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Argentina |
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The area of Iguazu falls is bordered by Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay which provides for some interesting multiple country visits in a single day. I will try to start this section with our attempt to get to Argentina.
The International Bus Terminal in Ciudad Del Este, Paraguay is not something to put on your list of places to visit especially at 4:30 AM because that is when we arrived from Asuncion, Paraguay. The guide books were of little help because we knew we needed to catch a bus to the Argentina side of the falls and you would assume that you would do this from the International Bus Terminal. But after a few hours of frustration we got it narrowed down to the fairly simple task of catching a local city bus up on the corner. We had no idea what corner or what time the bus came so our only option was to stand on the corner and wait.
After some time and standing on multiple corners we moved to our final corner destination and saw a bus labeled with Argentina, Puerto Iguazu. But it turns out the bus driver is early for his route and we would have to wait for the next bus. We then realize that we do not have the correct currency for the bus ride and scramble to change $20 US into Paraguay money. A street vendor changes $20 US at a really crummy exchange rate but we had no plans on walking back to the bus station in the rain to save a couple of dollars. As we board the bus we contemplate customs. The travel book warns you about getting your passport stamped and getting off the bus but we don't know if that means in Paraguay or Argentina. We do not know if the bus is even going to stop. Traffic on the road at 7:00 AM is at a standstill and we approach a bridge and a major river which usually means a border. The bus builds up a head of steam and we are over the bridge heading into Brazil. We of course do not have a Visa for Brazil and hope this does not create a problem. The city bus takes a fifteen minute route through Brazil on the way to Argentina. We grabbed our bags and got off the bus and presented ourselves at customs. After a brief inspection of the city bus by customs it continued on its route and that meant we would have to catch the next one in 30 minutes.
The city bus arrived at the bus terminal in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina and left us with a short walk to numerous hotel options. It was 9:00 AM, raining and we had been traveling since 5:00 AM the pervious day. We were both ready for a nap and a hot shower. We picked the Los Helodos Hotel for $30 US a night and at this point we would have paid anything just to wash away the memories of bus travel. After getting settled into our hotel, the need for food forces us into a five minute walk into town. The city of Puerto Iguazu appears to function only as a tourist town and currently it appears there have not been a lot of tourists. Many of the businesses are closed down or in the process of being remodeled. We are here during the slow period so it is hard to judge how busy the town actually gets. Our restaurant options are rather limited and we end up at the newest looking tourist trap called Las Vegas. It is a cute place and it appears the owner is trying everything he has ever heard of to increase business (Internet Cafe, Sports, Disco, Video Poker, etc.). This is all situated in a very small restaurant. The menu is very limited and they have the traditional South American menu item of Jamon Y Quesa (Ham and Cheese). It must be part of the restaurant application form in South America to have a very basic menu and proudly display Jamon Y Quesa as the first item on the list. I guess it is difficult to mess up a grilled ham and cheese sandwich because so far they have all been good.
At this point in the day we begin to see the wisdom of the South American siesta from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM and decided to give it a try. The sky decided to open up and dump buckets of water into the streets so we jumped in a cab for a $2 US ride and an afternoon of well-deserved rest and relaxation. Dinner came early and we again ventured out for food only to find that the concept of a good restaurant is non-existent, so we settled on pizza and learned about Yerba Mate. The city of Puerto Iguazu is a very cute little tourist town and we do not understand why we can not find any nice restaurants. As we learned about Yerba Mate the reason became clear.
Upon arrival into Paraguay and our current travel into Argentina we noticed that everyone, and I mean everyone, was carrying around a thermos and a small silver cup. You can look around at every cafe or cashier sitting behind a counter and they are all pouring the contents of the thermos into the silver cup. Yerba Mate is also called Green Gold and is mainly grown in Paraguay and Argentina but is exported all over the world. Apparently others have tried to grow it elsewhere but only Argentina has the special soil required to grow truly excellent Yerba Matte. Green Gold or Yerba Matte is also referred to as Indian Tea and has been a national drink since the early 1800's. The literature we had read talked about it's history, the proper way to prepare a Yerba Matte and the amount of vitamins in each cup. It was also mentioned as an excellent aphrodisiac. Based on my observations it got everyone happy and stoned and they really had no desire to eat so therefore the local economy could not support any nice restaurants. We were eager to try it but could not find and restaurants or cafes that had it on its menu. We would have to buy all the stuff and try it later.
March 18
Yesterday, was the first time in a month that the two of us separated to work on various projects. Karen set out to figure out our travel plans for Iguazu Falls and I worked on the computer. All the travel planning books warn the traveler to pick your travel partner well because you will either want to kill them during and at the end of the trip or you will want to spend the rest of your life with them. So far we are headed down the path of eternal bliss. However, a lot can change in the next 10 months of travel.
The only problem we had with visiting Iguazu Falls was getting to the Brazilian side. As US citizens you are required to have a Visa but the guide books point out that you do not need a Visa if you are only visiting the Brazilian side of the falls. If you inquire with the local travel companies about getting to the falls they want to charge at least $90-$120 a person. The excuse given for the high cost is the Brazil customs/visa fee. This all sounded a little hokey so we hired a taxi for six hours at a total cost of $50. We never could figure out if some rule allows taxi drivers or tour operators to bring non-Visa holders into Brazil or if customs does it as a courtesy to a guy trying to make a buck from a neighboring country.
The taxi driver picked us up at the hotel at 8:00 AM and we departed for the Brazil border. The taxi driver explained to the Brazil customs agent that he was taking us on a tour and we were allowed to go through. The customs official did not stamp our passports so it would appear that we never entered Brazil. Rodrigo, our taxi driver, speaks no English but is eager and carried a big smile. Fist stop of the day is Itaipu Dam and we are the first ones there. The Itaipu Dam has a very nice visitor center that offers a "Making of the Itaipu Dam" movie and a bus tour around the dam. The Itaipu Dam is the world's largest hydroelectric dam and stretches over four miles across the river between Paraguay and Brazil. The dam was built as a fifty-fifty partnership between Brazil and Paraguay but now the dam provides most of its power generation to Brazil. The visit to the dam is definitely worth the trip.
Next stop is the Iguazu falls on the Brazilian side. The travel books all recommended going to the Brazil side first to take in the true magnificence of the falls. The Argentinian side of the falls is more developed as a natural park but the Brazil side allows you to see the falls as Mother Nature intended. The Brazil side of the falls has only one walkway from the top to the bottom of the falls. Karen and I walked up and could not believe the size and magnitude of the falls. It was truly impressive. We stopped for the mandatory couple picture and headed down the walkway. We discovered that the previous view of the falls was only 20% of the actual falls. Every corner and observation point yielded an even larger view of the falls. Taking pictures became a little difficult because water vapor is everywhere and covers your camera lens before you have a chance to focus. The end of the walkway takes you into the middle of the river and at the edge of a large horseshoe shaped fall. If you venture into the center of the fall you need a good poncho because you will get soaking wet in a few minutes. The waterfalls are very wide and the area is covered with unusual landscaping that seems out of place with such tremendous water power everywhere you turn. The Brazil side of the falls does not require more than an hour visit so we joined up with our taxi driver and set off for the 60 mile drive to get to the Argentina side of the falls. It is kind of weird to see that the place your going is less than a mile away across the river but you must drive an hour to get there.
As we drove out the park exit we tried to communicate to the driver that we wanted to go to Bird Park which is only a few miles from the Brazil park entrance. The sign read "Parque Aves" and we tried repeating this as our destination. It took a few minutes for the driver to comprehend our request but he figured it out and we stopped in for a quick detour. The park entrance was $8 US and at first we thought it would only take five minutes to see the birds in the various cages. As we got to the end of the bird house we went through a door that took us on a hour worth of bird habitats inside huge cages. This allows you to actually walk through and stand next to some beautiful birds of many different species. I think the birds are use to the human visitors because they did not seem bothered at all by people walking through their home. For bird lovers this is a real treat and a great way to get some pictures of some very colorful birds. I think I enjoyed the Bird Park more than the waterfalls.
It is now getting close to 1:00 PM and I am getting hungry but we did not want to kill an hour of our cab ride by eating. We still had to go to the Argentina side of the waterfall. The cab driver asked us if we wanted to eat and he knew of a place on the Brazil side. We at first declined but he kept asking so we gave him the OK. He pulled into the parking lot not to far from the Argentina border of a very large building and tried to explain that it was a buffet and cost $12 US a person. I am not a fan of buffets and definitely did not want to pay $12 US. Since we could not explain our reasons for objection we decided to go along. We entered a large banquet hall filled with people and waiters in all directions. We invited the taxi driver to sit with us but he was able to explain that if he sat with us he would have to pay for his meal. Great we got sucked into a tourist trap so that our taxi driver could get a free meal. The place turned out to be well worth the $12 US. The buffet was a normal buffet with 25 side dished and I loaded up on some food. Then the first waiter came with a knife in one hand a large piece of meat on a skewer in the other. Argentina is famous for their consumption of meat and this restaurant fit the bill. Every three minutes a different waiter would show up with another meat to carve out on my plate. At one time I counted nine different kinds of meet on my plate. It was being delivered faster than I could keep up with. I was full and the meat kept on coming. Karen the vegetarian was having more fun with the meat variety than I was. We signaled to the driver that he did good and we were on our way.
The Taxi driver did not know it yet but we wanted him to take us to the Argentinian side of the falls. In hindsight we probably should have negotiated this in our original price but it only cost us an extra $10 US and we would catch the bus back from the falls. The Argentinean side of the falls is definitely setup for tourists. They have put a lot of effort into building very nice walkways over the various waterfalls and down to the river's edge. Each waterfall is separated by a small island or patch of land that forces the river to divide into many smaller waterways. This natural formation of rocks and small islands made it easy for the park service to build bridges and walkways connecting a majority of the waterfalls on the Argentina side. It is a surreal feeling to stand a foot above the drop off point of a roaring waterfall. I don't think Disney could have built a nicer waterfall for tourists to enjoy. The walkways also take you down to the river's edge giving you plenty of opportunities to get soaking wet. The climbs are steep and we found ourselves short of breath on more than one occasion. We had a nice solution for our shortness of breath. We would sit down and enjoy the sites-and-sounds and the cool mist of a raging waterfall. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon.
We had become old pros at this bus thing and got on the local bus from the falls back to the bus terminal. Karen and I had both wanted to camp but the speed at which we were traveling did not really give us enough time. The guide books and local tourist information list numerous spots to camp in the area and on our bus ride back from the falls we passed what appeared to be a first-class campground. It looked nice and had a mixture of rustic camping, modern facilities and is on the bus route.
Our next stop was Buenos Aires, Argentina flying from Asuncion, Paraguay only a short five hour miserable bus ride away. The last thing we wanted to do was catch another uncomfortable bus to get on an airplane and deal with all the Paraguayan customs hassles. Because we had exited Paraguay without getting an exit stamp on our passport we did not know if this would create a problem entering back into Paraguay to catch the bus back to the airport in Asuncion, Paraguay for our flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina. The bus ride to Buenos Aires from Puerto Iguazu was fifteen hours and the thought of that was also not very exciting. Karen had read about a deluxe sleeper bus called a Coche Cama. The brochure pictured big reclining seats with food and drink and a couple of movies thrown in. The price for this deluxe bus ride was $50 US so we decided to give it a shot. We also felt confident that if we tried to leave from Paraguay the Passport problem would cost us $50 a piece so we really could not lose. As it turns out when we got to Buenos Aires a population of three million people we ran into Sean and the two guys from Denmark. These were the guys we met up with at the airport in Asuncion. They had a real customs horror story to tell us. Sean being from the United States did not have a visa to Brazil but got on a bus that was headed for the Brazil side of the falls. When he went through customs they would not let him in so they had to get off the bus and head back to Ciudad Del Este, Paraguay where they all got a $50 fine for not having an exit stamp on their passport. So they got pissed off at the whole thing and jumped on a bus to Buenos Aires without seeing a waterfall. It sure does pay to read the guide books cover to cover and ask as many dumb questions as possible.
March 19
The bus left that afternoon around 4:00 PM so we spent a leisure day wondering around before our bus ride to Buenos Aires. The really nice buses are double deckers and it definitely pays to sit up top. The bottom is fairly small but is probably the better choice if you easily get motion sickness. As promised in the brochure, the seats were large and comfortable but still no replacement for a good horizontal bed. They have a person who serves drinks and meals and is all done in a first class manner considering your riding a bus. If the United States had this kind of bus service we would have no problem taking a bus ride instead of a plane flight. The evening provided us with a full moon and the drive South is along a two lane highway through the grasslands of Argentina. It reminded me of the Everglades in Florida with water everywhere and it is probably worth taking the bus during the day to truly enjoy it.
March 20
Argentina is a large country but over 80 percent of the population lives in Buenos Aires. As we arrived at the bus terminal in downtown Buenos Aires I was impressed to see a terminal that had over 50 gates for buses coming and going. Bus travel in Argentina is popular and first rate. We had definitely saved money because the bus terminal is downtown and we were able to avoid the expensive cab ride from the airport. This was our first opportunity to put on our backpacks and start walking in search of a hotel. Karen had done her usual homework and had zeroed in on Calle Florida a walking street in the middle of Buenos Aires and only a mile or two from the bus station. We did not have a reservation for any hotel but Karen was determined not to spend more than $50 US a night. This is a big modern city and I knew we would not find such an animal. The first stop was $85 US a night which was to much so we walked out. Karen quickly opened her book trying to cross reference hotel location on the map and price. Since I don't speak any Spanish I thought it would be better if I set out on a walk about in search of a room. The guide books are a great wealth of information but sometimes it is a lot more efficient to see for yourself. I probably went into about 10 different hotels in a four block radius asking the price and looking at the rooms. I did not find many good options. Most of the hotels are old and have not had any major remodeling in years. Even the rooms in the $150 a night hotels looked like the rooms in the $80 a night hotels. The only different was a red carpet in the lobby an extra star in their rating. I went back and found Karen still looking through her guide book and delivered the bad news. Nothing for less than $65 US a night and the hotel is not that nice. We could of course stayed in hostels in the various suburbs in Buenos Aires but we had decided that we are not Hostel people and wanted to be centrally located. We checked in to the room and as expected Karen was not thrilled. The primary complaint that we both have about staying in cheap hotels is that they are usually very dirty and just plain old.
It was lunch time and a flyer on the desk of the room mentioned a TGIF Fridays down in the Puerto Moreno area. We sat out on our walk to Puerto Moreno only to find a restaurant Mecca. Buenos Aires had prospered in the early 1900's as a port town and a major beef and agriculture exporter to Europe. The waterway in Puerto Moreno consisted of at least four miles of beautifully restored four story brick buildings. Each building in its day had been part of large warehouse district for loading and unloading of cargo on the boats. Now they served as the home to hundreds of restaurants, business and apartments. It was very impressive to see the amount of money that must of been spent to bring this complex up to date. The only problem was that at noon all the restaurants were empty. We finally found TGIF Fridays after walking four miles and enjoyed a very expensive American style meal. I am a big fan of Ice Tea and drink it in abundance at home. South America on the other hand does not know anything about Ice Tea and I will admit that the primary reason for going to TGIF was Ice Tea consumption. The price of an Ice Tea is $4 and you only get one refill. I was beginning to figure out how the restaurants made up for a lack of customers. The restaurants in the Puerto Moreno area are not places to grab a quick bite. As we looked through the windows every establishment had the perfect interior and just the right touch that left you going, "We should eat there it looks really good". Being from Boca Raton, Florida we have our share of nice restaurants but Puerto Moreno just by sheer numbers was unlike anything I had ever seen.
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the main shopping district on Calle Florida and decided it was time to take a nap. Dinner in Argentina starts at 10:00 PM and that is way past our current "be at the airport at 6:00 AM" bed time. After recharging our batteries, we set out at 11:00 PM in search of food and found pizza. We were in the mood for some festive activities and started to wonder around, but nothing looked interesting so we decided to head down to Puerto Moreno and all the restaurants. The taxi driver pointed out that nothing was going on in Puerto Moreno and he took us to the Recolleta area. Recolleta is a great spot with a very old cemetery which is worth a day trip and lots of late night bars and restaurants. It was getting to be around 1:00 PM and everything was winding down but we stuck our head into a couple of places and had a couple of beers. The area has a good mixture of cafes, discos and upscale bars. The final stop for the night was a large four level disco with an Egyptian theme. It was done very nicely and after paying a $10 US cover I got a $7 US drink that was so strong I could not drink it. The night was getting long and morning was just around the corner so we called it a night at 4:00 AM.
March 21
The people in Buenos Aires take their weekends very seriously and today is Saturday. Needless to say we were slow to rise and our plan was to have a "Work Day". Work during travel involves our travel writing and updating our web site. The highest priority was to get out of our dingy hotel room, grab some lunch, followed by sitting in a cafe, doing our travel writing and drinking Ice Tea. We walked down to Puerto Moreno and ended up at TGIF for Ice Tea but it was very busy and noisy so we moved on. We did not feel like working anyway. On the East side of the Puerto Moreno district was a rode that crossed over the waterway and it appeared to have quite of bit of traffic. We were not sure if it was a military base or big park, so we jumped in a cab and did some exploring. We discovered a very large park and a conservation area along a polluted river. It seemed everyone in town was here taking in the Sun and drinking their Yerba Matte. It was a beautiful area and great to see so many people outside in the fresh air. We then asked the cab driver took us over to the Tango district. The Tango district is known for the brightly colored buildings and all kinds of street vendors and locals dancing the Tango for a few extra bucks. This port area was a common stop for Cuban sailors in the early 1900's and the local women loved to dance cheek-to-cheek with the Cuban sailors. The Argentina men had to combat this intervention so they developed the very complicated dance called the Tango. The Tango has lots of body parts touching and fancy foot work that made it difficult for the non-practiced Cubans to compete. I wonder if they were drinking Yerba Matte when the Tango was developed. A word of caution on the Tango district it Stinks, as in Smells, as in hold on to your lunch. It is on the water and whatever is going into the water is not very pleasent. We quickly got back into a cab and headed back to the park and conservation area.
We had the taxi driver drop us off outside the conservation area and started walking back through the park still in search of that place to sit down and get some work done. The afternoon turned into a people watching event as many couples seemed to be enjoying their Yerba Matte. This is a word of caution to men who take their lady to Argentina; get ready to feel like a real romance looser. Every couple in the park was glued together at the hip, kissing, holding hands and trying to see if they could get anymore body parts to touch. Girls this is the place to bring your dude to teach him a thing or to. As it turns out women in Argentina our treated like Queens. We had heard stories about Argentina couples who went camping. The girl has a very small backpack dressed to the hilt and the guy carries his gear and her gear in a very large overwhelming backpack. I came away from Argentina wanting to hold Karen's hand a little more often and a little bit longer. I think the root for all the affection is in the Yerba Matte.
The afternoon was getting late and we ended up at a restaurant in Puerto Moreno that had an Internet Cafe sign. No Internet but they have large pitchers of Summer White Sangria filled with fruit. The evening got late and we decided to head to the bus station and pick up our bus tickets for the 22 hour ride to Bariloche. The cost of this deluxe bus ride is $75 US and comes with the big reclining seats, movies and meals served at your seat. The alternative was to catch a $265 US flight per person plus the $50 US cab ride to the airport. We started to get the hang of the bus thing and were actually looking forward to doing nothing for 24 hours. The ideal setup for me on the bus ride would be a power outlet so I could plug in my laptop and get some good quality work done. I am looking forward to doing train rides in the future for exactly this reason.
March 22
We have a busy day with lots to see before we catch our afternoon bus. We are fortunate to be her on the weekend and see everyone relaxing outside. Our first stop was Recolleta and a tour of a very interesting cemetery. The cemetery is inclosed by a large wall that upon entering you find yourself surrounded by a maze of mausoleums. These mausoleums are not your ordinary square above ground resting place. They are elaborate structures with varying degrees of architecture that make you wonder how much did it cost to build that. As we wonder around I did a little eaves dropping on some guided tours and learned some interesting facts about the afterlife of an Argentina citizen. They do not believe in embalming so the bodies are stored in an air tight container and placed inside the coffin. The mausoleums are actually three or four stories underground and contain many members of the family. The funerals are very dramatic because the coffins have to be lowered feet first through an opening to the lower levels. Square footage is at a premium so they can't make doorways or hallways wide enough to lower the coffins. Eva Perron, the lady that Madonna made famous is buried here, maybe. When she died the government was very worried about people stealing her body in a revolution so they made two or three wax copies of her body and sent her real body back to Spain for burial. Some time later Mr Perron's current wife felt that Eva should be buried in Argentina so they unburied her and sent her back. I am not sure if any of this is true but that is what the guide said. If you are uneasy about seeing coffins on full display then you may want to skip the cemetery because the door of almost every mausoleum provides a great view of what is inside.
It was now lunch time and I wanted to add another Hard Rock Cafe meal to my belt. At last count I had been to over twenty of them around the world, so I did not want one to slip by. Hard Rock Cafe was actually connected to a mall and next to a large park. The mall only had stores that sold things for your home and had some great looking stuff for every part of your house. As we strolled around the area in and out of the stores, looking at the menus Karen and I both realized that we were home.
After lunch we jumped in a taxi and headed to the antique district. Every Sunday the antique collectors setup an antique flea market and Karen walked around wanting to buy something. It did not take long for the shopping fever to disappear and we ended up in a rickety old building and a second floor street cafe. The view allowed us to watch the various Tango performances and do a little bit of relaxing. This did not last long and we jumped back in a cab for Recolleta.
We had left Recolleta earlier that afternoon around 1:00 PM and returned to find a maze of people sitting in the park. We tried to figure out what was going on but the only common element we could find was Yerba Matte and couples hanging all over each other. With the attraction of so many people enjoying the sunshine and each other, it is only natural to have street performers entertaining the crowds. Different little bands setup in various corners of the park surrounded by people dancing and guys walking around on stilts juggling bowling pins. The performers were quite interesting to watch. We really wanted some of that Yerba Matte. It was time to go and catch our bus and our 24 hours ride to Bariloche. We had reserved the front two seats on the second level which gave us a clear and unobstructed view of the road ahead. The ride to Bariloche goes through the plains region which is a mixture of Texas plains and the Florida everglades. Not a lot to look at but the last couple of hours gave us the perfect view of mountains, lakes and rivers. Sitting in the front seat enhanced the experience if you could look past all the bug road kill on the window.
March 23
Bariloche is an Alpine Ski town both tourist and business oriented. It is very quaint and situated on a large lake surround by mountains. It felt good to be out of the city and we could not wait to pitch our tent and do some camping. Our plan was to rent a car in Bariloche, Argentina and drop it off at the end of the week in Santiago, Chile. Our first stop was Avis and we inquired about renting a car. Both Karen and I had visions of a relaxing peaceful week full of lakeside camping and the feeling of freedom with our own vehicle. At this point in our journey both Karen and I could not be happier with our South American experience. We had planned on it being the toughest part of our trip and it turned out to be relatively easy. This of course came to a grinding halt at the Avis counter. The complications set in on car rentals. The Avis office is a franchise and not a corporate owned Avis so they can charge what ever they want. The cost for us to rent a car would only be $90 a day plus mileage and we could not return the car in Chile. We kind of got the impression that Chile and Argentina don't like each other and doing these kind of business things would be impossible. Karen had read about a fly-and-drive program with Lan Chile airlines so we figured that renting a car would be no big deal. The only option we had was to rent the car for $90 a day and return it in a small town in Argentina which is East of Santiago, Chile. Then we would have to take a bus back to Santiago. We were not going to do this so we headed for Budget to hear the exact same story. The Budget guy did suggest that we cross the border into Chile and rent the car in Osorno, Chile and that would eliminate the border crossing problem. This meant another six hour bus ride at 7:00 AM the next day. At this point we gave up and the need for a hot shower and the need for sleep at 9:00 AM got the best of me. These overnight bus trips really take a lot out of you the following day. Our last ditch effort was a stop in the tourist office a large log cabin complex with a strolling St. Bernard for hire and a gorgeous backdrop of the lake and snow covered mountains. They were not very helpful and we moved on in search of a hotel.
Camping is 3 km out of town, it is getting a bit cold and the sun is setting. The car camping plan would have allowed us to buy all the food we need and provide a place for Karen and I to lock up our stuff when we went into town. We are both loaded to the hilt with stuff and it would be impossible for us to spend the afternoon in town walking around carrying our stuff. We opt for the comforts of a hotel and we begin our hotel search. Karen stayed with the bags and I walked around asking prices and looking at rooms. I find a small hotel for $40 US a night and scalding hot water in the bathroom. I was getting good at this hotel evaluation thing. There are several luxury accommodations for $100 US a night but we had set out on our trip with a $100 US a day budget and so far we had not even come close. We went with the $40 US room and the town was so cute that we stayed another night. The area offers a large number of trekking activities but we only had four days to go and we still had to see Chile. We needed another month or two in South America. Dinner that night was at a cozy restaurant specializing in grilled meats. Dinner was the best so far on the trip and we sat out for chocolate dessert. The town is famous for its chocolate stores and every chocolate kitchen you walked by almost knocked you out from the overwhelming smell of fresh chocolate. The chocolate stores our actually large chocolate supermarkets with every kind of chocolate you can imagine. The only exception to this was the combination of chocolate and peanut butter; haven't they every heard of Reeses Peanut Butter cups.
March 24
I wanted to sit in the hotel room and get lost on the computer and Karen wanted to shop. This was the first place that Karen did not feel any problems about going out on her own and she set out to buy some shoes. Karen returned a few hours later with no shopping bags and was excited to drag me out for a second shopping opinion. Shopping is really a team sport and I have to work harder at being a team player. Tonight was fondue night and we set out on a fondue hunt. We ended up in a small but busy restaurant, I ordered lasagna and Karen ordered cheese fondue. The cheese fondue was expensive at around $30 US and a large bowl of melted cheese and bread arrived. I was expecting a couple of courses of things to dip like various fruits and vegetables. Then the main course would be followed up by chocolate fondue and tasty strawberries. Nope, all we got was cheese and bread for $30 US.
March 25
Up early again for a six hour bus ride to Osorno, Chile. This bus was of the average variety and Karen and I got the next to the last row in the back of the bus. I am glad we did not get the last row because it was filled with the morning meal. The bus had been oversold so they let two local ladies stand next to our row in the back. Then to make the sense of crowding even stronger the guy in front of Karen reclined his seat and the claustrophobic monster came out. I thought she was going to lose it. The road was filled with hair pin turns that kept knocking the lady next to me down and it became very annoying. I guess she gets motion sickness because she returned the orange soda she had been drinking earlier that morning into a little plastic bag at the ready. She then tied a knot in the bag and stuck it in her pocket. She really was quite good at this standing on the bus thing. The border crossing out of Argentina was routine and we all had to get off the bus and go through customs. It was nice to stretch the legs.
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| This page last changed on 13-Apr-2006 22:20:57 EDT by unknown. |
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