See ya in Floripa

The flight down to Florianopolis was mostly uneventful except for the annoying three gate changes during my layover in Sao Paulo. I enjoyed watching the countryside go by from my window seats. Brazil is a lush green beautiful country from up there, especially the occasional complex blue waterways with inland islands amidst hilly forested terrain.

The island of Florianopolis (or "Floripa" as the locals call it) contains a number of small beach towns spread about on all sides in addition to the main city (also called Florianopolis). I decided to rent a car for a few days in order to more efficiently check things out. If things looked good, I hoped to rent an apartment somewhere as soon as possible. I knew that if I rented a place in Centro (another term for the main urban area) I would be able to get Internet installed and it would probably be cheaper, but I hoped to live closer to the beaches.

As I drove away from Centro towards the eastern shores, I picked up a girl hitchhiking(I think her name was Fredrica?). She didn't speak any english so I pretty quickly used up the 4 or 5 relevant things I could say before dropping her off in Lagoa da Conceicao where she worked at a restaurant. The Lagoa is a large inland lake which you can see clearly in the map to the left. It looked nice, but Fredrica told me it was polluted. There is a nice little village there centered around the bridge that cuts across the southern portion of the lake. It is a very pretty location with lots of little restaurants, accommodations and bars. It had a college town sort of feel.

A short drive past the Lagoa brought me to the dunes of Joaquina where a sand boarding operation was set up. A little past that is a beach area with a couple of hotels and restaurants. The wind was strong and the waves were fairly large and blown out. I didn't see any surfers except a guy kite boarding alone. I climbed up on some rocks to watch for awhile before getting back in the car and driving a bit north to Praia Mole. The beach was packed with people and surfers, but I didn't stay long as I was getting hungry so I drove back to the Lagoa village.

I got a bit concerned as these two beaches were listed as the best surfing beaches, however there appeared to be no nearby residential areas (just hotels and resorts). Joaquina was probably a 30 minute walk from what seemed to be the nearest place I could possibly live in Lagoa da Conceicao and it took me awhile to find even one Internet cafe there. I ate some sushi and decided to go ahead and try to find a place to stay since it was now dark out.

After driving back to Centro and wandering aimlessly through the streets looking for hotels, I recognized the International Youth Hostel logo and was able to secure a bed for R$28/night in a 8 bunk dorm. Parking my car was a bit of a challenge as I wasn't able to read the portuguese street signs. I eventually figured out that an 'E' with a red circle and slash through it meant "no parking" (Estacionado or something like that) but I couldn't figure out what all the extra wording meant  in terms of allowed hours, required stickers or street cleaning. After twenty minutes of this I lucked out and got a spot on a street with no parking signs very close to the hostel and hit the sack.

[Note, I'm sorry I neglected to take many photos while in Floripa, but here are some with a dog in them: Trip To Brazil]