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Brazillian buses
There's an art to getting your backpack on and off this. Following the falls, the original plans had been to venture back to Buenos Aires but as I've learnt, things often change when you're travelling. A girl I met at the falls told me about Florianopolis and after our first day at the falls a few of us headed into town for dinner. Out of curiousity we stopped at the bus station and after some use of my best Espanol I soon had a one way ticket to Florianopolis in my hand.
My trip to the Brazillian side of the falls started early in order to ensure I could complete the park and get to the terminal in time for my 8.30pm bus. I took all my belongings and jumped on my first my bus to the Argentinian border to be stamped out. I jumped on another bus to the Brazillian border to get stamped in. And then, just another bus for fun to get me to the park.
After the falls, I soon realised that my cashcard wasn't going to work at the cash point which left me in a little difficulty trying to get to the bus terminal with only a few Reals in my pocket. I asked
a couple of the guides about my options and one woman actually amazed me. Despite explaining that I had no money, that my card didn't work, that I had ALREADY been to the falls she still tried to sell me a boat trip. Brilliant sales technique there.
Anyway, I soon found out I had to get to the airport to find another cashpoint. So off I went to catch another bus, retrieve some money and then, yey, another bus to Foz to catch my 8.30 pm bus to Florianopolis. Nothing like being 5 hours early for a bus, in true Lucuk style!
Anyway, after wasting some time on the internet I finally sat down with a group of other backpackers and a packet of cheese crackers (which, by the way, I've found are a great way to make friends). Johanna and Daniel were from Gothenburg, Sweden and were heading the same way as me. After a 15 hour bus journey we eventually arrived in Florianopolis. Two more buses (I really never want to see a bus again) finally got us into the right town. A small beach side resort. Heaven!
We checked into another great hostel, and
were provided with a room with a terrace that looked over the beach. We made our way straight to the beach. White sand, blue sea, lots of sun and not a bus to be seen. It was going to be a good Easter.
That evening, we soon met our dorm companions (another 7 people to be exact). Now, I haven't met many English on my trip but I think the finale to my trip made up for that! Two from Kent, two from Leicester, three from Surrey. We were soon in full flow with the card games and bottles of wine.
Good Friday - The day was spent on the beach, swimming and playing volleyball. After speaking to Johanna we both out that our shared passion was pancakes. Seeing as we both missed out on Shrove Tuesday we decided to do things backwards and have Pancake day to commerate the end of Lent (of course, no meat included). One hour and a half later we soon had 80 pancakes on our hands and 10 paying guests! The biggest pancake party ever.
Following, the pancake party we headed to our local cocktail tent on the beach (which we
kind of took over). After getting carried away making cocktails we missed the last bus to town so persuaded a local man (for a small fee) to take 12 of us to a local club in his van. We didn't realise the club was up a huge hill and just halfway up there was a horrible smell of burnt rubber and his van soon spluttered to a halt. At this point most the boys ended up pushing the van the rest of the way, another 3k at least. Still, it was an adventure!
Easter Saturday - Another day was spent on the beach playing volleyball and in the afternoon we found a deserted beach with great rocks to jump from. Unfortunately my flips flops gave up on me at this point so I couldn't climb but Johanna and I did conquer a few of the mini ones. At least we tried!
Easter Sunday - We were woken up by the Easter bunny delivering Easter eggs (a lady who worked at the hostel) and the staff also laid on a great Easter breakfast (not a Lucuk boiled egg in sight hehe). We then spent the morning on the beach until the tide took over and in the afternoon we met James from the US who offered to take us around the island in his car. We stopped to watch sunset, 5.58pm to be exact, walked around a local flea market and drank some Brazillian coffee before heading back to the hostel for an Easter hunt and a final asado.
It was a great Easter with great company. A fantastic way to finish my trip. Now off to BA for the final two days.
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