Argentina Trip!

Andrew and I went on a glorious trip to Argentina March 13-22. Here are some highlights:

March 13: Buenos Aires
1. Tierra Santa-a religious "theme" park. to our disappointment...there were no rides. we just paid a lot to see a reenactment of the last supper. to their credit, it was an impressively large replica of Jerusalem.

2. We stayed in Kapaké, a hostel in Palermo. It was nice, but a little too expensive for what we actually got.

March 14: Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazú
1. We stayed in Puerto Canoas, a hostel in Puerto Iguazú. It was lovely except for the nasty bathroom. Who thought putting the shower...with not even a curtain of separation, right next to the toilet?! gross. And there was a scary Jaguar picture that we had to take down and a cockroach that had to be killed.

2. Andrew made the terrible mistake of ordering something that turned out to be a cow's thyroid glands. sick.

3. we went to Guirioga, a rehabilitation facility for animals. it was a fun way to get acquainted with the animals we were about to see. we even got to touch the monkeys!

4. we wanted to check out the park before it closed so we caught a bus over there and paid the entrance fee even though we only had a couple hours. we walked the Circuito Inferior (Lower Trail) which was spectacular. it was actually much nicer being there late in the day because hardly anyone was there.

March 15: Las Cataratas (Iguazú Falls)
1. we were so excited to be the first ones into the park that we woke up at 6am to catch the first bus out at 7am. however, when we went to eat our continental breakfast...all the lights were off. everyone seemed to have forgotten to inform us that it was daylight savings. needless to say, we were quite early and LEGIT like third to enter the park.

2. we powered our way to la Garganta del Diablo (the Devil's Throat) because we wanted to take pictures before the crowds came. it was absolutely breathtaking. the sound of the water crashing down was incredibly powerful. we then took a private boatride where our guide pointed out some monkeys and other flora and fauna. it was lovely. we hiked Circuito Superior (the Upper Trail) which had some fabulous views of the falls before embarking on our jeep ride through the jungle and boat ride through the falls. the first part kind of sucked, except i spotted a nice tucan! the second part of the excursion was AWESOME. we actually got to go into the falls (perhaps longer than actually safe...you feel like your drowning a little). after that we took a boat over to Isla San Martin which gave us a fabulous panoramic view of the falls (what i imagine you'd see from the Brazil side). we then sprinted back to walk the Sendero Macuco trail which closed earlier than the rest of the park. we were told that this trail was ideal to see wildlife but it turned out to be much longer than we had anticipated. we were exhausted at this point and really just wanted to go back. the only redeeming aspect of this trail was a pretty waterfall at the end of it. in short...we had a wonderful day completely owning the park and totally crashed once we got back

March 16: we actually decided to leave Iguazú a day early so that we could make our way to Esteros de Ibera: the second largest wetlands in the world:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iber%C3%A1_Wetlands

1. What a morning! This was a real relationship strengthener. we needed to catch a bus to Posadas in order to catch a 4x4 jeep to Colonia Carlos Pellegrini (which had to be driven by a pre-arranged hired driver). we still needed to confirm a driver, get bus tickets, and money. this all had to be done in 15 min. so while andrew went to get money, i took care of the other two things. however, andrew comes back with 5 min. to spare saying that the ATM wouldn't take his card. so i sprint to try and get money. when i finally come back i ask him whether the bus arrived. he said no bus had come to this spot. my heart dropped because buses can come to whatever spot they want to...however, because we were in south america, the bus never showed so we got a later bus and everything worked out.

2. andrew, smart man as he is, had the brilliant idea to ask gringo-looking couple if they were going to Esteros de Ibera so that we could split the cost of the 4x4. they were! so garth and sophi became our new best friends. and boy was Esteros de Ibera worth every moment of the 3 hour bumpy jeep ride. it was the most relaxing and majestic place i have ever traveled to

2. We stayed at Ypa Sapukai:
http://www.ypasapukai.com.ar/indexengl.htm
it was incredibly beautiful. we were practically the only ones there! and the best part was that it was a package which included all meals, two boat rides into the esteros and a nature walk in the nearby forest.

March 17: Esteros de Ibera
1. Morning lancha ride in the esteros
the boat ride was in a small motor boat with a guide named Amelio. he got us within touching distance of caimen, carpinchos (cayaberas-the largest rodent in the world and now andrew's favorite animal), and tons of amazing birds. we bought a bird and wildlife book to try and help us keep track of all the wonders were were seeing, but there were SO many!!!

2. i was having serious problems with LAN airlines because i switched my flight from flying back to BA from Iguazu since we were now going to Esteros de Ibera. we went to the one working computer in the town only to find out it was lunch break and they closed at 2...oh south america.

3. we went on our second lancha ride before dinner which was lovely. we saw much of the same wildlife but also a gorgeous sunset. what could be better?

March 18: Esteros de Ibera
1. Walk in the forest
we went on this morning walk with a different guide and got to see howler monkeys UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL. we saw moms, dads, and babies just dangle from branches right above our heads-it was so cool. there was this one male in particular who got really fired up and had an impressive series of howls (im talking like over an hour). it was very funny to hear and observe.

2. we took the afternoon off and just enjoyed the peace and quiet at our lodge. we met up with our friends again to take a 4x4 to Mercedes where we would be able to catch an overnight bus back to BA.

March 19: Colonia de Sacremento
1. We arrived in BA early in the morning and went straight to the terminal where we caught a ferry to Uruguay. it just so happened to be the day of a big fútbol game between uruguay and argentina (river plate) so the boat was FULL of argentine fans who were really belligerent even at 9 am. we took cover on the lower deck but i was a little afraid the ceiling might collapse when they jumped up and down during their cheers and the whole buquebus shook.

2. Colonia de Sacremento is often compared to Havana, Cuba..stuck in the past. with beautiful cobblestone streets and old cars everywhere, i understood why. we were pretty tired so we just walked around and enjoyed the view from the famous lighthouse. we fell asleep at 8pm by accident and didn't wake up until 9am...

March 20: Buenos Aires
1. We spent most of the day at the stupid LAN airline office figuring out everything they had screwed up. Andrew was a good sport as I was getting angrier and angrier at them and their incompetent office to office communication problems. they finally let us go to lunch as they did the South American thing and waited for things to work themselves out.

2. we went to a lovely park afterwards where we took a relaxing paddle boat ride.

3. we stayed at the Art Factory hostel in San Telmo. it was super cute.

March 21: BA
1. Feria in Recoleta-we spent HOURS just roaming around this crafts fair and barely made a dent in it. it was really fun to see all the interesting things people were selling and i got a beautiful necklace made of the argentine stone.

2. Dinner/Tango show-an extremely great bang for our buck. we were the first ones there so got a tour of the old house, wonderful service, front row seats, and a chance to pose on the stage! a nice way to celebrate a great trip. we had our last Malbec until we come again!

3. we stayed at Juncal Palace Hotel. let's just say the pictures on the internet are a little deceiving.