Argentina, Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls

Are you debating whether or not to cancel year’s vacation? Is the shrinking dollar making Europe too expensive?

Have you thought about going south…way, way south? Take a trip with us to Argentina and Chile, both in southern South America. There’s no jet lag. Most US citizens will stay within the same time zone, or have only one change.

Our trip was in 2002. Prices may have changed some but the beauty remains the same.

In Argentina we visited the fiery tango of Buenos Aires, the powerful water at Iguazu Falls and the ice of the Moreno Glacier at el Calafate. All spectacular in far different ways. Unfortunately we have no fiery pictures of the tango show. Something we neglected to do.

Buenos Aires is a large metropolitan city with charming areas that look European. You could spend several days here but we chose just two or three places to see to allow time for just wandering the streets, soaking up the atmosphere.

Our first observation of BA was on the drive in from the airport. The traffic lanes are usually not marked. It doesn’t matter. When they are marked cars straddle the lines. Drivers turn a five-lane street into seven or eight lanes. Chaos everywhere. Taxis are plentiful. People are friendly. Most streets are clean and safe.

We enjoyed a tango/dinner show. We were told it was the best, the Senor Tango Show. It was $100 per person. The dinner was excellent but there was very little tango dancing, it was mostly singing and acrobats. We were told cameras were not allowed, but when we got there, many people had cameras and they were being invited onstage to have their pictures taken with the cast. We were disappointed. Later several people told us they had seen the Ceno Tango Traditional Tango and Folk Music show. They thought it was wonderful and worth the cost.

We walked through the area known as La Boca. The practice of painting buildings several colors was started many years ago when people couldn’t afford to buy paint and had to use odds and ends of whatever colors they could find.

We had read that the Recoleta Cemetery was a must-see. It did not disappoint. Eva Peron is buried there. She was the first lady of Argentina, the most beloved “Evita”. Her husband was President Juan Peron. Her tomb is a shrine.

We flew Aerolineas Argentinas to Iguazu Falls, Argentina It’s reputation was not too good in 2002. Flights were usually late or cancelled altogether without notice. We had no problems and the food was wonderful. (one-and-a-half hours).

Iguazu Falls is in both Brazil and Argentina. You can stay in either country. We didn’t consider the Brazilian side because of the cost of Visas for US citizens.

We stayed at the Sheraton Resort in the Park. Hiring a taxi was easy and inexpensive at the Iguazu Falls airport. The town is quite large and has many B&Bs, hotels and hostels. We could have saved a lot of money by staying in town.

By staying in the park we were closer to wildlife, birds, etc. We had a view of the falls from our room and could leave the resort at any time and walk the wooden paths along the falls.

Our taxi driver was nice and spoke some English so we hired him to take us to the Brazilian side the next day. If you take a taxi you escape the cost of visa. You can walk across the bridge to Brazil if you want, but will then have to purchase the visa.

Scenes from the Argentine side:

From the Brazilian side:

Which is better, Argentine side or Brazilian side? On the Argentine side you are
closer to the falls, there are walkways over the water to edge of falls, and many hiking trails. The Brazilian side has a two-mile walk through woods with hundreds of steps up and down to see the entire falls at one time. You do not get close to the falls. Both sides are beautiful.

We were there in November (spring). The river was high so the falls were more spectacular.. The weather was sunny, 104+ degrees and 90%+ humidity. The days were exhausting for the four of us. Summer (our winter) is hotter.

On the Brazilian side we saw the Itaipu Hydroelectric Power Plant. Built between 1975 and 1991, it is the largest hydroelectric plant in the world.

We also visited the Parque Nacional Iguazu (bird park).

We had lunch at a non-tourist
restaurant. That was especially nice. There we tried the national drink of Brazil. It tasted like a mixture of kerosene, castor oil and the Chinese liquor we had in Beijing, with a little lime juice, sugar and egg white. This is basically the same as a pisco sour, except the liquor is different. In Chile and Peru the pisco grape wine is used. I don’t know what it was in Brazil, but our opinion was that it was pretty bad. The drink is in the picture on the right. The foam is beaten egg white.

We took the boat ride that goes under the falls from the Sheraton. We took the guide’s advice and did not wear raincoats. He said we’d be soaked anyway and we should just enjoy the exhilarating, cool spray and dry out on the long walk through the forest and over the water back to the hotel. Good advice, everyone was soaked in seconds. If you can see anything at all without your glasses, I advise putting them in a safe place. The walk back to the hotel was so hot and humid our bodies were steaming.

Then up the hill and back to the Sheraton. Half way up the hill, we spot another boat filled with crazy people going under the falls.

This is the only wildlife we saw.

Dinner was not served until after 9:00pm. There were lots of butterflies, not many birds or parrots. Parrots are shy and stay further into the jungle and higher up in trees. We flew back to Buenos Aires knowing we had just experienced a marvelous few days in a spectacular part of the world. Iguazu is off the beaten path. It’s not a place that you just happen to go to. If you decide to go you will never forget the beauty.

View from our room at the Sheraton:

Our last unforgettable experience in Argentina was walking on the Moreno Glacier in southern Argentina at el Calafate. See my blog "Moreno Glacier"...