DEAR READER...MY CAMERA GOT BROKEN ;(...SO FOTOS WILL FOLLOW AS SOON I GET THEM FROM MY FRIENDS....to accelerate this process, please address a polite reminder to: patri...@... ;)
After travelling some thousands of kilometres in January without making longer stops, for me a perfect opportunity that a good friend of mine, Sebastian, starts his stay in Brazil short be before my departure and even better when he has some really nice friends in Florianopolis with a house at the beach were we could stay for free. If that isn't enough already another friend from Sebastian from Germany, Patrick, also joined our trip....always better persevere your unemployment in Brazil in summer than in the cold Germany ;).
Our hosts Gabi and Wagner lived with 2 further friends from university in a simple but nice house in Campeche (a district of Floripa), directly at the beach with their dog, a proper barbecue inside and outside the house, hammocks on the terrace and the surfboards within reach to get the next perfect wave within eye shot. As nearly normal in the backpacker world, both spoke a very good German, but even more impressive Gabi spoke with Bavarian accent and Wagner with a Swiss one, since both spent last year some months there. We enjoyed so much their company and this heaven on earth where they live, so we took advantage of their hospitality for an entire week - having our own room, late breakfast on the terrace, beach life every day, homemade food and improvised guitar sessions at night where Gabi gave us a lesson in German culture of music: Please here it yourself! Funny von Dannen: Okapiposter ... very catchy tune!
Furthermore this life there don't have to be expensive in case you like eating fish. Every evening the fishermen take in their nets and since they are only a couple of old men they are reliant on helping hands to get the heavy catch out of the sea. So they developed a clever plan: One third of their catch, never mind how much it will be shared equally between all volunteers that day...so for 15-20min a bit of working and free bronzing you get out 6 big and fresh fishes which even taste better since you can tell that you catched them with your own hands ;).
But my favourite and most adventures place there was the Lagoa do Leste - a hidden beach only reachable by a 40min walk through the forest where you find blue water, white sand, huge waves and only a couple of people on the beach - no shops, only pure nature - so obviously that we made the most of this paradise beached and Patrick and I stayed til twilight without wasting a single thought how to safety back in the entire darkness...luckily, Patrick at least carried his headlight with him so the one hour walk over rough and smooth, tapping through hidden muddy plashy was slightly less dangerous than without any light ;). But at the end this are the unique experiences you will never forget.
But the days before Carnival we finally pick ourselves up to make a 5days road trip through the State of Santa Catarina. But lucky us, in the same moment we start the motor of our car, it started raining and raining and raining for the next three days....Grrrh! So what to do? At our first stop in Blumenau, a kind of German enclave of 300.000 inhabitants were in the 19th century lots of German immigrants settled down. It's the stereotype model of German culture. You can find the traditional timbered houses there, German signs on the streets, "Biergarten" and, of course, since the Brazilian like beer at least the same like the Germans, the 2nd biggest "Oktoberfest" worldwide after the original one in Munich, you can find here. But we had a munchies on German food so we attend in a Buffet "Cafe Colonial" - which expect you which a huge range of delicious German cakes, German bread, cheese, sausages and cold meat and other typical warm dishes - a true land of plenty were we spend over 2hours eating and drinking in my case at least to amortize my money. Also we felt really homy in this place, wooden chair and tables with table-cloth, flours on top of it, curtains at the window and coffee served in pots...like in Germany =).
With full stomachs we decided to brave the elements next day and we went on a 6-7hrs trek in the National Nature park of Marumbi, high mountains shrouded by clouds and surrounded by a rich rain forest. Our entire clothes and shoes were drenched by the strong rain within 5min, but who cares when you can see waterfalls and swinging with lianas. I guess the hotel owner this night was less amused by our adventures vein, since we behaved like gypsies and covered the entire tiny room he rented to us with our humid clothes....socks at the fan on the stake for the curtains...everywhere!
To complete our program there was still missing 'Partying' on our agenda. So we decided to do that on the "Ilha do Mel" (Honey Island), according to our guide, THE party hot spot for young folks like us ;). But bad timing from our side, exactly the days before Carnival we encountered an abandoned island and therefore really laid-back and quiet place to relax with gorgeous lonely beaches and restaurants for ourselves. At night we needed our headlight to find home on the narrow sandy paths which cross the island like a maze. But thanks to our Robinson Crusoe Gen we finally found the other 15 stranded backpackers and protract together our night with some Caipis, a Guitar and the sound of the rushing sea hanging around at the beach under the moon. Actually the perfect preparation for the following exhausting Carnival season we had to confront the up coming 5days.