DAY-05: Headed to Iguazu Falls
DAY-05: Headed to Iguazu Falls
Day – 05: Saturday, February 22, 2020
Starting Location: Hotel Emperador, Buenos Aires, AR
Ending Location: Hotel Melia, Iguazu Falls, AR
Today was to be an "in-country" travel day. After breakfast we checked out and payed our bar tab, a mere $115, not bad for a serious number of drinks and a lunch or two. About forty of us gathered in the hotel lobby for our trip to Iguazu Falls. We all left luggage at the hotel for our return on Sunday as we were to carry minimal baggage for the overnight stay.
While waiting for transportation, we sat with a French Canadian couple, fortunately they were fluent in English as our French was somewhat deficient. Diego our Buenos Aires tour guide arrived and handed out airline tickets and gave us a pre-travel briefing. after which we boarded a bus for the ten minute ride to Buenos Aires downtown "domestic" airport. En-route you see some of the "not-so-pretty" parts of the city.
At the terminal we checked in and cleared security, that would be South American style security where when the alarms sound they simply wave you through. We arrived at GATE #1 about 30 minutes before the departure, however the flight was late so our wait was closer to an hour.
The flight finally departed and we headed north toward the falls landing about 2:15 PM. Along the flight path we crossed an amazing array of farm and ranch land with patches of multi-colored fields delineating the crops and land ownership.
Upon arrival at the Iguazu area airport we were again herded onto buses for a ride to the national park, Parque Nacional Iguazu, our home for the next 20 hours or so. With this visit we have checked off the first of our Argentine national parks.
After lunch we boarded a narrow gauge railway to move closer to the falls.
At the rail's end we took to our feet for the trek to the overlooks situated along the rim of Iguazu Falls. For our trip we would remain on the Argentine side of the river without setting foot into Brazil. The walk from the train station to the edge of the falls was on a metal boardwalk about 1/2 mile in distance.
The falls were spectacular but like many popular places there are many people, young and old, needing constant reminders about phone camera etiquette.
Along the walk we saw a wide variety of birds, a few turtles and fish. The most interesting were the long snouted rodent like animals, very similar to raccoons. Along the trail out and back we met a variety of coatimundi families; I guess they were interested in the falls just as were the humanoids.
After the falls we boarded the train for a short ride followed by a 1/4 mile walk to the Melia Hotel where we checked in at about 6 PM. The hotel is perfectly placed within the park, overlooking the falls in the distance. The hotel is relatively new with a large infinity pool and a variety of bars all with views of the falls. Our room #208 also had a view of the falls and a warning to keep the monkeys out by always closing the outside patio doors.
Dinner was served buffet style. There was a great variety of foods, with emphasis on the grilled meats; and of course the tendency was to try too many things; I was served more scoops of ice cream than requested, but it was good ice cream and if not eaten would melt, so what was I to do.
Sheila was determined to indoctrinate the hotel bar staff to better understand just what a "fru-fru" drink was though it didn't seem to translate very well as each time a new "fru-fru" arrived it looked a bit different.
Being that we were in a remote area of Argentina there was little light pollution so the stars, planets and other objects in the sky were brightly lit. Finding a variety of constellations including the fabled CRUX - The Southern Cross was relatively easy.
By 10:30 we were in the room planning for the next day's adventure, a "get soaked" boat ride into or under the falls. Unfortunately the advertising for the boat trip was a bit confusing. What had been described as a 100-step trip down to the river and 100-step trip back had morphed into a 220-step trip each way with a mid-point medical check to ascertain fitness for the tour. 🤔 Why not do that at the start of the steps? The increased rigor of the stairway resulted in about half of our group opting for a walk above the falls rather than the river boat ride. But that's a story for tomorrow.
Today was to be an "in-country" travel day. After breakfast we checked out and payed our bar tab, a mere $115, not bad for a serious number of drinks and a lunch or two. About forty of us gathered in the hotel lobby for our trip to Iguazu Falls. We all left luggage at the hotel for our return on Sunday as we were to carry minimal baggage for the overnight stay.
While waiting for transportation, we sat with a French Canadian couple, fortunately they were fluent in English as our French was somewhat deficient. Diego our Buenos Aires tour guide arrived and handed out airline tickets and gave us a pre-travel briefing. after which we boarded a bus for the ten minute ride to Buenos Aires downtown "domestic" airport. En-route you see some of the "not-so-pretty" parts of the city.
At the terminal we checked in and cleared security, that would be South American style security where when the alarms sound they simply wave you through. We arrived at GATE #1 about 30 minutes before the departure, however the flight was late so our wait was closer to an hour.
The flight finally departed and we headed north toward the falls landing about 2:15 PM. Along the flight path we crossed an amazing array of farm and ranch land with patches of multi-colored fields delineating the crops and land ownership.
Upon arrival at the Iguazu area airport we were again herded onto buses for a ride to the national park, Parque Nacional Iguazu, our home for the next 20 hours or so. With this visit we have checked off the first of our Argentine national parks.
The first order of business was a late lunch, a lunch rushed as we were late due to the flight delay.
After lunch we boarded a narrow gauge railway to move closer to the falls.
Then it was on to Garganta del Diablo, the falls.
At the rail's end we took to our feet for the trek to the overlooks situated along the rim of Iguazu Falls. For our trip we would remain on the Argentine side of the river without setting foot into Brazil. The walk from the train station to the edge of the falls was on a metal boardwalk about 1/2 mile in distance.
The falls were spectacular but like many popular places there are many people, young and old, needing constant reminders about phone camera etiquette.
Along the walk we saw a wide variety of birds, a few turtles and fish. The most interesting were the long snouted rodent like animals, very similar to raccoons. Along the trail out and back we met a variety of coatimundi families; I guess they were interested in the falls just as were the humanoids.
 |
| Guess who's feet? |
Images of the falls:
After the falls we boarded the train for a short ride followed by a 1/4 mile walk to the Melia Hotel where we checked in at about 6 PM. The hotel is perfectly placed within the park, overlooking the falls in the distance. The hotel is relatively new with a large infinity pool and a variety of bars all with views of the falls. Our room #208 also had a view of the falls and a warning to keep the monkeys out by always closing the outside patio doors.
Dinner was served buffet style. There was a great variety of foods, with emphasis on the grilled meats; and of course the tendency was to try too many things; I was served more scoops of ice cream than requested, but it was good ice cream and if not eaten would melt, so what was I to do.
Sheila was determined to indoctrinate the hotel bar staff to better understand just what a "fru-fru" drink was though it didn't seem to translate very well as each time a new "fru-fru" arrived it looked a bit different.
Being that we were in a remote area of Argentina there was little light pollution so the stars, planets and other objects in the sky were brightly lit. Finding a variety of constellations including the fabled CRUX - The Southern Cross was relatively easy.
 |
| Borrowed Image: We couldn't see the lines very clearly but the stars were there! |
By 10:30 we were in the room planning for the next day's adventure, a "get soaked" boat ride into or under the falls. Unfortunately the advertising for the boat trip was a bit confusing. What had been described as a 100-step trip down to the river and 100-step trip back had morphed into a 220-step trip each way with a mid-point medical check to ascertain fitness for the tour. 🤔 Why not do that at the start of the steps? The increased rigor of the stairway resulted in about half of our group opting for a walk above the falls rather than the river boat ride. But that's a story for tomorrow.
Comments
Post a Comment