Fuel is expensive in Uruguay but we didn’t
need to buy any. The landing/parking and customs fees came to about
US$100. There was a low overcast/undercast for the first half an hour or
so, otherwise fine flying weather for the 4 and a half hour flight. We
flew over some stunning scenery on the last part of our flight: lagoons,
beaches and rich green vegetation.
Florianópolis (affectionately called Floripa by Brazilians) is the most
efficient airport of entry we’ve been to in Brazil. All the formalities,
including the temporary import of the plane, took just one and a half
hours – about half the usual time. This could be thanks to the fact that
Southern Brazil was largely populated by German immigrants. Also, the
region is probably the most prosperous in the country, hence a low crime
rate.
The southern part of Santa Catarina Island is known to be the prettiest
and least developed. At the Mexico Earthrounders meeting we’d met Jack
and Linda who, by coincidence, were planning to be on Santa Catarina
Island about the same time as us. We’d therefore booked the same pousada
as them, the Pousada
Penareia (foot in the sand) on Praia da Armação, owned and run by a
charming Paulista couple, Klaus and Fernanda Greiner. Klaus is an
architect and designed the pousada. Fernanda is a dentist, but still
finds time to produce a memorable breakfast for the house guests, with
fresh tropical fruit juices and tempting coconut and chocolate cakes,
etc.
We watched a superb sunset over the sea as we sipped excellent
caipirinhas prepared by Klaus. It was good to be back in Brazil
again. It was almost as though we’d completed the full circle around
South America, but Brazil is huge and we were still a long way from
Recife.
16 March 2006. We took a boat to nearby Ilha do Campeche for some
snorkelling, cervejas geladas and fish. Jack and Linda arrived
late in the evening after a long day’s flying by commercial airline.
17 March 2006. We followed Linda and Jack’s example and joined them for
a pre-breakfast walk on the beach. It’s tough to get up early, but worth
the effort as it’s the best time of day for walking: not too hot and few
people around apart from some fishermen. Later, we went on a hot and
sticky walk from Pântano do Sul up and down a hill to the gorgeous beach
of Praia da Lagoinha do Leste. After a refreshing swim, we were hungry
and didn’t feel like walking all the way back again. I can imagine this
happened frequently to other hikers, and an astute young Brazilian had
cottoned on to it. He made a business of transporting people back to
Pântano do Sul in his dinghy. However, it was quite a hair-raising
experience getting out to sea through all the pounding surf! That
evening we enjoyed a leisurely dinner of oysters with Jack and Linda.
18 March 2006. We lunched at a restaurant which had good food and great
bossa nova music, as well as a superb view over Lagoa da Conceição.
Linda met us there and we went to the Lagoa to watch Jack do his kite
surfing and take a walk by the lagoon. Farewell dinner with Linda and
Jack. |
Lagoons and beaches south of Santa Catarina Island
|
Top right beach is Armação (where we stayed), and left is Pântano do Sul. We walked from there to Praia da Lagoinha do Leste (bottom right).
|