spent most of the morning in a bus or waiting for a bus. guess it was too much to ask for the coach to get to Foz do Iguazu on time, instead of 2 hours late. well, at least i slept most of the time. also experienced the strange highway stops that they have. like a diner cum convenience store.
anyway, being late put paid to my plan of visiting the Brazil side of the Iguazu falls first. which actually ended up being a blessing in disguise since i didn´t realise it would take me 2 hours to cross the border. waiting for the bus, to being left at the brazil border to get my passport stamped, and then being ignored by 2 buses. sigh. the town of Puerto Iguazu is a small one built up over the years to cater for the tourists coming to see the falls. every other building is a hotel / hostel / guest house / souvenir shop. all the roads are red with the basalt volcanic soil and everyone´s shoes are soiled red. it´s relatively low season since it´s winter so the streets are pretty empty.
after a lunch of pizza (as beloved here as in Brazil) topped with mozarella, ham, palm heart and olives (yum!) i headed out to the Argentinian falls. managed to cover one of the circuits and also go on a jungle safary to see the rainforest and animals. when the 4wd truck driver and guide, Alejandro, handed me a guide with pumas and jaguars, i started to get excited (and worried). but alas, over the 2 hour bumpy journey , we only saw a few toucans and goutis (small rat) and a deer. at least i know the pumas and jaguars are smart enough to keep away from a truck full of noisy tourists (including an Indonesian family, whose geophysicist father is working in Patagonia). didn´t even get to see a good old tapir. since it was dark by 6pm, i plan to come by again tomorrow morning to cover more of the circuits.
Dinner was local river fish - surubi, at a restaurant recommended by Alejandro. Quite delicious and simple. Service was great too, plus you can pay in 4 currencies - argentinian pesos, brazilian reais, USD and Euros. talk about touristy. hehe. could hear from the tables around me that there were visitors from Australia, Japan, UK and of course the US of A. outside you could see the locals sitting on the streets or selling trinkets. i guess we`re there to provide them with revenue, so i shouldn´t feel bad. hmmmm. Buenos Aires tomorrow, i can´t wait! Aside from tango, the guide book says they have great buildings, museums, cafes and parks. yay!
woohoo. hope youre taking loads of pix. really looking forward to hearing all about it. xxx
Posted by: rara avis | June 17, 2009 at 09:09 PM