Sunday started with church, two hours of Portuguese that I didn't understand but Catherine did a great job as my interpreter for the service. We followed the Sunday plan that Catherine and Joanna have followed for months and went onto the shopping centre for lunch and then to all the shops that they always visit. This time though Catherine was taking pictures of everywhere to remember places so we just looked like tourists (even more than I would have done anyway).
Monday was a busy day, or rather it was planned to be a busy day but in Brazil style we had no idea if everything we thought was happening would actually happen. We started with a Venezulan breakfast with Lizete, Roberto and Fernando, with some great corn pancakes and banana cake. For lunch we went to the other shopping centre (there are only two) to go the the churrascaria - the Brazilian BBQ. I'd heard of these because Sal & Rob have been to one a few times, I managed fine getting the salad and sides, but was a bit more wary of the meat. While your little token on the table is green they keep bringing more meat to the table and you turn it to red when you've had enough. The lamb was amazing, some of the others I decided not to try, like the one with cheese melted all through it and what I think were chicken hearts.
We didn't have too much after the large breakfast and we knew that there was going to be Pizza for tea for Catherine's despedida (farewell party). This kept being described to me as Catherine's surprise, which seemed strange to keep referring to it as that when she'd known about it for a while. Their pizza is good but it doesn't have any type of tomato sauce on which is just wrong. Anyway the evening was good, some of the girls sang a song, as did the two African boys, and the staff did a sketch of Catherine's English class and there was a lovely film of people saying goodbye. It was lovely to see where Catherine's been for the last two years, but it was so great to see how much they have appreciated her being there as well.
Monday, 29 March 2010
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
Cataratas do Iguacu
Another cloudy morning first thing so we decided to go to the Bird Park before heading to the falls this morning. It was on the way and would mean giving the weather another hour to start to clear, our tour guide collected us from the hotel and as the previous day was really helpful (apart from the not speaking english part). It was a good hour to walk round and the birds were amazing. Catherine made some friends with the toucans as they seemed to like flying close to her head and trying to eat her shoes. I was happy keeping my distance and taking the photos.
We'd been told that there was a butterfly section which as usual didn't fill me with such excitement with my irrational fear of butterflies but I survived that one without being attacked. One section the tour guide had warned us that the macaws will sometimes try to get glasses, earrings etc. so we'd prepared for that before going round the whole park - just in case - and then decided just to not go through that section instead!
After that it was finally time to get to the falls. The cloud was clearing so by the time we'd got to the entrance, paid, waited for our guide to register that he was there for the day and drive us to the start of the path it was starting to look a lot brighter. The view from the start of the path was amazing so we were really looking forward to getting to the other end to see the main part. The majority of the falls are actually on the Argentina side but that means from the Brazil side you see a lot more of the panorama of the falls.
As you walk along the path there are so many different sections to see and the sound just gets so much greater as you reach the main part. We'd had instructions from the guide where to go, but he appeared part way down just to make sure that we were ok. Once you get to the main part then the path goes right along in front of the falls - this is the wet bit! We'd rolled trousers up, put the rain macs on and shielded the cameras but still came back absolutely soaked! The view is just fantastic though, well worth the visit if anyone wants a holiday somewhere I'd definitely recommend it. There's a vote a the moment for the new seven wonders of nature and the falls get my vote (but then I've only visited a few of the finalists).
We stayed around for some lunch after we'd seen everything we wanted to. I kept my (irrational) fear of butterflies in check as one decided that the flowers on Catherine's bag that I was carrying obviously looked very life like and kept landing on it. After all that excitement and persuading the tour guide that we were quite happy with a day of sunbathing at the hotel on Thursday and we didn't want to pay to go any where else, it was another dinner at the hotel in the evening, again followed by music from the Italian group of tourists that were also staying in the hotel for what could only be described as quite amusing rather than talented entertainment.
We'd been told that there was a butterfly section which as usual didn't fill me with such excitement with my irrational fear of butterflies but I survived that one without being attacked. One section the tour guide had warned us that the macaws will sometimes try to get glasses, earrings etc. so we'd prepared for that before going round the whole park - just in case - and then decided just to not go through that section instead!
After that it was finally time to get to the falls. The cloud was clearing so by the time we'd got to the entrance, paid, waited for our guide to register that he was there for the day and drive us to the start of the path it was starting to look a lot brighter. The view from the start of the path was amazing so we were really looking forward to getting to the other end to see the main part. The majority of the falls are actually on the Argentina side but that means from the Brazil side you see a lot more of the panorama of the falls.
As you walk along the path there are so many different sections to see and the sound just gets so much greater as you reach the main part. We'd had instructions from the guide where to go, but he appeared part way down just to make sure that we were ok. Once you get to the main part then the path goes right along in front of the falls - this is the wet bit! We'd rolled trousers up, put the rain macs on and shielded the cameras but still came back absolutely soaked! The view is just fantastic though, well worth the visit if anyone wants a holiday somewhere I'd definitely recommend it. There's a vote a the moment for the new seven wonders of nature and the falls get my vote (but then I've only visited a few of the finalists).
We stayed around for some lunch after we'd seen everything we wanted to. I kept my (irrational) fear of butterflies in check as one decided that the flowers on Catherine's bag that I was carrying obviously looked very life like and kept landing on it. After all that excitement and persuading the tour guide that we were quite happy with a day of sunbathing at the hotel on Thursday and we didn't want to pay to go any where else, it was another dinner at the hotel in the evening, again followed by music from the Italian group of tourists that were also staying in the hotel for what could only be described as quite amusing rather than talented entertainment.
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Argentina!
After the visit to the Dam we were back at the hotel before lunchtime, with the plan of going to the Waterfalls being put back a day to see if the weather would improve. So we decided that we might as well have another trip on the evening rather than just staying at the hotel for the rest of the day, in bad weather. And where else to go but an evening in Argentina, we were so close to the border it seemed a shame not to visit.
As you head over the river the bridge is painted green and yellow on one side and blue and white on the other to mark where the border is. We got to the border point and handed over our passports and I got stamped out of Brazil, Catherine has a temporary Brazil ID card and it was easier for her to travel using that rather than her British passport. That meant that when we got to the Argentinian side, they kindly stamped my passport and she didn't get one! There was an argument that being able to pass the border as a Brazilian citizen was better but I argued that there's no proof that she was in Argentina without a stamp!
We didn't really plan to do much when we got there, it was more just the opportunity to say that we'd been that we were happy about. So we had a wander up the shopping street that the guide had taken us to and went to the restaurant that he recommended. I was told off for ordering Pork chops and not steak in Argentina, but I did try a bit of Catherine's so I can at least say that I had authentic Argentinian steak. After 3 days of getting used to listening to Portuguese it was strange having to change to trying to understand Spanish instead. Thankfully Catherine has been learning a little so we managed to order ice cream before we left.
As you head over the river the bridge is painted green and yellow on one side and blue and white on the other to mark where the border is. We got to the border point and handed over our passports and I got stamped out of Brazil, Catherine has a temporary Brazil ID card and it was easier for her to travel using that rather than her British passport. That meant that when we got to the Argentinian side, they kindly stamped my passport and she didn't get one! There was an argument that being able to pass the border as a Brazilian citizen was better but I argued that there's no proof that she was in Argentina without a stamp!
We didn't really plan to do much when we got there, it was more just the opportunity to say that we'd been that we were happy about. So we had a wander up the shopping street that the guide had taken us to and went to the restaurant that he recommended. I was told off for ordering Pork chops and not steak in Argentina, but I did try a bit of Catherine's so I can at least say that I had authentic Argentinian steak. After 3 days of getting used to listening to Portuguese it was strange having to change to trying to understand Spanish instead. Thankfully Catherine has been learning a little so we managed to order ice cream before we left.
Belo Horizonte to Foz du Iguassu
This was the start of my Brazil holiday and my 1st of 3 to Belo Horizonte. Catherine found me at the airport and we checked in at the Hotel, thankfully it was fine, if not we wouldn't have looked forward to the other two stays. The first day was thunder, lightning and torrential rain at times, not what I had been promised in Brazil but as it was the first day it didn't matter too much, we spent most of the day catching up anyway so just stayed around the hotel for the day.
It was an early flight the next morning to Foz du Iguassu and we were met at the airport by our tour guide for the week and taken to the airport. Not as nice as the other hotel but then it was a little older so I suppose to be expected. The weather still wasn't too good but I was hopeful for it getting better within a few days. The following day our tour guide arrived to collect us at 8.30, because the weather wasn't so good we set of for the Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam first. Catherine hadn't been so bothered about going to see it but it was part of the package so didn't seem any point in not going. I found it was quite interesting but probably because I was also thinking, Dad would like this! After a short video we set off in the bus to drive towards the Dam. It's located at the border of Brazil and Paraguay and provides about 20% of the energy needed in Brazil and 80% in Paraguay.
The weather still hadn't improved so the trip was almost completely in the rain but it meant that because there had been so much rain that the slip way was open which made for some good pictures - but also meant there was also more spray to wet us when we were out of the bus.
As we did drive over the dam to the other side then we think that counts as being on Paraguayan land so therefore that is my claim for being in another country!
It was an early flight the next morning to Foz du Iguassu and we were met at the airport by our tour guide for the week and taken to the airport. Not as nice as the other hotel but then it was a little older so I suppose to be expected. The weather still wasn't too good but I was hopeful for it getting better within a few days. The following day our tour guide arrived to collect us at 8.30, because the weather wasn't so good we set of for the Itaipu Hydroelectric Dam first. Catherine hadn't been so bothered about going to see it but it was part of the package so didn't seem any point in not going. I found it was quite interesting but probably because I was also thinking, Dad would like this! After a short video we set off in the bus to drive towards the Dam. It's located at the border of Brazil and Paraguay and provides about 20% of the energy needed in Brazil and 80% in Paraguay.
The weather still hadn't improved so the trip was almost completely in the rain but it meant that because there had been so much rain that the slip way was open which made for some good pictures - but also meant there was also more spray to wet us when we were out of the bus.
As we did drive over the dam to the other side then we think that counts as being on Paraguayan land so therefore that is my claim for being in another country!
Saturday, 20 March 2010
March 2010, the start of holiday
Almost up to date....
So in the first half of March Mum & Dad came to stay for a weekend. We had thoughts of being very busy and almost boarded out the loft and replaced the vinyl in the kitchen but in the end we just replaced the toilet seat :)
Finally it came time for my holiday. I'd booked a hotel at Heathrow for the Friday night due to the early flight the next day and somewhere to leave the car for the two weeks but hadn't booked the Friday off work, which was a mistake. So I worked through til about 1.30pm and left early to get home swap my work bag for my suitcase and set off for Heathrow.
I knew that driving down to London on a Friday night was never going to be a good idea but there wasn't much that I could do about that. Thankfully most of the journey down, although the news reports were full of incidents on the M1 they were all on the northbound side so it was just the M25 to tackle. As expected it was bad and that last part of the journey took about 1.5 hours to get round to the hotel but I thought being in my room by 7.30pm wasn't too bad.
An early start the next morning and I was at the airport for 5.45pm, if I'd arrived half an hour later I wouldn't have had to queue up for most of that time but I managed to arrive at the same time as a lot of others, including a very large party of Japanese who took up all the space at the self check in machines so I managed to sneak onto when they weren't looking. As I was on the same flight as Helga's Mum, Rosa, I waited for them to arrive and check in before going through security and meeting her at the gate. I was a little concerned about the communications problems ( me not speaking Portuguese, Rosa not speaking English) but generally it seemed to go ok. Rosa kept talking to me and I kept saying I didn't understand before getting to the point where I just had to guess at what she was saying and try to give a response. This worked quite well for a while and we managed to pass the 3 hours together waiting for the connection in Lisbon. The problem was once we got to Belo Horizonte, Rosa was looking for the person collecting her and I was looking for Catherine, she went one direction, I stayed where I was and never saw her again. I did get in touch with Helga though and she assured me that Rosa got home safely!
So in the first half of March Mum & Dad came to stay for a weekend. We had thoughts of being very busy and almost boarded out the loft and replaced the vinyl in the kitchen but in the end we just replaced the toilet seat :)
Finally it came time for my holiday. I'd booked a hotel at Heathrow for the Friday night due to the early flight the next day and somewhere to leave the car for the two weeks but hadn't booked the Friday off work, which was a mistake. So I worked through til about 1.30pm and left early to get home swap my work bag for my suitcase and set off for Heathrow.
I knew that driving down to London on a Friday night was never going to be a good idea but there wasn't much that I could do about that. Thankfully most of the journey down, although the news reports were full of incidents on the M1 they were all on the northbound side so it was just the M25 to tackle. As expected it was bad and that last part of the journey took about 1.5 hours to get round to the hotel but I thought being in my room by 7.30pm wasn't too bad.
An early start the next morning and I was at the airport for 5.45pm, if I'd arrived half an hour later I wouldn't have had to queue up for most of that time but I managed to arrive at the same time as a lot of others, including a very large party of Japanese who took up all the space at the self check in machines so I managed to sneak onto when they weren't looking. As I was on the same flight as Helga's Mum, Rosa, I waited for them to arrive and check in before going through security and meeting her at the gate. I was a little concerned about the communications problems ( me not speaking Portuguese, Rosa not speaking English) but generally it seemed to go ok. Rosa kept talking to me and I kept saying I didn't understand before getting to the point where I just had to guess at what she was saying and try to give a response. This worked quite well for a while and we managed to pass the 3 hours together waiting for the connection in Lisbon. The problem was once we got to Belo Horizonte, Rosa was looking for the person collecting her and I was looking for Catherine, she went one direction, I stayed where I was and never saw her again. I did get in touch with Helga though and she assured me that Rosa got home safely!
Foz du Iguassu to Belo Horizonte to Montes Claros
After a day of sunbathing at the hotel it was time to pack up on the Friday and head back to the airport and back to Belo Horizonte. Our tour guide from the week took us back to the airport and even though we'd managed to fly there already he left us with instructions of where to go and what we had to do, like we didn't know that we had to check in...
The flight this time went via Rio de Janeiro, the only landmark that I'd wanted to see there was Christ the Redeemer (Big Jesus on a hill) I spent all the time we were descending to the airport trying to find it and not succeeding and then it was too dark when we set off again to keep looking. Will have to go back to see that one another time. We got back to Belo Horizonte and to the same hotel again, this time it was just an overnight stay and then to the smaller Pampulha airport in the morning for another early flight. It's either an 8 hour bus journey or a 1 hour flight to Montes Claros and I'm so pleased we did the latter.
We were met at Montes Claros by Sara, an American from the college, so it was nice to be understood again and not to have everything translated for a journey. We unpacked back at Catherine's and had a quick look around and met a few people. The Brazilians like to hug people so when they were introduced to me they looked a bit hesitant - having met western people who aren't quite so keen to hug strangers - before Catherine would say 'she's happy to be hugged' then I'd suddenly have arms wrapped round me.
We weren't sure whether to go out in the evening as Catherine was feeling ill from the flight but decided we would as it was her friend Lizete's birthday. There were nine of us including two children and the joke on the way there was that with three nationalities and three languages between us all, we still couldn't find our way! We made it to the burger place we were going to for food and I've never had such a good burger. Everything comes in the bun, meat, salad, sweetcorn, crisps, sauce and it tasted good. After we went to the shopping centre for an hour, it seems to be the place to go to on a Saturday night - and definitely worth a trip for some ice cream!
The flight this time went via Rio de Janeiro, the only landmark that I'd wanted to see there was Christ the Redeemer (Big Jesus on a hill) I spent all the time we were descending to the airport trying to find it and not succeeding and then it was too dark when we set off again to keep looking. Will have to go back to see that one another time. We got back to Belo Horizonte and to the same hotel again, this time it was just an overnight stay and then to the smaller Pampulha airport in the morning for another early flight. It's either an 8 hour bus journey or a 1 hour flight to Montes Claros and I'm so pleased we did the latter.
We were met at Montes Claros by Sara, an American from the college, so it was nice to be understood again and not to have everything translated for a journey. We unpacked back at Catherine's and had a quick look around and met a few people. The Brazilians like to hug people so when they were introduced to me they looked a bit hesitant - having met western people who aren't quite so keen to hug strangers - before Catherine would say 'she's happy to be hugged' then I'd suddenly have arms wrapped round me.
We weren't sure whether to go out in the evening as Catherine was feeling ill from the flight but decided we would as it was her friend Lizete's birthday. There were nine of us including two children and the joke on the way there was that with three nationalities and three languages between us all, we still couldn't find our way! We made it to the burger place we were going to for food and I've never had such a good burger. Everything comes in the bun, meat, salad, sweetcorn, crisps, sauce and it tasted good. After we went to the shopping centre for an hour, it seems to be the place to go to on a Saturday night - and definitely worth a trip for some ice cream!
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