Clay and I are currently in Chuy, a dusty no-mans-land border town between Uruguay and Brazil. On one side of the main avenue are businesses operating in Spanish and on the other, businesses in Portuguese. The town itself doesn´t belong to either country, however, so there are rows of tax free stores selling mostly bags and lingerie. Horse drawn carts line the streets and remind us of the wild wild west. The stray dogs here actually look like strays as opposed to what we´ve seen previously - cute friendly dogs that become your temporary companion. Clay and I have about 7 hours to kill in Chuy (Chui on the Brazilian side) before we get on a bus to Puerto Alegre, Brazil and then another overnight bus to Iguaçu Falls.
La Paloma has definitely been an exciting portion of the trip so far. We stayed in a great hostel on the beach with laid back staff, a great atmosphere, and delicious breakfasts. We went to different beaches in the area where we body surfed and then rented a surfboard -both of which left marks. The waves were powerful and a lot of surfers, mostly Brazilian, were in town for Semana Santa, the "Holy Week" of vacation preceding Easter Sunday. La Balconada beach, the locale of the hostel, had amazing sunsets followed by the full moon rising behind a beautiful lighthouse.
Last night we grilled ribs and sausage (carne asado) and had a great time with the Uruguayan staff of the hostel, a Floridian couple and some Irish guys that were recent arrivals. It took hours to get the coals hot enough to cook the meat so we ate at a typical South American dinner time: 11:00 pm. Clay became a real grill master and for a second I thought I might be dating a gaucho.
After two major cities, La Paloma was wonderfully relaxing. We got a nice tan but still don´t look like natives- It may have something to do with our height averaging about 6 feet. Now we head to Iguaçu Falls for some hiking and more natural beauty. I think it will be worth the 36 hours on a bus.
Monday, April 13, 2009
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3 comments:
Bus ride for 36 hours!!! Reminds me of one M'A, Ellie and I took along the French Riviera.! Great fun and of course amazing scenery. Pizza sellers poked on board at several stops. A few passengers had chickens in cages. But the ride was longer than intended due to a HUGE traffic jam; so we didn't get to Genoa, Italy until way after dark and it had started a drizzling rain. We were fit to be tied because we were supposed to pick up an Avis rental car and had not a clue where to find it BUT as we got off the bus we heard a loud voice calling "Mrs. Ad-dams, Mrs. Ad-dams" (accent on last syllable.) The Avis manager, a HUGE Turk, had waited for us and what's more crammed his hulk into the drivers seat and drove us to the edge of town headed toward Portofino where we were spending the night. Perhaps the best (at least the easiest part of traveleing is 'the memories;' thanks for reminding us of ours!
Love to you both, (Fos was 6 when we took that trip.)
WOW, 36 hours...
If you have time go to a beach in Santa Catarina, the and see the most beautiful women on the planet.
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