6th June Bom Dia After buying my bus ticket outta here, I met the others on our fave beach. Its a nice location with even less people than yesterday! Hung around till 4ish, when I headed back to use the net. The others were buying me beer and cooking food, so I let them! Drank and ate at hostel then went to Cafe Cancun. We went into the club tonite, which was rammed full of folks. I was wearing my Brazilian top, so I had them all coming to me and chatting...I just smiled, and said "champion"! Left there at 3.30am, as me and the Dane wanted to watch Denmark play football. We somehow, picked up a local guy who came back to watch the game. I feel asleep on the couch and went to bed soon after. 7/8th Went for a wander round town, and see the famous iron brigde that Florinopolis is famous for (although is rotting away fast!). The hopped on a bus for the 15 hr ride to Foz Du Igazu. Pretty uneventful journey as I slept all the way. Arrived at 6.30am, then had to hop on a local bus to the bus terminal. Then I stood around and waited for a bus to take me across the border...I only had 60 mins left till the England, Argentina kick off, so I was in a hurry. Pretty good result, although the locals didn` agree and were getting emotional through the game. Went across the border, missing out the Brazilian border control (opps!) then arrived at a really nice hotel. For $3.50, I get a double bed, A/C, shower and brekkie...stunning! Watched the game in the local cafe, which was full of locals. They asked me where I was from, I said England, adn they all gasped...I quickly corrected that though! Got back on the bus to Brazil, as I was going to see the Brazilan side of Igazu falls. They are amazing...you get a panoramic view of most of the falls...left me breathless and wet! There is over 275 falls, with a frontage of 8,100 feet with the biggest fall had a drop of 200 feet. I measured it all! Left there adn went back across the border (this time correctly!) and had some dinner then crashed. I am staying in Puerto Igasu, which is very run down and full of locals hanging about with no jobs. The town has seen better days, maybe in the 80`s, 1880`s! 9th Argentine side Went to see the falls from this angle, and caught the train to the big one first...it was pretty amazing. Just so much water, and so many waterfalls...I am still shocked by sheer scale of it all. Then I went for a walk round the lower circuit, which you walk round the other big falls and get pretty wet. I caught a speedboat which went under the main falls and absolutely soaked people. Trust me to sit in the worst seat and get drenched...the water is rather cold as well! I wish I had a jumper for afters!! I chatted to some people from BA, who were here on holiday. They were nice folks, but upset by the whole banking crisis. That is why they were drinking so heavily at every bar along the route! Went back into town, and did some shopping for the bus ride tommorrow, had some dinner, then packed �p. I was still the only tourist in town, when they say low season, they really mean it! 10th the longest day... This morning I hopped on a bus to Bueans Aires (spanish sailors called it this, as they used to get good air crossing the seas to here). It took 20hrs stopping at every hick place en route. Then the movies started, then we had waitresses service! salad for starters then lasagne...brillant, all for $20! (it was a journey of 1600kms!) It was a slow ride though, as I couldn`t sleep at all! It is SO COLD here! I have three layers on, with gloves and hat...chilly! Its about 5c or so. I checked into a really nice hostal, the best I have been to in S America. Then I wandered round town for a bit - found the cheap eateries, internet places and road full of irish bars! Went to the preidential palace for a quick wander, didn`t see madonna! There are obvious signs of discontent here, banks have huge queues outside them and most have steel shutters boarding them up. Today I witnessed one of these protests where the chaps where banging on saucepans...I was scared! So I am here till the 24th when I fly away. Hoping to go to Uruguay on Thursday for a couple of days then on the 17th I am going to the glacier down south. Its -5c there, i must be nuts! It looks amazing and may as well as its so cheap to do it! I put some photo`s out on my site, so check them out! 11th big game... Can`t really remember what I did today, apart from watch some football in the am and buying my plane tickets for the glacier. I have now changed my flights from NZ to OZ as I am going to spend longer there (mad!), as I think I may be travelling round there with Liz (from the truck!) Back to hostel and went to a all you can eat pizza place for $2...mmm Went to bed for a few hours then woke at 2am. I headed down to Kilkenny`s to watch the pre-match excitment. The pub was full of Argy`s and a couple of ozzies. Really good atmosphere in there though. Whenever Argentina got the ball in the Swedish penalty box, the crowd went mad, waving flags and blowing trumpets. I had my face painted..of course, with blue and white! The TV camera`s were in there also - can`t they leave me alone, stalking me everywhere I go! When Sweden scored, there was a deafly silence...I could see tears welling up... When they scored I was almost knocked over by the celebrations! Then the last 5 mins, everyone was so tense, and then it was over and people just quietly left. On the streets, people just walked home in a state of drunken unhappiness. I was happy though, as I tasted my first Guiness for 3 months...it was excellent! I went back to bed at 6am... Weds 12th After another later start (1pm), I walked down to the nice port area of town. It is sort of like a docklands place, and found the eat all u can steak place...mmm... I ate well, the steaks were amazing there. These places all have a huge grill, with different types of meat and different cuts of the same meat. There is also blood sausages and kidneys etc. I struggled out of there! Wandered down to La Boca, to see the arty farty street. It was a street with all the houses on either side painted in bright colours. it was very nice, although, the rest of the area was a dump. Really run down and poor. Also saw Boca Juniors football ground...big place and they have standing there, despite the steep sides! Caught a bus back to town and then watched some TV, before I packed up my stuff for the boat to Uruguay...continues on Uruguay! 15th Woke up and watched the 2nd half of the England game...amazing result. It must be really buzzing back in blightly! Today I am having a quiet day, maybe catching a movie or something... Took it really easy today, after checking out a eat all you can chinese I sat in a cinema for a bit. I watched Hart`s war with Bruce Willis, it was OK. Then they put another movie on, High Crimes - so I watched 2 movies for $1! Ace! Back to hostal, and read for a bit then watched some TV before heading to bed. Chatted to a couple of English girls who are on my flight to NZ...good news! 16th Doing nothing... After watching an amazing spirited Irish performance at football, I managed to leave the hostal for 12ish. I wandered down to Roceleta. This is the nice residential area which has a flea market on a Sunday and has a huge cemetary. This is where all the big gus get buried - they all have these huge museleums, with grand designs. Some are pretty amazing, and its kinds yuck to see all these coffins! Evita`s was pretty unimpressive but full of fresh flowers! Back to hostel for a sleep before I attempt to update diary on web for an hour. In the morning I am off to the glacier...pretty scary stuff! Just by the hostal is the road called 8th of June, it is the biggest road, in terms of width, in the world. It has 22 lanes!! It is a hassle trying to cross it. On the 20th, its a bank holiday here, for something called Malvina`s day (Falkland`s day!), its prob best that I keep my union jack shirt off that day!! More Argentina...into the glaciers! |