Last Day in South America

Last Day in South America

Monday, Mar. 6, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil

It was a long trip here, but I am back in Iguacu awaiting my flight early tomorrow morning...

Although the bus from Cordobá ran, it ran late. As 1 p.m. approached and there was no bus, I became worried. I paced up and down the platform in case it came to a different place from where I had been told to expect it. I didn´t want to leave to go to the ticket counter to ask about it, because it could arrive and depart in the meantime if it was a bus that started elsewhere and was just making a stop here (which could have been a reason for it not being exactly on time). I walked to an attendant with a walkie talkie, and all he did was read my ticket and imply I was waiting in the right place. A woman came up and asked if I spoke English. She told me just to wait and talked about her son in Montreal; she was leaving the next day to visit him and talked about how hard life is in Argentina and how proud she is that he is a resident of Canada. I was a little worried about her. Why was she at the bus station today if she was flying out of Cordobá tomorrow? Since she was talking about the problems in Argentina, was she going to ask for money? I excused myself by saying I wanted to check up and down the platform in case the bus arrived at a different location.

I noticed a Japanese-looking young man who was also walking up and down and looked worried. I approached him and asked if he was waiting for the Singer bus. He was. That made me feel better, since I wasn´t alone anymore. Then the lady arrived again. She had been nice enough to go downstairs and ask. She said that the ticket agent told her the bus would arrive at 2:15. I had misjudged her.

Yo Suzuki is the name of the Japanese man. He just finished university this month with a major in economics and has been traveling in Canada and Argentina. He visited Niagara Falls in Canada and now was on his way to see Iguacu Falls. I told him it is good he went to Niagara first, since nothing looks very good after one has seen Iguacu! He and I sat and visited while we awaited our bus. In the meantime, an Argentinean woman approached us and I could tell from what she said that she also was waiting for Singer. Now, we were three. The bus finally arrived at 2:30 and many people came from various places to board it. There had really been many of us all along.

My seat was upstairs where they are wide. I had a single seat on one side of the aisle by itself. So I could move around and sleep quite well. The only problem was the cold air conditioner part of the night. It was so bad that I even covered my head! Yo was downstairs in a smaller seat and said that his seatmate moved all night.

Yo and I connected again when we arrived in Iguacu after about 19 hours of travel. I took him to the place where I stayed last year, and he got a room there. Then we walked around town. I was staying over in Argentina until after lunch because I wanted to go back to my good lomito sandwich place one more time. We went together at noon and had a lomito and fries. He liked it so much he said he would probably go back there every day he remains here.

We picked up my luggage and I caught a bus to Brazil right after lunch. Yo thanked me for being helpful. I could tell he was as comfortable with me as I was with him. It´s too bad we didn´t have another day or two to travel together. Anyway, I was off for Brazil, and he was off to try to buy shorts, since it is so hot here compared to elsewhere.

I am staying at a new hotel on the Brazil side which is next to the one where I have stayed before. They are almost twins, but the new one is about $3.50 cheaper per day. Today, I am doing last-minute things. I went to Varig to check on my flight and to ask when I should be at the airport tomorrow (5 a.m.!). I will arrange for a taxi for tomorrow morning. I´m trying to plan my money so I spend it all. I´ve been carrying currencies for all the countries I go back to regularly or will return to next year--South Korea, Thailand, India, Denmark, UK, Euro, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, U.S. It´s too much. This will be my last time for some time in Argentina and Brazil, so I am trying to get rid of all my money from here. (Actually, it is a matter of trying to end by spending my last money at the last moment. I have a limited supply and am trying to make it work. I may have made it sound like I had lots of money and was just throwing it away on things.)

I will be in Mexico City tomorrow night and then fly from there to San Antonio on Friday.

Spending Update for Argentina: During this part of my visit to Argentina this year, I spent $680.03 over a total of 19 days for an average of $35.79 per day.