Greetings from Foz do Iguaçu on the Brazilian-Argentinian-
On Friday night we arrived at the airport - greeted by a full-size model of Will Smith from the local waxworks - and checked in to our hotel in time to eat at nearby La Mafia, an amazing local trattoria full of Godfather memorabilia (and a 2014 edition of Shortlist magazine, bizarrely), where all the waiters dressed up like mobsters. No doubt we'll be heading back there before the week is through.
On Saturday we took a cab to the Ponte de Amizade and crossed the border to Paraguay on foot, taking in the bustling main street of Ciudad del Este and getting massively scammed in several hugely inflated currencies (€1 = 6,200 Paraguayan Guarani, fact fans). It was like the Rua 25 de Março - São Paulo's chaotic epicentre of tat - blown up to the scale of an entire city, and was exactly the kind of dodgy, Tijuana-esque border town I was expecting.
At one point we climbed 12 stories of the relatively upmarket Sax building for a calzone or two overlooking the city, and concluded our visit at the Shopping China, an almost entirely empty mall-in-construction reminiscent of Dawn of the Dead, that we chose to leave early out of sheer creepiness. Glad we checked it out, and ticked another country off the list, but not sure I'd ever go back... The day was rounded off at Emporio com Arte, a cool art gallery-slash-restaurant that does a mean caipirinha.
We were up bright and early on Sunday, to be whisked off to the Parque das Aves, a national sanctuary stuffed with rare birds from all over the world, and a few reptiles thrown in for good measure. Made our way through the park with some of Gaby's psychology chums in tow, past an array of emus, flamingos, cassowaries, owls, cranes, boa constrictors, crocodiles, hummingbirds, toucans, unclassifiable turkey-like creatures and a badass-looking harpy eagle. My favourite part was the parrot aviary, packed to the rafters with the buggers, divebombing and posing for selfies - absolute Jurassic-Park-wish-fulfilment stuff. Definitely the coolest zoo I've ever been to, and apparently all the birds were rescued from a far worse fate at the hands of poachers, so it was relatively guilt-free to boot.
Then it was a short trip across the road to the Iguassu Falls National Park, and a bus ride to the start of the trail - a damp yet awe-inspiring hike past countless waterfalls and rivers, culminating in a walkway out into the centre of the lake, at the foot of the awesomely-named Garganta Del Diablo. Very impressive stuff, followed by a "panoramic elevator" up to the top of the falls, and lunch surrounded by scavenging quatis (fluffy racoon-anteater hybrids whose name apparently means "hole-pig!" in the local Indian language...). Then after drying off and having a much-needed nap, we feasted on burgers at the nearby shopping centre before turning in for the night.
Yesterday I did battle with the unreliable hotel wifi and got all my work out of the way by 6pm, at which point we boarded a chartered van full of more psychologists, bound for Argentina. Disembarked at a massive duty-free hangar, presumably located between borders, for some dispassionate shopping (it just reminded me of an airport, if airports consisted entirely of the duty-free section, although there were some cool themed rooms and lots of chocolate...), before heading for the local ice bar.
Donned coats and gloves, cooled down in a weird anteroom and stepped into a freezer vault full of ice sculptures, for some decidedly chilly socialising and as many cocktails as we could get our hands on from the open bar in our allotted 30 minutes, all to an eclectic soundtrack of CCR and Wesley Safadão, and surrounded by Brazilian youths singing less-than-complementary songs about Diego Maradona and Cristina Kirchner. Then it was on to a cool night market to stock up on MEAT and alfajor, and pet some local dogs, before heading back to Brazil and collapse. Most fun...
I think that about covers it - there's not much else to do here beyond the afore-mentioned tourist spots, so I'll be holed up in the hotel while Gaby does her behavioural analysis thing - although the power station and dam are meant to be pretty impressive, especially when lit up at night. Oh, and in the midst of all our travels, Brazil changed President three times in one day last week, but I'm afraid there's no time to talk about that now... Here's a mix I made earlier, and my phrase of the day - "do Paraguai" - refers to contraband, knock-off products usually found in places like Ciudad del Este.
Hope all well wit'choo, and speak soon (wi-fi permitting)!
Fred Moon Rising
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