Travel to and Around South America (Part 3 of 3)

Like I previously said, I wanted to spend a few days in Buenos Aires to experience big city life in Argentina and see how inexpensive it actually was. We chose a hotel right in the middle of the City directly across from the Obelisk which is the Argentina equivalent of Times Square.

Getting off the ship was more difficult than it should have been, but we were able to navigate the system fairly quickly and found ourselves out on the street by about 8:00 on a Sunday Morning. Taxicabs were the only real option to get to our hotel. Rideshare was widely available, but not allowed…by the taxicab drivers, at the port. We started to walk but were advised not to go to far in one direction because it wasn’t safe. I was able to negotiate a lower price for a taxi of $15 for the $5 ride, which was about as good as we were going to get. Of course, while we were getting into the taxi, our bags were grabbed by a homeless guy and put into the taxi. “Tip” he grunted! “Tip” he grunted again and stuck his had out toward me. The cab driver waited for me to pull out a dollar before he drove away. The homeless man gave me a toothless smile as he took the dollar and turned to find another sucker…..excuse me customer.

We didn’t speak with the taxi driver other than to show him the address of our hotel. It was only about a ten minute ride to our hotel, the Globales Republica in the center of the city. The hotel was older but I liked the location across from the Obelisk and we were able to get a room with a balcony facing the City Center. When we arrived we noticed a homeless man sitting against the hotel wall by the door. He grunted a welcome to us, with his hand out, as we made our way inside. (Grunting appeared to be a means of communication here.) He wasn’t surprised when I just walked by him, as he went back about his business of lounging and half sleeping on the concrete.

It was only 8:30 in the morning and our room would not be ready until 3. So we dropped off our bags with the front desk clerk and went off to find the hop-on, hop-off bus to begin exploring Buenos Aires. The tourist bus was only a block from our hotel and we were able to get a two day pass for about $40 each. The bus didn’t start for about an hour and we had to walk a few blocks away to pick it up.

It was Sunday morning and the streets were mostly deserted, except for the homeless, and everything dirty with trash everywhere from the Saturday night celebrations. It was particularly disappointing to see families (including children) living on the streets. The area obviously had been very busy the night before. Reva commented that she did not feel comfortable in Buenos Aires. I assured her it was sad…but basically safe. The rest of our visit proved that to be true.

The hop-on, hop-off bus was a good way to get a feel for this large City. The highlights included the La Boca district, Puerto Madera -Women’s Bridge Area, the Recoleta Cemetery. It turns out that Buenos Aires was fairly easy to navigate once we got the lay of the land. There were numerous historical and pedestrian areas reminiscent of the cities found throughout Europe. There was definitely the feel of being in an European City.

As we wondered the streets we marveled at the numerous cartoon characters scattered throughout the City and were amused by the steady calling out of the “Cambio” barked out by hawkers throughout the pedestrian areas trying to get customers for the many money exchanges throughout the City. The City was very metropolitan reminiscent of New York. After a few days, the City was familiar enough, that even the homeless guy living on the sidewalk in front of the hotel seemed pleasant when he welcomed you in and out of the hotel with a drunken smile and a mumbled grunt. If we were to do it again, the Hilton hotel in the modern Puerto Madera area of the City by the Women’s Bridge would have been a better option. It was still a short walk to the main attractions and a much nicer area with many restaurants along the river.

On our last day, we checked out and took an Uber to the airport within the City for our Flight to Iguazu Falls. Iguazu falls sits on the Frontier of Argentina (as the locals like to say) and makes up part of the border between Argentine and Brazil. This region is also where Paraguay intersects Brazil and Argentina and there is a point where all three countries intersect. Each country had its own airport in the area and as long as you flew domestically, the flights were cheap and numerous. The biggest city is Foz do Iguacu, which lays on the Brazilian side of the border, which meant that we would need to take a taxi across the border to get to our hotel.

When we arrived at the very small, Iguazu Airport in Argentina we found taxi drivers prepared to offers us a ride across the border to our hotel for a fixed price of 11,000 Argentina Pesos, or about $35 but they only accepted pesos …. no credit cards. There is no ride share service on this side of the border. I counted my remaining pesos and I had 10,990…..crap! The people at the counter told me not to worry about it and we took off with a driver who spoke very little English.

It was getting dark, and the drive to the border was almost completely in the Jungle. As we drove, we saw all kinds of odd animal crossing signs…there are a lot of odd animals in South America! It took us about 15 minutes to get to the border where we saw a massive line of cars waiting to cross. Luckily, there was a separate line for the taxicabs but still it was going to be a bit of a wait. While we were waiting, the taxi driver took our passports and filled out the needed paperwork. We got to border gate and after looking quickly at our passports, we were through. But wait…..we drove a short way and got into another line. This time another border agent took a quick look at our passports and motioned us forward. Nice and quick I though. But wait…..we drove a little further and got into another line. This time, we needed to show our vaccination record. Ok, now we were finally done! But wait….the taxi cab driver went a little further and pulled over and parked. Come with me he said. We got out and went in a building to get everything reviewed…again and get our passports stamped. The taxi driver said in broken English, “Argentina is better”. Finally after almost 30 minutes we were actually in Brazil. If we hadn’t been in the taxi, this could of taken hours, I thought. The taxi driver drove on to our hotel which was another 15 minutes or so. The road was very dark since the jungle was so close and thick. The driver tried to convince us to have him come pick us up and take us to the Argentina side of the falls, but we had already decided that we weren’t going back across that border….too much hassle!

The hotel we had chosen was the Colonial. It was officially located in Foz do Iguacu (or just Foz) next to the Brazilian airport which was only a mile away. The hotel was walking distance to Iguazu Falls as well as a Bird Park and the Movie Cars Exhibit. I didn’t expect much since the hotel was only $35 a night including breakfast. BOY! Was I wrong! The hotel lobby had an open concept and was quite modern. The rooms were nice, but plain, with air conditioning. The hotel had 4 pools, beautiful spaces and a nice restaurant. A real find! After having a nice dinner in the hotel we relaxed in the room and got ready for our next day at the falls.

Like in Argentina, the meals in Brazil involve lots of meat and breakfast was no exception. After, a nice breakfast we headed for the falls. Unfortunately, it was going to be a rainy day, so we brought hats and umbrellas. We had only a day to explore the area and we needed to make the most of it. It was a 17 minute walk to the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls and where we purchased the entrance tickets which included the bus into the park. Iguazu Falls lies on the border and the majority of the waterfalls (85%) are actually on the Argentina Side. This means the best views are on the Brazilian side. The best trails however are in Argentina.

The falls are somewhat wider and higher than Niagara Falls but Niagara can boast having a higher volume of water. The area around Iguazu Falls is all tropical jungle which is beautiful. It was about a three mile ride into the Park until we came to the Park’s main hotel and facilities where the trail began which led along the Falls to Devil’s Throat, which was the main feature of the Falls. The Brazilians have built a bridge and viewing platform near the center of this amazing spot which was located on the trail.

We took our time and walked the mile trail to its end and back again. Rain really didn’t matter much since to get out to Devil’s Throat, the mist from the falls was more enough to get you soaked. After a few hours, we had seen all there was to see on the Brazilian side of the Falls and since we were not going to attempt the Argentina Side (it would be worth doing…but not that day), we headed over to the Bird Park.

The Parque das Aves (Park of the Birds) sits right next to the Falls and is one of the largest bird parks in Latin America. We had heard that the bird park was well done, but that was an understatement. With well maintained trails and multiple Aviaries, it really was impressive and I usually am not impressed by any animal…..current spouse and children excluded.

After, a couple of hours and lunch at the bird park, it was time to check out the Movie Cars Exhibit on the way back to the hotel. Unfortunately, the rain had picked up and we needed the umbrella. If I understand correctly, a local businessman had collected cars used in various movies and built a facility to show them off and collect some money. When we arrived at the facility, which was only a few hundred yards from our hotel, we were the only customers. The exhibit was well done and had a great collection of actual props from various movies or of car models that were see in the movies. From the Beverly Hillbillies, Ghostbusters and even Mr Bean there was a pretty amazing collection of cars. Many of the sets were elaborate and you could get photos with some of the cars. However, you couldn’t get into the cars and there was a photographer following us around to take pictures for us at a cost. He learned quickly that we had no interest and left us alone.

We only spent a hour or so in the Movie Cars exhibit. I did regret that we had already had had lunch, since they had recreated a 60s dinner which had some great looking hamburgers. The rain was still coming down pretty steady but it only took us a few minutes to get back to the hotel and to happy hour.

The next morning, we checked out of the hotel and took the free shuttle to the airport. Our total cost at the Colonial for two nights, two dinners and drinks was about $95! Sometimes you find a real travel gem and this was one of them! This was a 10 for location, experience and value!

It was only a two hour flight from Foz to Rio and the last leg of our South American adventure. We were lucky in that when we checked in, the agent offered to switch our flight to another carrier, which had a direct flight available. Although this took us to an airport further from our Hotel on Copacabana Beach, it was worth it for the extra time in Rio.

Rio is a sprawling city with lush green mountains within and around it. It was impressive to view from the air. After we landed we grabbed our bags and found the taxi desk. Here you paid in advance and they excepted credit cards. It was a $40 fare to get to the Hilton and we were off. Since we arrived early and our room was ready, we could check, drop our bags and set out to explore Copacabana. Our first mission was to find a bank ATM to get some Brazilian Pesos. Unlike Argentina, the rates at the ATM were better than the money exchanges and banks were easy to find. We new that we would be using a number of cabs to get around the area so we took out $150 dollars worth of Pesos which gave us 750. More than enough to get to our planned destinations.

The sun was hot, and Copacabana Beach was huge! Along the beach, there were walkways where vendors pumped water from the ocean to spray the sand to keep it cool enough to walk on. Good idea…we had never seen that in our travels. Other than the beach, Copacabana was not a very inviting community. It seemed dirty and congested. Across from the beach there were numerous hotels and restaurants, but as soon as you left that area, the community went downhill…..quickly. I was surprised that there was no topless women anywhere. I had always related the beaches of Rio with beautiful topless women playing volleyball and romping in the waves. Instead it was mostly old women and men lounging around while teenagers were kicking soccer balls around in the sand. So much for my childhood dreams. We were not impressed and after a short walk, we headed back to the hotel.

One of my favorite things about Hilton Hotels overseas are the Executive Lounges with free drinks and food in the evenings and this Hilton was no exception. I keep a Hilton Credit Card which gives us Diamond Status and access to all their Executive Lounges when we stay with them. Usually, with the food and drinks in the Lounge, we don’t need to go out and eat but often we do anyway. For that night, we decided to just stay in the hotel and head out later for a walk along the beach.

While we were in the Lounge, a young couple from Russia came in to check in. She was a Hilton Employee in Russia and was taking a vacation with her husband. We were sitting next to the Concierge’s desk and overhead their conversation. Because of the war in Ukraine, and the American sanctions, their credit card would not work out side of Russia and they were traveling with U.S dollars to pay for expenses. The Concierge tried their credit card anyway and it was rejected. The Concierge advised them that they needed to secure their room with cash, but it had to be Brazilian Peso’s. The banks and exchange houses were closed so they would have to exchange dollars at the hotel rate which was about 20% more. The couple left a few hundred dollars with the Concierge and went over to get a drink and some food. After they left, I walked over to the Concierge’s desk and explained that I had overheard the conversation and asked if I could guarantee their room on my card. The agent looked at me with total surprise. “You sure! You know there is no guarantee that they will pay.” I replied that I understood that, but I didn’t see any reason that they should be penalized for the actions of their government. The Concierge ran my card and commented on what a thoughtful thing we were doing. I asked her to just let the young couple know that an American took care of it. We left shortly after and never spoke to the Russian couple. The Russians did cover their bill, as I anticipated, and a few weeks later I received and email for the Concierge telling me that the couple was extremely surprised and grateful. She asked if she could share my email, to which I agreed. A few days later, I received an email from the Russian couple thanking us and letting us know how much they appreciated the gesture. It was a small action, but I felt we may have helped bridge the gap between our countries …. at least in the minds of one couple.

Our plans for the next day were to be one of the first people up to see the Christ the Redeemer Statue and then head off Sugarloaf Mountain. We checked with the Concierge in the lobby and he recommended that we purchase our tickets in advance to avoid the lines and grab a taxi about 45 minutes before we were scheduled for the train up the mountain. He said, Sugarloaf wasn’t as much of a problem, just take a taxi between the two mountains and buy your tickets there.

The Concierge’s advice was completely correct. We bought our tickets that evening for one of the first trains up to the Christ the Redeemer statue and after breakfast, grabbed a taxi. The ride to the cog railroad took about 20 minutes and cost around $15. The driver didn’t speak English, but he was proud of the statue and kept pointing out of the window to where it was located.

When we arrived at the station, the second train was boarding and we were told we could go early. The COG railway (Corcovado Rack Railway) was interesting, it was opened in 1884 and it takes up to the top of the 2,329 foot mountain.

Once we reached the end of the train, we were only a few hundred steps away from the famous statue, one of the seven New Wonders of the World. Nice, but really not much to see or do here. The view was great but I could imagine many other sites in the world more worthy of the designation. After about 30 minutes snapping photos and avoiding the crowds, we were ready to work our way down. On the downward journey, we had an opportunity to get off the train and explore an exhibit on the maintenance and restoration of Rio’s Urban Parks. Not a bad stop, but not that exciting. When we reached the bottom, we grabbed another taxi and headed off to explore our next attraction, Sugarloaf Mountain.

The taxi ride was around 25 minutes and about $20. Not bad at all. Once we got to the 100 year old cable car, we purchased our tickets on the app and we were off. The cable car first goes up to a Park area where you have to get out and walk to a second cable car. You can actually hike up the first portion of the cable car path, but Rio was hot, so we opted to ride. Between, the two cable cars there were many spots to get something to eat or drink or take photos of Rio or Sugarloaf Mountain itself.

The second cable car was a little more entertaining since it spanned a large area with a view of one of Rio’s Airports. Planes would descend below the cable car as they made their final approach to the narrow runway, which provided quite a view. Once we got up to Sugarloaf Mountain, there was plenty of opportunities to walk around and take more photos. We were surprised how well and quickly things had went. We were back down the mountain shortly after lunch and opted to add a trip to the Museum of Tomorrow.

The Museum of Tomorrow was another 30 minute Taxi Ride and was located in the downtown Port area of Rio. It sat on the water and was very close to where the Cruise ships docked in town. It was a very impressive structure, and we were pleasantly surprised to learn that since we were 60 years of age, there was no admission costs. Nice little thing to know about Brazil.

The Museum was interesting and most of the exhibits were in English as well as Portuguese. It was focused on what was going on in the world mostly related to environmental impacts and how the world was changing. It was entertaining, bright and colorful…..well worth visiting. After the museum, we caught a taxi back to the Hotel and onto happy hour and one last walk on a beach in South America (at least for this trip)..

The next morning, we had arranged for an early morning driver to take us to the Airport for our seven AM flight and we were off to Columbia and then on to Miami. We landed in Miami at 4 PM and were back home in Orlando by 10:00. Very smooth!

Our month of travel in South America was enjoyable and not too difficult to manage. Cruising of course makes things easier, but you miss out on many things as well. We will have many memories from this trip and from the many people we met along the way. I imagine, we will return to South America possibly to explore other regions of the world. But for now, other adventures call and there are other Regions to explore!