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Published: April 8th 2012
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Capybara!! Back in Campo Grande we asked the driver to take us to the bus station (which he kindly agreed to by charging us to wait whilst we checked availability) on the off chance that we could get on a bus that evening, but there was nothing else going that day, so we decided to come back in the morning to catch the 7.30 or 8am bus. Thankfully the others didn’t mind waiting for us and we all went back to the hostel and had a few beers with the girls and Tom, who had joined us on the trip as he was off to meet his girlfriend the next day at the airport. We were in bed by 1am and up again at 6am to take a taxi to the bus terminal. Bad luck continuing, there were no buses with one company and only a 5pm bus with another company so we booked that, dumped our bags off at left luggage and figured out how to get back to town on the local bus. Not an easy job as Portuguese is difficult to understand and no one spoke Spanish or English, so we just got off at a stop we thought
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Daytime owl must be near the hostel and wandered for a while before a god-botherer helped us out. We met the girls but Ninda’s luck also seemed to have run out as they were scurrying around trying to get a taxi to the airport, a taxi that Gil was supposed to have booked but hadn’t. It seemed like once this guy has your money and you have done the tour, all niceties and helpfulness fall by the wayside. Not unusual in this game I’m sure.
They eventually went off to catch their flight and the 4 of us walked up to the mall for some lunch (a McDonalds for Ian and a wrap for Lisa) and shopping (a whole new outfit for Sara in 45 minutes, shoes and all!) Ian had big plans of buying lots of different Brazilian football club’s shirts but was staggered by the prices, with shirts costing about eighty quid!! Ridiculous! We then wandered up to the park which was like a ghost town as it was Easter. But it didn’t matter as the lack of people meant there was an abundance of wildlife. We saw owls (in the middle of the day?), countless capybaras as well
as 2 baby ones snuggled up to the side of the lake and took poo shots for Rhonda (an ecologist thing apparently). We took lots more silly photos and before long it was time to head back to the hostel, all hot and sweaty, to grab a quick drink before making our way back to the bus terminal.
We were there a little early (makes a change!) but had a bite to eat and just chilled out waiting for the 5pm bus. At 5.30pm however, the Foz bus disappeared from the information screen…strange we thought, and hoping we hadn’t somehow missed it, Lisa went to find out what was going on. And of course, true to fashion, the bus was delayed until at least midnight, maybe more! Something to do with blockades on the roads. This totally buggered up our plans as we were already a day out of sync and this delay would mean not getting to Foz until late on Friday, at the earliest. We would then still need 2 whole days to do the waterfalls justice meaning we wouldn’t get to the beach until Tuesday and our time spent with Ninda less. After much to-ing and
fro-ing as to what to do, we decided the best thing would be to skip Foz and head to Sao Paolo. At least that way we were heading in the right direction, not backtracking, and we wouldn’t be rushing around like nutters trying to fit everything in. As Ian said, it’s always good to have something to come back for. Lisa was gutted though – 2 and half years on this continent and she wasn't going to get to see the waterfalls at Iguaçu. Booooooooooo hoooooo! So we grudgingly got our money back (which was something at least!) and booked the next bus out of town to Sao Paolo, not until 8.30pm. We needed a beer and so chugged a few down trying to console ourselves with everyone staring at us for some reason. Once we were on the bus though, everything seemed much brighter as it was comfy and warm and we both fell straight asleep…only for Lisa to be woken a few hours later by a gurgling in her tummy requiring a quick dash to the toilet, where she then spent most of the night. It was a decent one though with a sensible weight depressing seat, meaning
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Baby capybaras!! no wee or other nasties on the seat. These marvels should be installed on every public toilet in the world. Might start a petition to get this enforced…
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Sheryl
non-member comment
Ola Lisa, I really felt for you not seeing the Falls, but Ian's right, you'll get back there. Are you writing these blogs now, a year late? You've got a good memory if you are. Love S x x