Dispatch From Curitiba

Seven days into this organized South American tour and I think everyone is still speaking to me.

Our mix for the next three weeks is:

-Carla, our Peruvian guide

-a "mature" couple from England/Spain

-two young ladies from Ireland

-an older Aussie woman who I have identified as "the traveler most likely to lose her passport"

-a very sweet engaged english couple about my age, who are travelling for eight months leading up to their
wedding

-another couple roughly my age from Adelaide, Australia

-two 20-year old Aussie girls who are making me feel old

-my Welsh roommate, Mason Twigg, who is already getting me into trouble nightly

All-in-all it's not a bad mix.

The tour started in Rio and from there we headed to the coastal colonial Brazilian town of Paraty. Really, really cute place where I could have stayed more than our two nights.

The whole (almost) group took a five-hour boat trip one afternoon. Good stuff.

From Paraty we headed to Sao Paulo for a couple nights. The area where we stayed was pretty damn scary after dark. Had a much different feel than Fiona's area of the city where I stayed the week before.

Didn't do a whole lot there. Went out one night for a couple subdued drinks with Mason and Fiona and ended up instead at an '80s-themed dance club with Carla, the tour leader and some local she knew. Came very close to missing my bus the next day.

So now we're in Curitiba, which is particularly lovely having come from icky Sao Paulo. This is mostly just a pit stop as we head next to Foz de Iguaza to see the waterfalls.

We've been traveling via long, public buses so far and it actually hasn't been so bad. Tonight will be the true test though, as it's an overnight one.

Happy Birthday a little late, Mary!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry