Ok. First of all - the weather is playing a nasty trick on us! It seems to be following us around the country!!! The next three days here are promising to be rain and thunderstorms - whereas in Valadares... all is good!!! Unbelievable. But what would you expect after being on the bus for 33 hours(!) to get through 1.600,00 km to get to the surfing mekka of Brazil - the island of Florianopolis. I do admit - it is beautiful here. The beaches are all white sand, the towns are very tourist friendly and our VW minibus - well - that's just priceless! We found a house for rent in a town of Barro de Lagoa for all of 150 reals per day - which is not bad at all. All we really need is some flying and all would be perfect.
By the way, the pictures are coming in due time - and we have plenty of them - but I simply forgot the card reader at the hotel... Oops.
Today we also hooked up and were welcomed by some local pilots - of O.V.N.I. - Organizacao de Voadores do Norte da Ilha - we happily hung out on the beach, shared some drinks and played around in a very impressive surf. Great folks to come do some tandem flights with when you are in Brazil!
Anyhow. As much as Valadares is a very much a town avoided by the usual tourist crowd and the only gringos are the paraglider pilots - Floripa is a very different scene. The sign on the door of the computer room I am using are in Portuguese, English and Hebrew. Surfers are all over. And probably most amusing - I had to spend 5 minutes trying to convince the lady that is renting the house to us that I am NOT in fact a "paulista"- i.e. a native of Sao Paulo - but a real gringo! I guess this country starting to rub off on me too. Well, the other thing is - Brazil is as much a melting pot as US is - but here the racial stratification is a bit different. For one - further North you get - such as GV and Brasilia - the most African descendants you encounter - the further South - where we are right now - the more of German and Italian descent Brazilians you happen to see. SO, being a gringo it is far easier to blend it down South - and my hair is getting just unruly enough!
Another thing Floripa is known for - a great influx of folks for the time of Carnival! So - the atmosphere is extremely festive and loud, crowds are in the streets in force and we are getting and entirely different perspective on Brazil! So, all in all, I am not really complaining!
On that note - it is time to go join the crowds!
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