Majestic Palace Hotel Florianopolis

... a huge German influence with German immigrants settling here as early as the 1850's. Most of the population here is fair-skinned, so I blend right in - until I open my mouth and let out some broken Portuguese. Naturally, after dropping off my stuff at Tatiana's house, I went out with her family for a few German beers at the local Eisenbahn brewery. This city of 300,000 boasts the second largest ...

... quite a nice, relaxing atmosphere. Lots of people from Argentina and Uruguay come here for their holidays or have a house here. We have an apartment on the beach, which looks like a skiing apartment in the Alps. Wood all over the place, but quite nice and it has a kitchen, so we are eating at home each day.<br><br>Today we rented a car and went to a large lake in the middle of the Island and did a 3 hour trail with rocks and stones and ...

... us asking if we needed a place to stay.  We told him we were on our way to Hostel Lagoa.  He told us he would match the price (70 reals/per day) with a beach house over looking the ocean in Barra da Lagoa and would pay for the taxi to get us there.  I was still a bit hesitate, since I didn't know if this guy was for real.  Before the trip to brazil I read this article (http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/05-0 8/dreaming ...

... it is one of the Brazilian specialities it is beans stewed with various bits of pork and vegetables, that decription of it probably does not do it justice, it is eaten with white rice, kale (spinach like vegetable) and manioca flour with bits of bacon in which is eaten all together, did not know much about Brazilian food before this trip, but I am converted, it is really good, plus added bonus, Brazilians love one of our other ...

... rough, hilly and raw. Just the way I like it. One of the most pleasurable trails I've been on. After about 45 minutes we turned a corner and saw our beach. It was gorgeous. After testing the waters, I found it warm enough to go swimming. (While the Brazilians say it's too cold, this North Carolinian finds it just perfect.) As always I like to swim out to the point where I just have enough to swim back. It ...

... his head when he's totally confused) ... a thought comes through, "after a 3 hour bus ride there better be strippers." Once inside I finally, finally, for the last time, get it. We rode 3 hours to a German Brewery to actually drink German beer and eat bratwurst at a German Brewery. Yep, no strippers. "Gotta be kidding me." Right up to the point where we arrived at the Brewery, I was ...

... kind of spooky how it's the people you least expect to see again who suddenly appear further along. She knew about a good hostel in Florianópolis and that's where she was headed. My plan was to stop in Curitiba for a few days but changed my mind since we got along well and I'm also anxious to get back to Argentina. No romantic ideas with this girl though, since she has a boyfriend in New Zealand. I make it a habit now to just ask about these things in early conversations. Only ...

... the bank to fill our pockets with Brazilian Reals, we made a second trip to Iguacu Falls, this time on the Brazilian side for a better view. I bought a book which has lots of overhead pictures to give you all some perspective of how big these falls actually are. My lunch from yesterday did not sit well and left it on the sidewalk in front of the hotel. We spent the night last night on the bus travelling from the falls to the business city of ...

... Blumenau and Fritz Mueller (colloborator of Darwin) bought the estate in 1897. I am sure that possibilities where definately much bigger than in Germany these days - and I have to admit: they still are. Combined with some beautiful surroundings and a good local economy (investors like the German spirit there) it makes it truely a special place.

So my Argentina adventure had come to an end - on the bus it was for a 26 hour (yes 26 hours!) trip up to the island of Florianapolis of the coast of Brazil just south of Sau Paulo to meet up with Jonny and chill on the beach, detoxing from the week of adventure and hijinx in Buenos Aires, or so I hoped anyway! The border crossing turned out to be a bit of a problem. The soldiers behind the Argentinian counter ...