wow.... back to back day posts. crazy. the pariwana hostel in cusco has a bunch of computers so i don´t feel bad staying on here. anyway. i just got here... after a 16 hour bus ride. yikes. so tired. it was suppose to be 14 hours... and leave at 915pm. but it was 16 and left at 1115pm. so needless to say i´m tired. but... i´m here!! and my cousin comes to visit tomorrow. i´m excited for her arrival but it will be a bit weird because i´ve done this all on my own so far and to be honest with you, i quite like traveling on my own. you´re never alone. but anyway... argentina.
so i got into buenos aires and got to my hostel. first night in a hostel so i eased myself into it and got a twin room by myself. i figure i could afford it and it gave me a sense of peace. but two days later i moved into a single ensuite room which was so nice. no sharing toilets and showers. not that it´s that much of a pain, but... it´s nice when you do have your own.
i think i had a mini post earlier about how i posted some messages on couchsurfing. one for tango and wine. and a girl from mexico, jimena, responded. we met up later that night and went to a tango lesson. it was fun. things NEVER get started on time in latin america... never ever. and bars and stuff don´t get going til at least midnight. so not use to that.
the next night i met up with a group of couchsurfers. or rather one guy posted that he and some of his coworkers want to improve their english. that is so something i can help with. it was fun to meet them. not only did they show up... but several others from argentina, a guy from italy and then the english speakers... three from the states including me and a girl from canada. it was a really fun night. i enjoyed meeting them. and if-when i go back to buenos aires i hope to meet up with them again.
the following day i headed to a part of buenos aires called palmero. i loved this part. it was nice. tree lined streets and just really cute. and i went to the fanciest ever bookshop. i read in lonelyplanet that it was... and it definitely was because it was an old theater converted into a bookstore. they have the stage, the curtains and everything. it was cool. i also strolled through an open market but didn´t buy anything. do i ever buy anything at those thing?? i was also lucky enough to catch some tango dancers in the park. it was a very hot and humid day... not sure how the guy was able to dance in a full suit.
that night i went out with jimena to a bar to listen to bands play tango music. it was a lot of fun. again... it said music started at 9.... it wasn´t until 1130 i think that the first group went on?? i´m getting old. but it was a cool little spot to sit and have some beers and chat. cool art on the wall. the last group was the best... tangos amores or amores tangos or something. i like them on facebook so that i can remember. they were just a lot of fun and the crowd was so into it. not to mention the two lead guys were kinda cute.
i was suppose to meet jimena for the san telmo market the next day but i ended up sleeping til close to 11 and i needed to check out because i was flying to iguazu. flight was good... and was so nice to not have to fill in an immigration card. my goodness those things are a pain. and now with peru i have a slip that i need to return when i leave in order not to pay the tax. i just hope i don´t lose my passport. but anyway.... iguazu. on the minivan ride from the airport to the town, i met a girl from california who was traveling solo all around argentina... including pantagonia and an older woman named sue who was from london and also traveled around argentina. she had already gone through patagonia. she was a lovely lady. i don´t usually use the word lovely, but she really was.
that night i met some people at the hostel. ryan from australia who was on 10 months of travel, and clara from london who was doing 4 weeks of travel. she was off to patagonia next. they were really cool and just awesome to talk to. i love hearing about people´s adventures. they totally inspire me. each one. every story. they talk about these places they´re going to visit like i should know where they are. like florianopolis. i never heard of the place. but it´s in brazil and suppose to have dolphins, i think. but anyway. yeah. they were neat. ryan was my roommate that night.
the next day i went to the argentinian side of the falls. it was hot and very humid that day. you couldn´t stay cool if you tried. even if you sat in a pool of ice cubes you´d be sweating. but anyway. oh my goodness... i can´t even put into words how beautiful the falls were. and i think i really did actually shed a tear because i couldn´t believe i was so lucky to see something so beautiful in person. it really was just breathtaking. and i don´t usually get that way with nature but it was just an incredible site. if you enjoyed niagara falls, then you will be blown away by iguazu.
while at the devil´s throat part of the falls, i met a girl named jessica from washington state. she was traveling solo as well so we hung out the rest of the day at the falls. also, she got laid off before going on the trip too. after her trip to iguazu she was headed to africa to do some volunteer work. the rest of the day was pretty good. we did the short walk and the long walk... and she did the boat ride which is pretty much like the maid of the mist. i didn´t go on it, but it didn´t matter because minutes later we were caught in a downpour. like... crazy downpour and i didn´t have an umbrella. not cool. but whatever. adds to the adventure, right?
that day i met a guy named ken from england who didn´t appreciate my british accent. or rather, he didn´t mind, but he thought it was horrible. ha. he was a nice guy. he let me borrow his cord to the nikon so i could download pics. (btw... just uploaded some from brazil) pretty chill night. i went to dinner solo but i managed to see sue, the london lady, walking down the street, so i tapped on the window and she came in to say hello and chat a bit. i had the room to myself. which was actually kinda lonely.
the next day i met up briefly with jessica. ran into the girl from california while i was waiting for jessica. puerto iguazu is not huge so it´s no wonder that i keep bumping into people. i only met jessica briefly because she booked a tour for the dam. i decided to head on over to the brazilian side of the falls. beautiful on that side too. you don´t get super close like you did on the argentina side, but you get a full view. that is where my cover photo is from on facebook. i ended up getting stung by a bee while i was waiting for food. i´ve never been stung by a bee. it got me in my left thigh... luckily i didn´t have any allergic reaction to it. add that to the adventure too. all the mishaps just add to the story.
that night... my room was full of roommates.... a girl from holland, a girl from sweden and a girl from the states, jersey. we were all traveling solo so that was pretty neat. therese, the swedish girl was at the end of her travels. mireke in the middle and audrey at the beginning. it´s exciting to talk about all that stuff. it´s awesome that i´m not the only solo female traveler. can i just tell you that a group of girls traveling is probably the most annoying thing?? more on that later, but it really is annoying if there are 4 or more girls traveling together. but anyway.....
the next day was super chill, since i already did the argentina and brazil side of the falls, i just decided to be super lazy. and luckily therese also didn´t have anything to do so we hung out most of the day. we strategized our next travel plans. a lot of time is spent on the internet looking at bus routes, hostels, things to do... and since there are so many things to do in the world, it really gets difficult. but hell, if that´s the problem that i have, then i will gladly take it. so we walked around, dropped off some laundry, exchanged some money, i downloaded pics and then we shared a beer in the rain. i was going to go to the spot where brazil, argentina and paraguay meet but once the rain came down i decided against it. so we sat and had a beer instead. chilled out again that night. the girls went to bed, and me, social butterfly had to stay up. i chatted with ken, the london guy again.
following day was time to leave. boo!! it was sad to say goodbye. i really enjoyed my time in both buenos aires and puerto iguazu... besides the city and the falls being amazing i met some super awesome people there. ones who inspired me... who i enjoyed talking to and who i honestly wish nothing but the best for. i do hope to see some of the buenos aires folks again. my stop into argentina was way too short... so i need to go back. currently figuring out a plan... but it may involve chile as well. hip hip hooray. i may never come home. i mean... i will, at some point... but my goodness... i don´t know how it would even be possible. even the boringest of days are a heck of a lot better than looking for a job.
alright... pics from brazil and a blog on argentina... hope you´re all happy. you all keep saying that i need to update... :) it´s just hard to. i do keep a writing journal though... so if need be i can look back at that to figure out what i did 2 weeks ago.
ciao!
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