Florianopolis

Roxana  finally enjoying the beach 

Florianopolis is the first seaside resort we came to in Brazil. Roxana is happy! It is on an island called Santa Catalina less than 500m away from the continent and linked to it by two bridges. The island, roughly the size of Mauritius has 43 beaches, most of them surf spots.

We were to spend 4 nights on the island and went to our first hostel (Tucano House) for the first 2 nights. It was really nice, with extremely friendly and helpful staff, great common areas and a small swimming pool. In Brazil so far many hostels also propose dinners at night for a small sum and we signed up for both nights there. Good Irish stew the first day and excellent BBQ (called Churrasco here) the second.

The breakfasts as well in Brazil are a marked improvement on Argentinian hostels. Here there are fresh fruits, fresh fruit juice, ham and cheese and all kinds of breads. In Argentina most hostels serve a “continental” breakfast of bread, butter, jam and seldom pastry.

That is a huge meal even to share

We spent a day on a beach called Açores. We had to take 3 buses to get there but it was worth it. It was a nice beach with much less people than on the beach we went to the first day. We rented a couple of chairs and a beach umbrella and settled down nicely. We dipped in the cool water whenever we felt too hot and had a wonderful lunch of shrimp in cream. It was accompanied by rice, salad and chips. It was supposed to be for 2 but could easily have served 4.

The hostels here in Florianopolis also organise loads of activities during the day such as outings to the beach or treks and in the evening, going out to bars and clubs. On one such organised outing we went to Ilha Campeche, supposed to be an amazing island (a bit like Ile aux Cerfs in Mauritius). We took a 1hr boat to the island and were happy to get there because a little boy had been sick all the way in.

Spending a quiet time on the beach

So far I had been unimpressed by the beaches and the sea. Rather coarse sand, rough seas open to the ocean, and dull milky colours. But I had seen only a dozen beaches thus far in a huge country blessed with 7500km of coastline. So I’m sure many of them must be breathtaking.

The best beach so far - (blue filter on)

And this island was nice, the best beach we had seen in Brazil. But it was only the one. A 500m stretch of fine sand which unfortunately was being blown in our faces by the strong wind. There is a time limit to stay on the island as well as a limit on the number of visitors per day. And there were in my opinion too many people on that beach. So  much for the peaceful deserted island beaches you see in movies. We nevertheless had a good time and took the boat back home mid-afternoon.

On the way back the sea was rougher and many more people were sick. About a quarter of the passengers threw up and the boat staff were constantly washing the deck. They did an okay job although I could still see on the floor pieces of apples, bananas, rice and other stuff those poor sea sick people had had for lunch! 

Reminds me of Mauritius

That evening we unfortunately had to change hostels because the Tucano House did not have availability. We went to another part of the island for the last two nights. This hostel (Share House) was really disappointing especially being equivalent in price. The staff did not have a clue and the place was dirty. As there were water shortages all the time, the toilets stunk and the bathroom floors were disgusting.

We were supposed to share a bathroom with about 10 other people but it turned out that we were the only bathroom linked to their water reserve tank, so we ended up sharing the bathroom with all 50 guests! The common area there was relatively ugly and again dirty. And the whole hostel was set on 6 or 7 levels which always made it look cloistered and small as opposed to if the total surface was on one level.

To add to the discomfort, we were not in tune with the crowd there either … they were mainly surfers, usually from the USA or Australia and they were, hmmm, how should I say that … way younger than us. They were really nice kids but all they were interested in was surfing during the day and getting drunk at night. And I must have heard the word “awesome” a hundred million times! We did feel like out of touch oldies there.

Only helping to get things done. 

Anyway we made the most of it and still signed up for the churrasco on Sunday evening. There was pork (expertly marinated and stuffed), chicken, sausages and beef. Now beef is very good in Brazil too. There was tender Picaña (Sirloin Cap) and Tim, from Australia and the owner’s son in law, was the main man. He was grilling away and I loved it. The BBQ was delicious and we had plenty to eat, again.

After those 4 days in Florianopolis we headed out to Paraty and where we hoped to enjoy less crowded beaches.

For more pictures of Florianopolis

Again I leave you with a funny message this time in the street : A lady who has been robbed sending a message to the robber : "Mr Robber, on the 4/1/12 you robbed 4 suitcases from a car. We can negociate! I am not going to call the Police because they are not going to do anything anyway. Sabrina (tel no ...)"

Lusophones will appreciate the message!