After interrogating everyone in the hostel in Montevideo about how to maximize my one week to see some of Northern Argentina, I decided to go to Cordoba and then to Iguazu Falls. Thursday night, I took a cushy overnight bus from Montevideo to Cordoba, Argentina's second largest city. The bus had fully reclining seats and served free meals, soda, and martinis. (Although it did also break down for an hour and a half right outside of Montevideo.) I got to Cordoba at 10 am the next day and dropped my stuff at a lively hostel downtown, where I ran into my friend Niels from Montevideo. I checked out all the touristy sights downtown, like this cool looking church, and got a giant plate of tofu for $2 which made me pretty happy. Everything here seems to be about half the Montevideo price.
This morning, I took a bus to a town called Capilla del Monte, in the mountains about 2 hours from Cordoba. It has a sort of hippie vibe--lots of health food stores and advertisements for massages, yoga, and various Asian religions. I wanted to climb the closest mountain, Uritorco, which is supposed to have not only nice views, but also special powers that attract UFOs. Unfortunately, you have to start climbing by 11 am, and the early bus I planned on taking turned out to not exist, so I didn't get to town until 10:30. I'd found a hostel online, but didn't bother making a reservation because it's low season and none of the hostels seem to be full. This turned out to be a mistake--not because the hostel was booked, but because they weren't expecting anyone so the staff left to go watch the World Cup game with the rest of the town. I couldn't get into the hostel, I didn't want to hike anywhere with my overstuffed backpack, and most of the rest of the town seemed to have shut down too, so I postponed the adventuring and ate dulce de leche and watched Argentina beat Nigeria. By the time the game was over and I could ditch my stuff at the hostel, I didn't have time to do anything I'd planned, but the guy at the tourist desk told me to walk a few kilometers to a nearby dam that had nice views of Uritorco, the lake, and this odd shoe-shaped rock.
When I got back to town, I tried to check out the UFO museum, but sadly it's closed until next week. The sign says "The governments know...do you?"
I considered staying another day to hike Uriturco, but the only other people in the hostel were a middle aged Argentine couple, and the fact that you have to fill out a medical form to climb it made me think it wasn't something I should climb alone with no cell phone, no knowledge of the area, and very minimal hiking equipment. So, I'm going to head back to Cordoba tomorrow and catch a bus to Iguazu Falls.
6/15
I got to Puerto Iguazu about 10 am yesterday, and saw the three main sections of the Iguazu Falls park that day. The Lower Circuit runs along the riverbank at the bottom of the falls and allows for panoramic views, the Upper Circuit goes along part of the top of the falls, and a catwalk leads to the Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat), the top of the biggest part of the falls. On the Lower Circuit, bands of coatis follow people. They seem pretty tame and cute at first, but once they saw that I had bananas, they started lunging at me! A little train takes you from the park entrance to each path, and I randomly met a Dartmouth '07 on the train back from the Garganta del Diablo.
Lower Circuit:
Upper Circuit:
Garganta del Diablo:
I went back today to take a motorboat trip that goes terrifyingly close to the bottom of the falls (you get completely soaked, so i didn't try to take pictures). Then I walked a 3 km trail to a smaller waterfall, and saw lots of birds and capybaras along the way. The tour bus groups didn't come to this part, so I was the only one there when I got to this waterfall:
6/17
I took an overnight bus from Puerto Iguazu to a town called Colon, near the Uruguayan border. I wanted to visit the cool-sounding national park nearby, full of huge palm trees and wildlife. I thought the bus would take me to the town bus terminal, like the other buses I've taken, but instead it dropped me off in the middle of a construction zone/giant mud pit on the side of the highway, and the driver pointed in the direction of town. A construction worker told me that town was seven kilometers away. But luckily, there was a gas station across the road, the guy there called me a taxi and it all worked out. In Colon, I looked for buses to the national park, and was told that I might not be able to get to the actual park, because the bus drops you off at the highway entrance which is 5k from the park. In high season, it's easy to hitch a ride in, but it's low season and I'm alone and don't have any camping stuff. So, I chickened out and bought a ticket across the river to Paysandu, Uruguay. From there, I was hoping to find a bus to Colonia, a historic town that's one of the places you're generally supposed to go when you visit Uruguay. I passed through on my way to Buenos Aires, but I hadn't gotten a chance to really see it.
I arrived in Paysandu and discovered that the next bus to Colonia wasn't for four hours, so I had some time to explore. Paysandu isn't a typical tourist stop, but it does have a tourist office, where I must have looked really lost because the woman at the desk started by pointing out where we were on a map of Uruguay. But eventually, she gave me directions to the hot springs (too far away to get to), a restaurant creatively named "El Bar" with truly terrible pizza, and points on the river with panoramic views. That sounded great, except that a torrential downpour began as soon as I started walking, and views seemed unlikely. So, I returned to the bus station to watch the World Cup and eat alfajores, which is hard to complain about. I got completely soaked though, and I don't think I'll be in one place long enough to do any laundry before I leave, so I will probably arrive in Boston really smelly.
I got to Colonia and checked into a hostel near the old city. I thought I probably wouldn't make many friends in my room by coming in smelling like a wet dog, but luckily, the room already smelled like a wet dog when I got there. One roommate kindly doused the place in cologne in an attempt to improve things, so now I smell like a very manly wet dog. Colonia is charming and tranquil, with lots of quiet cobblestone streets, white fences, and panoramic views of the river.
The map I had didn't give me much information about the sights I saw, but I'm sure they are very historic as well. I checked out the gate to the old city (from when it was a fort), the new lighthouse built on the ruins of the old one, the main plaza, the port, and the basilica. The most unusual thing listed on the map was the "Calle de los Suspiros"--Street of Sighs.
It's just a little one-block street near the plaza with especially bumpy cobblestones. I'm wasn't sure what inspired the name (Google suggests that condemned prisoners walked down the street to be drowned in the sea, that a woman waiting for her lover was murdered, or that it was full of prostitutes). It's a small town, though, and three hours seemed like plenty to see most of the sights. I got an early afternoon bus back to Montevideo, where I'm going to get my suitcase, say some final goodbyes, and stuff all the remaining space in my bags with dulce de leche and alfajores. My flight leaves at 9 tonight.
I guess this is the end of the travel stories, but I do have to write a sort of summary/reflection for ISTS/Neukom (the programs that funded me), so there will probably be one more post coming!
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