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Published: September 6th 2006
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Parkue National Iguazu1
A ??? let me get up really close Puerto Iguazu - Arrived at 9.30am and after a quick turn around, was on the way to the Parque Nacional Iguazu. The park has a good infrastructure of walkways, bathrooms and eating places (everything is overpriced so bring your own food) and is well signed.
There are a couple of walks you can do both at lower level and at the top of the falls. The falls are very pretty but I was not as impressed as I thought I´d be (must be a jaded traveller), UNTIL I saw the "Garganta del Diablo" (Devil´s Throat) which is reached by a series of catwalks. Here the water just plummets into a seemingly bottomless pit before you and is truely spectacular. As there has been a draught here for several years and water levels are low, I can only imagine what it must be like when the water is at its highest.
During the day, had to smirk when tourists were gawking and photographing a tiny caiman sunbathing below them on a rock. After seeing heaps of them on my jungle tour, it was not such a big deal. Also saw butterflies, lizards, vultures, several other different types of birds and
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A whole bunch of coatis ran along the handrail and jumped into the tree right next to me a whole heap of coatis (kind of like bandicoots?). Was hoping a jaguar would jump out at me but was his day off.
Also took a peak inside the Sheraton Iguazu to see how the other half live. If you pretend to be considering the menu, you can get a good view of both the falls, Brazil and Argentina from the balcony. Unfortunately ran out of time to do any speedboating or helicopter rides, maybe next time...
Buenos Aires - Day1 arrived from overnight bus early in the morning. The Milhouse Hostel where I was staying were running an organised walking tour of the district of San Telmo that morning, so I tagged along on this, as couldn't check in until later in the day.
The tour took in Plaza de Mayo, including the pink presidential palace which the balcony from which Evita used to give speeches to the crowd, Catedral metropolitana containing the tomb of liberator Jose de San Martin. We saw the march of the "Madres de Plaza de Mayo" which are the mothers of the lost generation of over 30 thousand.
We also saw the Block of Enlightenment, a square of 18th century
buildings which includes a church and a prestigious secondary school.
In San Telmo itself we saw evidence of tango culture with wall murials and tango schools and venues which host tango shows. However the highlight was lunchtime, when we descended upon a "parrilla", (grillhouse). There was an overwhelming smell of meat, as the chef proudly cooked what looked like whole carcasses, including offal, on his massive grill. The portions served were enormous and reflected the Argentinian traditional love of meat. By the way, there is also a salad bar, but it seems more like an afterthought.
That evening the large and very friendly Milhouse Hostel hosted a party including DJ and happy hour. The party lasted until around 2.30am, after which a lot of people took off to one of the local nightclubs, only struggling into bed around 7am the next morning.
Day 2 - spent the day exploring the whole city on foot, including SHOPPING, along a couple of the pedestian malls which are choc full of department stores, touristy shops, fashion shops and mostly leather and fur shops. Pity I don't have a packhorse handy to carry home all those boots and coats I could
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Devil´s Throat - looks and sounds like the water is thundering down into a bottomless pit. Don´t miss the rainbow in the middle! have bought...
Also walked up to Cementario de la Recoleta, which is a prestigious cemetery which the rich and famous pay through the nose to rest in ornate splendour. Amoung the who's who is Evita's shrine which possibly gets the most visitors of all.
Was interesting to catch part of a tango routine, which involves the performers dancing in the centre of the pedestian mall and hoping for tips from the onlookers. Also saw a couple of dog walkers, which typically have about 8 dogs of all shapes and sizes jostling around them.
Day 3 - More shopping! Also took in one of the many tango shows around town. The package was organised by the hostel, and included a 1/2 hour beginners tango lesson beforehand. About 10 couples all squashed into a very small room, many of them travellers. We were all struggling to dance gracefully in our hiking boots, while really doing more like a good impression of an elephant. Instructions in Spanish didn´t really help, but then I think we were beyond help anyway... After this we enjoyed a nice meal and then watched a tango show for an hour.
Day 4 - Visited
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The river flowing down from Devil´s Throat. The mist you see is the spray thrown up from the Devil´s Throat. "La Boca", the colourful working class district and also the old smugglers' port. The tourist area included a market, souvenir shops, pubs and cafes. Tango dancers also stuck impromptu dance poses against the colourfully painted houses for tourist photo opportunities.
In the afternoon we went to see Boca Juniors play St Lorenzo at their home ground. Due to the over zealousness of the fans it could be a bit dangerous, so went with a tour organised by the hostel. We sat with the St Lorenzo fans. At the commencement of the match the fans cheered, sang, danced and set off smoke bombs in the team colours. They also threw toilet paper and confetti (torn up mazagines) and balloons. The atmosphere and enthusiasm was electric.
Unfortunately the team suffered a humiliating loss. Due to the possibility of riots the fans of the winning team were cleared from the stadium before the fans of the losing team were allowed out - the fans are also stricly separated by their seating with "buffer zones" of empty seats during the match. There was also a heavy armed police presence, however not too much action happened, only a couple of skirmishes.
It
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The cook in the parrilla was very proud of his skills was not recommended to take cameras to the ground, so photos from a friend to follow (you know who you are).
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