Day 24: Last day in Santa Catarina-- Yes-Rent-a-Car, surfing on multiple surfaces, tchau Arante Bar

Realizing that the taxi ride to the airport would be roughly 75% the cost of actually renting a car and conveniently returning it to the airport, plus it was our last opportunity to explore the island and the buses, although frequent and inexpensive require much time with multiple transfers, we decided it would be a brilliant adventure to rent a car. According to LP (Lonely Planet), if you are going to rent a car in Brazil, this is the place to do it (because the roads are clearly marked and the drivers are not maniacs).  So, given the rational stated above, we called Yes-Rent-a-Car (Brazilian phones are very difficult to figure out, 30 minutes were spent trying to dial an 8-digit number), and in Spanuguese (no English this time) we (Chris) negotiated the price and the drop-off point for our rental car the next morning.

 

With Chris at the wheel of a little hatchback Chevy and Olivia nagivating (eek!), we arrived at the sand dunes of Sao Jaoquim for some sand boarding. We rented boards and lasted only about 40 min the the blazing sun, with the hot sand burning our feet, and feeling pretty out-of-shape with those ascends. It was a good time with only a few wipe outs, and of course, the scenery was beautiful. From the top, we could see distant views of the ocean just past rolling sand dunes with sparse vegetation.

 

Then we headed further north to a Barro do Laguna beach. We worked up a great appetite for frutos do mar and for the first time on this trip, enjoyed shrimp with our feet in the sand at a outdoor beach restaurant. Being at this beach made us realize that we had, somewhat purposefully, picked the most isolated, non-touristy part of the island to stay. This place was happening, with tons of restaurants, shops, and a surfing school...

 

We wet suited up, were issued his and her boards (seriously-- blue and pink), and followed our super chill instructor to the most protected starter waves, which was difficult on this windy day. Basically, the instuctor took control of the board, pushed us when there was a decent wave, and we popped up upon his command.  We´d look back after each attempt to receive one of the following body language signs: "look up!," "relax...relax," or the classic Brazilian thumbs up.

 

We explored a bit further north, and unfortunately missed the hours at the turtle reserve (don´t worry, we will hit a TAMAR location just north of Salvador), then headed home to Pantano do Sul for our last dining at Arante and our last sleep at Posada do Pescador.

 

We became regulars at Arante during our time in Floripa. At the end of our second visit, we were kissing the waitress (on the cheek). By our last time, she knew our drink orders. We ate mussels the size of golf balls and for the last time indulged in the self-serve ice cream for dessert. We bought T-shirts (which upon close inspection we believe may be individually made from a sharpee and puffy paints, tastefully done though), received a burnt CD of the music we commented on enjoying during our meals (which turned out to be Puntamaya Nuevo Latino), and walked away with a special gift-- a bottle of their homemade cachaça. We will definitely send Jô, our waitress, a copy of the photo we took together. We left our mark, like the many visitors, with a message taped to the wall, but noticed that there is a nice collection of pictures in the dessert area too. Good times.