As I mentioned in my last post, we'd been in Salto, Uruguay which is up in the north west corner of Uruguay, so a taxi drove us about 40 minutes across the Uruguay - Argentina border and dropped us off at a bus station, where we proceeded to get on a yet another night bus for 10 hours. This night bus however, was not nearly as nice as the buses in Chile, it was cold & they did not offer blankets or pillows.
10 hours later we arrived into the bus station, where a mini bus picked us up and drove us to see Iguassu Falls from the Argentinian side. (they are half in Brazil & half in Argentina) The cool part about this side of the falls is that you can walk out on these metal walkways so that you are "on the top" of the falls. It's a great view and you can feel the mist everywhere you go, because the force of the water is so high it almost feels like it's raining.
After a few hours exploring there, we drove across the Argentina - Brazil border and spent the night in Foz de Iguassu, Brazil, which is just the Brazilian side of the falls & since they speak Portuguese instead of Spanish, the name changes a bit. The following morning we went to see the Brazilian side of the falls, which I think I actually enjoyed more, because you see the falls from further away and you can see how wide & vast they are. I mean the Argentina side is great, but if I had to chose just one, I'd chose the Brazilian side.
On our second day in Foz de Iguassu we decided we'd take a day trip over into Paraguay. It took about 20 minutes to get to the border and about 2 seconds to cross it cause nobody checks at all, which just amazed me! We hung out there for about 3 hours, walking around the shops and street vendors before deciding we really wanted to see the Itapu Hydro Electric Dam which is on a river which divides Brazil & Paraguay, so off we went to see Itapu. If you've never seen a hydroelectric dam, it's pretty darn cool! It was the world's largest one, until recently when China's new dam was commissioned. We ended up there at noon, which would have been a fine time, aside from the fact that the English version of the movie & tour are only at 11am and 2pm . . . we didn't have time to wait till 2pm, so we took the Portuguese tour & luckily the guide spoke English as well and translated for us. That evening we took another night bus, this time for 17.5 hours to San Paulo, Brazil and then changed buses and rode from another 5 hours until we arrived in Paraty, Brazil. More on that another time . . .
Showing posts with label argentina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label argentina. Show all posts
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Monday, 7 June 2010
Colonia, Uraguay
Sorry I wasn´t able to update from Beunos Aires because as it turned out I spent less than 24 hours there . . . I know some of you who have been there are now screaming at the computer screen because you told me BA was one of your favourite spots in all of South America, BUT such is life . . . I´ll just have to come back :-) Jo & I chose to spend extra time in Pucon and miss out on time in BA and we´re both happy about our decision, no regrets.
We arrived into BA around half 2, were at the hotel by half 3, and eating Argentinian steak by half 4 - YUMMERS!!!! In the evening we went to see a tango show & had an introductory level tango lesson. We all thought we were doing amazingly well until later on when we saw the proffessionals, were we realised we have a lot to learn about tango! We got back to the hotel around midnight from the tango show and went straight to bed. Jo´s flight was at 11am the next morning and my ferry to Uraguay was leaving at 10am.
I arrived into Colonia, Uraguay around half 11, dropped my stuff off at the hotel and went to explore the marina area and find a spot for lunch. I had a delicious salmon meal. Then wondered around the town, saw the lighthouse, the city wall and gate, checked out a few touristy shops, and then decided to walk to the bull ring, which was opened in 1910. The only problem with my lack of Spanish was that what I didn´t realise is that it´s not still open (lol), so after walking 5K down the beach to see this bull ring, you can´t go inside, you can only walk around the outside. It´s still an interesting building and the weather was nice to be walking down the beach. So around half 5 I turned around and started to head back to the city centre, enjoying the sunset as well. At 8pm we went out to dinner for Brett´s birthday, but I was so full from my salmon lunch I just had a salad.
Today I´m heading to Montevideo, which is about a 3 hour bus ride from Colonia. I´ll be there for about 2 days before heading north to Salto. I am enjoying Uraguay so far, but I do miss my Pucon breakfasts!!
¿Hey anyone up for going to Chile in December or January to climb a volcano? I´m thinking of it as a 33rd birhday present to myself . . . but I don´t want to go alone. I know great cabins we can stay at and there are lots of other amazing things we can do in and around Pucon . . . think about it!
p.s. sorry for spelling errors, the spell check here is for spanish only!
We arrived into BA around half 2, were at the hotel by half 3, and eating Argentinian steak by half 4 - YUMMERS!!!! In the evening we went to see a tango show & had an introductory level tango lesson. We all thought we were doing amazingly well until later on when we saw the proffessionals, were we realised we have a lot to learn about tango! We got back to the hotel around midnight from the tango show and went straight to bed. Jo´s flight was at 11am the next morning and my ferry to Uraguay was leaving at 10am.
I arrived into Colonia, Uraguay around half 11, dropped my stuff off at the hotel and went to explore the marina area and find a spot for lunch. I had a delicious salmon meal. Then wondered around the town, saw the lighthouse, the city wall and gate, checked out a few touristy shops, and then decided to walk to the bull ring, which was opened in 1910. The only problem with my lack of Spanish was that what I didn´t realise is that it´s not still open (lol), so after walking 5K down the beach to see this bull ring, you can´t go inside, you can only walk around the outside. It´s still an interesting building and the weather was nice to be walking down the beach. So around half 5 I turned around and started to head back to the city centre, enjoying the sunset as well. At 8pm we went out to dinner for Brett´s birthday, but I was so full from my salmon lunch I just had a salad.
Today I´m heading to Montevideo, which is about a 3 hour bus ride from Colonia. I´ll be there for about 2 days before heading north to Salto. I am enjoying Uraguay so far, but I do miss my Pucon breakfasts!!
¿Hey anyone up for going to Chile in December or January to climb a volcano? I´m thinking of it as a 33rd birhday present to myself . . . but I don´t want to go alone. I know great cabins we can stay at and there are lots of other amazing things we can do in and around Pucon . . . think about it!
p.s. sorry for spelling errors, the spell check here is for spanish only!
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