Florianópolis - Ilha da Magia

I have to start with a confession. I thought I was going to have a lot of time to dedicate to this blog, catching you all up with the things I've been seeing and the foods I have been eating. You might have guessed by the lack of new post... this has not been the case.

First week (and a half) in Brazil

Honestly, the first day that I arrived in my current destination, it was absolutely pissing it down. Did I use the time wisely to write some blog posts? No. I slept.

I can't lie. The first week was pretttty overwhelming. I felt overloaded by just the sheer quantity of decisions I had to make each day. What do I have for breakfast? For lunch? For dinner? Where do I go tomorrow? Who do I want to talk to? Do I even want to talk to anyone? On top of that, I am really forcing myself to speak Portuguese, and am pushing myself to maximise every opportunity. I'm also trying to listen to Portuguese-language podcasts and have even bought a book, which I am slowly making my way through. As with anything, this is quite a draining process at the beginning and I have found myself getting very tired after even a simple coversation. But, the good news... no, the best news.. is that it's working! There's one podcast that I've been listening to called "Nene da Brasilândia". Last week, I started it at 0,8 speed. This week Ive been listening to it on normal speed (albeit, only when I concentrate suuuuper hard).

All that being said. I've had the best first week ever. I found São Paulo pretty overwhelming, but the minute I touched down in Florianópolis and properly began the trip, I felt amazing. So, what have I been up to?

Florianópolis - a Ilha da Mágia

The places

This place is amazing. The weather sucked when I first arrived, but I still made the most of it by spending as much time outside as possible.

The first night I stayed in the city of Floripa and took the time to explore the city. Went to the market (for the food, obvs, more on that later...) and around the museum. The city centre itself is quite small and not the most beautiful.

I also took a lil trip to a "quiet little fisherman's village" of Santo Antônio de Lisboa up the coast. Whilst beautiful, it was neither a little "fisherman's village" (I was informed that it's just an area of the city of Florianópolis) nor "quiet" or "little". There were so many domestic tourists, it felt a bit mad. That being said, the trip was definitely worth it and I found a few beautfiul and quieter places. Special shout out to Sambaqui and the Livraria Latina.

View from Sambaqui

After that, I hopped on a bus and lugged all my stuff to the middle of the island, next to the Lagoa (Lake) de Conceição. The town itself wasn't so **aesthetically pleasing** but the lake was beautiful and there were so many green hikes and white beaches, that I extended my stay to four days. Bliss.

The final place I visited was a beach called "Praia do Forte" on the North of the island. I took myself here for a beach day (only took 2 hours on the bus) and basically had the place to myself. Had a lil swim in the sun, had a lil nap AND I didn't even get burnt. Whaddaday.

Dunno what this awful grin is, but Liv, Laugh, Beach I guess

The activities

My main goal in Floripa was to do some hikes. Mostly because of the nature, health, yada yada, but also because hiking is an excellent activity to do when you haven't found any friends yet. Strategically planning, you see. That being said, I managed to find company for 2 out of 4 hikes. Well done me!

I'm going to keep yakking on about the amount of hikes that I squeezed in, because that is a lot of sport for a categorically un-sporty gal. Was very happy by the time my 17 hour bus ride to Foz do Iguaçu rolled around.

There are two particularly worth mentioning.

The Caminho da Costa da Lagao ao Canto dos Araças is a hike that takes you initially along the lake's edge, before taking you into more jungle-like territory with dense and green trees overhead. We even saw a monkey! After 2.5 hours, the trail ends in a fisherman's village with a large selection of restaurants, that are otherwise only accessible by boat. We had a v delicious meal before getting the boat taxi back to the hostel.

The Lagoinha do Leste is the most famous hike, and for bloody good reason. It was initially quite chill with a 2 hour trail taking you from jungly to more wild grass and rocky type terrain. But then you arrive at this beauty of a lake, only to look up and see a blimming great rock ahead of you. And that's what you're supposed to climb. To be fair, it did only take 20 minutes to get to the top. But definitely among the top 10 of worst 20 minutes of my life. If you therefore have already seen this view too many times, I am not sorry. It was hard work!!

View from the Pico de Coroa, overlooking Lagoinha do Leste beach

Funny (?) anecdote (side note: if you are my parent or related to me, don't read on!): as all the people I'd met in the hostel had left the day before and this trail is not recommended to do alone, I roped in a rogue Dutch guy from the hostel to join me on my 6:30am start. I'd literally overheard him saying to another that he was interested in doing the hike and invited him without having said a word previously to him. Over the course of the hike, I realised that I was doing the hike, alone, with no one around for a least 2 hours, with an incel and potential Nazi. Ooops. Lesson learnt: don't go on isolated hikes with men you've just met!

The food and drinks

I am a girl who is led by her stomach. This is what this whole blog is about. So I'm going to get straight to all the new things I've tried, along with my thoughts:

Coxinha

A really cute photo of me stuffing my face with coxinha

This is amazing. 10/10. Fried potato (?) with some form of cheese and chicken in the middle. Absolutely banging. Would do again.

Caldo de cana

Also God tier. Especially amazing after a hike. It's just sugarcane juice and literally nothing more. There's loads of articles online in Portuguese about the "nutritional benefits" of the drink. But if we're all being honest with ourselves, it's just sugar. And juice I have only deducted a point, because, wait, no. I give it 10/10.

Empada de frango

I went back to the same stand where I had my coxinha and decided to mix it up with a different pastel. The filling was a creamy chicken, but the pastry: fillig ratio was a bit off. So I give it a 7/10.

Guaraná

This is the best thing ever. Sweet with a hint of fruit - like a mixture of cherry and apple juice -and super refreshing when cold. I could drink this every day, and typing that, I actually think I have. My teeth will fall out and I will carry on drinking this.

20/10

Sukito

It's a Fanta, but even sweeter and with Brazilian branding.

6/10

Camarão a milanesa

It's prawns (or shrimp?), covered in batter, fried, served with a squeeze of lime and a heavenly dip. I ate this, sat by a lake, on an island in Brazil. What's not to like?

10/10

Pão francês

Shout to my ex-colleague Lucas, who insisted that I try this bread. I don't know what to tell you folks, it's those small French bread rolls you get in many parts of the world. Still great, but

5/10

Nothing new

Suvaco de sabugo

These are fried corn and cheese balls, which in my case, were served with a pineapple salsa. I'm not sure if it was just the restaurant I went to, but I found these very bland, with just a few sweetcorn kernels dotted throughout them. There was no cheesy taste and if anything, the batter just made them really dry.

2/10

Conclusion

It's been a really great first week, and my Eat, Pray, Liv season is in full swing. I definitely need to start eating more vegetables though. For next week!