Paul,

It stands for resort, although its literal translation is resting place. It is like a very small, familiar, hotel or motel.

Buzios was a tiny unknown fishermen vilage north of Cabo Frio (and part of Cabo Frio) until Brigitte Bardot stayed there when she visited Brazil. The place rapidly and disorderly grew into a vocation, surfing and sailing resort, where the only place to stay was in the houses of people who lived there and rented rooms. Retiring to open a pousada in Buzios became popular in Rio and Buenos Aires and instead of calling their new and usually small establishments hotels, they kept the name "pousada".

In the begining the "pousadas" had few or no infrastructure, but this evolved rapidly: most of them are complete hotels from one to four or five stars. They keep the name for tradition and to imply that prices are lower than in a hotel, which used to be correct, but isn't necessarily the case anymore. Buzios is probably the most expensive resort in Brazil.

Next question? Don't you want to know anything about the wind? Buizos being a cape projecting into the South Atlantic, the wind and waves are like offshore conditions, local knowledge doesnn't help much. As would be expected, close to land usually means less wind, less waves and possibility of shifts, away from land usually means more wind, more wave and less shifts. www.predictwind.com forecasts worked wonderfully last year (July).