16 days in and we’re still in this captivating region known as Costa Verde. Little did we imagine —when we decided to mark Brazil as the starting point of our adventure— that it would constantly leave our jaws on the floor.

Just a few miles west of Rio this magnificent stretch of coastline expands all the way down to the north of São Paulo State. Hundreds of beaches, idyllic islands and countless waterfalls surrounded by lush, green, beautiful, jungled landscape are kept practically virgin to the date.

We spent four days in Ilha Grande, a little island off the coast of Rio, a paradise for hikers and also a great place to rest and unplug your brain from the real world while enjoying a cold beer and some fresh ‘peixe’.

As we’re slowly but steadily moving south along the coast, Paraty was next. Cobblestoned streets, arts and crafts, live music and paradisal beaches make this little town feel like one traveled back to the mid-1800s when boats were being loaded with gold and rushed to the old world. Today, they’re still busy but now sailing to the nearby islands, for tourists to enjoy snorkeling, diving or sea turtle watching.

The best thing of traveling during low season (it is fall now in the Southern Hemisphere) is that we have zero problems finding accommodation at the hostels we want to stay in. We’re basically able to book private rooms a few steps from the ocean for the price of a dorm bed in high season. Also, a thing that I personally LOVE —probably the best thing about almost all hostels and ‘pousadas’ in Brazil— is that a very solid self-service breakfast is included! I’m the kind of person that wakes up in the morning starving as if someone kept me locked down for days without feeding me so this definitely helps keeping our budget on track lol.

After Paraty, we took another bus to Trindade, a little fisherman town that borders with the state of São Paulo and it is yet again surrounded by dozens of beautiful beaches and waterfalls. It was known as a pirates hideaway during the 18th century, due to the many ships loaded with gold leaving the area.

We saw a few locals surfing at what seemed to be a fairly consistent beach break, pretty exposed to the ocean. We‘ve been recently told the swell is meant to pick up through the week. Timing seems to be very much aligned with our surf aspirations so the next destination is Itamambuca, which we’ve heard it is the most consistent spot in the country, a beach break that “doesn’t have a bad day”. We hope to find good rental options (missing my board badly) and good enough conditions so we can maybe call it home for a week-ish so our main focuses can strictly be yoga and surf.