Paraguay

Paraguay was a lot different to everywhere else I'd been, it seemed very poor and rough all around the border and everyone was suddenly speaking Portuguese. I got a bus from Iguazù to the border of Paraguay, where I was abandoned by the bus and left on my own. No questions asked from customs, a quick stamp and I was thru. Having not planned where I was going to stay I decided I'd walk in and try and spot a few places. After half an hour of walking I'd only been able to find one 50$ hotel. I'd the name of a hostel with half an address and none of the taxi drivers knew where it was or understood me. Finally I was talking to a bike guy and he was going to drive me to the hostel, or possibly .4km outside the centre, I wasn't quite sure and neither was he. Luckily a guy walked past, just before I got on the bike and offered to help, when I told him where my hostel was he told me I should stay in the centre and he knew a cheap hotel he'd take me too. Turned out it was his family's hotel or so he told me. The hotel was grim, damp and had a sketchy feel to it, but I'd no other choice, I'd stick it for one night. I headed down to reception to grab dinner and have a wander around the city. The guy was sat waiting for me at reception and suggested I should go to this new shopping mall. I decided ya that's a good idea, asked how to get there and he said he'd show me because he wanted to see the mall too. Alarm bells ringing, but I'd no idea how I could suddenly change my mind, so I went for it. We jumped in a taxi around the corner and it was the first time on my trip I genuinely felt scared. The ride was half an hour long and I was very relieved when we arrived at a brand new looking shopping mall. We wandered around, shops were more expensive than Ireland so nothing was bought. We got ice creams, then headed back to the hotel on a public bus. On the bus I got some strange looks I'm not sure the locals saw many gringos on the local buses. Back to the hotel, diner less but still alive I headed for the safety of my damp room. Next morning I woke up and went down for my free breakfast, it was surprisingly good. I decided it was time for me to get to Rio as there was nothing but markets all around selling everything and anything but not very cheap and nothing I needed. I walked down to the border, stamped out of Paraguay and was going to trap a bus, but as always adventure Mark thought it would be cooler to go on the back of a bike. Bartered with a bike guy and he agreed to take me for the rest of my Paraguay money and 5$, totalling just less than 10$. I'd showed him the money and he seemed happy enough to do it, it wasn't very far. Over the bridge we went, through Brazilian customs no hassles, got the stamp. At the bus station when I attempted to pay him he spotted a blue stamp on the 5$ bill and said it was no good, the only other money I had was a 5€ and he just laughed when I tried to pay with that. The cash machines were going to charge me to take money out, so I told him my card wasn't working. The 5€ was swapped for Brazilian reis by one of the bus companies but the rate wasn't as good as dollar conversions, so the driver was not happy, I emptied my wallet of all my coins and eventually he left. I then managed to book myself on a 24 hour direct bus to Rio, having earlier been told that was impossible. Grabbed a quick burger and jumped on the bus. 6hrs into the bus journey I got real bad pains and all of a sudden I was puking in the bathroom for the next 18hrs. The bathroom stunk and it was an absolute nightmare

Argentina

Boring bus journey and a simple long winded border crossing country number 6 was added to the passport. Salta is a big city but it had a nice vibe to it, a drink and sausage sandwich for 2.50€ I was fed. I met a Liverpool lad Craig on the bus and he spoke Spanish so I tagged along with him. We changed money on the blue market and strolled around the main square, there was a stage set up and models were walking a catwalk. On the way back to the hostel we heard noise in a hall and it turned out to be a local basketball game so we went in to watch. The refereeing was nothing short of shocking, we couldn't figure out the rules and it became clear neither could the players. Every decision was argued and often the ref would change his mind. A bad call was made with 30 seconds to go, a player was sent off and the ref decided to abandon the game. Even tho the home team were 30+ points ahead, punches were nearly thrown. Friday was a 24hr bus to Iguazù, it's looking like I'm gonna make it to Rio. Made it to Iguazù for 4.30' I'd done all right read an entire book, updated the blog and slept. I'd read about one hostel in lonely planet and it was right across from the bus station, sure that'll be perfect. Checked in and stared to attempt to plan my trip to the falls. Started chatting to a French guy Adrien, he was traveling on his own too, so he was stuck with me for the next 30 odd hours. He was going to the falls the next morning with 3 French girls, so I decided I'd tag along after all they had cameras. Saturday night Adrien and I went out for food, it was time to try the argentine food everyone had said was unreal. We got a meat and cheese platter to start, I had a steak sandwich and Adrien got a pizza which I finished. Decent food, expensive but good. 

The next morning we had breakfast, bread and jam. Then headed for the falls in a taxi. The falls were amazing, we walked a few different paths with unreal views.

I hadn't realised the others were bringing packed lunches and I was starving so I decided I'd treat myself to a subway, it was unbelievably expensive, I couldn't justify paying 15€ for the foot long , well I ended up deciding I'd still be hungry if I didn't I may as well treat myself. Supremo sub and bottle of Fanta in hand I head outside to eat it. Sub on table less than a second and three courtis (kinda like a cross between a lemur and an antelope, only cos of the nose) jump onto the table grabbing the sub, I attempt to grab it back, slap the courtis he didn't even flinch, I get hold of half the sub and he trots of with the other half as his friends eat the spillage. Everybody around me was laughing and I was left with half a 15€ sub, to say I wasn't impressed is an understatement, I've found an animal I hate more than cats. We got a bus back to the hostel and me and Adrien headed for dinner, we found a nice looking Italian restaurant it was expensive and looked very posh, we went for it anyway. Only once we'd sat down did we realise the price of the pasta didn't include the sauce, we stayed anyway and the pasta was gorgeous, I had fresh tomatoes with mine. Still hungry afterwards we wandered down to the main square, I bought my Argentinean bracelet and the lady gave us directions to a shop that was still open. I bought cheese and salami and ate them back at the hostel where we all played cards together for the night. On the mo day myself and Adrien head to Gürià Oga an animal rescue centre, we got there at about a minute to 11, just as the Spanish tour was leaving. The English tour wasn't till two and we both had buses to catch so we jumped on the Spanish tour and pretended to know what was going on. As we finished the tour another bus pulled up to take us back to the town, talk about perfect timing. A pay by weight buffet for lunch where we paid 75c for every 100g of food, I ended up with 800g. Off to Paraguay I go.

Salt Flats

We arrived in Unyi at 6am on the Sunday morning after a horrible night bus. It was time to do what we did best and bargain our way onto a good tour. A few tour agents and we find a guy with what appears to be a slightly better tour but wants 800 Bolivianos and everyone else wanted 750bs. The tours didn't start till 11 so we headed for breakfast, to check reviews and keep him sweating. Myself and Max went back to him after breakfast and he happily agreed to 750bs. Off we headed on our tour, the driver was very quiet and didn't speak any English. We drove for about 40 minutes and saw the old trains that had been abandoned only ten years ago, even tho they looked way way older. 

From there we drove onto the salt flats, saw salt mines, stopped for lunch in an old hotel made from salt, even the tables. We decided it'd be funny if we shaved mustaches into our beards for the pictures, max was against it tho. We went to a market where we saw a load of salt sculptures and could buy different souvenirs. We stopped further in the salt flats and took the usual silly photos, and headed for an island. We got to walk around the island, as such, it was basically rocks in the middle of the salt flats with big cacti growing all over after we headed to see the sunset.

 Unfortunately on the way to the hostel our jeep broke down, other groups passed us and waved one guy stopped and decided we were unsaveable. The driver tried to fix it but gave up and without even telling us just walked off up the road. Abandoned and clueless to what was going on, we persuaded Maxi to get a moustache like the rest of us. Fortunately we'd brought some rum, so we started on that for the next hour with no clue to when we'd be rescued. Eventually we saw lights in the distance a jeep and our driver was back to tow us. We quizzed the driver as to what was wrong and he told us it was the fuel pump, well pointed at it. 

Obviously none of us had very good Spanish, but we were told our driver had basic English. We got our dinner some how it was still warm and headed to bed as we were up at 6 for sunrise. After breakfast and sunrise, a jump start we were back on the road, about an hour later the jeep was broken down again we reckoned the battery was drained and the alternator was screwed, and something was shorting causing the jeep to cut out when the revs dropped. Because it was an automatic we couldn't push start it so every time we broke down we had to hope there was still someone behind us and that they'd stop to help. We spent the rest of the day breaking down and seeing sights, odd rocks, the highest caves in the world filled with tombs, rock shaped tress, lagoons full of flamingos. A new hostel, where it was freezing cold and no showers, was our base for the night. Wine and cards and up at 4, to watch sunrise and head to the hot springs. Again we were breaking down and needing rescuing. There was no jump leads so they held a battery close to our battery held two wrenches and started the jeep, we had to skip the geysers as the driver was afraid the jeep would cut out and we were behind time. You could still see them so we didn't mind too much.

 The hot springs were lovely and relaxing, with an unbelievable view. At this point we'd ran out of bolivianos and no one had told us you had to pay for the hot springs, well we were already in and a guy was looking for our tickets we said we'd show him after. Every bathroom cost money too so we were in quite some trouble. Mark snuck into the bathroom and we managed to avoid the ticket man. Back in the jeep and we were off to Chile. Leaving Bolivia we were met with the 'leaving tax' of 15bs each, we'd no money and knew the tax was made up so the blame was passed down the line as we each said our amigo was paying, somehow we managed to get out of it, as the the two guards were completely useless. 

We got to San Pedro De Atacama for 12 but not before the strictest border crossing yet, our bags were fully searched, well they basically pulled loads of stuff out of our bags and watched us repack them. San Pedro looked really nice and we wanted a good hostel so we went to a restaurant with wifi and got lunch, found a few hostels and agreed on one. Hostel was nice we got a 2 bed and 3 bed so had a load of space. What a day to arrive! There was a local concert on that night so we had dinner, around 10 of us and headed up to the concert, it was good until a comedian came on to close and we had no idea what he was saying. Wednesday we had a pretty chill day, enjoyed the sunshine and explored the town. We were set to go on a horseback tour to Death Valley and see the stars, but we were told it's a full moon so we wouldn't see much, the tour was 60€ too so not worth doing for no stars. Thursday morning I got up at 8 said good bye to the gang and headed for Salta, Argentina, exactly two weeks before my flight home. Gotta get to Rio!!