Buzios had us at hello. As our three hour long bus ride strolled into this quaint fishing village with more charm than a teenage girl’s bracelet, we let out an exhale. Granted the bus driver told us to get off about a mile too early, but we quickly found our way to our periwinkle blue Pousada (think B&B) by the beach. As we walked down cobble stone paths lined with beachy restaurants, boutiques and passersby, we quickly dropped off our stuff and bee-lined it to the closest eatery with a view. We settled upon the first beach front restaurant and were graced with whole grilled snapper freshly caught that day accompanied by the perfect side dishes of fresh vegetables and rice. We sat and watched the suns radiance etch further into the sea, over the many schooners, cascading a classic mix of sunset colors while boats began to dock and the fisherman and tourist boats called it a day. It almost felt like we were in another country. Since that first meal and throughout our stint in Buzios, every time we passed by that waiter from our first restaurant we were greeted with a loud, but affectionate “Hey California!!” along with the brightest smile lighting up his face. In fact what was originally supposed to be a three-day stay turned into five, which would have been more if we didn’t have to fly out to our next destination.
Our Pousada was owned by a husband and wife who migrated from France. He cooks, she runs the shop. A nice combo and an even better life they live for six months until they hop on their boat and sail the seas for the other six. Not a bad gig, eh?
During our time there we got to enjoy some authentic Samba song and dance. We even have a few pictures to show our attempt to keep up with the experts who had bounds of energy. We had some of the best seafood of our lives. Farm to table in this instance was high tide (or low depending upon the time of day) to table. Buzios is also home to 23 beaches and as much as we would have loved to get sandy with all of them, we managed to hit up three and they were all well worth it. We even took a water taxi to one, which is a rather unique way to get to where you’re going. And when we needed some down time, we had a hammock on the balcony of our room facing the water to simply drift off.
This 'lil fishing village was overflowing with soul, seafood and teal colored waters. Days spent on boats filling our sun baked bellies with acai bowls and afternoons sipping green coconuts on the soft sand beaches are our favorite memories of Buzios. This one will need another visit.