Floripa

So I arrived in Florianopolis on Saturday morning- the city is the gateway to Ilha Santa Catarina. I had been talking to a couple of Canadian girls on the bus from Foz and so we decided to look for a hostel together. We consulted the interweb and realised that we were all swooning at the same hostel photos so jumped in a cab to go there.

The cab left the city and then drove us through some dreamy landscapes- all beaches, lakes, picturesque rivers winding through gorgeous villages. In fact, every time we turned another corner we all sighed with the satisfaction of the place.

The taxi pulled up next to a small bridge leading over a river which led away from the 16km of sandy beach. As I got out of the taxi a familiar face was getting off a bus- Niall who I had met standing by the road in the Pantanal. We all went over the bridge and found the hostel easily.

However, it was the wrong one. I decided to stay and the girls went off to the other one. Me and Niall hit the beach pretty quickly. Ah sigh, perfection.

That night in the hostel there was quite a gathering in the bar, a host of caipirinhanas were consumed and then we went to a nightclub. Things are a bit vague after that. There was a band singing, they werent very good. I bumped into the Canadian girls, they pulled me out of the club, I grabbed Niall and suddenly we were walking along a steep, muddy and very dark footpath- I know not why. At the end we realised that the Brazilian guy were were following didnt seem to have much of a clue where he was going so we grabbed a cab and went home.

It was about that time that I posted the last entry here.

Awoke the next morning to the sound of rain. It continued for most of the day. But the hostel barbecue in the evening made up for it in some small way. As did the nightly arrival of the chocolate man- a lively old fella who sells homemade chocolates- lovely.

The next morning there was more rain. Half of the hostel signed up to leave the next day. I had to think of a plan quickly, yes I was going to leave but where was I going to go?? I am flying out of Porto Alegre to Buenos Aires and have some old students to visit there in my last week but I didnt want to make it a week and a half there. After much thinking about it and waiting to use the free internet in the hostel (and quick nipping out to the ever popular ice cream buffet) I decided to go the wrong way and head north to Sao Paulo for a couple of days and then head south again.

Yes, it is the wrong way but the bus is pretty cheap. And no one, guide book included, could think of other places for me to go in the south before Porto Alegre so that was that. Decision made. Spent the evening chatting to a guy from Nicaragua and one from Chile.

Awoke on the morning of my final day to glorious sunshine once more.

Huff.

Undaunted I am continuing with my Sao Paulo plan- I am meeting another old student there tomorrow when she finishes work. I am travelling overnight again so will have to dump my stuff in the Guarda Volumes in the bus terminal for the day and then pick them up to meet her later.

Now I am just killing time waiting for the bus- I have about an hour and fifty minutes to go......

Cop Out

.. I know it is but I put the photos on facebook today! Sorry! You can see them there! Went to a nightclub in Florianopolis tonight- later followed a bunch of people down a dark alley, this policy has never yielded anything good. Arrived on another beach and got a taxi home with a guy from the hostel. At the hostel now and there is no queue for the internet! If I told you what I had spent the last hour listening to you would never believe me!

Alone Again

so I cant remember if I told you that I have had company for the last week or so- first in the form of Moti, an Israeli guy that I met in Campo Grande, we picked up Melissa in the Pantanal and the three of us found Natasha from Switzerland on the bus going to Foz do Iguacu. It is nice to have a bit of company while travelling- I dont mean in the hostels as there is no end of people to talk to then (unless you are in Cuiaba where I was the only one in the room) but actually on the bus journeys.

This is not because I need to endlessly chat to folk while speeding along the highway (or unsealed road aka dirt track) but rather because it is lovely not to be the only one having to watch out for where to get off or worrying because you get a sudden attack of paranoia about having missed your stop. Also, it is a sheer joy to have someone to watch your bags for you while yoú pop to the loo or to get a snack os anything which would usually mean getting all backpacked up and walking around like a deranged upright turtle.

The company is nice too of course.

When we went to the Brazilian side of the falls on the first day here I went with the girls. It was amazing, there is something really special about being soaked by an enormous waterfall. The following day I went to the Argentinian side with Moti where we learnt that you dont know the meaning of the word soaked until you have been there.

The first day was so amazing but we had heard that the Argentinian side was even more impressive, we just couldnt see how this could be so given that the Brazilian side was so fantastic. Then we turned a corner and got a different view of the falls and turned to each other and said that now we understood.

There are two places where you can get thoroughly wetted on the Argentinian side and the second is a sheer wall of water with a walkway coming up to it. It is an almost spiritual experience when you stand at the end of the metal walkway (having fought off all the other tourists so that you can get a photo of you standing alone at the end) water penetrating to the very heart of you, the water crashing down behind you in thunderous applause and you laughing through sheer joy and excitment.. only later to realise that the dye in your jeans is not fast and so you will have wet jeans and a blue bum until you get home and shower. At least it got the ketchup from the day before out of my t-shirt! I am a class act and no mistake.

Of course the other bonus to being on the Argentinian side is that they speak Spanish! Joy! I could understand nearly everything- even when they told me a price for a sandwich and a drink which would have had Starbucks in London hanging its head in shame.

Today I went into the town to get some money to pay my bill here at the hostel, I am always secretly impressed with myself when I get a bus in town. It is easy to get intercity buses (provided you dont have to change too many times and it doesnt drive off and leave you at a rest stop somewhere) but it is far more difficult to get a bus from one place that you dont know to another that you dont know and it all happens so quickly. Usually.

Now I am just killing time until I have to go to the bus terminal to get my next bus.

Toucans, Hummingbirds and quite a lot of water

I am in Foz do Iguacu, right near the borders with Argentina and indeed Paraguay. I went to the world famous waterfalls yesterday and again today- yesterday in Brazil and today I went to Argentina for the day to see the falls from the other side. I have just one word to say about both experiences.....

AWESOME!!!!!!

And I went to the Bird Park yesterday and have decided that if the world were filled only with toucans and hummingbirds I would be happy.

I am heading to the beach again tomorrow- ah it has been too long! After a couple of weeks of swimming with piranhas, being rained on and being soaked by waterfalls on both sides of the border it is time for some honest to goodness sun and sand again.

And another bus journey. I have racked up over 70 hours on buses in the six weeks and one day that I have been here so far. I have two more weeks in Brazil so I am sure that I have time for more before I head to Argentina. I know that you are all on the edge of your seats in anticipation.

Photos to follow when I find internet that is fast enough and someone to burn photos onto a CD for me...... we shall see!

Map

I just realised that I used to put maps here to help you know where I am- so here is Brazil



Still having problems getting photos off my camera- I have been plugging it into the PCs but they give me an error message. Am a little concerned

Caiman Fatigue

If I see another caiman I am going to punch him on the nose! Well, actually that might be a bit too ungrateful. I spent an amazing four days in the Southern Pantanal and you could hardly move for the little buggers there. I stayed in a campsite which was basically a room full of hammocks surrounded by a mozzie net and that was all. The first night there was no electricity but there was caipirinhas so that was OK.

Up early the next morning- the Pantanal turkeys make sure of that- and off horseriding for a couple of hours. Another couple of hours of serious lounging in a hammock doing nothing followed that and then out on a little walking safari.

Which was awesome! We saw capybara, caiman, howler monkeys, armadillos, deer etc etc and emerged from the forest just as the clouds had really begun to darken. We clambered aboard the truck and the first spots of rain hit the ground. We drove for a bit and it got worse. The guides stopped and put on the rain cover and then it was as if we had just driven into a shower- a shower with more thunder and lightning than you would expect to see. It was dark now and we were driving along a caiman lined dirt track only catching glimpses of the world as it was lit up by the lightning. The truck was all over the road, sliding in and out of the various potholes. Bits fell off it and had to be reclaimed by the poor guides legging it through the downpour.

It had all the ingredients of a bad B-movie- a group of international travellers, some staying at the guesthouse and then us favela kids from the camp, dangerous unknown beasties making loud and threatening noises in the darkness, the storm etc. We kept thinking that any minute we were going to break down and have to send one of the guides for help, only for him to disappear forever into the dark tropical night. I couldnt work out who would be the survivors in this B-movie scenario but decided that I would probably be one of the first to go- the London girl complaining that the wilderness wasnt co-operating with her endless demands, being attacked by bugs shortly before the truck ride home.

Of course, nothing bad happened and everyone back at the camp had moved all of the stuff into the middle of the room to avoid the rain which was pouring in on all sides. And rain really cooled things down from the temperatures of over 40 that we had been suffering- I even slept rolled inside two blankets that night.

But my English stomach got the better of me and I missed the hike the next morning but made it for the piranha fishing- this time I caught two that I managed to keep from jumping back and one that I didnt. They were cooked in a stew that night. And we played the international backpacker card game of Shithead for a glorious couple of hours.

The last morning we went on a boat ride, one of the English guys was bitten by a piranha when swimming in the river and I was hit in the back of the head by a suicidal sardine- they all started to jump into the boat at one ponint but this one was guided back into the water by my bonce. Unfortunately this was also the first point in the last four and a half weeks that I got sunburnt. Huff.

Then I left the camp yesterday with an Israeli guy that I had met in Campo Grande and then gone to the Pantanal with. We met an Irish guy standing by the road waiting for the bus to Bonito and we all came here together last night. Today we have been snorkelling. Moti, the Israeli, said that it was one of the best experiences of his trip. But I will be honest with you, I get freaked out by water on my face, not great for snorkelling, so I got in the river but in the end opted out of the hour long float and took a boat to the end- after half an hour or so of playing with the little fishes. Even my limited experience was enough to prove to me that Bonito is a very special place indeed. Gorgeous out of the water and in it.

On the way to Rio do Prata we stopped off at a canyon which I forget the name of, but it is filled with large screeching colourful macaws swooping carelessly through the air below as you stand at the top and look down. This was also a very special place which I would recommend to anyone.

I have just booked all my tours through the hostels, whether in the northern or southern pantanal, I have been told that all prices are fixed so there seems little point shopping around plus the chanecs of being with an international group seem higher if you are booking in the international hostel. I have yet to be disappointed.

I think that I am leaving Bonito either tomorrow or the day after and continuing my journey south. Photos to follow of course!

Pantanal Take Two

I suddenly realised that I might want to take some photos on this four day safari I am going on in the Southern Pantanal- and I haven´t downloaded my photos from either of my memory cards. So I came up with the cunning plan of putting some of them onto my MP3 player for storage. Just one problem- no PC I tried (and I have tried about 8 here now in Campo Grande this afternoon) will play with my little camera. And finally I got one to recognise my big camera but while it would show me the photos, it would not save them onto the PC.

Grrrrrrrr.............

So I have gone for the other option of buying a new memory card- let´s hope that it is a little more co-operative than the PCs have been. And I hope that this does not mean more problems later.

Anyway, I arrived in Campo Grande this morning after an 11 hour bus journey from Cuiaba- totalling 50 hours on buses in the last four weeks- the only problem is that I had slept with my lenses in again so my eyes were somewhat glued shut when we arrived. Ah well, the hostel was easy enoughj to find, given that it is the first thing that you see when you get off the bus.

Everyone in this hostel speaks English and the guy that organises the tours was on a Channel 4 programme back in the U of K recently- ´Dangerous Jobs for Girls´- which he proudly showed me. There are some very bad reviews on the internet about this hostel but I am hoping that they are wrong! They mainly seem to centre around the tours on offer, which is the reason that people come here after all. We shall see- after the hassles with the tour last week I (hope) I have learnt that even if things don´t go exactly to plan the tour can still be amazing. I´ll let you know at the weekend.

The tour that I am going on heads off tomorrow, though the first day is just travelling, then three days of full on Pantanal activities (seemed to be a lot of walking involved for somewhere that is over 40 degrees at the moment) before transferring to Bonito for what is promising to be a highlight. If you are not sure what I am talking about, and let´s face it neither did I until two weeks agó, look at Bonito Brazil on Google images and prepare to be jealous!

So I will be away from the internet for a few days and assuming that I don´t get eaten by caimen or anacondas, I hope to catch up with you again in Bonito on Sunday or Monday. And maybe even find somewhere that will help me with my photos!