Brasilia!!!!!!!!

The customs into Brazil was a bit confusing, and it was of course, so hot. We finally found the right line and got through and took a taxi to our hostel, where we were going to camp. We set up camp, then took a city bus to the Brazilian side of the Iguazu Falls. The entrance was about $20 each. It was so amazing, and huge, hot, green. We took tons of pictures. It was worth the price.

We went back to town and got some stuff to make BLT's from the grocery store, and hung out with a couple. The guy was from Chile and the girl was from Switzerland. The next morning we went to the Argentine side of the falls. This involved taking a city bus to the border, getting stamped, taking another city bus to a town bus station, then catching a bus to the falls from there. It was a lot bigger, and they had more trails and activities. There was a little train that takes you up to the falls. We ate our packed lunch, then walked out to the main part of the park. Over the water, there were long platforms to the falls. We walked for about 20 minutes before reaching the main attraction: we were right on top of the falls. It was rushing down all around us. It was simply amazing, slightly terrifying, and unlike anything I've ever seen. There were so many tourists, however, which made it difficult to get pictures. We then went to the other viewing areas, and walked more platforms. It was really, really hot, and the spray from the falls was a welcome relief. Along the way you see lots of these animals that look like a raccoon type thing , which are really tame and want food. They are super cute, and we saw a lot of babies as well. We didn't have time to walk the jungle trail we wanted to walk because we found out too late that it closed at 3pm. So we went back to the hostel in Brazil, which involved the same process, except this time we had to wait an hour for our bus after crossing into Brazil.

The next morning we had to be up at 5am to pack up and get our bus to Curitiba, 8 hours straight to the east from Iguazu. It was a nice bus, and we were on the top at the front. We were awed at how nice the roads were, and when we stopped at a rest stop, I couldn't believe how nice the bathrooms were... they were free, spotless, and had toilet paper in them!

As we got to the city, the traffic got really really bad, and then our bus was pulled over. We saw a guy get taken off the bus, and the police searched his bags and found t-shirts he was bringing in from Paraguay, where the taxes are a lot cheaper. We finally got in and walked the ten minutes to our couchsurfers house. They lived in a big apartment on a hill. They were William and Bianca, a couple our age, who were so cool and welcoming. We ordered pizza and sat around chatting. We had our own comfortable room as well. The next day we went to the nearby market to get something to make for dinner. Jesse decided on fried chicken. Then we went home, and I stayed home, while Jesse walked around town. I was too hot and didn't feel great. So I chatted to Dad on Facebook and watched a movie on our laptop in bed. It was lovely!

Then everyone got home and Jesse started making dinner. William and Bianca were telling us about their year-long trip they had just finished 3 months ago. They went to Africa, then India, then followed the Silk Road through the Middle East and Asia. We were so enraptured with their stories and adventures. They had even gone through northern Iraq at one point. Bianca had hardly ever traveled before their trip and before leaving had asked William if she should bring her hair dryer! So cute!

The next day we headed off really early for Ilha do Mel (Honey Island). William took us to the train station, and we took this little train (the Sierra Verde Express) through the gorgeous Atlantic forest mountains for 3 hours to Paranaugua, a colonial town on the coast. It was really cool looking, but HOT. We then took a city bus, and then a small boat for 90 minutes to the island. So in one day we had traveled by car, train, bus, and boat!

We docked at a little pier and walked onto the island. It was very cool – no paved anything, only small sandy pathways through the wood. No motor vehicles allowed at all. Jesse went to find a campsite. They were all really expensive, and we found one finally that was slightly cheaper then the others, but it was really crappy. Because of the salt air and humidity, all wood buildings decay and rot really fast. There was no sink to wash your hands in the bathroom, the kitchen had roaches running around, etc. The sand got in our tent and into everything. There was also no reprieve from the heat, except for the Atlantic ocean! One morning I awoke to the outline of a small frog on our tent (it pooped on it too) and another morning there was a crab wandering around on it.

We spent 5 days on the island walking the beaches. There was an old and cool Portuguese fort, as well as depressed barracks up on the hill with cannons. We met a cool couple, Lucas, who is studying biology, dolphins, more specifically, and his girlfriend, and Lucas' dad. They (Lucas and his dad) were going to swim to this little island off the island, and had hired a local guy to follow them in a boat. But the local guy flaked out, so they decided to swim across the bay. They swam for a good 45 minutes, while Jesse and I walked along the waters edge with the girlfriend, before they came in. Then we all walked to the fort. We took the inland trail back. We stopped to look at a sign, and I felt a prick on my leg. When I looked down there was this massive bug on me, and when I swatted it away, there was a spot of blood! Gross!

We also saw wild iguanas on the island, which were so cute. We treated ourselves to two lunches out the entire time. The first, a “menu del dia” was fish and rice and salad. The second was much better and much cheaper – we got a burger and some fish and it was much bigger and cheaper.

We took the boat back to Paranaugua, and wanted to set off straight back to Curitiba, but the bus was sold out until 8pm. So we decided to stay the night in Paranaugua. No AC! But we had had a huge and awesome meal when we got off the boat, of beef stew tasting stuff, with rice and fries and beans. Brazilians love their beans! We were happy from getting to eat cheap and stuff ourselves, so we already considered ourselves lucky and the AC was a minor issue. Also, I was just so happy not to be sleeping in a sandy tent.

We got up and took the bus to Curitiba, then found a connection to Sao Paulo. The bus to Sao Paulo was 8 hours. We rolled in about 10pm, and didn't feel like figuring out the Metro, so took a $30 taxi ride to Edgar, our couchsurfer's, house. He lived on the 15^th floor of a really nice building. His apartment was pretty small, but so clean and modern, and I was just so happy to be there! We slept on the couch and on a cushion on the floor. Edgar walked us around his neighborhood the next day, and he and Jesse bought tickets for a local football game the next evening. The tickets were $20 each, which seemed absurd to me! That night Jesse made his beef stew, and Edgars girlfriend came over to eat with us. The next day Edgar gave us a walking tour of the downtown. It was really clean and attractive. We saw the opera house, the oldest building in Sao Paulo, and a building that was designed after the Empire State building. Also, there is a stock exchange downtown, and it's open on the weekends to view. It was really cool. We stopped for lunch at the huge market, and Jesse and Edgar had a local delicacy: massive pastrami sandwiches. There was a huge Italian immigration to Sao Paulo (largest population outside of Italy). We went to the Portuguese Language Museum, because it was free and we needed to get out of the rain (it rained every day we were there). But, we couldn't understand a thing so we went through pretty quickly. Then we went to the Memory Museum, which was a memorial for the victims of the dictatorship in Brazil, and it's located in the old jail where the victims were housed. We were so lucky to have Edgar walk us around and share his knowledge with us of Sao Paulo. We left really loving the city because of him.

Our last day there, we went down to the Japan town and had some asian buffet by the kilo. All the people selling things on the street would grab their stuff and dash as soon as they thought the cops were coming. We also visited a really really huge cathedral, which was stunning, as well as a church that was on the same place as the building where Sao Paulo was founded.

We had hoped to catch the 12:30pm bus to Parati the next day, but it was sold out, so we had to wait until 4pm. We rolled into Parati pretty late, took a cab to our campsite, and set up our tent, then walked into town to find food. We found a cute little pizza place, and I got a yummy caipirinha as well. The next day we walked around the adorable colonial town with cobble stones. And it was So. Freaking. Hot. We wanted to leave the next day, but again, the bus was sold out. It was even sold out the day after that. So we had to stay there for 3 days. We met some cool people from Spain, who were from Catalan and spoke Catalan, and an Irish couple, and some Swedish girls who had picked up some Argentine guys in Rio and were now traveling with them. We passed the days on the beach, which was a deep bay with little tiny islands all dotted in it. The water was too warm for a reprieve from the heat though! I was constantly getting in the cold shower for a couple minutes. One day we met the owner of one of the restaurants on the beach, who was a drunk French guy who had been traveling for most of his life.

We finally left Parati, and headed for Bolivia. We took an overnight bus to Campo Grande, then spent 3 hours in the bus station waiting for a bus to Quijillo, which is the town on the border. As soon as we stepped out of the bus people were asking us if we wanted a hostel or wanted to buy tickets to Santa Cruz, etc. They said that the border was really busy and took hours to get across. We just decided to ignore them and see what happened. We spent the night at a crappy hotel, but it had WiFi, and we had a pizza and beer down the street, happy knowing it was our last expensive Brazilian meal. The next morning we walked to the plaza to catch the local bus to the border. We got to the border after a ten minute bus ride and walked up to what looked like the line and was actually really short. We were only there for about 10 seconds when there was a stampede of people coming from the far end of the building, who lined up behind us. We realized that they had been waiting in another line and were told to line up where we were, and we had in fact, jumped in front of them unintentionally. An American guy in front of us said he'd been there since 6am... But we didn't do anything about it, but feel slightly guilty. It took us about 30 minutes to get our exit visa for Brazil, when it probably should have taken 2 or 3 hours. Oops. :)