A Picture Says a Thousand Words

While I am working on completing the abridged version of my epic adventure, I will upload a few photos. It seems reasonably logical that, if I couldn´t understand much of what was being said by tour guides from the time I left Parana to the time I arrived back, but could still be absolutely awestruck by what I saw... then my photos need little further explanation.














I saw this assemblage of amethysts from a distance and thought, ¨That´s a kiwi!¨















Large ants after the same syrup as the humming birds.

Can you find the humming bird?

If I could talk to the animals....I think this one understood English.














I was going to have a go at having my photo taken with the snake...truly (See two blogs back) but I just didn´t have time to get to know her. (I like to think of it as a her.)















Researching Brazilian culture. I think, (should I have been so adventurous to attempt it), that after two of these I would have been able to speak Spanish/Castellano and quite possibly Portuguese quite fluently. Undoubtedly my favourite taste experience in Brazil. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caipirinha


Observations:
- I think Dr Seuss must have been inspired to create some of the characters in his books from birds in South America.

- Some South American birds also seem to have been the inspiration for some creative hair styles in magazines and posters in hair salons.

- Some of the birds´physical and behavioural characteristics remind me of some people I know.

- With a tour group of complete-strangers-whose-first-language-is-not-English, you forget after a while that you don´t understand much of what is being said, but you realise that you understand some pretty basic universal truths about people travelling together i.e.
......there are the inclusive extroverts who set the tone of the excursion and who understand that they will have an even better time if they ensure that everyone feels part of the group, and do everything possible to carry that out;
......there are the quiet, low-key ones who are travelling with a group because it´s the only way to get to where they want to go and they are quite happy remaining slightly apart from the group;
......there are small groups or pairs of friends who intend to have a great time and hope that there are others similar that they can join up with;
......there are mixed-generational family groups who use the trip as a way of being together;
......there is always at least one person who: sleeps in/ gets lost/ loses their visa...(no names mentioned but it wasn´t me)/wants to visit a friend of a friend who just happens to live near one of the excursion destinations... (ahem, yours truly *waves to Viv in NZ and Monica in Puerto Iguaçu*)/gets left behind for an optional excursion/is a tango singer from Paris/disagrees with the hotel´s version of their bill/ is a high needs, non-first-language speaker of Castellano who tries to ration the number of times she asks English-capable members of the tour, in fluent Spanglish: ¨¿Qué pasa? What were the important parts of that information?¨

and... while I am waiting for another film clip to upload... Have you ever been watching the Academy Awards on tv and not been able to stop yourself from composing your own gracious acceptance and thanks speech.... ?Well, if I could remember all the names of people who helped me out, one way or another, I would be pretty much writing down the entire bus load of Argentinians, plus one Venezuelan and a young boy from Paris, and the German resident of Foz Iguaçu,who told me in broken English, outside the internet cafe, to be careful because he once had a gun held to his head in the very spot where we were standing.

However, if it weren't for a few special people, I think I would still at the first breakfast stop wondering what the procedure was for ordering a meal: The absolutely wonderful Susana from Parana (who just happens to be an English teacher at high school and university and was one of Mélisa´s English teachers - what a coincidence and a God-send) and her gorgeous family, especially the boys who helped me out numerous times and made me feel so welcome when I often joined them at meal times; Ana, from Venezuela, the other passenger travelling ´sola´ who also helped translate for me and who was one of the extroverts; several of the younger girls who have beautiful names which I can´t remember and are all gorgeous-looking (What is it about Argentinian women? They are all beautiful and naturally elegant) and who looked after me at the Brazilian concert night and are responsible for me joining them in a real conga with my own special interpretation of Brazilian dance - the photographic evidence of which has been ...destroyed; the English/Spanish translator who sat across the aisle from me whose name I can´t remember; and the lovely young Ana-Laura who sat by me in the bus for most of the trip and who also helped me on so many occasions - at least one of which deserves its own special entry later on. I cannot begin to express my appreciation. The end-of-speech-get-her-off-the-stage-music has started to play. I have to go to another class in a few minutes.



Here´s a few film clips which need no introduction.







There will be more to come... but it takes ages to upload film clips.