Buenos Aires to Igazu and back

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My flight from Auckland landed in Santiago but due to my long stay in New Zealand I had less time than I had planned for South America as a result I decided to cut Chile out and head straight to Argentina. Due to my limited Spanish I was a little worried about my arrival into BA and getting myself to my hostel but in the end like most travel concerns it was easy as I got a bus with a company recommend in my guide which despite taking almost 2 hours dropped me right at the door. I was staying at Millhouse hostel which had been suggested to me by a friend and is reknowed as a party hostel and english speaking haven in the heart of BA. I was lucky as there was a really nice group of people in my room and after some drinks in our room we headed out in typical Argentinian style at midnight where we hit a bar then a club at 2am which is the earliest that the clubs in BA will get busy. I was still a little jetlagged so after a few hours tiredness took over and I headed to bed.

The next day an Israeli guy in my room named Daniel, an Australian guy Phil and I set off to walk to Recoleta where there is an amazing cemetary full of crypts from famous and important people from Argentina´s history. It was like nothing you would see in the UK with incredible design and detail going into the crypts with heavenly or religious sculptures often carved into the stone or on top of the crypts. It was a bit of a maze so even after we felt we had seen all we wanted to it still took us another ten minutes to find the exit. We stopped to have a beer before the long walk to Palermo. The walk to Palermo took almost 2 hours which as all of us had hangovers was quite a struggle. Palermo is the more upmarket area and trendy area of BA with a very arty feel to place. After walking through the picturesque streets we decided to have some lunch but soon discovered the first example of trying to get something done during the siesta period from 2pm to 6pm but we eventually found a small cafe who would serve us a burger and some beers. After the food we bused back to the centre to discover another BA favourite a protest march. Yet again it was such a contrast to home where people do not appear to be very politicised in this case it was a trade union dispute but it seemed almost like a carnival atmosphere with huge banners many showing Che Guevera and chanting and singing by the thousands of people in the street.

The next few days were spent enjoying the Buenos Aires night life and due to rocking in no early than 7am most nights the next day was a bit of a right off. Therefore in order to see another side of BA I got an earlyish night on the friday in order to go watch a football match something which is one of the most recommended things to do in BA. The game I was going to see was River Plate from BA vs Racing. I went with an organised tour with some other people from the hostel the trip cost 260 pesos which considering the ticket was only 70 was quite a mark up in terms of transport but I guess thats the price you pay for security as some crowds and fans can be dangerous for tourists. The atmosphere was unlike any sporting event I had been to before the crowd right from the beginning were cheering, chanting, waving flags and sporting enormous banners displayed all over the stadium with the opposite ends banner being so large it surely must have blocked some peoples views! The actual standard of the football seemed to be pretty low in my opinion if compared to European matches and the game itself was a tad dull but in reality the game was second place in terms of attraction to watching the crowd whose passion was incredible to watch with flares and smoke going off, constant abuse to the opposition fans (I learnt my first spanish swear words on the day) and sometimes whole stadium dances and songs. It was amazing and when the game ended 1-1 many us admitted we had not watched much of the action. After the game we had to wait inside the stadium for 45 minutes while the away fans left which was probably not a bad idea as we were pelted with anything they could get their hands on as they departed.

That evening I headed out with some of the people from my room and the guys I had gone to the game with for a last night as I was heading to Igazu falls the next day and most were heading off somewhere. It was another heavy night as when I woke the next day the 5 days of partying had caught up with me as I was feeling pretty run down and so it was a good thing I was taking a break from the craziness that is BA.

I had heard that buses in Argentina are first class compared to everywhere else in Argentina but I was still pleasantly surprised with my seat where I was able recline my seat completely so I had almost a flat bed - combined with my dinner of steak and mash and a glass of red wine I was certainly no complaining. The bus to Igazu was 18 hours so I took full use of my bed and slept most of the way. On arrival I was picked up by most hostel only to be told on arrival that I had 10 minutes to drop my stuff before I had to depart to see the Brazilian side of the falls. After a short bus ride and a surprisingly easy border crossing we reached the falls. We had a guide but it was all pretty self explanatory and as most people in my group seemed to walk slower than a snail I set off on my own. You walk along a walkway which takes you past changing scenery of different waterfalls and landscapes. The waterfalls was stunning but nothing that would blow you away it made for very picturesque photos but perhaps I have been travelling too long and seen too many waterfalls as it seemed to be a case of take a shot and move onto the next site. In the end the Brazilian side took only two hours to see everything but as I was quite away ahead of the group I stopped in the cafe to have an ice cream - the cafe was crowded with an animal I had not seen before I can best describe them as a cross between a small dog and a large rat. What I did not realise is that these creatures are sneaky devils as while I turned away for a split second one of them made a play for my ice cream right out of my hand but thankfully I reacted quick enough giving him a swift kick much to the amusement of the cafe staff!

On returning to the hostel I went for dinner with a couple fo american girls and an aussie guy I had met on the bus up. The american girls were heading to the Argenitian side of the falls the next day so we decided to go together and they told me it is supposed to be considerably better than the Brazilian side. With the next day mind after a couple of beers we headed to bed for an early night.

On arrival at the Argentinian side it was clear from the number of people there that this was the major site of the falls. Our first stop of the day was to visit the ´Devils Throat´ the biggest waterfall in the park this involved us getting a tourist attraction train a few kms from the entrance and then walking a long metal walkway over a seemingly never ending series of rivers/tributaries but it was pretty obvious when you were approaching the end as the noise from the waterfall was staggering and the sight was even more so. As I said earlier I have seen quite a few waterfalls on my travels but nothing like this it was enormous the sheer level of water and the power of it took your breath away. There were literally hundreds of tourists fighting and joustling to get into positon for the best photo - something I always find amusing is people who go to places a take hundreds of photos and end up seeing the site only through the view of their camera rather than taking a step back and enjoying it! After 30 minutes of gaping at the throat we headed back to the train and then onto the next stop which involved a picturesque walk along another series of waterfalls but this seemed to be much more tropical with series of small islands covered in plant life amongst the river and the waterfalls which was an nice contrast from the enormity of the devils throat. Towards the end of this walk the scene was made even more special when a large rainbow broke out across the water. After this walk we were taken to another waterfall where you could almost go and stand underneath this obviously got you soaking wet but was also very cool and made for a hell of a photo! Our final stop of the day was to walk down to the river where we would be getting a jet boat to take us right up to the waterfall this ended up being a really awesome way to end the day as you can get a real appreciation of the power of the falls when you are only a few metres away and the driver also delighted in getting everyone on board as wet as possible. Once the boat was finished we got a bus back to the entrance and the another back to the hostel where I had to quickly change before rushing to the bus station to get my bus back to BA. It had been a rushed two days in Igazu but definitely worth it as the waterfalls where incredible definitely one of the best things I have seen on my travels.

When I got back to BA I decided to have a change of pace from my previous visit with less drinking and more sight seeing. I was mindful that BA was pretty expensive and that I could probably do with spending as little time there as possible so as a result I signed up to do a bike tour of the the centre and the Boca region as you could cover a huge part of the city on these tours. Our guide was a german girl - in fact most of the guides appeared to not be from Argentina must have been a good tourist job. The bike started at the monument to General San Martin who led the armies that liberated the country from Spanish rule he is the national hero and you could not go to a reasonable size town in Argentina without finding a street named after him. From here we headed through the traffic to the river front where the guide explained that the area has under gone a major face lift from the old docks to now being made up of office buildings, fancy restaurants and bars and expensive apartment buildings - sounds like London. The area was definitely the most upmarket I had seen in the whole of BA. We then headed on a long cycle away from the nice part of town into Boca which is consider the working class and bohemian section of BA. We stopped here for half and hour to walk around and enjoy the markets, street tango and very Argentinian coffee shops where I enjoyed my first empanada which is a traditional Argentina pasty made with carne (meat), vegetables and a slight spice in the best ones. A short cycle from the markets we came to the famous Boca stadium where Maradona cut his teeth and still has his own personal seat in the stadium. However one thing I did spot while others were looking at the stadium was the street art on the walls of the houses opposite the stadium - I thought they were amazing another thing I would not see at home. After Boca we went through a couple of BA´s largest parks which are clearly very popular with the locals as a romantic spot as the majority of people in there were couples highlighting the Latin American passion! Our final cycle was to fight our way through the rush hour traffic which I found lots of fun avoiding the buses who will run you over if you get in there way, ignoring the insults of angry drivers as you got in front of them and trying not to lose the guide amongst the chaos. On return to the statue of General Martin we thanked our guide and a few of us went for a beer at the Irish pub (there literally is one everywhere). On returning to the hostel I had a quick dinner and then headed to bed as the next day I was heading out of BA on a ´lovely´ 20 hour bus down to Puerto Madryn. I had loved Buenos Aires it was one of the craziest cities I have been to in terms of their lifestyle with incredible food and nightlife but I think a week was enough for me otherwise I might have got used to it.

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