Puerto Iguazu, Saturday

Sat 2239 Slept a bit badly, weird bad-but-not-nightmare dreams, however, did ultimately get up maybe 1030ish feeling moderately well rested.

Bit of poke on web and quick check of old e-mails to see if I'd been there before and look at guide book etc. From the photos I took at Retiro of the timetables, if I do want to get a train back to BA (just for the experience, not really the practicality) the best option is probably the service leaving Cordoba at 1430 every Thu/Sun, arriving BA 0930 next morning. That's pretty nice, though arriving that early likely means some hanging around before I can check in, but not too bad, and given I hope to be renting an apartment via airbnb may be able to check in early. Other options from Rosario and Tucuman either leave around midnight or get in really late or take simply forever. I can't remember exact price and not digging out photo to check, but I think a cabin (no idea if shared or not), the top-price option, on the Cordoba-BA run is something like thirty or forty pounds, which is tolerable.

So I want to be heading down to Cordoba over the next week or so; plan is to spend a week or ten days or whatever in BA (but don't want to overdo it). If something interesting crops up en route this plan can be discarded, but it's the plan unless something else does crop up. So looking at map and guide book etc and checking some bus timetables on web, I am going to Corrientes tomorrow and I will probably then go Santa Fe (been there in 2010) or Parana (right by Santa Fe, don't think been there) then Cordoba, but that's just provisional.

The nine hour bus to Corrientes is a bit awkward; it's too short to really do overnight (esp given checkout here is 11am and even if it wasn't I'd be hanging around all day and walking to the bus terminal at 5pm to get there before dark and hanging around for hours) but doing it takes pretty much a full day. Dithered a bit and decided a 1000 bus was an acceptable compromise; I may well walk (I'll be getting in 1930; it will be dark but not small hours) or can get taxi if nec. Briefly considered stopping off in Pousadas (about 4h away and almost certainly somewhere my Corrientes bus will pass through) but seeing it's on the border with Encarnacion (IIRC) made me remember (not checked blog tho) being there are not finding it super pleasant at the time (OK, but nothing amazing) and so I'm reluctant to break my journey there right now when time is just a tiny bit tighter than earlier in the trip.

Went over to Casa de Botellas (just down road from this hotel/apartment/whatever to call it), 200 to get in (but it supports their charity, so sort of OK I guess) which felt a bit steep considering I was in there for what felt like half an hour tops, including a brief one-on-one guided tour (bit stressful as was worried my Spanish would fail but it's all practice and I got 90% of the content I think) and a tiny wander on own afterwards. A couple of guys were filming an interview with presumably one of the project guys which meant I didn't quite get to loiter and take photos at end as much as I'd have liked. But all that notwithstanding it was pretty cool, and while it seems superficially a little bit specialised (I mean, yes, these poor people need houses, but collecting 18k odd bottles and n shipping pallets and so forth requires a big local (because transporting 18k bottles long distance would cost a fortune; I asked) effort to collect them (they ask schools to get kids to bring them in; Coca Cola bottles are the preferred sort - obviously you need uniform bottles - as they're strong and common) and it seems hard to believe it's a viable solution for "lots" of people. OTOH there are apparently many of these houses built, they even look normal by the time the bottles are plastered/concreted over (you can run electricity and water in the walls as with a regular house), it *is* very clever and apparently one person can build a (small) house in about 15 days.

Was mildly tempted to buy one of the soft drink can made cooking vessels (little tins for things like IIRC boiling water/making mate/storing cocktail sticks) in gift shop at not ridiculous ARS120 but resisted - I wouldn't *use* such a thing (no need, plus it would be a souvenir so reluctant to use anyway) and I have nowhere to display it and I really need to be getting *rid* of stuff not acquiring more. I suspect you can find instructions on how to make such things yourself on web and notwithstanding huge opportunities for slicing fingers open in the process (though these finished items were super smooth and had obviously been filed or similar to remove rough edges) it might be vaguely cool to experiment with such a thing once back home.

Came back to hotel briefly after for water (v hot today) and a bit of a muse and then trogged painfully into town to buy ticket. Asked at couple of windows in terminal but ended up going with Rio Uruguay as the price had seen on web was same as one quoted by another company and the other co didn't have a 1000 service. As it turns out that web price of 1200ish was for credit card and it was only 1000 in cash. Luckily I had all my withdrawn cash (all in 100s for that gangster feel; just how the machine gave it to me) so was able to pay cash - that saving is way larger than the extra cost of withdrawing cash. (It nearly covers the withdrawal fee on its own, and I can withdraw 4k for that fee.)

Had toyed with going to restaurant but been tempted by idea of sandwiches and soft drinks in hotel room given fridge is there, and that plus fact most restaurants looked a bit pricey or cheap but not air conditioned and I was feeling sweaty as fuck tipped me towards sandwiches, so stopped at supermarket on walk back and got (slightly too much, given am leaving here about 0830 tomorrow - and am dreading trogging into town with bag, but hopefully won't be too hot that early) stuff and been eating/drinking it in between bouts of YT/web surfing and trying to sort out accom and packing etc.

Stopped off at couple of cash machines after bus terminal, the Austral Express one still wouldn't give me over 4k. Banco de la Nacion had no queue, their fee is 250ish (similar to Austral Express) and initially I thought they were going to let me withdraw 10k but they didn't. Of course the machines never say what the limit *is*, just that you're not allowed that much. I kept trying again on BdlN machine and I think it probably has a 4k limit too. I didn't withdraw any cash, since I hoped to be able to pay for next accom on credit card (and if not could prob get cash somewhere en route) and just possibly this 4k limit is local and eg machines in Corrientes will have a higher one.

Dithered a bit re accom for Corrientes and frankly a big faff. Could have got a private room on booking.com for something like USD72 for three nights which is borderline tolerable but pricey. Found a private room on airbnb for about ten quid a night, booked and got automatic confirmation then shortly after owner replied to say she was away travelling (lucky she did reply otherwise I could have had a repeat of last fuckup). This has been cancelled and I may have acquired literally a couple of quid as a small bonus. airbnb had very few properties, some of them had response rates of 50-odd% and response times of "a few days" so no use to me for tomorrow, some were in the next town over but you couldn't see that until you clicked on them. I would probably have booked the USD72 room but it did feel pricey and the fact you had to pay cash (and I don't have much and would rather not have to withdraw cash at terminal after dark in Corrientes, not to mention the whole 5%+ surcharges for withdrawing cash) tipped me over the edge and I decided to book a dorm at a cheap hostel (price is suffering the usual VAT shit  but it's tolerable anyway and maybe I won't have to pay it after all since they are supposed to accept cards and that in theory removes obligation to pay VAT - really hate all this vague wank), they take cards and although they seem to be applying a slightly in-their-own-favour USD-ARS rate they have been pretty decent in replying quickly to my request for a lower bunk, so moderately impressed so far.

Staying in dorm really not ideal but also starting to lack any real "terror" . Biggest hassles are a) inability to do laundry in sink, but I'm temporarily well supplied with clean clothes b) given current mobile phone charging shit any extra complications due to shortage of sockets or no socket near bed are not welcome, but neither of these is critical. It also seriously brings costs down and in moderation is no bad thing. I've had a few nights of privacy etc here and I'm going to have a private apt in BA and probably some other places between here and BA. When I say it brings costs down, it depends. I think here in Puerto Iguazu the presence of this place (albeit a bit out of town) meant I'm paying dorm-level prices for a private room (and saw one hotel in town nr terminal offering prob private room for not much more), so a dorm would not necessarily save a lot, but in other places such as Corrientes it does have a big price advantage. So it's all a balancing act between comfort, convenience and price.

Could have seen more tourist stuff here (there is some sort of mine and some other falls maybe 20-30km out of town I think) but doing the nicely self-discovered CdB today was cool and I'll doubtless be back and can do some of the other "non-essential" stuff then. There is an ice bar just round the corner, which was very slightly tempting, but it's not as if this is something super-Argentinian (I know there was one in London at some point, some friends went tho I didn't), I suspect it's pricey, I didn't really want to be coming back after dark due to dog risk or having to get a taxi somehow and given you have to get togged up in cold weather gear at the entrance (AIUI) I expect there's either an entrance fee or at least a time-consuming delay and probably drinks are super-expensive so it's not like I could just pop in for one beer to see what it's like, or somewhere I could sit comfortably on my own and chill (pun half intended), if I were with a group it might be different but as it is just not *that* interested.

Got laundry back when popped in after CdB, all socks present and correct which was good, and although still a little bit the wash did get most of the oil off the combats, which is nice.

Also got chance to finally hand over all cash owing when owner spotted me heading out this morning and asked for cash to pay the laundry.

At some point over last few days (not for first time) briefly considered value of buying a Lifestraw water filter gadget (or maybe one of the more intense-looking things seen on onebag.com) to save buying bottled water. But they're not cheap (and the onebag ones require power too, which makes me wonder just how good the unpowered Lifestraw can be - but not researched this in detail), and it's something else to break/lose, and I'd *still* be lugging water around on "travel days" (eg on bus) because you don't have a source of untrustworthy water on the bus. It *might* provide a modest financial saving over time but often part of what I'm buying with a bottle of water is the luxury of having it chilled, and although I do see some drinking fountain/tap things around (eg on Macuco (sp) trail at Iguazu Falls)) it's not as if you can rely on this sort of thing, so in practice you'd (as I already said) need to be lugging around a bottle of (admittedly free) water pre-filled at accom that morning anyway. And while I suppose the possibility of fraud always exists (not *the* reason I buy it, but one benefit of getting sparkling water where possible is it's less convenient to fake), bottled water does seem pretty damn trustworthy and I'd probably always be worrying about accidental contamination using any purification device. (And I have no idea if it would help stop me getting sick from things like the alleged safe-but-disturbing-to-tourists metals in the water in Santiago.)

This thought perhaps triggered just now by realisation I have over-bought bottled water and am either going to end up lugging an extra bottle with me tomorrow (it will ultimately come in handy, but it's damn heavy on long slogs to/from bus terminals with full bag, and much better to not buy it here and instead buy it at other end where it's been transported for me by the magic of global capitalism) or end up leaving some behind. But I still think buying bottled water is probably best option overall. It would also have been easier to avoid temptation to over-buy here if I wasn't in such a remote spot with no prospect of just popping out at 10pm to buy more if necessary. Plus I was so hot and sweaty at the point of purchase it was difficult to imagine how I could possibly buy *too much* refreshing, cold liquid. ;-)