Argentina Part One

IGUAZU FALLS (ARGENTINE SIDE)

We left the campground early in the morning to beat the hordes of tourist buses that would be arriving shortly.  Once we paid and entered the park, we had the option of taking the flashy tourist train to what is referred to as the “highlight” of the area.  We hopped on, not wanting to chance the weather.  The sky already had a strong overcast, and it had begun to trickle.  The train ride was about 15 minutes long.  We departed at the last stop and followed a long footbridge on the upper part of the river. We arrived at a large balcony overhanging the Devil’s Throat (Garganta del Diablo), a U-shaped, 82 meter high, 150 meter wide and 700 meter long waterfall.  The immense amount of surging water overcame our senses.  The pounding of such a high volume of water is something that must be experienced.  Pictures can’t do this place justice.   It is a truly humbling experience for even the most-well traveled individual. Unfortunately at this time, the rain was coming down hard, so it was nearly impossible to get a decent picture.  Next we visited the lower circuit of the park.  The path was long and snaked along the top and bottom of many of the falls in the park.  It gave us a more close-up view of many that we could only see at a distance from the previous day.  We saw many species of birds and banded-tailed coatis, which felt at home amongst the crowds of people.  In the afternoon, the sun came up, so we visited the Devil’s Throat again.  This time we were able to get some great shots but unfortunately, with the sun came an influx in tourists, so our intimate encounter with the falls had to be brief. 

Visiting Iguazu Falls was a truly unforgettable experience!  What can we say, we loved both sides!  

POSADAS AND CORRIENTES:

Posadas is the capital city of the Misiones province in Argentina, and it also happens to be a place where we experienced an unforgettable event.  We were heading south to Buenos Aires, as we had a plane to catch in a week.  We had just entered the province of Misiones when a cop signaled us to pull over.  Unsure of the cops intentions we prepared ourselves for the usual questions.  Instead he greeted us, and said that the city of Posadas would like to show us their appreciation for visiting their city. In fact, he claimed we were the first tourists this year!  To show their gratitude he got on the phone and called a local hotel to arrange for us to receive a free room for the night.  We had a bit of a schedule to keep, but we couldn't refuse such a great offer, so we accepted.  The cop offered to escort us into the city center, lights blazing.  He showed us where we could leave the van.  Then he excitedly urged us to follow him.  This is when things got interesting.  We were being taken to a large crowd of police officers (about 200!) who were gathered in a blocked off street.  My heart started to pound as I had no idea what was going on.  We were taken through the line of cops, and within minutes about ten reporters ran up to us. My Spanish isn’t very strong so I let Moreno do all of the talking.  They pushed microphones into his face and asked him all sort of questions about where we came from and what we have enjoyed so far in Argentina.  When they got all they wanted from us, we were introduced to the mayor of the town who asked us if we could drive through the procession, where more cameras were pushed into our faces and we were handed various gifts.  The funny thing was that after all that, the cop that had escorted us to the city was unable to give us the free room after all, so we had to backtrack and continue on our way. 

A few hours later, we encountered a very contrasting situation.  Shortly after arriving in the province of Corrientes, we were again signaled to pull over.  The shady-looking cop began interrogating us and asked to see the usual documents.  Frustrated because we provided him with all the papers he asked for; he asked to search the vehicle.  Our fire extinguisher immediately caught his attention and he began to question its ability to function.  He refused to believe that it worked, so he told us to get out of our vehicle and come into the police station.  He kept us in a small room for what seemed like an eternity, while he persistently tried to get us to pay for two violations: having an un-working fire extinguisher and for having a tire mounted to the front of the vehicle.  He was trying to get us to pay an equivalent of $600 US on the spot!! We have yet to pay any money to a corrupt cop, but this was the most ridiculous request we have ever heard.  We didn’t have that kind of money! He stubbornly fought us on this, and we actually thought we might end up in jail.  Finally the chief police officer came into the office and snatched our documents out of the previous cops’ hands (which he had refused to return to us), and let us go.  Persistence has always paid off for us, but this was just absurd!

BUENOS AIRES PART ONE:

We had spent the night at a truck stop.  Early in the morning, it was time to leave.  It would take us approximately four hours to reach Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina.  With a population of about 13 million people, Buenos Aires would be one of the most populated cities that we would visit on this trip.  The city is very spread out and is divided into 48 neighborhoods.   We were searching for one in particular, San Miguel, where we would hopefully have a place to stay.   
Driving in Buenos Aires is no easy task.  The local drivers are aggressive and speed limits are often ignored.  However we had plenty of experience driving in other highly trafficked, Latin American cities, which all seem to share the same characteristics.  However, Buenos Aires may have had one of the worst signage.  A GPS would have come in handy in this city, but unfortunately ours isn’t detailed enough to be of much help.  Eventually we reached the suburb we were looking for and called our friend Carlos, a member of the local westfalia club, who had been expecting our call.  He provided us with more detailed directions on how to reach his house, but the street signs were so bad in this area that we had some trouble finding the place.  Finally, we arrived.  Carlos generously offered us a room in his house, where we would stay for the next three nights.   The next day we drove to Puerto Madero, a touristy area of the city, to meet some of the local westy owners.  We must have made a good impression because on the weekend all of the westy owners got together to throw us a wonderful asado, an authentic argentine BBQ.  Various cuts of meat were cooked on the parrilla, and the delicious, smoky smell of fresh beef and chicken filled the air.  We had so many choices to choose from: chorizos (sausage), morcillas (a type of black pudding), flank steak, various cuts of pork, beef and chicken and of course, mollejas (organ meat).  Everything was tasty, with the exception of the organ meat, which had a rather unpleasant texture.  We had a fantastic time, meeting all of the members.  We felt so privileged to be a part of a true cultural experience within days of arriving in Argentina.