Florianopolis

[jimsonweed]

Been in Florianopolis visiting my fiance and her family for the past month. It kind of reminds me of Big Sur, California, but with better beaches and women who shave their legs.

Thought folks might like a little report:

Brazilians think that Floripa is cold during the winter. It isn't. The weather is spectacular. 55-60F for lows, with 75-80F highs. Very little rain. Mostly sunny, not very humid.

Traffic: not bad in the winter during the weekdays. Terrible on the weekends. I would not want to live here during the summer, as the traffic is likely 100X worse. I saw a 7km long single file traffic jam on a Sunday, all due to lack of a stoplight at one busy intersection (I was travelling in the opposite direction, and got to see the trainwreck from beginning to end.) Don't believe the hype about Florianopolis having "1st world" infrastructure. It doesn't. The roads are in fair condition, but woefully inadequate in terms of traffic signals, on ramps, etc. It is impossible to get from the west part of the island through Lagoa de Conceicao to Florianopolis during the weekends.

Internet: it sucks everywhere in South and Central America, with the exception of Medellin. If you want to get a 3G card, you will need a local to purchase it for you. They require extraordinary documentation, including notarized rental contracts of 6+ months duration, Brazil ID numbers, etc. Claro 3G has fair coverage and is around 1.5MBS most of the day. Will slow down during peak hours.

Jurere: the place is practically a ghost town in the winter. Shops are closed for the season, with a few exceptions. Rows of million dollar homes, all empty, with the possible exception of a local caretaker.

Beaches: the beaches are really fantastic. You have a little of everything. The outer (eastern) beaches have rough surf. The inland beaches are calm, with clearer water. Praia Mole is a spectacular surfing beach, but the sand is coarse and difficult to walk or jog on, and the bank is steep. I would not want to swim here, as the rough surf and steep beach likely causes a significant undertow. Praia Joaquina is a terrific surfing location with a more level shore and tighter sand -- much more pleasant for a stroll. A great place for beginner surfers. Jurere and Mole are reputed to have the best "eye candy" in S America during the summer -- I have only been here during winter. Praia Solidao (SP?) on the southern end of the island, is more isolated and very beautiful. The mountains come right to the beach.

The lagoon: there are mountains to the west and hills to the east. They seem to channel a southerly wind across the lagoon everyday. I can't remember it ever being out of the south, always out of the north. Always nearly constant, without the fluctuations you typically see on a breezy day. This makes for fantastic kite surfing, etc. There are many people out each day with the wind surf boards and the kite boards, etc. Looks spectacular. Haven't tried it myself, but this has to be about the best place in the world for such activities, if a steady breeze is good.

Expenses: extraordinarily high, by S. American standards. Anything which is grown in Brazil or manufactured in Brazil can be fairly reasonable. Anything imported is off the charts expensive. I have a Blackberry 9630 for which I paid $120 US for with a two year service contract. It costs 600$ without contract in US. It costs 3500 reis there, around $2000 USD! Cars are twice as much as the US, gas is nearly 4X as much (a litre there costs about what a gallon costs here). I paid $100 USD per day for a nice condo rental near Praia Mole. Safe area and a nice unit. The homes and condos in Jurere start at 3X this. In the summer, everything doubles in price, or even triples. Restaurants were below average in quality, compared to the US, and similar in price to the US, perhaps a little more expensive. Don't even think about imported liquor! The best eating option for me was the Churasscaria's (SP?)

Florianopolis Airport: nice little airport with frequent flights to Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Sao Paulo, and Rio. Flight from Floripa to Sao Paulo leave about every 15 minutes on Sunday night, lol.

Sao Paulo airport: a madhouse!!!!!! designed to handle less than half of the current capacity, IMO. Brazilians traveling abroad bring back massive quantities of consumer goods, due to high taxes in Brazil. Customs lines are very long, and everyone is tense. The Brazilians have huge stacks of luggage and are all worried about clearing customs, as they are all over the limit on consumer goods. I arrived at 6am on a Sunday and had 1.5 hours to catch a domestic flight. No problem, right? Wrong!! I missed my flight and waited for 7 hours in the airport terminal. There were three other flights I probably could have caught with other airlines, but the lines were so long, I couldn't get a ticket -- I started trying to get the next one, leaving in an hour -- line too long. Then there was one in two more hours -- no luck. I would recommend at least 3 hours to clear customs at Sao Paulo and catch the domestic flight. Better yet, fly through a different airport. Never seen anything quite like it. Anyone having flown through Rio have any comments?

I like Floripa, but need better internet for work. The expense of the house combined with a $1500USD per month rental car and the prospect of everything getting more expensive in a few months means this is a short term stay for me. I want to be with my fiance until her visa is approved. We've scoped it out, and it is actually cheaper to stay in Europe, lol. She doesn't need a visa and can stay for up to six months in most of the countries (and it's easy to go to the next country when necessary.) We're headed to Paris in a few weeks. She speaks four European languages, so I'm really looking forward to traveling with her!

[rivardco]

Muy interesante. And thanks for posting a good post about Brazil! I hope to see more.

From what I have read, South Brazil looks interesting. But, for me South Brazil is an alternative to Medellin / Periera, so your comparisons are perfect for me. Bad internet?!? That is bad. I spend 40 days in the DR in April, and the internet was spotty; and consequently, my businesses declined. The internet I used in Cali was better than the internet I have in Tampa, FL. So that is a big negative for me.

Expenses - Is Florinappolis more expensive than Sao Poulo? I was under the impression that South Brazil was as expensive as Bogota, plus a little. I am surprised to hear that it is more expensive than Paris.

Women - I understand you met one lady there, but could you give the board some insight into the dating and meeting possibilities that exist in South Brazil. Comparisons to Colombia work for me.

Gracias

[jimsonweed]

Rivardco,

I actually met this girl in person for the first time at Punta Cana, DR, after chatting with her for a while on Brazil Cupid. She is a flight attendant and her flights are very cheap, and that was one place we could meet where a visa was not required for either party. I tried to talk her out of that plan and knew her family would be very concerned. They were and it was a mistake, but one we'll recover from. The internet here is better than the DR. To be fair, I am in a semi rural area between Lagoa de Conceicao and Barra de Lagoa. The 3G is about as good as in the US, just have a game plan in place to acquire a 3G card, because no amount of money will buy one if you don't have the documents.

As far as the women are concerned, there is a regular mix of women. I don't think you have as many "big booty" girls down south as you would up north, but I haven't been to the north so am not certain. The women, on average, are thin and well dressed. There does not seem to be nearly the predominance of surgically enhanced women here as in Colombia. Just my observation from strolling the mall. The women have good manners but are not overly polite. They don't mind staring at a gringo, even if with their significant other. Overall, there are some real beauties, but not much different than a US mall. Here the women stay thin into their 30's and 40's.

(An off the wall side note possibly of interest: the women in the highlands in Colombia look younger for their age due to cooler temperatures and lower sun exposure. Humans instinctively gauge a person's age by the size of their nose and ears. These are the two visible appendages that continue to grow throughout life. They grow in direct correlation with the blood flow they receive. In warmer, lowland, tropical climates, blood flow is high and these appendages grow faster. In cooler climates, blood flow is dramatically restricted. Therefore, the people of lowland tropical climates seem to age faster than others. This fact, a low calorie diet, and lower sun exposure due to overcast skies explains why the 40 year old highland Colombianas often look 10 years younger than their age.)

Every North American or European male over 30 here is either with his family on vacation or has a young beautiful Brazilian woman by his side. Same goes for the older, well established Brazilian men. I have observed age differences of 30+ years, with an obvious disparity of physical appearance as well. These couples seem to be married often, with children in tow. I don't think women are desperate here, like they seem to be in Colombia. The economy is better. But some women don't like the machisimo attitude of the men and everyone hates the taxes, crime, etc. I have received a number of lectures about how awful Brazil is and how the US is "still the greatest country in the world."

Florianopolis is reputed to be a safe island, with low crime. I think this can be said in relative terms, but there is still a lot of petty theft, etc., here. No muggings, murders, rapes to speak of. Business people I have dealt with seem to be ok.

The ethnic makeup down south is almost strictly European descent, anywhere from Italian and German to Portuguese. The Azoreans (SP?) populate the small fishing villages in the south part of the island and are somewhat swarthy. They have a complex dialect that the other Brazilians can't understand very well. They are a little bit of a closed community, as far as I can tell. I met a Brazilian man who lives on the south island, has owned a home their for over 10 years. He stated that his son, who was born there and is of Portuguese descent, will always be considered an outsider.

On the entire island, I have seen only two black people, both waiting at bus stops. The locals don't like the blacks (no one has said, "I don't like the blacks", but several people have said that blacks have a poor reception here, blaming it on others.) They are apparently treated poorly in Southern Brazil.

Expenses here will double during the summer. It will be cheaper to live in Paris primarily because we won't need a car. The tiny 3-banger stick shift I am renting now costs around $1350 US per month. This will double during the summer. The condo I am renting is $3000 US, and will double or triple. Longterm rentals are possible here, but you have to purchase your own furniture. In Paris, a nice smaller apartment furnished with internet, etc., can be had for around $2500 US short term and we won't need a car. The restaurants are similarly priced (based on internet survey and reviews.) I am sure the quality is higher. I don't speak French, but my girl is fluent.

Can't compare directly to Sao Paulo. Much more expensive than Bogota.

Hope this helps!

[rivardco]

Yep. It does. I am looking for more than a girl friend / wife; in a perfect world I am looking for a second home too ... someplace to spend 3 - 4 months a year. It is hard to get excited about anyplace other than Colombia for me - even with its obvious drawbacks.

- Proximity to US Mainland / number and cost of flights
- gene pool (looks; intelligence; etc...)
- culture is pleasing and language rather easy to learn
- positive stereotypse that flatter a gringo.
- Colombia is a country improving (economically, socially)
- favorable cost of living comparison

[tommy b]

Just joined the site so getting in my 10 replies. I went to Floripa a few years ago (mid-November) so here are a few impressions. First, without knowledge of Brazilian language, and Spanish won't help, you are pretty much dead in the water. Most people do not speak English. Some of the women in Lagoa are absolutely spectacular and are especially noticeable around 5 to 7pm in the evening. Where they go other times is beyond me...In Floripa itself, I found the city a bit run down in spots but overall it was a pleasant experience. I stayed at a small homestay in Lagao owned by a pretty blond women of German ancestry. Other areas, especially the southern part, are wonderful drives with great scenery. Avoid a strip club called Baccara or spelled something like that -- a real rip-off. It's near the hospital.

I was amused by your description of Sao Paulo airport. I had taken a bus from Curitaba to go to SP airport to catch a flight with LAN. There was plenty of time based on the bus schedule but when I arrived in SP, it was total gridlock and I ended up missing my plane. The LAN people offered to arrange a hotel for me that evening and I took a shuttle van that LAN said would take me to a hotel where the pilots and attendants stayed. The drive dropped me off at this hotel that was a complete dump and I could not believe the pilots would stay there. The attendants -- well, thats another story lol...I left the hotel shortly thereafter for a walk and came to the bottom of the street and saw a Melia Hotel. When I inquired at reception, they said this was LAN's hotel for their employees and promptly offered me a nice discount after hearing my story. I quickly returned and checked out of the other hotel.