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Tonight, we left Puerto Iguazu with one Colombian, one Colombo-American, and one American… and we miraculously arrived with three Colombians across the border to Foz do Iguazu. All for an authentic Churrasqueria and a dancing show. It was soooo worth it!!

The whole adventure was trouble from the start. At the border, I almost got detained and charged with attempting to bribe a border officer; I PROMISE the $20 fell into my passport by mistake, PROMISE! Juan almost got left behind at the yellow fever prevention mats…for being slow. And, Carlos, we won’t even go there…

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Rafain was well worth the $25 + insane border crossing. We drank and ate and drank and ate and drank and drank… by the time the night was over, I had been crowned the “Queen of the Wooden Spoons” by a crazy Brazilian on stage… Juan got to mambo with half naked women and confused and amazed europeans… and Carl got seduced by a “mulata” and a “mulato” within the same 5 minutes, and left with enough glitter all over him (and his clothes) to prove he had been to Brazil and back for the rest of his stay in South America.

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all i have to say is there is nothing better than a glass of Caiphirina and a good toast:
“‘pa riba, ‘pa bajo, ‘pal centro, ‘pa dentro!”

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************* EU AMO BRASIL ********************

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Hard as it was, we woke up bright and early to beat the tourist rush at the falls. Our tour bus picked us up as we attempted to inhale our delicious and unhealthy breakfast of toast with dulce de leche. The tour was exhausting but absolutely worth it.

The water level was low today, and yet, the falls were still unbelievable. It was a completely different experience to see them during the day but just as humbling. Still no puma and no toucan, but we did get to see the cuatis (think South American racoon) and some other interesting looking birds.

Because of the water levels, the boat rides under the falls were cancelled for the day. … but we’ll return tomorrow. Instead, Carl came to the rescue and signed us all up for an afternoon jungle safari.

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I guess I’m just as guilty as the next of finding plants less interesting than the rest of the living things on this planet, but learning about the jungle was pretty fascinating. Can’t say I remember all we were told, but I enjoyed it while they were telling us!

Saw a toucan…but still, no pumas.

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Five days a month, the park opens at night for guided moonlight walks and we were so lucky we arrived on the very last day they were offered. After a big fiasco with the local tourist bureau (not so much a reliable tour organizer), we got the hotel to get us to the park. Although we missed dinner there, it ended up turning out to be much cheaper that way.

The moonlight tour was unbelievable! Unfortunately, you all will have to imagine it since none of our pictures came out due to the lack of light. However, I can tell you the waterfalls are magnificent under the moonlight and walking around the jungle you can’t help but imagine what is was like before civilization arrived.

My only dissappointed, I missed my best chance to see a puma!

Another morning at the airport, although this time the flight left on time for once. It took us a little over two hours to reach Puerto Iguazu. At the airport, we talked to a travel agent who arranged our entire stay for $160/person. Not too shabby, considering it included trips, tours and hotel for three days. As we headed to Los Helechos to drop off our baggage, we met Carl, and he became our travel companion for the rest of the trip.

Los Helechos was basic but clean and comfy. The humidity in Iguazu was unbelievable, but at least we had a (loud) fan.

After walking around aimlessly looking for food, we settled on Charo’s Restaurant per the suggestion of a nice (albeit stoned) Argentinean handing out flyers. Since none of us had any plans, we decided to visit the tourist center for suggestions and directions. Without debate, we were quickly on the bus to Km5 to go horseback riding to the local Guarani village.

Sunday was definitely a day of rest. We attempted to get up early, go shopping and visit the Monumental Stadium and failed at all three. Shopping was closed and the Monumental only offers guided tours Tuesdays and Fridays. So we went off to San Telmo and its flea market, since we knew for sure it was the Sunday thing to do in Buenos Aires. The flea market was pretty neat but incredibly expensive. We explored San Telmo and its colonial houses and found our way to the restaurant Desnivel.
Absolute best meat in the two-week trip! It was amazing, and amazingly cheap. We left the restaurant hobbling and somehow made it to the hotel and slept.

Yryapu is one of the few Guarani villages left in Argentina… and that’s where we spent the afternoon of our first day in Iguazu.

We rented horses and a trusty guide and spent two hours exploring the jungle and the natives. Our guide taught us about their hunting methods, the local vegetation and the culture and customs of the tribe. A few years back, the federal government gave them back their land, and provides them with free food, education and healthcare.

The village was pretty basic: a few huts made of wood and straw, about 50 families and a mandatory tourist stop to buy the local crafts. I bought Thomas a Guarani arrow and a carved Cuati (small racoon looking animal). Carl was sick of local crafts and bought nothing. And Juan was busy making sure the chickens didn’t get anywhere near me while I shopped.

The tour bus came to get us at 9:30am. Rough start considering we had had a very late night the night before. There were people from all over Latin America in the tour with us- very interesting since I never really think of Latin American´s as much for world travel- guess that proves me wrong. It was a bus tour with a couple of stops in strategic photo op places, but it turned out to be the very best way to get an overview of BA.

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We began by touring the city center, BA´s business districts and the 9th of July Ave (according to the Argentinians, the widest avenue in the world with 16 lanes of travel). From there, we stopped at the Plaza de Mayo to visit the Pink House (where Argentína´s president works but does not live), the old Cabildo (BA´s political center during colonial times) and the Cathedral (not very impressive for the biggest city in South America, but pretty nontheless). General San Martin, Argentina´s George Washington, is buried here and his tomb is guarded still by two very elegant members of the Presidential Guard.

Back on the bus, we drove through the old neighborhoods of San Telmo and La Boca. These two are also the poor neighbhoods, but perhaps the ones with the most history. It was in these neighborhoods that the Tango was born, and in La Boca, is where the famous Boca Jr Futbol team has its stadium. La Boca was originally populated by the immigrants from Europe, poor families that came to find a better life and ended up living 6 families to a house in small conventillos. These conventillos have been converted into amazing areas for stores, art galleries and even museums. In this area, you also find Caminito, a couple of streets beaming with city life, improptu tango shows in the middle of the street and restaurants and cafe´s offering all the different argentinian fares. Of course, there are also tons of street vendors with just about everything for sale.

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The tour continued along Puerto Madero, BA´s newest neighborhood and it´s gastronomical center. On to Palermo, known for its parks and varied architecture- to the ritzy and elegant neighborhood of La Recoleta. It is in the Recoleta cementery that Eva Peron is buried; and it is in Recoleta where all of BA´s upper class shops, eats and parties.

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The city tour ended in Recoleta; conveniently, in the market that forms in the main square. After lots of shopping, we found a side walk cafe with a big screen TV and watched the World Cup the rest of the afternoon. Argentina was playing, and winning, which made the experience that much more worthwhile.

Last night, we went to Complejo Tango. Although there are hundreds of tango shows to choose from, this particular one offered a free tango class before dinner- which of course, we couldn´t pass up. Juan David is quite the tango dancer, and I was keeping up pretty well myself. We had so much fun, we have decided to pay for private lessons at some point later on in the trip. It´s such an awesome, passionate dance, you just want to dance forever.

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Dinner and the show were great, too. The dancers are incredible, and they also have a live band and live singers. From what we heard, this is a very typical show (as opposed to the more “hollywood” like productions you can find around town), and we were very pleased with our choice.

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After a mad dash to the port, we managed to clear customs and make it to the Buquebus on time. Although we had purchased tourist tickets for the 55min ride to Uruguay, it was quickly decided an upgrade to 1st class was needed…at least on the way there. The 1st class was awesome- while everyone downstairs was squeezed in like sardines, we had a table with a view, flat screen tv´s and all the room in the world to move about.

Colonia is a city on the southwest coast of Uruguay with a very interesting history and a beautiful colonial historic center. In fact, it has been determined to be a national historic site by UNESCO. Throughout its existence, it has been ruled by about everyone you can think of, with that comes the disadvantage of having been blown up by everybody else. The streets in the historic section of town are wonderful… you can see both the portuguese and the spanish influences on the houses, the cobblestone and the design. It was much more expensive than BA and very touristy. We did get to try authentic mate (a southern south american drink- kind of like tea but the other way around), but we also reached the conclusion only I liked it. The restaurant where we had it let us keep the mate cups and straws- very cool!

Two hundred pictures and 4.5 hrs later, we returned to BA (this time in tourist class) exhausted, happy and with one more stamp on the passport.

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We finally made it to BA after waiting for 5 hrs at the Salta airport (big surprise, right?)
After much craziness, we all met up at the hotel ArtDeco in downtown BA. It´s a nice little hotel on Libertad Street.

In the evening, we decided to walk around Puerto Madero, the newest neighborhood in BA and the gastronomical center of the city. Following everyone`s suggestions, we had dinner at Siga La Vaca- an all you can eat salad, meat buffet. Also included, dessert and a bottle of wine per person…. not too bad for $31 ARG ($10 USD).

Needless to say, we barely remember going back to the hotel and it was a rough next morning. No questions asked best steak ever!! As promised, I´m starting to moo after meals.