Puerto Iguazu & Buenos Aires (4 - 17 January 2009)

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January 17th 2009

Published: January 14th 2009

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Iguazu

On the way to the Itaipu damm

Puerto Iguazu & Buenos Aires (4 - 17 January 2009)

Iguazu (4 - 13 January 2009)
On Sunday I decided to go for a trip over to the Brazilian side and visit the nearby Itaipu damm, the world's biggest water damm between Brazil and Paraguay producing as much energy as 14 nuclear power stations. It would be a rather long journey to get there, taking three different public buses and getting the passport stamped several times at the border.
So waiting for the bus I met an Italian couple (Tina & Marco) who wanted to do the same trip, but were planning to do some shopping in the nearby Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, afterwards, a rather large city full of cheap Asian electronics, fake sunglasses & clothes. So instead of taking the bus we ended up renting a cab for the whole day which certainly saved us a lot of time & hassle (and let's face it: US$ 15 per person for the whole day is a fair price...).
Our driver decided to approach the damm from the Paraguayan side, so half an hour later we were at the visitor center on the westside of the damn. Probably a good

Iguazu

thing since the 30mins movie was only in Spanish (which I could understand more or less), however, I guess on the Brazilian side I would have had the same presentation in non-comprehensible Portugues....
The whole damm is a complete ecological but also economical disaster, so it was most astonishing to see the glimmery & shiny propaganda movie about it. At least the following bus tour through and along the damm was very interesting - and for free...
Afterwards we drove to the Ciudad del Este where we strolled around for a couple of hours, the Italians buying cheap t-shirts and electronics whilst I purchased a pair of original Raybans...
Back in Puerto Igutazu we had some grilled lomo (= filet mignon) before going back to the hostel for drinks at the bar , turning into a wild Rio Backpackers like dancing & drinking party... Oh yeah, 'my' Rio people CAN party!!!! ;-)
The following day we just enjoyed the nice weather and the hostel pool, and on Tuesday mid-afternoon Celeste, Michelle and I took the night bus to Buenos Aires (we were lucky to get the last tickets since the 6th was a public holiday and therefore lots of people

Iguazu

were travelling that day). Even though only I had booked (and paid) for the 'cama VIP', all the three of us ended on the upper bus level where we had a seat transformable into a bed whilst being served all kind of meals and drinks. Fabulous!!!

Buenos Aires (7 - 17 January 2009)
Arriving in Buenos Aires at 9 o'clock in the morning it was nice to be welcomed by Sol who picked my up from the bus station with her mom's car! Spending the day at the Rio de la Plata and at her place (swimming pool!) I could finally move into the little studio in Palermo Soho, a trendy & modern quarter full of nice shops & bars. Afte all these weeks on hostels (and for a little bit more money) I now have my own little place with kitchen, bathroom, TV, WiFi, etc. Really cool!
So I did quite some sightseeing already in the wonderful, very European like city: my neighbourhood Palermo, Centro (with all the shopping streets & malls), San Telmo & La Boca (two beautiful and lively areas south of downtown), Recoleta (with the most amazing cemetery including Eva 'Evita' Peron's grave), etc. etc.

Iguazu

In the evenings I'm meeting up with my friends from Rio/Iguazu or with Sol & Flor and their friends, and just yesterday I finished my 8 hours private teacher crash course in Spanish. Was really good, and I now can have decent basic conversations with the locals... So life is definitely good!

Unfortunately, most of the Rio/Iguazu gang has left BA already (actually, Oli & Morgan, the two Canadians, were kicked out of their rental apartment after a rough party...), so I guess I have to find my way to keep life moving.... ;-)

Anyway, don't know really about the upcoming two weeks, but will tell you more next time. I only fly out to Sydney on Feb 4th, so there is plenty of time to discover more of the city and some other parts of Argentina...

(to be continued)

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