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Published: August 9th 2008
The flight back to Buenos Aires was quick and painless and I was quite delighted to be reuniting with friends at my ´other´ home (aka Pangea Hostel). I arrived at 8pm and was greeted with a huge warm welcome that made me feel like I was home again. Yay! Back in Buenos Aires after over 1 month of cruising around dreamy Patagonia. Right away I met back up with my British friend Rosie and we set out for a late vegetarian buffet that was delicious.
The next morning was a Sunday which is the big day for San Telmo in Buenos Aires. I have been there before but decided to hit it again since it is such a cool place to be. Again, I was highly entertained with a beautiful cultural experience....one that should not be missed while in Buenos Aires. Street performers, local artists, tango dancing, music, etc filled the streets making it a fun afternoon. That night we were feeling more tame and decided to hit the cinema for a movie....the new Indiana Jones movie! Turned out to be quite entertaining and amusing since it was filmed in South America...based in many of the places I have already
been to.
On Monday, Rosie and I purchased our tickets for Iguazu Falls (for Tuesday afternoon)....quite exciting! We then spent a few hours in La Boca which was quite a neat place to see. I wasn´t quite sure what to expect but was delighted at what I found; houses painted in numerous different bright colours, tango dancing, art displays, etc. A definite recommendation if one is kicking around in Buenos Aires looking for things to see/do. That night I hit my 4th ¨La Bomba de Tiempo¨...proving again to be one of the coolest experiences in Buenos Aires. After a night of frolic we settled in for some rest....dreaming about what was to come....Iguazu Falls!
The bus journey to Iguazu started at 3pm putting us there at 7am Wednesday morning (18 hour bus ride). We were fortunate to have a super comfy bus that was for the most part...empty...which made for a rather enjoyable journey. After some grub and checking into the hostel, we meandered our way back to town (the hostel, ¨Hostal Inn¨, is just outside of town) to meet up with Lisa...one of the American girls we met back in El Chalten. It was a joyful afternoon
that involved us consuming a fair amount of cervezas with the addition of an American medical doctor we had met (a cute one I might add... 😉 ). At some poing I managed to lose my tshirt so I am now down to zero ´neutral´ (aka non-gringo) tshirts. I know this sounds bad but it was because I had it slung over my bag and well...it fell off at some point without me noticing. Sigh.
Later in the afternoon it started to rain so we headed back to our hostel and bought tickets for their buffet dinner. It was a great dinner (however, it was a bit on the pricier side) that included some sort of live Brazilian show. The boys definitely enjoyed it more than most since it involved some scantily clad woman dancing around....it was definitely what I would say ¨interesting¨. 😉 I sort of felt like I was attending someone´s bachelor party.....
The next morning we had planned on heading to Iguazu Falls for the day but plans changed quickly. Rosie had not been feeling particularly well the evening before and by morning...we were both competing for the bathroom. It was so bad (along with
Iguazu Falls
One of the adjacent fallsanother rainy cold day) that we decided to hang low and wait one more day before heading to the falls. I was glad we all agreed on this since I was running back and forth to the bathroom about every 1-2 hours for the majority of the day. Out of the three of us, Lisa never got sick, so I am not sure what happened since the three of us had eaten the same food the previous night. Regardless, it passed and we were both feeling much better by dinner time that day. The weather was horrendous....super cold and rainy. This is quite unusual for these parts so the hostal was not prepared for it in any way. Many parts of the hostal do not have glass windows....instead it is just wide open since it is normally very hot and muggy. They had no heaters or fires or anything and it is a HUGE hostal that has big open areas. Needless to say we were absolutely freezing. We had to round up extra blankets just to sleep somewhat comfortably and they lacked those too. I have a thermostat on my clock and it read +11C by the night. Now I
know this is not ´that´c old but it is when you are in a drafty concrete room trying to sleep with virtually no blankets (not to mention it was raining and damp). We were getting to be quite unimpressed with this Hostelling International Hostal Inn and this was only the beginning. Regardless, we made it through the night and set out early in the morning for our day at Iguazu Falls!
The next morning turned out to be a gorgeous sunny day which was perfect for our day at the Falls. We hopped on a bus early and arrived at the falls by 10am. The Falls turned out to be even more impressive than I expected.....it was spectacular! We decided to hit the trails leading to all of the adjacent and smaller falls first leaving the big falls for the finale. All day we were in awe....completey mesmerized by the beauty of this natural phenomena. There were rainbows jetting in and out of the falls all around, along with lush green jungle plants and a few critters walking and flying about for entertainment. Every time I left a view point I thought ¨there is now way it can get
better than that¨and to my surprise...it kept getting better and better. By the end of the day, we were walking up the final walkway that is suspended above the river....leading to the grand finale.....the massive Iguazu Falls! The sound of the water was getting louder and louder....the water moving with more intensity each step....and suddenly, there it is, the massive falls! It was a spectacular sight that left me speechless. I have been to Niagara Falls and I have to say.....Iguazu Falls impressed me much more. We stayed at this viewpoint for a good hour....just soaking it all in. The water was loud and intense...apparently even more intense than normal due to the heavy rains the few days before. I wanted to cross over to the Brazilian side to see it from a different angle, but unfortunately, as a Canadian you have to pay a good $50+ for a visa. This was not worth a ´day´ in the country so I opted to not go. It was not a big deal though because the Argentinian side is spectacular!
Upon arrival back at the hostel, I had an unfortunate experience...one that will be hard to forget. The hostel sells empanadas
Iguazu Falls
The actual main falls from a distance. Brazilian side on the left. and I was starving...so I decided to buy one to tie me over until dinner. They had one veggie one left so I bought it. I analyzed it for a moment to make sure it didn´t look like it was a meat one and then once I was satisfied it was not...I took a bite. As I was chewing my first bite, I was scrounging in my pockets for the money to pay for it when I noticed something moving out of the corner of my eye. I looked down at the empanada that I had now placed on the napkin...on the counter...and there were a good 100 tiny ants pouring out of it!! It was absolutely disgusting!! I was horrified at the sight trying to forget the fact I had a bite in my mouth. The guy behind the counter picks it up and shows another staff member....then they throw it in the garbabe with no change in their facial expressions...and NO apology or anything. I could not believe it. I started to wonder what their kitchen was like if this empanada was produced there. The people behind the counter did not even do anything with the remaining 2
Iguazu Falls
Another adjacent falls meat empanadas and other hot food in the display window. I was beyond repulsed. This just added to the, now, fairly long list, of reasons I despise HI Hostal Inn in Pte Iguazu. I do not recommend this hostel to anybody...it may look pretty on the outside but it is not a great place at all (ants in the food...which I then heard later the same thing happened to someone else and they proceeded to sell him the empanada next to it instead..., freezing, public kitchen is filthy, the communal lounging/eating area is like a military mass hall, the water often does not work so you can´t always take a shower when you want to, highly overpriced for accomodations as well as food, etc.....rant now done. 😉 ).
The next morning Lisa and I said goodbye to Rosie (she was heading to northern Argentina) and Lisa and myself hopped on a bus back to Buenos Aires. The bus was gorgeous....likely new....and empty allowing us to have two seats to ourselves the entire 18 hours. It made for quite a pleasant ride and flew by quickly....especially since we made friends with a couple of nice Australian boys on the bus.
Iguazu Falls
Adjacent falls with gorgeous rainbow We arrived in BA at 9am and checked back into my ¨home¨ (aka Hostel Pangea) and then jetted to San Telmo/Recoleta for one last shopping spree....my last Sunday in Buenos Aires. The four of us were back at the hostel by 5pm....all set for my first Boca game! The game was great fun with Boca winning...another exhilerating football game in Argentina!
The next day was an errands day since the morning after I was flying back to Quito. It was a weird feeling that day....it was like my journey was coming to a close and I was leaving my ´home´ where I had spent a good month....and the country I spent over 2 months in. It was hard to see it as a close to one journey and the start of another even though that is in fact what it was. That night I hit my 5th and final ¨La Bomba de Tiempo¨ and what a show it was!! The mystery instrument was an African singer which sent shivers down your spine. It was the perfect finale to my journey in Argentina.....my journey that took me from Ecuador to Argentina over a 5 month period. The next morning
was to be the start of a whole new journey...one that would bring me back to Quito, Ecuador where this entire journey began and instead of heading south....I was heading north to Colombia!
(pictures to come)
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