The photos can be found under NewZealand-South2 and NewZeaLand-North in the Gallery.

Enjoy
Matthew

Our travels around Brazil were to take in a whistlestop trip to Sao Paulo and visits to the amazing waterfalls of Foz do Iguacu, the Amazon jungle via Manaus, the wonderful mix of African and Latin American culture of Salvador and who could miss out the famous Rio de Janeiro?! Brazil is certainly a country of many contrasts and contradictions not only in terms of its geography and culture but also in terms of the huge gaps that exist between rich and poor. This was most clearly experienced by us during our favela tour in Rio where we saw rich and poor living literally side-by-side.

Brazil offers an amazing array of natural and man-made sites and experiences. The waterfalls of Foz do Iguacu were simply stunning and were probably the best of any such waterfalls seen on our travels. Whilst we only touched on the Amazon, our trip there gave a great introduction to life in this vast area as well as an insight into the simply amazing numbers of animals, and flora and fauna that co-exist there. Salvador provided an eclectic mix of African and Latin American history, dance, food and culture and the strange experience for us of the Candomble religion. Finally, Rio was perhaps something of a disappointment in terms of the overall buzz of the city but this must certainly be entirely different during carnival which we sadly missed. However, the city did provide an incredibly educational favela tour and visits to the excellent and picture postcard familiar sites of Pao do Acucar and the Cristo Redentor statue.

Brazil is certainly well worth a visit and was a great way to finish off a fabulous trip!

As we got on the tram we started off at a nice slow pace on fairly flat ground only for the tram to speed up the hill at a great rate along an extremely rickety track. It was rather white knuckle stuff especially going across the aqueduct which was possibly only inches wider than the tram itself and at a rather uncomfortable angle. The cost of the tram was very low but even this can be avoided, if you wish to take your life in your own hands, by hanging off the side of each carriage rather than taking a seat. This scary ride continues for around 15 minutes as you climb the steep hill up to Santa Teresa but once up there it is well worth it as you come across some wonderful restaurants and gift shops with great views across the valley below. We spent a great lunchtime sitting on the platform of one of these restaurants suspended over the slope below. However, even some dutch courage didn’t encourage us to repeat the tram experience and this time we walked back down to our original starting point!

To reach the Pao de Acucar or Sugarloaf mountain you need to take two cable cars from the Baia de Guanabara which can be reached by any bus marked ‘Urca’ from Centro or Flamengo. Once there the first cable car you take ascends to 215 metres to Morro da Urca from where you can see the bay beneath you and the surrounding coastline. Here you will find a restaurant, souvenir shops, a playground, a helipad and an open air theatre. The second cable car takes you up to Pao de Acucar itself where the views of the city are stunning including the Corcovado mountain which houses the famous statue of the Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer). Unfortunately by the time we reached the summit it had become rather cloudy so we were only able to catch short glimpses of the Christo Redentor statue. However, the summit is a great place to explore and there are many trails leading you through the forest below and balconies allowing you to view the city from many different vantage points.

In contrast the Cristo Redentor statue is reached via a wonderful ride on a cog train which leaves from Rua Cosme Velho and wends its way up through the Parque Nacional da Tijuca which surrounds the Corcovado (Hunchback) mountain. You can reach the train by taking a bus maked ‘Rua Cosme Velho’ from Centro and Gloria. The mountain itself rises to 710 metres and at night is brightly lit so that the statue is visible from all over the city. Whilst the Cristo Redentor is in reality much smaller than you would think, the view from the summit is once again spectacular including views of the Pao de Acucar in front of you.

Both trips are well worth it and provide you with excellent panoramic views of Rio as well as being worthwhile in their own right simply for the journeys themselves.

The next morning we set off and after around half an hour’s drive reached Rochina the largest favela in Rio. Before entering the favela itself we explored some excellent stalls just outside displaying beautiful pieces of artwork. We learned that this development had been encouraged by an up-and-coming artist and favela resident whose aim it was to develop the artistic talents of his fellow residents. Sadly because of the reputation the favelas have most galleries in Rio will not display this clearly talented individual’s work.

The favelas first emerged in the early part of the 20th Century as temporary places to live for working-class people building the weathly new areas of the city. This resulted in the strange phenomenon of Rio being a city where upper-class and working-class communities live literally side by side. Since the favelas developed in this informal manner they were also able to do so outside of the law as the police simply chose not to provide their protection to favela residents. Initially consisting of shacks, over time the favelas have developed into formal constructions but due to a lack of space individuals have had to build up rather than out. Many of the favelas now therefore consist of apartments built one on top of the other and in extremely close proximity to surrounding buildings. Up until the 1990’s they were also very poorly serviced with no formal lighting, drainage or power systems but this all changed when a Goverment act introduced these services to all favelas in Brazil.

Walking around Rochina was a fascinating thing and we learnt how simple services such as the post work in an area which officially houses around 300,000 people but is thought more accurately to house one million. It would be impossible for a postman to negotiate his or her way around the maze of narrow lanes and un-numbered houses/apartments so instead the post is delivered to a central point in specified sections of the favelas and is then distributed by a nominated resident.

One of the first things that comes to mind for most people when you mention the word “favela” is drugs but in fact the vast majority of residents are not involved in the drug trade and are totally opposed to this. However, we learned that most favelas over a significant size have been tainted by drugs. The drug trade in each favela is run by a “baron” who is often extremely young i.e. in his early twenties who often does not survive much beyond this age. These individuals are unable to leave the favela they control since they would immediately be arrested. One strange aspect of this situation is the territory wars that take place amongst rival gangs to gain control of particular favelas. Most favelas in Rio are controlled by only 3 to 4 rival gangs with ownership of each changing over time according to the outcome of attacks between each. One important thing to note here however is the fact that violence in the favelas tends very much to be concentrated amongst those involved in the drug trade. Only when the police decide to intervene, which is extremely rare, do innocent bystanders end up being injured or killed.

As well as visiting Rochina, Rio’s largest favela, we also visited a much smaller one which due to its size had not been tainted by drugs. This included a visit to an after-school centre which provided excellent services to children ranging from additional academic classes, to arts and sports activities. Education is now free for all children in Brazil but attendance only takes place either during the morning or the afternoon which leaves children left to mill around while their parents are at work. The aim of this centre was therefore to occupy and educate these children to prevent them from being used by those involved in the drug trade as dealers which can take place from an extremely young age. Children in the centre and their parents were encouraged to make goods which were then sold to visitors to help fund the centre’s activities.

Visiting these favelas was an extremely enlightening experience and certainly changed our perception of them as often portrayed by the media.

On arrival in Salvador we caught a local bus from the airport and alighted in the area known as the ‘Cidade Alta’, the main historic section of Salvador. This area was really beautiful and the main thing that sticks in the mind about Salvador is its great mix of Latin American and African culture. Sadly the background to the African culture lies in the role it played in the slave trade but this influence can be seen in the wonderful music, dance, religion and cuisine of the town. Salvador is best explored on foot and it was great fun spending a day just simply walking along its cobbled streets, exploring its great craft shops and visiting its many interesting churches and museums. The town also has an upper and lower section being built on a hill and you can move between the two using the Elevador Lacerda, built as an iron structure in 1868 but today replaced by electric elevators. Whilst moving up and down you can also watch those mad people abseiling down the side of this structure – “Yes please” was Darren’s response, “No way!” was Alison’s.

Our visit to Salvador though wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to a Candomble ceremony. Whilst I was really quite uncertain about this whole thing Darren and I thought that we should at least see what all the talk was about. Candomble is a religion brought to Brazil from Africa in which all adherents have an orixa (god) that attends to their needs from birth and throughout their life and who is felt by its adherents to take control of their bodies during key Candomble ceremonies. There are many such ceremonies taking place at different times in Salvador and we booked ourselves onto one such event on the advice of our hotel manager. This was to be a rather surreal experience to say the least!

After being driven out of the old quarter by our guide we arrived at what looked like a shanty town on the outskirts of Salvador. Our guide led us up a steep hill to a row of closely built houses and we entered the one in which the ceremony was to take place. Our guide provided us with a good introduction to the religion as well as informing us of the etiquette to be followed. As foreigners we were welcomed into this home but were told to sit or stand discretely away from the main activities. These began after a great deal of waiting and watching a selection of men and women arriving bearing gifts of food and dressed in the classic Candomble white robes and headresses. After more time three or four young men started to beat out a rhythm on the drums arranged in the corner of the room and a group of men and women appeared and began walking around in a large circle. This walking developed into dancing and as the music became more intense so did the dancing and demeanour of the participants as they seemed to enter an almost trance-like state. Darren and I don’t wish to sound disrespectful but as one individual after another began entering an even more intense state, wailing and throwing their arms around in the air, we did start to feel that the whole event had been staged in some way. This was borne out by the fact that one of the women who was apparently entering a trance-like state with her eyes closed, looked up at one point and had what looked like a sneaky look around. Nonetheless it was a really interesting event to have witnessed and having stayed for over two hours we tourists made a discrete exit leaving the ceremony to apparently go on well into the early hours of the morning.

Our next move would sadly take us to our last destination in Brazil but a great one to finish off with – Rio de Janeiro!!

We negotiated our way out of the airport terminal and walked a short distance to the bus stop to catch the bus which would take us into Manaus. It was there that Alison broke the cardinal rule of talking to a tout! To be fair, this guy, who was called Armstrong, seemed quite friendly and unassuming and was generally just chatting with us but, of course, there’s always something they want and eventually he got round to asking if we had a hotel and a trip up the Amazon sorted out. To be honest, at this stage in our trip we didn’t feel much like spending time shopping around in a very hot and sticky Manaus so it was quite good taking some tips from him. In the end he recommended a hotel, which in fact had been the one we’d planned to go to in any case, and so it was quite good letting him take us there rather than finding the place ourselves. The hotel was pretty rank, even by budget standards, but by now we’d decided to go on a jungle trip the next day so it would only be for the one night.

Manaus itself was a large, sprawling city and the streets were very frenetic. Initially our plan had been to stay there for a couple of days seeing the sites, in addition to taking a trip up the Amazon, but when we saw how busy the place was we decided to cut this part of the trip out. Having sorted ourselves out in the hotel and having had a bite to eat we met up once again with Armstrong and arranged our trip up the Amazon. Armstrong had asked about our movements after Manaus and had told us he could arrange some cheap air tickets for our onward travel to Salvador and Rio. Apparently he could get cheap rates as a tour guide so we thought ”Why not?”. However, whilst chatting to him we discovered that all this meant was that he would send one of his minions off to an internet cafe to check on prices – exactly the same as we would’ve done! Still, at least it saved us having to do this, so now we were all set for our Amazon trip and our onward flights.

The following day, the day of our jungle trip, started off in a comical fashion. Armstrong had asked that we be ready at the hotel at 8.15am for him to pick us up and take us to the port to board the boat for our trip. Well, first of all he arrived after 8.30am and promptly told us that one of his ”drivers” would take us to the port. Darren needed to buy some back-up batteries for the camera and asked if we could do this on the way. Once again, Armstrong passed this on to another member of his ‘’staff” who would take us to get these. This resulted in the driver and this additional member of staff having a conflab, us being bundled into a taxi, and arriving at the port not having stopped for the batteries. At this point Darren reminded the chap about the batteries which resulted in him being taken right out of the port again to try to find some!

Once on board the boat that would be taking us to our jungle lodge we met a nice guy called Jordan who would be joining us. He was from Sweden and was travelling for a total of two years! After an introduction by the owner of the company we set off in the opposite direction to our lodge, to our first site of interest, the famous ‘Encontro das Aguas’ or the ‘Meeting of the Waters’, where the ‘black’ (dark brown) waters of the Rio Negro meet the ‘white’ (light brown) Rio Solimoes, a few kilometres downstream from Manaus. These two flow side by side without mixing together for a good stretch which gives the strange phenomenon of two different shades of water stretching out in front of you. At this time of the year when there are stronger winds along the river, the line between the two waters stretching out in front of you is in a wavy fashion but when there are little or no winds, the line is more distinct and straighter.

Having seen this strange effect we turned around and headed to our jungle lodge. The journey would take around three hours during which time we would pass Manaus and areas of the river which seemed to be completely deserted. What was interesting to see as we left Manaus was how industrialised the place was. Manaus is in fact home to a massive number of electronics assembly plants, where electronics components are assembled into consumer goods, many of them on floating wharehouses. In 1967 Brazil established Manaus as a tax-free zone which helped to encourage its development in this way. As we continued on our way it was also interesting to see picturesque beaches along the banks of the Rio Negro, not something that you might’ve thought you’d find in the Amazon.

At around 1.30pm we arrived at our floating lodge which, although basic, was in fact really quite nice and consisted of a large floating wooden structure, supported by huge tree trunks and secured to the bank only a short distnace away. There were individual rooms, each of which were partitioned off providing some privacy although not a great deal as the partitions didn`t reach the roof! Each room had a double and a single bed plus a small bathroom with a toilet and shower. We think the water was probably taken directly from the river and, as such, sometimes you might have a cold shower and at other times a really warm one depending on the time of the day and how much the river had been heated by the sun. There was also a large open area at the front of the lodge with tables where you could sit and eat as well as a small bar from which you could purchase drinks.

Having travelled for a few hours we were pretty hot and hungry and were given a nice meal of fish, rice, and salad before setting off for our first activity – piranha fishing!

Our guide was a great chap called Reuben (his Catholic name) or Ana Ana (his Indian name which means pineapple) who spoke excellent English. Reuben took us out, together with Jordan, for the piranha fishing on a long, wooden canoe powered by a motor on the end of a long pole, much like the tailboats in Thailand. After meandering through the tributeries we stopped close to the riverbank, tied up to a tree trunk, and started to fish. Reuben had a proper rod but also used the same contraption we were given which consisted of a bamboo pole with a fishing line at the end of which was a hook. He attached small pieces of meat onto the hook informing us that the piranha would only be attracted if there was fresh meat or blood in the water. Apparently you could swim off the lodge for this very reason but funnily enough none of us decided to chance it! We watched Reuben cast his line and then followed suit, casting the line and at the same time bashing the water with the end of the bamboo pole to say to the piranha ”Come on, we’re here”. Not the usual thing you do when fishing and you don’t want to scare the fish away. We were told to leave the line in the water for about five seconds until you felt the piranha bite and then to yank it out very quickly. Well, nice theory but as Reuben was catching many, large piranha the rest of us weren’t. In the end, after fishing for about two hours, the rest of us only managed to catch 5 piranha between us. Many of the blighters kept having good old nibbles on the line but never catching hold of the hook properly.

Apparently there are four different types of piranha found in the Amazon Basin – the smaller white and spotted varieties and the larger black, all of which are found in the Rio Negro. This leaves the much more aggressive red, found further up the Rio Amazonas. Allegedly these red guys will attack anything that hits the water, whether or not there’s blood or raw meat around and will strip you bare in a matter of a few minutes – nice!

After our piranha fishing we returned to the lodge for a nice meal and an early night. The next day we were treated to a good breakfast of fruit and scrambled eggs before setting off with Reuben for a jungle walk. Once again we drove a little way in the motorised canoe to a beach where we were to begin our walk. High up on the beach were a couple of wooden houses, built on stilts, where we met a family who made their living farming such things as cashoo nuts, cassava, and the local staple manioc – a wheat like substance that is added to food as a garnish or used as a staple like rice, as well as selling drinks to tourists like ourselves. We set off on the walk which lasted for about 3 hours. It was extremely hot and humid being tucked away surrounded by trees with the heat of the sun beating down and no breeze from the river to cool you. However, it was very interesting as Reuben showed us numerous trees and plants all the while explaining their medicinal properties. These could be used to cure all manner of ailments including headaches, stomach upsets, maleria etc. In addition he showed us other plants which could be used for less positive reasons. For example, one plant contained a poison which, in the correct quantities, could be used for poisoning a small number of fish. We also came across the ‘Telephone Tree’, so called because the Indians would bang on its large trunk as a means of communicating with one another.

The highlight of the walk however has to be the female tarantula we saw at quite close range. Reuben stopped at what looked like a small burrow and told us to stay back. He then took a palm leaf, stripped it bare of its leaves and wiped it on his brow to gain a scent before placing it down the hole to attract the tarantula. After a few minutes the legs came out first and boy were they big and then the complete body! Apparently it is the female tarantulas who live in these holes with the males living up trees and the females are meant to eat the males having mated with them first – nice!

After returning to the lodge for some lunch we set off gain, this time in search of some sloths. I didn’t realise but these apparently come in different sizes and aren’t all the great, large beasts you see on the TV but some are quite small and cute – not sure about that one! Unfortunately despite paddling up and down the waterways for a couple of hours in the hot sun the sloths proved to be illusive. The same wasn’t true though of the alligators who were plentiful and apparently you could swim with them as they don’t attack in the water, only on land. That night we set off again in the motorized canoe to watch our guides pluck these fellers out of the water with their bare hands. As it was a full moon this wouldn’t be as easy as normal as there was too much light from the moon so the gaters could see you coming. However, one of the guides did manage to pluck a little chap out of the water but it was sad seeing him flinch as people’s flash lights and cameras went off. Not something to do again, I think.

The final day was spent taking a trip up the river to a traditional village. Apparently to see very traditional Indian tribes you must go much further up into the heart of the Amazon and are required to have a permit to do so. This is an excellent idea because it hopefully protects the habitat and lifestyle of these people. The village we visited was traditional in the sense that the people were living in either traditional floating structures or wooden houses constructed on stilts. This particular village had a man-made waterfall as a result of extraction work that had taken place to mine materials to be used in the construction of the port of Manaus. As such, it had become something of a weekend spot for locals to retreat to, especially in the heat of the summer. Many of those living in the village made their living either from fishing or from selling food and drinks to these visitors as well as to tourists like ourselves. Apparently during the rainy season the village would be completely covered in water, including the houses, during which time the inhabitants would retreat to houses on higher ground. It was an interesting place to visit and although only small had five different denominational churches and a school.

Returning to our lodge we once again had lunch but this time got to taste the piranha we’d previously caught. These were in fact very tasty but had extremely tough backbones so they weren’t that easy to eat. We then embarked on our return journey up the river to Manaus. This time the trip was a much more comfortable one being in the cool of the afternoon and we returned to Manaus to spend a few hours before making our way to the airport for our flight that night to Salvador.

Although the falls are probably the star attraction, there is one other which is worth a visit if only to admire the scale of the construction, and that’s the Itaipu Hydroelectric Plant, the largest in the world.

We only had a few days to play with because we had our onward flight to Manaus already booked. Originally we were thinking of doing the tour to the Argentinean side first, but because we were also hoping to go to the hydroelectric dam we changed things around to fit. Providing the tours to the dam are on, which usually means any day except Sunday, one day is enough to visit both the Brazilian side of the falls and still have time to visit the Itaipu Dam. In the end, that is exactly what we did.

To see the Brazilian side of the falls you need to catch a local bus which drops you right outside the entry point. Your ticket includes transport once inside, which leaves at regular intervals in the form of a double-decker open top bus. The Brazilian side offers an overall view of the falls rather than a close-up experience, but there’s not quite as much to do on this side as on the Argentinean one. As a result, the Brazilians have tried to make the most of what they’ve got by putting in walking trails to create more of an experience and by also offering a range of activities associated with the falls such as rafting trips, abseiling, rides in speed boats.

You can walk from where the bus drops you off to an array of restaurants and a large plush hotel, stopping at various points to admire the excellent views across the falls via sets of stairways and platforms. These culminate in a large platform swung out across the base of the most impressive falls of all – the Garganta do Diablo Falls but more of that later. We were extremely impressed and in fact both felt that the Foz do Iguacu Falls were more spectacular than Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.

Having seen the falls from the Brazilian side we set off by bus to visit the Itaipu dam. This largest hydroelectric works in the world is the result of a joint Brazilian-Paraguayan venture to the tune of $18 billion and has the capacity to generate 18 million kilowatts, enough electricity to supply the energy needs of Paraguay and 25% of Brazil’s total energy. Apparently the concrete used in the dam could pave a two-lane motorway from Moscow to Lisbon! Staff at the dam provided us with an excellent guided tour of the facilities from the top of the dam itself down into its depths. This included a tour of the control room which was staffed by a mixture of Brazilians and Paraguayans and included a line in the middle marking the border between the two countries. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and extremely interesting tour and comes highly recommended even to technophobes like me!

The following day we took a bus again but this time across the border into Argentina to visit this side of the falls. This time the guide on our minibus took our around these truly incredible falls and unlike the Brazilian side with its great panoramas this was to be a truly close-up experience. However, we started off our day with a rather wet experience, without even getting close to the falls, having set off in what can only be described as a caterpiller like semi-aquatic vehicle for a tour of the forest surrounding the falls when the skies opened and we all became drenched! Feeling rather wet we got off this strange vehicle and walked down some steep steps to the water’s edge for a fast and furious ride. Sadly this brought back unwanted memories for Darren and I of our whitewater rafting experience in Uganda as we moved at high speed towards the huge swathes of water above us. The captain of our speedboat teased us a little with some gentle showering under some of the smaller falls until we were driven under some huge ones where all you could see were massive quantities of white water in front of you!

After our exciting (?!) boat trip we wandered along the length of the Argentinian falls exploring the range of paths on offer to take you through the surrounding forest and out onto platforms alongside each set of falls where you could feel the spray hitting your face. The highlight of the whole day however was to see the spectacular ‘Garganta do Diablo’ or ‘Devil’s Throat’. These are reached via a ride through the forest in an open-sided train followed by a walk along a set of metal platforms built across the waters at the top of the falls. These culminate in a large platform which stretches right out over the top of the Garganta do Diablo where the incredible sound hits you first. As you look out over the edge you see the huge quantities of water falling over a massive drop. The power of the water is truly incredible and is set off by beautiful rainbows.

All in all we’d recommend definitely visiting the Foz do Iguacu falls from both the Brazilian and the Argentinian side for the incredible panoramas and and amazing close-up experiences!

Of course this was too easy and we were in for a second surprise. On the advice of the airline staff we arrived back at the airport three quarters of an hour before our shuttle was due to leave. There was already a fair queue at the shuttle stop which we simply just joined. When the coach arrived it wasn’t a small one, but a normal standard size. As I watched the people in front I was already thinking to myself we’d be lucky to get on this one, and sure enough that was the case. Then came the bombshell, they only had one bus and the next one would be an hour later! Neither of us could believe just how ridiculous it was to offer a shuttle service that only had one coach and couldn’t take everyone that needed to go. Now despite getting here in really good time, we were going to be lucky to get to the other airport in time to catch the flight. However, the coach had only just left, so I thought well if we get a taxi we can’t be that far behind it. Alison grabbed a taxi and we both just hoped that it would get us there in time. I didn’t realise just how far away this airport was and in the end it turned out to be almost an hour and 15 minutes taxi ride at our expense and, yep you’ve guessed it, we missed our flight. I just couldn’t believe it, even if we’d got on the coach which the staff had told us to do, we would’ve been lucky to have reached the airport in time anyhow. What amazed me even more was she said specifically to get the earlier coach as the later one would be cutting it a little fine, so basically we had no chance but what can you do?

With the flight already missed we made our way straight to the sales counter to get our flight time changed and see what we could sort out. Obviously we weren’t happy to say the least, I would have felt better if it was through our own fault that we’d been late. Anyway after a lot of complaining by Alison we were able to get on the next flight for an additional cost which we we’d also been able to get reduced.

Finally, we got our flight and despite all the hassle we somehow managed to reach our destination in Foz.

After a bit of discussion we decided that there was no other option but to swallow the cost of the flights and purchase individual ones. This was no mean feat and took a surprisingly long while to get sorted out. First we had to decide where we wanted to go to and then find out which flights could get us where and how much they would cost. This involved quite a bit of to’ing and fro’ing between different companies at the airport. One thing which we were trying to secure was a flight out of Sao Paulo that evening. After all we had nothing to see or do in Sao Paulo so it made sense to save a day’s travel and head straight out if we could. After quite a bit of faffing, having to queue up each time we went to different airline counters, we finally thought we had it all sussed out.

Once again we patiently waited in the queue hoping that this particular company had availability for a flight that night. We couldn’t believe our luck when we reached the counter and they had space on a flight that evening which would get us to Foz de Iguacu. Of course things couldn’t work out that well could they?! OK they had seats for the flight that evening as well as our onward travel plans, but when we came to pay they wouldn’t take our visa card despite having a sign on the counter saying visa. Therefore, the lady behind the desk said we could get cash from the machines or bank upstairs so off we trotted again this time to get some money. The first snag was the bank wouldn’t advance cash against our cards either, so our last hope was the cash machine. Fortunately we came away well equipped and so by combining all our cards we were able to withdraw the requisite amount of cash so back we went and yet again queued patiently until the lady we had been dealing with was free. The expression on her face said it all. We had only been gone for a short while and she had sold the only seats available in that time! We assumed that at a minimum she would have held the seats whilst we got out the money to pay. How stupid can you be, we weren’t happy to say the least so now yet again we had to go back to a different company, to wait in the queue again to find they didn’t have any seats available either. In the end we had no choice but to say sod it and go the following day , so with this we booked our flights for the morning. Unfortunately, the flight to Foz de Iguacu left from a different airport but they provided a free shuttle service between the two and we were told what time we needed to pick up the shuttle to get there. By now it was dark outside and we were knackered and fed up and all we wanted to do was to find a place to stay. As luck would have it, just outside the terminal building there was a hotel tout offering free shuttles as well. The hotel was literally only 10 minutes away from the airport so it was ideal and also included a free lift back to the airport in the morning. Eventually we got to the hotel where we had a couple of sandwiches and a well earnt beer whilst vegging the rest of the evening away in front of the TV.