Our next stop after Sao Paolo was Florianopolis...an island just south of SP that has become the hip beach, especially for Paulistas and Argentines. The island has a lagoon in the center so makes for a perfect spot for water activities and has gorgeous views from the multiple high points. The nightlife is supposed to be great as well.
Unfortunately every piece of advice we got from locals and people who had been there seemed to be contradictory (we later learned that it all depends on the "season" and we arrived just after high season when everything was good). So we were a bit confused for the first few days and just couldn't buy a good break: the first hotel we stayed in was "rustic" (more like so cheap and under maintained that the light fixture exploded upon our entrance, just missing Oscar's head by a few inches...and of course they never replaced it, just swept up the glass pieces); so we moved to a really classy resort in Jurere but it was Monday and Tuesday and everything on that side of the island closes during the week :(; then all the days but one were cloudy and raining.
Despite these shortcomings, we still managed to have a great time. We learned some Portuguese ("chama la policia"; "me lizensas" (the z is really a "c" with the trailing squiggly mark, but I can't seem to get my keyboard to cooperate); "falla espanol?"; various fruits: abacaxi, manga, morango, acai; "frango" (pollo for the uneducated); and "obrigado" (thanks)) -- we still had trouble communicating well with locals but we managed with a combination of Spanish/English.
We also spent an afternoon sandboarding. Yep...essentially like snowboarding but on sand dunes. And we timed it just perfectly before a huge thunderstorm rolled in. We also had played some paddle tennis on the beach (much better equipment than our first hotel's rackets!). We also drove around much of the island to discover many beaches. Oscar had a bit of a rookie move and forgot to reapply sunscreen during the one sunny day...poor guy had to feel heat emanating from his body for the next few days. And, of course, we partied.
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