São Luis de Paraitinga

This past weekend I went to São Luis de Paraitinga, a small colonial town 170km northeast of São Paulo. It took a mere six and a half hours to get to door to door! Ah the fun of public transportation....

São Luis was founded in 1769 during the bandeirantes' push into the interior in their search for natives and precious stones and metals. The Paraiba valley was one of the captaincy of São Paulo’s more populated areas and São Luis de Paraitinga was established as a midway point between the towns of Taubaté, in the interior, and Ubatuba, a port town on the São Paulo coast. São Luis' real boom came during the coffee era when it was on the coffee’s transportation route to the sea. The town’s architecture is the typical Brazilian colonial style, with its one and two story houses painted in a wide variety of bright colours. The town itself is quite small and easy to visit in a couple of hours. Surrounding the town are many waterfalls and hikes which make for good day trips. There are also several whitewater rafting companies which offer day expeditions. I stayed in a very cute pousada (bed and breakfast) which I can recommend for anyone heading in this direction. I learned about São Luis from a Brazilian guidebook called Fuja (Escape), a book which offers over two thousand weekend trips up to 480km from São Paulo. The companion book is called Fique (Stay) and offers thousands of things to do in the city. Together these two books provide the complete package of places to go and things to do in and around the city. Which reminds me ....