Paradise, a.k.a. Florianopolis

The Thursday after Carnival we moved to our second destination, Florianopolis. The 18 hour bus ride was mostly uneventful and surprisingly comfortable, departing at 2 PM and arriving the following morning at 8 AM, with a half hour stop for supper at a roadside per-kilo buffet. The buses in South America are usually equipped with bathrooms, good air conditioning, and seats which lay farther back than your average airplane seat, so bus rides of this length are generally fairly tolerable.

On Friday morning we arrived at our hostel Albergue Estrelas no Mar in Florianopolis (Floripa for short), and I need to give them credit for providing extremely detailed and accurate directions from the bus station on the hostel booking website. 

Floripa is a stunning city situated on and around a large island on the coast of Brazil in the Santa Catarina district. It's well known among tourists for its beautiful beaches, wild surfing, and even wilder nightlife. The hostel where we stayed is located on the southern edge of the island, in a small traditional fishing village called Pantano do Sul. I actually have no firsthand knowledge of the nightlife on the island, as we arrived in this beautiful, rustic, quiet beach village, surrounded by the constant sound of waves crashing, friendly stray dogs and fishing boats parked along the beach, and unanimously decided that this was exactly the atmosphere we needed in order to recharge after the chaotic energy of Rio.

The view from Estrelo no Mar

These two men were having a very boisterous argument in this boat

Yishai in particular seems to thrive in this type of peaceful, relaxed atmosphere. Immediately upon arrival Yishai removed his watch, and for the rest of our stay whenever I asked him the time, he would respond, "What does it matter?".

Yishai on vacation time

Naturally, the first thing Aviva and I did upon arrival was get fantastically sunburned. Yishai was spared because he had already pinked out the first day in Rio, and has just been steadily browning since then, whereas Aviva and I seemed to have limitless capacity to burn.

Our stay at Albuerge Estrelos No Mar was truly wonderful, mostly because of how friendly and sweet the other guests of the hostel were, creating a warm and welcoming environment for everyone. There were a number of other travelers following routes similar to ours from Germany, Holland, Israel and Australia, for varying amounts of time (from two weeks to a year), as well as a couple on holiday from Porto Alegre, Brazil, and a Japanese guest who appeared to be working at the hostel and staying indefinitely. 

Together we went on a hike one afternoon to a local waterfall,

(where we saw an awesome lizard on the way),

hung out in a boat parked on the beach,

held a rousing hostel vs. local game of beach soccer one night,   

and overall adjusting to a different tempo of living, drifting to sleeping every night listening to the waves beat against the shore.

Of course, the most memorable event in Floripa was the most beautiful sunset ever.

Shabbos

I realize I haven't discussed our shabbos experiences at all up to this point. Our first shabbos (Sabbath) was spent in Rio de Janeiro, pleasant and relatively simply. While we had a lot of trouble finding Kosher food during the week, we had the good fortune to connect with Roger from Shelanu catering (kosher@lubavitchcopacabana.org) who provided us with catered Kosher food, and an invitation to the local chabad (of Copacabana) for shabbos kiddush/lunch. On Friday night we walked around for over an hour searching for the synagogue without managing to find the address. As it turns out, we had walked in entirely the wrong direction. On Saturday morning we managed to find the shul with little difficulty, and after being grilled by the security guard posted out front in Hebrew ("Who told you about the shul?" "Did you ask anyone for directions?" "Does anyone else know you're here?"), we were allowed in for services and invited to stay for the light lunch.

We spent our second shabbos far from any Jewish community, in our hostel in Florianopolis. Since we arrived on Friday morning, we only had a few hours to prepare, although thankfully sundown, when shabbos begins, was quite late, it being the height of summer. We managed to whip up a lovely hearty meal of tomato bean and cabbage soup, sliced baked potatoes, rice pilaf, and grilled fish. There was a supermarket nearby, and Yishai was charged with finding fish, since the clearly marked fish market appeared to be closed. After about 15 minutes, he returned with 4 frozen fish fillets, which cost a total of about $6, which he apparently found by knocking on the door of one of the village houses and asking where he could buy fish. The house owner promptly led him directly to his freezer, which was industrial sized and stocked with fish.

And so we began our second shabbos meal, replete with shalom aleichem and eishet chayil, what I'm sure must have been a very strange sight to our fellow hostel guests. Soon enough, however, we were all sitting around, eating our respective meals and discussing different religions and traditions. It was a wonderful, relaxing, and spiritually refreshing Sabbath.

Floripa Tomato Cabbage Bean Soup Recipe
serves 8- 10

Ingredients:
a splash of olive oil
5-7 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2- 1 head of cabbage, cut into strips or chopped
2-3 carrots, chopped
2-3 potatoes, cubed
1 packet of tomato paste, around 8 oz (or 2 packets of tomato sauce)
1/2 cup black beans
1/2 cup garbanzo beans
1/2 black eyed peas
1/2 cup lentils

Spices:
black pepper
salt
cumin
oregano
paprika


*Note: Any combination of beans will do. Ideally, the beans should be soaked overnight and then rinsed, but if this isn't possible they can be boiled in plenty of water for around 30-45 minutes until somewhat soft.

Directions:

Find a hostel with a kitchen. In a large soup pot over medium heat, sautee the onion in olive oil until translucent (around 5-7 minutes). Add the garlic and stir for another minute until slightly brown. Add the chopped carrots, celery and cabbage and stir for another 10-12 minutes, until the cabbage is soft. Add the tomato paste, beans, potatoes and around 10-12 cups of water (the beans will soak up quite a bit of the water), and whatever savory spices you have on hand - I've listed my personal favorites. Let the soup simmer for around an hour, or until the beans and potatoes are soft. Invite the other travelers around to eat with you. Enjoy!

This is one of my absolute favorite soups, and can be whipped together with whatever beans you have in your bag, and vegetables and grocery staples that can be found pretty much anywhere.