Raining in Paradise

The last 3 days have been such a blur. We left Paraty in the pouring rain for a 6 hour bus trip to Sao Paulo, where we had a half-hour wait for the next 6 hour bus trip to Curitiba. We hit crazy traffic on the way so the trip took a littl over 7 hours, and we got to Curitiba at around 1.30 in the afternoon. I wanted to see it because it has a reputation for being really beautiful, safe, clean, efficient, and we had origially planned to spend a night there, but all the busses were booked so we had 5 hours to explore. Natasha and I put our bags in a locker, talked to the tourist office, and hit the town. A lot of the plazas and streets have German names, and you can tell that there is a persisting German-ness to the place. The bus system is made up of tube-like stations, and although they seem to operate on a Brazilian time table, the layout of the city is really efficient and pretty-big squares, classical style government buildings, nice old cathedrals, and the Oscar Neiemeyer Museum. We walked around for a while, saw some realy cool art at te museum, and then wandered some more to find a place to eat. Chopp is the Brazilian term for draft beer, and a Chopperia is a place to get this, then they have basic food stuff too- a typical plate will be rice, beans, manioc root, whatever meat you choose, fries, and a salad of lettuce and tomato, healthy...

So we found the chopperia that we decided looked best, in front of a really pretty lit-up old building, and camped out there til we had to catch our bus. People in Curitiba suck. I don´t need to go into the story, but everywhere else we´ve been, everyone is so laid back and chill, but this one girl left a bad taste in my mouth about the city. I had heard that people there are more cold and rude, and the reputation seems to be true. Whatever, I hate it there anyway. So we left, and I blew her a kiss good bye, and we got on the bus. Another overnight trip brough us into Foz do Iguaçu early this morning. So for the past two nights, we have slept on busses, then today we went to the falls. They are amazing. Too bad it´s so rainy, and actually cold, but the place is breathtaking... again. Brazil is so full of beauty everywhere´that I´m starting to get jaded. By the way, the keyboard I´m using is a horrible piece of shit, so I´m having troule typing properly.

So basically, around Iguazu is a huge, tri-national area where Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay meet. I am on the Brazilian side now, where you get a panoramic view of the falls. It´s amazing how wide it is, I´ve never seen somthin g like this-the view is so intense but expansive, it´s insane. It hits all your senses but! You feel the mist, you smell the water, you obviously see it, but you hear it with your whole body, there´s so much water crashing around you that it vibrates in your chest..and I guess you could taste it too, if you wanted. We did a little bit of hiking alongside the river leading up to the falls, then got to the top and stood out on a ledge maybe 100 feet from where the biggest fall hits. It´s really something. So that´s the update-two straight days of bus trips, and now one of the most amazing things on the plante-it´s nominated to be one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world anyway.

I hope everyone in NY is enjoying the snow storm! That and the earthquake in Chile, and this crazy rain here........ sounds like the world is freaking out!