A few small stories in between our hectic schedule!

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For our last night in Brazil we went out for something to eat. We found a nice restaurant along the main street in Foz. We were seated at our table and waited on all night. We never had to pour a drink from our glass. As we sat the for a few drinks afterwards we noticed it was a strange place. The people in there obviously had a bit of money but some of them were acting weird. This story may seem far fetched but both of us swear by it. Two pretty girls were sitting at a table across from us. They were eating and drinking and having a good time. Two older men and a younger woman sat at a table near them. I noticed the younger girl beckon one of the two girls to come join them. She refused but she continued to ask her to join them. The younger girl was with the older man so I figured they were trying to get the other man a date. He then approached the girl and was practically begging her to join them. The girl refused and now her friend was getting clearly jealous. The partner of the older man then came over and sat talking to the girl they were trying to persuade. She sat for a while and left them both a business card with what looked like a pole dancer on the card! The girl getting all the attention was starting to enjoy it but still refused to join them. The partner of the older man came back and forth a good few times trying to persuade her. When the girl who was getting no attention went to the toilet the other girl stood and posed for a photo. Both men took photo’s. It appeared to us that the men were on a ‘recruitment drive’ for the evening! The girls got up and left after an hour or so and she went over and said something to them. It was all very weird by our culture anyway and the card definitely had a picture of a pole dancer on it. I know it sounds like the makings of a good story but it actually happened. Another girl got a note delivered on a napkin by a waiter and she replied back through the waiter on the same napkin. A couple nearly broke up at another table and Michelle was convinced she was about to go mad and walk out. It was a very random night and certainly entertained us for the few hours we were there. Oh ya, we had a big huge plate of rump steak and chips between us. Very tasty!

This morning we got up and packed our bags for Puerto Iguacu. We had decided to hire a taxi for €18 to takes us through the Brazilian border, Argentinean border and to our hostel in Puerto. This took about 40 minutes and was worth every penny. The other option was to lug our bags(30kgs each between four bags- 30 bags of sugar!) about 1km to the bus stop and wait for the bus. Then when we got the bus we would have to get off at the Brazilian side and get our passports stamped. Then wait for the next bus to the Argentinean border and do the same thing all over again. By the way it would have been about 28 degrees as well. Now some people fancy doing this and think the way we did it is cheating. We say… we couldn’t care less. I’d nearly have paid double than go through that kind of torture.

We arrived at Marco Polo, our hostel in Puerto Iguacu for two nights. We checked in and headed out in search of an ATM, our bus ticket to Buenos Aires and some food. We succeeded in all three but not the way we wanted them. The ATM would only give out $AR300 at a time, which is about €70. We need to take out a little bit more than this and had to repeat it five times! We then set out in search of food. It was mid-day and the temperature was very hot an humid. I fancied eating in some place with air conditioning and we ended up in a fairly fancy restaurant. I had steak of course. I have been dreaming of Argentinean steak now for a long time. I ordered Bife de Lomo(sirloin) and the portion I got was huge. When you order steak here you get nothing else other than the meat. No veg, chips or salad. Just a side portion of different dips. It was so big I had to force myself to finish it and that’s saying something. I was only fit for bed afterwards but I had to solider on as we needed to go to the falls as there was a lot to cover over two days. The meal cost about €20 and way above what we can afford for just lunch. Also we had to get our bus ticket and the good seats were gone. When I say good I mean the ones that fully recline. Instead we had to settle for seats that go back 160 degrees which isn’t too bad. The buses are better than the Brazilian ones and cost literally half the price. We get fed on them and can watch movies. Not bad at €75 for the two of us for a 20hr bus journey.

We had hassle finding the bus stop for the national park. I think its more our own fault and it was actually easy to find in the end. We got our return tickets to the falls which only cost about €2 for a 30 min journey. When we got to the park, the official wanted $AR60 each. Still thinking in Brazilian money I wondered should we pay the high fee. It turns out it was €15 and at twice the price of the Brazilian side it was a bit steep. We need to watch our budget and €30 fairly eats in to our daily budget of €75 a day for Argentina considering our hostel was €30 a night. If you return a second day it is half price so that’s not too bad. I’m going to blog all the falls together so they will be missing from this entry.

This evening we went to a small restaurant down the road. We ordered pizza as we had already had our fill of steak for the day. It was nice and we got pancake’s for desert. All together with water it came to €10 and it was perfect. While we were there two Irish girls came in and ordered their food. If you saw the size of the plates of different meats I think you’d fall over at the thought of trying to eat it. The waiter had to push another table beside their’s to fit all the meat and one small plate of chips. There was easily enough to feed four grown men. Everyone gasped and chuckled at the thought of having to eat it. For the time we were there, there wasn’t a word out of either girl and they looked like they needed a trolley to bring them back to their hostel when finished. As Michelle said, you felt like going up and giving them a pat on the back and buying them a drink for their marvellous achievement. I am now currently on a 24hr fast and will return to the restaurant on Saturday night to try and match their feat. Asking Michelle to fast as well might not be advisable as i might be the one that gets eaten if she is hungry!

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