day ? - we have already lost track of time

in our last blog post, we spoke about the wonders of rainy days on nice islands in brazil. as luck would have it, the day we were leaving ilha do mel, it was probably the nicest day ever. FOILED! in the morning, we went hiking over large grassy hills and on beaches, and came across lovely pink shells and huge sand dollars. one sand dollar we found was about 6 inches across! excuse the somewhat grade 3 nature of the comment, but it was super cool!

also, it was ridiculously hot that day and we were tempted to jump into the water - alas, we had already hiked too far without our bathing suits and had already checked out of our hostel.

on that hostel note, while the ilha do mel hostel was located on the beach, it was probably THE NOISIEST hostel of all time. walls were so thin you could actually see through them (and not because they were made out of glass). needless to say, we barely got a wink of sleep the last two nights because of

a) vomiting from our german roommates
b) the rowdy brazillian families who were on vacation for the long weekend (kavitha and i did not quite understand how they could stay up so late and wake up so early, i.e. 8AM)
c) the irritating casanova scots who bragged about dancing with all the girls and getting a VIP carriage on the serra verde express - kavitha and i were convinced that these two lads were bookish nerds (more so than we are) that are trying to prove themselves in some strange way. eeesh.

to leave honey island, you need to take the same boat you used to get there - barf city! the waves were gynormous midway through the inlet, and the leftover pasta that we ate for lunch that day almost went starboard yonder. thankfully, it was short enough that we got to pontal de sul in one piece.

from pontal de sul, we took advantage of el cheapo internet ($2.50 reals per hour, aka $1.75 an hour) and then i tried using up the rest of my phone card (to no avail). we then took a graciosa bus back to curitiba, which ended up picking up a bazillion people along the way. by the time we got back to curitiba, it was around 7:30PM and freezing - we all had to add on a couple extra layers and a toque.

we decided to splurge that evening on a meal in the rodoviaria diner - we ended up getting a $5 real dinner called the plato pronto - consisting of beans, rice, spaghetti, an unidentified meat with a carrot in the centre, "salad" (aka 2 leaves of romaine lettuce, 2 slices of anemic tomato, mushy cucumbers and carrots), and mashed potatoes. it was not bad for what it was!

after that filling meal, we took what we thought would be a 10 hour overnight trip to foz de iguacu, brazil. as luck would have it again, there was a screaming child on the bus who insisted on whimpering, screaming, wailing and yelling multiple times throughout the night. his mother's shushing had minimal effect. throughout the evening, i think we all wanted to strangle him or at least throw him in the luggage compartment. we ended up getting to foz do iguacu almost 2 hours early (530AM), and were completely disoriented. it was freezing! we took a bus into the main square of the town, then waited around for an hour until the brazil-argentina bus came. kavitha says, "WOOT! another stamp for our passport!" i add, "WOOT! another country to add in the 'where i have been' application on facebook!"

we got to our hostel at around 10AM, but were unable to check in. the hostel here is GYNORMOUS - it has a gorgeous pool in the front that is not being used right now due to the cold weather, however certainly when it is warmer it would be a huge hit.

instead of waiting around, we decided to go to the argentinean falls on our own. kavitha calls it "niagara falls' great great uncle. it was huge!" i thought it was very nice and got some great pictures, but i think because of all the hype it was given i was slightly disappointed. however, i was happy to get in a lot of hiking! WOOT!



we were also able to see lots of those gross raccoon type creatures called coatis that are native to latin and south america. they have the snout of an anteater and the body and habits of raccoons. GRODY! at one point, one of them attacked a bag of food that a lady was carrying and then a whole army of them pounced on her and the food, almost like a pack of lions. as a collective they made a high pitched squeal unlike anything we have heard before. it could only be described as grotesque. the carnage got so bad that when we walked past the scene of the crime later, a thermos had been broken by them. serious! ferocious!

for dinner tonight, we made a south american fried rice. aka, we used "integral" (?) rice, canned vegetables, eggs and an unknown sausage to make it. typically, day old rice is supposed to be used, however, we made do with what we had. i was amazed because

a) we had cooked rice in a pot!
b) it actually tasted alright!

i think it will be one of those things that will taste better after a day, much like the south american pasta we made on ilha do mel. we shall see!

we look forward to finally getting a decent sleep tonight. until then, we bid you adieu. over and out, officers mak and thomas.

residual questions that have come up over the past few days that we invite answers to:

1) what ARE sand dollars really? coral? invertebrates?
2) how did the portugese lose their power versus the french or english?
3) how do butterflies die? do they have any predators?

ps. shoutouts to cheryl, arti and bossmat, who we will see in 2 more days! WOOOOOT! remember to bring snacks and gloves for the cold weather!