Protected: Day 6: The Sea and the City
Protected: Day 5: The Pilgrimage Continues
Protected: Day 4: An L.M. Montgomery Pilgrimage
Protected: Day 2: Boston to Brunswick
Protected: Day 1: A Trip 30+ Years in the Making
Final Thoughts on Argentina
Here are some final thoughts:
- Early June was an amazing time to travel to Argentina! It was winter but the weather was mild. We got very little rain and although mornings and evenings were chilly, we often wore short sleeves during the day.
- We came across almost no bugs and reptiles. This is possibly because it was winter, but it was definitely great not to have to worry about mosquitoes! The downside was that Melina and I had hoped there would be geckos in Purmamarca or Iguazu, but we only saw one hanging out on a hot water dispenser in Iguazu (which hopefully means the others were hibernating due to the cold!).
- Yerba mate is ever-present, everywhere. Locals carry around their giant thermos, tea pouch, gourd mug, and metal bombilla (metal filtering straw) everywhere they go. There are hot water dispensers in every public place to top off your thermos, and even tea leaf disposal containers in some places. I bought two bombillas so D and I can use them for loose leaf tea back at home!
- I had been worried about using tiny regional airlines since the prices were insanely low (as low as $30/ticket) but Aerolineas Argentina was AWESOME. Check-in and boarding were super streamlined and efficient and our flights not only arrived at our destinations on time, but would even leave early if everyone was checked-in, and would arrive as much as a half hour early on the regular! Take offs and landings were super smooth. Even booking through Cheapoair and OneTravel worked great- despite our no-frills tickets, they let us choose seats for free when checking in!
- Everywhere we went, especially outside of Buenos Aires (which has its trouble spots just like any city) felt very safe, almost to an extreme. For example, we were told we didn’t need bike locks in Mendoza by our bike rental company, except if we wanted to keep other tourists from mistakenly taking ours instead of their own! Our Airbnb host told us we didn’t need to lock our doors in Purmamarca. In Salta, a lady left her purse on a table at a restaurant when she went to the restroom without giving it a thought. In Iguazu, our taxi driver told us not to worry about walking around on the paths by our hotel at night. “It is very safe,” she explained, “if someone jumps out at you at night, don’t be scared! They are only walking home like you!” And of course, there was the lovely Jose in Buenos Aires, who so kindly returned Melina’s phone, bank card, and id.
- We talked a lot about the cats and dogs here, but I can’t stress enough how pet-friendly this country seems to be! Even the street animals seem so well taken care of and friendly. This was a huge hit with the girls. We came across a dog in Salta wearing a jacket with a sign on it that read, “please don’t take my jacket! I’m cold, too!” In Buenos Aires we loved watching a border collie wait with her owner at a crosswalk. When we walked up there was a stick in front of her, and she was patiently looking both ways and at her owner while she waited. As we expected, as soon as it was time to cross, she scooped up the stick in her mouth and happily trotted across the street. There were so many examples of well-behaved city dogs like this in BA, but the most amazing was the guy walking EIGHTEEN dogs all at once!! There is no way he could manage this if they weren’t all very well trained. Although we did wonder, how the heck did he pick up after them??
- One of the common chain restaurants in BA was called “Kentucky,” and it specialized in… pizza. This cracked us up.
- The parakeets in all the trees in every city park were unbelievable. So cute and loud and beautiful! Why do we see these all over the world in every climate, but not in the US?
- For some reason this turned out to be one of our best trips ever. We all got along and stayed happy about 99% of the time, and just about every place we went and every thing we did exceeded our expectations. Argentina is such a huge and varied country, and it definitely left us wanting more. Hopefully someday we will return to explore Bariloche, the wetlands of Corrientes, Cordoba, and more!
A Day in Uruguay
I try very hard to resist the temptation to go places on our trips just to check a box, and at first, taking a ferry over the Rio de la Plata to a tiny town in Uruguay seemed very much like a “let’s just do it to check off another country” day trip. But over and over again I read and heard about how lovely the town of Colonia del Sacramento is. So in planning this trip, the day trip to Colonia soon became a given. Of course, once we got to BA we found out that not only is the ferry *much* more expensive than we had realized, but the port is 30 minutes from our apartment and you have to get there two hours early to go through customs. Ugh. But we already had our hearts set on it so we bit the bullet and bought our tickets.
Our Uber driver that morning was uncharacteristically chatty. Since we don’t speak much Spanish, most have been completely silent and focused on their aggressively erratic driving, but Jose talked our ears off in clear, slow Spanish, and was very polite and patient with our stilted and grammatically-challenged answers. He told us that there are lots of immigrants here from his home country of Peru and also from Venezuela and other south American countries because the people born in Argentina “don’t want to work” so the immigrants have lots of opportunities! He talked about Millei and how he is a “mini-Trump,” but after I told him our general feelings about Trump I needed to quiet Melina down from getting too animated on the subject since I didn’t understand Spanish well enough to get whether Jose was a fan or not. Regardless, we definitely appreciated hearing his take on the neighborhoods we passed through. When he dropped us off, we walked in the door of the port and immediately Melina realized she had left her phone in Jose’s car. We ran outside but it was too late. As we made our way through the immigration lines Zach reached out to Uber customer service and I reached out to our bank to disable Melina’s online banking. Then, when we were just about to board the ferry, I couldn’t find my ticket anywhere. I had to seek out an official-looking person and explain my dilemma in panicked Spanish, and after waiting for him to discuss this with a number of different people he finally told me, no worries, it will be fine. Relieved but also slightly in disbelief that I didn’t need a ticket to board the boat, I went back to the family and immediately found my ticket folded up inside my passport. Doh. And in fact, when we boarded, no one checked tickets.
So it was a stressful morning. But the ferry ride was smooth and easy, and in about 75 minutes we were in Uruguay! We spent the next few hours strolling the streets of Colonia del Sacramento, which was originally settled by the Portuguese. The town is quiet in winter, and I think some of the beauty comes from the flowering trees and plants that were not in bloom when we were there. But the buildings are old and the shops quaint. The evocativally-named “Calle de Los Suspiros” (Street of Sighs) was underwhelming, but we still took pictures there and throughout the old town.
When we had searched online for things to do in the town, a church was mentioned that didn’t look particularly interesting, but a few reviews mentioned a basement with a creche and weird colorful strip lighting. Zach and Melina were determined to search out this “disco Jesus,” so when a quick lap inside the unimpressive church didn’t uncover any signs of it, Zach decided to ask the woman working in the gift shop. Diane and I fled the church in utter embarrassment, but Melina stayed while the senora assured them that there were no secret passageways, and even walked them in one suspicious door that was definitely… a closet.
With only one day in Uruguay, we were set on eating traditional Uruguayan food, so Melina found a great spot that was highly rated and full of locals and tourists. Uruguayan food is very similar to Argentinian food, with some twists. It was a delicious meal, and Zach and I were surprised when the “vaso de vino de la casa” was actually an entire bottle of wine and not just a small carafe. Sharing a bottle of wine at lunchtime is way more than we are typically able to drink, but we did our best! Zach and I also shared the gut-busting chivito sandwich, which helped to sop up the wine. The girls ordered passion fruit lemonade, which turned out to be completely unsweetened, so they had to add many packets of sugar. Diane managed to spill some of the juice and drop her knife on the floor at one point, so in typical sisterly fashion Melina teased her about her clumsiness. “Remember when D dropped her knife on the floor? Remember when D spilled her juice everywhere?” But in the interest of fairness, she added, “Remember when I lost my phone?” Zach, always the first to take the chance to make a good natured jab, replied with, “you should text your friends about it…oh but you can’t!” Diane jumped to finish this thought: “because you don’t have any friends!” We all cracked up at this scorching sister burn.
Most of the day we just explored the streets and parks. We climbed the steps to the top of a lighthouse for the views, and enjoyed a tiny origami museum. There isn’t much to do in this town, but it was a good break from the city. We capped it all off with a piece of a famous local cake, the Chajá, which is made with peaches, merengue, and of course, dulce de leche. Delish.
On the ferry back, we heard from Uber and they confirmed Jose had Melina’s phone – hooray! We were eventually able to arrange to get the phone back, and after we handed him a cash reward he showed us that he’d opened the case and saw that Melina’s bank card and drivers license were inside the phone. Well….thank goodness he was honest!! That could have been very bad otherwise!
Buenos Aires
We had five nights at our Airbnb in the trendy Palermo Soho neighborhood of Buenos Aires. To throw us for a loop, for a day and a half of that time we had no power, and for 3 days we had no wifi. And for two days, we weren’t sure if we’d ever see Melina’s phone again…!
But even so, we enjoyed our time in the “Paris of South America,” and managed to not only see a wide array of the sights, but also made a day trip across the Rio de la Plata to Uruguay (I will put this in a separate post). Here are highlights from our stay in BA:
Palermo Soho was the perfect place to stay with tons of great street art, restaurants, coffee shops, and ice cream parlors. We spent one night strolling through the area while Zach told the girls stories of his “wild youth” and all of his ridiculously innocent police encounters while we ate empanadas and sampled the amazing ice cream at Rapanui, one of our favorite ice cream places ever.
We walked by the Casa Rosada and also visited the Evita museum where we learned what hadn’t made it into the Andrew Lloyd Weber and Madonna movie musical. The museum was simple and informative and definitely skewed Peronist, but regardless of any scandals and gossip, we couldn’t help but stand in awe of a first lady who rose up from a marginalized community and used the power of her status and position to tirelessly advocate for the people of that community. It was a stark contrast to someone in a similar situation (an immigrant, say) who marries a man of wealth and power and then stands silently while her husband uses his increasing power to attack and degrade immigrants. Hypothetically, of course.
We spent hours in the Eco Parque, which is similar to the upside-down-zoo under renovation that we walked by in Mendoza. This had been a traditional zoo but was taken over by an animal friendly group and re-dedicated to rehabilitation instead of exploitation. I love this concept, but I have to admit it was frustrating for a while, because although there were tons of free range birds and animals, it took forever to find enclosures with animals actually in them! Eventually we found capybaras, giant anteaters, Andean condors, pumas, giraffes, hippos, and more in the extensive and healthy habitats we witnessed. We capped off that afternoon with lunch and a stroll at the nearby Japanese Gardens. The lunch was notable for its delicious (and expensive) tiny portions of sushi and other Japanese fare, compared with the GIANT desserts.
It is odd timing that in the year where we have been more excited about soccer than ever, we traveled against the current, to one of the epicenters of the world for the sport at a time when all the games were happening back in North America. But the enthusiasm in BA for the World Cup was absolutely electric, nonetheless! Every shopfront and restaurant had blue and white flags and banners and “Vamos Argentina!” in every window. You couldn’t walk a block without seeing a giant rendition of Lionel Messi’s face plastered on a billboard or painted in a mural. It felt like every other person was sporting a #10 jersey and they were for sale in every store. There was no avoiding it, and we happily drank the Kool aid! We planned one of our days around the fan fest in Seeber Plaza, and had a fantastic time watching the first match of the Cup between Mexico and South Africa. We sat on our raincoats, which immediately became muddy and soaked through, and munched on crepes through the exciting match. The park was full of families and friends and snuggly dogs, and although there were a few South Africa jerseys in the mix, the crowd HEAVILY favored Mexico. That was perfect for us, because we love to root for teams from places we have been, so we threw our hearts into cheering for Mexico with the crowd. We gasped at the flagrant fouls (and well-deserved red cards) and teared up when Mexico’s star striker and captain, who had previously been sidelined for YEARS with a fractured skull and traumatic brain injury, scored with a spectacular *header* in the second half. At the end, the crowd went wild for Mexico’s win, and we went out for boba tea and waffles to celebrate.
We made a last minute decision to go to a tango show, and were all pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be a really fun night! Zach did some research and found a great show amongst all the pricey tourist traps. His #1 priority was that the show have ZERO AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION, so as we waited for the show to start, the girls teased him mercilessly that they would volunteer him to get a tango lesson. Zach responded that if they ask him to dance he will say, “No. Mierda en mis pantalones,” but he said this at a moderate volume, forgetting that everyone around him speaks Spanish. We just about died laughing.
The dancing was flashy and fabulous, and there was a live orchestra on stage with two singers trading sets with the dancers. Melina was annoyed by the old guy crooning songs when she could have been watching more sexy tango dancers, but Diane only had eyes for the violinist. The tall, beautiful concert master was poised and engaging and absolutely killed it on the violin. We all agreed that it would be amazing to have a job where you get to get dressed up like a princess every night and play music while people dance and audiences applaud.
We explored some of the most famous neighborhoods in BA, one of which is the colorful La Boca. We were entranced at first by the beautiful buildings and art stands, but that quickly wore off when were realized the place was teeming with pretty aggressive touts. We bought some delicious alfajores (omnipresent cookies sandwiched with dulce de leche) and then picked up the pace and got the heck out of there. Once clear of the area, we stopped in a park to enjoy our alfajores. Side note: early in the trip, Melina pointed out that she kept hearing “alpha-whore” when the word was spoken in the singular, “you know,” she explained to us, “as if it is the one that is in charge.” Then we couldn’t unhear it, and laughed about this for the rest of the trip. When we had particularly bad alfajores on the airplane on the ride home, Melina leaned over and whispered, “this one is a beta-whore.” Love that kid.
In the San Telmo neighborhood we made fun of how Zach was determined to seek out the Mafalda statue. Mafalda is apparently an iconic Argentinian comic book character, who looks very similar to the old Nancy character in the US. We couldn’t get Zach to explain why he was so desperate to see this statue since 1) none of us had ever heard of Mafalda before this trip, 2) all her books are in Spanish and even while here we never cracked one open so we have no idea what the comics are about, and 3) there are mini statues of her *everywhere* in this neighborhood, but apparently they weren’t the “right one.” When we did find it, we waited for an unreasonably long time while tourists took multitudes of pictures on the bench with Mafalda and friend, in every pose and every combination of their group of posers imaginable. But we humored Zach, and Melina snapped our pics. Then we contemplated waiting for our Uber driver on the bench with Mafalda as if it were a regular bench, and acting as if we had no idea why all the tourists were lining up and staring us down. But of course, we didn’t.
Speaking of Uber, that was our primary method of transportation in this massive city. Distances were long and the metro limited, and buses weren’t cheap enough for four people to beat the low Uber prices. But we paid for it with our sanity… The Uber and taxi drivers in BA are INSANE. The lane lines are clearly less than a suggestion, and drivers straddle the lines, refusing to give up ground in either lane just in case one starts moving faster than the other. One of our drivers cut off a police car, squeezed by buses, and brazenly ran a completely red light, honking at the cars that clearly had the right of way.
In swanky Recolleta we strolled through markets and enjoyed the giant parks and fancy Parisian buildings. But our favorite was the gorgeous old theater that has been turned into a massive bookshop! We ate breakfast at the cafe on the stage and then the girls delighted in finding the Spanish versions of their favorite books. We also marveled at the gorgeous cemetery where only the richest BA residents can afford family tombs.
Although Buenos Aires was too big of a city for any of us to want to live in, it is packed full of things to do and a great place to feel like an Argentinian for a while!
Iguazú
Wow. Just… WOW. The Iguazú National park and its eponymous falls absolutely blew our minds. As Melina put it, “waterfalls over rocks are just boring in comparison.”
We went from dry fall/winter weather to the humid (but still cool) jungle (note for the future: always travel to the jungle in the winter. It was in the low 70s and mosquitos were practically non-existent). We spent our first evening taking an Uber to the Tres Fronteras, the spot where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet. This was way cooler than we expected! We watched the sun set over the rivers that make up these international borders, and oohed and ahhed as everything lit up in the darkness. Melina even realized that the lights on the bridge spanning the Paraná river corresponded to the national colors of the countries it touched: red white and blue in the Paraguay side, and green blue and yellow on the Brazil side. We also laughed about the differences between the three riverbanks: the Argentina side was full of tourists, calmly watching the sunset. The Brazilian side was a huge party with music and dancing at a bar and a giant psychedelically-lit ferris wheel. The Paraguay side had some fishing boats and a giant ugly factory. Guess which country doesn’t get the tourism benefits of having the Iguazu falls within its borders? (All joking aside, I would LOVE to go to Paraguay someday). Diane took some spectacular panoramic shots, and Zach took enough pictures to ensure he will be miserable going through them when we get home.
We then walked to the center of the town of Puerto Iguazú, which has a cute touristy center with shops showcasing the local gem mines and a fantastic street full of outdoor restaurants and street performers that is absolutely electric at the dinner hour. We had a late lunch so decided to skip dinner, but Diane got herself some gemstone pendants, and we all enjoyed gelato. Argentina’s ice cream is top notch, due to the influx of Italian immigrants, and always features something with maracuyá (passion fruit), multiple dulce de leche options, and tiramisu (Melina’s favorite).
Our next day was a BIG one. It was our only full day in Iguazú, so the plan was to spend it at the falls, and boy, did we ever. We arrived at the park just after it opened, and didn’t leave until just before it closed! We saw more waterfalls and wayyyyy more wildlife than we ever expected. We walked miles and miles and had a great day!
The tourist train was frustrating and crowded in the morning. It was jam packed with tour group, who followed their guides blindly and didn’t look around them at all, mindlessly bumping into others, loudly talking over strangers, and taking up way more space than they should. Melina calls them “sheeple,” which feels exactly fitting. The train took us to the slick, metal walkway that winds over rivers to Devil’s throat, a dramatic spot where waterfalls converge in a semi circle. The sheeple were slow and careful, but we figured out the rhythm to hopping between the metal grates so that we could move quickly ahead of them without falling. On our way, Melina tried to teach me the capybara song, but I wasn’t into it and promised instead that I’d learn it if we saw a capybara. Soon we were overlooking the falls, with thick mist billowing around us and thoroughly drenching everyone on the overlook. It was spectacular!
We took our time on the walk back, enjoying the wildlife around us. We saw a cormorant catch a fish and then smash it repeatedly against a rock before swallowing it down. We got close up views of a gorgeous ringed kingfisher patrolling the waters. Hawks and vultures soared above the falls while a snail kite circled in the dense mist from the falls looking for a meal. Diane searched every crevice of the walkways for spiders that Zach could photograph, I kept my binoculars trained on birds, and Melina kept an eye out for coatis. We had heard that these tropical raccoon-like creatures were abundant, and signs all over the park warn you of the injuries that will occur if you touch them. Melina especially was super cautious given our record with too-close wildlife encounters, but was still excited when she spotted one climbing a tree ahead of us. Then we saw another… And another… And then we realized the trees were completely swarmed with them!
This created a problem, because the walkway is narrow and tourists were crowded around the coatis, ignoring all the danger signs, and trying to touch them. One tiny child lurched at a coati and its parents pulled them back just in time. Melina was a WRECK. We managed to scoot by without getting mauled, but Melina kept loudly commanding, “DON’T F***ING TOUCH IT!” to the other tourists. I’m glad we have managed to cultivate a healthy respect for wildlife in our kids, even if we’ve failed in the clean language department.
Soon after that we looked down from the walkway for an exciting treat: a huge capybara, asleep in the sun on a bed of grass! That is a first for all of us. And of course, I made good on my promise and have had Melina’s capybara song stuck in my head ever since.
For the next few hours we explored the other trails, and the views of the falls just got better and better. We were amazed at the lush greenery growing right in the falls themselves. We were surprised by how calm the water was just before it reached the massive cliffs and imagined what it must have been like as an early inhabitant to come up on them without notice in a dugout canoe…! We also saw agoutis, Brazilian guinea pigs, and tons of birds, including aracaris and a toucan. Diane lived up to her reputation as La Reina de las Mariposas by holding many more butterflies.
As a final treat in the park, we bought tickets for the high speed boat ride that takes you right into the mist at the bottom of the falls. It was a rollicking fun speedboat ride, and right before taking us close to the falls, they warned everyone to put their cameras away in the dry bags where we had already stowed our bags and shoes. “You will get soaked,” they told us, “it is like taking a shower!” We stupidly thought they were exaggerating. We had raincoats on, and were convinced that would be sufficient. We were wrong.
We left the park soaked to the bone and shivering, but happy and laughing and trying not to look so soggy so that our Uber driver would deny us a ride. We returned to our hotel and changed into dry clothes, then had our final dinner at an outdoor table in a mediocre restaurant in town with the BEST free entertainment: an adorable group of talented young adults danced spontaneously and skillfully in restaurant across from us, and we came up with storylines for all the local street dogs passing through. The dogs were all clean and friendly, and were obviously having the time of their lives. We called the roaming pack of dogs “the street dog gang,” and they were the happiest and least intimidating gang in the world. But our favorite was the yellow dog that Melina named “Chicken.” Chicken didn’t run with the street dog gang, but instead claimed a spot in the middle of the bustling pedestrian street, wagging her tail at passers-by. Anyone who paid her the slightest bit of attention got snuggles and a dramatic display of belly, ready for scritches. At the end of our meal, the girls saved her a piece of steak, but when they brought it to her she wasn’t interested at all in their food. She was apparently well fed, and just wanted their love!
We all wished we had more time in Iguazu, but the next morning the travel gods made sure we didn’t feel too bad about leaving. First, our clothes from the falls were still soaked. Nothing dries in the rainforest. This is especially difficult when you only have a few outfits with you. Second, when packing her backpack, Melina discovered that large black ants had invaded it and were hiding in every nook and cranny. We have no idea why they chose her pack as she didn’t have any food in there (Diane and I both had food in our backpacks) and she had put it up on a stool at the end of her bed, so wasn’t even on the floor like mine was. We had to empty every pocket, shaking out and stomping about fifty ants before repacking all of her things. Then finally, on the way to the airport, our Uber driver was pulled over at a police checkpoint where we were asked whether we had paid the tourist fee. I tried to explain in Spanish that yes, we had paid the tax at the hotel, but weren’t given a receipt. They weren’t convinced, so we had to pay it again. It was only about $7 so no big deal, but totally felt like a scam (and our Uber driver basically said as much). Lesson learned: when paying a tourist fee in Iguazu, keep the receipt with you.
On to our final stop: Buenos Aires!
