Sunshine and butterflies
Trip Start
Jan 03, 2007
1
4
30
Trip End
Apr 05, 2007
Puerto Iguazu,
Argentina
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Well finally we have found a place to have a moments rest! Been on the road since my arrival, covering 1300 ks! Brazil is a vast country - the 5th largest in the world ... slightly smaller than USA. 43%o of that is the Amazon basin. The people are all colours of the rainbow and very friendly.
I arrived in rain and it has rained wherever we have gone ever since!!!! We headed off for the glorious coast ... but with grey skies and incessant rain, les gals were not so keen to hang around. Ever an optimist I managed to persuade them as we had come all this way we should persevere on and visit the coastal port town of Paranagua ... with the Ihla de Mel (Honey Island). It is a quaint town. After visiting a number of seedy hotels we booked into a clean hotel run by Lebanese .... with my little bit of Arabic we became firm friends. Clearly we had got into the red light district and managed to extract ourselves from the Sultan hotel ..... after agreeing to take the room/s .... when it became obvious that more than touristos were staying!
Three days on the rain had left us looking like drenched rats! It is warn and therefore pleasant but not when all one´s worldly possessions start to get damp and mouldy! But undeterred we decided to go to Ihla de Mel. Battling against rain and wind we walked through the fabulous Atlantic coastal forest and rock jumped over boulders to get to ever more beautiful beaches but finally gave up and returned once stuck on a large boulder with the sea raging around us. It was quite beautiful and so like the KZN and Mozambique coast ... especially the flora ... but here the trees abound with orchids and brumeliads (sp?). Had the weather been kinder it would have been a wonderful spot to rest ..... with surfers, hippy outfits and travellers all tucked away in the bush. We stopped at one ´´pasado´ for a drink. With my bad Portuguese and the owners wonderful charades we managed to get across that Julia was a vet .... from thence forth Julia had to save the woman´s favourite dog!!! Yet again we left firm friends!! Finally the weather got the best of us ... and we decided to go right through the night to Foz de Iguazu (the world famous falls). The bus system here is impressive ... all through the night and day luxury buses cruise the landscape, criss crossing the land, calling in at the Roodevarios - huge stations. Being Sunday night at Curatiba there were hundreds upon hundreds of people that we could hardly squeeze through the crowds .. but actually they are very well mannered and the system well managed. We got in this morning and first and foremost did some washing and drying out of our clothes and belongings! Then Julia crashed - Sarah and I had a wonderous swim and here we are ... I am doing the family letter and Sarah is planning our trips!
It is lovely travelling together - always a laugh (unless Jules doesn´t get enough sleep) ... we work well as a team and have fair systems for first choices (beds, seats et al) and a credit/star system on jobs well done!!! Actually it is all done in great humour but does make us efficient!
We are excited about our trips around the falls ..... and the nature park. Will let you know all about it! People are queueing for the computer so I must end (much to your relief) I must say it is not easy writing when on a time limit and others breathing down one´s neck!
Hoping you are all well .....
with mucho love from your intrepid travellers!
Chau!
