Good deeds for the day - Day 434
We left Rio after saying a very fond farewell to our friends and arrived in Foz do Iguaçu where, luckily for us, some people did some good deeds for the day!
Mehmet led the way for a late breakfast. Of all the places that he could have chosen, he picked the same one that we found when we were here with our lads and lassies. Great minds think alike. In the café, there was a photo of a cappuccino with an elegant snowflake pattern on top, so Tim cheekily pointed to it when putting his order in. “Dois, por favor” I said with a grin. Our breakfast turned up and would you believe it, our cappuccinos, despite being a bit smaller, looked very similar to the picture – good job.
We had a lovely chat with Bahar and Mehmet. They were curious about our travels; how much is it costing us? How are we managing etc.? They both had friends who are travelling around the world and sensibly have managed to get sponsorship. I wonder who would want to sponsor us. Airbnb? We’ve used them enough in the past 434 days! Or perhaps Seasalt? I have two of their reversible skirts and wearing them around the world. Any suggestions?
It was time for us to get our Uber to the Airport and said a fond farewell to Bahar and Mehmet. We are both so happy that we stayed in Brazil longer so that we could spend time with them, and let’s hope we see them again in Holland and/or Turkey later this year.
Our flight was fine, I was a bit concerned as when we were queuing for boarding, some bags were being measured; Tim’s was slightly too heavy, and mine was a bit on the thick side. I did have a contingency and would have put my puffer jacket on, in spite of the searing heat! Luckily it didn’t come to that.
We arrived at Foz do Iguaçu Airport and for some reason couldn’t get an Uber so decided to walk the 30 minutes to our Airbnb. Unfortunately, Google Maps let us down and took us into a fenced off area. We found a different route, but this was along a dual carriageway without any pavement. I felt as if I was back in South Africa – we saw a lot of people wandering along busy highways there!
Suddenly a car gave a little toot and stopped. The driver must have guessed we were English somehow and yelled out of the window for us to jump in. “You cannot walk along here, let me give you a lift” in his lovely Brazilian accent. We hopped in with our luggage on our laps. Following our map, we turned right onto a cobbled lane and found our Airbnb. Thanking the young man profusely, I said: “you have done your good deed for the day, thank you”. He grinned.
Time was ticking, and we were getting hungry. We found a restaurant on google maps which was a 20-minute walk, not along the dual carriageway, so off we trekked, carrying along the cobbled lane, then turning right along a field. Being out of the busy-ness of the city was lovely. The map indicated a left turn, but we had come to a dead end with two houses blocking our way. “Ola” I called, hoping that there was a track by the side of one of the houses.
An elderly man appeared, and when he quickly realised we were English he called out “Luiz, Luiz, rápido, tem alguns ingleses aqui”. A young man emerged, and we showed him our map. Oh dear, google map has let us down again. The road no longer exists. The only way is back where we came from and then along that dual carriageway. Luiz then very kindly offered us a lift. The older man looked a bit perplexed and said “Isso é 7km!” Thankfully Luiz didn’t seem bothered and told us to jump into his car. Another good deed for the day.
We eventually found the restaurant down a country lane and said a warm farewell to Luiz after inviting him for a meal. (I must admit that there was an ulterior motive, at least we’d get a lift back!). He had already eaten and was busy so declined.
The restaurant was a platform overlooking a manmade lake where a few people were fishing. When the waiter, a nice young man, realised that we were English and couldn’t speak much Portuguese, he yelled down to one of the fishermen. “Inglês, Inglês” The man arrived, translated, and we placed our order of fish and salad. I think we would have managed ourselves, but it was kind of him to help.
The young waiter, using google translate, offered to show us his greenhouse while we waited for our meal. Across the lawn with guinea fowl, chickens and geese wandering around, we entered the polytunnel to see some fantastic plants – many that would be exotic house plants back home, which would last a month if I was looking after them!
After admiring these, we returned to the seating area, and our meal arrived. Goujons of fish with a selection of salad vegetables, simple yet delicious. Luckily Tim managed to book an Uber back to our Airbnb, which came in four minutes. Phew!
