Iguazú, Itaipu, and Ciudad del Este Too!

Friends, sorry for the delay in posting. It sometimes becomes hard to find a spare minute to write to you when I'm traveling over 3 countries and seeing various capitals and big cities--I'm sure you understand :)

Still in Asunción, Paraguay, on Friday I went with Rubén to his law office and hung out there. I spent time in the centro just walking and seeing. We ate lunch and spent some more time there. We headed back and I met some other CSers (Couch Surfers) from Czech Republic who were biking (motor and bicycle) in Paraguay and other places. We chatted with them, and Rubén, a friend, and I had some drinks and pizza.

On Saturday I met up with Laura at noon and we went to the Botanical Garden. It was a nice, relaxed place. There was also a little zoo there, and for a price of $.50 for both the garden and the zoo, how could we pass it up? We then went to dinner at Bolsi's (an EXCELLENT restaurant that is quite cheap) and had a great steak meal with a nice glass of wine for $20 total. I'll miss the cheapest capital in the world for sure! I took her back to the conference and I returned to Rubén's. I was taking a night bus from Asunción to Ciudad del Este, and it was leaving at 1 a.m. I packed up and headed to the station...

I got into Ciudad del Este, a city built for an international market (largest in South America), at 6 a.m. on Sunday. I got to a little cozy Hotel San Rafael and met the desk man. He helped me out tremendously with any questions and navigated me to the places to go and how to go to them! I decided to visit Itaipu Dam, the largest energy dam in the world! The Paraguayan side was closed due to the swine flu, but the Brazilian side was open. So I slipped by the border (kind of illegally..) and headed to Itaipu! I met a guy from Germany who was traveling alone, and we chatted and took pictures together. The dam was quite impressive, as you can imagine..Michael and I then headed to Iguazu Falls on the Brazilian side (still illegally in Brazil). From there Michael wanted to see the bird park, so we said bye. I met an interesting fellow, Jay, from California, and we checked out the falls together. The falls, also quite impressive! I was able to see an amazing man-made engineering feat as well as an amazing natural feat all in the same day! I returned and spent the evening relaxing. I slept quite well that evening..

Monday was a frustrating day spent traveling to get my visa without getting it. I had to go to the consulate in CDE who was no help, and when I got to Argentina via small ship the office was closed. I had anticipated being able to get my visa that day, so I left my luggage at home. I had to return to Paraguay through Brazil (on a local bus) and get my bag, only to return again to Puerto Iguazu, in Argentina. I did, however, meet a nice guy from Crucero del Norte. When I bought my ticket back to BA (Buenos Aires) he was very friendly and told me to call him when I returned to hang out. We went to his sister's jewelry shop and spent time there. We eventually made it to the "casino" which was a small floor of slot machines--nothing compared to Vegas of course!--and had tapas and drinks with him, his friend, his sister and her boyfriend. We stayed and enjoyed ourselves until 1 a.m.

Tuesday seemed to work out well! I got up at 8 and went to get my visa for Brazil. I then had to go through a process of obtaining $ because my one debit card didn't work on ATMs yet and my CC didn't have a pin..so I had to go into the bank and ask a woman for a seemingly "special transaction." I paid the visa and was finally happy! I waited 2 hours for it to get finished (if I did it in CDE it wouldn't have been done in time, and 2-3 weeks in the US) and headed to Iguazú Argentina side! I must say I enjoyed the Argentine side quite a bit more. The Brazilian side consisted of seeing the falls across the river and walking along a sole path. The Argentine side was a 3 hour walk on different trails, a train to the Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat) and more experiencing the falls up close! But you need to see both to get the whole picture :) That night I was returning to BA. I met some Indian friends who were on the bottom level with us. We had a good time talking and chatting. They were from western India, and didn't speak Ta'mil--sorry Matthews! I got into BA and found my way back home, only to embark on another journey the next day.... Thanks for reading and commenting! Any Questions or if you just wanna talk, send an e-mail to benthelefty@gmail.com -- Benjamín