Muitas Agua + maravilhoso forza da natureza

Boa noite é muita boa saúde

day 30-33: 23 - 26 november 2008

how are you all.. i heard that the weather not so very good (especially Holland). really shame because here is like 30 degree celcius the whole time. except in the state of santa catarina (city florianopolis) where they have continous rainfall and lot of erossion... i didnt know the exact word for the falling down dirt, but i think you all have heard about it. the heat right here is very strong and i´m wishing for rain now... but tomorrow i´m going to Porto Alegre, so rain down here doesn´t help that much.

THE FALLS

I still keep water as main subject but now moving to something else.: The Iguazu falls. que lindo, really stunning piece of art creating by the mother earth. you need to be here to see the wonder at it self, because pictures don´t speak that much, but i try to make a good story of it. directly after my 30 hours bus ride i went to the national park of iguazu. it´s about 30 km from Foz. in the park it self there are alot of trails and adventures to do. but i take the more touristic way, by walking the 1200 m trails to the main attraction: GARGANTA DO DIABLO. along the trail there are some mirantes (i dont know the word.. view something) where you could see the gigantic falls part by part. and after mas o menos 30 minutes walk you will arrive in the Devil´s Throat. and will definetly got wet.. if you walk to the sighting platform. After that there is a tower overlooking almost the whole fall where you could go up either by using the stairs or the elevator. but the sound of water really is overwhelming.

stupid finger ..it´s the garganta by the way

Near the falls there is a bird / ornithology museum.. but the bird are alive. so it´s actually a bird park. it contains almost every bird from around here (iguazu and surrounding), another part of brasil and also from pantanal (chance to see them at close range). especially the tucans, because in the wild they are hard to capture at a picture. note: this whole area is really touristic, i mean Foz and everythng around it. i was amazed to see the great amount of tourist (after weeks of not seeing one, except the ones in my group) and now is the low season, how about at the high season...

ITAIPU DAM & TRES FRONTEIRAS

another gigantic attraction here in Foz is the Itaipu hydroelectric plant. I believe it´s the biggest one in the world. but currently china is also building a hydroelectric plant near the yang tze river. it could be bigger than this but Ive read the article about it in portuguese from a magazine i bought here.. so maybe i could be wrong. anyway the biological refuge was closed that day (really bummer) because i could see a jaguar from close range. So i take the panoramic tour.. the special touristic route is expensive and i think it will be really interesting for Willem -Alexander but not for me. before we went to the dam we have to watched the mogie about the making of the dam. the movie makes it really clear that the dam is behemoth. really something to look forward.

took a view picture of the dam and listened to the same story i´ve heard and seen (from the movie) that´s all actually.. the dam is really huge but again it´s something you need to see with your own eyes. in the afternoon i´ve decided to see the three land marks. ive seen one in Holland so i want to campare it with the one here. haha, its not the same.. the point that the the three countries cross is in the middle of the rio parana and rio iguasu so if i swam to that place athan im in the center of the borders. bu there wasn´t any tourists... amazing.

PARAGUAY (CIUDAD DEL ESTE)

last day here in Foz do Iguaçu. Bought the ticket to Porto Alegre , RS. tomorrow at 19.00 so i have some times to see Puerto Iguazu (Argentina). after today i knew how to cross the border. and i add 4 stamps in my passport. Paraguay x Brazil = 2 -2. entrada and salida. in and out.. but i actually didn´t need to have an exit stamp from brasilian side. but now ive prolonged my visa by 40 days in brasil :D.

okay, ive land my feet on the paraguay soil.. so if everything according my plan i will see all of the south American countries except the one that have been colonized by English, Dutch and French.

but how was paraguay? IT WAS AWFUL. at least here in ciudad del este, the biggest shopping city in the South America. everyone tried to sell you something.the shop attenders are following you all around and watching you all the time, and sometimes haggle a bit (it was a shop for cryin out loud). most of the time i talked portuguese with them X-D, although they could understand it as well. most the things they sell here are electronica, perfumes and clothings (lot of counterfeits). i was almost seduced by the acer mini laptop for hard currency of 350 US dollar. not fell for that, but i did fell for the 35 dollar of cohibas, with mark of seals, imported from Cuba.... ahumm really going to save this ones for something specials. i did bought some souvenir (a leather pouch for my camera with paraguay on it and a bracelet) and a shirt to spend my last Guaranis (really awful money and i thought reais was awful). When i was in Ciudad del este i thought ´wow such poverty i´m going back to brasil´. really it was a terrible poor city. and It made me remind tho the words of that dude in SP about how poor paraguay was (and still is) . At least I saw another country other than brasil now.

Boa saúde e grande abrazzo

Christiano