Some beach time in Brasil

Barra de Lagoa
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Florianopolis is an island off the coast of Brazil. We decided that some beach time would be good for us and allow us to get a tan so we did not always look like Gringos!

We checked out of the Marriott, caught a 100 peso direct airport taxi that the hotel arranged and flew from Buenos Aries EZE airport.  Our flight was approx 200 pounds each and was on time and very efficient - Aerolinas Argentinas are very good.

Upon arrival we followed our accomodations directions to get to Pousada  Marujo on the other side of the island of Florianopolis.  This involved catching a bus from the airport to the Centro terminal (approx 2.40 reals each) then from there another busy bus to Lagoa de Conceicao for the same cost.  Then Ida the owner came and kindly picked us up from the bus terminal after we managed to ring through to Pousada Marujo with some help from the bus terminal attendant.

Gahletta beach
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Ida picked us up and we had a good chat as well as stopping to pick up some reals from the HSBC ATM.  Upon arrival we were given a larger room in a very pleasant row of accomodation with pool and free internet.  Barra de Lagoa is certainly quieter than Lagoa de Conceicao - but is close to some great beaches, either a 10 minute walk to the main beach or a 2.40 reais journey to Mole beach which has some great surfing and is pretty quiet.  Our first days were overcast as the tropics showed us some heavy rain, so the first day was a bit sleepy and relaxed as we waited for the rain to pass - 2nd day is rained in the morning but the after noon was brillant sunshine.  I managed to catch the sun a touch! so need to buy a good hat to protect me for rest of our journey~s.  We also met a friendly aussie couple James and Marsha (both law students from Melbourne) who had been travelling in Brasil from approx a month - it was good to have a good chat with fellow travellers as well as compare routes - sounded like they were pretty much doing the same route as us except for Patagonia - they were planning to do this in a month and a half which seems pretty quick.

Campeche beach
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The next few days we got to know Paulo and Christina who were both Phd~s from Newcastle, so Bex had a good chat as they worked in similar fields and had the same Vivas approaching.  We had heard about a great beach on an island called Campeche.  The island was a nature reserve and allowed upto 400 visitors a day.  We decided to visit this island for a day on the beach and to explore the island a bit so we all agreed to share the cost of hiring a car to drive to the port and then to catch a boat to the island.

On the rocks enjoying the view
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I volunteered to drive and the next day James from Besen car hire came round and picked me up to collect the car.  The car was a VW Fox that was smart and well looked after, a days hire was 75 reais for the day.  After picking the rest of the guys up we drove for approx 45 minutes to Armacauo, parked up and caught the fishing boat across to the island. The journey took approx 30 minutes and there were some medium swells that made Bex and some of the other passengers feel a tad sea sick.  We arrived at the island pretty quickly with all passengers feeling fine and disembarked into the shallow water and walked up the beach.  The island staff briefed us on the rules of visiting the island and we moved up the beach, a small amount of rain fell as we arrived so we decided to have a drink so the caprihnas came out!  Whilst at the bar ; restaurant we met our first wildlife - coati s which were very cute but had some fierce teeth.

Ancient carvings
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After watching the wildlife we spent some time on the beach and went on a walking tour of the island that showed us some interesting vegetation and also the remnants of a old population that used to live on the island.  These people had left carvings into the stones of the island, a friendly guy from Sau Paulo kindly translated for us as we went round. Bex met some of the vegetation a bit too closely by smacking her head into a tree branch pretty hard which left a small dent.

Our trip back to Pousada Marujo was fine, the driving style of Brasil was starting to become easier, i.e. faster and more relaxed!  We are now just sorting out our arrangements for leaving tomorrow as we head back to BA for one night before we head onto Mendoza for Christmas.  One thing we have noticed about Brasil is the cost of things it is certainly more expensive than Argentina, so our budget was less generous, however it was not a problem as we were not keen to eat out every night.

Out on the island tour
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We will be sorry to leave the great hospitality of Ida and her family as well as the fantastic breakfasts, it would be nice to stay long to develop our tans and have some time surfing but we have some wine tasting and argentine mountains to see.