The wonder of air conditioning

(Written 3/7/08) My man Marcelo has so far proved the most adept a/c mechanic, if not the most expensive. I have had working a/c for over 600 miles continuous – the most for the last 7 months. Today I drove through three provinces (states) of Argentina: Entre Rios, so called because it sits between two rivers, Corrientes and Missiones. Missiones’ name reflects the fact that this is the area where the Jesuits had built many missions before being expelled from the Americas in the 18th century. I expected the drive to take two days but I powered through in nine and a half hours. I’m now in Puerto Iguazu, the Argentine town beside Iguazu Falls.

Yesterday I left Buenos Aires later than I expected, about 11:30 pm. It was difficult to leave. My stay at Amigos Abroad ( http://www.accommodationbue.com.ar/ ) felt a lot like home. Lidia was such a great host it really didn’t even feel like a bed and breakfast. In fact my departure was so familiar that I totally forgot to pay her for the last three nights. Now I’m trying to figure how to get her the remaining money.

The guests staying at the apartment for the last three days after I returned from Brazil were there for a very auspicious event. Carolina had scheduled to have her baby at the private hospital a block away on Thursday. Her mother Doli was there with her when I arrived Monday and her husband Rodrigo arrived Thursday morning for the delivery that afternoon. They are very sweet people. Carolina was literally glowing as pregnant women often do and was surprisingly calm. Doli and Rodrigo were understandably more nervous. The day before Doli repaired one of my shirts that had ripped out at a seam. Though originally from Argentina, Carolina and Rogdrigo actually live in La Serena, Chile a city I drove through on my way to Santiago. They all headed off to the hospital about 30 minutes before I left in the car. I’ve posted their pictures and they promised to send me a picture of baby Valentina so I can post that as well.

Lidia packed up homemade wheat free bread for me for my departure and followed me out to the car. She wouldn’t let me pay the kids who watched the car because when I moved the car from the garage they didn’t remind me to pay the meter and put the receipt on the dash. I could have easily gotten a ticket. These same kids had helped me with my luggage when I arrived over four weeks ago. While I finished packing the car she lectured the kids for their neglect.

The bread turned out to be a godsend. I though I’d spread it out over three days but after having one piece I couldn’t stop and ate the hole loaf. That and some Gatoraide were my lunch. With my late start I didn’t get as far as I had originally planned. I had seen lots of signs for termas (hot springs) on the drive north and I hoped I could find a spa. Luck was on my side. Around 5:30 pm I decided to turn off the highway to Federacion. There were a lot of signs for spa hotels so I thought I’d check it out. Federacion sits on a large lake which is just west of Rio Uruguay.

I chose the Hotel Costa del Sol, basically because their many roadside billboards advertised that they had all the amenities I wanted. I’ve noted before that I don’t really like unsightly billboards but they have so far proved a useful tool in finding more than acceptable hotels. The hotel had two pools, one cool and one very warm and a full spa with sauna, facials, massages, etc. I had a massage and ate dinner at 10 pm while the restaurant enjoyed a live performance. I seriously considered staying the next day to take in some sun around the pool. Instead I stuck to my plan and left this morning by 10 am.

The drive today was much more interesting and diverse. The further north (first along national highway 14 and then 12) I drove the greener it became. I also noted that literally hundreds of miles of the highways are under construction. The highway north is much more developed than the Ruta 40 in the south, which wasn’t even paved in many places.

The drive was only two lanes for most of the route. It appears that in the next few years that will change as literally hundreds of miles are under construction to add another two lanes to make the whole route a dual carriageway, two lanes each direction. The manner of construction surprised me. It isn’t 10 miles of construction and then open the 4 lane highway. It is literally hundreds of miles of construction looking as if it will finish and open the whole route at once. That was the same type of highway development I had encountered in the south. The level of construction on the roads throughout this whole country, at least the length that I’ve driven, is employing a large number of road workers. I have to say the roads they are building are very nice.

A number of times I remembered Fiona telling me how years ago when they paved the main road around Botswana it changed that country. Of course it is great to have progress and smooth paved highways spread throughout a country. Now that I’ve driven it all, and likely won’t again, it is easy to express a nostalgia for the loss of remoteness, the shortening of distances that progress always brings.

Once on the Ruta 12 north of Posada the road was not under construction at all. The terrain had become quite hilly and the highway had been built essentially as a three lane road. As my direction hit the uphill we had two lanes and then on my down hill it was two lane for the oncoming traffic uphill.

As the enviroment became subtropical the vegetation became much more lush. Where yesterday and earlier today I passed many ranches with cattle and fields of sunflowers now I saw fields of sugar, lemon orchards and vast farms of managed timber. I’ve never seen level or rolling fields of farmed timberland. It is odd too see acres of land planted with trees as if they were any other crop. One area may stretch 5o feet in the air. The neighboring planting may only reach 20 feet and then next 30. There are any number of evergreen trees, most looking like fluffy pines. There are also groves of tall trees that grow more like broccoli, their leaves high above the ground at the end of their branches creating a very tall canopy. These had lost their bark and had graceful white trunks. There were many roadside stands selling pineapples and mangoes, more evidence of the change in agriculture.

I adopted one of Bruce’s favorite practices of picking up police officers, at least for rides in my car. On the turn off from the highway to Federacion yesterday I sped by a hitch hiker who I noticed had a gun strapped to his hip. Too far past to pick him up I realized it was a policeman. So when I passed an officer hitch hiking this morning I quickly pulled over and gave him a lift. He was about 50 miles south of his home in Santo Tome. We didn’t talk a lot but I did learn from him that he hitch hikes every day. He felt it was a short distance to hitch hike to work. He also told me that the tree farms I was passing were all for paper. The wood products industry is huge. More than any other vehicles I was sharing the road with logging trucks, going all directions. The wood was mostly small, not much more than 5 inches in diameter. And many were cut only about 5 feet in length. I passed many pulp and paper plants. The further north I drove I noticed some bigger logs being transported.

I drove into Puerto Iguazu about 7:15 pm. I first stopped at a huge hostel I’d read about. Hostel Inn is on the main highway 12 about four kms outside of town on about two acres of land. There are about a dozen large spralling hotels along this part of the highway. The hostel has a large pool in front, a large common building and many separate buildings of dormitories dotted around the property. I inquired about a single. I really didn’t want a shared dorm room with all my luggage, computer etc. The smallest they had was a triple and I soon got the feeling this is a real party place. So I drove on into town to search out something a little more traditional. It turned out I ended up at the Hotel Saint George, another roadside billboard I had seen on my way into town. It’s a little more expensive than I’d like, but it’s about the same as renting a whole triple at the hostel. The hotel sits in the center of this cute if not touristy town and has a pool and wifi. Everything I need. Tomorrow I’ll get my pool time and then Sunday visit the falls – pictures to follow.

Early next week I set out for Asunción, Paraguay. There is a serious lack of guide books for Paraguay and thus I have little information on the country and city. I would greatly appreciate any recommendations for a hotel and things to do in Asunción and Paraguay.