We flew to Iguazu Falls in Northern Argentina yesterday. We are at the Argentina, Brazil,Paraguay border.
I have a horrible (for me) story that has a happy ending. In Buenos Aires airport and Iguazu airport I went to the ATM to get cash for when we arrived. Both machines were broken but no problem as we can always find an ATM and have really have never had any issues getting about $300 USD each time. We arrived and went to town to what we thought was the one and only bank in town. I tried over and over to get cash without success. I had only about $50 USD equivalent in my pocket and that is nothing in this country. The bank opens at 8am so I was there upon opening. There was a line but I was not concerned until I finally went in and in the bank is a large area with chairs and people waiting to talk to a banker. It was like a DMV with many more people. I went to an ATM inside and a guard came over and explained that the machine was only for customers and I had to use the machines I used yesterday.It didn’t work and I was panicked.
Old age and travel is not for the faint of heart nor for sissies.
Now I’m really panicked. I knew there was a Western Union office in town as a last last resort. I asked another bank guard (there were about 4 guards in the bank) if there was another bank and she said there was and showed me on my phone map where to go. I walked there and used their machine. IT WORKED and I walked out with $200 USD worth of Argentina pesos,
In Argentina they have Dengue Fever from mosquitos. We love the place where we are staying, Secret Garden and our bed has a mosquito net that encases the bed. Dee did not like it because it hit her face in the middle of the night while I had no issues. Dee looked up Dengue fever as we were sitting in front to our room enjoying a bottle and I was getting eaten by mosquitoes. Apparently the person bleeds from about every orifice and then it gets worse. We’re inside now.
Last night we talked to a woman who visited the Iguazu Falls the day before and she gave us the skinny on how to make it a less expensive endeavor. Go to the bus stop in front of Western Union and wait for the “city” bus that says Catarama. Get on and pay $6 USD (1200 pesos) and he takes us to park. We then get tickets and spend the day. It was truly magnificent.
We ate supper at the park about 3pm and won’t go out again tonight for a supper later. It’s not easy and it’s really hot and humid to go out so we typically eat breakfast and a large lunch supper. We will have a drink and snack that the Secret Garden provides at 7pm. Here is a photo outside our room taken before the dengue mosquitos chased us (me) inside.
Puerto Iguazu Falls is another poor South American town with nothing but the Falls to draw people. We have another day and we believe that we are going to hire someone to take us to the Brazil side tomorrow so we don’t just sit at the room and consume wine.
The jungle here is very thick. We would get to certain areas and it reminded us of Yellowstone in that there were crowds of people taking pictures not of Bison but of monkeys and toucan birds. We talked about early explorers and how did they ever get anywhere in the thick jungle. We both would die after the first maybe the second day if we were lucky. This is one of the paths that we followed today to give an idea of the fauna.
I think that’s about it for today. Happy Valentines Day. Love to all of our friends who are reading this drivel. Dee and Pop