South America

How hot is hot?

The hottest place on earth?

Since I didn't bring my own digicam to Iguazu (because of fears of crime in Rio), I will resort to using words to describe how hot it was as I waited to board the speedboats at the falls.

While in Rio, I fell in love with the idea of going to a sauna. We had one in our hotel, and I used it at least once daily to relieve stress, expunge alcohol from my system, and stretch out. I know what you're thinking, and no - I was absolutely the only person in there. Anyway, I would go in and sweat incessantly until I couldn't stand it anymore, then rush to the cold showers and the pool. It was great.

To give an idea of how hot it was while waiting for the speedboats in Iguazu, I actually sweat more in 5 minutes on that line than in did for the same time in the sauna, and I was unfortunately fully clothed on the line.

It so hot it hurt to move. It was so hot the British ladies in front of me claimed they were about to pass out. It was so hot I was dripping like I stepped out of a pool, but hadn't touched water all day.

Actually, the heat wasn't the real problem, it was pretty consistent throughout Iguazu. The problem was that the humidity in the area (facing the falls of course) where you have to stand and wait for the boats is unbearable. I asked some other travelsters who had gone, and everyone had the same complaint.

I was able to recover by stripping down into shorts as fast as I could, and then soaking myself under the falls in the boat. Also, here was another situation where clandestinely wearing a speedo under  shorts was the way to go, as I was able to put the dry shorts back on later. The convenience, once again, beat out the intense embarrasement.

Iguazu Falls, Argentina Side

I've chaned my mind totally on the tourist-worthiness of Iguazu falls, thanks entirely to my experience on the Argentine side. To sum it up, if you're planning a trip there, go to the Argentina side and spend at least one full day, and don't bother with Brasil unless you have time to burn (editors note: ironically ,these pics are from Hansol from the Brazil side. I'll follow with some Argentina pics when they arrive from my travel buddies).

Follow Darius' instructions, available here, on how to get into the park for free. It works. Then, spend your 30 pesos on the 'Full day' pass, which includes a rowboat and speedboat ride.

On the rowboat, I got to see hawks, vultures, crocodiles, and crazy looking jungle birds up close.  The speedboat takes your sorry, soaked butt underneath the falls for the ultimate 'baptism' as a South American tourist. Still, don't miss it if you're there.

I spent my day at the Argentine falls with Detleph and Pia, a lively German father / daughter combo. Luckily, Detleph spoke some English, so he was able to translate my crude humor to Pia, who only spoke German and Portugese. Also travelling along was my buddy Taro, a Tokyo dude who is currently studying at William and Mary college. He had a cool pair of shades that left a noticeable suntan mark on his grill at the end of the day. Oops!

We showed up around 10am, and didn't take off until 6:30 from the park, and we just had enough time to see everything that looked interesting. The last stop was a quick boat ride to a place called San Martin island, in between two massive sets of falls. On this island, there are some awesome looking trails that we didn't have time to take, but we did go into the waterfall water to take a swim.  I'd like to pretend that's why my shirt isn't on in this picture (notice the rainbow? Braaaaaasil!).

During our swim, I m couple named Carlos and Claire from Columbia. We talked for a while about theet an awesome travellingir trip and mine, and decided to meet up in Bogota when I get up there. Just that easily, it was settled that I will be headed to Columbia along this trip, and I'm thrilled.

After we dried off, and fought away all sorts of very frightening tropical bugs, we hiked up to the Sheraton hotel for a last panaromic look at the falls and some free air conditioning, and caught the city bus back to town and our hostels and hotels.

Busses!

I hauled my butt to the bus station, because booking tickets on the internet or phone is easily 5 years away in this situation, and got me a ticket out of paradise for tomorrow afternoon. It was the soonest bus ticket available. You'd think the bus companies might run just one more coach, seeing as how I can't be the only person asking for this ticket.

Actually, the attendant told me the coach I will be riding on is new, so I've reason to believe at least one bus company understands how to run a business and actually make money. Either way, it's a semi-cama, which means it's not a full sleeper, which means I'm a bit irked already, before even getting on.

My only hope is that it won't be full, or simply that the fattest or smelliest man in South America doesn't wander onto the bus and sit next to me for 26 hours. Simple pleasures.

And so - I'm stuck one more day poolside in the little tropical Iguazu party town. Someone cue the world's smallest violin for me...

Iguazu Crisis continues

It´s 1am in Iguazu, and I´m going to sleep. Tomorrow, I need to make it to the bus station before noon so that I can change my remaining pesos and dollars into Reals, in a desperate attempt to make it to Rio alive to meet my friends.

Of course, I don´t even have a watch on me, let alone an alarm clock, so this will be a restless night. Plus, my room is full of very large, angry looking ants. Anyway, if I´m late, I run the risk of not only missing the bus, but also being short the funds to stay an extra night and feed myself.

If you´re reading this, wish me luck. (AK)

The Full Cama

Ahhh, the full Cama. If only I knew it existed previously, I would be on it every time without fail.

The full cama one-way trip from BsAs to Iguazu costs about 105 Pesos for an 18 hour trip. That works out to just under US$40, and it´s so worth it. First of all, there are half as many people on your bus, which means half as many vomitting babies. Secondly, your seat turns into a bed, which is completely awesome. Thirdly, the bus is faster, because it doesn´t stop for food, which leads me to my fourth point:

Executive Service! They assign a pretty lady to serve you free food, whisky, champagne, wine, and other treats throughout your journey. I did expect to be able to De-bus and make some phone calls, but in hindsight with my current money troubles, I´m glad I didn´t even have that chance. Anyway, the trip was lovely, and despite having to suffer through Starsky and Hutch (again) and pretending that My Bosses Daughter wasn´t on for two hours, I can´t wait for my next full cama coach ride.

Too bad my ride to Rio, all 24 hours of it, will be right back into Semi-Cama excitement, and with no money to eat. Should be an adventure to remember. At least if someone tries to rob me, they won´t get anything, because I´ve got nothing left.

Iguazu Falls, Brazil Side

OK, here is what you will see at Iguazu.

Waterfalls. You will see waterfalls. Yes, they are the most spectacular waterfalls in the world, and yes, there is a nature preserve and stuff around including birds and lizards, but at the end of the day... if you aren´t impressed by waterfalls, then this really won´t do much for you. I might be the only travel blogger to ever admit this, so heed my warning.

I´m sort of on the cusp for my personal take on this. On one hand, the scene is impressive, and really authentic despite the tourism. On the other hand, there is only so long you can look at waterfalls in awe. I think I would have preferred taking some of the whacky inflatable Kayaks they have available for rent on the Brazil side down into the water fall basin for some adventuring, had I the money or time to do so. They also have trekking, biking, rock climbing, repelling, and rafting.

My advice to fellow travelsters is this - bring lots of dough and get their early to go adventuring, or be prepared to take lots of pictures that absolutely no one you know will ever want to sit through.

Also, for unknown red-tape related reasons, the park doesn´t open till 1pm on Monday. Maybe that´s just this Monday, but I would suggest somehow calling ahead, at least to a local hostel who would know the score. I´m staying at the Paudimar downtown, which is a 40 minute local busride away from the falls, and a 2 minute walk to some of the hottest nightlife in town, which I had to skip because of my money woes.

Back at the falls, I took my shirt off and enjoyed the heat and water mixture that the falls creates. A bit crass, yes, but thoroughly enjoyable. Then, my newfound Korean family took lots of pictures of me at the falls. If I get them, I´ll post them. Trust me, though, you won´t want to sit through them.

Credit Card, take two

Listen to me, fellow travel idiots. ALWAYS BRING TWO CREDIT CARDS, EVERYWHERE.

Leave one in your wallet, and one in your whatever. Don´t ever travel with just one. Please, PLEASE take it from me. I´m stupid.

Also, make sure you know the PIN of your credit cards, so you can withdraw cash if you need to. Again, trust me this is very important to have at all times.

Asian Man Records

Those crazy Koreans!

I met Hansol and his pops right as I got off the big bus in Iguazu. We kept running into each other from that point on, trying to book other bus tickets, and we headed to the falls together. They were super nice, and we went out to all you can eat churrascurra (that can´t be the right spelling, can it) for some beef. They ate chicken hearts, but I gracefully declined.

We also met two other Koreans, who joined us for dinner, on the bus from the falls. Turns out they are Peace Corps members (or something along those lines) from Korea, teaching in Asuncion. What are they teaching, you ask?

Tae Kwon Do. Oh yes, the man is a Tae Kwon Do master from Korea. Oh damn.

When I go to Asuncion, I´m gonna learn me some martial arts with my new travel buddy!

CRISIS! ATM card no worky in Iguazu

CRISIS!

This post is coming from Foz Do Iguazu, the Brazillian side of the falls city. What an interesting trip this has been thus far. Here´s how this played out:

On Xmas day, at around 4pm, Karen B (a good buddy from Argentina by way of England) and I made our way to the Retiro bus station in BsAs to book busses to Iguazu and Salta, respectively, for later that day.

Yeah, that´s one step short of completely impossible. You see, what the travel books don´t tell you is that the period between xmas and new years, for travel in Argentina, is completely impossible to book. Everything is completely full, at all times. We asked for busses to Salta for later that day, and they told us January 3rd, with a straight face.

So, after asking what seemed like 200 bus companies for Iguazu tickets, one random bus, Rio De Uruguay (or something like that) had a seat for me in the back of the bus. Karen B, unfortunately, had to change her plans and head to Cordoba, because there were literally no busses to Salta to be had.

Anyway, the bus ride was fine and completely contiguous (a change for me), and soon I arrived in Puerto Iguazu, the Argentine side of Iguazu city. My next mission was to book a ticket to Rio for the following day, and of course all the Argentine agents where sold out. AAAAnd so, off I went for Brasil! CAPOIERA!

Only 4 hours later, I was at the main bus station in Foz De Iguazu! It was like no time, and by no time I mean days. I hadn´t eaten all day, and couldn´t get food because of both a lack of restaurants and Reals (Brasilian currency).

Hungrily and desperately I approached the bus agents to book a ticket to Rio. One agent had an open seat, but the bus literally took 28 hours to arrive, and it was a semi-cama (not a full sleaper coach). I mulled that possibility, and found another agent who had 6 seats available for a 24 hour coach for the next day instead! I was so excited, I told the young girl behind the desk to book it quickly, and everything was going fantastically. Then, I gave her my credit card.

I don´t know exactly how the magnetic stripes on the backs of credit cards work, and maybe I should. I should at least know either how to fix one, or how to spot when it is going to go bad. I should at least acknowledge that it is possible for a credit card to physically GO bad, kind of like eggs. Till today, I had done none of this. Oh, but read on.

The nice lady swiped the card, and it didn´t work. She tried numerous times more, and still no luck. I licked the card. Still, no worky worky. Now, I started to panic just a little. I remembered a few stores in the states that had trouble with this exact card, and that was why I never cancelled my hated Bank of America card (who incidentally continue to send me refinancing flyers in the mail biweekly).

I took the card to the one single ATM in the bus station, and it completely didn´t work. Instead, the ATM gave me a friendly warning in Portugese about something with the word ´´magnetico´´ in it. I started to get the hint.

I had used the card just the other day in Argentina to pay for my bus to Iguazu, but alas, that was no use now. The card was totalled, and I had no other cards and very limited cash on hand. Scratch that, I HAVE very limited cash on hand. In fact, I had just enough, 135 pesos, to book the bus to Rio, and nothing else. I knew that was a bad idea, so I begged the lady to just take an imprint of my card and move on. Of course she wouldn´t do it, which left us at quite an impass.

Then, I realized my way out of the crisis, at least for the moment. I got the bus company´s number from the agent lady, and after she refused my pleading with her to call for me, I went to a brazillian phone cabinet thing to call the company.

Luckily for me, my Spanish is JUST good enough to book a bus ticket over the phone, even with a Portugese man on the other line. I didn´t realize it was that good yet, but desperate times...

Anyway, I returned to the lady and got my physical ticket. Long story short, it´s midnight right now, and tomorrow at noon I hop on a 24 hour long semi-cama bus ride from hell to Rio. I currently have around 20 Reals (US $7) on me to make the one-day journey, and a few emergency US dollars I´ve yet to count. It´s gonna be close.

Can´t wait.