The people you meet

It would be remiss of me to blog about our travels and not mention some of the people we have met along the way... not just the locals but other travellers.

I'll start with the Brazilians.. 

1. The smiling assassin: Tall, skinny Brazilian guy working at the check-in counter for Gol (Brazilian airline) with the biggest, friendliest smile and big horse-like teeth who smiled the entire time while telling us that I couldn't board the plane because they had booked me in as a child. (Don't get me started on Gol - they have stuffed up every flight booking.)

2. The struggling senora: Old Brazilian woman who struggles down the stairs with two people helping her. It took her a good ten minutes to get down a small flight of stairs that had an escalator on one side and a lift on the other.

3. The hotel receptionist who asked Fred if we had used anything in the minibar. Fred's response 'yes some water'. Receptionists response 'did you use that for drinking?'. Fred's response (deadpan) 'no I watered the plants with it'. Puzzled look. 

4. The airheads at the airport: Multiple boarding announcements are made at the same time at Brasilia airport. They don't have a system where only one announcement can be made.

5. The bus driver who bugs: Yesterday we visited the Argentinian side of Iguacu Falls and crossed the border by a hostel organised bus. It took almost three hours to cross the border and the bus driver sang the first three notes of a song over and over and over (which later turned out to be 'yellow submarine') the entire time.

6. The lovely helpful friendly locals who take great pride in their country and battle with broken english to help us!

Then there are the travellers and there are two sub-catergories:

1. The lovely friendly travellers, like our American friends Kara and Dave, who are just plain fun to hang out with.

2. The not so considerate teenage travellers who (like the guy sitting at the next table) blast awful trance music and bonk loudly in the hammocks outside our room. Or the inconsiderate people who share dorms and don't care that five other people are sleeping and turn the lights on in the middle of the night. 

Yes.. I'm showing my age....