Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

The bus from Iguazu was supposed to reach Buenos Aires at 10am. In the end, we reached at 12:30 noon. It didn’t matter to me since I was jobless and schoolless.

While on the bus, I managed to conquer my motion sickness and write up a few disjointed blog posts. At times like these, I really wish I have 3G internet so I can surf the web.

When our bus arrived at our destination, there was a group photo. Try squinting to see me.

I took the same bus as I did coming back from the US embassy. It felt strange to look at this city which I’ve been in for about 3 weeks. I recognized some of the street names and some shop fronts looked familiar.

I headed back to my old hostel. Now I have a new bed space, the furthest away from the window (Hurray!) and has a less saggy mattress.

I spent most of the afternoon on the bed, trying to get a nap. It didn’t work.

In the end, I walked to the supermarket for dinner. As usual, I bought steak (it’s just so cheap here!) and half a head of cabbage because it was cheap (S$1 per kilo!) and I need my fiber after countless suppers of steak.

While I was preparing my steak, the hostel receptionist who was from Buenos Aires gave many tips for cooking steak:

1. Beat the meat to tenderize it (I’m sure he didn’t mean it that way.)
2. Cooking in on an iron grill (and not the frying pan I was using.)
3. Pair the steak with a strong Malbec (not the wimpy rosada Malbec that I got.)

Anyway, my steak turned out awesome even without his tips. Still, I might take his advice when I’m cooking my next meal.

The rest of the night was spent preparing my newsletter and looking at random things on the internet. I should start planning touristy trips out of the hostel.

What do you want me to do in Buenos Aires?

Location: Puerto Iguazu, Argentina

The day started out well with the sun peaking out of the clouds. I woke up well before the other 8 in our room to join another girl from our room for breakfast.

It was the first time during the trip that I got to eat the scrambled eggs. Everytime I reach the breakfast area, the eggs were gone.

At the end of breakfast, my nose started to run. I didn’t need to chase for it but I downed a cup of hot water with Panadol for cold and flu sachet, just to be safe.

On today’s itinerary was Paraguay or the zoo. I did not have my passport and I did not want to see animals in cages so I skipped both and stayed in the room.

A lot of others were also in bed. From 10:30am to 4pm, I laid in different positions on the bed, trying to catch the light to read my Kindle after I got bored with surfing the internet.

It was raining rather heavily, making the room extra chilly. I had to wrap myself in my coat and the thin blanket to try to stay warm.

Finally, the bus arrived at about 4pm. The folks who went to Paraguay reported that they only walked to the bank and back. I guess I was lucky I didn’t have to do that.

When I dragged my things to the bus, I found out that the seat I used to sit in in the lower deck of the bus was taken. I had to sit on the upper deck.

Luckily, everyone seemed to be tired out and there was no partying on the upper deck. We watched the first 3/4 of The Impossible.

Throughout the movie, I kept being annoyed that it was a movie focusing on white people when the whole affect area was in Asia. Only the sight of Ewan McGregor kept me from throwing an empty cup at the tiny screen.

The movie was paused when our bus stopped at a rest stop for dinner at around 10pm. Here, I drank another flu medicine to prevent the cold and flu from attacking.

Back on the bus, the movie continued. When the [SPOILER] family united [/SPOILER], some people on the bus clapped. They also clapped when the movie ended which I thought was quite funny.

The next movie was The Notebook. Even though I like Ryan Gosling, the whole story makes me go URGH and I couldn’t finish watching. I did like the parts where James Marsden was in.

Unfortunately, the movie was a strong doze of sleep medicine for me and I managed to doze off in my seat. When I woke up, it was the next day.

Do you like The Notebook or do you fall asleep watching it?

Location: Puerto Iguazú, Argentina

Today’s itinerary was a visit to the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls. As my passport was still with the US embassy, I could not go to Brazil.

Instead of having a coffee at a cafe for the whole day, I followed some tour members to La Aripuca. While the sight was far from the hostel, It was a pleasant walk as the sun shone bright and strong.

At Aripuca, you can enter for free or pay about 20 pesos (after 5 pesos discount) each for a guide. The guide doesn’t do much except show a termite nest, a payphone in a tree trunk, a little trap (Aripuca in local language) and some of the buildings around.

There were more gift shops than actual sights here at Aripuca. The more astounding structure was one made out of GIGANTIC tree trunks. The building served more as a photo opportunity than anything else.

The most enjoyable part of the sight was sitting outside under the sun eating mate flavored ice cream. We sat around and chat for a long while before leaving.

Eating at La Vaca Enamorada

It was another long walk back to town. We didn’t have any clue where to go so we ended up at a strange restaurant which had a green cow displayed.

The place turned out to be the #1 restaurant in Iguazu on Tripadvisor. The elderly owner was super enthusiastic as he thought that we were students learning Spanish. He suggested that we share asado (local BBQ).

I am very in love with good asado. The meat is generous with lots of fat. Most people just cut off the fat but I tell you, the fat is probably the best part since it melts in your mouth. I’m hungry just thinking about a good asado.

After the fulfilling meal which came up to be quite affordable, we headed back to the hostel.

One of the girls in my room was sleeping off her hangover when I reached my room. She suggested that we go for ice cream. I’m in!

I bought a quarter kilogram of ice cream with 3 flavors: yerba mate, milk caramel and cookies ice cream. The mate wasn’t as fantastic but the rest were great.

While eating ice cream, some people from the tour group passed by and said they were going to see the sunset by the river. We tagged along.

From this looking point, you can see Paraguay right in front and Brazil on the right. The dorm mate and I didn’t stay for the whole sunset but walked back to the hostel, buying some groceries along the way.

When I tried to pay for my 9 peso bottle of water with 100 peso bill, the cashier actually refused to sell me the water because my bill was too large. What on earth was that? So the dorm mate and I pooled together our purchases.

At night, I wrote some posts in the 10 degrees celcius cold. Later, I went out for dinner with the people from the language school. I have to saym Argentinian steak is marvellous. We finished dinner at 12 midnight, successfully integrating into the timetables of the Argentines.

What was the biggest tourist trap that you’ve been to?