Victoria and Justin: Florianopolis....a touch of paradise

Another overnight bus and we were in Florianopoils. The trip itself was pretty uneventful, although Alicia wasn't too happy being stuck next to a 'smelly' man (who climbed over her each time the bus stopped, every 4 hours). We were staying near a beach called Praia Mole, at a hostel called Sunset Backpackers. It was one of the nicest settings, for a hostel, that we've seen on our travels. The place was perched at the top of a hill overlooking a massive lagoon, with a sweeping balcony and the sun shining, it was welcome to paradise! We booked two private rooms as Princess Alicia wanted her own room, fortunately both our rooms had little balconies overlooking the lake, so what a perfect setting for some relaxation.

We arrived on a Sunday of a long weekend, and on the Monday there was a big party at a club called P12 located at Jurere Beach, it's run by the same mob as Pacha. We weren´t too sure what to expect but decided to go, and aren´t we glad we did. The club had a massive swimming pool surrounded by white sun lounges, a huge dancefloor and plenty of bars. And as the place filled up with the local gliterati it started to crank up. We were there with a couple of guys from our hostel, Paul from Sydney and Omid for London. Justin was happy to have some 'man friends' after hanging out with Hannah, Alicia and me for the last two weeks. So, the drinks started flowing at 1pm and didn´t stop all day. The day went by in a blurr, definitely a highlight! Tuesday was basically a right off, although we did make it down to the beach.

And the rest of the week was 'mucho relaxo', spending most days at the beach. Our local beach 'Praia Mole' was only a 5 minute walk down the hill, a nice little beach with a few cafes but nothing too serious. Apparently it's also the local gay beach, although we had no confirmed sightings (they must have been hiding at the nudest beach just over the rocks). The other beach we enjoyed was Joaquina Beach, about a half an hour walk away, this is the local surf beach which spans some kilometres, it reminded us of Australian beaches.

Our nights were pretty casual, enjoying a few beers (and caipirinha) on the balcony at sunset followed by dinner at the hostel. Our low key approach was also partly driven by the cost of going out in Brasil. The prices in restuarants, bars and nightclubs are almost on par with some European holiday resorts. And we're travelling on the British Peso (previous know as the Pound).

A relaxing week in paradise was great preparation for the chaos of our next stop, a weekend in Buenos Aires.