Iguazú

Last Friday, my friend René and I took the train up to Posadas. We had our own private cabin with a window, a sink, and a long bench that converted into bunk beds at night. It left at 11:30am and we were supposed to be in Posadas around 1:30pm the following day. We played a lot of gin, listened to a lot of music and, at one stop, were able to get off and buy a big bottle of wine for less than U$3, which helped the evening pass quickly. I slept really well on the bottom bunk, the rocking of the train lulling me to sleep. I woke up the next morning around 11, eager to get off the train and into the sunshine. Of course, the train was three hours late getting to our destination. If it had actually taken 26 hours, I would have felt as though it was the perfect length. Instead, we were really over the charm of the train when we stumbled off at ~4:30 Saturday evening.

Posadas

The capital city of its province, Misiones, this town has seen better days. There are a lot of vacant storefronts and the things that are for sell in the others go very cheap. We find a hotel then walk for ages in search of something to eat. Finally we end up at the mall because it's the only place we've seen that actually serves food. Drink cafés con leche and have sandwiches, start to feel normal again. The following day is Diá del niño (the day of the child) and there were kids everywhere, playing in the arcade and getting their faces painted by "Barbie".

Later, we found the bowling alley--six lanes, everyone wears their owns shoes, chucks the ball, and scratches constantly. It was really fun but there was a one game limit per group so it was back to the mall for a drink and to check out the movie theatre. We played a game of foosball while we waited for Crimen perfecto (or Fracture, in English). The film was okay. I liked the intricate set up and Anthony Hopkins played the brilliant, creepy guy, which he is always great at.

The next morning, we packed our bags and were out the door for breakfast before taking the bus up to Iguazú. We found a nice little cafe near the Plaza central and took some pictures of it after we ate.



Catedral on Plaza Central



Municipal Building with protest by maté farmers

Then it was off to the bus station for the final six hours of our journey to Puerto Iguazú. The bus was really nice and they played some crap movies and gave us coffee, candies, and soda. Iguazú is a really cute little town and we were glad to have a few days to settle here and get to know it a bit. It was also absolutely fantastic to be somewhere warm and sunny again after spending the past month and a half in cold wintery Buenos Aires.

Monday morning, we took the public bus to the Iguazú national park. A guide gave us a map and told us the best route to take to see everything in one day. It started out with a ride in a mini train to the beginning of a long walkway over the largest series of river and islands I have ever seen.

It ended at the top of the biggest waterfall in the park, Garganta de diablo (Devil's Throat). It was amazing! For the first five minutes, all I could do was grin and stare. I've never seen so much rushing water, not even in my imagination. I felt the way I'd expected to feel, and didn't, at the Grand Canyon.





There were mariposas (butterflies) everywhere. Luckily, my favorite one chose to lick René with his green tongue.



When we were done marveling at la Garganta, it was back on the train and over to the start of a trail that took us to a series of vistas and near the base of another set of waterfalls.





We made our way down the to the river and took a raft over to a small island. Waded a little bit--the water was really cold--then climbed tons of stairs and walked out of the forest into a mist-sprayed lookout.





René y yo

The next day, while we were having breakfast on the patio at the hotel, one of the ladies who worked there came up to us and said that they'd taken a reservation for our room because they weren't sure how long we were going to stay. So they had to ask us to leave. Really strange, you'd think they'd just ask us how many more nights we wanted to stay.

Luckily, there was another hotelito two houses down and they had a room available so we didn't have to go too far. Finally, we left the hotel with the vague idea of going to Paraguay for the day, without really thinking about exactly what that might entail. The bus cost $1 and we all had to get off, go through Argentina exit customs, then get back on again for a non-stop, no customs needed trip through Brazil, and straight through the Paraguayan one as well, no stop there either.

We got off the bus right after crossing the border into Cuidad del Este, which is retrospect probably wasn't the best idea. It was a chaotic mess of people, a ridiculous amount of commerce, and no restaurants. Of course, we were starving at this point. Wandered around for awhile and found a few Chinese places that all told us they only accept their own money, Brazilian reales, and US$. No one took Argentine pesos, even though the countries were so close. Finally, we ended up changing some money and eating Chinese. Apparently there are a lot of Asians in this city. After lunch, we walked around a bit; there's nothing one can't buy in those streets.



Just one example of housing/advertising in the "most corrupt city in South America"

For our final full day in Puerto Iguazú, we had plans to take it easy and visit Hito Tres Fronteras, the place where the three countries, Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, meet.



We knew it was close to the downtown and decided to walked, even though we knew that there was a bus that went there. Due to an incorrect sign, we had an accidental tour of some of the neighborhoods of the town. We'd had a vague idea that this would be a place where the three countries actually touched, but it ended up they are divided by a river.



Paraguay--Left, Brazil--Right, Argentina--Bottom



The marker for the Argentine side, not as big and impressive as it should have been.



Cuidad del Este from Hito Tres Fronteras

Spent the evening and the next morning saying goodbye to the cute touristy little town of Puerto Iguazú. I had a really great time there. It's really touristy, but in a good way and there weren't too many people. Lots of good, cheap food and a handful of fun places to drink.

Then it was back on the bus for the 18 (actually 19) hour bus ride back to Buenos Aires. They played three movies: Casino Royale, Because I Said So, and Perfect Stranger, which was the best of the three but really didn't need to be played twice. Again, we played a lot of cards. At dinner time, the guy came around and told everyone that we would be stopping for thirty minutes. We got off the bus and were seated at tables, where waiters proceeded to bring along empanadas, bread, milanesa, vegetables, soda, cake, and then champagne(!). The girl seated next to me told me that you always get champagne before you have to get on a bus. Crazy. I slept well in my big comfy reclined seat and woke up with only a couple hours to go. It's nice to be in the city again, but I miss the sunshine already!



Bus window sunset