Off to Puerto Iguazu

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Today was a very early day, up at 4 am, in order to get ready and in the taxi to the airport by 5:30. Our flight was at 7:40, but we had no idea how long it took to get from the hotel to the international airport, how long security would take, etc. Turns out, we left at the exact right time. There was very little traffic, the taxi driver drove very very fast, and it still took about 30 minutes to get to the airport.

This is the first time we have ever taken an in-country fight on a trip, so this was all new to us. We booked through Argentine Airlines, all online, I am impressed with the ease of check in, and how little time it took to get through security even without TSA pre check. I purchased premium economy tickets for us, I guess it is the equivalent to first class, there were only 8 seats. This allowed us pre bordering, which doesn’t really mean much when you have to get on the shuttle bus to be taken out to the plane and then up the old-style stairs to get on the plane. The seats were surprisingly very comfortable, better than the first-class seats we had from Boston to Houston.

As you know, I am not much of a flyer, so the fact we were on a foreign carrier had me a bit more nervous than usual. Fortunately, the flight was fairly smooth, there was a 20-minute patch of heavier than I care for turbulence, but I survived.

There airport for the Iguazu region has one runway and three gates. Smallest airport I have landed in since Klamath Falls (that was of course a turbo prop and a tiny airport.) The luggage basically was off the plane before we were. There was no customs to deal with and we walked right to the rental care office. It took about 45 minutes to get through the rental car process, a lot of miscommunication regarding insurance, prepaying for gas, type of car etc. The price was also significantly different than when we booked. We use Europcar when ever we travel abroad and have never had this level of difficulty before, I leave it to “That’s just Argentina” (more on that later.)

Finally, in the car we were off to the hotel in Puerto Iguazu, 45 minutes away and on the edge of the Parc Iguazu. We checked right in, unpacked and were off to lunch before heading out to the Parc.

The poverty here is very obvious, truly a city of extreme haves and have nots. The city is pretty run down, the roads have potholes that could swallow a small car and dogs are everywhere. The only industry here is tourism. If the Parc was not here I am not sure this city would continue to exist. It is located in the very tip of the country; from our hotel we can look across the river to Paraguay in one direction and Brazil in the other.

Lunch was at a complex, I call it this because it was clearly designed for large tour groups to visit, eat, and buy wine. It was a restaurant and wine shop rolled into one. The name of the restaurant was Patanegra, it was pretty empty when we were there, it is clearly off season. We did a trio of appetizers for lunch, empanadas, batatas bravas, and provelata. We asked for a side of chimichurri, (best of the trip so far.) the Romesco on the batata bravas was also very good, almost Spain quality.

After lunch it was off to the park. Here it starts to get fun. Car rental places apparently no longer give out maps, instead they send you some tiny map via WhatsApp, completely worthless. Don’t rely on Google Maps either, it had us going to the middle of nowhere to park the car, the road wasn’t even open. We finally relied on our own judgement and found the park, but not the parking lot. Argentina does not believe in giving out any useful information. Nothing is clearly marked; the websites are all filled with bad information and there are no maps. You just need to be prepared to spend extra time getting anywhere. This is why we say, well “It’s Just Argentina.”

The reason we are here is for the Iguazu Falls. Our plan was to spend half of the first day exploring a nature trial, and the next day the falls. I already knew that Diablo (the largest of the waterfalls) was closed because of flooding and the path was not save. We thought about doing a boat cruise that took you to the base of all of the falls but opted out as: 1) we would have been soaked along with our passports, camera, etc.; 2) to get back up from the water was a 300 meter straight up climb. I could have done the climb, but the thought of being wet and 90% humidity did not appeal to me. This first day ended up being purely information gathering so we would know what we would do tomorrow. There was very helpful woman at one of the kiosk and she fully explain the hours and how the park worked. She even gave us an actual paper map of the entire park. She told us to keep it a secret because they are rare, since they stopped making them during covid.

That was the day, so back to the hotel. We had a dinner reservation in town but opted to cancel and just eat at the hotel. We were pretty tired from the long travel day and didn’t really want to drive to and from dinner.

The hotel restaurant is nothing to go on about. We split two different items; both were ok. It must be that it is not high season, and they don’t have the normal staff, because they didn’t try to hard. Our server was young and very inexperienced, but he managed to get everything correct.

We started with a Tabla Regional, a selection of regional dishes. There is a lot lost in translation here, and this is from their menu. Corn souffle (cornbread by any other name) Tapioca pancake (good for dipping), chipa with meat inside (cheese bread with liver) yeah no, fried cassava, (yucca) small salad, a sauce with chopped meat (the best thing on the board). We also split a steak and fries. The steak is always a good bet in Argentina, always cooked perfect and seasoned nicely. A nice bottle of Cabernet Franc, (actually Whatsapp’d Berty our wine guy from the first night to ask him which wine we should have) he picked the wine we were already leaning.

There are three hotel dogs that pretty much own the place. The parking lot, they will get out of your way in their own time. They enjoy sleeping on the luggage cart, or dark always. They are all fat, so they are well fed.

That was our first day here in the rain forest. Dish of the day is actually Sauces of the day. The Romesco and Chimichurri from lunch.

Tomorrow into the Jungle.

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Photos

Our Lunch
Sauces are the Dish of the day.

Comments

[Sharon Hughson]

What about the mashed potatoes?
Sorry I couldn’t ask this on the appropriate post. There wasn’t an option to comment on that post when I read it. What made the mashed potatoes the best you’ve ever had? And dish of the day over the chicken (which looked divine)?

[ChrisWPdx]

Butter
The chicken was good, but just too much spinach for me. The potatoes were fully and oh so buttery, and hot, nothing I hate more than cold potatoes.