Brazil

Started off in Brazil in a place called Florianopolis...also known to me as paradise. The place was beautiful. The first two nights we added a bit of luxury to our stay and spent the night in an Ibis hotel as it turned out to be the same price as a hostal. Do not be mistaken - that is not because the hotel was cheap, the hostals are stupidly expensive in this place. Whilst we were in the city we felt it necessary to keep up the tradition of finding a good restaurant and stuffing our faces so we went to a rodizio which is where you sit there and they bring round every type of meat imagainable and carve it onto your plate until you decide to put up the red sign of "nao obrigada" which means you´ve had enough. Delicious!
The next day we headed more into the Island and it really is a beautiful place, the prices however, wern´t. We went to check out a recommended backpacker´s hostal and a room in a crappy dorm with 10 people was going to cost more than our lovely luxury room at the hotel. We couldn´t believe it. Although they gave us a free caipirinha to try and convince us we didn´t back down and went to find other accomodation. We managed to find these really cute cabin / chalet type houses which was our home for the next few days.
As the island has quite a lot to offer and we only had a few days we decided to rent a car for two days. We went to some picture perfect beaches and also tried the typical dish of Moqueca which was another belly buster that consisted of fish and seafood in a coconut sauce with rice and flour and fish sauce on the side.

From Florianopolis I left Miriam to relax on the beach whilst I took a little detour to the Iguazu waterfalls. Well I don´t even know how to describe them...amazing...breathtaking...all these words more or less sum them up. The first day I went to the Brazilian side which is a panormic view. As you start approaching you can hear the roar of the water before you see them which builds up the anticipation of what they will be like. The Brazilian side only takes a few hours to do so from there I headed over to the Argentinian side to find accomodation and rest after such a long bus journey.
The next day bright and early I headed to the Argentinian side of the waterfalls. This side is different to the Brazilian as supposedly in Brazil you see them and in Argentina you feel them. Well I sure did feel them as I took a boat ride which drove me directly underneath one of the falls! The water was so strong that I could hardly open my eyes so unfortuantely there is no photo evidence of this trip. The end of the trip was a train ride to the Garganta del Diablo which was hugeeee. The sound and the sights are unbelievable.
After spending the day there it was on to meet Miriam at the half way point of both our journeys - Sao Paulo. It was an awful bus journey which consisted of being on a normal bus therefore no reclining chair for 18hours (it took longer than it should have done). At one point a woman was asking everybody for money and I didn´t quite understand why. I asked the woman next to me who told me it was because they wanted the money to bribe the police as they were taking more weight and goods underneath then they should have been....welcome to Brazil!

After the grueling bus journey I assumed Miriam would have left without me but luckily we found each other at the bus station and could go to Paraty together. This place was a lovely small ex colonial town that is now a UNESCO sight becauase of it´s history, style and cute cobbled streets. There are 3 churches from colonial times which were for 1. white people, 2. los mulatoes and the 3rd church for black slaves.
On Sunday we decided to take the bus and go to a nearby beach which I can only describe as being like a scene from Lost...I felt like I was on a desert Island. Surrounded by green trees in the background with this beautiful sandy beach in front of me. Bliss.