Waterfalls and sunshine!
Trip Start
Jul 18, 2008
1
2
7
Trip End
Sep 01, 2008
Where I stayed
Hotel San Ignacio
San Ignacio, Argentina
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Eilis and I left Rosario on Sunday evening and got a night bus to Puerto Iguazu. The trip was 16 hours in total and although the busses here are luxery, the roads leave alot to be desired and at times it reminded me of a rough day at sea. I guess the kid in the behind me was feeling the same as he upchuked the contents of his free bus meal into the space under my seat! Apart from that incident, oh and the screaming baby, the ride didn´t seem too long and I got a personal best score on Tetris so all was not lost. The reason for going to Puerto Iguazu is that the most spectacular series of waterfalls in the world are there (well that´s what the Argentinians say and who am I to argue as the Ashleigh falls in Leenan are my only comparison). We booked in for the whole ´Iguazu Adventure Trek´ tourist ticket which was actaully pretty cool as they bring you on a boat ride right underneath the falls. Seriously, the power of the second largest river in the world falling 70 odd meters right above your head is something to see. Actually its more of ´feeling´ rather than ´seeing´ as the spray completely blinds you. After that there was a far more sedate boat ride at the top of the falls where a big crocodile was chilling out on the bank (he´s obviously used to tourists and their pesky flashing cameras). The town of Puerto Iguszu itself is actually really nice aswell and was a good place to chill after the big cities of Buenos Aires and Rosario. Also an interesting incident to prove my sneaking suspicion that Argentine people are among the honest on the planet occurred when Eilis left her camera (worth >1000 euros) in the internet cafe in Puerto Iguazu. It was over an hour before we realised and legged it back to find it handed in behind the counter! To put this in perspective that camera was probably equivalent to several months salary for a local person. In fact all the people we´ve met so far have been incredibly nice and helpfull (not like in the US where in my experience they´re only friendly when they´re taking your money!). For example a guy on the street was asking us if we needed a taxi or information and when we declined he thanked us for coming to visit his city, I could never imagine this exchange happening in Ireland.
So this morning we left Puerto Iguazu on another lovely semi-cama bus (reclining leather seats and more Tetris but sadly no new personal record) to arrive 5 hours later in the small town of San Ignacio de Mini. This town only exists as it has the ruins of the largest Jesuit Mission in South America and lives off the tourism. That´s not to say that it is very ´tourist-y´ though as there´s only one small hotel and a bunch of shops in the entire place. The ruins themselves are very impressive, dating back to the late 1600s and at their high point housed up to 4,000 monks and native Guarani people. Anyone who has seen the film ´The Mission´ will know what I´m talking about.
So tomorrow we´re on the road again for another 4-5 hours to either Corrientes or Resistencia. It all depends on accommodation and online booking isn´t available so its a stop and see strategy. After that it´s onto Salta for 5 days and then up into Peru.
I hope all is well with all of you,
Adios chicos,
Eoghan
Ps Still no USB on this computer for uploading photos...maybe next time
Comments
Incredible journey indeed!
Thank you for such an interesting blog and for simple humoristic language. I enjoyed reading about cities and athmosphere there. Was there any language barrier?
Thanks again and regards,
Melody from Mongolia