Iguazu Falls

When Eleanor Roosevelt saw Iguazu Falls she apparently exclaimed “Oh, poor Niagara”. Poor Niagara is right and poor Victoria Falls and every other waterfall out there. Iguazu has 275 actual waterfalls and together they create a panoramic that can’t be beat.

The seven of us arrived on Friday evening to find the jungle much warmer than we had expected. Only an hour and a half flight from the winter weather of Buenos Aires, the heat and humidity here was undeniable.

Under recommendations from everyone who had been there before we stayed at the Sheraton which was located inside the park. We were lucky enough to get upgraded to the falls side of the hotel so we had a great view and could listen to the roar of the falls all night. Although the hotel wasn't that great itself, the location cannot be beat. You literally walk out the back door and you're on the trail to the falls.

We had a fun and leisurely dinner in town Friday evening and met up again at breakfast to plan our day. Well, actually the guy at the travel desk planned our day. We first went on a short drive through the jungle that led to the boat we were to take down the river. It was a speedboat that sat about 30 and a great way to see the falls up close and personal.

We went through some rapids but the most exciting part by far was when our driver literally drove us into the waterfalls, over and over again. The amount of water was insane. It was really awesome, even though we got completely drenched. After walking back the hotel, we put on some dry clothes and had a late lunch. Then we all took the park's small train out to The Devil’s Throat.

It was by far the most impressive and powerful of the waterfalls here and again, we got pretty wet…



Sunday brought rain but we were lucky enough to hit the upper decks before it started. They’ve done a great job with the park. There are catwalks everywhere you need to go or want to see but they are very unobtrusive and don’t take away from the beauty of the falls.



The upper decks afforded fantastic views and best of all you didn’t get wet. We would have liked to have gone back to the Devil’s Throat or down one of the jungle trails but by the time we had finished the upper area the rain had started so we headed back to pack and have some lunch before going to the airport.

We both tend to really enjoy our “nature” weekends the best and Iguazu was right on up there. It was a serene setting and we wished we would have had more time and better weather to appreciate all the beauty.

We are leaving on Thursday for Peru…seeing Machu Picchu was one of the number one things we wanted to do when Julie took this job so, as you can imagine we’re pretty excited!

El Calafate

We couldn’t have asked for a better weekend to start Rho’s Argentinean adventure. Our flight out on Friday was only an hour late which for Aerolineas Airlines is incredible.

The beauty of Patagonia is obvious before your plane even touches down. As you descend you can’t help but be mesmerized by the color of the lakes and streams. The water is this slightly eerie ethereal blue and almost seems to glow.

After a slow ride from the airport with our amusing driver we arrived just outside of El Calafate at Las Dunas Inn. Our hotel was beyond charming and just steps from Largo Argentina (the country’s largest lake) so the views were beautiful.
We headed into El Calfate for a traditional barbeque dinner (aka-meat, meat, more meat and malbec) and had a nightcap in the lounge before heading to bed for our early morning out to see the glacier.

I don’t think one can see a glacier and not be blown away by the sheer awesomeness that is our planet. Almost otherworldly, the Perito Merino Glacier just outside El Calafate was by far Mother Nature at her finest.

We did a boat ride in front of the glacier and then walked around the maze of viewing platforms to get a different perspective. The glacier itself is 25% larger than the city of Buenos Aires. It is just astounding...






We were unable to see a lot of the other glaciers due to the season. I would love, love, love to come back in the summer one day so anyone who wants to plan a trip I’m game!

We were all pretty exhausted after the three million stairs we had to climb on our way back from the glacier and the two hour ride back to El Calafate so we had an early dinner and headed to bed.

It was one of those weekends that we just couldn’t deny how incredibly blessed our life really is and we were so glad Rhonda was there to share it with us.


btw-be warned that the crud is still on my camera...not the lens but somewhere so photos stink from this weekend and the next. i have got to find a camera shop.

Mendoza

Thanks to the swine flu the wife got a surprise 4 day weekend. Thursday was actually a holiday but in an effort to disinfect offices and help cut down on cases some local governments were shutting their doors on Friday. As did the sponsor so we quickly changed our flight and headed to Mendoza a day early. BTW- LAN airlines you are the best, no change fees?!? Love it!

Although technically our second weekend in Argentina it was our first weekend traveling. It is always interesting to see how difficult it is to travel in a country. How expensive is the taxi to the airport, how far away is the airport, how difficult is the airport to get through, how do they board the planes, how do they announce flights, what is security like, can we take liquids…there are a lot of little things that once your used to aren’t a big deal but figuring them out in the first place can be a pain.

So far Buenos Aires gets the award for easiest domestic travel. The airport is 15 minutes from our hotel, a mere 6 USD cab ride. It is modern, easy to navigate, small and painless. And we can take liquids!! They even give announcements in English although we didn’t find that to be the case in the Mendoza airport for our return flight. Note to self- practice numeros!

So after an easy, breezy journey we landed in Mendoza on Thursday afternoon. Our hotel was located on one of the cities many plazas, had a cute lobby, restaurant, an extremely helpful staff and after upgrading to an executive room we were more than pleased. Our standard room was about the size of a broom closet and although we’re used to small rooms we decided the whopping $8 USD a night was worth the extra space.

We had a leisurely and late lunch at a restaurant a block or so from the hotel and enjoyed a very nice local malbec. We bummed around for a bit and eventually went back to the hotel to book our tours for the weekend.

We chose to do a high mountain tour on Friday. It was a full-day, 12 hour tour driving up into the Andes almost to the Chilean border. We were one of the first pickups on Friday morning and as we gathered the rest of our group it became quite obvious we’d be the only non-Spanish speakers in the group. After about 15 minutes of speaking our guide did lean over and tell us that although the majority of the tour would be Spanish she’d give us the high points in English. She was actually pretty good about it but it was funny how long she would speak to the others and then give us about two sentences.

With or without English the Andes were stunning. I’m so used to the vegetation of mountains giving them their color but here it was the mountains themselves. Everywhere you looked you saw countless shades of greens, yellows, reds, oranges, browns, grays…it made for a tremendously scenic drive...





Along the way we stopped at a small ski village or what I would call a bunny slope on the side of the road, had lunch at the last town before the Chile border, and stopped to see the Incan Bridge, a natural rock formation over the Mendoza River...




Unbeknownst to us the tallest mountain in the Americas is actually located here so we got to cross that off the list without even expecting it! Aconcagua Mountain…




We were pretty wiped after our day but did find the energy to go have an amazing steak dinner at a little parilla near the hotel. 10oz fillets for under $8 USD…can’t beat it!

Saturday we spent the early part of the day shopping and exploring Mendoza’s many plazas. My favorite was definitely Plaza Espana which was filled with beautiful mosaic tiles.

After lunch we headed out for our winery tour. We visited one medium size winery, an olive oil distillery and a small artisan winery. Again we were the one and only English speakers but our guide was very nice and said he enjoyed practicing his English with us. We even got our own guide at the last winery and she was a hoot. She kinda reminded me of Charo but in slow motion.

The wine was of course wonderful and we even bought some to cart back with us to Buenos Aires. I seriously contemplated buying a vat of the incredible olive oil but the Wife said no…thank God.

We had a quiet dinner on Saturday night and spent Sunday morning walking around and sitting at the Plaza de Indepencia writing post cards and enjoying the sunshine.
It was a lovely weekend. Although we did do a lot of touristy things we also had time to relax and enjoy the city itself.

Rho gets here tomorrow morning! We’ll be taking the city by storm but first this weekend we’re headed to El Calafate to see the glaciers! Sooo excited!