巴西：通往里約熱內盧的一路碧途

I could relax. I’d found a restaurant without candles， without couples， and without piped 1）bossa nova. Paraty is quite possibly the most romantic town in the world. Full of cute pastel-coloured colonial buildings， it’s an ideal photogenic backdrop for honeymooners.

As a solo traveller I was half-minded to miss it out altogether， but as it lies bang in the middle of Brazil’s Costa Verde—the 350-mile “green coast” between Santos and Rio de Janeiro—it made for a convenient sleepover stop. And it is beautiful， and old and wellpreserved.

I’d started in 2）laid-back fashion in a male solo traveller’s comfort zone—football. I flew into S？o Paulo and transferred directly to Santos. With the World Cup coming up， I decided to pay homage to one of the country’s greatest football clubs before setting off on my road trip.

Santos is one of those lovely towns everyone ignores. It has the Museu do Futebol in an 3）annex of Santos’s stadium. My guide， Diego Leme， took me on a breezy tour of the changing rooms， wall displays and arena. After showing me photographs of the 4）striker 5）Neymar， he announced： “Neymar is the prince of the club.” Then he paused， 6）pirouetted， and pointed at a massive photograph of a familiar， smiling face. “But of course， this is the king.”

7）Pelé， who scored more than 1，000 goals for Santos and helped the club tally six Brazilian championships， is saint， king and god of the city. It was he， more than anyone else， who inspired the club’s 2012 centenary motto： “One hundred years of football art”.

The next morning， I walked along the beach. At either end were low hills 8）clad in the dense vegetation of the Mata Atlantica， a threatened ecosystem that once dominated the Brazilian coast.

The coastal road—officially named the Rodoviário Doutor Manoel Hyppolito Rêgo， or BR101—has several “trechos sinuosos”， or zigzagging roads， winding their way up the steep hills. The climbs open up vistas of the many beaches on S？o Paulo’s northern coast—33 of them in all， a local assured me. Some were long， surfer-friendly， classically Brazilian； others were coves at the foot of several cliffs.

The first beach I visited， Toque Toque Grande， south of Maresias， had a bar， a tiny church and not much else. My 9）bungalow for two nights， at Ilha de Toque Toque， a boutique hotel named after a tiny offshore island， overlooked the short strip of sand. I had a lunch of ceviche and chatted to the owner， Edson， a former corporate lawyer at the digital-media company AOL， who gave up his day job to work in a place where he used to take holidays.

After lunch， I walked down to the beach， descending 10）vertiginous， moss-covered steps. An 11）angler was hooking prawns and casting into the surf for 12）white croaker fish， and two young lads were riding into the waves on 13）boogie boards. The ocean slapped the sand with force and I sat， hesitating about taking a swim for fear of rips， until a little boy came down to the beach and dove headfirst into a curling wave. I got up and had a swim.

A funny sort of alienation awaited me at my next stop， on the island of Ilhabela. On my hotel’s semi-private beach， wealthy S？o Paulo weekenders slugged chilled Skol and Bohemia beers. Out on the water， 14）Brigitte Bardot lookalikes did 15）stand-up paddle surfing. All the men wore tangas—skin-tight trunks that went out of fashion in Britain in 1975. And yet， I was never ill at ease； for every perfect Brazilian， there are always three or four normal people. Or helpful oddballs： I saw one man who had three blonde fringes—one on his face and one on each nipple.

If the Costa Verde is celebrated for its marvellous beaches—and beach culture—I’d rate even more highly its wilderness. Nature here is 16）exuberant： palms burst from cliff walls and mist drifts over forested valleys， as pink and orange flowers erupt on the roadside. Even where there has been agriculture， the grass glows bright green. Everywhere the jungle is invading， spilling over， reclaiming territory.

At Ubatuba， a small coastal town that sits on the 17）Tropic of Capricorn， I took a left and made for the Fazenda Catu？aba. I’ve always thought of Brazil as flat. It’s not， and the road up through the Serra do Mar coastal mountains was ear-popping and occasionally heartstopping. On the other side of the mountain mist， I came out into lovely pastureland and the fazenda—or estate—up a dirt road just beyond its namesake village. It was good to be in cooler air， to see different bird life， trees， culture—the fazenda still grows organic coffee and distils cacha？a， the sugarcane-based firewater that gives caipirinhas their kick—and to dine on beef rather than fish.

Back on the coast， I drove past the sign marking the tropic and was soon at Paraty， where I shunned the smooching couples， had a late lunch of excellent pizza and stumbled around the streets.

The final drive， into Rio， was wild and wonderful. I was behind the wheel for five hours， in torrential rain， and once free of the BR101 I always felt I was going to get lost， or squashed by buses and trucks. But I eventually found the high-rise suburb of Barra da Tijuca， south of Rio， and entered via the coast road and， after tunnels and crazy roads and a raised section of highway， I turned and found myself driving along Leblon beach， then Ipanema and then the glorious curve of Copacabana’s Avenida Atlantica. The beach was empty， the roads bumper to bumper. I felt like a carioca， a Rio native.

If I’d started with football as art， I finished my trip with proper art—at the new Casa Daros and MAR art museums—and with one last football sight： Maracan？ stadium.

If Santos’s equivalent was clubby and local， this was 18）grandiose and international， like Rio itself. The football showcase and the city’s 19）renaissance attract millions， but don’t forget S？o Paulo—not the overpopulated 20）megalopolis， but the empty beaches and the beautiful， 21）renascent， deep green coast.

我能夠放松下來了。我找到了一個餐廳，沒有蠟燭，沒有情侶，也沒有吹奏的波薩諾瓦舞曲。帕拉蒂鎮很可能是世界上最浪漫的小鎮。四周滿是可愛的粉彩色殖民地時期建筑，對于蜜月中人來說，這里作為拍照背景真是再理想不過了。

作為一個獨行旅人，我都不怎么想去這地方的，不過既然它正好位于巴西的“綠色海岸”中間——桑托斯市和里約熱內盧之間長達350英里（約563公里）的地帶——因此是個相當方便的過夜落腳點。而且這里美麗、歷史悠久且保存完好。

我的悠閑之旅始于男性獨行旅人的安全地帶——足球。我先飛往圣保羅市，接著直接轉到桑托斯市。隨著世界杯的臨近，我決定在動身開始公路之旅之前，先向這個國家其中一個最偉大的足球俱樂部致敬。

桑托斯市是那些會被所有人忽視掉的宜人小城之一。在桑托斯體育場的附屬建筑里有一座足球博物館。我在向導迪亞哥·萊米的引領下輕松游覽了更衣室、展示墻和體育場。在向我展示了前鋒內馬爾的照片后，他宣稱：“內馬爾是這個俱樂部的王子。”接著，他頓了頓，用單腳尖旋轉了一圈，指著一張巨大照片上一個熟悉的笑臉說：“當然了，這位是國王。”

貝利，為桑托斯射進超過1000個球，并幫助俱樂部六奪巴西冠軍，是這個城市的圣人、王者和神祗。正是他，而非其他人，啟迪了這個俱樂部2012年的百年格言：“足球藝術的一百年。”

第二天清晨，我沿著海岸漫步。海岸兩側的低矮小山上覆蓋著稠密的大西洋雨林植被，巴西海岸以前全是這樣的生態系統，如今已岌岌可危。……