Dead tired

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Well it is Tuesday and I have returned from my trip to Iguazu. I have been there twice before however, given my mood lately I was looking for a reason to get out of the city again. I have finished up Classes and I really think I needed a break.

I went with two other girls from school One is from the US and the other one is from Holand. They are both in thier twenties. We were going to be meeting Karlyn there who is closer to my age and Tina as well who is working at the park as part of her Volunteer work. We left at 12:30 Pm and had a really long ride on a bus. I was sitting next to an Argentine women and I spent most of the time talking to her in a sort of disconnected spanish, english thing. Her mother was an English teacher. But has not spoken it in ages. She was interesting and was sort of having the same sort of issues with life that we have in the US. She was going to pick up her son in order to return him to school. Seems her X sort of disconected the phone lines. She got off much early then we did.

Again, We did not have the highly skilled chicks in High heels this time , only dudes that switched off the driving. Maybe the chicks find it differcult to drive those big double decker buses. We were given three dfferent ham and chess sandwches the only difference was the types of bread so you felt like it was different. ( it wasn{t). We arrived at 8:00AM the next morning feeling well, ok I guess. It was a bit overcast when we arrived. We had booked into a hostel that had a pool and was located out of town a bit. They were suppose to have a pick up service but that did not work so we got a cab instead. Turns out it was a good move because the cab driver was a very nice old man who gave us a deal to go to the Brazilian side of the falls. We took him up on it.

They were some issues with checking in but in general the place was nice. It was filled with very youthful sorts. But in my case it should be exspected. We headed out at 10:30 with the cabby. It was easy getting over the border. They have some system worked out, with those US types who would other wise reqire a Visa. For me it was nice to see the other side. The views were different and it did not take as much time to do it. We walked the whole trail and took photos but the day did not really clear off and it was about 70. We spent two and half hours there. I like the Argentina side better but Regardless both are beautiful and I think it is good to see the Brazilian side first. It is sort of an overview. We had an over priced hamburger and then returned back to the Hostel. We then hooked up with karlny who had flown in The timeing was actaully perfect. Cara, Nina and I, all finally needed to take a nap. We signed up for the BBQ that night and headed off to get some sleep.

At eight we awoke to the evening festivities which were beginning. They had a happy hour which was two capinpinas for seven pesos. Mine are better but these were not bad at all. I gave the second one away. We spend the time meeting other travelers and hearing their stories. there was another girl from Scotland who I liked and another guy from Alaska I liked at first then he sort drank a bit much and he lost any appeal he had. We left to eat and the food was ok but this BQQ was not where near as good as the ones. I have had. The meat was a bit over cooked and a bit tough. But I was cheap. We listened to a story about a crazy experience the scotish girl had acrossing into Colonia from BA. Turns out the crossing was terrible. There was a warning and they told boats not to cross but this one did not listen a crosses. It is so dangerous that she thought she was going to die and so did everyone else on the ship. The cooking ovens feel over, and so did everything in the duty free shop. the bottle were breaking all around them and anything that was not bolted was moving and sliding in the boat around them. One women had two fingers taken off of her hand and there was an unanswered call for help for a doctor. A half an hour later there was another call for a doctor and another person was having a heart attact. When they finally arrived into Urguary they were told it was even more dangerous to dock the ship and they were told to turn the boat around. She said that at that point, people stopped crying and calling for help on the celphones and there was a deadly silence on the return trip back. The return was just as bad but there was a feeling of resination to what may happen. They felt helpless. They did finally off load in BA. When they did, there were tons of news cameras there and the police were trying to hold them back. Other people at the hostel siad that they had seen some of the news footage. They transported the injured people off the ship. She said that the shipping company made no effort to assist the people who were stranded on the BA side who were going home to Uruagry . They were stuck sleeping in the terminal. For her it was just supposed to be a three hour boat ride for a day in Colonia. She went to a hotel that night. The next morning she went to the shipping office to get her money back for the boat ride from hell and they just told her to fill out a form to file a claim. Basically nothing. She opted to head north and there she was in Izaugu with us.

It turned out that the carnival that we were supposed to see was last weekend. However the hostel invited a samba group to play music and entertain us. It was fun. Some of the group danced. There were several women all dressed in the costumes complete with high heels, head dresses, and lots of skin, sparkles. The oldest was about 19 but the youngist one was about five. They could all move. It was sort of strange to see a five year old do such an erotic dance. Even a three year male observer seems to have been moved by it all. He wanted to dance with the five years olds. It made the evening fun and even more interesting. We head off to bed around twelve so we could get to the waterfalls at a responsible hour.

In the morming the weather was a bit overcast. So we stayed in bed a bit longer. We departed at 9. and met with Tina. We were suppose to meet her that night. I had gone to Alta gras with Tina and it was nice to see her again. She was having a good time there but as most things the volunteer positions had not panned out the way people exspected them too. She took us around. Turned out we missed the poisonous spider at was at the booth just before we got there. Tina said it looked like a tarangala. It was as large. She putt a pen next to it and took a picture. So did two other tourist. Then the local people who were at the booth told her about the creature. The story is not so pretty turns out the spiker can jump one meter and if it bites you. You need to get medical Attention within about an hour and a half form the time you have been bitten or your foot will turn gang green. Nice. Boy sorry It missed it.

So we headed down to the falls and caught up on things. Sounds like she is living with a crazy family but she loves it. There is a crazy uncle too who heads out at 2:00 am to take photos in the jungle some time she goes just to see what is going on. But perhaps the spider may change that. The day changed and the weather got beautful. We were suppose to meet Nina but she want to head out early. At 12:00 she did not show up so we just headed out. We went on all the trails and the falls were very beautful so was the day. We hiked on the island too. Which was nice because last time it was flooded and I could not go there. I also found out from Tina that they had to close the top part after I left in September because the flooding had damaged the walked way there. It wa certainly a thought of mine then. We actually were lucky were also saw some wildlife too. We saw two beavers, a caimine, a several Tapires. Fortunately no hairy spiders. We retuned to the hostel and swan a bit. We were going to meet Tina in town for a dinner at a local place that was recommended by her host family. We invited some of the other people from the hostel to join us.

The dinner had the worst service we have had in Argentina. We were the invisable guests. After hour and twenty minutes after all the local people who had come in after us were served we got food. Everyone but Tina. We all ordered beef, chicken and pasta but Tina ordered the fish. We asked about it and about twenty minutes later some guy comes in to the dinner room hold a big raw fish. I just looked over at time and said said to Tina, " Looks like they finally caught it. You get dinner now." I had already given her half of my meal. Turn out that was the fish it was going to be another twenty minites or so. we cancelled the order and after three requests finally got the check. They got no tip can you imagine that. We were talking and it turned out the NIna and the other girl she was with were the other tourist who were taking the photo of the spiker, I informed Nina, that she should ask Tina about the Spider. Nina was a little shocked.

The next day I was going to change my ticket to stay longer but I needed to get a visa, turns out I got not get one at the border and we almost got busted big time trying to get one on our return. The poor cabby almost had a heart attact when the customs guy approached me. But it was all ok. At any rate, it ended up being a big deal. I needed to change money they did not want my US dollars and I need to get four photos. All of which I did in about twenty minutes. I retuned to the embassy the guy took my money then told me it would be ready in two hours. I told Him a had a bus to catch in one hour, and tryed to sweetly turn on my charm. He was nice, smiled, and walked away. There were two folks in line from Baltmiore of all places and looked amazed they told me they got their visa in BA and it took them five days to get it. The other people told me they had to wait here for three days because the office was closed. I spent the time talking to the people from Baltimore. It turns out she teachs at my old Middle school they were taking a year off to travel. Twenty minutes later the guy returns with my visa. My charm stills works. ( not Bad) The poor folks from Baltimore were unable to get their extention.

I just headed for the bus and met up with my friends. It was a longer ride home 25 hours. The movies were better and we still just got the dudes in suits. The food was also the same bad food on the return. We could not get seats together so I ended updown stairs. I read most of the time. Then I got some old man sitting next to me. Who did not snore but blew wind out of his month every time he exhalded. He had seriously bad breath, so I was stuck sleeping near the window and woke up several times in the evening sore but I guess I would have been sored anyway. Well, I am an bit tired and I need to head to the school to see if they were really able to fix the schools and the reaargement. Till next time Rebecca

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