Last Thursday (the day after I got back from Bolivia hahaha) I was on my way to Iguazú Falls! How can I travel again after being gone for a week? Easy. This was all planned out by ISA (planned out perfectly might I add!) and I just merely had to follow along! Went to class on Thursday, went home and packed (even though I never really unpacked ha) and said deuces to Buenos Aires otra vez. We took a really nice coche cama bus (the seats are wider and recline more!) and arrived in Misiones (a province in northern Argentina on the border of Brazil) in the morning on Friday.
Our first stop was San Ignacio (a town within Misiones). We were visiting the Jesuit Ruins! They were super cool! Interesting fact- the ground in this part of northern Argentina is redder (it almost looks like clay on a tennis court) because of all of the iron that they have. Anyway, we spent the afternoon marveling at the ruins (it was the first time I've ever seen anything like it) and taking pictures with friends :-) From the ruins we hopped back on the bus and went to an estancia close by. It was really nice, with fresh air and nature all around, and we were all able to relax (much needed considering we spent the night on the bus). They gave us a delicious asado (aka bbq) and we also played some volleyball. I have MAJORLY been lacking sports in my life since June so I loved this! After eating too much food, we took a stroll through nature (we were surrounded by beautiful sights!) to end up at a mate factory. I don't remember if I've mentioned mate before, but it's the famous tea of Argentina. Personally I'm not the biggest fan, but a lot of people love it (cough Coqui)! But then again, I'm not really that big of a tea drinker to begin with. Anyway, the tour of the mate factory was pretty sweet. We saw how they make it, not to mention there were huge piles and piles of mate! After the mate factory, we headed back to the estancia where they greeted us with more yummy snacks! Then we traveled to our wonderful hotel in Iguazú! Here are some pictures from this day :-)
Okay, so on Saturday we had a full day in the lovely national park of Iguazú! I'll let my pictures do most of the explaining here for me because 1. the falls were so incredible that my explanation would not do them justice 2. if I explained how cool they were and how much I loved them, you would be reading all day long and 3. did I mention how incredible they are??? My expectation for them beforehand was NOTHING compared to what it was like to see this place. I've done the whole Niagara Falls schpeal on more than one occasion, and I thought it was going to be similar to that where you just go and stand there and look at them. Should have seen the surprise coming because South America is full of them. Iguazú Falls are above and beyond Niagara Falls times 1000. In fact, I wouldn't even put them on the same scale that's how much they blow Niagara away (I say this also thinking that Niagara is way cool! So now draw that comparison!!). It could have something to do with the fact that there are over 275 waterfalls in Iguazú or the fact that we were literally walking on top of them and through the jungle the entire time!!! I had the time of my life this day, despite the overcast weather! I even had a butterfly land on my hand! Oh, and we saw monkeys swinging in the trees.
One of the funny things about this day is that we were all so excited and blown away the first half of the day and everyone kept telling us that we hadn't seen anything yet. You're lying to me right? No. When we finally get to the biggest part of the falls (it's called La garganta del diablo) I was almost in a state of shock how HUGE the waterfalls were. I dare say that this one part was probably bigger in size than all of Niagara Falls. So huge that you couldn't even see the bottom of it. There was so much water, so much mist, and I got SOAKING WET, but I was so happy! It was honestly one of the most incredible things I've ever seen. I know I've been saying that a lot lately, but I think this takes the grand prize (for now that is.... until later on in this entry haha). We must've spent a good half hour just watching this gigantic waterfall and getting so wet and taking so many funny pictures. It was super cool, and I had a great time with all of my friends! I didn't think the rest of the day could compare to this experience. Wrong again. We made our way down to the lower part of the falls (we had been walking on top of everything before) when I had the opportunity to stand UNDER the waterfall this time. Super cool! Again, I got soaked. But this was only a pregame for how wet I was about to get haha.
Now comes the boat ride. HOLY HANNAH was this crazy. It wasn't like the slow steam boat that Niagara puts you on. We were on a speed boat CRUISING through the water. First time around was the calm turn where we were still able to take pictures. And then they told us to put our cameras away because they were about to DRIVE THROUGH THE WATERFALL. Needless to say we were all dripping wet from head to toe by the end of this! There was a guy filming everything on the boat the entire time (don't worry I bought this video, and it is quite possibly the funniest thing I have ever seen, but given my technology status down here you will all have to wait to see it because I can't copy it until I get home). But yea, this boat ride was crazy and we had a ton of fun! Completely loco and I loved every second of it!!!!!
After leaving the park we went to another cool spot, which is what you see in the picture below! I'm standing in Argentina, but behind me on the left is Paraguay and on the right is Brazil! I'm still dripping wet in this picture, even after an hour :-)
The next morning we were able to sleep in a bit. We were staying at a really nice hotel, with a wonderful buffet breakfast. We hopped in a 4x4 (not the kind that you're thinking of.... take a look below) and headed for the jungle! Yes, we were in the rainforest! We went to a Guaraní village (I had seen these people before in Paraguay, except this time was in Argentina!), and it was super cool (very different, but cool). Well, basically they live in the rainforest, and our guide showed us all of these cool contraptions that they use to capture animals for food. However, given that there really are no more animals for them to catch they now depend on bringing tourists in so that they have some way of making money. It was kind of awkward, the entire situation, because I felt like we were at a zoo watching the way that these people lived. Don't get me wrong, it was cool seeing how different people can live their lives, I just kind of felt bad in that we were somewhat intruding on things. Only in South America.
Well, I got back to BA, hung out for two days, and then peaced again. I'm seriously living the life right now.
Wednesday morning I took a flight (not before playing on the runway again hahaha) to El Calafate, a town in Patagonia in southern Argentina. Oh my goodness what incredible views I had from the plane!
We landed in El Calafate around 3 pm and we had the rest of the day to relax, walk around town, and check things out. El Calafate is a touristy mountain town that's really cute and has a lot of shopping and great food! It is also conveniently located about 20 minutes from El Parque Nacional de los Glaciares (the Glacier National Park for those of you that REALLY don't understand Spanish haha).
Thursday we went to El Chaltén, a nearby town in the National Park. It is known as the trekking capital of Argentina, and that is exactly what we did this day! We hiked the Fitz Roy (the oddly shaped rock of a mountain in my pictures below) trail. It was a little intense, but it was awesome and everything was so beautiful! By intense I mean it took us a good 2 hours just to get to the end of it (actually it wasn't the end, only the first viewpoint). It was awesome though!
The next day (Friday) was the coolest day ever! In my life! We were headed to the glaciers!!!! Took a bus, paid the park entrance fee (we got a discount thanks to our student visas booyaaaaa!), and we were there! We first took a boat ride (which was awesome because we got pretty close), then we put these things on our feet (I forget what they're called but they give you traction when you are walking on the ice), and we were on our way. We did the mini-trekking excursion, which meant we had the opportunity to hike up the glacier for about an hour, drink a shot of whiskey at the top (with ice that was coincidentally the GLACIER), and hike back down. Not to mention it was Sam's 21st birthday. What a way to celebrate your birthday! You win the grand prize sir :-) Anyway, we hiked back down (after having an AMAZING time and be so overwhelmed with how cool everything was!) and took off our shoe-things. I should really learn what they're called for future reference haha. It was when I was taking them off that a chunk of the glacier broke off. Because I was being slow, I missed it. I was so upset with myself, but then all of the sudden (it sounded like thunder) the biggest piece EVER broke off, and I somehow (I am still impressed that I pulled this off because I don't know how it ever happened) managed to snag a picture of the ice hitting the water. Please look closely at one of the pictures below! It created this huge TIDAL wave in the water, and it was like the icing on the cake for the day! One of the coolest things I've ever seen! After getting back on the boat, they took us to the balconies where we were able to look at and stare at the glacier for another hour. Every time we saw chunks break off, it was like thunder. So cool I can't even begin to describe it!
Antes de olvidar, I also learned on this tour about how the glacier is formed and how it works. Cool stuff! What you see in my pictures below is only 30% of the entire glacier. Crazy right? So anyway, the glacier is on top of a river, and because of this it moves about 10 cm every day. The part in the front, which is where we were walking, is the part that breaks off. Don't worry, we weren't walking on any areas that could potentially break off haha. The part in the back is where the new parts are formed. The glacier is situated in between mountains, and it constantly rains and snows in this part which is how new parts of the glacier are formed. Because it is on a river, the glacier moves forward, new parts break off in the front, and new parts are formed in the back. The glacier also pushes the ground out of the way when it moves forward, and therefore sediments from the ground reflect up through the ice, which is where the blue color comes from! Fun fact of the day: Perito Moreno (the name of the glacier we were on) is not only one of the most beautiful glaciers in the world, but it is the ONLY glacier in the world that is not shrinking in size. Enjoy the pictures below :-)
Saturday we took a flight to Ushuaia, Argentina (a city in the province of Tierra del Fuego). Never heard of it? Google image it and then you'll see why this place is so cool because it's only the MOST SOUTHERN CITY IN THE WORLD. Click on the image below to see it better. I'll save you the trouble of google-ing. The circle is where we were at and the line is the comparison with every other place in the world -- I was pretty far from home huh?
Sunday was super cool. We went to El Parque Nacional de Tierra del Fuego. This was filled with beautiful sights and it was a very relaxing day (despite another intense hike haha- I'm nature champ status by now!). We also ran into wild horses on the way that I took pictures with. NBD. Sam also taught us how to skip rocks in the water haha. Oh, and we saw woodpeckers... that were pecking on the wood. This was the first time I ever saw this! We got back to the center of town (the park was only like 20 minutes away!) and we ate a delicious restaurant (again recommended by the wonderful Coqui :-) Special thanks for planning our entire trip!) Went back to the airport (which, by the way is SUPER SUPER small like you wouldn't believe) and hopped on a plane to come back to BA. And oh yes, our 17-year-old rugby team was there again haha. One of the players I was sitting next to was practically fluent in English, and was also studying French and Latin in school. This was when I realized that South America has the biggest leg up on the US because I feel like no one at home (or at least very few people I know) can speak another language. People, get with it! Speaking another language is one of the biggest assets you can have!!!!
So yea, in one week I went from the northern most point in Argentina to the southern most point. And when I say southern most point, I am referring to the world and not just Argentina! Go big or go home right? We had to do it big because it was my last vacation during the semester! Sad face!!!
We're approaching the bitter sweet end here! Where did the past 5 months go?????? I'll keep you all updated on the end to this amazing adventure! Chau, besitos!
We're approaching the bitter sweet end here! Where did the past 5 months go?????? I'll keep you all updated on the end to this amazing adventure! Chau, besitos!
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