Brazil put a hole in my pocket...and gave me trouble at the border.

So much has happened since my last post. Gen and I ended up staying at Bakpackers Hostel for 2 extra more days than we originally planned for. Our stay in Barra Da Lagoa was amazing. I once again made a lot of friends with the street artesanos. They are very intriguing travellers to me. Most of these artisans live nomadically for years without seeing there families back home. They solely survive off the handmade jewerly or art pieces that they make and sell to the public. They move from one country into another one every few months. They range from being 18years old to sometimes 40 or even older. Anyway, many nights at Barra da Lagoa were spent drinking Caprihnas at the beach bar (where an amazing live local samba group would come play). This woman sings in the band and has an incredible voice! It's smooth like Astrud but way more sultry sounding. Also, our last night at Barra Da Lagoa was spent with some good friends from all over (meaning the street artesanos and locals) at a beach party bonfire. It was so great! I can't even begin to give justice to explaining the feelings of the night with my words to you. All I can say is that there were tons of Brazilians, Chileans, Argentineans, Australians, and only two Americans (guess who?) sitting on the beach, drinking, and surrounding a huge bonfire and everyone is making music and singing Brazlian/ spanish reggae songs, and talking all night long into the morning. It was truly an amazing feeling to be there and is a realization of the freedom and love people feel and have for each other here. People are just way open here with themselves and take care of each other like they are family. It's so wonderful to experiece this.

After Barra Da Lagoa, we headed over to the southern most tip of the island called Platano Du Sul. I have read and heard from others that this place was more rural and was much quieter than the places we had previously visited on the island. So, that's exactly where we wanted to go...somewhere quiet. The one thing that Gen and I haven't gotten use to is the late night hours that Brazilians stay up til. Also the late hours that they eat! We are so off on our sleep and feeding times that our bodies aren't so happy with us sometimes. Breakfast is around 9 to 10ish, lunch ranges from 2-5pm, and dinner is at 10 or after! I've eaten dinner as late as midnight with Fernando's family! Anyway, Platano Du Sul was beautiful! We had no reservations and no idea where to get off the bus for our next hostel called Pirata. We randomly get off the bus in the main part of Platano Du Sull (which consists of a couple of blocks) and ask some locals where this place is. I show my address to some Brazilian woman and she then leads Gen and I thru these series of many really thin narrow alleyways. And somehow through it all (and I still have no idea how) we pop out through this wooden gate and there is this beautiful and quaint cottage-like house on the beach. This was the hostel. But strangely enough, we later find out.....that this was a totally different hostel. We were at a hostel called Mar de Estrellas. And it is runned by a widowed 40 something ,sweet and youthful, Brazilian lady and her 3 kids. We stayed 2 night here and chilled. We hiked a beautiful trail up into the jungle and into a more secluded beach the very next day. We met some surfers there who would hike there boards in and out by barefeet! It is a very gnarly trail so I give much respect to those surfers! Gen and I also had the most amazing seafood at Platano Du Sul. One night we went to this restaurant by the hostel that was recommended to us. The restaurant was covered inside from ceiling to walls with many many little paper notes left by customers. It was bizarre. Little leaflets of papers would sway with the breeze and there is no way of telling what color the walls were because they were dripping with little paper notes that expressed everything from having adoration and love for someone to enjoying the food there. Long story short...this restaurant was great. The lady (named Olga) that runs the hostel, held a little hostel dinner party for everyone. It was so nice. There was fresh caught fish (10 of them) and rice and some tomato type sauce to pour unto the fish. The food was great and the company was awesome. There were people from Holland, Belgium, Spain, and England mainly. Gen and I were the only americans. It's really weird but we haven't really run into any Americans on our trip in Brazil. I don't quite understand this as Brazil is really quite diverse, wonderful, and beautiful all at once.

After Platano Du sul, we head off to where I am noe typing...in Misiones, Argentina. We had booked a couple of seats on Pluma for Foz Do Igucu which borders Brazil and Argentina. We were going to stop at the last bus terminal near the border on the Brazil side and then taxi over to Argentina to a hostel there. Well,......we ran into trouble at the border.
Unfortunately, to depart from Brazil you apparently need to keep some exit ticket that was given to me on the day of my arrival. However, no official in Brazil will ever tell you this and there sure as hell was no sign at customs ( at the airport) that stressed such a thing. On top of that, the day of my arrival, there was a bunch of new customs employees being trained and we were the guniea pigs that hour. So, long story short, Gen and I both did not have this exit ticket. At first the policia hombre that I dealt with was a bit unessarily dickish towards me. He didn't want to give me my passport until I found my ticket. But I didn't have it! He bullie me a bit. Then said I had to head over to the national banktoday and pay a fine of 165 reales to get this exit ticket reissued before I can even get into Argentina! I'm like...what-the-fuck. I'm in the middle of nowhere...I have just been travelling 18 hours by pricey shitty bus ride and had no sleep..and on the ride had seen a man almost get shot by a cop (but instead the guy gets pistol whipped on the back of his head)...and on top of this, it is SATURDAY! No banks are open! I was pissed. He didn't even want to give me my passport back . I got a bit nervous and even more pissed. I finally convince him that I'm staying on the Brazilian side to look for this "misplaced" ticket. Instead, I wait around the building for him to leave on break. I go back in and have a different guy help me. He is waaaaaaaaaay nicer to us. We explain to him our situation and he stamps our passports and allows us to leave but we still have to pay the fine when we come back into the country. Gen and I had to sign legal contracts saying we'd do this.
So, now we are in a hostel in Argentina near the Igazu Falls. THANK GOD FOR ARGENTINA! I say this because it is soooooooooooo fricken cheap here! Brazil really put a big hole in my pocket. Argentina is now soothing the pain. Gen and I may have to change plans and stay here longer instead of heading to Chile right away. This is because Chile is not as cheap as we'd like. I believe it is almost a little more expensive than Brazil. This is not good for us. Cheap is key.

Gen is not doing so well in the health area. She came down with a weird stomach bug early today. She has been sleeping all day and threw up 5 times. I took a bus into town and got her some crackers, soda, and tea, stuff like that. I also made her take some Cipro tonight. She is so stubborn and refused to take it all day but after throwing up and such...she finally agreed to taking it. I'm hoping that she will be in better spirits in 3 days or so.

BTY, Gen and I have never been tanner in our whole life of living. We are super mochalious.
Whoot! Whoot!
People are always asking if Genevieve is from Chile and if I am a Japonesa from Brazil or from Argentina (a lotta Asians in Buenos Aires). Gen and I are grateful to blend in with the crowds. We see and hear of others getting shit but not us. Yeah!
Okay, that's it for now.
I wish you all well and much love.