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Published: January 27th 2008
Well, thanks for all your patience with getting our blogs posted as well as PICTURES!! It's been a bit more complicated than expected, as everything usually doesn't work out as planned---really.
We made it back safely to Buenos Aires after returning from El Calafate and Torres del Paine park. First thing on the agenda was to quickly repack and get to the nearest DHL office so we could ship our backpacks and camping gear back to AK. Let me tell you, this was quite an experience! Again, the young gal didn't speak nearly any English and we needed to get our bags to AK safely!! What trust. We spent nearly an hour figuring it all out with her and leaving our bags with her to send. Since we were shipping internationally, she needed to look at and take a list of
everything, along with a monetary value of it all (all down to how much the stove repair tools would cost and our matches container). As you can imagine, we laughed most of the time with her, especially when we had to show her our smelly socks and boots! Thankfully, she was very patient with us and enjoyed to hilarious
The Epenstein's
Doctors from Israel we met along the way...event of it all. I said to her that she would probably go back home that evening and tell all her friends and family about this event...and she smiled and said YES! So, John & Ahne back home in AK will get to open that wonderfully smelling box and find a few surprises in there! THANK YOU!!
This was our last evening in Buenos Aires, so we decided to go out for a nice dinner and enjoy the classic dish: bife de chorizo and a bottle of wine. The beef in Argentina is very well known and is served in very large portions. Ben and I agreed that it was either #1 or tied for #1 for our best steak ever. Delicious and cheap!
The following day we took an overnight bus ride to Iguazu Falls and arrived early the next morning. We found a nice place to stay then went and explored the falls. These pictures don't do it justice to the amazing beauty. So many waterfalls all over the place. It really was unbelievable to experience. Be sure to click on our video thru the attached link
video of "Devil's Thoat" ...so called because of the incredible roaring that
comes from the falls. The next day we went back again to the falls before catching another bus to Rio de Janiero. The bus ride was approximately 24hrs and quite comfortable.....except for the very strong old urine smell! I felt like I was back at work again! And felt like I was almost sitting in it it was that bad (no I didn't have an accident)! Thus the picture of Ben trying to read his book with his shirt over his nose! Thankfully, the bus stopped a few times and the drivers cleaned the bathroom to make the journey much more tolerable and enjoyable. Actually, we almost thought the bus left without us at one stop---can you imagine how we felt??? Our hearts were almost thumping out of us we were so terrified. In actuality, the bus was over at the gas station (hidden from our view) getting fuel and cleaning the bathroom! What fun we have had!
We arrived in Rio with a cab from our guest house waiting for us. He was very nice and spoke English (quite a treat). The guest house was fantastic and only 2 blocks from Ipanema beach!!! We got settled and the
owner fixed us a lovely breakfast: fresh mangos, papaya, eggs, meat, cheese, bread, jam, coffee----vert delicous. We felt spoiled every morning to have such a wonderful breakfast. We relaxed most of our time in Rio, going for a few runs around a lake, sitting on the beach eating fresh pinapple and mango gotten at a local market, and socializing with the other guest at the house. Overall, we had a great time in Rio but enjoyed the environment and ambience of Buenos Aires more.
We've really enjoyed south america and would love to return someday. Now it's time to go over to Europe to Portugal and continue our adventure...
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