Here’s a boring, obvious statement; travelling is tiring. That’s why, as amazing as it is to travel, it’s sometimes also amazing to stand still for a while. And that is how our intended two nights in Florianopolis blew out to 11.

Florianopolis is the main city on the Santa Catarina Island, but we actually stayed in the small fishing village of Barra de Lagoa. There is a large lagoon (lagoa) on the island and the village is situated where the channel flows into the ocean.

The place is so picturesque, it almost doesn’t look real. It’s like a film set for the Brazilian version of Dawson’s Creek or something:

I took these photos on my iPhone, no filters or editing!

We spent the entire Christmas/New Year period in Barra de Lagoa doing not much at all. We went to the beach, swam every day and read lots of books.

The main beach was absolutely packed every day. With families, people lounging at beach restaurants, women in thong bikinis (turns out that particular stereotype is absolutely true!), surfers, portable bars and people selling anything and everything you could possibly ever need. It was a bit like Bali in that sense.

Oh and check out the view from our private hostel room!

See how packed it is?

We spent 4 glorious nights in the private room with that view. Then we had to move to a dorm; the perils of not booking ahead.

One day we attempted a hike to a supposed private beach. It was doomed from the beginning. It was sweltering hot, I managed to cut my arm on a barbed wire fence, then I fell on a steep path and cut open my elbow and burst into tears. We abandoned the hike after that.

Turns out the path was to a busy beach that can be reached by cars and buses. Glad we gave up! This view was pretty nice though:

Right before I fell over

We found a nice, smaller beach to hang out at.

I tried to take an innocent photo of my watermelon slice and ended up getting this lady’s butt in the frame:

lol

On one day we gave stand up paddle boarding a spin.

It is so popular, we’ve seen it everywhere along this trip and had been wanting to give it a try.

It was actually easier than I expected! Except for paddling against the wind.

Taking a break

The best part was actually falling off. It made an otherwise slow activity a bit more exciting.

Getting back on

Afterwards we treated ourselves to acai cups. They are everywhere in Brazil and on #fitspo instagram accounts, being such a buzz health food and all. Acai is a fruit and the cups contain a frozen puree of the berries, plus extras like fruit and condensed milk (not so healthy!). They are pretty delicious and if you believe the hype, good for you too.

The aforementioned nice, smaller beach:

Shame about the powerline

We were sad to leave. Thanks Flori x