Blogs from Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil, South America - page 30

Van Salvador naar Rio, naar Sao Paulo, naar Iguassu... In de vroegte komen we aan in onze hostel, in Foz de Iguaçu, de Pousada Evelina, ( Evelina spreekt 8 talen of zo, en leert nu, via zelfstudie, Russisch...) De falls liggen op de grens van Brazilië, Argentinië en Paraguay. Vanuit de hostel bezichtigen we beide kanten; vanmiddag de Braziliaanse kant, en morgen de Argentijnse ( de grens oversteken is heel gemakkelijk, probleemloos). De Iguassu Falls zijn zonder twijfel een van ´s werelds mooiste natuurfenomen. En een toeristenfabriek ook. Hordes Duitsers, ruiten zakdoek in de hand om hun zweet af te vegen, Fransen die zagen over de prijs, en Japanners, die geen spier verrekken met hun 3 lagen kleren... Ik moet zeggen dat het hier ontstellend warm is: 40°C en een vochtigheidsgraad van 358%... 2 minuten nadat ... read more

This day was dedicated to exploring Foz do Iguaçu, as the name suggests, from the Brazilian side. Our first stop was at "Canyon Iguaçu" to go abseiling aka rappelling. Vic and I, especially, were very excited about going abseiling. However, Talal did not share our enthusiasm for rappelling as he has a fear of highs. Nevertheless, he decided to come with us. After purchasing our tickets for the abseiling we walked through a sub-tropical forest until the first view of the Iguassu Falls was revealed before our eyes. I was most excited, needless to say. After all, I've been dreaming since I was 12-13 years old to see the Niagara Falls and never have made it there and now I was seeing waterfalls that are supposed to be even more amazing than the Niagara Falls! ... read more

The first part of the day was spent travelling to and from the airport and on the plane. As the plane took off we had one last look at the beautiful views of Rio. One interesting thing I noticed was the very fine line of land that ended up in the formation of a small island. Once we arrived in Iguaçu, for the first time since arriving in Brazil, my gut feeling told me it'd be safe for us to use the local bus to get to the hostel, instead of our usual pre-arranged taxi. I was right: we did not get mugged or felt such a threat. What was dangerous about the trip was that just before the bus stop the bus conductor made me go through the rotating gate and dropped my heavy ... read more

We are presently in Bonito in Brazil. The last few days we have been in the town of Foz do Iguazu in Brazil while visiting the Iguazu falls. The two days before that we were in Buenos Aires. BA did not impress us much, it is a large city, a bit dirty and with its share of problems. We got in late the first night courtesy of Aerolineas Argentinas and the hotel staff did not recommend we walk down to the end of town where some of the old buildings are I was hoping to photograph lit up at night. We checked it out anyway and there were a lot of police on the street so we walked up all the way. Unfortunately the buildings were poorly lit and not very photogenic so we walked back ... read more

Ola, That's what you do when your in another country, you greet people back home in the language they use here.. why?..I don't know. The last few days since leaving the comfort of having friends to stay with have been fun challenging, lonely, interesting and exciting all at the same time. It's very hard trying to tell people what you want when you don't speak the language, this may seem obvious... but I had no idea how hard it really is. Though what may be harder still is having no one to talk to at all. I think it's the longest I have gone without having a conversation with anyone, it is really quite odd. I am in a hostel now where lots of people speak english, so I am very much enjoying the company. I ... read more