A Valentines Holiday in Florianopolis

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Day 687 (14.02.09)

After our delays on the night bus from Foz we arrived late into Florianopolis bus station and, after sorting out our onward bus tickets for Rio, we caught two local buses to where we were planning to stay. Florianopolis is the gateway to Santa Catarina Island and we´d heard that the south of the island was the quietest and most relaxed section which fit our plans exactly. Before the craziness of five days and nights of partying in Rio for carnaval we wanted to spend a few days chilling out to ready ourselves!

After an hour or so on the hot and crowded buses we reached our hostel near the small fishing village of Pantano do Sul and liked the feel of it straight away. A few houses, a small shop, a little locals bar and our hostel made up the area and just 5 minutes walk down the road was a quiet part of a huge stretch of pristine beach for us to enjoy.

It was Valentines Day so we decided we should have something nice for dinner to celebrate and walked the half an hour or so down the sands to the village to try and pick up some fresh fish straight in off the boats. Struggling a little with our non-existant portuguese we eventually managed to pick up some big prawns and a pile of white fish of some variety(!) for next to nothing.

We left real-life behind a long time ago now and it can be easy to forget how lucky we are until we take a step back and consider our normal trip to the shops back home. Driving home in the rain from TESCO through the not-so-glamorous streets of Northern Moor can´t really be compared with walking home along the beach in the afternoon sunshine with our feet splashing in the surf!

We had a fantastic dinner and a lovely evening. Happy Valentines Day to all!

Day 688 (15.02.09)

Not much to tell really today. We spent the day becoming Mr and Mrs Crisp in the hot hot sun on the beach and jumping into the clear green-blue sea in between for cooling dips! Fabulous!

Day 689 (16.02.09)

The weather was a little greyer today but still nice and warm so we walked along the beach again to the village and picked up some more fish for dinner. It´s been great to eat fish after so long in Argentina when all you can really find is meat.

We spent a couple of hours reading and swimming at the beach and then the tropical rains set in and the rest of the afternoon passed with chatting, reading and watching films. It has truly been like a little holiday from our usual hectic travelling pace.

Day 690 (17.02.09)

We were leaving the island today but not until later in the evening so despite the grey weather we went for another walk along the beach and a last dip in the gorgeous sea. Then, after packing up we caught the buses into Florianopolis town, bumping into Sally and Niall on the way.

We crammed our stuff into a locker at the bus station and all went for a juice and a catch up before we parted ways again hopefully to meet in Rio. We did some internet stuff and then wandered the busy and pretty market area to pick up some food for dinner and our journey. The atmosphere was great and we thought that this and the glittery decorations was probably the town gearing up for carnaval celebrations which happen all over the country.

Settled into our bus we began the journey north to Rio.

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