Lake, Ocean and River

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Tahlei

We’ve talked before about how big Argentina is, and how much time you spend traveling trying to cover it all. Naturally the scenery is stunningly varied; you go to sleep on an overnight bus to wake up in a totally different climate, with totally different landscapes to take in. We took this idea to extremes recently, covering huge distances going from the cool mountains of the Andes, to the Atlantic coast, to the steamy jungle, in just four days. It wasn’t the plan, but it turned out that way.

We left Bariloche for our longest bus trip to date at 18 hours. It actually wasn’t bad at all. The food was good, they showed movies in English and I probably had the best sleep that I have ever had on a bus. Still, we were not so happy to arrive on the Atlantic coastal town of Miramar in the drizzling rain. We had left the lakes district a little earlier than planned to escape the rain and cold, and here we were on the coast in the rain again! Granted it was not cold and that was a relief. Miramar however was a let down.

There is a reason that we tend to avoid beaches while traveling – having grown up near some of (I think) the world’s most beautiful beaches, we are quite hard to please and are invariably disappointed when we see what other countries have for coastline. In this case, the let down was not the beach itself, but what they’ve done with it. Imagine a wide beach with fine sand and smooth inviting water, then imagine that view blocked by a concrete monstrosity that you are expected to pay to enter to use the beach, the pool that they have built right on the sand, and the rows and rows of umbrellas and sun loungers and little cabins. Then imagine these concrete blocks all along the beach, one after another, for kilometres and kilometres, with names like Cancun, Datona Beach and Ibiza Sunrise. You can find a public access to the beach every couple of hundred metres, but whether you have can walk down in front of the balnearios or if you are confined to a tiny, public patch of sand we didn’t stay long enough to find out.

If this wasn’t bad enough, we walked a couple of kilometers along the beach, becoming more dispirited with each step, to the closest campsite – Camping Durazno. A quick look around confirmed that this, the most expensive campsite we had yet encountered at about US$20 for the both of us, was also one of the least well-maintained, with old, mouldy bathrooms, splintered tables and dirty parillas. Not worth it, even after having just gotten off an 18 hour bus. We boarded another bus, went about an hour further north to the coastal capital of Mar del Plata and from the bus saw that the beach has been treated the same way here, but worse. Each “spa” was enormous, with a giant car park behind, resembling a strip of airports on the beach. I’m not sure if the entire Atlantic coast is like this – I’m sure there are areas that are not so hideously ruined, but we didn’t want to keep trying with the distinct possibility of being continuously disappointed, so from Mar del Plata we boarded yet another bus for four hours and headed inland.

We arrived in Tandil a good 30 hours after having left Villa La Angostura, and finally had somewhere to stay for a couple of nights that wasn’t ugly and overpriced. Tandil is a nice town, but not much more than that. We stayed two nights at the Club de Pescadores camping on the shores of a lake, run by a lovely lady, and thankfully it was cheap at 40 pesos per night. The lake is surrounded by a jogging track that is insanely popular, so we were made to feel very unfit watching dozens of people exercising all around us each day. This feeling of unfitness was only increased by the discovery of an excellent heladeria called Iglu - the best ice cream yet in Argentina I reckon, and that's saying something. Have we mentioned that Argentina has brilliant ice cream?

After enjoying a lazy day in the sunshine (finally!) we left the following day for another epic bus journey, this time north to Iguazu. We first took a very old, very poorly maintained bus five hours north to Buenos Aires, where we got our first glimpses of the capital. They were to remain only glimpses for now, as we arrived at the heaving bus terminal just an hour or so before embarking on our second 18 hour bus trip in four days. This time we travelled in style, paying that little bit extra to experience the "tutto letto" class - full suite, 180 degree recline, first class bus travel. It was pretty good. I probably wouldn't pay for it again, seeing as I sleep just as well on a normal cama service, but for one night it was good to experience. Kyle made the most of it by downing two little bottles of red and a large whiskey before putting his seat back for the night.

We arrived in the town of Puerto Iguazu at about midday the next day, and were pleasantly surprised by the relatively cool temperatures. We had been bracing for heat and humidity, but it wasn't actually too bad that day. Luckily, as it would have made camping uncomfortable. We took a bus a quick ride just out of town to the Complejo Americano, a resort/campsite set amidst jungle surroundings. We were happy with the site - lots of nice grass and trees and a big swimming pool, but the bathrooms were pretty gross. Being back in the smells and sounds of the jungle transported us back to Colombia and the very first two weeks of our trip, back in July. It was nice to reminisce and consider how far we've come, but soon we were also reminded of why we were happy to leave the Caribbean coast - bugs. There were some huge beetles and various winged creatures buzzing around the tent at all times, the bathrooms were overrun by huge toads, and of course, the mosquitoes. Within minutes of arriving I was bitten on the foot and ankle by some nasty creature and my ankle swelled up to significant "cankle" proportions. The jungle is not my friend.

The next day we undertook our much anticipated trip to the famous Iguazu falls. We hopped on the bus right in front of the campsite at about 8am and about 15 minutes later we arrived at the park. We had expected line ups and crowds but there was hardly anyone there. We paid our 85 peso entrance fee and with a map and some good advice from a friendly staff member we had our day planned out. The Argentinian side of the falls is a large national park with many different walks and circuits to do offering different views of the 275-odd falls that make up this natural wonder, so you can spend a whole day there. The order suggested to us was Upper Circuit, Lower Circuit, Isla San Martin and finally Garganta del Diablo, and after doing exactly that I agree that this is the best way to go.

We took a short walk through marshy jungle to the beginning of the upper circuit. Most people take the little train to the first station from where the circuits begin, but walking the 8 or so minutes along the sendero verde is a better option, allowing you to get away from the rest of the visitors. On the Upper Circuit we followed a board walk through the trees and over parts of the river, passing two small but beautiful waterfalls, then we rounded a bend and the immense vista of Iguazu opened up in front of us. I have seen countless photos of the falls, including many taken from that exact spot, but still, seeing it with my own eyes I almost cried. It's a stunning view.

The Upper Circuit took us across the top of a section of the falls, and I was very happy when the sun made an appearance, allowing us to get some great photos. After enjoying the views with barely any other tourists we headed back to begin the Lower Circuit; more people were beginning to arrive now. We were contemplating a particularly majestic salto - a thundering curtain of pure power - from below when we witnessed one of the worst displays of South American contempt for the environment that I have yet seen. In Bolivia and other countries I was devastated by the amount of rubbish littering the landscape and the indifference of the people, but I put it down to poor education about such matters. Here in Argentina I expected better attitudes, but we witnessed a man pull the plastic ring off his water bottle and casually toss it to the ground, totally oblivious to the fact that 1) he was in a national park; 2) he was looking upon one of the world's most amazing natural wonders; and 3) he was barely three metres from a bin. I stalked over, picked up his rubbish and indicated to him where he should have put it - it really wasn't that hard. He apologised, but really, there's no need to apologise to me; it's his natural wonder he's ruining.

Speaking of ruining things, a sign near one of the falls showed photos and explained how decades ago the water of the Iguazú river ran clear, whereas now it is a muddy brown colour. This is due to logging upstream causing erosion of the deep red soil, tinting the water of the river. While the colour doesn't detract from the spectacle, it would have been nice to see it clean and pure as in the past.

Towards the bottom of the Lower Circuit is where you can take a small launch across the river to the Isla San Martin - a rocky island in the middle of the river with walking paths and an amazing viewing platform next to the salto San Martin, one of the biggest single falls to be seen. Unfortunately for us, the boat was not running as the river was too high. While it was a shame not to be able to go over there, it meant that we were seeing the falls with plenty of water coming over them. Instead we took a fun ride on a jetboat run by a private company that goes right up under the falls to give you a view from a different angle, as well as a thorough soaking. Up close to the falls the spray in the face was so intense you couldn't see a thing - that's if you could even open your eyes. We got seats right up the front that seemed to be the wettest ones; at one stage the boat turned and a wave swamped us - I had been keen to get wet as the sun had come out and it was very hot, but Kyle had donned his bright red Wake Up! poncho in an effort to stay dry. His efforts were in vain and he disembarked as sopping as I was, hahaha.

We headed back up to the train station and took a break to eat our picnic lunch, while trying to keep the annoying critters at bay. Apart from beautiful butterflies, the other wildlife specimen we encountered in the park were the coaties - small dog sized, long snouted animals that have no fear of people and are particularly adept at stealing food. Their claws are long and there are signs about the place warning that they can scratch and bite, so we kept well away.

After lunch we boarded the next passing train for short journey round to the Garganta del Diablo station. From here it was a walk of about ten minutes on a boardwalk out over the wide river to the Garganta del Diablo - The Devil's Throat, arguably the most amazing feature of the falls. The river above the falls spreads out into a wide delta, which is why the falls are 2.7 kilometres wide. On this side of the Isla San Martin the cliffs form a U shape, if you're looking from above, with immense amounts of water plunging over every side. As you near the edge of the U you see the clouds of mist and spray rising up from below, and the water seems to rush faster as it comes closer to the drop. Once on the viewing platform, right above the edge on one side of the U, it seems there is nothing but thundering water all around, plummeting down to where you can see nothing but white. It's amazing.

Once we had dragged ourselves away from the spectacular view our visit to the falls was at an end. We took the bus back to the campsite and whiled away the rest of the afternoon by the pool, then cooked up a delicious pork asado for dinner, a fitting end to a great day. The next day however, we didn't know what to do with ourselves. After Iguazú we'd pretty much done everything we really wanted to do in this part of the world; all that remained was Buenos Aires, but we still had another week before we needed to be there. I'm sure we could have found many things to occupy us, but by now the money is fast running out so our options are limited. Exacerbating this problem is the fact that we are pretty much over camping after three weeks of it, now dying for a real bed. To give us time to think about our next move and to chill out a bit we moved into a cheap hostal in town for two nights - what with a real bed, a private bathroom and even aircon it was pure luxury! We didn't get as much sleep as we would have liked though. The place was frequented by some strange characters - older Latino tourists who sure do like a drink. The first night a Chilean got into a fight with a drunk old mate whose origins are unknown, each insulting the other's mother until the owner came out to settled things down. The second night a mixed group partied on into the wee hours, which wouldn't have been a problem if it weren't for the woman's ear-splitting shriek of a laugh boring into my brain every 30 seconds. The upshot is we complained and only paid half price for that night.

During those two days we took a walk down to the Hito Tres Fronteras - the confluence of the Rio Iguazú with the Rio Paraná and the intersection of the borders of Argentina, Brasil and Paraguay. There was a flag and some market stalls but not much else, and it was so hot and humid down there that we had to take refuge for the rest of the day in a cool internet cafe. In Puerto Iguaú we also ate each day at the same little restaurant where their huge, cheap schnitzel sandwiches had us coming back for more. The ubiquitous milanesa sandwich is the only thing we can afford to eat out, when we get sick of making ham and cheese bread rolls for lunch. After Argentina I don't want to see processed ham or plastic cheese again for long time - it's all they eat! At one cafe the menu literally consisted of seven or so different types of sandwich - by that I mean different bread - all with the same filling. Ham and cheese. But I digress...

After much deliberation we decided to head to Uruguay, which will be the subject of the next blog. Goodbye to Argentina, but not for long! Time to check out your small, under-appreciated neighbour.

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Photos

Tomás, the friendly camp dog
he knew how to get a pat out of anyone

"airports" on the beach
Mar del Plata

Night in Tandil
on the lake

Butterfly
that wouldn't leave Kyle's shirt

One of the bigger single falls
where the idiot threw his plastic on the ground

View from below
of the Three Musketeers falls

That there is Brasil
and on the left is Paraguay

Comments

[Maria Antonia]

Happy Cristmas!!!
Dear Marco Polos, What a long and wonderful trip you are doing, I'm jelous. This is an experirence that you will never forget.It sounds funny for me to celebrate Cristmas with such a good weather and beautiful landscapes but you are probably use to it since I think it is similar climate than in Australia for this time of the year. I wish you a very happy Cristmas Days and all the best and happiness in the new year for you and your families. Best wishes. Maria Antonia