Where 15 Buenos Aires, Argentina --OR-- Waterfall Heaven

Since Rio I have taken a 23 hour bus jouney to Iguassu Falls on Brazil
-Argentine Border and then bus again to Asuncion in Paraguay. After a few
days there I had another bus trip, 22 hours, to Buenos Aires, Argentina (it
dosen´t look like a big country but is the 8th largest in the world and so
there are quite a few more long bus trips to come).

Brazil (continued)

Big Highs
BRAZIL- ARGENTINE Border

- Iguassu Falls. I wasn´t expecting that much - after all I have seen
Victoria Falls and how different can another waterfall be. How wrong I was.
These falls are absolutely incredible stretching for over 2km with every
part being different - raging torrents, long sheer drops, interspersed with
beautiful trickles draped in weed and multi level cascades. Each part is
spectacular and/or beautiful in it´s own right. All this topped of by the
pinnacle of dramatic endeavour, the Devils Throat, a semi circular
thunderous mass of collapsing water into the unseen depths of a mighty
unfillable pit. And I still haven´t mentioned the near 360 degree rainbow
down below me when I was standing on the edge peering down into the mist. Access to the falls is by numerous walkways almost taking you into the falls
themselves. This is not just a viewing feast but an interactive experience
- a complex arrangement of water gymnastics - full flowing power - so random
and yet so precise and consistent.
If Walt Disney were going to build a waterfall attraction then they would
build one just like this.
In comparison Vic Falls is about as beautiful as a overflowing drainpipe.


Lows
- Getting money out of Brazilian Banks is a joke. They have rows of brand
new ATMs (far more andvanced than in UK) which do everything except clip
your toenails and are plastered with Visa and Mastercard stickers and then
you come to use either of these cards to get anything out ...... BUGGER ALL
´appens!!!

- Passing Sao Paolo on the bus there was a river which must be the most
polluted I have ever seen. At a nearby service station there were 5
different coloured bins for different types of waste - very environmentally
friendly I thought. I wonder if this means they throw the rubbish from each
bin into different parts of the river?


PARAGUAY
In my Lonely Planet covering Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay there are 13
highlights. None of these are in Paraguay or Uruguay. Enough Said. To
call Paraguay unimpressive would be to significantly overstate it´s
cultural, geographic and historical value.
But then again no place is without its ´points of interest´ ......

Relative Highs
- I decided to get the bus from the bus station to the hotel. Unfortunately
I didn´t, speak the language (my spanish is still at an early stage), didn't have a
clue which buses went where and my only map had the hotel and a couple of
roads around it. After half an hour I guessed we must have got to about the area
where the hotel was and I got off. And there was the hotel exactly opposite me. Now how often does that happen? Not often believe me.

- Met some very friendly locals - had very slow conversation in Spanish
helped by a McDonalds Spanish English dictioary with phrases like ´The dog
does not sing, nor the cat´ and ´he make a lot of noise when he plays with
other boys´......

- More importantly the beer bottles are getting bigger. In Brazil a large
bottle was 600ml (cost $1). in Paraguay a small bottle is 630ml and a large
980ml (cost $0.5). Something is going right.

Dangerously Lows
- Paraguay is not dangerous I was told. Then we passed a normal shop which
has two guys outside sitting on stools fully armed with pump action
shotguns. The Lloyds TSB (yes they really have them) was permanently
guarded by 4 fully armed guards... just like home, not.

- I changed some US$ for local currency with a strange man in a bus station
(as you do). He scoffed at my $10 note which had a slight tear but was
otherwise crisp and pristine. After some reassurance he accepted it and
proceeded to give me the shabiest, dirtiest and most sellotaped notes I have
ever seen in my life. I found out that these were perfectly acceptable in
Paraguay - In fact, I think that the value of the note increases with the
addition of more sellotape.

- The showers in this part of the world are cold water but have a heater
immediately above the shower head to at least partly heat the water. This
means that the electrics (often bare wires coming straight out of the wall)
come dangerouly close to the water. Whilst in the shower I sensed a burning
smell and seconds later the showerhead burst into flames - I stood there frozen not sure quiet what to do. After 15 seconds it burnt itself out. I didn´t tell the owners as they would have only repaired it (not desirable) so I had cold showers from then on.


URUGUAY
It was only a day trip across the River Plate from Buenos Aires to Colonia
but I got another shed load of stamps in my passport (I am seriously running
out of room) but from what I saw:

Highs
- It was a colonial town (hence the name !) so very pretty.

Lows
- It rained nearly all day and the sun came out just as we were getting the
boat back.
- It was touristy (Argentinian tourists mainly) and expensive.

Apart from that Uruguay is apparently much like Argentina without the bits
worth seeing.


ARGENTINA
So trying to avoid talk of wars and football (neither of which was
completely achieved) I ventured forward.

Argentina is a rich country with a good, modern infrastructure. And it´s
bankrupt.
- Currently over 30% of everyones savings has been taken from them by the
Govt. and they are not allowed to withdraw all of what´s left. (Govt has
converted US$ held in bank accounts into pesos at $1 = P1.4, whist the market
rate is over $1=P2.0)
- Mistrust is now so high that Argentines would rather put their money under
the matress than in the bank.
- No one is buying anything other than necessities despite every shop having
a ´Sale´.
- Official unemployment is 18% but actual rate is nearer 30% and this will
increase very rapidly as large nos. of people are laid off daily and this
will cause further problems as spending reduces and prices rise. A vicious
circle, and barring a miracle, the knock on effects of this over the next
few months will be catastophic. I could go on ....


Dollars (Highs)
- BsAs is a Europèan style city but with trees lining virtually every street, open parks, wide roads and a high % of cobbled streets - very pretty in places. It also bustles with too much traffic, many poor areas and currently over 13 million pissed off Argentines.
- Spent a couple of days in the coutry just outside Buenos Aires with a
fairly poor family none of whom spoke english (it´s a long story but I met
one of them on the bus). Making Empanardas (like cornish pasties) on the
kitchen table and sitting a round drinking Mate (a tea type drink which is
very much a social event) in the sunshine is a nice way to spend some time.
- The beef here is huge and cheap and makes up a large part of the diet. The
wine is also cheap and although the locals drink wine at every meal they
don´t drink much - half a small glass seemed about average. No need to
finish the bottle off here ...... it will get drunk tomorrow (maybe this
should have been a low).
- Friendly and hospitable locals. Met up with a couple I met briefly in
Bangkok over a year ago who showed me round BsAs.
- La Boca - the area of BsAs that is home to houses of many colours and the
Tango - and also a fair chance of getting mugged i.e. not the best area and
I was warned by the police not to walk more than 2 blocks from the touristy
centre of the area.
- The economic crisis has doubled the no. of Pesos I get for my $ so
everything is much cheaper than if I had come here 3 months ago.


Pesos (Lows)
- The economic situation. I had to mention it again, Argentines are talking
of little else...
- Kissing the boys. Kissing everyone even in business is the norm. I spent
most of one evening kissing guys I didn´t even know!

If your still reading then it was worth me writing all this (unless you
skipped straight to this end bit). Now I´m off down south to see some
wildlife and then heading to the most southerly city on the planet....

Love
Pete