Advertisement
Published: August 29th 2005
Edit Blog Post
Tuesday it was still raining tropical style. i went to hospital and we ended up talking about where all the transvestites in BA loiter. I went to my other placement, but the bus broke down (very common here) and i had to walk in torrential rain for three blocks. Sat for two hours sodden and cold. Had a good lesson tho. It degenerated into teaching her swear words (its ok, shes 18 and she needs to know these things) and comparing animal sounds. Found myself mooing and woofing a lot, in fits of giggles. Tuesday night, we stayed in with a couple of bottles of fine wine, had loadsa fun just chatting and laughing. Turns out Andys dad is one of the most famous childrens authors in Canada, Robert Munsch. Oh and a new couple, (gone now) Tim and Nicky, are friends with Imogen Heath! Wednesday at school was good, i was teaching 3rds, who are only 8 or 9, had a couple of really cute ones. James, Jamie, Jodie and Chris had all been in Uraguay for the day, so the rest of us waited for them to come back to go to an all you can eat buffet called
Iguazu
the first view we saw Grants. We got there and it was well posh, all chrome and white tablecloths. I went a little bit crazy. Some would call it greed, but we had deliberately not eaten all day, and i was starving! Had some salad to start, then a plate of sushi (gorgeous - am now a sushi convert) then the obligatory steak or three, then a plate of mussels, then for desert a pancake with bananas and caramelised sugar, with any flavour ice cream and as much of it as u wanted. I was fit to burst. Taxi of course broke down on way home, so the walk probably did us good. Thursday the hostel was quiet, Chris, James and Jamie went south to El Calafate to see the glaciers, and us girls were going to Iguazu so the hostel was practically deserted at the weekend. School was good, taught the 4ths and then had to invigilate a 7ths exam. Wasnt allowed out of the building at the end of the day, apparently there was yet another picket, with police and helicopters - the works! There's ALWAYS a protest about something or other here, normally to do with the dirty war. Still, got home,
ate, showered, and caught the bus for my first epic journey in south america.
The bus itself was pretty cool, the seats were enormous, lazy boy style, with big leg rests and they went right back. We got a meal, and the man came round with whiskey, wine and even champagne! We felt like we were living the high life 😊
We set off about half 7, and it got dark pretty soon, but i could see through the journey the earth got redder and redder and the trees and vegetation became more adundant. At times i looked out and couldnt see anything but forest, with this gorgeous red earth. Sometimes you might mistake it for Britain, but the odd palm tree and plants i couldnt recognise gave the game away. We travelled for about 18 hours, watched a couple of films and slept pretty well. We arrived in Puerto Iguazu, on the Argentinian side, about 1pm. We found our hostel, it was really nice, complete with swimming pool and hammocks, all for 4 pounds a night! Dumped our stuff and made our way to Brasil. The buses were a bit confusing, but we met up with some boys
Iguazu
The devils throat in its glory, bear in mind there were many more round the corner! from Brighton at the Argentine immigration, and we helped each other find our way into the national park. The weather was gorgeous - blue skies, and the temperature didnt drop below the high twenties all weekend. Foz do Iguazu, the town in Brasil, was like a big version of Boca - very colourful. Anyway, we caught the bus to the park, went in, and got our first sight of the waterfalls - it literally took my breathe away, but the best was yet to come. The Brasilian side gives you a better panoramic view, but you can get right up and personal on the Argentine side. We walked along a trail, taking pics at practically every bend in the path, the view just kept getting better and better, with more waterfalls and bigger cascades, it was all so beautiful. The flora and fauna was pretty amazing too, with strange bird sounds and lizards all over the place. We felt like we were in Jurrasic Park. We ended up next to the biggest part of the waterfall on the Brasilian side, right next to it - you can just imagine the sound of the water plunging down. Tired but happy, we
Argentine falls
Rainbows are common, this is a view from the san martin isla. went back to Argentina - grateful to be able to speak the lingo again. The hostel was putting on an asado, so i ate and ate to my hearts content, love the meat here! We met Carol, a lecturer in Biochemistry on her summer travels, and John, an American masters student. Had some wine, then called it a night. Carol had other ideas. Her snores were indescribable. It was a whole symphony going on in her nasal region, the next day John even said he heard her - and he was down the corridor!
On Saturday we went to the Argentinian side, which most people say is even better. You get better views of all the waterfalls, and you get so close to them. We went straight to the main falls, called the devils throat - Garganta del diablo. We walked across a walkway stretching across the river, and finally it came into view - like a gigantic plughole, horse-shoe shaped, the water plunged down with such a force, and we were standing right on top of it...words really cant describe the sight. If there's one thing you do before you die, you HAVE to see these falls. We walked back through trails in the jungle, Jo very wary of the big cats. There's jaguars and pumas as well as monkeys and toucans, and these cute little raccoon type animals called coatis. Plus there were the butterflies. I swear ive never seen so many in my entire life, not even when i went to an actual butterfly farm with my dad. They were like swarms of flies, except beautiful. Hundreds and hundreds of them. We decided to take a trip on a boat under the falls, we were given waterproof bags for our stuff, and told to enjoy our shower. The speed boat took us right under two of the falls, again and again, with us all screaming. We were absolutely sodden and cold, all the while being filmed by a guy at the front with a camera. We then sailed down the rapids, with the sun and warm wind warming us up a bit. We got off further down the river, and took a 4 by 4 through the jungle, didnt see any wildlife unfortunately but i think it was the wrong time of day. Came back to the hostel and went out for a meal with John, then wandered the streets to find a club where we had a coupon for a free drink. We ordered vodka lemonades, but it was even worse than in BA - pure vodka, with a spoonful of sugar, and some lime at the bottom. God, it was lethal. Had a vodka and orange - couldnt even taste the vodka, thats how bad its become, then went home.
Sunday we walked in the sweltering heat to the tres fronteras - the place you can see Paraguay, Brasil, and Argentina, all separated by a fork in the Iguazu river. I waved to people in Brasil and Paraguay! They didnt wave back, but there you go. At least i can say i waved to people in two different countries at the same time 😊 We came back, hot and sweaty, and chilled by the poolside for a bit before catching the bus home. Bit of a nightmare journey, we were the first stop so they had to wait for everyone to get on before they fed us. We waited 7 hours. No food, no drinks, no films. Pretty pissed off and hungry by the time we got it! Got back to good old cold, rainy BA a couple of hours late (the bus kept stopping for long periods of time for no apparent reason). Now ive got to go teach, wont get back home to finally relax till 8pm tonight. Still, it was a wicked weekend, absolutely amazing. Like i said, words are so inadequate to describe it all. Wish i could have shared it with you!
PS. My hostel has a website now! www.lacasafitzroy.com If you look very carefully, you can see a quarter of my head in the group photo under the 'rates' section!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.177s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 13; qc: 65; dbt: 0.0935s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
esme
non-member comment
hey hun just got computer back been catching up sounds like ur having an amazing time so jealous. glad the teachings going well too. look after yourself. have lots of drinks for me as of next week im going to be practically living in the library!!! bloody final year. love you loads take care xxx