Iguazú

Jueves el 29 de septiembre – día 74 – continuación

I met Vanessa at the bus stop and we headed off to retiro (the omnibus terminal) to board our bus, which left at 20:30. 

They served us dinner around 21:00 and I watched Eagle Eye in Spanish while I ate. 

I would like to make note that if one so desired, it would be entirely possible to get drunk on the omnibus.  With our dinner we were asked twice if we wanted wine, and they gave us a very large cup each time, then, when the lights were off and I was trying to sleep the bus attendant came around and asked everyone if they would like some whisky o champagne (as I had already brushed my teeth I declined).

Unfortunately between the love bird couple in front of me smooching, the man behind me snoring, and the young child in the front of the bus crying, I didn’t sleep very well, not to mention the seats aren’t as comfortable as they seem.

Viernes el 30 de septiembre

Friday I woke up (or more accurately, gave up trying to go back to sleep) around 8:00.  We were served breakfast (medialunas and crackers with spreadable cheese and peach jam, with a choice of coffee or tea to drink) shortly thereafter and I spend the rest of the day alternating between reading for psicolingüística and watching Bedtime Story then a strange but funny vampire/werewolf/zombie movie called Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (Jared, you would like this movie).

We arrived at the Iguazú station 2 hours late (not really suprising) and Vanessa and I made our way to our hostel, Che Lagarto.  It was incredibly hot out, in the 90s, which I didn’t mind since I missed most of summer back home.  We checked into our room and discovered that our friend Christina had reserved the same room, which was a pleasant surprise.  The fourth bed was occupied by a nice Italian guy who is currently backpacking around South America.  

We discovered we were very close to el hito de tres puntos (three point milestone), which is the point where Argentina, Brasil, and Paraguay meet, so we headed out to find it.  When we asked a nice man at the bus stop he told us we should take the bus because it was 5 blocks away, but we elected to walk (he looked at us like we were crazy).    We saw some cool things along the way.

When we got there it was a beautiful sight!   

When we got back to the hostel we booked our shuttle to Iguazu and some excursions in the park.  Then we returned to our rooms and I did a little studying before dinner.

At 20:30 we headed downstairs for the hostel's buffet dinner, it was pretty good!

At around 22:30 we all decided to go to bed since we had to get up early the next day to go to the falls.

Sabado el 1 de octubre

We got up at 7:00 and headed downstairs to eat breakfast provided by the hostel.  At 8:00 our shuttle to the falls departed from the hostel, it was about a 15 minute ride.  We paid our $100 pesos ($25) to get into the park and then found the stand for our excursions.  Unfortunately it was a rainy and somewhat cold day (which I hadn’t packed adequately for… thanks for lying to me weather.com), and even more unfortunate was the fact that my camera decided to stop working 2 hours into the day (I wanted to cry), none the less the falls were absolutely the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. 

I don’t have pictures from the best part, la garganta del diablo (throat of the devil), but as soon as Vanessa or Richard send me their pictures I’ll be sure to post them, it was absolutely incredible, breathtaking, awe-inspiring, just awesome!

Our shuttle back to the hostel departed the falls at 17:00.  Upon arrival I asked the front desk if I could rent a towel (our hostel charges $5 pesos to use towels if you’re staying in a dorm).  They told me they were out of towels and that they wouldn’t have more until the next day.  I was cold, and soaked, and very very unhappy, so I ended up going to a store across the street and spending $18 pesos ($4.50) on a towel.

I took a shower (in which the hot water was not at all hot) and dried off with my lovely new towel, then attempted to do some work, but had a terrible headache so I decided to take a nap instead.  At 21:00 we went to get a pizza with Richard.  After we ate everyone decided to go out but I wasn’t feeling well so I went back to the hostel and went to bed.

Domingo el 2 de octubre

I woke up around 8:00 with a headache and a cough, I guess the weather on Saturday didn’t agree with me…  At 9:00 we went downstairs to have breakfast, then packed up our stuff.  We decided to do some sightseeing in the town so we went to the information center and they have us some maps.  We ended up going to La Aripuca, which was a really pretty area.  Then we went to Güiráoga, refugio de animals salvajes (wild animal refuge).  It was a really cool place!  We got about an hour and half tour during which we saw a ton of cool animals.  The main function of Güiráoga is to rehabilitate animals, but if an animal can’t be returned to the wild they keep it in the park and use it for wildlife education.

We went back to the hostel to get our things, had some lunch then went to the bus station to board our omnibus back to Buenos Aires at 16:30.  I wanted to do some reading for psicolingüística but my head hurt too much and I was feeling a little dizzy, so I watched X-Men First Class.  We had dinner around 22:00 while watching Ice Age 2, The Meltdown and Ice Age 3, Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

Lunes el 3 de octubre

I woke up around 8:30, and we had breakfast around 9:00.  I did some reading for psicolingüística and we arrived in Buenos Aires at around 11:00 (only half an hour late) and Vanessa and I took a colectivo home. 

I took a nice hot shower and made myself some soup for lunch.  I still wasn’t feeling well but I did a little reading for psicolingüística.  When Clarisa got home around 16:00 she took my temperature and told me I had a fever (about 99.5) and instructed me to continue taking ibuprofen every 4 hours.  Clarisa had to go back to work so I did some more reading.

At around 21:30 I had dinner (salad and spinach/egg pie Clarisa left me) and now I’m off to bed

Un beso,

Taylor

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