Florianopolis
Trip Start
Feb 21, 2006
1
20
21
Trip End
May 25, 2006
Florianopolis, Brazil
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Although the bus was a nice one, they didn´t give us blankets, and we pretty much froze the whole night :(
We arrived to Florianopolis early in the morning. Florianopolis is a pretty big and modern city (the center that is), and also has a pretty big island (or half island) that is full of beaches. I think the island is as big as the center area of Israel, so it really isn´t that small...
We heard from people that the better beach to stay at is the one called ¨Barra Da Lagoa,¨ so, although we read the northern beaches are more touristic, we decided to try our luck.
There were two men that offered us an apartment in Barra Da Lagoa, and so we went with them.
Once we arrived, the guy tried to take a 5 day payment in advanced, which was kind of suspicious, we only agreed on paying him 3 days (the price seemed fair 40 REALS per day).
The beach and the small village of Barra Da Lagoa seemed to be a little to quite for us... We were used to bigger cities or at least livelier ones, but we heard that in Brazil we have to take the pace down a notch, and so we gave it a try.
Our apartment was pretty nice and, most importantly we had our own kitchen (we haven´t cooked in a month!).
We filled our fridge with lots of groceries and cooked many meals.
On our second day, Dana decided we should buy some chicken and rice and prepare Paella, and so we did.... It turned out to be the best meal we had on our trip (or at least the best cooked meal on our trip).
On the first day, we relaxed on the beach, although it wasn´t too warm to take a swim, which disappointed us.
On the second day we wanted to check out the center, but there was a strike with the local buses, and so we weren´t able to leave our small village... We didn´t know what to do... It was ¨dead¨ here.... So we read our books and relaxed some more.
On the third day, luckily for us, there were buses to the center. So we took a bus (1 hour trip) to the center.
Like we mentioned before, the center is very big and modern, and we had a great time there, especially because we felt like we returned to civilization again. We went to the mall and ate lunch and then walked the streets. We also bought our ticket to Rio (which was extremely expensive! About 75 dollars a ticket!).
On our final day, we relaxed some more :)
Each day, like good Israelis, we had to eat some AÇAI (that is what every single Israeli told us about on our trip).
From what we understand, AÇAI (pronounced A-SA-E) are simply blueberries, and when you buy AÇAI it means they put frozen blueberries and bananas in a blender and then add granola. It tastes pretty good, sort of bitter-sweet, that is why the taste only grows on you after the third time you try it :)
To sum it all up, Florianopolis has great potential, but not when it is off-season. If you can´t go to the beaches, there is no real point in staying here.
Maybe a good idea is actually staying in the center and then taking a bus to the different beaches (it only costs 1 dollar for the ride!) and this way, you will not be affected by the strikes.
All in all, it was a good place to start Brazil with, since people keep telling us how dangerous it is in Brazil. In Florianopolis, it didn´t seem scary at all.
Next stop, RIO!
