Florianopolis

We left Rio August 3 and it's now October 29! It's only been three months but somehow it feels like a lot longer, and it feels like high time that I write about how we got back home. The trip back begins and ends with our snowboards. We brought them with us to Chile, and used them to snowboard in Bariloche, Argentina. Our good friend Marcelo and his family were kind enough to take care of our snowboards and winter gear over the year we were in South America. We left them with him in Mendoza and therefore had to get back there to pick them up. Our snowboards were the reason why we couldn't fly out of Rio back to Toronto, and they were the reason why we spent another two weeks travelling south, through Brazil, into Uruguay and finally back to Argentina!

Our original plan had been to go to Florianopolis during the Brazilian summer, when the beaches would be flooded with people and the party scene was supposed to be amazing (according to just about everyone we met who had gone there during high season). However due to budget constraints, we just didn't end up going until the end of our trip. The air was a little cooler, definitely not entering the ocean temperature but it was more of a walking the beach and enjoying the beautiful landscape temperature. August is the Brazilian winter and the low season in Florianopolis. We arrived at our hostel within the Barra da Lagoa area, and although our hostel was fairly full, the neighbourhood wasn't. Many of the businesses had closed up shop for low season and it honestly felt deserted. But we made the best of it. Our hostel had free caipirinhas at 8pm to start the night off on a good note and with a full house, there were plenty of people to talk to and lots of new drinking games to learn.

Part of the city of Florianopolis is built on a peninsula while the other is on Santa Catarina Island, with bridges connecting the mainland to the island. We decided to stay on the island because I had read that there were many isolated, beautiful beaches to visit. The first two days, we spent exploring the area near us. As usual, I dragged Ramanan on some walking trails, along the contours of Barra da Lagoa to the highest peaks. But really not that high, compared to many of the other places we had been to earlier in the year. We made some friends at the hostel who joined us for some easy, and relaxing hiking.

From all the Brazilian cities we have been to, Florianopolis is the most well kept, and modern. The streets are clean, shrubbery is landscaped, the waiters at restaurants speak perfect English and the Brazilians who live there look pretty white. It felt like a resort city for those escaping the hectic lives of nearby big cities like Sao Paulo. We had to take about three buses to get to the city centre from Barra da Lagoa. Once we got there, we just walked around for a bit, ate some pasteles (pastries), and remembered why we don't really like small cities that much!

Shrenik, one of the friends we had made, joined us as we headed to one of the southern beaches, an area known as Campeche. Trying to figure out where a beach starts and ends, and where you should get off the bus on an island surrounded by beaches is tricky. We ended up asking this young guy on the bus and he volunteered to take us there. So we stopped at his apartment, met up with his boyfriend and off we went to the beach together! Something amazing about many of those we've met in South America is their hospitality and generous spirit. I don't know many people at home who would trust a complete group of strangers enough to invite them to their home, after just meeting them on the bus. Campeche Beach was golden, a bit windy, and completely empty. Beautiful colours reflected off the water, and the golden sand. We had arrived just in time to see the colours of the sunset. Afterwards, we were invited over for a few beers, and somehow after a drink, conversations flow a little more easily, even if you don't speak Portuguese very well and they don't speak English very well. So it wasn't what we expected to do that day, but sometimes going with the flow works out even better! After a few drinks, we said goodbye to our friends, who walked us to the bus stop, waited with us until the bus arrived and generously reminded us to come back to visit them again!