Igua- damn that is a big waterfall- Zu!

The Great Wall of Waterfalls

Today we are spending our time waiting… and waiting… and waiting, to get on a bus to Montevideo, Uruguay. Well, technically to Concordia, Argentina, then another bus to Saldo, THEN a bus to Montevideo. But I digress. While we have nothing but time, I’d thought I’d share our impression of Puerto Iguazu and Cataractas de Iguazu (or the waterfalls of Iguazu).

Basically, they are fucking immense and impressive. We spent two days in the park (85 pesos the 1^st day, 45 pesos the 2^nd day). The first day we toured the upper and lower circuits, which have fantastic viewing areas for the Adam and Eve waterfalls and Bossetti waterfall. We also did a 6km “jungle hike.” We saw hundreds of butterflies, large and small lizards, huge ants and even a capybara (the largest rodent in the world). Over all, it was a great experience. The park was very well maintained with tons of shops, restaurants and space.

The second day we woke up late and slightly hungover. We missed breakfast but didn’t think it was a big deal, we’d just get something on the way to the park, right? WRONG. It turns out the ENTIRE country or Argentina was off work. Why? The national census. Yes, that is correct. NOTHING was open. We had two cereal bars and some crackers. We thought there must be something open at the park, I mean the park was still open and all those tourist need to be fed right? WRONG. The park was open, nothing else was. We were sooooo hungry. But we soldiered on.

The only thing we had left to see in the park was Garganta del Diablo (The Devil’s Throat). It was a 1km walk over a catwalk to get to the lookout. OMG, it was one of the coolest/ frightening things I have ever seen in my life. Dan and I say it probably takes our #2 spot on “best places in the world” (#1 is the Great Wall of China). There is just an insane amount of water falling, you can’t even see the bottom.

After that we chatted with an American couple on their honeymoon (on their way to Patagonia, jealous!!) and made it back to the hostel with time to shower up and get to the store. It opened at 4:30pm and the line was out the door with tourists, starving just like us! Dan made ravioli, and it was possibly the best thing I have ever eaten.

If anyone is curious our budget so far looks like this:

Hostel: $15 dollars each per night, TOTAL $30

Spending for food ect. Daily: $30

Bus trips overnight: $75 per person

It’s not incredibly expensive, but we are definitely traveling on a shoestring. We are lucky to have found a bus company that will give us a student rate even though I don’t have a student ID card. :)

90 Days.

Today is our 90^th day on the wagon! I want my god-forsaken coin. Hey, I know I don’t go to AA, but I still want a coin, or a plaque, a statue or something! So if you have one lying around… please send it my way. Thanks! So if Dan and I were doing this sobriety thing the “right” way, this day would be the day we would move on from our comfortable rehabilitation clinic and into a sober living facility. The show Intervention would also be coming to do their follow up interview, and damn we would look SOOO much better now! “Look how much weight they’ve lost!” people would say. Well fortunately for us, we already live in a half-way house called DaeJu Aparta. So there’s no big change, just still taking every day as it comes and trying to stay sober. Here are some of my reflections on being sober for such an eternal amount of time.

1,) It’s a myth that you will shed pounds just from not drinking. You will lose weight if you don’t sit around on your ass eating to make yourself feel better about not going out. Luckily, Dan and I have succeeded at taking the healthy route and we have both lost a little weight. I feel great about maintaining my 120 pounds for four years now! Dan is dropping pounds like Mos Def drops rhymes. I think he weighs less than me.

2.) Some people will drop you from their lives completely. Maybe they just don’t want to hangout and do anything other than drink, maybe they just don’t want a mirror held up to their own drinking habits, I don’t know but it’s all good. I’m not offended in the least because six months ago I would have reacted the exact same way.

3.) People will try their hardest to convince you to drink!! This was a slightly unexpected experience. Many of our friends didn’t really believe that we really quit and would offer us drinks, but most just stopped after a while. A few people have really spent a lot of time and energy trying to get us to have “just one.” It’s hard to come up with reasons why not to have a drink after a while! After telling them that "just one" is a ky jelly soaked slope to topless bar dancing, the subsequent reasons don't carry as much weight.

4.) Sunday mornings exist. And they are glorious. As long as they don't include choirs or homilies.

5.) To stay sober it is important to just accept the way you feel and act accordingly. There have been a couple of days when we felt very melancholy so we just hung around the house, watched the Wire and didn’t really attempt to “fix” our mood. We have also had pretty intense cravings to drink and during those times we went out and did something to take our mind off the pull of the alcohol. When you’re sober you have to actually feel how you feel, no escape, no release. This is tough but we’ve managed to make it though!

All in all, it’s been a slightly rocky ride to the 90 day mark, but we made it! Only 275 more days to go…

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