Blogs from Misiones, Argentina, South America - page 9

So I am off traveling with my Mum. In order to ensure that we appreciate the crisp Antarctic weather later in the trip, we first headed up to be in 35 degree humidity at Iguazu Falls. First up, we set off early from our lodge in Puerto Iguazu and caught the bus to the Argentinian side of the falls. The park is fantastic - the falls are made up of around 200 different waterfalls and there are walkways around, beside, over the various falls. At some of them, you get saturated - like the 'devil's throat'. We came across a few coatis, which I thought were very cute. They are a bit like raccoons and hang out in the food areas. There are lots of signs warning of coati attacks though and we saw a coati ... read more

Iguazu falls.. Not the widest, biggest, or highest falls.. But supposedly one of the most beautiful ones. Well, we were going to be able to judge this with our own eyes. Stephen had booked the Sheraton Iguazu on hotel points. It hadn't been 'cheap', but it was the one single hotel that is actually in the natural park, so we figured it'd be worth it. The town Puerto Iguazu is a 30 mins drive away, and the park closes well before sunset. Oh, and was most definitely worth it! I couldn't stop smiling when we walked into the hotel, and already had a direct view on the falls. Our room (okay, suite) on the 3rd floor gave us an even better view, and, to add to the joy, had a bottle of champagne and a platter ... read more

Day 78 The 24 hour journey went smoothly and was fairly comfortable. We arrived at the hostel Mango Tree around 5pm and checked into our (14 bed shared dorm!) room. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing by the pool with a beer before having a huge and delicious steak for dinner at the hostel. We had a few (very strong) Caipirinhas (the national cocktail) with a mix of quite odd, but fun people at the hostel, before climbing into out bunks. Day 79 Today was our much anticipated trip to the Iguassu Falls. We took a 20 minute bus ride to the national park on the Argentinian side, and spent the morning doing three walking trails, which were through the forest and offered some impressive views of the many waterfalls at the site, from ... read more

Sadly, we left our month long Bolivian home behind to find literally greener pastures. The road from the Salar led us into San Pedro de Atacama, Chile whereby we stayed one night. San Pedro is an oasis created to cater to transiting tourist. The town is attractive, resembling New Mexico with low slung adobe homes and dusty streets. Unfortunately it's overpriced and touristy but serves its purpose as a rest stop before moving on to Argentina or points further south in Chile. We bought our bus tickets to Salta, Argentina, an 11 hour journey for $63 per person and looked forward to Argentine wines, beef and tango culture. The bus ride from San Pedro to Salta is simply spectacular. The road descends thousands of feet, winding its way from the arid altiplano through fog shrouded steep ... read more

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! Only two words we can come up with. We have been to a lot of places, but the sheer enormity and power of the falls is something that is overwhelming. We can totally understand why it is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. We took the bus from Buenos Aries which turned out to be 17 hours overnight. The only reason it was bearable is that we had the Tutto Letto service which includes lie flat seats, wine, whiskey and champagne. We had the seats, wine and whiskey and will try the champagne on the trip to from Salta to Mendoza. When we arrived at Pt Iguassu, the hotel was only 600 yards from the station, so that made it pretty easy to get there. Pt. Iguassu is a welcome relief from the mad ... read more