So here goes.
After Rio we spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday in Curitiba. Pretty low key, just going to lectures in mornings and afternoons at the Federal University of Parana (UFPR).
On Thursday evening a group of six of us (Jen, Jessica, Kevin, Dan, Lauren, and myself) headed over to the bus station for our 11 hour bus ride to the city of Foz do Iguazu. We arrived there at about 6 in the morning when it was still dark outside, and put all of our heads together in order to navigate the city's public bus system.
After a twenty minute bus ride and a ten minute walk up a few hills, we found our hostel, Hostel Bambu. The place was among restaurants in a semi-commercial area and was surrounded by a big security gate. To enter we had to get someone from the inside to remotely unlock the gate for us, then we walked through a small courtyard, in to a door and immediately up a set of stairs that was oddly embellished with about 50 old fashioned red telephones. At the top of the stairs was a large room with lots of windows, some couches, tvs, computers, and guitars - with several doors leading to rooms, bathrooms, a hallway that led outside to the kitchen/bar and pool area.
Our host, Manu, greeted us as at the top of the stairs we checked in. Manu looked oddly similar to Orlando Bloom as an elf in Lord of the Rings, but we all liked him a lot of got on quite well off the bat. We arrived at the hostel quite early (around 7 am) but Manu prepared our rooms for us and we all took a little nap before beginning our adventure. At about 9 oclock we had no choice but to wake up as construction workers were pounding away less than a food away from the room to our door.
So, we all got up and got changed and ready for the falls, then left the hostel and found a bus that took us to the national park. Upon arriving to the park we paid our entrance and hopped on the top level of double decker bus that drove us through the park. We had our minds set on going white water rafting once we got there so we found our stop and got off. We told the attendants we wanted to raft, so we were directed towards this wooden path that lead us through the jungle towards the edge of... I guess the edge of a mountain? Then the group was lead down this enourmously tall, narrow, and ricketty spiral staircase. We literally spent about 15 minutes walking down this terrifying staircase, which was shaking for the people at the back of the group. By the time we reached the bottom our legs were shaking!
At the bottom we had to hop from big rock to big rock until we reached the river. We geared up and received a little training from our guide, put all of our belongings in a large water proof bag, and then hopped into our raft. Our guide was pretty funny, and asked us to name our "rafting team" - of course we named ourselves "Team Cachacha"! The rapids were a category three and at first were scary but then it was so awesome and fun. When the water calmed down, we jumped into the river and swam around a bit. It was cold, but felt great in the hot sun. We could see Argentina and lots of little waterfalls.
After the ride we got out, changed, and headed back to be picked up by the park bus so we could find some food. We all ate some cheeseburgers and checked out the guest shop and then headed down to the Devil's Throat. We walked on this pathway that provided all different perspectives of the waterfall. Absolutely incredible. Every step we took provided a different view of the falls. I don't think that our photos really capture the absolute majesty of the falls, but maybe do so better than my words can.
After a day of hiking, walking, rafting we were all kind of burned out so we headed back to the hostel to rest for a while before going out to dinner at a local churrascaria. Yum.
When we got back to the hostel at the end of the night we had a hilarious experience that seems worth mentioning. After talking to an interesting couple outside at the kitchen/bar area we decided it was time for bed. The whole group, except for Dan headed downstairs to bed around 1 am. When we turned on the lights in the room, Kevin and I saw a massive cockroach scurry across the room and underneath our bunk bed (him on top bunk, me bottom bunk). We kind of jumped and yelped before attempting to locate and eliminate the pest. We picked up all of our luggage and other items that were on the floor just to make sure it hadn't gotten into our things, and moved the bed away from the wall - but we couldn't find it anywhere. We couldn't rest easy knowing that the roach was wandering around the room while we slept, so Jess wrapped herself up like a mummy in her blankets, everyone was kind of uneasy, and I sat up staying vigilante! Everyone started to make fun of me for sitting up so I decided to give up and got out of bed to turn off the overhead light. As soon as I did this, the roach came out from its hiding spot and crawled up the wall towards Kevin. This of course led to excessive shrieking and hysterical laughing, while everyone scrambled around the room either trying to avoid the roach completely, or in Kevin's case - seek and destroy. The thing crawled behind the window frame so someone handed Kevin some DEET spray to scare it out of its hiding spot. Eventually it showed its ugly face and Kevin beat it to death with one of my Havianna flip flops. Good and dead. It was some how proposed that we name the roach - Jessica suggested its first name should be Lauren... Then Lauren suggested its middle name should be Jessica. So that's the story of Lauren Jessica Cockroach and its unfortunate demise. Here's a photo of the proud kill:
The next morning we all awoke at about the same time that the construction work began, and got ready and dressed and started our... "adventure" to the Argentinian side of the waterfalls. We had no idea what we were in for.
So Bus Number 1 took was an "international route" - it took us to the border of Brazil where we had to get off and get some type of document to allow us in and out of the country. Of course upon having this conversation we all discovered that we needed our "entry/exit card" that we were given when we first entered the country, and of course none of us had this with us (some of us *ahem* dont have this card at all, more on that later). So, the federal policia literally told us to sneak across the border, and when we came back through, not to stop at the border at all. Ok.. Check. Suggestions to do illegal things, from the Federal Police. They also mentioned the possibility of Argentina not allowing us to enter with out an exit stamp from Brazil, but that didn't stop us. We walked back to the bus stop to try to get the next bus through to Argentina when one of the men working there informed us that the bus only passes through once an hour. He tried to get us to take a taxi, as walking through to the Argentinian border was too dangerous (it would be like walking on 595) - but we finally saw our bus headed towards us and we ran to get on it. Once we got on this bus, we had to stop again at the Argentinian border to get our passports stamped for entrance. We all held our breath while waiting in line, knowing that there was a great possibility that we could be sent back to Brazil. Everything here worked out ok and we happily got back on our bus, our only worries now were navigating our way to the park, and at the end of the day making it back into Brazil.
So our bus drove us into Argentina, and we had no idea how to get to the falls. After asking a few people on the bus how to get to "Foz" we realized that on the Argentinian side the waterfalls are not called "Foz" - they are called "cataratas." When someone said the word "cataratas" the ENTIRE BUS collectively told us to get off the bus immediately. They all yelled at the driver and we all got off the bus somehow, then crossed the street and caught another bus that took us to the national park. Our first few minutes in Argentina were stressful, but it was awesome to be able to speak and hear Spanish - a language we are all much more familiar with than Portuguese. Unfortunately, none of us had pesos, only reais so that was problematic for a minute but not a big deal. At the park, we entered and walked past some indigeous people selling their handmade goods, and then hopped on a train that took us to a path that lead to the view of the falls. We walked for about a kilometer on this metal bridge type thing that went through a wetland type area and the calmer part of the river, until we were literally right on top of the waterfalls. On this side of the fall, my jaw was just dropped open the entire time from the raw power of the waterfall. Absolutely amazing. The water was just churning and churning, sooooo much water.
And for good measure, here is a picture of me in front of a fake waterfall that doesn't actually exist
Oh, I forgot to mention the cool wildlife we saw at the falls. We saw big fish, tortugas (my fave), jumping otters, and these little racoon-like animals called cotis with striped tails and long snouts - very cute, and not afraid of humans at all.
At the end of the day, we made it safely back across the border and back to the hostel. We packed up and went to a cool middle eastern restaurant for dinner before our long bus ride. We had hummus, babaganoush, baklava, schwarma, kabobs, and honeydew flavored shisha - yum! Then we got on our bus, and now here we are in Curitiba.
This week has been kind of laid back. We had a lecture about environmental design and safety by someone from the federal police (I think. All I know is he had a gun) on Monday, and yesterday we took a bus tour of many of the parks in the city.
We went to the 40th floor of a tower to view the city. This view allows you to see the structural cooridors of the city, as the dense development runs along these corridors (so all the tall buildings + high rises runs along these axes)
A postcard view of the city
At one of the parks we saw a capybara which is an adorable animal that is kind of like a huge rodent.
Another park was German themed and told the story of Hansel and Gretel through out. Interesting. We also visited the Free University of the Environment, where many free environmental workshops are hosted. It used to be a quarry so its a good example of adaptive reuse of land. Here are some pictures of me and the wildlife there:
Black swans
After the university of the environment we visited the wire opera house, a pretty impressive structure
Its very cold here. I'm looking forward to finishing my project and going to Buenos Aires. IF I CAN GET OUT OF THE COUNTRY. This is one of the setbacks I mentioned at the beginning of the post. I have officially lost my "entry/exit card" that was given to me within the first 5 minutes of being in Brazil. At no point did anyone tell me that I needed to keep this little piece of paper, but I guess it was my responsibility to figure it out. I'm getting mixed messages about what there is to be done. I can either go and speak to the federal police and pay a $116 fine, or I can arrive in Sao Paulo and bat my eyelashes and see what happens. Because my passport/visa are stamped with my date of entry, I may be able to leave with no problem. However, our TA Renata insists that I will be arrested, detained, and deported - this could put a damper on my trip to Argentina - particularly because I am flying through Sao Paulo on my way in and out of the country.
The other "set back" is that I contracted some weird jungle disease while in Rio. Since I returned from Rio I have been covered head to toe with these mysterious red welts. At first they were tiny, then they got bigger, and swollen and itchy. At Foz they drove me crazy but I think they're starting to get better. Ugh, so annoying. It seems like I've gotten sick a lot on this trip.
So today we had no school, Jen and I just lounged around the apartment. Tomorrow I believe we have a workshop on favelas. This weekend we will spend completing our papers and projects, next week we will present, and then on Wednesday/Thursday Jen and I will travel by bus to Sao Paulo and then fly to Buenos Aires (hopefully). I'm so excited for Buenos Aires. I'll be home in about two weeks. Can't believe how fast this trip went!
1 comment:
OH MY GOD! You got Dengue Fever, thank God u didn't die from it. Look it up travellers before u go.
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