Iguazu Falls

Hi guys,

Writing to you from Puerto Iguazu, Argentina, where we`ve been hanging out for the past three days. Its a chilled out little town very close to the massive Iguazu falls. But besides the falls, the town itself is really nice, just laid back although its filled with Americans going back and forth from the falls, and who are very angry at Bush because they cant get into Brazil to see the falls from the Brazillian side. Apparently America recently said that Brazillians had to pay 130USD to visit the US, so, maturely, Brazil responded by doing exactly the same. Its pissing them off so much its hilarious. To give you an idea of where we are (get your map out at this point), the Iguazu falls come from the Rio Iguazu, which seperates Brazil and Argentina, and thus you can see the falls from Brazil and Argentina, although Argentina allows a much closer look. Paraguy is also just around the corner from here.

Right.

Tuesday
We set off from our `Hostel Sweet Hostel` in the morning heading for the Parque Nacional Iguazu, from where you can explore the jungle and view the falls. We were warned at the bus station that the road to the park had been blockaded by protesters and that it might be hard to get there. Being South African, we figured we could handle a little bit of protesting, so we (very bravely) took a bus which was forced to stop at the barricade. We got out the bus to see what was going on with the intention of trying to cross the blocade to continue on to the falls. After much toyi toying and getting riled up with the locals we were allowed to cross. However, since busses had been stopped from both sides, we had to walk in the 37 degree sun along a long road which didnt seem to end. After far too much of this walking stuff (about 5km), we spotted a taxi over yonder hill. After flagging down our little peso hungry friend, we climbed in and enjoyed the rest of the trip to the falls. All the protesting and walking had delayed our arrival significantly and so we didnt have much time to do the walks we wanted to do. However, we took a train and another walk all the way to the biggest of the falls, Garganta del Diablo (the Throat of the Devil) and we were spat on by Satan himself. The falls up close are spectacular, an emotional experience that words cant quite describe. Check out the pics and maybe play some waterfall music really loud and stand next to your sprinkler.

On the way back to our hostel we again got stuck at the protest. The protesters were schoolchildren and their parents and teachers. We soon found out that, due to a lack of funding, the schools werent doing much schooling, and the government wasnt doing much governing, and so the kids werent doing much learning, and the parents werent doing much parenting. But the protesters were doing much protesting. Sounds like home. It began to look like a scene out of a bad movie about medieval battles - The Parents vs. The Tourists. There were many irate Americans who were defiant in the face of angry moms. We began to converse with some of the protesters and soon understood their anger. We, like silly tourists, offered them money, but they refused and said that they were trying to teach their children a lesson about making things happen and not giving up... it was rather emotional. We then decided that it was no big thing for us to wait it out until they decided to open the barricade, so we chilled out with the schoolkids, who were incredibly acrobatic and began to show off by doing backflips and stuff (perhaps its because they have so much time on their hands because they`re not in school). I taught one of them to juggle with naarties and a good time was had by all, except for the Americans who were still pretty pissed off about the whole thing. We eventually got back to our hostel and had a (not very nice) meal consisting of (pretty awful) steak. But we sampled a few local drinks including Fernet and Coke (which absolutely everyone in Argentina likes to drink) and Mate (ditto). Mate is a herbal tea like thing which you mix with warm water and it keeps you awake for a year.

Wednesday

Since we found ourselves so close to the border of Paraguy, we thought we`d go say hey to the paraguyans in Ciudad del Este, so we took a bus across two borders in 30 mins and got dropped in the middle of the craziest dirtiest city in the universe. But the whole place is a huge market where you can buy anything you want. We were offered anything from socks and underwear to Opium. Electronics in particular were insanely cheap, about half the price as they are at home. You dont need to inquire about various products, they are thrown in your face and their names are shouted at you repeatedly as if somehow if you hear it enough you will take out your money and buy the damn thing. For Steve, this happened in the form of a man selling `musical condoms`which apparently played a choice of samba, tango and pop music. I caved in after much refusing and bought these musically gifted contraceptives, only to discover that they were talentless and couldnt keep a tune. It was safe to say I had been had. But they`re Banana flavoured so they work as a snack when you`re really hungry. Just kidding.


We did purchase a couple of (fake) watches. Nadia got a great looking (fake) Puma watch for about R50 and Steve bought a Real (ly fake) Silver Rolex. Oh yes. Fausto on the other hand did not buy a watch but rather was suckered into buying some Paraguyan popfunkrocktechno which barely resembles music but rather sounds like some Paraguyan being killed by a gang of Ferrets. After saying `no, Gracias`far too much (the poiliteness soon wore off and we switched to a simple, `please leave me alone you bastard paraguyan`) we were a bit tired and very irritated (especially Steve, who clearly doesnt do well in crowds), so we caught the next bus outta there and returned to our lovely little town to enjoy cold beer and empanadas at a local restaurant.

After too much touristy spending in the last few days, we decided last night to eat and drink as cheaply as possible, so we purchased a bag of pasta from the supermaket and made a saucey dinner for under R20 for the three of us. Not bad. We also, shamefully, purchased a six pack of wine (yes, wine, not beer) for only R25. Thats R4 for a bottle of wine. However, since wine is generally made from grapes, and not gasoline mixed with rat piss, this fine brew should probably not have been called wine, and quite possibly should not have been sold or even thought of. After spitting out the wine, we went to the store to buy a bottle of actual wine which tasted fantastic. We now have five bottles of Satan`s brew.


We`re leaving this town tonight for Recistencia, so we shall blog again soon. We hope you have enjoyed our time together today. Stay in school.

Los Gringos

PS We like the comments, keep them coming

Photos from Ihla do Mel are up now, so check em out at
http://picasaweb.google.es/steveo.zogg/IhlaDoMel
Also here are the photos from Iguazu falls http://picasaweb.google.es/steveo.zogg/IguazuFallsBrazilAndArgentina



K bye