Posts from the ‘Argentina’ Category

Full Day Drive into Buenos Aires

We got up with the dawn since it’s still a long drive to Buenos Aires. I killed the travel time by talking to some of my new fellow travelers, especially to Juri, a woman from Japan. Juri was born in Taiwan and during her studies in the US she met her future husband from Japan. Since a few years she is widowed and travels all around the world. She is also a passionate hiker and has climbed most of the mountains in Japan.

Since Rio the group of travelers has changed significantly. We are not only a larger group of 20 people but there is a larger amount of couples too. This brings a different dynamic to the group and it’s not possible anymore to have close contact with everyone. Most of the new people are from Australia, fewer are from the UK, the US, Canada and Japan.

We drove more or less all day until we reached Buenos Aires. When driving into the city I noticed most of the major roads since I have spent quite some time in Buenos Aires during a previous visit in 2009. Our hotel was located close to the Obelisk at the Avenida 9 de Julio, a very wide street with 20 lanes or so. When we arrived at the hotel we found out that our reserved rooms are actually not available and we needed to move to the more posh sister hotel two blocks away. I knew the neighborhood very well since during my last stay in Buenos Aires my hotel was only 200m away.

When checking into the hotel Juri left one of her bags unattended for a few seconds and so it happened that it got stolen. We actually noticed a local guy hanging out in front of the hotel and in the reception area pretending to be on the phone with someone. Probably it was him stealing Juri’s bag. In general you should be very careful with your stuff in Buenos Aires especially when you don’t look like a local. During my last stay someone tried to steal something out of my backpack. I also experienced people spilling liquid on me while walking in a park. At first I thought it was a bird making a shit on me but got alerted when a couple came to “help” me cleaning up. They were very keen on me removing my jacket and backpack but I just continued walking so everything turned out well.

Due to the theft Juri and our leader Anki needed to go to the police station resulting in the group dinner getting cancelled. Therefore, not much was going on tonight. I just had some quick dinner and an early night since I need to get up early tomorrow to catch the ferry to Uruguay.

Jesuit Mission of San Ignacio Miní

It’s a long way from Puerto Iguazú to Buenos Aires and it will take us two days to cover the distance overland. Long driving days like this one require us to get up early, even before dawn. Since I don’t like getting up in the dark, I wasn’t in the mood for breakfast. So I just packed away my tent and continued sleeping in the truck.

On our way towards Buenos Aires we made a stop at the jesuit mission of San Ignacio Miní. It is one of many missions in which were founded during the Spanish colonial period in the 17th century. Since there are quite a number of missions in the area even the province they are situated in is called Misiones. There are also a number of missions in the neighbouring parts of Paraguay and Brazil.

San Ignacio Miní is one of the missions which are preserved best. This doesn’t mean you see whole buildings but their ruins. To actually understand the pattern of the ruins we hired a local guide. Unfortunately, there is only one English speaking guide working at the sight who was on a tour. So we had to wait for one hour until he finished his tour and could guide us around. We killed the time until the tour by visiting the museum associated with the mission.

While the guide was showing us around and explaining us the houses, the monastery, the church and the cemetery of the mission, our guides Anki and Ross prepared lunch for us. They really put efforts in it and prepared a delicious salami based sandwich for each of us with the exception of Molly, our vegetarian, who got an avocado based sandwich. Anki and Ross even prepared a cold drink for us which was a real refreshment since it was very hot today with temperatures around 40 degrees.

After travelling all day we arrived at a scenic campsite next to a lake. I was assigned to today’s cook group and helped to prepare a pumpkin risotto dish.

Argentinian Side of Iguazu Falls

After two months in Brazil it’s time to say good-bye to this beautiful country and hello to Argentina. I have already been to Argentina a couple of years ago when travelling from Buenos Aires to Lima. This time I will travel a different route going from Puerto Iguazú in the north of the country to Ushuaia in the very south.

The border crossing procedure went pretty fast since we were not allowed to line up individually but our group as a whole was registered and stamped into the country. What took quite some time was the money changing procedure since for each exchange you were requested to read and sign six papers. Most of us changed larger amounts of money since you usually get favorable exchange rates at the border and we will spent 3-4 weeks in Argentina. We also collected all the coins since they cannot be changed. Instead we will donate them to a charity.

The actual border between Brazil and Argentina is a huge bridge. We stopped at the middle of it to get our picture taken as we are crossing the border. With the border crossing we are now in a Spanish speaking country and quite a number of people in our truck speak some Spanish which wasn’t the case with Portuguese in Brazil which only our leader Anki spoke.

Once arrived in Puerto Iguazú we went straight away to the Iguazú National Park to see the Iguazu Falls from the Argentinian side. The entry fee was 100 Peso (24 USD). Compared to the park on the Brazilian side the one on the Argentinian side offers you more possibilities to hike along the falls. You are also much closer to the water why many people prefer this side over the Brazilian one. In total I walked along three different routes. The first one was the lower route which led me down to the river into which the water is dropping. On this route you have a similar view at the falls than from the Brazilian side but you are much closer to the water. Down at the river I took an optional boat trip costing around 120 Peso (29 USD). It lasted 10min and took us very close to the falls so we got completely soaked in water which was very much fun. Whenever you visit the falls at the Argentinian side this is a must do activity! I knew already what to expect from the boat trip by talking to other people in the hostel. Therefore, I was wearing only a very short and thin dress which, due to the heat of the day, was completely dry half an hour later.

The second route I took was the upper route on which you walk over small bridges which give you access to fascinating views on the water on top of the falls before it’s actually falling down. From this perspective you could also see many colorful rainbows right above the water.

Lastly, I went to Devil’s Throat which is a narrow u-shaped chasm which is the most impressive part of the Iguazu Falls. You go there by a small train and once left it, long bridges guide you over the river all the way to Devil’s Throat. There is a huge amount of water dropping down at this narrow chasm so it’s not possible to see the water hitting the surface of the river since the whole chasm is filled with spray of the falls.

We spent the night at a beautiful campsite in Puerto Iguazú which featured a massive pool. After the heat of the day I couldn’t wait to jump into the water and it was actually the first thing I’ve done after arrival. Some others joined for a swim and we also had some refreshing drinks right in the pool.