Puerto Iguazu, Friday

Fri 1205 On bus leaving terminal for falls. Had to pay cash for bus ticket, said they didn't take cards.

Woke up 8ish, poss on alarm, feeling surprisingly shit and maybe hungover (only had one can beer last night). Phone charging also a fuckfest when blearily examined it at 8am, had to turn it off and leave it propped up at angle on floor to "ensure" charge. Therefore no alarms, didn't hear watch alarm 9am (it was on floor in shoe not worn) but luckily woke 925ish and dragged self out of bed maybe 20 mins later. Sandwiches and biscuits for breakfast and prob left accom 11ish. No sign of anyone to pay or ask about laundry. Have to wander round house tonight.

Got some water and biscuits and a can of beer (have one left at home but be nice to maybe have two tonight) at supermarket on walk over to terminal and plan is to not have to trog into town on way home tonight, just get off bus as near accom as possible and not buy anything.

It's later than I'd like but can't be helped, I did feel knackered this morning and still feel a bit tired now. Guess I am walking a lot.

Phone charging and continual battery level worries pissing me off but nothing I can do. Not trusting a local repair shop even if could find one (it *does* just about work), I can't diagnose the problem (I *know* USB socket is iffy about making contact, but is cable ropey too? is charger playing up and not putting out much current? even the power bank seems to charge up ultra slowly even now it's left plugged in uninterrupted all day in my private accom) because I have only one of everything so can't mix and match - if I knew USB  cable or charger were iffy I'd buy a local replacement but I don't and reluctant to do it on chance, when phone has been shitty about charging for ages really.

If phone gets so it simply cannot be charged even when turned off (to eliminate software burning all power instead of it being used to charge) and propped up (to ensure solid connection on dodgy connector) I may have to take it to a local repairer, but until that happens I will continue to limp along as I am. I can then look into trying to mend it myself or taking it into a shop back in UK.

(If nothing else, if UK shop breaks it completely it's both easier to argue and less devastating than if that happens here. I have no other communication device and these days most places don't have public computers, not to mention difficulty of signing in wrt 2FA and stuff without my phone.)

All this does argue for carrying a second cheap smartphone on a future trip.

1752 On bus waiting to return to town; asked if can be dropped at fancy hotel right near my accom and said I could. Should have time to pop into little shop near accom (if open) for water.

Not a bad day. Boat to island not running - wonder if it ever is, was hoping to do it yday but not exactly looking for it precisely but didn't notice it as an option. Did Mapoco (sp) trail - 3.5km there and same back to a nice little waterfall with pool at bottom. Remember doing this on last visit. Signs say no swimming in pool (just a symbol, no text) but a couple of people were sort of wading/paddling and no idea if that's allowed or maybe winked at or maybe not allowed. Didn't see anyone at base of the fall in pool. Pretty quiet down there. I put hand in water just for hell of it - cold but not freezing.

Saw pretty big spider on path on walk over - not super colossal but way bigger tthan typical UK big one and it moved in a strange jumpy way. Watched in mixture of horror and fascination and it jumped into grassy area at side of track before could get camera out.

Bus going soon think so stop writing to concentrate on getting off, tho it's a while yet.

2312 I'm untrustworthy with these estimates but let's say that spider had a leg span of 3-4 inches. Didn't see any more of them. Quite a few very large (inch long?) black ants, and some much smaller but more numerous ants scurrying about, as well as the odd small lizard (too quick to hide to photograph).

I had actually gone into middle bit of park (Cataratas station bit) on arrival with a view to checking out boat trip to Isla San Martin on lower trail but it was closed. I think I already wrote this. Yes, I did. Anyway, I then saw that Macuco (sp - correct spelling is on a photo) trail shut at 3pm and it was 1230-1 by this point so walked back to initial bit of park to get that. When that finished I had a couple of hoursish before park closed (5pm starts winding down I think) so did lower trail, having fairly good old meditate/muse on random internal stuff (resolving to take Harry Browne's advice a bit more seriously if I can, for example) during it including a nice little muse at "private" Salto Chico. I started to head back to exit at about 1715, I didn't get prompted by any rangers but just saw no point in trying to milk it til last minute, would just be miserable.

Would have been nice to go to Devil's Throat again but decided what I did was better use of time.

Oh, it was *much* quieter today than yesterday, for no obvious reason. Sure the Macuco trail is not so popular (and it was far from deserted) but "main" park before and after seemed noticeably less rammed.

Got off bus at Hotel Exe Cataratas, got water at little shop and when got back to accom texted to ask about paying and extending and laundry. Still not actually paid (tho had brief awkwardish chat with son(?) as I took my laundry basket in as per instructions) but anyway I can stay another night and price is OK, they don't have washing machine for public use but charge 250 for a basket of laundry - this feels a bit steep, given I couldn't fill the basket (even though I chucked in not-strictly-necessary-could-wait-for-hand-wash-or-even-back-home items like my own towel and the fleece) but decided I'd pay it. If nothing else noticed on arriving here few days ago combat trousers were explicably muddy on legs (from no-pavement walk from bus terminal to accom) but had also acquired inexplicable black linear oil (?) stains quite high up the legs, and maybe a machine wash has more chance of getting those off.

I need to decide where to go next but have had a beer (and will have another in a minute, I think) and watched bit of YT tonight. Plan tomorrow is to get up not too early but not too late, about 10, have a bit of a poke on web and decide where to go next then go out, *maybe* into town to buy bus tkt if unwilling to wing it and buy on the day, just a gentle wander and eat in a cheap restaurant, and just maybe some low-key tourist attraction (eg slightly cheesy looking poster for "casa de botellas" just down road from here - "sorprendese!" ) but not an overly full day. Done hell of lot of walking yday and today and was feeling a bit knackered today TBH.