Praia do Santinho

We arrived at our accommodation, which reminded me of small town country motels at 2.30am and slept like logs. In the morning after a hearty breakfast we met some friendly Brazilians, and before we knew it, we were drinking beer and talking about Brazilian politics poolside at 12pm. We had lunch a little hut down the road then explored the beach - golden sand and surf that reminded me of the beaches in Wollongong so much. That night a local bloco was taking place so we waited, and waited and waited for 3 hours until everyone had got themselves organised then joined the locals as they danced down their streets to the sound of this one song that said something like "join the party - this is Brazil - this is carnival".  It may not have had the spectacle of carnival in the bigger cities - or be even resemble other carnivals where the black legacy of celebration is more marked. But it was wonderful to see ordinary people celebrating carnival - friends and families coming together to dress up, dance and have fun together.

Our days in Florainopolis were spent relaxing - sleeping in most mornings, relaxing by the pool, going to the beach when the weather wasn't too hot or too wet - discovering places to eat well and cheaply - trying to get around the island without getting stuck in traffic jams - and trying to soak up carnival spectacle as much as we could. The weather did thwart us a little - we were hoping to watch the street parade in the main township one evening, but it was dark, wet and raining, we arrived too early and nobody was about - so we gave up and went back to our part of the island. 

The highlight of our time in Florianopolis was our final day - walking along the nature reserve to another beach - pretty good surf - fairly isolated with next to nobody around except a few families and surfers.  We took a walk along the dunes to the beach, and then took the longer walk (about 1.5hrs) around the headland through lush jungle terrain to get back to Praia do Santinho.  Earlier that day I had perhaps the best Acai I've ever tasted (and given I'd had Acai 8 times during this trip in Brazil that was quite a call) and after the long walk back we sat at a bar by the beach and had some wonderfully cold beer and some lulas (calamari). We people watched for an hour or so, watching Brazilians in all their shapes and sizes - from the vanity of those who wear nothing - those who honestly shouldn't be wearing next to nothing, through to the men who like wearing trunks so tight that absolutely nothing is left to the imagination. A fun way to finish with Brazil.