Hotel Aretê in Armação dos Búzios is definitely a step above the Atlantis Copacabana and Cabo Branco Atlântico Hotels. The breakfasts are the usual mix of breads, savoury bites, sweet biscuits and cakes, cereals and fruits, but here it seems a step up. I was skeptical of the artisanal yoghurt, especially as they still leave the “garnish” on top but it was great. A very weird texture, more like a very soft cheese with oats and seeds in it but it the flavour was so good. Coffee is nice and strong as well, and great breads. Still no more cream cheese, and I did shock Louie when he thought I had oysters for breakfast, but they serve balls of butter in oyster shells, like pearls I guess (see the photo of my plate with bread on).

This is the panorama from the back of the hotel facing the marina, with some weather that isn’t exactly sunny but definitely not cold.

We are about 15 minutes out of the centre of Bûzios so it’s Ubers each way. To show what some of the roads are like, this is what the bit out the front of the hotel is like. I guess it’s very authentic rustic, and definitely slows the few passing cars down but it’s a bastard to walk on. Most of the roads in the high tourist areas are like this, and the orthopaedic surgeons in the area must do a roaring trade in ankle and fracture injuries.

I also had a big taste of my childhood with the plants outside, Orchids on the trees and across the road grass and a tree exactly like we had in our backyard. The orchids at home were filling glasshouses and various indoor areas, but we definitely had Oncidiums like these at times (yes I did a Google image search).

First up we visited a bank so Louie could sort out some old accounts which was a different experience. There were two waiting areas, packed with people and everybody got a number for whatever counter they were there to see. Our area was right next to the front revolving door, with an armed guard on the inside. There is a plastic tray on each of the doors in the revolving door to put anything metal, phones etc in, then you get to shuffle around to the inside, which I managed to completely misunderstand and do wrong. Thankfully I look like a complete tourist so my utter inability to know what to do seems to be easily forgiven, and not a shooting offence.

Afterwards we wandered some of the streets, trying not to break our ankles, checking out the shops and looking for somewhere for lunch. The shops here seem to think the footpaths are an opportunity to increase the places they can put tables, and sometimes leave room for passer-bys to walk. Some of them use these narrow gaps to funnel potential punters towards their staff member holding a menu and enticing you with their variations of rice, chips and farofa. I think Louie has had more than enough of this, since his advice to me when we got here was to say “não, obrigado” but I’ve noticed he’s just ignoring them now.

We came across a place that had to be visited, if only for the photo opportunity. From the New York disappointment that wasThe Mighty Quinn’s BBQ, we have Restaurante Do David, or Mestre David Restaurante or Bistrô David depending on where you looked. Either way it seemed different enough so we decided to stay for lunch.

I had Frango Milanese (chicken) that had my new favourite coating, kind of like a crispy shell. Of course it had the rice and fries, but we cracked the vege code by ordering a side salad. Louie went for fish and they did not disappoint apparently. As the height of Brazilian comedy, they gave him the Argentinian Flag in his drink while I got the Brazilian one. I consoled him by reminding him that we (UK at least) won in 1982. The flag came in use to recreate the Sugar Loaf Mountain out of the uneaten rice.

Now, to me this is a very strange thing. In Brazil, they have limão which are what we call limes. They don’t have lemons, and some (Louie) insist that they are the same thing, or that they just don’t have them here. It’s at this point I asked what it was that we are drinking, which is lemonade. It’s not limes, it’s made from lemons. And it’s not called limãonade. This line of questioning didn’t go anywhere that was healthy for my wellbeing so it was dropped for the time being. But the lemonade was absolutely fantastic. They did call it Swiss Lemonade for some strange reason but it is American style.

The day remained pretty gray, but absolutely not cold so we went for a walk along the beach. I wanted to see if it was as warm as up North so I kicked off my jandals and waded in. I hope the family with young kids nearby didn’t understand English, because it was a pretty clear “Shit” I let out when I felt how cold it was.

We had a good wander along the waterfront for an hour or so, grabbing a coffee, being inappropriate with a Brigitte Bardot statue and enjoying the rain.

We finally ended our walk about the same time things started getting weird with the neighbourhood.

After a pretty long walk back to where there was a chance of getting an Uber, we gave the hotel spa a go and went for a swim. The pool isn’t heated but I’d guess it was somewhere between 22 & 24c so definitely swimmable. A pretty great way to end a day filled with lot of walking. Most of it in sandy jandals or bare feet.

We couldn’t be bothered going back out anywhere so we had another go at the hotel restaurant, me with a pizza and Louie with a sanduíche de peixe. We definitely ate inside tonight, I’ve still got the mosquito bites from our first night.

We don’t really have anything much planned for tomorrow, just more relaxing but Thursday and Friday look like a buggy tour and maybe a 4 hour cruise around the islands here.