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Published: January 31st 2017
So there we were bright eyed and full of hope, anxious with excitement to get to Buenos Aires. Just the short matter of a 27 hour bus journey........ or so we thought! Our first leg of the journey to the Bolivian border flew by! Luxury seats that fully reclined, good air con and a good nights sleep. We arrived at the boarder town of Vizella around half 10 in the morning and had to find our connecting bus. Some broken Spanish later in the bus office we were put into a taxi to get to the bus. Alarm bells should have started to ring when we arrived at our final bus - the guy who put our bags on was in less than a healthy state and sounded like he was about to die. He was only a young chap - slightly concerning. Anyway we got on and sat in our seats and waited. And waited. And waited. I have just checked with Jo and we reckon it was at least three hours that we sat there on the bus not moving! When we eventually did start to move, we moved all of 20meters before stopping again to actually cross the
Bolivian border into Argentina! As we were in the queue the heavens opened! There was a thunderbolt that literally struck 100m away from us- brown pants time to say the least! Still we got the stamps we needed and we're back on the bus in no time, we were nearly on our way right??? WRONG! Off the bus again this time all bags off to be hand searched by the Argentinian border control because the x-ray machine wasn't working! Now this is where me and Jo started to panic! Not because we were shipping any illegal substances but if we had to open our bags for a search- we also had to close them! Which through our travels so far has been a mammoth task in itself! Now I'm not sure whether he was trying to flirt or just took pity on us but the guy who searched my bag was rather friendly and took delight in me squirming as my dirty underwear was right on top and on full display!! At last we were back on the bus and moving! Just a few more hours to go! Day turned into night and so we slept. When we woke up
breakfast was being served- except they ran out by the time they got to us at the back of the bus! But we were still going! This bus journey was going on for eternity! I think we finally arrived about 5pm in the evening! So in total that's 43 hours worth of bus ride!!! Things weren't about to get any easier either! We got into a taxi at the bus terminal with this guy called Alexandro/ Riccardo. This journey can only be described as a surreal out of body experience! The first thing he said to us was 'I love you' 'I love you baby' not concentrating on what he was meant to be doing- it took him 5 mins to figure out how to get out the car park barrier, with some interesting reversing! We finally got onto the road in the middle of a huge thunder and lightning storm, straddling two lanes, still with Alexandro/ Ricardo/ Pablo screaming ' I love you- I love you baby!' Now turning the radio up slapping the roof and yelling 'fuck you' intermittently! To say I was relieved to get to the hotel was the understatement of the year so far!
The
next few days in Buenos Aires was full of red wine, steak, walking and culture! We really liked Buenos Aires- even snuck in a Tango show, which was outstanding.
Again we headed back onto a bus- a mere 17 hours this time round (drop in the ocean!) heading for Iguazu falls! I slept the whole way- to Jo's horror/amazement!
We arrived and thought we would head straight out to the falls- we had read the weather report and would be expecting thunder storms for the rest of the week, so needed to make the most of the nice weather! Again broken Spanish was our down fall here. We hopped into a cab and asked to go to Iguazu falls. Before we knew it we were over the border in BRAZIL! Not what we had planned!!! That was for the day after lol! Still we got there in one piece- after I had a small stroke due to panic!
Iguazu falls can only be explained as utterly breathtaking and beautiful- the rest is down to the pictures! And if we thought the Brazilian side was lovely- the Argentinian side matched it in equal measures the next day. We also got a
good soaking on a boat ride and had a really great day.
We're currently sat across the border in Brazil chilling out in the sun for a few days before heading onto São Paulo for the next part of the adventure!
We're off out to find more steak and wine!!!
Lauren and Jo! Xxx
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Rachel Okarimia
non-member comment
How many borders can you cross before your become confused?
Really enjoying reading your travel adventures and seeing the photos. You are certainly having the experience of a lifetime. Life is very busy back in Barnes. We are expecting a very cold February so seeing the sunshine only makes me a teeny bit jellie!!! Look forward to the next leg of journey. just watch out for more sick taxi drivers! xx