Buenos Aires

In true Emma style, I did indeed meet Anh last Thursday for lunch AND bid on the patches on eBay, but I had to rush off before my sandwich had even arrived to find an Internet cafe to do so, leaving Anh abandoned in the plaza! Anyway, I am now the proud owner of one Fiji patch and one Paraguay patch, both purchased from a guy in Stoke... UK! 3 days later, I of course found a Paraguay one in a shop here. Well, the one off eBay is better, so there!

When I finally ran back to Anh, my sandwich (that I had gone to great lengths to order hot) was cold, but luckily still pretty delicious! It was beautifully sunny afternoon, and she was soon swept up from the table by a gentleman, with whom she impressively danced a little tango with. It was so romantic, until he came round to our table moments later with an upturned hat for tips! Oh well! That evening, we met up with Jess & Lizzie (UK) who Anh had met in Bolivia, and some other guys who they had met also along the way, in typical backpacker style! It soon became clear that BA is a city that never sleeps and that most things start later, and finish much, much later! We went out for dinner at an All-You-Can-Eat buffet, my first one ever, as I have always been a bit skeptical of them. Yes, I know you can eat all you want, but I've always thought that they cost more than I would usually spend on a meal, regardless that I could fill my face unendlessly! I was pleased to find that it was a very reasonable £3.50 - and that was including dessert as well!

After steak, veg, rice, salad, stir fry, bananas, peaches, bananas, peaches, creme caramel, we chatted away for a good while without being shuffled out of the restaurant and then when it was sufficiently late enough, we took a taxi to a milonga (tango dancehall) that Anh had recommended to her. We all thought it was hilarious when, as there were no free seats left around the edges of the hall), we were escorted to a table on the stage at the end of the room, metres above the dancers and everyone else! We didn't realise we would be starring in our own "Spot The Gringo" show!!! I thought that I should see some tango whilst in BA, even though I am not a huge fan of formal dancing, but I was really pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed watching the dancers. The bottle of bubbly that I shared with Jess & Lizzie went down a treat too! I think I eventually went to bed around 3am - way, way, WAY past my usual bedtime!

Friday was a lazy day, the weather was still great, so I strolled along the waterside at Puerto Madero and later people-watched in Plaza de Mayo, near the palace where Eva Perón made her famous address to the public. The late night (coupled with the long bus ride from Paraguay) had taken its toll and a good nap was required that afternoon! Later on, I went out with Anh to watch the Tango World Cup, but unfortunately, we didn't arrive early enough and after standing in the queue for 2 hours, we abandoned our chances of actually getting in and went for pizza instead!

On Saturday, I knew I had to actually be constructive and make an effort to buy a football ticket for ARG vs BRA. I went to Tangol, the main tour agency in BA who are recommended in most guide books. I wasn't quite prepared to be turned away immediately with "We have sold all our tickets, sorry." I was stunned, I had convinced myself that as they weren't even on sale yet, that such a big agency would simply be able to get hold of any number they required. That really put me in a quandary as I was annoyed at myself for being too laid back about it all! Drat, drat, drat! The rest of the day then involved me stressing about leaving it too late, then finding out that Claire & Laura were in a hostel around the corner for me and had bought tickets through them at a great price, then trying to zoom over to meet them to get one for me, then arranging to meet Anh & the gang there in a while so that we could all head into La Boca together!

It didn't quite go that smoothly: I went to the girls' hostel and asked about the tickets. I was wary of such a good price, but they 100% guaranteed that the football agency they used would definitely get tickets and if there were any problems whatsoever, (which there wouldn't be, of course) I would get a full refund. Phew! So I handed over the cash and then headed back to my hostel to meet Anh, Jess & Lizzie. Turns out I had missed them by 5 mins and they had gone straight int La Boca. We had got our wires crossed - I had said that if I wasn't there when I arrived, that I would be at the other hostel, meaning "Wait for me until I get back" not "If I am not there, then I've gone somewhere else!!" Anyway, I went back to yet another hostel round the corner, where I had just helped Paige (Australia) who'd I'd met at lunch, to move her bags across the city!

We decided to take a bus ourselves into La Boca, but we wandered the wrong way out of the hostel, in the opposite direction to the bus stop! Then, because I was chatting so much, I wasn't paying attention to the map and kept missing the turns into the area. By the time we made it to the start of La Boca, it was dusk and we were headed down a dead-end behind the football stadium. Not a clever place to be in Buenos Aires. I didn't feel threatened at all, but I thought that maybe this wasn't the best idea I had ever had and to go home, rather than put myself in a risky situation. We managed to find the bus stop home but then of course there was trouble as we didn't have the exact change and the bus driver just ranted on and on at us in fast Argentinian Spanish, that neither of us fully understood.

Finally, a local girl helped us ans we managed to put the right coins into the ticket machine. That really annoyed me - my first impressions of BA hadn't been so great up to that point as I felt that most people were much less friendly than everywhere else in South America, it is a city coated in dog poo and burst refuse sacks on every street corner... and I find it impossible to under the Spanish here. Anyway, I agreed to meet Paige later for dinner. Ideally, I just wanted a light snack as I felt bad about eating every meal since I had arrived in a restaurant. I should have just been more direct about it, but in the end I went to an open air restaurant, where I ordered the cheapest set meal that was the worse thing I have eaten in South America - bolognese sauce that had no meat and was creamy and/or cheesy instead of tomatoey, finished off with the worst creme caramel ever - plastic with burnt sauce. Really, I need to be more direct and not settle for things because I don't have the nerve to complain. That night, when I went to bed at gone 1am, I felt like there was molten lead at the pit of my stomach.

Sunday was a much better day! I went to see River Plate versus Chacarita and the weather was unbelievable, so hot and sunny that we really couldn't have asked for anything better, except we were all a bit too warmly dressed and had no shade! The match was a cracker, River Plate were up in the first half, although Chacarita equalized! In the second half, River seemed to be faffing around a bit and not making enough of an effort, but luckily once Chacarita took the lead, it seemed to prompt them into action, resulting in a nail-biting equalizer and then an amazing winning goal, so there cheers and screams all round from Gringo Corner!!!

Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse on today - it was really cold and it heaved it down for most of the day. As a result, my planned trip to the cemetery in Recoleta was shelved and the gang agreed to hit the shopping malls and the cinema instead! In the morning, I looked at the cost of flights down to El Calafate in Patagonia and found them to be pretty damn reasonable - then when I found out that Anh would also be there at the time I planned to go, my decision to book was sealed! It was an easy online process, but I had to pay in person at a branch of Aerolineas Argentina. So, what should have been an easy trip to the mall ensued as follows:

- Take subway to airline office, arrange to meet girls in the mall at 12.30pm
- Arrive at office, had to queue to ask where to pay
- Told to take ticket and queue AGAIN (luckily, I'd picked up a ticket when I went in!)
- Getting short on time, but luckily got to front of queue, got the information so I could return with the money tomorrow.
- Back to subway station, right on schedule to meet the girls.
- Drat it! The service was interrupted! Texted Anh to warn her I would be late.
- Subway started, only 10 mins late but just missed Anh - she'd taken a taxi to buy (more) tango shoes!
- Went to Internet cafe to kill time until 2pm when everyone would be back at the mall!
- Finally met Anh, went to the cinema but we got the times wrong, so abandoned the plan and had lunch instead!!!

It is so difficult to co-ordinate when there are more than 2 people, and because there were 5 of us, we all ended up spread over Buenos Aires! However, I did make it back to Anh's hostel in time to meet Jessie and Lizzie, so we could head out to La Bomba del Tiempo in the evening! It is a Latin American drum show that is performed every Monday night, and it had been recommended to me by Rachel from The Galápagos, but I couldn't find the venue online. When Jess mentioned it that morning, I was committed, even though it meant turning down a free ticket to the Tango World Cup Finals!!! I made the right choice though, as it was absolutely amazing, 3 solid hours of beats, including a guy (like a cross between Freddie Mercury, Derren Brown and Orlando Bloom) who was so into the music that he was fascinating to watch! Even after an encore, I managed to make the last subway home! So, I back in the hostel feeling pretty great and enjoying Buenos Aires - but tomorrow is September, and the Month of Return will arrive... not long to go now!

My Last Overnight Bus (I Hope!)

After you last heard from me on Tuesday afternoon, I finally took it easy for my last few hours in Encarnación. I enjoyed some delicious barbecued chicken at Daniel's house and then we went to a little ice-cream parlour for dessert. It was amazing, basically a self-serve ice-cream buffet by weight!!! Daniel handed me a generously sized tub and I was free to fill it with vanilla, dulce de leche, chocolate, white chocolate and rum 'n' raisin! I can't describe the joy of using a proper metal scoop to cram the icy spheres into the tub, and so cheap as well - I was gutted that I didn't know about this place on my first day in Paraguay... but then again, I would have needed to go to the casa de cambio even more times!!!

After a spot of people-watching in the plaza, we collected my bags and headed to the bus terminal. The bus arrived pretty much on time and I was soon on board and off back towards the border. Now, I was originally going to go back to Posadas by myself that morning, but decided against it due to the ticket being cheaper to Buenos Aires from Encarnción. Now, that saved me £12 or so, but Daniel warned me that it would take a couple of hours to clear immigration this way. He wasn't wrong!!! Admittedly, it wasn't a difficult proceedure, but there was a lot of waiting around. At the Paraguay side, a guy from the bus company took all the ID cards from the other passengers, and my passport (the only one!) and disappeared off into immigration. What seemed like an age later, he returned them all to us, much to my great relief - I knew that my passport wouldn't get lost, but I always feel better when I have it on my person and am dealing with it directly! We then crossed the bridge to Argentina. This time, we had to disembark and hand over our documents in person.

Now, this is the 3rd time I have crossed into Argentina, and with all the other stamps from this trip, there's not actually much room left in my passport! With another 7 years before it expires, I'd rather not have to buy another one before then because it is completely full. Imagine my annoyance when the official's first attempt at a stamp was too faint to read, so rather than stamp a clearer one OVER it, he stamped one NEXT to it, using up even more space!!! He then said something to me in Spanish which I didn't understand, so another lady had to explain that they would return my passport to me later and I had to follow the rest of the queue.

Once I was x-rayed, I then had to wait for ages more for everyone to clear immigration and for the bus to collect us. At this point, I still hadn't had my passport returned to me, so I was still on edge. As people started to re-board the bus, I decided to go back into the office to ask where my passport was. I think they said I would get it back on the bus... but I wasn't sure, so I asked the conductor... To my relief, we were all given our documents back as we set off again, at last making some progress towards our final destination! That was until we made a rest stop just a few minutes later!

I really needed the loo by this point, so my first priority was to locate the bathroom. I asked the conductor (again) how much time we would be spending there, as every bus journey differs. He said something like "go and eat" so I just blankly stared back... He signalled for me to follow the others, and after quickly nipping to the bathroom, I followed the entire busload into a restaurant, where we were all seated at tables and served with a hot meal of chicken with rice, bread rolls and dessert, plus Coke, Sprite, wine and beer! This was the first time this had happened in my entire trip, so of course I was scared that there would be some charge, but is seemed that everybody else on the bus was doing the same. I just went along with it, smiling to myself how funny my experiences in South America have been!

Once fed and watered, and 3 hours after I had boarded the bus, we finally set off properly into Argentina. I had been told the journey would take 12 hours, and I now realised that it would, from this point onwards, so really it was 15 hours from door-to-door!!! Oh well, I would still reach BA at a reasonable time in the morning. After a short time, we made a stop for the local police to come and inspect the bus. I'd forgotten just how routine this is in Argentina, but of course, I was relaxed about it as it is all part of the process here. Until... the conductor came upstairs and gestured for me to get off the bus. I swear my blood ran cold for a few seconds. "Me?" I inquired sheepishly, while he continued to babble on in Spanish that I couldn't make head nor tail of! I grabbed my daysack and headed outside, where I saw a police guard inside the bus's hold, with my backpack. Both he and the conductor asked me questions, to which I could only tell them that I didn't speak much Spanish and I didn't understand!

How did he know that was my backpack? What was the problem? Were they going to search it and empty out all the contents, meaning that the bus would have to be delayed by an hour while I reassembled it??? Crikey, only 3 weeks to go, please don't all go horribly wrong now!!! Anyway, another guard appeared, they all looked at each other then let me reboard. "¿Esta bien?" I asked, stunned that everything seemed to be in order anyway and still wondering what on Earth they had taken me off the bus for! I spent a good few minutes quietly quaking in my seat as we drove away, hoping to goodness everything was indeed OK and realising that I would never have any idea as to what had just happened! I can only surmise that they could see from the bus's manifesto that I was the only non-Paraguayan/Argentinian on the bus and they wanted to give me a once over! Thank goodness I managed to get a fair amount of sleep!

That was until this morning when at something past 6am, the guy opposite me thought it would be acceptable to play awful music on his mobile phone, but not without using headphones like any normal human being! After 10 minutes, he seemed to get bored and turned it off, allowing me to drop off again... until the driver then put a video of cowboys or gauchos or somebody bucking around on broncos and bulls, all to horrendous mariachi music! All this and the sun was barely up! All I could do was bear it as we made the slow crawl through the traffic into the centre of Buenos Aires! I finally arrived into Retiro terminal at 9.45am and headed off to find tourist information to ask which bus I would need to take to my hostel. Unfortunately, there was no one in the office, so after standing around for too long looking like a lost tourist, I headed out to the local bus depot, asked a guy in a uniform for assistance and was guided in the right direction.

It was easier for me to ask to go to Plaza de Mayo, rather than my hostel directly, and luckily, because the traffic was slow, I was able to follow the route on my map. Once at the plaza, I had my exact bearings, but I then needed to walk for another ¾km on foot through the city to the hostel. Through traffic lights, parades, road-works and protests, I thought to myself just how much I enjoy travelling, but just how much I am in need of a good rest! Only in South America! Welcome to Buenos Aires! Anyway, I checked in and asked if which room my friend Anh was in. The receptionist just gave me the key to my room, so I dropped off my bags and went back to ask her where Anh might be. "She's in your room!" Oh I see, she'd put me in the same dorm, but there was no-one in there! I headed down to the computers to write Anh an email, when I heard a familiar voice behind me - it was her and so there were joyous shrieks all round! Turns out she was taking a nap in the dorm, I had walked in and put my bags on the bunk directly above her before walking out again! She came looking for me as she thought "That backpack looks familiar!" Anyway, she's now nipped out for a tango lesson, but we are meeting for lucnh in a few minutes! It will be great to catch up properly, but we have to eat quickly, as I need to be back online at 3pm to bid on eBay...

...for a Paraguay patch of course, I will have to order it from England as I sure as hell can't find one in South America!

Popping Into Paraguay

Off I set early on Monday morning from Posadas, on my way to Country Number Seventeen - PARAGUAY! The bus stop for the Posadas - Encarnación bus was really close to my hotel, so I didn't have far to walk with all my luggage! Luckily enough, when the bus arrived, it wasn't very full and there was no difficult turnstile, like in Brazil, to negociate! Soon though, the bus became full and when we reached the border to get our Argentinian exit stamps, I have never seen such a chaotic disembarking before! Everybody zoomed of the bus, pushing each other out of the way so that they could be stamped out and then re-board the same bus! Bedlam! I found it really amusing until we all tried to re-embark: it just so happened that I was stood right next to the bus door when it pulled up along side us, but everyone pushed me out of the way, even though it was clearly difficult for me to manoeuvre with all my belongings! I got on in the end, but was stunned that the people simply didn't let me board and thus be out of their way!

The same thing occurred at Paraguayian immigration, but I decided to let the hoards pass, I had gained hour by crossing the border, so there was no rush! I had to queue for a while to see an official, who then made me wait longer after looking at my passport. I was calm, as border crossings are now second nature to me, but I did have a tiny feeling of apprehension - I was 99.9% sure that I didn't require a visa as a British citizen, but I was relieved when a different offical took my passport, typed something into her computer then returned it to me, complete with a new stamp! Woohoo! As it happened, the next bus arrived just moments later and there was no mad rush to reboard! Once in the centre of Encarnación, I found a hotel, changed my remaining Brazilian money into Guaraníes and headed off in search of a Paraguayan flag patch for my collection.

Yikes, I thought this would be a difficult task, and I wasn't wrong! I tried a few different stores to no avail, and and then thought that maybe a sports shop could help. There, I met Daniel, a local who spoke some English and so could translate to the store owner for me. No luck again, but Daniel then very kindly offered to help my with my search! Off we went in his pick-up truck to haberdashers and many other shops, but no one could help. He took me back to my hotel, where, as it happened, he was friends with the guy on reception and then he tried to help make suggestions about where I could find a patch! By that point, I needed to rest, so I arranged to meet Daniel again later that evening, so he could show my some more of the town. However, me being me, I couldn't settle so I set off again on foot to trawl the market on my quest!

Once again, not a single soul could help - luckily, by now, my Spanish is just about good enough to get my point across and then politely decline when I am offered a huge flag or a metre of ribbon in the Paraguayan colours! No, it isn't good enough mçfor me to cut it to size, it's ribbon, not a patch! I then ended up walking a really long way past my hotel, but my excellent sense of direction enabled me to eventually make it back there! I met Daniel again and we had a look around the town. I was interested in buying another memory card or flash drive as electronics are cheap here, plus I don't have enough space for the remaining few weeks of the trip! I could buy a 4Gb pern drive for 70,000 guaranís, about £9. Hmmm, I would need to think about it and get out some more cash anyway. I planned to visit the nearby Jesuit ruins at Trindad and Jesús the next day, and Daniel seemed to want to accompany me. However, I had no idea what time I would be setting off in the morning, so I didn't want to commit to a time. He bid me goodnight and wished me well.

Yesterday morning, as usual, I was awake early, so I showered and headed off towards the bus terminal. However, Daniel was waiting outside for me! I would have been wuite happy to go by myself, but he was quite keen to come too! Oh well, at least it would be easier to go by car! However, I soon realised that he was going to take the bus as well! I said that it would be better by car and that I thought that was what he wanted to do anyway. So, the rest of the day progressed as follows:

- Collected his truck from outside his friend's store.
- Stopped by his mother's shop.
- Find out that he can't drive the truck outside of the city as it is not registered in his name.
- Re-park truck outside his friend's store!
- Walk back to terminal and board next bus to Trinidad.
- Have found the world's slowest bus EVER and wonder how many hours it will take to cover 30km!
- Make it to the ruins at Trinidad, take photos and wait for bus to Jesús.
- Take bus to next ruins, take photos and catch return to Trindad within an hour.
- Arrive in Trindad and immediately re-board bus to Encarnación.

By the time I arrived back at my hostel at 3.30pm, I was shattered, but I still needed to decide what to do about the memory card/flas drive situation. So, I found a shop nearby that sold a 4Gb SD card 75,000. Not bad. OK, I had 10,000 guaranís left which was enough for food and internet, but I would need an ATM to get money for my hotel and the SD card. So...

- Walked to supermarket, got bread and cheese.
- Found ATM but it wanted to charge me 25,000 in fees (over £3!) NO CHANCE!
- Found another ATM but it wanted to charge me 25,000 in fees. SERIOUSLY, NO WAY!
- Returned to hotel to raid emergency stash of US dollars.
- Found a different shop where a 4Gb pen drive was only 50,000 guaranís! Bonus!
- Changed USD $25 and just 5 Argentinian pesos so O had the exact money for the hotel and pen drive.
- Bought pen drive, made sandwiches.
- Tested pen drive in an internet café, but it didn´t work (of course, because I had bought it from a cheapy-cheapy shop!)
- Ran back to shop to get a refund, but shop closed!
- Stressed about what to do as had to check out by 10am the next morning, get a refund and hang around until the evening for my bus to Buenos Aires, with nothing to do in Encarnación!

I tell you, it is a good job that I will home in 22 days (YIKES!) so that I can stop running around foreign towns like a headless chicken on my stupid schemes! After barely getting a wink of sleep last night, compounded by a dripping cistern, I decided to get up early and somehow contact Daniel in order to ask him to help me sort out the refund! The usual guy on reception wasn't there, so he couldn't call him for me. I didn't have enough money left for the internet to send him a message either, so I set off on auto-pilot hoping that I would somehow find his mother's shop again! By some miracle, even though I had a rough idea where it was, i found it, managed to ask her to call Daniel and he came along a few minutes later! Phew!

So, this morning, I have, with Daniel's help:

- Taken the dodgy pen drive back to the dodgy store run by dodgy Moroccans
- Insisted on a full refund, which was granted, albeit begrudgingly.
- Changed $5 more at the casa de cambio (they must think I am an idiot!)
- Bought genuine Panasonic CD memory card and it works!
- Bought a bus ticket to Buenos Aires direct from Encarnacíon, which works out £12 cheaper than if I crossed the border myself and caught it in Posadas!
- Checked out of the hotel and dropped off my bags at Daniel's house.
- Got just enough money left to exactly pay for the time it has taken me to write this blog entry!

So, for the rest of the afternoon I am going to hang out with Daniel until I am due at the terminal at 5.30pm. It is supposed to be a 12 hour journey to BA from Posadas once border formalities are completed, so I hope to arrive some time before nightfall on Thursday!!! I decided to go directly to BA now, as I thought it would be easier to organise a football ticket there, plus Anh, Laura, Claire and Fiona (who I started travelling with) will all be there this week! That will give me exactly 3 weeks to see the match, explore BA and pop into Uruguay as well. Well, 18 is a much nicer number than 17!!!

Iguazú Falls - Both Sides!

Well, it was supposed to be a 22-hour bus journey from Rio, but it turned out to be 25!!! It was a very comfortable bus though, with plenty of stops, so it wasn't unpleasant, just really boring by the end of it! Of course, the air conditioning was on full blast throughout the entire trip, and although I had a jumper with me, I was still in beach mode and hadn't wrapped up well enough! I had to resort to extracting my Bolivian cardie and Peruvian legwarmers out of my daysack, which had been parcelled up since May!

Once I arrived in Foz do Iguaçú, the town on the Brazilian side of the falls, I was given a flyer for Hostel Bambu (Brazil). I didn't have any better plans, so i thought I would check it out, especially as I could take a local bus right there from the terminal. I wasn't disappointed as the staff were friendly and it was nice and clean! That evening, I had just enough energy for a McDonalds (I know, but sometimes it's the only thing that will do!) and to chat to the girls in my dorm, Laura and Claire (UK). I had a dilemma about what order to do things in, i.e. Brazil side, Paraguay, Argentinian side, or Paraguay last? Everyone was telling me not to bother with Paraguay, but you know me: another flag, another set of passport stamps, another boxed ticked!!! Of course, it all depended on the weather as well. When I arrived on Thursday afternoon, it looked like the week's rain was finally ending and the sun came out. I crossed my fingers and hoped that the forecast of two days of sun was right...

On Friday morning, I got up early and the sun was indeed out! I had a great breakfast at the hostel, procrastinated a bit more witrh Laura and Claire, then got a wind of inspiration and checked out! Soon, I was off on a bus to the falls, bought my entrance ticket and took the park bus to the start of the walking trail. Most of the cataracts are on the Argentinian side of Iguazú Falls, as are most of the attractions, but by visiting the Brazilian side, you get the best panaoramic views of the whole area. After a few moments of walking, I got my first glimpse of the famous falls. No prizes for guessing what happened next...

Yes, of course, Emma cried again!!! I swear, it is one of the most impressive things I have ever seen and it was truly spectacular, and I was so glad I was lucky enough to see it in the sunshine, especially in the morning when the sun was shining in the right direction for my photos as well! The walk took an hour or so and ended right next to the main falls on the Brazilian side, and of course I got quite wet from all the spray! I had come prepared though with only shorts and flip flops (to minimise wet clothing) and my rain mac! By the time I got back to the hostel around lunchtime, I was practically dry again!

It was then all systems go as I went into auto-pilot: instead of over-thinking my next moves as per usual, I collected my bags from the hostel and jumped on the next bus to the Argentinian border, to make the most of the good weather! It was really easy to get stamped out of Brazil and all I had to do then was wait for the next bus across the bridge into Puerto Iguazú. The sun was shining, and I was in a great mood... even when the next bus came and then promptly drove passed! Yikes, stranded in No Man's Land!!! I think the driver thought I was getting into a taxi with two other ladies that were there, but in the end it didn't matter as my ticket to continue over the border was valid for a different company! 20 minutes later, the next bus came and took me over to Argentinian immigration. Another easy process, another stamp in the passport, and I was back on the bus again, off to Hostel Bambu (Argentina).

Once I had settled in and found a cash machine that actually accepted my card, I walked along the river to Tres Fronteras, an area where you can see across the water to both Brazil and Paraguay. I'd had a great day, but I think all the travelling and excitement had taken it out of me, so after I'd made a bit of pasta, I headed to bed with my book for an early night! Good job, as I was up bright and early on Saturday morning, showered and breakfasted and at the Argentinian side by 9am!!! There was much more to see on this side, and my goodness, did I cram it all in:

- Took train then walked to Garganta del Diablo, poncho required!
- Took train then walked around the Upper Circuit
- Walked around the Lower Circuit and decided to take the boat ride then rather than return later
- Wore rain mac AND poncho but still got absolutely soaked through in the boat!
- Had packed lunch whilst trying to avoid being mobbed by coatis and bees!
- Took train to park entrance then walked along the Macuco Trail
- Walked 3 kms in 30 mins, saw Salto Arrecha and then paced it back again!
- Took train back to Garganta del Diablo again to take more pics now that the sun had moved
- Ran back to train station to catch next train back to the park entrance
- After a full 8 hours, took bus back to the hostel!

Admittedly, I didn't cry on this side of the falls, but I think that was because I had already seen them the day before, but it was still amazing to see them up close. I certainly had an emotional day though, as I laughed so loud and heartily on the boat trip - when we sailed close to some of the cataracts, I couldn't even see them as the spray was so dense and I couldn't keep my eyes open!!! Even though I was swathed in plastic, I got so wet that I was only dry again after I had completed the Macuco Trail! Luckily enough though, my top half stayed reasonably dry, so it wasn't too uncomfortable!

Yesterday morning, I was not sure what my next moves would be. I was desperately trying to find out how to buy a ticket for the World Cup qualifier between Argentina and Brazil, to be played on September 5th in Rosario. Now, I don't really like football, but before the start of this trip, I said to myself that it would be great to see either the Brazilian or Argentinian national team play. When I found out that they would be playing each other, and while I am in South America, I knew this would be an opportunity not to be missed! However, the tickets don't go on slae until 3 days before the match and then I would need to queue for HOURS at the stadium, with no guarantee that I would even get a ticket. The alternative is to book through an agency, but then the price increases tenfold...

Anyway, after trying to find this information online, with little success, the I decided to make a move towards Paraguay and the girl at the hostel told me the next bus to Posadas, by the the border, left in 20 minutes time. So, I grabbed all my bags and dashed to the bus terminal, and bought a ticket with minutes to spare! 6 hours later, I arrived in Posadas, found a hotel and crashed for the night! This morning, I got up early to find a travel agency to ask about buying a football ticket. At last, they were ble to give me the information about the on-sale date, but if I bought a ticket through them, they couldn't confirm (at that stage) where I would be able to collect the ticket - Buenos Aires or Rosario! At least I knew that nobody had a ticket as yet and in theory, any agency would be able to get on for me, so maybe it would be best to head to BA or Rosario first and make enquiries there.

Anyway, I'm now all checked out of my hotel and ready to take the local bus over the Paraguayan border to Encarnación... another country, another set of stamps for my passport!

I ♥ Rio

Oh my goodness, what a city! I went for a few days and stayed for over two weeks! When you last heard from me, I was still recovering from the Cartagena incident and all the travelling required to make it over to Rio, and I was due for a rest... so that's exactly what I did!

The Rio city was tour was great and took in all the main sights. In the morning, we walked up Morro da Urca, the smaller mountain adjacent to Sugar Loaf. Luckily, it wasn't too long a walk as it was quite steep in parts and most of the group didn't have much energy for it! Once at the top, we then toke the cable car across to the main attraction and it didn't disappoint - the views from the summit over Rio were amazing! It was then time to head to Lapa to visit Escadaria Selarón, the famous tiled steps created by a Chilean artist, before stopping at a restaurant for lunch.

As always on tours like this, it was over-priced (for my budget anyway) and we spent way too long there, but eventually, it was time to head through Santa Teresa to Corcovado, the highest peak in rio and home of Cristo Redentor! We arrived in time for sunset and of course it was incredibly busy! The views, this time looking towards Sugar Loaf, were again amazing, and a girl form the tour very patiently took a photo of me with the statue in the background... without other random people in it! It took quite a while and a few attempts, but we got there in the end! The bus then took us back to our hostels and I just had enough time to run up the hill to Casa Carioka (ouch!), change my clothes and run back down the hill (ouch!) to take another tour to the Maracaná!!!

The game was great fun - even though the stadium was mostly empty, the Fluminense fans more than made up for it with flag waving, arm swaying and chanting... for the entire 90 minutes! At half time, it became very quiet and then we noticed that all th home fans had got up and moved seats to the other side of the stadium, so they could sit behind their own goal again, so of course, we followed them! Luck was on my side again, as it often is with football matches, and Fluminense won 5-1, including two penalties! I certainly got my money's worth! Back at the hostel it was gone midnight and so I flopped straight into bed after a really crammed day in Rio!

The following day was a complete write-off as the weather wasn't too great, and I needed to veg out as I was so tired! However, I made up for my laziness the next day as I went hang-gliding!!! The weather conditions were perfect and it was great fun - I went with Roberto and he ran through the proceedures with me - basically, don't jump off the pier and don't stop at the end as that's how accidents happen! Yikes! So, when it was time to go, I looked out to the horizon... and RAN! It was amazing fun and the scenery was spectacular, it was just a shame that we touched down onto the beach after just a few minutes! That afternoon, I headed down to the beach for the first time and what better way to end the day than to soak up the sun with the locals on Copacabana! I had a great afternoon with Kars (Netherlands), Silke (Germany) and Laura and Jamie (UK), being buried in the sand, dodging Atlantic waves and buying cheap and delicious ice cream for a vendor on the beach!

That evening, we headed out for caipirinhas, as I had been wanting to try one since making my own at home a year ago! They are really strong and from experience, I knew that I would have to buy a Sprite to mix it with. OK, that's not very authentic, but they are much nicer as a long drink! Well, the beach kiosk didn't sell Sprite, neither did any of the others nearby and it was too dark to go wandering around for a supermarket... so while the others ordered another round, I took about 2 hours to finish mine, tiny sip by sip! The next day, Sunday, was again glorious, so this time we headed to Ipanema and then to the hippie market as the sun began to set.

On Monday, Laura, Jamie and I went on a tour to Rocinha, the largest favela in Rio. We took motorbikes up to the top (which was hilarious fun for a veteran like me, but hair-raising for the girls as they had never been on motorbikes before!) Daniella, our guide, gave us loads of info about life in the favela and it was really interesting and informative. That afternoon, we headed back to Ipanema to meet Jasmine (UK) and Cristina (Spain) from the hostel, for more sun and people watching. We decided to head back to the hostl as the sun started to dip and no sooner than we stood up, a huge wind materialised from nowhere and parasols started flying along the beach! It was of biblical proportions and the entire beach emptied in a mass exodus! A storm was obviously on the way!

Indeed it was, Tuesday was another write-off and Laura and I spent most of the day moping in the hostel! Eventually, we ventured out to the shops and I bought another pair of Havaianas - £4 a pair, it would be rude not to stock up for future holidays!!! However, from Wednesday onwards, the sun came out in the afternoon and so began a week of serious sunbathing! I won't document it all but here's a run-down of the rest of my time in Rio:

Wednesday 12th August

Day on beach, got chatted up by a Brazilian guy for 2 hours who said that he would like to compliment my parents for creating me and that he really wanted to kiss me. No chance pal! Said guy came up to my hostel that evening, but I told the staff to tell him I was out!

Thursday 13th August

Stressed about leaving Rio - wanted to meet Anh in Iguazu the following weekend but weather forecast for Rio amazing, rainy at the falls. Sun out again, full day on beach! Went to Flamengo and Botafogo on the Metro with Laura in the evening, bought 2 more pairs of flip flops (so that makes 4!!!) Cooked big patch of pasta and sauce for the week!

Friday 14th August

Sun still out - another day on Copacabana with Laura, Jim (US), Guilhermo & Mayra (Sao Paulo) and Vikram (Canada). Tan coming along very nicely!

Saturday 15th August

Another full day on Copacabana, amazing weather and in their winter as well!!! After searching for Ice Cream Man for entire week, he finally returned, which I announced to the entire beach with shouts of "LAURA!!! ICE CREAM MAN!!!" Went to Sao Cristovoa market with Laura and Crystal (US). Bit worried about being in a really dodgy area at night with no idea where the bus stopped, but made it home again in one piece. Helped Karina (Australia) plan her art exhibition at the hostel.

Sunday 16th August

Back to the hippie market in Ipanema with Crystal and Laura. Wanted to buy a Brazil bikini, but lady wouldn't barter! Bought one on the Ipanema beach instead, for a higher price but at least that guy bargained with me! Decided that I prefered my regular patch on Copacabana, so headed back there for the afternoon, with a double order from Ice Cream Man, of course!

Monday 17th August

Copacabana again with Crystal and Jim. Had a buffet lunch by weight at 686 including sushi! Found delicious cake shop in the evening, 2 weeks too late!!!

Tuesday 18th August

Copacabana AGAIN with Rafael (Mexico). The weather turned overcast that afternoon and I knew things were changing!

Throughout all this time, I was so happy to just relax on the beach. I had said to myself before I arrived in Brazil that I had seen enough beautiful beaches on my trip so far and that it wasn't that important to see any more. However, Copacabana is just amazing - it's not a pretty little cove that you want to have all to yourself - it's a vibrant swathe of sand, full of people, but people of all walks of life, some tiny, some in tiny bikinis, some not so tiny, some not so tiny but still in tiny bikinis... I just loved the atmosphere and the feeling that it is a placed to be enjoyed by everyone. It also didn't hurt that the Brazilian Marines train there some mornings and I really enjoyed watching them jog past in their little white vests and tiny black shorts...

Anyway, when I woke up this morning, the sunny spell had ended. I had felt like I wanted to spend forever in Rio, but today , I had my first urge to leave. I checked the forecast for the next few days and it was rain, rain, rain. I checked Iguazu and there were two days of sun predicted for Friday and Saturday! That, coupled with the fact that there were two other girls from the hostel taking the overnight bus to Foz do Iguaçu this afternoon, prompted me into action! I rushed off to buy a bus ticket, packed my bags, said goodbye to all the great people I had met in the hostel - Laura, Karina, Rafael, and Alegra (Australia), who had made me feel so welcome in her hostel that she said I was now part of it - and am now waiting for a taxi to the rodoviária. Only 22 hours on th road... YIKES!!!

Bom Dia Brazil!

I very nearly named this post "What Doesn't Kill Us, Only Makes Us Stronger... Part III" - but on reflection, that would have been a little too harsh. But not much! Indeed, I predicted that my journey to Rio from Cartagena would be quite a tough one, and I wasn't wrong, but it would have been much better had I been on top form, not recovering from you-know-what all day Saturday! Off I went on Sunday afternoon to find my one and only geocache. I really needed it to be there, so imagine my annoyance, after a 30 minute walk in the baking heat, I arrived at the port and my GPS pointed 100m inside the compound! I figured that I had better not go snooping around too much in such an area, so I just went straight up to the guard and tried to explain what I was try to do... in Spanish!

Anyway, I managed to get my point across, but it soon became clear that there was no way I would be allowed into the compound! What a stupid place to put a geocache, obviously left there by some idiot who had just got off a cruise ship and not thought it through properly! I was so drained by that point, that I ended up chatting to a local guy for a while, again in Spanish, who was absolutely stunned that I wasn't married with children. This is starting to wear a bit thin now, someone needs to explain to South Americans that it's just not that weird to be single, childless and homeless at 28 (in England anyway!) After a while, I knew that I had better make a start on the walk back to the hostel, but I was really feeling extremely weak at this point and very desperately found a store to buy some water. As I exited, a bus stopped behind me, and gratefully I jumped on.

I spent my last hour in Cartagena trying not to throw up, hoping that I hadn't now given myself heatstroke as well! Soon, it was time to jump into a taxi to the airport. Once there, I had to queue before I even got to check-in, for what I don't know, where I was given a stamp in my passport and told I would need to pay some taxes at the check-in desk. Drat, I was hoping that I'd already paid for them in my ticket! Anyway, so cut a really long story short, LAN told me that no, I hadn't paid the taxes and that I owed them $109. yes, you read that correctly, ONE HUNDRED AND NINE DOLLARS!!!!! I nearly died! I was expecting about half that and I didn have enough cash! They couldn't accept cards either, so the girl told me I would have to go to the ATM, then return, luckily straight to the desk (so at least I didn't have to queue again!)

I was so incredulous about it all, that I went to the LAN office to query it. It took nearly 2 hours to sort it all out, but I basically wanted them to explain why I had to pay so much, all the other airport taxes had been included in my ticket. I didn't really get any straight answers, but all I could think of was that when I changed my route, that Qantas hadn't included the new taxes. Fair enough, but then I wanted to know if they had refunded me the taxes that I had paid on the flights I didn't take. LAN couldn't tell me this, despite being part of the One World Alliance. I was fuming, but I kept my calm, and in fairness, the woman did her best to help me, eventually, and even let me check in first so that I wasn't late for the flight. In the end, I had to go to the ATM to pay for the departure tax, tourist tax AND some stamp tax - 62,000 pesos for a bloody bit of ink! I've seriously gone off Colombia quite a bit now, and it really needs tourists as well.

After all that rigmarole, at least I didn't have a long wait in the departure lounge as it was nearly time to board. The flight to Lima was fine, though not as good as those LAN flights that I took across the Pacific as I didn't have my own TV screen. I also had a toddler sat behind me who spent the entire time kicking my chair. Not good. I did witness my first ever thunderstorm from the air though, somewhere over Bogotá I think, which was pretty damn spectacular. I was glad to get off at Lima and change planes, on which I had exactly the same meal as the first flight - good job it was decent! I wisely slept for the most of it, although by the time I reached Sao Paulo on Monday morning, I felt pretty grim.

Once I collected my bag (which thank goodness had indeed been correctly transfered at Lima!), I then spent an hour wandering around Arrivals, looking for a LAN office and someone who could tell me if I was owed tax or not! "No, we don't know, you have to ask Qantas" came the reply. Cheers. Then the spending continued - 30 reais on a shuttle to the bus terminal, 62.50 reais on a bus to Rio de Janeiro - I'd been warned that Brazil is expensive, and it wasn't a lie! When I finally arrived in Rio at 4.30 that afternoon, I was ready to collapse but I still had to make it across the city to my hostel. By this point, it was obvious to me that I'd struggle a bit with no Portuguese, but I managed to make it onto the correct city bus and even asked the conductor to tell me where to get off. She seemed to take pity on me, especially as the city buses here have a turnstile on them, which of course I couldn't get through with all my bags. Bet the locals thought it was hilarious as I threw most of my belongings over it, then hoisted my backpack over the top.

When I finally reached my hostel, Piratas de Ipanema, at around 6pm, I had been travelling for 24 solid hours! This place had been recommended to me by a guy in Taganga who raved about how great it was, especially how friendly and helpful the staff were. Indeed, they were very helpful and helped me settle right in. When I booked it online, I stupidly hadn't read the reviews of the hostel, and it was only after I had committed myself that I found out that is was supposed to be filthy! On inspection, it wasn't the best place, but it was cheap and all I needed was a place to get a good night's sleep... oh dear... Monday night was quite noisy, especially as my dorm was right next to the TV room, but eventually, I dropped off and slept for a few hours.

Yesterday, I took it easy as I had a bit of a relapse, but I did manage a walk along the famous Ipanema beach. The weather was overcast anyway, so I didn't feel too bad about returning to the hostel early that afternoon, to simply relax with my book. It was still pretty noisy in the hostel after 11pm, and I was hoping it would abate soon, or at least for me to be able to sleep through it. I did indeed drop off, only to be awoken by some IDIOT swearing his head off right outside the dorm. What stunned me the most was that nobody anywhere seemed to be making any effort to go about anything quietly. As I groggily came around, I realised that the TV was still blaring and music was still being played... AND all this was at 4 am!!! That was the point at which I snapped and resolved that, no matter how cheap it was, I could not spent another night in that place! In 16 countries and 10 months of travelling, I can honestly say that I have never stayed in such a bad place, even the one with the insect infestation in Nha Trang was a million times better!

So, this morning, as soon as I woke up, I went online to look for a new hostel. I then walked a fair way to find one, for more than double the price AND at the top of a really steep hill, but it was clean, friendly and quiet! So then I had to walk back to Piratas to collect my things and check out and trek back again up the hill, in packhorse mode. I should have taken a taxi, of course, but in my stubborness to save money, I thought I'd wear myself out just a little bit more! So, all I've done today it change accommodation and buy a pair of Havaianas, which were actually a bargain and look very Brazilian in bright yellow and blue! I have also booked myself two tours for tomorrow, one of the city including Cristo Redentor and Sugar Loaf mountain, and then I am going to watch Fluminense play Sport Recife at the Maracaná Stadium! More money gone but what the hell... when in Rio!!!

Ciao Ciao Cartagena!

Ahhh, my last few days in Colombia, so I had to make the most of them! I did a little bit of exploring on Friday afternoon, but headed back to the hostel after just a couple of hours as this city is so hot and humid! "Not to worry", I thought, "I still have two days left" and so I booked a trip to Volcán del Totumo, to bathe in the mud there, for Saturday. Unfortunately, I woke up yesterday morning with a peculiar feeling in my stomach, and without going into too much detail, I swear I must have been in the hostel's bathroom at least 15 times! So, Saturday was a complete write-off and I thought I'd be better off NOT going to the volcano under the circumstances.

The episode has left me so drained that I haven't gone today either as I need to conserve as much strength as possible for a 3½ hour flight to Lima, an hour wait, a 5 hour flight to Sao Paulo, a trek across on of the largest cities in the world to find the bus terminal, then a 5 hour bus ride to Rio de Janeiro!!! I am so glad that I have a fairly decent grasp of basic Spanish, as I was able to go to the pharmacy, buy some Loperamide and ask what foods I should eat. I was pretty proud of myself, under the circumstances!

So, today, I now have several hours to kill before I go to the airport - which, might I add, is going to charge me a whopping $64 in departure tax! They had better accept MasterCard, or they ain't getting it, I can tell you. Daylight robbery, it is the most expensive airport in Colombia! I have also erred on the side of caution and I have a few extra pesos than normal just before leaving a country. I am hoping there is a Crepes and Waffles at the airport, so I can use up my cash on ice-cream (I am sure the pharmacist would approve!)

I'm hoping to wander out to look for a geocache at the port in a bit. I hope it is there otherwise I won't have any from Colombia, and it will be a waste of a 4-mile roud trip in the heat! Then I'll be reading until I need to go to the airport. Yikes, it is going to be a long day, night and day, assuming I make it to Rio in one piece as my new Spanish skills won't help me there! Oh well, all in a day's work for intrepid adventurer Indiemma Jones!