Let's Eat...and Eat!

January 6, 2012

Food is life.

Spent the majority of the cloudy humid day on a beach in the north end of the inner coast. Caught a ferry to the  distant port “gratis” since the boat operator has a brother who owns the bar. The tall solemn captain waved secret signals at each passing vessel. The other passengers were as eager to arrive at our destination with a series of cement pathways to turn up at the waterfall and various shops and snack shacks where the mostly Argentinean tourists vacation. It is a lovely but much changed area filled with colorful homes on the water, boats in their private docks and every so often a public taxi station perched on the end of a small dock to collect and deliver them to the bus stop on the civil side of the inlet.

The menu at the bar suggested vast inflated prices yet we partook nonetheless. Fish stew (90% of the catch is from the inlet though I suspect it is extremely polluted since petrol from the constant boat traffic dumps into the cove) crunchy French fries, white fluffy rice and shredded lettuce to accompany fried fish balls. I ate cheese pastels and shredded lettuce spattered with rich olive oil. Fisherman stand on the edge of the dock to throw their large nets. In the few hours we sat nearby they nabbed half a small bucket full of little silver fish. We share large bottles of beer and the kids slurp soda from straws in the bottle. R$400 and four hours later we were headed back on the wooden putting ferry. Nunca mais (never more) are we going to eat out during the holiday season…too much money while hardly any of us are working. ..until the next time!

There are many more beaches to explore, Florianopolis has more than 100 yet few have shade nor anything more advanced than a simple shack for snacks or men struggling behind carts pushing through the thick sand to sell ice cream and water or beer.

Slapped on mosquito repellent and will plop down to read a few chapters of my book. War and Peace is getting the best of me since I drop off after a few chapters. End up re-reading them the next night and the night after..