This 6 hour busride took 10 instead and I was pissed off and hungry. Gladly at the terminal we met the most helpful people who truly saved what was left of that day. We got a map, called our hostel, we got directions to the right bus and all this in Portugese! And by some miracle I actually understood it all. After 1,5 hours we finally made it to Barra da Lagoa!
A guy spotted us carrying our backpacks and convinced us, in Portugese, to stay at a hostel (or more like a homestay) nearby. The price for a double room wasn't bad and we weren't eager to look for much longer so we took it and left to have an excellent seafood dinner to a nice restaurant in the town.
Cheers for being in Brazil, my 69th country! The homestay wasn't too clean so we were happy to continue to Barra Beach Club Hostel. Located a bit higher on the hill it had an amazing view to a smaller and more isolated beach bay. The big main beach wasn't far either and nor was the town. We had booked two nights but during the first hour we booked two more! The staff was so extremely nice that we felt home before even seeing the rooms. The facilities were great and one could borrow laptops, games, snorkels and - the best part - surfboards! For free! Anytime! One just had to sign their name and that's all. Also the staff helped us to organize everything and advised to all the activities available (and there were many!)
So, we were psyched! First we took a stroll around the town to see where we were. It wasn't a big place but touristy enough to have all kinds of services. The town had a big long beach with white sand and surprisingly clear water. So after some shopping we went to fetch the surfboards!
The view to the river 
And to the otherside of the river
The big beach of Barra da Lagoa We carried the boards to the big bech and paddled for some time but unfortunately we had missed the best waves. It was still great, and even with the hot sun we lasted somewhat long. After the surf it was time for some sandboarding. Sandboarding is like snowboarding but down sand dunes - simple right? The dunes weren't far and they rented boards right there so it was easy and quick to organize. Easy was also the activity eventhough the boards were just pieces of wood and missed proper bindings. First the board felt so loose in the bare feer and hard to control because of that but quickly I got the hang of it and it was a lot of fun! Hard work though, no skilifts to pull one up and walking up the in the sliding hot sand took some energy! The views over the dunes and hills all the way to the sea were great. The wind blew this superfine sand everywhere and the the sun started setting which created an amazing light and sight with the flying sand.
Chris sandboarding 
A bit nervous 
But on it 
Climbing up, check out the views 
Someone yogaposing 
Exhausted 
Happy sandboarding fans
Sand was everywhere...for days 
Haha, Chris created a gif After this a shower was called for and then some free caipirinha drinks! Every night there were free caipirinha at the bar from 19 to 19.30 and at 20.30 the dinner started. One could sign up to eat for a reasonable price at the hostel and today on the menu was BBQ, risotto, salad and wow we were in! Superb! We enjoyed our dinner with some German engineers who were in Floripa for a summer school from Unversity. Sounded almost as legit as an exchange in Bali ;) The boys left for a party and happily we went to bed.
A little bug in the night 
Free caipisSaturday morning was beautiful and since I woke up early, I sneaked out to the balcony for some morning exercise. And then it was time for breakfast! Fresh fruits, juices, tomatoes, sandwich stuff, coffee and of course the great view to the beach and the beautiful bay. My favorite part of the day :)
Breakfast <3 We spend way too much time trying to organize some climbing, contacting local climbers etc., so we just had to get out and do something. We tried our luck, and went to search for some rumoured boulders nearby but without results. It was flat and so there was no surf but there was something we hadn't tried yet! SUP aka stand up paddling aka paddling while standing on a surf board. This we tried on the river which floated from our beach to the Lagoa Concepcao lake. The water on the river wasn't the nicest but swimmable. Not the ideal place but still good fun and good exercise. And a lot more difficult than I had expected, I thought my balance was quite fine but paddling on this wavy board wasn't too stable. Also I was a bit petrified of falling into the water as it wasn't quite as clear and clean as the seawater. It brought a nice little spice to the sport as did the passing by motorboats! Afterwards a refreshing swim at our beach was welcomed and some hackysack before the storm - and what a storm it was!!
SUP 
Storm was coming I've never seen such lightnings in my life! I wanted to write the blog downstairs that evening but I had to join the caipirinha enjoying Chris to the terrace to watch this show! Massive bright thunders stroke through the whole sky in these clear ziczac formations and sometimes with kind of bursts that resembeled fireworks. Incredible. The crowd on the terrace went "Woooow" every few minutes. We got to watch this the whole evening with excellent Brazilian meals and good company.
We had booked diving for the next day which meant that we needed to get to the north of the island by 8.00. Sunday timetables sucked so there we were waiting for the first and only suitable bus at 6.30. At 7.30 we gave up and walked back to the hostel: no bus. The night receptionist tried to help us the best he could but he didn't quite know how and there was no chance we could make it anymore by 8.00 so we hoped to be able to move the diving to another day. It was still early so we took the boards and went for some paddling practise on our beach! Why paddling practise? The waves were tiny so surfwise it was a bit pointless but after some wateractivities breakfast tasted even better. Later we heard that we had been misinformed and there actually wasn't even an earlier bus. Nor was there more diving this week, shit. Well, we got our money back and at least we'd still go climbing! Yep! We had managed to contact a local climber who'd be bouldering at Barra da Lagoa around 17.00 that day, so we made a date.
Chris felt comfortable with the cows, god knows why...
More breakfast At 17.00 we were at the bus stop waiting and trying to spot people with crashpads. At 18.00 we gave up and walked back to the hostel: no one came. SECOND TIME that day our plans wouldn't work out. We crabbed the boards again and headed disappointed to another paddling practice before dinner. At least the dinner was fantastic and we had nice company so the misfortunes of the day vanished from our minds. Later we heard that the climbers had gotten stuck in the traffic and couldn't make it, I was not surprised by this at all, the traffic jams were notorious.
Early night ended in an early morning and so I got our for a run on the beach! I was excited, I hadn't jogged for ages since I don't have suitable shoes with me but on the beach one doesn't really need them. I had underestimated the power of the morning sun and even at 7.00 suncream should have been applied :D After a pleasant jog I found Chris awake and we took a swim before breakfast.
The plan of the day was to rent a scooter and drive south to see more of the island. We chose a bit the wrong day for this though, it was insanely hot and I was sure to burn my skin. I was also sure we would die! Huh! Being in the back of a scooter was a lot scarier than I remembered. After a while I got more relaxed. Chris is a good driver.
We drove first on the east side to the beaches, drank some refreshing juices and continued to the oyster farming west coast. It reminded me a lot of Bali somehow and it was interesting to see the different villages and beaches. For lunch we stopped at a fancy looking seafood restaurant. The prices were high but we thought we could splurge a little for some fresh local specialities so we shared a salad and some shrimp skewers. The price made more sense when we saw the plates, Christ, the salad would've fed four people and the skewers came with such amounts of cheese and rice and fries and whatnot that we felt like inviting the people from the next table to join the feast. Why oh why didn't the waiter tell us that the plates would be plenty for sharing!?? We took a doggy bag and actually ate the rest for lunch the next day. We didn't manage any dinner anymore either that day so actually moneywise it wasn't a bad deal at all!
Armacao beach 
More of the south beaches 
Insane amounts of food It was Saint Patrick's day aka a good excuse to party (like you need one here?) so people headed out to a nightclub. I was happy to fall asleep in the empty dorm but of course the party people made quite the noise when coming back. Since I couldn't sleep, I went for another jog. This time better prepared with more time and suncream. It was nicely cloudy too and not as disgustingly hot as the day before. We had made a deal to meet downstairs with Chris at 7.10 and there he was when I came back (red faced and sweating, mmmm). We grabbed the boards again and headed back to the big beach where I just came from. I had checked and the surf was up!
Massive monster waves! Or, probably not really, but to me they felt huge. Once I tried to be smart and waited: Chris took the first wave of the set and I thought: "I'll take the next one, so that I don't get completely washed afterwards by the second one, the bigger one". The second one indeed was bigger, and it fell exactly on top of me. I chickened out and threw the board away and dove just to be laundered by the masses of water. Scary but oh-so-great!
Back from the surf 
Breakfast company 
More breakfast company What a super start for the day! But unfortunately everything good has to end at some point: we were leaving that day to Curitiba and onwards to the Iguassu Falls. Two days later we were still wondering if we should have stayed. And actually even now, writing this I wonder if we should just go back ;) Barra da Lagoa and the hostel there were truly among the best places on this trip!
BTW obesity is nowadays a handicap...my oh my 
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