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Published: February 15th 2015
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We arrived by bus from Montevideo, Uruguay. The ride was 18 hours but it was confortable and the bus was not full so we had two seats each. The bus company collects your passport and when we crossed the border the bus driver got out and went through customs for us. He gave us our passports back after we passed through customs. The bus only stopped for the border and one stop to pick up more riders in Brazil. There are bathrooms on the bus so it did not matter that we did not stop. They also handed out sandwiches, cookies and empanadas when we boarded the bus along with water and organge juice. We arrived at the bus station in Florianopolis and we expected to find car rental companies. Colonia which is a very small bus station had two car rental companies. There was only one car rental at the bus station and it was closed. We asked at the information booth and they told us to walk over the road bridge and find car rentals on the other side. We could not find any so I asked at a hotel and they recommended The Best Rent A Car at
162 Rua Pedro Ivo. E-mail bestfln@terra.com.br or find at www.thebest.net.br They were reasonable and had a car for us right away. If you arrive on Sunday they close at 11:30. I also asked the hotel where I could find a ATM and they pointed out a shopping mall across the street that had an ATM. In Montevideo the ATMs are all behind locked doors and people line up outside waiting to use one. Since we do not have a local bank we cannot get into the locked ATM room. I usually follow behind someone before the door closes. This ATM is not behind a locked door so we get Brazilian money.
We rented a car in Florianopolis because it is a large island and it can take hours to get around if you take a bus. Our hotel is 20K away so off we go. We rented this room from AIRBNB and we are very happy. It is easy to find, clean, has a refrigerator, microwave and private bath. There is a common room in the garden that has a gas stove, refrigerator, BBQ and tables to eat at and an area to relax and read. Our room is
in Canasvieiras in north Florianopolis.
We are hungry so we go to Churasco Aovivo at 735 Canvieiras for a good steak lunch. We order two Lomo lunches and we get four steaks, we take the leftovers back to our room and enjoy them the next day. We use YELP or Trip Advisor for restaurant advise. This has worked well for us, we have not had a bad meal yet. After we go grocery shopping we walked the lenght of the long beach and watched the sunset. This is a busy family beach with people everywhere and families playing games on the beach.
The next day we decide to explore a few of the beaches, there are 42 beaches on the island. We drive to Praia Brava also in the north. We find free parking no problem and spend a few hours playing in the surf. This beach also has families but it is not as busy as Canasvieiras. Then we move onto Pria Mole which is in the mideast part of the island. This is a popular beach with young adults and you find no families here. You often find more surfers here. As we head back to
our room we pass Lagoa da Conceicao, it is a huge lake. It looks like an alpine lake. The section near town has grass along the edge and people picnic. Stand up boards and boats are popular here. We take a wrong turn on the way back, we laugh when we pass a group on the beach for the fourth time. We feel like we saw the island. It is a very popular place to vacation for the Brazilians. We met a man at the grocery store, he is from the US and is a gemoligist. He has lived here for 50 years. He said the 20 English speakers on the island get together for happy hour every friday. I think he thought he could recruit new members but no we are just passing through. The next day we head back to the car rental, turn in our car and walk to the bus station. On to our next stop.
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