Natrual Wonders

The day we crossed back into Argentina was mostly dedicated to travelling, we did manage to see the triple frontier though. Having lived on an Island all my life it was really strange to see 3 different countries in the same vision, all divided by rivers! The Paraguayan and Brazilian side of the triple frontier are said to be quite dangerous, smuggling, robberies and kid napping are very common as things easily can easily be popped across borders and never seen again!

We decided to stay in Iguazu, a little town between the triple frontier and Iguazu falls- one of the 7 natural wonders in the world. The town which is normally full of tourists was almost dead. The falls had dried up recently due to the lack of rain but fortunately it had rained every day since we left Chaco so we were going to see the falls in all its glory! After finding ourselves a nice little cabin in Iguazu Darinka and I decided we would need a little siesta in order to hit the town at night! The ghost town dished out a much more eventful night than we had ever imagined! We met lots of local guys and although they were all friendly and innocent to begin with when we decided we were going to go home they weren’t having any of it! We ended up getting into the taxi and having to ask the taxi driver to close the door on them as they all stretched out their arms and begged us to stay or meet them tomorrow! And as if that wasn’t bad- as we were nearing the cabin the taxi took a detour! We had no idea what was going on until he told us that one of the boys was following the taxi on his moped but with his light turned off so he could hardly be seen! We went round and round and round the city trying to loose this hooligan. When we thought we’d lost him we headed back to the cabin, and as we demounted our carriage and thanked the taxi driver 4 of the boys passed on their mopeds, lights off, scarves on and hoods up! We informed the owner of the cabins of what had happened- he told us that we could sleep peacefully; that they are innocent boys with nothing better to do and that he would keep an eye on things! Thankfully he was right!

The following day we headed to Parque Nacional de Iguazu (Iguazu national Park). I passed with a nice little discount due to being an “Argentine”. Darinka and I decided that although there was a train to take us to different areas of the park we wanted to walk which was a great decision as we encountered lots of animals, insects, interesting people and gob smacking views along the way. Having said this no view could have prepared us for the moment that we arrived at the “Garganta del Diavlo” (The Devils Mouth) which is the top of the main waterfall. The sensation of seeing such great volumes of water plunging into one place was indescribable so I’m not even going to try it! We stood in silence with our mouths wide open, hair blowing in the wind and hand firmly gripped to the safety barrier! It was beautiful! We left the sight quietly (which was totally out of character as we had been splitting our sides with constant laughter, jokes and stories since we left Chaco) trying to comprehend the natural beauty that we had just encountered as the image repeated its self in our minds.

As we headed Westwards along the border of Missiones Province and Paraguay towards home I started to realise why people tend to say that Chaco is ugly. Chaco is the arid stretch of monotonous landscape sandwiched between the North West and North East provinces which boast a forever changing landscape of mountains, strong colours and foliage! Having said this Chaco is totally within its rights to boast about its people!

We stopped off in “Minas de Wanda”, which is a gemstone mine full of amethysts and quarts. Having been a collector of gem stones when I was younger the thought of going to a gem mine was incredible but unfortunately it turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax! Maybe it was due to the contrast in the other natural wonder that we had already come face to face with that day OR the reality of a gem mine was incomparable to the images and ideas I had imaginatively put together as a child! Darinka on the other hand was “woooooowing” and “Oh my goding” at everything in her Spanish accent! Haha- I think I’ve taught her well!

We split up the long journey home by staying the night in a little town called San Ignazio. A small place in Missiones province bordering Paraguay but very famous and well known for its Jesuit ruins! We visited the ruins the following morning in the fog which was a beautiful sight. Without a guide and a great interest in archaeology the “wooow” factor was once again missing but we enjoyed our earl morning stroll around the ancient sight!

We made various short stops to break up the journey home and undoubtedly for Pablo to escape our constant banter, giggles and singing!

Donnalagamba y la Contrabanda

As we queued in Ciudad del Este (Paraguay) to cross the border into Foz do Iguacu where we were staying in Brasil street vendors walked the lanes trying to sell all sorts- windscreen wipers, toys, sweets, chipa, watches, perfumes, you name it, they got it! We crossed the “Bridge of Amnesty” into Brasil and the hot brzilian policeman let us through immigration with no problems. At the other side Pablo’s friend Shoe was there to meet us and take us to the hotel.

After dinner Dari and I decided we couldn’t spend a night in Brasil without a Capirinah. We found a cosy bar, had a couple of capirinahs and rolled home along the hilly avenues to our hotel. From what I had seen of Ciudad del Este and the plans that Pablo had I knew that tomorrow was going to be a BIG day!

Shoe came to meet us at the hotel in the morning to accompany us to Ciudad del Este, she had planned the whole thing, that’s when I realised that it wasn’t just a day out but a mission that needed to be completed. We caught a bus and we hit the bombshell of a city at 10am in the pouring down rain which was washing streams or red dirt, orange peel, rubbish and herbs down the street. Luckily we knew exactly what we were there for and went straight for it. Pablo wanted a new laptop and mobile phones for the girls. I wanted a bad boy reflex camera! After a good hour of browsing just one block of electronic shops I spotted my beauty and I was approached by Muhamed the owner of the shop who was Lebanese, had a mullet and was wearing waterproofs. He helped me, gave me a coffee, flattered me and blabbed out all sorts of obvious sales talk and offers in his own macho way. He threw in a camera bag for free and gave me a good discount on the camera which was already cheap due to 0 TAX! Weeeheeey! He insisted on being in the first picture so got one of his assistants to put my little beauty together as he gave me his number and practically proposed! It was hilarious!

Pablo got his laptop and the girls got their mobile phones and we were done just one obstacle was in front of us- crossing the bridge without paying a fee due to the $300 restriction that we had all individually exceeded! We crossed with no trouble- the inspectors didn’t see or suspect anything. I sat restlessly in the bus crossing back to Brazil with sweaty palms gazing out the window. Suddenly I had to burst out laughing at the scene which was going on on the riverbanks below. There were people were running across the riverbank with great big boxes on their shoulders full of electrical goods. They went to no effort what so ever to hide the fact that they were doing something that was blatantly illegal under the police’s noses. But the police weren’t too bothered about it either.

Having completed our missions successfully we spent the afternoon playing with our new gadgets and drying off in a nice coffee shop where they serve cake by weight! It was a day never to be forgotten and in the evening Darinka and I put the cherry on the cake by blowing away the Brazilians with our version of Madonna- Like A Virgin in a Karaoke bar, washed down with some well deserved Caipirinha beers.

3 Countries, 4 Currencies, 2 days

5am, Thursday 28th of May and we’re off! My friends Darinka and her dad Pablo had invited me to join them on their travels and I definitely wasn’t going to say no to what they had planned! We were meant to have hit the road 2 days earlier but due to Argentine bureaucracy we were delayed. Any Argentine under the age of 21 must have a document signed by both parents and stamped by a solicitor in order for them to leave the country. If the parents are divorced it’s even more important and if a parent has already passed away a death certificate must be shown! They just love legal documents in this country!

First stop was 200km away- Resistencia, the capital of Chaco to meet the coach that was hopefully carrying Darinka’s gold leaf document that her mother had completed; thankfully it all went to plan! We hit the road north for Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay! The landscape got wetter, redder and poorer as we headed north. We crossed the border into Paraguay with no problems. On first impression Paraguay seemed much poorer in comparison with Argentina. But at this point I had only caught a glimpse of how the poor live in their wooden little huts surrounded by boggy water; dirt and rubbish but maybe the grey sky and cold, wet ground made it seem worse than what it was.

When entering the city we had our first encounter with the Paraguayan Police. A bus had stopped right in front of us and to avoid colliding Pablo had swerved into the other lane and there was a policeman off duty behind us. He made us pull over, he got out of his car and started shouting, swearing and all sorts through our window. Once he’d let off his steam he let us go at no other cost (which is apparently very unusual)! We carried on cautiously to the hotel where Pablo’s girlfriend Sara was waiting. This is when I noticed the difference between British men and Argentine men. Pablo didn’t have a map so stopped every 200m to wind down the window and ask kindly for directions. This is something I’ve never encountered in the UK! Men generally have a map or have already studied the route and never get lost let, they just take “short cuts” and like hell will they ask for directions. I think I prefer the Argentine way.

We spent the afternoon walking around different areas of the city and seeing the rest by car. The first destination was a market which occupied a good couple of blocs close to the city centre. The pavements were lined with home made shacks and stalls made from all sorts of claimed or stolen scrap material selling sports clothes, fruit and veg, tedede thermos and cups and a variety of fresh herbs which they grinded for you on the spot to add to your Mate or what not. Paraguay is a tax free country so is full of cheap imported goods- hundreds of Argentine’s and Brazilians cross the borders daily to stock up on cheap goods- there’s a restriction to the value of goods each person can carry across the border at any time (US$300) hardly anyone respects this restriction as I would soon find out in a couple of days time in Ciudad del Este. After changing our “pesos” for “guarani” and “US dollars” (most places deal in dual currency due to extensive importations) getting bamboozled by the sums we had to do and the atmosphere and chaos in the market we headed for the city centre.

The centre of Asuncion is full of glitzy modern American and “British” shopping malls, handsomely elegant houses, parks and people cruising in their luxurious cars. The contrasts were horrifying. There’s no wonder Paraguay is known as one of the most corrupt countries in the world!

The following morning we re-loaded the car and were set to cross the country to the triple frontier of Paraguay, Brasil and Argentina. Before leaving the city we had our second encounter with the Paraguayan police. This time it was a little scam. He claimed that we had gone through a red light and that Pablo had two choices- hand over his documents and wait for a huge fine through the post or pay the policeman in cash on the spot and avoid the whole legal document process. Of course there was a small discount if he chose option 2 but still the price was absurd for something that never happened. The policeman wasn’t taking any of Pablo’s offers but when he realised that Sara was a Paraguayan he soon backed off and accepted 20% of the price he first demanded. Everyone in the car shrugged the incident off as if it was part of the weekly routine but I kept silent with my jaw dropped and all sorts of things racing through my mind- there’s absolutely no hope in civilising this country!

Back on the road we passed through lots of little villages. On the road side there were little stalls selling each village’s speciality- sacks of oranges, grapefruits, pumpkins, hammocks, chutneys, chipas etc. We picked up a crocodile shaped chipa (cheesy bread made from mandioca flour) AMAZING!