Buenos Dias….back in Argentina!

It has been a whirlwind since I finished our last blog and this is mainly Lori's email to friends and family plus pictures.  We were in the Sao Paulo airport, waiting for our flight to Foz Iguazu, on the Brazilian side.  A domestic flight….shouldn’t be a problem, right??  NOT. 

We got to the airport two hours early and breezed through security.  We were told our gate was Gate 4.  It was downstairs, so we waited upstairs until boarding time.  Then we went down the escalator to “Gate 4.”  It was like India down there, and as people were coming off the escalator, there was no place to go.  We looked at the monitors at each of Gates A, B, C, and D, but none of them said Iguazu.  So we looked at the departures board, and it was moved to Gate 10.  Up we go and off to the other end of the airport with our heavy carry-on luggage (new combination coming up after this trip, for sure!!) and got seated when we saw our information at the gate screen.  After about half an hour (it wasn’t even the right kind of plane at the gate, so we were suspect already) the information just disappeared  off the gate screen, and we had to move again.  This happened four or five times (we lost count) and our departure time came and went.  At least the flight attendant was following us around, so we figured we were okay.  None of the announcements came out in English, and although my Spanish is improving, that doesn’t do us any good when the language here is Portuguese.  We understand absolutely nothing!  Two hours past our departure time, we finally boarded the plane, and off we went. 

Line at final gate after 5 moves!

 The flight was shorter than we were told, so we made up a bit of time there.  As we flew into Iguazu, we got a spectacular view of the falls…..but no camera, as we were in the Exit row, and not allowed to have our purses with us.  Damn.  It was a bit bumpy on the approach (with a couple of really huge dips in there…) since the afternoon storm clouds were just approaching.  We got off and just as we got out of the terminal, the storm started.  The raindrops were so big that they bounced up off the pavement in a torrential downpour.  But it was quick, and the sun came back out.  Someone told us how to get the city bus to our hotel, and we were off.  The driver dropped us right off at the entrance.  The hotel was fairly nice, and we found that we were only 500 m from the entrance to the falls. 

 

As we landed

5 minutes later!

 We quickly dumped our stuff, and walked down there.  I (Lori)had been to the Argentinian side before, but the Brazilian side was a very different view.  And it was just awesome.  Photos and words just couldn’t possibly do it justice.  I think it was so beautiful due to the fact that there has been SO much rain.  We walked out onto a platform that puts you right in front of the falls near the bottom.  The rushing  force of the water is just so magnificent.  You get soaked from the spray, and that was very welcome on the hot day.  We then walked along the trail that goes along the edge of the fault, taking in all the different falls along the way.  We took tons of pictures but, as I said, you just can’t capture that. Everywhere we went, we saw coatis.  They are a little like raccoons, and they are prolific!  They are constantly scavenging for food, and we even saw some people throwing food for them.  Duh.  There are signs all over the place to NOT feed the animals, and apparently those cute little things have sharp claws and sharp teeth.  Back to the hotel, and we had a late dinner and went straight to bed.  

on top of the falls

a little wet after the falls

It turned out that the hotel had a “shopping excursion” to Paraguay for $20 each.  We thought that instead of fighting with busses and such, we would take the excursion, but not shop….we needed a geocache from Paraguay.  We had researched the crossing of the border before we went, and it was just not clear if we needed a visa or not.  The officials said we did, but most people we read about did not get one.  Some had problems re-entering Brazil (because they did not have an exit stamp from leaving in the first place) and it was three days to figure it out…..we did not want to be stuck and miss the cruise.  So we dutifully spent our $$ and sent our passports off in November and got the visa. 

As we approached the border (it was crazy busy traffic and crawling), I said that we needed to go to Immigration to exit Brazil.  There are big signs all over the place, telling you to do that…..but our driver had first listed us as Brazilian (I made him change that) on the passenger manifest  and he told us that all the rules were made to be broken….no need to stop.  We were having a little bit of angst, but off we went.  You cross a bridge into Paraguay, and it is just chocaablock full of drivers trying to get somewhere in a hurry, despite the fact that the traffic isn’t moving!!  We saw a new form of transportation…..the motorcycle taxi.  There are hundreds of them, and all they do is go back and forth from Paraguay to Brazil, taking people over the bridge.  They are bright yellow, and so are the helmets….it really looks funny to see them all.  But they drive like madmen, and you couldn’t pay me to get on one!  (Never mind the helmet that you had to put on…..ugh.)

In line up for Paraguay

Mototaxis

then back to Brazil

Into Paraguay…..no border check…..and they dropped us off at a “mall.”  We were to meet back at noon and he would take us back to the hotel.  Apparently stuff is super cheap there, but we didn’t shop.  Out we went into the chaos.  One of the passengers in the van had told us that there are no rules or laws in Paraguay.  There are no road lines, either.  No traffic lights.  But TONS of traffic.  We were only 300m from the cache we wanted so we braved crossing the wide, plugged street.  People kept telling us to watch our belongings, but things were really quite okay.  We “found” our cache and walked back down to the mall.  It turns out that only we and one other were returning on the early van, and the other guy was there, so we got to go back early.  Well, we started off early.  We got onto that main street, and traffic just didn’t move.  After one hour, we hadn’t even gone two blocks.  It took a very long time to get back less than a mile to the bridge, and more time over it.  It was nice, though, the other passenger was Brazilian, but he spoke English.  A physiotherapist.  He was a very nice fellow, and gave us tons of information and history along the way.

Uh oh….we had to stop at the border to re-enter Brazil.  The guard opened the van door and looked around, and I think the driver said we were all tourists from Brazil.  I said to the physio…”Did he just tell that guy a lie?”  He looked at me, but didn’t answer!!!!  It was only a few seconds, but kind of panicky! 

Once we got back to the hotel, we checked out and got a taxi to cross through to the Argentinian side of Iguazu.  A very nice driver, and we thought he would just dump us off, but he said he could cross and take us to our hotel.  So that was great and we arrived at the Rainforest Selva hotel.  It’s just new, and expanding, but it is quite nice.  It turns out that some friends of Pam were going to be here on the exact same night.  Huge coincidence when you see how many hotels are in the area.  There is a lot of wood, glass, and stone on the structure.  The wooden plank stairs are made of a gorgeous red hardwood.  The hotel is nestled in the rainforest, so lots of tropical sights and noises. 

Again, we dumped our stuff and took a taxi out to this side of the falls.  I had been before, and remembered a lot of walking, but not THAT much, and not in the heat we were in.  It was about 3 pm and we think it was pushing 40*C.  The walk out to the Devil’s Throat was 1.1 k along a raised walkway with no shade. I have not been that hot in a long time and, by the time we got out there, we were hoping for some relief from the spray of the falls.  Nope, not here!!  But it was, again, spectacular.  It was very crowded out there, so we did not stay long, and started the walk back. 

 We stopped at one little area along the way, and a lady came and sat down and we started talking.  She and her husband are from Texas, and we determined that we were on the same cruise.  Then we talked about where we were staying, and they were staying in the same hotel as we were!!  Even more weird:  they had met Pam’s friends the night before and had had dinner with them!!

Once we got back from the platform walk, there were some outdoor showers running.  You can bet that Pam and I dunked ourselves pretty quickly!!  We were both starting to get headaches, and although we were drinking lots, we were just dripping with sweat.  I do not know how it was possible to pee with all that water vanishing in sweat!!  At first I thought we were being a little wimpy, but when you see the Brazilian and Argentine people wilting in the heat, I guess you KNOW it’s hot!!

Our driver was coming to pick us up at 6, so we made our way back to the entrance.  This involved two trains and a lot of wait time….and more “dunking!” 

Once we got back to the hotel, Pam’s friend, Lynne, came to the room.  We were really hot, so we decided to go to the pool and try and cool and then meet up with them for drinks later.  The pool was nice, and it was great to just relax in, but it was pretty warm still.

A shower and drinks cooled us down, and we enjoyed the company of Lynne and Ian and Ruth and Davis.  Their group is headed North now, and we are headed South.  We heard of a few things to maybe try and see in Buenos Aires.

This morning we decided to just stay put at the hotel, and “catch up.”  We looked back on what we have done since last Sunday, and it is really  surprising…..even to US!!!  Our flight leaves at 5:30 tonight.  When we booked it, it was nonstop, but now there is a stop in Rosario.  That’s like flying from Winnipeg to Vancouver, with a stopover in Coquitlam or something!  It’s really, really muggy and hot today, but not blazing sun.  We are going to go for a dip in the pool after we finish our correspondence and have lunch.

We also had to do some "maintenance."  Everything got so wet yesterday (including my passport) and just stunk.  We have washed out a few things and put them in the sun.  We will have to do a real wash as soon as we get to the ship;  I don't think I can wear anything I currently have until it's clean and dry.   Even the money belt took a beating!

 Tomorrow (Sunday) we will be boarding the cruise ship and then actually leaving BA on Monday evening....hoping to do some exploring before then.  Next posting is.......?