TRAVEL FEATURE - BRAZIL
SUZIE PREVETT
A
huge delay with bike issues in
Bolivia meant we weren’t sure if
we had enough time to visit Bra-
zil, the largest country in Latin
America, the fifth largest country in
the world. It was compounded by
further delays in Chile after a visit to
Patagonia.
Fortunately, we were able to make
it work and fit in some Brazilian trav-
el and to our delight, it was absolutely
fantastic!
After taking the tranquil ferry
across the border from Paraguay to
Argentina we spent a couple of days
chilling with a trip to the famous and
immense Iguazu falls, before cross-
ing the bridge over to Foz do Iguaçu
in Brazil.
The border crossing was quite a
breeze; a relief after all the negative
feedback, although their speediness
at Temporary Import Permits left
much to be desired. However as
ever, we made the best of it. I sat in
the little office giving the officials
TRAVERSE 23
information in a sort of mish-mash
of Spanish and Portuguese as well
as telling them all about the United
Kingdom while they enthusiastically
Googled places they knew. It slowed
down the process even further but
it made the whole experience much
better. The only drawback … they
had taken the information I’d given
them and successfully used it wrong-
ly, like writing we were Irish and
using our Bolivian work visa numbers
instead of passport numbers. After
a few phone calls to an ‘official’ place
of some description and then refus-
ing politely to change it for me due
to their totally laid-back nature and
assuring me I would have no issues, I
bid them farewell and wandered back
to the bikes wondering if it would
come back to bite me in the arse.
Our first port of call was the ‘Man-
ga Rosa’ Hostel, which had come
highly recommended by a Facebook
travel friend, Johnny Hubbard, who
we were going to be meeting there.