On my first day, I had planned to go take a boat trip to go whale watching. This was the season for the Southern Right Whale. Unfortunately, it was too windy for the boats to go out. I ended up strolling through town in between bursts of rain.
Bistro in Garopaba
Fishing boats
Main cathedral in town
View of town as you walked along the beach
There is a surfing school that practices at the far end of the beach. This surfer decided to brave the cold and rain. 
At the end of the beach is a trail that connects Garopaba's beach to the neighboring Siriu beach. I decided to walk the trail and check out the sand dunes on the other side.
If the weather had been nicer, I could have gone boarding down the dunes. That seemed like it would be fun to try. Unfortunately, even after it stopped raining a couple of days later, the sand was still too wet to go boarding on.
On the trail back from Siriu beach, it started pouring rain and I slipped in the mud and twisted my knee. Because it wasn't yet tourist season, there were no taxis to be found. I hobbled back to my room at the Hotel Pousada da Lagoa. The owner, Renato, and his wife took pity on me and invited me to join them for a simple dinner of potato soup and bread with herbed butter. It was a hearty warm soup that really hit the spot.
The next day, it was still cold and rainy, and my knee was swollen to the size of a grapefruit. Renato and his wife drove me around looking for whales. We eventually found some near Imbituba.
We climbed a muddy hill in between rain showers and saw the whales.
On my last day, I woke up and the sun was out. Figures! I only had about 3 hours before catching my bus to Florianopolis and then my flight back to Sao Paulo to fly back home.
I hobbled around and took in a bit more scenery and watched a few surfers before heading to the bus station.
Despite the cold rainy end, and my swollen achy knee, I had a great time.
I love Brazil!
When we first arrived, we had a few problems - like half the house did not have air conditioning. After a few beers and the property manager sending somebody, there were no worries.
When we weren't on the beach, we spent time just hanging out at the house and spending time with friends. We fired up the BBQ and grilled fish and meat for dinner, and ate left overs for lunch. We have some great cooks in the group, so nobody went hungry.
For the "official" birthday celebrations, we went out to dinner one night. The food was ok, but not nearly as good as what we made at the house. Plus, there was about 1/2 inch of standing water on the floor of the women's restroom when I went, which sort of grossed me out about eating at the restaurant.
