Buenos Aires [Iguazu Falls]
Plants, Inside the Park, and Loi Suites
The FaIls divide the Iguazu River into two sections; the Lower Circuit and the Upper Circuit. Today we will see the Lower Circuit. We get into an open-air 4×4 which takes us through the subtropical forest and delivers us to a pathway which leads us down the 120 steps to a small dock where the first thing I see is what’s called a Caiman (small alligator). My heart starts racing thinking if this RIB (rigid inflatable boat) tips, I could become Caiman food. We are handed huge rubber bags and life vests and herded into boats. Anything we don’t want soaked goes into the rubber bag. Shoes, purses, hats and sunglasses (because they will fly off your head) all go into the bag. We can keep cameras out until we’re told to deposit them. We are now ready to embark on an adrenaline-packed RIB boat ride through the rapids and a close-up view of the cascading falls. What a ride; up, down, left, right and we’re only getting mildly splashed. The waterfalls are massive and they stretch for miles. Finally we get the word that cameras MUST go into the bags and the bags must be tied up. OK, we’re ready and off we go under the first waterfall. Drenched doesn’t describe it. The water is coming down so hard; it actually stings our face. We go in again, and again and again and again. Are you getting the picture? We almost couldn’t catch our breath before we’d go under for another drenching; it was a hoot! We zoom around rocks on the left, then rocks on the right, then back under the falls. Finally, it all comes to an end. Everyone is soaked but safe. We exit the RIB and now the hard part; climbing up the steps with soaked clothes and carrying our rubber bags. We make it and hop back into our 4×4 for transport to the Loi Suites which sits in the middle of the forest. If you ever have Viking make you a hotel reservation, you can count on it being 5-star and this was. It was exotic. Another buffet was setup for dinner and everybody crashed after that.
Day #2 – We’re up for breakfast at 6am and on the coach by 7:15. Today we do the Upper Circuit. We enter the Park and board the eco-train to the famous Devil’s Throat. It’s hot and humid but because we catch the first train, we at least don’t have to fight the crowds, yet. We enjoy stunning panoramic views as we walk miles of pathways above this long, narrow horseshoe-shaped gorge. The Park comprises a series of 275 waterfalls which feed into the Parana River, where the Argentine, Brazil and Paraguay borders meet. The most scenic one is the curved cataract christened the Devil’s Throat that has 14 falls that drop to a height of 350 feet. Flow rate of the falls is 62,010 cubic feet per second. Wrap your head around that! November through March sees a surge in the waterfalls water that can go to as high as 450,000 cubic feet per second. The falls stretch in width for 1.7 miles and their height varies between 200-269 feet. There is a permanent scenic rainbow formed on the waterfalls caused by the refraction of light against the mist caused by thundering waters.
We’ve never seen anything like this before and probably never will again. No further comment needed. We board our coach to the airport, eat our box lunch and take our flight home in silence. All of us in awe of what we just experienced. Another amazing adventure.
Puerto Madryn
Another port that we did not visit due to weather. This time, the changes rippled through the next week. Only one day in the Falkland Islands rather than two. Two days in Ushuaia rather than one. Extra two days were utilized to sail around Cape Horn, and then through the Beagle Channel which is a strait in Tierra del Fuego Archipelago on the extreme southern tip of South America between Chile and Argentina. A view of a map or globe is the best way to visualize this.
Ushuaia
Walk Around on Streets
Today, we rode the End of the World Train to Tierra del Fuego National Park. The train is a steam-powered locomotive that traveled along the route of the old railway, which was originally constructed for use by the prison. Prison laborers chopped and logged timber from the forest and transported it to the city in order to construct buildings and provide warmth. Our excursion followed the Pipo River and we were mesmerized by a forest with green grass, a river, lots of horses with their foals and no trees; only tree trunks remained. We crossed bridges and peat bogs. We stopped at Macarena Waterfall before continuing on to the picturesque waterfront of Bahia Ensenada where there was a tiny post office and you could get an Argentine passport stamp for $3.00.
It’s raining but we head to town anyway. We found numerous Antarctic sporting goods stores since this is where many of the expeditions depart from. Found a good pair of Salomon hiking boots which will come in handy for many of our upcoming excursions. I believe we walked every street in the town, and remember when I said Ushuaia was perched on a steep hill? Well it was; however, the hill wasn’t the problem, the sidewalks were the problem. Every type of cobblestone was used; square, round, rectangle, irregular, thin, thick, making steps steep, uneven, wobbly and pretty much unsafe. You must keep looking down or you will fall!
Day #2 – Today, we take an in-depth panoramic drive through the stunning natural beauty of Tierra del Fuego National Park. Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago shared by Chile and Argentina. Its 150,000 acres are known for its dramatic landscape of snowy mountains, glaciers, tundra and wind sculpted trees. There are also lots of pale-gray trunks from trees damaged by long-ago fires which stand in stark contrast to the green landscape around them. There are no predators; however, beavers were brought in to take care of the exploding rat population and now they have a beaver problem. The park rangers have the job of keeping the delicate balance of the ecosystem including controlling invasive species.
Again, it’s raining and again we head to town for lunch. We find the restaurant our guide recommended and go in. No one speaks English but that doesn’t stop us. Lucky for us the menu has English subtitles so we sort of know what we’re ordering. We point to potato soup, cheese and beef empanadas and don’t ask me why, French fries. The potato soup comes in a mega coffee cup with a tortilla baked on top and oh my gawd, was it good as were the empanadas. The bill came; we paid with a credit card, included a tip and felt very proud of ourselves. After a bit of walking, our next stop was a café for coffees, pastries and one of our favorite things – people watching.