Day 5: August 15, 2014

Today was our free day, where we had the liberty to do whatever we wanted within Florianopolis all day.  Waking up around 11AM, myself, Elijah, Joe and Summer decided to explore downtown Florianopolis and really get a sense of what the city was like.  The downtown area was very busy; the streets were filled with people.  We walked through numerous markets, sampled food from street vendors and watched a local band play on the steps of church.  We stopped for breakfast at a small, hole-in-the-wall juice bar we discovered downtown.  I had pao de queijio (Brazilian cheese bread) and freshly squeezed mango juice, all of which were incredible.  The juices are going to be one of the things I miss the most about Brazil as they are all freshly squeezed and made on the spot, having no type of preservatives or concentrates, just straight juice.

Pao de quejio. One of Brazil's most simple, yet most delicious baked goods

After breakfast we continued exploring the city and visiting more of the local stores and markets.  We walked all the way to the far end of the downtown area where I ended up being a pair of look-a-like fake ray bans (don’t tell anyone they aren’t the real deal) for R$40 (roughly $20 USD). 

FAKE BANS

Later that night we contacted another group of ISA foreign exchange students also studying in Florianopolis.   It being their last night in Brazil we agreed to meet at another local nightclub called 1007 later that night.  It was a great experience being able to meet and hangout with other kids studying abroad in Brazil outside of our own group and being able to interact with Brazilians in a party setting.

Elijah, Aryel and myself at the Club 1007 highlighter party