Thursday, August 11: Mendoza -> Iguazu Falls
(Argentina)
When we first booked our trip, several travel agents told us
we should really focus our time on 1 or 2 countries – not hop around so much.
We’re happy we stuck to our guns – finding a travel agent and itinerary that
met our needs. Our 24 hour journey to Iguazu falls gave us a glimpse of why
people were concerned. For example, the flights around South America are really
not convenient. We left Mendoza around 6:30 am (we’ve rarely slept in!), had to
fly through Buenos Aires with a 2 hour layover, then continue another 1.5 hrs
to Iguazu Falls. The entire morning was in airports and planes – just to get
across the country. The good news is that we still had a solid day to explore.
Iguazu Falls National Park contains 14 miles of waterfalls
that plummet up to 229 feet. We’re told that Iguazu is about 6x the size of
Niagra. Karl said he feels Niagra is taller, but Iguazu is wider. The falls are
in a rainforest, but more mountainous than the flat Amazon we’d seen the week
before. Due to limited time, we didn’t have a chance to explore the jungle
outside of the Falls area or participate in any of the adventure activities in
the area (zip lining, jet boat under the falls, etc) – but there was plenty to
see for the next 5 hours.
The Falls are called one of seven “natural wonders of the
world.” We hiked the 3 main paths– to devil’s throat (see Lila’s facebook
pictures & videos – that was the first one), the upper circuit (which winds
along the top of the canyon), and the lower circuit (which was very splashy!)
near the bottom of the falls. All the trails were wheelchair accessible. In
fact, they’ve done an amazing job of building metal paths above the ground to
really protect the wildlife and fauna. We saw feisty raccoons, beautiful blue
and yellow jays, tons of butterflies, and even chased down a toucan hiding in a
tree (we heard it about 5 minutes before we could find him). The fauna was very
interesting, too. For example, there was cacti growing in the middle of the
rainforest and grasses that survived with 1000s of gallons of water hitting
them all day long! It had rained days before in Brazil, so the water was
pounding (6-8x more volume than normal). It was truly an incredible sight. Lila
had never seen anything like this before….waterfalls everywhere, water rushing
so much so fast, and rainbows radiating from the falls.
After 5 hours of hiking around, we settled into the
Sheraton, the only hotel located right in the national park. As we watched the
sunset with Devil’s Throat in the distance, we saw many toucans flying by and
jays and swallows trying to peck away at food on the balcony (I think one of
the blue jays gave Lila a 10 minute stare down over a packet of sugar). Across
the way, we could see Brazil. From there, you’re supposed to have a wonderful
panoramic view of the Argentinean falls. But that required a visa which we
never had time to get. It was such a wonderful way to pass the last evening. In
fact, we couldn’t have picked a better way to end our Argentina adventure.
We’ve loved the nature and hiking aspects of our trip. After the cold, city
life of Buenos Aires and sitting around in Mendoza wine/food tasting, it was
great to be outdoors in a tropical setting.
Friday, August 12: Iguazu Falls -> Buenos Aires
-> Back to the US
At 8 am exactly, when the Park opened, we were first in
through the Sheraton’s backyard! We hiked the upper circuit again. For an hour,
we didn’t see anyone. It was great to have the jungle and falls to ourselves.
At this point of the trip, we’ve been accustomed to listening for – and
spotting – animals. It’s not the magical way the Amazonians guides do it, but
Karl’s learned to be quite the “native.” One of the highlights of the morning
was Karl spotting 2 parrots perched above a tree. It was very cool just to
watch them hang out. After the upper circuit, we had time to hike the lower
circuit. There’s a lookout pier on the lower trail that is just feet away from
the bottom of the falls. Yesterday, only a few people dared to get close, and
not us – too cold, too wet. But this morning, it seemed like a shame to come
this distance and not feel the water. So we decided to go to the end. Just a
few seconds and we were DRENCHED (imaging standing next to a fire hydrant wide
open and you might being to get the same sensation). We made it back to the
hotel in time to shower, before our 10:45 am hotel departure.
Then came the dreaded phone call from the travel agent…
Our flight to Buenos Aires was cancelled. It’s worth noting
that up until now, we’ve had no issues with the previous 14 flights of our
trip. The travel agent said they tried to rebook us, but were told we need to
call the airline directly. We’ll skip the long details. In the end, we were
able to get onto the next flight, scheduled to leave 2 hours later. In the
meantime, we hung out at the Sheraton enjoying the views.
Fast forward to the airport. Our flight departure was
delayed another 1 hour. This killed our afternoon plans in BA. We were
originally supposed to land in BA, hang out in the city for 3 hours, then head
to the international airport (1 hr away from the in-city domestic airport).
Quick math and you’ll note that these delays ate away at our “hanging out
in Buenos Aires” time. Fortunately, when you’ve have guides and travel agents
taking care of you, they include buffer time. Good thing, because luggage took
an hour to come off the conveyor belt at the small domestic airport.
Unbelievable! At this point, we’re stressed because Friday evening traffic
(6pm) is unpredictable here, and we needed to get across town to the
international airport.
Fortunately, traffic gods were on our side today. We made it
to the airport a little less than 2 hours before our departure, only to
discover we were upgraded to first class on the return (big smiles). Of course,
the drama still wasn’t over. We’ve never seen an airport in the Americas as
inefficient as Buenos Aires. The lines were massive, and stopped frequently to
let the next phase clear out. For example, they stopped security scanning
because immigration (the next phase) was moving too slow. We ended up waiting
in these lines for almost 1.5 hours. Needless to say, all passengers were super
anxious – people starting to fret over making their flights. In the end, it all
worked out. Flights were slightly delayed to accommodate the madness, and even
the pilot made jokes about the mess. But all of these delays killed our
shopping time at the airport, which was supposed to replace our shopping time
in Buenos Aires. We settled into our first class seats (enjoyed the welcome
aboard drink) and finally took off around 9:30pm to Miami. Three weeks, 4
countries, and amazing memories!
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