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Published: August 9th 2007
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Cascading cataratas
Brasilian falls from Argentina, Iguazu A welcome from home After eight months on the road we were both pretty excited at the prospect of a reunion with David's parents, brother and girlfriend who were flying out to meet us in Buenos Aires.
For Jane and Robert it was the furthest they'd ever been from Kansas and Toto (aka Jodi) had to stay at home. For Andrew it was a return to South America and a chance to tune up his rusty Spanish and fraternal sparring.
For Karen it was an excuse to sample some of the famed Patagonian chocolate (as a veggie she'd be abstaining from the lamb and steaks).
And so they arrived with bags crammed with forgotten goodies for us - Mini Eggs, Minstrels, Haribo and homemade bramble jelly. For the next two weeks our normally healthy diet took a distinct turn for the worse (or better depending on how you rate these things).
For someone with Carolyn's appetite (and filled with sweeties) the portions of steak were somewhat of a challenge until we discovered it's possible to get half portions. These were still twice the size of a decent steak at home of course, and only a fraction of
We are the 3 amigos
Melvi, Mini Melvi and Middle Melvi at Iguazu the price.
Vamos Xeneise But of course there's more to Buenos Aires than food. It's impossible to forget about the national religion with it's chief deity Maradona himself. His image was literally tatooed onto some of the locals, so it would be sacrilege not to pay homage to the national pastime and Maradona's former club so the boys wangled themselves tickets to see Boca Juniors whilst the girls went in search of some other national treasures.
It's fair to say that the guys enjoyed the jaunt to the football. The experience was aided by Boca scoring 4 times in the opening 18 minutes and going on to win 5-1. But most of all, it was down to the crazy, crazy fans. The hardcore call themselves La Doce translating to 'the twelfth man', and in this case it's almost certainly true.
You can forget about the waxing lyrical from British pundits about electric European nights at Parkhead or Anfield, this mob know how to support a team. And this was only a simple league match against a team with which they have no great rivalry.
Contrary to the library like atmosphere to be found in most large
grounds in the UK after the home team has wrapped the game up with an 8 minute hat trick in the opening stages, each goal just made La Doce louder and louder and louder.
Oh to have been able to move round the ground a little and join them on the terrace behind the goal, hanging from the giant strips of blue and yellow flag yelling for more from the team. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to return to Dundee Utd v Clyde on a wet Wednesday in January for a place in the third round of the league cup.
Don't cry for me or my weeski This level of reverence was somewhat lacking when the girls went to pay their respects to another national hero (or heroine). Despite the size of Recoleta cemetery Evita's tomb wasn't so hard to find. Just follow the tour groups. Whilst waiting patiently for one of these to move on so we could take our photos an Argentinian started chatting to us in Spanish. He asked how much of the guide's spiel we were understanding and when we admitted not too much he said we weren't missing anything. He then
asked where Carolyn was from and when the response came, asked if there was a bottle of 'weeski' in her bag, such is our national reputation.
Poochy perambulation The third love in the Argentinian capital (after football and red meat) seems to be their pet dogs. But being busy people, dog walkers seem to be essential. So if you can't have a career as a footballer a good alternative would be the challenge of walking as many as 20 dogs at one time. We were really curious to know what would happen if all those dogs decided to run at once. Particularly since many of the professionals had some of the pooches leads attached to their belt loops. It's almost tempting to run along ahead of them with a string of sausages just to illicit the running response.
Cataratas There really isn't a lot you can cover of a country the size of Brasil in one day but if that's all you have the Brasilian side of Iguazu Falls isn't a bad place to spend it and collect a couple more passport stamps whilst you're at it. As it turns out we didn't have a day, only an
Arty types
Andy and Karen make a purchase for the new pad afternoon, but it was enough to whet our appetites for the following full day on the Argentinian side.
Before hitting the water we popped into the bird park to get up close and personal with some multi-coloured feathery friends. Those of you know Carolyn will know that's her idea of heaven. Having a parrot say 'hola' to you though is a considerably more pleasant experience than trying to avoid crazed pigeons in George Square. And hummingbirds are simply too small to be scary. Bizarrely they are the flappiest of all birds, yet they perform the act so quickly it makes them less terrifying than any other species.
And so on to the cataratas themselves. Having visited Niagara a few years back, we weren't sure how the falls would compare. No need to be concerned. They were truly awesome. They make Niagara look a little like a nasty leaking tap in the kitchen. Ok, that's possibly a little unfair, but they certainly outstrip Niagara by quite some way. And it's possible to spend an entire day on the walkways that take you over, under and extremely close to the multitude of falls that make up Iguazu.
It's difficult
to offer a sense of the feeling you get up close to them, and taking a picture just doesn't do them justice. There's an almost hypnotic effect from that volume of water rushing anywhere at that speed.
We finished off the day with a visit to Las Tres Fronteras, a point in Peurto Iguazu where Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina are separated only by a river.
A fine couple of days, and good preparation for the sights to come in Patagonia. (Blog coming soon! We promise!)
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Douglas Brant
non-member comment
Where's yer maw
I was looking forward to seeing Jane and Robert in some Argentinian scenes. How about it David. I only saw your dad longing for a steak! A Cadder neighbour