs to Windows to hang out until lunch, then head to the enrichment lecture with Dr. Kenna Stephenson who talked about Brain behavior and mood and the links to longevity.  Interesting and essentially Blue Zone based with some other lifestyle things thrown in.

Then the gym and then dinner with Marcelo, the Hotel Director and an Australian couple on their 5^th Azamara cruise, a couple who had just gotten married and appeared to be on their first Azamara cruise. They’d been together for 7 years and officially tied the knot before the cruise.  All were back to back, all with different backgrounds.  Nice evening, but we’re still trying to figure out how they choose people to dine with staff!  Dinner took so long we actually missed the show.  So it was back to the balcony to sit and relax then to bed.  Tomorrow sea day #1.