Island Tour

On Saturday March 2nd, ISA took all the students on a tour of the island. They showed us some different cities and beaches to give us a better idea of how the island is laid out. First we headed to the mountain behind where my host family lives. The mountain is called Mirante do Morro da Cruz. It's beautiful up there. You can see all of downtown (Centro) Floripa and also the main land. I have used this mountain as a beckon to find my way home when I was desperately lost.

   

Me, Paula (from New Jersey), Angela (from New Jersey)

Part of the ISA group that went on the tour. From left to right (Thomas, Greg, Diana, Angela, Grace, Paula, Carmen, Jordan, Guillermo, Peter, Steven, Viniqak, Stephen, Zack, Crystal, Gabrielle, Ricardo)

Cross on the top of the mountain

Story about the mountain. 

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Then we headed south to a spot where we could see a beach call Armação . The south of the island is less inhabited and very beautiful. It is harder to get to this section of the island because the buses don't travel there as often, hopefully I will be able to see more of it later with my host family because they have family on that part of the island on the beach. 

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Then we headed to Joaquina which is an island near the lagoa ISA apartments. I had already been to this beach the day before with all of the ISA people, it is very nice, there are bars and restaurants on the beach and white sand and warm water, it is a smaller beach compared to others on the island. 

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Then we headed to Baja de Lagoa, which is an awesome area! We had lunch there at 2 irmhoas (two brothers) it was delicious seafood (the meal was R20= $10 and you get your choice or fish or steak, and then unlimited french fries, white rice, beans, and salad (which is lettuse , cucumbers, and tomato plain). The beach is the longest on the island, over a mile long with just white sand. It is also connected to the cannel that leads into the lagoons on the island. It is stunning on the canal, it looks like a gypsy village! I want to go back with my sketch book (that area is by far my favorite area I have been to so far!). There are secret passage ways and little beaches called parrainas (which means literally little beach) which are hidden and locals go to escape the tourist crowds. There are a lot of beach front hostels there too, and at night fisher man fish on the warf, and during the day fisherman go out into the ocean on these really pretty colorful boats and when they come back locals can buy their fresh clams, shrimp, mussels, and fish for dinner that night. 

Pitanga: a fruit that grows in brazil, it is very good a cool mix between a bell pepper and a mango is how I would describe the flavor, they are very high in vitamin C so people will snack on them through out the day just picking them off trees because they taste good and because of the vitamins in them. 

people like to play soccer and this game on the beach, it is a game where you hit the rubber ball back and forth with wooden paddles. 

These are the jelly fish that live around the island, they do not sting you they simply float around and eat different types of algae. They are a strange gelatin texture, if I didn't know what they were I would think it was a smashed gummy worm. 

Locals like to perform and listen to music by the beach, bands come and play for money and just for the pleasure of the beach goers, here not everything is about earning a buck. 

This is the canal that goes from the ocean into the lagoons around the island. People swim in the fresh ocean water, and ride the current into the ocean for fun. People also fish in these canals and drive their boats from the docks in front of their houses in the canal out into the ocean. 

My host dad and host mom on the bridge crossing the canal. 

Local fisher man boats (that I want to sketch and eventually paint) park in the canal when they are not out fishing in the ocean. 

Secret path past hostiles to the mini beach the locals go to when the Baja de lagoa beach gets too crowded with tourists. 

The mini beach only the locals go to. 

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Then we headed up the road past the beach called Mole, which I have not been to yet but need to go soon because it is a very cool local beach that tourist don't go to. We headed to a very wealthy area called Passar pela avenida das Nações, where there is a beach called Jurerê. This area is very nice. It looks like Miami in the US, the houses average between 2-5 million dollars. This is where they crazy expensive night clubs are where cover could be anywhere from $100-$200 on a regular night, and $7,000 for bottle service on new years. This is the neighborhood where the professional brazilian soccer players have vacation homes, where the victoria secret angels have vacation house, and a whole bunch of other millionaires. 

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Then we headed to a very traditional Portuguese part of the island called Santo Antônio de Lisboa , where the Portuguese fist inhabited the island and some of the buildings are the oldest on the island. There is traditional Portuguese food here, as well as traditional souvenirs, such as a special type of tapestry made of lace that the people of Portugal brought with them. It is a dying art so the tapestries are very expensive, they take months to make. 

one of the oldest buildings in Floripa, was built in 1600s and used when the Portuguese princess came to the island. 

The story about the town, (I will translate this once I learn more portuguese) 

There is a japanese influence on the island as well.

This is a shrimping boat, common around the island

beautiful place to have lunch in this town. 

That was the last stop of the day, I learned a lot (I have videos of these places as well, I can't upload videos to this blog for some reason though). I can't wait to go back to these places and spend more time exploring ! :)