Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Visiting Iguazú
Visiting Iguazú 
Even before I left for Argentina everyone who had been here ensured me I SHOULD visit the falls of Iguazú. The way they spoke about it made me curious, but at the same time I thought well I’ve seen some falls in other countries, so what’s new?
Anyway I decided to follow up their advice and booked a three day stay in a hostel (Iguazú Hostel-Inn) and booked a bus to get me there. This time I travelled with Via Biraloche and it was the best bus ride I had in Argentina. Nice new bus, with superb seats, friendly staff and good food.
Hostel however was disappointing. Room was of a reasonable size but it was noisy and the food was just poor. Cheap, but poor. Breakfast was just good enough to keep you on your feet, but was tasteless. And then there was this loud music almost from 08:00 ‘till 23:00. Now I don’t mind music, but when it is so loud that you need to shout to people when you need to talk to them, then it is not my cup of tea.
The day after my arrival I went to visit the Argentine side of the falls. I just took the local bus to get there and that was just 7,50 pesos. The entrance fee to the falls was 100 pesos, and that was well worth it. The walk around the park is quite amazing and well taken care of. Where there are viewpoints the path has been made wide so there is now crowding of people. And the views of the falls are just breathtaking. The whole walk takes about 5 to 6 hours including a short train ride that brings you to the Devils Gorge.
And that was so great to see I have no words to describe it. Its best just to have a look at the pictures I made or better still, go there!
The next day I went to visit the Brazilian side of the falls, and as we had to cross the border there was the passport control on Argentina’s and Brazilian side. One of the passengers found out he left his passport in the hotel so he had to take the bus back and then return on the next bas. So never forget your passport when you want to cross the border….
Falls on the Brazilian side give you the full view of all the separate falls on the Argentinean side and bring you almost right underneath the biggest fall of them all.
So that’s a trip I’m really pleased I made and I will remember for a long time.
View of the falls of Iguazú on the Brasilian side. I had to wear a raincoat when I was walking on the boardwalk in front of the fall. You can tell by the waterdrops on my camera lens when you watch the pictures they made of me.
Even before I left for Argentina everyone who had been here ensured me I SHOULD visit the falls of Iguazú. The way they spoke about it made me curious, but at the same time I thought well I’ve seen some falls in other countries, so what’s new?
Anyway I decided to follow up their advice and booked a three day stay in a hostel (Iguazú Hostel-Inn) and booked a bus to get me there. This time I travelled with Via Biraloche and it was the best bus ride I had in Argentina. Nice new bus, with superb seats, friendly staff and good food.
Hostel however was disappointing. Room was of a reasonable size but it was noisy and the food was just poor. Cheap, but poor. Breakfast was just good enough to keep you on your feet, but was tasteless. And then there was this loud music almost from 08:00 ‘till 23:00. Now I don’t mind music, but when it is so loud that you need to shout to people when you need to talk to them, then it is not my cup of tea.
The day after my arrival I went to visit the Argentine side of the falls. I just took the local bus to get there and that was just 7,50 pesos. The entrance fee to the falls was 100 pesos, and that was well worth it. The walk around the park is quite amazing and well taken care of. Where there are viewpoints the path has been made wide so there is now crowding of people. And the views of the falls are just breathtaking. The whole walk takes about 5 to 6 hours including a short train ride that brings you to the Devils Gorge.
And that was so great to see I have no words to describe it. Its best just to have a look at the pictures I made or better still, go there!
The next day I went to visit the Brazilian side of the falls, and as we had to cross the border there was the passport control on Argentina’s and Brazilian side. One of the passengers found out he left his passport in the hotel so he had to take the bus back and then return on the next bas. So never forget your passport when you want to cross the border….
Falls on the Brazilian side give you the full view of all the separate falls on the Argentinean side and bring you almost right underneath the biggest fall of them all.
So that’s a trip I’m really pleased I made and I will remember for a long time.
View of the falls of Iguazú on the Brasilian side. I had to wear a raincoat when I was walking on the boardwalk in front of the fall. You can tell by the waterdrops on my camera lens when you watch the pictures they made of me.
Friday, April 01, 2011
Visiting Cerro San Cristóbal
2011-04-01 Visiting Cerro San Cristóbal Today we went for a trip to the summit of Cerro San Cristóbal. Lucky for us we had a more or less clear day, but as it is there always seems to be smog covering over Santiago. Today there even was a smog warning and cars with number plates ending on 1-4-9-or 0 were not allowed to drive. But in spite of that we walked from Matura to mount San Cristóbal. This hill is a spur of the Andes and its peak is at 680 meters. The point is marked by the giant statue of the Virgin de la Immaculate. To get to the top of the hill we took the funicular to Terraza Bellavista, where we had a beautiful view over the city of Santiago. From there we had to climb a steep stairs to the huge white Virgin were we enjoyed an even more pretty view over the city with the suburbs disappearing in the haze and just the summits of the surrounding mountains were clearly seen. In and around the Virgin many tourists making pictures, but also a lot of devoted praying going on. The air was filled with religious music coming out of the speakers at the theatre just below the statue. Unfortunately the teleférico was out of order, so we had to go down using the funicular. Once at the summit we walked all the way back home again which took us well over 45 minutes.
