Ola, Tchau, Obrigada! Just a few words I know of Portuguese. We have arrived in Brazil!!!
Wow, this is amazing. We arrived here yesterday (3rd of February), and it was rather strange to depart another country so quickly! This is my first time traveling into another country without crossing the ocean. We left Argentina and jumped on a bus, jumped off to get our passports stamped to exit the country, jumped back on the bus, jumped off and got our passports stamped to enter Brazil and within less than an hour here we were here! We had already organised our tourist visas so we pretty much just had to sign a form and get a stamp.
As we arrive here I think of our friend Helio and how great it is to be in the country where he is from and how much I wish he was here with us. From what I have heard and read about Brazil, I think we are in for a great time and Leo will just be a click away to keep us posted on hot tips! Obrigado Helio!
We jump of the hot bus and land our feet on the land of Brazil and it is HOT! We have not booked accommodation yet as we have found we find better accommodation by walking around finding a place ourselves. The Internet does not often live up to what it says! With the help of a local who is promoting accommodation, we take him up on his offer trusting that he is legitimate. Given the number of brochures and by all his attire, it is very safe to say he is legitimate. He speaks a little English and Spansih and Portuguese. Given we are on the boarder, there is a mix of both Spanish and Portuguese here, but more Portuguese. We manage to communicate with each other and he suggest lots of places for us to stay. It turns out that some hotels are even cheaper then some hostels we looked at online, and the picture off the pool he shows us looks more than tempting.
We follow his direction and he even walks us all the way there. It is so hot and the humidity is high and our packs are really testing us now. They are okay to carry but it is the heat that gets to us. We walk for almost 20 minutes and finally we arrive at a hotel nearby. It looks clean, safe and comfortable. We are dripping with sweat and desperately need a drink but do not yet have Brazilian cash to purchase things yet. We have a little warm water left though.
We have been here one night and we have now asked to stay one more night. Dustin has picked up a bit of stomach bug so we will stay here until he recovers. He is okay but needs rest, comfort and sleep. We are lucky that we are somewhere clean and comfortable while he is sick. It is lucky that im not sick so I can help look after him. We have a pool here too which we have enjoyed yesterday, and hope to get back into it soon.
This morning we had breakfast here which is included in the price, and wow I thought the breakfasts in Argentina were sweet! Here there was fruit, yogurt, toast, juice and coffee. But what was there the most of1? Cakes! so many cakes, biscuits and tubs of dulce de lece. I think the must serve the breakfast and morning tea together.
Well that brings us up to where we are now. We are staying here in Foz Do Iguazu, Brazil. Here we will visit the falls again where from this side is what they call the grand overview of them. The Argentina side gives a closer look and has more attractions. In total there are about 275 waterfalls at Iguazu! Once Dusty is better we will visit the falls and there is also a bird park with over 800 species of birds!
Until then we will rest up here and I will keep this blog posted with our travels.