The good and bad in Buenos Aires and Iguazu

We ended up staying in a private house in Buenos Aires. As in most SA houses it was secured like a prison . Before leaving we had to lock all the internal doors before securing the door into the internal courtyard by locking it and pulling a metal concertina door shut (like the sort you get in old lifts). Securing this with a heavy metal bar. We repeated this (with another concertina door) for the entry into the front yard. The front yard was surrounded by a 3m high wall topped with glass. The door to the street was a massive, solid steel affair higher than the wall. To shut it you had to really slam it shut and then double lock it. They also had a dog.
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Locking the place up was OK but when we returned at about 7 we couldn´t unlock the steel street door. Eventually I decided that I had to climb up the wall next door and over the door. Having got to the top two things happened. The dog, that had been quite friendly decided I was burglar and started growling in a very threatening manner and Marilyn unlocked the door that started to swing open with me on the top. I managed to jump down without getting squashed and bravely let Marilyn go in first to placate the dog. All the time this went on the neighbours sat on their porches watching us quite unconcerned. So much for BA neighbourhood watch!

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When we went out again we successfully went through the locking process but had couldn´t shut the outer steel door. It didn't fit properly and I had to keep slamming it as hard as I could. This wasn`t made any easier by the dog who had decided he wanted to come out with us. Eventually the inevitable happened and his head got into the gap just has as the door slammed on it. Very nasty but it got him out of the way and the next time the door shut. We had walked about 4 blocks when the vision of the owners coming back to find a dying dog with a crushed skull was enough for us to turn back and check on him. Of course the door wouldn't unlock and we had to repeat the opening saga before we could get in and find the dog. He looked a bit crestfallen but was at least wagging his tail. Strangely enough I was his best friend after this and he would follow me all over the house.

Good - BA full of the coolest people on the planet, and me and Marilyn. The city with everything including tango, Carnival and 3 new Siberian tiger cubs

Bad - Sore throats caused by the traffic pollution.
Good - The brave grandmothers of the Plaza who have maintained their silent protest vigil. The military dictatorship killed thousands of mothers and fathers. Their children were adopted by the very people who murdered them their parents. The grandmothers of these children have spent 30 years trying to find them.
Bad - Its a bit over touristy, with postcards, tee shirts and tourist tat on sale. It may have lost some of its impact and this makes it easier for the Government to ignore them.
Good - Iguazu falls against the jungle backdrop are truly magnificent and the power of the water is awesome. Getting soaked on a boat under the falls

Bad - Its so over commercialised that the sense of wonder is lost. Walk ways, open top coaches, souvenir stores, restaurants. They have even allowed two large hotels to be built in the national park, visible from the falls and there is the constant noise from helicopter trips from the Brazilian side

Bad - Deciding to buy an expensive package from BA to the falls and being stuck in a grotty hotel

Good - Going to a casino because there was nothing to do in the hotel and winning $530, enough to pay for the trip. The slot paid out so many coins that they had to refill it twice - heaven!!

Good - Doing 3 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay) and 4 borders in an hour by local bus. We went to Ciudad el Este in Paraguay. The guide books make it sound like the wild west because it is the centre for smuggled black market goods. The Lying Planet says ´get out before 5pm when the stalls shut and the town takes on a sinister air´. It was actually a friendly, peculiar but poor place. Market stalls line both sides of the main streets selling just about everything at amazingly low prices. In the midst of all this was a single high rise store containing every designer brand you have ever heard of including Steinway pianos. Tour groups are taken through the mean streets by coach to this store and then bussed safely straight out again.

Bad - Re-reading the guide book and realising that we should have got our passports stamped at every border - we only had an Argentina exit stamp - Marilyn spent the whole day worrying about how we where going to get back. In the event we got out the way we got in, on a local bus with the driver waving at his border mates as he drove straight through

Next stop Uruguay



Argentenian security, this equipment has been secured by a large chain but it included a bolt cutter!!