Iguazu Falls (Day 1)
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
We joined up with our GAP Adventures tour group last Saturday and have been pretty busy with activities with them. It started in the Downtown area of Buenos Aires at Gran Hotel Ailen. Accommodation was a bit hard to take after three weeks in our two beautiful apartments... cramped and smelly. The area wasn't very nice either as the business people desert the area over the weekends and only tourists and spruikers are left. We also saw a few dodgy characters so didnt hang around too long. Had a quick bite of coffee and media lunas and went back to our hotel to meet the tour leader.
The group is good with a good mix of backgrounds and ages. Had a very early start in the morning (we had to get up at 5.30am to leave by 6.30am). A few of them went out partying the night before we left so we were running a bit late for the airport the next morning. Of course Kellie and I were stuck at the back of the cue so the stewardesses told us off when it wasn't our fault. I understand ... they are just doing their jobs so was polite.
The flight wasn't bad only 3 hours, and the views coming into the airport in Argentina -- Puerto Iguazu -- were spectacular. We were picked up from the airport by our local guide Antonio and two minivans and promptly taken across the Brazillian border to our new hotel. Excellent accommodation and a huge difference to the night before. We went onto get some lunch in town and then onto the falls on the Brazilian side. On the way we stopped for people to go on a helicopter ride to the falls. Kellie and I chickened out but now wish that we had done it. Oh well - maybe next time.
The falls are truly a spectacle and are just amazing. There are butterflies everywhere!!! All shapes and sizes and colours. They also had some mischievous animals which I think are called coatis (or are similar to them at least). They were trying to look through people's bags and one even marked someone's leg as his territory -- funny. The day was very humid and wet and it was tiring just walking around up and down steps and inclines. We had a lot of fun and got to go to see Iguazu from the other side (some say that the Argentine side is the better side to see things from, plus you get to do the Devil's Throat)... more on that later.
We went out to a pizza place for dinner which was nice and easy. It was a rodizio so the waiters just kept bringing pizzas to our table and you got to choose what you wanted for only about $15 Brazilian reais. So sick of cheese now though. Our hotel has a good buffet breakfast and I've been eating a lot of fruit! =)
Posted byAndrew at 11:47 am 1 comments