Holiday Home

We have finally arrived at our holiday home, where we will be staying for the next three weeks. Florianopolis is a small island - 33 miles long - located in the southeast of Brazil, about 450 miles down the coast from Rio. As far as we can tell, it appears to be a vacation paradise, with more than 50 odd beaches to choose from, each with its own personality and crowd. The house we are in fronts the Lagoa, a brackish lake separated from the ocean by a canal. The lake is enormous and down at the southern end where we are, never gets deeper than waist-high. The water is crystal clear and pristine with a lovely sandy bottom. The picture above was taken on the first night we arrived, harried and hassled from a long day. We took off our clothes and walked out....and kept walking. Anthony had time to drink a beer and snap this picture of us from our backyard before he came out to join us. It was as if this very sunset was our own private show. Incredible. By late afternoon the water is warmer than a bathtub, so that when you get out the gentle breeze is cooling. In the morning, the lake water has cooled down overnight and is completely refreshing as the sun gets hotter and hotter overhead.

Lest our friends in the dreary, dark cold North resent us too much, I will admit that the kitchen here is full of ants (the cute kind) and, of course, the internet is S-L-O-W. Otherwise, things are pretty well perfect and the only difficulty is deciding which beach to visit today.

The kids are adapting really well to life here. They go to bed late (10:30 last night!) and sleep in late (9:15 - still sleeping!). They've made some new discoveries - they are both big fans of 'beach cheese' or 'queijo coalhado' - which can be found up and down the coast of Brazil. Vendors walk along the beach singing their wares and when you signal them, they light a little portable charcoal grill and roast a stick of delicious salty white cheese for you. It sounds a little counter-intuitive...hot, salty cheese on a hot, salty (sandy!) beach but the overall effect is amazing. They must have eaten half a kilo of the stuff yesterday.

Our love to all of you!