Lost the first post so if this shows up twice and slightly different…

Argentina Day -1 through 2

The thing I dislike most about traveling is well… the traveling. 25 hours door to door and five time zones.

First thing that happened which was kind of stressful but it didn’t need to be was that STS ran our of jet fuel. How does an airport run out of fuel? Delayed the flight by an hour. And my 90 minute connection in DFW turned in to 30 minutes make that 20 minutes till door closure. Oh.. and a terminal change from B to C. Luckily the gates were close to the airtram stops so I got there with plenty of time – 10 minutes. Then I started to worry about my bags (bike) – was it going to make it? Well, America Airlines has this nice little feature where you can track your bags – they were already on the plane. Now I can relax.

Day 1: well laid plans will will most likely change. And change the did!!

I was in Iguazú and Guillermo, Larry and Leila were in Eldorado – 100km apart. We were to meet in the middle in Wanda then ride back to Iguazu for a few days. Forecast was to be hot so I started out earlier – hit the road about 0800. Made fairly good time, but the heat was killer. Close to 100° by the time I got to Wanda.

What’s the best way to beat the heat, why a nice cold beer. Little did I know that here in Argentina, they serve it by the liter!!! As I was enjoying my liter of beer, time flew by… 10:30… 11:00, 12:00, 12:30…. then a text from Guille

“My rim broke, can you meet us here?” And a pushpin of where they were. I was pretty excited about meeting up so I didn’t pay much attention to where that pin mark was – I just rode – 100° for sure now, after I enjoyed my beer (not all of it).

Luckily for me, after only 10km more, I saw the bikes parked at a gas station – opposite side of the highway with a round about. Flew by the station and around the roundabout and I was there – no one in sight except for Rocko – the dog. So I introduced myself to him and was greeted with a half hearted wag of the tail – he wasn’t too happy about the heat. Then finally Guille appeared and the last three years were like yesterday. Good times.

Well the rim… about 1/3 of the spokes had separated the rim tore the metal, of those at least half were detached and wrapped around other spokes – complete and utter failure. No bike shop in sight for at least 60km.

So around 1300hrs out come the thumbs begging for a ride from a trucker or pickup that could take four bikes and a trailer, four people and a dog and luggage for three. It’s was hot out and no one wanted to ride the remaining 60km to Iguazú.

Four hours later of no luck, I decided to ask the station attendants if the knew of anyone that had a truck and wanted to make some cash. Turns out, attendant’s sister’s friend’s husband had such a truck and could be there in 15 minutes. All loaded up and $2000AR ($32USD) less in the wallet and we were on our way to Iguazú.

Checking into the cabin we rented, we all took showers. Cold was hot as hot was scalding. Seems like they hadn’t rented the cabin in the last week so the 250 gallons or so in the tank on the roof had plenty of time to heat up in the sun. Exiting the coldest shower we could into the 100° heat was like exiting a sauna.

We all slept well last night.

Day 2: a day at Iguazú Falls. Call me impressed. Both by the natural splendor of the falls but also of how Argentina takes pride in the resource and keeps the infrastructure functional, modern and the park clean.

The falls were impressive and wowed me. It was nice to get misted in the heat. What was even more fun was that there were tones of Coati aka Pizotes running around. And while they were busy eating the food they just stole from your table, they let you pet them. Lots of cute babies too.

It was another hot day and was we headed back to the cabin, we went shopping for a churasquera to celebrate the new year. Great food and great company. Each one of these adventures I go on I meet new people and I love it.

We ended up having a nice evening and talked about the trip they just took and life. We then stayed up for then new year and it seemed anti-climatic. It’s just a number associated with another number. But it sure was good to be amongst friends

We have a few more days here in Iguazú and then we head south – towards Buenos Aires – but with a reduced crew – Guille, Rocko and me. Larry and Leila fly out in the next few days.

Every day is an adventure. Gotta love life. Gotta love life.

Happy New Year to everyone.