Christmas 2008

Christmas 2008

This Christmas was spent travelling with Mom and Dad through Brazil. They had planned to come down to South America to see me and Machu Pichu. They didn’t quite make it there but we still had a good time together. But before I get to that, I will quickly fill in the blanks on what I have been getting up to since the last time I wrote.

After I got back from Rio and Sao Paulo, I spent the rest of the time finishing up my job at the English School. Much of the time was spent teaching the kids how to sing English songs at the year-end pageant. Needless to say it was pretty funny. Not only can’t I sing but neither could the kids. The best were the Kindergarten kids singing Jingle Bells. They can sing the entire song even though they have no idea what the words mean.

After school ended we just hung around until my parents arrived. Sara and Ana, a couple of CIDA interns that Duda and Ai had met in Welland came to stay with us so we got to party with them. It was fun to show more people around the town.

But back to the main event: the trip with Mom and Dad. A day after they flew out I woke up to an email saying that they were stuck in New York, where they were not supposed to be, not sure where they were going. They were supposed to be going to Lima to meet up with a tour group, but there had been mechanical problems and human error and they were unable to get there. Unfortunately, their luggage did make it to Lima, but Mom and Dad could only get to Buenos Aires. Then to make matters worse when they called about the luggage the airline informed them that it had been lost.
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They say that they had a good time nonetheless: they saw the sights and ate the food and did all that BA has to offer. But I am sure that they had more fun with us here in the north.

Upon Mom and Dad’s arrival at the airport here (with a surprising amount of luggage I might add) we got them settled and took them on a quick tour of the town. That didn’t take long and in the evening we went for dinner at Colour and listened to some live music. It was from more Andean than Argentine, but that seemed appropriate to their situation and Dad bought two CDs.

The next day was spent at the Argentine side of Iguazu Falls. We did the ‘Adventure Tour’ which involved a safari ride through the jungle and a jet boat ride up the canyon into the falls. It was a bit pricy but the jet boat ride was a great way to see the falls. They drive you right under the spray and everyone gets thoroughly soaked. I was told it puts the Maid of the Mist to shame.

I had never been to this side of the falls before so I got to see everything for the first time. On the other side of the falls one can not really walk into the falls and there are not many trails. It is more of a panoramic walk where you can get sweeping views. But on the Argentine side there are trails climbing along the falls, both at their bases and at the tops. You can spend the entire day walking through the forest getting close to the (literally) hundreds of falls.

The Argentine section also includes a narrow-gage railway that carries one from the trail complex up and around the river bend to another trail (really a walking bridge) that crosses the river so that one can gaze down at the Devil’s Throat, the biggest waterfall of Iguazu and the border between the two countries. It was up here, safely away from the drop, that we saw a crocodile dozing in the water.

We were especially lucky as it was Christmas Eve so the entire park was relatively empty. This meant there were no lines and we didn’t have to push our way through the park. It also meant that it was hard to find a place for dinner. We ended up having to eat at the fairly mediocre restaurant that stayed open. But such is life when away.

Christmas Day brought sunshine and thirty degree temperatures, so we were not feeling very Christmas-y. We jumped the border to Brazil (without a visa so I hope Lula isn’t reading this) and drove to the Itaipu Dam. Itaipu is one of the world’s largest hydroelectric dams. Three-Gorges (in China) just surpassed it in size but Itaipu continues to produce more electricity in a year than Three-Gorges ever will. Or so they told us. It is also one of the 7 Modern Engineering Wonders of the World (along with the CN tower).

Itaipu was no Iguazu but it was definitely more than worth the tour and the time. The structure itself is so immense that it is difficult to get your head around it. Pictures don’t do it justice until you look closely and see that the small building you at the base of it is actually a fairly large multi-story office building. And that that this building is dwarfed by the massive concrete structure behind it. Anyway it is big. Our tour took us around it, on top of it, inside it and at the end we got to go all the way down it to one of the turbines to watch it spin and create electricity. Sounds nerdy but it was actually very cool. I swear.

This was followed by a trip to the Brazilian side of the falls so Mom and Dad could see it from all angles. As I mentioned earlier, this side does not have as much trails so it was a lot quicker of a trip. Which was a good thing as the heat that day was incredible. Definitely not like Christmas at home. A good part of the afternoon after seeing the panoramic views was spent at the top of the falls having a cold drink on the river bank and watching the water drift away.

On the 27th we woke up early to drop our passports of at the Brazilian consulate so we could get visas to enter the country. At one we headed off for the long drive in our rented Chevy Life (think of a very very small and simple car) to Curitiba where we were staying the night. The country side was nice to look at (fields, mountains, forests etc etc) but the drive still a long one to make when you start in the afternoon. And unfortunately, after six hours, and nine road tolls, when we finally arrived in Curitiba we found out that our hotel had given our rooms away. This was especially ridiculous as we had thought ahead and phoned to let them know we would be arriving late so that this exact thing did not happen. We were just lucky a nearby hotel had room so we could stay there without too much hassle. Don’t stay at the Hotel Lumini if you are ever in Curitba as it was pretty frustrating.

The next day was yet another early morning. After a quick stop at Curitiba’s botanical gardens we headed for the coast and the Ilha do Mel. Curitiba is on a high plateau (~1000m) but is only an hours drive from the coast. So the road down is a fairly steep drop. It made for a picturesque drive as we snaked down the mountain side towards the ocean.

However, once at the coast we were still not at our destination. The Ilha do Mel (Island of Honey) contains a national park and does not allow any motorized vehicles or more than 5000 people at a time. We had to park the car and take a 30 min. ferry ride across to the island and then walk with our luggage to the hotel (about 20min).

All the extra effort was worth it. Our accommodation made up for any bad luck we had with the hotel in Curitiba. The entire place had a laid-back beachy atmosphere, but it was all well maintained and there was all the comforts that we could want, but without any pretension. We were a 1 min walk from the beach and in our room one could shower and watch the waves at the same. It made for a great base to enjoy an island retreat.

Our time on the island was spent relaxing and taking in the sun. We didn’t do much of anything that first day but eat and play on the sand. Which I think is a perfect way to celebrate the Christmas holidays (even if the day was a bit off). We managed to hike up to an old lighthouse (from 1870) and to an even older (1673?) fort that are on the island. Duda and I also got to enjoy the nightlife on the island. We went to a chill party on the beach. It was just an old shack selling beer, a couple guys on the guitar and a bunch of people having fun. Our kind of party.

On the 29th we had to start heading back, but as we had all day to make it back to Curitiba we made sure to take our time leaving the island, this meant we squeezed in some time at the beach in the AM. On our drive back we also took our time and made a quick detour to a small town that is in the hills between the coast and Curitiba. We were sure glad we did as the town was very picturesque. It had a small little river running through, a nice old square, some great buildings and a lot of history: the perfect place for a pit stop. Dad even managed to find some great stones (the semi-precious, crystal kind) at great prices.

We also managed to have supper at a churrascaria (choo-hass-ka-ree-ah) in Curitiba that evening. A churrasacria is a brazilian meat buffet. You pay a set price (we payed about 14 bucks each) and get all you can eat food. At the place we went to this included a salad bar of immense proportions (they had everything from hummus to perogies to sushi to about 10 kinds of cheese) and when you sit down severs come to your table with skillets of freshly barbequed meat of every cut (from sirloin steak to roast to ribs to chicken heart to bacon-wrapped turkey) which they served directly onto your plate. And they keep on coming until you are so stuffed you couldn’t eat a chicken wing. It was heaven.

We were exhausted after all this food but we decided to drive and find one of the city’s landmarks: a Wire Opera house. We got lost along the way and ended up finding another landmark: the Eye-Museum. I don’t have good pictures of either so if you are curious you will have to google them. The Eye Museum (in reality it is named after an architect whose name now eludes me) is an art gallery, but it has a central tower that literally looks like an eye. The Wire Opera House is built out of glass and metal tubing above a lake in an old quarry entered. It is entered via a long metal bridge and is a very interesting bit of architecture. It was night so none of our photos turned out well but it is worth checking out on the web.

The next day we woke up early, yet again, for our drive back to Iguazu. We took a different root, so got to see some more country side and also managed to stop in a little town for some food but it was another long day of driving. We were just lucky to have Duda driving: he knew how to ask for directions and how to deal with the crazy antics of the other drivers. We took Mom and Dad out for supper at our favourite restaurant (Bambu) and then passed out after another long day. They flew out the next day in the afternoon and before their plane was off the ground I was taking a nap after an exhausting week of travel.

As of my writing they are safe at home and their baggage has been finally found! It is now in BA so at least all is not lost. Duda and I don’t want to stick around Puerto Iguazu doing nothing so we are taking a quick trip to Salta and then coming back in time to meet our friend from Canada who is coming down. We will be going to Brazil (which rules) to hang out on the beach and see some cool sights. I probably won’t blog till when she leaves, though maybe I will have energy.

I hope whoever has managed to read all of this has enjoyed hearing about my trip. I don’t write much but when I do I don’t spare many details. Just leave some comments so I know I am not just typing into the ether! Also, it is now 1:22 AM so I haven’t proofread this very well so ignore any mistakes you may have found.

Happy 2009!