Porto Belo was a quaint fishing village now grown into a town of about 17,000. We moored in the bay and took the tenders to port. Along the beach you see ocean front houses with some upscale looking motor boats, sail boats, as well as old wooden fishing vessels bobbing around in front of the houses. The houses range from old and ramshackle to newish and large. Our guide is from here and he said he doesn't even lock the door of his house, a refreshing change from the don't wear any jewelry and travel in packs attitude of some of the other places we have visited.
Porto Belo is uncrowded and you won't believe the picture I took, lovely beach with the ubiquitous red coca cola plastic chairs, tables, and umbrellas without a soul on it!! The road here is made of bricks like you would put on a driveway which makes for a rough ride on the bus. It seems that everyone here owns a boat and there are lots of stores selling boat stuff, beachy stuff and fishing stuff. The locals were swarming around our ship while we were moored out in the bay...jet skis, boats, people partying and hooting and hollering, paddle boarding, even a gyro copter took a close buzz around the ship so much fun!
There are no hotels, only hostels and house renting the hotels are further up the coast at Cambouriu. Wages here average about $350 US per month. Once you get outside of Porto Belo the roads are paved in blacktop and smoother. We drove about 40 minutes to the city of Camboriu which is normally about 100,000 people but in the winter when everyone is on holidays, the city swells to about 1000,000. As a result there are high rise holiday apartments sitting empty most of the year, our guide called it the Ghost City. The tour we were on was of the beaches and cable car.
Unique in the world in that it was built to connect the beaches. The landscape has turned to humid rainforest seemingly overnight. The cable car went from the city up over a hump of mountain covered in rainforest and connected with another station over to the last beach. At the middle station you can get off and go for a guided walk in the rainforest but we (wisely) opted to stay on the cable car and go straight on to the end because it was way too hot for a walk in the rainforest and we only had about hour at the beach anyways, way too rushed of a tour but in the end I liked it flying close over the rainforest was like riding in a helicopter or if you have ever been to Disneyland, it is like the Soarin, California ride, fun!!
I would say that this tour is all about the cable car ride with perhaps time for a cerveza on the beach at the end. The cable car is quite comfortable, modern, enclosed, seating only 4-6 people, no air conditioning but somehow there was a slight breeze which made it not too hot. The Cable Car stations are modern, clean, with shopping, bathrooms, restaurants. The cable car kept stopping mid air which caused consternation among some of us and we found out later that as soon as the wind hits a certain speed, the cars automatically come to a stop. I did see a wind measuring thingy attached to one of the towers and now I know what it was for.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention the cheesy pirates!! Here in Porto Belo and Camboriu, there are corny pirate boats constructed of what looks like sheets of plywood, painted black, complete with raggy sails and costumed, tanned Pirates to go on tour in the bay. Would have been fun to go on a cheesy pirate ship, but alas maitais, not enough time as usual. I liked Porto Belo and Camboriu! No warnings of crime, relaxed atmosphere, beachy laid-back feeling, scenic with hills, rainforest,nice!
Linda B.
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By Travelwizard.com
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