Saturday, March 14, 2009
Hostel Sweet Hostel, Puerto Iguazú, Argentina
Kara and I woke up around 7 am again to head to the bus station and catch a colectivo (bus) that made the hour's trip (for less than USD $1) to Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. After accumulating a few more stamps in our passport, we were dropped off in the center of the city and my first impression was that it best reminded me of Tijuana, Mexico. Although it was only 7:30 AM there (for some reason, the time in Paraguay was two hours earlier than Argentina), the main street was bustling with hundreds of stands that lined every side of the streets and sidewalks. We walked around aimlessly soaking in all the overwhelming sights of people selling their wares which included unheard-of amounts of American brand sneakers, clothes, bootlegged CDs, fruit stands, etc. We then spoke to a "policia touristica" ("tourist policeman," since we didn't see a tourist center) who gave us a map and information about a city that we literally knew nothing about. We then spent a good while searching for a bank, but a guy with a huge bazooka-looking gun directed us inside a money exchange to convert our Argentine pesos to guaranies ($5000 guaranies = USD $1). After making our first purchase of the day (fresh herbs for tereré - mate that is served cold and is a popular drink in this region), I accidentally got us lost, marking the first of many random events that led us to have the amazing day that we did.
We ended up near a pretty park/lake that seemed worlds away from the part of the city we had previously occupied. We confirmed the two hour time difference with a old man sitting on a nearby park bench and then decided to ask him what we could visit nearby since we had so many hours left in Paraguay. With all us consulting the tourist map, we noticed a waterfall that seemed a little outside the city and asked him how we could get there. Although he explained to us how to take a bus to Salto Monday, we misunderstood where to wait, so he and his friends called us back. As they were re-explaining their directions, the bus that we needed started to pass two blocks down, so two of the gentlemen ran down the length of the street in order to flag the bus down and confirm that the bus driver would take care of us.
We enjoyed our drive through the city and neighboring towns until the bus driver told us to get off in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere. We chatted with a Paraguayan couple as they walked with us along the cobblestone road and pointed us in the direction of our destination. The whole area was very quaint and quiet, and the colors of the countryside were so vibrant thanks to the fantastically green vegetation. We passed little children toddling around and playing together as their mothers washed laundry in the streams connecting to the river. We were finally greeted by a tranquil park that was in complete contrast to that of Iguazú falls. With hardly any other people or buildings, and certainly no metal pathways, we walked down a little path for a picnic of bread and fruit and close lookout of the top of Paraguay's largest waterfall. We then continued along the dirt path that paralleled the river until we followed an clearing in the trees that opened onto the water itself.
We were surprised that we were, in fact, standing on several flat rocks that sloped gently into the river, no more than 40 feet away from the waterfall's edge itself! We spent several hours laying on the rocks, enjoying nature while basking in the sun with our feet in the water. Once we woke up from a well-needed nap, we decided to explore closer to the edge to see over the falls and were shocked when we crossed through another opening - the rocks we were standing on were literally the edge of a 150 feet cascade of water. It was fascinating and so relaxing to sit there with our feet dangling over the edge in what felt like a pressurized water massage. We reluctantly left our peaceful santuary to make our way back to the main part of the city, thanks again to the help of a few people.
After a bit of shopping, our stomachs were demanding some typical Paraguayan food so we stopped to ask another tourist police where we could eat. It turned out it was the same guy from the morning, and Hernan then personally took us stall-to-stall in a collection of local food stands to find one that was open (everything was closing even though it was only 5 pm there). He proceeded to order us food, and sit with us as we ate - the kindness and helpfulness of people here blows me away.
Hernan was a great source of information and we learned a lot about Paraguay's culture during our absolutely delicious meal of noodles, meat with an indescribable sauce, and boiled yucca root. After our tummy-pleasing meal, which cost a total of USD $2 total for both our huge plates of food, we said goodbye to Hernan and wandered through the stalls to spend the last of our guaranies on exotic fruits and the like. Unsure where the bus back to Paraguay would pick us up, we sat near the street to watch for the bus. I guess Hernan noticed us from a distance, because he told us we were in the wrong spot and guided us to the stop about two minutes before the bus came. Kara and I contentedly rode back to Argentina after an amazing day in Paraguay full of serendipitous decisions and wonderful people.
On a side not, I was really proud that we spoke Spanish, even when we were by ourselves, the entire day. It was awesome knowing that we could communicate with the local people well enough to get around a city and country that we didn't know anything about. Speaking of the locals in Paraguay, we learned that a large majority of people speak Guaraní, the indigenous language. It made us feel better when we discovered the reason we couldn't understand a word that the men that helped us in the morning said amongst themselves.
At night back in Puerto Iguazú, most of us went to a huge club! When everyone else started showing up at 3 am, they opened all five rooms that each played different music. My favorite was an underground salsa club that looked like it was literally the a movie setting with it's vaulted brick ceilings and smooth-moving patrons. Cultural quip: We've grown so accustomed to guys grabbing our wrists to dance here that when a big beefy guy wouldn't let go of my friend as we walked into a new section, I grabbed their hands to pull them apart until he painfully grabbed onto my wrist to try and prevent me walking away. We realized a minute later that he was actually a bouncer and was trying stop us since we didn't have VIP bands. Oops. Kind of a funny demonstration on cultural miscommunication, you could say. At any rate, we called it quits at 5 am to catch a wink before our next big day in Brazil!
Coli
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