20 Hours on a Bus

20 Hours on a Bus

19^th August 2012

In the morning Hernan’s Mom, Maria Cristina, invited me to a Reiki session. Reiki is a spiritual practise developed in the 1920s by Japanese Buddhists. Since then it has been altered along the years from the traditional origins. A technique called “palm healing” or “hands on healing” and is sometimes classified as “oriental medicine”. Practitioners believe that they are transferring universal energy through their palms which allows for self-healing.

It was quite an interesting thing to do. As a cynic, I was honestly surprised. You completely relax yourself and again colours dance in front of your closed eyes. At one point I had cold shivers descending down my body but heat radiated the area where Maria Cristina’s hands were. It was odd, surreal.

Afterwards, much to my surprise, Maria Cristina was crying and told me I was holding on to a huge amount of pain that needed to be let go of. I won’t go into more detail about what she said or whatever huge pain I may be carrying. That little gem, I’ll keep to myself.

With Maria Cristina

In typical Hernan style, he didn’t pack until the very last minute and pretty much forgot everything from his toothbrush to phone charger. As the bus set off from Buenos Aires, Hernan kept piping up, remembering things he’d forgotten. All Fede and I could say was “we told you not to leave it until the last minute”.

It was lovely staying with Hernan and his family. Like I’ve said before, they were truly welcoming and generally great people. Pulling out of the bus station at 18.40, I couldn’t help but feel a little sad to be leaving. Good old Fede had packed more food than clothes, so at least we weren’t going to go hungry on our 20 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires to Puerto de Iguazu, Argentina!!

Part of the original plan has changed. Eve has apparently had her passport and visa stolen while in Lima, Peru. Therefore she’ll be delayed while she awaits a new or temporary passport and visa. Now Eve and her friend Steph will be arriving at the Brazilian side, Foz do Iguacu late on the 21^st and crossing over to Puerto de Iguazu (Argentina) the next day. Our stay in Iguazu has been extended, before we all possibly head up north towards Rio de Janeiro.

During our bus ride, Hernan told me we’ll be travelling along a stretch of road called Ruta de la Muerte which means Death Rute. How enthusiastic would you feel?

Night fell upon us quickly and it wasn’t long until we were in the middle of a massive thunder storm. The rain was pelting it down! Being up on the second storey of the bus, we had a cracking view of the storm. The dark clouds lit up grey and electric white while jagged veins of lighting darted towards the ground. At one point a volt of lighting hit on the opposite side of the road. It was one of the most amazing yet terrifying things I’ve ever seen. It was almost unreal. The rumbling thunder that followed straight after was deafening and needless to say, woke a few passengers.

Much to my surprise, the bus was incredibly comfortable. We were sat in semi-beds: seats that lean right back and a foot rest pops out, too. They are pretty much the same seats you’d find in first class on a long haul flight. Lovely! There is of course a downside to sleeping almost laying down horizontally… snorers! There’s always one, or in our case, about three snorers who were sleeping like babies while giving the thunderstorm a run for its money in the noise department! Fede managed to sleep through the entire episode while Hernan and I were tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

We even got to watch a film, a pirate copy of Snow White and the Huntsman – I kid you not! I was dubious of the bad quality but someone standing up in the cinema screening room and walking out, confirmed our suspicions. In my dazed thoughts, I originally thought it was a very small person on the bus until the penny finally dropped!

At 5am we were woken up by someone playing music through their phone without headphones!!

9am - It was announced that the bus had arrived in Campo Asado to refuel and we had five more hours to go until we reached Iguazu. By this point I was close to pulling my hair out from sitting down for so long! 20 hour bus journeys are more of an endurance test!

Five More Hours... Are You Serious!?

12.50 and finally the bus was onto the home stretch with 100km to go. Funnily enough, Hernan, Fede and I were the only ones going to full hog to Puerto de Iguazu. Running up to the front of the bus (on the second storey) we planted ourselves in front seats to check out the view and see where we were going. Not exactly the best idea when the bus is hurtling along, over taking everything in sight despite the blind bends and hills. It was like being on a roller coaster ride… you’d rather not look, but you just can’t help yourself!

100km to go!

Fede, Me and Hernan - Nearly There!

At 15.15 we arrived in Puerto de Iguazu and found accommodation straight away, thanks to a tout outside the bus station. We’re in a little cabin for up to 5 people. As it’s just the three of us, we’re paying $87 for two nights (about $15 each per night). Later on, when the girls join us the price will go up a tad, but it’s still worth it! It’s a good size little cabin with a tiny kitchen, living/dining area with a bed and upstairs are two bedrooms. Bargain, considering hostels and shared dorms were asking for the same amount or more!

The best part of our accommodation has to be the colour of the water – rusty brown! The earth surrounding us is a clay, rusty, red-brown colour and very high in iron. The water is literally being pumped straight from the river and we were even told it was drinkable. I think not!

The only way to brush your teeth!

Time to Blog

Dumping our stuff, we headed straight out in search of something to eat and to have a look around Misiones – Puerto de Iguazu. The sun was shining and the temperature high along with the humidity. It wasn’t long until we found a nice place to eat, Bambu. The food was great along with the prices – cheap! Considering this is a tourist area, it’s very cheap. Much cheaper than Punta del Este and Buenos Aires.

While eating a couple of kids each took turns to come up to the table and beg. Last but not least, an elderly man came over to the table holding something made of clay. “I make clay models of your faces. 40 pesos for a model of your face without your nose and 50 pesos (US$10) with nose”. How can you honestly keep a straight face when someone says something like that to you?! Lord knows how, but we managed to resist such an incredible offer!

I’m having a few troubles carrying around US Dollars. Because things are slightly complicated in Argentina with their currency, Argentinian Pesos, everyone wants US Dollars as it’s seen as more stable. People are literally biting your hand off to take dollars, so you’d think it’d be easy paying for things and exchanging the US currency. Which it is, but isn’t. Instead of giving you a good exchange rate, businesses are giving you the worst possible rate so they can get more dollars out of you!! Fede and Hernan are basically paying for everything while I give them the money in Dollars at the going exchange rate.

A word of advice when in these areas: bring mosquito repellent!! We’ve only been here a couple of hours and the mosquitos have already violated me! Fede’s picked up a couple of nasty bites on his legs too.

While sitting on the patio area having a few drinks, we got talking to a lady from England. Turns out she’s a history teacher from Clapham Junction and lives in Croydon, not far from where I lived. Her and her Peruvian friend have been travelling across South America going to football matches – Montevideo, Buenos Aires, two in Paraguay. Now that is dedication, even if it’s not to one particular team! So her Peruvian friend was having an argument with his 20 year old girlfriend and said he’d only be 10 minutes. One and a half hours later and she was stilling talking to us, having a couple of drinks. Things started to get a little bit strange so we, rather subtly, decided to go inside and get ready to go out for a drink or two.

With Our New Found "Friends"

Leaving the cabin and we were spotted. This time all three were together. We were invited to join them for a drink in a bar they knew. Not wanting to refuse, we joined them. Boy oh boy! Usually you order a drink at a time, especially when it’s a litre of beer. Oh no, this lady was ordering 2 and 3 1litre bottles at a time. We must have had 10 litres of beer plus a cocktail each by the time the bar closed at 01.30! Every time we tried to make a move, more large bottles of Patagonia beer would arrive.

Needless to say, we were a little sloshed by the end of the night. This only added to our laughter when we realized we’d taken a wrong turn and were walking down a dark road filled with transvestites and transsexuals. I honestly thought the man with whopping silicone boobs and blonde hair was female. She/he did have good taste in shoes though…

Wrong Turn

 

Walking Back to the Cabin

 

Hernan and his Computer