DAY-06: Iguazu Falls & Buenos Aires

DAY-06: Iguazu Falls & Buenos Aires

Day – 06: Sunday, February 23, 2020

Starting Location: Hotel Gran Melia, Iguazu Falls, AR
Ending Location: Hotel Emperador, Buenos Aires, AR

We were up early to be ready for the day's adventures above and below the falls. The hotel had a nice breakfast buffet. My breakfast was a bit lighter than other mornings but the bacon aka pancetta, was more to my liking than we had been served in Buenos Aires.

At 8:30 the tour groups met for the morning activities, Sheila had opted for the falls walk with about half of the group and I would take the jeep and boat ride to the falls, where it was promised that we would get wet, actually the word was soaked! Unfortunately the confusion about the # of steps and degree of walking difficulty had discouraged some from the boat trip.

Sheila's trek would take her and the others to vantage points for viewing the falls that we had not seen yesterday during on what was ultimately a 2-hour walk. 




Here are some Sheila's pictures from the walk.

My trip started with a 20-minute ride in an open air jeep-like vehicle, more like a flatbed truck, along a park road,

The route was along a rutted dirt road beneath an arbor of trees 

laced with spider webs criss-crossing the roadway; BIG SPIDERS, a couple of inches across with webs strong enough to capture small birds, bats as well as other insects and maybe a tourist standing in the truck bed. 

Borrowed Image: Maybe an exaggeration!

Also keeping hands and feet inside the vehicle was encouraged to avoid contact with stinging nettles and other not so pleasant tropical organisms. Other than that the jeep ride was unmemorable but we did get to see toucans, flying around above us and from tree to tree.

Toucan Sam of Fruit Loops Cereal Fame

File Image, not my shot!

Upon arrival at the stairway to the falls we were briefed, briefly, on what to expect. Warnings and protections are not as rigorous in South America as we experience at home. Finally it was time for the stairs, and yes there were at least 220 going down which meant that there would be about 220 coming back up, something like a 9-story building I suppose. Actually there was a second means of getting down and backup as I noticed an EMT type body board at the upper station.

At the stairway halfway point there was a rest area with restrooms, well a restroom, for those in need but there was no medical check for fitness. At the midpoint we were given a waterproof bag for our worldly belongings. Onward we proceeded, and at about the 170th step the tour guides handed out life jackets; again I couldn't understand the thought processes, why not hand them out at the boat rather than be carrying more stuff down a series of steps?

Once at the river bank we boarded a large Zodiac type boat with about 50 seats but for today there would only be 20 of us, so there was plenty of room to spread out. The boat trip up to the falls was good with some minor rapids to be negotiated. We were placed in positions for good photo shots before finally pulling aside for moving all our gear into the dry storage bags, phones, cameras, shoes, clothing, etc. whatever we preferred to keep dry. 

The Old Stairway

Fashion Statements for a Drenching

Stay Out of the Water

Then it was back toward the falls. Expecting it to be like the Niagara Falls Maid of the Mist was an incorrect assumption as the boat didn't actually approach the major falls area. 

The Shower Falls

The boatman basically pulled the boat up to a side fall and moved directly under the downward torrent. Yes, we were soaked; not once, not twice but four times we repeated the exercise of the drenching. The boat crew used a GoPro to record our adventure so for my 1,000 pesos I'm expecting to have some good shots and video of the drenching. 

Fortunately being summer in Argentina and relatively near the equator, the water was not cold. With everyone drenched we motored back to the dock area where we disembarked, took back our dry goods and headed for the stairway to heaven. The ride and soaking was good, but the jet boats of New Zealand were more exciting. One disappointment was that we were not able to approach the larger falls with the boat due to rock obstructions in the river. But all that aside it was a good morning. One further note, on the Brazilian side for at least part of the descent to and ascent from the river they have a tram similar to those running up to Mt. Washington in Pittsburgh, guess we didn't pay enough for a ride up the slope on our side.

By 11 AM Sheila and I were back in the hotel for showers and the donning of street clothes. We checked out at noon, picked up a beer and headed to lunch. Sheila again spent time trying to explain "fru-fru" drinks to the bar staff; different drink each time, basically a fruit based slush or smoothie. The lunch was again served in a buffet style setting with active BBQ grilling over an outside fire pit where pork and beef ribs had been roasting.  This is my kind of place, almost everyday the four main food groups are served, e.g. beef, pork, chicken & fish.

We sat for lunch with a couple from Montgomery, AL turns out we had childhood links Eglin AFB in Florida and business/retirement links to Micron Technology.

For the flight back to Buenos Aires we did the same as at the other end, checked in, passed through security and waited for our flight.

The trip to Iguazu had been a worthwhile adventure. Turns out that this was Carnival weekend in Argentina and elsewhere; here the locals had a four day weekend for recreation and celebration so we met with a lot of people and had full flights to and from the falls.

Back in Buenos Aires we returned to the hotel, this time Room #109 where our luggage was waiting. After "freshening up" we were back downstairs for the evening's dinner and entertainment. Around 8 PM we joined a long line of people entering La Ventana, a supper and entertainment club. Don't think locals go to this place as it appears to be set up for large tour groups, about sixty people in our cruise group plus many other groups. Though the venue was way overcrowded the dinner was actually pretty good with everyone getting a bottle of wine included in the feast. 

Toward the end of the dinner, the show began, a show featuring Tango dancers and other musical offerings representative of Argentina. The dancers are professionals well trained to do things with their bodies most of us would be incapable of achieving especially given the average age our cruise group. My favorite part of the show was the music of the mountains and pampas. For those who remember Zamfir (actually a Romanian not Argentinian) and the pan flute, that was the type of music played, it sounded great. 

We returned to the hotel and made final preparation for tomorrow's cruise embarkation.