There have been no postings for the last 3 days because we were in the Esteros and there is not much out there. It is a fine wilderness! The hotel we stayed at has internet, but you have to have your own computer.
So, here's catching up on the last 3 days.
At 9am on Sunday, the 11th, a driver from Posadas met us outside the Libertador hotel to drive us to Carlos Pelligrini. We actually waited for him for a while past 9, and we kept looking at the cars that would drive by out front wondering, "Is that the car?" Well, when our driver came and we walked out with our luggage, there was no mistaking which car we were going to be driven in. The muddiest car out there!!!! Our car was covered totally in mud, and our driver, Ariel, told us that when he started from Pelligrini, the car was absolutely clean.
We sure wondered what lay ahead for us!
The road starts off fine enough, with it being paved for at least 20 miles. Our driver also mentioned something about the clouds in the distance, and said he didn't like the looks of them. We figured maybe we'd get a big rain shower, but we hoped we'd at least get in one boat ride in sunny weather, which was how the weather was at that point.
Soon enough, though, the road turns to dirt and the reason why a 4x4 car is so necessary on this road is that in many places, the dirt is just plain mud because it rains so frequently there. Ariel is an experienced driver, but even so, our car slid and fishtailed many many times. We even observed a car in front of us (and it was weird that we happened to be around a car at that time, because there is hardly ANY traffic on that road) slide all over the road and get stuck - facing our direction - almost on the side of the road. It spun its wheels over and over again, and we just sat at a distance watching. Finally, it managed to get a tiny bit of traction, and eventually got itself out. On our drive to Pelligrini, we saw a Jabiru stork and many rheas.
We pulled into the place where we'll be staying - The Posada de la Laguna- at around 1:30 or 2, so it took us over 4 hours to go about 163 miles. They showed us our room and then we went to the dining room to have lunch. Then we rested a while, and then got ready to go on our first boat trip out on the lagoon. The weather was sunny and nice and warm and the boat ride was very interesting - we saw LOTS of capybaras, caimans, and many interesting birds. We enjoyed tea back at the Posada, and then tried to walk into town, not knowing really where "town" was, but the dirt roads were just too muddy so we turned around.
This is just outside our hotel room
Having lunch
Time to go explore the lagoons!
Yep, those clouds are looking a little ominous.
That evening, we could see lightning in the distance. Rebeca and I took a walk out to the little pier and looked at the stars overhead. Shortly after that, it started raining, with a little thunder and lightning. During the night, though, is when it got REALLY wild. It rained hard the entire night, and was thundering and lightning the whole time. But, sometime around 3 or so in the morning, the wind started to gust incredibly hard and the whole storm just sounded amazing!! The thunder, the lightning, the strong wind - it was so hard for me to stay in bed. I just had to keep getting up and looking outside to see how wild it looked! Rebeca had the window by her bed open, but all of a sudden I realized that REALLY cold air was coming in so I closed her window. Sometime later, she woke up and realized it was closed and opened it again. But not 10 seconds later, she gets back up and shuts it again. She was very surprised at how cold it had gotten! Guillermo and I also wondered what was going to happen, because Ariel had told us that if it rains, we would probably not be able to go back on the same road, but instead would have to go hundreds of miles out of our way back to Posadas. So were were a little concerned about that. Anyway, that was a stormy night like no other, and I just kept thinking about all the little capybaras out there in the lagoon, and how they were holding up during that wild stormy weather.
On Monday, July 12th, after breakfast, it was time for our second excursion. But this time, it was going to be a little more painful to go out on the boat because of the cold weather and the wind! We bundled up as best we could and got on the boat, this time going over to the Visitor Center, where we walked around in the Interpretation Center. After that, it was time to walk a little trail. The trail was very interesting, and very wet, with lots of water to walk through. It actually was very beautiful out there, but with it being so cold, there weren't any animals out. We did see one HUGE capybara, about 3 Howler monkeys and several birds, but not much else. Rebeca thought she saw something like a fox cross the trail, but we never saw it again, so couldn't know for sure what it was. When we got back to our room, we were grateful to see that they had placed a heater in it and turned it on. Our room was nice and toasty.
Walking on the trail
Heading back to our hotel - approaching the dock.
After lunch it was time for our third excursion, a ride on the boat up the Miriñay River. It was still very very cold, but for some of the boat ride, the wind seemed to calm down a bit. We did this ride with a family with 2 small kids, who were very well behaved. Since it was so cold, it really wasn't good animal viewing weather, but we did get very close to some capybaras (and saw one with 3 little precious babies), saw more caimans, some Marsh deer, some Red Brocket deer and again, lots of interesting birds. The best thing, really, was just seeing the lagoon and being out in it. It really is a beautiful wilderness.
After breakfast, on Tuesday, July 13th, we were driven again in a 4-wheel drive car from the Posada de la Laguna back to the city of Posadas. When Ariel picked us up, the car was nice and clean. The drive from the Posada de la Laguna was fine, and the rain didn't seem to have made the road too difficult, except for several parts where the car literally spun around in the opposite direction because of the mud. Actually, that was really a fun drive. There were places where the road was more or less fine but other places where there was as much water as road, so LOTS of mud. It got a little scary sometimes when our car would slide off the side of the road and there was lots of jostling around inside the car, but all in all, it was a fun drive.
A "drier" section of the road
Then the time started becoming of interest. Since we knew that buses leave every hour from Posadas to Puerto Iguazu, and since it looked like we may just make it to Posadas in time to catch the 1:00pm bus, we focused on trying to get to the bus station in time for that bus. It's a 6-hour bus ride from Posadas to Puerto Iguazu, so we really really wanted to get on that 1:00 bus, so as not to get to Puerto Iguazu too late. I think we must have gotten to the bus station like at 12:45. It was literally fly out of the car, hit the bathrooms, ticket counter, and just barely have time to spare to get on the bus. Long bus ride, again. Stops in all the little towns. Rebeca and the girl from El Dorado talking together practically the whole trip. After arriving at our hotel in Puerto Iguazu, we decide to just have dinner in the hotel's restaurant. And actually, they make very good Italian food there, so the evening ended nice and relaxed.
Today, July 14th
We are having breakfast at the moment, and will then catch a bus to Iguazu Falls. It is VERY cold here, believe it or not. Good bus ride to Iguazu Falls Park, but we could see how the day was going to be when the bus got into this LONG line of cars waiting to pay to enter the park. Fortunately, as the bus got nearer, it was flagged to go around the side.
BUT, when we get to the entrance of the park, we saw the huge masses of people, and the full impact of this being the winter holiday vacation for Argentina was just beginning. We got into a long line to buy tickets, then into a long line to enter the park. Once inside, though, we knew exactly where to go, so that made it a little easier for us. There were just so many people everywhere!!! The trails were so full of people that we figured there'd be no chance of us seeing any monkeys. At least the day was a beautiful, sunny day - cool for sure, but not too bad with the sun. First thing we did was walk along the upper trail to see the falls, and after that, we decided to get something to eat. We picked a table inside because of the cool weather, and Guillermo held a table for us while Rebeca and I managed to finally work our way to the start of the clogged mess that was ordering food. It wasn't over for us once we got our order in, because then it was on to navigating another clogged mess to pick up our food. There has GOT to be a better way to do that.
After lunch, we managed to get on a train without waiting TOO long, and rode the train over to the Devil's Throat area. We walked that LONG walkway to the falls, and then took a float trip back to the train station. On the float trip back, we saw a caiman, and a cuckoo, and that was it. Once back at the train station, we walked over to the Lower Trail to see the falls from another angle and then decided to do a little shopping in the shops. By the time we left the shops, it was dark, but fortunately it was easy for us to catch a bus back into town. When we got off the bus in town, we walked over to the St. George Hotel, and enjoyed their massive dinner buffet. Then we walked back to our hotel.
Beautiful, yet cool, sunny day.
This place is called the Devil's Throat
On the boat ride back
Now seeing the falls from the Lower Trail
Sure makes for one long post, when 4 days need to be written about in one post.
