Monday was a travel day. These are never our favorite days. And this one was a bit long because we had two flights, each over 3 hours. Neither individual flight was too long, but by the time you get to the airport three hours early, fly, have a layover, and fly again, it feels like you've been doing a lot more than you have. Our first flight took us from Lima, Peru to Santiago, Chile. Our layover was only two hours, so not too bad. We don't count Chile as a country we've been in. Our general rule is that if you don't leave the airport, it doesn't count. We'll check out Chile later.
Our second flight took us from Santiago, Chile to Florianopolis, Brazil. We crossed South America from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. Florianopolis is on an island which is just off the mainland in southeastern Brazil. The island is called Ilha de Santa Catarina, or Island of Saint Catherine. Florianopolis is the biggest city on the island, on the west side, facing mainland Brazil. We are actually living in a smaller town called Campeche which is on the east side of the island, the side that faces the Atlantic Ocean.
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| That is the Ilha do Campeche across the water |
We took a walk from our place to the beach. It's about 20 minutes walk, not bad at all. Personally, I'm not a huge beach, but this beach is lovely. It is very fine sand and well packed so easy to walk on. You can see an island called Ilha do Campeche right across from you and beyond that you can see out to the ocean. This island is a tourism spot, but this is the end of winter. We are way out of season. There were other people at the beach, but not too many. We sat in the shade, walked along the water with our feet bare, and just relaxed. The sounds of the ocean are very soothing. Plus we saw a group of sandpipers digging for food. Also, after a big wave came up on shore we would see mole crabs. They aren't true crabs, but they look like itty bitty white crabs. They dig under the sand and catch prey in the waves. When they get displaced, you can watch them sink back down into the sand as they dig their way back.
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| Can you imagine the sound of the waves? |
Brazilians, unlike the citizens of many of the other countries in South America, speak Portuguese, not Spanish. I really know next to no Portuguese words, but I am learning. Knowing some Spanish can be very helpful and also very misleading.
There are a lot of similarities. For example, in both languages "carne" means meat (usually beef) and "sal" means salt. Other words are very similar, with only slight changes. As an example, in Spanish the words for "with" and "without" are "con" and "sin" respectively. In Portuguese those words are "com" and "sim". Or the words for "sugar" are "azúcar" in Spanish and "açúcar" in Portuguese.
Then there are the surprising words which are nothing alike. In a lot of Romance languages, the word for "chicken" is similar to the English word poultry. In Spanish it is "pollo". In French it is "poulet". But in Portuguese the word is "frango". "Strawberry" is another surprising difference. In Spanish it is "fresa", but in Portuguese it is "morango".
We aren't having any problems just because of the differences. Certainly we are better off here knowing none of the language than we were, for example, in Taiwan. Here, at least, they use the same alphabet. So we have some idea how to pronounce things.
One other big change from Lima to Florianopolis is rain. Lima is on the edge of a desert. It is very green near the ocean, but that is mainly due to coastal fog or rivers that come down from the Andes. The entire time we were in Lima, I never even touched my umbrella. In Florianopolis, it was raining when we arrived, rained that entire night, and partway into the next day. Looking out my window now, the clouds are getting thick. It is going to rain anytime now.
My own senses had to adjust. When we arrived, everything felt damp. The sheets on the bed felt damp when I touched them. The sofa felt damp. None of these things were actually damp, but my skin seemed to need a day to adjust to being in a place where the air isn't entirely dry. I don't remember ever experiencing that before. Now, I'm not having that sensation anymore. I think it really did go away in less than 24 hours for me.
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| No big arms for me! |
Finally, look how cylindrical this Brazilian hydrant is!
