Animals We Met In Argentina

While we were in Argentina we had a few surprise encounters with animals.  Some were arranged, like the horses at the gaucho ranch that you've already seen, others were complete and fun surprises.  Here are some of the best.

A possum that shared a sidewalk with us in Buenos Aires

King of the hill

 

A coatie walking the railing on a bridge we were crossing at Iguazu falls

The steer we ate!!

Huge catfish in the river we walked over at Igauzu Falls

A cayman at Igauzu with a butterfly on his nose.

Beautiful and agressively friendly wild birds at Igauzu

Blue butterfly

 

Wild tucan

More coaties at play

Wild monkey at Igauzu.  We actually saw a whole troop of them.

Not sure what theses are.  Look like long-legged guinea pigs.  Too small to be pikas.

Butterfly at our lodge at Igauzu

Coi at the Japanese Garden in Buenos Aires

Iguazu Falls

Las Catarats de Iguazu are in the northern part of Argentina.  We took a flight up to Puerto Iguazu to see the falls and stayed in the jungle there for a couple of nights.  The falls are simply amazing.  They are without a doubt one of the 7 natural wonders of the world.  They are on the border of Brazil and Argentina.  Since we would have had to pay a $160/person entry fee to enter Brazil and go to the Brazil side of the falls (we had already paid the $160/person entry fee to enter Argentina), we decided to stick to only the Argentinian side of the falls.  We can't even imagine that it would have been any better over in Brazil.  What we've been told is that if you can do only one side, do the Argentinian side because there you feel you are inside the falls.  The Brazilian side is more of a panoramic view.  Anyway, here are a few pictures, which as good as they are, do not do it justice.  It's like trying to truly capture the Grand Canyon in a photo.  You just can't get the extent of the true grandeur of it all.

The Devil's Throat

More of the Devil's Throat fall

View from the Devil's Throat fall platform across to Brazil

Trying to stay out of the devil's clutches

The falls seem to go on forever.  That white you see on the left at the top, that's falls too.

Can you imagine what it was like for the first humans to encounter this?!

Just stunning!

The falls make their own rainbows

This is where we could get really up close for a quick (and cold because the falls make a lot of wind) shower.

Multiple layers of huge waterfalls.

See the teeny-tiny people on the platform at the top?

The Two Brothers Falls

We stayed at a very nice jungle lodge while we were in Iguazu, La Cantera Jungle Lodge.  The staff was delightful (an experience we had at all three of the places we stayed while we were in Argentina.)  The lodge was quiet and peaceful and well maintained.  On the Friday night we were there they had an Argentinian BBQ with the meat (lots and lots of meat as always in Argentina) cooked right over an open fire.  We enjoyed our time there and recommend it to anyone whose planning a trip to Iguazu Falls.

The entrance to the lodge

Our private porch with a hot tub, which we didn't have time to fill and try out.

Our room, with two queen beds, air conditioning, cable tv, etc.

Nice wooden, raised walkways throughout.

Inviting infinity pool,which we also didn't have time to use.

A shot of the pool and the common area.

BBQ that meat, Baby, BBQ that meat!

Recoleta

Most of you have probably heard of Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris where lots of famous people are buried.  Buenos Aires has a similar cemetery of its own, Recoleta.  It's like a small city.  The mausoleums in Recoleta are incredible.  Some of them are big enough to house the living, not just the dead.  Many of them have gorgeous sculptures on them.  Here are a few pictures of some of the most spectacular that we saw.

The entrance to the cemetery

One of the grand avenues in the cemetery

Remember the Paz family who started La Prensa?  This is their mausoleum.  Black and white marble with gorgeous sculptures.  Just beautiful

Very Art Deco sculpture on this one.

This young woman died on her honeymoon.  Her dog died the same day.  Or so the story goes.

The tomb of Eva (Evita) Peron.  There are always flowers on her tomb left by her admirers.  It's the Duarte (her family) tomb and she is buried here.

Just to give you and idea how big these are.

Isn't that sculpture just gorgeous!

A general's tomb with his own permanent guards.

 

Some look more modern than others

Cemetery cats, one taking it easy, the other stopped in mid-bath to check him out when he crawled up there to sleep.

Argentine Adventure Part Three -- The Gaucho Hacienda

We took a day trip out of Buenos Aires one fine day to spend a little time at a Gaucho ranch.  The weather that day was very warm and sunny.  We got to ride horses, watched a terrific dance show and then were treated with a display of gaucho horsemanship.  There is an old ranch house (hacienda) there that is now a museum, that was also quite interesting to see.  Oh, and as usual, there was a lot of food, and free flowing wine. 

The Pampas on the way to the ranch

 

Horseback riding

The old hacienda

 

Unusual chairs at the ranch

Normal, antique chairs at the ranch

The music show

Fast and furious Tango

Gaucho dancing with his bolos,.  They are moving so fast they are hard to see.  Note some of the white marks in the picture.  That's the bolos being spun around

Well trained horses driven to line up in a straight line

Amazing horsemanship, trying to catch a small ring with a pencil type item.

Catch the ring, kiss a girl

Did I mention it was hot?  The locals know how to handle that.

It was really hot!  Only one thing to do when it's this hot.