On Saturday, we queued at the GOL check-in counter with the rest of Brazil, who had just discovered it was time to go somewhere because summer was starting and Christmas was three days away.

Nobody seemed to be particularly stressed out about the fact many boarding processes were in progress and many passengers had yet to check in.

“Salvador… anyone for Salvador, the 10 a.m. flight?”

I checked my watch. Yep, taking off in 20 minutes.

“Me!”

“Me too!”

“Same here!”

The GOL employee shrugged. “Okay, then. Just keep standing in line! Now, anyone for Belo Horizonte, the 10:10 a.m. flight?”

We weren’t going to Salvador, Belo Horizonte, Ribeirao Preto or Ipatinga (Where the hell is that? Now I’m curious: should I go?) We had also shown up early because we’re used to tight security and airport nonsense, so we still had plenty of time, enough to keep standing in line, learning about Brazilian cities and not worrying about being late to board our flight to Florianópolis.

Of course, we were going to Florianópolis, the state capital of Ilha de Santa Catarina. This is our happy place and a good spot for both Christmas and New Year.

The Ilha de Santa Catarina is huge. I’m not sure what’s considered a community, a neighbourhood or a district in Brazilian legalese, but there are several towns that feel very distinct from Florianópolis—and each of them has a unique beach.

Our first stop for five days was Ingleses do Rio Vermelho—don’t look around for English “Ingleses” people; there are none; you’re far more likely to bump into Argentinians, Paraguayans or Uruguayans.

Ingleses is a great spot. The town is big enough, and the beach is quite fun, with giant sand dunes at the end.

The weather was stormy on Sunday, so we ended up in Florianópolis Centro’s popular mall. Mark and I did a free Christmas-themed version of the spinning cups. Everything was spinning around forever afterwards… I told Mark I’d get revenge!

Then we walked across the Ponte Hercílio Luz, Florianópolis’ beloved link to the mainland. The locals love this bridge!

Back in Ingleses and despite stormy skies, we spend time on the beach, crossing the sand dunes to Santinho Beach and exploring Moçambique, a wild and endless beach.

We spent Christmas Day in Ingleses, and I took my revenge on Mark for the spinning cups—I took him on the “Banana Boat”, a water sled towed at very, very high speed.

“Bob Marley fell again!”

“The guy with the very red eyes?”

“Yes, Mark, that’s why I’m calling him Bob Marley.”

“Because he… oh, right, we learned that at school. But I thought it was Snoop Dog who did drugs?”

“Him too. Hold on tight, here we go again!”

It was a fun Christmas Day, really.

And then it stormed again and we went home to start packing… again.