Iguazu and the Andes

What can you say about Iguazu falls? I´ve never seen anything like it. The water was up a bit while we were there and it was amazing. If you haven´t been there, then it is definately something you should visit. We spent a day on the Brazil side and another on the Argentine side including a boat ride up the river to the base of the falls. There are boardwalks constructed across some of the falls, which don´t do much for the view but get you right into the action (and soaked) which was pretty cool.

From Iguazu we flew to Buenos Aires, grabbed a hire car for a few weeks and headed west for 800km to Medoza. We spent a couple of nights in Mendoza, visiting vinyards and sampling some of the local poison, which was actually pretty good. I also had my first Argentine steak - and they are fantastic. The steak here really is as good as people say. My Argentine steak diet is set to take up where my African fried chicken diet left off.... Tucking a few bottles of Mendoza´s finest red under our arm we decided to head up into the moutains proper to try and spot Aconcagua, the highest peak outside the Himalayas at 6962m.

On the way up we were flagged down by the police and “booked” for overtaking a truck on double yellow lines. Apparently we had to follow him back to town and pay a US$300 fine into a bank account (his no doubt). Initally I thought he only wanted 30 pesos (about $8) and was happy to hand that over – he looked pretty excited when I got my wallet out straight away, but his face fell when I started pulling out 5 peso notes. Nicole helpfully translated that he wanted US$300, not 30 pesos! I suggested we go back to the police station rather than the bank, but he wasn´t so keen on that idea. Then I suggested maybe we go the British Consulate for translation services and he was even less keen on that idea, but was still keen on getting some money out of me. After 15 minutes of haggling we managed to agree on a $US50 “on the spot fine” by which time I was getting a bit concerned – but being a bit flustered and with my crap spanish I ended up giving him $100 by mistake. Nicole helpfully informed my of my error when I got back in the car, but the copper looked happy although he was probably wondering why I argued for so long then gave him $100 anyway. It wasn´t until we were driving off that we realised that from their vantage point on the mountain they probably did see me overtake a truck on double yellow down the bottom of the hill, until then I had actually thought he was just making the whole thing up to extort some money.

With that fun behind us, and my wallet a bit lighter, we headed up the to the Chile Border at 3300m and higher than I have ever been (outside of an aircraft anyway). Unfortunately it was an overcast day, with a howling wind (about 100km/hr by my estimate - we had dust overtaking the car at 60km/hr the next day and it was a gentle breeze by comparison) and a bit of (stinging) snow. Not the best day for looking at mountains. It was still pretty impressive and definately the biggest mountains I have ever laid eyes on. The next day was a pearler though as we drove north through the Calingaster Valley. The clouds had gone and it was crystal clear giving us a fantastic view of the Andes proper to the west and the foothills (think +3000m just for the foothills - for comparison Kosciuszko is 2230m) to the east. As we headed north the peak of Aconcagua climbed above the horizon behind us until it stood (literally) miles above the rest. The curios thing with moutains is that you need some distance to see how high they really are as close up the foothills shield them and they don´t look so big. We had lunch by ourselves down by a river in the town of Belen with an uninterupped view of a lengthy stretch of the Andes including 7 peaks over 5000m and 2 over 6500m directly in front of us. We must have sat there for an hour just staring at the view.

The following day we decided to try our luck at another high pass going up to the Chile Border, this time the Agua Negra Pass which topped out at 4700m. Driving up the road there was a conspicious absence of traffic, although there were no signs tellings us to keep out (that we could understand anyway) and all the guard posts were unmanned. There was a work crew in the pass and we had a quick chat with them but saw no other traffic. As time was getting away from us we stopped at the 4000m mark, took a few photos in the snow and then headed back down, still not seeing anyone else on the road. When we got to the bottom the boom gate was shut at the guard house and they were quite interested to know where we had been. I don´t know what they were trying to ask but in the end they seemed happy to let us go on our way without even asking for a bribe.

We have spent the last couple of days still heading north for Salta and are currently in the small town of Tafi del Valle. Our plan is for a few days in and around Salta before heading across to Resistencia on the Rio Parana, which is Dorado fishing country, and then spend a few days making our way down the river back to Buenos Aires whilst I hopefully catch a few Dorado.