Blogs from Paraná, Brazil, South America - page 16

Brazil scored immediate brownie points with its colloquial greeting of Oi - which I have enjoyed saying to all and sundry. We choose to visit Curitiba simply because it was a half way point between Iguazu and Rio. While a beautiful town I got the feeling that it is not really visited by many tourists. We were certainly somewhat of a novely - the bakers gave us a free diary, the bus station attendent gave us oranges and we definatley got bigger portions in the restaurants. This could of course be the friendly nature of Brazilians but no one else seemed to be getting this treatment. As well as a great place for freebies Curitiba is the start of what is described as Brazil´s most beautiful train journey - however our plans to take the train ... read more

Curitiba (pronounced Curichiba)... this wont be a long one. We arrived after a long overnight bus but it was much better than the first - I slept pretty much the whole way, waking up now and again to crack my neck back into place ;) We had a little wander through town and Mark gave us the history, it´s a tourist destination because of the fantastic urban planning, it´s quite clean and well cared for. Curitibians all think it is the most wonderful place on earth - although one did admit to me that they do lack a beach.... Haha! We spent the afternoon wandering around the shops and bought some nail polish which feels like a real luxury now. We had a little rest and then got into party mode as it was Saturday night ... read more

We had to checkout by 10am so that seemed as good a time as any to jump onto a bus to Brazil. It takes about 20 minutes to get to the border, at the first stop we quickly jumped off the bus and had our passports stamped as we exited Argentina for the last time. Then it was back onto the bus for another 2 minutes before getting off and going through Brazilian customs. A straightforward process, but one for which our bus did not wait around for. So after getting our stamps we went to the bus stop and waited for around 45 minutes for the next bus. From there it was another 15 minutes to the city. What a difference a day makes. In the morning were we staying in what is best described ... read more

What an incredible way to from be introduced to a country. It's not only the size of Iguazu Falls which astonishes you it is the power and relentlessness. It's difficult to imagine without seeing it. The water is idly drifting down the Iguazu River and then it is suddenly thrown down one of the 275 individual waterfalls. We arrived in to Sao Paulo from London yesterday and had to wait seven hours for our connecting flight to Foz do Iguacu. Considering we have an 18 hour bus journey from Puerto Iguazu (Argentina) to Buenos Aires tomorrow evening we were quite relieved to be flying from Sao Paulo to the falls. So a mere 22 hours after leaving the UK we arrived at our hostel, Paudimar Campestre, on the outskirts of Foz do Iguacu. Paudimar is a ... read more

Ja moin, Ich bin mittlerweile in Brasilien. Habe bei Foz de Iguazu die Grenze ueberquert und mir natuerlich die Wasserfaelle von Iguazu angeschaut. Ziemlich viel Wasser und fast genauso viele Menschen. Man laeuft auf Wegen und Bruecken an den Wasserfaellen vorbei. Also absolut idiotensicher und wenig anstrengend, ergo Menschenmassen ohne Ende. War teilweise echt nervig und es war schwierig die Wasserfaelle und die Aussicht zu geniessen. Auf einer Aussichtsplattform wurde ich von einer Argentinierin darauf aufmerksam gemacht, dass ich im Weg stehe und weggehen sollte, weil sie ein Foto machen wollte. Ich habe sie dann darauf aufmerksam gemacht, dass sie mich mal Arsch lecken kann und warten kann bis ich keine Lust mehr habe dort zu stehen. Schon manchmal praktisch, wenn man spanisch kann. Aber sind schon echt eindrucksvolle Dinger, muss man zugeben. Ich bin dann ... read more