Foz do Iguaçu

Almost all of the exchange students!

I spent this past week with 80 other exchange students travelling around the Iguassu Falls, Argentina and Paraguay.  I really have no idea how to even describe the fun I had! I'm pretty sure I can safely say it was the best week of my life!

My flight was from an airport 1 and a half hours from my host city, Campinas. My parents were unable to drive me due to work and so they organised for a driver to take me at 6.30am! It came around to 5.30 that morning and might host dad comes into my room telling me the driver made a mistake and was leaving right then!!! It was definitely not possible for me to get ready in 2 minutes, hahaha Brazil....sooo my host dad kindly offered to pay the driver to pick me up at 9.30. My lack of Portuguese and the non-existant English of the driver made a rather awkward 1 and a half hours in utter silence. Then much to my dismay, once we arrived the driver took my bag out of the boot, hopped back in the car and waved goodbye! At first I was a little stunned! I had no idea what to do, but then i kind of thought what the hell, this is what exchange is about, becoming independant and what not! so i wondered into what i hoped was the departure area, walked up to the first airport employee I saw and said in my minimal Portuguese "Sorry, I don't speak much Portuguese, I am an exchange student from New Zealand, and I need help!" hahah the lady laughed at what i'm assuming was the possum caught in the headlight look I had going on, and then pointed me into the right direction! and before I new it I had met up with 4 other exchange students travelling to Foz Do Iguacu also!

We spent that afternoon just hanging out with all the exchange students by the pool and it was so cool to hear all their stories, about any problems they had, and to hear how their Portuguese was going! It made me so excited and determined to just live the rest of my 10 months here having as much fun as possible! I was very surprised at the range in fluency, which made me realise i need to speak portuguese at every moment possible so I don't end up never learning!

We had to be in our rooms by 11.30 at night, which made the 8am starts rather draining! The first day we visited a bird park which what i originally thought would be extremely boring, turned into be a lot of fun getting to know everyone, mainly by country! hahaha exchange is the only time you can nickname anyone else by their country and it not be taken in any offense! It became rather tricky when we realised there were pretty much multiples in of every country! "Kiwi' never seemed to go away though!



Later that morning we continued on to the Iguassu Falls in Brazil! and i was definitely not prepared for how amazing it would be! The sound was deafening and we managed to get so close on just the little trek! I now realise why this is such a massive attraction here in Brazil! I also came across my first massive spider and my heart nearly stopped beating! That afternoon we were given the option of paying 140 reais, about $80 nz to go on a boat ride on the river and under the waterfalls! Of course I went! Never would I be offered this opportunity again! It was so cool, and my favourite part was being told the river was in Argentina and Brazil! I accomplished the impossible and was in two places at once! We were absolutely drenched going under the waterfall! I also met a New Zealander from Christchurch! I was very excited to be meeting my own kind on the otherside of the world! It was also very nice to hear the kiwi accent, because I have started so say somethings here very American, and i don't like it!!!

My first ever Toblerone!

The next day was a visit to Paraguay! I can now say I have been to another country in South America! Paraguay was very very different to Brazil! It reminded me of being in Thailand! There were numerous stalls on the street, people selling fake items and trying to talk to you in English. I wish they gave us an opportunity to walk around these stalls however we were taken to two duty free malls which sold cheap electronic items! I decided to buy a new camera because the one i bought here is broken! the camera would have cost twice as much in Brazil! I also bough some Toblerone, which i have never had before!

Amazing Brazilian dancers!

That night we went out for dinner and had the most amazing experience of watching a dance show! I was in my element! haha and could not take my eyes off the whole time! There was many traditional dance types from Brazil and I was absolutely mesmorised! It has made me really want to learn one of the dance styles! (i've already scratched samba of my list, its way too difficult), but i'm sure i can find something else!

The last full day I had was Thursday, and we were told we had an extra hour to sleep in, this was definitely luxury! Arriving at breakfast, the breakfast might add was absolutely amazing, buffet everyday! and even chocolate cake was available! anyway at breakfast we were told there was a problem with the bus and had to wait for another 2 hours, all i could think about was the valuable sleeping time which was being wasted! One thing i have learnt here is to take every opportunity to sleep , hahaha because you never know when you will be able again!

We eventually ended up on the bus, arrived at the boarder and started the lengthy process of handing in all our passports to have them checked one at a time! 80 passports took a long time! All was going well until the guide comes on and says "due to diplomatic problems, Australia, Canada and USA, your not allowed to enter". I was secretly celebrating inside, I always new us Kiwi's were great!! Bermuda and New Zealand were the only English speaking countries allowed through! and on that note I did not know they spoke English in Bermuda, let alone that it was also a British Colony! Once through to Argentina we were able to enter the Iguassu Falls here! These falls were not as large, but still amazing! and afterwards myself, Kiira, a girl from Finland I managed to score ourselves these little musical instruments for only $3! which is definitely my best buy here! After practicing for a while we got thinking that we should have a talent quest that night to say farewell to everyone, and of course play our instruments in it! We asked the guides if we could do it and they said yes! (it was meant to be in our countries but i didn't have anyone else from NZ,so we kind of broke the rules) everybody joined in and it was so much fun! I will put a video up of us playing on FB for those of you who are my friend :)

The front of my blazer is now full!

That night we went to bed at 1am and i had to get up at 3am to leave and pack for the airport at 4am! Lets just say i didn't get much sleep! so when we got to out connecting airport and lost 3 of the other exchange students what was the solution...ask to call them over the intercom hahaha it was hilarious to hear "Tyler from Canada, Hani from India, please come to the first floor" definitely made our days! especially since we didn't know their last names so replaced them with the country instead!

That pretty much sums up my trip and I shall post up my exciting life here in Sao Paulo very soon!

xxx :D