Guaraní Village and Return to Buenos Aires

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After another quick breakfast in a considerably busier hotel restaurant, we readied ourselves for a visit to one of the Guaraní villages in the area. All of the students from University of New Mexico occupying most of our hotel were also getting ready for their visit to the Iguazú National Park. As they boarded a large coach (similar to the one that took us to the park the day before), a large truck, similar to an army personnel carrier, arrived at the premises to pick the three of us up. Our “expedition” must have seemed either terrible or much more interesting to the students, since the entire bus load could not take their eyes from our large 4x4 as we passed by their coach and left the hotel.

Before actually heading for our destination, our driver went by a couple of other hotels in the area to pick up additional passengers, but soon enough, we left the smooth paved road and quickly transitioned to a more primitive, narrow, and bumpy dirt road. Though the vegetation in the area was very typical of that of a rain forest, we never really left behind all signs of human presence. From the vantage point of the bed of our 4x4 truck, we observed long lines of small houses surrounded by parcels of land with a variety of flora and farm animals.

After fifteen to twenty minutes on the dirt road, we approached a clearing where our truck stopped and the driver came to the back to deploy a retractable ladder that allowed the passengers on the truck’s bed to comfortably get to the ground without risking a fall. After everyone was on the ground our driver proceeded to introduce us to the Guaraní guide that was to lead us through the reservation. We were also given some basic rules of engagement to ensure that we were not going to offend our hosts; most of all, it was important to never show any signs of pity towards the Guaraní who live in conditions that most people from a Western developed country would consider of extreme poverty.

Our Guaraní guide took us first towards a heavily forested area, where he showed to our group the basic ways of his people. Before the Europeans invaded their lands, the Guaraní lived in close balance with nature. Everything in their culture required the rational use of natural resources. Their hunting tools consisted of bows and arrows and a variety of traps. Our guide, whose name in Guaraní is associated with the monkey, told us that for Guaranis, everything alive in the universe has a spirit, even the trees.

Since it is not polite for an outsider to go inside somebody’s home, our guide took us to see two empty houses that showcased the Guaranis’ basic building techniques. The A-frame roofs are made from palm tree leaves attached to the horizontal beans in between the frames. The palm tree leaves can keep the houses totally dry even during heavy downpours. In the hot summers, the twig walls are not totally sealed so that air flow is possible through the structure. For the cold winters, the walls are filled with dry mud to keep a comfortable warm temperature inside.

Our guide also demonstrated several types of traps used by his ancestors to capture and kill a variety of wild animals that used to be part of their staple diet. The sad part is that since the creation of the national parks by Argentina and Brazil, all Guaraní natives were removed from their ancestral ranges and forced to live within the limits of the reservations. Their basic ways of sustenance were also changed and now rely heavily on the sale of crafts to the visiting tourists.

I was very curious to know their opinion of the work done by Jesuit priests in the area during the 1800’s. The entire Argentinean province was named “Misiones” after the enormous effort staged by the Jesuits to “Christianize” the Guaraní culture. Our guide’s opinion of the Jesuit’s and their mission was not very positive. He equated the missions as an effort to enslave his people and eradicate their culture. He confided that it is because of that experience that the Guaranís no longer trust any government or organized religions who frequently approach them with the enticement of providing aid to them but with the hidden objective of replacing their beliefs and culture.

Our tour of the Guaraní village continued at a communal house where a group of children performed a couple of folk songs accompanied by a guitar and a fiddle, played by older members of the village. Each one of the children also played a native percussion instrument. The entire performance was similar to the one Sergio, Joaquín and I saw during our catamaran tour of the Paraná and Iguazú rivers on the day we arrived from Buenos Aires.

After the children’s performance ended, we were lead into a nearby communal house where several of the village’s families were selling their crafts. I found a very realistic carving of an alligator and another, more stylized, of a toucan that I ended up adding to my collection from the catamaran tour.

The shopping opportunity was the last part of the visit to the Guaraní village. Our guide took us back to the place where we had left our large 4x4 and our driver. After saying our good byes, we boarded the vehicle via the deployed ladder and started our way back to our hotel. During our return trip, we discovered that the access road to the Guaraní village connected to the main paved road just next to our hotel, and for that reason, we were the first ones to be dropped off. Because our shoes had collected a thick layer of wet red clay during our trip, we were forced to delay going inside the hotel until we were sure that we would not leave mud tracks.

Our stay at the hotel was just long enough for us to get ready for our flight back to Buenos Aires and check out. At the reception desk we also found our DVD containing the video shot during our visit to the Iguazú National Park.

At the appointed time, a Cuenca Tours driver picked us up to deliver us to the airport. This time our transport was a small sedan car that had already picked up another passenger before arriving at our hotel. The conversation in route to the airport was centered on regional politics. The other passenger was a middle-aged woman from Venezuela who shared with us the crazy and sad state of her country in the hands of Hugo “El Loco” Chavez.

Puerto Iguazú’s airport was not very busy and with only two gates available, the possibility of losing our way within the airport was not very high. We waited in the area dedicated to Duty Free and browsed the shops until it was almost time for boarding.

The flight itself was uneventful and soon we were descending at Buenos Aires’ Aeroparque. Unlike the landing after our original flight from Atlanta, our arrival into Buenos Aires this time was during day time, and it was possible for us to appreciate the city and its water front from the air. Our view was also enhanced because Aeroparque is located within city limits, while Ezeiza International Airport is located some distance to the south.

Not having any checked luggage helped us to get out of the airport and catch a taxi to the Marriott. Once there we proceeded to claim our stored luggage and check in. We were happy to find the package from Dalla Fontana containing our brand new leather jackets waiting for us at the concierge’s desk. We also decided to spend some time at the Marriott’s very elegant bar, getting our welcome glasses of great Argentinean red wine. The building that now houses the Marriott Plaza Hotel is one of the first grand hotels with elegant classic architecture still standing in Buenos Aires. It was placed in service in 1909 as the Plaza Hotel. Marriott has done a great job at restoring the building to its original grandeur.

Joaquín’s priority for our evening was to reconnect with his friend Derek Deraps who we had met by chance the previous Tuesday in Barrio Palermo. After Joaquín gave him a ring, he agreed that we were to meet him and a group of his friends at a restaurant on Honduras Street in the middle of Barrio Palermo.

We left the hotel and took the subte to Plaza Italia. From there, we walked in a southwest direction until we reached Honduras Street and from there we tried to locate the restaurant where Derek was supposed to be waiting for us. Unfortunately, Joaquín did not quite know the name of the restaurant (Derek’s directions had not been very precise).

When we found a restaurant that appeared to match the approximate name and description that Derek had given, we asked the host if there was a large party of Americans at his restaurant. He did not think so but allowed us to go inside to check for ourselves. When we did not find Derek and his group, we thought that perhaps we were at the wrong restaurant and continued searching around the block.

Our search was unsuccessful and we returned to the restaurant that appeared to match the description provided by Derek, in case he and his group were just running late. The three of us went to the bar area and had a round of local beers, unfortunately our party never arrived and we finally gave up. We left the restaurant and walked along Honduras Street on a southeast direction. This street crosses many interesting areas in Palermo and eventually crosses Santa Fé Avenue.

Realizing that we would not have many more evenings in Buenos Aires, the three of us decided to return to the Puerto Madero area and have dinner at the “Aires de Patagonia” Restaurant that had been so highly recommended to us. We took a taxi from Palermo and this time finding the place was not a problem.

Although we did not have a reservation, the restaurant’s host found us a table right away though to shorten the process, we had to accept a table in the smoking area. In spite of sitting next to another table where a couple of “chimneys” were sitting, Aires de Patagonia provided one of our best dinning experiences in Argentina.

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Photos

Hotel Carmen
Our Hotel in Puerto Iguazú