wow....ummm...about that

ok. somewhere between two papers being due, mixed in with an exam, an impossibly slow internet connection, and life happening far too fast for me to even blink without thinking that i would miss something magical, the blog updates fell to the wayside. I'm sorry. if it means anything, i do have a couple posts on my computer, i just haven't posted them because i am a perfectionist and i'm not happy with them yet.

i'll update on the past few days now, then fill in on the last two weeks *eek!* in another 3 days or so....

our conservation biology class finished up on wedesday the 22 and we had two free days around Curtiba to just hang out and enjoy ourselves. this was also Alex's birthday so some of us got together for a nice dinner downtown. $15 US paid for a large meal, appetizers, a beer and a coke. most things cost about the same in the US as they do in Brazil, but the food is great and so cheap. also....the beer is cheaper than water and soda, i'm trying to do my best to be as economical as possible. after dinner we went to a bar that had a band playing 1960s rock. everyone knew all the beatles songs but then they played "won't get fooled again" by the who and i think i was the only one *in our group too* who knew the words. what were these UNC parents thinking?!...thanks dad for giving me good taste in music.

the next day, thursday, was cloudy, cold and rainy, which pretty much describes how curitiba generally is in the winter...BUT...it was a perfect day to spend indoors. i met up with a Brazilian friend and we had an embarrassingly american day. Mcdonalds for luch, my first of the entire trip. I lasted from the 19th of june until Thursday, which is damn good if i do say so myself. not all aspects of globalism are that bad. the cheeseburger and fries tasted exactly the same as they do in NC. i dont even like it that much, but that day it could have been homemade chicken pot pie and i don't think i would have been able to tell the difference.
THEN....
I saw Harry Potter. three words to describe it: Epic. Fantastic. Heartbreaking. i don't want to give anything else away for the hermits who havent read the book yet or seen the movie.

Friday morning i did laundry and packed and by afternoon it was warm (enough) outside. i met up with a friend and we went to the Oscar Niemeyer museum. the artwork inside was interesting enough but the design of the building is the best part. www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Museo_Niemeyer.html
here's a link for a website with good pictures of it, my computer freezes every time i try to upload any online and my patience isn't good enough for that tonight.

after the museum we went to Baragui Park, one of the largest in the city and walked around looking at ducks and eating french fries. we tried to see the obese fish in the river that are overfed by pedestrians but the water was too muddy.

the night was nice too, stopped by a weekly food market and had Cantau a popular drink in the south and fried things, also popular in the south. speaking of fried things, every ounce of weight i lost in the amazon returned by the end of our stay in curitiba. all the girls and most of the guys left with what we are affectionately calling the "curitba 10." mine happened to show up in my thighs. hooray. it's not our fault. sort of. everything tastes good and it's all cheap and buffett or all-you-can-eat style. you do the math.

saturday was much harder than i thought or wanted it to be. i've really fallen in love with the city and its people and leaving it was difficult. without going into too much sappy detail the three short weeks in curitiba were some of the best of my life and i wouldnt trade them in for anything...alas, more details about the curitiba part coming soon...i forgot to calm myself down before the flight to Foz Do Iguacu and had the smallest of panic attacks during take-off, which was soon calmed down by a free beer and sarah's ipod. p.s. always fly Tam Linhas whenever it is offered. an absolutely fabulous airline as long as you don't mind boarding a half hour late no matter what.

the rest of the day was travelling, we even accientally went into Argentina! the guide got our hotel reservations mixed up and though we were staying at a 5 star in Argentina (Ha!). realized the mistake after a half hour drive, customs, border patrol and about 10 minutes after all of us saw the giant hot tub in the hotel. c'est la vie. returned to Brazil to a nice hotel that nevertheless looks like it could be a south american version of the Shining. glad that movie didn't scare the hell out of me or anything. ha..haha. There is heat here...FabUlous!

annnndddd....today. we saw the most amazing thing i think ive ever seen. the Iguacu falls, from both the Brazilian and Argentinian sides. the power of the water rushing over the falls made it feel like you were going to be swept off the platform and down the river. it was so beautiful, at some points you were almost completely enveloped by more than 20 different waterfalls ranging from giant to extra giant. it terms of sheer size, it was the walmart of waterfalls. i'm not a good enough writer to describe what it looked like, hence why i already compared them to walmart. the "hiking" took about all day long and we got to see several of the falls from several different angles and heights.

tomorrow we fly out at 9:00 am for Rio. followed immediately by a 4 hour van ride straight north to Iracambi.

just proofread the post...this should actually be called meredith's food diary. sorry about that. i should go to bed soon. i can't escape being a gellman i guess.

more updates soon...