Igauzu Falls
We spend the last few days between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, as these three countries have a triple boarder.
We went to the spot were all three boarders meet. The exact spot is in the middle of a river but all three boarders have a monument that creates a triangle effect. The borders are open to the locals but not to tourists, so it can be a bit of a pain travelling between each country. You end up with a lot of stamps in your passport.
The three flags Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay together at the boarder point.
It is in the centre of the river below that the true boarder for all three countries are.
The Iguazu falls (which was our main reason for stopping) is on the board of Brazil and Argentina. To get a real feel for the size of the falls it is great to be able to see them from both sides. The falls are in the Iguazu National Park, the park protects a rich ecosystem and biological diversity coupled with the natural landscape of rare scenic beauty of the fall. It was nominated as a World Natural Site by UNESCOIN 1986. It shares with the National Park in Argentina. Both Brazil and Argentina are both responsible for the preservation of this important world heritage.
The falls date back 150 million years ago, I was very surprised at how many waterfalls there are today they boast 275. The average annual flow is 1,413 meter x 3 its largest flow in October 2,506 meter x 3. They are amazing to see. We walked around them, on top of them and got a boat out to them and under them. Wow Wow We also saw lots of beautiful birds and animals in the park, I was delighted to see a Toucan and some Owls as they are my favourite. Both the Brazil and Argentina National Parks are most definitely worth seeing, the falls are quite different in each park, you could spend one to two days in each park. The parks are very well maintained, both have done their best to keep the effects of tourist to a minimum.
These are the falls from the Brazil side. Photo’s cannot do them justice.
These are the falls from the Argentina Side
Some of the birds and animals we seen. The Toucans are amazing.
We did a day trip to Paraguay, as you can image you cannot really see a place in one day, but we did get an idea of what it was like. The border crossing is a bit hectic and as soon as you get from Brazil to Paraguay you are hit with an abundance of street markets, all selling electronics, perfume, bags and socks. Seemingly electronics are much cheaper in Paraguay than in Brazil or Argentina.
All to soon it was time to pack our bags and it is off to Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires
We had booked an Airbnb in the city centre, it was great to be back into a city, I love all the hustle and bustle of daily life in a city centre. We were very impressed with the city, it has a mix of old-fashioned cafés, grand nineteenth-century public buildings, high-rise office blocks. It exudes energy and elegance – though it can be shabby in parts. We stayed just off the pedestrianized Florida street, which is the main shopping area. My favourite area was the bohemian San Telmo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, it is the antiques centre, we spent a few hours here going through the market stalls at Plaza Dorrego and antique shops. Great spot. We did the Buenos Aires City Bus tour, as I have mentioned before this is a great way to see an overall view of the city.
By the end of the last century, Mr. francisco Kelly , an Argentine citizen of irish descendance named his land Santa Susana as a homage to his wife, Susana Caffrey.
The ranch is located in the district of Campana , Buenos Aires province, and near the town of Los Cardales. It occupies an area of 1200 Hectares (2965 acres) mainly dedicated to agricultural activities. The Horse riding was great as the grounds of the ranch are beautiful. During an amazing BBQ lunch they put on a show of dancing (Tango) and singing. The Gaucho’s also put on a great show, their skills at mustering up the horses were very impressive.
Now that’s what I call a BBQ
Homestead
Church on the ranch
We were glad we made a stop at Buenos Aires, it is a great place with a wonderful vibe.
Ushuaia
From Buenos Aires we flew to Ushuaia the most southerly city in the world. Ushuaia is on the same latitude as Ireland although Ushuaia is colder as it has the winds from the Antarctic. Our main reason for coming to Ushuaia is to see if we can get a last min Cruise to the Antarctic. It is a town of about 150,000.00 thousand people and the landscape reminds me of parts of Ireland, although it is summer it is only about 15 degrees most days. The main town can we very tourist or at least seems to cater for the Tourists, in winter they have a ski season and ski resorts and in summer they have hikes to glaciers , trips out to the beagle channel, and cruises to the Antarctic.
We finally found a cruise to the Antarctic but it was not as easy to find as we had expected we had been told like the Galapagos islands we would be able to get a last min deal. This is not the case anymore. We were lucky to get on a cruise at all, and it was not cheap although so worth it in the end. The cruise was to leave from Punta Arenas on the 4th of Feb for 13 nights. We booked it through Best Tour Patagonia, Marcela was fantastic, she organised everything for us.
Now that we have booked our trip to the Antarctic we could start to enjoy Ushuaia. Ushuaia is the best way to view the Beagle Channel, we saw sea-lion colony at Isla de los Lobos and the Penguins on Martillo Island in addition to great views of the mountains bordering the strait.
Exploring a glacier is a can’t-miss activity in Tierra del Fuego so we hiked up Glacier Martial which is just a 20min taxi trip outside of town. The charming teahouse at the base of the Glacier offers the perfect end to a day of adventure.
Tierra del Fuego is the only national park with a maritime coast it has beautiful tumbling waterfalls, crystal-clear rivers, forests and glacial mountains we saw kelp geese, buff-necked ibis a Patagonian grey fox. The area of the Park we where in has 6 different treks, we did 3 of them, Costal Trail, Beaver Lodge Hike, and the Buoy Hike. They were all beautiful, there are some great camping sites in this part of the park, wish we had our camping gear with us. Another wonderful day.
We really enjoyed our time in Ushuaia.