Photo upload: Curitiba

Here's a few photos from our days in Curitiba. 

We didn't meet the people of the Brazilian camper,  but I thought it was one of the coolest looking campervans I'd ever seen. Or, as they'd say in Brazil: Legal!

I had seen the Curitiba transport system in a book years ago,  here's a bus shelter/paying/boarding tube for the buses.

We dined wonderfully well with our local friends in Curitiba.  This restaurant in the city centre didn't mess around,  the menu changed daily with Mondays alreadys being always the same,  Tuesdays always the same,  Wednesdays... you get the idea? You could order something else,  but it seemed noboby did. You had to wait for a table,  and everything was as basic as the menu, but the food was 'home style good'.

We met some people in Curitiba who were crafting wonderful things,  and buildings,  from Bamboo. H bought some bamboo pieces cut to size and made our bed more comfortable for me.

Curitiba: Serra Verde Express train to Morretes

I forgot to mention that while we were staying in Curitiba we did the Serra Verde Express train to Morretes, and back again. I guess I forgot because it just wasn't that memorable. 

We felt the experience to be quite pricey, with not enough to be experienced. The forest is so dense (which can be nice) that mostly you couldn't see anything. When views briefly became available you had to choose between looking or taking a photo, there wasn't time for both. 

The town of Morretes is a pleasant colonial town, but H and I get out of the cities and into the country towns a lot, so it wasn't exceptional for us. 

What we did like best was our lunch in Morretes. We went and had the barreado, which is a kind of slow cooked meat stew, served with banana. It was delicious. 

If you were bored in your travels and had to fill a day, the Serra Verde Express is okay... But there are more interesting days to be had. 

A brief stop in Curitiba

Curitiba was on my list of places to visit. Just because it, as a city, has been recognised as a good environmental example of how to operate things. We were also given a wonderful opportunity to visit some people we'd met on our last visit to Peninsula Valdes (Argentina, the places with all the whales, orcas, penguins, sea lions, and seals). 

Environmentally, all that stood out to me was the super efficient bus transportation system. Not just the energy use of the buses, but also the dedicated bus lanes and bus shelters where you entered and got your ticket. 

So far as a place to visit, we were glad to visit Curitiba to meet friends, but it's a city. Like most cities the attractions are churches, plazas, museums, gardens. It's nice, but I'm not a backpacker anymore so I can get out of the cities and see much more pleasant and interesting things. H feels much the same way.  

Brazil's Vila Velha park

Our destination, after Foz do Iguacu, was Curitiba. At our slow pace it was a few days drive and we wanted to break it up with something else to see. But, there wasn't much on offer. 

Online, I found one reference in English (on Insight Guides webpages) to Vila Velha state park. It was listed as Parana state's second biggest natural attraction, after Iguacu. It sounded good, although I couldn't find much else on it (not even on Wiki), and we couldn't find anything else to do, so we decided to do it. 

When we got there there was some kind of strike going on. No entrance fees were being collected at the gate and banners explained that staff wanted more pay. A young man who spoke English explained that we could still go in, but there'd be no guides. 

So we drove in. We watched a film about the area then got confused about the whole thing of where the walk started, but struck out anyway. We found the walk the long way around, by following the road of the parks buses. 

The parks main attraction is a lot of rock formations, sculpted by wind and water, kind of like a lost city. The forest growing around the rocks was intact and it was a very nice walk. Very much worth visiting. 

The other attraction of the park is to see a few 'Furnas'. These are a kind of big circular sink hole unique to Brazil. 

But, we couldn't figure out how to get to the Furnas (turns out you needed to walk a long way or take a bus, to which you could buy a ticket, which was still operating), so we drove out of the park. 

We had asked about overnight parking (we've learnt not to ask for camping, but overnight parking, as, to outward appearances, that's what it seems we do), and were told that if we ask the Environment Police we could probably park at their station on the edge of town. 

So we did, and they were very friendly. I tested out my Portuguese (very basic, but coming along), and we learnt a lot from them. 

Even better, their office is right beside the side entrance to the Park, at the point where the Furnas are. Just after the park has closed, but before night, they allow locals to enter, to walk. And they let us in too. This was a special bonus because at dusk thousands of swallows (the birds) come home to their nesting places in the Furnas. 

Seeing them come in and swoop down in mass is quite a treat. Not just for the sight, but also for the sounds of the swooping. We were utterly amazed, and very fortunate. 

The information I got online wasn't quite correct, it was long outdated. It said to bring your swimming costume as there is a lift installed to take people down into one of the Furnas for swimming. The lift is still there, but it hasn't operated for a long time (I think they said over 10 years). Anyway, who'd want to swim with all that bird shit?

Buying Tyres in Paraguay's Duty Free Cuidad del Este

Just across the Paraguayan-Brazilian border from Foz de Iguazu, on the Paraguayan side, is Ciudad del Este. You  simply cross a bridge to get there. Indeed, you can also get to Cuidad del Este by taking a ferry from the Argentine side, Puerto Iguazu, as the borders are made by the meeting of 2 big rivers, with each country having it's defined territory on each side. 

Being that we were in Brazil already, we entered by the bridge. 

Technically, as an Australian, I need a visa to entered Paraguay, but we'd been reliably informed that if we were entered for just a day, to Ciudad del Este only, we could skip immigration. Even if I didn't need a visa, why waste a page or more (of our passports) getting in and out?

So, at the border Brazilian immigration let us straight out, but the Paraguayans on the other side kept stopping us (we were in the campervan) and telling us we should do immigration. H just kept telling them that he didn't want to waste passport pages and refusing to go through immigration and they let us through. 

A note here: Paraguayan borders are known for corruption, so if you do get processed you have to be careful to get your paperwork correctly in order or they'll be trying to bribe you. 

The reason for going to Ciudade del Este is that it's a big duty free city. It's full of Argentines and Brazialians buying what they can get away with (without paying taxes on re-entry to their country). We were in need of new tyres and we had heard it was one of the best places to buy them in South America. 

I wasn't excited about tyre shopping, but Ciudad del Este isn't known as a safe place, so H needed me along to sit in the vehicle (guarding it) while he shopped for a good price.

It took H about 1.5 hours to find what he wanted at a good price: 4 new tyres that are Chinese but seemingly well made, fitted, for $US520. This is a great price for tyres for this vehicle, so H is very happy. 

While the tyres were being fitted H watched their work (we'd been told to keep an eye on everything) and I walked to the shops nearby. There's was everything you could imagine available. It was the sort of place where as soon as you paused to look at something you had a shop assistant right there offering assistance... I hate that!, so I'd always leave without anything. I bought AAA batteries and a camera memory card. 

On leaving Paraguay we drove straight through immigration, but were stopped by the Brazilian side who entered the camper and were clearly looking to see that we hadn't bought a truckload of stuff to sell in Brazil (if we had I guess we'd have to pay taxes).

And that was our Paraguay tire shopping experience. 

Iguacu Falls: Brazilian side

After 2 days on the Argentine side we then re entered Braxil to visit their side of the falls.  Everybody asks : Which is better? Honestly,  both sides are absolutely brilliant and everybody should do both.

The Argentine side is great for feeling more that you are in nature, and you get close and wet from many different vantage points,  but on the Brazilian side you get bigger sweeping views of the falls,  and a real impression of just how big they are. You also get wet on the Brazilian side. (On both sides getting wet is optional,  we took that option everywhere we could! )

We also splurged and took the helicopter over the falls,  which,  although it was expensive,  was well worth the money.  From above you get a even better idea of the scale of things.

Oh, and a note,  as an Australian I technically need a visa to enter Brazil (and I have one), but at immigration they asked if I was just going for the day (which I wasn't) so it seems that if I had wanted to enter for just the day,  without a visa,  it wouldn't have been a problem. And, getting a visa at Puerto Iguazu,  or Chuy (as I did), is easier and less expensive than many other options.

Sao Miguel Jesuit Ruins

In Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay there are some fantastic old Jesuit ruins to be seen, from when they used to have reductions here.  Look it up on the Internet,  I did,  the whole history is very interesting.

We visited the very ruined (but still interesting) Sao Joao velho ruins (no photos, it was raining and we forgot), and the Sao  Miguel ruins, which were beautiful. 

In Argentina we also visited the San Ignacio das  Missoes ruins, which are extremely popular,  but we both liked the Brazilian Sao Miguel better... Although they are harder to get to.

Beach camping in Brazil

We crossed into Brazil from the Uruguay border of Chuy.  From there we drove up the coast until we went inland to the big canyons. For that first week it was all simple beach camping. Miles and miles could be driven on the beach and the sand is hard and even okay for little cars.

Each night it was just us. Nobody else passed the night on the beach and the latest and earliest people on the beach, aside from us,  we're fisherman.  One night the police knocked on our window, but when they found it wasn't an abandoned vehicle they left.

All and all it was very idealic, aside from the rubbish on the beaches.

Largest group of Canyons in South America

Parque Nacional de Aparados da Serra.

The drive up to these canyons was a slow steep gravel road. And it was wet, so it wasn't much fun.  I imagine the views might be spectacular on better days.

We arrived late in the day,  too late to pay entry get any real value, so we parked the night at the gate. We also hoped for better weather the next morning.

But,  the weather wasn't any better the next day.  We went in anyway and enjoyed the hikes and got enough view through the mist to be impressed by the canyon. It certainly is an impressive cut.

We were also impressed by the numbers of people visiting early in the morning.  Although we had camped at the gate and were first in,  there were others right behind us and they must have driven about an hour to get there (entry was 8am). They were all brazilians, which shows a grand difference between them and the Argentines.... who we rarely saw out early unless working,  and rarely saw at National parks or hiking.

Total confusion in my head : Spanish and Portuguese

I finished my 4 days (12 hours) of private classes in Portuguese at the Sun 7 school of Barra da Lagoa, Florianapolis. So how was it?

Well I'm still really glad I took the lessons,  the school was great and I really liked my teacher. I am better at Portuguese now, but I have a long way to go. 

For me, I'm not sure if its a blessing or a curse that Spanish and Portuguese are so similar, but also so different. Sometimes it just creates extra confusion. 

And, at the end of every day there was a friendly argentine at the campground who we chatted to in Spanish for a few hours and so after spending time trying to switch out of Spanish, I'd put it all back in. Argh!

So, now I have a lot more work to do. And I sit in the passenger seat beside a notebook to write any words I want to look up later (I'm not good at reading while in motion, maps are enough) and a hand full of flash cards to work through for the day. 

As I write this, we are back in Argentina, finishing that last little arm that extends up alongside of Brazil and takes you through the ruins of the Jesuits Mission and to Iguazu Falls. So, it's back to speaking Spanish, and I've put the Portuguese notes aside until next week. 

Brazil! And I can't speak Portuguese..

So far, travelling as an independent overlander with H, we visited Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. These countries are all Spanish speaking, so, as I am rather fluent in Spanish and H is multilingual, we haven't had much bother. 

But now we are in Brazil and neither of us speaks Portuguese, although speaking Spanish helps. We been here a week and we are getting by, but I'd like to get by a bit better. 

So, I've signed up for some private Portuguese lessons, starting today. For this I am fairly excited. H isn't going to join me, he believes it is unnecessary and he'll get by without it. 

Of course, he will get by better than me without lessons. His native tongue is Dutch, and he also speaks the other 2 official languages of his country: French and German, and he speaks English and quite a bit of Spanish. This all helps. In Spanish, I am better schooled than him, so I speak more and have better grammar, but I take much longer than him to adjust to a dialect or an individuals way of talking. In a nutshell, he will understand more Spanish than me with new acquaintances, but not if I've had time to 'get' their accent. The same is likely to be the case in Brazilian portuguese. He'll just pick it up, (and mostly just keep talking to them in Spanish). 

Actually, travelling in South America as an overlander I've been surprised to find just how many overlanders don't speak Spanish, many couldn't even claim they had beginner level Spanish. And, many of them didn't speak English either; they'd get by using their native tongue, typically German or French. 

So, for me it's back to school. I don't have much time for it, just this week, because the Brazil visa is rather time restrictive, but at least I'll have something to work on. And H? He's doing mechanics on the car.