Good Morning Officer!

The bus ride from Curitiba to Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil) was 9 hours or so. I slept pretty well, other than waking up here and there and hearing this guy snoring. I am not sure why, but the only thing I could think to do was clap my hands as loud as I could to wake him up and shut off the snoring. I have tried that before with some other snorers, but it never seems to work. It was annoying, but not too bad because I kept falling back asleep. But there needs to be some regulation on that. If you have a big gut and breathe heavily while awake, they shouldnt even let you on the bus.

I eventually got into a very deep sleep and did not wake up until the bus reached the station in Foz do Iguaçu. I didnt even wake up, the driver somehow knew that I had not left and had to come wake me up. I think it was because all the bags were gone except mine, and he came to see if someone had not left the bus. I was pretty groggy and had earplugs in my ears still. I got off the bus and saw that my bag was the only one there. I went over to it and, while standing next to it, took out my earplugs. I forgot that they were still in and I was very tired still. While I was putting these earplugs into my smaller bag, this policeman came up to me and asked, with a machine gun ready to go in his hands: what do you have in the bag, comrade? I was startled for multiple reasons. He was the police, he had a machine gun in his hands, he said comrade. I was so startled and tired that I had to think for a second, and just said--clothes. That was true. I know that they patrol bus stations and lots of other places looking for drugs and all. He told me not to leave my bag there and I was very confused. I hadnt left it there, but then later I realized what had happened and that they took out my bag without realizing I was still inside the bus. I was still trying to think straight and just said--sorry, I fell asleep. It was pretty wild and, even though my mind was not working well, it woke me up!

I got on a bus to go to the Argentine side of the border. The city in Argentina where I will be staying is called Puerto Iguazú. I had to get out and get my passport stamped at the Brazil customs, and then stop at the Argentine customs. It took a long time, but I finally made it to my place at 10:30 or so. The exchange rate here in Argentina is outrageously good for Americans. As good as it ever was during my two years in Argentina. It is incredible how similar this city is to where I have been in other parts of Argentina. Same people, same buildings, same smells, same three-legged dogs. It is great to be back in Argentina. I went to the last part of church, which was cool because I saw a guy from my mission who is the branch president. And then I walked to the area where Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina meet. Then I took a bus to Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, but only got out at the terminal because it didnt seem very interesting. Good if you are looking for cheap electronics, but I was not in the market.

I had some good Argentine food and went to bed early. It is nice to finally have a towel again! Haha, the last month I lived without one. I would stand in front of the fan, or shake myself off like a dog, or something like that. I was too stubborn to buy one. The dumb things I did to save money. I washed all of my clothes the last two months and lived half the time without a towel. Ridiculous. Next post will be about my times today at the waterfalls of Iguazú.

Curitiba

Friday night, I came home from work and made my way over the bus station. I decided to take a taxi because the station is in a bad area and I didnt know exactly how to get there. It was a good call because it was cheap. But the guy told me that traffic was so bad that he would have to leave me behind and then explain me how to get in. I was thinking that this would be really complicated and have at least one dark alley involved. But it actually turned out to just be the back entrance.

I got on the bus to go to Curitiba that night. It was a long process getting everything figured out for this trip because I have less time than I planned on. I didnt plan on visiting Curitiba, but the bus schedules and all worked out better to go there first and then to Iguaçu. Waiting for the bus, I noticed some interesting looking guys getting on. One that stuck out was tall and had a big cowboy hat on. When I got on, I realized that I was sitting in the middle of him and his buddies. These guys were real Brazilian cowboys. This dude had the hat, he was missing some teeth, some others had camouflage and other interesting clothes on, and they wore their sunglasses in the bus at night, I guess to stop the light from reaching their eyes. They could have just closed the shades! They had some Brazilian country type music playing from their cell phone and their accent was suuuuuper country. The cowboy hat guy kept asking why there was no water on the bus. He said it when they got on, and then in the middle of a conversation he brought it up again, and then left the bus to get some. It started to get old after a while.

They were talking like the whole night and the dude next to me kept taking my space on the arm rest and then some! I stood straight up at like 3 am and said--what the!! I didnt finish the phrase, but I said it in English for some reason. And then he said to his friends, it seems like we are bothering this kid. And then they kept going! And the dude behind me was snoring. I swear, if you snore, you should be thrown off the dang bus. It was a rough night of sleep. But I got back at the country dudes, dont worry.

We arrived at 9 am or so. It was cold! The first time all trip I have really felt cold. But Curitiba was a very cool place. It was raining a lot of the time and I lost my umbrella way back when. But it was not too bad. I saw the famous botanical gardens, the historical part of town (which was awesome), and walked around for a while. It is a city made up of tons of immigrants from Eastern Europe and other parts of Europe and it was cool to see this influence around. I had my last meal in Brazil (steak, rice, beans, and fries) and headed over to the bus station. I fixed my backpack up with a velcro thing instead of a zipper. I broke the zipper way back like in Colombia and broke it again in the past few days. I found some velcro amazingly enough in Curitiba and fixed it up!

That night I took a sleeping pill and got on the bus headed for Iguaçu. It was only an eight or nine hour trip, but I wanted to rest as much as I could. I got on the bus and this kid was chanting--swine flu! Swine flu! I think his little brother or something was on the bus and, maybe he was going to Argentina. It was pretty funny. The next post will tell you all about my trip to Iguaçu and my little encounter with the Brazilian federal police...again. :)