TrewsNews

A few days ago we returned to Asuncion from Florianopolis via Foz do Iguacu. We had a nice time in Santa Catarina island - a top tourist resort island in southern Brazil. Excellent sea food especially. Fisherman landing their catch, Santa Catarina Eileen's parents return home tomorrow and it has been great having them here during January. It is the hottest time of the year at the moment but we have been spared with temperatures only in the high 30s. Apparently it had been well in the 40s the week we were in Brazil. in a few weeks time school starts again so until then we plan to enjoy spending some time getting the house and garden in shape.

4:06 am Travelling by coach can be a bummer sometimes. We had arranged the coach from Curitiba to Florlianopolis for Friday at 11:15 pm. We turned up at this time only to find we had been booked on the bus that left two days before. They let us on anyway when they checked there were enough seats. What we thought was going to be a 7 hour journey turned out to be only 4, so we are going to arrive in Florianopolis in the middle of the night. 8:27 pm We arrived in Flori at 3:30 am! We spend a dreary 3 hours sitting doing nothing - it added up to a full night without sleep. At 6:15 we taxied to our holiday apparments hoping someone would be there to let us in. We arrived only to be told it would not be ready until 2 pm - in 6 hours time, and we'd had no sleep all night, and were unwashed in 24 hours. The lesson I learnt? Call ahead a day or two before to check arrangements. There was nothing we could do but make the best of it, so we got the bus back to Flori, and spent a nice m...

We're on holiday. We arrived in Curitiba yesterday after a 17 hour bus journey from Asuncion. We came on the Pluma coach from Asuncion - Pluma is by far the best coach company we have used. It was the Cama (sleeping) service which was extremely comfortable and an easy way to cover the 17 hours. We're staying in the Hotel Del Rey which is a very nice hotel and reasonably priced for one dead in the centre of the city. We were blown away by the shopping in Brazil, it's just like a european city. You see how poor Paraguay is when you compare Asuncion to Curitiba. Curitiba apparently has one of the best public transport systems in the world the guide book says. There are these cylinder like bus shelters and super effecient various coloured buses everywhere. Curitiba centre

We're in the house two weeks now. There are only a few small leaks! The first time it rained we noticed a few drips, but nothing major, the and landlord said he will sort it out. The builder's rubble has been transformed into gardens front and rear after the purchase of grass and some plants. Christmas was spent with some friends of Eileen. We did have turkey and Christmas pudding, but 35 celsisus made it a different not so much in the bleak mid winter. For New Year we had Eileen's parents to visit and invited some friends for food and fireworks. We're going to Brazil for ten days holiday starting the 5th of January Lots of love, Stephen, Eileen, Elijah and Hannah