The Bachelor: Iguazu Falls

Hola amigos! All's fab here in Argentina. I got back from Iguazu this morning at 7:30. We came back to the residencia, I showered, went to school. School was fun but mentally exhausting. It was like a marathon of verb tenses. Frederico dude. It's Monday. I slept on a bus. It was ok until the end when I basically told him that it was too much I quit. I'm going to redeem myself tomorrow.

So you are in for a treat. You get a special edition preview of ABC's best reality show. I fortunately/unfortunately was basically a contestant on The Bachelor this weekend.

First there was Alex.
Later there was the perfect Andrew Firestone.
Now there's Mariano.

Mariano is one of the program coordinators for GIC. In his spare time he is an actor. He enjoys Russian literature, history, and the outdoors. Mariano grew up in southern Argentina in the Patagonia. He came to Buenos Aires 6 years ago to study his craft, acting, at the University. But he hasn't quite found the woman to settle him down. Hes moving to Mexico in three weeks to sudy arquitechture and pursue his acting career. But for now, Mariano chaperones the Iguazu GIC trip with 13 girls and 3 boys. Off to northern Argentina they will all travel. Will he find love? Will the girls kill eachother? Will the rainforest bring out the jaguar in everyone? Watch the Bachelor: Iguazu Falls to find out.

Bachelor Mariano and the contestants met at the bus station Thursday evening. They mingled and giggled and tried to establish themselves. I was super awkward and laughed really loud and got really excited a lot. He laughed at my Vera Bradley bag (Yes, some may travel South America with a backpack. But I went to Ole Miss. I travel with a Vera Bradley duffel.) The girls gawked at his beauty while Mariano, being the latin lover that he is, spoke in beautiful Spanish causing each girl to fall into a deep crush. This bachelor has certainly won over the ladies.

Everyone boards the bus that will take them 15 hours north the the very top of Argentina. The contestants take their seats and wait to see where the Bachelor will sit. Who will get the first impression rose?

Charlotte Mintz. That's right. Mariano sits down in his seat assigned by the gods of love and fate and Spanish. Right netx to me. 15 hours of fun. We chat about our families, hopes, dreams, number of children we want to have, etc. Then he begins to read a novel by his favorite author, Herman Hesse. He takes a look at my book, Eat Pray Love (which I just reread, even better the second time) and reads the back. We have a fun flirty time reading each other's books and ocassionaly, our elbows touch. Sharing that armrest, heaven.

Dinner is served. We dine. A romantic dinner of steak, potatoes, argentina mystery foods, all served in tin foil. We drink red wine out of styrofoam cups. So romantic. Dinner ends and the movies begin (Prime, Scoop, Death at a Funeral). They bring us a cup of champagne in another styro cup. Our first date of dinner, drinks, and a movie is just perfection. I laughed quite a bit, just so the other contestants could hear me and hear how much fun we were having.

The movies end, and it's time to go to sleep. Now I'm not one to sleep with the guy on the first date, but what was I to do (joke joke)? The lights dimmed, he reclined his seat and pulled up the foot rest, I reclined my seat and put up the foot rest, he put on his hoodie, I put on my IPOD, and we slept. No night vision cameras needed. Throughout the bus sleep (kind of miz, but better than an airplane I think), I wake up to see the Bachelor still there. Oh what luck! I totally get the first impression rose.

Fast forward 8 hours. Who looks awesome after sleeping on a bus? Not me. And probably not you. Not even Mariano. The magic of the whole night was tarnished a bit due to my mousy hair and dirty face. No time to brush teeth. Once Mariano went to the bathroom I whipped out my makeup bag to do some damage control. Gum, oil absorbing sheet, lip gloss, and bobby pins. I'm back in the game.

They put on another DVD. As if my life could get any better.... Britney Spears Greatest Hits DVD. Oh yes they did. And Mariano and I had already talked about how she was from Louisiana (that's all these people know about Louisiana, and ocassionally Mardi Gras). We watched some Britney videos and shortly thereafter arrived in Iguazu.

We get off the bus and I am feeling the jealousy of the other contestants. I got so much alone time. I know! I'm totally getting the ring.

We jump in cabs and go to the hostel. The hostel is basically this huge cheap resortish type place with a pool, ping pong tables, pool tables, couches, restaurant - basically a mini Rio Yucatan (the infamous location of Spring Break 2008).

We spend the day by the pool, fighting over the Bachelor, girls really showing off the goods. We drink beer, play cards and ping pong, typical hostel fun. Mariano then went off on some rugged adventure to repel, rock climb, zipline, etc. We all missed him so much. People were really falling for him already. I asked him later what his favorite part of the adventure was. He said "learing the history of where we were". What a sexy scholar.

As always, the girl with the First Impression Rose never makes it long. I'm history. Not a good competitor for the fellas. Plus, as always, after the first few episodes, The Bachelor totally starts to look like a total loser. I hate this term but he was it. D bag. Now it gets more fun. As an observer, I really got to see what being on the Bachelor is like.

Night falls and drinking begins. Girls giggle and fight for his attention. At one point, Mariano has come to sit with me and the Santa Barbara girls. He's been there for maybe 4 minutes and some skank comes and says, "Mariano! You have to come play cards with us!" She stole him away.

Events like this continue all night long. Vom vom vom.

We call it a night and go to bed. I heard one of the contestants say when she came back to our room that night "Mariano is an angel". We get up early the next morning to go the the falls.

Iguazu Falls consists of 215 waterfalls located on the border of Brasil and Argentina. It really is stunning. I've never seen Niagara Falls but I hear it's lame compared to this. Not only do we have waterfally here, it's in the rain forest. So amazing. The latest Indiana Jones movie was filmed there.

But in typical travel spirit - it rains. Pours. And is freezing. It's like the bachelor gods (ABC producers) sent us on the outdoorsy date to test who would complain etc.

So cold. Constant rain. And we're in basically what feels like Disney's Animal Kingdom but it's real.

We wak through the park, go on a safari-ish ride through the jungle, and then on a boat.

By the time we get on the boat it is really about to storm. Have no fear though. They load us on what looks like a Coast Guard rescue boat with old school life jackets and say good luck. It was like we were on Deadliest Catch. They take us on this dingy (it really is like a rescue boat. Women and children first please. And it takes you into danger, not away from it.) and head for the waterfalls. I am crouched down in fetal position trying to avoid the ice bullet rain drops. The water is like white water. Peace out Ocoee. Hello waterwalls. Of death. The boat driver is decked out in full rubber suit. And he looks miserable and evil. It's like he was punishing us. By this point, delirium has totally set in. It becomes funny. He rams us up almost under one of the falls and my side of the boat literally is submerged. I swallow gulps of water. I realize that I am going do die on the adveture date. He pulls us out and then does it again. We survive and make it back to the dock. MIRACLE. There are no safety regulations in South America.

We are so ready to go at this point. No point in changing into our extra clothes because - that's right. It's still pouring rain.

A bachelor moment occurs. Mariano gives Jessica his jacket. It smelled of smoke, Old Spice and love. All the girls freak just like when Andrew Firestone gave his watch to Tina Fabulous to wear. Jealousy is pouring down harder than the rain. Or the waterfalls.

We get back to the hostel. I have never been so cold. Like hypothermic. I take a cold shower (yay hostel hot water. not.) and get in bed. I wrap up in 4 blankets but cannot get warm. Eventually I regain feeling in my feet. I get it together to go to the main building for dinner.

The Bachelor game continues as the plan of every girl is to "Get Mariano really drunk". Peace out chicas. About half the girls are out of the game at this point. Only a few remain. They try as hard as they can to win his affection. After the day of pneumonia, I regret the invitation to jump in the hostel van and go into town to the local club. The remaining contestants go try to seduce. I hear them when they come back in the morning. "Did anyone kiss Mariano????"

No they did not.

The next day is more of the same. The final girls really duking it out. They try to play volleyball. We leave on a bus at 3. The Bachelor has alternate transportation. The game is over.

The Bachelor remains single. I do not accept this rose.

That's basically the weekend. So beautiful. (Mariano and the falls).


It was hysterical to watch. I swear it was the Bachelor.

Here are some pics to illustrate to fun. Maybe they'll pick me to be the Bachelorette. I'm sure I was the viewers' favorite.








The hostel











Stalker pics
Hola Bachelor.



He looks a little Sexy Mexi but it works in real life.














Danielle and I in our fashionable Iguazu Falls ponchos







Jessica in Marian's jacket
So jeal


















On the safari truck. So Animal Kingdom.
















The falls. You should google "Iguazu" and see good pics. I did. It was a bit misty and gray for us.








More falls. Cataratas (en espanol)








Brie y yo at the falls.










More stalker pics

















I could be a pro stalker. It's a video.








From the bus on the way back. Such a nice day.












A blue sky. Would have been nice a day earlier. But whatevs. It was nice to meet Iguazu even under the miz conditions.











Forgot to mention that on the bus back we got stopped twice by some border patrol type thing. Army men and dogs searched everyone's stuff. It was so South America.