Argentina & Brazil

Talk about a whirlwind trip so far! Unfortunately I haven´t had access to internet until arriving in La Paz, Bolivia, so there´s a fair amount to cover!

Buenos Aires, Argentina.

After a very early start to the day on Saturday morning (6am flight 14 August, Melbourne, Australia - thank you so much for taking me to the airport Connie!) I met up with the family in the Sydney International Airport. A sweet but quick reunion had us moving through customs and boarding our Qantas flight to Buenos Aires.

2 films, 3 meals, a great view of the Andes and 13 hours later we touched down in Buenos Aires at 10.30am on the same day.



Our jetlag wasn´t too apparent as we were met by Marcela our Spanish, Portugese & Engligh speaking guide to be. Together with Marcela and our bus driver Juan, we made the 40 minute trip into the city. The drive in had us passing the outter ´villages´ consisting of poor, dusty, handmade shanty houses occupied we were told, by immigrants from Peru, Uraguay and Bolivia. Its difficult to describe just how these labrintine constructions weaved together, abutting walls with rooves and tin balconies with metal scaffolding. If I had to recall a similar image, it would be one of those upside-down and back-to-front 3D posters, or better yet! the goblin Kingdom from the Labrynth with the fair and mulleted David Bowie.

We arrived at our hotel and after settling trouped out to begin exploring downtown. We discovered Aveneda de Florida, a mall strip similar to Queen Street in Brisbane, but far more packed. The Argentinians love to shop! My goodness, do they love it. Between the regular stores there were makeshift stalls running for kilometres down the middle of the street. Laid out on blankets with attentive stall masters, you could purchase anything from tissues to barking toy dogs and scarves to a shoe shine. And people were buying! We wandered and discovered Galleria Pacifico a massive, confusing indoor mall stocked with Argentinian designer goods as well as other more international brands. Nice place, I confess to the purchase of a lovely pair of Argentinian boots.

That night we ducked into a local cafeteria and struggled through our spanish menues to order pizza and empanadas. Suprisingly (or perhaps it was just me that was surprised), there is a massive amount of European influence here in Buenos Aires. Pizza and Pasta are regulars on most menus along with Empanadas and other goodies. For Tommo (the less expereienced traveller) it was a nice gental beginning.

Over the next few days we explored the city, heading to Palermo (the cemetary containing amazing crypts including that of the well loved Evita), Palermo Soho, Ricoletta, San Telmo and Boca. We stopped into a delightful cafe called La Ideal where we sat and watched hours of Tango danced by the locals on their Sunday afternoon. Tango, it was stated proudly, was a massive part of life in Buenos Aires, and if we didn`t see it, we hadn`t really been there.


Four days really was a great length for a taste, but this is a city I can see myself living in sometime in the future. Fabulous place.

Iguazu, Argentina and Brasil

We took a side trip from Buenos Aires for a couple of days to Iguasu to visit the falls. The flight in over 100s of kilometers of jungle and winding rivers landed us in Puerto Iguazu. Its an interesting little place. One small street of not much. A couple of dogs, a couple of sandwich bars and a couple of people selling trinkets.

After settling into our rooms, we ducked out for some lunch at the local bus depot (the best place in town). With less english spoken here in Iguasu, the ordering was a fun experience. Dad, being the devoted vegetarian that he is, was hankering for a salad, while the rest of us went with the local speciality, hamburgers with cheese (which are literally that). Unfortunately after thinking we requested a sandwich without meat, he received a plain bread roll. After sending that one back, he received a buger with the lot (meat patty, cheese, ham, egg, a piece of tomato and a piece of lettuce)... without a bread roll. Vegetariano ensaladas were not a common site in the Puerto Iguasu area.

Following this little debarcle were picked up from our hotel and escorted to Brazillian border. We passed the semi-makeshift security and customs area, received our Braziallian stamps, and headed to the Iguasu Falls.

The falls separate Brazil and Argentina with about 80% of the falls on the Argentinian side, but on the Brazillian side you have ground level access to one particular fall known as The Devils Throat. This magnificent wall of water helps to shift 2 million litres of water per second over the entire falls. In the rainy season, it´s closer to 19 million per second.


We explored the waters edge for a few kilometers in and out of jungle. Saw some interesting local critters and we were soaked by the end of it. The force with which the water slams over the cliffs creates an incredible spray. It was sort of like having a misting spray hurled through a hairdryer and blown in your. Refreshing, but a slightly frustrating view inhibitor. Our tour ended with a nerve-racking elevator ride which nearly didn´t go and a bumpy bus ride back to the hotel.

The next day we visited the Argentinian side of the falls. We walked kilometre long bridges construced right up to the top edge of the falls. The bridges themselves were washed away once during the rainy season. The new bridges stood perhaps 2 metres off the running water which made for a more a adrenaline-based experience. The final platform went right out to the Devils Throat cliffs. We were standing in line with the 100 metre drop watching tonnes and tonnes of liquid being hurled over the edge; the pounding water was so loud the platform seemed to shake!

It was unbelieveable.

There were a few more view points as we worked our way down the falls. They are soo magnificent, it takes us hours. Iguasu is known for being the longest falls in the world. The locals proudly call it the 8th wonder of the world, and I can´t blame them. When we arrived at the parks waiting area, we had some lunch and played some cards, but I think it was all done with the awe of the Falls sitting happily distractingly in the back of our minds.

The next morning, we returned to Buenos Aires.