Where we were staying, it was raining heavily. We took the public bus from Florianopolis City to Barra da Lagoa, where our hostel was located.
It is an island, located between Sao Paulo and the Brazil/Uruguay border. It has many bays and small islands. You can explore the island on your own without a guide. And it is also a surfer's paradise. We stayed in Barra da Lagoa, a small fishing village, with a beautiful bay. It was our first time staying in a hostel, and it was amazing. We met so many people and had conversations about what to do. Most backpackers either follow the same route as us or come from the opposite direction, which gave us a lot to talk about. After checking out our room, we realized that we didn't have much money left. So we got back on the bus and drove for 20 minutes to the nearest ATM. I had a little heart attack when I tried to withdraw money and got the message 'Daily limit reached'. I got nervous and tried different ATMs, but they all gave me the same message. My first thought was that my card had been hacked. But when we went to another bank, it worked, phew!In the evening, we went to the hostel bar to play cards, but all the seats were taken and everyone else was in the middle of a conversation. So we ended up playing just the two of us. When we woke up the next morning, it was raining again, but we had an amazing view.A paradise, for 9 Francs including breakfast and this view. Then we met a couple from Dublin. We quickly realized how easy-going they were. They told us that they were going on a boat trip, and we decided to join them without hesitation. When we waited for the boat, more people joined us, and we knew it would be fun. We set sail with about 800 liters of beer, meat for grilling, and a specific destination in mind. Music was playing, Bob Marley. We drank beer, sat at the bow, on the roof, and simply enjoyed ourselves.This was the beach where there was only one house with a horse and five dogs. We grilled, drank, swam, and watched out so that the horse wouldn't eat our food. Our captain, also known as Robin Crusoe, announced that he had a surprise for us. He pulled out a huge fish from the cooler that he caught with his bare hands in the morning and threw it back into the sea. When we looked at it, we believed him. By evening, we were quite drunk and headed back to the hostel. We experienced the sunset on the boat. We had dinner at the hostel, which was the best so far. One chef was from Japan and the other from Italy. We got the main course for 9 CHF plus a drink. That was the homemade pesto pasta with freshly caught crab. The next day, we wanted to explore another part of the island. We started walking to a beach that could only be reached by foot. It took about 2 hours, with a path that had to be climbed on a mountain ridge. We enjoyed the hike with its amazing views. The trails were overgrown, and every 10 meters there was a giant spider jumping towards us. Among other things, we also saw, to my horror, a tarantula waiting for its prey on a leaf. Muriel said, 'Oh, let's watch it,' but I was already about 50 meters away and didn't hear her anymore. After 1 hour and 30 minutes, we reached the beach, incredible! There were only a few surfers and us. Oh, not quite. There were 2-3 old men with binoculars who were standing naked in front of women and watching them. Ugh...The only downside of this beach was that there was hardly any shade. We could only lie against the wall. On the way back, we enjoyed the sunset hike. Then we exchanged our experiences with the others, had a beer and dinner at night. Yes, it was the time of our departure.Now we are heading to Porto Alegre, a 6-hour bus ride. There we will change buses and overnight in Uruguay, leaving Brazil behind. Next Stop: Punta del Este, Uruguay
