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Published: July 11th 2006
Praia do Rosa
The beach. Not bad...After the quiet of Uruguay and the chilly weather we finally made it to Brasil, taking an overnight bus for 12 hours - the seats reclined almost all the way and we were handed a blanket, pillow and food...its tough on the road sometimes! After an overnight stop in Porto Alegre - a bustling working city with not much for the tourist but an incredible 72 dish vegetarian buffet: all you can eat for a measly 1 pound 90!! We nipped to a very quiet (as out of season) beach resort called Praia do Rosa, in the hope of seeing whales, but alas they hadn´t quite made it to this stretch of coastline. However we stayed in the cheapest hostel (5squid for a double room) and experienced a Brazilian birthday. Here was where we watched England exit the world cup with their tale between their collective legs, swiftly followed by Brasil (much to the utter disgust of the locals!). From there we headed back to the coast to Florianapolis, a city on the the Island of Santa Catarina.
We took a tour around the island which has loads of beautiful beaches and lakes. We went with a nice group of
people we met at the hostel and stopped at a number of beaches throughout the day...one had a great cafe full of messages left by travellers past before the days of email and such. At the end of a tough day stopping at beautiful fishing villages we watched the sun set over the sand dunes and enjoyed sandboarding down them until every last part of us was covered in sand. From the top of the highest dune you could see across the island as the sun went down - it was an incredible sight.
We decided to spend a few more days on the island so headed out to Barra da Lagoa, a sleepy beach and fishing village. We stayed in a great hostel where they applied an honesty system, where you help yourselves to a beer and just mark it up on a board by your name. Frolicking in the waves were penguins which we were suprised to see in such warm climates. We hired kayaks (one of which required regular stops to bale out the water) and paddled up the river to a large lake. We spent 3 night relaxing by the beach and singing in bars
Sandy proverbials
The sandboarding crue with Chileans before finally heading off with a nice Irish couple we met to the most beautiful city in the world........
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Ian Amos
non-member comment
Book Tickets now to avoid disappointment
Glad to see you 2 are having such a great time. Of course no doubt you will be popping back to see "The Amazing Will" (!) in "The Merry Wives of Windsor" - well worth leaving Brasil for I would say......