Foz do Iguacu-Puerto Iguazu

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.

Foz do Iguacu, Tuesday

Tue 1020 On bus at Itaipu Dam waiting to be taken into the complex. Few linguistic and general fuckups but on the whole relatively smooth - getting here no trouble from TTO, nearly missed the v obvious stop despite reading solid advice on web but had correctly IDed hipster with massive ear piercings in front as fellow tourist and his getting up gave me the hint I needed.

1119 At the Mirante Central. Unlimited time here (bus comes by every 20 mins to go on to next stop) so milking it a little bit. The dam is very impressive though; it's hard to appreciate the scale, until you notice all the coaches parked up on the road across it and they all look like toys.

There's a short video running on a loop here; have watched it once. Oddly it seems to be only in Portuguese with English subtitles; given the repeated theme that this is a bi-national thing with Paraguay, I'd have expected a Spanish language version in rotation (maybe there is and I've just never noticed it) or Spanish subtitles.

I think there's a fair bit more to the tour but not rushing. It is sort of cool sitting here staring at the dam and it's mildly meditative; at the same time to be totally honest I am a bit worried how I will fill this afternoon if get back too early. But shouldn't worry, I *am* probably going to Argentina tomorrow and can go eat at place was last night and have a beer afterwards while trying to sort out accom/travel and then back to hostel for a brief lurk on bunk (as on first night) before free capirinhas and early night.

Didn't sleep super well last night, woke up from some vaguely bad dream but not quite a nightmare at one point, but not sleeping terribly.

Woman on lower bunk was of course sole other person in dorm when got up 0830ish. But I popped back after brief lurk down in internet area on 1st floor to get passport (tho no one has asked for it yet) and oldish woman who had been in bathroom last night was in there too, bed woman was actually maybe getting dressed and just possibly the two of them were speaking to each other.

Followed hipster and others into wrong area when first got off bus, think we went to a bus stop to take workers into complex. Maybe hipster works here and isn't a tourist, I dunno.

There's a dark brown and block mottled sort of cat which seems to live here; it has a collar on. Haven't had a chance to stroke it but did snap a photo of it.

Seeing hoverfly just now reminds me I did briefly see a bright green hummingbird feeding at the falls yesterday.

Feel a little sad end of trip is approaching but at same time it will also be nice to enjoy home comforts like being able to cook when I want and buy what I want from supermarket and have a predictable meal schedule and solid internet access etc etc. Plus I'm not going back to full time work of course.

1220 Annoyingly, for the "panoramic" tour, that's it. Bus just brought us straight back to entrance to visitor centre. I did wonder a bit at not being forced to wait for a big tour group. Do I really want to pay and wait for another type of tour?

The "special" tour is 128 on top of the 42 I've already paid. Next one is at 1pm and it lasts 2h30; there's no guarantee there is space on that tour anyway,

Hmm. Torn. This is not going to be a deathbed regret if I don't do the full tour. It is possible I will be back here in future at some point. I don't actually necessarily have enough cash, tho there are cash machines (no idea what type) and I could probably pay by card.

I'm really not feeling super keen to do the other tour; had I known I'd probably have gone for that instead, but I'm not completely gutted at having done the wrong one. I'm glad I milked it at the dam now anyway.

There is also a sunset cruise at 5pm every day and an illuminated viewing at 730pm on Fri/Sat. I am obviously not hanging around for those now but maybe pre-booking a special tour at say 2-3pm and the sunset cruise would help justify a future visit.

The money is annoying but it's not really about that, I think. Yeah, sod it, I'm going to go back to town and have lunch and a beer and look into how to get to Argentina and accommodation - unless it's super pricey I'd like a private room for a change.

Gah. Still a bit torn. But not really able to work up that much enthusiasm, I did see the dam and it was cool and it's fine, it's not as if this was a bucket list item (I don't have one, but still) or anything and it's more than possible I'll visit here again in future - the falls alone are probably enough of a draw after a few years. I'm thinking "fuck, but I'll be even older by then" - but strictly speaking, so what? Plus this isn't an activity which requires serious levels of fitness and must be done before my health declines or anything.

Yeah, fuck it, let's go back into town.

1335 At Cantinho da Brasil for same as yday. Popped into hostel to drop daypack off; had to go back down to reception as entry card mysteriously failed. Mirabile dictu, the woman on lower bunk was not there! Dorm empty in fact!

Getting coke zero with food, may well have beer after even if it is a bit early but not just now.

1358 Food pretty good though not quite as good as last night (eg last night's fried egg was completely white with no brownish burny quality). Feel quite stuffed. Prob will have beer but linger over rest of diet coke first. Need to sort out tomorrow but not rushing.

Was inside last night, sitting outside today. Street not beautiful or anything but pleasant enough. It's warm bordering on sticky but really quite comfortable.

1506 Booked astoundingly cheap (USD27 for 3 nights) apartment (?) in Puerto Iguazu. It's a couple of km from bus terminal but that's not a great distance really. Some shit about "arranging to collect the keys" which may be a problem as have no mobile data in Argentina but have sent e-mail and just hope it's OK.

Quick poke on web suggests border crossing can be a mild faff but doable via bus from TTO so really shouldn't be too epic.

Batt 27% and will prob struggle to top it up back at hostel but fingers crossed. May lurk here meditatively staring at street instead of phone to eke it out.

Yeah maybe a dorm might have been more social but there's no guarantee, I'm a bit dormed-out and be good to be able to chill (literally - air-con) and spend quiet evening in surfing web and do laundry and stuff and I can always stay somewhere more social in next stop.

1530 CdB is at corner Brasil and Rua Engenheiro Reboucas, FWIW.

1537 Just watched a small bird find and fly away with an enormous french fry on the floor, couldn't help laughing. Flew with it sticking out the front not sideways on, which somehow seems all the more impressive.

1557 Frustrating exchange via email w new accom; suspect it's all a non-issue but booking.com's original email says I have to arrange key pickup time, not that I can turn up when I want, so have to play that game. Finished litre, got coffee and will have much-needed slash shortly (toilet occupied when I asked). Batt 17%.

1610 Some sort of drama on TV, in Portuguese. Some guys were free-falling and fighting. Now some rainy place and saw a landrover with British-looking plates. Then a sign for "Torquay 2 Bells Beach" or similar. So presumably this is something British - which I don't recognise - dubbed.

2021 In bar for free drinks. Mana "Muelle de San Blas" on. Feel conspicuously lonely but meh. Bit caffeined up and pissed off re not getting any charge in powerbank either cos it's shit or someone unplugged it before it got any.

2026 Got fifth (only small and feel sober), will be last. Of course some wankers insist on sitting right at the bar and clogging things up.

Spent hour and half reading hostel paperback of Catch 22 in internety computer area charging phone (turned off to try to get power in)  before popping up to dorm to drop charger off and come down for freebies. Got 68% and one bar or two on powerbank and that's my lot for the night now. Have to be enough. Mana some other song now. Doh, "eres mi religion" , but not the studio version I am used to.

Rolling ad on TV shows a) smug young things partying it up at other hostels in same chain around Latin America (I'm well aware this is selling a fantasy to some and giving me that "everyone else is having more fun than you" vibe, neither is rational) b) that if you book direct (I didn't) you get free breakfast (I don't), which is annoying.

Woman on lower bunk spoke to me when dropped off charger (she looked like she had been lying there in dark but explained she hadn't, something to do with hotel-ish keycard entry to room (which isn't really suitable for a dorm) turning lights off when I entered) - think (also from book left on her bed earlier) she's German. Felt a  bit awkward but now she has actually spoken to me she is automatically less annoying. TBH wouldn't have been at all surprised if she had been lying there in dark, nothing wrong with that anyway plus since she has been a virtual fixture it would be doubly understandable.

Some oldish people here, at least one woman maybe my age with a kid who might be her 20ish son. Fuck knows. Old dude from Sun night sat alone at table near bar. Have to fight an impulse to automatically despise youngish dudes with beards and avoid projecting stereotypically tedious attitudes onto them. Not that I expect to speak to anyone, don't feel exactly sparkling and I am leaving in the morning.

Oh, I deliberately decided not to go to the three frontiers park. From what I read on the web it sounds incredibly dull, and since AFAIK you *don't* need your passport to enter, I suspect it isn't actually straddling the three borders (but maybe it is - though IIRC Mitad del Mundo in Ecuador makes a big fuss about being on the equator but actually isn't). But still, pointless box-ticking exercise and didn't seem worth the hassle.

2051 Bed, I think. Need to clean teeth so good not to go too late. Will shower in morning, expect to be up 8-9am whether I like it or not and checkout not til 11 plus new place in Argentina not checkin til 2pm so going to be stuck hanging around anyway. Not feeling at all drunk, FWIW.

Must say BRL42 for that look at the dam seems rather pricey; it was cool to see it, but 42 to be shuttled to a viewing point and back seems a bit excessive. Supply and demand I guess.

Letting ice melt and sucking up liquid in my plastic cup. Not tired but will go to bed once finished with this. Bit ridiculous the way been going to bed early simply for lack of anything to do lately but meh. It's a mild novelty.

Not had response to last e-mail to accom tomorrow. Fuck knows. Just have to hope. They're probably pissed off and struggling to understand how a tourist might not have a working mobile phone or mobile internet on their first day in a foreign country. Just imagine! Nothing easier than to research the available options on the internet in advance, find a newsagent or whatever selling SIM cards the instant you cross the border then stand in the street with all your worldly possessions while you juggle nano-sized SIM cards and top up your new SIM. Simply laziness not to do it.

2104 Dorm heaving - does no one else have a life either?? One chap making Skype call in foreign language which feels like minor etiquette breach but light is on (a novelty - defining characteristic of dorm life seems to be "it is always dark, even in middle of day with light on" ) and - fortunately for my social self-esteem - virtually no one talking to anyone else. Feh. Hope powerbank lasts, phone seems capable of eating most of a full charge overnight in a wonderfully untraceable "let me handle the details" Android fashion. Sleep/read time.

Foz do Iguacu, Monday

Mon 0914 On bus at Terminal Transporte Urbano waiting to go to falls. All pretty slick actually, paid guy at entrance to bus terminal and he pointed out the bus waiting here. Did hurry round to front and *think* it's a 120 but didn't like to linger in case missed it. Don't have paper tkt, he said didn't need one, and you can't get in terminal without paying at tkt booth so makes sense.

Didn't sleep great but not terribly. Phone did manage to get up to 100%. Super sweaty night tho. Got up a bit after 8am alarm, one person left in dorm - woman on my lower bunk. But showered, put same clothes back on (not ideal but feeling need to conserve) and tried to ignore her as shuffled belonging between bag and daypack - wanted to bring daypack out (mainly for water plus my waterproof clothing as forecast has thunderstorms, would hate to lose it but no point having it if don't carry it) but it had other stuff in as was hanging it on end of bed with lesser-valuables like toothbrush in instead of locking away.

Not exchanged word with lower bunk woman today.

Got some biscuits at supermarket just north of terminal, as suspect food will be pricey as hell at falls and with my irregular diet last few days can't assume I can say "never mind feeling hungry, going to eat tonight" , not to mention not certain how/where will eat tonight. 

Seen a bus going to Iguazu Dam or similar; if that is a literal dam may be worth a visit if it is a tourist thing, perhaps have a look tonight. No free booze tonight so get back maybe 6ish, find somewhere to eat and perhaps a couple of beers then back for a shower and an early night.

1837 It's Itaipu Dam BTW. At small restaurant near hostel, in Av Brasil (just down from pizza place), getting chicken with chips and salad and so on and a diet coke for BRL17+whatever coke costs. Feel quite hungry but this is at least cheapish. Not touched biscuits yet. Popped into supermarket for water after Falls (which were good, BTW) then dropped stuff off at hostel - naturally woman on bunk under mine was there, as well as one other chap.

Waiter here seems to speak a little English and menu is bilingual.

1856 Wow, that was a substantial meal, much better than had feared. I am stuffed. Salad undressed, even some no-sauce noodles on plate. Hope this isn't a scam and it's USD17 not BRL17. Place is Cantinho da Brasil. May stay for beer then go for earlyish bed. Quick poke on web suggests is a vistor centre at Itaipu Dam, tour lasts about 2h, and tho haven't checked on web given I first learned about the place from seeing buses going there suspect I can near-trivially get a bus from TTU just as did to IF today. Will write about today in a bit.

1916 Getting litre of Brahma, no price shown but will trust them given checked menu and food price is in BRL. Then back for early night, if not too late may get USB OTG cable and card reader out and see if can backup/upload today's photos - went bit nuts, practically filled 2GB card (mostly due to video) and could poss have taken more had had a bigger card, but really I didn't have to hold myself back significantly. If can't do it tonight can do tomorrow morning as I think tomorrow will be less "packed" - eg Itaipu Dam is a couple of hours there, not like Falls where (perhaps milking it slightly to get value for money, but not really) I stayed there for about six hours.

1933 So let's write about today. Not that much to say; I took a billion photos, there are several trillion more of other people's on the web and per J K Jerome, no point writing about scenery.

So bus went via airport (as warned by web) and got dropped off at national park soon after - maybe 10ish. Paid the 70 entrance fee and got on a semi-open-topped (roof, no side windows on top deck) double decker and driven into the park. There were two optional stops (which virtually no one got off at) for paid extra things like boat trips but not super interested. Got off at "main" starting point with everyone else, and made my way *very* slowly with lots of time for standing and gawping and pseudo-meditating along the IIRC 1.5km path.

Not absolutely "OMFG WOW" level, but close. Perhaps strangely impressive thing was the volume of the white noise kind of sound just booming over everything along most of the trail.

Checked map early on and realised most of what I was looking across at was in Argentina.

When I got to devil's throat area it started to rain moderately heavily; I had brought my waterproofs and jacket was useful but didn't put waterproof trousers on. Actually even when it stopped raining there was a fair bit of spray out on the walkways over the water; it wasn't terrible but my glasses were steamed up and/or speckled with water a lot, and if I had any (I don't) it would have been good to wear contacts.

Lots of coatis (coatimundis? or is that wrong or different animal?) about, very cute, they were on the whole totally unfazed by people. They'd walk along the railings in some places and you'd watch people suddenly notice one was touching their arm as it sniffed at their bag or tried to get past, some people more blase than others but most jumped back a bit. Saw quite a few people touch/stroke them with no ill-effects but I restrained myself despite mild temptation; were warnings about not feeding them and I was just worried I'd get bitten anyway.

Saw a family of possibly capybaras just as leaving to get bus back to park entrance; these were clearly "wild" but the way they were hanging around on this one open bit of grass seemed strangely artificial. Amazing variation in size among the family; biggest really was big (largish dog size).

2044 Just about finished beer. Dunno if they have bog here but will ask and get bill once finished this drop. Mildly busting for piss but hostel v close if no bog here. Feels a bit early for bed but not not tired and twill be OK.

2101 Dorm. One of brill things about this enormous hotel-y hostel (lots of private rooms I think) is that there are apparently no shared bathrooms outside dorms/private rooms. So I get to wait while one of my dorm mates is in the en-suite with no alternative. Naturally woman on lower bunk is here in dorm - either she parties from 10pm-3am or is ill or her idea of a large time is spending 24/7 on a dorm bed - and two other guys too.

Food/drink came to 34, I asked and this included tip tho not obviously so from bill. V reasonable. Asked about bog and given key and told was outside; think I saw padlocked door on popping out but decided not to try it and just nipped back in to leave key on counter. Had slash - fortunately - in disabled bog on ground floor. Only other public facility found so far is on 1st floor near bar and this morning men's sole bog was full of shit.

Feel super conspicuous but fuck 'em.

Not showering tonight, will do in morning as doubtless sweat like pig overnight. Just need to clean teeth.

Sao Paulo-Foz do Iguacu

Sat 2106 On bus. Seatbelt sufficiently tight I can only lean forward a tiny bit before it locks because there isn't any more belt left to unreel. Oh well, at least it's not uncomfortable as I sit normally.

2109 Aircon kicked in, it's not stifling but welcome (bus sign shows ext temp 27C, tho it has time wrong so maybe can't trust this).

Been yawning a bit, not a bad thing at this point I guess.

Think there is bus from Guarulhos airport to Barra Fundas, worth considering such things in future now I feel a bit less scared of SP/language issues.

Have felt as often case midly burdened by even my relatively small bag, but I keep telling myself how much worse it would be with a bigger and heavier one; it's not so light it's negligible, but it could be a hell of a lot worse and I need to appreciate that. Still intermittent thoughts on how to reduce weight, eg a lighter bag as waffled ages ago, being more rigorous about not accumulating paper "souvenirs" as I travel, etc. Not bringing too much water with me today was probably a smart choice, at least given the long walk into town this morning. (Which feels an awfully long time ago...)

2115 And we're off.

0828 Stopped somewhere, nearly everyone got off. Don't really need to so won't. Slept pretty badly, backs of upper legs hurting against seat. Remember stopping somewhere 2am and standing up a bit during the pause to ease legs. Iffy dreams about politics as drifted half asleep. Put fleece on at some point after using it as a pseudo-blanket underneath legs for a while. Mouth v dry when woke up, got some really disgustingly manky bits of chewing gum out of fleece (paper-wrapped but paper had seemed to disintegrate) and still have gum tucked in lip from hours ago and periodically chew it. Trying to postpone cracking open water in bag.

Did realise I was using wrong seatbelt socket, mine is on a short belt of its own and someone had tucked it down between seats - now using that has eased some of the tightness.

1228 Maybe 50 miles away. Had slightly soggy packet of extra strong mints and 150g of peanuts. Bored as fuck. Raining a bit.

1411 Gah, this feels interminable. We are nearly there though.

1632 Feeling shit. Getting pizza and water and litre of beer and see if helps. In 8 bed dorm - my fault for booking in rush, perhaps. On top bunk, yay, but these things happen. No electric outlet, had to leave powerbank charging on floor across room by someone else's bed. My "good" glasses which had been in the tube cube in bag for two weeks have gone and warped, so it looks like someone has punched me in the face. Really hacked off about this. Worst case can prob buy or borrow mini screwdriver and move shims back to "bad" pair, assuming they don't warp somehow.

Super unhappy but was feeling shit on bus and tho it wasn't far the walk to hostel felt interminable, my feet were hurting the second I left bus terminal.

Free capirinhas at hostel roof terrace 8-830, but not Mon. Prob shouldn't be having beer now but sod it. Plan is to go have one or two freebies (no limit, but one at a time!) then go to bed early.

Couple of people in dorm when went in, which is bit annoying this time of day, tho one woman and one bloke and both seemed fairly tranquil/geeky.

It's Sun so lots of places seem to be shut. This place not cheap or ideal but OK and realised needed to get some food down me. Was supermarket in town so may trog over there after and see if can get big bottle of water.

Hostel is at least cheap. I will try to figure out how to get to falls later and do them tomorrow and maybe clear off asap. Hostel has full day hikey thing round some "secret" waterfalls on desk but it's nearly fifty quid and rationally or not am pissed off with hostel and reluctant to give them money. Oh, dorm is on 5th floor, the place is very sterile and busy.

1712 Pizza not bad, a bit unusual (very thick doughy crust and ingredients sort of loose on top) but do feel better for eating. Still not super happy but better than was. Think got quite bit of beer left, will take my time over it then go in quest of big water bottle.

1727 Quick poke on web suggests bus 120 from Terminal Transporte Urbano (v near hostel) will take me to falls. Getting in seems pricey but inevitable I guess, if I manage to get up early I can at least get a good day in.

1747 Last glass of the litre and tiny bit of fizzy water left too. Will get bill and go after this. Not sure there's anywhere I can loiter at hostel but will go try for water and after a free capirinha or two will have an early night. Bus journey was rationally or not very draining.

1804 Bill 49, not 10% charge on it so make it 55. Not cheap - I was eating for 20ish a day for last few weeks - but not too bad and it was Sun and I *really* needed to eat.

2011 On second free capirinha at 1st floor bar. Not super social, pairs of people sitting togetjher and mostly staring at phones even then and another oldish bloke like me at next table phoning it up like me. But whatever. The two "geeks" were in dorm when got back, had shower and shaved, cleaned teeth, put same clothes back on.

Capirinhas slipping down v easily; always got to be careful with cocktails but guess cold limey drink is very appealing right now. Got 2x1.5 litre cold water for 10 at a chemist before coming back, bit overpriced but not terrible. Struggle to have water in bed due to being on top bunk but will manage.

2016 Will chance a third in ten mins or so, given no freebies tomorrow night.

Dorm bed wobbly as advertised in one of the reviews; I can feel woman below move and sure vice versa. Feh. Most worried about phone falling out and smashing in night.

Not getting worked up about doing "other stuff" here yet. If I get a solid day in at the Brazilian side of Falls tomorrow that's a result, and I can then see how I feel about other options.

Hope don't regret these cocktails, but since I am going straight to bed not out on last it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

2023 Got third. Feel bit woozy but under circs be fine. Definitely no fourth!

2031 Slipped down v easily, been sitting here trying to drink melting ice but it's taking forever, don't feel really woozy now and have still-chilled water in dorm esp if others not yet in bed. Socially still very even-people-in-groups-just-on-phones, not that in mood tonight. Sleeping in a bed, even a wobby upper bunk, will hopefully be luxury after last night. Let's go.

2041 Bed. Swigged bit cold water and had very unnec piss (bound to need to go in small hours, tough) and crappy no-water tooth cleanse just to get dregs of capirinha off, had cleaned properly earlier.

Santiago-Sao Paulo

Wed 0454 In building reception. Was half awake at 3am I think, did snooze on alarm at 4 til about 405 but was quite deliberate, got up, cleaned teeth, had coffee, finished packing (toothbrush etc). Had to leave key locked in flat so hope I haven't forgotten anything but checked round many times etc.

Feel a bit sad to be leaving and a bit scared (overstated but still) as next day or two going to be a little bit stressful but there you go. Not really doing anything I haven't done before, just not done these things that recently.

Hope car turns up soon, I really hate waiting for personalised pickups. Here now?

0516 Wow, that was fast. Estimate when booked was 38ish mins IIRC (presumably due to being middle of night and little traffic, as was indeed case), we actually left about 0457ish. Just had e-mail saying 4:57-5:15. Seatbelt (lap belt) in back of van was super loose but all part of the Latin American experience. :-) Driver had Disco Mix 80's  (could see playlist name) on low, not a problem, just adding some colour to this blog entry. Tipped him 1k, prob not necessary but tis OK.

Obviously now got ages at airport but that's life.

Put fleece on, not cold but it's not too warm for it and it de-bulks my bag a bit and has extra pockets. There's a migration control bit at entrance to international departures, I don't think there's any reason to hold off going through there. Given I have vast bulk of my possessions at least plus no way to get into flat and getting back there would cost a fortune there's no way I'm going back into town.

0616 At gate C08. Has all that really taken an hour?

Border control OK tho the guy asked for my boarding pass and gave it back to me (at which point I put it in my pocket) three times. He kept asking questions about where I'd been (including mentioning Buenos Aires), which all seemed a bit weird, but whatever.

Like a fuckwit I didn't realise security would be immediately after border control and therefore couldn't keep my bottle of water. Had I known I'd probably have lingered before border control and eaten the food I brought with my water. Fucking hate being deprived of water unless I pay through the nose to buy some, but hey, terrorism!

Security OK, signs etc showed no scissors (no mention of blade size) so I hoiked my nail scissors out of bag and put them loose in security tray and no one said anything so at least I got to keep them. No fuss at all, I put my belt etc in bag and managed not to forget anything and no one quibbled about my liquids or anything.

Noticed a coke vending machine on walk to gate selling 600ml bottles of water for CLP1k, which seemed borderline tolerable. Normally I'd avoid buying water because I'm not desperate at the departure airport (I just drank at security and at flat this morning) but this is a budget flight with no free food or drink (I would maybe hope water is an exception but I doubt it, budget airlines being what they are) so I splurged. Did go to a shop and a small cafe first and shop wanted 1750 and cafe 1450 so amazingly vending machine cheaper. I appreciate I'm just supposed to not care about money, it's only a few quid, blah blah, but fuck that. A few quid here, a few quid there, it adds up. There are other better things I can spend the money on.

I also knew I had 1k in change in pocket having sorted change out yday when making sure I spent soon-to-be-invalid coins, so I was able to offload that into the vending machine - given there's always a risk coins will simply sit in my London flat forever and never get spent this also eased the pain of buying water.

Going to snack on some chocolate biscuits and peanuts/raisins I have with me. Had toyed with not eating these yet as I'm not really hungry but I have to assume having them in my possession may cause shit on arrival in Brazil. (eg look at how ultra restrictive Chile is - *nothing* seems to be permitted in terms of "food" on arrival)

0714 I think I am the only peeson at the gate. Maybe a handful nearby. I thought there were more but it was apparently overspill from a flight at next gate. I did perhaps get here early, but it's not that early any more.

0843 On plane (A320neo according to safety card), no problems with bag, no one seems to have been checking very overtly which is "normal" but budget airlines always make me edgy. I assume they *would* have noticed if I had brought my bag on without purchasing hand baggage, tho just possibly it would slip through as the free "hand bag" everyone is allowed - but I guess if they charge for regular hand baggage on the zero fare they probably enforce it, and it wouldn't have been worth risking it anyway.

Leg room is perhaps a bit lacking but may be my imagination, in any case it's fine for me - got to get some advantages from being short.

1444 Jesus fucking wept. It was all going too well. No paperwork to fill in at immigration. Phone worked. Customs queue bit long but waved through. Uber sweet as a nut. Got to hotel and the woman on the desk speaks nothing but Portuguese - which in itself would be fair enough - but also showed no fucking recognition whatsoever of the concept of a booking.com reservation when I showed her the booking confirmation. I have been speaking to her in Spanish but I don't think she understands me; I sure as fuck don't understand 99% of what she says, not that this stops her talking. I have even resorted to Google Translate-ing a few sentences and she reads them out but they either don't make sense or she's being obtuse. I had to pay cash instead of card - I *think* she said the machine wasn't working - and despite lengthy attempts (including Google Translate and simply translating the word "receipt" on web) she seems unable to give me any kind of receipt, so I am a bit worried I'm going to get into a row where the hotel deems me a no-show. I'm practically certain this is the right place - the number outside is exactly correct and the price the woman eventually wrote on a bit of paper is exactly what I expected to pay - and the area doesn't seem exactly replete with hotels (it is, as mentioned on web, slightly sketchy looking) so I really don't see how I can have come to the wrong place.

She also took me to room 6 before realising the key was for room 9, *even though it had 'nove' or something like that written at the bottom*, which seems odd. Maybe she is illiterate, but she *did* read one of the Google Translate things out loud so she can't be completely illiterate.

At least I have a room. These kind of linguistic challenges are all part of travel but it will be easier to take them as challenges if I don't feel I'm in a sketchy area not speaking language about to have to go in quest of another hotel.

I am going to reorganise my possessions re security now I have a "base" and then go out and try to find the bus terminal and exchange my ticket voucher for an actual ticket.

There is one socket in room which is nominally for the loudest fan in the world. Of note is that it's a Euro-style socket *but* the adapter I picked up at side of road in Chile doesn't work because the socket is recessed and the adaptor doesn't fit. The multi-country adapter I bought when I arrived in Chile does fit, luckily.

1606 Got ticket with no fuss, tho no automated machines AFAICS despite IIRC being largest bus terminal in South America. But easy enough to hand over paper to woman at desk.

Walked up north from Tiete in quest of a Pao de Acucar supermarket of myth and legend (aka Google Maps); it doesn't seem to exist. A number of small or not so small unpretentious restaurants, striking out boldly I am in one (quite large, London bus poster on wall) for beef and chips with a 600ml Brahma. Did speak to waiter but also pointed at menu.

1642 Food not bad, came with salad (undressed  but had some admittedly not too bad beetroot in centre which I ate aroud) and rice and some sort of beans in sauce which I ate with the rice. Bill is 10 for beer and 16 for food as expected; quick web search had led me to expect a 10% service charge but there isn't one so will prob make it 30; I need to break a 50 and then I'll try to break another one at minimarket I saw on futile quest for PdA. Not quite finished beer but bill given w/o asking (whatever that means).

Beer bottle is in one of those insulated polystrene containers which you probably do get in other countries but which always make me think of Brazil.

Kudos to myself for not just holing up in hotel with snacks from supermarket, but am going back to hotel after minimarket and will try to do bit of laundry and a last minute Portguese cram on Duolingo etc.

I had formed the idea there was a time difference from Chile and even put my watch forward an hour while in customs queue but there seems not to be.

Keep saying things like "gracias", oh well. Mulling while in Uber (feeling pretty smug) that maybe it would be good to come and do a month's intensive Portuguese some time. My primary foreign language is always going to be Spanish and I wouldn't be likely to get enough practice to truly keep up Portuguese but a month could get me to a basic communication level (esp given I do have Spanish to help) and maybe that wouldn't fade too much. Just a thought, not planning on doing this on this trip.

Got change, didn't know word for " tip" but proffered BRL4 at waiter and though he seemed a little surprised he took it. Maybe didn't need to pay that, but while not *cheap* it's not too expensive. (Gut feeling is food was cheap at 16, beer was OK but not great at 10 for 600ml; it's not quite 5 to the pound, FWIW.)

Swallow of beer left, let's go.

1724 The PdA had mysteriously appeared opposite the restaurant (Nova Majestosa) so I went in there and got some peanuts (for "emergencies" , not really for today) and a couple of bottles of water. Walked back down street parallel to Cruzeiro do Sol and it felt a bit less sketchy, or maybe I've settled down a bit after something to eat. Woman from reception loitering in street with bloke (husband?), said "boa tarde" but don't think she likes me very much. They do have a black and white cat here which sleeps in the lobby (and a sign saying in Portuguese "don't feed the cat*s*" ) which looks nice but I haven't touched it.

Drink some water while it's cold then laundry and phone charging and shuffling of belongings ready for bus tomorrow etc.

I've no idea if I can pass for Brazilian if I keep my gob shut. I have read it's very racially diverse here (and a very casual observation would seem to back that up) and I have seen white people on the street who don't obviously seem to be tourists. With my baseball cap and long-sleeved T-shirt on to further obscure any relative lack of tan (tho this is down to covering up and/or factor 50, not being fresh off the boat) I think I might have a chance, it is at least not implausible. This might make me feel a tiny bit less at risk on the street etc.

BTW meat at restaurant was "bisteca"; I am not sure it was beef but FWIW. It was OK anyway.

2006 Done some laundry, struggling to dry it as there are zero hooks anywhere, but will be in a dormitory for a few days on cost grounds so be good to go in with as many clean clothes as I can manage.

The extremely loud fan does move a hell of a lot of air. The vaguely buzzing noise it makes (slightly digeridoo-ish, it seems to me now) is somehow intermittently turned by my brain into a choral-y kind of music; currently I've been getting "Nowhere Man" , probably because someone was playing it very loudly from one of other flats in Santiago as I went to throw some rubbish in the chute last night and it's got into my head. The effect is sort of pleasant but a bit weird.

Oh, when I withdrew cash at the airport the machine referred to swingeing BRL24 fee as a "convenience fee" ; more like a "we have you over a barrel" fee. I did at least withdraw a fair chunk of cash so the percentage fee is still eye-wateringly large (2.4% approx) but not as bad as it could be.

2251 Feeling bit quietly down, bit dubious about trip tomorrow. Not a big deal. Forgot to observe earlier metro runs on elevated track (enclosed in stations) along CdS, not underground.

Had shower earlier, suicide shower absolutely refused to generate any hot water. For all that it's really very warm the water was painfully cold and I didn't really shower all the "properly",  but did more or less get the job done.

2311 Bed. Feel a bit tired though not terribly so and need to be up early for bus. Half packed but due to damp laundry etc stuff is scattered everywhere. This morning in Santiago feels a lifetime ago.

Have had fan off since got out of shower and since want to charge phone overnight as read in bed will keep it off.

Santiago, Tuesday

Tue 2226 Heading towards bed. Set alarms a bit earlier this morning, absolutely terrible but there you go. Got up maybe 1030.

Called Transvip to confirm my reservation and that I could pay cash to driver; not my smoothest Spanish but I managed it so yay.

Went out with vague goal of going to Cerro Santo Lucia and getting cash from Scotiabank for taxi and contingencies. (Had toyed with Cerro San Cristobal, maybe taking funicular, but decided against it. Have done it before and will be back to do it again. Plus saw something on news other day re fire at IIRC zoo up there and wondered if funicular and maybe even path might be suspended.)

Long story shorter: it seems to have been a fluke I got free cash wd at Scotiabank other week in Rancagua. After finally finding a machine I got told it would be CLP5.5k for privilege of withdrawing 30k. Tried various other banks on both Clarity and Starling and all in 5-6k range. Not paying that if can help it.

Tried to pay (from street) again by ccard but Halifax still not updated my phone number. Tried to pay with Starling but they don't take Mastercard debit, only credit. (Maybe saying it was a credit card would have worked, but didn't want to risk shit occurring as a result when it could impact my airport trip.) Bravely went up CSL without having resolved this and though thoughts were inevitably running on the next couple of days of intense and mildly stressful travel I didn't feel too bad and it was relatively nice.

Came back via ekono, bought a litre of beer for 1k with some change (including the last of the old ones I had which won't be valid next time I return) then went back round and bought some stuff to cook tonight on ccard.

Came home, managed to pay for taxi using Barclaycard Platinum Travel and then cooked, packed (moderately "thoroughly" ; taking stuff out of bag to some extent and trying to filter out certain accumulated crap and segment stuff appropriately for airport shit to come etc), watched bit of YT and had beer. Bit of shit backing up photos on phone (I accidentally unmounted internal SD card instead of external one, and that caused some fuckery with the photo sync to Google saying "preparing" for hours - I envisioned it draining my battery despite leaving phone on charge overnight - but it appears to have recovered itself after all) but not too big a problem. Thanks to paying for taxi on ccard I *shouldn't* need any money tomorrow - I'm not sure it's expected to tip driver but I may give him a 1k note (not a very generous percentage but since I think it's not expected to give anything...) anyway. I have approx 12k in cash, if things go tits up and I need to pay through nose for regular street taxi I will just have to dash to a cash machine and pay the insane withdrawal fee.

Got a bit self-ranty during the Scotiabank-misled-me-into-thinking-free phase in street, not my produest moment but hey, keep working on being Mr Cool and maybe I'll get there in the end.

2303 Bed. Don't know how quickly will get to sleep and have an alarm for 4, which bites, but maybe I can sleep on the plane.

Santiago, Monday

Tue 0034 Need to go to bed. Feeling a bit sad/nervous in that "end of trip" way. Set alarms for 930-10ish this morning and felt absolutely shite; eventually got up maybe 11 but had been half awake in bed feeling like crap for ages.

Walked over to Plaza Brasil and Plaza Panama then up to Parque de los Reyes. All nice enough though it was very hot.

Went to ekono on way back, they still hadn't restocked the grapefruit beer but got a litre of Cristal and had it tonight. Done bit of laundry tonight too.

Popped into Lider Express opposite prev flat on way back before go to econo. Hate the way the entrance deliberately funnels everyone going in and out through a one-person-wide barrier. Anyway. Sort of need some more sunscreen; LE had lots but all in either terrorist sized bottles or alternatively they had one pricey 100ml bottle but it had a gigantic swirly plastic squirt thing on top and since liquids have to fit inside a tiny plastic bag that's not a goer. ekono were sold out of sunscreen, I guess restocking shelves is not their thing.

It's OK, I do have some and contrary to some of my emotions I will be able to make some basic purchases in Brazil despite my linguistic and security fears. In some ways going to Brazil is stretching my comfort zone; while I'm unhappy at my lack of progress with Spanish (doubtless due to laziness over years in part), I do mostly speak it in a push (subject to people being willing or compelled to repeat themselves etc) and so being in a Spanish-speaking country (especially places like Santiago and BA I have visited before) feels "easy" - I don't worry too much about things like getting public transport from the airport and I perhaps irrationally judge them to be safer than they are. It's not like I haven't done this before, e.g. Thailand in 2013 (?) - and I speak infinitely more Portuguese than I speak Thai, and notwithstanding issues with neither me nor the average Brazilian being a native Spanish speaker which will complicate things (native speakers being able to accommodate non-native errors and accents a bit better, I think, whereas an entirely non-native interaction is a bit more fraught), I have been told by several people here in Chile that a lot of Brazilians speak Spanish or the languages are similar enough that even those who don't speak Spanish can be communicated with on a basic level using Spanish. They were also generally pretty positive about the "niceness" of Brazilians.

It's fine, I'm not quite quaking at the upcoming trip but it is a bit of a stretch for me in various ways. It also feels like I've signed up for a few contiguous days of early or very early starts and contiguous travel days. Which is fine, really, and technically what I'm here for and hunkering down here in my comfy flat in Santiago is in some ways a bit of a cop out (though if I enjoy it - and I mostly do - and get to putter round the city seeing it in quiet way then it's not all bad) and it will be "good" to push myself a bit (even if most people might regard what I consider "pushing" to be near-trivial).

Oh, I got an e-mail inviting me to check in for flight this morning. This makes me worry the flight is tomorrow and I've fucked up but triple checking everything this seems not to be the case. Baggage allowance for hand bag is in fact 20kg, I'm damn sure I paid extra for a hand bag but due to their "hand bag" and "hand baggage" (poor translation but not looking up wording) and lack of any explicit statement of what I paid for I'm a bit worried I'll get stiffed but just have to hope. I went to an internet cafe (third time lucky; first two on Google Maps appeared not to exist) and printed off boarding pass (I checked in on phone here in flat) and bus voucher for Brazil. Was pleased/mildly impressed to see Sky do allow boarding using a mobile version of your boarding pass so you don't strictly have to print it, but since the cost of a few extra pages is negligible and I had to go print the Brazil bus voucher anyway I printed a couple of copies of it anyway. This way if my mobile is stolen or breaks down or the mobile data plays up or whatever I'm not fucked at the airport.

(Definitely wanted Brazil bus voucher printing before getting to Sao Paulo; I have roughly half a day there, bus is early in morning and given my fears and also need to buy water and find somewhere I can eat there the last thing I need is to be chasing round trying to find an internet cafe, and that's before allowing for the possibility of a major flight delay. Brazil paranoia feeds in slightly here but only a bit; swap Buenos Aires in for Sao Paulo and leave all the timings the same and I'd still be wanting to have the bus voucher printed before I got on the flight to BA.)

A bit tired but not v tired but since I "want" to be up earlyish tomorrow to try to make 4am-ish start Wed not totally hellish I'd better go to bed.