Florianopolis - Brazil

The first part of our trip to Brazil, we flew down to Southern Brazil. We flew to Porto Alegre and then rented a car and decided to road trip up the coast 5 hours and explore some different cities and different beaches. We ended up in the beautiful city of Florianopolis. We decided to stay here for my birthday. I was NOT sad about that. We drove into town late, but I looked up a cool hostel and we drove there and they happened to have a couple of openings... lucky for us. So we went to bed and then the next day decided to do a hike to a beach that you can only get to if you do the hike or get there by boat. The hike was long and hard... especially with the humidity (for me) but it was beautiful tracking through jungle. If I would have known what the hike was going to be like I probably would have worn shoes... maybe... and I would have been prepared with more water. We both didn't have enough. I would complain about being tired and not wanting to climb rocks anymore and the humidity. Stacey of course never complains about anything... I need to try and be more like that. But I tried to complain while laughing to not be a total Debbie downer and I even still did the part 2 of our dance in the middle of the hike. I felt really dumb when guys were hiking by us holding their surf boards or when a guy was hiking barefoot holding his infant child. If that doesn't make you feel like a wimp, I'm not sure what does.

We finally got to the beach 2 hours later. Hardly anyone was there, which was really nice especially since most of our vacation was spent in crowds of people. I got in the water because I needed the cool down after the hike, but there were too many waves for it to be super enjoyable. It was a beautiful beach though. Jungle meets beach... it doesn't get much prettier than that.

I brought my hammock hoping for a great spot to hang it and chill. There was this perfect spot, but there was a big weird dude camped out at one of the trees I needed to hang on. SO disappointed. So I hung out on the beach while Stacey quickly did another hike back up the mountain to a lookout point. I would have loved to have done it if I were not so tired and knowing I had to make that long track back. Maybe if we would have had more time? Stacey told me I would have hated the hike and I totally believe him. ha ha. I just need to lose 50 pounds and then hiking will be easier for me again. Don't get me wrong. I still enjoy it. I just like it better when it's not as hot and humid and bugs aren't attacking every inch of exposed flesh. It was beautiful though and I felt a sense of accomplishment after we were done and eating a dinner. I didn't take a ton of pictures... but here are a few. This was what I spent my birthday doing. Sure beats being at work where I usually am on my birthday. Happy Birthday to me!