So to catch everyone up on where I be at, I'm in Florianopolis. I've been traveling south heading towards Uruguay, but going to take a sharp turn towards Argentina next.
After Ilha Grande I was in Paraty for a few days. Paraty is a beautiful little town known for it's cachaca and colonial architecture. I'm not sure when it was settled, but the center of the town is beautiful (pictures to come!) and filled with little craft shops and slightly overpriced restaurants.
Outside of the town you can take boat trips to beautiful islands and do some snorkeling. I definitely recommend this! The boat trip was R$35 and lasted forr 7 hours! We went to several places to swim around, I dislocated my shoulder (it's better now, thanks for worrying!) and we even saw a pod of dolphins! It was probably one of the best trips I had done.
After Paraty was Sao Paulo: To me, just another big city. It was a lot like NYC, tons of people, tons of shops and not much to do unless you know someone who can show you around. I ended up going to a few churches and found a really nice art museum in the "Park of Light" I also ate a ridiculously large sandwich at the giant market. It was a pretty good day, but I realized I will never want to live in that big of a city.
I think I really love Philadelphia because it's a big city, but manageable. I can walk to where I need to if I need to walk and if I ever just want to enjoy a park qand not be bothered by anyone, well, I can do that too. I have a feeling that when I get to Mendoza it's going to be similar to Philly, so I'm pretty excited for that.
Sorry, back on track: Florianopolis was next (where I am now) and it's a beautiful medium sized town/island. There are tons of beaches which I'm trying to enjoy because it's the last beach town I'll see for awhile. So I'm reading and relaxing and meeting new people, it's delightful.
As for thoughts about the trip, something a bit more in depth: Last night I realized I'm not a party-goer. I will always choose hanging out with friends at a bar over drinking games and sloppy drunks. Granted I have never been much into the party scene, but last night I was in the bar at my hostel, many people drinking, i decided to get in on the games and give it a try, but I didn't get anything out of it. And I still went to bed at 12:30, And I'm perfectly happy with that: To each their own.
Anyway, more pictures soon! Foz da Iguacu (Iguazu Falls in english, I think?) is my next stop, if only for a day. Then off to Mendoza for a wine festival!
