The first trip was to Colonia, Uruguay. Buenos Aires is only separated from Uruguay by the river so a short hour ferry ride will get you there. An Argentinian tourist visa is only valid for 90 days so at the beginning of May I had to leave the country and reenter to revalidate my visa. We decided to make a day trip out of it so we woke up early to catch the first ferry over to Uruguay. Colonia is tiny and calm and quiet and a couple of hours is all you need to see the whole town. We actually had to wait a while to eat breakfast once we got there because the restaurants still weren't open. What a contrast to Buenos Aires.
We spent the first part of the day walking around the colonial, historical district sightseeing and snapping photos. There are old bridges and lighthouses and we saw some women doing Uruguayan dances in the street. Also the Uruguayan accent is similar but a lot easier to understand than the Porteño accent. The weather had been questionable and there were clouds in the sky but during the day it just kept getting better and better. After seeing those sights we walked along the coast (right next to the beach, which BA doesn't have) for about an hour to the other side of town. Again not much to see up there but the walk and the weather were nice and it was pleasant to chill out for a while. There was an old bull fighting ring and a pirate museum. We didn't pay to go in but did get some good photos with the 15 foot tall pirates outside. After walking back and grabbing lunch we did some souvenir shopping to use up our Uruguayos and then caught the boat back. Not too exciting of a trip but a really nice and shocking change of pace from the city.
A couple of weeks later we left the city for the day to visit Tigre. Tigre is about an hour trainride from the Capital Federal. It is known for having a ton of rivers and the boat tours are supposed to be spectacular. We took the scenic train up there (after a bit of confusion on my part) and then found a bout tour to take. The tour was about an hour and a half through some of the main rivers.
The leaves were just changing colors and the sun was out. There are a lot of cute properties and hotels in Tigre and it would be a really nice place to go to get out of the city for a couple of days. There is also a big market with any sort of tourist souvenir that you could want but we didn't have the energy for souvenir shopping so we skipped the market. We ate waffles on sticks filled with either savory or sweet fillings and caught the train back that afternoon.
In July I finally got to realize my trip to Iguazu Falls in the north of Argentina. The falls are on the Brazil/Argentina boarder and are in the top three biggest waterfalls in the world. People say that Niagra pales in comparison and some say they are more impressive than Machu Picchu. The busride up there was 18 hours and unfortunately I was only able to go for the weekend. This meant that I caught the bus up one night, got there the next day and spent half a day at the park, spent the first half of the third day at the park and then caught the bus back that afternoon. Short and sweet, but incredible.
There are many different parts to the park including the Devils Throat which has more water running over it each second than I have ever seen in my life.
There are trails along the upper and lower parts of the waterfalls and you can take a boat tour. The boat tour I did was amazing. First they take you into the canyons to get some photos of the falls from below and then they tell you to put your cameras away in your waterproof bag and they drive you under the waterfalls (not all the way under but enough that you are completely drenched when you are done). Right after this I had to catch the bus back home, so I was fairly soggy on the bus, but the boatride was incredible and I had an amazing time. Definitely something you can't miss if you are in South America. It is also up in the jungle so the temperature was about 80F the whole time and although it was very misty the second morning it cleared right up and the weather was gorgeous. Lots of rainbows and lots of cute wild creatures running around in the jungle. I didn't even see any spiders to spoil my fun.
So thats the brief summary of those trips. Nice, short excursions out of the city and time to see other parts of the country. Next up, maybe some more about activities in the city, Spanish and Medicine Program, and last but definitely not least...'backpacking' on the way home!
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