Argentina from the border to BA

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Hey so the falls were absolutely amazing. so tall and they were quite spread out, they covered a lot of land. They were on different levels and were really fast flowing. The first site of the falls took your breath away! The Brazilian side gave you a good idea of the layout of the falls, you could walk a little way into the spray and you could go up a viewing tower. The Argentinian side you could see the falls up close and you could peer over the edge into the falls mist. Unfortunately on the the Argentinian side, it was rather cloudy. We all sat in the jeep to take us to the boat in which we were going to go under the falls, and it just started to pour down. Not just rain, the heavens opened up and it torentially rained for hours. We took the speed boat up the river Iguacu and then went under two sets of the falls, the water was so powerful, and it was very exciting. Then we walked around the complex with soggy clothes and bags from the rain and the speed boat.

The next few days we used to chill out in Puerto Iguazu. The first day it rained, so we watched a movie and uploaded photos. The next day we sunbathed around our hostel´s pool. The hostel felt like a hotel it had really good facilities! At the hostel we also were treated to a samba night, where there were two women in next to nothing, were little bras and thongs with sparkly jewels and feathers on and were shaking their bums and thighs so fast to the music it was crazy. Then the classic get the audience up routine occured and we all got up to try and samba, which ended up in a conga line which ended up on the disco dancefloor outside the hostel. The other nights entertainment was tango. It was so beautiful to watch and the dance looked so passionate. We made some Australian and New Zealand friends at the hostel and stayed up with them drinking beer, which i have grown to like on this trip, and then went to bed to get ready for our bus to Posadas.

We first got to Posadas and thought what the hell are we doing here. It looked a bit run down and the taxi that we got from the bus terminal, its boot wouldnt open, there was a massive crack in the windscreen, the drivers chair was wonky, and the car wouldnt start, so the taxi driver pushed the car with us and our bags down this hill, then jumped in and jump started the car. Me and Stace were proper chuckling to ourselves. The hostel was pretty basic too, but quite quirky at the same time. Across the river was Paraguay and we got talking to a dutch guy who had crossed the border that day. So the next day we decided to go to Paraguay.

It was a bit of a mission, and we felt like we had spent all day on a bus, a. as we didnt know where to get off in Paraguay, b. because it was 40 minutes to the Jesuit Missiones and c. because we forgot the stop to get off when we were back in posadas. But after some attempt at pigeon spanish. the bus driver helped us and we got dropped off. Posadas was very hot, sunny and cheap. We liked it there. The Jesuit Missiones were relics of a little complex where people came to preach about christianity. There was a church an altar and it looked very european.

Then we went to book the bus to Rosario at 10.00am the next day no bus until 3pm which got into rosario at 5am the next day. We had already booked our hostel the night before, so we were a bit annoyed. We had to just go ahead with it, so we spent the day sunbathing at the bus terminal, and got some toots off the taxis and the locals looked at us strangley. Then we got the night bus and were fed twice, the second time we had shepherds pie, or their equivalent and it was very nice!!Bus journey went fairly quickly, then we got to Rosario, checked in went to bed for a few hours and got up to sight see.

It again, started to rain, feeling a pattern of rain on this trip so far. So we waited, watched some Argentinian TV and when the rain stopped we explored. Saw the monument of the flag, and then walked up the riverfront. The next day we took a boat and went to the river beach. It was nice and sunny so we sunbathed and as it was Saturday all the locals had the same idea so it was busy. Then it got a bit cloudy in the afternoon. We stayed on the riverbeach and then a little later in the day, the sky turned black. We looked across the river into the town and there were cracks of thunder and forks of lightening. The next thing we know, it downpours again, getting us totally drenched! We got the boat back and dried ourselves off.

Our last day in Rosario, we visited the birthplace of Che Guevara. The statue which was there wasnt very grand and probably didnt do him any justice. We then took a strole through the town. As it was Sunday there were little street markets around the river and up one of the main boulevards. The first set of stalls were selling antiques. They had sets of china, blades, jewellery, clothes, shoes, coins! It was really busy aswell. Dont worry mam, i didnt buy any new clothes. Then the second set of stalls sold little trinketts and bits and bobs. We had a bit of a Stacey moment when the wind blew our food away, then her bag got blown into the mud, then when she went to pick up the bag, she fell over in the mud. We started to walk home, cleaned up and the mud dried and we then started to laugh about it. Anyways, not much more to update you on....im not such a fan on Rosario, but we didnt venture out at night as we are saving ourselves for Buenos Aires.

We keep hearing good things about the nightlife, the shops, Eva Peron, Museums and markets in BA, we have also booked in a hostel called Millhouse, which all the backpackers rave about and call the party hostel......so i dont think we are going to get much sleep there. We leave for BA tomorrow, EXCITED!!!! :-)

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