Turtles, Beaches and a Pina Colada

Projeto Tamar (Turtle Project)

April 24th, 2011 – Rose early and walked the empty town streets – what a ton of trash everywhere! Unbelievable! But, a little later on when life started happening street-side, one by one people came outdoors and cleaned it all up sparkling new.

VISA signs are everywhere – they hang from every street sign and are on every shop. They’re even on benches lining the streets. It appears as though this town is owned by VISA.

Turtles Swimming in a Tank

Walked through Praia do Forte to the Turtle Project, and took about an hour going through it. It is very tourista, but there are quite a variety of turtles and lots of information, so definitely worth it. After reading how it was started, it appears that it started out as a Good Samaritan effort that was then capitalized on, making some of the original principals quite wealthy.

Five Species of Turtles Found Here

After visiting the Turtle Project, I walked the beautiful beach, which is stunning and has cove after cove of gorgeous beaches and reefs. On the return walk, I rented some snorkel gear and spent an enjoyable 30 minutes in relatively shallow water watching fish and reefs.

Turtle Migration Routes in the Atlantic

The fellow who’s business it was to rent snorkel gear – Junior – introduced me to a cocktail vendor who was perched up just behind him with his umbrella covered drink stand. I purchased a Pina Colada, not the best I’ve ever had, and he totally skunked me – charged me DOUBLE what he should have! I had a strong feeling I’d been totally ripped off, so I planned to find out about it later on.

Turtle Incubation Area

While sipping the Pina Colada, I met a lovely young engaged couple from Sao Paulo, and we got into an interesting conversation. Paula, a lawyer, and Cleber, an engineer currently working with an energy company, are both of Asian ancestry but were born in Brazil.

Gigantic Turtle Skeleton

They’re both very concerned about the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the very few here in Brazil,  and the mono crops of soybeans and cattle in Pantana (a western central state in Brazil). Brazil is starting to face an energy shortage, and Cleber was talking about the options of wind power they’re looking at. Unfortunately, here as everywhere, those who currently own the energy systems are not interested in seeing it change, according to Cleber. And the population and energy needs just keep growing!

Me with the $15 Pina Colada

Junior passed by us and invited us to his house, which is just back from the beach where his snorkel stand is. We joined him and had a tour of his home and upper deck with a fabulous view of the ocean.

I was very tired this evening, and crashed early. The rest of the dorm room girls didn’t show up all night long, so I finally got a pretty solid night’s sleep.

Stunning Beaches, Warm Water

Praia do Forte – Brazil’s Carmel-by-the-Sea

My alarm went off about 4:30 a.m. and I grabbed my bag and headed downstairs. Incredulously, Luis was still up! He had not gone to sleep all night! A family of five had come looking for a room late in the evening, and he had sold them the floor space of his office, where he normally sleeps! So he stayed up all night and worked on the computer! With mega-cups of coffee! Unreal! I don’t know how these people’s bodies survive!

The bus for the Aeropuerto pulled up across the street from Katharina House, and I hopped on board – it was still dark outside! It took almost an hour to arrive at the airport – we arrived at 5:45 a.m., and I learned there was a flight earlier than mine that I could have caught! Darn! I checked with the agent and rescheduled my connecting flight in Sao Paulo to an earlier flight that would arrive in Salvaldor at 2:55 p.m. instead of 4:25 p.m.  From Salvador I would have to catch a bus for a ride up the Coconut Coast to get to Praia do Forte (Beach Fort), and I needed all the time I could get for that last leg of the trip.

The flight from Foz du Iguazu to Sao Paolo had a stop in Curitiba, a beautiful coastal town north of Florianopolis that I had wanted to go to, but decided to save for another trip. It has a train ride that runs from the city down to the ocean, where the tracks are cut into the sheer cliffs and the view is spectacular (if not downright scary) through steep canyons on the way to the coast. I read about it in my travel guide, and the pictures were stunning. But Brazil is very large, and my time was limited.

Flying over Curitiba, it was quite impressive – very modern and clean looking. Later I learned that it is one of the top choice cities for folks who are retired and have their pick of places to live. Curitiba has great museums, symphonies, art galleries, restaurants, golf courses, theatre – everything wealthy retirees would enjoy.

The plane flew just off the coastline from Curitiba up to Sao Paolo over the water, and the views were magnificent – green hills, white beaches, clear blue water with breaking surf along the shorelines. Inland, there were some interesting geological features. There was a set of jutting coastal ranges running parallel with the beach, and in between the two ranges was a deep verdant valley  and large river running the length of the two ranges, nestled in between. Looked like the plate had suffered a serious buckle and uplift all along that stretch.

The air was very clean and the sky was sunny and blue, but as we approached Sao Paulo the sky became polluted and hazy gray-white. Sao Paulo is enormous, and it is astonishing to fly over just for sheer size.

The plane change in Sao Paulo went well, and boarded on time. I prayed my duffel bag made the connection. Didn’t need another one of THOSE experiences! The young man seated next to me had never flown before in his life, and he reeked of alcohol. He was quite nervous, and communicated to me (even though he didn’t speak English) that he thought his blood pressure was through the roof and his heart rate was too high. I grabbed his wrist and measured his pulse – it was maybe in the mid-70s – not bad at all. I showed him how to fasten his seat belt – he’d never used one before, not even in a vehicle!!! I showed him how to turn on the light for reading, the air for cooling, and the button to lean his seat back. Take-off was quite a rush for him and he couldn’t look out the window for about 10 minutes after we were in the air. Finally he started relaxing (after he’d ordered and drunk a beer), and by the end of the flight he even got up to go use the restroom, just like an old pro.

Once in Salvador, it was quite a culture change. Dress, mannerisms, speech, color – all very different than southern Brazil. And my baggage arrived – Glory of Glories!!! A small group of us stood waiting for the regularly running airport bus to take us into Salvador to the main bus terminal, so we could each catch our respective buses there. It never came.

After an hour and a half of waiting, two others and myself caught a cab – by now the sun was almost down. We arrived at the main bus terminal in Salvador at 5 p.m., I caught the last bus leaving north for the Coconut Coast at 6 p.m., and at 7 p.m. it dropped me in Praia do Forte!(Prah-ee-ah doe For-chay)

There at last! But…I had no hostel reserved. I walked down the main thoroughfare – a wild party was going on everywhere. The town looked very much like Carmel in California back about 20 years ago. It was lovely! Within about 15 minutes someone told me about an International Youth Hostel one street over. I found it – very nice one – and they had ONE BUNK LEFT! Unreal….saved again…by one bed…was this starting to be a lucky pattern?

The shared shower was busy, so I changed clothes and went out for dinner in the well-lit, noisy, highly active town. There were restaurants everywhere, and all look great, so I picked one and ordered filet of fish. The head chef was a woman, and she did a splendid job with the dish – gourmet! A perfect way to end the day!

And tomorrow, I would be off to see the Turtle Sanctuary, where crippled turtles found at sea or along the beach are brought to be rehabilitated and returned to the wild if they are able, or to live out their lives in peace and protection if they are not. Ahhh, sweet slumber after a long and lucky day of travel!

Ooops! Just did it Again!

Hey my dear readers! I just made a blooper and posted the last post without a title. I made another blunder a few posts ago on the Feathered Flyers post by posting it too soon, causing you to miss most of the post.

I encourage you to go to the blogsite at this link: http://www.sayslife.wordpress.com and read the title of fresh post, and catch up on the Feathered Flyers post.

Sorry about these bloopers. I am greatly enjoying writing knowing that you’re enjoying the journey with me. Thanks for being out there, and for all your comments!

Sayward

The World’s Longest Dam, And Bi-National, to Boot!

Lunch with the Sao Paulo Family

April 20, 2011 – Up around 7 a.m., a quick bite of pathetic breakfast, and caught the local bus to a terminal in Porto Iguazu, the border town on the Argentinian side of the Falls. It’s a very clean, quiet, attractive town. Caught another bus for the Brazilian border, only to have it leave us at the border as we stood in line to have our Passports checked. After 30 minutes, another bus came and picked us up and took us the rest of the way into the Brazilian town of Foz du Iguazu.

Spillway with Gigantic Uplift and Spray

I walked to one hostel – they were full. But the women who owned it were so kind to me – they called another nearby hostel to learn if they had vacancy, and sent me there. It was only about 4 blocks away. I walked to them – Katharina House (hostel) – and there was one dorm bed left! What a relief!

Itaipu Binacional (Bi-National Dam)

The owner, Luis, was quite a flirt, and I teased him about it. He’s from Chile originally, and was in love with a woman in Germany named Katharina during a 3 month period when he was living in Germany. She fell in love with another man, and he moved to Brazil. When he opened the hostel, he named it after her – his lost love.

Viewing Platform of Dam

There were 10 bunks in the room I got the last bed in, and the room is co-ed. There were two families taking up the whole room – 5 in one family, 4 in the other, and myself. The family of five were from Sao Paolo, and they invited me to join them for lunch, which I did. They were absolutely lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed their company and conversation. Such friendly people! They were on their way to Paraguay to do some shopping – apparently that is very common for folks in Brazil, which is very expensive. They can buy electronics, clothes and other goods in Paraguay for much, much less.

View from Paraguay

While dining with them at lunch, I noticed a high number of women walking on the sidewalks dressed in full Muslim attire. There must be a large population of Muslims in this part of Brazil, which is something I’d not seen in Florianopolis.

After lunch, I was looking at a map of the area and noticed the incredibly large hydro-electric dam. I asked Luis about it, and it turned out that it is the world’s longest hydro-electric dam!!! I had to see it! It was 3:30 p.m., and Luis said the last tour was at 4 p.m. – there was no time to spare! He called me a cab and it got me there just in time to join the last tour of the day!

Poster of Entire Dam

The dam is incredible! It is one of the 7 wonders of the engineering world. Brazil and Paraguay built it together and each share equally the electricity produced. For Paraguay, their share powers most of their country – about 90%. For Brazil, it contributes a sizable percentage – I think it was 30%.

Spillway from Bridge

The dam site is so massive that you travel by bus to a number of locations, most on the Brazilian side, but at one point the bus crosses over the top of the dam and presto! you’re in Paraguay for a short few minutes, where you actually get to de-board the bus and step foot onto the neighboring country! The whole operation is well protected and policed, with security forces watching all the people and all the buses all the time.

Tour Buses for Dam

But it all felt very friendly and I didn’t ever see any huge machine guns or anything that would have been intimidating. It was an incredible sightseeing trip, and one I would highly recommend to anyone going to Brazil.

Luis Barbecueing Steak

Back at the Katharina House, Luis was barbecuing meats of all kinds and was serving up gorgeous dinners. His 23 year old girlfriend was dressed up as a playboy bunny, which Luis ended up wearing later in the evening after more drinks had been consumed.

The 10-person dorm room was wickedly noisy all night til at least 2 a.m. – I may have gotten all of two hours of solid sleep that night! And the next morning I had to rise early to catch a flight all the way to Salvador, the capital city of Bahia. I was in for a long day’s journey on extremely little sleep! Thank goodness I hadn’t indulged during the evening’s revelry like the others.

Luis as a Playboy Bunny

The Argentinian Foz du Iguazu!!!

First View, Argentinian Foz du Iguazu

All 6 women rose from our bunks at about 7 a.m. at the Hostel Inn, a very lovely, large hostel that even has massage therapy rooms, pool tables, and a beer bar! Last night I won a game of pool against a young whipper snapper! Made me feel like I was still on my game, a little

Turtle in Lake before Falls

The breakfast buffet was quite lacking compared to the Submarino Hostel I enjoyed so much back in Florianopolis. Hardly anything edible for my type of eating. Glass of OJ and a couple hard boiled eggs was about all I could find appealing. Mostly there were unhealthy breads, jellies, and dry cocoa to make your own hot chocolate drink with. No bananas, no fruit of any kind other than measly oranges and apples that didn’t look too happy – no passion fruit, papayas, watermelon, pineapple.

Trail to Devil's Throat

Caught the bus to the Argentinian Foz du Iguazu. There are three major trails on this side of the Falls – Devil’s Throat, and the Upper and Lower hiking trails. I walked each of them, starting with Devil’s Throat.

Me with Butterfly, Devil's Throat Behind

Devil’s Throat is a major flow of river that cuts through a relatively narrow channel and plunges far below. The long walk-way to get out to Devil’s Throat had its own beauties on the way – turtles sunning, butterflies, and large water bodies before the Falls that looked like lakes.

Devil's Throat - too large for the camera

Out at Devil’s Throat itself, the roar is quite loud, the mist is thick, and the feeling or sensation of being at the edge of something really dangerous is pervasive. It’s so massive that it is captivating – hard to comprehend the magnitude of it, and you feel drawn to the edge…

Coatimundis into the Garbage Cans

Back along the river sides again, I hiked both the Upper and Lower Trails, each of them giving fantastic views from their high and low perspectives. There were a number of coatimundies inspecting the trash cans and fighting over bits of food – there were many dozens of them throughout the food courtyards, and the grounds keepers were constantly shooing them away from the trails and trash cans. Quite something to watch.

From Upper Trail looking down

From the Lower Trail, when looking at the Falls, rainbows appeared in the mist. It was quite beautiful – rainbows were everywhere you looked! In some places the end of the trail would take you to a landing from which you could gaze upward at a tall Falls coming down surrounded in mist and rainbows. Lovely!

From Lower Trail looking up

The Park had one last trail I wanted to take -  it led to a tall thin falls that fell into a natural swim pool below. The trail to it was 7000 meters long, and it took a while to get there. Beautiful walk through the jungle, with teams of monkeys swinging in the branches overhead – wow! The swim pool itself turned out to be rather muddy – no clarity, so you couldn’t see the large rocks on the bottom that made swimming impossible and walking in it treacherous. But it was good to have the experience, and I met some lovely people out there.

Double Rainbows

Once back to the Hostel Inn, I noticed a strange rash on the backside of my calves, and my ankles were quite swollen and tender to the touch. I attributed it to excess salt in the diet and lack of water, and heat rash – I had read about and experienced how salty all the food is here, and perhaps I hadn’t hydrated enough.

Jungle Trail to Falls Swimming Hole

The dinner was outdoor Bar-be-Que and everyone was seated farm style at long tables. Servers came around with platters of meat and doled them out to each individual. After dinner there was a band that instantly popped up from nowhere, and drums of all sizes appeared, along with the loudest music you’ve ever heard! A woman dressed in large feathers that almost didn’t cover any of her was dancing very exotically erotically. What a sight! Everyone was cheering and clapping at her moves, and the drums were urging her on! The music was so utterly load that I retreated to the computer inside, then on to bed where the earplugs came in very handy yet again!!

Muddy Swimming Hole from Top of Falls

The next morning I was to head out to cross back into Brazil, and get staged for my flight to Bahia, a north central state in Brazil that is populated mostly by descendants of slaves brought over from Africa in the 1700′s, and is rumored to have incredible food.

Incredible Butterfly

The Foz du Iguazu!!!

First View of Falls

After viewing the incredible birds and feeling all immersed in Nature, I walked across the road and entered the Brazilian side of the Foz du (Falls of ) Iguazu. The falls were overwhelmingly expansive in size, and the depth of plunging water took your breath away.

Boats Taking Tourists Under Falls

From along the trail that hugged the severely steep cliff, you could look almost straight down into the gorge below and see tourist boats loaded with people who had boarded on the Argentinian side, headed up for a splash underneath the roar and rumble of the cascading avalanche of water coming down from the falls.

Trail Out Over Abyss of Waterfall

At one point along the trail, it veered and headed out across the very top of the precipice from which the water fell hundreds of feet below, and from that scary place you could look back upriver and see a gigantic falls in front of you. Giant falls below and giant falls above, with mist flying all around, and all the masses of people covering their cameras from the moisture.  Intense!

Giant Falls Above Trail

I spent 1.5 hours on the Brazilian side, then made my way back to the parking lot and met up with my Tour Van. I was heading to the Argentina side – the word on the street was that it was much more spectacular than the Brazilian side. Hard to imagine!

Hundred of Falls Everywhere

The tour van driver was 30 minutes late in picking me up, and increasingly became a bit of a pain. He ended up dropping me off at my Hostel in Argentina last, instead of first as he had promised. The seemingly forever process to arrive at my hostel included waiting five minutes for a young woman to finally finish smoking her cigarette before she boarded the van – she lit up just as he opened the door to let her board!

A Wall of Falls

It took at least another 10 minutes when he dropped her off first at her hotel where she was having a change of heart as to where she should stay for the night, and almost decided to board the van again. The tour driver THEN went to a gas station and washed his windows (they were filthy with birdpoop) and asked ME to give the tip to the attendant for washing the windows!!!! Unreal…FINALLY he dropped me at the Hostel Inn and gave me big hugs and tried to hit on me – I bid him good-bye and did not tip him. Ahhhhh, the incidents that make travel memorable!

Falls Through the Forests

It was 4:15 p.m. by the time I was all checked in and headed out to the pool to catch the last 10 minutes of sun before it went down. The Hostel Inn is large and lovely with a beautiful outdoor pool. I would be sharing a room with 5 other women, and breakfast was, as always, included with the room price.

Me at an Overlook

They did not provide ear plugs, but I had brought my own, thankfully, as it was extraordinarily loud til around 2 a.m. with the heaviest decibel music I’ve ever heard at a Hostel! But, the bus to the Argentinian Falls stopped right across the road every few minutes each day, and I intended to catch it early the very next morning for another day of awe viewing Nature’s natural wonders.

And Always, The Beautiful Butterflies

Fabulous Feathered Flyers

Walking Map of Bird Sanctuary

April 19, 2011 – At the bus depot I spotted a tour van – there were many – and caught a ride to the Brazilian side of the Falls. Approaching the Falls area we passed a Bird Sanctuary, and I decided to visit it first before the Falls. It was incredible, and 2 hours rolled quickly by while watching all the incredibly colored birds.

Red Bird

There was every color, shape and size of bird I’ve ever seen!

Multi-Colored Bird

Large bird, small bird, quiet bird, loud – unbelievable!

Toucan

And fortunately, their enclosed areas were quite large and they could fly about in flocks!

Another Toucan

The flocks were rather large, some of them, and you were allowed to walk within their large enclosures and experience the birds swooshing by your face!

Ducks

In some of the large enclosures it actually felt like you needed to be careful in case the birds might all gang up against you and you’d be experiencing Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” in real time!

Yellow Bird

The giant enclosures just kept coming one after another along the sanctuary path.

Amazing Butterfly

There were even extraordinary butterflies!

Eye-Ball Butterfly

And beyond birds and butterflies, there were reptiles – Oh My!

Fountain

At the end of the trek through the Bird Sanctuary, I was in total awe of entire place!

Wing-brushed by a bird

This is a place I would definitely recommend seeing!

Watched from Above

And next – what could top this? – off to the Foz du Iguazu, just across the street!!!!

Last Day at Lagoa

April 18th, 2011 – Up early, though no one else at the Hostel was – they had all stayed up til the wee hours celebrating Rosy’s upcoming birthday by baking a cake and eating it before passing out! Therefore, Julio was late in arriving to put out the breakfast buffet, so I got on the Internet and checked email while waiting. Breakfast was finally ready at 8:30 a.m. I ate and headed out for a last morning stroll along the beach.

This was to be my last day in Lagoa. I would be taking the overnight bus to Foz du Iguazu in the evening. Slowly strolling along the waterfront, the waves were a bit too high on the Lagoon to take the kayak out. It was a day of change – you could feel it in the air.

Back at the Hostel, I packed up my bag and made ready to depart, though there was a good half day left before actually leaving. Spent time reading a book I’d been given before I left the States – I decided to lighten my luggage by reading it and gifting it at the book exchange downtown.

A little later in the day, Paolla’s mother came by with tragic news – Paolla’s dog had passed away during a 3-day stay at the vet’s. Paolla had not had a chance to say good-bye. She was totally heartbroken, and of course it brought back up all the deepest grief I had experienced upon the loss of my beloved dog, Brandon. The two of us cried together in our sharing of our dog stories, and then many of the Hostel guests decided we should all drink to the memory of Paolla’s dog. The hard liquor bottles and shot glasses were whipped out and quickly set up. Everyone gathered around, except me.

I made an excuse of having to take care of business before the evening’s bus ride, and ducked quickly out the main gate – no more liquor ever again for me, and it’s not the way to celebrate the passing of a life, in my opinion. I made that mistake myself several times after Brandon’s passing, and didn’t want to go back to that. I’d rather walk along the water’s edge and remember the beautiful times together, rather than drowning my cells in alcohol and grief.

I walked the book I had just finished reading to the Black Swan Book Exchange in Lagoa’s downtown business area, and since they don’t exchange books for someone who doesn’t live there, I gifted it to them. Got lunch at a great little buffet place, and finally meandered back to the Hostel. All had calmed down now, and nobody seemed smashed, probably because most of them were sleeping.

Three other Hostel folks were heading to the same bus terminal in downtown Florianopolis that evening, so we all caught the connections together. Good thing, too, as it was somewhat confusing between bus connections and terminals and walking routes…glad they knew where they were going! I was grateful to let them lead!

We all said good-bye at the main bus terminal in Florianopolis, as our paths were diverging, and I caught the Leito Bus (sleeper seat) to the Foz du Iguazu. The bus is two-storied, and the lower level has about 9 sleepers – bucket seats with foot rests that lean almost all the way back. It’s a more expensive ticket than the upstairs regular seats, and after what I know now, I wouldn’t do the sleeper seats again. The upstairs seats have the more incredible view, and some of the downstairs riders are loud snorers Plus, the sleeper seats don’t really lie flat, so in the end you get just a little more horizontal than the upstairs seats, though of course the seats downstairs are wider, but all in all, next time I would take the high ride.

I did have some curious dreams, though, and felt pretty rested in the morning, so I guess I got enough rest. The bus rolled into the dawning sunshine of one of the most spectacular water wonders on Earth – the Foz du Iguazu (Falls of Iguazu). I was ready to be enthralled….

Transported in Time

Janet and Fynn

April 17th – Up early and saw Janet and Fynn off – what a lovely young couple from Germany traveling for many weeks together around South America on the beaten route traveled regularly by the Europeans. I had not heard of the route before this trip, but it covers most of the countries in South America along a particular course, and all the Europeans know of it.

Me at the top of the trail

Juli0, the owner of the Submarino Hostel, gave me the bus connection information to arrive at the southern part of the island, from where you can take a hiking trail up over a saddle to a private beach not accessible by any other way than hiking or boating. Myself and two other female travelers staying at the Submarino Hostel headed to the bus, made our connections, got off at the correct bus stop (thanks to the bus man who understood where we were going through hand signs and broken Spanish) and actually found the trail!

Destination - Beach of Seclusion

It was up, up, up on a wet slippery track, alternating between smooth slippery rock surfaces and smooth slippery mud. After a half hour ascending on the trail, a bleeding man with bandages on various parts of his arm and head came passing by, warning us to be very careful, that he had slipped and injured himself. His friends had gone on to the beach, as he didn’t want them to change their day plans for him, but he had turned back and was going down to get better medical help.

South Cove of the Secluded Beach

After he passed we discussed it and decided to continue but to pay even more attention to our footing. The hike was supposed to last only 45 minutes, but it took 1.5 hours. One of the girls was hiking barefoot, which slowed us down considerably – her flip flops had no grip and she felt more secure of her footing in bare feet.

River Running to Ocean

We finally arrived at a lookout platform which had tremendous views and we could actually see the beach to which we were heading. Another half hour and we arrived, and walked to the end of the beach where a river emptied into the ocean.

It was gorgeous and warm. We spread our beach towels out on the sand and sunbathed, and occasionally went for a swim in the river. It was incredibly peaceful hearing the sound of the surf crashing on the shoreline not far away, feeling the heat, smelling the negative ions, hearing the bird calls. So tranquil. We each slept in the sun awhile, completely relaxed, melting into sand, consumed by natural sounds, absorbed into Mother Earth herself, returning to simple Is in timelessness.

River Emptying to Ocean

Too soon we realized we should start heading back to catch the last bus for the hour ride back to Lagoa. Our hike back up over the saddle and down to civilization took only 45 minutes, and after purchasing a beer at a nearby market (mercado) to celebrate a great day, the bus arrived and we boarded.

On the Beach

Back in Lagoa the night was black, the moon was full and gigantic, and I was hungry. I dined at “DNA Natural,” a restaurant in town, savoring salmon, salad and a lemon drink. On my walk back to the hostel, there were craft stands set up all along the main road, with vendors selling beautiful jewelry, books and crafts, lit by candle light and the full moon.

Brazil's Santa Cruz? Lost in Time?

It reminded my strongly of the type of scene one would have experienced in southern California during the 60′s and 70′s. The young vendors were all dressed in the hippie style clothes of that era, with beads, hair styles, body art, jewelry – it was amazing! I felt like I had stepped outa place, outa time. The whole day had been like that, actually. In the southern part of the island while waiting for the bus, I saw old VW buses driving around with surfboards on top, their sides painted with bright artwork of psychedelic colors and designs. The prices for beer at the Mercado were many reals cheaper than anywhere up around Lagoa, and hippie-dressed youth were riding bicycles in the late afternoon sun around the quiet, sand-sided streets. I could have sworn I had been transported back in time to the early 1970s in Santa Cruz, California, and I began to wonder about that snooze on the magic beach…where was I now, really?

Under the magic of the full bright white moon,  I fell asleep in my little hostel bed for my last night in the Florianopolis area. Tomorrow I would be on my way to the Foz du Iguazu on the borders of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil – one of the largest waterfalls in the world. More wonders and discoveries lay just ahead.

Magical Beach

 

Gorgeous Graffiti Galore

Graffiti in Florianopolis 1

During the week I was in the Florianopolis area of southern Brazil, I walked alot. One of the most amazing things that stood out to me was the incredible graffiti. Every city has it’s brand of graffiti, and in many cities that I’ve been I’ve seen interesting artwork in the form of graffiti. But, here in the Florianopolis region, I saw such joy and freedom expressed in the graffiti that I thought I’d make a separate post just to honor it.

Graffiti in Florianopolis 2

There are undoubtedly meanings and messages behind these works of art with which I am unfamiliar. Some appear to be the anthropomorphizing of the animal and/or fish world, other artworks may be statements on political or humanitarian conditions.

Graffiti in Florianopolis 3

For me, I found it as an unexpected and curious form of beauty from a people and culture to whom I was being introduced for the very first time. I took snaps of almost every graffiti I saw. These photos were taken of graffiti that was painted on bridges, retaining walls, concrete fences, the sides of buildings and anywhere else I saw it.

Grafiti in Florianopolis 4

The colors, designs and childlike freedom in the quality of most of these artworks reminded me of the Bay Area artwork of the 1960s during the Flower Power generation.  One thing I noticed about Brazil in general is that much of the country struck me as similar in decades to those of the 60s-70s and maybe even 80s in the United States, at least in the West Coast region.

Grafiti in Florianopolis 5

If anyone knows the meanings of some of these graffiti, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you. View and enjoy!

Graffiti in Florianopolis 6