Carnaval break in Santos, Sao Vicente, Casqueiro and Cubatao

Santos and Sao Vicente are towns next to each other on the coast - they each have a section of the same stretch of beach. Sao Vicente (where I spent New Year with my mum) is the oldest town in Brazil, founded by the Portuguese in 1532. A bit further inland you get to Casquerio, a small town where Adriano's friend Douglas lives, and further still you reach Cubatao, where Adriano, his sister and mother live. Cubatao is a very industrial town with lots of factories, gas bottling plants etc and it used to be known for being polluted but it's now much cleaner (luckily!). 

Santos and Sao Vicente - the red monument jutting out into the sea is the dividing line

My Dad arrived in Sao Paulo early in the morning on Sunday 19 February and I met him at the airport - I didn't get much sleep as I arrived back from Carnaval celebrations in SP at 5am and had to leave Dona Lindalva's house at 7am! We got the bus straight from the airport to Santos to stay with Adriano's friend Douglas for a couple of days. Douglas picked us up from the rodoviaria (bus station) and we went to his house in Casqueiro for lunch (cannelloni made with pancake rather than pasta). We spent the afternoon with Douglas and his wife Tati in Sao Vicente where there were people were paragliding - Douglas knew quite a few of the people working there as he used to have his own paraglide.

We had pizza with egg and cheese on top (common in Brazil) for dinner at Douglas's house when Adriano came over after he finished work. Douglas had the day off work the next day for Carnaval (though Adriano and Tati had to work) so we spent the day with him on the beach at Santos. It took us about half an hour to park - Santos is a popular place during holiday times.  We went up to the independence monument (Brazil was declared independent from Portugal in 1822) and on the bonde (tram) around the historical parts of Santos. 

We also tried aqua do coco (coconut milk drunk straight from the coconut) and caldo da cana (sugarcane juice). Adriano came over in the evening and we watched the Carnaval celebrations on TV and chatted. Adriano had the day off the next day and we went to visit his mum, sister and nephew in Cubatao for an hour or so before we drove to the airport in Adriano's new car.