A full day of travel got us to Iguazu. On the way we saw our friends from the Galapagos trip at Lima airport. Unfortunately they had spent 6 days in hospital in Cusco. As both were ill, the hospital had them in the same room. A reminder of the perils of travel, especially when you’re in your 80’s.
Our flight landed in Brazil and it took 3 hours to cross the border to Argentina as we had two lots of immigration to go through and the traffic over the only bridge was terrible. With no traffic or immigration it would have taken 30 minutes max. Given we got to our hotel at 9pm and needed to go out for dinner, it was another 1am bedtime followed by a 5am wakeup call. Sunshine and blue skies were with us all day and for me, this was the best day of the trip so far. Iguazu Falls were amazing and impressive from every angle. No wonder they are the top tourist attraction in South America. We walked about 7 kms on three different tracks so saw many outstanding views of the falls.
The entry to Iguazu Falls National Park which gets 15,000 visitors per day in the peak season.
This is called Devil’s throat and its a dramatic start to our viewing of the falls.
Our first walk took us here.Another view of Devil’s throat which is the largest fall in the park.
Our panoramic view of the top of the falls, Devil’s Throat.On the second walk we saw the San Martin Fall which is the second largest fall. It gave us a different perspective of the falls.
Dramatic flows of water
We walked on lots of bridges as there are rivers of water feeding into the falls everywhere you look.
This view really shows the power of these falls.
Another angle and lots of mist rising from the falls. From here we are looking over to the Brazil side of the falls.
This viewing platform is at the top of St Martin Fall so we could watch the water pouring over the edge.
On the third walk we could see the boats getting very close to the San Martin Fall.They called it a wet close-up! We decided to just do the walks and enjoyed all the different vistas we saw.
We saw a few rainbows as we marvelled at the majesty and drama of the falls.
We also got close enough to get wet from the spray, which was kind of nice as it was over 30C.
These were called the Two Sister falls (Dos Hermanas) so I nicknamed them Amy and Helen. In any other location they would be stunning but here they looked quite low key.
This is a coatie. There are lots in the park and they are real scavengers. One stole a bag of peanuts we had sitting between us on a bench. Later when Dick bought two ice creams he was surrounded by four of them.
We also saw monkeys in the park, colorful birds and a very large catfish in the river.
We returned from Iguazu Falls around 4:30pm, got some dinner and went to the airport for our 8pm flight to Buenas Aires(BA). Got picked up at the airport at 10pm so into bed after midnight. It was a very long day and we were both almost catatonic and hardly able to speak. However we loved our experience of Iguazu Falls and felt it was a privilege to be able to witness such a powerful natural wonder.
A 6am pickup for a flight to El Calafate, Patagonia meant we didn’t see anything of BA, as was the plan. Then from Calafate we had a 3 hour bus ride to El Chalten (2000 people), known as ‘The Trekking Capital of Argentina’. We stood out a bit here as most of the people were young hikers with all the gear. After we arrived at 3pm I needed a sleep before we went out for our first meal of the day, early dinner at 5pm. The thermals, big coats, hats and gloves all were put to good use as Chalten is a very cold and windy place. Fortunately we managed to get antibiotics for me here without a script, as I was not well. We seemed to be taking turns as the next day Dick was not well. The plan was to do some hiking here and in the end we managed an 8 km hike up to the lookout to see Mt Fitzroy.
Arriving in Los Glaciares National Park with the town of El Chalten in the background. The park was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1981.
The start of many walks in the Mount Fitzroy area
We could still see El Chalten as we started the steady climb up.Beautiful views along the way and a clear, sunny but windy day.We had the mountain in sight and Dick persevered although he was not feeling good at all and needed lots of rest stops.
Success – we made it to the lookout! The walk was rated medium and it took us 4.5 hours to complete the 8 kms return.Mount Fitzroy is the highest mountain in the area at 3375 m and dominates the landscape. It is the Andes most prized peak for climbers and was a sacred place for the Tehuelches, a group of indigenous peoples of Patagonia.
After the effort of our trek to the lookout, Dick seemed to get much worse. Fortunately he could rest the next morning before we took the 3 hour bus trip back to El Calafate, arriving at 6:30pm. Concerned that he may have a recurrence of diverticulitis, we went to the local hospital where we conversed with the doctor using Google translate. She did an examination and a blood test before confirming that it was gastroenteritis, not diverticulitis. She also put him on an intravenous drip and gave us a script for backup medicine if he wasn’t better in the morning. No dinner that night, as we left the hospital at 11:30, although Dick started to get his appetite back.
Dick on a drip.
El Calafate is known as the ‘Land of Glaciers’ and the next day Dick was well enough to do our booked excursion to the Perito Merino Glacier, which is also in Los Glaciers National Park and was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1981. Our first stop was a nautical safari (ie a boat trip) to view the south face of Perito Merino.
Our first view of the Perito Merino Glacier from 7 kms away was not so impressive and not helped by the morning rain.
The view got better as the boat took us closer to the south face of the glacier.
As the weather improved we got even more colorful views
The boat stayed close for everyone to get good photos. This is the full view of the south face of the Perito Merino Glacier from the boat.
The day kept getting better as we drove to the main viewing area and did the walks to see the panorama view and the north face view.
The panoramic view looking down on Perito Merino which is 254 sq km (98 sq miles) and seems to go on forever in the distance.
This is the north face of Perito MerinoIn this shot you can see the point on the left where the north and south face meet.
From this view of the north face we could hear loud noises like thunder emitting from the glacier on a regular basis, and see some parts of the glacier falling into the lake.
We really enjoyed seeing Perito Merino in the lovely afternoon sunshine.
This was our introduction to the Southern Patagonia Icefield (home of 48 major glaciers and over 100 minor glaciers) which is the third largest icefield on the planet after Antarctica and Greenland. Its 370 km long with an average width of 35 km and is shared by Argentina and Chile. Next stop is Chile where we will see more of this icefield.
This next part started out with the ‘10 hour bus trip from hell’, that was more enforced tourism (entry fees already paid to three places and a buffet lunch included) with a ‘sergeant major’ guide! Not helped by the fact that I was not feeling well and we had a 6am pickup. Fortunately we were given the front seats in the bus so I was pleased about that. Unfortunately the tour guide tried to make us move to the two seats behind the driver. Probably the look on my face and my grumbling gave him the message so he didn’t push it and we didn’t move.
This church (Andahuaylillas) is known as the Sistine Chapel of South America. Not sure by whom. It was the first stop on our bus ride. There is Dick looking for me.
We saw other archeological sites – Racqui (site of an Inca temple) and Pukara (a pre-Inca museum) but the stops seemed to be a good excuse to bring tourists to the local markets.
Interesting to stop at LaRaya, the highest point of the trip at 4313 m (12,000 ft)Couldn’t resist another one of these pics, this time with a llama. Supporting local tourism, and of course there was a market here as well at LaRaya.
Finally got to Puno and I was feeling much worse, so visited a local farmacia and tried to get a mild laxative. Somehow even Google translate doesn’t work well for medical terms. After a sleepless night with terrible stomach cramps, I had to stay in bed and let Dick go off to see Lake Titicaca and the floating islands on his own. As luck would have it, the room was probably the worst hotel room of our trip, but didn’t matter as all I needed was the toilet.
Arriving at the Uros Floating Islands in Lake Titicaca, which is the largest lake in South America and the highest navigable lake in the world. It is known as the Sacred Lake of the Incas.
Greeted by the women of the Uros Islands. There are about 100 floating islands (population 2000) made out of totora reeds by a method that has been handed down for thousands of years.
This woman is the president of that island where 18 people live. She is giving a speech to the visitors. They work hard as the reeds they walk on need to be replenished once a month, and each island only lasts 30 years.These woman are singing as the visitors go off on a boat ride. It was mentioned that they are generally overweight as they don’t get much exercise on these little islands. Also they still speak their own language.
Here is the type of boat they went off for a ride around the islands in. Like everything else, the boats are also made out of totora reeds.The boats loaded with 20 visitors, were rowed by two strong, young women.
Their next stop was Taquille Island (5.6km’s long and 1.5kms across). The island is steep and was covered with 3000 year old agricultural terraces.
The inhabitants (approx 2200) follow a mix of Inca, pre Inca and Christian philosophy summarized by “do not steal, do not lie and do not be idle” and they have no crime there.
A view of Puno and Lake Titicaca from the lookout as we were leaving town (and all I saw of the place). By this time Dick was feeling worse than me and we concluded that being at high altitude is not good for either of us.
In contrast to our expectations, our private tour of Lima with Mariella turned out to be one of the best tours we did. We seem to be getting very spoiled with our private tours, which also colors the times when we are in shared tours or transport. In addition to showing us the sights, Mariella also helped us with some personal jobs we needed to do like buying more malaria pills, changing money and finding a gluten free store for us. Everything is so much easier when we have our own translator.
We started at the fruit and veg market, which was very colorful. Great to have a guide explain what we were seeing.Also saw an ancient adobe pyramid, Huaca Pucllana, built in pre-Inca times.
Learned about San Martin, a major leader of liberation from Spain in 1826, and saw his statute in the square.
Visited the other main square in the old city
Got acquainted with the local constabulary, who were guarding the Presidential Palace
Visited the Franciscan Catacombs in the Monastery of San Francisco (Basilica and Convent). We couldn’t take pictures inside and frankly I am hoping I will forget about all the human bones we saw there. Piles of bones artistically arranged and sorted by type ie femurs, skulls, tibias, fibulas as they are the toughest parts of the human body. It is estimated that 25,000 bodies were laid to rest there. Also visited the library (25,000 volumes) and the museum but the lasting memory was of the Catacombs.
Finished our Lima tour at the Larco Museum which was established in 1926 by Rafael Larco Hoyle, a pioneer of Peruvian archaeology. Their mission is to serve as a gateway to ancient Peru and it houses a pre-Inca art collection of 45,000 objects. This added a whole new perspective to what we had been learning about the Inca’s and the Spaniards in Peru. In fact Peru is one of the few places on Earth where civilization emerged independently approximately 5000 years ago. Interesting that in Australia there does not seem to be the same interest in or respect of the indigenous history that extends for at least 60,000 years.
Viewing a Paracas Mantle which is approximately 3000 years old. These were used to wrap funerary bundles and contained important religious information which accompanied the dead into the afterlife. In Paracas mantles the positioning and orientation of the designs, the sequences of the motifs and the alternation of the colors were filled with meaning. We marvelled at the intricacy and quality of the preserved mantle.
Quipus – the main system used by the Incas to record information. It was based on the decimal system and the colors, knots and distances between the knots identified the characteristics of the population being recorded (important for recording information on the labor the population had to provide). Managed by specialist officials called quipucamayocs, sounds like early accountants to me!
We finished our time in Peru with a fun night out with Marie Hill, an former Austrade colleague currently posted in Lima, and two of her friends. It was great to catch up with Marie and we enjoyed meeting her friends, especially as it was a different context than the general travel discussions we’ve been having with strangers
