Northern Argentina to Foz de Iguazu

Those Damn Cops

Ever since Ken and I have come into South America we have been hearing about the crocked cops, first in the area of about 200 kms around Lima, in Peru, and second in the province of Entre Rios in the northeast corner of Argentina. Everyone who travels in these areas knows about the cops but still nothing is done to solve the problem. Rotten cops, they are a sore spot with me and I guess I really haven't got over the couple of times they dinged us in Peru, we were not looking forward to crossing into Argentina, the province of Entre Rios and the ride up to Foz de Iguazu. As the day approached we readied ourselves for combat, Ken would strictly abide by all posted speed limits and road signs, I would have my camera and little black book ready to take a photo of the culprit and record his name and badge no. along with his signature. We hoped if maybe it all looked very official the cop would back off. We crossed the border and headed north into enemy territory, 20-40-60-80 kms still nothing. One check point and we slipped through that behind a semi truck without being detected. From here on clear sailing. We made it through with our pocketbooks intact.

Well, one more crossing into Argentina, that's six times so far, it is a very long country with lots to see. The countryside is still beautiful; at this time of year the crops are being harvested (the biggest crop being matte te, a hot tea that the Argentinians and Uruguayans drink morning, noon, and night) and the cattle are being driven home (believe me with all the BBQs here there is a lot of cattle). We stopped along the way to buy some oranges from a family selling them at the side of the road, 15 oranges for one peso or .33 US. We were so distracting to the whole family that the boys didn´t realize they were late for school. Ken put them on the back of bike and gave them a ride the 5 kms to school. I guess the boys tryed to look pretty nonshallant about the whole thing, like it happen everyday, but when he took a look in this rear view mirror he saw the boys surrounded by all the kids in the school, the biggest grins on their faces. Cool.

Puerto Iguazu, a small tourist town where the Rio Iguazu and Rio Parana join, and the cornerstone of Argentina, Brazil and Paruguay. It is also the place to stay if you want to see the Foz de Iguazu, the widest waterfalls in South America. We stayed 3 days and took in a tour of the falls that was truly amazing. The amount of water that goes over the falls is huge and the park has catwalks built over a lot of it so you can literally walk on water to the edge of the waterfalls and look over Garganta del Diablo ( the devils throat) the biggest part of the falls. Our tour took us up the river to the base of the falls but it didn´t stop there, under the falls we went and got soaked to the skin. Not once, not twice but four times. Good clean fun. There is a lot of wildlife around the the falls including millions of butterflies and about 500 different types of animals and birds. Ken says the falls are not as tall as Niagra but maybe prettier because of the green foliage. I will have to make the trip to Ontario to see for myself.

We finally got our visas for Brazil after being turned away four times in Buenos Aires for any number of things from not having photos, or an address where we could be contacted in Brazil with a land line phone number to the way we did our hair that day. Then on top of all the info they wanted it would take up to a week to process. We got the visas in Puerto Iguazu, all they wanted was 144 pesos and they handed it over in one hour and with a smile on their faces.

Tomorrow Brazil.

A cattle drive down the middle of the highway.

Matte


Buying oranges.

Yes, we are going under those falls, too!

A different angle, the falls are huge.

The view from the Garganta del Diablo.

One type of the millions of butterflies.

Tucan.

The last photo before the battery died at the park.

Pollo, chicken on the grill.

The cornerstone of the 3 countries.