Floripa

    Florianopolis is an Island off the Central coast of Brasil. It is where all the Brazilians go for vacation. Toby, Aaron and I rolled in a week before Christmas into a goast town which was fine because we needed a break from the hustle and bustle of Rio. We were told on arrival that after Christmas, people arrive from all over the Country . . . no joke. Pretty soon the trafic started going to and from the beach, it was faster to walk than drive. The Island has 2 main beaches that are filled with people whenever it´s sunny. On Praia Mole, there are restuarants that line the beach that throw parties every afternoon. One day, Jeremy treated us to a couple bottles of Champagne, which we shared with the locals as we danced to electro house, awesome!
    The Island has a lagoon in the middle of it, where people practice windsurfing and kiteboarding . . . great for learning because you can stand up 200 yards out. Floripa is spread out and the bus is unreliable, so we decided to rent a car. We struck out at the rental places and started to hitch hike home. Our ride was a Brazilian named Fabio that had been to Santa Cruz and stayed with Flea and Barney. I asked him if he wanted to rent us his car jokingly and he agreed on the spot. We paid half the money we would have through a rental agency and he gave us a ride to the airport when we left. So we mobbed around a truck, sitting in the back as we cruised to the beach, what a life.
    On Christmas Eve Day we went for a river rafting trip. It was a crazy experience flying through rapids on a river in Brasil. There was one class 5 rapid that we ran. Before we attempted it, we pulled off the river to have lunch and visit a waterfall. We were with one other group, they went first and we watched their approach. The rapid is a double waterfall and it looked pretty intense. The guide sent it off the waterfall and looked like he picked the right line, but the raft flipped and trapped a guy for a good ten seconds and slingshoted the guide over the front of the boat. I got pretty scared at that point, with a bad knee I wasn´t trying to go for a swim. I held my breath as we rolled over the falls. We slammed into the water covering us all and rolled out the second part no problem, we have the other boats attempt and ours on film on Toby´s waterproof camera. Aaron and Toby are in process of cutting a short film of the excursion.
    On the North end of the Island there are a bunch of upscale clubs at a beach called Jurere. Everyone on the Island kept telling us about a day pool party at a spot called P12. We rolled up to the party with another hostel in a caravan of party buses. Within the first 5 minutes of being there, Aaron dove into what he thought was the deep end and cut his head on the bottom of the pool. 8 sticthes and 3 hours later he was back at the pool party rocking it with us on the dancefloor. Pretty classic day with a pack of 6 Californians trying to fit in at a ritsy pool party not speaking the native language.
    I´ve been missing DJing and getting down to some electro house. Luckily there is a club called Pacha that satisfied my needs from 11pm untill sunrise. I blew the Brazilians minds with my green spread lazer. I made friends shinning the lazer on the dancefloor to the beat of the music, so much fun. The lazer was such a big hit that one of the bouncers tried to confiscate it for his own personal use.
    New Years was spent on the beach at Jurere along with thousands of others. Everyone was shocked that 3 Californians were on the beach in Brasil celebrating New Years. The color of the clothes you were signify what you want in the upcoming year. Most people wear white which signifies peace. Red is love. Yellow is money. Aaron, Toby and I all wore white and were shocked at the amount of people on the beach all with their own private parties roped off around shade canopies. One group brought us in and shared some smoke and drink and had us join in on a tradition of jumping 7 waves and eating 12 grapes, making a wish after each one. There were fireworks and everyone was out to have a good time. I suggest learning Portuguese, saving some (a lot) of money and rolling to Jurere for New Years. If you are on a budget like me, you get to see the megaclubs throw down from the perimeter. It costs 1000 Real or $700 to go to one of the clubs on New Years, unbelievable. Even though I didn´t get to go to one of the major New Years parties, people were out having a great time the week leading up to New Years and I had a blast playing the California card to get in good with the locals.