So this year to help celebrate my birthday which
just past (July 25th) and Alcides’ which is Oct. 20th we
decided to take a much needed vacation to Argentina. This was the first time that Alcides had ever
left Paraguay but we didn’t go too far from home, only about 5 hours by bus
from my house. It was a fantastic and
fun three days filled with beautiful sites, wonderful food and drinks, and just
great company that we didn’t want to come back but we decided we would just
have to go back again sometime soon.
Below you will see a few of the hundreds of photos we took over our
three day trip, enjoy.
I just wanted to start out with a beautiful poem
they have at Iguazu Falls looking out over the section they call Devil’s
Throat.
Natural Wonder
Devil’s Throat
Let your soul be sated
with the odd beauty of this landscape
that although the world scrolling through on your
travels
you can never find anything like this
Good and bad dynamic and changing
find here since your name
takes in your humble heart of man
truthful and consistent message
meditate and feel the deep emotion
watching the vibrant paroxysm
Eternal mists that is circled
and do not try to describe it with your voice
just leans his forehead against this abyss
which is the mirror of the word God.
~Alfonso Ricciutto
We started out the trip traveling to Cuidad del
Este and visited Itaipu Dam. This was
the fourth visit for me to the dam, and the first for Alcides. Even though this was my fourth visit I always
seem to learn something new. In the case
of this week they had on display information about some new biodigesters they
have installed as a demonstration farm of production swine. I was so excited and kept asking a bunch of
questions which of course our tour guide didn’t know anything about but I was
able to get some information about their very large biodigesters and took some
photos of the display they had.
Alcides and I standing in front of Itaipu dam. Even though we are in the middle of winter
here the weather this week was just fantastic getting into the mid to upper 80’s
which were perfect for our “winter” vacation.
By the time we finished at the dam we took a bus to
the area called Tres Fronteras where
we got a quick lunch and got stamped out of Paraguay and got on a bus to take
us through Brazil and into Argentina.
When we finally arrived into our destination in Puerto Iguazu we were completely
exhausted and hot so we decided to get some wonderful ice cream which we can’t
get here in Paraguay. So this is Alcides
eating his first bit of decent ice cream which he loved and we ended up there every
day during our stay.
The beautiful place we stayed located right on the
river with Brazil on the other side. This
was the first time for me staying here, but I would definitely go back. We had a beautiful room and it was isolated
surrounded by nature, a little bit of a walk from town but worth the walk, and
great exercise to walk off all of the wonderful food!
Our first night in Argentina and Alcides wanted
some good fish so we got the recommendation from our guest house and they didn’t
let us down. I had a wonderful cut of
salmon with grilled veggies and Alcides got fresh river fish that was all
meat. Here in Paraguay the fish are so
small and so they just gut it and cook up the entire thing (head and all) which
is filled with countless bones so he loved just being able to eat the meat!
The first morning in Argentina we had one of our
three wonderful made to order breakfasts with a fantastic view and wonderful omelets,
fresh juice, and local jams/jellies.
For our first full day we decided to visit an
animal rescue center that takes in and rehabilitates many different animals to
then release them back into the wild. Of
course not all of the animals can make it back into the wild so they keep them
to use as educational tools for visitors to learn about and see. This was my first time here but probably one
of the best places I have ever been full of fantastic information, passionate
volunteers, and wonderful array of animals.
Alcides and I on the tractor ride through the
forest as we went to the first stop of the tour and watched a video about the
center and its mission.
Standing with one of the beautiful toucans pausing
for a beautiful photo opportunity.
A photo Alcides decided to take as we walked
through different parts of the center to see each of the different animals
located throughout the forest reserve.
Me with one of the many different monkeys we
saw. Many of the monkeys at the center
had been found as babies next to their dead mothers most of which who were hit
by cars or killed by poachers.
Just a fun photo next to one of the many incredible
paintings they had throughout the center.
This specific dial moved around in a circle and talked about the
life cycle of one of the endangered birds they currently are breeding and
introducing the young back into the forest.
It
is a bit hard to see but this is me with one of the beautiful owls they had.
We had quite the serenating by a large group of
monkeys who have made the center their new home taking advantage of the free
fruit and food I guess but providing great entertainment for the visitors.
Overall we got to see a diversity of animals
ranging from many bird species, monkeys, caimans, and so much more. They evidently have a lot more animals at the
center that are not available for public viewing because the animals they want
to reintroduce back following accidents, hunters, etc they don’t want to be accustomed
to humans. So rather they keep them and
rehabilitate them in ways that allow them to be successfully put back out in their
natural habitat. They also do some
breeding of some of the more endangered animals that are too injured themselves
to be reintroduced.
After the wonderful tour of the animal center we
went to what they called La Aripuca
which just means an animal trap. It was
a very large “trap” made out of many types of wood with the main goal to try
and raise of conservation and the sustainable use of resources. They also had many local indigenous there
sharing many different crafts, traditional bows, and traps. This is a photos of Alcides standing in front
of the impressive bamboo structure (sustainable “wood” product) that contained a
lot of information about the Atlantic Forest of Alto Parana as well as information
about local flora/fauna.
Me standing in front of the impressive “trap” that
includes 30 different trees species.
A
view from inside the Aripuca and they
had each of the woods labeled with the species.
Me practicing taking selfies which I guess is the
new fad these days.
After the warm afternoon tour we decided to cool
down with some fresh yerba mate and flower petal ice cream. At first I was a little hesitant to try these
as they are two new flavors of ice cream for me but they were both good but my
favorite being the flower petal ice cream that they also use to make delicious
jam with.
Standing inside of one of the thousand year old
trees.
Later on in the afternoon we decided to just get
even more sun burnt and go and visit the Tres Fonteras monument which is the junction
of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina that you can see each of the countries here
with me standing in Argentina, Paraguay behind me on the left and Brazil on the
right.
The official monument with everyone sitting in the
shade to try and stay cool.
Another monument with each of the three countries
flags represented.
Even though it was the middle of winter down here
we had a heat spell come through which made it a bit hot for our tours but
perfect for swimming. Although the water
itself was quite chilly we jumped in anyway, this was the first time Alcides
had ever swum in a pool and he had a blast, can't beat swimming outside in the dead of winter!
Our second evening in town we had an early dinner
before heading to our moonlight tour of the falls. We enjoyed wonderful pizza and sangria that
evening.
So I was not able to take very good photos at the
moonlight tour of Devil’s Throat but rather just enjoyed the falls with the
full moon shining down. This is just one
of the half way decent photos that turned out.
The falls were breathtaking at night with just the blue moon to light
our path.
A photo of the two of us during our walk back to
the train.
When we got back to the main area of the park we
each got champagne to toast to the great evening and beautiful moonlit
waterfalls.
So after our night tour we got up early the next
morning and were the first ones in line to get into the park so we were on the
first train back up to Devil’s Throat (the same place we visited the night
before) but it was still spectacular in the light of day.
A few other pictures taken at various points around
the park, the weather was fantastic and even got a little hot but I will not
complain since we are in the middle of winter.
After we had walked two of the trails into see the
main falls we then took a 7 km hike to see another smaller fall (still 20
m). Sadly the final leg of the trail
down to see the waterfall from the bottom was closed but we still could see it
from the top and took a few minutes to get our feet wet and cool down before
our hike back.
Two of the different wildlife that we saw during
our day at the park, we saw a lot more animals but unfortunately were not able
to get good photos of them but below you can see one of the birds and coatis.
We
decided to also take the boat tour and go up under the falls which we saved for
the last part of the day so we didn’t have to walk around in wet clothes. Unfortunately by that point it had clouded up
and gotten a bit chilly but we made the best of it and just enjoyed the
experience. This is just a photo of us
before our water adventure
During our water adventure after going up under one
of the many falls that make up Iguazu Falls.
Just a few of the many breathtaking views of the
falls!
Our last evening we went out in search of the best
steak in the town and once again we were not let down. I had a fantastic filet mignon topped with
wild mushrooms and a wine sauce with three different types of mashed potatoes
on the side, Alcides had more river fish cooked with veggies wrapped up in
foil. It was sad that this was our last
big meal during our vacation since we both enjoyed the food so much but it was
a great evening to round out the trip.
We ended up stopping for dessert after a little bit
of shopping on the way back to our room.
Taking the ferry back from Argentina into Paraguay
at the Tres Fronteras.
Just a beautiful Paraguayan flag we saw on the bus
ride back to Caaguazu before we made it back into site. We had a fantastic vacation and such a great
way to celebrate our birthdays!
We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.
~Anonymous
