2012 South America Adventures: Muchas Gracias Argentina

Tomorrow, I will catch an early flight back home and leave this amazing country of Argentina. Reflecting on my time here these past three weeks, there are so many emotions and visual images that race through my mind and trust me I tried to capture a lot of them with my camera. He, he.  

I have to confess that prior to my trip I had read about increased incidents of crime in Buenos Aires from other travelers. Since safety is an important factor for me, I began to approach my upcoming trip with cautioned excitement. After being here for three weeks, I can report that I am so glad that I came and I did not let the negative reports from other travelers dissuade me. I was very lucky that the only crime I fell victim to was being given a fake $100 pesos from a taxi driver at La Boca. I was actually more surprised than upset that I had fell for the switch. But I have to say that during my stay here in Buenos Aires, there were four other honest taxi drivers who went out of their way (knowing that I was a tourist and susceptible to taxi scammers) to point out the fare before I got out so I would know what “should” be the correct price of my fare for my return trip. Then there was the taxi driver that didn’t want to accept my tip saying it was too much. So for the one bad apple, there are many more that are good.

On my first night I bumped into a family (mother, son and daughter) trying to push this huge bundle of recyclables onto their carts. One of the bundles rolled back down and it made them break out into laughter. I smiled and said hola and they smiled back. Yes, some of the people here are poor, but they are honest and hardworking and I hope that the economy in Argentina improves for them. One of the things I love about traveling is how it allows us to experience all aspects of life and also how it can make me appreciate the things in life that I too often take for granted.

In all my travels I have loved the things that I have seen and experienced, the history, and in my case the drenching of Iguazu Falls, but mainly I always treasure the experiences I have with the people that I meet. I am talking about fellow travelers, vendors, tour guides and my apartment manager, housekeeper and driver, Aldo. I draw inspiration, knowledge and joy from each one of them which will shape who I am forever.

Here are some of the things, people and experiences that I will remember the most about my trip:

- The city of Buenos Aires and country of Argentina itself is a highlight for me. Argentina is a beautiful and very diverse country. There are so many things to see and do here and I tried to do as many of them as I could. :) I didn’t get to do everything, but I managed to do the things that were the most high on my must see and do list.

  

- As always, I am happy to be returning back home again, but at the same time I am sad to be leaving my wonderful neighborhood. Palermo Soho has been a great home away from home and I will miss my ice cream shop and all the cafes around Plaza Serrano most of which I have sampled during my stay. I felt very comfortable here because it is in an awesome location, there are people (locals, tourists and families) walking around throughout the day and evening that I never really felt unsafe going out and exploring around. I am so glad that I chose this neighborhood to base here in Buenos Aires.

- Love the street café culture here. On practically every block there is a café with outdoor seating serving everything from sushi to pizza to those famous Argentine steaks (sadly I don’t eat beef so I cannot report on their reputation, but I can see on the faces of their customers that it is a good reputation).

- Connection via the internet is important for me and I think for all travelers and here in Argentina it seems like every establishment has free Wi-Fi connection for their customers. Other countries should follow Argentina’s lead on this, because it has become more of a necessity rather than a luxury for travelers.

Most of the apartment rentals I looked at in planning my trip offer free Wi-Fi. Finding “how to get there” tips helped in planning my El Tigre Day trip and also helped with booking for my Uruguay Day trip. A Wi-Fi connection allows great flexibility to travelers who tend to do their planning on the fly. I’m sort of half and half. I like to have a set base schedule and a list of must and potential want to see and do list. Then once I’m here I tend to wing it day by day. Except for my Day trips to El Calafate & Iguazu, which required the purchase of airline tickets and lodging confirmations), most of my itinerary was done day by day and on the fly. I think a good balance between the two fits me perfectly.

- Visiting Plaza De Mayo, Casa Rosada and the Recoleta Cemetery to see the resting place of Eva Peron. It was pretty cool to pay my respect to Eva who did so much to further the rights of women in Argentina and who helped the poor.

- Street Art is around every corner in the City and some of them are pretty creative and cool. Some mornings I would just walk around and snap at anything that looked out of the ordinary and cool. Buenos Aires kept me pretty busy.

- La Boca, Caminito and my La Boca Jrs. soccer game was also another highlight. La Boca is very touristy, but I have to say that it was such a great place to photograph because of the bright colors of the houses. It is a walking museum with displays of the old days when immigrants from Spain and Genoa Itlay came to Argentina to find a better life. And if you visit Buenos Aires, don’t miss the opportunity to watch a La Boca Jr soccer game. Even if you are not a big soccer fan you will be moved by the experience. La Boca Jr. fans are the best in the world. So much enthusiasm and devotion. I loved it the experience.

- I also loved watching a tango show performance at the Porteno Tango venue. The dancers are extremely talented and I was amazed at their fast leg kicks and moves. There is this intense sexuality in this dance style and I totally enjoyed the experience.

- My long overnight day trips were awesome. First, to see the magnificent Glaciers in Patagonia was a great experience. I learned so much about glaciation and this natural wonder. Observing the glaciers up close and seeing some of the wildlife that inhabits this part of the world was also pretty cool. Second, what can I say about Iguazu Falls. The zodiac boat ride which I took to celebrate Thanksgiving Day was the most fun thing I’ve done. It was so exciting and cool to get a "taste" of Iguazu!   And let’s not forget the train ride and hike to see Garganta del Diablo in the pouring rain. Amazing and unforgettable!

- The All Glaciers Tour in Patagonia took several hours and I met the most wonderful people who were seated next to me.  First, a gracious lady from the Netherlands who was also traveling solo in Argentina.  And a really cool couple from a small town near Barcelona, Spain.  We enjoyed great conversations.  In fact, I saw the couple again the next day as they were doing the same Perito Moreno Glacier tour too (with another group).  I crashed into them on the catwalk.  He gave me his website so I hope to visit and see their photos.  I'm going to email them photos that I took of them.

- I also took a couple of last minute short day trips to El Tigre on the Delta and also the charming old town of Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay (which gave me a second stamp in South America). Both exeriences were great. 

Somewhere before my trip I had read that arriving in Buenos Aires was like jumping onto a moving Train. Well, I think it was more like jumping onto a jumbo jet just taking off. And on the jet you have a little cafe area to plant yourself along the way. :) The city is both fast and slow mannered.  Unlike my slow laid back Amalfi Coast trip last year, on this trip I have been on such a fast paced itinerary that combined with a few days of sketchy internet connection, I have had very little spare time to blog like I usually love to do. And you know that I love to blog. Ha, ha. I’ve been using my iTouch to record my thoughts and will hopefully do some post trip blogging about more when I return.

I actually managed to get at least 98% of the things on my must see and do list so I’m leaving with very few regrets. In fact, today I contemplated not visiting MALBA (Museo de Arte Latino Americano de Buenos Aires), but after getting most of my packing done by noon, I decided to hop in a taxi and go. I just knew that if I hadn’t of made an effort I would have regretted it. And it turned out to be a very relaxing and contemplative time spent.  The art exhibits (which are more modern and contemporary) were very beautiful.  

I want to say a huge thank you to all of you who took the time to read my blog and tweets and who commented. I have appreciated your support and kind words so much. I am looking so forward to catching up with all of your blogs when I get home. I have really missed reading your blogs and participating in photohunt,

I will definitely post more photos when I return home, but here are a few images I'd like to share until then: 

Near Teatro Colon.

La Boca (I went back a second time for better light).

Around my neighborhood.

I saw this dog walke the other day but he was walking so fast I couldn't whip out my camera fast enough to take his photos. But today, I saw him walking in my direction and from a block away, so I pulled out my camera and asked if I could take his photo which he was glad to oblige.

This is the train you have o catch to get to Garganta del Diablo in Iguazu Falls.

I had the first seat on the Zodiac boat ride and had  really great view as well as soaking. :)  Great fun.

Perito Moreno Glacier from the Catwalk in Patagonia.

I took a free tour at Casa Rosada. Here is a photo of Eva Peron's desk in her Salon.

This is the view from the balcony that is right next to the Balcony that Eva Peron addressed the citizens of Buenos Aires.  The real one was not open to the public.  Still, I got chills standing here and looking out onto Plaza de Mayo.

A cool vendor at the San Telmo Antiques Fair.

Dancers at the Feria de Mataderos. They were all dressed up and even locals joined in.  There was food, live music and crafts. It was really fun.

El Tigre on the Delta. 

The lighthouse at Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay.  For 8 pesos you can climb the light house for a wonderful view of the old historic center.

I really loved watching a Tango Show performance.  This was my favorite couple.  

I've been to sports events but this was a unique and amazing experience and I would recommend anyone visiting Buenos Aires to attend a La Boca Jr. Soccer match.

Muchas Gracias Argentina for a fabulous time and for all the wondeful memories that you have given me which I will always treasure.

2012 South America Adventures: iguazu Falls, A Natural Wonder

Devil's Throat

Let your soul be satisfied

with the odd beauty of this landscape

that although the world walk in truth

you'll never find, like this, nothing.

Good and bad, dynamic and changing

find here, from its name,

keep in your heart of man humble

a true and consistent message

Meditate and feel the deep emotion

contemplating the vibrant climax

eternal mist that is circled.

And do not try to describe it in your voice

only he leans his forehead against the abyss

is the mirror of the word God.

~ Alfonso Ricciutto

Yesterday, although it was raining heavily I decided that I just had to see Devil's Throat Falls, which is the largest falls in Iguazu.  To get there I had to walk about 15 minutes from my hotel to the Cataratas train station.  Here you hop on this small train (which is free) to this drop off point.  From here I had to walk along the metal catwalk which was about 30-40 minutes or so because it was really slippery in the rain.

As I got closer, I could sense something very special.  Well, I could hear it too! :)  Garganta del Diablo was letting me know that I was about to see something that I have never seen before. And Garganta is right. 

I simply have no words to describe what I saw so I thought I would allow Alfonso Ricciutto and my video to do it for me.

Trekcapri's 2012 South America Adventures - Devil's Throat Iguazu Falls Argentina from Kathy Colobong on Vimeo.

Today, I will catch a flight back to Buenos Aires. And tomorrow I really have to do some laundry, catch up on my blog and then get ready for my La Boca Jr. Soccer game tour.  I was sent an e-mail with instructions on what colors not to wear as they are the opposing team's colors. I'm pretty excited about the experience and am glad that I am going with a tour guide. 

I want to say thank you very much to everyone who have read my blog and who have commented. I'm sorry that I haven't had a chance to comment back regularly but I do appreciate your kind words...Annie, Sandra, YTSL, Marta and my twitter friends Girasoli and Maya and to everyone who follow me. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are enjoying your long Holiday weekend.

2012 South America Adventures: Don't Cry for Me Argentina - Visiting Evita

Last Thursday, I decided to visit the famous Recoleta Cemetery located in the swank Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires.  Presidents, Nobel prize winners and many other great intellectuals and leaders are buried here but for me the most famous of all is Eva Peron.

Entrance to the cemetery is free to the public and they also run free tours.  The tour guide brings you to some notable monuments and elaborate mausoleums, some of which would cost $1 million dollars to construct today.  Some mausoleums have built in chapels so when the families come to visit they have a place to pray.  Some have magnificent statues and beautiful frescoes and then there is the mausoleum for Eva Peron.  It is by comparison to others in the cemetery, pretty modest.  It is located in a narrow aisle and tour groups have to take turns visiting as there is not enough space for large crowds.  I'm not a really big fan of visiting graveyards or cemeteries, but being that Eva accomplished many important things to help women and the poor in Argentina's history, I just had to pay my respects.  And I did find the tour very informative.   

First, you should visit the Church of Our Lady of Pilar, which is located next to the cemetery.

You here at the main entrance and you then catch the next tour group leaving. No reservations are required.

This mausoleum belongs to Rufina Cambaceres Bacichi who died at only 19 years old in 1902.  There is a story that Rufina was thought to have suffered a Catalepsy.  One day a worker found the top of her stone casket moved open and inside the cover they found scratches.  The family insists that she did die, but stories surfaced that she may have suffered some kind of coma and was buried alive.  Her family insists that the latter is not the case.  I sure hope that it wasn't.

There is a story that good luck will come to all those who rub the nose of this dog and that is why his nose is so shiney.

And the last mausoleum we visit is the one for Eva Peron.

Fans of Eva visit and leave flowers and rosaries on her mausoleum, which is very endearing.

After my visit here I hopped in a taxi and went to visit the Japanese Gardens. This garden is located in the Palermo neighborhood and is quite impressive. 

  

Hard to believe that this place can exist in the middle of such a busy city. But to be honest I have to really credit the city of Buenos Aires for having so many wonderful parks and plazas throughout the city. In every park I see people hanging out, jogging or just walking about. I've even spotted a few of those very famous Buenos Aires dog walkers. In fact, in the park right by the Recoleta Cemetery I find this happy group.

2012 South America Adventures: Perito Moreno Glacier Tour

After watching so many videos of the Perito Moreno Glacier I was really looking forward to this tour.  It is one of three glaciers that continues to grow.  As I mentioned before the size is so huge that you could fit the city of Buenos Aires here.

My Perito Moreno Tour starts off with my hotel pick up again, but this time it is a smaller tour bus (almost shuttle like) with fewer tour mates which is kind of nice.  And on the bus they provide a tour guide (Ines) who proceeds to provide interesting information and pointing some of the animals who inhabit this area to us.

One of the more interesting ones was a pair of vultures that she saw in the distance.  This isn't a very good photo from my Nikon AW100 but zooming and cropping in, you can see them.  They are huge!

We travel a different route to a different port on this tour.  Here our guide collects our Park Entrance Fees to pay it for us.

Next we board our boat.

We're approaching the glacier.

On this tour we approach the South Side of the Glacier which gives me a different look from the All Glaciers Tour.

It is just as spectacular.

After the (optional) boat tour, we re board our bus and head over to the Cat Walk.  There is a nice facility here for the all important restroom break and a cafe and souvenir shop.

I, of course skip lunch and make a B-Line to the Cat walk.  We have 2 hours here to roam around  on our own.  With our entrance ticket we are given a little plastic bag for our trash. I brought some snacks and at the catwalk there are nice benches to sit with the entire view of the glacier.  I mean who wants to be in a stuffy cafe when you have this view.

After our bus picks us up we stop briefly at a viewing point for one last look at this amazing glacier.

Then our guide treats us to this very delicious chocolate and this really nice Blueberry drink (with alcohol). I can't remember the name of it, other than it was surprisingly yummy!  Let's just say I had a nice nap on the way back. :)

Here's a 360 Panaroma view at the Cat Walk . . .

And here's a short video of my Perito Moreno Glacier Tour. I was really lucky to catch a small piece of ice breaking off the glacier which was really cool.

2012 South America Adventures: Finally, my All Glaciers Tour

The Los Glaciares National Park is located in the southern part of Argentina in Patagonia. It borders Chile and it covers 6000 kilometers. Due to its special landscape and endangered flora and fauna, in 1981 it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

This tour made me learn something about Glaciers and Glaciation. About 18000 years ago glaciers covered one third of the surfacing land. Glaciers are important as they represent 90% of the fresh water of the planet, their air droughts and water flows help to balance the earth’s climate which would be suffocating without them.

If the forecasts of today are true, and if the glaciers should melt at present, the sea level would rise between 60 and 70 meters and huge extensions of coastal lands may result in major flooding in some of the world’s greatest cities. Yikes.

During our boat tour we traveled on Lago Argentino to visit four glaciers. The weather is just perfect, blue skies and pleasant temperatures. My tour mate tells me that we are very lucky because prior to today, it had rained for 3 days. I literally only had to wear my outer rain jacket to go out (except at the Perito Moreno Glacier where it was much colder).

As our tour moved along you can see that the landscape looks quite barren. Lots of  cool rock formations, some plant life and with little to no snow. But as we move further in, we can see some chunks of icebergs floating along, which was really exciting.

The viewing decks of the boat were pretty crowded, because there were so many people but everyone was very polite moving about. There is the rear of the boat, which has a bottom and top deck, and then on both sides of the boat there is a narrow walkway to move between the front and rear of the boat. In the front there is a middle section and then two walkways that stick out. Here it is very windy and wet. But to get the great views of the upcoming glaciers this is where you had to be and so that’s where I situated myself a few times.  Thankfully, I also brought my Nikon AW100 Waterproof camera which I could get wet and boy did it get a soaking.

The port.

Map of Lago Argentino.

Landscape at the beginning of the tour.

Beautiful rock formations.

The landscape changes. And here you can see the very narrow walkway we have to use to move between the front and rear of the boat.

I love this photo because it shows how big these ice bergs are.

Floating icebergs along the way . . .

Onelli Glacier . . .

Spegazzi Glaicer ...

Upsala Glacier . . .

Perito Moreno Glacier  . . . .It is located ob the South part of the lake and has an imposing wall of 5 km and stretching to 60 meters in height.

Here is a nice photo of my super nice tour mates.  The lady on the right was my seat mate and she is from the Netherlands (also a solo traveler) and the two guys on the right are married and they are from Barcelona.  I really want to go to San Sebastian, Spain now after talking with them.  They are so nice and I actually crashed into them on at the Perito Moreno cat walk as they did the same second tour that I did.  We all had so much in common. We spoke about how great it was that President Obama was re-elected as he was supportive of many of the things that we believe in like legalizing gay marriage and reforming health care.  It was a long tour so it was nice to have such interesting conversation!  Sometimes it is so cool when we meet people living worlds apart from us and we yet share so much in common with.