Caribbean time

I'd arranged to have L pick me up before 9 this morning so we could get going on this fishing trip with his older English friend... however, it seemed our drinking session the previous night had knocked his own old bones for 6, and he ended up being about 1.5 hours late.

All was good for me, though, as I got to do my washing (sans electrocution this time) and turn my lovely white sheet into a nice peach colour (who knew cold water could do that - hope the boss' don't notice when I give the sheets back). Fed the dogs too... well, put the food out, but not much of it was touched, which is weird since the other dog Polly didn't seem hungry either and when L finally arrived he said his dog wasn't eating much either. Maybe there's some kind of weird moon at the moment.

It was a classic "Caribbean time" day today. What was planned as a fishing trip in the morning for a couple of hours turned out to be a day-long adventure that actually did not involve catching any fish - in fact, there was not a spot of fishing done all day. Unless you count the time we cast out a couple of trawling lines and got cut off by some coast guard type, who ruined one of our lines before telling us the area was a reserve.

But it was still a fun day. P, a tall, slightly eccentric 60-year-old English ex-pat who now lives on St Maarten in a waterfront (as in the water is his front yard) apartment with 2 black bodyguards as he has epilepsy. It took me almost all day but I finally realised that he bears an uncanny resemblance to Bricktop (I think that's his name??), the top mob boss in Snatch. His accent and articulate speaking style is exactly the same, and the drunker he got the more convoluted the words became. Half the time I was struggled to understand his meaning but just making do with my assumption. Even found I starting talking like him by the end of the day!

He has a small speedboat that has been sitting there unused for about a year, and L recently approached him to make a smalltime business out of it, taking tourists on island trips. The trip we did today was to see the condition of the boat (not great) and what they needed to renovate before applying for insurance and making it legit.

Before we got going, we sat around... went to the bakery, then took the boat to the boat shop for some fishing equipment. Another funny Caribbean story actually.... I was waiting for guys by the boat, which they'd parked in a fuel stop, and when the attendant finally came he said they couldn't park there cos it was a gas station, so I said they wanted to fuel.

Then a couple of locals came up in a dinghy and the guy says to them there's no gas, basically because he wanted to eat his lunch and couldn't be fucked to help them. Not that he was that busy the other 23 hours of the day. Made up some story that the gas had run out and the guys drove off, pissed that he couldn't do his job. Then my mates came back and voila! There was gas! Wow. What a lazy ass.

Once we were out of the open sea, beers in the cooler and rods at the ready, we toured around the island thinking of places to fish or swim, and found ourselves roaring at a speed that ate the petrol. So off to another fuel stop on the French side. P kicked up his drinking by pouring a (huge) shot of rum into the coconut he was drinking and off we went.

Then we got off at Grand Casse, also on the French side, for late lunch. All courtesy of P, a generous soul, we ate ribs, chicken, stuffed crab and an array of vegetables. All in a market setting so not all that glamorous, and certainly not the best food I'd had, but P was in his element, proclaiming everything as "splendid", "magnificent" and "perfection". Well, it filled my belly, at the very least!

Then it was off for more boating to various spots, finally casting the line out to trawl in - would you believe it - a reserve! Before we knew it, a boat comes along close and - ignoring our waving, "We've got a line, we've got a line!!!" they cut it right off. Assholes! Then they drove up alongside us and told us it was a reserve. Oops. Sorry. Our bad.

A moment passed and we were distracted. Just like the whole day before us, we were like children - something shiny comes along and we're off. This time it was the sunset. And man, was it a good'un. We rounded the corner just as it was setting and, trying to be stealth since we didn't have any nighttime navigation lights, rounded around the bend back into Simpson Bay. Not before getting some stellar photos. What a view.

Back at P's house, we had some beers and then P disappeared... seems he'd had his fill and was passed out. It was one of those situations where you're at someone's house who'd facilitated an awesome day and it was the end. The curtain call. So L and I moved on, of course via the icecream place... I had a craving. Man, that shit is gooooood.

They want me to help out when I can on board if they ever get the business up n running... I said for sure, probably at night if you do sunset cruises, but I doubt I'll stay here long enuf for them to get so established. Is nice, though, to have a contact with a boat... Makes me want to take Erm out on some special trip including the key ingredients of beer, fishing, water and sun. Ahhhh, yeah.......

Iguazu Falls take 2: The Gratis Tour

Yesterday I had an awesome day off at the Argentinian side of Iguazu Falls with L, a girl who just arrived from Buenos Aires to work at Hostel Inn. She had a camera, bueno, so we got some great shots of us being really hot models and quasi-tarts (OK, that was just me) at various lookouts and on some tree branches. Luckily, I had chosen my shortest black dress again so I was appropriately attired for such behaviour.

We went on the Gran Adventura, completely free thanks to our connections at Hostel Inn (there is SOMETHING good about working here, fucking pelotudos) and all I had to pay was the entrance to the park which I also managed to get at a discount because L bought 2 tickets as "locals" which are 40 pesos compared to 100 for us "aliens". Sweetness in a jar.

First we went on the train to Garganta del Diablo (The Devil´s Throat) which I never made it to the last time I went to the falls... but it is the most spectacular view of the falls. Just breathtaking. I almost couldn´t take it all in. The water had such force you couldn´t see where it landed at the bottom, just that it cascaded into a misty, white foam so deceivingly beautiful you almost wanted to jump in there amongst it all.

We then headed to the butterfly-swamped pick-up point of the Ecological Tour, the slow ride people take that don´t want to be in amongst the fury of the rapids. It was nice and relaxing, except that we were all just perched on the sides of a rubber dinghy basically, with a rubber floor you could feel the rocks through. Even though we were told the water was just 70cm at some points, I still wasn´t comfortable casually sitting about 10ft from some crocodile-like creature and her 40-odd eggs.

Next stop - after walking the top circuit of the falls and more ridiculous poses - was the Jeep Safari ride into the jungle and then to the edge of the water. After having just 4 hours sleep the night before, I found myself nodding off as the guide rambled through facts about the flora and fauna around us. L couldn´t stop giggling. But since all we saw was a friggin spider (that also lives in Australia), I know I didn´t miss much. I want monkeys, dammit!

The speedboat ride was nice, a longer version than that I have already done but still had the same ending as the one those people died in a couple of weeks ago. Strangely enuf, though, I still wasn´t scared doing it, as much as I thought I would be. It was really fun but again we got absolutely soaked, and it had us worried we´d be cold as the day wasn´t exactly pure sunshine.

All was good, however, and it turns out the only thing we had to worry about was the friggin coates (racoon-like animals), who started after me in a group of about 20 once they saw I was eating cookies. I can work with camels and horses no dramas, but fuck me dead these critters scared the shit outta me!!

After a drying-out spell in the sun, we headed back to the house with the idea in our heads to make our own empanadas (a common food here that is basically a small pastie). Of course, being Argentinian it didn´t end up happening until late that evening and 3 hours later we found ourselves stuffing our faces with empanada at about 1:30am. Funnily enuf, though, it turns out I was the best at making the things! Foreigner wins! But twas a fittingly great ending to the best day off I will have here.

Falls, hostel resorts and Beer Pong

I`m not quite sure how many days I have been at this new hostel but I can safely say it`s been an eventful period of my life. Firstly, after one night down the road from the girls at Marcopolo Suites, I met them at Hostel Inn (the most popular hostel in Foz Iguazu - I wonder why, with a massive swimming pool, late opening outdoor bar, nightly activities, revolving door of backpackers, 200 plus beds... - and we slowly (that is the only speed to go in this weather) made our way to the falls to see them from the Argentinian side.

Again, it was breathtaking. Only this side it was breathtaking from inside a speedboat screaming into the actual waterfalls. Insane. There was a fair amount of faffing around again, and time ran away with us to the point that we didn`t get the train to the other end of the national park and just bailed in time for the park to close.

OMG, I saw raccoons!! If anyone has ever seen these creatures, they would know how funny they are... seriously, like a cartoon character. Although, to be fair, most of Australia`s native animals are the same. Including me.

So, sweating and panting, we made it back to the hostel and I waited til the sky was going down before walking down the road to retreive my bag from the other hostel and join the girls at the big resort one. Although I didn`t get roomed with them I was not far, and had a bunch of Germans in with me. A bunch being just a few, as these rooms are actually quite small for dorms and all have bathrooms that just 2 rooms share. All in all, pretty impressive hostels.

That night was epic. We befriended a mixed group of Americans, Australians and English, and ended up having an unexpected random piss-up that involved drinking games and one English girl going buck-wild getting naked trying to distract the guys from winning Beer Pong. It didn`t work but it was certainly entertaining.

Fast forward into the night and we were in the pool, I had by this time lost my bikini top (lost meaning... uh, thrown off) and was on the shoulders of one English guy who I made think had thrown me and my rastas into the water. I waited til the next day to tell him I had already wet them before he came along haha... oh, he had felt so bad!!

Spotted a cute but ultimately young Argentinian who I just had to kiss... scared the SHIT out of the poor little tucker but still got to kiss him. And woot woot, Argentinians have turned out to be better than Brazilians at kissing... hot Argentinian from Rio an exception, I had to teach him a little... Taught the others the "only" way to do Tequila shots and the party continued.

Stumbled into my room and passed out still half wet about 4:30am, don`t know how that happened... but had to wake in time for checkout the next day... smart move.