Antarctica 2023
Feb 22
With the sun rising we packed up for our flight back to Buenos Aires.
I'm a little concerned as my back up Visa card was declined at the airport snack shop. Is it a little weird that of the five kinds of sandwiches they have, they are all ham and cheese?
The flight left late but we are on our way North to Buenos Aires and the summer clothes we left behind at the hotel. We didn't arrive quite as early as we did on the way down, so the desk clerk was not passed out on a couch. We got our summer clothes and checked out our room. The room was nice and big, but the views were nothing like we had the first time.
Changing from our Antarctica clothes to clothing better suited for the 30° weather, we headed out to explore a little.
Cementerio de la Recoleta
We walked to Recoleta Cemetary, where Eva Peron is 'buried'. It was inaugurated in 1822, becoming the first public cemetery in the city. It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Buenos Aires, famous for its many impressive mausoleums and vaults adorned with marble and sculptures. More than 90 of its mausoleums and vaults have been declared National Historic Monuments.
There is no shortage of angels here.
The tomb of Eva Peron and the family Duarte, famously portrayed by Maddona in Evita.
Most of the tombs and mausoleums are quite spectacular pieces of art, but there is signs of decay and neglect spread throughout the cemetery. It certainly didn't make it less of an interesting place to visit.
Since the cemetery was closing, we wandered to the big mall next door, our hopes were to find some more of those bags that allow you to squish your luggage down because both summer and winter clothes plus souvenirs might be a problem. No luck.
I was trying to find this diner style restaurant with a 57 chevy booth, but it was closed.
We ended up choosing an Italian place called Quotidiano Bar de Pasta, and it was really good. We enjoyed our patio seats with a street view, even if we kept having guys coming up trying to sell us socks during our dinner.
We wandered back past a few other shopping areas and a few Buenos Aires oddities before arriving at our hotel again.
We needed to go to bed early, we have an early pick up for a big adventure day ahead of us.
Feb 23
It was a very early morning pick up for our 1 day getaway to Iguazu Falls. They were supposed to pick us up at 4:45, at 5:00 we phoned them, and by 5:15 they still aren’t here. The guy finally shows up after 5:30 and drops us at the airport 10 minutes before boarding starts. The security line is a mile long, not sure we will get this flight.
Surprise, we made the flight as they are yelling ‘Iguazu’ in the halls and "Last Call" is being announced. Fun start to the day.
Iguazú Falls, Argentina
Goya met us in the airport at Iguazú, and she was a wonderful older lady as our guide. Even though I had confirmed in advance, she informed us that a helicopter flight was not an option on the Argentina side, another mess up by the main office.
Iguazú Falls or Iguaçu Falls are waterfalls of the Iguazú River on the border of Argentina and Brazil. Together, they make up the largest waterfall system in the world. For most of its course, the river flows through Brazil; however, most of the falls are on the Argentine side. Below its confluence with the San Antonio River, the Iguazú River forms the border between Argentina and Brazil. We are dropped in the park and walk the upper trail falls, many many falls.
Coatis, also known as coatimundis, have taken over many of the areas where humans are known to eat food. Did you know that they are a member of the raccoon family?
Flora and Fauna
From the upper falls trail, we made our way through a jungle area where we were lucky to see not only vultures and a crocodile, but a large troop of Capuchin monkeys playing in the trees and jumping around with their young ones. They don't stay still, so it's very hard to get decent pictures.
A long tailed Potoo camouflaged with a stump
Since we didn't get to fly above the falls, we decided to splurge and go down on the water into the falls.
It's a bit of a drive through a forested area in a big yellow truck, and then you are given a life vest and a waterproof dry bag to put your camera in, and anything else you don't want to get wet. We had been warned and brought towels and an extra shirt and socks.
The oversize zodiac is taken up the river and into the falls area, where we are given a chance to snap a bunch of photos.
Once everybody has had a chance to get their photos, everything is put away in the dry bag and we motor our way right into the falls, starting with the Devils Throat (Garganta del Diablo), and ending with the San Martin Waterfall. To say we got wet would be a massive understatement, I think we are still wringing out our underwear when we fly home in a weeks time.
The worst part of the day was getting off the boat and waiting in the long line to re-board the trucks. Dripping the entire time.
We met back up with Goya, and had a very nice buffet style lunch (a gift for the morning screw-up). I hope they didn't mind that we left the seats wet.
Lunch finished, it was time to walk the lower trails and get some different views of the falls.
Campo Flicker
Southern
Lapwing Quail Dove
The lower trails are a little more treacherous, mostly because it's starting to rain and everything is wet, but also because some sections have been closed due to massive flooding wiping out some of the trail bridges and paths. The rains come in bursts, with thunder and lightning followed by a little blue sky, then more rain. Oh well, we were wet already.
After seeing all the possible angles of the falls from the Argentina side, our driver picked us all up and took us to the airport. But first, Goya made him stop so we could see some different Toucans in the trees along the road. The first ones we spot are the Chestnut-eared Aracari, one of the smaller Toucans.
A little further on we stopped again for the Toco Toucan, a larger Toucan variety.
Goya ensured we got to our check-in on time, and the process was much smoother leaving, than it it was coming.
Our last flight back to Buenos Aires (AEP/Aeroparque) arrived to a sign with our name on it, and we were taken back to our hotel.
We grabbed some pizza from a neat little place a block away, and took it back to our room. It was time for some tricky re-packing before our flight in the morning. We are leaving Argentina 25 days after we arrived.