....but wouldn't you know that last night I came down with a cold. Dang it! Was so careful on the ship, but with the rushing off, then flying to Iguazu and back, and waiting for planes in crowded airports with their unique cultural differences in how/when/where one boards an airplane....well, somehow I contracted someone's cold. Which meant that I was too tired last night to write a post, and I slept in this morning and didn't write one then, either. After our morning adventures I am back in the room resting; Denny is downstairs in the lounge catching up on his iPad and Kathi and Tom are wandering around the plaza getting disoriented and/or people watching and/or getting in trouble.
So let's catch up. When I last left you we were still at the falls and the others had taken the train to the path to the Devil's Throat. Yep, they came back drenched and exhausted two hours later and Tom said I made a good choice. But they have photos and I don't, so here is a helicopter view that I borrowed from the Internet. In the upper right corner you can see the walkway crossing the river upstream from the falls...that's what they walked out on to view.
The next morning, I was cautious, perhaps overly so, of pushing my knees too far, so decided not to take the big hike around the park. But Kathi and Tom did, even sneaking into the park early and got photos from many wonderful vantage points. It much of their trip involved stairs like this.
But there are some amazing views to be seen from some of these trails
All around the park there are coatimundi and monkeys. We never saw the monkeys, but did see toucans and coatis.
The monkeys are a particular problem, because they can open the sliding glass doors of the hotel unless you keep them locked. Apparently they cause real havoc if they get into a room, and it's a minimum $250 cleaning fee if you forget and they get in.
In the late morning we spent time at the pool at the hotel, before our driver Omar returned to pick us up promptly at 2:15 to go back to the airport.
Wouldn't you know it, the plane was about 40 minutes late, again. So by the time we got back to Buenos Aires and to our hotel where we had stored luggage and cleaned up and changed for dinner, it was about 7:45. Fortunately we had eaten a big breakfast late in the morning, so we were not ravenous. Also fortunate is the fact that dinner here does not start until 7:00 or 8:00, so we were actually right on time. We headed out to a parilla which is sort of a steakhouse, but also a wine bar and grill. I will let the pictures do the talking:
Probably the best steaks any of us ever ate. Seriously great food. A little lacking on the side dishes, but nobody cared when they bit into the meat. Really, really good. This was a wood charred cooking process, so while it was fire, it was not burned. (I know, bad pun...but I'm sick 😷 and not fully on my game and this is the best I could come up with that keeps with my 'theme').
By the end of dinner we were all very tired and we hit the rack, agreeing to meet for breakfast at 9. Which we did. Another lovely breakfast buffet with meats, cheeses, breads, rolls, pastries, fruits, juices, cereal, scrambled eggs, etc. etc. We ate well, then headed over to the pharmacy across the street looking for some cold remedies. All sudafed type medicines seem to be prescription down here, but I bought some cough drops (Hall's mentholyptus) and something with pine tree resin that stays I can only have three per day. I need to get to Google to translate the rest of the package.....
...well, it is made from local bees and honey and pollen and tree resins. Not sure what else it might do, or not, but at least I don't think it will kill me. Hot soup, tea and water for the afternoon, I think. And a decongestant.
And now back to our morning...we walked down Florida street, which is a main shopping pedestrian near street. Shops and stores of all kinds, even a nice little high-end mall with a great ceiling.
But no golf balls of the souvenir sort for Tom and his boys. We must have stopped in every place that looked sporty or had souvenirs of any kind. Several souvenir vendors looked at us like we were crazy asking for golf balls. One even said "No, of course not. We sell souvenirs." So it looks like we crashed on that one, but there may be hope in the next 24 hours...so not quite burned yet.
At the end of Florida St. is the Plaza de Mayo, home to both the Casa Rosada and the Metropolitan Cathedral, which is where Pope Francis was assigned for many years prior to his becoming Pope.
And that brings me back to now....where I am still resting, but now down in the lounge with a cup of hot tea. And boo-hoo, it is almost time to say goodby to Denny and Kathi, who are heading off to the airport and the long slog back to the US. We don't leave til tomorrow, so at least I have some time to rest and tour.
Sorry to hear about the cold!! Looks like the four of you had a great time at the Falls and in Bueos Aires. I just looked at a blog from a woman on CC who is on the Crown now doing our trip in reverse. She posted tons (really too many) pictures of her 6 days before the cruise which included the Falls -- you may want to check them out when you get home. They are not on the roll call but on the Princess Cruises site. Save travels and get well soon!!!!!
ReplyDelete