Busy in Buenos Aires

March 18, 2014



After less than 24 hours in Iguazu Falls we boarded another Argentinian domestic airline and flew back to the Buenos Aires regional airport. It was a less bumpy ride than the one the previous day. Shortly after landing we met up with Carlos again. Carlos met us not far from the luggage carousel, in the airport and drove us into central BA where he deposited us at the beautiful Four Seasons Hotel. We would see Carlos again in about 36 hours because he was going to give us a personal tour of the city on our last day in Argentina.

Carlos: Our gracious host

The Four Seasons' hotel is a gorgeous property in downtown BA. It is located in the Recoleta district of the city which we were slated to see more of on March 19. The main tower of the building was built in 1992 in the front yard of the former Alzaga Unzue property.  The French Renaissance-styled mansion  that Mr. Unzue built in 1920, still stands behind the main tower and it has been beautifully renovated as part of the hotel, containing 27 opulent hotel suites. In between the main tower and the mansion is a courtyard and underneath the courtyard, is the Elena restaurant. Named after the bride of the Unzue mansion, this stunning eatery is just off the main lobby of the hotel. It was here that we started our day on the 18th, a day that would prove to be very stimulating and at the same time very tiring. We were to cover a lot of ground on that day.

The main tower of the Four Seasons Hotel

Behind the main tower is the Unzue Mansion
which now houses 27 hotel suites

In between the main tower and the masion is the courtyard.
This shot is taken from our room in the main tower and it shows the
pool on the right and a skylight under which sits the Elena restaurant.

Continuing along with the 2014 theme of exploring south-eastern South America and not wasting a minute of our time in the process, we decided that we would explore activities that Argentinians were famous for and we executed on a couple of good ideas. We were going to check out the sport of Polo and later, experience some Tango dancing.

Again, Andes Drifters' organized everything but today it wasn't a guide that picked us up, it was a polo player. We were to leave the city and drive into the surrounding countryside to experience an 'Argentina Polo Day'. I encourage you to Google that and you will discover that according to Tripadvisor that 'Argentina Polo Day' is the #2-rated thing to do in BA. This turned out to be an excellent experience! However, when I signed up for this excursion, I did not realize that we were actually going to play the game! But we did and that is what really made this a fantastic experience.

Arriving at the polo grounds, we met the other guests and a very charismatic guide gave us a condensed tutorial on all things polo. He reviewed the various polo equipment, described the nature of a polo pony and summarized the rules of this very complex and unique sport. Then we watched 4 chukars (segments) of a game between opposing teams of polo club members, including our driver, who played a match of polo in the morning, like most of my friends might play a round of golf. Our instructor stood on the sidelines and continued the lessons as the match unfolded in front of us. Then it was our turn and we headed back to the clubhouse to get suited up, grab a mallet and a mount a pony. After a little bit, we were out there smacking balls around that regulation polo field which is about six times larger than a football field. We were out there for quite a while and it was a good workout, chasing those balls on horseback and swinging that mallet. The ponies we rode were wonderful for amateurs like us and they were well-trained to participate at half-speed so we could make contact with the ball. What amazed me more than anything about these animals was that they seemed to have as much fun as we did playing the game. The ponies were wary of us though and to our amazement they knew when to turn their heads to avoids a lick on the side of the cranium by an amateur's over-enthusiastic follow-through. Each team of participants included a couple of club players to keep the game going and to encourage the guests and it was a ton of fun. I even scored a couple of goals. However, soreness aside, it was a wonderful day and it was as fulsome an exploration of the sport of Polo as any day could have been.

Warning - We had not conditioned our riding muscles to the extent necessary to really impress the Argentinians. I recommend building up the adductors and abductors before trying this.

A club player before the match

The instructor going over some of the rules with Mrs. Gym

The 'club match' in progress

amateurs posing with a real player

Mrs. Gym's polo pony

our equipment

spectator

a cool action shot taken by Mrs. Gym

Note: I do have some shots of us playing and will add them when I can find them

After the match, we rode around the property and then enjoyed a wonderful late afternoon, Argentinian BBQ in a beautiful outdoor setting, adjacent to the polo field. After lunch and on the way back into the city, we toured another property owned by the same people that was being developed to host groups of polo students in style, at a fantastic "polo camp" that featured luxury overnight accommodations and top notch polo training grounds.

Lunch Seating for our little group of amateur polo players

the accommodations at the 'polo camp'

interior of 'polo camp' accommodations

a bedroom at the 'polo camp'

We then sped back into town and as sore as we were, we only had enough time to shower and change into our best dining attire before another driver came to pick us up for the Tango show. Again this was pre-arraged through Andes Drifters and it was a fantastic evening at Gala Tango (www.galatango.com). The dinner was first class and our table was just a few feet from the stage. The dance troupe and the accompanying musicians were extraordinary. The expert concertina player must have been 80 years old and there was even a gaucho bolo performance thrown in as a bonus.  Everything was wonderful except for the fact that a little Spanish would have gone a long ways to improving my evening because some of the staff had limited ability in English.

Warning - Argentinians eat big portions. They also eat huge amounts of red meat. A steak serving is substantial. If you want a fist-sized serving, the smallest they serve is a serving the size of Shaquelle's O'Neal's fist.

a wonderful meal and a great show but unfortunately we
could not take pictures during the performance

the stage prior to the performance

the musicians played from this area

the interior of the Gala Tango dining room

After the Tango show, we returned to the Four Seasons and slept very well that night.

In Search of a Wonder: Iguazu Falls

We were honourably discharged from the Oceania Regatta in Buenos Aires (BA) early Monday, March 17, 2014 but we would only be in that city for a few hours. We left the pier at 8:30 AM and had a domestic flight to catch to Iguazu Airport in northeastern Argentina. Thus we would begin the 2014 Argentina Land Tour. We had a very busy schedule over the next three nights and four days and it would start with a thorough exploration of Iguazu Falls.

Everything we would be doing over the remaining time we had was arranged through a tour compnay called Andes Drifters out of North Caroline and they did an excellent job of looking after us. Normally they cater to fly  fisherman from the U.S. and Canada that go to fly fish in Patagonia but a friend of mine said they could handle anything that we wanted to do in Argentina and they did.

We were met at the pier by Carlos who was our main contact in BA. He and a driver picked us up on time at the pier and drove us to the domestic airport to catch the flight to Iguazu. Carlos guided us through the airport, acting as our interpreter and only left us when we had our boarding passes in hand and were headed through security. We would see Carlos again the next day when we returned from the falls.

Argentina Aerolineas has attractive, young stewardesses but after we strapped in and took off we never saw them again until the conclusion of one of my most bumpy 737 plane rides I'd experienced. The cabin crew was not allowed to take their seat-belts off. That would have been fine if it wasn't for the barrel roll the pilot wanted us to try just before landing.  Luckily the wings stayed attached to the plane. Excitement over, we rolled our carry-on through the baggage area and Marcos was there waiting for us. Marcos was our guide for the next 24 hours. Within minutes we were in a car and on our way to a the Loi Suites Hotel to unwind our scrambled nerves after that memorable 2-hour ride up from BA.

lobby of the Loi Suites in Iguazu

looking down over the restaurant and pool

our room, with nice high ceilings

foot bridges between the buildings of the hotel
though the middle of the subtropical rainforest

jacuzzi on the fourth floor deck at canopy level of the forest

The next day (Tuesday, March 18), Marcos picked us up at the hotel to begin an intensive exploration of the park. We were to hike all three major foot paths above and below the falls and enjoy a boat trip into the base of two main parts of the falls that day. We would also ride in a truck and a train that had been built to get people from one area to the next through the rain forrest. It was a full day but we were rewarded with excellent views of the various parts of the falls and plenty of wildlife. The park itself is a clean, modern facility that tends to the needs of thousands of tourists per day but I think they are also doing a good job of protecting the unique environment surrounding the falls. Let's face it, most South American countries have a poor track record protecting these very rich ecosystems.

Near the front entrance, you can see how nice and well maintained
the park is notwithstanding thousands of visitors per day

Our entire exploration of the park was only from the Argentinian side but Argentina actually has more trails and claims more of the actually falls and cataracts inside its borders. On our return trip we will see what it looks like from the Brazilian side. The falls themselves are one of the new Seven Natural Wonder of the world. Now that we've seen Iguazu, Victoria and Niagara, two conclusions can be made; the first is that Iguazu bumps out Victoria just slightly as the most impressive of the three and the other is that Niagara is such an embarrassment because of the carnival that has been allowed to be built right up to the river's edge.

Mrs. Gym took these next shots from the Upper Trail:

This is one of our first views from the Upper trail. You can see another part of the
trail that we would be standing on later as we made our way along the excellent steel pathway that crosses
each section of the falls to the islands thats separate them.

This is a shot along a number of the individual cataracts from the Upper Trail

Some cataracts fall to an intermediate area and then fall again to the bottom of the gorge.

We are on the walkway here, looking over the edge

An alligator near the edge of the falls

Viewing the Lower Trail from the Upper Trail

This is a Coati stading on it's hind legs. It is a skinnier member of the raccoon
family. It has a longer narrow nose.

The Lower Trail:

Looking up at the Upper Falls trail from the Lower Falls

I think Marcos called this an Oka. I need to do some research for the scientific name.
There are 450 species of birds here so it might take me a while to peg this down for you.

A coati in the tree. Nice shot Mrs. Gym.

Another shot looking up at the Upper Falls from the Lower Falls.

Marcos, our Iguazu guide, at the Lower Falls.

We would ride this boat up underneath the falls.

The boats go right into the spray from the cascading falls.

Look!

We spotted this little guy just before we got on the boat....

...this guy too....

The oat Ride:

Our ride awaits!

A shot from the boat.

Another nice shot before the camera got too wet.

The starting point of the trail to the Devil's Throat is reached by traveling by a natural gas powered train from near the entrance to the park. You then hike out 1.1 kilometres over the elevated steel walkway the stretches the entire way to an excellent viewpoint where you are looking right into the Devil's Throat.

The walkway to the Devil's Throat.

You can see the re-inforced cement pilings which support the trail.

Here is a good shot of Devil's Throat but as you can see we are getting soaked.

This is the Devil's Throat. Unfortunately, it is so wet there photography is difficult.  When standing above the Devil's Throat where water is flowing in from three sides and you can hardly talk to each other, you understand why this is one of the new Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

We would return to BA that night. The plane ride was thankfully smooth and upon arrival we were taken from the airport to downtown BA and checked into the Fur Seasons Hotel by our friend Carlos, the BA guide. Tomorrow would be another busy day. We were going to play some polo and attend a Tango Show.