Week 11: Lettuce

After our initial excitement at meeting up again - it was June when Lou (better known to some of you as Lettuce) and I last saw each other - we decided that some wine was in order. Except that when we got to the supermarket we didn't have enough money so we settled for chips and beer instead. 

Our hostel, Santa Mix, was recommended to me by John who I met in Buenos Aires, and it is possibly one of the best recommendations I have had. The view from the terrace roof was incredible, it was really clean and the rooms were large with comfortable beds. After a much needed night of sleep, and some serious planning, we arose the next day to delicious breakfast ready to set us up for the day, which had much in store. 

Our first point of call was to buy a new camera for Lou, who couldn't find hers before flying out. With our task accomplished we headed to pao do açucar - sugar loaf mountain. Thankfully it wasn't too busy - I can imagine that in the real height of the season it is heaving. As it was it was very enjoyable. We got some brilliant views of the city and saw some interesting wildlife. For a while we sat on a bench and basked in the glorious sunlight (and had we known what was to come perhaps we would have taken even more advantage of it). 

The view from Sugar Loaf "Mountain" (hill)

  

After we had had our fill we headed back towards the centre of the city and chose to visit the Botanical Gardens. A controversial choice for some I am sure but I would highly recommend it. Apart from a group of school children and breaking approximately four spoons trying to eat my ice cream, it was a really calming and enjoyable experience. 

Crazy tall trees at the Botanical Garden

We never made it to Jesus. 

For probably everyone, Christ the Redeemer is an icon of Rio de Janeiro. We suffered from misinformation: the official map I had received from the bus depot told me the trains ran till 1930, one of the many helpful citizens on the bus assured us the last train was 1830. We arrived just before 1800 to find that the last train had departed half an hour ago. We could have found alternative means of getting there but by that time it would have been getting too dark.  We accepted outr fate and had some "churrasco" (BBQ) skewers from a street vendor instead and decided we would try again on Lou's last day when we were back in Rio. 

We headed for dinner at a restaurant near the Merchado and both opted for fish and a caipirinha, the national cocktail if Brazil. I think; if it isn't then I don't know what is. While we were waiting they brought round free sausages (best idea ever). I offended a waiter when he delivered my cocktail by making a so-so motion with my hand, not realising he was watching. Luckily he rectified the issue. 

I was unable to finish my cocktail (I know, I know) so Lou had almost two and I almost had to carry her home as they were pretty strong. (Okay, I'm exaggerating slightly but she was struggling to walk in a straight line). 

The following morning we had a flight at 0600 to Puerto Iguazu, the Argentinian side of Iguazu Falls. We got up just before 3, thankfully we were the only people in our dorm so didn't disturb anyone. 

Originally we had planned to attempt both sides of Iguazu in one day -which google told me was doable but a lot of hassle, however by the time we arrived in Puerto Iguazu we had a change of heart an decided to give each side a whole day. (Just as well, as their is a time change when you cross the border into Brazil, losing an hour, which nobody bothers to make you aware of and there was a total absence of clocks anywhere at the waterfalls). 

The Argentinian side does give you "more of an idea of the size of the waterfalls" as everybody kept telling me. Code: you are going to get soaked. I wonder if everyone who goes has a secret pact not to tell anyone this as absolutely nobody I spoke to mentioned it, and you really do get completely soaked through, shoes, bag and all. If the secret pact does exist this isn't breaking it - I won't tell anyone to their face. Luckily it was pretty sunny and we dried off pretty quickly. 

There were an absolute shed ton of butterflies which was almost unreal. As I have previously mentioned I have a tendency to attract insects, and someone pointed out to Lou that there had been a butterfly on my back for 5 minutes while we had been walking. Unfortunately when we stopped to take a picture I attracted the not-so-nice kind of insect, which crawled up my shorts and then jabbed its massive black sting into my leg. Two weeks later you could still just about see the mark. 

After spending a night on the Argentinian side we headed towards the Brazilian side and the town of Foz do Iguaçu. 

About the only picture I have not covered in water droplets

Some people told me they had been advised to skip the Brazilian side but I completely disagree - the panorama is amazing and there is so much wildlife. We saw an armadillo, a toucan and some very large lizards, to name but a few. I shouted at someone because they grabbed a lizard's tail and started dragging it. 

We were on a bit of a schedule (which we were running by my watch) so we headed for the urban bus terminal to transit to the national bus station. On the way we saw a (the first) clock since entering Brazil, informing us it was an hour later than we thought, and that we were about to miss the last bus to São Paulo. We made it to the terminal to find there was only one seat left on the aforementioned bus. So we instead took an overnight bus to Curitiba where we changed for São Paulo and then again for Paraty, arriving 24 hours after our first bus departed. A bit crappy an a waste of a day but we couldn't complain after our bargain flights to Iguazu. 

Panoramic view from the Brazilian side

When we arrived in Paraty it was pretty late and we couldn't find a map or get our bearings so we ended up in a "posada" a bit like a family run b&b which was actually quite luxurious as I had a double bed to myself. 

After a shower it was clear a drink was required, but we didn't fancy straying far as there were more dark alleys than I felt comfortable with. Somehow we ended up in a local wine bar cum corner shop. I felt like we were intruding but we were made very welcome. There was a lot of guitar playing an singing which was great apart from it being in Portuguese. We had a great time but 24 hours sitting on multiple buses eventually drove us to bed at around 0200. 

We slept fitfully and had an absolutely excellent breakfast the next morning - fresh fruit, cake and a cheese an ham sandwich toastie which was incredibly welcome an made by my own fair hand. 

The day brought wandering through the quaint town, a trip to the somewhat cloudy beach and a walk along the heaving pier. Although the boats did day trips island hopping we decided to give it a miss and head to Ilha Grande the following day. We passed a pleasant day relaxing, which we clearly deserved, and treated ourselves to a posh(ish) dinner in the evening or a fishy seafoody brothy type dish. Plus chips, which we definitely didn't need. As we weren't ready to go home, we headed to the main square for cocktails and having ordered a second one each, realised we didn't have enough money to pay. Lou ran back to the room to get some money while I was chatted up by the waiter - which paid off in the end, because he only charged us for one cocktail each anyway. 

A dreary day in Paraty

We walked back a little unsteadily and put ourselves to bed, ready for the transfer to Ilha Grande the next day. It was maybe a little lazy not to take public transport, but for the sake a few of the Queen's good English pounds we decided it was convenient.