On the way to Ilha do Mel I quickly passed through Paranagua. I expected it to be a busy port with little charm but it turned out to have quite a beautiful water front lined up with some old colonial buildings.
The boat trip to Ilha is really relaxing. I opted for the longer journey from Paranagua but there is a shorter option from Portal do Sol. On the way we were followed by some dolphins which are apparently really common in those parts.
And then we landed at the Ilha. It was nice change after the hectic Sao Paulo and Curitiba. It's extremely peaceful - the embodiment of total tranquillity. So it was time to once again unwind. On the way there I met lovely German girl - Birthe, so could splash out on the double bed with our own bathroom and the best breakfast in town rather than another crammed hostel room. We were joined by a group of Israeli boys also on their tour of South America so it was beach during the day and beers in the evening, what I would call a perfect beach vibe. As the island goes to sleep at 11pm there is not much night life. There is a legend of a 'Jungle Bar' somewhere in the middle of the island but we never found it or anyone who has actually been...
There are some good trekking trails around by the beach was much appealing so we never made it to the other side of Ilha.
After 3 days I left the lazy life to head for Joinville to hang out with my cousin. Massive thanks for the amazing hospitality!
Joinville is an industrial hub so there really isn't much to see or do. I spent my day wandering from one Shopping to another in search of some much needed air con - with no wind in town it gets hellishly hot. Of course I got lost so ended up seeing much more than I planned...The joy of walking around with no map...
So other than some family time, couple of nights at a real home (seriously needed) and an awesome sushi dinner not that much happened...
Next stop was the famed Florianopolis. I heard so many great things about the place that I was not sure if it will live up to my expectations. I also hit a bit of a hostel crisis. It takes fair amount of energy to wake up each morning, travel, find new place to sleep, make friends, leave and start the pattern again every few days. Its exciting and fun most of the time but from time to time you just have enough. I have been warned by fellow travellers that I will hit the wall one day and sure enough it came and chose Floripa to hit me.
Luckily the first person I run into in the hostel was Jennifer who was just finishing her 8 month journey and understood all too well the problems of living on the road. We spent a quiet day on the beach and then I was once again ready to party and make friends.
From then on Floripa came to life for me hugely helped by some amazing people who showed up at LagoaHostel. So I finally got to surf (knee was not very cooperative but we made it work), see some the islands amazing beaches (I will still claim that Ubatuba wins that battle) and finish the day with some beers. So once again in the end I could not bring myself to leave on time but I blame it on the magic of the island...and of course awesome hostel vibe!
I also realised that my time in Brazil is nearly over with the only Iguazu Falls left to visit. That freaked me out a bit so decided to make a detour, go back to Sao Paulo and see what happens ...
