Curitiba and Puerto Iguazu

Well, I wanted this entry to be called Curitiba and Foz do Igua(insert c with the thing here)u, but since my Argentinian keyboard is xenophobic, I had to call it Curitiba and Puerto Iguazu instead.

When I had last written I was in Curitiba, a beautiful city full of universities and culture and fun. Well, after a beautiful night´s sleep in the university dorm I got a day´s full of cultural analysis in. I checked my emails, had some breakfast at the corner cafe before racing off to have a shower. I raced back to the Plaza at the University just in time to meet up with the girls I had met the previous day, who were interested in showing me around their beautiful town a little further. Not that it was really their town, as they, as many students do, had come from across Paraná state to go to the Paraná University.

The Univeristy dorm that I was staying at was across from the Passeio Publico, but I hadn´t ventured in. The girls suggested that we go, and my oh my was I glad that we did. It turned out that this public park was home to exhibits of birds, snakes, monkeys and ground dwelling mammals. You couldn´t wipe the smile off my face as I ran around the park gawking and taking photos. I´m not so much of a Neil Montgomery ornothologist type to know what the birds were, but they were pretty fun.

We then went to the old town of Curitiba, which was founded in the 16th Century. I was looking around for really old people, but could only see buildings, the cobbled pedestrian streets and the colourful raised flower beds. Unfortunately, at about midday all the girls had to depart, so I was once again left to my own devices. I went in search of another football stadium, which was rather exciting to see even though I didn´t get a chance to look inside before having 620grams of per-kilo lunch.

Thats the problem though. Everyone talks about the per-kilo lunch, but at all the per-kilo restaurants that I´ve been to I have been astounded to experience the pain of progressively heavier plates. I don´t even know if they take the weight off at the end or not - they probably do actually. But I´d feel like I was getting better value if I had a lighter plate and could discount the possibility entirely.

Strolling the streets again I was forced to think of things to do, so I approached a couple of people to ask them what I should do. My general rule of thumb, that young, well heeled people often speak english was quashed - but they took me for a walk to where I thought I wanted to go, and introduced me to a few of their friends, using excessive gesticulation to convey meaning. Turns out that they were from interstate and were staying at a Convent while they were studying. The two girls, who I had met on the side of the road only half an hour prior, took me into the convent, and after speaking to one of the nuns, led me inside the church normally only for women. I felt rather special, and my significant-religious-experience antennae were erect. One of the girls was getting her braces off, so with no other plans I trundled off to the Orthodontist to hang out in the waiting room. Waiting for her friend, me and Danielle flicked through celeb mag after celeb rag, trying to improve my portuguese anatomy vocabulary.

After a tiring day I trundled off to the bus station and caught the overnight bus for Foz do Iguacu, sleeping beautifully even though the seats on this particular bus weren´t very comfortable. I got talking to this English couple, Sophie and Tommy, who had had an absolutely rotten time in Curitiba - and ended up catching the bus with them to Hostel Bambu. It was quite a lovely hostel, with a pool, an outdoor kitchen and bar area and an odd-shaped floorplan. We got in at about 9 in the morning, and our rooms weren´t going to be ready for another couple of hours, so we passed the time with some breakfast. I wanted to go to the Brazilian side of the falls, and at the bus stop I got talking to a couple from New Zealand, Craig and Jane, who I bummed around with all day.

The Brazilian side of the falls were nice, though I was a little dissapointed to find that they didn´t take my breath away. Pretty, but not sensational. There is a track that runs along the side of the river, and you get an overall vista of the falls, though at a bit of a distance. It only took maybe a couple of hours to see everything you could, and take as many photos as you wanted. I drowned my sorrows in a chocolate icecream, which was expensive but perky.

Feeling a little weary I stopped by at the supermarket on the way back to the hostel, finishing off a plate of food at the per-kilo buffet (read above), which was in one corner of the supermarket, before I noticed a gringo. They´re pretty easy to spot around here, partly because most people who come to Southern Brazil come and see the falls, and because their oversized backpacks give them away. Anyway, after a ´howyadoing´ - which was met with a open mouthed stare I tried the ´whereyafrom´. Turns out that this lass was from Canada, so after I grabbed some eats we bugged the Nescafe taster lady for about 2 hours.

The Nescafe Lady originally persuaded me to try 3 different flavours of wafer, saying that they wouldn´t make me fat. I tried to look surprised, but she was kinda cute so I did. To tell you the truth though, I´m not the biggest fan of flavoured wafers. However, when she started demonstrating coffee creamer I got really excited. Not only did she have Cinnamon and Vanilla, she had French Vanilla as well. So me and Canadian Judy drank coffee after coffee, trying to decide which one was best. In the end, although I couldn´t decide between the flavours, I decided to help the Nescafe Lady out by doing a bit of spruiking. After about half an hour the entire shelf was empty. No lies.

I spent the evening cooking, eating, drinking beer and playing cards outside under the shelter as the rain poured down outside. I was able to make some spagbags despite the lack of zip-locks at the supermarket, and went to bed when I finally succeeded in not losing a game.

After waking up far too late, Melinda, my Hungarian friend, and I set off for Argentina. We had to catch a bus to the Brazilian border, get our exit stamp, then wait for a bus to take us to the Argentinian border post, where we got out Argentinian entry stamp. Then another bus picked us up and took us to the bus station in the tiny town of Puerto Iguazu. We locked our bags up at the cloaking service before catching another bus to the falls, about half an hour out of town.

The Argentinian side, I discovered, has much much more to see and do than the Brazilian side. We walked along the above-water boardwalk to the platform over the Devil´s Throat (the most intense part of the falls) and I got rather excited. Not a giggling, shreiking mess - but close enough. We spent perhaps another four hours racing around the place, looking at waterfalls, going to the island, looking at waterfalls and taking photos before we had to head back to the bus terminal. We were hoping that we could get a bus to Buenos Aires, to save us from wasting a day in Puerto Iguazu, and although we missed out on our company of preference, we still as of now have seats for later on this evening. It means that we´ll be arriving at around midday, and gives me the weekend in Buenos Aires to learn how to tango (jealous much, Mum?) and perhaps even have a good time in the meantime.

After Buenos Aires, if I don´t end up going to Uruguay, I was thinking about heading off to Cordoba perhaps. Or something. It´ll all work out.

From Argentina,
All my love,
Markie.

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