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Brasil 1 - Torres & Florianopolis |
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Casapagina |
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Once we arrived in the disaster of a town called Chuy we ran into even more problems. This is a town straddling the border of Brasil and Uruguay, the Brasilian side of town is all supermarkets and the Uruguayan side is all duty free shops, we had no interest in either and wanted out as soon as possible. We soon found that there wasn�t a bank machine in town that would take our cards and the curmudgeonly old man at the Uruguayan border office wouldn�t give us our exit stamps.
As both man and machine refused to deal with us we decided to take our chances and try to cross into Brasil without money or an exit stamp. We dug deep into our money belts for any hard currency we could find. We came up with 26 USD, 40 Brasilian Reals given Darryl for Christmas, and 5 Euros left over from my last trip and with this cobbled together 132 reals, amply covering the 124 Real bus fare we needed to get on the bus to Puerto Alegre. As we approached the Brasilian border at midnight with our hearts in our throats and our 6 real surplus in hand we prepared to bribe the Brasilian border guards. Luckily they were apparently unconcerned with their Uruguayan counterpart�s refusual to issue our exit and let us in without a question (thankfully as we speak absolutely zero Portuguese).
So now we are in Brasil, and paradoxically, still in Uruguay officially, and are having a great time living it up on the beautiful beaches and in the clear blue surf. Our first stop was Torres, which was aesthetically spectacular but clearly catered to a different class of traveller (read: not the sort of people that scrounge together bus fare). After a night spent there we headed to Florianopolis which, after finding appropriate accomodation (read: not squalid) we spent an great 5 days. Here are some pics for your viewing enjoyment. |
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Looking north along the beach from the rocks at Torres.
Note: How far forward my weight is and my tepid `hurry up and take the damn thing�smile... |
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...and that�s why. |
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Looking Southwest at sunset. |
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The self take at Praia Mole, a legendary surf spot on Ilha Santa Catarina. |
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The rocks where we took the legendary self take at Praia Mole. |
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Our friend Michael from VA enjoying a fruity beverage and a Sanduiche Frango on Mole the day before. |
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That�s Darryl about to get demoed by a wave on Mole! |
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This was the campsite we stayed at the 1st night in Barra de Lagoa in Floripa, you can almost see the look of disgust on my face...I was going to giver� a big thumbs down but the decrepid owner was watching as we packed up and left. It was a bit awkward but when you�ve only got one bathroom, for 20 people it must happen alot. (The real final straw was when Darryl flushed the toilet in the morning and sewage water started backing up in the shower drain!). |
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There are between 42 and 1,380 beaches on Ilha Santa Catarina, depending on who you ask and how many beers they�ve had. This is one of the souther beaches, Campeche, with Ilha Campeche 2km offshore in the background. |
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In Brasil they have buffets where they weigh your plate and charge you by the Kilo, usually around 7 Reals a kilo (approximately $3.50).
As you can see Darryl�s a big fan. |
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This was our fashionable driver from the 16 hour odyssey from Floripa to Foz de Iguacu. Would you get on a bus with this man driving? Did I mention there was no A/C on the bus.
Sorry about the fuzziness, that� a result of sea-spray, I think it gives him a nice soft focus. |
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We spend a lot of time playing Backgammon and Yahtzee, this was a very proud moment when we rolled our first `1 Roll Yahtzee`, it was all ones too...creepy. |
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You guys are Dumb, I�m outta here! |
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Let�s See Brasil 2 |
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Let�s See Uruguay 2 Again |
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Back to the Casapagina |
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