Falls Day 1

We have just one goal for today, and that is finally taking care of our visas for Brazil. Since everything we have read online leads us to believe it is possible to walk out the same day with one if you arrive early, we schedule a wake up call for 6:30am, with plans to grab a quick breakfast and then hop on the bus into town. That early, the sun is just coming up and the temperature is still cool enough to leave the mist from the falls intact.

The bus ride is quite uneventful, and despite the the town itself having little appeal, we feel like we’re on a bit of a roll as we belly up to the counter of the consulate with all of paperwork ready to go. The kindly old man confirms that we are looking for a tourist visa (we are), and with an understanding nod hands our papers back and tells us “come back Tuesday morning, pick up on Wednesday.” Uh oh.

What we don’t realize until now is that Monday is a Brazilian holiday, so even though we figured we had a day cushion if we couldn’t get same day service (our flight is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon), what we’re being told is that they don’t won’t even take our application until the day we need to leave, and that the fastest they will process it is 24 hours. I note the irony that the country that wouldn’t let us out just a few weeks ago, now doesn’t seem to want to let us in.

Now while some might say (not me of course) that my travel partner requires a little extra maintenance, there are moments when she shines, and makes it all worthwhile. This is one of them. And whether it is compassion, fear, the implied bribe she offers them, or some combination of the three, the old man and a colleague go into a back room and yell at each other for a few minutes before coming back to the counter and offering to have the visas done Tuesday by noon if we can bring the application back first thing that morning. It’s not as good as having them in hand today, but given the alternative, we’ll call it a victory.

With nothing specific to do (we had planned on wandering around town for the three hours we expected our visas to take), we check out a few shops (paying homage to Sweet Brown), try some ham and cheese empanadas that turn out to be fish (Angela’s Spanish is getting quite good – not), and a few bags of groceries to stock up the mini fridge in our room.

When we checked in, the bellman made a fairly bid deal about closing and locking the patio doors when we weren’t in the room. “There are monkeys here”, he said, “and if the door is open, they coming inside and have monkey party.” I’ve seen plenty of monkeys and never had a problem, much less a full on party, so don’t give the warning much thought. That is until later that afternoon, when the monkeys do show up, go through everything we have out on the patio and pulling at the doors to try and get in. At one point they get the screen door open, and moments later bring in the biggest of the group (who I’ve named Frank the Tank) to work on the heavy glass door. Angela is holding it closed, fortunately, but they definitely have this down to a science, and I have to wonder just what happens to a room if the do get in.

Tomorrow we’re back to the actual falls, this time with no shortage of camera gear.