Florianopolis

Long but comfortable night coach journey from Foz do Iguaçu, sixteen hours including a 30-minute and a 20-minute stop at roadside restaurant and stores facilities along the way and other quick stops in cities along the route. Enough to grab some food and revive the legs. Many aboard this bus are returning from a shopping trip to Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, for better prices of the items stowed on the overhead luggage shelf. Hope the microwave oven box will hold in place rather than hit me hard.
Highlights of coach transfers are the rough roads, not really lulling as one may expect, and hundreds of "quebramolas" (shock-breaker). These are man-made concrete bumps, aimed at reducing speed, which buses take at near-zero velocity. The effect on passengers is that of a noticeable wake-up shake or a spill while drinking.
At destination, a cab ride takes us to Campeche which is our choice to accommodate on the island. To our dismay, and contrary to the information we had, there's no bike rental at the hotel. Searching nearby proves unsuccessful and we just keep heading north on foot until we decide to catch a bus to Lagoa da Conceição.
The public transportation system works fine but it's not always easy to understand it, so better be aware of destination names in advance. Even so, asking locals and bus drivers are the best options. Bus stops can easily go unnoticed for posted signs can be small and/or unconventional. In this country, a bus also stops upon request where need be. From Lagoa we're about to walk for 12 Km (8 mi) back to the hotel through Joaquina beach and the coastal sand dunes, tallest of which are in Joaquina. Here, just a little down the road leading to the Lagoa da Conceição, sand boards can be rented to try unusual slopes. A walk up the dune yields in any case a great view over the dunes complex.

It was sad to see no less than 20 dead penguins on the shore up to Campeche. These were stranded by strong currents to take them all the way far north from their habitat and towards death by starvation. Probably an unexpected meal for red-headed Turkey Vultures (Cathartes Aura).




Tour GPS tracklog available here:

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=784266