Buenos Aires, Argentina

25-30 July 2011

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Buenos Aires aka Malos Aires

Buenos Aires was founded and settled in the 1500’s as a port city for the Spanish to load all of their precious booty (silver, gold, etc.) looted from other South American regions onto ships for transport back to Spain. It is located on the Rio de la Plata, which is the widest river in the world. It is so wide that you can’t see land on the other side. It takes 3 hours on a slow ferry or 1 hour on a fast one to reach the other side (Uruguay). Eventually, the river opens into the Atlantic Ocean.

Buenos Aires literally means “good air”, but I think Malos Aires or “bad air” would be a better name for the city. There’s lots of choking car, bus and truck exhaust. Add to that the second hand smoke from lots of people smoking on the street. But, wait, that’s not all! There’s a volcano in Chile near the border with Argentina (Puyehuye, I believe the name is) that’s spewing ash and blowing clouds of it in this direction. Lots of flights have been cancelled here over the past couple of months. Vehicles have a grayish, gritty covering on them. And, it certainly doesn’t enhance the air quality.

We’ve taken a city tour and walked lots of miles. Buenos Aires is divided into many neighborhoods, each with its own personality and character. For example, “La Boca”, once an Italian immigrant neighborhood, now has trendy clubs and restaurants, lots of tango shows, brightly colored houses and life size caricatures of the tango dancers and characters who used to live there—all displayed on the buildings’ balconies.

“Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina”

We happened to be in the city for the 59th anniversary of the death of Evita Peron. When her husband, Juan Peron, was president of Argentina in the 1950’s, Evita played a central role, caring about the plight of working men and women in Argentina, and helping them through her foundation. She was and still is very beloved by her countrymen. We walked to the Recoleta Cemetery where her remains and the remains of many important figures in Argentine history are interred. This cemetery is one of the most visited sights in Buenos Aires. Each family buried here has its own mausoleum. They resemble small chapels, some with beautiful and intricate carvings on the exteriors. Others have sculptures adorning them. When we finally found Evita’s grave, there were flowers lining the entire block of graves on the narrow street where her unassuming, dark granite mausoleum was located.

The Pampas—Home of the Gauchos

I first heard about the Argentine Pampas in high school Spanish class, so when we had a chance to visit this area, I was eager to do so. The Pampas is a flat, grassy plain northwest of Buenos Aires, resembling the midwestern farm country of the U. S. The land is very fertile, so farming and ranching are the 2 big activities. The numerous large cattle and horse ranches are called estancias, and the cowboys are called gauchos. The gauchos were originally nomadic, traveling the Pampas on horseback and herding cattle. When the lands were apportioned to the ranch owners and fenced in, the gauchos settled on the ranches to do their jobs. They still wear traditional clothing from a former era.

The setting of the ranch was very tranquil and bucolic. The house was rather grand and Italianate in style, with a long, treed driveway. It reminded me a little of the drives leading up to southern plantations in the U. S. We were greeted with wine and delicious empanadas. As an aside, we should mention that the wine here is very good. We’ve enjoyed several good Malbecs, products of Argentina. As it turned out, being fortified with a little wine was a good idea for the activity which followed—horseback riding. We assumed that we would be taking a carriage ride, having age on our side and being nonriders. Renee had some lessons as a teenager; that’s all. David had been on a horse maybe a couple of times in his early life; that’s all. After being reassured that the horses were docile and obedient, we decided to be good sports and go for the horse option. As it turned out, it was a lot of fun. The fresh air was invigorating, vistas stretched to the horizon, cattle and llamas were grazing, and a little black and white ranch dog ran with excitement the whole way along side of us. Upon our return, we sat down to an elaborate barbeque with meats and salads, and, of course, more wine. The weather was perfect, and it was a great day!

Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

Another day trip was spent in the UNESCO world heritage site of Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. We took the high speed ferry across the river and meandered the cobblestone streets of this historic town. Originally a Portuguese city established in the 1600’s, today you can wander through the old city and enjoy stepping back in history.

A final thought, having to do with travel in general is this. It’s about the places you visit, for sure. But, it’s also about the people you meet which expand your horizons. The day of the ranch visit, we met a family from Guatemala on the same tour and enjoyed having lunch with them. They were very cosmopolitan and well educated, as well as friendly and spoke much better English than we could speak Spanish. Another day on a tour of the Central Synagogue of Buenos Aires, we met a young, pretty girl from Cuba. Her boyfriend, also Cuban, was Jewish, and she was learning about Judaism. We discovered, through her, that there are 3 synagogues in Havana and the Jewish faith is practiced openly. Who knew? We also met a delightful Swiss couple in the Brazilian Pantanal. They had traveled widely and lived for a year in Virginia. Finally, we keep running into an American couple on the same outings that we’re on—they’re from Leesburg, VA, just up the street from Gainesville, where we live.

Tomorrow, we depart Buenos Aires and head for Cape Town, South Africa. There we will spend some time with David’s cousins before our next adventure in Madagascar.

Pink House (Presidentail Office) & La Boca (little Italy)

Dave & Renee

Evita Grave & Plaque

Gaucho & Horses

Colonia de Sacremento, Uruguay

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Iguazu Falls, Argentina

22-24 July 2011

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We’ve now exchanged clouds of dust for clouds of mist—great billowing clouds of mist rising from the thundering waterfalls. Iguazú Falls is not just a waterfall. It is a whole system of waterfalls on the Iguazú River at an intersection of 3 countries: Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. The falls are so extensive that they create their own microclimate, which is a semitropical rainforest.

The Sheraton Hotel was a logical choice for a stay here, as it is located within the National Park on the Argentine side of the falls. There are several trails traversing the area which provide for maximum views of many of the cascades. It also allows for breaks during the day with a return to the trails later.

Our first full day started with a train ride to hike “Devil’s Throat”. This hiking trail, as well as the others in the park, is an engineering masterpiece consisting of a series of metal pedestrian bridges over the river. The bridges are punctuated in places by small islands, but by and large, one is walking over rapidly moving water for about a half a mile. As the approach was made to Devil’s Throat, we started noticing mist gently floating on the air in little droplets. At the end of the trail, it’s like a tropical downpour, which arrives in waves from the waterfall. “Devil’s Throat” is a very appropriate name, since anyone would have the feeling that they’ve reached the entrance to the underworld. Thundering, cascading, swirling and rushing water over the brink of the falls is an awe inspiring event to enervate the senses.

After “Devil’s Throat”, we hiked the upper falls area, again, traversing metal bridges to see many other beautiful falls’ sights. As the mist rises, rainbows spontaneously appear, reflecting all the colors of the spectrum. You soon realize that the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is the experience that you’re having. Every panoramic view was more beautiful than the last.

As sunset approached, we walked the hotel grounds in search of birds. David saw a couple of toucans in the trees that morning from our balcony. He was determined to go to the source to see if they were there. And, they were there in all their glory! What unfolded was a fun bit of photography trying to capture their beauty. Their bright orange bills shone like beacons as the sun started to set and illuminate the trees.

The second morning we hiked the trail to the lower falls. Again, more gorgeous panoramas presented themselves around each curve of the trail. We also saw the coati mundis that are very plentiful in the park, along with capuchin monkeys that appear in the trees from time to time. We’ve also seen a really pretty yellow and black bird, a plush crested jay.

Well, we’ve caught up with our laundry. All the Pantanal dust is in the past, and we have clean clothes. We brought some laundry detergent, and to avoid the excessive hotel charges for doing laundry, we’ve done it ourselves. We’ve brought a bit of ‘ghetto elegance’ to the hotel, as our laundry flaps in the breeze on the balcony. We’ll never look at another hotel sink again without thinking of dirty clothes!

Now that we have visited Niagara, Victoria and Iguazú Falls, it would not be fair to give a comparison. Each beholds their own beauty, power and magnificent attraction. Here is a website for Iguazú Falls, a UNESCO World Heritage Site: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/303/gallery/

Tomorrow, we’re off again, this time to Buenos Aires for 6 days. We’ll keep you posted on our adventures there.

Adios,

Renee and Dave

The Falls

The Falls & Little Girl Meeting Coati Mundi

Toco Toucan & Plush Crested Jay

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Brazil

Pantanal

15-21 July 2011

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All went well with flights and arrival into Sao Paulo. We spent the night near the airport and departed early the next morning for the Pantanal, a vast wetland in Western Brazil. After arrival in Cuiaba, our guide greeted us and loaded our bags atop his Toyota jeep.

Our Guide

After extensive internet research, we booked a guide who owned his own company, Pantanal Trackers. Julinho, (zhou-leen-yo), is of indigenous Brazilian heritage and a larger than life personality. His passion for the Pantanal all of the flora and fauna found there was soon very apparent. After traveling with him for a couple of days, we discovered he’s something akin to a living legend in those parts.

Food

Well, I guess the alimentary delights here take some getting used to! All of the lodges serve meals buffet-style, some better than others. Some of the buffet items are labeled; some are not. When there isn’t a label, it’s impossible to guess the origins or even if it is animal, vegetable or mineral. Beans and rice are the one constant. If nothing else appeals, well, there is your meal! Some dishes, like “crunchy bananas”, are oxymoronic. Who ever heard of a banana that has crunch? This dish has cooked plantains mixed with a ground root, possibly manioc. The crunchy part has the consistency of panko bread crumbs. Fresh fish from the rivers was routinely served at meals. The texture of the fish was firmer than we’re used to—somewhere between fish and chicken. We even had piranha soup. I can’t tell you if it was good; I didn’t try it. The presentation was not so appealing.

Environment

The Transpanateira “highway” runs 150 km. (90 miles) from the frontier town of Pocone to its end in Porto Jofre on the Cuiaba river. I use the word highway very loosely here. In reality, it is a long, long dirt road laced with ridges similar to a washboard. So, we bumped and bumped and bumped along. The entire 90 miles would probably take about 5 ½ hours to travel if driven straight through. Luckily, we stopped at lodges along the way and didn’t have to drive it all at once.

We chose the dry season to come here, since we’d been up to our knees in mud in places like Costa Rica during rainy times. But the dry season has its drawbacks, too. The clouds of dust that rise from the roads are absolutely incredible and seep into every nook and cranny of everything. Our guide didn’t use the A/C in the vehicle, because he told us we needed to acclimate quickly to the searing heat and humidity of the region. Yeah, right! (That’s another paragraph.) So with windows open, we drove. When another vehicle passed us, great billows of dust rose up, and we played opening and closing the windows for the whole trip. The windows were reopened when the dust settled.

Well, the heat is another story. Scorching, brutal heat—between 95 and 105 F with about 90% humidity. When you sweat, it doesn’t evaporate. Then you mix the sweat with the dust, and the result is taking more showers than you ever thought possible in one day. I’m wondering if the Brazilians have as many words for dust as the Eskimos do for snow. The texture varies from all purpose flour to cake flour to talcum powder, to name a few. Then the colors—yellow, orange, red and brown—all dust colors.

The Pantanal consists of many sprawling ranches with lots of Brahma cattle and horses. Visible from the road are dirt paths going for many miles to the ranch houses. When the Pantanal became popular with tourists, several of the ranches decided to build motel-style lodging for tourists on the properties. These are the facilities we stayed in.

Wildlife

There are no words to describe the diversity of wildlife in the Pantanal. There are huge numbers and species of birds, waterbirds and raptors. The rock star of the bird world here is the jabiru stork. He’s about as tall as I am (which isn’t saying much), but they are over 4 Ft. tall. Birds found nowhere else exist here, such as the beautiful and magnificent hyacinth macaw. Anteaters, coati mundis, agoutis, tapirs, capybaras, caimans and the elusive jaguar all make this place their home. When we had gone several miles down the Transpanateira road, wildlife started to appear: first, hawks, then herons and egrets and caimans. In one wetland area, the caimans were so thick; it looked like a caiman carpet.

At the end of the road, we spent 3 nights at the Porto Jofre Hotel (the word hotel should be used loosely, too). The goal was to try to spot a jaguar. We’ve been to other countries where they live, but we’d never seen one, because they’re so rarely seen. So, we spent our time patrolling the river in Julinho’s boat in search of the big cat. We set out after breakfast one morning traveling up the Cuiaba River. We soon stopped to photograph a large flock of black skimmers on the river bank. A little later, as we continued on, we entered a channel where we found sleek, big, playful giant river otters frolicking with each other and catching fish for their breakfast. Otters are seen, but not too often, because they move frequently, depending on the movement of their food source (fish). After observing the otters for awhile, we continued up river. Suddenly, in the midst of some brush and trees on the bank sat a jaguar, partially hidden. We were immediately struck by the immense size of the animal. We didn’t realize it was so big--#3 in size after tigers and lions. We went to the far side of the river bank, stopped the engine, and watched and photographed as the cat sauntered along from time to time and napped a bit. We stayed for 4 hours enraptured by what we were witnessing. We later had 2 more sightings, but just glimpses through the bushes. Imagine miles and miles of river bank overgrown with vegetation, and as you’re moving in a boat, trying to spot a rare animal. Not an easy task!

Other boats of tourists eventually joined in watching the jaguar. During one of the pauses, waiting for the jaguar to reappear, a couple of people in another boat threw their fishing lines in the river. It didn’t take long to catch a fish—a piranha. The teeth looked as ferocious as you would think they would. By coincidence, that was the night we had piranha soup, just not from that piranha. Since it was hot, Julinho routinely would take a dip in the river and asked us if we would like to do the same. No thanks! Not just the piranhas, but I’ve seen all those parasite documentaries about the horrendous things that live in those waters that you can’t even see. I asked if it’s a myth that piranhas attack people. He said pretty much it was a myth, but if you are bleeding you’re advised not to go into the water. OK!!

The caimans here are colossal, able to rival the biggest American alligators. Another Julinho story follows. When you’re out in the river all day, the only toilet facilities available are bushes on the river banks. He needed a break, so brought the boat up on a sandy beach. It was full of caimans, really big ones. A 12-15 footer was just inches away. So, he jumped off the boat and strolled by the thing to go to the bushes. When he came back, he asked us casually if we wanted to go. We seem to be saying ‘no thank you’ a lot lately. As it turns out, caimans are not aggressive like alligators. In fact the big one I mentioned was scared of us and jumped in the water.

Whole families of capybaras (biggest rodent in the world, I think) line the river banks. I guess they’re the MacDonalds of the Pantanal. Jaguars and other predators dine on them. They’re slow and pretty much inert. They also exist in harmony right next to the caimans.

Toward sunset, we watched the waterbirds flying to their roosts in the trees by the river. Thousands of them! They filled the trees to capacity, and the cacophony of squawking and beating wings surrounded us. Is this paradise or what?

One of the goals I had on this trip was to view, observe and photograph the rare hyacinth macaw. I was not disappointed. They frequent the trees around the lodges. To find them, all you have to do is follow their raucous calls to the source, and you’re there. They are actually a hyacinth blue-purple color with a bright yellow ring around their eyes and yellow markings on the sides of their mouths. They’re only found in Brazil, in the Pantanal and possibly in the Amazon. Parrots and parakeets are also common here. There are several species of each, and all are beautiful.

At the last lodge, we made a verbal list of Pantanal animals we hadn’t yet seen. Chief among them were the tapir and the anteater. Just as we came in for the latest shower after a dusty, hot hike, we found out a tapir had been spotted on the lodge grounds. We went to see it. It was about as big as a medium sized pig and had a very pointed snout. Later, we went for a night drive with a big spotlight. Just on schedule, an anteater showed up and we got photos. It wasn’t a giant anteater, but a smaller collared one.

Visit to a River Farm

The last full day on the river, we set out up the river to visit Julinho’s friend. After an hour and a half or so, we arrived at a modest little house on the river bank. Carminho and Maria greeted us, and we ate lunch together. They had rice and an egg with apple juice. We had sandwiches that the lodge made for us. We had a view of a very different lifestyle than we’re accustomed to. They are similar in age to us, so we asked them how long they had been married. When Carminho couldn’t answer, David laughed and thought he would be in trouble with Maria. But, she didn’t know either. They have 5 children and 9 grandchildren. When we asked if they recorded the children’s birthdates in a bible, they said no, and weren’t sure how old they were or when their birthdays were. This seems odd to us, but you have to consider, that to them, everyday is the same. There is no variation in their routine. There’s no Monday to Friday workweek, no TGIF, no weekend activities going out to dinner or to a movie. Just, every day is the same. It’s like being on vacation and not knowing what day of the week it is! Except, their life is not a vacation. It’s a hard scrabble subsistence. They had about 3 rooms in the house. The kitchen was detached. They had a refrigerator, but it could only run the few hours that they used a generator. There was probably not much to put in it anyway. Beans and rice don’t need refrigeration. They get the eggs fresh from the hens, fish from the river, etc. Bananas grow in the yard. Their needs are simple. As we sat eating lunch in the kitchen, I watched as a bat fluttered around and settled back down near the ceiling. Pretty little silver beaked tanagers and red headed cardinals dined on a carcass draped on a tree outside. The chickens squawked in the yard and 2 hungry dogs scampered about. And Renee sweated in the still, pervasive heat and humidity with not a breath of a breeze. Julinho told me frequently that I was melting.

It will be hard to top this very unique and wonderful experience! But, we’ll try. We’ve just arrived in Iquazu Falls, Argentina and will post more later.

Some Pantanal Animals we saw:

Collared anteater, crab eating foxes, red brocket deer, marsh deer, tapir, coati mundis, agoutis, howler monkeys, capuchin monkeys, marmosets, capybaras, caiman, tegu lizards, garden snake (no anacondas), giant river otters, jaguar, iguana.

Some of the Birds:

Snail kite, 3 stork species, several heron species, several kingfisher species, several hawk species, jacana, rhea, caracara, lapwing, great white egret, chacalaca, social flycatcher, 2 species of caciques, several woodpecker species, several species of parrots and parakeets, vermilion flycatcher, several ibis species, limpkin, wood rail, white headed flycatcher, unknown hummingbird, scarlet headed blackbirds, southern screamer, great kiskadee, potoo, orange troupial, dove, spinetail, black skimmers, yellow billed cardinal, silver beaked tanagers, nunbird, saffron finch, toucans.

Caiman - Capybara and Vulture

Collared anteater - Hyacinth Macaws

Jabiru Stork - Jaguar

Julinho our Guide playing Guitar

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Follow as we travel around the World

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We invite family and friends to follow our adventures as we achieve our lifelong goal of circumventing the globe. We both love nature and the cultural experiences that each region on our itinerary has to offer. We are pointing our compass to the wilderness and some lesser known cultural societies, most off the beaten path. The map above shows our proposed route. Thanks to Star Alliance Member Airlines, we are able to make this journey a reality. On occasion, we may not be able to update the blog due to our location not having access to the internet. However, we will catch up when possible and upload some colorful, exciting photos.

Journal Entry

8 JUL - Our journey starts at a hotel near the Dulles airport. After winterizing the house, it was essentially unlivable for the night--no water! So, a friend of ours, Nicole, was nice enough to take us to the Westin, where we were spending the night before our early morning flight to Seattle. Only problem, David the former military pilot, guided us to the wrong Westin, not knowing there were two Westins within 5 miles of each other near the airport. Who knew? Good start to a long trip!!

9 JUL - Our flights to Seattle went fairly well. Theodore was nice enough to serenade my seat-mate throughout both flights, even though he was high on xanax. Luckily, all of the passengers in the near vicinity were cat lovers. The cacophony of cranky kids, the sound of jet engines and wind noise helped to mask his mantra. At one moment on the flight, I felt a furry brushing along my leg, and there was Theo out of the crate! Can you imagine finding a cat on the loose on an airliner? But, all is well and the cat is at Jared and Mary’s house in Tacoma, where he is becoming acquainted with his nieces, Allie (Cat) and Stella (Yorkshire Terrier). He is making it very clear that he is the ‘alpha male’ and not to be messed with.

10 JUL – “The Livliest Catch” Today, we went crabbing with Mary and Jared in Puget Sound. All I can say is ‘yummy’!! Photos to follow!

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