I headed into the airport to get ready for my six hour layover in Sao Paolo. I checked the monitor for my gate and went to sit down there.
But first, I had to shed the winter layers I'd worn from London. Thank goodness the airport had wifi and I was able to chat to friends & even had a skype call with my parents.
Unfortunately I was still surrounded by the most annoying kids. They were running around, screaming & carrying on. Where do they all come from?? There were also two boys next to me - brothers - who kept hitting & kicking each other, and their mother seemed to not do anything about it, even though she was right there! I can just hear my mum now saying that I was the same or possibly worse at that age, but I'm sure I got a lot more walloped than these kids! As time got closer to the flight departure, I checked the monitor again, only to find our departure gate had changed, and was now in fact boarding. Great! I made my way over and boarded the plane to Buenos Aires.
I guess it was a comparatively uneventful flight - but still with the sounds of kids screaming & crying. Finally arrived in BA and stood in line to pay the U$100 reciprocity fee that Argentina has for Australian citizens. There was another guy in front of me so we chatted while we waited - he was from Canada & also had to pay.
Finally my turn came and after examining each of the five U$100 notes I presented to him, the fee guy decided I couldn't use any of them but I could pay by credit card if I wanted. What the? Apparently each of the notes (even though they were given to me by the bank in Melbourne) had a signature or number or something written on them so that made them unacceptable. Great. Thankfully Canadian guy had change for U$100 which he exchanged and fee guy was much happier with these notes. He put the visa in my passport - I had now officially entered South America!
I went outside and collected my bag, and tried to find my way to the hotel. It was supposed to be close to the airport - the whole reason why I had chosen it - but I couldn't figure out where to ask. Withdrew some cash again and then decided to just catch a cab to the hotel. It wasn't until I saw the hotel drivers that I remembered my hotel had an airport shuttle too. Oh well, too late to organise now! I caught a cab to the hotel which seemed further away than I expected. We were still driving on the right hand side of the road, so that didn't feel odd, the roads were nice, well made. But something felt a bit odd. I think I felt a bit numb. Possibly it was from the ridiculously long and traumatic flight, or perhaps it was because I was so adamant not to have any preconceived ideas or biases before I got there, that when I actually did, my feeling receptors were still closed.
We arrived at the hotel, and the concierge took me to my room. It was a nice looking place. The building was made of wood & there was a small pool which currently contained a girl & her dad, I think. Once inside the room - it was very hot - I dumped my bags and turned on the fan and shut the window. I went to use the toilet, but after I flushed, the water kept trickling into the bowl. It wasn't overflowing or anything, there was just this constant trickling sound. I ignored it for a while.
I went and asked the concierge if he had internet on a computer 'cause I realised I needed to check in for my flight to Iguassu Falls. It was the slowest computer in the world! After about an hour of restarting, working out Spanish error messages, etc. a process that previously took me about 5 minutes, I had my boarding pass for the next day.
I went back to my room & the trickling was still there. I called the concierge again and he came to fix it. He said it had been fixed, but if it happened again, I should tell him and they'd put me in another room. Well, of course it did NOT stop, so I repacked 'cause I thought I'd have to change rooms. I also showered and washed my hair and it felt great! I went back to the front desk and it was another guy. I explained the issue to him and he came over and fixed the leak. I know he did 'cause the water stopped dripping. Thank goodness! I thought I'd go to sleep 'cause I had to get up early and now I'd been awake for about 40 hours...
In the morning, I had to use the toilet and lo and behold - it now refused to flush! I'd really had enough, and couldn't do anything about it anyway. I grabbed my bags and let the guy at the front desk know about it. He apologised and said he'd give me 50% off the price of the room. Welll, I guess that was something, except when he told me the new price, it wasn't half. I asked and he said, no 15%. Ah...okay, whatever!
I grabbed a croissant from the breakfast buffet 'cause that's all I had time for as my taxi to the airport (free!) was already there. The croissant, alas, tasted like crap and was nothing compared to the ones I'd had in France or London! Back at the airport I went to catch my flight to Iguassu Falls. I got on the plane no problems, and expected to land in Port Iguassu at around 10am. I had an older guy next to me, his wife next to him, and as I realised later, their son was across the aisle. I chatted a bit to the guy - turns out they were not from BA, but a city a little ways away.
All was going fine until we got closer to Port Iguassu and they said due to bad weather the plane was going to land at this other airport! And we were going to hang about in the plane on the tarmac until told what to do. So we ended up sitting there for about an hour and then flew back to Port Iguassu. We finally arrived there at about 1pm. And then the fun part of trying to find my ride to the hotel. There were lots of drivers with names up, and eventually I spotted mine. Turns out some had more than one name, so they were rotating the names they held up. So if you saw the driver with a different name, chances are, you wouldn't check there again, and I dunno how you'd ever find your driver!
Anyways, once I identified myself, he asked me to wait, presumably while he collected the others. Then another guy with a clipboard came up & asked for our names, sending us to different exits at the airport. Turns out the family sitting next to me were also in my van! Surely we weren't staying at the same place! No, there were drop offs to about four different hotels and I was the last one. I thought I'd picked being closest to the falls, but actually I was furthest away. No matter, the hotel looked amazing, and the bus ticket was the same from all the hotels. The hotel was really amazing. And especially compared to my previous hotels on the trip, quite luxurious. A guy carried my bag to my room and it wasn't until after he left that I realised I hadn't tipped him! Doh! Oh well...I'd have to think how to rectify this - starting with how much to tip!
It was raining lightly outside, and I was tired. Both combined made me most reluctant to head outside. It was almost 2pm so too late to go to the Falls that day, especially as I didn't have a visa for the Brazilian side. Still the voice of Kerr Bear rang in my ears. Whenever I didn't feel like doing anything, I was supposed to think of her and rouse myself into doing something. Here goes! I put on my waterproof jacket - it was already hot (!) and headed out to explore the city.
Like I said, my hotel was miles away from anywhere, but thankfully on a straight road to the city, so all I had to do was keep walking. I stopped in a supermarket 'cause there was no way I was gonna pay ridiculous 'o dollars for water in the hotel.
While there, this woman asked me if I spoke Spanish. A little, I told her. She asked me to ask them if they had a roast chicken in the store. Ummm...and then my mind went blank again. What was chicken? All I could think of was the French word "poulet".
Damn this language! Why was it being so difficult! Anyway we establisehd that there was no roast chicken and then she asked me about butter and cheese, which thankfully I COULD remember. I bought insect repellent and figured I'd pick up the other stuff later on my way back. There was hardly anyone on the roads & it felt very strange after the bustle and crowds of Asia & Europe. In fact, I tried my hardest to pay attention to every detail, as if I didn't notice stuff, all I wanted to do was go back to the hotel and get in bed!
The guide on the bus had mentioned a street (Calle Brasil) which was supposed to be good for food and safe at night, so I tried to find it. But everytime I asked someone, they looked at me strange. To the point where one lady thought I wanted to go to Brazil, and gave me instructions, and then walked me to the international bus terminal!
I'm always worried about being spotted by people who give me directions, especially when I'm walking in the opposite direction! When I realised that the lady had brought me to the international bus terminal, I made up an excuse to go into the souvenir shop and then snuck out while she boarded her bus. And then worried that she would see me walking along. The stress!
Anyway, I managed to find the street I was after, and must have walked up and down every other street in town, stopping at another supermarket and a pharmacy before deciding to head back. I stopped again at the first supermarket and bought ample quantities of water, juice, snacks and a small bottle of baby oil - for my knee according to mum's instructions.
Once back, I ran a bath, squirted some oil in it and soaked until the water went from hot to warm.
Then I wrapped myself in a big towel and climbed into bed!
