Florianopolis and Barra da Lagos, a Perfect Combination

---

Florianopolis was a large city about an hour's bus ride from Barra da Lagos, which was located on the east coast of the island.  There were many other small towns and villages; however, just as Alejandro had promised it was the prefect place for us.  It was a quaint seaside fishing village that was also frequented by tourists.  Most of the other towns on the island seemed just the opposite - tourist Mecca's occasionally visited by fishermen.  Florianopolis was easily accessible and had all of big city amenities, while Barra da Lagos was the ultimate retreat.

Alejandro represented several properties in the village and took us to all of them.  After the death-defying ride, we were glad to extricate ourselves from his white Fiat - I believe it was the model called the Sardine Can.  One of the lodgings had several apartments plus the owner's private residence.  Alejandro quoted $50 USD per day for a two-bedroom unit that could accommodate all five us.  It had a kitchen and although a little cramped it would work - the price was definitely right.  We were introduced to the owner who spoke no English, but our new best friend explained we were traveling the world as a family.

We looked at the unit one more time before agreeing to take it.  Alejandro definitely had a touch of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), which we experienced during his manic driving.  Some might call it multi-tasking; in his case it was ADD.  His ADD tendencies were in full view when he burst into the apartment and said the owner had a proposition for us.  My suspicious mind immediately told me I was right about this shifty character, and that the proposition was not going to be to our advantage.  To the contrary, the owner liked renting to families and had a second unit upstairs he would let us have for the same price.  Wow, what a deal - two apartments, three bedrooms, two bathrooms and two kitchens all for $50 USD per day.  A frat house downstairs and the honeymoon suite upstairs; I told him we might never leave.

On the first day of our stay we met the second most interesting character of our trek.  He occupied the other downstairs unit.  Kim was the quintessential surfer-dude from Hawaii - both in manner and speech.  He was hilarious and in most cases wasn't trying to be.  Kim was a plumber back home and worked just long enough to save for another world trek.  He was the consummate no-frills traveler and made us look like we were on a five-star world tour.  He entertained us with stories from his travels in India, Africa and Asia.  Feeding wild hyenas in Kenya was one such tale, which we are convinced was 100-percent true.  We would have questioned such a story from almost anyone else, but not Kim.  He also had a knack for telling (seemingly) funny, vivid stories that ended in tragedy.  We would be laughing uproariously only for the story to end with the death of someone he met while traveling, his dog, or once even his sister.  It was always such an unexpected downer that we felt guilty for laughing, but the ending usually came out of nowhere and left us both somber and pensive.  His stories were so entertaining that we always wanted more and braced ourselves for his Greek-style tragic endings, which sometimes occurred and other times did not.  We were always wary and prepared to suspend the merriment abruptly if the ending warranted it.

Kim had planned to leave a few days after we met, as he was due to fly home in early December.  However, torrential rains to the north had washed out roads, and he had to extend his stay.  We enjoyed his company and asked him to join us for our vegetarian-style (yes, it's possible) Thanksgiving feast in 2008.  It was our first Thanksgiving out of the U.S. and seemed strange not to hear or see any evidence of it.  At least we were prepared if Kim told us any stories of his past Thanksgivings, as we knew it would likely end with the death of a pet turkey.

On Thanksgiving Day I asked if he wanted to call his mom in California on my Skype.  He had not talked to her for at least a month, and was very grateful for the offer.  I took my laptop to a nearby Internet Cafe and he made the call.  I could not help overhearing the conversation and realized Kim was 100-percent genuine.  No one could act that well, especially when talking to their mother.  Some of the things he said made me laugh to myself.  Thankfully the conversation ended with the normal salutations between mother and son, and best of all "no one was harmed in the process".

Our original plan was to stay only one week; however, our daily costs were so low we decided to remain for two.  The flooding, which displaced thousands of people, killed more than 50 and wrecked havoc with roads and bridges, helped us make the decision to stay put as well.  We also felt at home.  Many times we were walking through the narrow one-way streets of the village and heard a horn blaring.  We would turn to see a white Fiat coming straight at us.  The driver's arms were waving wildly and we could hear him shout, "I love you guys".  Obviously, Alejandro was in town.  He made us feel like Norm in the T.V. show Cheers.

The island offers so much to see and do.  Surfing, hiking, boating, windsurfing, kitesurfing and sandboarding just to name a few.  The beaches are vast, unspoiled and among the cleanest we had every seen.  In addition, there is an old Portuguese fort on the north end of the island with a museum that contains many artifacts from that era.  There is also a huge lake where old, colorful wooden motorboats shuttled people to villages and homes along its shoreline.  For us, hiking along the ridge of the mountain was one of our favorite things to do.  It offered stunning views of the ocean and shoreline.  We hiked it several times and never saw another person.

There was a European-style bakery where we bought fresh baked goods every morning.  Small markets were within walking distance where we purchased all of our food staples.  In addition, there were numerous fresh fruit and vegetable stands.  It was common to purchase two or three large sacks that contained pineapples, mangos, bananas and a variety of vegetables for only $5 USD.  The bus system was regular, clean and inexpensive - although some of the drivers must have attended Alejandro's driving school.  Internet cafes were plentiful, cheap and gave us a chance to catch up on our web site, and to communicate with family back home almost daily.  We even frequented a local restaurant with excellent food that was sold at a reasonable price per kilo.  If Barra da Logos wasn't paradise, it was darn close to it.

The final destination before returning home in mid-December 2008 was the city of Uberlandia in the state of Minas Gerais; just south of the country's capital Brasilia.  Getting there would include the longest bus ride of our entire four-month trek - 20 hours.  Our visit to Uberlandia would be bittersweet.  To find out why, don't forget to read next week's article.

And remember . . . "Travel is the ultimate education."

 

---