So didn't even get up to the country we've currently been in for almost 2 weeks already and are about to leave last time... but back to my black friday birthday:
My 24th birthday was spent in Buenos Aires. Natasha got back to BsAs from Iguazú that day as well so we had half arranged to meet. First order of the day however was finding the US embassy for jon to get more pages put in his passport as the first step to getting a visa for Brasil. Got there to find we were just too late for the morning appointment times so we'd have to come back that afternoon. Second on our to do list was getting bus tickets for the following day - this didn't get ticked off that day. Instead we went into town to an artisan alley where i had seen a belt i really liked weeks before in the vain hope that nobody else had taken such a liking to it. Turns out they hadn't so i am now the proud owner of a beautiful leather belt :D Next up we went Natasha hunting, back to the hostel we stayed at on our first nights in BA. Got a bday/haven't seen you for a while hug and made plans that involved cake and wine for later. Then Jon and i went to a vegetarian all you can eat buffet in a beautiful mall on florida st. Apparently the place is run by nuns or something - either way it was delicious and we both ate til bursting point. Afterward we had to lug our heavy stomachs back onto the subway to waddle as fast as we were able in the extreme heat back to the embassy. Made it there with only 2 mins to spare and thankfully they let Jon in. Next on the agenda was cake shopping! Found an incredible chocolate mousse and dulce de leche cake at the bakery a few doors down from the hostel where everything looks divine. Managed to then take it on the subway at friday rush hour without it getting destroyed back to hostal granados where natasha and alanna were waiting on the roof with many a bottle of red wine and a broken candle that had previously been shaped like a 4 (the 2 for 24 came from it being in two pieces so it was broken for good reason, though i'd much rather just be 4). And that's where we spent until valentines day, many more hostel residents came to join the "party" and met more aquarians than statistics should've allowed for! The plan was to go out someplace but it never happened, bussed home in the wee hours instead.
Valentines day we were to leave BA again, this time for puerto iguazú (despite it being natasha, kirby and alanna's last night in south america, may have missed a biggie). Packed up our belongings and went to retiro in search of bus tickets which we got third time lucky, always a bit of a stressful experience. Then spent the afternoon with natasha eating empanadas and icecream until it was time to leave. Caught the Expreso Tigre Iguazu 19 hour best dinner ever (even had vege option :O) followed by close to worst breakfast ever (crackers?) overnighter up to the heat of the north. Arrived sunday afternoon with no place to stay and high hopes to stay at Hostel Inn that we'd heard many good things about but was also very popular so definitely booked out. They suggested Hostel Bambu to us though, a small hostel, just getting started, still building in fact, with the loveliest staff imaginable, good music and bunks with our names on them. No swimming pool but one a block away that we were free to use - and we did. It's stinking hot up there. Stinking. The staff suggested we walk up to the three frontiers - where the corners of argentina, brasil and paraguay all meet separated by the river - to watch the sunset so we took them up on that. Came back through town and went to get some dinner, really tasty complimentary nibbles but the meal itself was a bit disappointing (the vegetarian options were very limiting). However for pudding we had to get the super cheap super tasty icecream we'd heard so much about, and it didn't disappoint! You're really spoiled for choice there actually, must have the highest heladeria per capita ratio of anywhere. Also, motorbikes are by far the transportation of choice here.
Monday was kind of a nothing day as we spent til early afternoon trying to sort out bits and pieces for jon's visa application then just missed handing it in as they closed at a very leisurely 2pm. Didn't have time to go to any of the falls. Think we went to the swimming pool again - it was pretty much obligatory - and got info about the falls for the following day. So tuesday was devoted to the argentinian side of Iguazú falls (after handing in visa applications and a trip to the bank - they close at an altogether lazy 1pm)! Headed slowly (hindered by trains and lines as weren't there super early) up to the end viewpoint first where you're right up close to the massive thundering falls at Garganta del Diablo. Then decided to do the boat trip next where you get soaked under one of the falls, sooo much fun. Had hoped to get over to the island after that for a swim and more views of waterfalls but didn't realise the line was gonna be so long. The last boat over was 3.30pm and we would definitely have been in the next boat after that, had there been one. So just missed out, which meant we decided instead to go along the trail that not many tourists do to get to the only other swimming spot (cos it was hot hot hot). Had our packed lunch accompanied by quite the panoramic postcard view and walked along the upper circuit to see waterfalls from above with rainbows then managed to find the beginning of the 3km track. Walked about as fast as we could along there as we didn't have a lot of time until the park closed. Found a small swimming hole under a narrow but very tall and quite powerful/painful to stand under waterfall, only 4 other people were there. Had a quick swim (was very shallow) to cool off, slipped on a rock climbing down from under the waterfall which later gave me a very impressive bruise on my backside, power walked back to the park to get there in time to catch the bus back to town. Back in town we went for more icecream with the israeli girls staying in our dorm, Aviv and Atar. Yum! Also in town we saw a big group of "kids" who were maybe practicing for some street parade, or maybe thats just what they do on tuesday nights, playing drums and dancing real cool.
On wednesday we planned to go to Brasil! Got up early and went to get jon's visa - approved! so tried to go for celebratory icecream, turns out they don't open til 12 so we stuck around for that (so worth it!) then caught the bus to the border, did the easiest customs yet then had to wait a while for another bus of the same company to come through again as we were too cheap to pay twice :p Hostel Bambu argentina had arranged our bus tickets to curitiba to be at hostel bambu brasil so went there paid for the tickets, dropped off our bag and went to catch the last couple of hours of the park on the Brasil side where you get awesome panoramic views of all the falls, beautiful. Met a spanish guy Ruben on the bus and walked round with him. When we got up to the end it started pouring with rain, and i really mean pouring. It had been soooo hot just before that we were more than happy to let ourselves get soaked (not that we had much choice, coulda run for cover but would probably still have got fairly well soaked). Back to the hostel for a shower and our hosts from argentina had crossed the border too! They instructed us on how to get to our bus for curitiba though we only managed to find the station by luck. We were arguing about whether to ask the driver to let us off at Rodoviaria or just hope to see it ourselves when a guy in front of us interrupted to say that it was pretty much right there. No way would we have seen it if it wasn't for him! So we had made it to brasil and now were in for another nights "sleep" on a bus.
One of the coolest things about Iguazú and Iguaçu for me was all the animals we saw: a turtle, lizards - many small ones and one really big one, plenty of coatis (no idea what this could be in english if anything different, we have a picture), lotsa big spiders including a tarantula that i held, two toucans, two monkeys in a tree, millipede, giant ants and i mean giant, a deer that seemed a bit outta place and some weird pig-rat without a tail in the forest that no-one can tell me what it was by my description..
So now we're about to leave brasil tomorrow on an epic 3 day bus excursion from curitiba to santiago chile as all the slightly shorter 2 day direct buses were fully booked by the time we got around to organising it i.e. this morning, so won't get to update this and fill in the rather large gaps for awhile, maybe not even til we're back in nz. Middle brasil will just have to wait. It rained a lot anyway.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment