Paraguay and Brazil. Well from leaving peaceful Puerto Iguazú after a short workout and a nice breakfast in the jungle looking garden, I head to Paraguay. CIUDAD DEL ESTE is quite the opposite of peaceful. Busy with cars, buses, and motorcycles. Bustling people which I can't believe I said beunos aires was bustling because that was nothing compared to this place. This is the second largest city in Paraguay. I guess things are much cheaper in Paraguay so many people come over from brazil and Argentina to buy. I didn't hear any other English people but lots of Spanish speaking trying to usher me into their shop (well stall). Seas of stalls skimmed with no intention of buying anything unless it was small enough to fit in backpack. In the chaotic shopping frenze, I didn't have any patience to continue looking. I am now on the way to Brazil where I will go see the falls from their angle. And looking forward to some peace after the power walking through stalls and avoiding eye contact at all costs. The bus...well...because I paid in pesos, they charged me double or perhaps it was the naive foreigner. The bus on way here was interested. With a stop at passport control to get through border and when came back on my seat had been stolen. Haha okay it wasn't quite my seat but still finders keepers ha. I then stayed on the bus out of the crazy part which gave me a little walk back to psyche myself up for the chaos. On leaving the bus, I helped a man take of lots of boxes off as he, single handed, was carrying lots of boxes. And it was even more evident when right in the centre that it was a place of wheeling and dealing. I got off bus at national park (brazil side), paid what I thought was my entrance fee and then went in. I was surprised firstly at the small entrance and then pictures of lots of birds. "Oh this is nice, a wee pre tour of all the birds in the park". Until I turned the corner and I was in a bird zoo haha. Anyway, I was very happy that I stumbled across it. There were so many amazing birds, as well as snakes, crocodiles, and butterflies. It was also really nice that it was mainly Brazilians there which meant I could finally make some sense of what people were saying (well the basics). And could attempt to converse with an old man "muito grande" when talking about almost every species we saw. Brazilians are so friendly or maybe it's because I am actually able to understand a little. It was amazing though because you walked through parts and you had birds whizzing past your head or waddling at your feet. I also got to touch a snake and hold a parrot. There were lots of toucans everywhere and you could get really close to them. I was so chuffed about my mistake of parks especially when I stepped outside and I could see the national park where I had intended on going in the first place. The Brazilian side of falls was quite spectacular too especially where you could walk across and be sprayed with the water. It was also really nice that most people were Brazilian too. Well actually apart from the French couple that showed me were the bus was to get back even though it wasn't the one that I planned on getting. I got the bus back to Puerto Iguazu where I started off my day. Three countries in one day, two time zones, and 6 buses. Boom.
1 Comment
Noodles
12/6/2013 08:37:46 am
Laughed out loud at you going to the bird zoo!!! No idea how you got those confused but glad you had a nice time!!!!
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AuthorTracy Donachie, MSc in Performance Psychology. Archives
May 2019
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