Having a beer here, I really don't know if I can be bothered with the hostel bar, we will see. I'm not sure I'm in the mood for chat, let alone trying to find someone to chat with, and the getting up early requirement is stronger than ever tomorrow. I need to book a hostel in Asuncion when I get back whatever I do.
I enquired briefly at the bus terminal when I got back into town. I saw one company offering a service to Asuncion but they don't have one tomorrow. If no one else does (I didn't look tonight) I will have to change in Ciudad del Este. Apparently it is a regular 'public' bus which goes there, which could be a bit of a bugger with my suitcase. I really ought to double check on the web that I don't need a visa as well. (The guide book says I don't, but it also says nearly everyone does for Brazil. Unless there's something funny about crossing the border here, that suggests things have changed as I didn't need one when I went there at the start of the trip.)
Didn't do brilliantly when it came to getting up. I went to bed about 1am (surfing and e-mailing) and woke up feeling OK about 9 or 10 but didn't manage to get up until just before midday.
I got to the park about ten to one. Met a Russian woman (from Moscow) while waiting for the bus, she flew in with a friend from Buenos Aires on an 8am flight today and her friend was sleeping.
I did the lower circuit, which was great. You can go practically to the foot of Salto Bossetti, which is a bit damp :-) but absolutely stunning. I think it may actually be better than Garganta del Diablo solely because of the experience of being down there looking up.
There were lots of coatis about on the lower trail as well. I also saw (as I did later on) some solitary black ants about an inch long. These were mentioned in the visitor centre yesterday but I can't remember what they are called, they may be tiger ants but I am not sure.
Isla San Martin was still closed. I toyed with revisiting GdD but due to a lack of time I had to choose between that and the Macuco trail, and I went for the latter. It's a 3.2km walk through the jungle to some waterfall. I wasn't overly impressed with the walk, I didn't see anything particularly interesting, but the waterfall is cool. There's a natural pool at the bottom of the fall (reached via a path intimidatingly overhung with vegetation) where in practice - I have no idea if it's officially sanctioned - you can go in. Since I had no idea this was possible I didn't have a towel etc with me and wasn't able to try it. (I can't swim, but it wouldn't matter as I could see from other people in there the water is about waist deep.) I wish the leaflet had mentioned it, but this is in part what makes me think it's not strictly permitted. There were no 'no swimming' signs but there were no 'swimming OK' signs. (One or two of the falls have 'no swimming' signs which seem so completely gra
tuitous I have to wonder if someone won a Darwin Award here at some point.) You can also go to the top of the same fall and look down.
I had to stand on the bus back despite two turning up at once, but no major deal.
My travel alarm clock had mysteriously malfunctioned when I got back last night. I think the hands have somehow started slipping, as despite resetting it twice it went back to showing 6:25 within a few minutes. The hands no longer align properly (if the hour hand is moved round to 12, the minute hand doesn't also point to 12) and if you enable the alarm and rotate the alarm hand or the other hands, the alarm goes off when the hour and alarm hands don't coincide.
I can buy another one somewhere - though I have no idea how the thing broke so suddenly - but it's a bit of a bugger in terms of ensuring I am out by the 10am deadline tomorrow. The alarms on my phone are not very good for these purposes, but I will just have to try and be careful tomorrow morning.
Oh, while trying to find somewhere to eat, I stumbled on an internet cafe where (for the slightly exhorbitant sum of ARS20) I was able to get a DVD burned of the contents of my USB stick full of photos. No hard cases of course, but it's a start. I still need to get a second copy burned somewhere else, so I can post one home and keep one with me. (I half watched the woman do it and she seemed fairly competent, but I didn't want to wait around to get a second copy done, and it does seem prudent to have each copy burned in a separate place anyway, given I have no way to test them personally.)
21:00. Having a second beer here (they are 'only' 650ml bottles, confusingly called '3/4' (of what?) on the menu, I have no idea how to say '3/4' in Spanish either and have to content myself with 'grande'), then I will probably go back to the hostel, look into booking for tomorrow and make a call as to whether to have a drink or two at the hostel bar. Having to get a taxi back is a nuisance and somehow inclines me to put off returning, though it's no massive deal really, even if the expense is a touch unwelcome.
Just to add a touch of colour, both here and at the bar last night (and possibly in Posadas too) the beer bottle is brought out in an ice bucket. This is very nice, but still strikes me as odd for beer. It always makes me thing of the Yorkshireman talking about how "champagne isn't worth a copper unless it's iced" and saying "hold it by the neck man, unless you like it warm" in Jorrock's Jaunts and Jollities. One bar in Posadas served the bottle in a polystyrene container, which I don't think I'd seen since Brazil, where it was quite common.
I think I'm getting ridiculously hung up about the whole 'meeting people' thing, I think the drought made me overly concious of it. While I've always had a nagging doubt I'm not doing as much random chat as most people travelling would, I was doing pretty well until the drought without explicitly looking for it and it never really felt forced or like an effort. I did hang around at the hostel bar in La Paz with that end in mind, but I kind of wanted to do it then, here/right now I seem to be thinking about doing it 'because I ought to' or 'because it might be a while before I end up somewhere it seems likely to be possible again' or to prove to myself I can do it. Which is stupid but sadly true.
I'm not looking forward to tomorrow much. The hassle of crossing the border on a regular bus with my suitcase, then having to find a bus on to Asuncion from Ciudad del Este, then getting to the hostel in Asuncion. The latter is primarily a concern as the guide book implies Asuncion is a little bit dangerous, although (unless I've mellowed) it doesn't seem to lay it on as thick as it did about Sao Paulo and Rio. But I never like that feeling of vulnerabiliy which lugging my suitcase around gives me when trying to get a taxi at the bus station and being approached by the inevitable touts. When I don't have my suitcase I feel, rightly or wrongly, I'm in with a chance of legging it if push comes to shove and I'm not quite so obviously a tourist who is easy prey. Plus of course while it would be shit being mugged whatever, if most of my stuff is back at the ho(s)tel it's much less of a big deal than if I lose absolutely everything. Though whether a mugger would actually risk encumbering t
hemself with bulky stuff seems a bit doubtful, now I think about it.
I realised - not for the first time - earlier that I still have a small fortune in Chilean bills and I will probably have a moderate amount of Argentinian money left over as well. (For that matter, I think I still have a non-negligible quantity of Brazilian cash.) The Argentinian cash might at least come in useful when I pass through Argentina on my way from Encarnacion to Uruguay, if I can't get a direct bus I will need to buy a ticket to the Uruguayan border in Argentina. I should maybe change the Chilean bills in Paraguay/Uruguay but I may end up hanging onto them and changing them in London. That's probably not smart though, but after my bad experience with the money changer in Puno I kind of prefer to avoid the bastards.
22:05. Just paying up. Quite keen for a beer (solo or otherwise, as per above I am not bothered any more) at the hostel and a bit worried there won't be time, but am sure it will be cool.
22:45. Sat at table outside hostel bar. No visa needed for Paraguay. The online booking options ain't cheap (best on hostelworld was 10 quid a night for a dormitory, and I think I want private - plus none of the 3 places on hostelworld, including that cheap one, had a room tomorrow night.) expedia.co.uk not much better. The best of those without farting around with small hostels with no proper online booking was listed on both sites. Cheaper (not much, 40 quid vs 50-something a night) on hostelworld.com but they have no room showing tomorrow. So being a savvy traveller I have booked a room for tomorrow night only via expedia.co.uk and the following two nights via hostelworld.com. I will chat to reception on arrival and see if I can keep the same room, but worst case is I have to 'check out' at 10am on Thursday and leave my cases as the hotel during the day then check in again that evening.
Oh, it hardly feels like party central here. Quite a few people around but even were I inclined, no big groups I could try to push into. (There is a pool table, if I was any good I could always do 'play the winner', but I'm not, not to mention that I just am not that fussed tonight.)
No obvious 'party hostels' in Asuncion (one sort of listed in the guide book, but I couldn't book it online and the guide book didn't really come out and say anything anyway), let alone the ones bookable online. I can chat to the muggers, it's always better to meet locals than other travellers I reckon. :-)
Oh, the thought did flick through my head I could have stayed tomorrow night in Ciudad del Este to avoid the split booking, but I'd pretty much already decided not to. It doesn't sound great (a bit dodgy frankly, at least in Asuncion there is interesting stuff - plus I do like big cities in general - to justify whatever minor risks I'm taking by going) and I do expect to be back here at Puerto Iguazu on some future trip (it's cool enough to be worth it anyway, plus I didn't get to visit Isla San Martin due to river level and didn't do any of the expensive but probably cool boat trips offered due to lack of time, and it would be good to go into that pool now I know it exists) so if I really want to I can go there another time from here. But I doubt I will have major deathbed regrets about not visiting Ciudad del Este anyway.
Oh, the mal(l)arone is having no adverse side effects. Don't know if I need it as I am spraying on the repellent religiously, but I do have some small lumps on my hands which may be due to bites (I tend not to overly spray my hands as the sticky feeling is more annoying on such a relatively sensitive area). On the other hand I haven't *felt* any bites, so maybe they are just random. (In Guadalajara I had similar bumps on my legs which someone told me were due to bites. But I wore trousers all the time and my legs were under the sheets at night, so I find that a bit implausible.) It doesn't matter anyway since I'm covered by the tablets, but I note it for the hell of it.
At the risk of being a touch self-congratulatory, I am feeling quite chuffed that I am managing to 'wander around' a bit with last-minute decisions despite the structure imposed by the flights I had to pre-book. And doing stuff like booking accommodation without actually knowing exactly how I am getting there (and in the past I've done the reverse and turned up somewhere without having accommodation booked) is surprisingly free-and-easy for someone like me. Go Steve! :-)
I got my second beer at the hostel at the bar by the pool, just because it was open later on the first night (though for all I know the bar inside is still serving, certainly the music is still playing). The guy came back to me in English but he seemed like a native speaker (though I didn't ask, maybe I should have, that's the kind of thing that leads to natural conversation) so I can accept that. I never claimed to have a good Spanish accent - one of the teachers in Seville said I had a really London accent when I spoke Spanish. The bloke I met briefly in Buenos Aires at Kilkenny said I had a Mexican accent, but I had already told him I'd studied three months there, so he was probably either being polite or was influenced by that even if he was being honest.
Some OK song I don't recognise just made me think that we may have to finally kill the set phrase "plenty more fish in the sea". Saying that to a broken-hearted person in a few years may be equivalent to just slapping them in the face. :-)
23:55. Just got another beer, which may be unwise (it's my fifth 650ml), but if I was wise I probably wouldn't be here. ;-) I asked the guy where he was from, he's Argentinian. He sounded non-native this time, but I am still impressed he inadvertently faked it well last time. :-)
He said the bar was open til 2. I could maybe have inferred that from my first night but I was drunk enough and chatting and the time was impercetible. I must try to be strong tonight. :-)
00:05. Just popped in for a slash (I am the only person outside!) and was slightly surprised and somewhat heartened to note all the net access PCs are occupied. We're all geeks nowadays. :-) Or maybe they're all Australians chatting to folks back home. (I don't know how the time zones work that way, but I do know Europe is in bed or at least down at nightclubs right now and the US is probably drinking a cocoa prior to bed. And English is so common in this hostel I assume most of the people here are native speakers. I suppose the western parts of the US especially might be in '(internet) phone calls OK among family and friends' time, it always surprises me far east South America is compared to North America.)
I saw a tiny and somewhat skin-and-bone kitten in the street in town last night before I went to eat. It was so friendly and I wished I could do something for it beyond showing it a bit of attention. There are not too many street dogs here (it's not Chile) but while I was eating earlier today this fairly handsome (and to be fair, not skinny) black dog was sort of staring at me. For once I actually had food going spare so after I'd eaten I discretely (I'm sure the staff wouldn't like it) slipped it some chunks of slightly grossly fatty steak I'd avoided eating. I stroked it a bit but was astounded at the way it initially cringed away from me. I should be scared of it, not the other way around. It wandered off and came back a couple of times while I was drinking there, and even though I'd fed it it took a bit of encouragement to let me stroke it each time. It was a really nice dog, both in personality and appearance, in the latter sense not some stupid little miniscule toy or a vicious
looking macho accessory. (I don't say it was, but for purposes of description I will say it looked like a black Labrador. I know little about dogs, so take that description with a cupful of salt.) Ah well, the world sucks. At least it didn't look like it was starving. I hope that kitten is OK though I suspect it isn't. At least Argentina seems to have cats, they have been rare elsewhere.
00:55. Just got another beer. Far too much but sod it, I will get up even if it's a struggle because I have to. Changed table as some guys occupied mine in my absence, not that it matters.
JFC, they are playing "words to describe this girl" for the third time since I've been here tonight. But this time it's a weird remix, so I guess that's OK. Not.
Oh, the F&CO website says "a small number of Britons visit Paraguay every year and most have no problems". Most countries I've been to, they say "a *large* number..." I'm so adventurous! There is no consulate or whatever the term is in Paraguay, the Buenos Aires office has full responsibility for Paraguay. WTF? It's not a totally minor country. What do I pay my taxes for? Mind you, a British guy I met in La Paz was having major difficulties having been robbed. He seemed almost stranded. The authorities (British and Bolivian) were far less helpful than I personally would have expected, and his bank kept telling him to visit his local branch. He was righteously sarcastic about the latter. "I'm in Bolivia, where is my local branch? Are you going to pay for the flight back to the UK to visit my local branch?" Touch wood I won't need it, but were I to be fucked over in that way it would probably make me change banks once I got back to the UK, they might all suck but the new bank at least
deserves a chance and the old one has blown theirs. To hear him talk he was practically stranded in Bolivia. Go the UK government, way to assist your citizens. We might be a dying country but we could at least make an effort.
01:40. Just finished the last beer. Will I get up in time to avoid an extra day's accommodation fine? Will I make it to Asuncion? Will the hotel there accept I effectively have a three day reservation? Stay tuned for the next installment of Steve Abroad (TM)!
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