Floripa

---

Our first stop in Brazil was Florianopolis or Flori for short, a beautiful green island connected to mainland Brazil by bridge. We stayed in Backpackers Sharehouse which was a really cool hostel, overlooking Barra de Lagao beach. This place seemed to collect tired backpackers and the lads were calling a backpackers retirement home. The retired backpackers included Andrew Murphy and his mate Brady, Dave who should be completing his first novel any day now and Jay the mad looking Manc.

The weather was not great here as it was overcast and rained alot so we didn't spend as much time on the beach as we would have liked. The days we did spend on the beach were passed surfing, swiming, body surfing in some monsterous waves and checking out the chicas. Nearby beach Praia Mole had really big waves, you would constantly get upended by them. We also visited a turtle sanctuary.

The days it rained we spent on drinking in the hostel. We had some good sessions here and they often started early. I loved the way we could our Ipod through a big a amp at full blast all day. We had a good session the day Brady missed his flight home because he was taking acid the night before. Donagh discovered his love for kareoke in this bar.

When we arrived in this hostel it was full of a big gang of Aussies who weren't particularly friendly. Luckily the demography of the hostel changed during the week and it bacame alot more international with people who were interested to talk us. People who arrived included my two Dutch amigos Josh and Ric with Pini, Liverpudlian Matt, English Phil and Raul. Big Pete, one of the biggest people I ever met is worth a mention. Massive fucker who we drank with and arm wrestled one afternoon. I was asking him about racism in New Zealand and he told me a story about when he used to hang out with a couple of big black dudes in NZ. The three of them used to go to rocker bars which in NZ are predominantly fequented by racists. They'd go there and wait for someone to say something and then start throwing punches. Big Pete was white by the way. Lunatic.



Dave Geaghran is another character who stayed here. 35 years old and from Dublin, he didn't seem to have worked a day in years, but was devoting his time to writing his first novel. He hasn't got a commitment from any publishers yet but is confident the final version will impress one. Dave was quite camp but probably not gay, as he did show some interest in women. He used to wear a towel like a boob tube and pair of shorts with his gut hanging out over them and dance around the bar at all times of day with Prince on full blast. His dance moves were dramatic to say the least. He used to go up close to people and stare them out of it as if he was bent but I think he was just trying unnerve. Funny shit though. The book which he has since titled a storm hits Valparaiso is set in Buenos Aries during the Argentian civil war (that should be easy for Dave to acurately visualise and describe) and is mainly dialogue based, containing no descriptions. Sound like a play.

---