Foz do Iguaçu, Brasil - May 13-17

Part of the logistics to deal with in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina was figuring out where we were going next.  Both Brasil and Paraguay require visas for US citizens.  Since the Brasilian consulate wanted more documentation than we had - or wanted to fake - we decided to head to the Paraguayan consulate and see if it was easier to obtain their visa.  Sure enough, a simple form, $65 and an hour of our time and we were legal to enter Paraguay.  But since we had seen it was so easy to get into Brasil without a visa...  and since the bus goes through the city of Foz do Iguaçu on its way to Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, we thought that it might be interesting...

And so we took one of the urban buses and just got off in Foz do Iguaçu.  We found a very pleasant hostal where we could camp, use the kitchen, wi-fi, ping pong table...  There were trees with ripe oranges that also made for tasty snacks.  And there was a fun resident kitten who wasn't around when I was taking these pictures.

 

Being in Brasil for a few days was a good reminder of what it's like to not understand a language.   Ah, yes, so this is what Duane has been feeling like for the last 8 months...  Portuguese really does not sound at all like spanish.  Even reading it I was lost.

With a population of 256K, Foz is a more orderly and modern city than its argentinian and paraguayan counterparts, but they could use a little polishing up of their english translating:

What I believe they meant to say is the water is not potable.

Parking machine system - haven't seen that recently.

 

Other than Iguazu falls, this mosque is one of the tourist attractions in Foz.

I would opt for shaving my head continually to disguise as a man before having to wear one of these all the time!

If you read the last blog post, you know that my wanting to stay an extra day in Puerto Iguazu meant we ended up enduring a bad night of listening to some neighbor's party.  Well...  Duane wanted to stay another day in Foz, which, as it turned out meant that I enjoyed a very tasty salmon dish that night.  It was really really good!  But somewhere in the middle of the night, well... let´s just say this is the first real GI sickness I have had on the trip.  And so, Duane got his wish of not just staying one extra day, but two....