Southern Brazil and Iguazu Falls!

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Monday 21st May - Chuy, Uruguay to Chui, Brazil

Chuy as it's known in Uruguay, is a dump! It's best avoided if possible and is most likely unless you happen to bump into a Uruguayan doctor in the middle of the salt flats of Uyuni, Bolivia, who then takes it upon himself to graciously act as the pseudo Uruguayan tourist board and invite you back to his pad in Rocha, a place not often visited by the intrepid european backpacker. Chui as it's known in Brazil, is in fact probably more commonly visited by the locals looking to snap up a bargain due to its' duty free status and in our case, the 1st of a few new pair of havaianas for Stacie. Having wandered across the main street and asked a local for directions to Brazil, we were kindly told we'd just crossed the border. Welcome to Brazil, how bizarre! Having initially struggled to find somewhere to stay, I stumbled across a handful of hotels close together and plumbed for the worst of a bad bunch at $25 for the night which proved to be a big mistake as I woke up the next day with a nice collection of bed bug bites.

Tuesday 22nd May - Chui to Porto Alegre

Having endured a swell night, we set off on a 3 block walk to the bus station which looked more like an abandoned petrol station, where we befriended a poorly stray alsatian dog who struggled to walk on 3 legs. Further evidence of South Americans charitable nature ensued as locals stared at us in bewilderment as we fed our new friend some banana and left over crackers. Amazingly we'd given him some food the day before and it seemed as though he might of recognised us as he limped over towards us once again or maybe it was that he could smell our sympathetic tourist dollars like every other man and beast on these shores which is probably more likely. 9 hours later and after a surprisingly comfortable bus trip, including 2 stops at what could almost pass as genuine service stations in the UK, we arrived at Porto Alegre, one of the most modern cities we'd visited yet and at the same time one of the most dangerous. After being on the road for a while, as I'm sure you would living somewhere, you instinctively get a sense of how safe you are or not otherwise as the case was here. Unfortunately for us, not having a room booked again involved a short tour of the city looking for somewhere to stay with all our worldly possessions on our backs, the obligatory stop at a crack den offering a cheap room which we politely declined, before luckily finding a decent place to stay.

Wednesday 23rd May - Porto Alegre

Since we'd paid 65 bucks for the night in our hotel, which is easily comparable to the US, it was nice to then demolish our first proper buffet breakfast since leaving the land of hope and glory. Not wanting to jump on the early bus further into Brazil meant we had a day to kill in the city. Southern Brazil certainly felt very different to the rest of South America we'd witnessed. It seemed far more modern and intune with the western world and the population more varied than anywhere else we'd been. The people are cheerful and upbeat and it felt like a very similar society to the US but probably a few years behind. It's hard not to mention that they are also probably the vainest nation on earth but if you can get past that, there's a lot to like about the place.

Thursday 24th May - Porto Alegre to Florianopolis

Today was just 7 hours on the bus and with it being our penultimate trip on the road before riding planes across the rest of the country, the journeys were starting to seem even longer as we dreamed of never having to set foot on a long distance bus journey ever again. We were told by many people that Florianopolis was a really nice city and the place to go in Southern Brazil but it didn't feel that way as we checked into another flea pit off the cities main road at a rip off price.

Friday 25th May - Florianopolis

As it turned out the city was actually quite a nice place and we'd just got stuck with a really bad hotel and after we discovered an Ibis Hotel to stay in 400 yards up the road, the world felt a lot better again. Brazil is generally quite an expensive country but one thing that is quite cheap is food and drink, so we tucked away the ham and cheese and went out in search of pizza and smoothies as there is a phenomenal selection of exotic fruits to choose from.

Saturday 26th May - Florianopolis to Barra de Lagoa, Ilha de Santa Catarina

2 days in Florianopolis seemed to pass by in a flash but we did manage to stock up on copious amounts of Dove shampoo that doesn't contain sodium which I'm told is hard to come by in the likes of Tesco Bracknell and other leading retailers in the local vicinity. So stocked up with enough lather to clean a small family of sabre tooth tigers, we headed off in search of the beach and 2 local buses later were in Barra de Lagoa and booking ourselves into the Barratur apartments for an extended stay of 5 nights as the place was so nice. At 40 bucks a night, I can highly recommend this fine establishment and if you're ever in the area, be sure to mention my name and I'll be the recipient of a complimentary nights stay on our return trip 😊

Sunday 27th May - Barra

Having spent 5 days at this beach resort without really doing much, the details are now a little sketchy in my mind. I do however remember having a fantastic buffet breakfast daily at the outstanding Barratur Apartments complex, in fact one of the finest of our entire trip. I do recall us meandering along the endless beach at some point during this day.

Monday 28th May - Barra

After yet another sumptuous and decadent breakfast we toured the offerings of Barra in search of hairdressers offering Brazilian blowdrys which are locally referred to as Escova Progressiva in the rambunctious portuguese language which is used in these parts. We then stumbled across the eponymous 'Simons Bridge' where our exhaulted forebearers had also once upon a time traversed these shores.

Tuesday 29th May - Barra

I distinctly remember boiling creamy cheese noodles in our kitchenette facility in the evening for maybe the 3rd night in a row at a cost of about 20p a pack but other than that the grey cells aren't recalling much.

Wednesday 30th May - Barra

Our last day by the beach and I remember the weather took a turn for the worse having been in excess of 30 degrees and humid a couple of days ago, it now dropped to somewhere in the region of a lowly 20 and was grey, overcast and wet. Ideal running conditions perhaps and I recall pounding the streets one morning for what seemed like an eternity but was in actual fact just over 10 minutes. Stacie took the plunge and had her Brazilian Blowdry which turned out to be a bargain in the place that had invented the treatment for lovers of frizzy free locks.

Thursday 31st May - Barra to Curitiba

The day of our final long distance bus journey had arrived and at a mere 4 hours in the saddle would be a doddle. We were sad to leave Barra but all good things must come to end. What miserable git made up that saying?! It lashed it down as we made our way into Curitiba and it felt like a miracle that we'd crossed most of Latin America in tin cans driven by fruit loops and lived to tell the tale. We stayed at the Formule 1 in town which is a budget Ibis and good value for the cash.

Friday 1st June - Curitiba

With our flight to Foz booked a few weeks in advance whilst loitering with the Uruguayans we'd allowed for a day in Curitiba in case of a mishap which gave us a chance to tour this pleasant enough but utterly boring city. There seemed to be far too many 2nd hand furniture shops and outlets selling white goods and just shops in general which lead you to being malled by the shop assistants as soon as you stepped in which was then followed by an even quicker retreat a la the Italians in WW2. The highlight of our stay was a trip to a greasy spoon cafe near the bus station in the evening where I somehow managed to source us a couple of outstanding bacon cheesburgers without speaking or understanding a word of the ludicrous portuguese language which uncannily sounds a little like hebrew! Shows how effective a combination of grunting, nodding and pointing can be.

Saturday 2nd June - Curtiba to Foz do Iguazu

Oh the joys of flying and not getting on the bus. That is until you arrive at your destination and find out the baggage handlers have attempted to pilfer through your belongings, most probably in search of some sort of contraband they can make use of for their own personal consumption. How disappointed they must have been to of had a good root around my bag and only felt it worthwhile enough to chief some sowing needles from our first aid bag. How bizarre? Foz do Iguazu is a city of 300,000 people and is all but a border town being only a few miles from both the Argentinian and Paraguayan borders and like all other conurbations in such a locale is also a complete dump, as was our hostel.

Sunday 3rd June - Foz do Iguazu

The day had arrived for yet another highlight of our trip and we weren't to be disappointed. A 20 minute local bus ride and we're at the entrance to the Iguazu Falls National Park. Unfortunately or maybe perhaps mysticly the heavens had decided to open as we meandered down the path to the falls and we were drenched by a thunder storm as we approached what must be one of the greatest natural wonders of the world. The falls are huge, loud and breathtaking and you cannot but be amazed at the grandure of the sight before your eyes. With thunder clapping above us and lightning cracking into the falls, it felt rather eerie at times and indeed, wet. With all the excitement it called for some calm so we headed for the park restaurant and a nice cheeseburger ensued for yours truly 😊 We spent the evening swotting mosquitos in our dingy room and cursing that our flight was not tonight which would have been ideal and not in 2 days time.

Monday 4th June - Foz do Iguazu

With an extra day to burn in Foz we decided to take in the joy of visiting the world's 2nd biggest dam, the Itaipu Dam, at the Paraguayan border, which will go down as one of the dullest trips I've ever undertaken. If I ever do have to visit the biggest one located in China at the Three Gorges river, I might well be tempted to find out if there is indeed an after life. They invite you to watch a film at the site which exhales all the wonderful virtues that the dam brings to all and sundry, but kindly omit the fact that in flooding the local area they destroyed a set of waterfalls for all eternity which were apparently more impressive than Iguazu. I wonder if anyone will have any remorse in a hundred or so years when some nutty scientist will have figured out a far easier way to generate energy than destroying the natural landscape in a heartbeat thats evolved over millions of years. Anyway, enough of the tree hugging. We spent our last evening in the mighty Foz at our favourite Lebanese restaurant which we ended up frequenting a total of 6 times in 3 days since the chicken kebabs were that good. Interestingly, the city has a large migrant population from the Beirut area, who like the unruly feel to the place and there are rumoured to be a few senior Hezbollah figures who call this place home....

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