Day 76: Curitiba, Brazil

Happy Birthday Morgan!!

Today started with the idea of doing some tourist sightseeing before we head off to Iguazu Falls on the night bus. We wondered around the city, walking through large parks that dot the city, wondering back through the zoo, and eventually happening upon a giant organic food market.

Giant statue in one of the many parks

Giant organic market

Read the rest of this entry »

Day 75: Curitiba, Brazil

After many weeks of searching and sifting through piles of pizzas, hamburgers, and pastels we finally found some actually “authentic Brazilian food.“ The sign proudly vouched for the authenticity of said food and we took the bait. It was a crowded self-service buffet at lunchtime in the historic center. A cheap, slightly dingy interior to match the slightly cheap, dingy store front but it was clean enough and there weren`t flies covering the buffet. We each grabbed a tan plastic lunch tray and scooted our way down the line. Rice, beans, sausages, cabbage salad, stroganoff…wait a minute! This isn`t Brazilian food–it`s more like German food! What?! Read the rest of this entry »

Day 74: Curitiba, Brazil

In a city that trades recycling for fresh garden vegetables, it`s difficult to see where exactly those vegetables go. Restaurant fare is mostly fried foods and vegetable markets are few and far between to the eyes of a newcomer unfamiliar with the secrets of the city. Despite its progressive recycling programs and current and green initiatives, Curitiba isn`t exactly the greatest place for fresh, healthy food. After having come in from a long night bus through Sao Paulo, we were ready for a nice big meal, hopefully void of pastels (fried pastries with cheese or meat inside) or cheeseburgers. It took a while but we found something meeting our requirements.

Lindsey and the meat-cake-pizza-things

Read the rest of this entry »

Day 73: Trinidade, Brazil

Lin looked down at her knees. They burned red like fire and bits of tiny broken shells stuck to them like barnacles. Saben sat several feet farther out where the water was deep enough for him to protect his knee. Unable to help herself,  Lin sat back down in the shallow, forceful surf just feet off shore and let the waves pull her body toward the sea and then spit her back up on shore like a beached jellyfish. The air was so hot she didn`t care about scraping her knees on the sand as she was tugged and tossed around. She just wanted to cool off from the blistering sun. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 72: Paraty, Brazil

Today was another slow day of Saben dragging his bum leg around like a wounded dog. Internet, Ice cream, Lunch, Ice cream, Internet… Until a chance meeting on the way back to the hostel.

“Well, hello!“ Anytime someone speaks to us in English, they`re nearly always trying to sell something. As it happened, we were standing on the foot bridge overlooking the muddy water and suspected someone was wanting to sell us a boat ride. Turning around slowing in preparation for a polite “No, Obrigado,“ we were stunned to see who had spoken the words. It was the sweet English couple we sat with at the soccer game in Rio! How funny that we should meet again, in this place at this particular moment! Read the rest of this entry »

Day 71: Paraty, Brazil

A rainy day with a twisted ACL can only mean one thing: stay indoors and do nothing. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 70: Trinidade, Brazil

It all started with a sweet lonely puppy.  She was clearly bored and her owner nowhere in sight when she spotted us walking down the beach. Like her, we were strays today too.  Her sweet eyes kept glancing at us, hoping we would see her and acknowledge that she was there too. And with such sweet brown eyes, how could we not? Read the rest of this entry »

Day 69: Trinidade, Brazil

There`s something magical about being the first one awake in the morning. It`s like being in another world while the rest of humankind sleeps, just knowing that no one can disturb you as you tiptoe out of the room where they are dreaming and pleasantly snoring away. Read the rest of this entry »

That subtle smell that always accompanies a fishing village permeated the air while we zigzagged through the historic center, admiring the clean white paint on the walls and the colorful doorways. Making our way lazily down toward the water, we came to the boat dock. The old, worn ropes and the chipping paint on the small fishing boats were like old friends–so charming and obviously well-loved.

Quiet fishing village

Fishing boats docked in Paraty

Read the rest of this entry »

Day 67: Paraty, Brazil

Maybe it was jealousy as our sweet 3rd story pad, but our bunkmates at Botafogo were the worse we´ve ever had–ever worse than that guy with his crazy night noises in Uvita, Costa Rica! They were all up at 5:45am, talking really loud and slamming doors and opening the window to let in bright sunlight that looked more like midday than early morning. One of them had dragged the mattress of the bed (bottom bunk, sucker!) to try to get more air from the fan but had left the room and was sleeping on the couch outside the room when we left. What the hell?! Read the rest of this entry »