When in Doubt , go Raw.

Buenos Aires --> Porto Alegre

I bussed 18 sweet hours from Buenos Aires to Porto Alegre. The ride wasn't bad- long- but do able. Crossing the Argentina - Brazil border was where it kinda got a little dodgey . The bus route goes up north to Iguazu Falls then crosses into Brazil, avoiding having to pass through Paraguay. We stopped at customs, everyone got out, showed the passports, got their stamp yada yada.- We got in our seats to cross and all of a sudden the bus doors open, oh I guess we forgot someone... suddenly about 20 questionable characters jump in really quick. They didnt take their time getting in- it was like a 25 second motion . The bus which was comfortably filled was now crammed with people standing in the aisles. Where did these guys come from? Mind you it was like 2am and we were in the middle of an empty parking lot. Oh god, this is where I get robbed, I know it. The bus, for some reason, was pitch black which made it even worse. For some reason I looked back to the last row and all I could see were 3 pairs of wide white eyes staring at me. Its like the eyeballs were glowing. I just sat there, stiff. We crossed the border, the driver gave a little wave and off we went. 5 minutes down the road the bus stops on the highway, lights turn on and they all jump off without saying a word. And that was it.

Anyway, I decided to stop in Porto Alegre to break up the voyage. Luckily Bryans family has a friend there so I stayed with him and his family for a few days. Really nice family. Not really anything exciting going on in Porto Alegre- industrious, clean, nice thats about it. I ate chicken hearts- that was pretty eventful. If you eat the heart, do you eat their soul? That has to be morally wrong somewhere. I did some research and apparently its not bad luck to eat the chicken heart, BUT swallowing it raw- THATs where the good luck comes. (according to Kentucky Superstitions) If only I wouldve known....

This is the family I stayed with. It was Silvio's 53rd birthday... hence the the hands.

*by the way, I keep feeling the need to correct my punctuation, add apostrophes , cross my

"T"s, dot my "I"s, but I got to thinking and you know what... this is my blog and I'm not going to do it anymore. There, I said it.