Iguazu Falls!

Iguazu Falls is a rain forest park with INCREDIBLE waterfalls on the border of Brazil and Argentina, about a 2-hour flight away from Buenos Aires. After making the reservation for the hotel and flight, a couple of people warned me of how touristy and gimmick oriented the park is, but all said the falls are also a wonder worth seeing. After getting to Devil's Throat, the biggest fall, I say it's most definitely worth it. We both had a physical reaction to the first sight of the falls. it's so massive and the water is so incredibly powerful - a must-do in life. 

We took a boat ride into one of the big falls where you get completely soaked, which was also worth it. 

Oh, and there are butterflies everywhere. 

The little town of Iguazu was more like Peru - very poor and completely dependent on tourism. But we had one of the best meals of the trip. I had a local river fish - Sarubi - and Marge had some pasts dish that I can't recall but was also fabulous. 

Back to Buenos Aires after Iguazu. For me, just one more afternoon in Puerto Madera until a 9:50 PM flight out. Margaret got to spend the night in one of BA's most plush hotels. I was quite jealous. 

Adios Argentina, Hola los Estadoa Unidos!! What an incredible trip this has been. Experience of a lifetime. I hope you've enjoyed reading about it as much as I have loved sharing it with you. 

PS. I don't want to brag ... but my Spanish, surprisingly, is excellent. Muy bueno. 

Colonia, Uruguay Day 6

We took a ferry to Colonia, Uruguay on Wednesday. It's a well preserved little town on the coast that was colonized by the Portuguese. Really pretty and a lot beachier than I was expecting. We really just walked around all day and stopped at the various lookout points. Apparently, this is where the Buenos Aires elite go during the summer to get out of the heat, but since it's Fall there, it was a pretty quiet day. 



The highlight may have been sitting in a cute little cafe, and noticing a large, cheesy poster of an 80's Neil Diamond look-alike (Latin version) ... and then noticing Romeo himself, plus about 30 years and as many pounds, sitting in front of the poster. If there had been any way to take a picture without being completely offensive, trust me, I would have. But you'll have to take my word for it. 

The main event in Colonia is supposedly riding scooters up the coast. However, we didn't get the memo that there is a special scooter license. Still not sure I completely believe that. Maybe the guy could just sense what a bad driver I am.  But, at any rate, we settled for a bright blue go-cart. Photo attached. It delivered us to a little churro stand that was sent straight down from heaven. 

Buenos Aires Day 5

Recoleta Cemetery - by far the most unusual place I have ever been. It's like a little city, but it's all rypts where families are buried. Some are really modern and new, but most are old with cobwebs n the doors. You can see inside the little room where some coffins are (along with photos and whatever else the family has put in there) and there are stairs down to a room that I assume holds the rest. 

Feral cats roam the place. It's REALLY creepy but very very cool. We saw Evita's family's crypt, where she is buried with them. You gotta be someone to be buried here. It's a major status symbol even today, but most graves date back to the 1800's. They are elaborate with statues and all kinds of adornment. I think what makes it so unusual is that each family has this little house in which to honor their dead, and they decorate it to their taste as you would a home to live in, and each family seems to want to out-do the others. So it seems more like a neighborhood than a cemetery. 

If you are realy special, there are road signs directing visitors to your crypt. 

Buenos Aires Day 4

Monday ... We ventured down to the City Center to see the Plaza de Mayo, Florida Avenue, and the Casa Rosada (Pink House). It was a completely different side of the city - people going to work for the day and lots of gorgeous old government buildings. The Casa Rosada is where the families in charge used to live. Really interesting place. Florida Avenue is the most crowded place I have ever been - and that says a lot coming from a New York resident. You really only need to see it for a second. 

Took a cab down to the blue collar part of town - La Boca -to see all these colorful houses and a little arts fair. It's on the water, and back in the day people just used left over paint from the ships to paint their homes and now the little streets look like a brightly colored quilt ... a quilt with tango dancers all over it asking you for money. Very cool though. 

Then a little trek to Recoletta. This is the Madison Avenue of BA, and also where the coolest historic attraction is - the cemetery.  It's apparently very important to see and be seen here even after you die. Evita is buried there, too. I will have to describe it in tomorrow's post, though. By the time we got there it was closed for the day. Adios!

Buenos Aires Day 3

Hello again from BA! Saturday night's steak dinner at La Cabrera is pictured below. The waiter was nice enough to advise us to share the short ribs. It was HUGE. The meat was an experience. We think we may have actually gotten a bad cut but the sides were delicious enough to make it worth our while. 

Sunday, we went to the street market at San Telmo where they sell bizarre 

little knick knack

s, including empty Jack Daniels bottles, and people perform on the streets. Margaret has declared it 

official. People love to watch people acting like statues, wherever you are in 

the world. 

Sunday night - soccer match. I am not i

ncluding a picture of the crowd because it's not at all a fair representation. The seats along the sides of the field (where we sat) are for people who just want to yell and scream the whole time. 

The "endzone" seats are filled with either side's TRUE fans. They spend a good half hour stringing up banners and signs across the entire section. There is a band (like a high school band in instrument collection ... but more like like drunken sailors in concept). Only they aren't drunk. Soccer is way too important to alter the senses, and they don't sell beer at the games because the passion level is so high. They sing and jump up and down (think Cameron Indoor Stadium) the ENTIRE game. They do not stop at all. It was a ton of fun to be a part of. 

We went on a bus with a large group of other tourists and am glad we did. This blue collar team was NOT messing around with Americans. Our guide even took our money and went outside of the stadium to get us food (two bottles of water and a bag of Lays). 

The stadium itself is like a high school football game in structure and seat quality ... and there are kids running around everywhere playing their own game of soccer. But there is nothing childish about the game. Sections of bleachers are left empty between fans of opposing teams, and police armed with riot shields stand in those buffer sections for the whole game. The visitor fans all have to exit from a different gate before we and the rest of the home team fans could leave. It's not dark or depressing though. It's uplifting and REALLY fun. I am attaching a photo of my favorite fan and his dog. 

Buenos Aires Day 2

Hola! Buenos Aires has been wonderful. Not as many pictures to send because yesterday we really just walked around and shopped in our neighborhood (Palermo). We haven't done much of the sightseeing yet because on the weekends it's more about the cafe culture, which I could seriously get used to. 

I'm actually in the picture of the giant tree - you can tell how enormous it is by how tiny I am.

Today, we went to the parks area of Palermo and wandered through an incredible rose garden. Tonight we're going to do the whole Argentine dinner at 10 PM thing at a steakhouse (parilla) to try some of this beef everyone keeps talking about. 

Also included is a picture of Margaret in the neighborhood square yesterday as we had a beer and watched the crowds. 

Tomorrow - a soccer match!!

Buenos Aires Day 1

I apologize for all of the typos in the previous entries .... I am just now going back and reading them. That computer in my hotel in Peru had a few keys missing ....

Anyway, I am now in BA after a near miss on my connection in Lima from Cuzco. Apparently, if you arrive in Peru from another city in Peru to connect to a city NOT in Peru, you have to leave the airport and come back in as if you just arrived at the airport. You have to go outside. It was kind of fun hearing my name called over the loud speaker in the Lima airport, though.

 "Am Kin - last call for your flight to Buenos Aires." 

In the states they would say too bad so sad she missed her flight so I'm going to sell her seat to someone else for double the price. 

No pics from today - but I think I'm going to love it here in BA! Margaret gets here tomorrow and I can't wait to get started figuring this place out. We are going to see a soccer game on Sunday .... apparently the enthusiasm puts Florida-Georgia to shame. 

Adios.