Blogs from Brazil, South America - page 647

After a thirteen hour bus journey we arrived hungry in Florianopolis. We had been spoilt by Argentinian bus journeys and found it difficult to get used to crackers as our only nourishment for thirteen hours. We picked up some maps of the area and set about organising some transport. A car seemed the best way to get around so we hired one and set off for Ilha de Santa Catarina (Santa Catarina Island). Barra de Lagoa We got to know the island pretty well looking around for a pousada (a mini appartment with kitchen etc.). There seemed to be lots happening on the beaches from football to sandboarding. We eventually settled on Barra de Lagoa, a little fishing village with lots of tourists, most of them Brazilian. The pousada we stayed in was across a pretty ... read more

After three days of doing little more than sunbathing, swimming and eating, we thought it was about time we got back down to some ´real´ travelling. The Brazilian Cataratas (falls) We hired a taxi driver for the day to take us to the Brazilian side of Iguazu to get our bus onward to Florianopolis. Before we got the bus, he took us to the falls, a bird park and the amazing Itaipú dam. Our driver (can´t remember his name, lets call him Jorge for simplicity) collected us at 8.30 am and we set off for the the Brazilian border. After passing through immigration we drove on to the Falls. The National Park on the Brazilian side is pretty different to that on the Argentinian side, when you enter the park you have to hop straight on ... read more

hey all, what a lazy day! we headed to the party beach of Natal, Porta Negra. it is very much like bondi except more parties, more people, more shops and cheap. the beach is full of white plastic lounge chairs and umbrellas. unfortunately that australian nerve kicked in around here, like the one in europe that finds it outrageous to pay for public toilets, they ask you to pay to sit on the beach. this was hard to accept but no one sits on the sand so we walked the length of the beach determined to find the cheapest spot on the beach. It was a lovely day. Kicking back on the beach with a parade of market vendors going past you. Some were great - drinks (alcoholic), sunscreen but my favourites were the guys who ... read more

hey all, finally made it to south america! so good to get hit by a heat wave after the europe´s winter. the fun started in the immigration ue where we were greeted with tv news reports of the days violence in sao paulo, confirming we have landed in one of brazils more questionable cities.. all the more interesting. after an unusually long headless chicken performance one does landing in strange airports we were set to head out. Along the way we found an equally lost canadian. Our canadian was a barman/actor out in brazil for 2 months and declared safety in numbers, or more to split the cost of a taxi. He told us of how he had threaded chicken wire through his backpack because he´d heard stories of locals ripping them off with knives. he ... read more

We got into Puerto Igazu at about noon on Wednesday and caught a 12:40 bus to the falls. I could spend ages describing how unbelieveable they were, but you probably wouldn't believe me....... (that's stupid). Look at the photos instead. We spent most of the afternoon there, got a bus back to Puerto Igazu, grabbed our bags and headed over to Brazil. My Finnish (EU) passport paid off well at the crossing, no $160 visa for me!! Border control actually consisted of the bus driver asking anyone if they needed their passports stamped, we would have missed it if we weren't paying attention. We got the bus at 9pm and got into Curitiba at about 7am in the morning. Clare (a friend from when I worked at Bear Valley Ski Resort in the US) picked us ... read more