Long Tour Days

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Devil's Throat

Upper Circuit Falls

Sat Feb 1
Can’t believe it’s Saturday already but that’s what the rug in the elevator says (they change them everyday). It’s been a busy few days in ports but we are now at sea for 2 days heading towards the Falkland Islands. I think I left off on Wed afternoon so will try to remember the rest of that day. It was another day of lectures on Montevideo and Brazil that were interesting and then another small turnout for Bingo. However, I did win the first game and $52 so that was a good start. I also won $30 on a slot machine that night. Because of the early tours the next day the show was before dinner so I met Anne and Hugh (the couple from New Hampshire) in the lounge. It was a singer of Cuban/Spanish background who did some 60’s rock songs and some latin flavored ones (including a tribute to Desi Arnaz) and very enjoyable. It ended up only the 3 of us for dinner but we had a good time and then I headed to bed early since I had to be in the lounge at 5:45 a.m. for my tour to Iguazu.

My wake call came at 4:15 and I got up shortly thereafter then headed for a quick breakfast and to make sure I had everything for the tour. We had to claim our passports for this one (the office holds them for most of the cruise). There were 42 of us and we were met by our first guide right on time and headed to the Domestic airport in Buenos Aires which was only 10-15 mins away. It was still dark so we couldn’t see anything of the city. They handed us our boarding passes on the bus and we headed thru Security and to our gate. We had about an hr before boarding a normal domestic flight to Iguazu. It took about 1 ½ hrs but was very smooth and we even had a very nice snack. Our new guides met us there and we loaded into a 2 decker bus for the short drive to the park. There was some excitement in the restroom when a lady (turned out to be from another tour) got stuck and they were calling maintenance to come take the door off. She was panicing.

We arrived at the park and took the first of our hikes to the train station. It was quite a ways in but thru rain forest so not too hot yet. We then had to wait for a train to Devil’s Throat which was a nice ride. There we had a 1 km hike over the cat walks to Devil’s throat which is over the top of a some high falls that are really beautiful. There is no view of the falls until you get to the end of the hike. Hopefully the rest of my pictures upload today. They had guys on ladders taking photos of people with the water behind them so I had one done and it came out pretty good (well if you ignore the me part of it and just look at the effect of the water). We then had to hike back to the train station and take the train back to the other part of the park. Then it was a short hike to the restaurant for a nice traditional Argentina lunch (salad bar and bbq meat). Our final hike was the Upper Circuit catwalks which was another 2 km hike. On this walk there were views of the falls most of the way and they kept getting better which was good because it was very hot and humid and would have been easy not to keep going if it wasn’t so pretty. Luckily they were able to bring the bus up to the restaurant area so we didn’t have to hike back out of the park.
We got back to the airport about 4:00 for a 5:00 flight. The guy finally showed up with my photo just before we were to board. He also had DVDs they filmed while we were there so I bought one of those too (much of it is everyone getting off the bus and saying Hi to him but it does have the view of the falls too). We got back to the ship a bit late at 7:15 (All aboard was supposed to be 7:00) but of course they were waiting for us. That gave me time for a badly needed quick shower and then to dinner. We had a gentleman from Holland join our table. He was a history teacher and has traveled a lot of the world so very interesting. The dinner was the best yet and we all had the beef tenderloin and ended with a wonderful crème brule. There was no show this night (they had a local Tango group on board about 5:00 but I was still on the tour) but that was good since I was obviously very tired and slept well.

Luckily my tour for Friday wasn’t until 10 so didn’t have to get up too early. My tablemates (except the man from Holland) were on the same tour and I was on the same bus as Anne and Hugh so spent most of the day with them. I ended up in the last row right by the restroom (this is becoming a trend I don’t like) and it was extremely difficult to open so I ended up rescuing at least 5 people throughout the day. We were in Montevideo, Uruguay and first did a tour of the City which was very nice. They have lots of monuments (apparently a way to educate the immigrants) and some lovely beaches along the river (both Montevideo and Buenos Aries are on a very wide river and not the actual ocean). We also toured their Congressional House which is very pretty. It’s made of 51 types of marble. We then headed to the Santa Rosa Winery. The vinyards are further out but the winery is run by a local family for several generations. The owners gave us a tour and then we had a wonderful lunch and folkloric show. Most everyone was pretty happy by the time we got back since they included 2 glasses of champagne (1 during the tour and 1 with dessert) and at least 4 different types of wine with the various parts of the meal. I skipped most of the appetizers (And wine of course) which included kidney and sweetbrains. We got back to the ship about 4:15 and all aboard was 4:30. There was one tour that was very late (about 5:15 so we didn’t sail until about 5:30).
We had another nice dinner and then headed to the show. It was Marty Brill who used to write for some of the old comedy shows and he was very funny.
So guess I should log on and get this posted. Our Antarctica lectures start in about ½ hr. We have 2 of those today (including one on Penguins) and another one on Patagonia. So between those, a Bingo session, and a Solos lunch it will be as busy as being on tour.

Talk to you all soon.

Sharon

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Photos

Train to Devil's Throat
This is the train we took to the start of the catwalks for Devil's Throat

Devil's Throat Catwalk
It was almost a mile to Devil's throat along the catwalks but this is the type of view along the way. There were some people rafting on this part of the river.

View from Catwalk
Another view from the Catwalk

Old Catwalk
A view of the older catwalk partly washed away in a flood

Almost there
The top of Devil's Throat just ahead

Devil's throat
Overlooking the start of Devil's Throat

Devil's Throat
The end of the catwalk is at the top of a set of falls and very spectacular

To Prove I was There
There were photographers associated with the various tour companies on ladders to get your picture in front of the falls. They did a good job getting everyone else out of the picture (it was very crowded) so thought I'd have one taken. It's not too bad (if you ignore me)

Devil's Throat
Final view of Devil's throat before going back the 1 km on the catwalks to the Train Station

Coati
There were loads of these racoon like animals near the stores/snack bar while we waited for the train. They'd climb up the trash barrels to get stuff out and really liked licking any ice cream dropped. We were warned to stay away since they do bite.

Upper Circuit
Near the start of the Upper Circuit Catwalk. There were views of the falls all along the catwalk (another 1 mile out and 1 mile back walk)

Upper Circuit
More falls come into view on the Upper Circuit Catwalk. There are actually over 250 waterfalls at Iguazu but the actual number depends on how much water (more water they join together making less falls). The pictures of course won't do it justice.

Rainbow
A rainbow when looking down on one of the smaller falls

Upper Circuit
Another view from Upper Circuit

View of Lower Circuit
We didn't have time to do the lower circuit but here's a view of its catwalks from the upper circuit

Upper Circuit
another View from the upper circuit

"Maid in the Mist"
There were rafts that did rides near the falls like Maid in the Mist at Niagra. We didn't have time on our 1 day tour but looked like fun for when I go back and have more time

Upper Circuit
Yet another view from Upper Circuit

Final View
Final view from Upper Circuit

Montevideo
Downtown of Montevideo

Montevideo Government Building
This building was beautiful with 51 types of marble. We were told we could take photos of the guards but not to tickle them

Montevideo Monument
There were lots of monuments in Montevideo. They told us they were done as a way to educate the immigrants on their new country.

Montevideo Beach
The beaches in Montevideo were beautiful. People from Buenos Aries come over to stay there since they don't have any nice ones.

Tango
Our tour took us to the Santa Rosa Winery which included lunch and a Tango Show.

Horse and Cart
We saw quite a few horse carts in Montevideo but this smaller one is the only one I had a chance to get a picture of