Foz do Iguaçu

Warning! This is going to be a long post!! (since I have not written for nearly a week)

I am currently in Curitiba, where it is colder than it has been in the rest of the country until now. I also have a cold now due to the ruthless air conditioning in buses and shops, and in fact I am freezing in this bloody internet cafe!! You need to take a jumper for being indoors and summer clothes for the rest it's mad. Anyway...Now for the update. I didn't write until now because not only am I back on PCs (some of you will now I am now a Mac fan) but some of them are also old and slow.

I left Sao Paulo Tuesday evening to head over to Foz do Iguaçu in order to see the waterfalls. I took a 15 hour night bus hoping to sleep most of the way. The bus was better than I had imagined with good reclinable seats. I forced myself to stay awake until our first stop and dinner thinking that if not I would wake up half way through the night. The only problem was that once we had stopped for dinner and I tried to sleep I could not for the life of me fall asleep. It was so annoying! My brain just wouldn't switch off and all these stupid thoughts that had nothing to do with the present situation kept flowing through my head. So it was a rather tiring trip all in all. The bus also alternated between too cold and too hot so it was hard to keep track of how to dress...I managed to survive the bus loo and in fact then only went to loos when we made stops. The buses here do not follow the reglementary two hour stops we have in Europe but instead just drive on through the night pretty much as fast as possible and only stop ocasionnaly. There were two drivers sharing the job but I still can't help but think about my drive back from Calais and how tiring that was! It turned out later that the company I went with (Pluma), is apparently the worst bus company and not worth travelling with. So I will remember this for next time. Anyway I made it to Foz safe and sound and found my way to the hostel. When I arrived in Foz it was pouring with rain and in fact it had also been raining through the night. I was a bit worried about the weather as the weather forecast had been bad but just hoped it would hold out. I had planned to do nothing the first day anyway in order to have enough time to spend in the parks. I reached the Paudimar hostel that Nicola had recommended where the people were lovely and promptly fell asleep. Later on in the afternoon I had a quick walk around Foz looking for a padlock (to use on lockers hostels provide) and just see the city. I also decided to go for a manicure. Having heard how notoriously cheap Brazilian manicures were and since I had nothing else to do I decided to go. As I was in there I felt bad, starting to worry that in fact it would be really expensive and how I shouldn't have gone. So I was very surprised and relieved when the lady announced the price of R$7! (3 Euros or 2 quid more or less...) After that I went back to the hostel and got to know a few of the other people staying there. There were mainly two very British guys from the south of England who were nice enough though they had the most awful accents!

The hostel was in fact very confusing language wise. My brain is now fully switched on to portuguese which is a good thing because it means I sometimes think in portugues and I try as much as possible to speak portuguese to other people even when I know they speak english. The hostel became confusing because first I spoke portuguese to the receptionnist. Then, another member of staff patronised me by speaking french to me and offering to speak french. Later on I also met some french people so spoke french to them. Then, there was a Colombian/Swedish girl staying in my room with me and so I had to speak spanish to her! My spanish was VERY rusty because of the portuguese and at this point my whole brain just collapsed and decided it couldn't deal with this anymore! I got very confused. Eventually though my brain got itself into gear and by the next day I had managed to switch on to spanish which was even more confusing coz then I would speak spanish words instead of portuguese ones! All is good and back to normal now though. The Colombian girl was an avid party animal and was really desperate to go out. So I followed her to the local bar where she managed to find out the name of a place to go dancing. We went with some Brazilian guys she had met on the way to a dancehall called Quinta de Bamba. It was nice enough and there was a live band playing music similar to forro and loads of people dancing. It turned out to be quite a successful night!

The next day was my first day in the national park of the waterfalls. I started with the Brazilian side as that is what pretty much everyone recommends you do first. I was really lucky because the weather had brightened up by then and it was getting sunny. I went to the brazilian side and met an american girl on the bus which was nice because we walked the trail together. The waterfalls were indeed impressive and it is so amazing to see the first time you take it in. Also surrounding us were loads of trees, butterflies, lizards and birds. It has a distinct jungle feel to it! The trail only takes about 3 hours though so once we were done we took the local bus back to the village. I made the most of it and jumped into the pool at the hostel because in Foz not only was it hot but very humid too! On Friday I went to the Argentinian side of the waterfalls. I went with some other people from the hostel so had a bit of company. The Argentinian side is HUGE and it takes all day to see it. It is also the most impressive side which is why it is best to do it second of all. We started off by going to the top of the Garganto del Diablo, the most impressive chute of all. Then we did the upper and lower circuits, stopping off for lunch somewhere in the middle. The views and sights are just amazing, and one really cannot imagine how huge and impressive it is until you are there. I think it is the second most amazing and incredible feat of nature I have ever seen after the glaciers down in Patagonia. It is just incredible and totally worth the visit! The walk took us all day and I calculated we had walked about 3.5km so by the end of it I was exhausted!

The people in the hostel were really nice. The staff were lovely and helpful, and it had a nice swimming pool and bar area. Aside from the english guys there was also an English couple who were travelling the world for 6 months. They were quite nice and were enthralled by the brazilian side of the falls. They also went to Ciudad del Este in Paraguay to look for some "genuine fakes" and just see the sights. Ciudad del Este is meant to be a bit grim though and dangerous too. There was also a french couple who were travelling and seeing as much as possible as fast as possible!! They were really sweet and it was their first big trip abroad they told me. There were also four Kiwi girls that turned up on the Thursday night. They were in their early twenties and had been backpacking all over South America and were heading to Rio before going to Europe. They were all really nice too and it was good to meet so many different people whilst I was in Foz. I left Foz yesterday around midday and took the bus to Curitiba. This time I was going with a different bus company so was expecting better than the Pluma bus. The bus to Curitiba was indeed lush. Double decker style with nice reclining seats and in general very nice and comfortable. I also managed to sleep all the way this time! I arrived in Curitiba around 10pm and made my way over to the hostel. I was worried they wouldn't have any vacancies for me. I tried to call them earlier on but my stupid phone won't let me call because I don't have a Brazilian national insurance number. I actually need to resolve this problem...so I sent an email at the last minute hoping they would save a place for me. When I reached the hostel the woman said they had no vacancies and I was desperate because it would have meant going all the way back into town and staying in a Formule 1 hotel. However when she took my name to reserve for the next day she saw there was a reservation in my name and I had a room: thank god!!

The hostel here in Curitiba is very nice. It is huge, much bigger than the one in Foz and it is in the middle of the forest. Well, I exaggerate but it is surrounded by trees and it is very nice and peaceful. When I reached my bedroom there was this MASSIVE spider in it, and I couldn't fall asleep because I was scared it was going to come and walk over my face in the night. The other girl in my room, a Brazilian girl from Sao Paulo said she also didn't like it but she didn't know what to do because she didn't like killing insects. She said she had slept with it the night before and it had been fine. Eventually she was brave and got a cup and a piece of paper to take it and put it outside. It involved a few minutes of both her and me being scared and the bloody spider moving around the wall. Eventually though she got it, and managed to throw it outside! So here I am in Curitiba for a few days and we will see where I go next. Will write more soon, for now are pictures of Foz.