Day 15 – January 25: Iguazu Falls, Argentina
We took buses at 6:00 am to the airport in Buenos Aires where we flew to Iguazu Falls, arriving late morning. We were staying at the lovely Sheraton Hotel, the only hotel in the national park, and it had a magnificent view of the falls from our balcony. (We decided it would be a wonderful honeymoon place.) Because our rooms weren’t ready when we got there, we quickly changed and took a walking tour (hike!) to the Upper Falls of the Devil’s Throat, What a change it was from Antarctica – very hot and 100 per cent humidity-but what an amazing sight! We walked a couple of miles, up and down steps and across open steel walkways over the water. In several places we were sprayed with water from the powerful falls.
These falls are famous for being the most falls in one place in the world, Although Niagara Falls is huge, these falls go on in series so you can never see all of them at once. It is like seeing several versions of Niagara Falls, all side by side. We all decided that words and even pictures can never explain or transmit the absolute power and beauty of this spectacle.
As we walked, we kept seeing little creatures that had tails like raccoons and a nose like an anteater, known as coatimundis, coatis for short. They were quite tame but a problem as they scavenged the garbage cans and we even saw one tear a piece from a tourist’s plastic bag searching for food. We saw butterflies and many birds and took LOTS of pictures-each scene we came upon seeming more impressive than the last. We then came back for a wonderful buffet lunch at the hotel and checked in.
After a late lunch, we went on another hike to the bottom of the Devil’s Throat, the Lower Falls…and it WAS a hike, up and down stairs and slippery ramps and across bridges! At one point I was taking a picture and not paying attention and slipped on the slick metal grating and fell flat on my back. At least most of the impact was absorbed by my most padded part, my rear end, but I was sore for a day or two. At the end of the afternoon we were the last boat to go on a fun cruise under the falls. They gave us all waterproof bags for our cameras and anything we did not want to get wet, and then off we went! The boat roared around the water, through the falls, completely soaking all of us, as we laughed in glee. It was exciting and such a different perspective to be right there to feel the power of the falls firsthand. Nancy and I had our picture taken on the front of the boat with the Devils Throat behind us. We went through “Three Musketeers” and two other falls and then took a speedboat tour of the river. As we were going down the river, the guide spotted five bright-colored toucans in the trees. We all decided it was the highlight of the Iguazu Falls trip. We left soaking wet, laughing hysterically, and with our adrenalin at an all-time high!
At the end of the ride, a guide accompanied us in an open truck back through the rain forest to the hotel. One of the interesting things we learned was that these forests are famous for Palmetos, the trees whose cores provide hearts of palm. In fact, when we ordered a salad that evening, we had hearts of palm as large as silver dollars which I had never seen before. Nancy wanted to see a monkey, but the guide said they came out more in the morning. (The next night when we came home about 7:30, we heard that monkeys had been climbing on people’s balconies earlier that day. We had not seen a sign on our door that said if we left the screen door unlocked on our balconies, the monkeys had learned to open the screen and would come right into our rooms! I don’t think Nancy would have liked seeing one that close..)
We came back and had a swim and then Nancy and I decided to just stay in the room for wine and a salad. It had been a long and tiring day with lots of traveling, walking, and climbing, and with the change in climate, we were exhausted. However, again we were blessed to see more of God’s magnificent creation.
Day 16 – January 26: Iguazu Falls, Brazil
We started at 8:30 this morning, only to wait and wait. We boarded the buses to go to the Brazilian side of the park and found the level of bureaucracy quite interesting and amazingly frustrating. We first had to go through customs on the Argentine side of the border which took about an hour and then we had to go through immigration on the Brazilian side which took another hour and a half. In short, it took us until 12:30 to actually get into the national park. (And then we had to go through it all again at the end of the day although then it was not so time-consuming.) While we were waiting in Brazil, they let us go into a tourist store where I found a lovely pair of Brazilian sandals and belt in a beautiful bronze color – we never missed a chance to shop! 😉
When we finally got to the park, we saw another amazing spectacle and an entirely different view of the falls. On the Argentine side, you could go quite close to the falls on several levels while on the Brazilian side, you were much farther away and could get more of a panoramic perspective. Again, one cannot describe the beauty of this scene. The contrast with the deep greens of the vegetation, the reddish brown water of the river, the brilliant blue of the sky, and then the white foam of the falls was amazing. Our pictures on the Argentinian side did not come out as well because there was so much spray surrounding most of the sights; however, the pictures here were spectacular.
Again, it was a hike down to the bottom, but the joy was seeing the panoramic view at many different levels both in heighth and width. When we arrived at the bottom, we discovered a gift shop 😉 and an elevator to the top which was a wonderful relief. We were all VERY hot and sweaty by then! (Of course we stopped in the shop, and I found a beautiful ceramic Brazilian doll for my collection..)
At the top we walked to a restaurant in the park where we had a group reservation. What Nancy and I most enjoyed was a native dish made with corn meal, beef, peppers, and other ingredients, almost like a casserole dish, and guatano (?) which is their favorite native drink, second only to Coke, our driver told us. After lunch a group of us went for 15 minute helicopter rides, giving us another entirely different view of the falls.
Finally, we toured a national Bird Park where they have over 600 species of birds. It was beautifully done, surrounded by lush rain forest , and we were intrigued with the many brightly-colored, beautiful birds of South America. The most interesting bird was a huge black, ostrich-looking bird but much fatter with a turquoise and red head. The sign said it was a very bad-tempered bird and was known to kill humans. It stood as tall as we were and gave us both the creeps! We were glad it was in a cage…
That evening we returned tired and hot, took showers, and then had a pizza in the bar with several of our traveling friends. It was our last night together so it was a bit nostalgic. However, only 80 of the 200 participants in the Antarctica trip stayed on for this one, so we had already said good bye to many of them. We were again struck by the education and interests of these very savvy people. One Canadian couple travels about nine months of the year to very out-of-the-way places, so I have encouraged them to write a book or e-books of their itineraries for all of us who would like to try some of their adventures. One young woman was the mayor of her town in Colorado, there were many doctors, lawyers and judges, and one woman was the president of a college. There were two mothers and sons as I mentioned earlier, and they were a delight. Even though most of the people were retired, they all had wonderful stories to share and interesting hobbies as well as lots of travel experience. As a result of this trip, I will always try to find university-sponsored trips in the future. On the main trip there were about 20 different universities represented.
Day 17 and 18 -January 27 and 28: Travel home
The next morning was a bit more relaxed as we did not have to have our bags out until 9:30, and we did not leave for the airport until 10:45. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel, checked out the little shops across the street which we had not known about before, and then got on the buses to the airport in Iguazu. We arrived in Buenos Aires about 3:00 pm, got our luggage and were bussed to the Marriott where we left everything until the bus left again for the international airport that evening. Nancy and I had some of the wonderful Argentinian ice cream, went back to the native jewelry store we had discovered the first day in BA and bought several more Christmas gifts, and then at the last minute discovered a leather factory called Sylvia’s which we loved. The owner took my measurements and will send jackets if I order them, and if they are not right, I can send them back. We connected immediately, and I discovered that she has a home in Miami. She did not even take my credit card number – said I had such an aura of trust about me that she did not need it. WOW! Talk about that for customer service…
We left at 6:00 pm for the international airport. ( I had had to buy an extra bag when we were in BA before, so I had three bags, a backpack, and a purse to manage. Thank goodness for the free carts in international airports! ) We thought it seemed way too early but discovered we had very little time left for a 10:00 pm flight after all the red tape we had to go through. First, you had to have your bags x-rayed, then you checked in at the United counter to have your boarding pass stamped and your bags checked. Then you walked to another gate to have your VAT (tax refund) receipts stamped. Next, you proceeded to another window upstairs to pay your airport taxes. Then you went to immigration and then through security. Next, you went to a separate place clear across the terminal to get pesos for your refund. Finally, when you got to your gate, you had to have all your bags searched again (although it was a very cursory search in all places – did not have to take off shoes, jackets, or take out computers). Each of these processes involved lots of walking to other parts of the huge terminal and of course, endless lines.
We had a quick sandwich and beer with some of our travel mates outside the gate and then at last were in the air, headed home-a 10 and ½ hour flight, arriving at 6:30 am in DC. Both Nancy and I had to go through Dulles, and then I flew on to Tampa, arriving about noon while Nancy went on to Chicago. We both love traveling together and hated to say goodbye; however, we had shared another trip of a lifetime!
