Drove the last 300 km today arriving Puerto Iguazu. I found all of my motorcycle muscles yesterday, and after 8 cold hours in the saddle I was ready to pass out when I reached Posadas - my hotel choices became primal - creatcher comforts - I chose the first hotel that actually had a thermostat and functioning heater. I cranked it up, consumed way too much hot water, did my shoulder stretching exercises (plus some) and laid down for a nap - I ended up turning the heat down when I woke up at 1:30 AM and went back to bed. I think I'm coming down with whatever you get when you push it while traveling - that or swine flu.
On the Concordia to Posadas leg I rolled through 6 police check-points and had to show documents at one. Today I rolled through 5 unscathed - although I did get pulled over by a cop for speeding, he actually chased me down for going 100 in a 60 kph construction zone (that was unmanned). I did the dumb as dirt routine and when that wasn't working I did the "but everybody speeds" shtick - that only worked when a double-decker bus rolled past us going about 150 and nearly blew us over. He laughed and scolded me. Its true, they all speed out in the middle of nowhere (between the various military, state, federal and tax authority check-points). I saw more naval base signs today than I ever did as I cruised the entire Atlantic coast.
I stopped into the village of San Ignacio this afternoon and saw the 500 year old Jesuit ruins. Pretty impressive. If you've never seen the foreign film "La Misión" you should made a point of special ordering it. Its a fantastic movie that also captures the grandeur of the region. The ruins today, like the church, are in a sad state now but they had some big plans.
When I pulled up to the site all the local boys vied to be my parking extortionist - I chose the youngest grimeyist kid whose territory was furthest from the entrance (probably only 9 years old) - and I gave him a few pesos in advance to watch the bike while I was gone - even though it could be seen for 50 meters in every direction. When I was leaving the older kids were chasing him away but he stood his ground from afar and watched the bike. When I got back there was a group of about 10 boys and they had a camera and were taking turns posing in front of the bike - I let 'em hop on and then bought the lot churipan (a bbq'd sausage in a roll) - after tipping the kid a few more pesos. It was fun.
Toward the end of the ride into Iguazu I was feeling every muscle and a few extra parts too - and had to stop every 30 minutes - just because.
There is a digital thermometer here - it read 11 when I arrived at 16:15 and 8 just a few minutes ago - the sun is setting and its downright cold. The banana trees are all wilting from having been frozen. Its not supposed to get this cold here.
As I was rolling into town a teenager on a moped pulled up next to me and tried to sell me tours - I told him to give me a tour of the towns lodging with heaters - I picked the second place he showed me and he left ten pesos happier.
I dumped the bags and scooted down the street to a resto with an open flame parilla keeping it warm where I watched the world go by for a few hours.
The plan is to circumnavigate the northern reaches of the province that will require a few hours of dirt riding before reaching a tropical resort where I figured to re-charge. Given recent weather I'm questioning the tropical part and my resolve to press on tomorrow - I might just have to kick it for a an extra day here. Maybe I will check out Paraguay; who everybody that I respects says the same thing - tread lightly over there.
. .. ... Stay tuned... .. .
Finally, no foto - no bandwidth.
Nick
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