The final couple of days

Dead centre

After all this time in Recoleta, today is the day to visit the cemetery.  For those not in the know, this is a *very* different cemetery.  It is actually more like a little town, with tree-lined avenues and miniature buildings which are actually vaults or tombs for the rich & famous.   There are 4,591 such vaults (all above ground), some extremely opulent while others have lacked recent maintenance. 

We spent quite some time wandering around, in particular looking for Eva Peron's tomb.  After a bit of a guide to the general direction, it was just a  matter of  "follow the crowd". There are no specific  directions or anything special about her resting place, which is part of her family's vault.

Satisfied, we left and visited the church next door, which was the reason the cemetry was established.  The church was an 18th Century Jesuit church and we were intrigued to see the translation of "Friars" to be "Friers" - time for a  cook up perhaps.  We once again found some lovely parks and concluded our exploration at the National Museum of Fine Arts, where we toured around for an hour or so.

By now it was fast approaching 3.00 and Vivian was feeling the heat etc. so we went back to the Mall adjacent to the cemetery and had a substantial meal (& beer) at an Irish Pub - what else would you expect in the centre of Buenos Aires. 

We did the usual pizza thing (just one small pizza to share), again we were the first customers of the evening,  but by the  time we left, just after 9.00, it was filling up quickly.  Big day tomorrow. 


Out to the countryside 

On the recommendation of our friends Sue & Brian while on the ship, we booked an all day tour to an estancia (ranch), 120 odd km out west of BA.  We were picked up from the hotel around 9.00 - our van had 2 Portuguese, 5 from California (different parts) and us.  Our guide, Laura,  was excellent and gave a non stop commentary on the whole of Argentina during our journey out.

We drove for over an hour and a half, with a comfort stop along the way to the historic village of San Antonio de Areco to visit the museum & (of course) the Church.  It was all pretty and typical of the many small villages around this fertile farming area.  

Having done this, it is time to continue our journey to Estancia El Ombu de Areco.  It is only at this time, as we turn off the main road heading to the ranch that Laura informs us that due to extreme rain over the last couple of days we will have to change vehicles.  So....., we swapped our  comfortable air conditioned van for a "farm" 4x4 for the last 4 or 5 km.  Rough. Yes, very rough.

On arrival at the beautiful estancia we were served empanadas along with Malbec & water.  After some time enjoying the coolness, it was time for the highlight - giddy up & on to the horses.  Well, 6 of us did the horse riding, the others did a cart ride.

The horses were extremely placid (although Vivian had an issue with hers)  and we proceeded out and around the pampas for around half an hour.  Good fun.  Lunch was next on the menu, so it was BBQ Argentine style (which is slowly BBQed), once again washed down with Malbec.  It was what could be  described as a leisurely long lunch.

3.00 was entertainment time, with some of the farm hands (call them Gauchos) and I think their wives, doing traditional dancing & then audience participation.  

The main character (well the one with the guitar) had his 2.5 year old son, who also had an ukelele and was a remarkable showman, having us all in fits of laughter.  Later he approached Vivian and swapped his hat for her red one!

The final performance was amazing.  It was a horse whispering demonstration.  The girl was from Vienna and she had been with this horse for just 3 months, yet the  horse trusted her and allowed her to roll it over, lie on it etc.  Quite remarkable indeed.  Sadly this was the finale and we knew we had the bumpy ride back to our van.

Our 4x4 was filled up with some extra guests from a private tour as well as 2 of the entertainers & the little boy.  He sat up in the corner of the vehicle between one the American men and me.  He was so tired, he started to nod off, but his father would bring him to, with the traditional gaucho call.  Still, I reckon that as soon as they got to their own vehicle he would have been out like a light.

In the end we got back to our hotel at 6.00, still buzzing from the day.  Exactly a repeat of last night's meal, only an hour earlier.   Not sure if it is Argentine inflation or NZD fluctuation, but tonight's meal cost NZD 0.04 more!


Final Day

We have had a great time in Argentina and are pleased to have spread out the activities.  Today has been one of packing, updating this blog and generally relaxing as we know we have a long night/day ahead of us. 

Our flight home is at midnight and we get into Auckland at 5.30 am on Wednesday.  I booked our room for the night,  so we can shower and change before heading out to the airport. 

We went out to the Recoleta Mall just before lunchtime and yes, all Malls throughout the world are the same - and they all have sales!  We found a lovely restaurant and enjoyed our final meal in BA.  The weather is hot (33°) and very humid, so after lunch we ambled back to the comfort of the air conditioning.  

It has been a great holiday and we were just commenting that we have seen and done more in the last 3 weeks than we did on the 3 month cruise last year.  We know that we are very fortunate.  

Once again, I hope that any readers have enjoyed tagging along with us (at least you don't have to worry about jet-lag).

Now for the Argentine sector

Buenos Aires  - Day 1
We spent all last night sailing up the River Plate, so was very smooth & quiet.  I think we docked around 5.30, although we didn't get up until 6.30.  Breakfast was both early & a buffet in the MDR but having said that it was very pleasant. We finally vacated our home away from  home before 8.00 & sat around in Mosaic Cafe having a final "free" latte until just after 9.00 and we decided that there was no point in hanging about any longer.

We walked straight off the ship and into the waiting shuttle bus, which caught us off guard  by taking off straight away, even though there were just over a dozen passengers on board.  Grabbed our luggage, went through the scanner and straight out to the waiting taxis - no Customs or Immigration.  Taxi was USD20 and once again, a bit of a hair raising trip.  Funny thing us that most of the taxis are really small, with what seems tiny boots (mainly Citreons & Peugeots), but they took all 4 of our bags 😀

We reached the hotel well before 10.00 and were pleasantly surprised that were given our room immediately away (even though check in is not until 3.00).  This time we are on the 3rd floor, but still overlooking the street, which is great.  

Decided to do a bit of a walk, so took off the the upmarket shopping area of Santa Fe.  Interesting.  We called into a local cafe, where fortunately one of the staff spoke English (otherwise Google translate would have had to do).  Had chicken sandwiches - far too big, and coffee for roughly NZD22, which we didn't think was too bad.

Tomorrow is a big day with our flight up to Iguazu, where we are just taking overnight bags, so a bit of planning and packing before heading out for dinner around 7.00 - which I think I have commented previously, is considered seriously early!  We went to the same Pizza place we went to previously,  but most people were still having afternoon tea.  After our big lunch, we still made the mistake of ordering a pizza each - never again.  The Malbec helped.

Iguazu 1
We got up pretty early and had breakfast out of the way by 7.45, as although I'd checked in our flight online, I still wanted to "be prepared".  The taxi arrived at 8.00 and 2 things happened on our way to the airport.  

1. The driver used the meter. 

2. We had  an animated conversation on the way via Google translate - so here we are racing down the road and he is passing over his phone for us to read in the back seat.  He was very informative *and* this journey to the domestic airport actually cost just under 300ARS (NZD 12) compared to those rip-off artists we've had before 🤨

Ever since I'd booked this tour (Intrepid), I have had nightmares about "what if we don't get to our Iguazu hotel before the tour starts at 1.00?".  Yes, the 10.00 flight takes 1hr 45 minutes approx. which gives us a half hour leeway after a 30 minute taxi to our hotel.  

Cutting a long story short, here we are still lining up to board at 10.00 and no one is really moving.  It turns out that our plane is out on the tarmac and we are being bussed out - there goes my leeway!

We take off just over half an hour late, but with luck on our side we arrived at 12.05.  Having just carry on was a Godsend, so off we rushed ignoring the first lot of taxi touts quoting 800ARS, got to the exit, found no waiting taxis, but another tout quoting 700ARS.  All good and it is quite a drive through/alongside the National Park.  We reached our hotel just after 12.30, so hugely relieved. 

The Arami Hotel is a 3* (?) hotel, handily located in the old, old part of Iguazu, but having said that there were some seriously expensive houses opposite (oh yes, and a backpackers just down the road).  It is only for 1 night, so we were not looking for a luxury hotel.  The hotel is part of the tour package.  As we later found out the hotel is pretty well fully booked by various tour companies around the world (read into that what you wish).

Right on 1.00 our guide Antonio arrived in his 17 seater van - but we are the only ones, so that is good to have a private tour.  Antonio is Brazilian and lives over the border.  As you'd expect, he us strongly pro Brazil and somewhat dismissive of Argentina.  

Our first experience today is to visit the Falls from the Brazil side, so about a 30 minute drive out and through Immigration on both sides - Argentines didn't want to see us, just our passports, but Brazil required us to line up for face to face (passport) inspection both coming and going back a few hours later. 

Our first view of the falls was mindblowing,  but as we continued to walk for almost 2 hours the scenery changed and the views got even more impressive.   

I don't think that words can convey what we saw & heard (the ever increasing roar of the Falls) and the finale of the spray which soaked us at the end, where the walkway stretches out just below the Devils Throat.  It was an easy walk, slightly downhill and fortunately there was an elevator at the end to take us up to road level. 

We had time to grab a nice coffee which overlooking the headwaters of the Falls before meeting up with our guide and heading back across the border to our hotel.  The border between Argentina & Brazil is the Iguazu River and although we hadn't noticed it on the way over, the side of the bridge is painted Green & Yellow for half the way (Brazil) and then Blue & White for the Argentine side.  

Before the bridge was built, a ferry was used.  The river also flows through Paraguay, only a mile or so away.  It was also pointed out that the river eventually joins the River Plate which in turn provides drinking water for Buenos Aires (after heavy filtering/processing of course).

Intrepid had provided us with restuarant recommendations and thankfully the main part of town (certainly restuarant wise) was only 10 minutes walk away.  Coincidentally Google Maps also had recommended the same restaurant, so we felt comfortable.  

Before I go on, I should mention that generally the infrastructure in the district is pretty poor and footpaths are a nightmare (and not just at night -  a  daymare perhaps).

Aqva Restaurant is a "classy", air conditioned restaurant, catering particularly for the tourist trade I believe.  The staff were excellent,  the food was huge and enjoyable and I think that we had the biggest wine glasses I've ever come across.  Vivian had to hold hers like a chalice!  

We spent a long time there enjoying the ambiance and fellow diners.  A couple next to us were from USA and they had been here the night before too - so that is a recommendation.   On the other side were a couple from Brazil with their 2 young girlsl - they too were very interested in New Zealand.

Funnily, when we left we found that it had rained quite a bit during our time out, so very pleased that we had not selected one of the many open air restaurants along the way.   

I realise that I haven't mentioned the weather up here.   Hot & humid.   Daytime was up to the late 30s, with humidity making it worse, so our impromptu shower at the falls was just what we needed.   Air conditioning didn't really cut it, so just a sheet tonight.  Have to be up early again tomorrow. 

Iguazu - 2
We were up early (nothing new in this  - I need a holiday) as we are going picked up at 7.30 - "to beat the crowds".  Breakfast was supposed to start at 6.45 and when we got there at 6.40 the place was buzzing (predominantly in German).  So we are not the only early birds.   A light continental breakfast was fine after our dinner last night.

Our trip to the (Argentine) National Park was just 20 minutes and we lined up for our tickets and then proceeded along the path for about 5/10 minutes and joined yet another queue (who said we were beating the crowd?) for our train tickets.  There were people of all nationalities,  including locals and people carting large chilly bins as well.

Our train took us to the Devils Throat at the far end of the falls, passing by the first station which provides access to the upper & lower tracks.  Anyway, back to our train.  It is certainly an efficient way to get a large number of people moved, although on the way we did see many who'd elected to walk. 

At the start of the track (which is a metal boardwalk) leading to the Devils Throat, some 3 or 4 kilometers away, who should we meet, but Avril & Lynne from our cruise.   A small world indeed.  We also came across 3 or 4 other couples during the day too!  The walkway was busy as it is 2 way, and as I've mentioned,  for some reason people bought a lot of baggage with them.

The scenery is pretty, but in the main the track meanders through the headwaters above the 275 falls and it is not until the end that you get to experience the water cascading down, producing photo-inhibiting mist & spray.  

Took the photos and headed back.  Vivian gained a passenger - a little butterfly which stayed on her hat for almost half an hour, so she has the most photographed hat in Iguazu.  People thought it was funny.

Next was the train trip halfway back and here we stopped for a coffee before heading out on the upper trail.  This is actually much more picturesque, as the trail takes you over the tops of many, many waterfalls.  Some spectacular views and thankfully we were pretty much in the shade all the way.  On our return, we had a substantial lunch before heading back to our hotel.

A very hot monkey!! - no, not the previous photo.

The tour was a little shorter than advertised but this was our choice and we feel that we have experienced the falls fully and are very happy overall.  Certainly the visit to the Brazilian side was probably the highlight to give an overall impression of the magnitude of these falls.  

Some 12,000 cubic metres of water pour over every second, but there have been numerous floods over the years which have washed away all the trails (the last "mother of all floods" was in 2014 when the flow was over 46,000 cu metres per second!).

Back at the hotel, we were very fortunate that they allowed us to use the downstairs lounge &  facilities,  so Vivian managed to read a whole book plus take a shower while I tried to learn Spanish flicking through 100 TV channels.  It is a shame that I did not bring my tablet,  as I could have updated this blog.  

About 5.30 we got a taxi to the airport and this one was really old as was the driver.  When we reached the airport he said (using his fingers) 1200ARS.  I said no way, it was only 700 to the hotel, so he cut his fingers in half (not literally) and sheepishly said 600ARS.  I am not being mean here and I think taxi drivers deserve to be paid fairly,  but sometimes tourists are just taken for a ride..............😀😁😂😀

Iguazu airport is in a state of major renovations and is apparently to be converted to an International Airport, with direct flights from Madrid over the next few years.  Unfortunately at this stage the facilities are minimal, as was the air conditioning.   However we survived on a sandwich & a Sprite and before we knew it, along came our flight.

30 minutes and a bit of a queue later we are on board and actually left on time at 8.10.  There were no other flights for an hour or so.  This flight had inflight entertainment, but if course just water, tea & coffee.  It was a very bumpy flight as the usual evening storms were in the way and also was a smaller 80 seater plane.  

We landed on time, got a taxi from the regimented rank 300ARS by meter and pleased to be back in "our home" for a few nights.   As we drove through town around 11.00 *all* the eateries & bars were rocking!  A quiet day for us is planned for tomorrow however.