Florianopolis
My first couple of days in Floripa have been nice, even if the weather hasn't. The travel day was rougher than anticipated. Flying business from Vancouver-Toronto-Sao Paulo was obviously great, but due to some confusion with Air Canada I had a mild airport panic in Sao Paulo. All was finally resolved and I got to my hostel in Floripa at about 11 PM local, about 29 hours after departing Vancouver.
Floripa is quite idyllic in a number of ways. It has some very pristine beaches which are really not very busy at all. On Day 1, I took the bus to Barra de Lagoa and the beach was almost empty but for a few hardcore surfers. I chalked this up to it being quite windy, rainy and even cold (thermometers said 21 Celsius but with the wind and rain it certainly felt worse). But today was fairly nice and we went to Praia Mole, which is considered the busiest beach here, and it wasn't busy at all:
In truth, it was probably busier than this picture makes it look like; it's just what it happened to look like at the time I took it. Anyway, it's nice because it's busy enough to support some commerce, but not commercial enough to be intrusive. So you can sit on the beach and order some food from the restaurants (the waiters will come right to your spot on the beach, and open up a tab for you), and there are people walking by selling bottled water and acai, but it is never intrusive or high pressure like say, Thailand or the Bahamas. There are maybe ten businesses (restaurants and surf stores) along the entire beach, and everything is very soft sell. Even though tourism is clearly very important to Floripa, it's not at all in-your-face or aggressive.
But considering how quiet the beaches are and that Floripa has a population of just over 400,000 and is quite a large island with a population density of 940/km^2, there's an awful lot of traffic. Coming back from Praia Mole today, our group traveled nearly 20 minutes on a bus for a trip that spanned just 3km. Part of this, I suppose, is very narrow beach roads which do not allow for traffic to move readily.
As for the hostel, I like it quite a bit, which surprises me somewhat. The last time I stayed at a hostel was Barcelona in 2005, and for the most part, I fucking hated it. The place was not nice, the beds were awful, and people would come in stumbling drunk at 4AM waking up the entire dorm and generally being giant assholes. I did meet some people I liked, but what I remember most was a bunch of people my age whose only real objectives seemed to be getting shitfaced drinking anything in sight or laid by anyone willing -- basically transposing their lives from their home country to a different one.
But here, the hostel is great. It's a beautiful house. There's a pool table, swimming pool, nice kitchen, but most importantly, tons of space to just hang out. I've counted at least six hammocks, there are lots of couches, balconies, and so forth. People are often watching soccer in the TV room at the same time others are cooking in the kitchen, while some are lounging poolside, others are sleeping in the hammocks, and still others are reading. I think the capacity here is 22, but it never feels remotely cramped at all because everything is so spacious. Quite the opposite of feeling guilty about hanging out at the hostel all day on a rainy day, you quite enjoy it. They also have an optional dinner (US$7) which is good and almost everyone attends and has dinner together. They also plan and organize group activities daily so if you're motivationally-challenged like I am, you still end up doing a bunch of stuff.
And perhaps because the hostel is nice, the people here are pretty cool too. I can honestly say no one here has been obnoxiously loud at 4am. Of course, I'm older and wiser now and got a private room, but I'm often up late and see folks trickle in and I've yet to see anyone just come in shitfaced. The hostel is just on a regular residential street and the neighbours are just regular people, so they are quite strict about enforcing the rules (the in-house bar closes at 10:30, and noise is supposed to be reduced at 11). It's definitely a more mature crowd, perhaps not in age but actual maturity. It's a fairly expensive hostel as hostels go (the cheapest bed is $30, my room with private bathroom is $85) so maybe there is some selection bias at play. Anyway, I'm not sure why I did, but I'm glad I decided to give hostelling a second chance.
So tomorrow, I hear the plan is that some group will head out to one of the beaches on the southern part of the island, and that they will depart around 11 AM. So maybe I'll do that, and maybe I won't, but it's awesome that I can do this tourism thing while not having to plan or think about anything at all.
Also, acai is the greatest substance on the planet. Those who disagree will be armbarred (I don't necessarily mean by me, but really, it's just a safer position to take).
Floripa is quite idyllic in a number of ways. It has some very pristine beaches which are really not very busy at all. On Day 1, I took the bus to Barra de Lagoa and the beach was almost empty but for a few hardcore surfers. I chalked this up to it being quite windy, rainy and even cold (thermometers said 21 Celsius but with the wind and rain it certainly felt worse). But today was fairly nice and we went to Praia Mole, which is considered the busiest beach here, and it wasn't busy at all:
In truth, it was probably busier than this picture makes it look like; it's just what it happened to look like at the time I took it. Anyway, it's nice because it's busy enough to support some commerce, but not commercial enough to be intrusive. So you can sit on the beach and order some food from the restaurants (the waiters will come right to your spot on the beach, and open up a tab for you), and there are people walking by selling bottled water and acai, but it is never intrusive or high pressure like say, Thailand or the Bahamas. There are maybe ten businesses (restaurants and surf stores) along the entire beach, and everything is very soft sell. Even though tourism is clearly very important to Floripa, it's not at all in-your-face or aggressive.
But considering how quiet the beaches are and that Floripa has a population of just over 400,000 and is quite a large island with a population density of 940/km^2, there's an awful lot of traffic. Coming back from Praia Mole today, our group traveled nearly 20 minutes on a bus for a trip that spanned just 3km. Part of this, I suppose, is very narrow beach roads which do not allow for traffic to move readily.
As for the hostel, I like it quite a bit, which surprises me somewhat. The last time I stayed at a hostel was Barcelona in 2005, and for the most part, I fucking hated it. The place was not nice, the beds were awful, and people would come in stumbling drunk at 4AM waking up the entire dorm and generally being giant assholes. I did meet some people I liked, but what I remember most was a bunch of people my age whose only real objectives seemed to be getting shitfaced drinking anything in sight or laid by anyone willing -- basically transposing their lives from their home country to a different one.
But here, the hostel is great. It's a beautiful house. There's a pool table, swimming pool, nice kitchen, but most importantly, tons of space to just hang out. I've counted at least six hammocks, there are lots of couches, balconies, and so forth. People are often watching soccer in the TV room at the same time others are cooking in the kitchen, while some are lounging poolside, others are sleeping in the hammocks, and still others are reading. I think the capacity here is 22, but it never feels remotely cramped at all because everything is so spacious. Quite the opposite of feeling guilty about hanging out at the hostel all day on a rainy day, you quite enjoy it. They also have an optional dinner (US$7) which is good and almost everyone attends and has dinner together. They also plan and organize group activities daily so if you're motivationally-challenged like I am, you still end up doing a bunch of stuff.
And perhaps because the hostel is nice, the people here are pretty cool too. I can honestly say no one here has been obnoxiously loud at 4am. Of course, I'm older and wiser now and got a private room, but I'm often up late and see folks trickle in and I've yet to see anyone just come in shitfaced. The hostel is just on a regular residential street and the neighbours are just regular people, so they are quite strict about enforcing the rules (the in-house bar closes at 10:30, and noise is supposed to be reduced at 11). It's definitely a more mature crowd, perhaps not in age but actual maturity. It's a fairly expensive hostel as hostels go (the cheapest bed is $30, my room with private bathroom is $85) so maybe there is some selection bias at play. Anyway, I'm not sure why I did, but I'm glad I decided to give hostelling a second chance.
So tomorrow, I hear the plan is that some group will head out to one of the beaches on the southern part of the island, and that they will depart around 11 AM. So maybe I'll do that, and maybe I won't, but it's awesome that I can do this tourism thing while not having to plan or think about anything at all.
Also, acai is the greatest substance on the planet. Those who disagree will be armbarred (I don't necessarily mean by me, but really, it's just a safer position to take).