Floripa

A final message from Buenos Aires while I'm waiting for the plane back to Perth. After Montevideo I decided to go to Florianopolis in Brazil. I chose Floripa for the paragliding opportunities, thousands and thousands of others go because of the beautiful beaches and happening nightlife. Florianopolis is a 1 million plus city which is partly on the main land and partly on an island. The island (50 x 10 km) is the place to be. About 50 beaches, some lakes/lagunas and plenty of little towns with loads of restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

Because of the high season I had booked a hostel on the island in advance, which was supposedly near a paraglide spot going by the description. The hostel appeared to be an excellent choice (schot in de roos); A bunch of appartments build on a cliff, looking out over one of the laguna's, 3 minutes from the ocean beach and only a 5 min walk from the paraglide take off. The hostel bar was a very sociable place with 5 star views and a great bunch of people. I ended up staying in Floripa for 2 weeks, paragliding a bit, trying to learn how to kitesurf (when I finally was able to stay on the board for more than 10 seconds I managed to loose my board.....for good and it happened to be my last lesson), and sampling the nightlife now and then. And after two weeks in Floripa, Barzil's own Hawaii, it was time to make my way back to Buenos Aires via the obligatory detour to the falls of Iguazu.

Obligatory that is, because nearly all the hostel guests I met in Floripa were either going or coming from Iguazu. But the falls were definetely worth it, see pics. I also visited the Itaipu dam, world record holder in producing hydro generated electricity, 90 % of Panama's needs and 20 % of Brazil's needs. And with the dam being one of the 7 civil engineering wonders of the world and the Iguazu falls possibly one of the 7 natural wonders (they are voting now apparently) the little town of Iguazu seems to have a fair share of natural and man made wonders.

And then it was back to BA for the home journey. An 18 hour bus ride which sounds worse than it is, the bus beds are more comfy than many a hostel bed, the aircon works, the meals with good Argentinean wine are well above average and the after dinner round of champagne ensure a good night sleep.

Well and that was 9 months South America, my spanish still sucks but there are plenty good reasons to come back one day and sample a bit more of this amazing continent.

And Femke (and Karel en Truus), well they are on their fourth day doing a 150 miles a day, enjoying good winds and an excellently running boat. So watch this space because if all goes well Fem will no doubt update us in about another 18 days.