After spending so much time at high altitudes with dry, cold weather, we were looking forward to getting to Buenos Aires at sea level, where we thought it would be a little warmer. It was more humid, but at 34 degrees south latitude, it’s still on the chilly side.

We arrived in the Buenos Aires region and found the home of the amazing Herman Zapp family, who have been traveling for 15 years in a vintage car. They are currently in East Africa, but invited us to stay at their home outside Buenos Aires while we attempted to get our fridge repaired. Their home is being taken care of by Herman’s cousin, Eduardo, and his wife, Clarita, and their son, Gaspar. They gave us a very warm welcome and made us feel at home right away, even sharing meals with us.

By the second day we were there, Eduardo had already located someone who thought he could help with our fridge. Not wanting to send us out into BA traffic alone, he rode in the back of the van and directed us to the proper address. José, the fridge guy, was very helpful and to our great surprise had the original replacement compressor for our fridge in his shop. It wasn’t cheap, since imported parts in Argentina carry a 50% import duty, but the prospect of a working fridge in 3 days’ time was too good to pass up and we asked him to do the work.

Money in Argentina has proven to be a challenge. We’ve known for awhile that we needed to bring US dollars with us, since using ATM machines or credit cards gets you the official exchange rate of 9 pesos to the dollar, while the black market rate is as high as 13+ pesos to the dollar. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to find someone willing to exchange money at a good rate outside of downtown Buenos Aires. We were at times frustrated be the amount of time we spent trying to buy pesos, and so overall we didn’t get as good of a rate as we could have. Our best bet would have been to change most of our money when we were in downtown BA.

In Posadas we camped on the street near the river. At around 8pm a storm blew up complete with high winds and hail. Fearing for the canvas sides of our poptop, we lowered the top and moved up the road to a spot more protected from the wind.

After about 24 hours spent getting Paraguayan visas, we crossed the border into the Paraguayan town of Encarnación. Jen found a recommended mechanic on iOverlander, and we decided to stop to get our oil changed. While that was getting done, we walked to a nearby supermarket to stock up on groceries and even found an ATM machine that dispensed US dollars to replace those we’d spent in Argentina. All in under an hour! We were able to leave town that day and make it to a very nice campsite in the countryside.

Although it was still very overcast and rainy, the drive up the eastern side of Paraguay was very pretty. There were fields of soy beans everywhere, along with lots of tractor dealerships offering expensive new equipment. Signs for the likes of infamous agro-businesses like Cargil and Monsanto were everywhere, and we wondered what kind of genetic experiments they’re doing down here. We learned later that Paraguay is the world’s third largest exporter of soy beans.

Paraguay, with it’s duty-free import status throughout the country, draws shoppers from all over South America. Cities like Ciudad del Este feature huge shopping centers. If you’re from Argentina, you can come here and buy anything from flat screen TVs to tires to whole cars for half of what they cost at home. The same is true for Brazil. In contrast to the rampant consumerism, the poorer side of Paraguay, especially in the cities, reminded us of Guatemala, with donkey carts vying for space against new Audis in the congested city streets. Traffic was some of the most congested and chaotic we’ve seen, and two days of driving around the city getting visas for Brazil left us ready to leave.

And leave we did, for the Brazilian city of Foz de Iguaçu. Everything was suddenly much more orderly on the Brazilian side, with actual traffic lights and drivers who obeyed them. We were happy to arrive at a hostel / campground near the national park that is home to the famous waterfall.

The next afternoon we went to visit the park. It being a weekend, there were lots of visitors, and we ended out standing in lines for tickets and bus rides to various parts of the park. It was worth it though, as we had a beautiful day to enjoy the falls.

This video provides a good overview of what the falls look like from the air (since we decided not to spring for the helicopter flight)