Time to move on

Well, it's been a good five weeks in Floripa. I've made some new friends here and got to see some of what this city has to offer. I went on a hike for nearly 3 hours yesterday with some friends. We then had lunch at a restaurant and got a ferry back .

But I'm leaving tomorrow. This also marks my final official Portuguese course. I've studied the language for about four months now - a month more than I had initially intended. I hope to keep learning more through listening, reading and speaking (I still have a long way to go) but this marks my last official course.

The plan is to head back to Rio and spend about a month there. I'm going by bus which would be a good 15+ hour trip if I went directly, but I plan to break it up and spend a few days in some different cities.

First, tomorrow (Monday) a 4 hour trip to Blumenau - a small city with a lot of German heritage. Then on Tuesday I plan to get the bus to Curitiba - a city which I've heard lots of good things about. I plan to stay there until Friday.

For these two cities I plan to do something a bit more adventerous/crazy than I usually would in terms of accomodation. A few people in my travels have told me about http://www.couchsurfing.org
The idea is there's a community of people over the world who offer to let you "sleep on their couch". It sounded a bit crazy at first, but I've met some people that have done it and I kind of like the idea of meeting people who actually live in the city rather than a whole lot of other tourists which you tend to find at a backpackers place. Reminds be a bit of how in Bible times people would go to the town square and wait for some hospitable person to take them in.

So in Blumenau a chap by the name of Fernando has been kind enough to offer to host me on the Monday. He lives with his sister
http://www.couchsurfing.org/profile.html?id=5RSOSR5
Then in Curitiba for the Tuesday-Friday, a guy by the name of Claudio said he would host me. He lives with his mum
http://www.couchsurfing.org/profile.html?id=E3L8LBK

On Friday I plan to get the bus from Curitiba to São Paulo (a 6 hour trip)- Brazil's largest city. My friend Priscila Romeiro (I know lots of Brazilian Priscilas) has been kind enough to organise for me to stay with her family while I'm there!
So I'm looking forward to seeing some new places and meeting some new people!