When I was a kid, The Police were my first favorite band. I got all their albums, and memorized every song. Their last album made them the most famous group in the world, winning "Song of the Year" despite going up against all the hits on Michael Jackson's "Thriller". I planned to see their concert in Portland. They canceled. Then, they broke up...
A year ago, on the plane, I stared at the cover picture of the waterfalls on our South American guide book, and read about jet-boating up the river, the rainbows and toucans. I knew I'd get there some day soon...
A few months ago, after twenty years of bucking the trend of reunion tours, the band announced a world tour...including a stop in Buenos Aires. When the tickets went on sale, I bought the best they had, two front row tickets...
We had a week between Iguazu and the concert, so, since we had to pay for the ferry to Argentina anyway, we thought, why not fill in the space between my dreams in Brazil and B.A.? We found a tour to Bariloche, the recreational resort town in northern Patagonia...
The trip would be by bus, allowing us to save money and see all the land between here, there, here, there, and here again--a big figure eight with one night back in Montevideo midway...
Alvaro, a new friend, not only helped us get the two tours arranged, but even drove us to the terminal, and wished us a good trip, "Buen Viaje!"
The first eight hours of the drive north through western Uruguay, we saw kilometer after kilometer of cows grazing in the sparsely shaded grasslands. We stopped at a few towns--San Jose, Mercedes, Paysandu, and Salto--adding passengers to fill our 44 person manifest: 39 giddy Uruguayos, 3 excited Spaniards, and 2 grinning gringos. Numerous couples were celebrating anniversaries, and others were just old friends. And, with this culture's characteristic congeniality, we were instantly adopted into the laughing family of travelers--especially after the tour guide passed around the microphone and Leandra introduced us in Spanish...
As sunset approached we crossed into the long arm of northeast Argentina, that reaches up to touch Brazil at Iguazu, and keep Uruguay and Paraguay apart. Over the course of our entire trip we crossed the border of Argentina so many times that...hey! That gives me a contest idea...THE ARGENTINA BORDER PATROL CONTEST!!! How many times will we cross the border of Argentina during the entire trip--from Montevideo to Iguazu to Bariloche to Buenos Aires and back to Montevideo?!? Put your guesses and answers anywhere in the comments! The winner will get...well...something cool! But, I won't announce the winners until after the final post from this trip! My advice--read carefully each post carefully...
After nightfall, we pulled into a truck stop for dinner. Thanks to the clouds of bugs under the white station lights, well-fed frogs apparently eat here too. This roadside diner would also be where we'd have Thanksgiving dinner a week later! As the bus rolled into the night toward Brazil, we stared at the lightning rippling through the edge of a thunderstorm on the horizon...Then we slept.
In the morning, the sunrise slowly evaporated the condensation on our windows. The grasslands had turned into jungle. Stopped to fuel up and stretch our legs, Leandra and I watched a bizarre bug milk the nectar from some blossoms--at first we thought it was a hummingbird--but it was a precursor of all the colorful and camouflaged creatures we'd soon discover...
An hour later, we breached the Brazilian border--no visa required!--and settled into the Dom Pedro Hotel. After a shower and short walk, we enjoyed a gluttonous buffet of every imaginable food! I gorged on sushi and swigged some Brazilian brew...
Leandra posed with some military police in front of the grill...
Outside, a small tourist market was welcoming the day's first waves of visitors. Foz do Iguazu is a modern town, pinched between Paraguay and Argentina. Today, we would cross the Friendship Bridge--connecting Brazil and Paraguay--to Ciudad Del Este to browse the black market. Later, we'd take a tour of Itaipu, the world's largest operating hydro-electric plant...Let's let Leandra lead this leg of the tour...
"This is Friendship Bridge, opened in 1965, crossing the Parana River. You can see Foz Do Iguazu in the distance. A lot of imports and exports, most of it illegal, cross this bridge every day..."
"Welcome to Paraguay! Ciudad del Este is its second biggest city. The locals economy and inhabitants are, well, let's just say 'diverse'. This is the welcome plaza, just meters from the border gates. Let's walk up the main road--watch out for the motorcycle taxis!"
"Here's a lovely fountain. Let's head into the market area--you probably want to keep your digital camera down. Now, remember, there's a reason the prices seem too good to be true. Almost everything you can buy here is stolen, smuggled or fake. If you do buy anything, haggle your heart out and don't be surprised if it breaks as soon as we get back to Brazil..."
"Oh look! A private armed guard--wonder what's in there! Let's get a picture with him and his machine gun. It's also not uncommon to see Asians and Arabs here..."
"Behind and below the tourist market areas, you can get a glimpse of real life here in the City of the East..."
"Oh look! Christmas stuff--I love shopping for Christmas decorations!"
"Here we have some interesting sporting goods..."
"Maybe we should try our luck at the slots. At casinos here you can use four different kinds of currencies: US, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay! Let's see...1 dollar is 1.79 reals which is 3.13 pesos or 4698.75 guarani! We won! No, wait a second, we lost 23,493.75! Oh well, let's look around some more..."
"Brazilians especially come to shop here for the outrageous tax-free deals--you can buy anything and all the best brands are represented...supposedly. To make it easier, there are hundreds of motorcycle taxis that carry buyers back and forth across the border bridge. Want to take a ride?"
"They even give you a helmet! It must be safe!"
"And, the drivers are accredited professionals! But, I did just wash my hair, and that seat looks a little small for both of us...maybe we should just walk back to our tour bus."
"And that's Ciudad del Este! Thanks for visiting Paraguay with us!"Beep Beep!
Well, that was the seventh South American country we've set foot in. I actually did buy something--these Nike sunglasses, $4 USD--and got a laugh about traveling all the way from Portland, the home of Nike, to Paraguay to buy a Nike product. Of course, we knew they were fake. How, you ask? They said, "Made in the USA"!
We also got a chuckle out the Uruguayans on our bus--many of them considered this shopping opportunity to be as valuable as visiting Iguazu! Between their love of whiskey and the low liquor prices, half of them happily re-boarded with a bottle or two. I know; I was asking each one as they climbed the stairs to their seats..."Que es esso?", I'd say. "Whiskey!", they'd cutely reply...
Once aboard, we rolled on to...
Itaipu is the largest power plant on Earth, currently (get it?). This massive joint project between Paraguay and Brazil blocks the Parana River and generates over 100 billion kilowatt-hours of power--electricity that supplies over 80% of Paraguay and 25% of Brazil.
After a decade of discussion, actual construction began just before I was born, in 1971, and the final generators came on-line in 1991--when Leandra was starting high school! It's enormous spillways open twice a year, and can release 62,000 cubic meters of water--40 times the average volume of Iguazu. In 1994, Itaipu was voted one of the "Wonders of the Modern World"...
Itaipu's length is 7.23 km (4.5 miles) and actually consists of four different dams: an earthfill dam, a rockfill dam, a concrete main dam, and a concrete wing dam. It's height is equal to a 65 story building. It's concrete could build 15 Chunnels and it's iron and steel could build 380 Eiffel Towers...
We left Paraguay the way we came, crossing the Rio Parana...
That evening, we went for a walk and drinks in town before turning in...
Tomorrow we'd rise early--if we could sleep. The next day our dreams of Iguazu would come true with an all-day visit on the Argentina side...
No comments:
Post a Comment