My first impressions of Florianopolis are that it is incredibly beautiful. The town of Floripa where we are staying reminds me a lot of Costa Rica with beaches, the surfing vibe, hammocks and lots of reggae music. We walked to the beach when we arrived and it took far longer than the hostel said, almost half an hour in the heat! There were these massive sand dunes on the road to the beach with people queuing up to go sand boarding. It looks like a section of some desert have been lifted up and placed beside the beach! The sand dunes are so high up and the sand is so white, blinding in the sun.
Florianopolis is a city, but it is a collection of mini-hubs around a series of lagoons and beaches, each hub with its own city centre and bus terminal. Each lagoon therefore has a slightly different feel and different beaches and places to go out. It is all quite spread out and sometimes difficult to get a feel for what actual Florianolois is like, but the centre is very modern and has a big University. It seems to be a city that many Brazillians see as the most organised and modern.
After beaching it in the intense heat and only lasting half a day despite the rented umbrella we investigated the towm with some other hostel people. Thw town of Floripa is really cool, with beach shops, lots of surf stuf and hundreds of juice and acai bars, and pay per kilo restaurants, all designed for backpackers I'm sure! The town actually takes a half an hour walk from the hostel and the hostel is near the beach but it is so secluded its very relaxing. It is a humid and tropical atmosphere here with lots of green vegetation and bananas trees. Aparently Florianopolis has over 70 beaches! We only managed to see 3 in our short stay there but they were all gorgeous!
The market in the town had a different feel from the other markets in Brazil. This one clearly refleted the people who live here, with organic pulses, rice, tofu(!!!), soap, hemp and hand made bags and hand carved furniture. There was even an organic fruit and veg stand, not seen that ever in this part of the world.
Most evenings in Floripa were spent in the hostel bar drinking caipirahs, the traditional Brazilian drink, and chatting with all the lovely people in the hostel. A caipirah is made from cachaca, soda water, sugar and lots of lime, it is essentially a much stronger mojito without the lime. Very refreshing!
I am slowly easing into this backpacking malarky, which has taken a little time as being chilled and less planned is not really my natiral state- as many of you will know. But I think the beaches and caipirahs and helping out!
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