The beach - Part 1 (of many to come)

Travelling to a beach - wow, that's unexpected. Apologies if you find this boring, or totally inadequate given the current low temperatures and volcano problems in Europe. Nevertheless, due to popular demand, we will share some pictures and background info about our beach time here in Southern Brazil.

 

After Iguazu, we headed for the beautiful Ilha do Mel, 'Island of Honey', in the state of Paraná. There are no cars on the island, and until recently, electricity was limited to several hours per day. Most of the island is a nature reserve. As a result, everything there is a bit more basic than elsewhere... the boat service is a bit rusty, the main road is really just a sandy walkway, and the island's nightlife is pretty much limited to either getting drunk in a hammock or dancing to cheesy Brazilian music with locals.

While we do enjoy cheesy Brazilian music, the main reason for us to come to Ilha do Mel was its beaches, obviously. And they are truly magificent.

After several days on the island, we again packed our backpacks, and said farewell to our many new mosquito friends. Back on the mainland, we hopped on what is said to be one of the most scenic train rides in Brazil (quite an achievement in a country where there are very few passenger trains in the first place). The name of the train, Serra Verde Express, is a classic euphemism, as it takes 5 hours for roughly 90 kms. Nevertheless, the views are stunning, as the 'Express' gently winds through subtropical rainforests and into Curitiba.

After a brief interlude in Curitiba (which really is a nice and well-designed city by South American standards), we continued our quest for sand and seawater in the city and the beaches of Florianopolis, in the state of Santa Catarina. 

Floripa is beautiful - clean, relatively safe, and surrounded by excellent surfing beaches. We checked in at a cool hostel overlooking 2 of the 20+ beaches on the city island. I actually wanted to upload more brag pictures, but our internet connection doesn't agree with me. So you'll just have to trust me on this one.

We also met Rodrigo, a Floripa local who is a friend of our friends Tati & Alex back home. Rodrigo is an extremely nice and funny person (even more so than your average Brazilan, who is already very friendly). Among other things, he took us to a Churrascaria - a restaurant where they serve meat on skewers until you drop - and we went sandboarding together. Again, we have some pretty decent and maybe slightly embarrassing sandboarding pics, but this freaking connection does a good job at preventing any uploads. I'll try to post them later.

Anyway, eventually, we had to say goodbye to Floripa, Rodrigo, our travel mate Maike (who went on to travel to Chile), and the beach. Next stop: the Amazon. Since internet here seems to be slightly shaky, it might be quite a while until we're back in civilisation ready to post our next little episode - so bear with us.