Bonito

So Im really glad Ive learned as much spanish as I have over the past few weeks, cuz now all my hard work is USELESS in Portugeese speaking Brazil. Its all brand new again. And some things are the same, but its mostly different and really confusing. Oh well, Im only here for 2 weeks and I have a guide for most of it. Not only can I not speak Spanish anymore, but Ive also been forbidden to speak ´North American´. Im completely surrounded by Brits and NZs and If I ask for something in NA they pretend that they dont know what Im talking about. So now I have to ask for a torch instead of a flashlight. And crisps for chips and chips for fries...and so on. So I know Im going to be annoyingly british when I get home but, deal with it!

Bonito is creepily sponsored by Master Card. Everywhere you look theres the master card logo on everything, all the street signs, napkin holders, and even the stir sticks for our drinks last night. I dont understand why, but i think its weird. So last night we went out for dinner and became the customers that I hate to serve. When the guy brought out the food, nobody really remembered what they had ordered so he would say it and wed all just look at him blankly. I ordered catfish, so he said fish and I said thats me and we all started eating and then he came out with catfish...well that WAS me so...whose was the one I was eating? Nobodies, they had accidentally brought it out. I had only had a bit of the other one, but I was really glad it wasnt mine because it was kinda gross. The catfish was much better (I guess). The big drink in Brazil is Caiprinahs, but I think theyre really strong and not very good. Everyone in our group either loves them or hates them. Its sugar cane rum with lime, thats it. Its really sour as well.

In the morning we got up and had brekfast. Here the breakfasts are much better than Bolivia and Peru (where they only served bread with jam). Brazil has meat and cheese and fruit and, oh dont forget the cake? Like actual chocolate cake for brekfast...weird. Then we went snorkling at this river outside of town. River Sucuri, it was so clear you could see right through it to the bottom. We all looked really hot in our wetsuits let me tell you. The guides there helped us all into ours because it was obvious we had no idea what we were doing, plus they were hard to do up because they fit so tightly. It wasnt classic snorkling, it was much better. You get in the river and the current floats you downstrem, so you dont really have to swim, you just float and look. There were lots of fish, it was really neat. One of the girls bought an underwater camera, but I didnt think about it till it was too late. Oh well. After an hour of snorkling we ended up at the pick up point. I was glad to be done, it was a good amount of time cuz we started getting cold, and the guide started getting a little to friendly, if you know what I mean.

After that we headed to a nearby beach for the rest of the afternoon. It was really nice and hot, of course. I mostly slept and read and worked on my tan (little by little). Finally the younger girls decided to head out to the water trampoline. It was fun, but 5 of us trying to stay up all at once was difficult so we mostly just knocked eachother down. Then we swam over to the ´Flying Fox´which is where you hold on to handle bars and they slide down the rope on an angle and then you drop into the water. It was scary actually doing it cuz you think youre going to slip before your low enough to let go, but we all landed in relative safety. I cut my foot on the bottom of the lake (what is it with me cutting up my feet?) but it was fun. Ive discovered coconut ice cream and decided that its the best flavour in the world. After the sun was getting lower and everyone was starting to get attacked by sandflies we decided to leave.

Went out for dinner and I tried a Brazilian dish called Muqueca. I was for two people to share but Chole, DOnna and I all shared it and we were full. Its fish and vegetables in a tomatoe stew served with rice and mashed potatoes. It was very good, were going to have it again in Isla Grande which is another big seafood place.

Yesturday I decided to sleep in but only made it as late as 815. Spent the morning lounging around and at about 1130 David, Sarah and I decided to rent bikes and bike down to the local beach to meet up with everyone who had walked there earlier in the morning. They were so funny and anal checking that all the bolts were screwed in tight enough and horrified when they guiy said he didnt have helmets. We´re in Brazil, they arent going to have helmets. Biking took half an hour and looking at the route we couldnt imagine walking that far. We thought we were really smart renting bikes. The beach itself was nice, but the water was freezing, of course cuz its winter. We saw a lot of unfit brazilian woman in really innapropriate assless bathingsuits. Yikes! Then everyone else had cabs coming so we decided to ride our bikes back and holy crap the ride was so much harder on the way back. The bikes were total crap to begin with and they didnt have gears or anything so all the uphill facing into the sun, with a really strong wind pushing against us was not making for an easy ride. The rest of the group went by in cabs and waved, not to be assholes just to generally wave, but i was in no mood for waving back. When we got back all our faces were bright red, it was NOT a good ride.

Spent the rest of the afternoon packing and a couple of the girls decided that we should make our own Caiprinahs which were really good because we controlled how much sugar we added. It takes a lot apparently to make that drink taste nice. Went out for an early dinner because we had to get on the bus at 8. The bus actually being a van that we all squished into for the 11 hour ride to Iguassu Falls. It was not a comfortrable ride by any measure. I got put in the row with the least leg room, the theory being I have the least legs, but I was uncomfortable for most of the trip. It was weird though, everytime we stopped at a petrol station to grab snacks or the bathroom there would be a big party going on...at the petrol station. The locals would be drinking and listening to loud music and dancing? I dont know about you but I dont head to the local Esso for a good night on the town...it was weird.

So we arrived this morning at Iguassu at 7 there time, Im now 3 hours ahead of home time, and there are no rooms ready. So we´re basically wasting time until we can go see the falls at 10. They are apparently the widest waterfalls in the world?