Waterfalls and BA

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Boy, have we been busy! It is great to have a day at sea to recover.

First, a day in Montevideo, Uruguay. The ship was docked very close to the center of the old part of town, so we took the shuttle bus in, then strolled back. It's a beautiful place with lots of old European architecture. In fact, since it is a very flat area, the stone and other building materials were brought over from (mostly) Scotland!

The next morning we docked in Buenos Aires where we were transported by bus to the airport for our 1 1/2 hour flight to Iguazu to see the waterfalls there. There are 275 different waterfalls making Niagara look like peanuts in comparison! First we went to the Brazillian side where most of the view is from below; the second day we were on the Argentinian side with the view from above. Moving back and forth from one country to another, all in one day, was a bit confusing. Couldn't remember if I should say "abrigato" or "gracias!" And crossing the borders took forever, at least 20 minutes at each border...and I mean 20 minutes to get out of Argentina, then another 20 minutes to get into Brazil, only to be repeated again a couple of hours later when we returned to Argentina. Oh, well. One of the "joys" of group travel.

The Brazillian side had a trail that slowly descended to the base of the Devil's Throat, the biggest of the falls, with views of many of the other falls along the way. It was unbelievably hot and humid, so it was a relief to end up in the spray of the falls. We got soaking wet, but since the water was very warm, we didn't get cooled off very much. That night we stayed at the Sheraton Hotel which is located inside the National Park, right next to the falls. Unluckily, we didn't get a falls-view room, but since it was dark when we got there and we had to be up early in the morning, it didn't matter too much.

The Argentinian side had an open-air train that took us to the kilometer-long catwalk out over the falls. Since I have always been petrified of heights, I coudn't imagine how I was going to handle walking along this open-grillwork, but Hugh took my hand and told me to keep looking up, so we slowly started off. I was almost too afraid to breathe, but with each step it became easier and with the hordes of people zipping past us with obviously no worries at all, I began to get used to it. By the outermost point of the catwalk, where we were right over the edge of one of the largest falls, I felt completely at ease and was looking down at the water with no problem at all. I think I'm cured!!! The walk back was a piece of cake. You cannot imagine my relief!

When we arrived back at the hotel we had a very nice lunch outside under some huge shade trees, then it was back to the airport and the flight back to B.A. Flying over the rain forest (jungle) was fascinating. And coming back onboard the Black Watch certainly felt like coming home.

Yesterday we took the H.Stern free shuttle into one of the main squares of the city. We had been warned that the taxis were notorious for overcharging tourists so the H. Stern shuttle was the thing to do. We spent the morning on Florida Avenue, the main shopping street of this city of 13 million people. It was wonderful seeing all the interesting things for sale. I bought a little purse ($12.00 !!) which I hope will be unlike anything you've seen at home. For lunch we went to La Nazarenas, the same restaurant that Mom and Dad and I went to six years ago when we were on our way to Antarctica. It hadn't changed a bit. We had a huge, tasty steak, potatoes, wine, and dessert...all for $15.00. Then it was time to go back to the ship where half the passengers had left and new ones had arrived. We even have a new cruise director who happens to be one we had two years ago.

We are now heading south along the Argentinian coast and it is already getting cooler! Hooray!

Please note: I added some pictures to the Rio entry...

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