Yesterday was a bit crazy... I arrived at Foz do Iguaçu and had already made contact with a fellow chilean that studies here. He gave me the address to his house but I didn't quite get the notion that the city is organized in sections and that different sections can have the same street name and number.
I had little to no internet access because i still have my chilean SIM card and getting a usable one in other countries has turned out a bit expensive. Also, I'm ok with not having access to internet 24/7.
After arriving to where the street and number were supposed to be, i couldn't find any house that matched the description and number. Internet was not workin at all so communication was cut from the chilean friend. I begin asking around and i decided to show a picture of my host to a lady, who after a quick look begin walking away from me... with my phone in her hand.
I couldn't understand any of her portuguese and she didn't understand my spanish. I thought: "ahh shit, this is it. Now I'm going to be robbed of all chance to contact this guy and I'm going to have to improvise of this town without even knowing the language". To be honest, i got pretty scared.
The lady went upstairs to her apartment and came back with my phone, which se had connected to a wifi signal. Big phew. Sometimes we get scared over nothing.
In the end, i was picked up at gas station and everything worked out fine. Just got a bit wet as it was raining torrentially.
The people here are college students at UNILA which is a multicultural university where classes are inclusive for spanish seakers. Some of them speak Spanish here and others only Portuguese. I thought it would be easier to understand Portuguese, but I've been having a rough time.
Anyways, i didn't need to speak much today as i spent the whole day organizing the garden and some other areas. They have a nice yard with some fruit trees, bushes and chickens.
There's banana trees which i find magical and beautiful. I experimented cooking a banana flower and i really liked the result. On a future occasion i will share with you the process.
The people here are also musicians and have a ska/cumbia band, as well as punk one. I enjoyed listening to well played live music while working in the garden.
All in all, a staisfying day and grateful to have arrived at such a nice place.
So exciting!! In all I am glad that my traveling years are behind me but always feel like I missed out on Brazil, where, in my opinion the best music in the latin america comes. Happy travels and best of luck in Brasil!
Thanks :) Yeah, lots of high quality musicians here, but I still have they to reach the northeast part of the country where I'm told you have the big cultural buzz.
wow the bananas look incredible!!
isn't it funny how seemingly 'unorganized' other countries and places can be? you would think how do you guys ever find an address this way?
but locals always know a way. it can teach us a lot about just how different an approach to life and organization human beings can have.
so would you be the one i can contact if i am in need of a banana offspring? once i have a garden that would be a dream come true!
I suppose I am going to have access to plenty of banana offsprings pretty soon. This here's not yet the agroforestry hotspot, but that's where I'm headed ;) What climate zone do you live in?
the garden will likely be in mediterranean climate, no frost in winter and decent precipitation over the year with hot summers
Oh, so you made it to Brazil! I just googled the name of the place, and the first thing it brought up were those incredible waterfalls... But I suppose you will stay in the area for a bit, so you will have lots of chances to visit them (and share them with us).
I know, what a weird moment: That lady was probably thinking, 'this guy is not even connected, let me fix that for him'. So logical, yet without being able to communicate, it could have been anything. I'm glad it all turned out well.
Enjoy the garden and the music!
I'm not sure if I'll visit the falls, we'll see if life extends an invitation hehehe. That's my philosophy for traveling anyway, work as much as possible on things that make sense to me and be open to invitations, rather than trying to hit specific touristic spots