Day 6: Florianópolis June 13, 2010
After spending the previous several days in the cold, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could peel off some layers in Floripa, despite the fact that it’s further south than Curitiba. Florianópolis is actually a large island (probably 3 hours driving from north to south) off the coast of the state Santa Catarina known for its beautiful beaches and water-sports. Despite the fact that I was there in winter, it still was a complete paradise with gorgeous beaches, picturesque treks, and just a general atmosphere that really drew me to the area.
Our hostel was located in Lagoa de Conceição, an area with a small-town feel situated in the middle of the island. Well-developed and surrounded by large lagoons and beaches that draws tourists by the thousands, it was still the type of place where you could walk everywhere and tend to run into people you knew.
Lagoa de Conceição
Whenever you arrive to a new place, there's always a sense of disorientation and 'what are we going to do?' But the staff definitely felt more like a family right from the start, with Dona Lena, the hostel's cook, making us an awesome breakfast and Sergio, who works at the front desk, inviting Luis and I to go sand-boarding.
If you read my blog on sand-boarding in Peru, it's definitely a really fun experience, and this time was no exception. We went up into the dunes, which had the most spectacular views, as you can see in the picture below. The deep hills of sand eventually led to a green marshland, which then panned out into the sugary sand and foamy surf of Joaquina Beach.
Sand-boarding itself wasn't that difficult for me, but the landings were usually not very graceful. The very first time I went down the hill, I used a wooden board that we brought from the hostel. I really shouldn't have ignored the fact that it was splitting in the front (disguised by poorly wrapped tape) because I got halfway down before the board got jammed with sand, effectively stopping while, thanks to momentum plus gravity, I kept going. The whole fiasco was captured for posterity on video, which I uploaded below (be prepared to laugh).
Unfortunately, I twisted my ankle pretty badly and ended up crawling back up the dunes on my hands and knees... it was quite the sight. We then went down to the Joaquina beach for a while to relax in (more) sand before making our way back to the hostel. We had a really fun night cooking Peruvian food (vegetarian lomo saltado yumm!) in the hostel with several Brasilians and a new friend Elena (from Spain) before going out to a local samba place - ironically right across from the sand dunes we went to earlier in the day.
After an awesome night of dancing to live samba music, we made our way out of the two-story wooden beach shack to be greeted with an amazing view of the stars above and the sand beyond. We decided to climb back up the dunes to star gaze for a little, and I had such flashbacks to the night I climbed the sand dunes of Oasis de Huacachina in Peru...it was one of those moments whose beauty you´ll always remember, although this time it was accompanied by soft strains of samba music drifting out over the sand.
All in all, it was a memorable first day in Floripa! I´ll be writing about the rest of our adventures there soon...Coli
P.S. The evil sand dunes not only took revenge on my leg, but also my camera...the lens got so much sand in it that it will no longer open to take pictures. So, most pictures I´ll be adding here from now on are borrowed from other people´s cameras.
Brilliantly written !!! Loved it
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