Blogs from Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil, South America - page 20

Not sure why our flights both to and back from Florianopolis were in the middle of the night, but it all worked out. We arrived very tired early in the morning on Thursday, Feb 23. My friend Steve, his wife Tunica and Max (their 2 year old), were not coming until the next day...they said the maid would let us in the house eventually, and she did. Locked out for most of the day, however, we napped by and swam in the glorious pool- peering inside the house of windows at the ample comforts within. Wow! This was my friend's beach house! In fact the house is on the *cover* of a Brazilian Architectural magazine. We checked out the beach just across the street (AWESOME!) and had some Lula Milanesa (Fried Calamari). Later that night, we ... read more

To do something new, Pedro and I tried to figure out the night life in Florianopolis. So we asked the security man at the entrance of our house for the places to go to. He indicated us a street supposed to have bars next to the university. We followed his instructions but we couldn't find any bar. Disappointed, we made our way back home to check out a bar called IEGA (Jäger?! They have a funny way to write foreign names. For example Gnocchi is Nhoque here) next to our house. Crossing the university campus we heart some people yelling. Was there a party going on? We headed towards the noise and crashed into a guy looking for the party, too. Think of the typical computer scientist cliche (long black hair, very thin, glasses with an ... read more

Today we went to the federal police office to register ourselves. It was our second attempt to do so as the first time, we arrived half an hour too late. The office was already closed (Comment from a Brazilian colleague: See, in Brazil things work. It’s not like in Portugal or Germany where you always start and stop working too late or too soon). This time we were lucky. After taking a ticket for attendance we waited only half an hour before we could explain our situation. The employee was quite friendly although he almost didn't open his mouth while talking. I hardly understood a word but I got that he was joking a lot with us. So, whenever possible, I joked with him too (sometimes even by accident). My problems where soon resolved: I have ... read more

It took me around nineteen hours to get to Florianopolis. The ride was a bit bumpy and sitting at the back next to the toilet wasn´t a pleasant experience, in particular towards the end of the trip. I remember I was a bit paranoid about being robbed when a rough looking woman sat next to me half way through the trip, so I decided to transfer all my valuables into my money belt. I´m sure this was an overreaction, probably triggered by the memory of another woman offering her help when I was withdrawing cash in Igazu. Florianopolis is a beautiful city, situated partly on the island of Santa Catarina and mainland Brazil. I was staying in the south of the island, at 'Abergue de Pirata' or 'Pirate´s Inn'. The place in run/owned by an Argentinian ... read more

Ok, this is how to waste a complete whole day in a few easy steps. Get up at 7am and get on a bus. Jump on another bus for a couple of hours. Walk around aimlessly for a good 2 to 3 hours. (Stop communicating with eachother!) Catch a bus back to the start point of the walking. (bus home not for 6 hours) Walk around aimlessly again for 3 to 4 hours. (start to communicate with each other again) Wait at the bus terminal for 2 hours. Bus is half an hour late! On bus for a couple of hours. Onto another bus for half an hour, then another bus! Get back and put pizza in the slowest oven in the world. Eat pizza an hour later (midnight) Then bed. Not a good day. Now, ... read more