Our last overnight bus had us travelling for 28 hours from Bonito to Floripa, a large island on the south coast of Brasil. We settled into a great hostel at Barra da Lagoa, which overlooked a long stretch of beach where locals & tourists spent their days soaking up the sun (they are sun worshippers), playing paddle ball, surfing (de even took a board out), playing football (aka soccer), and sampling snacks from the local vendors wandering along shoreline. And all the Brasilians wore the skimpiest bikini's & speedo's to ensure maximum sun exposure, and noone seemed to bother covering up when eating at a cafe or catching the public bus.

At night the beaches turned into the place to be for drinking cocktails & dancing, particularly during the Carnival period which was great fun. On the Saturday night of Carnival we ventured into the main city with Nora & Gustav, a fun couple we met from Austria. As soon as we got off the bus we were confronted with a guy dressed up in women's clothing ... but when we arrived at the street party he wasn't the only one! Boys and men of all ages were dressed in drag, which turned out to be something of a tradition at this time of year. After watching the madness of the street party, we headed to the corsodrome to see the parade of floats. Unfortunately it was pouring with rain, but that didn't stop the performers & crowd having a great time singing & dancing until the wee hours of the morning.