I woke up today not really knowing what I wanted to do. We've got 3 days left so at some point I know I want to see the "touristy" sights and from Andrew and Gary I know that the open bus is the best way to do that. Barbara also mentioned going to a town about 20 minutes outside of Buenos Aires called Tigre which is also on the water and is the town people escape to during the weekends. Being Friday, she thought it might be a better day to go since it would be less busy. That sounded like a pretty good idea. Barbara called her mom and asked if she could borrow her mom's car to drive us there (chalk another one up for having a local guide)! We took a cab to her mom's place about 10 blocks away and picked up her mom's car. It was a little teal Renault (I called it jellybean). Funniest little car I've ever seen. But it got us there! We stopped along the river and ate lunch on a beautiful day. One of the things Barbara had suggested to the group to try at some point is a "parrillada". It's basically a little metal grill (think a hibachi) that is stacked with a bunch of different kinds of meat. We got Bife de Chorizo, sausage, blood sausage, kidneys, intestine, etc). It's awesome. After lunch, we walked down the street to a little ice cream shop called "Viva Toscana". The cutest little ice cream shop ever. Not to mention, the best fricking ice cream ever. I just got plain chocolate, but the dulce de leche (caramel) was amazing. I now know to order that anywhere I go. We finished our ice cream sitting along the river then Barbara wanted to show us around some of the areas and the nice houses. We drove around a bit and she took us to San Isidro to look out over a beautiful skyline of Buenos Aires. It was actually the same part we had travelled a few days earlier from Colonia on the ferry. We got coffee on the lawn of the local inn and just enjoyed each other's company and the impressive views. Then we hopped back into Jellybean and headed back to Barbara's mom's place to drop off the car and head back to Barbara's flat. We got back around 8pm and realized that we hadn't made any plans for dinner so we debated what/where to eat. We finally settled (I don't know how) on Chinese food. Sushi was the other option, but take out sushi sounded a little suspect to me not to mention I still had the amazing sushi dinner with Sam in the back of my mind and didn't want to ruin that. Anyway, we should have gotten sushi. Probably the worst Chinese food I've ever eaten. It made Panda Express seem like 5 star gourmet food. What's amazing is Chinese people actually cook it! It just sucks! LOL! We ordered fried rice, chow mein, sweet and sour pork, and egg rolls. I think I tried a little of each and stopped eating. Even the egg rolls were bad. Come on now? How do you screw up egg rolls?!? (On another note, the grocery store across the street from Barbara's flat is owned by Chinese. Now, there is nothing funnier than seeing a Chinese person speaking Spanish… with a Chinese accent. It's TFF!!) I went to sleep knowing at least tomorrow I'd get to go back into the city since I didn't get to today. Tomorrow is basically the last day to do so since Sunday is a big market in San Telmo that Barbara wants to take us to.
I woke up today after having some strange dreams. I blame that on some cookies Barbara gave us last night that she said contained the same ingredient that's in LSD. They weren't illegal, they were store bought cookies in the package, but she said that whatever is in LSD is also in these cookies. My dreams really weren't strange in a weird way, but I did have a dream that I was on my way back to Rio de Janeiro. Ok, and so was Sam… Maybe that was more of a fantasy than a dream? Anyway, I got up on my own power which meant lying on my futon for a while. When I did get up, I heard Barbara walking around and I pulled out my earplugs just in time to hear her say "He isn't well". I asked if she meant Justin and she said his stomach wasn't well. Turns out he was up a few times during the night throwing up from something. All 3 of us ate the same dinner and Barbara and I were fine so we figured it had to be lunch. Again, Barbara and I had the same prosciutto and brie sandwich and were ok. Justin on the other hand, had a chicken sandwich and salad. We guessed it had to be the chicken. He was down for the count and spent most of the afternoon sleeping and running to the toilet to throw up. A few hours later I got a text from Andrew saying they were going to get together later that evening for Gary's last night. I sent him a text back telling him about Justin and he sent another back saying he and Hannah were in the same condition. They both had a vegetarian patty with salad. The common denominator for the 3? The salad. I told him I'd meet them later for Gary's farewell but Justin and Barbara were maybes. As the evening approached, Justin felt just good enough to join the group for 1 drink (water in his case). When we finally met up with the group, almost all of them were drinking water. Lydia and Amanda were actually on a 24 hour detox only drinking water. Quite the change from the hard drinking group from a day earlier. We stayed for an hour or so then said our goodbyes to Gary as well as coordinated with the others as to when we'd see them all again (hopefully Saturday). Andrew took a particular interest in the hammock that Barbara brought back yesterday and she and I hung this morning. He seems to fancy the idea of sitting in the hammock reading a book. Not a bad thought at all. I'm going to try to see some of the city tomorrow. There is an open top bus that tours the city for 70 pesos. It runs every half hour and you just get on, put on a set of headphones, and listen. It's a 2 and half hour tour that hits all of the major sights. You can also get off at any of the stops and just wait for the next bus if you want to walk around and see some of the sights up close. Sounds absolutely perfect.
I set my alarm for 7:45am to get up and back down to the lobby for the GAP Awards ceremony. Of course when I got there at 5 to 8, nobody was there. Wow...big surprise... A few people made it before 8, but most arrived closer to 8:20. The awards were quite a bit of fun once it got started. I won the first prize for being the "Alpha Male" of the group. What can I say? I'm a leader. :) Other prizes included "Biggest Player" (which I was also nominated for??? I've been told it was due to me being the only guy in the group to consistently be seen talking to various women outside of the group), "Best Dressed", "Worst Dressed", "Drama Queen", etc. We were all tasked with buying a prize for each category. I had to buy the prize for "Most likely to survive a Lydia Nuclear event". Of course the winner was going to be Amanda so I found a nice pink scarf for 30 pesos or about $8 US. It was a very deserving prize. Suzanne even commented that it was a "nice" prize, not a gag prize. Everyone in the group definitely has set their place within the group and the awards were quite appropriate. After the awards, we said goodbye to James (who was still super sick) and Sarah, who were off to New York City. The rest of us packed up and checked out. Justin, Barbara, Thom, and I were heading to Barbara's flat in Palermo Hollywood, Andrew, Hannah, Gary, and Elizabeth were heading to the hostel they were all staying at. And Lydia and Amanda also heading off to their respective hostel. But after getting to our respective accomodations, we'd all reconvene for lunch in Palermo SOHO again. We got to Barbara's flat and it is the cutest little flat you can imagine. 2 story studio. 1 and a half baths, dining area, little kitchen. Cute as hell, but watch out for the low ceilings. Justin has already crowned himself twice going to the bathroom on the 5'9" door frame. The only thing the flat did not have was WIFI. She has high speed internet, but it's hard wired. Justin and I were thinking the same thing as we walked out the door to meet the others for lunch... Wireless router... Little did we know there is a computer store 4 storefronts down. I stopped as we walked past to look in the window and mentally remembered what they had.
We met the others back in Palermo SOHO for a quick lunch. I had a WONDERFUL prosciutto and brie sandwich and a bottle of Agua Mineral sin gas (plain bottled water). The others were unable to check into their hostels so early so after lunch they all departed to do some shopping and check in and Justin, Barbara, Thom, and I walked back to hang out until it was time for Thom to catch a cab to the airport and head home. As we approached Barbara's front door, we made our way back to the computer store a few fronts down and bought a wireless router for 200 pesos. We went back to Barbara's flat with Justin ready to do his thing and set it up. Strangely, the router didn't include an Ethernet cable so Barbara said she'd grab one when she went back to her mom's house to get some clothes after Thom left. We sat around talking for a bit until 6pm when a cab came to take Thom to the airport. 4 down from the group. Thom and I became pretty good friends on this trip and I was sad to see him go. Barbara left soon after Thom to get some clothes and Justin and I stayed at the flat. After a few minutes, Justin decided to take a look for himself and found an Ethernet cable in the back of the closet. SCORE!!! 20 minutes later WE HAD WIFI!!! WHOOP WHOOP! Barbara came back and brought a hammock back with her so we'll soon have a hammock to lounge in with WIFI. HELLOOOO FACEBOOK! ;) We decided to stay in during the evening and Barbara cooked for us. She made ravioli with mushrooms, ham, and green onion in a creme sauce. I thought it was actually quite good even though she said it wasn't. But I know her mentality. If I'm cooking and something doesn't turn out the way I want it to, I also have a tendency to say it's bad, even when other people say it isn't. After dinner, I turned down my futon and got ready for bed though stayed up for a bit typing out a few pages for the blog and get caught up with the last couple of day's events. Tomorrow is the official first day after the tour and while I'm sad to see my friend's leaving, I know that some are still in the city and I'll get to see them before we depart in 4 days.
We met up knowing it was going to be the last day together as a group. Unfortunately, James had been feeling under the weather the last few days so wasn't able to accompany us for most of the day. A group of us decided to head over to the Palermo SOHO district for lunch and to walk around a bit. Palermo SOHO is an artsy district filled with designer shops and restaurants up and down every sidewalk. We went to one of the squares and sat down at a table in the sun for lunch. Several of the boys had hamburgers which weren't the best burger I've ever eaten, but considerably better than the burgers we ate in Uruguay. I've also noticed people aren't drinking beer with lunch anymore but ordering Coke or Coke Light (Diet Coke), coffee, or just water. The boozin' is definitely catching up. We finished lunch and the group split ways to do different things. Some of the girls went off shopping, some went off looking for gifts for our "GAP Awards Ceremony" that was scheduled to be held that night, the rest of us went off to explore the neighborhood and check out some of the local sights.
One of the sights we set off to see is the "Plaza Naciones Unidas" and the famous "Floralis Generica". The Floralis Generica is a HUGE metal flower build by Lockheed Martin that opens when the sun rises and follows the sun across the sky. At night it closes. We had passed it in the taxi on the way to Palermo SOHO so we had an idea of where it was. Unfortunately, our ability to measure distance was crap so we walked for over an hour trying to find it. We only even got the direction right after I asked a Portuguese couple for directions. But when we finally did find it, it was a treat. The flower itself is huge. It sits in a beautiful pool surrounded by a park. We sat in the sun on one of the lawns just talking for an hour while we rested our tired feet. We knew we had a ways back into Buenos Aires Centro and to the hotel so we cabbed it the rest of the way. Speaking of cabs, I don't know if I've mentioned that the cab drivers here are CRAZY! Now that I think of it, I believe I mentioned it when I wrote about our first day in Rio, but other than that, I haven't really revisited the subject. Probably because I'm trying to repress it. I can't even recall the number of times I've held my breath or grabbed the seat in front of me readying myself for a crash. But amazingly, I've yet to see a crash or be involved in one (knocking wood). Defensive driving doesn't even come close to describing how you need to drive here. Neither does offensive driving. They say defense wins championships. I suppose the same theory applies to driving because if you can make it through the streets of South America without dying or trading paint on the roads, consider yourself a champion. One night Gary even told our cab driver "MAL" while holding his hands up like he was holding a steering wheel. The driver looked at him...and downshifted. I think I prayed. My tendency was to get out of the cab as soon as we reached our destination and pay from outside the cab. I just never knew if the crazy bastards would take off with me still in the backseat after I paid.
We got back to the hotel (with me jumping out as soon as the car stopped) and had a few hours to rest before we were to meet up again for dinner at La Cabrera (supposedly the most famous and best steak restaurant in Buenos Aires). Coincidentally, when speaking with the 2 Canadian girls way back in Ilha Grande, they had told me where to go for the best steak in Buenos Aires and I had written it down on the back of a business card. I was getting dressed and remembered the card so went to my wallet to look. Sure enough, La Cabrera. I was stoked. We got to the restaurant and the waiter warned us "the steaks are meant to be shared" so Andrew, Thom, and I shared 2 Bife de Chorizo's. A 700 gram steak cooked medium rare and served with about 5 small sides and a tray of 6 different sauces. 700 grams is about a pound and a half times 2. 3 pounds of meat for 3 grown men. I wish I had done the calculation prior because I know I can eat a pound of meat myself. But as soon as the food came, Andrew started feeling ill. All of sudden he had to excuse himself and get some air. Next he excused himself and actually took a cab back to the hotel. I knew he had to be feeling terrible to walk away from the group and especially a meal. James, the trooper that he is, came out just because it was the last meal, but he was also feeling terrible so he and Sarah went back to the hotel with Andrew. 3 down on the last night. Definitely not how we envisioned the evening. The plan was to go enjoy the meal, then head over to Barbara's place for some after dinner drinking and the awards ceremony. Well, it looked like that was not going to happen. Instead it was decided that the awards would be held at 8am the next morning at the hotel. But I was enjoying the food and kept eating…and eating…and eating… I'm pretty sure I ate all of 1 steak myself and most of the sides. It was a great piece of meat and I'm not even that big of a meat eater!
Tensions from the night before were still high and boiled over once again after dinner. What is surprising to me is the fact that it is the youngest AND the oldest member of the group (and NO, I am NOT the oldest member :P) that are the highest maintenance. Both are bratty and whiny. The only thing that was missing was footstamping or holding their breath until they passed out. I finally had to tell one of them to "stop being such a whiner." That shut her up but then she started pouting. Wonderful... but at least she wasn't whining anymore. We finally made it to a bar and the guys went inside for a drink and the girls stayed outside. The guys had 1 round (which consisted of 4, 1 liter bottles of Stella Artois. A liter is basically a quarter gallon. The other night at the percussion show, Thom had 4!!! Liters! Or a GALLON of beer!) before calling it a night. Another interesting night in Buenos Aires, check. Tomorrow is the end of the journey (well, at least as an "official" tour.)
I woke up this morning and the first thing I did (after going to the bathroom) was called up Continental Airlines on Skype on my iPhone. Skype BTW, FRICKING ROCKS. Free domestic calls over WIFI compared to $2.29 a minute on AT&T. I was able to change my flight for only the $250 change fee. I didnt have to pay anything for a new ticket. BOOYA! The next thing I did was text Justin and asked him if he could ask Barbara if I could sleep on her couch. She had practically begged me to a few days before when I said I wasnt sure if I was going to stay so wanted to check to see if that offer was still on the table. I got the confirmation so am staying here for no extra accomdation charge. DOUBLE BOOYA!!! Justin asked me when he got back to the room what made me change my mind. I told him that there was more that I wanted to see the city and I knew doing it in 1 day would be rushed. I preferred to have the luxury of doing it on my own time. That was only half true. The other half is I just didn't want to go back to the states just yet. So I'm staying an extra 5 days.
We exited the Catamaran and took taxis to our hotel, the Hotel Carrson in Microcentro Buenos Aires. It is considered a 4 star hotel and is super nice compared to some of the accomodations we recently stayed at in Uruguay. We dropped our bags off and split into a few groups. The women went shopping, the men went looking for food. Luckily Barbara came with the men. She had a place in mind so we followed her out to the waterfront and started walking. And walking. And walking. It took us about an hour to finally arrive at our destination. An all you can eat meat restaurant that serves up some of the tastiest BBQ ever. Including all kinds of meat including Bife de Chorizo (ribeye steak), pot roast, pork, sausage, blood sausage, and kidneys and intestine. I tried both of those and quite honestly, they weren't bad. Texture was a little funky on the intestines, but quite edible. The all you can eat includes a liter of whatever drink you want (we chose beer so we got 6 liters of beer for the table. That's a GALLON and a half!) and also includes dessert. I got a chocolate lava cake. We ate our fill and took cabs back to the hotel (we didn't want to walk another 30 minutes back) to get some rest before heading out relatively early to see a special show. We reconvened at 6 to head over to a special percussion show by a group called La Bamba de Tiempo. This was a group that had been travelling for a year and this show was the last one before they took a break.
It was awesome.
Unfortunately, one of the girls had a little too much to drink and caused some problems within the group by acting quite bratty. It was an embarrassing display that caused quite a bit of tension within the group including a few threats by the tour leader that they were about to be kicked out of the group. Me, being one to never quite keep the filter on, had some choice words for the guilty party as well. Despite this, we managed to get her into a cab and back to the hotel and into her room, then the rest of us went back out for another few drinks at a local hostel. On the way back we stopped at a minimart that's open 25(!) hours a day! WOW!!! That's amazing! And when we were there we heard Thom sneeze. We turned and said "where is she?" and he goes "No, you fuckers, your theory is flawed, there is noone." Just as he said that, a girl walks up behind and to the minimart. We all just about threw up laughing so hard. We returned around 1am with the first day in Buenos Aires in the books. It was a great day/evening but interesting day that would spill over into the next evening as well. I think the time together is starting to get to a few people and though it's going to be a sad last day, some are ready to move on. But we also knew that the last day meant the final meal, and that final meal was going to be the steak of all steaks. The famous Argentine meat cooked to order we've been hearing about for weeks. Would it live up to its reputation? We would have to see.
There is a sadness starting to pass over the group with the realization that the tour is ending in 2 short days. There is a group staying onboard in Buenos Aires but there is also quite a few people that I've become quite good friends with that are leaving. Knowing this, we obviously will try to take advantage of the next 2 days, but just knowing that most of will be going back to our normal lives is quite sad. I hope to see each and everyone again at some point. Hopefully not too far into the future as well.
When Barbara told us we were taking a ferry to Buenos Aires, she also laid out the options.
A. A 4 and a half hour ferry that left Colonia at 4:30 AM
B. A 1 hour high speed catamaran that left Colonia at 9:30 AM but cost $10 USD more since the only seats available were in first class.
The consensus within the group was option B (THANK GOD) so she booked the first class tickets for $10 USD more. We got up with a decent 7 hours of sleep and headed off to the ferry terminal to catch the catamaran. Upon being seated in the 50 seat First Class cabin, we were immediately served a glass of champagne. Andrew's eyes literally lit up when he saw the stewardess walking towards him with his glass. After champagne, we were offered to choose from a selection of newspapers. As we sat finishing up our champagne, I heard Andrew say "This is the life". Yup. Indeed.
We arrived in Colonia around 11am and took a short cabride to the hotel. The hotel is a cute little thing reminiscent of Paraty. 2 story complex, nice little courtyard in the middle. But with nicer rooms. We dropped our stuff off and headed out to get some lunch and see about renting some scooters, quads, or buggys (go carts) for the afternoon. We ate lunch at a little street cafe. I ate a plain grilled (emphasis on plain) chicken breast with mashed potatoes. It was just perfect after the really greasy food of Montevideo. While we were sitting outdoors, Andrew got "shat" on by a bird 3 times and Barbara twice. Andrew has now been "shat" on 4 times on this trip and each time it happens, it's hysterical because he can't believe it keeps happening to him. After lunch, we walked down to the water and colonial sections of the city. It's a beautiful city. You can rent buggies, golf carts, or scooters for $16.75 USD an hour. We got 1 for 2 hours. Andrew and Elizabeth, Tom and Gary, Suzanne and Hannah, and Lydia and Amanda also rented buggies. We all zoomed off following each other for a bit then separating and exploring the city on our own. Justin and I took off down the waterfront at pretty good speeds. We passed quite a few slow moving cars and scooters. I'm guessing on some of the downhills, we hit speeds of 40-45 miles an hour. It was pretty damn fun. Road traffic is minimal, especially on a Sunday so we had little to contend with. When we felt like stopping, we stopped at the futbol stadium and Andrew and I paid 40 pesos to sit and watch the match for a bit while the rest of the gang walked around the local market. It was quite nice though Suzanne and Hannah got backed into by an old man in a little Festiva. Luckily nobody was hurt, just their pride. They were actually more concerned with the buggy because the security deposit was a few thousand pesos.
At 5pm, we returned the buggies and headed across the street to the Colonial portion of the city to take a look at the ruins and some of the old architecture. I'm quite enjoying this city. We stopped for ice cream, coffee, and tea though I didn't have any. It ended up being the most expensive ice cream we've come across so far. 225 Uruguayian Pesos for a gelato sized cup of ice cream. Or about $11.42 USD. To put that into persective, Justin and I ate lunch in Montevideo for 185 pesos COMBINED. My chicken breast and mashed potato lunch earlier in the day was under 200. Still, it was a quite nice afternoon and we still had dinner to look forward to. There was another GAP group again heading the opposite direction that we were going to be meeting so we had that to look forward to as well. Meeting new people is still one of the most appealing parts of travel. I really enjoy it. We ate a few blocks away at a restaurant that had a foozeball table so we got into some heated foozeball games first amongst ourselves (coed teams, then guys vs girls, guys vs guys, girls vs girls, then we invited the other group over and got group vs group games going). It was a good night. I wish we were staying in Colonia a bit longer. I would have loved to see the rest of the city including the bull fighting ring ruins (Andrew and Elizabeth saw it) and just spending a leisurely afternoon here. Instead we are taking a high speed catamaran in the morning to Buenos Aires which really isn't a bad thing. A lot of the group is really looking forward to BA, myself included. Bring on the meat and Argentine red wine!
Strange that the worst bus we've taken so far (it smelled like feces and disinfectant, the AC didn't work, most of the seats were broken) is the only one so far to have WIFI on board! It wasn't the best WIFI and slowed down considerably at times but it worked! AMAZING! Though we were sitting in the back of the bus and after 2 hours to Colonia were pretty high from bus fumes. We spent most of the time passing around our computers and looking at each other's Facebook pages. Fun times! Thom was the only person with a free seat to start and after a few stops, a REALLY beautiful girl got onboard and started walking towards the back of the bus. I was three rows from him so saw her get on and walk by. Then all of a sudden I hear uncontrollable laughter from Justin and Andrew behind me. Turns out, as the girl was sitting down next to Thom, he sneezed right in her face! Way to make a good impression Thom. It would become a good joke for the rest of the trip. Thom sneezing around pretty girls and it almost ALWAYS happened like clockwork.
I'm seriously debating staying a few extra days in Buenos Aires. I mean, I'm already here. Though when I checked online, it would cost me $619 just to change flights. $250 "service" charge and the difference in the cost of the ticket. Add new accomodations, extra cash, etc and we're talking another $1000 at least. I'll decide when I get there, but I definitely would like to!
I haven't kept up the blog, but I've been writing content like crazy (12 pages) worth so I'll get it all updated and posted when I return to the states. There is some good stuff and some amazing pictures!
Wow, tomorrow will be the last week of this trip. It's amazing how quickly it has flown by. There are only 4 days left. Kind of sad actually. These people have become family to me. Today was a really relaxed day. Woke up at 9 and fiddled around for half an hour then went down to get breakfast. Came back up and went back to bed for a few hours. It felt so nice. I thought about it and on my Scandinavia trip, I got really tired on day 12. This trip it was day 13. Justin and I got up and walked around the city a bit just to look around. For whatever reason though the city is mostly closed on the weekends so almost every store was closed. A slight disappointment though it isn't like I'd buy anything anyway. The group was on their own until 8:30 when we gathered to discuss dinner. Barbara had told us about a paella place that was one of her favorites so I had that on my mind. The rest of the group however decided they wanted to go to the same place we got coffee at the day before so they formed a "splinter group" and went off to eat there while Justin, Barbara, and myself got a cab and went to the paella place. It was amazing. Sorry Chivitos, you got bumped. This was the second best meal I've eaten so far after the spectacular sashimi Samantha and I shared. Justin and I split paella and Barbara had the equivalent of paella without rice. It was all amazing. They served us a cocktail of half white wine/half champagne as soon as we sat down and appetizers of melted provolone and salsa with bread. The rest of the group absolutely missed out and I'm going to be sure to tell them tomorrow. My stomach hasn't been feeling the best for the last couple of days so I came back to the hotel to pack (we have to get up early again) and take something for my stomach. Tomorrow we leave for Colonia which Barbara has said is the most beautiful location on the tour. After Ilha Grande and the falls, I don't know if that's possible. But I'm more than willing to check it out and compare. Then in 2 days we roll into Buenos Aires. Everyone is looking forward to that.
We awoke before the sun came up to jump on another bus and head down to the capital city of Montevideo. I lucked out with my seat and got the very first row of the upstairs, next to Hannah. It was nice because there was a little more legroom. Hannah and I had a nice conversation for the first few hours, then we rested for the next few, listening to music or looking at my photos I had taken. We arrived in Montevideo around 1pm, got cleaned up, then headed out at 2pm to get some lunch and walk around the city a bit. The city clearly has a European influence to it but is obviously on another continent. But if I didn't know better, I'd say I was in Europe. The architecture is quite nice, but it's busy and we were warned that some of it is not safe. After eating lunch (another Chivitos for me... and 6 other people as well), we walked around the city for about 30 minutes then grabbed a cup of coffee at a nearby shop before heading back to the hotel to rest up before dinner. I almost missed it completely when I fell asleep and awoke at 8:28pm and we were supposed to meet at 8:30. Luckily the group was just playing games and drinking downstairs in a little lounge. We ended up staying in and playing games and ordering pizza (not very good pizza BTW) until 11 when the girls decided they wanted to go out. The boys said fine, we'd go out as well and went to get a round of beers while the girls went to a club down the street. We played a little prank on them though when the guy selling roses came by and we bought 1 rose for them and told him to say it was from a "secret admirer". 20 seconds later, I look up and the guy is pointing to our table. LOL! But their reply was "you cheap asses. You bought 1 rose for all of us?!?" Sheesh. But the guys shared a drink then found out Amanda wasn't feeling well so agreed we'd walk her back to the hotel since we'd have to cross a bad area to get back. On the way back, Thom and I were bringing up the rear of the group, probably 15 yards back when a girl asked Thom for a cigarette. Barbara had warned us not to stop for anyone and definitely do not give money to anyone, under ANY circumstance. Thom and I walked past the girl and as we were walking by she yelled out "I suck you!" Anywhere else, a blowjob for a cigarette is probably a good deal, but I was suspicious so I turned my head slightly to the side to see 3 guys slowly moving up behind us. I pushed Thom ahead and increased our pace to catch up to the rest of the group. I'm pretty sure that was a set up. If we had stopped, we would have been mugged or jumped. I'm guessing they probably had knives since rule #1 of fighting is you never get into a fight with someone bigger than you and I was bigger than all 3. After that, I kept myself aware of my surroundings for the rest of the trip. Thom actually saw someone get mugged right outside of our hotel! In broad daylight! With people around!!! I went to sleep knowing we finally had a free day the following day to hang out in Montevideo, see the city, or just sit around and do nothing. Not bad options all around. I decided I'll make up my mind when I get up.
We left the Argentina side of Iguazu and headed back to the Argentina bus station to get our bags and jump on another bus for a 13 hour ride to Salto, Uruguay. I have to say, this busride was much more difficult than the 24 hour ride from 2 days prior. We were upstairs on the bus so it vibrated more and the seats didn't recline as far so it made sleeping more uncomfortable even though we had basically the whole upstairs of the bus to ourselves. I even had an entire row to myself to stretch out on and still didn't sleep well. You fall asleep for 20 minutes to an hour then are jolted awake. Then you stay awake for 10-15 minutes trying to find another comfortable position to sit in. Repeat over and over. I'm starting to tire of these long bus rides and we still have a few to go.
We arrived on the border of Argentina/Uruguay at 7am (2 hours longer than expected because of a flat tire on the bus) and had cabs waiting for us on the side of the road to take us across the border. The entire drive took another half hour. We arrived at the "Hotel Uruguay" and once again checked our accomodations. Very simple room. 2 beds, bathroom, shower. I think I'm going to take about a 1 hour shower once I get back to the states. These little showers with bad water pressure just doesn't cut it. Justin tried the shower and after a few seconds kept hearing him grunt. Turns out, the knobs were backwards so hot was cold and cold was hot. He ended up taking a half freezing cold shower until he figured it out. I thanked him for testing it out first. LOL! The whole group wanted to go to the Thermal Spa so after showers and getting food, we then jumped into 4 cabs to take us to the thermal baths. I had heard from Erika that the real thermal baths in Uruguay were up in the mountains and the water literally came straight from the earth. We just went to a spa with hot tubs. It was sort of refreshing though to sit in a hot bath and let the hot water soothe our bodies. There were probably 8 baths total in varying degrees. The hottest one was HOT. It was also the smallest. You could only sit in it for about 2 minutes before you started having trouble breathing. Probably because you were cooking yourself. The largest pools were the "coolest" though still about as hot as a hot tub. The group mostly hung out at that one. Plus it had a cold shower right outside of the bath so after sitting in the bath for a while, we'd jump out and stand under the cold shower. It's supposed to be good for the skin, the hot and cold. I don't know about that but it was a good time. We stayed for a few hours while people got different spa treatments (facials, massages, etc). I personally just paid to rent a robe and towel and jumped from hot bath to another. Some fell asleep in loungers reading books or listening to music. It was a nice relaxing day. We headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner which we heard was going to be with another GAP Adventures group that was heading the opposite direction. After some customary "pre-dinner cocktails" again, we headed out to the restaurant. We had been warned that the other group was "quiet". Sure enough, they kind of were. We on the other hand were pretty rowdy. We somehow (I have NO idea how) got into a game of "sexual charades" which while funny as all hell, had to horrify the other group. LOL! I also got my first taste of some Uruguayian food - Chivitos. Basically a fried egg sandwich with some meat, bell peppers, onion, bacon, and mayonaise on a roll. It was FRICKING DELICIOUS!!! Besides the amazing sashimi, it was probably the best meal so far. I've noticed the group getting a little snippier with each other lately and I think it has some to do with just being tired. We had been on a bus most of that day and we knew that we had to be up by 6am again the following morning for another 6 hour busride. After dinner, I decided to call it a day and try to get some sleep. We wouldn't have a free day for another 36 hours so we all knew we had a little difficult stretch coming up.
I awoke early the next morning knowing I was leaving the Brazilian side of Foz do Iguazu. I gathered my things (including my laundry Justin had so kindly picked up for me) and headed down to the lobby.
Iguazu Falls has a Brazilian and an Argentine side. We saw the Brazilian side the first day we arrived in Foz do Iguazu. Today, we were going to see the Argentine side. We had to get up early because we had to get our bags, drive them to the bus stop, leave them in lockers, then get back into the van and drive back to the Iguazu National Park. It is obviously the other side of the falls, but it is also the bigger side of the falls. We were also going to take "the boatride" that takes you right up under the falls. They give you a life vest and "dry bag" when you board the boat. You put your belongings you don't want to get soaking wet into the dry bag including your clothes, shoes, etc. They let you take photographs initially until you get closer to the falls then they tell you to put it all away. I had my Dicapac so I could take video of the falls. It's amazing how beautiful and powerful the falls are. We had so much fun. You get soaking wet even being 100 feet away and the closer you get, the wetter you get. By the time they take you right under the falls, you really can't see much. Thankfully, Barbara told us to put on our sunglasses or we wouldn't have been able to see a thing. The sunglasses at least blocked the spray from getting into our eyes.
The boatride takes about 15 minutes total so after, we ate lunch at the park buffet. It was delicious! All kinds of meats and salads, huge dessert station, it was great. The best part… it was $15 USD. While we were eating, it started to rain. Now, I've seen rain, even heavy tropical rain, but nothing like this. Literally a sheet of water came down for 30 minutes. So much that it turned the little lawn we crossed to get to the buffet into a lake. It was insane. But it was also still warm outside. Once the rain stopped, we took the little train and walked the 1km to the top of the waterfall. It's called the Devil's Throat because it's where all of the water from the top of the river pours down. It had also started to rain again (the one day I didn't bring my damn parka too) so I got pretty wet walking to the top, but holy crap, once we got there, it was a sight to see. BILLIONS of gallons of water a second flowing over this thing. It's one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen. We were getting dumped on and I just stood there and admired the sound and beauty of it. Once it really started to pour, we walked back to the train and headed out of the park to get back to the bus stop, get our bags and get back onto another bus for a 13 hour ride to Salto, Uruguay and the famous thermal baths.
Just when I don't think things can get better on this trip, something new blows me away.
So the favorite drink of Brazil is a Caipirinha which is lime, sugar, and Cashaca. There is also a Caipiriska which is lime, sugar, and vodka. My personal favorite is a Caipirissima. Lime, sugar, and bacardi rum. It's not as sweet as a Caipirinha and not as strong as a Caipiriska. It's just plain yummy.
Today was another "free day" and after going to bed quite late (again) the night before, it was a relief to most. Some of the group decided to go into Paraguay, which is only 15 minutes away, to do some shopping. I stayed back to do laundry and get my pack repacked and organized. It had gotten out of control how messy it was. Plus my left foot and ankle had swollen up quite a bit from the dozen or so bug bites I had received on it to the point where I couldn't even get it into my flip flop so I decided to take it easy. Babs was even awesome enough to arrange to take me to the Farma and get me some antihistamine. Though after I took it, I was typing away when I started feeling woozy. Then the next thing I knew, I was waking up an hour later mid sentence in a puddle of drool. That is one badass drug man!
I went out to the lobby to check my e-mail and had an e-mail from Samantha telling me that she had taken the 24 hour bus to Iguazu from Rio, was off to see the falls, and wanted to see if I wanted to meet up for a drink later that day. Ok, I'm awake now. I did a quick Google search of the hostel she was staying at and found out she was only 1km away. Literally 8 blocks. A 15 minute walk. So I sent her the address of our hotel and told her to stop on by if she was in the area or to send me the address of her hostel and Justin and I would come meet her there. A few hours later I was back in the lobby checking e-mails again when the rest of the group returned from shopping in Paraguay. They said it was fun but I didn't really miss anything. We were chatting for a bit when I looked out the window and saw a girl who looked a lot like Samantha walking down the street. It just happened that Justin was also outside for a smoke so when she saw him, she knew it was the right place. She had just come from the falls, gone back to her hostel, saw my e-mail, and walked over. We chatted in the air conditioned lobby for a bit then decided to head down to the pool for our nightly poolside gathering of rum and cokes and a few bags of "crisps" including Baconzitos :). At first it was just Andrew, Samantha, and myself, then as more people came out, it became a good portion of the group. We sat around chatting for an hour or so then came the issue of what to do for dinner. Samantha had mentioned that she wanted to try a sushi restaurant that was close to her hostel. It was also getting dark so I told her I'd join her for sushi then walk her back to her hostel. The rest of the group was going to go to a steak restaurant.
We walked for a bit towards her hostel and after a little while (including a wrong turn) found the place she was looking for. It was a really fancy looking restaurant. Brightly lit, nice interior. Nice place. The sushi we had was probably the best sashimi I've ever eaten. It was phenomenal. Texture was like butter. It tasted like avocado (I know that sounds strange, but its true). We shared a 38 piece salmon platter, salmon sashimi, salmon nigiri, and 2 different salmon rolls. We both agreed that it was pretty special. We stayed and talked for a while, until I turned and realized that we were the last people in the restaurant. I looked at my watch and it was past midnight! We had been there for 3 and a half hours! I paid the bill then walked her back to her hostel.
Unfortunately, I got a little lost on the way back to the hotel so it took me about a half hour instead of the normal 15 minutes but I after the evening I had just had, I really didn't mind. I made my way back to the hotel knowing I'd have to stay up and pack since we had to be up early again to head to the Argentina side of the falls.
The group met up in the lobby at 8 to be bused over to our driver's brother's house a short distance away. We again were all pretty well drunk and the trip over is now stuff of legends. The whole van singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" and the girls singing "Barbie Girl" and "Dancing Queen". I got video of it and it's so bad it's awesome. But we were going to a BBQ in our honor. There was steak, sausage, and chicken wings along with 4 kinds of salad and potatoes. All of it was amazing. The hospitality here is above all. Everyone I've met is incredibly friendly. We are treated like celebrities. We ate like kings then played in his pool and danced until 2am (again). I was talking to Barbara and told her she would miss us. She said "You are the best group I've ever had". It was a touching statement, but I would have to agree. Everyone on this tour is amazing. They all have their own unique characteristics and personalities but not a single one is negative. We all truly enjoy each other's company. I know I'm going to miss everyone and I still have a week left to enjoy more of their company.
We checked into our hotel and once again checked our rooms. This time, Justin and I got 3 beds (double, twin, twin), fridge, AC in the room (AWESOME), sink with both hot and cold water (up to this point, we've only had cold. YAY! I can finally shave!), WIFI, but it only worked in the lobby. Justin gave me the double since he got the double on Ilha Grande. Plus, he had been spending most of the evenings in Barbara's room and only returning at first light before anyone else in the group could see him. Yes, it's official, at least to me. Barbara and Justin are seeing each other. We all took a shower after the long busride and got ready to see the Brazilian side of the falls. We'll go to the Argentine side in 2 days. We also had the option to take a helicopter ride above the falls so Justin, Gary, Suzanne, Lydia, Amanda, and myself opted for that too. That was really cool. The falls are amazing. There are probably hundreds of them. It was a breathtaking sight.
We spent a couple of hours at the falls then headed back to the hotel to rest or in the girl's case, go to a salon. The guys instead headed out to the pool with the bottle of rum vodka and the couple of cases of beer that we brought with us from Paraty. Barbara had set up another special event for us for that evening and like the rest it was sure to not disappoint.
We woke up the next day knowing we had the first of 2 overnight busrides coming up in just a few hours. But it was also the day Barbara got revenge on Andrew for the Penha waterfalls prank. The previous day, Andrew dropped off his laundry at the place across the street from the hotel. It's a laundrymat, but they do it for you then you pick it up a few hours later. He didn't realize it was Friday and the place was closed on Saturday and after the long afternoon at the waterfall and dinner, didn't get a chance to pick it up the night before. So when he woke up to pick up his laundry, he walked across the street to find the place closed. He freaked out. 1/3 of his clothes gone. His favorite shirts, shorts, pants… all gone. Little did he know, Barbara knew the owners and they called her to let them know he had left his clothes there so she had secretly picked them up but didn't tell him she had them. So when we were boarding the bus leaving Paraty, Andrew was begging her to help him. It was genuinely painful to listen to this grown man beg, almost on the verge of tears. After letting him beg for about 5 minutes, she looked at me and said "should I tell him?" I said PLEASE do, I can't take much more of this. So she looks at him and says "Of course I have your laundry. Don't ever fuck with me again!" and we all busted up laughing as he ran over to give her a hug. Then she looked at the other 4 participants, me, Justin, James, and Thom and with cold eyes said "Why are you all laughing? I'm going to get you next." We all looked at each other and prayed. But I also know I'm her "teddy" (her big teddy bear/buddy) so I think I might be off the hook.
But we still had a long ass busride ahead. Actually 2. One consisted of a 5 hour busride to Sao Paulo, then a 17 hour busride to Iguazu Falls. Add breaks for dinner, breakfast, and normal stops, and it becomes a 24 hour busride. None of us were looking forward to it. But the first 5 hour leg went really well. A break 2 and a half hours in and I spent most of the other time writing content for this blog. It went by really fast. We got to the Sao Paulo bus station and everyone dispersed to find food and use the restroom. We then boarded a public bus for Iguazu. The bus was super nice. The seats reclined almost all the way back. You could almost lie completed horizontal. They also had a leg rest with lower leg pad so your legs really didn't fall asleep from sitting. We had been warned that the bus is COLD though so to pack our warmer clothes for the trip. Sure enough, it was freezing onboard. I had a hooded sweatshirt that I actually put the hood up to stay warm and a blanket I had stolen from our Continental Airlines flight that kept me amazingly cozy. We had initially intended on it being a "party bus" and had even stocked up on supplies (2 cases of beer, a bottle of vodka and a bottle of rum in 2 styrofoam coolers) but when we went to board the bus, we were told the coolers were not allowed. FRICK! So they had to be stowed in the bus. Party bus killed. Sleep instead. LOL! Despite 24 hours sounding like a really long time to be on a bus, it went much better than the 10 hour flight down here. It really wasn't bad at all. I think we had such low expectations and had dreaded it so much that we were pleasantly surprised how easy it really was. We arrived in Iguazu Falls around noon and got ready to see the part most of us had been waiting a week to see.
We all woke up under our own power which meant 10:30am for myself. I headed down the hall to the little kitchen where they offered a free breakfast. This was a welcomed service for some including myself since it meant we did not have to leave the hotel to search out for food like some of the previous accommodations which had no food services on site at all. It actually was very similar to the breakfast offered at my beloved Story Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden. Rolls, ham, cheese, fruit, and fresh juices including a guava juice that was outstanding. After breakfast, Justin, Hannah, Andrew, Suzanne, Elizabeth, and myself decided to go get some ice cream since we heard it was quite good. We headed off to first go to the supermarket with an ATM to get some cash since several of us had run out of travel funds. The supermarket and the ice cream shop were in opposite directions so instead of walking, we took a horse carriage for 5 reals each and he not only took us to the supermarket, but he also waited for us, then took us to the ice cream shop. He even let Hannah feed the horse a carrot.
We walked over to the ice cream shop and each got what we fancied. It's the kind of store where you choose whatever you want, then pay by weight. I got 3 scoops of ice cream and marshmellow and chocolate sauce. We sat down and went around the table asking how much we spent on our cups. The answers were between 6 and 16 reals until we got to Andrew in which he replied sheepishly "22". We all busted up laughing and exchanged stories as we ate our ice cream.
We left the ice cream shop and Andrew commented that he was thinking of going to see "the waterfalls". When we had arrived in Paraty, Barbara had given us a map and told us about the good sights in the area. The waterfalls were one of them. Justin and I were down to go and we ran into James and Sarah in the street and James said he was interested so we went back to the hotel go collect our things and ask Barbara how to get there. I made a quick detour to get some stronger bug repellant on the way. Barbara explained that the waterfalls fell over a large long rock and it was possible to slide down it but she STRONGLY warned DO. NOT. SLIDE. DOWN. STANDING. She said that we'd see people do it and while it looked easy, one slip and you'd literally crack your head open. We promised her we wouldn't and got the information on what bus to take, etc. So Andrew, James, Justin, Tom, and myself walked down to the bus stop to catch the Penha bus for the 20 minute ride to the falls. We got there and took a look and it was a beautiful sight. The rock is probably 50 feet high, 200 feet long with a slight grade at the top and a fairly steep grade after leading down to a narrow but fairly deep pool at the bottom. We explored the area for a bit before trying out the slide. I was the first one to try to navigate my way across the stream and sure enough, ¾ of the way across, slipped, and fell in. Backpack, shirt and all. The guys being great guys, clapped and took pictures. HAHA! Jerks. Since I was sopping wet already, took off my shirt, backpack, and flip flops and gave it a try. I also had my Dicapac waterproof camera bag so took video of me sliding down. The first time down was a blast. You start slowly until you get to the steeper sections then you slide down quite fast. I was laughing all the way down. The guys were nice enough to actually grab my gear at the top and carry it back down to the bottom so that was cool of them. Then they went back up to try it for themselves. Justin, Tom, and I had on actual swim trunks, Andrew and James were wearing futbol shorts so when they went down, they actually just stuck to the rocks due to their shorts getting heavy. We have hilarious pictures of Andrew sitting on the side of the falls with his hands up and a "what can you do?" look on his face. It was hysterical. We all went down about 6 times. They voted me the best since I really gathered some speed on some. I figured out that the best way to go was to lean back and actually slide on your back, not your bottom. I hit the water so hard on one that my camera in the Dicapac bag actually flew out of my hand. That turned out to be a cool video. We spent about 2 hours there then headed back since we had to wait for the bus back as well as be back for a "special" dinner Barbara had planned for us at 8pm. We walked back to the bus stop and realized we had 30 minutes before the next bus came. Andrew, being the hard drinking Scot that he is, recalled a bar down the road a bit so he and Justin walked down to buy a round of beers for the rest of us while Tom, James, and I waited for the bus. Well, 5 minutes later a guy in a van pulled up and said something in Portuguese, I replied with "Paraty"? and he nodded and held up 3 fingers for 3 reals. The same price of the bus. We all figured if we didn't see Andrew and Justin on the way back, they'd still be able to take the bus but hoped we'd see them on the road. We hopped in, paid 3 reals, and he started driving down the mountain. Sure enough, a few turns ahead we saw Andrew and Justin carrying 5, 22 ounce beers walking on the side of the road. I told the driver to "pare" (stop) and they jumped in. It was perfect!
15 minutes and 22 ounces of beer later someone (I honestly can't remember who's idea it was. I think it was Andrew and James) decided it would be funny to pull a practical joke on the group. We'd head back and tell everyone someone got hurt on the falls. Andrew, who is a character, would be the "victim". We even stopped at a "farma" (pharmacy) to get a bandage for his head. We wrapped his head up on the street to the chagrin of a few locals, got our stories straight, and he shuffled back into the hotel courtyard with the bandage on his head. We were actually hoping to have the group in the courtyard by the hot tub and be able to play it up. Nope, not a single person was out. DAMMIT. Fortunately (or unfortunately), Barbara came out a few minutes later and the act began. Andrew played it perfectly, James told the initial story, and I threw in a few details. Justin and Tom had to leave because they were laughing. Lydia and Amanda actually saw them laughing so guessed it was a hoax because they could not believe they were so insensitive. We let it play out for a few minutes and let Barbara scold us for being irresponsible before letting her in on the joke. We each got a punch in the arm, I got a finger wagged at me because I am her "back up" tour guide for when she's drunk since I've been labeled the most responsible as well as the "alpha male" by the girls and most importantly, the group has been renamed "6 girls, 5 a**holes, and Gary".
After giving Barbara hug and apologizing, we all got ready for the "special" dinner Barbara had planned for us. None of us had any idea what it was. We were picked up by 2 taxis and were driven a little outside of Paraty to a restaurant called "Thai Brazil". It was a restaurant inside of a house and it was the coolest interior I've ever seen in a restaurant. It looked more like a cool bookstore. Couches, books, candles… Simply awesome. Barbara explained that the restaurant was owned a close family friend who lived in Thailand and learned to cook there. The meal was phenomenal. It was a 5 course fixed price meal with the first dish being cucumber and papaya salad, the second (and the best) dish was fresh calamari in black bean sauce, the third was pad thai with shrimp, the fourth was red curry over rice, and the dessert was fried banana with ice cream. I would rank it as one of the best meals I've ever eaten. I told Barbara, I wish I could just have a bowl of the cucumber and papaya salad. It was the perfect end to another great day. But we went to bed knowing that the next day was the dreaded 24 hour busride.
