Having thought that we had left all our eventful bus journeys back in Bolivia, we were sadly mistaken... a few hours into our overnight road trip the bus was boarded by customs offiicals... and a few minutes later we were asked to disembark. Amongst a flurry of confusion and panic-stricken local women trying to force bags into our hands (as well as the 5 Swedish girls behind us), we edged our way out of the vehicle. For a further hour we stood on the sidelines of a beetle-infested tunnel emptying our backpacks whilst the guilty continued to scuffle around intent on hiding something. Holding firm with our continuous refusals to assist, they sought help from other locals who did in fact oblige, and who were duly rewarded thereafter... 11 hours later we arrived at our destination.
Just as the names suggested, Florianopolis and the Island of Santa Catarina provided an ideal setting to unwind for a few days... filled with forest-backed beaches, misty mountains and immaculate lakes. On arrival we decided to hire a car in order to explore the island in more depth, using the west-coast fishing village of Barra de Lagoa as our initial base. Soon after checking into a friendly guesthouse a short distance from a kite-surfing beach, this small town erupted with the proud sounds of car horns... Brazil had beaten Venezuela in a World Cup qualifier... and the parading ensemble of cars just showed how passionate they were about it. Over the next few days we covered 200km around the island using a very confused sat-nav... on certain days we simply lazed on the slow-paced beaches, whilst on others we lost ourselves in the varying landscapes. We liked to think of our stay in Florianopolis as representing the calm before our stormy next stop... Rio de Janeiro.
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