Adventures of Bernadine

February 27th - 28th, Argentina and Brazil 

Woke up at 7 am so we could get to Iguazu falls early morning but we got delayed by a new friend in the bathroom - a tarantula! Now Bernie is quite a scardey cat when it comes to spiders, so when he calmly told me that there's a large spider in the bathroom, I was like whatever. Then he insisted I look at it and oh my god, it was HUGE! It wasn't moving though, so we went on packing and trying to get out quick. Then it moved into the room so we tried our best to work around it. Finally we checked out and told the hostel staff about it. They rolled their eyes at us but when they saw it, they were also shocked! Very soon all the people who'd woken up early for breakfast came to inspect with their cameras. But no one went close enough to touch or move it. Adventure before the adventure!

We finally got onto the local bus to the falls, very excited about the day ahead. It's funny but Bernie and I have become quite the hikers! We really like walking so it was quite perfect as Iguazu park has 3 trails that lead you to the different viewing points. The falls are in Argentinian side of the river Iguazu, so you can see them up close and feel the ever present spray. The first point we went to was the main one 'Devil's Throat' and it was just so impressive. Bernie's been to Niagra Falls and said that this was much more impressive. Pictures can't do it much justice, but it's better than me explaining the view. 

The other two trails took you past different falls and views, through lush greenery (we saw a croc/alligator) and we decided to do a boat ride that takes you near the falls so you get wet in the mist. We were soaked to the bone by the end of the short ride but I can actually say that I've bathed in the Iguazu! I had known we were going to get wet so I took flip flops and after the ride, as I was changing back into my other shoes, a coatis came running up to me and grabbed my bag as I sat there helplessly screaming! Luckily a nice man ran after it into the jungle and retrieved it for me. Phew! 

We then took the bus back to our hostel to pick up our bags and leave for Brazil. We had to finish our remaining Pesos so we ate an unhealthy amount of ice cream :) After that, got on to a local bus, like Baba Dylan in Goa, and within 10 minutes were at the Argentina border. 5 minutes later, we were in Brazil and got off at immigration. At this point, our bus continued on abandoning us and 3 other Japanese tourists. So we sat on the grass at the side of the road waiting for another bus from the same company to pick us up. We sat there for about an hour in the hot sun and finally our bus showed up.

We're now in Brazil!!! 

After all those Spanish classes and speaking so much Spanish, I cannot remember any Portuguese. Simple things like gracias automatically comes out of my mouth instead of obrigada. I blame my Pops for not teaching me the language.

After we checked in to our hostel 'Katharina's' in the town of Foz de Iguacu, we went to a hyper market and bought loads of crisps and chocolates and Bernie bought around 20 different flavours of Tang which he's now addicted to. There are so many flavours here! Then we went to a chorasqueria for dinner which is a buffet and meat restaurant where Berns ate all the meat as they brought it around on skewers and I ate rice and crazy amounts of feijoada and lots of salad. It was a very satisfying meal. 

This morning, we went to the Brazilian side of the falls, where you have a panoramic view. Iguacu Park is very large and a bus inside the park drives you up to the falls where you walk a bit to see the spectacular view. As impressed as I was in Argentina, now I could really appreciate the scale, power and see the number of waterfalls. We took many many pictures, I hope we do something with all of them. It was really very awesome to see this World Heritage natural wonder. We though about doing a helicopter tour but decided that we saw two days worth already so got back to the town. 

Now we are at the airport waiting for our flight from Foz to Rio de Janeiro! I can't believe it's happening, Viva Carnaval!

See you soon Buenos Aires!

February 25th - 26th, Buenos Aires Argentina

We spent our last day in BA walking around the many parks and gardens in the city. We walked through the botanical gardens, through a big park along the main road,  past the Japanese garden and finally reached a beautiful lake with a jogging and cycling trail all around it. We walked the whole course and entered the garden and sat on a bench in the middle of the Rose Garden. It was the perfect way to end our time in Buenos Aires.

That evening, we got on to our bus 'Rio Uruguay' to Puerto Iguazu on the border of Argentina and Brazil. We were greeted at the bus entrance with a bowl of sweets so we knew it was going to be an awesome journey... But just didn't know how awesome! Our seats fully reclined into beds with pillows and blankets and our personal tv screen which was much bigger than the ones on economy flights. Then our waitress (!!!) came around with drinks and snacks followed by a proper hot dinner, tray table and proper cutlery, along with our choice of wine or whiskey etc. Finally after dessert, we were asked if we wanted some champagne - yes please! And we got our individual 500 ml bottles with proper champagne glasses and everything. Such luxury!

I was actually sad that the journey was only 17 hours because I was getting very comfortable there. At Puerto Iguazu, we got off the bus and immediately felt the humidity. Most people don't know this but Argentina also has a rainforest, it's not all in Brazil. That day it probably rained 5-6 times and super heavy rain. 

Our hostel 'Hostel Park' was okay, it had a big pool though we didn't swim in it. We hung out all with an Australian couple, an American and a girl from Holland. In the evening we decided to go for a walk down to the Iguazu river bank. We got to the point where the river forks and it was so awesome, we could see Brazil just opposite us and Paraguay on the side. So close! The distance between the 3 countries was so little, less than river Mandovi in Goa, I could've swum across. But I had to stay where I was and scream to Brazil that I'd be there shortly. We took a couple of pictures at that point as the 3 countries fly their flags and even though it was dark, it was well lit.

Once back, we had a bread and cheese dinner as we had limited amount of Argentine pesos left and nothing looked too exciting and went to bed relatively early. Early morning start to the falls.

There's a time and place for steak... and that time and place is now!

February 24th, Buenos Aires Argentina

Bernie loves steak. I mean, I knew how much he loved his steak as he doesn't stop talking about the flavour, the way it should be cooked, the marinades etc forever. He'd been dying to get to Argentina so badly. At Mendoza, we had a great steak, so great that Bernie tipped 40%! In Buenos Aires, restaurant La Cabrera came highly recommended and we booked a meal that was outrageously good. So delicious that Bernie would not stop talking about it. So I researched a bit and found out that this restaurant has "happy hour" where for 1 hour every evening, they give you 50% off the entire bill. It's not expensive by British standards but definitely not cheap. I mean I like a good steak but I do love my mama's Goan steak with bancal sauce a lot as well. 

So we went there a second time and ordered the most expensive Kobe steak, which one again was very good. But tonight, we went for a third time in a week and once again, Bernie was in heaven with his rib eye. I, on the other hand, am more excited about the breadsticks and many sauces they bring. What I've learnt from all this is that Bernie loves steak more than video games, more than me (!!!), more than life itself!

I'm glad he's had his fill of steak because tomorrow evening we leave Buenos Aires for Puerto Iguazu to see the best waterfall in the world, much grander than Niagra. We decided to splash out and bought VIP suite tickets in a bus where everyone has their own tv screen and a full bed and waiter service! Honestly the pictures look better than first class in most airlines. 

I'm so sad to leave Buenos Aires, such a great city. So much amazing red wine and food and warm people. The only thing we didn't see is the Boca area and a Boca Juniors football game. Boca is a pretty dodgy neighbourhood and you are not advised to visit without a tour group at certain hours of the day - not a place I really want to visit. But the football match, funny story here. See I thought that Boca Juniors was an under 15 football team managed by Maradona where he went around the country scouting for the best talent to train them. What a hero! So I didn't really care to see some kids game. Obviously, once again I was corrected for living in my own bubble world (they are a proper team with grown ish men). Anyway, since I cannot name a single Argentine (not Argentinian) player, I won't be crying about it.

All in all, a great time was had in Buenos Aires. I'm very jealous of the many foreign exchange students and English teachers we've met who now call this city home. I'm definitely going to visit again soon.