Entering Brazil to Florianopolis!

January 5-January 10, 2010

Getting into Brazil and to Florianopolis was a real adventure! Luckily Nicola and I were in it together so we made light of it along the way. The day we left I successfully picked up my Visa at the Brazilian Consulate and then began our journey. Got a bus (#1) from Puerto Iguazu to the Argentina border--it was weird to leave, I felt like Argentina was MY country. I mean I really loved it. So that was fast and easy to get an exit stamp. Then back on the bus (#2) to the Brazilian customs. Was efficient and easy as well; so weird to switch to Portuguese after 3.5 months of Spanish..had to forget "gracias" and switch to "obrigada." Waited around for 45 minutes for another bus (#3) to Foz Iguazu. From there, needed to take ANOTHER bus (#4) from that bus station to the main terminal. All the while, sweating, stinky, irritated...we were so over dragging our backpacks and my other stupid little bags. By the
last bus ride I was standing as I didn't want to take my bag off -I couldn't fit on the seat with my bag and I was just feeling gross and irritated. (The joys of traveling!) Finally got to the right bus station and had a few hours to kill. We hung out at the food court and got a cold beer (our one reward we were working towards all day) and food. It was so weird seeing our first menu in Portuguese--Frango, X, pao, bom...no idea what anything was!! So we mainly sat around complaining about the heat and chatting with some South African and Australian backpackers. Got our bus (#5) around 545 pm and had a 16 hour ride ahead---all while still having not been able to shower-yum! After FIVE buses, we finally arrived at 830 am and shared a cab with some Americans we met. When we got to the hostel they let us have breakfast---sooo good-fruit smoothies, lots of bread and rolls, ham cheese, watermelon and yummy raisin cakes. We were so happy to be there finally. And to shower! Ah to shower.

Anyways, so Florianopolis was an awesome time. Nicola and I got along great and had a lot of laughs together...particularly one fateful roll in the sand/water that I had that resulted in me having a real sandy situation in my bikini bottom that left Nicola rolling laughing in the sand and me really awkwardly trying to remove it. :)

During our time in Floripa, we went to the beach a lot! Relaxed, read books, swam in the ocean, laid in the sun...They have a chef at this hostel so we had a few really yummy group dinners where we got to bond with other travelers staying there. Went out one night with some people from Ireland, Canada, Sweden, Australia, Spain, and Italy. (My favorite part of traveling when you're with people from so many different countries!) But really mainly enjoyed the beaches there. Oh! And also went to Pacha one night, an international techo/house music club, which had thousands of people at it. It was awesome!! House music really grew on me while I was traveling, it's just a bunch of people moving to the beat and being pretty free which is awesome. Was a really cool experience! Probably the biggest and coolest party I've ever been to in my life.

Anyways, the beaches and everything in Floripa were awesome, but the best was the hostel. We stayed at Tucano House Backpackers and it was definitely one of my favorites during my entire trip. It was clean, had lots of hammocks to relax in, a nice little tv/movie room w/a book exchange, fantastic breakfasts...a really nice and helpful staff but just amazing people that stayed there. We had a really good group of people there, and the chef dinners really encouraged everyone to bond and make conversation. When I left Tucano House, I felt sad like I was leaving a family. It was a really nice hostel and I'm happy I got the chance to stay there. Not to mention the adorable dog, Duna!! It also had the smallest/dorkiest pool ever which Linc jumped into from the roof WAY too many times (major accident waiting to happen). Anyways, we formed a little international family there and I loved it.

Alas, I had to leave. There were more destinations waiting for me... And once again, I was on my own! :)