The Life of Brad: May 9-22, Day 212-225, IGUAZU FALLS

View Larger Map POINT 'B' IS IGUAZU FALLS

DAY 212-225, May 9-22, 2012, Puerto Iguazu, Temp 24-28C (310km)

The last big destination on this trip was Puerto Iguazu and I would end up living there for a couple weeks as I enjoyed the Cataratas Moto 2012, the Iguazu Falls and the joys of organizing a possible bike sale.

Firstly though, I had to get up and go from San Ignacio which was harder than I thought after tasting their home-made banana jam! I think I ate 10 pieces of toast just to consume as much jam as I could. Wow...

An easy 250km passing some towns on the way to Puerto Iguazu where I would meet up with my Buenos Aires flatmate, Gui, one last time before he headed North towards Colombia and I returned South to BA for another month to live before returning to Canada.

Road report: San Ignacio to Puerto Iguazu, C2R6/7T2/3V7, forest, great nature colours and a nice road too.

Banana Jam!

Jesuit Ruins I didn't pay $12 to see in San Ignacio

I'm sure the ruins are lovely...

Tourist booths outside the ruins. Must be low season.

More Ruins as I left town

Logging truck in my passing view

Outstanding milanesa here in a
small town along the way North

A fair few towns on the way

Forest edging the road

Along Rio Parana

And then I was in Puerto Iguazu...for the next 2 and a half weeks. A great little town with beautiful river views, solid restaurant choices and good people. This place felt like 5000 people, but is actually 80,000. Puerto Iguazu makes up one of the triple frontier cities, the others being Foz de Iguazu, Brazil and Cuidad del Este, Paraguay and is the best of the three to stay in, especially if you can't get a 90 day Brazilian Visa even though your passport has 5 months left on it (passport needs to be valid for 6 months, dumb, but this is a rule in most countries they just don't enforce it. Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, etc.).

I scouted around for a hostel while I awaited the arrival of my good friend Gui. After a few looks I decided on Hostel Sweet Hostel which had a good set up for 2 people and a great breakfast with bike parking. Unfortunately after a few days we released the management was a bit dodgy so moved on to Peter Pan's for another couple nights until Gui made his way North through Brazil back to Colombia. During our last days together we welcomed Conor who I set up in Residencia Los Rios (a good value hotel closer to the main streets), took in the Motor Bike Rally and went to Iguazu Falls.

The end of Highway 12 and Argentina

Entering Puerto Iguazu

In front of Hostel Sweet Hostel

Having a delicious brochetta at Charos

A few keen bikers showed up the night before the rally. We ran across Osvaldo's and his crazy bike set up after dinner. I can't wait to be old enough to drive a gold Wing!

DVD player too!

Friday night at the Rally. I parked my bike amongst the rest on the street with a "For Sale" sign on it. No bites though.

Bad Ass

I'm not a lover of 3 wheelers, but do appreciate the effort

One of the many bike clubs in
attendance

Quilmes the most marketed beer
in Argentina

End of the 1st night

A break from the Night Rallies with a visit to the FALLS.

We were not the only bikers to think about a day trip

A lot of Brazilian Bikers

Iguazu National Park

Gui, always the funny photo guy

Busy day. We took the train to the
furtherest point first

These falls are tiny...

Just about there, wow.

Awesome

As far as the eye can see

The most northern point of access to see the falls from the Argentina side

Later we made our way to San Martin Island which is surrounded by falls.

First time in a boat since the Gap

People paying $60 US for a dowse under some falls

We took the free boat across to
San Martin Island

Those Damn Crooked Vultures

A lot of them

A dream come true for Gui

Rainbow and Falls

Boats under the falls

San Martin Island in amongst the falls and rainbows.

Side Story: After we saw most of the Falls we ran across these little coatimundis who seemed safe enough. Safe enough, until we bought some snacks that is. Damn little bastards closed in on me while I was under the impression I was getting a great close up and then they jumped on the table and ran off with my chocolate almonds. Bastards! I chased them in to the forest hurdling a fence to the enjoyment of the crowd, but they were too fast. Crazy. As I got to their pile up they had already finished the box and it's contents. Walking back to the table I simply held my arms out shrugging my shoulders. I think everyone felt for me, but no one offered any chocolate almonds. I was so looking forward to them too.

Friendly little guy

Hanging around the path

Under Siege!

That's a close up

I was unable to get my snack back

A couple more Falls shots

You can see the boat that goes under the falls at the top

One of many individually named

Back to the big city for a bit more Rally...

The team at Charos., $10/guy for plenty of salty meat

Rock band on the stage

Saturday night at the Rally. A bit more packed.

When Gui set off to Brazil the next day I left Peter Pan's and moved to Residencia Los Rios (for my own room at $22/night) where Conor and I began our plan to sell the bikes in Paraguay or really anywhere we could. We were looking to get a little more than we paid for our bikes in North America as the price for a new, register bike is 3 times that in most of Latin America. The problem is out of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay only Paraguay allows foreign bike sales and they have the least amount of money, but that was the plan regardless.

Over the 2 weeks Conor put in a bit more work to our plan than I did since he could speak spanish and portugese and had a visa for Brazil, which we thought you needed to pass through to get to Paraguay. Thank you for your efforts. On one particular day when Conor had arranged buyers I did manage to sneak in to both countries as the borders were quite loose based on Conor's experience. I simply rode until I got stopped, which never happened. It was nice to set tire in both countries considering I thought I never would on this trip. The 2 weeks passed and the only offer we received was a bit under what we were asking. If I wasn't returning to Argentina again in November I would have taken the low offer. So, that was it in a nutshell for selling the bikes.

I decided to ride back to Buenos Aires and Conor decided to stuck it out for another couple weeks trying to make a deal (read his blog to see what happened, you'll find the link on the right side of my page, 1 man, 2 wheels, 3 Americas).

Good times in Puerto Iguazu.

Los Rios, a great little spot to live for 2 weeks. Yes I even got excited about the hangers in the closest. That's what happens after 6/7 months on the road.

Some times the internet didn't work
in the room

Off to Brazil/ Paraguay to sell the bikes, fingers crossed

Following Conor in to the dangers ahead (kidding)

Crossing the Arg bridge

Illegally in Brazil!

Similar to Puerto Iguazu, but a little more electric fences

Then through the narrow bike
border to Paraguay

Not to close pal

Conor clipped his pannier in this
tight crossing

Huge car traffic going back to Brazil

Following are new helper, Rodolfo that Conor met on a bike
site. He spared as much time as he could. Thank you!

One of the potential buyers was a
member of this Brazil MC in
Paraguay. Sons of Anarchy?

A bunch of bikers hanging in the Paraguayan hood

Ciudad del Este. Not a pretty town.

Taking the bridge back to Arg you can see the exact border

Our appreciation dinner for Rod's
help and his lovely GF Maria

Food shots over the 2 week stay

Found this cheap lunch gem up a narrow street. $2 for
a bbq beef lomito sandwich (steak in a bun). Tasty!

We ate a lot of steak in Arg

Our lovely free breaky spot every morning at Los Rios.Media Lunas, fresh Orange juice, Fruit bowl, etc.

Tasty

Careful what you drink though

Lovely pizza at La Misioneras

Outstanding empanadas with
flavour stamps in the corners

Mother and Daughter owned La Misioneras

More exotic types of Emps then
most places in Arg at La Misioneras

Around the town

Interesting things happening in front of Los Rios

Tight to the wires

Los Rios Crew

Cool walls along the river

Nice along the river. Took me 2 weeks to get my butt here.

Hooligans in the streets

My final party night out in Puerto Iguazu was a boozy night at "La Barrancas" which was all you could drink for $20USD. I went there thinking I would practice my spanish with people, but that was not the case as everyone was from Foz de Iguazu, Brazil jumping the border for the cheaper drinks, etc. So, I learned a few words in Portuguese instead.

Interview with Priscila a Brazilian who took the 10 min cab ride from Foz, Brazil to Puerto Iguazu, Arg for the party. She shows her disappointment that Conor was unable to join us at La Barrancas

Last night: A quick tune up of the bike before making my way South to Buenos Aires again. After Conor and I had a really tasty last supper at the highly recommended La Vaca.

A dirty air filter

If you're going to do a trip like this you're going to get dirty

Delicious appetisers

Look at the feast! Great final supper at La Vaca

RECOMMEND: La Vaca, La Barrancas, Quita Penas, Iguazu Falls, Charos (for cheap and salty), Los Rios, La Misioneras for empanadas

NOT RECOMMENDED: Hostel Sweet Hostel, Peter Pan Hostel (way too many other choices in town to be stuck with these two)

NEXT - getting back to BA.

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