Floripa!

Meet Natalia at praia Campeche!

This lovely lady hosted me for a week in Florianópolis (Floripa)

Thanks to Natalia, her wonderful roomates, and her car! She drove me all over Floripa and showed me all of her favorite spots to go to the beach, to eat food, and just enjoy! Tenho saudades de você, Natalia!

 One of the many beautiful views Natalia made sure I saw.

She was the most fabulous tour guide!

 Look at these gorgeous sand dunes, we had to run down them!

 Natalia and I both love to cook, so we made food together all the time!

I miss your salad dressing, girl. I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT'S IN IT!!!!

 "Welcome to Campeche Beach"

 Look at this strange snail...

isn't our planet amazing?

 Natalia took me to one of the cutest places that had a great outdoor seating area to enjoy the night in. I love how everything is always outdoors here, the weather is so nice, why be inside?! San Diego... we could learn a few things from the Brazilians.

Here's a very typical meal:

Fish, rice, potatoes and salad with lettuce and tomato.

The only thing missing... feijoada e farofa

(beans with pork and toasted manioc flour to sprinkle on top)

Hercilio Luz Bridge.

Reminds me of somewhere I've been before.... 

 I decided to take a solo day and explore the Island. There are many amazing places to see, and with Natalia's recommendation I decided on Barra da Lagoa. This picture is of the lagoa (lake) on the way there.

 Quick snapshot of the Lagoa da Conceição

from the bus.

 More cool shots along the way...

 This is the channel of water that connects the Lagoa da conceição to the sea. To the left is the beach of Barra da Lagoa, and if you cross this bridge and head up into the small town on the right, you can find a tiny little hidden beach and a beautiful nature hike that takes you to some cool rock formations.

 Life along the channel.

 Winding my way through the town to get to my hidden beach!

 One thing I loved about being here is the abundance of originality in buildings, decorations, and random findings everywhere you go. The colors feel brighter to me somehow.

My little beach. 

 This is along the trail to the rocks. 

 I found a fisherman!

 And the fisherman found fish! This was his 3rd try, that's food for a month!

Thank you, Floripa.

Much more to come from this beautiful place and her people.

Mercadão... tons of food and fruit!

Every sunday there is a fabulous food and fruit market right outside of Kharyna's house. We walked along sampling food the whole way!

I have no idea what these are, but how cool!

Look at how they dwarf the corn beside them!

Peppers! The bottom right ones are very mild and tangy, my favorites.

Calda de Cana.

This is a sugar cane... liquified. 

Needless to say it's amazing.

The slogan all over the booths that sell these say

something along the lines of "fountain of health"...HA!

Two of my favorite fresh juices.

Sugar cane (calda de cana)

and coconut (água de coco)

I'm in love with this sweet treat, traditionally from the north of Brazil.

Its a pancake made out of fried tapioca balls/flour, filled with cheese, coconut, and doce de leite (caramel). 

To. Die. For.

A close up!

Beautifully displayed spices for all of your cullinary needs.

Bacalhau

This is a flaky pastry filled with flaky fish, olives, green onions, and spices.

So oily and deliscious. 

Me in front of São Paulos Mercadão.

Sticking with the market food theme, Marianna took me to the Mercadão, which means "big market". This market is open every day, and is packed full of vendors selling the freshest fruits, veggies, and meats. You are able to walk around sampling whatever you like... its fabulous.

Here starts the long slide show of fruits, many of which I've never seen or heard of before.

So...I tried them all!

This fruit's name translates to "eye of the dragon"

It has a hard black pit in its center and the texture speaks true to it's name!

Chirimolla! (spanish spelling..)

This one I have tried in Ecuador, and it happens to be my favorite fruit.

Wow!

The strongest thing about this fruit is its color, the flavor is very mild.

A smaller but veerrry strongly flavored pinneaple variety, I've never tasted its like before.

Marianna and I in front of our favorite vendor's stand.

We probably ate R$50 (US$25) of fruit between us, for free.

So we bought some too!

Slimy, but deliscious.

AAAH it's an alien.

Fresh meat.

Slabs of Bacon! Thomas, this is for you.

mmmm....?

mocotó?

Feijão! (beans)

Brazil's traditional dish is Feijoada, made of beans, meat (usally pork), onions and spices.

This dish can usually be found accompanying any meal.

Frutas do Mar

(sea food)

An above view of the mercadão.

Beautiful stained glass windows surround the cielings.

Marianna and I, stuffed full of fruit :)

We couldn't help ourselves from trying some of the best bacalhau around though.

MMMMMMM! Bacalhau again!

I don't know how she did it, but that little lady was able to eat the whole thing.

 Another restaraunt specialty.

This picture classically describes my impression of Brazilian street food ratios.

Meat, bread, and cheese!

p.s. notice the "salad", yes, I'm referring to the invisible slice of lettuce.

I look so weird here, so I had to post this picture.

The fruit I bought wasn't ripe like the vendor told me it was, and inside revealed a sad face that I thought fit perfectly in the situation. But on the other hand, check out this sweet necklace that Kharyna gifted me. It's tradition is native to her home region of Bélem. The indiginous women there dive down into the river and collect this green clay, which they later form animals out of and gift them to their lovers. Usually the string is made out of their hair. This one is in the form of a frog, perfect! You can only be gifted these, and they bring you good luck and health. Thanks Kharyna, you rock!