Iguazu Falls

Leaving Santiago, we crossed the rugged and majestic Andes. Yes, these are its natural colors.

Bound for the town of Iguazu, on the Argentina/Brazil border, we changed planes in Buenos Aires and didn't see that city but from the air. Maybe there will be a next time.

Judy picked a nice place for our last few days in Iguazu, Argentina. Fine dining, too, and with the exchange rate, a bargain.

capuchin monkey

Iguazu National Park, in the northeast corner of Argentina, covers 261 square miles. Argentina is largely farmland outside the park, so the jungle here provides a refuge for many species. We saw a few.

heron

caimans

plush-crested jay

Iguazu Falls is the centerpiece of the park, and with several thousand visitors a day, it's a bit like Disneyland, complete with a train to shuttle hordes of people from one place to another.

The coatimundis run in packs through the food courts and train stations, looking for crumbs and handouts.

The high point of a visit is running up to the base of the falls in a boat and getting drenched in the voluminous spray. After we did this once, people in our boat chanted "otra vez, otra vez," so we went in again. It was great fun. This happened in front of the section of falls at lower left in this photo. They give you a dry bag for anything you don't want soaked, and I wore a rain jacket with partial success.

After the boat ride, we hiked trails with amazing views and couldn't get over how a lazy, shallow river can transform into a mighty beast as it succumbs to gravity. The Garganta del Diablo section, in the distance above and in this video, completely saturates the senses. Along its thundering 2.7 kilometers, Iguazu has the largest average flow of any falls in the world.  [another video]

Brasil has its Iguacu National Park, and the following day, we went through immigration to see that side of the falls. Also very impressive.

Across the street was a surprisingly diverse and well-kept bird park. Part of their mission is monitoring and conservation of rare plant and animal species and re-introducing some to the wild. These guys are common, though.

scarlet ibis

blue and yellow macaws

toucan

Chilean flamingo

Returning to the hotel, we stopped at an overlook of the confluence of the Parana and Iguazu rivers. For this photo, I was standing in Argentina; on the left is Paraguay, to the right, Brazil. The falls are in the Iguazu, upstream to the right.

And that's the wrap-up of our adventure. All that's left is a flight back to Santiago, a night in a hotel, and the all-night flight to DFW and home.

Hope you enjoyed the journey, too. Where to next? Don't know, but that's part of the adventure. Feliz viajes!

Santiago and Valparaiso

Arriving in Santiago, a bustling city of seven million, mid-afternoon, we checked in to a hostel right on the Plaza de Armas downtown and went to find the Mercado Central. If you're looking for fish, it's the place to go. We had lunch here, machas (clams) a la parmesan, quite tasty.

The Chilean Museum of Precolombian Art was a couple of blocks from the hostel and has a very impressive collection of artifacts from South and Central America.

This is a quipu, an Inca tool that uses knotted strings for counting and record keeping.

The cathedral on the Plaza has quite a presence, and in the shade at the edge of the Plaza, men study chess moves at all hours. The late summer temperature was in the 80s, quite a contrast to the frigid altiplano.

The next morning, we walked over to the Parque Metropolitano, a hilly strand that's the largest urban park in Latin America, and took the funicular to the top of a hill overlooking the city. A huge statue of the Virgen del Cerro has been standing there since 1905.

The teleferico and a short walk took us to a Japanese garden.

A visit to Santiago would be incomplete without a visit to La Chascona, a former home of the Nobel Prize winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.  Architecturally imaginative, it reflected Neruda's love of the sea, and had a 60s vibe reminding me of my childhood. Unfortunately, photos can only be taken outside the house.

We headed over to the Chilean history museum, which, though it was recommended to us the day before, turned out to be closed for three years for renovation.

On the way, I noticed this classroom chair in the riverbed. My whimsical imagination, perhaps influenced by Neruda, decided it was some kind of weird after-school detention.

But there was some tasteful street art and an impressive monument in the park that straddles the Mapocho River.

We also happened across a great street performance [video] after lunch at a Peruvian restaurant.

On our last day in the area, we took a tour of Valparaiso, a cultural center and Chile's most important port city. The tour-by-bus method goes a bit against our sense of independence, but it was the easiest and safest way to get around in this case.




On the way, we had a tour of an organic winery. The Chileans really aren't that into wine because German immigrants got there first with beer, but they export a lot. And though we're not into alcohol, the organic methods and permaculture were interesting. They keep chickens and alpacas to create manure, and also raise olives and honey at wineries throughout Chile. Workers are given space and compost to raise organic gardens on the property.

Tiuke hawks are numerous and keep the rabbit population under control.

We wandered through the Bohemian streets of Valparaiso. It was foggy and cool with steep streets and reminded me of San Francisco. It's Chile's main port and a cultural hub, famous for street art.

And it has some ups and downs.

We toured Pablo Neruda's La Sebastiana house and learned how he entertained friends while watching fireworks over the harbor. He loved to joke around, putting on different costumes between courses of extravagant meals.

Back in Santiago in early evening, we found a nearby Japanese restaurant and got ready for our final destination, Iguazu Falls in Argentina.

Couldn't leave Santiago without mentioning the Italianos. No, they're not immigrants, but big hot dogs that are a favorite here. There was a continuous lineup of Italiano stands outside our hotel door. I don't understand how they can all exist, but why ask?