The Bakery +++
When Lidiany returned with the keys, we went to the bakery across the street. I had a few cookies and donut-like products that were both rather tasty, and some sort of Amazon fruit juice. Then we went to Willian's warehouses. We met his sister and business partner, Michelle, who was very cool and spoke some English, as well as some other folks who work for them. The operation reminded me much of BTG, and Squiggy and I theorized the day away while Willian and crew caught up on missed work. We developed a MAD Audio / Noisekitten manufacturing plan that's really very intriguing, and furthered our plans to attack the manufacturing sector of our consulting business. While it would seem to make sense to expand upon BTG sales to Willian, outside of the personal relationship factor there were no tangible opportunities presented-- there's simply no market data for Mercadolibre of which we're aware, and Willian's already much better versed in Brazilian advertising than we will ever be. We did manage to learn much more about Brazilian politics and taxes affecting the marketplace, as well as about the role Paraguay plays in Brazil's intricate plot to increase domestic manufacturing via absurd tax rates. We wanted to go to Paraguay, but time wouldn't allow it.
Regardless, we left later that night for Foz do Iguacu on the Brazil / Argentina / Paraguay border, and after seven grueling hours sitting in the back seat of a convertible with Lidiany and a pile of suitcases, we made it to our hotel. It was about 2:30am. The hotel didn't have air conditioning. I was grumpy.
Fortunately we woke late the next day and only had one task-- see the Falls of Iguazu. The day was epic, and the view of the falls from Argentina was breathtaking. This assuredly ranks among the top three natural phenomena I have seen in my life, popping up with the Cliffs of Moher and Bachelor Gulch. The Grand Canyon is tough to oust, but I think the Foz were slightly more astounding. One day I'll put pictures here. Anyway, it was blisteringly hot, and we wound up crashing earlier than usual after a pit-stop to hang with Lidiany's parents, who were-- as should have been expected by that point-- absurdly nice and accommodating. Our plan was to get up early and either hit Paraguay or a bird sanctuary-- both Squiggy and I not-so-secretly pushing for Paraguay-- before heading to Argentina to catch our flight to Buenos Aires. It rained, and thus Willian slept a few hours longer than we expected, so eventually we had Lidiany's and Willian's friend, Juliana, who happened to be a manager at our hotel, call to wake his ass up! We went to a music store, had a buffet lunch, and then took off for the airport in Iguazu.
Fortunately for us our flight was delayed. I say fortunately because it took over an hour to check in, and we'd have otherwise missed the flight. The airport in Iguazu had a grand total of three gates. It's the smallest airport from which or to which I have ever flown. They did have some cool shops with leather goods though. We boarded about an hour late and headed off to Buenos Aires. The guy next to us on the flight was named Scott, an accountant from Atlanta. We had some great chats, ate some ham and cheese flavored crackers, and landed in BA an hour or so later. Squiggy and I got our luggage pretty quickly, exchanged some currency decidedly slowly, and proceeded to wait in a remarkably stupid line for a taxi. I say stupid because there was a line of cabs twenty deep, and a line of people fifty deep, yet they still opted to file in one-cab-at-a-time. Without a line format, we'd have all been in a cab within minutes.
We arrived at our hotel, the BA SoHotel in Palermo, around 6:30. This place is fucking sweet. The service is great. The atmosphere is amazing. It has air conditioning that WORKS. There's a bidet... So we got settled and then went to dinner.
Holy crap, I've been in Buenos Aires for a few hours, and I already love the place. We must have walked by a dozen AHmazing restaurants before giving up the quest and stopping at La Baita, an Italian restaurant just off of Plaza Serrano. I had a half-bottle of Argentine Cabernet and some lamb-stuffed ravioli in a mint cream sauce. Squiggy got something equally awesome, and even after they charged us 30 Pesos for SILVERWEAR it was only $60 after tip. We stopped at a killer little CD shop on the way back to SoHotel, all whilst whittling plans to take over the world.
Now I'm in bed.
Ciao
Regardless, we left later that night for Foz do Iguacu on the Brazil / Argentina / Paraguay border, and after seven grueling hours sitting in the back seat of a convertible with Lidiany and a pile of suitcases, we made it to our hotel. It was about 2:30am. The hotel didn't have air conditioning. I was grumpy.
Fortunately we woke late the next day and only had one task-- see the Falls of Iguazu. The day was epic, and the view of the falls from Argentina was breathtaking. This assuredly ranks among the top three natural phenomena I have seen in my life, popping up with the Cliffs of Moher and Bachelor Gulch. The Grand Canyon is tough to oust, but I think the Foz were slightly more astounding. One day I'll put pictures here. Anyway, it was blisteringly hot, and we wound up crashing earlier than usual after a pit-stop to hang with Lidiany's parents, who were-- as should have been expected by that point-- absurdly nice and accommodating. Our plan was to get up early and either hit Paraguay or a bird sanctuary-- both Squiggy and I not-so-secretly pushing for Paraguay-- before heading to Argentina to catch our flight to Buenos Aires. It rained, and thus Willian slept a few hours longer than we expected, so eventually we had Lidiany's and Willian's friend, Juliana, who happened to be a manager at our hotel, call to wake his ass up! We went to a music store, had a buffet lunch, and then took off for the airport in Iguazu.
Fortunately for us our flight was delayed. I say fortunately because it took over an hour to check in, and we'd have otherwise missed the flight. The airport in Iguazu had a grand total of three gates. It's the smallest airport from which or to which I have ever flown. They did have some cool shops with leather goods though. We boarded about an hour late and headed off to Buenos Aires. The guy next to us on the flight was named Scott, an accountant from Atlanta. We had some great chats, ate some ham and cheese flavored crackers, and landed in BA an hour or so later. Squiggy and I got our luggage pretty quickly, exchanged some currency decidedly slowly, and proceeded to wait in a remarkably stupid line for a taxi. I say stupid because there was a line of cabs twenty deep, and a line of people fifty deep, yet they still opted to file in one-cab-at-a-time. Without a line format, we'd have all been in a cab within minutes.
We arrived at our hotel, the BA SoHotel in Palermo, around 6:30. This place is fucking sweet. The service is great. The atmosphere is amazing. It has air conditioning that WORKS. There's a bidet... So we got settled and then went to dinner.
Holy crap, I've been in Buenos Aires for a few hours, and I already love the place. We must have walked by a dozen AHmazing restaurants before giving up the quest and stopping at La Baita, an Italian restaurant just off of Plaza Serrano. I had a half-bottle of Argentine Cabernet and some lamb-stuffed ravioli in a mint cream sauce. Squiggy got something equally awesome, and even after they charged us 30 Pesos for SILVERWEAR it was only $60 after tip. We stopped at a killer little CD shop on the way back to SoHotel, all whilst whittling plans to take over the world.
Now I'm in bed.
Ciao