The GREAT Iguazu Falls!

For my recent filmshoot, we had to mimic 2 tropical locations - Ecuador & Jamaica. The place we finally settled upon to provide these was the far NE province of Misiones.
The town of Iguazu is at the far northern tip of Misiones province & this is where we made our base for the working time up there, for all the obvious infrastructural reasons. It is also the town closest to Iguazu Falls.
Interestingly, the correct name of the town is Puerto Iguazu because it is traditionally the farthest northern (river) port of Argentina. It is a 'border crossing' which is on a tributary of the Iguazu river, named Rio Iguazu Inferior.

It all started on the Aerolineas Argentinas flight from BA to Iguazu on thursday 19th. It was a GLORIOUS day the day we flew up there, I had a window seat - for once not over the wing! - so could see all the delta below the whole trip up.
About 10 minutes out of Iguazu itself, the pilot comes on & announces how lucky we are that today air traffic control have agreed to let him do an aerial flypast over the falls. He tells everybody to remain in their seats, with belts fastened, etc. because he's going to do a figure 8 so both sides of the aisle will get a good view of the natural wonder of South America. Loud applause breaks out!
There is visable excitement from the cabin crew, who all rush to take spare seats among passengers. The geographic point of the falls is a pivotal point between 3 borders - Argentina, Brazil, & Paraguay so airspace is fairly restricted around there. Later I am told this is a RARE occurrence indeed by my flight companion, our production designer who has made this trip in excess of 30 times during her life & has never witnessed the falls from the air!

OH MY G-O-D-S!!! What a stunning sight! And as luck would have it, the flightpath favoured the right side of the plane, where I was in the 'plum' seat to enjoy the view! Just as we hit a 45% angle to the top of the falls (but right in front & centre) the most defined, perfectly-arched rainbow appeared, just like switching on a light in a dark room. Amazing! Then it was gone, almost as quickly. Then another appeared! Then gone again. Then another! This repeated until there had been 5 (FIVE!) glorious punctuation marks to this amazing sight in less than 2 minutes.WOW!

The plane touched down to an outburst of loud, thunderous applause from all aboard!
I quietly accepted this to be more than a mere co-incidence. It was a sign, a 'good omen' for my working life here in Argentina. The next day, friday was actually my real 'first filming day' in Argentina, as an Argentine producer i.e. & was a terrific success :)

The day after the filming, a group of us from the crew went into the Iguazu National Park to physically visit the falls. They did not disappoint at all! Many of the crew had never been there either. We trecked out along the boardwalk across the river at the top of the falls, to the viewing platform perched on the edge of the ravine named Garganta del Diablo ("Devil's Mouth") where the thunderous roar from the volume of water falling was deafening!

We then decided we had just enough time to do 1 of the other tracks, to get closer to a lower view for a different perspective, before leaving for the airport to catch our return flight to BA. So we set off on the Circuito Inferior ... nothing 'inferior' about that treck at all! Shit! Of course, you have to actually get lower to be lower down the falls. And yes, it's a bloody high waterfall. But once you start off on this 1 way treck, there's next-to-no-chance of changing your mind.

About 15 minutes into it, I had 2nd thoughts but was encouraged by all the others that I really would be missing out if I didn't see the falls from the lower perspective. OK, OK then. (Wouldn't want them to think I was a typical "gringa" tourist after all!) Jesus when will I learn to listen to my instincts more? That was a workout & a half - which I can well do with - but at 1 point I thought I might be looking at the most magnificent sight anybody could wish for just before they die!

It's all steps. LOTS of steps. Then some ramps. Then more steps. Sometimes there's even steps going back UP before you can continue heading downwards. And it seems like it's never going to end. Never! Anyway, the point is, it is certainly very spectacular, when you get to catch your breath long enough to enjoy it. Well worth doing it. Of course, I ended up trailing the group (well, they are all under 35 years!) & holding up the waiting bus for 15 minutes at the gate to the park.
My advice: don't plan to do it in a hurry because you have a plane to catch in 2 hours!

I now can proudly say I have seen & been to all 3 of the great water falls on earth.

What is a 'boleto'?

It's a general term for a 'ticket' but here it refers to the non-refundable 'deposit' for the purchase of a real estate property, commercial, industrial or residential. This past week we had to place the 'boleto' for our apartment purchase.

There is a whole other 'hoohaa' involved here, as with any financial transaction during the current socialist administration, made way more convoluted than necessary.
Culturally the status quo is this: the citizens don't trust the government; the government don't trust the citizens; the banks don't trust the citizens; the citizens don't trust the banks; the banks don't trust the government either.

The fallout from this current nationwide stance is that there are 2 economies functioning within Argentina - the 'declared/stated/legal' economy; & the undeclared cash economy. Within this there are 2 currencies in play - the Argentine Peso for all daily costs, including all utilities bills; & the US Dollar for the major purchases in life (real estate & motor vehicles).

Mortgages are a rare occurrence here. Most properties are paid for IN TOTAL! Of course there are many, many different ways of gathering the total funds required for a property purchase, most commonly in family groups - but rarely is a bank mortgage involved. Why? Because in order to qualify for a bank mortgage, you have to;
a) put down minimum 60% deposit of the total value of the property!
b) the bank charges you very high interest, around 21-23% interest on the mortgage!!

So people accumulate their savings into USD$ & keep the money under the mattress or buried in the yard. Some keep safes at home & there's a huge business in safety-deposit boxes inside banks too, though many people are still loathed to store ALL their savings in those bank boxes either. The established people keep their money in banks offshore, in USD$ accounts usually in Uruguay or the USA.

The boleto is, in a way, more important a step in the process of purchasing a property here than the actual settlement. It's the point of commitment. It is usual to pay 30% of the entire value of the property as the boleto but it can be more, up to 40%. Upon transaction of the boleto, neither party can reneg on the commitment. This is the reason that the 'support industry' (real estate agents, attorneys, finders) all demand their fees payed at the time of the boleto as well (!) and THEN several often don't even turn up for the settlement of the deal! The attorney of course is involved until the end & the taxes are all paid, etc. but you don't expect to see the real-estate folks again. They have been paid their fees & you are on your own. Their fees are an interesting negotiation within themselves but the absolute maximum fees is 5% of the value - which the multiple parties have to split. Yes, it's a whole world unto itself, quite a bunfight sometimes.
In our case, we were charged the current 'industry standard' of 4% total, of which the seller's real estate agent receives 3%; the buyer's real estate agent receives 1%. HOWEVER, we were told that the seller's real estate agent would be splitting their (3% total) commission into 1.5% declared & the remainder 1.5% undeclared. BOTH to be paid in USD$ cash.

This goes 1 step further. The actual value of the property is subject to government taxes when ownership changes, akin to 'stamp duty'. Due to people understating the values of their properties for years, the BA state government established a mandatory register a few years ago, where THEY state what the minimum value per square metre for each suburb (barrio)is, that must be declared on any legal documentation. The bad side-effect of this has been that most real estate that has been sold in the past 3 years has jumped way up in stated value! Now there seems to be no holding onto the illusion of the former undervalued statements. The good side-effect of this is that the 'additional' (undeclared difference) is now limited to around 30%.

The boleto plus all the commissions had to be paid on wednesday in USD$ cash.
Ergo, though nobody has said this, we feel that the funds that make up the boleto payment that must be paid in USD$ cash has an uncanny equivalent to the 'undeclared' difference above the declared value of the property. Non?