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Published: February 19th 2010
Puerto Iguazu A 1st class seat on an 18hr bus journey is something I´m seriously starting to get addicted to. The first one was to Puerto Iguazu. I had a seat right at the front of the bus, on my own (there are only three seats per row) and the big fat seat went right back so that it was pretty much flat. We were given blankets and pillows, food and wine. I had my own TV and a couple of films were shown. Not at all boring and very comfortable! I´ve done a few trips now, not all quite so swanky, and I´m discovering that the maximum time humans can be on a bus before falling asleep is roughly 15 minutes.
The province of Missiones is way up high Argentina and is very green and also red. If there was a jungle on Budleigh Salterton beach it might start to look like Missiones. Only a little bit. Puerto Iguazu is not a very interesting town, except for the fact that it´s close to Park Iguazu where the giant cataratas (waterfalls) are and also to the three frontiers (Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina). It´s touristy, hot and sweaty. My hostel
was very well-located but the atmosphere was lacking something. Fortunately I experienced a Super Book Exchange Luck Out. I swapped my two books for a crappily written and trashy but fat thriller by Stieg Larsson and The Motorcycle Diaries. I happened to show up just after the full moon and the park was organising full moon walks to La Garganta Del Diablo (The Giant´s Throat), which is the biggest waterfall in the park. Unfortunately the moon was hidden behind a cloud for half of the walk along bridges and jungle paths, but it was still light enough for us to see. The waterfall was so powerful that we got slightly drenched on the viewing platform. The ticket included an all-you-can-eat-in-40-minutes-before-the-bus-comes meal, and as I was leaving, I bumped into Christof from Expanish. We agreed to meet the next morning to go to the park.
In the daylight, La Garganta Del Diablo was even more impressive. I´m sure my pictures won´t do it justice! There were a ton of other waterfalls too and we decided to take a boat ride to get closer. In the queue to board the Espiritu Santo we bumped into Jaime who was staying in Christof´s
hostel. After getting completely soaked driving into waterfalls on the boat, I hung out in the park with Jaime. We spoke Spanish all afternoon and I found his Colombian accent so much easier to understand than the Argentine one.
The next day I joined Jaime and two nice Mexicans we´d met at their hostel for an asado. Their hostel was a bit more sociable than ours. There I met Alberto from Argentina who likes the English. He gives them a ten out of ten for everything, apparently. Jaime had said how Alberto was such a nice guy, but Jaime isn´t a girl. The next morning, Alberto found me in my hostel while I was eating breakfast and managed to get me to agree to have him accompany me to Las Tres Fronteras. This was fun for about five minutes, until he started going on about how he felt a connection between us and how he had feelings for me. For about ten minutes I pretended not to understand until I couldn´t stand it any more and I started laughing. Then comes the stupid question: "why are you laughing?" I told him we´re more subtle in England and asked him
to stop talking about it. Then he was really sullen. For goodness sake! What an idiot. I hate guys like that. Added to the ridiculous basis for his declarations of love was the fact that he was a lot older, shorter and smellier than me. Not likely! You can check out his photo below. I was quite happy to get on the bus and chill out on my own in a plush seat for another 18 hours. I guess it was good Spanish practice though.
On the bus journey back to BA, the Germans sitting across from me and I were ASTOUNDED to discover that they had no red wine. NO RED WINE!! In ARGENTINA!
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Dave My
non-member comment
Hey Em, looks like you're having a ball! Keep up the good work, especially for international relations! Alberto looks nice! Catch you on the flip side.