Where's Andrew

PUNTA DEL ESTE & COLONIA DEL SACREMENTO, URUGUAY AND IGUAZU FALLS - MAR 11 TO 19

The bus takes more than 3 hours to travel to Punta del Este from Montevideo and it's raining most of the way. It's a good thing I finished playing golf when I did. Punta del Este is located just over 140kms east of Montevideo on a narrow point at the southeast corner of Uruguay. It is a famous beach resort which caters to travellers from all over Uruguay and from both Argentina and Brazil. I'm kind of underwhelmed when I get there because I see too many high rises and too much concrete. It's almost a month past the busy season but I still find it difficult to find a room that does not blow my budget. I finally settled on a hotel in the downtown core after negotiating a 3 nights for the price of 2 deal which works out to $50US per night. It rains all the rest of the afternoon so I don't venture far. I wake up to more  rain the next morning and it is surprisingly cold; high is probably high teens. A month ago I was across the bay in Buenos Aires melting in the heat.

It rains all day but I do find a short break in the weather and walk around the perimeter of the peninsula. On the protected western side of the peninsula, it is all marinas and docks with lots of high end looking yachts. There is almost no one around, I guess when busy season ends there is not much of a shoulder season. On the eastern side of the peninsula, it is all beach as far as I can see but they are abandoned today because of the rain and there is a huge surf pounding the beach. I see a few surfers hanging out along the beach but they aren't venturing out in the heavy surf.

There are dozens and dozens of restaurants everywhere I look but at least half of them are closed. It must be hard to make money when the busy season is only a couple months long. It's actually hard to tell which restaurants are open because they are all so empty. I can't believe how few people are here. I finally find a cafe with lots of people and have a pretty decent meal for about $15US but I'm missing the market in Montevideo with all the Parrillas and fantastic beef.

The next morning it raining again and this time it rains all day and it is really windy. It almost feels like a March day in Vancouver. I spend the day working on my blog, uploading photos, watching videos and reading. I'm regretting the fact that I paid for all 3 nights upfront as part of the deal I got for the room, otherwise, I would be on a bus heading to Colonia del Sacremento.

It's raining the next morning as well but it does let up for a while so I walk to the bus station. I have to transfer buses through Montevideo to get to Colonia and I'm trying to figure out a way to do lunch in the mercado again because I'm addicted to the beef there and I think I'm suffering from withdrawl symptoms. Or maybe it is just the rain, I've seen more rain in the last 3 days than I have seen on the whole trip. I end up only having an hour layover between buses which is not enough time to go to the mercado for lunch so I have to settle for a burger in the only restaurant in the bus terminal which happens to be a McDonald's.

Colonia del Sacremento is about 200kms west on Montevideo 10 to 20 kilometers before the mouth of the Rio de la Piata which is the boarder between Argentina and Uruaguay. Buenos Aires is close across the bay but it's just far enough that you can't see it plus it's overcast and raining. Colonia was founded by the Portuguese in 1640 as is supposed to be the nicest colonial town in Uruguay and it is nice. But compared to Paraty in Brazil and a few other colonial towns that I have been to on this trip, I find Colonia does not measure up and is a bit disappointing since it was a "Can't Miss" location featured in my guide book.

Colonia is a small town and the historic centre is right on a small point on the ocean and I find a room for $35US at the Hostel Colonial. I then walk the town looking for a nice restaurant for dinner. There seems to be more people here than Punta del Este but it is not what I would call busy and many of the restaurants are closed. I'm still looking for a beef fix so I go to a Parrilla in the main part of town and it's not near as good as the meals I had in Montevideo but it is OK.

The next morning is looking a little brighter out but it is overcast and only 21 or 22C. Normally I would think how warm this is but after the weather I have seen the last couple months, I find it cold. There is a famous bull ring about 5 kms out of Colonia in an adjoining town. So, I decide to go for a walk along the river/ocean front and I finally see someone catch a fish. I've been seeing hundreds of guys fishing from shore for the last couple of months but this is the first time I've seen someone catch something. In fact, I have not even seen someone with a fish in their bucket.

It takes a little over an hour to get to the bull ring but it is not what I expected. It is called the Real de San Carlos and was built in the early 1900s but was used only for 2 years and then the government outlawed bull fighting. It was abandoned and now lies in ruin in the middle of a roadway roundabout. By now the bright skies of the morning are gone and it looks like more rain. I walk back to my hostel and a light rain starts about a half of a kilometer before I get there but it really pours down a few minutes later. It rains the rest of the afternoon but lets up to a slow drizzle in the evening. I go in search of another Parrilla which I find but again it is no comparison to the mercado in Montevideo.

I'm happy that I did not commit to 3 night this time because the weather is looking bad for tomorrow and there is not much to do here. So, after dinner I walk to the bus station and buy a ticket for the 5:30AM bus to Salto. Salto is the most northern town along the river that is on the boarder bewteen Uruguay and Argentina that has a bridge. I will cross back into Argentian to the city of Concordia and then I will catch a bus to Puerto Iguazu.

It's been a while since I've been in a small country and the bus drives most of the way across Uruguay to Salto in just over 7 hours. I then catch a bus across the boarder to the bus terminal in Concordia and buy a ticket for the 9PM bus to Puerto Iguazu. I've got almost 6 hours before my bus leaves, so check my big pack in at the bus terminal's luggage storage and I walk to the town centre to find a place to exchange US currency for Argetinian Pesos. I get a 7.5 to 1 exchange, the best I got before was 7 to 1 and the official exchange rate at the ATMs is still about 4.9 to 1. I'm sure glad I got some US dollars in Uruguay.

I'm hungry and I did not have lunch so I want dinner before I walk back to the bus terminal. They serve dinner so late in Argentina and I'm the first person into the restaurant shortly after it open it's door around 7PM. I just have enough time to eat dinner and walk back to the bus station with 30 minutes of lee way just in case. The one thing I hate paying for on the trip is cab fare. Whenever possible, I will walk to where ever I am going. Even if it means walking with my big pack for more than an hour. I just find it hard to justify the cost of a taxi when the fare is often the same price as dinner or a night's accommodation.

It is 12 to 13 hours by bus to Iguazu but my bus ends up being over 2 hours late in arriving. The bus originated in Buenos Aires and apparently there were problems with one passenger's ID when the bus was stopped by the military police and everyone's ID was checked. One of the MPs had ridden the bus with the passenger in question and they met with more MPs at the terminal and after almost an hours of talking, they finally let the guy back on the bus and we leave just before midnight. It takes 12 hours to get to Puerto Iguazu and at a police checkpoint just before town, more MPs are waiting and they haul the same guy off the bus and this time it looks like they arrest him.

When I get off the bus, there is a guy who owns a pousada looking to see if anyone on the bus needs a place to stay. He says he has a private room with bathroom for only $20US. It's only a couple blocks from the centre of town and the bus terminal so I go check it out. It is actually a suite with a little kichen  including a fridge and a separate sitting area. It's off season and this guy figures some money is better than nothing so I take the room for 2 nights.

It's a bit late to head to the falls so I decide to go get lunch and explore the town. I find a nice Parrilla and finally get that good steak I have been craving ever since I left Montevideo. The downtown core of town is small with restaurants, bars, hotels and souvenir shops everywhere. Tourism is definitely the main business here. I was hoping to change some Brazilian Reais into Pesos but it is siesta time and almost everything is closed until 5PM and the streets are deserted. As I walk by a restaurant that is open, one of the waiters says "Combio" to me which means he wants to know if I want to buy Pesos. I say yes and he gives me a real good rate and I buy just enough to get me through the next 2 days. I do not want to have any Pesos left when I cross the boarder into Brazil because Argentinian Pesos are worth so little in Brazil.

Puerto Iguazu is small, only about 25,000 people. It is tucked in the far north end of a small narrow tongue of Argentina that sticks up between Uruguay and Paraguay. This is the only part of Argentina that boarders Brazil. It is also where the Rio Iguazu meets the Rio Paraguay. Across the Rio Paraguay is the Ciudad (city) de Este in Paraguay and across the Rio Iguazu is Brazil. I'm not going to Paraguay but I walked down to the river and saw Paraguay a couple hundred metres away. That evening, I have another steak for dinner at a different Parrilla. Since I will be leaving Argentina soon, I may as well take advantage of the good beef.

The next morning I walk to the bus terminal and catch a city bus 25 minutes to the Catarata de Iguazu (Iguazu Falls). I'm at the Iguazu National Park just after 9AM and I am looking forward to seeing the falls. Iguazu Falls was named one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World by National Geographic. There is not just 1 big falls here, instead there is over 275 falls of various sizes and more than 200 of these falls are on the Argentina side. One of the aspects of these falls which is incredible is the jungle setting that surrounds them. Argentina made this area into a national park many years ago and there is only one hotel but it is at least 1 km away from the falls and the river, so it is not at all like the setting at Niagra Falls which is packed with hotels and restaurants.

Once off the bus, I walk about 1 km to the Tren de la Selva which is a small train that takes me on a 25 minute ride to the Estacion de Diablo. From there, there is a 1km aluminum walkway that crosses over mostly river and jungle above the fall until you come to a big viewing platform at the Garanta del Diablo. The viewing platform is suspended right over the edge of the waterfall. This is the biggest waterfall at Iguazu and the sound of the water is deafening and spray is being blown onto the platform soaking all the visitor's. The river above the falls is on a very flat plain and it is more like a large shallow lake than a typical river. At the falls, there is a 74 metre precipice which the water plunges down into a narrow river gorge. Over the last few millions years, erosion slowly moved the water falls up the shallow river creating over 4 kms of width to the falls and resulting in the many falls where water plunges down into the gorge. On my walk back to the train, I see large cat fish swimming in the river below the walkway and then I take the train back to the Estacion Cataratas.

I then walk down a jungle path and come to a visitor centre and restaurant. As I walk through the restaurant patio area, I see quite a few Coatis. Coatis are similar to raccoons but with a long conical snout. I see a man and a woman come out of the restaurant carrying a tray with 3 or 4 empanadas on it. As the man tries to set down the tray on a table, a Coati runs toward him and takes a flying leap and knocks the tray and empanadas flying. Within seconds, there is dozens of Coatis scrambling for the food and just as fast the food is gone, it was pretty entertaining. I  also see coatis ripping apart any plastic bags that people carry because they have learned there is often food in plastic bags. The Coatis are pretty aggressive and the big adults are kind of scary.

I then start hiking the Circuoto Superior walkway along the top edge of the falls. The walkway extends out over many falls for about a kilometer. You walk right over the edge of some falls named Hos Hermanos, Chico, Ramirez, Bossetti, Eva, Adan and Gpque Bernabe Mendez. There are viewpoint at each waterfall and there is lots of spray blowing around so I need to be careful about my camera as I don't want to have to get another. Walking this walkway is almost an interactive experience with the falls.

I then head down the Circuito Inferior trail that takes you down near the river and gives you nice views of the falls that I just walked above, the views are incredible. Here along the river are boats to take you right up near the falls and into all of the spray. I want to do this but it costs around $35US and I'm running short on Argentinian Pesos and if I go, I'll need to exchange more money which I don't want to do because I only have large sized bills to change and I will end up with Pesos when I cross into Brazil tomorrow. So, I decide to skip the boat today and I will do the boat ride tomorrow from the Brazilian side of the falls.

The Circuito Inferior trail does a loop and brings me back to the main entrance of the park where I catch a city bus back to the bus terminal. It's almost 3PM and I'm hungry so I get another nice steak meal at a Parrilla. I have just enough Pesos left for lunch, for another nice beef dinner, to pay for my accommodations and to catch the bus to the city of Foz do Iguacu on the Brazilian side of the boarder tomorrow morning.

The next morning, I catch a 9AM bus from the terminal to Foz do Iguacu. It's a city bus which surprises me because of the boarder but it stops and to let everyone get their passports stamped leaving Argentina and entering Brazil. The bus drops me off at a city bus terminal in the heart of the city. I'm surprised how much bigger the city is compared to Puerto Iguazu, it's probably somewhere around a quarter million people maybe more. I catch another city bus to the Rodoviario (bus terminal) and check my big pack there and buy a bus ticket to Campo Grande in the Pantanal. I then catch a bus back to the city bus terminal and transfer to another bus that takes me the 40 minutes to Parque Nacional Foz do Iguacu.

It's after 11AM when I get to the park. Once into the park, you need to catch a bus to take you about 15 kms to the falls. I get off one stop early to get a boat that goes to the falls. My not wanting to change more currency in Argentina comes back to bite me as the boat ride is double the price from yesterday but I'm here so I am going. First, there is a 15 minute "Jungle Ride" on a truck down a narrow road surrounded my jungle. Of course we don't see anything other than trees. Then we get to the river, the boats are exactly the same as the ones in Argentina and the trip last for 40 minutes. We're a couple kms downriver and it takes about 10 minutes to up to the falls. There are fantastic views of the falls but I left my camera locked in a locker on shore because we were told we would basically be having a full shower under the falls. We soon move towards one of the small falls, and the warning was accurate, we all get absolutely soaked.

By the time we are back on shore and I catch the bus to the falls' viewing area it is past 3:30PM. I need to be at the park entrance and on a bus heading back to town no later than 5PM as my bus leaves for Campo Grande at 6:30PM. I'm worried I won't have time to do the entire walkway.

The Brazilian side of the falls is a lot different than the Argentina side. You are across the river from most of the falls but they are still quite close so the vistas are awesome and I think the photos today will be even better than yesterday. The viewing pathway is only a couple of kilometres but there are many viewpoints along the way. The highlite of the walk is an aluminum walkway that extends out into the river just below the Garanta del Diablo which is one of the falls partially in Brazil.

I have just enough time to do the entire walk at a nice pace taking photos before I catch the bus back to the park entrance and then catch a bus back to town and then take another bus to the Rodoviario. I get there at a little before 6PM. I'm starving as I had no lunch but there is no time for anything other than a greasy burger in the bus terminal's cafe before I board the bus to Campo Grande.

I loved Iguazu, I've been looking forward to seeing the falls since before I left Vancouver. This was one of my pins on the map of places I had to go and it did not disappoint. I'm happy that I saw it from both sides, my favourite side for the experience was in Argentina but the grand views and beautiful photo opportunities from the Brazilian side were incredible. I'm excited about going to the Pantanal, it is supposed to be the best part of Brazil for viewing animals. It is also suppose to have some fantastic fishing so hopefully I will catch some fish and see some animals.

Bye for now.