Brazil not only brings with it a new culture, but a new lingo. We've since realised that Portugese is nothing like Spanish - whatever people may tell you! People may well understand Spanish when you speak but you probably won't get much of what's coming back.
Still, not to worry, the Brazil plan is just to hug the tropical coast all the way up from Floranopolis, through Parana, past Sao Paulo (stopping at islands on the way), through to Rio and up to the state of Bahia - all sun, sea and surfin'! Sure we'll pick up some of the lingo along the way!
The border crossing took 24 hours, 5 busses, dinner in the not so pretty Porto Alegre and we arrived in Ilha (island) de Santa Catarina in time for sunrise the next morning. Santa Catarina is a provence but also the island which is often confusingly refered to by tourists as just Floranopolis, infact this is the islands capital. From here you can get the bus to anyone of the islands beautiful beaches - all 42 of them!
Excited to finally be on the island home to some of Brazils most famous surf and surfers, we caught the bus to the east where we were promised long beaches and the best waves. Again, being Jan it was hard to come by accomadation on the beach, so after an unlucky stop at Joaquina ('the' beach) we headed back inland a couple of km's to stay on the lake - Lagoa da Conceicao. Here we found a gem of a campsite.
After some bargain hunting, I bought my first short board - made in Brazil like everything here! At least the walk back up to Joaquina beach, road cutting through the sanddunes, was pretty good for keeping fit in the 30 degree heat (though there were good busses that take you from beach-to-beach). I soon found out that surfing on a short board was a whole new game. I had thought about this but I hadn't fully appreciated just how tricky it is to get on up. I don't hail coordination as one of my strongest attributes, and I would say riding a shortboard is all about just that! Longboards are like boats in comparison. Luckily after a couple of days and almost giving up hope, on route to the beach I stopped for a chat with a guardian angel of surfing in the form of Chilean Francisco. Somehow Francisco must have realised that his words of wisdom weren't helping all so much and turned up at the beach. After a couple of hours of hurling me down huge waves, some good banter and a splattering of bruises, I was - kind of - riding some waves, had mastered the duck dive and felt pretty happy. I owed Fransisco a fruit smoothy on the beach after that - what a lovely guy. Since then, i'd love to say the progress has been as rapido, but lets just say I'm having fun trying!
The east side of the island was also home to countless other beautiful beaches, especially Praia Mole (listed in the lonely planet as the gay beach). It was a stunning stretch of ocean, relaxed but not as good for people watching as you might expect. Praia Barra de Logoa on the otherhand had a party vibe, with awesome Ciaparinha bars on wheels working the beaches and little bars playing out Samba and Cumbia! We jumped in the car with our fellow campers, Celeste & Alex and spent a great afternoon at the beach drinking Fernet & Coke (Argentinians!) from the ice box and chatting spanglish.
Campsite Lagoa de Conceicao was full of lovely Brazilian and Argentinian people and when it rained (which it did every day, heavily) there wasn't much more to do than whip up a caparinha (in the big group cup!), cook up a Charrasco (bbq) with new friends and be merry...
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