Juaquina Beach near Florianopolis

On Sat, We found a place after a full day of travel, started getting cranky after not eating all day on the bus. But we found a terrific place We are in the `Juaquina Beach Hotel` in Juaquina beach by Florianopolis, it~s an AMAZING hotel called overlooking the beach 30 seconds away, so we are in rooms 301 and 106.
32 32 50 59 is the phone # for locals, it~s a killer place to stay and the swedish girls Elin and Alexandra are still hanging out with us. The beach was really crowded during the day but it~s quiet at night. Went body surfing and boogie boarding, then had to call it on the sun was too strong, it´s doing a tropical rain thing now, should blow over in about 30 min. More to come soon, miss having english menus and wait staff that understand english.

It´s now Tues morning and we have had a great time, not the incredible party that I had thought of, more local street parties with good stereos in the back of hatchbacks. Good energy and nice people. The party doesn´t start until about 2am so that´s where being a night worker (vampire) has come in handy.
The Swedish girls went to stay with some friends, but hopefully we~ll meet up again tonight.
It~s georgeous here and fairly mellow.
Karen

Curitiba to Florianopolis

I~m in Curitiba today, we are catching a bus to Florianopolis(sp) at noon (it~s 10am now). No accomadation there yet, guess it gets full for Carnival as it~s a popular place to go. It~s by Santa Carina(?) island, so we are going there next. We are traveling with 2 swedish girls now who were scared by themselves, so it~s 5 of us now. I~ll let you know how it goes, we may have to crash with some other people or something.
We have met many an amazing traveler, and have had great experiences, the train from Morretes to Curitiba yesterday went through some amazing sights, over large gorges and steep jungle. http://gosouthamerica.about.com/library/blBrapixCuritibatrain1.htm
Just beautiful, thank goodness for digital cameras where you can take 100 pics w/o any guilt.

Ilha do Mel

Hi all,
We are having a fabulous time in IHla do Mel (Honey Island) http://www.ilha-do-mel.com/ it is a natural preserve to protect the wildlife here, and just georgeous. We are staying in an air conditioned (very important) room ON the beach for $30 US p/n. International travelers from all over, very friendly and helpful.... no muggers with knifes, and we are finally relaxing...

. We went on a dolphin boat trip and got about 50 ft from about 50 of them, they are really fast... got lots of pics of the water just after the fins dissapeared.
I succeeded in not getting sunburned which is an amazing feat every day, it´s hot and sultry and really fun. We are going to Florianapolis for Carnival either tomorrow or the day after and then on to the falls and to fart around in Argentina (because it~s so close) I think I~m going to extend my trip and be back on Sunday the 5th? 6th?

Anyway email seems to work well, if you need to communicate with me, we are finding cyber cafes even in a tropical jungle! Should have seen the hike we had to do to get here (almost needed a machete... then bingo internet, who would have thought it).

hugs
Karen

3rd day in Brazil

Last 2 nights were great, we hung out on our rooftop of the hotel and had a private pool party. Met some neat Americans, Annie and Joby and Brazilians, and had some wonderful conversations until 3 AM. Annie is here because her daughter had a terrible rxn to the Yellow Fever vaccination, and ended up in the ICU with seizures encephapathy, and pancreatitis. guess she will be written up in Jama. They flew Dr~s in from France and London.,

We have checked out and are trying to get to Ihle de Mel (honey island) for 4 days so not sure what the internet access will be.
There is no way to download photos so you´ll have to wait.
So all in all, it~s been a great trip so far
PS EVERY american we spoke to that went to the concert lost something, one a gold necklace and 3 lost cameras, so we were glad we gave it a pass.]

First day in Rio de Janero

Made it safe and sound in Rio de Janero. It's beautiful here, hot and sultry with amazing architecture and mountains. We are going to avoid the Rolling Stones concert.
Learned a lesson about walking on the beach at night here. Had a run-in with 4 locals, one was big and had a sharp knife that cornered Jason, and I had another that took my Citibank visa and threatened me with a dull knife.... I pissed them off by yelling and running, got my skirt ripped. But no one got hurt, Jason lost a digital camera and $100, but he has all his plastic.

So now we're off to change clothes, call Citibank and try and start the night over.
Will let you know of any new updates, and we'll be more careful of carrying valuables and walking in secluded spots in the dark.

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Update OMG it's hard to call out, none of the country codes are correct, and of course the instructions are in rapid portugese.... we finally got through and cancelled the card. Well it's a BEAUTIFUL sultry day here but not too hot, we are going to take a taxi to Ipanema to avoid the Stones concert (with 1.5 million I think it'll get nuts here). More later,
Karen

Carnival in Rio

I'm excited my friends Jason and Scarlett are going to Carnival in Rio on the 16th!
We'll be there for 2 wks, so I leave this morning to San Fran to get our visas. Wish me luck I may get lost and have to be back by Wed aft to work.
Geez talk about incentive to work out... think one week will do it? Will tell you all about it as the adventure unfolds.