Iguazu: Argentina
On the border of Argentina and Brasil sitting across the Rio Iguazu, lies perhaps the most impressive set of waterfalls in the world, Iguazu Falls. The falls can be viewed from both the Argentinian side and the Brazilian side, each with a different perspective but equally as stunning.
The falls are surrounded by a large expanse of protected rainforest which is thick with wildlife.
On arriving at the Argentinian side of Iguaza we had some difficulty finding somewhere to stay. After visiting a couple of places we followed up a lead from the local tourist information office and went to the ex- municipal campsite. The site is now owned by the local basketball club but they were happy for us to camp there for the night. They seemed a little concerned about our security and at first suggested we park inside the building where the court was, later directing us to park under a light. It was a last resort and too late to look for anything else but the night passed very peacefully.
In the morning we set off early for the falls to get there as they were opening (the entrance to the falls is roughly 20km from the town of Puerto Iguazu).
The Argentinians have certainly seen having a world class attraction as an excuse to bump up the entrance fee. The fee for foreigners is 3 times that for Argentinians at US$40 per person.
Once inside the park there are three trails to walk. We started with Upper trail (Paseo Superior) which takes in the top of the falls first.
Then we walked around the longer lower trail (Paseo Inferior) which has better views of the lower waterfalls. On this trail we came across lots of coati who are clearly well used to people.
Unfortunately river levels while we were there meant that the crossing to Isla San Martin – which gives a great front on view of the waterfalls, was not an option.
As well as the big sets of falls which Iguazu is famous for there are also a number of smaller falls set in the rainforest.
We were glad to have done this early in the morning as the walkways are narrow and viewpoints small so doing it with the least number of people is definitely preferable. The temperature and humidity were also more bearable in the early morning.
The highlight of the park is the long boardwalk that crosses rivers to the Garganta del Diablo. You can reach this lookout by taking a small train from the start of the two other trails or you can walk along a dirt road. We took the latter option and were rewarded with the sight of a troop of Capuchin monkeys, hundreds of butterflies and numerous colourful birds.
The boardwalk out to the Garganta del Diablo is over 1km long and mostly exposed in the sun but also gives good wildlife opportunities. Large catfish swim in the river, as well as Caiman and small River Turtles.
At the end of the boardwalk there is large crowd of people stuffed into a small viewing area, made even smaller by the resident photographer. However the falls are amazing with a huge volume of water pouring into a cauldron from all sides. The main waterfall here is in fact the largest in the world by volume.
We took the train back to the entrance, and after a total of 6 hours at the falls we were done with the Argentinian Iguazu and ready to hit the Brasilian side.
The Jesuit Missions
In the Argentine province of Missiones, in Paraguay and the bordering areas of Brasil there are a number of ruined Missions established by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in the 1600’s. In fact 30 were built in the area however most were completely destroyed and haven’t been rebuilt.
They created new communities for Guarani Indians where they introduced modern technology and converted them to Christianity. They also provided protection for the Indians from the less desirable influences of colonial society. However the Jesuits were expelled in 1767 by King Carlos III of Spain and the missions quickly declined after this. The jungle claimed much of what remained however there has been some restoration work carried out in the 20th century.
We visited two of the missions. Firstly Santa Ana of which little remains standing. However the graveyard was used well into the twentieth century so is still in reasonable condition despite the open crypts and abandoned coffins.
Bigger and the most restored of all the Jesuit missions is San Ignacio Mini which housed more than 4000 residents at its peak in 1733.
The centrepiece of San Ignacio is a 74 metre long church designed by an Italian architect, Juan Brasanelli and its thick sandstone walls are highly decorated.
Esteros del Ibera
An easy 100km drive (well 60km were a bit rough and unpaved) from Mercedes is the small settlement of Colonia Carlos Pelligrini. This is the main access point for the wetlands of the Rerva Provincial Esteros Del Ibera.
The Esteros del Ibera is a wetlands reserve of around 13000 sq. km. It is teeming with wildlife most notably Capybara and Caimans.
At the gateway to the village there is a visitor centre for the reserve – although there isn’t much to see. There is a short walking trail in the woods here where there is a chance of seeing Howler monkeys but unfortunately there were none around when we were there.
On arrival we made for the municipal campground which was completely full as it was Semana Santa (or Easter weekend). It didn’t really matter to us that it was full because a height restriction on the entrance would have prevented us going in anyway. It didn’t stop us camping outside the gate and using their facilities for free though !
Tours of the Laguna Ibera and its surrounds leave from the campsite and we booked one for that afternoon.
The tour lasts just over 2 hours and skirts the edge of the Laguna and its embalsados (floating islands of vegetation). We saw Capybara, Deer, Caimans and a variety of birdlife. Unfortunately our boatman was more interested in chatting with one of the Argentinian guys on the tour about anything other than wildlife in Ibera and didn’t seem to do as good a job as other boat men. Sometimes you just don’t get the luck !
After a very hot night in the camper we kept heading North on what turned out to be a very bad road. There were a few sections we were very glad of high clearance and 4-wheel drive. Fortunately the bad road only lasted 50kms.
At one stage we had to stop to let a caiman cross the road ahead of us, much to our amusement.
Gaucho Gil
Throughout Argentina there are small shrines at the roadside decorated with red flags and often with a small colourful statue of a little gaucho man. These are shrines to a Robin Hood-esque character called Antonio Gil also known as Gaucho Gil.
We just happened to be passing Mercedes which is the final resting place of Gil and the site of a very large shrine to him.
Antonio Gil was born in 1847 and joined the army to fight in the War of the Triple Alliance. Once the war was ended he deserted from the army and turned into a cattle-rustler who stole from the rich landowner’s and shared his ill-gotten gains with poor local villagers. The villagers in turn gave him shelter and protection.
Eventually the law caught up with him and he was hung by the feet from a tree and then beheaded. However before dying he warned the sergeant in command of the police that his son was very ill and that he would only recover if the sergeant buried Gil after he was dead (it was the custom not to bury army deserters).
As the story goes, when the sergeant returned home and his son was indeed ill, he quickly returned to the site of Gil’s execution and buried him. The son recovered and so was born the legend of Gaucho Gil.
The site of the execution is now a major destination for Argentinians with a shrine surrounded by gift shops selling Gaucho Gil related memorabilia.
Around the shrine and in separate buildings close by, are walls of plaques thanking Gil for performing life-changing miracles for those who have petitioned him. There is even one from an Argentinian football player thanking him for making the squad.
As well as plaques, there is also a room which displays the gifts that have been given to Gil as offerings over the years. There are a number of guns, knives and even swords amongst these gifts.
There is even a campsite at the shrine to allow pilgrims to stay overnight. We took advantage of the campsite and visited the shrine rubbing the head of the small statue of Gil for luck.
Parque Nacional El Palmar
Moonrise in El Palmar
At the end of a day’s drive from Buenos Aires we reached Parque National El Palmar. This park consists of the original flora of the area before man’s clearance for agricultural purposes.
On the road into the park we saw our first Capybara, the largest rodent in the world, just grazing on the verge.
The road ends at the Rio Uruguay which is the boundary between Argentina and Uruguay. There is a really good campground here. The campground has many fenced off areas which surround the holes of Vizcacha. As dark falls the vizcacha would come out of their holes and snuffle around the truck.
Near the campground is a great viewpoint over the river where capybara liked to hang out in the evening.
We explored some of the roads in the park (there are only a couple) but they were a bit small for us and didn’t really lead anywhere too exciting.
However we did find a nice walking trail down the river which passed by some ruins and accessed a small but gravelly beach.
El Palmar was the perfect place to relax in warm weather with relatively cool nights after our hectic visit to Buenos Aires.
Police Stop !!
After driving more than 5000 miles around Argentina we hadn’t been stopped by a single police checkpoint or had any problems with the police but we’d heard rumours that North of Buenos Aires we would likely encounter some problems with the police and unfortunately this was true.
At the border of Entre Rios State we were flagged down at a large checkpoint and the policeman asked for license, insurance and Import papers.
He disappeared off with these (this isn’t really unusual) and then a couple of minutes later told me to get out of the truck. He took me round to the back of the truck and then told me that it was illegal to not have a rear under-run bar in Argentina. I looked at him blankly and after a couple of minutes he told me to go into a building and talk to an officer there.
Once inside the desk officer first told me that my ‘copy’ licence was not acceptable and was an infraction (I have no idea if this is true or not but it sounded plausible). I produced my original licence and explained that copies had been acceptable in other South American countries and he begrudgingly accepted this.
He then told me I had two fines. I asked him what for and after he explained I told him I didn’t understand. Usually not speaking Spanish is a great way to get out of any police hassle because they soon get bored and let you go. Not this time – he fired up his computer and opened up Google Translate!
His first problem was our lack of a rear under-run bar. In the UK this is not required on vehicles registered as Motorhomes (which ours is). I told him this and he insisted. I then explained that there is an international agreement on temporary import of motor vehicles which says that if a vehicle is legal in its home country then it is legal on a temporary basis in any signature country. I don’t know how that all translated in Google but it certainly irritated him as he began to strike the keyboard quite hard.
A little annoyed he moved on to the second point. Apparently we had driven into the checkpoint too quickly and not “Respected the police”. I asked him how quickly you should drive through the checkpoint (on a dual carriageway) and he said 40km/h. I replied that was how fast we were going (although in truth I wasn’t sure). He then told me they had cameras proving I was speeding. So I asked him to show me the tape. Ah but only the boss can look at the tapes! He insisted it was Argentinian law and he did not need to prove that we were speeding .
We went back and forth many times on the issue of disrespect, with him insisting that we had a fine worth 170 litres of fuel, though Google translated ‘Litros’ into Gallons which shocked us until we looked at the Spanish and realised what had happened (I assume to be paid in cash not siphoned off fuel, though it struck me as quite an odd fine). Finally after 40 minutes of this debacle a senior officer arrived and asked us where we were going, he reeled off some quick fire Spanish at the officer we’d been dealing with and within seconds we had our documents back and were sent on our way but if looks could kill Sarah and I would still be lying on the floor of that office!
This was the worst of 4 stops in total that day, through approximately 10 checkpoints but I’m pleased to say after that short interlude things returned to normal and we happily applied the ‘tourist wave’ that Biker Mike shared with us many months ago!
This was actually the first time that any police had stopped and tried to fine us since Peru !
Buenos Aires: the Jewel of Argentina
While travelling round Argentina we had been continually disappointed by the lack of buildings with grandeur in the towns. Well Buenos Aires has Grandeur with spades. Everywhere you look are huge colonial buildings on a scale to rival any of the great cities of the world.
We arrived into Buenos Aires at the docks (close to where the ferry to Uruguay departs) and we walked through the Puerto Madero part of the city. This is the old docks area which has been completely gentrified and is now a restaurant and convention area.
We walked from here right up into the heart of the city and up Avenida de Mayo, the main axis of the city which has Congress at one end and the Cathedral and Presidential offices at the other.
Teatro Colon
Our hotel was just off the North end of the Avenida de Mayo. We were staying in the Lennox hotel which was a modern boutique hotel and very nice while still being good value. We dropped off our bags and set out to explore the city some more.
National Congress
The Congress building itself is very impressive and was actually modelled on the Capitol Building in Washington DC.
Evita
Splitting the city through the centre is Avenida 9 de Julio which is a massive street with up to 16 lanes of traffic. City residents (Portenos) claim that it is the widest street in the world. There are two striking landmarks on this street. One is a big skyscraper with Eva Peron’s face on it and the other is The Obelisk (67m high).
BA Cathedral
Continuing down Avenida de Mayo we reached the Plaza de Mayo which is the main square of the city with the Presidential offices at one end. Here we found the Cathedral which is in a classical architectural style and not what you would expect at all. In fact we walked passed it a couple of times before realising it was the Cathedral.
Tomb of General San Martin
Inside the cathedral is the tomb of General Jose de San Martin who is Argentina’s most important hero (responsible from liberating Argentina from Spanish rule).
Presidential Offices in Plaza de Mayo
On our second day in Buenos Aires we first headed to La Boca. This is a blue collar neighbourhood of the city with the football ground of Boca Juniors at its centre (one of Diego Maradona’s old clubs).
Houses in La Boca
The tourist heart of La Boca is Caminito street where the buildings are painted multi-coloured hues and there are tango dancers in the streets. Although it feels a little touristy the place still has a charm of its own and is very different to the other districts of BA.
Tango in La Boca
Diego Maradona Statue in La Boca
In the afternoon we headed over to the Recoleta district which is the site of the Recoleta cemetery. This is where the city’s rich and famous are buried in massive tombs which form streets like a city of the dead. Only the very rich can afford a pitch here and some of the tombs are incredible in their grandeur.
Street in Recoleta Cemetary
Many of the crypts have basements which are full of coffins.
One obligatory stop in the cemetery is the tomb of the Duarte family which is where Eva Peron, Argentina’s number 1 heroine, is buried.
Eva Peron’s Tomb
Also nearby to this amazing cemetery is a modern artwork, Floralis Generica . It’s a massive metallic flower whose petals open during the day and close at night.
Floralis Generica
Our third day in BA we were beginning to get tired from all the walking around but we kept at it. Our first stop was the main shopping area of the city which is called Florida. There is a grand shopping centre here called Gallerias Pacifico with painted vaulted ceilings and a big central fountain. We visited an art gallery on the upper floors with a big exhibition of Marilyn Monroe photographs.
Cafe Tortoni
We stopped off at Café Tortoni which is a BA institution. Having tea at Café Tortoni is a bit like tea at the Ritz, just not so elitist. It’s a real old world place where we had proper scones though they were served with Dulce de Leche, no jam and whipped cream here!
The highlight of the day though was in evening when had booked a dinner and tango show. The dinner was actually surprisingly good with excellent wine. The tango show itself was in a small club with chairs around little tables. It lasted around 2 hours and was real mixture of tango, singing and traditional music. All in all it was very enjoyable.
Our final morning in BA dawned and we were slow getting out of bed. We walked on tired legs over to the San Telmo district for the Sunday Market. Plaza Dorrego is the centrepiece for a large and busy market on a Sunday much like you might find in any European city. It was enjoyable to walk round and we were pleased and surprised to bump into our friends Luis & Lacey (lostworldexpedition.com).
Not Luis and Lacey dancing in Plaza Dorego
However the time came when we had to make our way back to El Tigre so we headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags. However on the way we encountered a massive demonstration marching down Avenida de Mayo. The protesters were marshalling in Avenida 9 de Julio so we had a hard time crossing the road and had to dodge organisers and protesters to get through. The demonstration was anti-government and is an annual affair.
This meant that we couldn’t get a taxi to the train station because of the traffic disruption and had to walk all the way.
BA is a fantastic city and of all the cities in South America it is certainly our favourite. It would be so easy to spend a month here enjoying the buzz of city life and exploring all the nooks and crannies of the city. BA is a world class city to rival London, New York and Paris and I can’t think of higher praise than that !
Tigre
We didn’t want to drive right into the centre of Buenos Aires with The Beast and fortunately found out that there was a campsite in the suburb of Tigre. Tigre is to the North of the city and is surrounded by a delta which provides a maze of rivers. It is where the Portenos (BA residents) go at the weekend to get out of the city.
Driving to the campsite we turned down the road our GPS was telling us it was on. The road turned to dirt and we could see a river at the end. We were pretty sceptical that a campsite existed. However we got to the end and after shouting through a locked gate the retired couple, Beatriz & Angel, came out and opened up for us.
The small campsite is right on the river and has its own dock where river taxis and launches can dock making it very convenient for travel. In fact Beatriz explained that there was a commuter boat once a day (excluding weekends) that went straight to BA from the dock at the campsite.
Boat approaching L’HIrondelle Dock
L’Hirondelle, the campsite, has a lovely setting but is a little rundown. It would be absolutely beautiful with some work as the location is superb. Beatriz however is a wonderful hostess and couldn’t have been more helpful or friendly.
Lancha at Tigre
On the way back from Buenos Aires we couldn’t take the boat as we returned at the weekend, however there is a straight train connection to Tigre and then a local Lancha on the river goes to the campsite dock upon request. The last boat was at 6.30pm and we were getting a little nervous when by 6.50pm it either hadn’t arrived or we were waiting in the wrong place and it had been and gone. It was starting to get dark and we were worried about seeing the right pier at night. As we were debating whether or not to jump in a taxi and take the conventional route back to the campsite, the Lancha finally turned up at 7pm and at the mention of L’Hirondelle we got a knowing nod from the boat driver and started to relax and enjoy the ride
Tigre itself is a very pretty suburb and well worth exploring in it’s own right, not just using as a launching pad for Buenos Aires.
A Spot of Welding
From the Lake District we wanted to make it across Argentina in just three days to get to Buenos Aires where we had booked a hotel from which to explore the city. This was a distance of around 1200km of a pretty boring drive through the pampas.
However at lunchtime on our second day of driving we noticed that one of the light pods on the back of the truck was fatigued and had come half way to breaking off.
This had happened to the light pod on the left side while we were in Mexico and we attributed the timing of this side to the bouncing around on the rough road in Lanin NP. So we needed to find a welder to fix it up.
We stopped off at the small town of Bragado looking for a Soldadura (Welding workshop) but had no luck so stopped off at a YPF petrol station in town to ask a local. After repeating “Necesito un soldador” at least 10 times and getting nowhere we finally walked the guy over to the truck and showed him the problem, “Ahh Soldador” – Yes bloody Soldador, that’s what we’ve been saying!! Incredibly it turned out that the guys father owned a metal workshop down the road and we were all set.
The guy called his dad who arrived 10 minutes later to have a look. He said that he could do it and then promptly headed to the café next door for a cup of coffee with his mate. Another 10 minutes later he appeared in a car with his friend and told us to follow him. It’s at times like this when you are following strangers down back streets and dirt roads that your mind starts to wander about all the bad things that could possibly happen… thankfully though they weren’t psychopaths and we pulled up at his garage which was set up as a machine shop with some pretty heavy duty metal work gear and of course a huge Parilla – we would expect nothing less of an Argentinian workshop! He soon had the light pod off the back of the truck and on the bench.
While he was working a number of men from the neighbourhood stopped by to drink Mate and offer advice/help. The whole thing turned into a local event.
Selection of Guys who were helping out
After around an hour he had finished up. He’d actually tried to finish up earlier but one of his friends had told him to reinforce it and make it stronger because our truck was 4×4, so he did some more work.
After mounting the whole thing back on the truck we were very pleased with the work, he even painted it. At this point even more people had arrived to see the gringos and the blue truck so we said our goodbyes and headed off to find somewhere to spend the night.
Northern Lake District
Insurance paid, beer drunk, we left El Bolson and drove the short distance to Bariloche. This is the most touristy town in the lake district – possibly Argentina. We arrived here a few days into March to find that the summer season was well and truly over. This meant that all the campsites close to town had packed up for the winter (although the sun was still out) and the closest we could find was Camping Petunia which was a good 15km from town.
Fortunately Camping Petunia was really nice with its own beach , a lovely view of the lake and an easy bus ride away from town with the bus stop right outside the campsite.
We hadn’t been out for dinner for ages so we were determined to head into town do some sightseeing and finish off with a good steak!
The centre of the town has some interesting buildings and a big cathedral but it doesn’t take long to see all the sights. There are hundreds of chocolate shops here so of course our ‘sight-seeing’ led us into one or two of these to sample their wares. One of the tourist features are the big St. Bernard dogs which were beautiful but we didn’t stop to have our picture taken with them.
Sightseeing taken care of we rested our weary legs and refreshed our parched mouths in ‘The Vikings’, a very nice bar just down the road from the restaurant we planned to visit for dinner, on advice from our motorbiking friends Ben & Eveline (BenandEvelineconqueso.wordpress.com).
The restaurant is called Alto y Fuego and is also No.1 on Tripadvisor. Well, they weren’t wrong, dinner was fantastic, great value and in a modern convivial setting with good service. The steaks we had were perfectly cooked, juicy and incredibly tender – highly recommended!
Overdosing on steak wasn’t enough and we left Alto y Fuego and headed to one of Bariloche’s many ice cream shops for a pudding.
Needless to say the next day we had tiny hangovers so decided to spend the day on the beach and hanging out in the sun.
Not ones to hang around too long we were soon on our way again to San Martin de Los Andes. The route between the two towns is known as the seven lakes route and threads its way (surprisingly) through 7 lakes in a National Park called Nahuel-Haupi.
Campsite view in Nahuel-Huapi NP
This route is in the process of being paved but for now the second half is a little rough. It is a very scenic drive and just over halfway we found a beautiful lakeside location for a night of free camping.
San Martin de Los Andes Beach
San Martin de Los Andes is a lot like a scaled down version of Bariloche. It sits right on a lake with a lovely beach and has an alpine feel to it, albeit on a much smaller scale. Its also got a campsite right at the edge of town. This was definitely our favourite Lake District town, much quieter and more relaxed than bustling Bariloche.
Volcan Lanin
Moving on from San Martin we headed up the road to the stunning Lanin National Park. The road into the park is unpaved and not the greatest but as you drive in up the shore of Lago Huechulafquen (no idea how to pronounce it!) the views just get better and better. For us the grey overcast morning gradually improved into perfectly blue skies with views of the massive snow-capped Volcan Lanin.
As we drove into the park we came across a local Mapuche Indian guy whose clapped out old car had a flat tyre. We stopped to help and tried to inflate the tyre with our compressor hose but it was completely gone. He brought out his spare, but this was also flat! It held air though so he just needed to change the wheel and he’d be on his way, thing is you kind of need a jack for this – we lent him ours. Of course you also need to be able to undo the nuts… we lent him our wrench. Eventually he was back on the road and we were left clearing up all our tools for 10 minutes at the side of the road! We were gifted a bag of Pinones though in thanks (though we still haven’t worked out how to cook them!).
After stopping for lunch next to a little lakeside church we carried on into the park and found a lakeside campsite at the start of a lovely waterfall walk.
We spent the afternoon walking to a 25m waterfall (Cascada el Saltillo) in some lovely woods with sporadic views of Volcan Lanin.
Lanin NP was definitely our favourite bit of the Argentinian Lake District – but of course having good weather helps !
On leaving the park we had an unscheduled stop as we came to a tree completely blocking the road. It had just been felled by a team of Mapuche Indians. We thought we’d be in for a bit of wait but it only took these guys about 10 minutes to cut us a path through !
FromAtoB 