We’ve been pretty lucky with the weather in Florianópolis. There’s a “chance of scattered thunderstorms” pretty much every day but Santa Catarina is a big island, so it translates into “yeah, gonna storm somewhere… hopefully not where we are.”

It rains in Brazil, that’s a fact of life. On the plus side, you get giant green trees and if you master the art of walking around in Havaianas—the best flip-flops you’ll ever buy—you won’t be affected much. It’s still hot, no big deal, just a bit of water.

Okay, sometimes a lot of water.

We headed to Praia da Armação, the beach of the day. Praia da Armação is the gateway to a better beach called Praia do Matadeiro hidden behind a hill and only accessible on foot. The guys found a spot and I crossed back to Praia da Armação for a long walk—Matadeiro is pretty small.

Waves are huge and water is cold on Praia da Armação. On top of it, it’s one of these beaches where you sink into the sand so every step is huge effort. But this is where I invariably find amazing seashells, so it’s kind of worth it.

Two hours later I was back to my starting point. I bought a cup of coffee and I was just about to enjoy it before hiking across the hill to meet the two guys when it started raining. I looked up—dark rain clouds all over.

Shit. We were right on a “scattered thunderstorm” spot.

Feng had reached the same conclusion because he was coming back from Matadeiro with Mark. We rushed to the car.

We made a pit stop on the way back for ice cream bars (Feng and Mark) and bakery (me)—good thing both businesses were side by side because it was pouring and we got soaked just running across the parking lot!