Florianópolis ᛫ May 3 – 13, 2018

Many people had recommended visiting Florianópolis, also called Floripa, to us. It’s a city 700 km/434 mi south of São Paulo with good surf spots. The city is located on an island, which is 55 km/34 mi long and connected to the mainland by an only 800 m/0.5 mi long bridge. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any couchsurfers to host us. But instead, we were accepted by someone on another website called Workaway and tried this kind of accommodation for the first time.

One of the best spots for a meditation. 🙂

Getting to Floripa

In order to reach the city, we took a night bus from Peruíbe to Curitiba. The 5-hour journey cost R$70 (15€/US$18) each. When we arrived in the early morning, we bought another bus ticket for R$59 (13€/US$15). At 8:30 am, we left the city again and reached Floripa 4.5 hours later.

For the last part of the trip, we took an Uber taxi from the bus terminal to the address the owner of the place had told us. At the end of the trip, we drove up a steep mountain and then climbed up even further past some houses. Since the owner wasn’t there, we met someone who lived there and showed us to our room.

In fact, it was a simple place that was not completely finished yet. But we had our own room, and the shared kitchen and bathroom had all the necessities. Because of its location on a mountain, the best part was the amazing view over the city. During the day we could see all the way to the mainland and at night, there were thousands of city lights.

Working

In Florianópolis, we stayed in a Workaway place. Instead of paying for our room, we worked three hours per day, e.g. removing weeds like in this picture.

On the property, there were two more or less finished houses and two that were still under construction. Eventually, the goal was to build a hostel. In return for staying there, we helped out three hours a day, six days per week. The first two days, we didn’t know what to do though. Since the owner lived in Rio, we ended up never meeting him.

On the third day, we met the guy who manages the different workers and he showed us what work needed to be done. So we cleaned some paths, removed weeds and made firewood out of tree stems and branches that were laying around the property. Later, we also cleaned a part of the property from grass and weeds, where new buildings are going to be built.

Even though it wasn’t the easiest work, it was chilled because we could choose what time we wanted to work and could take as many breaks as we wanted. ☺️ After a couple of days, some other workers arrived as well. A really nice Brazilian-Argentinian couple moved into the room next to us. Thus, we spent a great time together, sharing stories and food, making music and sitting by the fire.

We love street art because it makes cities more colorful and brings grey walls to life.

What Else We Did

Unfortunately, there was no wifi. Therefore, we often went down the mountain and to a restaurant with wifi that we found on the first day. When it was closed, we just sat on the stairs in front of it. Thankfully, the connection worked well and the stairs had a roof. ?

Apart from working and enjoying the view, we tried to find an apartment to stay for longer. We looked at a couple of places, but couldn’t find the right one that fit our budget and was in walking distance to the beach.

During our search, we went to different parts of the island. In Campeche, there was a long and beautiful beach as well as cute shops and restaurants.

Luckily, the couple recommended us to go to another city called Imbituba. Since they had already stayed there in a cool apartment, they gave us the contact of the owner. The price of the rent was good and it was located close to the beach. It was also a much smaller city than Floripa. So we figured that would be the better option for us. Hence, we left Floripa again before having seen a whole lot. But it was a nice place with lots of friendly people and colorful street art.

Many people had recommended visiting Florianópolis, also called Floripa, to us. It’s a city 700 km/434 mi south of São Paulo with good surf spots. The city is located on an island, which is 55 km/34 mi long and connected to the mainland by an only 800 m/0.5 mi long bridge. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find any couchsurfers to host us. But instead, we were accepted by someone on another website called Workaway and tried this kind of accommodation for the first time.

Apart from nice beaches, there were also many green mountains across the island.

Getting to Floripa

In order to reach the city, we took a night bus from Peruíbe to Curitiba. The 5-hour journey cost R$70 (15€/US$18) each. When we arrived in the early morning, we bought another bus ticket for R$59 (13€/US$15). At 8:30 am, we left the city again and reached Floripa 4.5 hours later. For the last part of the trip, we took an Uber taxi from the bus terminal to the address the owner of the place had told us. At the end of the trip, we drove up a steep mountain and then climbed up even further past some houses. Since the owner wasn’t there, we met someone who lived there and showed us to our room.

One of the best spots for a meditation. 🙂

In fact, it was a simple place that was not completely finished yet. But we had our own room, and the shared kitchen and bathroom had all the necessities. Because of its location on a mountain, the best part was the amazing view over the city. During the day we could see all the way to the mainland and at night, there were thousands of city lights.

Working

In Florianópolis, we stayed in a Workaway place. Instead of paying for our room, we worked three hours per day, e.g. removing weeds like in this picture.

On the property, there were two more or less finished houses and two that were still under construction. Eventually, the goal was to build a hostel. In return for staying there, we helped out three hours a day, six days per week. The first two days, we didn’t know what to do though. Since the owner lived in Rio, we ended up never meeting him. On the third day, we met the guy who manages the different workers and he showed us what work needed to be done. So we cleaned some paths, removed weeds and made firewood out of tree stems and branches that were laying around the property. Later, we also cleaned a part of the property from grass and weeds, where new buildings are going to be built.

Even though it wasn’t the easiest work, it was chilled because we could choose what time we wanted to work and could take as many breaks as we wanted. ☺️ After a couple of days, some other workers arrived as well. A really nice Brazilian-Argentinian couple moved into the room next to us. Thus, we spent a great time together, sharing stories and food, making music and sitting by the fire.

The couple who also stayed and worked at the place was very nice and we spend a fun time together.

What Else We Did

Unfortunately, there was no wifi. Therefore, we often went down the mountain and to a restaurant with wifi that we found on the first day. When it was closed, we just sat on the stairs in front of it. Thankfully, the connection worked well and the stairs had a roof. ?

Apart from working and enjoying the view, we tried to find an apartment to stay for longer. We looked at a couple of places, but couldn’t find the right one that fit our budget and was in walking distance to the beach. During our search, we went to different parts of the island. In Campeche, there was a long and beautiful beach as well as cute shops and restaurants.

We love street art because it makes cities more colorful and brings grey walls to life.

Luckily, the couple recommended us to go to another city called Imbituba. Since they had already stayed there in a cool apartment, they gave us the contact of the owner. The price of the rent was good and it was located close to the beach. It was also a much smaller city than Floripa. So we figured that would be the better option for us. Hence, we left Floripa again before having seen a whole lot. But it was a nice place with lots of friendly people and colorful street art.