Eliete showed us some bowls with rice and manioc and piles of maize strewn along some of the curbs. She said they were offerings left by some of the African people as part of their religion and worship.Some were in places we would never have noticed if she had not pointed them out to us. The maize just looked like someone was feeding the pigeons or had spilt it.
It was an early morning wake up at Porto Alegre with Eliete as we caught a taxi to the bus station for a bus to Florianapolis. Luckily we left early as there had been a crash on the way and it took 45 minutes to travel 14 kms - just like Auckland.
It was great to have a day bus trip as we saw lots of fields that had been recently planted. We passed wind turbines on small hills and lots of factories producing clay roofing tiles and flooring tiles from clay quarries close by them. We also passed a coal mine which looked like it supplied a nearby power station.
As we neared Florianapolis there were lots of banana, mandarin and orange trees around the small houses and it was the first sign of a change of climate.
The bus station was well organised with a tourist office that had a fluent English speaker. She had all the bus timetables prepared and typed up in English on handouts which was so great. If she couldn't answer our questions she researched the information. Others have just said they didn't know and didn't bother any further.
After a short walk we reached the local bus terminal which had 3 entrances. You paid a fixed rate at the cashier and entered the turnstile without a ticket. The platform was fenced off and you could not go from one platform to another. When the bus arrived, everyone entered and sat down. The cashier got on at the first stop and took money or scanned passes from the next passengers who could not exit unless they passed through the turnstile. There is no need for printing tickets and it gives another person a job.
From the City of Florianopolis we crossed to the Island of Catarina where we got off the bus at Lago do Conceicao and walked to our guesthouse. It was a small but comfortable room with a kitchen and a lovely bathroom. They are experts here in Brazil at getting a handbasin, toilet, bidet and shower into the smallest space they can! The garden was well maintained and every spot was filled with plants as well as some pottery Disney characters- quirky.
Lagoa is a buzzing place in the summer because of the surf beaches. There are loads of restaurants and bars, supermarkets and clothing shops.One night we ate at the food truck park which had Tex Mex, Japanese, Aussie burgers, Belgian pancakes, and a craft beer truck. Another night we ate at a cafe/bistro place and it would not have been out of place in The Mount.
It was very relaxing and we walked to a different surfing beach each day we were here. Lots of dreadlocked surfers and young backpackers selling jewelery on the street. A few businesses were set up for stand up boarding but lots of places were closed as it is the off season.
The shower heats the water in the rose and the temperature regulated by turning the rod under it with red being hot and shades to green being cold. In 1981 we often had to join two wires together to get hot water in our showers so this is a huge improvement and economical compared with our hot water cylinders.
On one of our walks we saw the fishermen hauling in their nets full of fish and the locals were there to buy some and the bins had the names of locals restaurants on them. Men on phones directed the fish into appropriate bins as they confirmed orders with local businesses.
It was an early morning wake up at Porto Alegre with Eliete as we caught a taxi to the bus station for a bus to Florianapolis. Luckily we left early as there had been a crash on the way and it took 45 minutes to travel 14 kms - just like Auckland.
It was great to have a day bus trip as we saw lots of fields that had been recently planted. We passed wind turbines on small hills and lots of factories producing clay roofing tiles and flooring tiles from clay quarries close by them. We also passed a coal mine which looked like it supplied a nearby power station.
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The bus station was well organised with a tourist office that had a fluent English speaker. She had all the bus timetables prepared and typed up in English on handouts which was so great. If she couldn't answer our questions she researched the information. Others have just said they didn't know and didn't bother any further.
After a short walk we reached the local bus terminal which had 3 entrances. You paid a fixed rate at the cashier and entered the turnstile without a ticket. The platform was fenced off and you could not go from one platform to another. When the bus arrived, everyone entered and sat down. The cashier got on at the first stop and took money or scanned passes from the next passengers who could not exit unless they passed through the turnstile. There is no need for printing tickets and it gives another person a job.
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| Great colourful walking streets in Florianopolis City |
Lagoa is a buzzing place in the summer because of the surf beaches. There are loads of restaurants and bars, supermarkets and clothing shops.One night we ate at the food truck park which had Tex Mex, Japanese, Aussie burgers, Belgian pancakes, and a craft beer truck. Another night we ate at a cafe/bistro place and it would not have been out of place in The Mount.
It was very relaxing and we walked to a different surfing beach each day we were here. Lots of dreadlocked surfers and young backpackers selling jewelery on the street. A few businesses were set up for stand up boarding but lots of places were closed as it is the off season.
The shower heats the water in the rose and the temperature regulated by turning the rod under it with red being hot and shades to green being cold. In 1981 we often had to join two wires together to get hot water in our showers so this is a huge improvement and economical compared with our hot water cylinders.
On one of our walks we saw the fishermen hauling in their nets full of fish and the locals were there to buy some and the bins had the names of locals restaurants on them. Men on phones directed the fish into appropriate bins as they confirmed orders with local businesses.
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| Life guards at Mole Beach |
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| Mole beach |
The beach was deserted except for a few day trippers like us. Only a couple of restaurants were open but no one was inside. The place apparently pumps in the summer.
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| Tourists trying out sandboarding on the dunes at Joaquima Beach. |
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Joaquima Beach
Unfortunately for the blind person the route was disturbed by construction works or sand spilling over the path or it was never finished.
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Saw several signs about the zika mosquito.
This area is well known for its lace making and these outfits were made by the locals. A sculpture in the main square was dedicated to them.
We tried to busy a SIM card for our phone and had a lot of problems tying to find out what the number was so we could charge it. The man in a small kiosk that sold it to us had no idea how they worked. We caught a bus into Florianopolis City to ask at the telcos office and was told it would take 48 hours to verify the number. That made it pretty useless for us. Each state needs a new SIM so if you are not long in a state and it takes that long it will be a pain to use the data on the phone. However lots of places have free WiFi but they are not always powerful enough to do anything other than open emails.
Bought a bus ticket to take a night bus to Foz do Iguazzu.
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