Puerto Iguazù, Argentina
Hotel Esturiòn
Hola todos.
Estoy en Puerto Iguazu, Argentina.
Let me translate - I´m in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina.
By the way, notice the colors of the blog change to the colors of the country I am in. What a huge nerd.
I´m in a hotel just across the border from Brazil and Paraguay.
The rivers Piraná and Iguazu converge just a couple of kms from here to the Iguazu Falls, which I will see tomorrow.
Also tomorrow I will upload pics from the past few days...I am unable to access the usb port here, as the CPU is handsomely encased behind a locked wicker door.
Since a picture is worth 1,000 words, let me give you 2-3 pictures worth.
Where did I leave off - oh yes, so Sunday morning I woke up around 5:30am again (thanks to the mosquitos and the heat in my room), and walked along Ipanema beach for an hour or so...then I tried to plan my next plan of action - one of three choices: stay in Rio one more night and fly to Iguazu Falls Monday morning, take a taxi to the Rio bus station and take a bus to Paraty and Ilha Grande (which apparently have incredible beaches), or go to this place just south of Rio called ¨Surf n Stay¨where a husband/wife from Brazil/New Zealand lived and ran a hostel. This was a place where I could take surf lessons and hang with locals. That was my first choice and I had emailed them three times asking for availability with no response.
So after breakfast I decided to check my email one last time. If I hadn´t heard from them I was going to Ilha Grande, which was going to be a trek (a taxi, a bus, and a 2-hour ferry on some gnarly waters). I log on....no response. Oh well, so I log off, jump downstairs to finally say goodbye to this hostel and I go to the desk. The girl there is on the phone and says to me äre you Daniel? The phone is for you.¨She hands me the phone - it´s the surf hostel, they have a room. Fan-tastic.
It was about a 40 minute cab ride southwest of Rio to a town called Recreio, home of the largest mall in South America...I ended up taking surf lessons from Mauro, a Brazilian dude in his early 30s who with his Kiwi wife Kat - two surfers who met in a bar in Pacific Beach and 5 years later realized their dream - to get married and open up a surf school/house in Brazil. Such a great story. They even have a 3-month old son, Taj, who they say will grow up to be a world champ surfer.
Also tomorrow I will upload pics from the past few days...I am unable to access the usb port here, as the CPU is handsomely encased behind a locked wicker door.
Since a picture is worth 1,000 words, let me give you 2-3 pictures worth.
Where did I leave off - oh yes, so Sunday morning I woke up around 5:30am again (thanks to the mosquitos and the heat in my room), and walked along Ipanema beach for an hour or so...then I tried to plan my next plan of action - one of three choices: stay in Rio one more night and fly to Iguazu Falls Monday morning, take a taxi to the Rio bus station and take a bus to Paraty and Ilha Grande (which apparently have incredible beaches), or go to this place just south of Rio called ¨Surf n Stay¨where a husband/wife from Brazil/New Zealand lived and ran a hostel. This was a place where I could take surf lessons and hang with locals. That was my first choice and I had emailed them three times asking for availability with no response.
So after breakfast I decided to check my email one last time. If I hadn´t heard from them I was going to Ilha Grande, which was going to be a trek (a taxi, a bus, and a 2-hour ferry on some gnarly waters). I log on....no response. Oh well, so I log off, jump downstairs to finally say goodbye to this hostel and I go to the desk. The girl there is on the phone and says to me äre you Daniel? The phone is for you.¨She hands me the phone - it´s the surf hostel, they have a room. Fan-tastic.
It was about a 40 minute cab ride southwest of Rio to a town called Recreio, home of the largest mall in South America...I ended up taking surf lessons from Mauro, a Brazilian dude in his early 30s who with his Kiwi wife Kat - two surfers who met in a bar in Pacific Beach and 5 years later realized their dream - to get married and open up a surf school/house in Brazil. Such a great story. They even have a 3-month old son, Taj, who they say will grow up to be a world champ surfer.
The beach I surfed at was called Praihna...this cool little cove (just around the corner from the beach in this pic below).
I also met some great people who at the house - a young Aussie named Matt who had surfed all his life in Australia and while traveling here decided YESTERDAY on a passing inquiry from Mauro that yes he would stay at the house indefinitely and help out and teach surfing to beginners so he could stay for free. And local named Leo who has traveled the world, but returned to his home in Recreio - he helps Mauro and Kat out with promotion of the business, with their website and photography. Over a beer Sunday night I told him about my travels all over South America. We were standing up, next to a tree in this small tented front yard down the street from the surf house - this place was actually the beginning of a favela - this front yard had been converted into a bar called ¨the Hut¨ More on that later - so Leo puts his beer down on this nearby tree stump and says to me: ¨traveling alone is very important. All the places you see, the people you meet...what is the one constant? You. You must find home. Not home like where you want to live. But home (and he pointed to my heart) - wherever you travel, and wherever you may be, you must be able to be at home.¨ Then he went to this jukebox and he played one of his favorite songs which was this techno-samba Brazilian song. It was called ¨Chicanic e Veeyaga¨ - at least that´s how he was pronouncing it when I asked him...i asked him three times ¨WHAT´s the name of this song??¨Chicanic e Veeyaga. What was it about? Leo said it was about being down and back up again with a girl - basically an on-again/off-again relationship. I asked him to spell it, instead he motined me to come to the jukebox instead. I look...it´s ¨Titanic and Viagra¨- you see, down and then up. Horrible, but pretty funny after a couple of beers. Maybe even without the beers.
Dark pic - but right to left: Auzzie Matt, Brit Sam, Kiwi Kat and baby Taj, Brazilian Mauro, y yo
Mauro, Kat, Taj and I. Dont ask what their dog Icey is doing please.
I spent less than 24 hours there - but it seemed like weeks. I definitely miss that place and those great people.
Blah blah blah...so fast forward to now - I´m in my hotel - a resort basically for $60 (you people need to come to Argentina) and I´m having a glass of Malbec, and typing on a computer. One thing about South America - internet service everywhere, cell phone service everywhere. I was on a 23-hour bus ride from Rio to here, and everytime I looked at my phone, I had 4 bars of cell service. Granted, it´s $2 a minute, but there´s cell service in the middle of Brazil, and I can´t get a signal in certain spots in San Francisco. What´s the deal there???
Time for dinner. Pics tomorrow. Hopefully of Iguazu Falls. I keep hearing this place blows people away.
Ciao peeps.
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