Iguazu Falls - Argentinean side

22^nd to 25^th January 2011
(there’ll be 2 separate blogs for our Iguazu visit… first the Argentinean side then then the Brazilian side.

The latitude of Iguazu Falls is 25°41′43″S  but even though this is similar to the latitude of Alice Springs (23°40'S) the weather is more like Darwin in the Summer – very hot and steamy tropical weather.  The temperature forecast each day was around 31°C and storms. 

We flew from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu in Northern Argentina and stayed there for 3 nights having pre-booked a Peregrine Adventures tour (Iguazu Extention + 1 extra night).  Having arrived early afternoon, we checked into Hotel Saint George (another room upgrade here).  We then visited Güirá Oga – an animal and bird refuge – the only wildlife refuge in Argentina looking after native wildlife with a goal to reintroducing them to the wild.  The tour began with a ride on a farm tractor (with open seating trailer towed behind) to their interpretive centre.  We took a walk through the jungle-like park where they had enclosures for the animals; our guide explained all about the animals along the way; their habitat, why they were in the park and whether they would be able to be reintroduced to the their natural habitat – it took 2 hours and was a great introduction to the natural habitat of the region.

A capiburra - an oversized guinea pig

A caiman lurking in the park environs

Our visit to Iguazu Falls was in 2 sections… the Argentinean side and the Brazilian side.  Iguazu means “Big Water” in the Guarani language (one of the local indigenous languages and one of the 2 official languages of Paraguay).  Australians must have a Visa for Brazil if crossing the border and we had previously obtained these to ensure we could visit both sides… and glad we did.

Argentinean Side (Parque Nacional Iguazu)

First, our itinerary indicated that the maximum group size would be 15 so when we were collected from our hotel we were surprised that we were included with a group of 44.  Nothing but enjoy the day could be done although we both feel that the group size impacted on our enjoyment of the tour - we’d been so used to small group tours which is our preference for photography reasons too.

Never mind, our guide, Maria, was great and very informative (speaking both English & Spanish to cater for almost everyone).

On this day the weather was overcast with occasional filtered sunlight and bursts of rainfall… too bad if you didn’t like getting wet… if it wasn’t the spray from the falls it was the water from the sky.

During the day we did all the main touristy things… along with the 5,000 to 7,000 people that the Argentinean side has per day!!!  All that aside we took the “Tren ecologico de la Selva” (Green train of the jungle) from Cataratas station to “Gaganta del Diablo” (Devil’s Throat) for our first walk and view of a section of the falls.  There was a continuous flow of people along the path going to & from the viewing platform – everyone wanting a photo of themselves from the same place – not much room to move or take a moment to truly enjoy the intensity of the falls.  The volume of water being thrown over the cliff was incredible – apparently 6 Olympic size swimming pools could be filled each second.

We also walked the Lower & Upper circuits to get varying views of the falls… not sure if there are names for all of the waterfalls - there is said to be anything up to 275 waterfalls of Iguazu, all depending on the water level at the time (including the Brazilian side). 

Again from contributions to our wedding wishing well, our main adventure of the day was to take the “Gran Aventura” (Grand Adventure) boat & jungle tour.  Protecting our cameras in dry-sacks we boarded a semi-rigid boat that took us along the river to view the falls – the mist being sprayed on us was incredible and the roaring sound was intense.  But wait for it… we went under the falls, yep, under… having an Iguazu shower left us soaking wet and refreshed from the heat of the day.  Magnificent!!  Getting off the boat we took a ride on the back of a truck through the jungle during which the guide explained aspects of the local environment and wildlife – lots of tropical butterflies, birds, orb spiders and a lizard crossing the road were among the wildlife we got to see on this occasion.

After a long day that started at 7.30am we returned to our hotel at about 5.30pm all hot and sticky (& most likely stinky) we were pleased to have air-conditioning in our room and a cooling swim in the pool.

A portion of the Devil's Throat

Left section of the Devil's Throat

And more of the Devil's Throat

Racing butterfly (we've called it this because its number 88)

One of the 275 falls of Iguazu

Look carefully (click to zoom) to the top right section - people vs the size of the falls

Some of the thousands of people we encountered

Not us on this boat but we had the same Iguazu shower

Touring the Lakes District (continued)…

16^th to 21^st January 2011

Touring the Lakes District of Argentina it’s not surprising that we have passed by so many lakes, rivers & creeks in another rental car.  We have driven from Bariloche to San Martin de los Andes along the 7-lakes route (we think that there’s actually more than 7 lakes along the way – can't remember all the names though).  Route 64 took us via Villa Meliquina (on the shores of Lake Meliquina) where we briefly stopped for a short walk and snack before taking route 63 to the end (a dead-end) and back as a side trip to see Lago Filo-Hua-Hum.  Later we drove over the Cordoba Pass that has an incredibly scenic landscape.

The roads were all gravel, sometimes very windy, corrugated and narrow (at times we were glad we didn’t meet too many cars travelling the opposite direction).  A speed of less than 40km/hour was often all we could do.  Parts of the landscape along route 64 and over the Cordoba Pass reminded Roy of Utah in the US. 

Cordoba Pass

A wooden tree trunk kids slide with nailed in planks!

Interesting Small insects on Calefate berries (click to zoom)

At the end of route 64 we turned onto route 40 for a very brief moment only, before turning onto route 65 that took us to our destination for the day - Villa Traful (on the shores of Lago Traful).  Without any accommodation booked we really weren’t sure if we would be staying there for the night but the first place we asked fortunately had one room available for only one night (just what we needed). 

A walk around the area and to the lake followed by dinner in a café was the extent of our stopover in Villa Traful – it is a very small village mainly set up for fly fishing and camping but great scenery worth seeing.  We needed to leave early the next morning because our rental car had to be returned in Bariloche by 9.00am – and we had a 1½ to 2 hour drive ahead of us.  We backtracked along route 65, travelled along route 40 and arrived in Bariloche at the car rental place at 8.55am – good timing.

Lago Traful

Many would know that we had a “wishing well” at our wedding in place of physical gifts.  Out of the many generous contributions, we decided to use some of it for a stay at Galileo Boutique Hotel just outside of the city of Bariloche in Cerro Catedral.  What a find!  Their website showed images of a little bit of luxury – we thought this would be rather nice leading up to the end of our travels.  Although we didn’t truly know what to expect once we arrived but we were extremely pleased with our selection for the 3 nights we stayed.  We arrived mid-morning and they allowed us to check-in immediately and we got an upgrade from a standard room to a 1-bedroom suite; fully equipped with a kitchen, lounge and large bathroom with a Jacuzzi.  Did we want to leave?  Not really, but we did stay here for the sightseeing, not just the room. 

The hotel also has an observatory dome tower with a Celestron telescope - Roy was quite impressed and although we didn’t have the full opportunity to have chat with the resident astronomer we did get to go up to the dome to take a quick look at the telescope – a chance for Roy to spot a nebular cloud around a star. 

The first time we stayed in Bariloche we booked on an afternoon boat tour to Isla Victoria & Bosque del Arraynes – it’s one that needs to be booked at least a week in advance… pity we can’t order the weather a week in advance too.  The day we took this trip it was bucketing down rain and cold.  At the start of the tour we discovered that the booking agent booked us on the Spanish only spoken trip, not the English guided tour that departs each morning.  On this wet & miserable day we figured taking a boat across the lake to a forest & an island couldn’t possibly be too bad… information in Spanish (that we couldn’t understand); boat windows that were fogging up on the inside & out (that we couldn’t see anything); raining outside (getting drenched).  Alas, we arrive at Bosque del Arraynes and the rain stops for the afternoon.

Now, Bosque del Arraynes is the place that we’d previously cycled, during our stay in Villa La Angostura – after all, it’s only 1½ or so drive from Bariloche, so across the lake it’s even closer.  On this visit though we took the boardwalk circuit to see the trees that the name of the forest is named after… “Arraynes”.  If you are interested you may like to look at this web page to tell you a little about this species of tree that is in the myrtaceae family...  http://www.bosquelosarrayanes.com.ar/bosquelosarrayanes_eng.php

Isla Victoria was another chance to take a couple of walks around.  During the 1½ hour stopover we took in the sights of the island – we didn't understand any of the spanish written signs but the island but we did see lots of plantation trees and later found out that there is a garden centre that supplies Patagonia with seedlings for afforestation programs to increase the number of threatened species in the regions forests.  We also saw some rock art reminding us of Australian Aboriginal rock art – again not sure what it all represented but we’ll find out in good time. 

Cerro Catedral (where Galileo Hotel is located) is said to be the largest ski village in the southern hemisphere.  Neither of us is an expert on ski villages but this one was rather large – we read somewhere that there is something like 40 chairlifts that operate during the winter… 3 are open in the summer taking sightseers (including us) and mad crazy mountain bikers up the mountain.  Taking the chairlift down we watched some of the mountain bikers get their adrenalin rush down the dangerously steep and rough terrain (well above Coreena’s level of skill and more than what Roy prefers).  The views were fantastic too but it was cold… a day for the winter weather gear again. 

The next day, the sun was shining and the clouds cleared for a bright day out.  Having another rental car for the day we were able to take a drive around the “Circuito Chico” or “Small Circuit” – a tourist drive. 

Lots of stops along the way, a mountain cemetery, beaches (of lakes), rivers & cascades, dinosaurs (OK, it was fake) and another chairlift ride to the top of Cerro Campanario for 360 degree views around the Bariloche’s mountains & lakes.  Lots of holidaymakers still around, fly-fishers everywhere (a common hobby for Argentineans, young & old).

Leaving Bariloche, we flew to Buenos Aires… back to the big city!  Our 2^nd time here – we’ve visited Buenos Aires back in November – seems like so long ago, but feels just like yesterday.  Not a stop for all the sightseeing, we did that before… just one night stay before flying to Iguazu in the North of Argentina – that blog to follow soon.