So before I get going, I'm warning that this is going to be a pretty long post and broken into two parts so it doesn't look so awkward. I'm also going to write like I just went this past weekend because I saved it when it wasn't posting on the blog and it's easeier that way. It's basically uncensored as well because it's soooo much funnier that way. And for those of you who don't know, Iguazu Falls is a series of waterfalls shared by Argentina and Brazil and were featured in the recent (and pretty terrible) Indiana Jones flick, making them extra cool.
So last week at some point, the idea of going to Iguazu was mentioned at a bar by my friend Kris. I didn't really think anything of it until Wednesday, when Anna apparently volunteered me to go and I was included in the plans. I am greatful to her for this, because as most of you know, I really need a push to go through with things and I never really had any intention of going until she basically forced me to. Anna and I were going with 4 other people, but decided to take a cheaper, less fancy bus then them, so we left at different times, but would meet at the station in Puerto Iguazu and then go to our hostel. So we bought our tickets for
the 20 hour bus ride and planned on leaving Thursday night at 6 55.
We arrived at the bus station with plenty of time to spare. We asked an attendent which bus to go to and he pointed us towards one headed to Iguazu. We stood in line and the conductor looked at my ticket, tore off the stub, then did a double take. He proceeded to tell us that this was the wrong bus and our bus was about 4 over. Unfortunately, by this time it was 6:57 and OUR BUS HAD ALREADY LEFT! Nothing in Argentina EVER runs on time, but this one bus had to be on schedule, with no last call, no nothing. So we ran over to our ticket booth and freaked out at the ticket guy until he managed to get us another bus, but it cost 40 more pesos and was a much less comfortab
le bus. He then walked us over to where the bus would be and told us not to move until our bus got there at 8. We stood there, really pissed off at ourselves and the whole bus station. I kept checking the clock and at 7:55 we began to freak out because the bus was not there. The same conductor who we talked to earlier saw us and tried to calm us down and finally just told us to go on a different bus from a completely different company because it had room and was headed towards Iguazu.
So we got on our bus (which left 10 minutes late, btw) and tried to relax, but not before seeing the bus we were supposed to be on pull up as we were leaving. Oops. Worse news was to come. This bus company was the only company in the entire bus station that did NOT serve alcohol with dinner, which was basically the only perk of the 20 hour bus ride. So there
we were, leaving an hour later, on a cheaper, slower bus with no booze to help medicate us through the long ride.
Just as Anna and I were at the point of despair, we turned around and saw sitting behind us not one, not two, but FIVE american guys who had clearly started drinking and had several bottles of alcohol between them. We started talking to them, found out they were all University of Colorodo students and were staying at the same hostel as us. We talked from our seats several rows away for a while, ate the disgusting food that was supposed to be dinner, then moved to the back with them to have a mini party.
We hung out in the back of the bus with these guys for several hours, probably annoying everyone around us. We were delayed two hours due to a traffic accident, which only made everyone on the bus more restless and annoyed. We played card games, watched a terrible Argentine movie, and even sang a few disney songs. Anna and I decided we were tired and wanted to get a good nights sleep at around 1, so we said good night and passed out. The boys said they settled down around 3, probably more from the amount of alcohol they drank than from actually being tired.
Now, throughout our entire mini party in the back, one boy was especially drunk. His name was Damon and he was slurring and forgetful and overall very funny. What wasn't funny was when I woke up at around 3:30 am to hear him spitting behind me. This concerned me because whenever I am about to throw up, I normally spit several times beforehand. I turned around to see him bend over and my fears were realized when he began to throw up all over his feet and the floor. I woke up Anna and we both stared in horror as he threw up several more times. I began to hit the leg of John, his seatmate and told him to wake up and help his friend. John pretended not to hear me until I told him that Damon had thrown up on his feet. That got his attention and he went to get napkins to clean up the mess. The smell was awful, but when we woke up the next day at noon, we could finally see the humor in the situation.
We finally arrived in Puerto Iguazu at 4:30 pm, 20.5 hours after we had begun. We took cabs with our new best friends, the University of Colorado boys, and headed towards the hostel. We checked in, relaxed, had dinner, then tried to go tob e dearly for our 7 am wake up call.
I'll actually talk about the falls in the next post, so bear with me as I try to type it all out.
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