The land of the Joyful: Brazil – Part 1

For starters I wanted to share with you my 10 day trip back home to Brazil to visit my fam. In this post you’ll find a few curiosities about Brazilians and things you should look forward to do if you’re planning a visit to either one of these spots! Due to financial pressures (aka lack of funds) the rest of my peeps didn’t make it, so it was my chance to fly solo!

For those of you who are new to KSD I’m from São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil. Crazy and full of life – perfect setting to recharge my batteries and get them pumping. So first stop São Paulo we go….12hrs+ later I arrive. First things first, I went straight to the hair salon to get me a real Brazilian Blow-Out. This is a great hair treatment for the humid summers down south to kill the frizz and tame naturally wild locks. This shot is from my friend’s kitchen, this is a very common view in Sampa. The city has a lot of buildings and sometimes you might end up having a view to someone else’s living room ????

That first night we hit Nuevo Mexico bar/restaurant. What I love and miss so much about Brazil (especially São Paulo) is the entertainment scene, where bars and restaurants lie on the sidewalks all over the city. You just seat out there, literally by the street and people watch while enjoying yourself some drinks and yummy food. Every Brazilian does happy hours on such “botecos” as we refer to them.

 Next morning we had breakfast at the “Padaria” and that’s another favorite. Padarias are bakeries, but unlike bakeries here in the Midwest that sell cake & donuts. Bakeries in São Paulo are a true delight, they do bake lots of pastries & cakes, but you can also get fresh baked french bread and deli meats. You can even drink a beer at the padaria but then again there’s hardly a place in Brazil you can not have a beer. It’s the best place to have a freshly squeezed orange juice with your breakfast sandwich aka misto quente!

After brekkie we headed to the airport for Florianópolis aka Floripa, an island in the south of Brazil where my brother has been leaving for the past year. Here’s the take off from the city…

 Landing in Floripa, a clear difference from the city life…

Upon arriving I took a couple ootd pics since I knew I wouldn’t be back in a button up shirt and espadrilles for a few days so yeah!! The rest of the afternoon we spent at the backyard pool ( a plastic one, don’t get to excited) catching up over brazilian appetizers and beers from the island!

 That night we went to Il Macellaio Hamburgueria a place for delish gourmet homemade hamburgers and some good Eisenbahn !

Next day, Praia da Joaquina. This beach is known for it’s local surfers so hey why not try some surfing?! Hahaha yeah have you heard that expression “Do one thing everyday that scares you”? I took that to heart ♥︎

The Brazilian beaches are full of walking sales people (I’m not sure how else to call them) you can purchase anything from food and popsicles to bathing suits, bathing suit cover-ups and floaties…

 

Turns out it was the perfect day for a surf lesson…

In Brazil people love açaí, and after a day out in the beach there’s nothing more nutritious, replenishing and refreshing than a bowl. I know I’ll be making hubs jelly because açaí bowls are his favorite!!! I had mine with granola and banana 🙂

 On the 3rd day the sun refused to shine (for the sakes of my burned legs – from my surfing lesson…yeah go ahead and have a giggle!) so we headed south. Praia da Armação. Very rocky and wild.

That night I flew back to Sampa and from there went to Atibaia, a small town on the country side of Sampa. The place we were staying at was nothing short of breathtaking but for the sakes of your precious time and the lenght of this post, that will be left for part 2 of this post coming up next week!

Did you learn anything new about Brazil and/or Brazilians that you didn’t already know? I’m always curious to know what pepople think about my home country, and would love to answer any questions! Send them my way and happy end of January gal pals 🙂

-K