April 30, 2006
Day 214

People watching Salto San Martin.

For your reference, a map to the park can be found here.

I caught the first bus I could to Iguazú Falls National Park in Argentina this morning. It was easy because my hostel was only one block from the bus station, and the park was a short ride out of town.

The park is a big place full of tourists from all over the world. It's not very difficult to access given its proximity to Buenos Aires and the good infrastructure of roads in the area, so it's not a big surprise that it's touristy.

I decided to start by taking the Lower Circuit, which would take me along the river to the bottom of about half of the falls. Almost immediately, I saw a monkey and several coatis. I walked up to a lighthouse and climbed the outside stairs as high as they would take me. That's where I got my first glimpse of some of the waterfalls in the distance.

The next waterfall I saw was called Salto Alvar Nuñez. It was a big, solitary waterfall that whetted my appetite to see more. I also saw a lot more tropical birds like parakeets and toucans along the way. I had entered a jungle-like environment.

Eventually, I got to the river and got a great view of all of the falls to the west of Isla San Martin. The view was so stunning, I couldn't believe my eyes at times. I had stumbled into a tropical paradise. As the path continued, the views kept getting better and closer. I could tell the waterfalls were big because I could see the tiny people watching them from other lookout points, but the sheer number of them was what impressed me the most.

When I got closer to the falls, I saw a speedboat power its way into Salto San Martin and disappear briefly. When it emerged, everyone was soaking wet and hollering. By that time, there were also frequent helicopter fly-overs. Iguazu is definitely a modern-day tourist trap.

My next stop was Isla San Martín, the island that separates the two groups of waterfalls. To get there, I took a quick boat ride across the river. Lots of people were walking around on the beach and relaxing, so I decided to join in. I ate one of the sandwiches I brought and took in my surroundings.

The trail wrapped me around to the east side of the island for my first glimpse of Garganta del Diablo, or Throat of the Devil, the set of waterfalls on the east side of the park. The trail then led me to a colony of vultures, swooping around a small waterfall and sitting in a tree.

The last place to visit on the island was a lookout point that brought me right next to Salto San Martin. I got sprayed with lots of water on the walkway, but it was worth it. The views from this point were fantastic. The speedboat went right under us, as did a bunch of birds as they went for a dip.

Eventually, I made my way back to the start of the park. Along the way, I walked past Salto Dos Hermanas, a set of twin waterfalls that were somewhat secluded from the main group. I also went past the old and new hotels of the park. I don't even want to imagine how expensive it would be to stay at the brand new Sheraton.

The next path I took was the Upper Circuit. I saw all of the waterfalls I had just seen, only from above this time. Once again, the views were spectacular, although not as great for me as seeing the falls from below. I walked to the end of the path, had another sandwich, and slowly returned to the park entrance once again.

The final major path led to Garganta del Diablo, on the other side of the park. A train took most people there, but I decided to walk as it was only about 3 K's away. Halfway to the other side, I stopped to talk to a park employee. He showed me some turtles that were swimming in the peaceful river. Then he said "Watch this," and threw some bread in the water. Instantly, a group of piranhas thrashed around and shredded the bread. Also on the trail, I saw lots of butterflies and a woodpecker, so it was definitely worth the walk.

From the train station at the end of the trail was another short walk to Garganta del Diablo. Along the way, I saw multiple caymans chilling in the water. When I first reached the lookout point, I couldn't see anything because there were so many tourists. There must have been a tour group of some sort there because everybody was wearing matching name tags. The line to the front was three deep, and there didn't seem to be much order to it. Eventually, I pushed my way through and took a couple quick pictures, but was pushed back out almost immediately. I decided to wait, and eventually everyone left. I had the whole place almost to myself.

The sheer force behind Garganta del Diablo was amazing. Being right on top of the waterfall made it even more dramatic. The roar of the water passing over the ridge was deafening. I stayed there for a good half hour before taking off.

I had seen all of the major waterfalls, so I took a break, ate the rest of my sandwiches, and walked back to the park entrance. There was still one more waterfall at the end of a trail a few K's outside the main part of the park. I started walking down it, but didn't get very far because it was closed. I didn't realize it, but it was already nearly 6:00 and was starting to get dark. It wasn't a big deal to skip that trail, though. I haven't even met anyone who has actually walked down it.

Iguazú falls was easy to get to, and easy to walk around, but it still is one of the best things I've done on my entire trip. The beauty of being in the jungle, seeing tropical animals everywhere, and of course, one of the most extraordinary natural sites in the world made me overlook the fact that the park is overrun with tourists. I now understand what Eleanor Roosevelt meant when she went to Iguazú and said, "Poor Niagra."

The photo albums for this entry are here.

April 29, 2006
Day 213

I arrived in Puerto Iguazu early this morning, exhausted after being in a bus for so long. The seat I was in barely reclined, so it was almost impossible for me to sleep. Passing the time was tough, too, because the movies they played sucked. I couldn't really watch them anyway because the volume was so low. They turn down the volume really low on buses because the people watching are just reading the subtitles anyway, so they don't need to hear anything. Normally there are jacks above me that I can plug my headphones into, but this bus didn't have any. And I can only read subtitles in Spanish for so long before my brain gives up.

I got to Puerto Iguazu a little to late to see the park adequately, so I decided to wait until tomorrow. Instead, I checked out the Images of the Jungle Museum. I figured it would be a bunch of paintings and photos of rain forest animals, but it was one man's collection of woodcarvings. I was bored stiff at the beginning of my guided tour because every animal was made out of a branch or log that already looked like an animal. "This one is the monkey," my guide would tell me, "But of course all the artist did was carve a slit for its mouth." Bo-ring. But at the end, I saw some much more difficult pieces that took up to a year to make including JFK, a famous pope sitting in a chair, and Jesus' head that was carved when the artist was blind for two years from cataracts. It turned out to be a nice little place to visit.

Late this afternoon, I went to the "Punta de Tres Fronteras," the point of three borders, where Argentina Brazil, and Paraguay all meet. There wasn't much to the site itself, other than the fact that I could see three countries at once. I think it's funny that on some postcards of Paraguay, Iguazu Falls are featured, even though they are miles away and are only viewable from Brazil and Argentina. A little bit of deceptive marketing is going on in Paraguay.

Tonight I went to bed early in preparation of the long day of seeing the Falls that lied ahead.

April 27, 2006
Day 211

I had to go back to the Paraguayan consulate three times today. The first time, I learned that my visa application had been accepted and I paid my fee. I was told to come back in an hour to pick up my passport, which I did, but it still wasn't ready. Finally, on the third try, I had it. Each time I went to the consulate, I had to push through hordes of people waiting to get nationalized. It was a pain in the ass, but at least it's over.

This afternoon, I made my plans to get out of Buenos Aires. I went to the bus station with hopes of leaving for Iguazu Falls tonight. However, I learned that because it takes 18 hours to get there by bus, the buses all left in the afternoon or early evening. I was hoping to leave at night. I ended up buying a ticket for early tomorrow afternoon and going back to my hostel to check back in.

However, in the time it took for me to go to the bus station and back, the hostel had filled up. I walked over to the hostel where I had stayed before, and met up again with Kathleen from my cruise. Tomorrow, she will fly back home to the US.

The hostel has free tango lessons every Thursday, and I was finally able to partake. A bunch of us took turns learning an 8-step dance for an hour. It didn't seem too hard, but then I found out that we only learned one tango dance out of about fifty that exist.

Everyone was excited after the lesson to be learning the tango, so we decided to go to a "Milonga," a place where actual tango dancing occurs. When we got there, the tango lessons were just ending, but they were starting salsa lessons, so we stuck around. Everyone at the club had various levels of experience dancing the salsa, and everyone in my group had zero, so it wasn't too intimidating. I think I stepped on about 100 feet, but it was still fun.

April 26, 2006
Day 210

With thoughts of Brazil way behind me, I began to focus my efforts on Paraguay today. The consulate had a huge line again just like yesterday. This time, I went to the front where a police officer was directing people who were trying to enter. Eventually, I was able to push my way past everyone else and tell the cop that I was there to get a visa. He directed me inside to a much shorter line.

I had to fill out a form stating that I wasn't going to look for work in Paraguay, but no return ticket was required. I'll have to pay $65, which seems like a lot of money just to enter a country where I'll be spending my tourist dollars anyway, but at least it's cheaper and easier than Brazil. I had to leave my passport at the consulate until tomorrow, though. At least it's looking like I'll be able to go to a new country soon.

April 25, 2006
Day 209

The first order of the day for me was to make one last attempt at obtaining a Brazilian visa. I went back to the consulate when they opened at 10:00 and stood in a long line, patiently awaiting my chance to explain myself. When I got to the front of the line over 30 minutes later, I found out that my efforts were fruitless, for multiple reasons.

"You have to fill out your information in the computer first, then wait in this line," said the consulate employee. I wondered why the guy at the entrance told me to stand in line first, but as it turned out, that was the good news. When I started to walk away, the lady gave me the bad news: "Then I'll need your passport, one photo, your ticket to enter and leave Brazil, and $100 cash.

"But I don't have my ticket yet."

"Aren't you flying there?"

"No, I plan on taking a bus to Iguazu, then continue overland to the north. I'll probably exit Brazil in three months or so, but I'm not sure when yet."

"If you're not flying, you'll need a bus ticket into and out of the country."

"Didn't you hear me? I don't know when I'm leaving the country yet, or even where I'll be leaving from. It's called backpacking."

"Until you have the ticket, you can't go to Brazil."

I was too pissed off to say or do anything that might help my situation, so I left. I've been to 17 different foreign countries and have never been treated like this before. Still, I can't really be mad at Brazil.

There were no visa requirements for Americans to enter Brazil until about five years ago when the US government started charging Brazilians $100 to visit. The US government has long been notorious for treating all visitors like suspects in a crime, and Brazil has simply had enough and decided to to the same to Americans. It's really frustrating for me because I'm caught in the middle of two conflicting government bureaucracies, and I'm just a backpacker who wants to travel somewhere new. I guess I can cross Brazil off my list of destinations.

My next idea for places to go was Paraguay. Unfortunately, I need a visa to go there, too. On my way back from the Brazilian consulate, I stopped at the Paraguayan consulate. I decided that it probably wouldn't be worthwhile waiting there considering the line of at least 500 people stretching two city blocks. Back at the hostel, I learned that the line is there because this week, the Argentine government has agreed to legalize all Paraguayans who are currently in the country. Wow, this is my lucky day! It was already too late to try to go back to the consulate, but tomorrow I plan to try to skip ahead of that massive line on the grounds that I'm actually trying to go into Paraguay, not leave it permanently.

April 24, 2006
Day 208

As soon as I got up this morning, I called the Brazilian embassy to ask about buying a visa. I got a recording that said they were only open from 2-5, so I had to wait a few hours. At 2:00, I walked to the embassy, but was told I just needed to go "across the street." That "street" happened to be 9 de julio, the widest street in the world! After walking further than a football field, including the end zones, I was on the other side.

When I got to the visa place, I was told that they were only open from 10-1 for Americans. Another day wasted. On top of that, I still had another worry: return tickets. Somebody told me a long time ago that Brazil requires you to have a ticket into and out of the country in order to buy a visa. I guess they do this to make sure foreigners will leave before they run out of money and become a burden to society. Of course I don't have such a ticket because I'm a backpacker. I'm going to take a bus to Brazil, stay there for an unknown period of time, and take another bus out of the country, from a location that I do not yet know. I could see myself staying in Brazil for two weeks or two months depending on how I like it. I've been traveling like this my entire trip without any problems so far.

Nobody who was at the visa place knew whether I actually needed a return ticket, but I was given another phone number to call. This time I reached an actual person, and was told that I did indeed need to purchase such a ticket. I explained my situation to the lady on the other end, but she was unable to provide me with a solution.

The best idea I could come up with was to try and buy a cheap round-trip ticket between two places on the Argentina-Brazil border. I wouldn't be able to use the ticket, but if it only was going to cost $5 or so, I'd go for it. With renewed vigor, I went to Retiro, the gigantic bus station of Buenos Aires, to try to purchase such a ticket. The ticket booths in Retiro are organized by geographic region, and the "foreign countries" region started somewhere around booth 180. I looked up and saw that I was at booth 1. It was a long walk.

I asked for tickets at five different companies that sold tickets to Brazil, but none of them would sell tickets from anywhere but Buenos Aires. The cheapest I could find was a round-trip ticket to Foz do Iguazu for $80, a ticket that I wouldn't even use. There's no way I'm going to pay $80 in addition to the $100 I already have to pay just to enter the country. I'd rather take my tourist dollars elsewhere if I'm not welcome in Brazil.

Tomorrow my plan is to explain my situation to somebody at the visa place to try and convince them that I won't stay in their country indefinitely. If that doesn't work, I'll have to skip Brazil and go to Paraguay instead. Of course, I could run into the same problem buying a visa for there, too. Isn't bureaucracy fun?

April 23, 2006
Day 207

The party last night was late, but not very significant otherwise. It was pretty funny when people kept asking me how long I've been in Buenos Aires and I would say, "2 hours." Before I knew it, it was 8:00 and time for me to get to sleep, but I was still really far from my hostel.

Someone told me that all I had to do was go left five blocks, then left again two more blocks to get to the nearest stop for bus 140. I didn't have a map, so I just had to walk and hope that the bus would come. When I got to the intersection that was described to me, I found a bus stop, but didn't see any signs for bus 140. Still, the sign that was up was damaged, so the part that said 140 could have easily been broken off, if it in fact existed.

A few other buses came and went, but there was no sign of mine. Normally, I would ask somebody if I was at the right stop, but at 8:00 on a Sunday morning, Buenos Aires is a ghost town. Not one person came within my view while I was waiting. Finally, I decided to walk another block to see if the stop happened to be there. As soon as I got to the next block, bus 140 flew past me and didn't stop because I wasn't at the official bus stop. I had to wait for the next bus, but at least I knew I was at the right place. 15 minutes later, I was on my way home.

On the way back, a new worry crossed my mind: Last night I was told that I could only stay at the hostel for one night. That night had come and gone, and checkout time was rapidly approaching. That meant that if the hostel was still sold out, I would have to pack up my stuff and look for a new hostel in a state of exhaustion after not having touched the bed I paid for. Luckily, somebody canceled a reservation and I was allowed to stay put for another night. I finally crashed at 9:00.

When I got up, I started to think about where to go next. After being in Argentina for about three months, it was time to do something new. North was the only logical direction, but that presented a whole new set of problems: visas. Americans need to buy visas for both Paraguay and Brazil, the next two countries I want to visit. I need to go to the embassies of those countries to buy the necessary visas, but of course everything is closed on Sundays. I'll try to get that taken care of tomorrow.