Foz do Iguaçu

It was eight in the morning, grey and rainy, and we had no idea where the hell we were or where to go from there. yes, we were in Foz do Iguaçu, but little did we know that that was the equivalent to El Paso with a Juarez on the Argentinian side and on the Paraguayan side. it was a three way international intersection and to think, I just thought it was some quaint small, tourist city… Well, what does one do when they first enter a strange and foreign city wanting to do only tourist activities? TOURISM OFFICE! We actually just asked them for a map of the city and the name of some of the cheapest hostels/hotels in the city. A taxi cab later and we were being welcomed into a small yet nice hostel. We were told that we could each get a bed for R$24 a person, dinner for $10 and a ride to the Iguaçu falls for R$40. sounded good to me so we took it. First things first however, shower time… Half an hour after arriving at the Hostel and saying we wanted two beds however, they told us that someone just canceled and we could have a regular room at a price a little more so we went with that. As we were planning our day (because sufficient sleep is never an option) we met two guys from the Netherlands who also had just arrived. The four of us decided to do the Brazilian side of the waterfalls. So the hostel can us transport there and we were off into what is most likely to be one of the most beautiful places known to man. We paid for our ticket into the park, bought ourselves raincoats (not that it mattered) and got onto the first bus available. We sat on the second story of a double decker bus as we entered the freezing cold and rainy park. After what seemed to be the first part of the Jurassic Park tour, we decided to go it alone by foot for a while. We started along this trail that pretty much went along a cliffside; think forest to our left, hundreds of monstrous waterfalls to our right and wild animals picking at the remains of tourist snacks. When I think of big waterfalls, I think of those movies with Niagara falls in them; extremely tall, lots of water and well, the ability to see them all from one place. This was not the case… When we first saw them, well it seemed surreal they way they were leveled. It seemed as if there were waterfalls stretching for miles all around an island of waterfalls themselves, not to sure how to explain it but it just didn't seem real… As we continued along this trail, we saw different angles of the falls, each showing a new set or a different MC Esher portrayal of them. At the end of the trail, There was a catwalk pretty much into the middle of a giant set of waterfalls. Going out on it was wetter than taking a shower. Surround on all sides by waterfalls, the R$5 trench coat I bought at the entrance of the park started showing it's R$5-ness. I could over bare about 10 minutes out there before deciding to come back out, completely drenched. As the four of us took in all we could of one of these natural modern wonders, I'm sure we all knew that beating this, was not going to ever be an easy task. We took the "Panoramic" elevator to the top for a last angle of the falls and decided to eat lunch. After lunch, we took one final quick look and got back on a bus to head back to the entrance of the park. After getting back to the hostel, the first logical idea was steaming hot shower followed closely by a beer and a smoke. As sleep was running a bit hard to find these days, Susan took a nap while I played around on the internet for a little bit. At around 8p.m. dinner was ready, a nice little, almost family like barbecue. After eating out fill, Susan and I decided to watch Alice in Wonderland and then to no surprise, the party began. I played pool, watched them play soccer on the PS3, drank beer and caipirinhas, and told tales of our adventures around the world. As a first time backpacker staying in a hostel, I couldn't of dreamt of a better way to spend my time, this is truly what a vacation should be for me. As three rolled around, the party started to die, so I went back to the room and watched some South Park until five with Susan.

It's Sunday, the 18th when I wake up around 10a.m. Susan is still sleeping as I let myself our of the room to go get some breakfast. At 11 I wake her up so that we can check out of the hostel. Realizing that all of our cloths are either soaking wet or already dirty, our money is starting to run low and our energy lower, we decide to start on our way back to São João. So, like any journey, we start at the bus station. The people at the hostel gave us a ride there and then we bought our tickets to São Paulo which was leaving about 30min later. So we sit down, drink a coffee, play some cards and then head to the bus when it arrives. This was precisely the moment that i realized that here in Brazil, no matter how well planned out you trip is, or how good your intentions may be, you can always expect the unexpected. They bus driver didn't let me on the bus because I didn't have a visa. Inside I laughed a little at the irony, it would of been too easy and too perfect a trip without getting mugged or loosing luggage or at least being delayed a day in some random city… So here I am, on the border of three South American countries and there telling me I'm an illegal immigrant. Well, on the bright, they didn't deport me on the spot, they just told me that I couldn't get on the bus. After getting our money back for the bus ticket (Susan was nice enough to stay with me) we did a little bit of quick thinking. It was a Sunday afternoon so everything was closed or was closing, including the federal police office. There was no American consulate in the city, so with a little help from a taxi driver, we headed for Paraguay. Right as we were about to cross the bridge and head into Paraguay, we took a right turn and headed to the police station. The idea was to get the police on the border crossing to eater give me a visa or temporary residency to get me at least back to São João. So after an hour of waiting and expelling my situation, they pretty much just wrote a note on a pice of paper telling me to show this to the bus driver and anyone else that asked until i could get to quiz de fora to get the actual visa papers. Because I've gotten used to this whole "always expect to be at least three hours late for everything", I had the bus times written down for the next 12 hours. The next one didn't come for another four hours so we went to the mall. Susan, being the woman that she is, loved it and went on a shopping spree while I drank an espresso. When it was getting to be that time, we headed back to the bus station, bought our tickets and headed to São Paulo (showing my 'super formal' note from the police to the bus driver this time) So we got to Sao paulo around 9am after a good 15 hours of bus, none of which i slept for.we got into Sao Paulo and tried finding when the next bus to Sao Joao was but to no avail. after like half an hour of searching the bus station, I began to notice something strange, none of the busses there were even going to Minas (the state in which Sao Joao is in). So I asked information where I could get the tickets. they told me to go to the other bus station in the city. two metros later, we found ourselves in another huge bus station. At least they had tickets to Sao Joao, we just had to wait seven hours for the next bus. This time however, it was my turn to go on the shopping spree. Across the highway from the bus station, there was a nice 6 story mall and so to kill a little time, we went there. I got a few extra souvenirs, some sandals and some more coffee and before we knew it, back on the bus, the last one of our adventure, back to Sao Joao. seven hours later, we arrived. Called a taxi for Susan and I walked home, getting there at around 330am. I checked my email, and went to bed.