Capirinha, Capirinha, Capirinha!

Colin and I have spent the past little while in Uruguay. After arriving in Punta del Este, we hung out one the beach an recovered from the time we spent in the cities. Our hostel was great. It was 20 km outside of the city. The beach was beautiful, the drinks were strong - to us, life was good. It was here that I fell in love with the capirinha - introduced one country early as they are famous due to Brazil. Although I didn´t complain about the early introduction as I realized this will allow me to drink the capirinha for the next few months!

After 2 nights, and a couple great beach days in Punta del Este, we caught a morning bus to La Pedrera. This was a very remote town on the coast of Uruguay. Here was a gorgeous beach. The town had 1 main road, only one paved road in the town, and sand streets off of it. We stayed one night with our Canadian friends from Buenos Aires and Punta del Este here.

Us large Canadian group continued up the coast of Uruguay to Punta del Diablo the next morning. We had heard wonders about his place, and when we got there it did not disappoint. It was larger than La Pedrera, but still very remote. We stayed at a hostel over looking the ocean, with a cabin feel to it. We spent our nights at the neighboring hostel bar, talking with other travelers. One night we went with Argentinian girls to a street party. This was probably my favourite night so far. The area had 2 open bars to the street where everyone danced. Uruguay is supposed to be the safest country in south America and you could tell here. It was fantastic. The last night we spent in Uruguay was super bowl night. We planned to have a traditional North American night in South America - beer, food, football.  But we soon found out that the football disease is viral around the globe, as the only TV area providing the game was completely currounded with fans. So all of us Canadians ended up having a usual South American night of drinking  and mingling with other travelers.. This was definitely my favourite super bowl ever! 

Punta del Diablo

The next morning we headed by bus to the town of Chuy. Chuy is an interesting city as it lies both in Uruguay and Brazil. We left at Punta del Diable at 1:30 pm and boarded the bus in Chuy at 930.. It was still 28 degrees in Chuy at that time. After a long day and an overnight bus we were exhausted but we brightened up quickly once we got to our destination - Florianopolis, Brazil!

Florianopolis was amazing. It was mountainous, lush, and lively. The beaches were gorgeous and filled with people.  We stayed on the east side of the island for 5 nights. Our hostel was close to the beach in an area full of hostels and travellers. OUr route so far has been great as it has allowed us to run in to the same people since Buenos Aires- everyone is on the same route to Carnaval!  We had great times on the beach during the day, spent the nights at our hostel with all the travelers. Our dinners were made by an amazing Brazilian chef at the hostel and along side of dinner was no shortage of Capirinhas! (That may have been why I stayed so long). At night we would all walk down to a beach where there was music and many other travelers from all the hostels.

Florianopolis

After spending 5 days on the east side of the island, we decided to venture to other areas. One of our Canadian friends rented a van for 6 of us from the hostel to motor around in. One of the six was a woman named Tania. Tania was from Switzerland and recently bought a house in the jungle on the south side of Florianopolis. She was staying at hostel because she was at the house for a few days on her own and decided she wanted to meet other travelers. Tania graciously invited us all to stay at her house for the night. So the six of us squished in to our rental van and spent the day finding new beaches in other areas of Florianopolis! It was a nice change from hostel life, as that night we BBQ´d at Tania´s and spent our night in the jungle! 

Jungle House

On sunday night Colin and I said goodbye to Florianopolis and hopped an overnight bus to Iguazu falls! We had a long travel, as we re-entered Argentina to see this side of the falls. Yesterday we rested up for a full day of hiking the today. Good thing we did because it was hot in Iguazu today! We spent 6 hours at Iguazu falls - It was spectacular! We hiked every trail, swam in the water at the bottom of the falls, and took the train to Gargante del Diablo... the big drop!! 

Gargante del Diablo

The day was absolutely amazing. Besides from the incredible amounts of water we saw today, we saw a lot of wildlife as well! We saw giant lizzards, possum/armidillo type things, a monkey, and a tucan!  We had a great day and are very tired now.. Colin is currently down for a siesta.

Iguazu Falls

Tomorrow we will go back in to the land of the Capirinha and examine the falls from that side, then hop an overnight bus to Rio for Carnaval!

Hope all is well with everyone! Ciao!