Ushuaia! that is where i finally landed last night after a layover of almost seven hours. good times. but i woke up this morning at, “el fin del mundo”, the end of the world, and i knew it would be a fun day.

definitely the coldest part if the trip thus far; i finally put the wool coat, hat, scarf and gloves to good use!

we started the day by taking a train ride through the Tierra del Fuego National Park.

 

the beavers in the area have been causing a bit of destruction, but the dam makes for a good picture.

these trees are all over the park, and they’re referred to as the Chinese lanterns or fake mistletoe. the green bunches aren´t really part of the tree, they are parasites that land in the tree and take up residence.

 

after the trip to the park i had a quick sandwich and made my way to the port for a boat ride through the Beagle Channel.

 

looking at my itinerary i found i had a full free day in Salta, so i booked a tour to Cafayate. Cafayate is 114 miles south of Salta, a small area known for it’s wine.

we started the trip passing by a number of farms, mostly tobacco. the other crop of the area is sugar cane. we then went through five small towns, arriving on the main road that would take us to the main attraction, wine.

along the way we stopped at a few sights, the first being Quebrada de las Conchas, or, a ravine of shells.

Garganta del Diablo made a second appearance, this time in rock formation. (i really like this picture).

 

at one point along the way we saw natural rock formations that have been turned into points of interest. for example, there was a shape that looked like elephants in a row, one called the Titanic, the monkey, the knee, etc. this is a photo of the castle towers.

we went on a winery tour in Cafayte, which reminded me of being in a little Napa. although last time i went to Napa there weren’t carts of llama salami for sale outside the vineyards………..

 

 

on the way home we stopped at a rock called the amphitheater due to it acoustics.

this tour is my favorite so far. i ended up traveling with people from my city tour, which was like seeing old friends and i met some new people visiting from Buenos Aires. they spoke English and i found out all sorts of useful information about their city and we made plans to meet for lunch when i return.

again i was the only American on the tour, but the guide spoke English and translated everything, plus made an extra effort to make sure i was ok and didn’t have any questions. also he was quite the entertainer, singing songs and telling jokes on the way home. it didn’t matter that they were in Spanish, he was hilarious and i was laughing just as hard as everyone else. it was a great way to end my stay in Salta.

today was spent in Salta. i slept in, dropped off laundry, wandered about, scheduled a tour for tomorrow, had a little lunch, did a little shopping, and went back to the hotel for a rest. picked up the laundry and then went on a city tour.

the Iglesia Catedral is located in the Plaza 9 de Junio (date Argentina declared independence). on September 15 the square will contain more than a million people for a celebration called Procession Señor de Milagro.

 

Iglesia Santo Francisco has the second tallest bell tower in all of South America.

 

you can take a tram, walk, or drive to the top of San Bernardo Hill for a view of the city.

the tour ended with a visit to a local artisan market; lots of woven blankets, hats, tablecloths, ponchos, and scarves. anything you can make with silver and onyx can be purchased there, along with ceramic and wood home goods.

pick-up at 7 AM, drop-off at 9 PM, destination Humahuaca.

i tend to do tours backwards. i don’t spend a lot of time investigating the destination prior to the trip, i just go and then read all about it when i get back, it gives me something to do while having dinner. this method usually works, but today it didn’t work out so well.

had i looked, i would have realized i was going on a tour to the mountains 161 miles away. i would have packed accordingly bringing the guide book, cell phone, two snack bars and more than one bottle of water. also this tour happened to be 98% Spanish speaking, 2% English speaking. but the other English 1% spoke Spanish almost fluently, so it was me, the lone English speaker, catching every other word.

it was fine, i made up the history as we went along, it involved the Incas and the dinosaurs. not historically accurate, but i’m pretty sure i can sell the script. at lunch i found out that a few people on the mini-bus spoke some English and they started to translate the important bits for me, like what time to be back on the bus, don’t take pictures in the church, and where the bathroom was located.

so, what did i see on my day long adventure you ask…….well there were a number of places.

i saw the Paleta de Pintor (Painter’s Palette), each color change is due to the minerals in the soil.

 

the Pucara (Fortress) de Ticara and the Jardin de Botanica, otherwise known as the Garden of Giant Cactus.

Humahuaca itself, which felt a lot like Peru to me, lots of crafts in bright colors.

 

 

brief stop outside the Maimara Cemetery…..each person that stops here on a tour gets a little ceramic souvenir and the address of the person who made it. the address is so you can send the children of the town items when you return home. i can do that, who doesn’t want to help children?!

and that about sums up the highlights. all in all it was pretty interesting, although a very long day.

yesterday after i got back from visiting the falls, i rested for a bit then went out for a little walk around the hotel. there wasn’t too much to see, as the hotel wasn’t really near anything of interest and downtown was just far enough away that i didn’t feel like investigating.

i wandered, took some pictures and then decided it was time for lunch since it was about 2 PM. (the picture above is the back of a sign in a nearby park. the back was more interesting than the front.) i stepped into the hotel lobby just as it started to rain. it hasn’t stopped since. a light rain turned into a thunder and lightening storm, and that’s what i fell asleep, and woke up to. a, “tormento de electrico”, sounds much more romantic than lightening storm doesn’t it?

i’m really glad my trip to the falls happened when it did, i’m not sure i would have enjoyed it quite as much in the rain. ok sure, i got wet during my visit there, but that was all by choice.

since it was raining all afternoon and evening, i spent some time playing around with a photo manipulation app i bought before i left. totally fun, and a good way to kill time indoors. well that, and making up my own dialogue while watching LOST in Portuguese.

this is a sculpture in Buenos Aires by the law school, called the Aluminum Flower or Flora de Aluminum. it was designed and gifted to the city by an architect after graduating; a thank you to Buenos Aires for the education.

after stopping off at the second largest souvenir store i’ve ever seen, the first being in Las Vegas, we made our way to the Brazil side of the Iguazu Falls.

 

the Brazil side of the park is much smaller, and the walk shorter, but the falls were just as fantastic. the photo above is looking toward the Garganta del Diablo, the Devil’s Throat. the photo below is also Garganta del Diablo, but the Argentina side.

two different vantage points, one amazing sight. and who knows, with enough votes this place might be one of the new 7 Wonders of Nature.

the bad thing about today was that it started very early. in a country that doesn’t eat dinner until 8-11 PM, how is it even possible to have a ride to the airport at 5 AM?! also, since i had the stellar room location of overlooking the main street, i didn’t have a great night sleep. granted, there weren’t gun shots or constant car alarms, but who has trash collection at midnight? i like my sleep, and without enough of it i can be a little cranky. i know, so hard to believe, right?

so…..after getting up at 4:30 AM and repacking (i had to get another bag to leave at the hotel, as the inter-country flights have a limit of 15k weight and i barely made the US 50 lb. limit), taking a quick shower, and pretending to the front desk staff that checking out at 5 AM was perfectly normal, i made my way to the airport. deciding to bypass coffee, i sunk into a comfy chair at the gate and waited to board the flight to Iguazu.

we boarded on time and i promptly fell asleep. i woke up as we were taking off, which as it turned out, was an hour later than planned. who knew?!

i arrived in Iguazu well rested and ready to start the day. again, i do love walking out of baggage claim and seeing a smiling individual holding a sign with my name on it. in this case the individual was Julio, and he took me to the Visitors Center at Iguazu National Park and introduced me to Mario, my guide for the tour of the Iguazu Falls.

and yes, every time i said his name i heard the music in my head and Luigi’s voice calling out, “Mario? little footsteps…..Mario?”. the couple from Rome on the tour with me were thinking the same thing…..you can take the people away from their Nintendo, but can’t take Nintendo away from the people.

also, i knew it would happen, but i wasn’t sure when……..Mario was the one that busted out with, “Don’t cry for me Argentina”, on the walk to the falls. it remained in my head all afternoon……thanks Mario, thanks a lot!

the falls………really, i can’t describe the feeling of being there. they are ginormous, and the sound is so loud, but calming at the same time. they’re just a crazy powerful force of nature, and i am so happy that i was able to see them. as part of the trip we took a Zodiac-ish boat ride so we could experience the falls close up. that was awesome. wet, but awesome.

tomorrow Mario, Luigi, Princess Daisy and i will see the falls from the Brazil side. although i may hear more songs from the Evita soundtrack, i bet it’s going to be a good day!

i know it sounds odd, but I’m a fan of the, “city tour”. after spending a couple of hours on a bus i now feel like i have a better grasp of where things are, and what i want to see when i come back at the end of the month.

one area is called Caminito. originally it was home to Italian immigrants, but now it’s a tourist trap, full of street artists and people in tango costumes charging for photos. the main draw though is all of the fun colorful buildings. i only had about 15 minutes to look around and take pictures, including the one in this post.

i’m really looking forward to spending more time wandering through the different barrios (neighborhoods), one day just wasn’t enough.

it was an uneventful flight to Argentina, which is a good thing. the person next to me had a broken video screen and had to change seats, leaving me two seats all to myself….poor me. also i have to give credit to the wonderful pilot on the flight from JFK to EZE for making the smoothest landing ever. ever!

while researching Argentina, somehow i missed the part where they charge you $100+ to come into the country, thankfully you can pay by credit card. once the surprise payment was taken care of, it was smooth sailing to get through customs, grab my luggage and get out the door. Rolando was there to pick me up and it was an easy ride to the hotel.

since I got in at 9 AM my room wasn’t quite ready, but that’s ok, who doesn’t like to spend a couple of hours in a hotel lobby after traveling for 15 hours.

by noon i got into my room and promptly napped for a couple of hours. just because i had more room in my seat doesn’t mean i actually slept. a long shower and a coffee later i was off to check out the area. not too far from the hotel is the “Broadway” of the city, tons of theater, cinema and events. should it still be playing when i return to BA, i may see if i can catch a matinee of Hamlet. granted, i won’t understand it all, but i’m pretty sure the story doesn’t change with the language.

photo courtesy of jaquematepress.blogia.com

as much as i love to plan and organize, while on a trip i don’t like managing logistics very much. i think this is why i am a fan of the planned tour. i am a very independent person, but i really like waking up, having breakfast, and being in front of the hotel for a car/van/bus pick-up at a certain time.

although five weeks seems like a lot of time, it really isn’t if you want to see a large country from top to bottom. i started off thinking that i would rent an apartment in Buenos Aires and then travel out from there. ah, but that would involve logistic planning while there, and that takes away from my fun. enter the tour company. for this trip i chose Argentinian Explorer. i actually put out emails to a couple of companies, but this one came back in record time, with a nice trip and a cost effective price. thanks to Laura for putting that together for me.

i opted for a 20 night tour which will show me “Argentina from North to South”. i will see some of the same things i saw on my previous trip, but a lot will be brand new. i do hope there will be penguins again.

after my tour i will stay in Buenos Aires for two weeks. i found an apartment through VRBO (vacation rentals by owner) and so far so good. not knowing the area at all, i contacted a colleague of mine for some help, as i knew he traveled to Argentina quite a bit. he in turn put me in touch with a colleague of his that works and lives in Buenos Aires. how nice was that?! i asked my new Argentinian friend for some recommendations on which district to stay in, shared with him my options, and finally decided on a spot. it’s really nice having a contact in the country you’re going to visit, makes things a lot easier and i am most appreciative!

i have the tour booked, the apartment rented and my flight taken care of. i ended up buying my ticket instead of using miles because it just ended up being worth it time and schedule-wise. using miles is great in theory, but the reality is sometimes impossible.

now the big question is, since i will be SO close to Antarctica should i try and get there so i can say i’ve been to six of the seven continents? visiting all of the continents has never been a goal of mine, but i’m so close, maybe it should be. i think i will investigate a side adventure…..stay tuned for more details.

photo courtesy of sodahead.com