Well – I didn´t make it to Paraguay.  Not the day after last update, anyway.  Tried.  Didn´t succeed.  Will tell the story while listening to Ace Of Base.

05 July

Got up – sent a package home.  Some very very small souvenirs home.  A lucky few will get tiny souvenirs from my trips.  As small as they were, it was still a relief to get them out of the backpack.  Anyway – spent ages getting the postage thing sorted.  Cost me twice as much in postage as the value of the contents.  Had one last (I thought) brasilian churrascaria for lunch.  Then – convinced a very drunk man that I didn´t want him to give me a ride across the border, and that the bus was fine.  Took a long time.  Then – caught the bus.  Bus went to the border, and kept going.  We got on the bridge between Brasil & Paraguay, and I realised that this was another border where migration formalities aren´t so formal.  Got off the bus in Paraguay, walked back past Paraguay migration, across the bridge – and ´checked out´of Brasil.  Back across bridge to Paraguay migration.  Remembered, well – was reminded, that I need a visa.  Walked back, and re-entered Brasil.  According to my passport – for the fifth time.

So – back to Foz Do Iguacu.  Back to the hostel – where there was a pair of scandinavian girls giving each other back-rubs.  Ignored this.  Chose a different bed, and then walked up and down the street which was supposed to contain the Paraguayan consulate.  Didn´t see anything.  Was evening by now, so bought some dodgy DVDs off the street, and some beer, and returned to hostel.

06 July - asked hostel owner where the consulate was, and actually took notice of the number of the address in the guide book.  Her thoughts and the guide book matched.  Reality did not.  Asked dairy owner (who didn´t even flinch at my portuguese/spanish – sweet) – and he reckoned two blocks up, then two blocks to the right.  Not too sure how much to trust a brasilian with numbers – but he turned out to be nearly spot-on.  Girl at consulate gave me list of requirements.  Involving photocopies of tickets into and out of Paraguay.  Tried to convince her that seeing as I could, and would, walk across a bridge there – I didn´t have or need tickets.  Wasn´t convinced.  So – found photocopy place, copied my credit card, and two copies of the ´ticket´stub given to me by bus driver yesterday.  Quite pleased with my cheek, I was.  But – girl was not.  Tried to convince me to go buy a prepaid taxi chit from down the road, and when I hesitated for a while (just trying to confirm exactly what I needed), called somebody with a bit more initiative.  Who must have told her to chill out, and it was all good.  Then – waited for an hour or so, chatting to another consulate worker about the All Blacks.  And was then asked for US$50.  Had to be US$.  The seppos have got a lot to answer for.  So – left, went back to hostel, and got my backup funds which are US$.  Back to consulate.  Person who can stamp the visa to make it official is at lunch.  For two hours.  So I go to lunch.  Expensive seafood restaurant.  Order white wine and alligator stew.  Out of alligator, they reckon.  Dumb – I was looking forward to that.  Have boring crab stew instead.  Eventually, back to consulate, and get my passport with visa.  After a long day, I buy more dodgy DVDs, a bottle of wine, and some beers.  Spend evening utilising them, and chatting to the scandinavian girls (turn out to be danish), and a norwegian couple.

07 July - walk to bus station, and have a beer at street side stall.  Catch a bus, and this time get off before Brasil migration.  Get stamped out, and walk across bridge.  This time, Paraguay lets me in.  But, my visa – for which I had asked two weeks – seems to be ten days.  Oh well – it doesn´t sound like there´s much to do here anyway.  Except for enjoying the lack of tourists – due to lack of stuff to do.  To the point where, apparently, when I head north to Bolivia – my ´mere presence will arouse suspicion´from the military.  Sweet.

But – back from the future.  Ciudad Del Este… walked up from the border bridge, past continuous dodgy electronic stalls.  ´The Supermarket Of South America´, they reckon it´s called.  And seeing the huge lines of people on the Brasilian side waiting to go through customs with larg bags full of electronics, blankets, and everything else – yeah.  But, I´ve left my consumerism behind – so strolled past, stopping briefly to change my Reais into Guaranis off an old man sitting on the sidewalk.  Then – kept walking, until I found a small cafe/bar.  Stopped for a beer, and to check the guidebook, and figure out what I was actually going to do.  Discovered I´d been walking away from accommodation, and towards the bus station.  Using my normal method of decision making – I figured I might as well continue on this path.  So – kept walking, past a park with a statue of some Chinese president, as well as a chinese junk make of concrete in a dry pond.  Probably just as well the pond was dry, I guess.  Also, next to this park, a sports ground.  With a scrum machine.  And rugby posts.  I´m sure the young kids loitering there weren´t too sure as to why I would take a photo of an empty sportsfield.  Continued on, and found bus station, and took first hawkers offer of a bus to Asuncion.  I got a seat number (not the seat next to remarkably attractive girl which I originally took, (by the way – I took the seat before she was there) but another).  Then, after bus was full, people kept getting on board.  About a dozen people standing in the aisle for most of the 5 hour trip.  I think Paraguay is going to be a nice gentle introduction to such things before getting to Ecuador & Peru.  Got to Asuncion in the middle of a thunderstorm.  Paid the money for a taxi to a pousada, and then went out for food and beer.  Bad food, adequate beer.

08 July – Woken by more thunder.  Went for a walk… Asuncion supposed to be fairly nice just because of the parks and trees and such.  First park I find is filled with makeshift tents.  Protest or homeless, I´m not sure.  Walk on to Plaza Indepencia.  Home of the Pantheon de Los Heroes.  A monument towards heroes.  Outside – sure, nice.  Inside – pretty cool.  Big churchy bit, bit of a shame, but a pit in the middle with the coffins and urns of several Paraguayan historical figures – as well as two ´Unknown Soldiers´ – one a child I believe.  Also, heaps of plaques.  Either for or from heaps of people/groups.  Including the Lions Club of Leblon, Rio de Janeiro.  And the President of Taiwan.  Odd.  I happened to see the changing of the guard, which was rather simple and to the point.  Also – being a Sunday – they then held a church service inside.  I didn´t stick around.  However, being a Sunday, there was absolutely nothing else to do.  Everything closed.  These south americans still cling to that quaint old thing ´family values´- especially on Sundays.  Still raining rather heavily, so I found an open bar with red wine.  Then, checked out the Governers Mansion.  Apparently, at some point, the law was that anybody caught looking at it would be ´shot in the act´.  So I was a little worried when a soldier started yelling at me – but he just wanted me to get off the big bit of grass out the front.

Oh – and did I mention that the flag of Paraguay is slightly different on each side?  The only such national flag IN THE WORLD!  Also, by some reports, Paraguay is supposed to be the cheapest country IN THE WORLD!  And now, back across the road to one of the few bars open in town, to see if I´m too late to watch the end of Paraguay getting thrashed by Mexico.  If I ever lower myself enough to buy a soccer shirt – it´s going to be Paraguay.  I had actually decided on the bus to get one, then figured that rugby seems to be more popular here than I thought, and maybe I´ll spend tomorrow trying to get a Paraguayan national rugby team shirt.

Best waterfalls IN THE WORLD!  Biggest (they reckon) hydro dam IN THE WORLD!

But first – Puerto Iguazu.  Got there, as I said previously.  First day – walked around town, and checked out the Tres Fronteiras.  Pretty much the border of three countries – Argentina, Brasil & Paraguay – river borders though, so no jumping over lines singing the name of each country.  Each has got an obelisk in appropriate colours.  Fair enough.  HOWEVER – the perfect oppurtunity/excuse for a giant flag – gone begging.  I can’t describe how much I love giant flags.  And this place would be perfect for a “Flags Race” (ie: along lines of an arms race.  But with flags.  Need it spelt out any more?)

But – just boring normal size flags.  I actually fumed about it for the rest of the day.  After this though – did go to visit something they’ve done in giant.  A trap.  They took a traditional animal trap, and made a giant one.  Not sure why.  But it’s big.  Nowhere near as cool as a giant flag though.

Next day, I think (sense of time well and truly gone by now), went to visit Iguazu Falls.  Caught a bus there, with my pack (intending to head on to Brasil that evening).  Stowed my pack at their luggage storage.  Went into the national park.  First couple of lookout points – “ho hum, nice waterfall, but….”.   Then – I don’t really know how to describe it without calling upon profanity or referring to religious characters.  Best waterfalls IN THE WORLD!  Spectacular, beautiful, utterly amazing.  And this was the first trail, chosen by myself to do first as it builds tension – before the other two trails which get better and better.  Cool.  Pretty much a canyon full of waterfalls.  I believe there are 275 waterfalls in total comprising Iguazu Falls, and it is just beautiful seeing this one part of it which must have 200 of them lined up next to each other.

Then – the lower trail, pretty much seeing the same thing, but from below.  Including getting up rather close to one of the more powerful ones.  And, a boat trip – which takes you very very close to two of the more powerful ones – which involves getting drenched (waterproof bags provided to put your cameras in – literally drenched).  Anyway, plenty more awesome views.  Probably lots which are rather similar, but each time I came to a lookout, completely awestruck all over again.  So – apologies for the number of photos, especially as I doubt they really convey the actual impression (definitely not, seeing as it was impossible to ever get an entire view into a single shot – hence several movie clips).

Anyway, before I start gushing (like I do whenever the Great Wall is brought up – yeah Ben – it is about that good), moved onto what is supposed to be the highlight.  A catwalk which takes you right to the brink of the Gargantun de Diablo / Devil’s Throat.  The biggest/most-powerful of the lot, I believe.  Yeah – pretty cool.  But solely from the raw power of the thing.  I think I actually prefer the beauty of seeing a couple hundred waterfalls lined up side by side, with a couple of them powerful enough to throw up spray and what-not.  This one – just a huge beast, with so much spray being thrown up you couldn’t see more than ten metres down from the top.  Still – would have loved to stay there and just sit and watch for a while, but couldn’t remember what time the luggage storage place at the front desk closed.  So – stayed for a decent amount of time, then hurried back.  Got my pack, discovered there weren’t any buses onwards to Brasil – so had to return to Puerto Iguazu.

Got a bus from there to Foz do Iguacu, Brasil.  Bus stops at Argy migration.  Everybody gets off, goes through.  Sweet.  Driver asks me if I want to go through Brasilian immigration.  I figure I probably should.  Bus stops, I get off.  Driver hands me a ticket, and tells me to take my luggage.  Then – drives off.  Hmmmm.  Find the migration office, get stamped in, etc.  Then figure out the ticket the driver gave me is a “re-embarque” ticket.  Ah – sweet, must be able to use it to get on next bus.  Two hours later, very hungry, cold, & tired – I finally ask a customs guy if he knows when next bus will be.  Apparently, no more buses.  I was on the last one.  Sweet.  Ask him how far away the city is.  He reckons 5 km.  He’s Brasilian – so 5 could mean anywhere from 2 through 25.  I start walking anyway.  Find an expensive looking hotel – with taxi stand outside.  Sweet – catch taxi to hostel.  Rather happy to drop off stuff, and go to a churrascaria for R$10.  (All you can eat brasilian meats for about NZ$7)

Then – Sunday, town dead.  I’d planned on doing laundry and relaxing.  Can’t do laundry – because no laundry place open.  Nothing open.  Nada.  So – watch bad movies, download the NZ/Aus rugby game, and upload photos.  Then – watch rugby, and go to bed angry.

Monday – do laundry.  Sweet.  Walk around town, and that’s about it.  Buy some dodgy DVDs off a guy on the street, and watch more bad movies while having a few cervejas.

Tuesday – get up and do stuff.  Caught bus to the brasilian version of Iguassu Falls.  Walked along a trail, which had some pretty sweet views of all the waterfalls side by side.  From a distance, you could kind of see the whole effect a little more, but not so much as I’d been led to expect.  Then, what they seem to think is the main attraction – another catwalk to Gargantun do Diablo.  This time – kind of in front of the side of the waterfall.  argy catwalk went right to edge of the very top of the fall, this one was kind of set on a ledge a short distance from the top.  And around the corner from the main “Throat”.  Got soaked walking on it from all the spray.  Kinda cool, but I’m not sure why they don’t promote the trail I walked on first a lot more.  It was portrayed as an optional walk for those who like that sort of thing – but to my mind was the highlight of the brasilian side.

Oh well.  By this stage was hungry.  Choice of two joints that looked incredibly like mcdonalds, just without the piss-yellow arches.  Instead, paid for an overpriced buffet.  Pretty good buffet though.  Avacado salad.  With strawberries, and when they replaced it – kiwifruit.  Also – I got myself a caipirinha made with kiwifruit instead of limes.  And figured out the place of wasps in the ecosystem.  They are here to punish those who drink cocacola.  I took great pleasure in sitting at my table, with one or two wasps to keep me company (one I made friends with by fishing him out of my caipirinha.  I actually thought he was dead, but after he sobered up, the little fella spent the next half an hour cleaning himself up, and eventually flew away) – while at every single table with a can of cocacola on it, the people spent their entire time shooing away hordes of wasps.  Sweet.

Got back to hostel, and chatted with english couple I’d met at breakfast.  I think they skipped the trail, but I didn’t rub their noses in what they’d missed.  They were going to the argy side the following day – so that will more than make up for it.  Their expectations may have been lowered as well – so they’re in for a treat.  Also – they’d been given a voucher for 20% off at a churrascaria.  Advertising itself as a gathering point for foreigners.  Which raised my suspicions immediately.  But – they were all set for it, and I was lonely, so I joined them.  Got there – rather nice looking place.  But, we still didn’t ask how much it was.  20% off – can’t go wrong, right?  Salad bar was rather good.  Broccoli!  Hadn’t seen broccoli since NZ.  Not a big fan of the stuff usually, but actually had spent the last week thinking about it.  Mostly because my intake of vegetables has solely consisted of as much lettuce as I can stomach alongside my all-you-can-eat delivered-constantly-to-the-table delicious meat.  Anyway – as you have probably guessed, bill came, and it was rather large.  R$42 each for the food.  None of us too happy, and again I held my tongue about my usual haunt being rather similar for only R$10, and the beer also being about a quarter of the price.  ‘Cause I’m a nice guy.  We coughed up, and went back to the hostel to stew.  I bought some cervejas, and we watched a brasilian game show (trying to answer the questions, despite not understanding the host – surprisingly successfully at times), and played some cards.  Then – off to bed.  I broke mine getting into it.  Lifted up mattress to see what I’d done, and laughed.  Really rather surprising it hadn’t broken beforehand – and after I fixed it, I wasn’t too happy about getting onto it again.  But – after a few cervejas, and rather tired – I dared it.  I should get a photo of the ‘mechanism’ which is holding the mattress up – it is beautiful.

Anyway – got up this morning, and fixed my bed again.  Had breakfast, and a new guest arrived – to stay in same dorm as me.  Breaking the bed again, which is inevitable, is going to be rather embarrassing this time.  Oh well.  After breakfast, got some more cash out (was cleaned out by restaurant last night) – and caught a bus to Itaipu Dam.  The biggest IN THE WORLD, they reckon.  I was going in order to tell them they were wrong.  “I’ve seen, and trespassed on, the biggest dam IN THE WORLD.” I was planning to say.  But – then my bus stopped, and I was told it was the end of the line.  No dam in sight.  If it’s that big, I should be able to see it pretty easily, was my thought.  But, thought I’d have a little hunt-around for it.  Got off the bus, and found myself in a dirt street.  Luckily the houses looked to be relatively well-to-do (for some reason my paranoia of thieves, which mostly disappeared as soon as entering Uruguay, returned immediately on returning to Brasil).  Anyway – started walking.  Found the main road, and followed it.  Found the dam’s visitor centre.  Still no dam in sight, which increased the amount of scorn I was preparing for it.  Discovered that the only way to see the dam was at certain times.  So – sat around for 50 minutes before the next one.  Finally – bought my ticket.  Entered – ushered into an auditorium.  Watched a movie clip.  A twenty minute long advertisement.  It actually nearly convinced me that a giant construction, with enough concrete to build 210 Maracana stadiums, enough iron&steel to build 350 or so Eiffel towers, moved more earth than the Suger Loaf, and displaced 1 (or 4?) million people – was going to save the world.  Interactive display earlier had reassured me that even when the Three Gorges was finished, Itaipu will still be the biggest dam in the world in the one stat that really matters – power production.  However, it also showed me side by side statistics regarding this, and other stuff.  Three Gorges could squash Itaipu.  So – after the videos of kids playing in fountains and people jet-skiing and what-not (they even tried to make giant power-pylons look beautiful) – I got on a bus to go see this SECOND biggest hydro-dam IN THE WORLD!  Another spiel via voice recording on the bus, mostly same old numbers.  210 Maracanas, blah Eiffel blah, etc etc.  We get to a spot with a pretty sweet view of the spillway.  Pretty big.  Bus keeps driving.  Gets to one lookout spot, and we can get out for photos.  (Voice recording had reassured us we’re allowed to take photos of anything we like.)  Yeah – pretty big dam.  I guess.  But pretty crap view of it.  Would have been better view from the bus earlier – but aisle seat in a crowded bus is not so good for photo oppurtunities.  After not long – summoned back to buses.  Keep driving.  Along bottom of dam.  Would have been some decent photos for the engineering nerds.  Then – along the top of it.  Would have been some decent photos from one end – to show the full extent of it.  But – bus keeps going.  And going – back to the visitor centre.  But, I guess, when you’re the SECOND biggest dam IN THE WORLD, you don’t want people to hang around for too long to notice how little you really are.  Most of it’s made with rocks and dirt anyway.  Not Three Gorges – pure concrete baby.  Interactive display told me.

So – that’s been Puerto Iguazu, Iguazu Falls, Foz Do Iguacu, Iguassu Falls, and little old Itaipu.  Tomorrow, hopefully, Paraguay.  Maybe there’ll be a decent spot there to take a photo of Itaipu.  Shouldn’t be hard to fit it all into one shot – so won’t have to waste too much memory-card on it.