Brazil

Hotel Pool

Jan. 20, 2009-Making Change

Our ever-shrinking group arrived at the airport in Buenos Aires and realized that Fernando memorized whose luggage goes with whom. We lined up randomly to check in and watched as he had our luggage piled on the cart in the order of how we were standing. He's a type A+ but we also think he's shy. We know he's very private and know little about his personal history other than he's thirty-eight, never been married, doesn't want to marry anytime soon, and his friends are all having "waa waas" (babies) which changes their relationship with him.

We wanted to grab a pizza before boarding so used our best Spanish to convey that we wanted take away. Fortunately it's the same word in Spanish. We wanted a cheese pizza but they really tried to convince us it would be better with pepperoni. We demurred. The next hurdle was making them believe we weren't interested in the special that included drinks. We were getting free drinks on the plane. We could clearly see the sign featuring pizza con gaseousa. At first I thought it was "pizza that caused gas" but figured out it meant "with soda." So now that they understood "sin bebidas," without drinks, we had to explain that we needed a box to carry it in. After many tries at charades someone said, "Ah, packeta" and we were set, or so I thought. We wanted to be sure we had a plastic knife so I walked up to the counter holding a metal knife, held it up and said, "knife plastico." Who knew I was right about plastico? With all that accomplished we got to the gate with four minutes until boarding.

As we took off I watched what I thought were the brick and concrete turreted walls of an estate come into view. As we climbed I realized that the large lagoon was indeed a enormous sewage plant. We passed over what I have started calling Rio de la Yucky and once again marveled at its bilious brown hue. Farmland ribboned with brown strips of estuary continued until it began to pale and reverted to the arid tans of near desert. We ate pizza, dozed, and after a short 1 1/2 hour flight we saw the rich greens of the tropics, slices of red clay roads, and deep blue of the Iguazu River wending its way to the falls. We came in low over a marsh and were on the ground in Puerto Iguazu still Argentina.

We were met by Anna Paola, a Brazilian and our local guide. She and Fernando began immediately conversing in Portuguese. I asked Fernando when he learned Portuguese. He said he was twenty, it was winter in Bariloche, and he was meeting lots of Brazilians so he just went ahead and learned it. Anna joined us as we crossed over the bridge and the Iguazu River into Brazil and to our hotel the Mabu Thermas in Iguazu City. I don't want to say that our bus is growing as our numbers are shrinking but we now have a double-decker bus.

Fernando reviewed our activities for the next few days as he has in the past. I wondered why there was a "bear park" here. I didn't know there were bears in this part of the world. As he spoke and his accent cleared up I realized he was talking about a bird park. Never mind. I asked Anna if anyone ever tried to go over these falls in a barrel. She had never heard of anything so ridiculous. I told her it had been tried at Niagara Falls many times and was rarely successful.

It's a new age! Maybe it's not the Age of Aquarius but hope is palpable even here. We arrived at our hotel at 4:30 pm and with the three-hour time difference (we're ahead of you) we're listening to CNN in English in our room. We're playing catch-up with the inauguration. Our hotel in Iguazu, Brazil is lovely. Our room overlooks three pools and faux waterfall arranged to flow one into the other as do The falls we’ve come to see.

 New Ground

Brazil is a country of 200 million people. It was officially named The United States of Brazil. We are now in the state of Parana. Brazil is the biggest meat exporter in the world. They also manufacture ethanol for cars. Their automobiles are built to run on either or both, ethanol or gas. The Portuguese were here before Spain and set the language. They were followed by Germans and Italians. Early Brazilians were slaveholders due to the growing of sugar cane and the plantation system and there is a large African population especially in the Northeast. We’re in the tropical South. The center of the country is the site of business and government with Rio de Janeiro and Sao Palo. Nowadays Brazil is part of what is thought to be the large economies of the future: BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China).

Dinner was a sumptuous buffet which meant I ate from the salad and cheese table. Somehow I'm never attracted to steam tables with glutinous pastas and overcooked meat. I then perused the desserts and struck out there. Not a problem. The rolls were great and with butter that was enough dessert for me.

Fernando didn't join us for dinner when the dining room opened at 8 PM. It was too early for him to eat. He did sit and chat for a bit and was more garrulous than ever. When asked if he has a girl or boyfriend in every city. He said he doesn't have a steady girl friend but has girlfriends in Buenos Aires. We told him we could fix him up with someone of any sex. He broached the subject of the gay community in Buenos Aires and corrected me when I mentioned their civil union law. They don't have civil unions. Gays and lesbians have the same marriage laws as anyone else. The case of the man suing for his deceased partner's pension is in court because they didn't marry. They were just living together. Chile is more repressive while Brazil is more open. Go figure.

This is a resort catering to tour groups, families, and conventions. There's a child care center, special tables for kids to eat with or without parents, and a clown in attendance. It's the modern Brazilian version of Grossinger's. The lower level is replete with game tables, video arcade, workout room, and bar all in an open-air portico overlooking the pool. We started walking the many paths on the hotel property but thought better of it since we didn't have any bug spray on.

Tomorrow is the big hiking day. We'll cross back into Argentina and trek several trails for views and soakings as we draw closer to the falls. We were told to use the shower caps in our rooms to protect our cameras. We're also bringing a zip lock bag. Tonight we removed the memory card from our camera with all the pictures we've taken so far and put in a new card in case the camera does get soaked and dies. It's been known to happen.

Toby