Oy Brazil!

Well we are finally in Brazil as our adventure continues. It has been two crazy days and i honestly don´t know if i´ve ever been this dazed!!! Yesterday began very early, I got to go see the Brazilian side of the falls because I wasn´t going to be going back that way with the rest of the group (whish has now changed... but i´ll explain that later) and they were incredible, again like sheryl said, it´s just almost impossible to put into words what an incredible and amazing place it is. Then the whole group crossed to boarder and we were supposed to get on a bus to take us to Curitiba around 6. Being the efficient and smart travelers we are, we arrived an hour and a half early just in case. However, around 5:35 we were told that the bus we wanted wouldn´t stop at that station, so we went to this ¨VIP¨ lounge/bus stop where it would pick us up. I think the only reason they called it VIP is because you didn´t have to pay to use the bathrooms!!! While we were there, we started talking with a guy about places we should go and see and we were telling him our itinerary and he kinda gave us a funny look. Turns out, the route we were planning on taking to get back from Rio to BuenosAIres would take just under three days by bus!!!! we´ve begun the process of looking for other options! Oh and in case you´re wondering, only three other students and myself are going to Rio. Sadly, our bus didn´t show up till about 815. The last time we had eated was about 1pm, so we were all hungry by that point, and they told us we´d stop in two hours. WE did stop in about 2 and a half hours, but not for food. The police got on the bus and started checking through our stuff, pretty much touching all our bags, and shining flashlightsin our eyes. Later Dr. Scott explained that they were searching for riffles. Apparently the government is affraid of revolutionary actions occuring, and this is their way to deter it.

We finally stopped for dinner around 1, however we all found it quite difficult to order food in portugues under the influence of heavy sleeping pills! Most ofus wandered around for a while untill someone else would get up the courage to point at something through glass and then we´d all follow, even if you didn´t really want that item! WE finally arrivedin Curitiba around 6:45am after pretty much no sleep!

Once we got to the place at which we´ll be staying for the week, the lutheran theological seminary, the adventure got much better! Turns out this is a beautiful city! WE walked to a park that used to be a quary that they fixed into an incredible ecological reserve! Then we went to a delicious restaurant where I had ranch dressing for the first time im 5 weeks... God is good! Afterward we walked to another park that also used to be aquary and we played ultimate frisbee, the first realy exercise i´ve had in 5 weeks. It was a beautiful day... probably about 73 degrees-ish. Tomorrow we´ll be taking a tour of the city and attending some classed in portuguese... we´ll see how that goes!