March 27
Florianopolis -A Mermaid's Delight

A big rainbow arched across the sky when Marge stopped the car to show us the island of Florianopolis. It was a short hop from the bus stand to this little overlook, nestled above the bridge that led from the mainland city to the popular island resort.

She pointed out excitedly that her house and our posada was just before the smallest lagoon right near the beach where her teenage son, Tiuna Pedro, surfed the supremely beautiful waves.

Marge's big laugh and adorable daughter Mikaela escorted us to our posada, through the water gardens in front of the Anthroposophic Clinic, up the open stairway to our beautiful suite. The building was brand new, the wood paneling was sweet smelling, our little balcony looked out on the distant mountains and the colorful houses. Our bathroom had a huge tub, there was a tiny fridge and a food prep counter in the main room, and an alcove with a huge closet, plenty of room for all of our everything.

Of course I headed straight to the beach where I found perfect offshore waves, crystal warm water and no one anywhere in sight. Every morning it became my sacred practice, a stroll around the lagoon, duck through the dense bush to emerge at the dunes and an empty beach. A bit of chanting, meditating, exercising, catch a few body surfing waves before down the beach I could see the first board surfers arrive.

Marge had come to Florianopolis from Porto Alegre to study Art Therapy. She was teaching Pre-School at the Steiner School as well as leading Yoga Classes and organizing for our weekend workshop so we had plenty of time to roam around on our own. We borrowed her car and drove to the village. It wraps around the big lagoon and we explored shops where ancestors of the Azores Settlers sold their original hand work.

Our workshop was held at Sol da Terre, an exquisite center for art and holistic healing. The first night we had so many people they couldn't fit into the large dance room. The weekend workshop was more modest. Marge's sweetheart Jorge and her Mom, Margarida came up from Porto Alegre to join us.

Sabira continued with her excellent translations and shared some of her Orisha dances. The owner of Sol da Terra and her teenage daughter joined us on the last day. She recognized the blessing in the work that we were doing, we could all feel the atoms of the room rearrange in wonder.

Anahata had noticed that there were many different kinds of mosaic in and around the colorful houses, so after the workshop she asked to be taken to San Antonio, a northern settlement on the other side of the big lagoon. Although we only found a few of the fabled mosaics of the area, we did encounter some marvelous Folkloric Puppets that are paraded through town once a year. Anahata got especially cozy with the Bumba Mai Bol Bull.

From there we explored two Petroglyph sites that were said to be over 5000 years old. The glyphs at the first site were so faint that they had redrawn them and exhibited them up the hill from the carved rocks.

The second site had a number of mysteriously shaped rocks. Anthropologists postulate that it was a tool making site. An enormous rock guarding the entrance to the area sheltered a small temple to Mother Mary. The local fishermen found us as interesting as we found the rocks.

The day before we left Marge took us to a secret waterfall in the hills where we bathed naked and communed with the goddess. There are no photos for you to see of that private encounter. But the rest of our marvelous visit to Florianopolis can be enjoyed by going to http://photo.epson.com.

Prema and Anahata

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18. Florianopolis (17 photos) Marge and her children invited us to teach a weekend in Florianopolis an ocean resort

19. Florianoplis Wrksp (7 photos) Dance Your Heart Open Workshop in Florianopolis

20. St. Antonio (15 photos) We visit an old section of the island settled by folks from the Azores. We are in search of mosaic murals and folklore

21. Petroglyphs One (16 photos) Inhabitants of the area left inscriptions on the rocks 5000 years ago.

22. Petroglyphs 2 (15 photos) These stones were marked in mysterious ways it is postulated that the markings were made by some kinds of tools