into the land of the Portuguese, gorgeous people and sunny beaches...
Or so we thought. We arrived in Florianopolis after 3 buses. The last one that was over 3 hours delayed due to the massive amounts of flooding in the south of Brasil. We arrived on Ilha de Santa Catarina. Our hostel is called Tucano Hostel. I have to say this because they are probably the best hostel we have stayed in. Not only are the two owners incredibly nice but they were helpful and friendly. I love this hostel and Marilia and Caio. We stayed at Lagoa da Conceição. We found out that many of the people in the hostel could not leave the island because of the flooding and mudslides.
Essentially we were stranded on the island. No buses were arriving and none were leaving. Our bus was the last to arrive and on our drive in we saw :
- an overturned tanker
- many houses flooded to their rooftops
- flooded farms
- 1 mudslide
Luckily our island was spared from over flooding, though the lagoa in the center of the island was definitely flooded and the northern end of the island apparently had more mudslides.
Because no one was allowed to come or go, we settled in for several days of cloudiness with sunny breaks.
**Unfortunately my camera broke and we have no photos of this beautiful island but I am returning so I will get tons of photos**
Our first night, I decided to go with some hostel-mates to check out an authentic Samba club. It is located at a nearby sand dune beach. Because it is still low season, only the locals and people who live year round are on the island. It was a small joint and it was packed...on a Sunday! The live Samba band was incredible. And this nice older lady saw my incapability to dance Samba and gave me lessons. Shaking your hips the way they do is very hard. But it is a great dance and a lot of fun. And the best dancers have a nice booty to shake. Unlike other dances (ie Tango) Samba can be danced solo, though others do dance with partners. This was to be the beginning of many Samba parties in Brazil!
The next day because of the clouds, we decided to rent a car with 2 guys to tour the island and check out all the beaches.
The South is less developed and at the tip is a small fishing town and beach. The beaches on this island are all millions of kms long, perfect sand with gorgeous greenery or sand dunes behind you.
The North has a few small towns, with lots of Portuguese influence (as our Portuguese friend told us) and we saw a shrimp fishing town, an oyster town etc. These towns by the way are literally one street, barely a town. But in the very North it is super developped and the rich Brazilians have their massive beach houses here. Such vast differences all about 15 minutes drive from each other.
Our spot on the Lagoa is in the center of the island with a nice little "downtown" and close to the beaches so its not too developped and not too empty either.
We also went into Florianopolis to do some shopping for CHEAP Havianas (the flip flops that EVERYONE wears) They cost about $25-$35cdn or more in Canada. Here they cost $5-$10cdn. Bought myself a pair....when in Rome...
Speaking of doing the local thing, Caio, our hostel owner, introduced us to caiprinha's made with love by a Brazilian. After going all the way to the north of Brazil, I have to say that his were honestly the best. Katie got a lesson on how they are made and will probably take it home to Canada to introduce this fantastic drink.
The recipe:
- cachaça - Brazilian whiskey made of sugarcane
- limes (mashed to a pulp for the juice)
- sugar
- ice
On our last day, the sun came out and with some fellow hostellers, we took surf lessons. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!
Eventually the roads in and out of the island cleared up and we headed north to Ilha Grande. One of Brazil's larger islands...
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