Setting

Wasiwaska is located in Florianópolis, on the island of Santa Catarina (parallels 27°22´-27°50' meridians 48°25'-48°35'), in southern Brazil. It has 423 square kilometers and 172 kilometers of coastline with 42 beaches. It has great ecological diversity, with marine estuaries, mangrove swamps, dunes, lagoons, rocky cliffs, islets and regions covered by the marvellous Atlantic Coastal Forest, with the world’s richest biodiversity. Florianópolis has approximately 280.000 inhabitants, most of them in the downtown area of the city that is divided between the island and the continent, which are connected by bridges. It is the capital of the state of Santa Catarina, one of the richest in Brazil, and has a population that is largely of European descent.

Wasiwaska is on the northern part of the island, facing the continent and the peninsula of Daniela, some twenty five kilometers from the centre of town, the last two a dirt road that ends a few hundred meters from the house. Wasiwaska is blessed with natural sounds and tranquillity. The waves of the sea below can always be heard in the background. Although the hills around Wasiwaska were partially cultivated until the 1970s, there are still beautiful pockets of Atlantic Coastal Forest, with dozens of species of orchids and bromeliads and many species of birds and insects (particularly butterflies), lizards and some snakes.

Ten minutes walk from the house there is a pleasant beach. Twenty minutes’ walk away is the fishing village of Sambaqui, with its pleasant community life, schools, a few shops, an art store, gentle beaches, and excellent restaurants, often packed with people on the weekends. The area of Sambaqui is the greatest producer of molluscs of the island, a pilot project developed by the Federal University of Santa Catarina. Three kilometers away, towards downtown Florianópolis, is the seaside town of Santo Antonio de Lisboa, with some old houses and a church from the eighteenth century.