hello dear friends
the report-continuation of my journey in brazil, reaches you with today's post, that I send you from salvador, bahia, in the north of this huge country. today you can read about my entry problemsto brazil, a two-day stay in paraguay and a few days in florianopolis. Have fun and keep disfruting...
14.1. - 20.1.
i'm starting this new week, with a good breakfast in this interesting container hostel and a talk with max.
Today my plan included the visit of the policia federal and I also wanted to see the parque das aves.
After a short cooling off, in the pool, i set off and marched for about half an hour along the main road to the large shopping center here in foz.
the policia federal also has an office in here and i was able to ask again if they could make an exception in my special case. So if there is a way, that I do not have to leave again for two nights.
Unfortunately, the official told me very friendly that there are no exceptions in such things and I just have to accept it.
Now I had certainty and was able to consider my further route, while walking to the bird park.
Having arrived in the park, I was overwhelmed by the beauty and presence of various tropical birds.
besides the birds, there is a butterfly house and a butterfly-breeding station, super interesting, and hard to tell if it is a pupated larva or a dried-up leaf.
In the afternoon i went back to the hostel and met a couple, that has been here for several days. The man played this song on the guitar in the background and I did not want to trust my ears as I know this song (it is a rather unknown sample of a pink floyd song) from a really strong song of the producer iorie.
I then asked him to play the piece again and recorded it.
here the song of iorie:
https://soundcloud.com/iorie/love
then I went with all my stuff, to the bus and for the paraguayan border, I will spend the next two nights in ciudade del este, paraguay.
At the border I was dropped off and got me my exit stamp, then we walked over the bridge that connects both states and then I ran through the evening downtown of this third border town here in the three-country corner.
I reached the hostel quite sweaty and was glad in the evening just to watch a few videos on youtube and with anticipation of tomorrow I fell asleep twice in the hammock, before I went upstairs and to bed.
I woke up drowsily at the hostel, where there were only two or three other guests besides me.
another german girl joined me for the breakfast and then i went to downtown.
ciudade del este is known as tax-free zone throughout south america, here you can buy almost all products from the west, e.g. nutella, apple, gucci or even stuff as lindt. here you'll get it, in the South American comparison, dirt cheap. a macbook can be here e.g. about half of what you would pay in argentina. So it pays to keep your eyes open for bargains and so I was looking, unfortunately unsuccessfully for a new sunglasses.
Of course they try to sell a lot of shitty and fake, but that's part of the game.
On the way back I bought a really good sandwich and then realized happily at the hostel that a girl had responded to one of my couchsurfing requests and I would have a nice place to sleep for my second night in Paraguay.
adriana even offered to pick me up directly from the hostel, as she had to go to a medical check-up nearby.
Then we drove to her simply impressive house, or the house of her family, which welcomed me very friendly.
Since it was late, we did not really get into a gigantic intercultural exchange, but adrianas dad promised to take me through the city with me tomorrow and to show me different projects that he works on before I return to the brazil in the evening.
Blessed by the happiness of being in such a nice family, I fell asleep happily.
Well rested, I woke up today in the guest room.
a rich breakfast prepares me for the long day. adriana's dad will take me around in his car.
He shows me various investments and construction sites in which he and his concern is involved.
We bring some tiles from A to B and in the early afternoon he drops me off at the Itaipu dam, where I do a bus tour through the gigantic power plant together with other tourists, mainly families. this dam on the border of paraguay and brazil dams up the paraná river and uses massive generators to produce electricity.
The construction was a friendship project between the two countries and the road that leads up over the dam connects them.
then I was be picked up again and we go back home for lunch. Meanwhile, Adriana's father tells me how he brought it to prosperity in this relatively poor country, from which his family can now live very well.
i relax by the pool for a short while before the family takes me back to the brazilian border, as they wanted to go shopping in brazil anyway, that is not a big detour for them and i am happy that i can escape the chaos of the city.
with mixed feelings I run to the entry desk and after a short wait I get my new 90 days tourist visa, until 16.4.
very happy that this worked out, I drive with the next bus to the bus station in foz and while waiting i got to know theresa.
she also spent some time in paraguay and will continue to travel to floripa, so i try to book the same bus as her.
Unfortunately, I only get the one who leaves one hour later.
I say goodbye to theresa and get into the bus after a eating subway sandwich. A long journey through the night awaits me.
The night in the bus was not particularly pleasant, as I woke up constantly and the air conditioning was apparently set to arctic winter.
in the morning we reached florianopolis, one of the centers for beach vacationers from all over brazil and south america in general, i arrived in the city, however the whole geography of the region is special, as a look at the map can show you.
However, my further journey did not lead me to the gigantic island, which is the main destination of the tourists, but I traveled with another bus about 50 km further south, to the so-called praia do rosa. Here I left the bus and reached the wonderful hostel, hitchhiking, which was recommended also from max.
After taking a shower, I felt a slight cold in me, so I spent the rest of the day writing a new blog post.
In the evening I went shopping again and cooked the hostel number one, noodles with mixed vegetables.
Unfortunately, the yerba I bought in the supermarket was almost polvo and I could not disfrut when I wanted to drink it.
later it rained and I went to bed early.
Max had definitely not promised me too much, the breakfast in this hostel was just marvelous.
I just ate delicious fruit without end and drank a lot of cafe. even jam was here, raspberry jam, my absolute favorite.
Then I started my hike, I did not really plan and just walked trought the city until I reached the northern, praia do ouvidor.
I walked on the rocky path and reached the praia vermelha around noon, there was almost nothing going on and I could fully enjoy the rest, only a few boys with a football and no one else.
The visitors are building small stone figures, so I did one too.
i went on to praia do rosa, the beach full of tourists, vendors, surfers and restaurants. The sun was just coming out of the clouds, as I climbed from the rocks at the northern end down into the soft sand.
At the southern end of praia do rosa, I lay down in the shade behind a beach house for a little afternoon nap and then continued to wander south in the afternoon.
somehow I must have lost the way, because suddenly I stood in front of a kind of canyon between the rocks and strapped my camera tighter around the back, before I scrambled about 20 m above the roaring waves along a rather steep rock edge.
So I like the bouldering, the rocky surface offered me perfect grip and I was occasionally cooled by the splashing water fountains.
after this exciting part, the further trail led me over a cow pasture to the last beach of this tour, the so-called praia do luz.
Here I allowed myself a cool brahma and finally dragged myself the last kilometer up to the hostel.
I slept for a while, then cooked my pasta again and went back to sleep after the sun sank behind the mountains.
my alarm clock rang me very early today from the hostel bed, because I wanted to watch the sunrise over the ocean. just too nice.
i packed my washed things back into the backpack and with laced hiking boots, I ran down the driveway of the hostel, where a lovely woman could give me a lift.
she lives here for 12 years and has a creperie up the street.
She was so kind to drop me off at the right bus stop, but I still had to wait about 2 hours for the bus that would take me back to floripa.
Of course it rained like hell and I fled under the roof of a supermarket.
The bus took me to the terminal in Florianopolis, from where I drove on until the next hostel.
The sun was setting as I walked through the garden gate to the courtyard of the hostel.
I checked in and chatted for a while with the volunteers to find out, how to get to the praia da lagoinha tomorrow, a very remote beach in the south of the island, which can only be reached with a 2 hour walk.
After some billiard I tried to sleep on the shitiest beds in the world. I had never experienced anything like that in over a year of traveling.
the breakfast in this hostel was unfortunately no more than bad. Toast and cafe, so I did not stay long and marched off quite early to the bus, which brought me to armação, a small village in the south of the island.
the first part of the hike took me over a soft sandy beach with about 200 surfers in the water, it seems to be a kind of superspot for beginners. i continued for about an hour through jungle-like vegetation along the coast under the morro de matadeiro.
finally I reached the steep coast between ponta do falcao and the ponta da lagoinha. really nice views, unfortunately I have only a few photos digitally.
When I arrived at the beach, I relaxed a bit with a cold beer and then left late in the afternoon.
the path led me over a ridge to pantano do sul, another sleepy beach town. here started my 2 hour bus odyssee, which made me terribly k.o. and sickly completely struck, back to the hostel. Here I first took a tablet for a headache and then slept some time on the sofa. Before I went again to get some fruits and prepare a delicious salad.
I drank another beer and watched a bad movie to fall asleep.
we are back through nice and happy, in the next post, on which you hopefully do not have to wait long, on stories from the madness of são paulo. I miss you all! see you soon...
love
pauli
here my current contact data:
mail: pauligetkekse@googlemail.com
Phone: +55 (11) 98842-2617
whatsapp: +54 9 11 2693-6601
blog: https://steemit.com/@schningelnatter
in case you want something more updated, instagram:
previous posts of this south america travel:
argentinia 1 ger/eng
argentinia 2 ger/eng
argentinia 3 ger/eng
chile 1 ger/eng
chile 2 ger/eng
chile 3 ger/eng
chile 4 ger/eng
chile 5 ger/eng
andes 1 ger/eng
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chile 6 ger
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