Iguazu falls and money-changing gangsters

I'm a man who likes a good waterfall. So much so that I once spent a day driving around the Australian countryside on a waterfall circuit. Well, Iguazu falls has beaten them all and gone straight in at number 1 on my list of top ten waterfalls of all time.

It's not one big waterfall but a collection of around 100 falls, ranging from 60 to 80 meters in height. Right up on the border, the falls separate Brazil and Argentina, and you can visit them from both countries.

We had to get some money first, which can be interesting in Argentina. You get a much better exchange rate if you exchange dollars on the "black market". Right now a US dollar will get you just under 5 pesos if you exchange in a bank, whereas the black market rate is about 6.8 pesos. There is not much confidence in the currency, which tumbled in value a decade ago when Argentina defaulted on a lot of its international debt. People would rather store US dollars under their bed than put their pesos in a bank, and they pay a nice premium to get them.

As you can imagine, black market money changers do not exactly sit in a high street store. In the big cities like Buenos Aires it could be a guy in the street muttering "money exchange", in the smaller towns business owners usually oblige. In Rosario, I was taken into the back of a shop where three burly old men sat around a huge pile of pesos, drinking coffee and generally looking gangster-ish. In Iguazu, we had to ask around a lot and finally managed to find an olive farmer who would change our dollars. I'm not sure if it was his first time changing money, but he seemed quite nervous. It was a relief to get out of there with a fat wad of pesos and not in the back of a police truck.

Which side of the falls is better? A question that can cause heated debates in hostels all over Latin America. In my opinion, it's the Argentinian side because there are lots more walkways and you can get closer to the falls. Saying that, you do get a more panoramic view from the Brazilian side.

We spent a day walking around the Argentinian side, passing so close to some of the falls that we'd emerge soaking wet. We took a boat ride through some cascades where the water fell so strongly that it was difficult to see anything, and spent time at the top of Garganta del Diablo (Devil's throat) - a thin plateau that drinks down half of the river's flow. We spent ages marvelling at the immense volume of water that smashes its way down the rockface here. I also wondered what it would be like to go down it in a canoe.

The highlight of the Brazilian side is an awesome walkway that snakes its was past several waterfalls so that you are perched right in front of the very same Garganta del Diablo section. Rainbows everywhere - I even saw one that went all the way round in a circle. I have never seen so many rainbows in my life!

There are a few other things in the area. We visited the Itaipu dam, went to Paraguay, walked around a shelter for tropical animals and went down an amethyst mine.

The dam holds some pretty impressive titles:
 - It is the world's largest operating hydroelectric facility in terms of annual energy generation, supplying 90% of electricity consumed by Paraguay and 20% of Brazil's demand.
 - The amount of concrete used to build the Itaipu Power Plant would be enough to build 210 football stadiums the size of the Estádio do Maracanã.
 - The iron and steel used would allow for the construction of 380 Eiffel Towers.
 - The volume of excavation of earth and rock is 8.5 times greater than that of the Channel Tunnel.

There are, however, some pretty depressing stats that they don't tell you about. The lake that was formed by the dam displaced 10,000 families and drowned Guaira falls, a collection of falls that was bigger than Iguazu falls. Just to dash any hopes that that they could ever be un-drowned, the Brazilian government dynamited the submerged rockface to make it easier for boats to navigate the lake. Boooo to them.

The same day we visited Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. The whole city is one big duty free shopping centre and thousands of people cross the border to buy supplies for their businesses every day. My passport got a lot of action that day as we started in Argentina, went to Paraguay, Brazil, then back to Argentina!

The animal shelter helps injured animals from the region. Amongst others, there are a couple of Toucans that were found in a suitcase bound for Europe and a Puma that was kept to fight dogs in Buenos Aires.

Wanda mines are a short bus ride away from the town and are the principle source of amethyst in Argentina. I was under the impression that mineral exploration was quite technical but apparently they just pick a spot, blast it with dynamite and see what comes out. If there is a chunk of amethyst they have to spend days chiseling it out by hand.

Only three weeks left - now it's time to see what Brazil has to offer!

The falls are surrounded by jungle and have a lot of coaties running around.

 Salto Bossetti waterfall section.

Views from the boat. About 23 seconds later I got soaked.

The view from the upper platform - lovely.

A double rainbow!

A butterfly with the number 88! This must be the brother of the one I saw in Colombia with the number 89.

Apparently the moss that grows here is quite rare and only grows in and around waterfalls.

The view out from Garganta del Diablo.

The walkway on the Brazil side. I would not have fancied building that.

Cheers Argentina, its been a great ride...

Mendoza, Cordoba, Mina Clavero and Rosario!

Wine tasting by bicycle - what a genius idea!

This was to be my second visit to the Argentinian town of Mendoza, the first involved a five-day bender with some backpackers I'd met in Santiago, in which I saw nothing. I was determined that this time it would be different - I pledged to get drunk in the famous wineries in the Mendozan countryside instead.

True to my word, I found myself in the Maipu valley the next day. Myself and Estela had elected to spend a day visiting wineries and sampling pretty much everything that was on offer. Seeing as we'd be getting quite drunk, we decided the best mode of transport would be the good ol' bicycle.

These were rented from a jolly Argentinian named Mr. Hugo. In fact, he was so happy that I considered giving up life as an accountant and starting my very own bike rental business. The highlight was the winery of Familia Di Tommaso. This bodega has been producing quality wines since 1869 and you can still walk around the original wine cellars.

We were shown the original brick tanks that the wine was fermented in and walked through a storage tank that was originally used to hold up to 10,000 litres of the good stuff! I won't lie, I'm not a connoisseur, but the wines we tasted were great. They mainly do Malbec but one taster was a desert wine made from an original recipe created by the abuela (grandma) of the family.

Another good fact is that, unlike a lot of bodegas, they pick the grapes by hand instead of by machine. Thus, at harvest time, all the extended family and a few casual workers head out into the vineyard armed with nothing but large pairs of scissors. This would be fun if it wasn't 42°C in the shade.

Next up was Argentina's "second city", Cordoba. I was not overly impressed when we arrived in the middle of a thunderstorm to find that all the hostels were booked out. It turned out that there isn't really that much to do in Cordoba either except drink beer and eat asado (meat + barbecue). Life could be worse.

Outside the city there is some beautiful countryside with mountains and rivers. We spent a day exploring the countryside villages of Villa Carlos Paz and Cuesta Blanca. This is where we were introduced to the concept of the riverside beach, which they love over here. Someone buys a load of sand, tips it on the shore of a river and before you know it it's packed with Argentinians, eating ice cream and grilling various cuts of meat.

After some big city action in Mendoza and Cordoba, we felt like visiting the countryside. Estela had been recommended a little place called Mina Clavero, a riverside village with yet another riverside beach. It's a small place but big with holidaying Argentinians, so had a really lively atmosphere. It also became apparent that they don't get many international tourists - every time we spoke English people would stop what they were doing and look at us.

We spent a day hiking in the surrounding hills. Not only did this provide some lovely views, but there was also no end of freshwater streams to cool down in along the way.

The problem with streams is that I can never resist the urge to build a dam. This hindered our walking progress slightly.

That said, the main activity in Mina Clavero was eating lots of meat. I have to report that I had the best steak of my life in a Parilla restaurant in Mina Clavero. Thinking about it is making me hungry as I type...

Rounded off central Argentina with a trip to the town of Rosario. Guess what, they have a riverside beach. This one is a bit more special because the river in question is the Rio Parana, big enough to transport 300ft cargo ships, and the beach is on an island in the middle of it.

Other than that, they have a huge monument dedicated to Manuel Belgrano (liberator and designer of the Argentinian flag), wonderful ice cream and a magnificent creation called the Super Pancho.

The flag monument is spectacular - there is a tall tower with an elevator that you can ride to the top for some nice views across the city, some seriously large statues and an ever-burning torch. It is a bit over the top but a great sight nonetheless.

Ice cream is taken seriously by these people and this year saw the successful launch of the Rosario "Miss Ice cream" beauty pageant (I'm not making this up). Each girl was asked a number of questions, the last being "why do you want to be Rosario's Miss Ice cream?". Of the 16 contestants, 15 answered "because I love Rosario... and I love ice cream", as though they were the only contestant to think of this witty response (I promise I'm not making this up). The sixteenth contestant replied "because the prize is an all-expenses paid trip to Mendoza". She won!

Ahhh the Super Pancho. The backbone of this tasty snack is a standard hot dog. You then wrap the dog in crispy bacon, cover it with melted cheese, sprinkle tiny chips on top and garnish with a variety of spicy sauces. Costs about a pound. Since I discovered these, a day has not gone by without me eating one.

That was the whistle-stop tour of central Argentina. A 20-hour bus ride awaits - I'm heading North to see some waterfalls. Here are some more highlights.

It wasn't just wine tasting. I got stuck into some liquor tasting as well. This one was actually absinthe. I momentarily forgot how to ride my bicycle after the tasting session.

Why aren't all signs as informative as this?

Nice views from the mountains near Mina Clavero.

The town centre. It is a ghost town between the hours of 11am and 5pm while everyone is siesta-ing. You can eat steak at 2am though.

A nice view from the top of the mountains overlooking Mina Clavero.

The first thing I did in Rosario was rescue a cat that had got trapped on the top of some window bars. I am a friend to all cats.

Part two of the flag monument.

The stadium on Newell's Old Boys. This is one the biggest teams in Argentina and was named by ex-pupils of the English High School of Rosario in homage to its director and football coach, English immigrant Isaac Newell. Interesting facts - their strip is a combination of the English and German flags, they have a huge outdoor swimming pool in the stadium, they have an amazing youth team setup which produced (amongst others) a player called Lionel Messi.

The flag monument by night...

...with its ever-burning torch.

The man himself - Manuel Belgrano.

Punta Arenas and back to Valpo

In England, our traditional Christmas meal is roast turkey. In Patagonia they like to go big - a whole lamb on the barbecue!

You can rock up to your local supermarket and literally carry out a whole skinned lamb (head included). I got quite a sight while doing the grocery shopping - Patagonians wandering through the aisles, lamb under arm, (probably) chatting about the latest innovations in grilling.

We'd ended up in Punta Arenas, the most Southern city in Chilean Patagonia. This also marks the most Southern point I've ever visited, a mere 1,400km North of Antarctica. We arrived at a hostel to find the owner barbecuing, a whole lamb obviously, and got involved in a fairly intense game of Xmas Drinking Jenga.

There are only two things to do in Punta Arenas. The first one, oddly, is to go to a strip club - they have over 100 strip clubs for a population of around 100,000 people. The second is to visit a colony of Magellanic penguins. The strippers had the Xmas period off work so we headed out to the local penguin colony instead.

The adult penguins are about 50-70cm tall and weigh about 6kg. They spend most of their time chasing fish around - 14hrs a day is spent fishing by one parent, while the other looks after the kids.

Other than that, they waddle around and chill on the beach, talking about their favourite sea tides and the local starfish population.

Another thing worth mentioning, is the local cemetery in Punta Arenas, which I stumbled across while looking for empanadas. The whole place is filled with evergreen trees shaped into large bulbous towers. A beautiful place to rest your bones indeed.

Punta Arenas marked the end of my time in Patagonia. I must say that the region is one of the most beautiful I have ever visited on my travels. I will never forget the deep blue lakes around Bariloche, the rumbling Perito Moreno glacier, or the marble caves near Puerto Rio Tranquilo.

After living the clean life for six weeks, I was in need of a good party. There are few better parties than New Years Eve in the Chilean town of Valparaiso so I jumped on a plane to Santiago. At this point, I had actually completed a big (ridiculously shaped) circle - Santiago is where I started my trip almost one year ago...

I caught up with my Chilean friends Consuelo and Carla, who I met in La Serena, and was introduced to the Terremoto, a Chilean cocktail. The name means earthquake, and consists of fermented white wine, a little fruit juice and a dollop of ice cream - it lives up to its name.

I met up with Estela, who I'd met in Panama, and we headed to Valparaiso. Apart from being a good place to party, they put on a spectacular firework display. Valpo is made for this - a town built on steep hills on the side of a huge curving bay. There was enough space for everyone to get a great view of the fireworks before rolling down the hill to party in the main square with whatever booze was left over.

Valpo is a beautiful town, with beautiful painted buildings and nice views out to sea. If you have been reading this blog from the start you will know that I've already been there, so I won't write about it again!

So, it's back to Argentina to see the North, after which I'll work my way through the South of Brazil to catch my flight home. But that's all for now, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!