Archive for the ‘Argentina’ Category

Day 2 in Ushuaia began with another 8am pickup by Frasco and a short drive with a group of about 10 to the Tierra del Fuego National Park for another full-day tour. On the schedule for the morning was an 8 km (5 mile) hike through the park and along the shores of Ensenada Bay & Lapataia Bay. We were given a choice of activities for the afternoon… either another canoe adventure on the bay or a motorboat ride to Redondo Island for an hour of free time. Not being fully awake yet, Jeff and I held off until lunchtime to make that call.

Throughout the morning hike, Frasco would stop from time-to-time to talk about the local vegetation, the animal inhabitants, and the historical significance of the land. I have really come to appreciate the added information a guide on an organized tour provides. It’s certainly great to have the freedom of exploring a city or place on your own but you’re often doing little more than taking in the sights. While it adds a bit of cost to the trip, having the added information and knowing the significance of what you’re seeing makes for a more fulfilling experience.

The hike along the shore and through the park lasted about three hours and provided more majestic views of the Ushuaia landscape that matched and at times exceeded what we had seen the day before. While the air was a bit chilly, it certainly was not uncomfortably cold, and we continued our run of good luck in avoiding the rain. Towards the end of the morning, the sun broke through bringing the vibrant colors of the landscape to life.

Apparently still a bit tired and sore from the rowing the day before, Jeff made the call after lunch to skip the canoeing and to take the motorboat ride to Redondo Island. The remainder of the group was locked in on the canoe adventure so after seeing them off, we headed to the dock. Being by ourselves for the afternoon gave us the opportunity to stop at various scenic spots including the end of Route 3 which is a road that starts in Alaska, just a short 18,000km up the road. It’s also the southernmost point on the planet to which you can drive.

Once at the dock, we boarded a small inflatable motorboat called a Zodiac for a 30 minute boat ride across the clear, blue waters. Upon reaching the island, Jeff and I were greeted by an energetic and beautiful black lab(ish) dog named Rocky. Seemingly the friendliest dog in the world, we stayed for just a bit to pet him and enjoy the mutual affection before setting out on a hike of the small island.

About 15 minutes into the hike, we came to an opening in the forest near the northeast corner of the island that provided a view that rivaled anything else I had seen on the trip to date. In the foreground was the clear blue water of Ensenada Bay which separated us from the lush greens of the mainland and the national park. In the distance rested the snow-capped Andes. The sky was peppered with a few small clouds but not enough to hide much of the beautiful blue sky or block the warmth of the sun. I did everything I could to capture the view with my camera. Initially I was a little disappointed we opted for free time over the canoeing but in the end, I wouldn’t have traded that view and that time on the island for about anything else on the trip. As had been the case time-and-time again, things just seemed to work out for the best. I could have sat there for hours.

Following another 30 minutes of hiking, we made our way back to the dock, signed the island’s guestbook, said goodbye to Rocky and boarded the Zodiac for a quick 10 minute ride back to the mainland to meet back up with Frasco and the rest of the group.

Our tour over and our day nearly done, we hopped a transfer to the airport and boarded our flight to El Calafate for the second half of our Patagonia adventure.

Having wrapped up four great days in Buenos Aires, soaking up as much sun and warmth as possible, Jeff and I boarded an Aerolineas Argentinas flight on Monday bound for Ushuaia, a city in Patagonia that touts itself as the southernmost city in the world.  Weather reports aren’t pretty with the sun and mid-80s of Buenos Aires being replaced by forecasts for rain with temps only reaching the mid-40s.  Sure enough, as our plane made its descent through thick cloud cover into the Ushuaia airport, we landed in the midst of a cold drizzle. Having arrived fairly late in the evening, we made time for a great dinner by the water at a restaurant called El Volver (salmon instead of red meat for me for a change) followed by some drinks at an actual bar called Dublin before calling it a night.

We were picked up the next morning at a little after 8am by our tour guide, Frasco.  Frasco spoke great English, did his best to make the group of about 13 feel welcome by remembering everyone’s names, and had a surprising ability to name the NBA team of all of the American tourists’ home towns.  He correctly identified the Wizards for Jeff and I as well as the Bulls for a family from Chicago.

After a 90 minute bus ride to the Harberton Estancia, we stopped near a stream and began our day’s adventure by boarding inflatable rafts for a paddling tour of Beagle Channel.  Being paired with an Austrian couple with little canoeing experience and Jeff who was somewhat limited by his camera, captain duties on the boat fell to me.  This really meant nothing more than I got to steer.

Following the paddling, a motorboat took us to Hammer Island where we were able to observe both Magellanic and Gentoo penguins. This was really the only part of the trip where I recall being cold. The rain had held off so far but with thick cloud cover overhead, a pretty vicious wind, and little protection on the island from the wind, I was happy to move on after only about 20 minutes or so.

From there, it was another brief motorboat ride to Gable Island where we stopped at a cabin for a family-style lunch of sandwiches, potato chips, olives, cheese and red wine. Following the lunch stop, we made our way back outside for a three hour hike across the island through pastures and woods where we were treated to amazing views of the beautiful Patagonian landscape.

After returning to the hotel to rest and clean up a bit, we made our way back downtown for dinner and a return to our red meat ways. Once again finding a lively, tourist hangout proved to be challenging. Ushuaia actually seems to have several bars offering the potential for social activity but most are either sparsely populated or have closed leading Jeff and I to wonder if it’s time to lobby TripAdvisor to add a “nightlife” section to their website. We decided to call it a night relatively early by Argentine standards and rolled home a little after midnight.

We lucked out during the day with the weather with rain only hitting us while we were indoors and a few hints of sun throughout the day. Despite being so far south and so close to Antarctica, and aside from the windy Penguin Island, it’s really not super-cold. Hoping for the same luck with the weather tomorrow.

The Argentinian lifestyle is one that contrasts greatly with the big city living that I have grown accustomed to while living in DC and especially after spending so much time in NYC.  Rather than rushing from place to place and squeezing in as much as possible in as little time as possible, a typical day in Argentina is much more leisurely and relaxed. Lunches can extend to two hours and beyond, dinner is rarely eaten before 9pm and clubs often do not even open until 12 or 1am.  Bedtime never seems to be before 5am but people are always milling about early in the morning leaving me to wonder when or if these people actually sleep.

In past travels with Jeff and continuing on this trip, we have always tried to see as much as humanly possible in the time available.  The schedules set an aggressive pace that leaves us fulfilled but often exhausted as well.  Our original South America itinerary had us visiting both Buenos Aires and Córdoba during the four days leading up to the Patagonia portion of the trip. Some brief research showed we would need to spend a total of 20-25 hours on overnight buses to make the Córdoba leg happen. (Flights were not cheap enough.) So rather than pushing ourselves to such extremes, we embraced the laid back Argentinian lifestyle, bagged on Córdoba, and spent four plus lazy days in Buenos Aires taking in as much as we could at a much more leisurely pace.

While in Buenos Aires, most days for Jeff and I started with a wake-up call somewhere between 10am and noon. Only twice were we successful in making it to the complimentary breakfast in our hotel that ended at 11am. We would get cleaned up, get our email/blog/Facebook fix, and eventually make our way to a café for lunch. By 3 or 4pm, we were ready for the day to begin.

Much like most large, metropolitan cities, Buenos Aires is broken up into several different neighborhoods, each with their own style and sub-culture. Our daytime activities included self-guided walking tours of the neighborhoods with help from maps and MP3s from the Buenos Aires tourism website that take you to all of the prime attractions.  While the MP3s were a bit dry and boring (we ditched them almost immediately), it was great to have some understanding of what we were seeing and some of the history behind the sites.

In Recoleta, Buenos Aires’ upper-class neighborhood, Jeff and I visited an impressive flower sculpture that opens and closes throughout the day as well as the city’s famous cemetery which included a stop at Eva Perón’s resting place.

In La Boca, a neighborhood in the southern part of the city, Jeff humored me by going along with a tour of the Estadio de Boca Juniors, the stadium for one of Argentina’s most famous soccer teams. Following that tour, we walked down to Caminito, a cobblestoned street filled with shops and cafés where we stopped to take in a live tango performance.

In San Telmo, we spent an afternoon browsing handmade crafts in Plaza Dorrego. Another afternoon was spent in the central part of the city, appropriately named Centro, where we saw the Presidential Palace, the metro, a famous billiards hall and Congress.

Our walking tours would be followed by some downtime back at the hotel in the early evening and then a late (by US standards) dinner at around 9 or 10pm. From there we would usually venture over to the Palremo district which seemed to be one of the more active nightlife areas.  However much to our disappointment, we continued to struggle finding fun places to meet new people.  The city offers very few bars in the traditional American sense but is instead filled with restaurant after restaurant where locals and tourists alike spend their nights seated at tables.  This setup makes it very difficult to meet new people especially when we still have not come across many English speaking tourists.

Thankfully during our tour of San Telmo, we bumped into a fellow American named Molly who was spending a few days in Buenos Aires before moving on to Bariloche to participate in a Spanish language program.  We quickly bonded over our nightlife frustrations and exchanged contact info in an effort to meet up later that night.  In another stroke of random luck, I received a Facebook message from our buddy Warren stating that he was actually moving to Buenos Aires for two months and was getting to town that day. So on Saturday night Molly, Warren, Jeff and I went out on the town for a much needed dose of variety in both company and conversation. Aside from maybe the New Year’s fireworks on Copacabana beach, best night on the trip to date.

One last highlight from Buenos Aires that doesn’t really fit into the flow but is one that I must mention.  Argentina is known for their meat.  Jeff and I have certainly had our fair share while here.  On Sunday night, our last in Buenos Aires, Jeff, Warren and I visited a restaurant called La Cabrera in Palermo for yet another steak dinner.  While all of our meals in both Brazil and Argentina have been great, this was one of the best meals I have ever had.  I hate “best ever” statements but I enjoyed this one so much, that while in the cab ride home later that night, I was able to merge my love for the Kobe Beef (no jokes please) with the lyrics from Lauryn Hill’s song “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”.  Great waiter, great wine, great sauces, great sides and most importantly, great steak. If you are ever in Buenos Aires, make reservations here.

With our time in Buenos Aires having come to a close, we will say goodbye to the warm, sunny weather and head south for Patagonia and what weather reports tell us will be rain with a little cold mixed in.  Looking forward to it nonetheless.

After a bumpy flight from Salvador into Foz do Iguaçu, Jeff and I were greeted at the airport by César, our appointed driver for the transfer to our hotel. Much like in Salvador, the Iguazu tour package we purchased provided transport to and from the airport. After picking up our bags and hopping into the van, César worked some serious magic to help us breeze across the border into Argentina. We bypassed a line of about 20 people at customs when leaving Brazil and after butting in front of several tour buses at the Argentina checkpoint & following little more than a glance at our bags by an Argentine border guard, we were on our way through.

While crossing the Fraternity Bridge that links Brazil & Argentina, César stopped the van on the actual border and in fairly good English said, “See that line?  Right now I am in Argentina and you are in Brazil.  hahaha.”  We were also treated to a view of a spot off in the distance where Paraguay, Brazil & Argentina meet.

We were scheduled to be in Iguazu for about two days and the timing worked perfectly with our day and a half tour package.  The Iguazu Falls form the border between Brazil & Argentina.  Our tour package had us in the Iguazu Falls National Park in Argentina for all of day 1 and then back in Brazil on day 2 for just a half day before returning to Argentina and on to the airport for our flight to Buenos Aires.

So on Tuesday, after a relatively early 6:45am wake-up, a quick breakfast and a short bus ride, Jeff & I found ourselves at the Iguazu Falls National Park with a tour group of about 35.  The National Park is fairly large with several trails that take you right up to and at times over the falls.  We began the day with a quick train ride (think amusement park train) and following a 1000 meter hike found ourselves at the largest, most impressive section of the falls called La Garganta del Diablo (the Devil’s Throat).  The trails take you so close to the edge that most tourists leave the area soaked from the spray of the falls.

The majority of our hiking for the day after this point was done along the Circuito Superior (Upper Circuit) which has scenic views of most of the major falls below La Garganta del Diablo.

Following a buffet lunch in the park and a rather uneventful 30 minute jeep ride through the rainforest, Jeff and I boarded a boat for the highlight of the day.  About 20 of the 35 members of our group signed up for the “Grand Adventure” where you are treated to an up close view of the falls via boat.  All of our guide books raved about it describing the adventure as an “unmissable – though drenching – experience that gets you almost under the falls.”  Well our boat captain did that description one better by actually putting our boat into the falls at one point.  We have (a very poorly produced video) of the experience that we hope to cut up and post on YouTube soon.

Day 2 in Brazil was a little less exhilarating as the lone trail is relatively short & there is no boat or jeep ride.  Nevertheless, we were treated to some fantastic panoramic views of the falls.  While the Argentina side gets you up close and personal, the Brazil side gives you a better perspective of the magnitude of the falls.  The tail end of the trail on the Brazil side takes you to a viewing platform where you are surrounded by the falls on almost every side and again get nearly drenched (refreshingly so in the 90 degree, 90% humidity weather) by the spray from the falls.

We struggled to find much of a nightlife in Puerto Iguazu and have yet to meet many English speaking tourists so look forward to what Buenos Aires will have to offer in the coming days.

As for my Spanish, so far I’m still quite rusty & a bit surprised at how much of the language I have forgotten but it has been serviceable and certainly useful as many guides speak only a small bit of English.

I’m about four days behind on the blogging but hope to have more from Buenos Aires soon. Note that I’m using all of Jeff’s photos in this post at the moment since he has gone through the trouble of processing and uploading. He deserves all of the credit for their quality.