Blogs from Paraná, Brazil, South America - page 13

We were woken in the night barely half an hour after we had got to sleep by the 'children' (our younger group members) round the pool until 2 am making a racket - no doubt down to the party alcohol. Aah well. However, we did feel sorry for the other people staying at the hostel! Up for brekky just before 7.30 am - fruit and bread and ham and cheese toastie with plenty of coffee and tea. A few of the rest of the group were up at 8.00 am.... and probably back to bed after breakfast to sleep off the effects of the night before! We decided to go to the Itaipu Dam which provides nearly 100% of Paraguay's electrical needs and around 25% of Brazil's so we left the hostel just after 9.00 am ... read more

Yet another leisurely breakfast at the hostel and on the bus by 9.30 am. A short drive for Cooking Group 4 to buy ingredients for lunch for today and tomorrow and tomorrows dinner. (Sorry apostrophes all missing as cant find one on this foreign keyboard!!) Whilst they were doing their shopping Ivan accompanied us to a private Medical Centre as the Falda Medical Centre advised that Jo takes a further sample to check the position 3 days post antibiotics. All very straightforward and cheap..... We stopped off at a supermarket with a good wine selection on the way back to the bus as Ivan wanted two bottles of wine recommended by Kevin from the Estancia which we treated him to as it is his birthday tomorrow and as a thank you for being our translator and ... read more

Well here it is, the first entry from Brazil, finally I hear some of you say as yes this has taken me a full week to get to. I could give you lots of reasons but they are not very interesting so onwards an upwards! Firstly though, an update from Peru, the girl I told you about is now home and, fingers crossed, on the mend. So that is good news. Right then, Brazil. So I arrived here last Tuesday evening and although it was almost 8pm at night, the heat smacked me in the face as soon as I stepped off of the aeroplane. I was picked up from the airport from a member of the staff from the hostel which I am calling home for these 12 weeks and we travelled just 15 minutes ... read more

Hello everyone, 14/2/2012 We survived our 17 hour coach journey from BA and arrived in Peurto Iguazu safe and sound. The coach journey was like nothing we have experienced, we paid a little extra for cama (2nd class) and we got wide and very comfortable seats which reclined to virtually flat. We were offered sweets on depature, a hot meal which was better than most airline food, with the choice of wine and or beer as an accompaniment and the choice of whiskey or champagne to finish. Needless to say we slept quite well, not as smooth as flying but for the price it was veyr reasonable. We arrived in Puerto Iguazu around 2pm and booked into our hostel called Marcopolo Hostel, we were in a 6 bed dorm and lucky enough to be put in ... read more

After having seen Iguazu falls from the Argentinian side, I was ever so slightly sceptical as to what the experience would be like from the Brazilian side. Most people you speak to will tell you that the Argentinian side is better and others tell you to not even bother with the Brazilian side. For us though, this seemed ridiculous, as how can seeing those falls again be a disappointment? I just hoped we would see enough difference in the Brazilian side to warrant the trip over the border. Either way though, we would get a day out, be able to see the falls from all the possible view points, plus, we would get to head into Brazil for the day. Bit of a no brainer really! Before we got to see the falls though, we needed ... read more