The Falls

The next day, Ramiz (the Israeli with the expensive backpack) and I went to see the Brazilian side of Iguazu falls. It was hot as hell and humid as Mississippi (which, coincidentally, is another type of hell) , but the place was awesome nonetheless. It is amazing how there is so much water and still, one can get so thirsty.
Until that day, I didnt have any interest whatsoever in the falls. I always thought of it as a big shower running nonstop; but once I got there, I changed my mind. I was going to take a bus that evening to see the Missiones in Paraguay, but I decided against that, in favor of spending another nite at the hostel and crossing over to Argentina on foot so I could check the falls from the Argentinean side.
Considering I was at the hostel and had nothing else to do, I felt it was okay to bum around at the pool. I went to order some food and the Kombi kayakers invited me to go sit with them.
The Turlock guy, the one with pillow marks on his face and whose name I cannot remember, was all bummed out because they wouldnt give him a permit to paddle the falls. They were waiting on Scott's (one of the other kayakers) girlfriend so they could go get drunk and forget about how their adventure had just been crushed.
I sat there, had my food and a few laughs when the same very attractive girl with the big bikini showed up, kissed Scott on the lips and asked:
"Are we off?'
"Tyler, this is Carlos... Carlos this is Tyler", said Scott.
To which I replied nice too meet you.
They decided they would stay and just drink at the hostel, agreeing that they all wanted to get drunk and riding the Kombi was dangerous enough when they were sober.
I hung out with them for a while, actually chatting with Tyler most of the time. She was originally from Virginia and moved to Sacramento to become a kayak instructor (apparently there is a very lively kayak scene in Sacramento), just like the others. About six months ago, she had a friend who did 2 years of Peace Corps in Paraguay, bought a Kombi in Brazil and did a tour of South America in it. This girl eventually went back to Paraguay and married some local farmer she had met during her PC days. Tyler had come to the wedding, bought the Kombi off of her, convinced the others to come down with their 9 Kayaks to go look for rapids... so much persuasion.
I didnt necessarily much care about the story, but she wasnt hard on the eyes so I kept on listening. The others were out of commission by then so I just kept on chatting with her until eventually they all went back to their tent. Once they were all gone, I found my way back to the pool.
It is amazing how you can be in a pool at 2 o'clock in the morning, a true testament to how hot it was.
There were 6 other guys in the pool and as far I could tell they were from all over the world . This one Norwegian chubby girl was making out with one of them. I jumped in the pool and just stood there, with half my mind on tomorrow and the other half on how someone can drop everything and pack 9 kayaks into a crammed VW bus in a foreign country. As I stood there, the Norwegian girl (which, by the way, could be Russian or Polish or Albanian as far as I know. I just assumed she was Norwegian because she was blonde and spoke a funny language that wasnt Portuguese, Spanish or English) came close to me and asked:
"Can I get a kiss?"
Surprisingly enough, I was not surprised by it. As though stuff like this happens to me everyday, I simply asked why she would want a kiss from me. She, also unphased by my question, told me that she was going to go around the pool and kiss everyone in it.
"Good enough", I thought.
Before I could even say yes or no, she reached in and kissed me. I rested my hands on her waist line and she pulled back and said "no hands !", quickly moving on to the guy next to me, who apparently heard her saying she was going to kiss everyone and was ready to get his share of the deal.
Funny thing where people draw their lines. It is okay for her to go and kiss everyone in the pool, but I rest my hands on her waist and she got all righteous on me. Needless to say, the kiss was rather dim, evidenced by the fact that I quickly returned to contemplating how amazing it is that you can pile 9 kayaks on top of a VW bus. I can see 2, maybe 3, but 9... com'on