Tue 2115 Suddenly occurred to me that Brazil uses Euro plugs (oh, and appears to use UK-style floor numbering) *but* woman on lower bunk who I think is German (and almost certainly European) has a great big fat fuck-off anywhere-in-the-world travel adapter plugged into the wall socket, which seems odd - surely the sockets here are native for her?
2146 Super sticky feeling. Maybe she lives outside continental Europe now and her staff is therefore non-euro-plug...
Wed 0813 Cooled off a bit in night. Some rumour of free breakfast to compensate for aircon not working, may investigate shortly. FWIW massive fuck-off thing plugged into socket (big enough to cover three outlets, though TBF my smaller adapter would be pretty much as socket-covering) is not a generic plug adapter but a mahoosive USB charger with two outlets and some sort of mechanism for giving it the ability to plug into socket type. Il assume it's capable of supplying 20 amps or something given its size.
0925 Checked at reception, yes free breakfast (til 10) - milking it a bit TBH, some quite nice if doubtless ultra-unhealthy sliced sausage on. Got to give myself some credit for this dorm experience - while not social and a bit awkward-feeling, it is all experience and I feel increasing unconcerned about the prospect of staying in dorms in future, while acknowledging it can be damn inconvenient and uncomfortable and not something I'd want to do all the time. But the financial savings of doing so once in a while are seriously worth having.
Got a reply from new accom, all sounds OK after all and replied thanking them. Not exactly looking forward to border crossing but at least it's not a long trip - if I get seriously unstuck I could get a taxi and I do mostly speak Spanish, which should help once I get across to Argentinian side.
Phone did get up to 100% overnight, down to 72% now as reading over breakfast etc but breakfast finishes 10 and checkout is 11 (half day charged if you go over!) so will pack (trivial) about 10 and squat in internet/computer area topping up phone til 11. Left powerbank charging in dorm during breakfast which should also help a bit if no one unplugs it.
If not already said have briefly considered prospect of going to Paraguay (ads all over place here for "Monalisa" shopping centre in Paraguay BTW, think this is a big duty free deal) but a) apart from fact have no interest in box-ticking, I have already been to Paraguay so no need from that perspective anyway b) I'm low-ish on time, have a rough itinerary in mind (putter around Argentina a bit by bus heading to somewhere can get train back to BA and finish with week-ish in apartment there before flying back) and so this doesn't seem the ideal point for an impromptu exploration of Paraguay c) nearest point is Ciudad del Este and my recollections of last time are that it's noisy, dirty and a bit intimidating and I'm not overly anxious to go there unless I particularly need to to get somewhere else.
0947 Just finishing last coffee. Feel pretty stuffed but hey, free food!
1019 Loitering in dorm drinking water don't want to carry, found falls ticket on floor for yday saying adult Germany so presumably it's for woman on lower bunk and she is German. Not that it matters but waffling as bit bored.
1043 Fuck it, let's go. Been in dorm, let's head out. Feel bit bloated after breakfast but can't be helped.
1426 Fuckdusters. At new accommodation. What a shitty little trip.
No power here, so no wifi or light. Location a bit remote but borderline tolerable. Pissed off as sign on door says in English and Spanish it is forbidden to wash clothes in room and as it seems to be just me and owners here I am not sure if can get away with sneaky bit of laundry.
So I went to TTU, chap at kiosk to pay and enter waved me down a side road (he spoke Spanish, I think) for Argentina. And despite some taxi drivers touting for business telling me in Spanish as I walked past ignoring them there were no buses to Argentina, I found an international bus stop.
For some reason a presumably Brazilian woman (she told me she spoke no English and a little Spanish) started talking to me at the bus stop, apparently to tell me I was in the right place. She seemed to want to go somewhere else and left as soon as I arrived. Maybe she was trying to ask me advice? Fuck knows.
Unluckily an Itaipu-brand bus pulled up almost immediately and I paid BRL6 (well, I handed over 10 and got ARS22 change, which is at least approximately correct) for a ticket. Get to Brazilian border. I consult driver in Spanish (for all I know he's actually Argentinian) and he tells me if I'm not returning to Brazil I need to get down here and he gives me two bits of paper to re-admit me to the bus. As I'd been clued in from the hazy hints on web, buses do not wait at the Brazilian border so I was unfazed by that bus pulling away.
Brief walk and queue to get stamped out of Brazil, no sweat. Back to bus stop.
And though I don't know for a fact (without consulting GPS trace) I think I was stood there for well over an hour, maybe significantly longer, before the next Itaipu bus came along - I think it even had the same driver. Three 20ish Brits had got off first Itaipu bus with me but didn't speak to them. (Kudos to them for none of them having AFAICS beards, for all their very dull conversation made me a tiny bit annoyed.) They got on a non-Itaipu bus after maybe half an hour; perhaps there was a cross-agreement with that company or maybe they paid.
Anyway, after irrational thoughts that I would just spend the rest of my life at that bus stop, being refused entry to a couple of other company's buses with my Itaipu ticket (it had some wording which half implied to me it was accepted by other companies but not clear) and not being *quite* desperate enough to pay again - my guts were feeling a bit weird and I needed a slash but AFAICS no facilities there at Brazilian border - the Itaipu bus eventually arrived. Driver waved me to back door for some reason but got on.
Due to everyone surging out was last off at Argentinian border. And despite not really taking a long time to be processed and get my stamp, I saw my bus drive off just as I was passing through the extremely perfunctory metal detector after the passport stamping area. I'm pretty sure the bus should have waited for me, it's not like I was a long time nor does Itaipu operate a super tight schedule, so at this point I'm going to call the driver a bastard (and I'm only being so tame as this is a public blog), despite me definitely not having been rude to him earlier and him seeming quite helpful up to this point. I might write to Itaipu and complain for what little difference it will make.
Of course no toilet at Arg border either - there would have been one at bus terminal but I wasn't there. I looked at Google Maps and realised I was probably no further from my accom than if I'd been dropped off at bus terminal, and I didn't want to wait another hour or two for an Itaipu bus to take me to the terminal. So I walked. Uneventful but roads had no pavements most of way, a bit stressful and worked up a massive sweat.
Been out and got some water at tiny little shop round corner, 70 for two bottles which isn't terrible. Not paid here yet, got nasty feeling going to be fucked over on VAT - booking e-mail says foreigner4 don't pay it if using foreign credit/debit card but I have a suspicion they will only accept cash here and will therefore charge me an extra 21% or whatever. They are not pressuring me to pay and waiting until power comes back before asking. I may be anticipating non-existent problems here of course.
This place is remote but I can walk into town to get bus to falls tomorrow and all I wanted to do is spend quite evening doing bit of laundry and surfing web etc in privacy. As it is I feel a bit pissed off because laundry now has to be super-furtive if at all, there's no power so no wifi and I am waiting to see if I've been tricked into paying 21% more than I expected.
The room does have a kettle but the only drink supplied is some fruit teabags, so I probably won't be indulging. I could buy some instant coffee but not worth it for the three nights will be here.
Room is largish and moderately comfortable looking if a little bit rough; in itself not bad value, if price is what I was lead to believe.
1645 Still no power, FFS.
1652 Ah, in splendidly deceptive fashion the *confirmation e-mail* from booking.com says 21% VAT is excluded and nothing about foreigners not having to pay it. I fucking hate this shit, if it's mandatory IT SHOULD BE SHOWN IN THE FUCKING PRICE UP FRONT. It's still cheap but it's such a cheap, nasty, exploitative way to handle thngs - *especially* when the web confirmation implied it was optional for foreigners paying by card. Fucking arseholes.
Phone batt at 13%. And of course power bank isn't fully charged either. Yay.
1706 Yay, power. Give it half an hour then go pay.
1802 Feeling a bit more chilled. Phone won't charge (it has power but burns more than its taking in) while paying YT but WTF. Couldn't find owner so not paid yet but at least tried, some oldish bloke (another guest? relative?) said he'd be back soon. Apparently they have a tumble dryer here according to booking.com page so maybe they have a washing machine and I will ask about laundry service or DIY when I pay.
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