Friday, July 5, 2024

My Underwear Goes to Posadas


Well, yesterday turned out to be a bit of an adventure. Dave and I flew from Buenos Aires to Iguaçu (as the Brazilians spell it; the Argentinians opt for Iguazu) in the morning. We got to the airport in plenty of time, checked our bags, had some coffee, and had a leisurely, pleasant flight.

Coming in to land, we could see a heavy carpet of trees and vegetation. Iguaçu is a national park and it is green and verdant, and here and there were a few trees blooming bright pink. I hope I get a closer look at those today.

We went to the luggage belt and collected Dave's bag. Then we waited for mine, and waited. Everyone else got their bags. The belt shut off. My bag was nowhere to be seen.

So we found our driver, and he went with us to the Aerolíneas Argentinas lost luggage desk, where an employee was waiting with a photo of my bag on her iPhone. It had been sent to Posadas by mistake, she explained, and should arrive in Iguaçu by 7:30 p.m.

I didn't stress too much about this. My bag doesn't contain anything very valuable and the airline knew where it was, so I figured odds were good I'd get it back. At some point I realized I could check its location on my iPhone using the Apple "Find My" function, because my AirPods were in my bag.


Sure enough, there they were in Posadas, 300 kilometers south of us.


Dave and I checked into our hotel, a place called El Pueblito on the edge of Puerto Iguazu. That's the lobby, above. Cute, right? We have a big, spacious room with a tile floor and, weirdly, a brick ceiling. That seems like a bad idea but I'm bargaining that it won't choose to collapse on us in the brief time we're here.

We ate lunch in the hotel restaurant where I ordered what I thought was a sandwich but turned out to be more of a charcuterie board. Definitely one of the strangest lunches I've had in a while, but a Quilmes beer helped.

Then we explored the grounds.



That little chapel is right behind our room. When we look out our window, that's what we see. Maybe they give this room to sinners?

There's also a sort of nature trail around a pond, a few caged specimens of turtles and reptiles, and a butterfly house.


These two butterflies were looking for some privacy. Sorry about that, butterflies.

In the afternoon I checked on my bag again, and saw that it was at the airport in Cordoba, about 1,500 kilometers south of us. And as I watched it over time, "Find My" began telling me that my AirPods were out of their case. This pissed me off, because I assumed they'd been stolen. In fact, maybe my whole bag had been stolen. I had an angry meltdown imaging some smug baggage-handler in Cordoba using my AirPods and was pretty certain I was never going to see them again.

We cracked open our fancy wine from Buenos Aires and then went to dinner, where I had pacu, a local freshwater fish. I was picturing some dainty little thing like a bream I'd catch in Florida, but no, this was a monstrous slab of fish-meat. Pacu, it turns out, are related to piranhas and although they eat plants, they have disturbingly human-looking teeth! (Fortunately mine no longer had its head.)

After dinner, "Find My" gave me better news -- my bag was at the airport in Iguazu, along with my AirPods (still supposedly out of their case). I relaxed about theft, and began wondering about the accuracy of the "Find My" function, but I was losing my patience. I couldn't brush my teeth. I had no pajamas. I couldn't read, because my book was in my bag. And that bag sat at the airport for a couple of hours. I tried to call the airline, but I could barely read the printout of contact information they gave me because the ink was so ridiculously faint, and no one answered any of the numbers.

Finally, finally, just as I was going to bed in despair at 10:30 p.m., the desk clerk knocked on the door and said the bag had arrived. And my AirPods were inside it, not out of the case at all. Whew! I can finally change my clothes!

29 comments:

  1. The butterfly photos are great. Exotic looking.

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  2. Well, I hope your underwear had a great time. I had to look up a pacu and I think that yes, you are very lucky that your fish came without a head. Which now that I think of it, is exactly how I like any fish on my plate best. That ceiling though. I cannot help but wonder how you would build a ceiling like that. So strange.

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  3. So sorry about your suitcase. I've had my bags lost at least three times. One time was when I went to Iceland and I didn't get the bag for three days. I am glad you got it back as I know that can be quite stressful. I sometimes wonder about the accuracy of Airtags as I had one in my suitcase when I went to Italy, and when I returned to the states, it kept saying last seen in Italy. But it did come off the conveyor belt in the when I got home. Who knows?

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  4. Although my bag has refused to travel with my plane several times, it has always caught up eventually. Once it necessitated that I buy a change of clothes in a country where the average height is a foot and a half shorter than me and 100 pounds lighter. After an hour of looking, I bought some underwear I had to inhale deeply to get on and wore the rest of my dirty clothes until my bags caught up.

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  5. Sounds as if your luggage had a great detour. I wonder about airpods giving you varying information. They may be taking orders from a furrin power... Cue eerie music.

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  6. If I found myself in that hotel and setting you might never get me out of there.
    "Nope, I'm fine right here. This is my new home. Thank you. Go away now."
    It's so beautiful!
    I'm really glad your bag caught up with you. I guess it's a good idea to pack clean underwear and a toothbrush in your carry-on.

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  7. That app is a heart attack. You have now spent one melt down for no good reason it would seem.
    Beautiful place where you are- great adventure! Glorious sunshine!

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  8. Nice looking area at the hotel. What are your temperatures like? It's winter, is it cold, or just nice.

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  9. Well, your undies had quite the little adventure, and you got them back! Happy travels.

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  10. What a gorgeous spot for a stay.
    I wonder how your bag enjoyed it's trip?

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  11. What a frustrating experience. I'm glad you got the bag in the end. In all my years of traveling, I've only lost a bag once on a flight home from Chicago when I was working there. It was delivered to my house at about 3:00 in the morning which was great except for being startled awake by the doorbell at 3 in the morning.
    I love the pictures of the grounds around the hotel. It looks so very lush and pleasant.

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  12. The Air Pods were messing with you! I could do OK without PJs or my toothbrush (for a while) but NO BOOK? That would do me in. The deconstructed sandwich sounds interesting. I always assume that a salad includes lettuce, but many don't. Thus, I've been surprised when I order one and get something quite different.

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  13. We have a local BBQ place that use to have a 100 gallon fish tank with pacu in it. They got HUGE and did indeed look like big piranhas! And no, they didn't serve BBQ pacu!

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  14. This is a time when I'm glad I do most of my reading on my phone these days! When I went to Zambia my bag got lost (not surprising - we had a detour in London because of snow & my bag didn't appear when it was time to get on the bus to go to the other airport). I had to wear borrowed clothes for a few days!

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  15. The tropical setting and decor at your hotel is fantastic. Indoor - outdoor living at its best. Beautiful views. Lost luggage is no fun. At least you got your bag pretty quickly. My bag got lost for a week. The airline gave me a budget to buy new which I did. That said, I did not go on holiday to shop.

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  16. I find the 'find my'app function to be very sketchy too. Told me my phone was in south wales for weeks when it was in my hand !

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  17. Great pictures as always, thanks! You are ina wonderful spot!

    Glad your luggage came back to you so quickly.

    We have used tracking tags inside suitcases a couple of times and once could located a "lost" case elsewhere on a different conveyer belt at arrival but I've been told that these tags are semi-legal?

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  18. Yikes! Now THAT is an angst-creating experience. And no wonder you were worried. I hate it when my luggage is better traveled than I am. But the photos are wonderful -- at least your camera was with you! And the hotel is a stunner. Very beautiful and the grounds are wonderful. Now you can fully relax and enjoy!

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  19. What an enormous relief! Too bad you had to have that anxiety upon your arrival in what looks like Paradise. Only the most holy get that room by the chapel.

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  20. Great story of a lost bag and nice ending.

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  21. I think it is quite amazing that you bags did return as promised. I really thought it may have gone so much worse.

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  22. That Pacu is a truly strange looking critter! Glad your underwear found you, lost bags really suck, been there, done that.

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  23. What a great lobby and a sweet little chapel too. Glad your bag finally caught up with you. I shall now look up pacu.

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  24. I was terrified that my bag, containing everything I needed for a weekend that included my son's wedding, might not appear when we arrived in Slovenia...it did arrive with us and I could finally relax!

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  25. Your bag and pea pods had a great adventure together. I hope they took some photos. Your hotel looks rather special and so South American. I am looking forward to seeing your pictures of the Iguaçu Falls.

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  26. Roentare: They are very tropical and much different from what we see in England!

    Debby: Me too! The engineering boggles the mind. I kind of don't want to think about it too much.

    Michael: Three days! Ugh! I guess the AirTags must be out of touch with GPS when they're actually on the plane, and maybe they take a while to re-establish contact once they return to the ground...?

    Ed: Was that the Philippines, by chance?

    Boud: It was very weird! At least now I know to take what they tell me with a grain of salt.

    Ms Moon: This seems very much like a place you would love! The only drawback is that it's a bit out of town, on a main road. We have to take a taxi to get into Puerto Iguazu.

    Ellen D: WHEW! Me too!

    Linda Sue: Yeah, bad information is almost worse than NO information.

    Allison: It's cool but not cold. I'm wearing shorts but also a sweater and/or jacket. It's 64º F right now.

    E: I'm not sure they enjoyed it! LOL

    Bob: If it felt anything like me it was STRESSED.

    Sharon: I've had it happen a few other times but this was the most worrisome, being in an unfamiliar country.

    Margaret: What confused me is that it was listed under "sandwiches" on the menu, so I just assumed it was a sandwich!

    Kelly: I wonder if they did eventually serve them up when they got too big?!

    Bug: Ugh! And that's super-stressful, when you're moving overseas for a while and everything familiar to you is in that missing bag!

    Susan: Oh, I can't even imagine losing it for a week. That would drive me crazy.

    Bike Shed: OK, THAT is weird! I wonder what was going on there?!

    Sabine: Why would they be semi-legal? I can't imagine that they harm anyone, except maybe by embarrassing the airlines. Maybe they've lobbied against them?

    Jeanie: Yes, it's such a relief to be reunited with my stuff!

    Mitchell: Oh, is that what it is? They clearly have me confused with someone else.

    Red: A happy ending is always good!

    Andrew: I thought sure it was gone forever when I saw (falsely) that my AirPods were out of their case.

    Jim: Those pacu teeth are really weird. I'm glad I didn't know about them when I ordered it!

    River: If you click on "disturbingly human-looking teeth" in my post you'll see pictures!

    Frances: It's crazy to have to worry about these things, but mishaps do happen (as we have seen)!

    YP: It seems very South American and it really uses its surroundings well. They're trying to capitalize on eco-tourism, I think.

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  27. That's a very cute hotel, and a charming view from your room, whether sinner or saint. You're definitely not the former.

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