So I got to Puerto Iguazu, a little town with a big beautiful waterfall. Although it borders 3 countries (Brazil, and Paraguay also), the Argentinian side is supposed to be the best. And it was incredible. Absolutely majestic waterfalls, bigger than I have ever seen in my life. I got a boat ride under the falls, and the sheer power of the water made it definitely difficult to see but also even to breathe. But it was a cool experience. The park itself is gorgeous and I spent a happy day wandering around with a guy, Benny from the hostel I was staying at.
In fact I enjoyed the hostel and the town so much that I decided to stay an extra day, just chilling and I saw a sign saying "Circus". It listed all the things it had.
Tigers
Magicians
Trapeze Artists
Jugglers
and something that I couldn't translate. One of the English guys at the hostel translated it as 'balloon of death' and I was sold. I mean really, was it death by suffocation? Would he have to get himself out of a balloon that was slowly filling with water before he drowned? The possibilities were endless, and so on my own, because nobody else wanted to go I went to the Circus.
Step back in time 20 or 30 years and you have a bit of an idea of the kind of circus it was. I love circo arts so I was quite looking forward to all of this. Unfortunately I have been spoilt living in a city with an incredible circo arts programme and although it was good, wasn't as good as stuff that I've seen before.
I was also one of the few solo people there. Everybody had kids with them. I can't wait til I have kids so I can legitimately go to these things. But I was probably as excited as the next kid at the start.
So it was fun. The only things I didn't like was the use of animals. They had pretty emaciated looking tigers and horses and I didn't like that. I only stayed because I was curious about the balloon of death, and because animals aside, I was having fun.
The last act was what I wanted but Steve had translated it wrong. Not the balloon of death but the globe of death where a motorcyclist rode around a large circular structure. Not a balloon but really cool, and one of the few things I hadn't seen (although I also hadn't seen a tiger jump through a flaming hoop before but I think I'd rather not again anyway).
So all in all something different to do to get me out of the hostel. THe funniest thing was on the bus coming back to Buenos Aires, just coming out of Iguazu we got stopped by passport control. One of the guys came up to me, asked officially to see my passport and then grinned. "Circo!" he said. It turned out he had been at the circus the night before with his kids and he recognised my tattoo. He gave me a lolly as he asked me how I liked the circus and Argentina. Strangest passport control I had even been through but I wasn't complaining. I like lollies.
