We are back in Brazil again, and what a dramatic entrance it was. As a gringo we needed to wait for a bus just outside the customs building and upon boarding, heavy back pack on, bright smile on my face, hand outstretched with bus ticket, i tripped (as is my style) and landed on the bus floor, squashed under the weight of my heavy backpack. I was very embarrassed to say the least, especially as the whole bus shouted in unison ´ou-pa!´which is the Portuguese for ´that´s got to of hurt´ which luckily it didn't. It´s funny that even words we say as a reflex are actually socially conditioned. We are not all born to say ´ow´.
We have just spent two days in Argentina, which was wonderful, partly because no-one (Brazilian officials included) knew we were there and we hadn't planned on going. We went to the most amazing waterfalls which span the Brazilian Argentinian border and are really huge, and more awesome than anything i've ever seen before. I cant upload photos here, sorry, but look up Igassu falls on Google. There are 275 falls, up to 82 meters high, the widest one being 150 meters wide. It reminded me of the film ´Up´which if you haven´t seen you must. Its a brilliantly made Pixar film, about a girl called Ellie who marries and dreams of travelling to South America with her husband. The moral of the story is it isn't about what you do with your life, but who you share it with. And i don't think this means who you pick for a partner, but more the bigger picture, who walks beside you on the way. On which subject i feel truly blessed. My friends are amazing, my husband keeps me afloat and i have a great selection of mother, father, brother and sister type people in my life! I am humbled by the things they continually do for me. Thanks.
Oh dear, mushy. I guess being so close to nature was really great, made me appreciate what i have and the grandness of the world. It was really quite hypnotic to be at the top of the falls, and very frustrating to not be able to touch the flowing water anywhere. So much so that it felt tempting to jump in! (you would definitely die if you did this!)
So we ended up in our hostel last night, sitting up until 1am looking for hostels- this is the unglamorous part of travelling, constantly packing and getting up before check-out time (10am-that's early for me) and constantly looking for new places. What we didn't realise is that this weekend is a holiday for Brazilians and so everywhere is booked up. We couldn't find anywhere near the waterfall back on the Brazilian side, so sent an email to one in vain hope. As we got up, we had nowhere to stay, and were not even sure if we´d be able to get back into Brazil as we hadn't got our passports stamped on the way out (opps). Call it luck, fate or as i would, an answer to prayer, today has gone swimmingly and everything has worked out fine.
We got off the bus at the Brazilian customs as instructed by our bus driver and after the initial confusion about how we managed to get out without the right stamps etc, the lovely official let us in. Score one. Next we got to the hostel pretty hassle free, however they had no rooms and informed us that we were the 4th couple to have arrived today looking. They are so friendly here though that they offered to help us look on the Internet and find somewhere, however we were warned that it was only going to be expensive places on the outskirts of town.
However only five minutes later and the receptionist Diego asks, ´how would you like to sleep in a tree house?´Its an interesting conversation which results in us accepting an offer to stay in Diego´s room up in the eves of the hostel whilst he sleeps elsewhere. It is only accessible by a ladder, and cannot be stood up in but manages to contain a double mattress and at least 50cm squared floor space. Miracle worked. The hostel is lovely and we are optimistic that we can stay here tomorrow until our flight leaves mid afternoon, relaxing by the pool and using all the facilities.
So all has worked out well. One of my goals for this year was to read my bible and pray more. I have been ploughing through the bible most nights, learning things, and more often, writing a list of questions to ask a person wiser than I about the meaning, but praying has been harder. To me praying is just like talking to an invisible person. But that person is someone i want to talk to, but never seem to get round to returning the call (a bit like Ted- sorry). After the results of today which is a day following a prayer this morning -about fixing everything for me -(yes God doesn't love getting shopping lists of requests, but like a dad he likes to help when you finally admit you cant do it all by yourself) it has encouraged me to continue.
Tonight our ´tree house´, tomorrow Rio again. Only one week left in Brazil, just when my Portuguese was getting understandable.
P.S Have finally got Skype under my email address.
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