Touched down in Buenos Aires early (yay!) with no problems whatsoever. The security hassles everyone talked about on the news didn’t happen at RIC when we were there. We had planned extra time, but didn’t need it, so we started our trip with a long wait (with free internet fortunately!) at RIC.
The rest of the trip was smooth. The only hassle was the new reciprocal entry tax in Argentina. It just went into effect on 12-28 (boo hiss!!) so they haven’t really worked out the kinks in the system yet. The lines were horribly long, then you had to go through passport control after paying the tax. But, hey, now we have a visa for 10 years if we want to come back!
Finally out of baggage claim, our driver was waiting for us to take us across town to the national airport. He took us on the city tour – instead of the highways – which was nice. The traffic was horrendous – but the driver (who spoke very little English so we practiced our Spanish) said that this was nothing. Nada! Because of the holiday and everyone on vacation, the traffic wasn’t bad. Really? wow! So, since we had so much time before our flight, we got to meander through the tree lined streets in a few different neighborhoods. The city looks lovely in the neighborhood districts, parks, trees, city life. We’re excited to come back and experience it all. But now, we ‘re excited to be off to Iguazu!
About an hour later, we arrived at the airport. Stored our big bag and made our way to the check in desk. It was a zoo – but we had hours to kill so no big deal. Everything situated with the airline, we hit one of the restaurants for empanadas! Big here in Argentina – really cheap – and really good! Even at the airport! Whiled away the time there, then did some work, and meandered down to our gate. The flight was right on time and we landed in the hot, humid air of Iguazu at 4:30.
Once again, our driver was right there waiting for us to take us to the Panoramic Hotel. Gorgeous place right on the river – you can see Paraguay and Brazil from here. Room is great – with really good A/C that is on all the time – even when you take the key out of the Euro-energy saver thing! Wood paneled walls, window looking over the “gardens” but really you can see the river, modern furniture. Just great.
We dump our stuff and go wander. This town is a cross between Aguas Calientes (the town that serves Machu Picchu in Peru) and Seam Reap (the town outside of Angkor Wat in Cambodia). Ramshackle, people hanging out on the streets in little bars, this one area that is all little market stores with olives, cheese, beer and wine. Kid you not! You sit at plastic tables in the street, have a beer (which are huge 750 ML) which they put in its own styrofoam cooler, and snack on cheese and olives. Crazy!
We wandered, got our bearings, hit the grocery store for beer, wine and snacks, then cleaned up. It was a little early (by Argentinian standards) for dinner, but we were tired and hungry, so we wandered back into town and decided to stop at a Parilla (bbq meat restaurant) we stumbled on. Sat on the sidewalk, in front of this monstrous red brick oven where all the meat was cooked and had a fantastic meal. Steak and Chicken (we shared), wine (a half bottle), beer (in a styrofoam cooler!), empanadas, salad. All great and all for 100 pesos which is about $27US – crazy!). The only unfortunate thing is that it looked like rain so we didn’t bring our cameras. Bummer!
Back at the hotel we drifted off to sleep, looking forward to our next day at the falls.
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