Oi all,
Yes in brazil it is no longer hola but oi. The green and gold - fellow australians maybe-
Ozi,Ozi,Ozi...oi,oi,oi?
It seems that much of the portuguese language is the same as spanish but with a bit of a lisp so we should just bumble along with the spanish as it probably sounds that way anyhow. Think the south americans talk english so they don´t have to listen to us butchering their language. Anyway portuguese is such a lovely and musical language. It sounds like a song when spoken. Lovely. Lovely. lovely.
Certainly have a different kind of person since crossing the border. A much wider range of people ranging from full black to full white rather than mostly white in argentina. Brazil used a lot of african slaves in colonial days.
Some of the men are strong and could be seen carring large loads on their shoulders to the buses. They seem to be poorer and have their goods in supermarket bags rather than suitcases or backpacks.
There is also a more outgoing dress of some of the women. More along the lines of hooker outfits but it was just the way they dressed. For example one older, larger woman wore a pink outfit with pink bra and a kind of t~shirt. The mutton dressed as lamb look. Guess they are just confident.
Buses are a little less in quality than argentina. We were impressed by the pink drivers uniform of one company. The buses are a little grubier and not the same standard.
I was talking with a brazillian chap, in my poor spanish, when the bus pulled up for a meal break at a roadhouse about 3hrs into the journey. He told me that we needed to change buses and lucky he did otherwise we would be somewhere else completely scratching our heads! We also should have taken note of the pillows and blankets that people were bringing onto the bus as overnight it got pretty cold as they kept the aircon running rather than warming the cabin up for a pleasant sleep.
Got to the bus terminal and the hostel was across the road. Yahooooooooooo. We were wondering how we would find it not having a map of campo grande. Instantly got circled by the pantanal sharks flogging off their trips when we stepped off the bus. Suppose it is better than the transvestites and prostitutes that are supposed to also be hanging around the bus terminal.
A little hard to take after a restless night. We spent the last couple of hours comparing tours and are heading out for a 4day/3 night tour tomorrow. Fingers crossed we have made the right choice.
Oh. The hostel has that combination shower/toilet....doh. Guess it doesn´t matter in the heat and humidity.
Just remembered. We saw a milkman with a horse drawn a cart delivering milk from a metal milk container door to door when we drove through a small town between salta and puerto iguazu. Never thought that I would have seen that nowdays. This wasn´t novelty as the area had a lot of horse and carts doing various jobs.
Still no pics as the hostel PCs will not allow the installation of the hardware drivers without administration privileges.
Adeus,
David and Vanessa
