Florianopolis, aka “Floripa”, is often mentionned as the best place to live in Brasil… why ? Because you can find there all what you can expect in holidays… if you put the price :)
There are two places to stay at… the city itself & the island Santa Catarina, located 45’ by bus from the city center (and other amazing sites a bit farther but we didn’t have the chance to go… however, it may be important to highlight that the second largest Ocktober Fest in the world is happening some kilometers more north, in the city of Blumenau :)).
- So, Dowtown, you can find markets, pedestrian streets, shops, cinemas, international restaurants, luxury shops… a lovely little city (of still 1’000’000 inhabitants) with high western standards (bring your credit card). But Floripa is especially known for its gigantic nightclubs (some parties at 10’000 people!) for an unreasonable price (25 EUR entrance for guys, hardly cheaper for girls). Girls there have a European style, with whiter skin as you get more to southern brazil, and Argentina. There are also known to be the most good looking of the country… this is a matter of taste but if Brazilians from all the country are coming here, there is a reason… sun, hot girls, crazy parties, this is Floripa!
- A bit farther away, you can reach the ilha Santa Catarina, and its 56 paradisiac beaches. Here, the atmosphere is very different, chilling. We got our hostel in Barra de Lagoa, a beautiful village of surfers… and here we are: the area is a world-famous surfing spot. The world championship of body board are always ending in Praia Mole, hundreds meters away from our Hostel. Therefore we definitely had to learn how to surf and we focused two days on this :)
When learning about surfing, the first thing you need to know is not to take the smallest board… even if it looks easier to ‘handle’, you will never make anything out of it :p As we weren’t progressing at all, we took a training to learn the basics, on a long board… and we could stand up! (a pity that we don’t have pictures… being both in the water ^^). The thing is that beginners are surfing during several months with a very large board before being able to use the standard surf board without frustration… but now, we are ready to go on… New Zealand, Australia… watch for us! :)