Why Floripa?

Why Floripa?

I recently was thinking about what the most frequently asked questions have been when me and my wife Anne moved from Mainz, Germany to Florianópolis, Brazil two years ago. It did not take me too long, there was a pretty easy answer to this: everybody wanted to know the reasons for choosing this city as our new home. And most people also wondered where in the world this place would be, as they have not really heard about it before. So I thought that trying to answer those questions from our perspective might possibly also be a good way to start a blog on our (awesome!) newly-created alohafloripa.com website, that also allows the interested international travel community to learn more about this wonderful place. As I have not been blogging before, this also marks a new personal experience. Looks like fun. Let´s see how this goes.

I think one of the main reasons for moving from Germany to Brazil is that “new” thing. We love Latin America, we have already been living in Santiago de Chile for some years and I was very much engaged with that region most of my business life, so I got to see almost every country. But traveling for holidays or on business is one thing, to go and live somewhere really is much more than this. Whether good or bad, all things are new! You think you know a country, its people and its culture? Go start living there and then we talk! I guess I must admit that both of us are pretty fascinated by discovering the little known, especially when it promises to turn out to be great stuff. Making new friends and making a new place feel like your (second or third or…) home after some time is an awesome experience.

I remember that I have been attending a trade show for a couple of days in Florianópolis some years (well, I should rather say about 15 years) ago, and typically, apart from the event, I have not really seen a lot more from the city than my hotel room and nearby restaurants. As always on such trips, there was a lack of time to learn more about the place. But I remember that lots of people, mostly Brazilian colleagues, told me how much they wished they would have a chance to live in Florianópolis. I was kind of thinking of this when we took the decision to come here (and yes, I admit that I am lucky enough to be able to work from about any place on the planet).

So what are the actual reasons to come and see our great city of Florianópolis, or Floripa as it is called in short? Well, to start with, this place in Southern Brazil (Santa Catarina) is not only a dynamic state capital but also happens to be an island (even if parts of Floripa are also located on the continent). It lies halfway between the two largest industrial centers in South America, São Paulo and Buenos Aires and has a little less than half a million people, which makes it rather small for Brazilian standards. But for us, it is just the right size that allows you now and then to run into people that you already know. It has that perfect feel of a small surf and fishing village in combination with big city offerings. The international airport on the island (which is officially named Ilha de Santa Catarina, but is mostly referred to only as Floripa) connects the city to the world. São Paulo is just a 50 minutes hop away. If I would have to describe Florianópolis in short using other places as reference, I`d say it is a blend of Latino and European cultures that has lots of Brazilian temper, spiced up with some cool California vibes and exotic Hawaiian beach styles. Beach life, parties and rain forests. A wild mix. Not too bad of a combination. Come on, how could you not fall in love with such a place?

But let´s also take a short glimpse at the fact sheet. Florianópolis is considered one of the capitals with the highest quality of life in Brazil, as it has the highest Human Development Index according to the United Nations. It has also received awards for being the best Brazilian city for entrepreneurship, mostly in the Information Technology sector (sometimes it is even nicknamed the Silicon Valley of Brazil) and is home to one of the best universities in the country. Newsweek placed Floripa as one of the 10 most dynamic cities in the world some years ago. It is an unusual mix of urban comfort and raw nature according to The Wall Street Journal. And it was picked as the destination of the year in 2009 by the New York Times which also named it the hottest party location in Latin America. Florianopólis also is “Brazil’s Oyster Capital”, listed as an UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy. And let´s finish with saying that the readers of the Condé Nast Traveller, a renowned luxury travel magazine, have named Florianópolis the friendliest city in the world in 2013. Not bad either.

But above all, Floripa and its surroundings are blessed by nature with a variety of climates and landscapes, making it one of the most visited places in Brazil and our personal favorite as a place to live. The coastline of Florianópolis is cut by bays. It offers dunes, lakes, waterfalls, hills and subtropical rainforests, small islands and some of the most beautiful beaches in Brazil. You can find more than 40 of them in Florianópolis alone. Take a two-hour car drive and you get to the spectacular mountain and canyon region, where, amazingly for most Brazilians from other parts of the country, you might even experience snow fall on a cold winter day.

Floripa is also a sports town. And I love sports. There is Avaí, a first division football club that everybody on the island adores. The city also hosts international skate and surf tournaments, it has been even home to the only pro surf tour event in South America for some time. It provides perfect conditions for all kind of outdoor activities, such as trekking, mountain biking, all kind of surfing, paragliding, diving, fishing and everything else you can think of. They even have a rugby and a baseball team.

And yes, there are penguins, sea turtles and whales too.

Wait, have I already mentioned carnival and year-round parties?

Well, those would be some of the main reasons why we chose Florianópolis as our home. Obviously, there are problems as well, as there are in most places. It´s not perfect, but quite a few times it comes pretty close to it. Sometimes it seems hard to believe that people have not heard of Floripa before. The good thing is, it is never too late to check it out and come and see for yourself!