Argentina: Iguazu Falls and Yacutinga Lodge
We flew into Iguazu about 3 days ago. It is a great little airport, a nice short drive to the hotel and a nice walk around the area. Later that afternoon we went on a boat tour of the river and saw where Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil all meet up. We wended our way downstream to see a group of Paraguay Indians (not sure of tribe etc.). It consisted of a group of children around the age of 8 – 16 doing a little tribal dance with the smallest amount of enthusiasm thrown in that they could muster. After “the dance” we turned around and went back to our little village of Iguazu. The taxi picked us up and we went to dinner at a restaurant called “Agua’s” - very nice ambiance, great wine and nice waiters. Vinnie ordered Lamb (haven’t seen any living sheeps since we arrived???) and I ordered what the taxi driver suggested…a river fish. They brought our dinners out and I tucked into mine….yuck….it was slimey and nasty. I all but spat it out. Vinnie’s was very good…should have ordered that except I hate lamb. Luckily I had also ordered a side of veggies!
Next morning we left the hotel around 8 and went to the falls. Wow! They are fantastic. We even went for a white water boat ride (much to V’s dismay). We got a good soaking going under the falls several times. It was great fun and would not miss it the opportunity to do it again. Pix should be posted soon…with film if we can figure it out! Later that afternoon we caught our transfer to the lodge – Yacutinga. It took about 2 hours to drive, part of the way in an open truck bed filled with seats. What a great place! The lodge itself is all made from recycled materials, including wine bottles for windows. The food they served was absolutely first rate. There were only 7 of us as guests. The bring in one group at a time for 2 nights. We had a very international group: 1 German, 2 Brits who actually we living permanently in Luxemburg, 2 Canadians who were transplants from Hong Kong and us. We arrived late in the day, had a little gathering around 8 and then dinner at 9. The next morning we started out on our first hike at 7:30, after a 6:30 breakfast. We had a 4 hour walk through the jungle with a birding expert. The lodge is actually used by biologists as scientific study of different topics. They bring people in to stay to offset their costs. After lunch we had a kayaking trip down the river for a few hours, then another walk. Our last walk was after dinner (9 pm dinner) for a night time walk through the jungle. It was neat to see all the different animals, insects and birds.
Today: We left this morning…two hours back into town, checked back into the same hotel we were in just a few days ago. Again, we had to get them to switch us to a different room…the first one was nasty. Anyway, we had time to grab lunch before heading out on our “Forest adventure”. Luckily Vinnie didn’t know what we were doing. We first drove in another open truck to our destination, walked about ½ mile to our first activity: Zip lining! The worst part was actually climbing up to reach the line. I am not a fan of heights. It was a bit rickety climbing up the wooden stair like things, then we were strapped in one at a time and were pushed off. It was great fun…a bit scary at first but once you settled into it things improved. After the zip line we got back in our truck and we were taken to a waterfall…it was beautiful. But we were not there for the viewing but to rappel off of it. It wasn’t as scary as the zip line to me because you didn’t actually see as far down as when you were tied in. You had to concentrate on keeping your position and not missing the rocks with your feet. Pix will be posted.
