Floripa - An Isle of Beaches

  Florianopolis, State of Santa Catarina, Brazil
Friday, August 1, 2008

Florianopolis

July 26th - Went swimming in the ocean again today.  So awesome.  I love the fact that this is the height of winter in Brazil and I can go swimming in the ocean.  God Bless Brazil.

July 29th - Spent the next two days with friends and their family on the eastern side of the Isle.  Either I'm really lucky or there just are a lot of beautiful people in Brazil and I just keep meeting them.  Everywhere I go I seem to find so much love, warmth and friendship.  I had mentioned to friends how much I enjoyed hiking, so it was decided to spend the day at Naufragados Beach.

West of the Isle near Centro-01

 

Heading the tthe lighthouse-01

Naugragados is a beach on the south of the isle and can only be accessed by boat or a 1 hour hike through the hills.  My kind of beach.  After a 45 minute drive we arrived at the trail entry point and began our hike.  The trail was marvelously rocky, 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's such a rush, being out there in the ocean, in the center of all that beauty.

Returning to the car-starting to get dark

Heading for the lighthouse-the view of the ocean

 
 
While among the beauty of it all I realized that the tide was taking me out a little, so I decided not to hang out too long and swam back to shore.  It reminded me that I have to pay more attention to these things when I'm swimming in the ocean alone.
 
After the swim we climbed the rocks along the shore and walked the trail to the lighthouse.  Bela vistas all around.  Que bonito (beautiful).  Afterward we headed back down the trail to our car before the sun set and began the drive back.  A great day!
 
There were so many moments of which I can't fully express ... moments of which I enjoyed everyone's company so very much.  

Centro-01

July 30 - Spent the day in Centro (downtown). 
The area around and in the Mercado Publico was awesome.  I can't wait to go back.  Later I went to Box 32 Bar and Restaurant for Cerveja and Bacalhau mini pastels.  Mmmm ... muito bom, mas muito caro (really good but a little expensive).
 
*So a few people had mentioned that they thought the McDonalds in Brazil was better than McDonalds in America.  So earlier today, I broke down, found a McDonalds and ordered a Happy meal.  The verdict ... same McDonalds only at twice the cost.  Next time, I'm going back to Habib's.

August 4 - It's been raining the last few days, so I haven't had a chance to do too much.  Today, I finally went back to explore Centro.  Restaurants, museums, mercado publico, walk the beach ... you know, the lonely planet stuff.  At first I was very 'bah humbug' with all that Lonely Planet stuff.  I want to know the culture, the people, not just be the usual walking tourist who sees everything and nothing at the same time; but I've got to admit ... sometimes Lonely Planet has great recommendations.  Got to give it its due.  I thought I would give LP a day in each city.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to do another 3-4 hour trail to another unaccessible beach in a lagoon.  I'm hoping to arrange a kayak rental for the way back. Hehe!!!!

*One of my goals, when I decided to come to Brazil, was to learn Portuguese.  The way I choose to qualify that goal was to be able to have a 30 minute conversation with a Brazilian non-english speaker .  Well, today I had a 45 minute conversation with a Brazilian non-english speaker .  A guy I met on the bus.  God, I love talking to people on the bus.  Want to know the real deal, talk to people on the bus.  I always meet the most interesting people there.  Anyway, this guy had a slow, easy nature and this was reflected in his speech which made it easy for me to understand him.  We shared stories just like I would have in english.  I was helping him with his groceries and we just struck up a conversation.  It was awesome, I'm still in awe over it.  (Legal) And even with my little victory, I still think my Portuguese smells of ... (well, you know, I still have a lot to learn).  All in all a great day.