Me and one other friend decided to save some cash and bus the 18 hours down on Wednesday after teaching English. Unfortunately, we underestimated how long it would take to get to the bus station and between that and the horrendous Rio traffic; we missed our bus by 15 minutes! The bus company helped us switch our plans to take a 12-hour bus to Curitiba, and then a connecting bus to Floripa. The next afternoon, we arrived at our (AMAZING) hostel called Tucano House, run by a brother and sister who are not much older than I am. One day while his mother was at work, Caiel (the brother) knocked down a wall in the house that he grew up in, and told his mom he was converting it into a hostel. That was 2 ½ years ago, and since then, the hostel has one numerous awards; most recently, they were named “Best Hostel in South America.” They make wonderful home cooked meals for the guests every night, organize beach trips during the days and trips to clubs/bars in the area every night. At the hostel, we met up with our other two friends who had flown there, had a delicious sushi dinner at the hostel, and went out to a very fancy club with the people we met in our hostel.
Friday, we spent the day at a secluded beach called Solidão (Portuguese for “longing”) playing frescoball (kinda like ping pong without the table), hiking to a beautiful waterfall and swimming in the cool pool beneath, and sleeping on the beach. On the way home, the bus driver suggested we stop at a well-known “cachaça factory.” Cachaça is sugar-cane rum that is the signature drink of Brazil. For the next 45 minutes, our van climbs further and further up into the mountains surrounding the beach. At one point, we all had to jump out of the van so that it could make it up the steep dirt road. Finally, we wander down to a farmer’s barn. However, this was no ordinary barn. This was a straight up moonshine barn. The walls were lined with 2-liter coke bottles, jars, kegs, and even GASOLINE CANS full of homemade cachaça of different kinds.
We tried several different kinds including mango, banana, passion fruit, apple, and straight 80% cachaça (which he even poured on a table and lit on fire as some kind of proof that it could probably run a car). Only in Brazil… Later that night we had the most delicious seafood at a local restaurant. We ordered the island specialty “Progression of Shrimp” in which plates of shrimp prepared different ways are brought out one at a time. After eating so much beans and rice in Rio, the flavors were greatly appreciated!
Saturday, we took a boat to Campete Island to hang out for the day. The island closes every Easter for the fall/winter season because it is a very protected island and they want to preserve the vegetation there. Pulling up to the island, I nearly had to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming. The water was crystal clear and blue. The white sand gleamed in the sun and dark, beautifully shaped rocks jutted out from the sides of the beach, and the remainder of the island was forest. Yachts docked in the shallow water and people lounged on the beach. We passed the whole afternoon enjoying the beautiful sunny day and again eating more seafood at one of the two restaurants on the island.
Our last night on the island, we joined the organized hostel trip to a club via two party buses to the mainland 1 ½ hours away. The club was actually built IN A CAVE. They had three dance floors, each playing different types of music and each in a different cave. It was incredible! We stayed out all night dancing and went straight to the beach when we got back before catching our bus back to Rio. We had 18 hours to sleep on the bus so might as well sleep then, right?
Overall it was a wonderful trip filled with great food, amazing beaches, good conversation, and great friends. What a great way to pass the Easter holiday ☺
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