They should call this place Little Argentina. I haven´t seen so many Argentines in one place since I lived in Buenos Aires. It´s like New Yorkers at the Jersey Shore, apparently--this is a huge vacation spot for them. I haven´t seen so many mullets or heard so many obnoxious porteño accents in ages.
Apparently there are also a ton of Israelis, like the one next to me. But they are confusing me because there is a guy sitting aways down who I definitely heard speaking Argentine Spanish before who is speaking a strange language now that I´m pretty sure is Hebrew. Israeli...Argentines??
Today dawned sunny and clear and I was super excited that maybe the weather is clearing up. So I ate some breakfast and scooted off to the beach. It did get a lot cloudier during the day, but there was enough sun to keep me happy. I decided to go to Praia Mole, which seemed close on the map. I stopped at a tourist office to ask how to get there, and encountered a supah-gay Argentine dude running the booth. I tried very hard to speak Spanish because after 6 months of speaking Portuguese and English, it takes a big effort. He told me, "Subis el morro, bajas, llegas!" Awesome. The buses here cost 2.5 reais in cash and only 1.98 with a card, meaning they charge the locals less and the tourists more. Good job. It took about 10 minutes and I was there.
So the beach was stunningly gorgeous and I got a chair and umbrella so as not to fry myself (I did a little bit anyway, in the end), and spent the day relaxing, reading, and people-watching. My happy place, the place I go to when I need to chill out, is a tropical beach, so you can imagine I was a happy camper today. The waves were really strong, and there were lifeguards all over the place, blowing their whistles and anxiously waving their flippers at the stupid swimmers (for some reason, they all carry around a pair of snorkel flippers). At one point, I saw a lifeguard fly down the sand and leap into the water, where he joined another bunch of lifeguards "saving" some swimmers who´d gone out too far. What I didn´t understand was why they didn´t bother with the zillion surfers out in the dangerous current. I guess they figure they´re better swimmers, or that at least they´ll have something to grab on to if the current sweeps them out to sea.
After that, I walked on the beach, discovering an entire empty stretch and huge boulders you can walk on and see the connecting beach, which has no commerce or restaurants or anything and is just gorgeous. But I had just discovered how sunburned I´d gotten (in lovely splotches) so I decided to head back. Here is a picture of the two beaches.
I found 10 reais on the way to the bus stop, and found one yesterday. I guess people drop their money on the way to the beach.
The hostel is growing on me, though as an extremely OCD person who needs her personal space I guess I´m not really a hostely person. There are two adorable dogs who hang out there, a chocolate lab and a black lab puppy. It´s mostly Europeans and some Australians there at the moment.
I´m going to write a quick news post in a sec and then get some food, since it wasn´t so great at the beach today.
well, santa catarina is known for being a big argentine vacation spot.
in rio state buzios has that "honor"
Posted by: cecilia | January 25, 2008 at 06:16 PM