Our 5th and penultimate month in Brazil had really tested our endurance and willingness to travel (September Travel Diary), fortunately the first two weeks of October went much smoother and we were once again able to enjoy our time in Brazil. Once we received the repaired awning cover back from the auto trimmer shop we pointed Mr Jones nose south for the final haul to Foz do Igaucu, a mere 800km but still two days drive for us and thus another night in a truck stop on the way. We have, however, come to really enjoy our stays in truck stops and this one was no different.
Foz do Igauzu is considered the worlds second largest waterfall system, the largest being Victoria Falls in Southern Africa. Interestingly both Foz Do Igauzu and Victoria falls sit on the borders of three countries, in this case Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil all share either the falls or the river just above them as a boundary. The similarities however end with the international border comparisons (and of course the throngs of tourists) as Victoria falls is almost one single waterfall whereas Igauzu consists of some 250 cascades (average height:60m) spread over nearly 3 kilometres. You can visit the falls from both Brazil and Argentina, the Brazilian side allows you to get up close and very very wet as there is walkway across the top of one cascade and directly below the largest one known as “La Garganta del Diablo (the Devils throat). In the days preceding our visit there had been quite a bit of heavy rain, in fact we delayed our visit in order to do it on sunny day, so the water was flowing particularly strong through the Devils throat and under the walkway – both an awe-inspiring sight and a scary feeling when you consider the force and power of water versus the concrete pillars holding up the walkway! And as we read a week later, after another spell of heavy rains, they actually had to close the walkways as the water had risen and was flowing over the walkways..
In general, we are not fans of the tourist attractions which attract thousand of visitors per day and standing in line waiting to buy our entrance tickets that morning we had most definitely had our reservations about joining the tourist shuffle, however by taking our time and admiring both the power of the falls but also the small “attractions” that abound we had a great day out.
Apart from visiting the falls, we put our final few days in Brazil to good use by visiting the laundromat, collecting some parcels (our friend Clecio from Chicago who had become Stuart’s personal google translator and go-to for solving problems in Brazil) had kindly ordered some replacement engine temp and coolant level monitoring devices and had them delivered to a friend of his in Foz. The temperature probe required the manufacture of replacement thermostat housing plug from solid brass which we got done by visiting a “tornearia” (metal turning shop), once again the combination of a super friendly shop owner, the use of Google translate and hand gestures ensured that not being able to speak Portuguese was really not an issue.
We crossed the border to Argentina on a rainy and overcast day with just 8 days remaining of the 6 months per year that we are allowed to stay in Brazil as South Africans. In Africa border crossings are typically a rather slow affair so when we saw the queue of cars at the Argentinian frontier we were expecting a very long day but in fact it went quite quickly and before we knew it we were driving around Puerto Iguacu in search of places to change money and to obtain a SIM card for our cellphone, both of which went surprisingly easy and almost before we knew it we had a 10gb of local data on the phone and a large pile of pesos which we hoped would be enough for our first month’s travel.
Argentina economy is at a macro level in dire straits with hyper-inflation (close to 100% pa) which makes life for ordinary citizens very hard as they struggle with rising prices and assets rapidly diminishing in value. One of the consequences of this is that there is a parallel and black-market exchange which exists around the USD and Peso known as the “blue dollar”. Our simplistic understanding of the blue dollar exchange is that for those Argentinians who can afford to and wish to try and preserve some wealth, they are willing to purchase USD at rates far exceeding the official exchange rate, which means if as a traveler you have USD it is possible to change these for Peso at very attractive rates and as a consequence practically halve the “real” cost of any purchases. (see our Practical Information page for the best and easiest way to obtain these Blue dollars) We first experienced this in April 2022, at that stage the official exchange rate to the USD was 108 and the blue dollar rate 198, now in October it is 138 and 285 respectively. As we travel over the coming months it will be interesting to see if it really does make travelling cheaper or if local costs are in fact much higher and the blue dollar just equalises this – we expect it to be somewhere between the two scenarios.
Having completed all our admin we headed out of town and down the “pan handle” that Argentina has between Paraguay and Brazil with our eye on spending the night next to a dam where we understood it was possible to camp for free and even plug Mr J into electricity. Upon arrival we had mixed feelings; it was very pretty but also rather muddy and did not look very appealing but as it was lunchtime we decided a snack was in order before moving on. On our way out, Stuart spotted some electricity points on higher and therefore dryer ground which meant our “moving on” had suddenly become only 300m. We found it quite hard to believe that you could camp for free and still obtain electricity to charge your batteries but as we were to discover over the next few days this was not to be a once off occurrence.
Over the next few days we wandered down the panhandle and slightly westwards along the bottom of Paraguay as we worked our way towards the first touristy destination we had in mind for Argentina, the National Park Ibera. Along the way we made a brief detour to visit the magnificent ruins of a Jesuit mission at San Ignacio.
Ibera started out life as a small provincial park until an American billionaire and philanthropist, Doug Tompkins (founder of the outdoor brand North Face) got involved and started buying up many of the farms surrounding it. He donated the land back to the Argentinian government in 2015 on the condition that a National park was created for the preservation of the wetlands. Today Ibera is the world’s second largest grassland wetland, after the Pantanal, and they have even begun to re-introduce Jaguar’s along with other animals that had become extinct in the area. Much of this we didn’t know until we drove into the park.
We had chosen to enter in the north western section and were hoping to be able to travel from there southwards but as we quickly discovered, the vast wetlands mean that much of the park is not traversable in a motor vehicle and so you have to go in and out along the same tracks. After thirty kilometres crossing these vast grasslands with plenty of bird and wild life sightings you come to the ranger station of San Nicolas, were to our surprise you can camp for free (we also didn’t have to pay an entrance fee to the park!). Included in your free camping is a million-star sky, ablutions with running water and if you ask, the rangers will switch on a generator to create hot water which is something we weren’t concerned about as Mr J has his own “en-suite” shower with gas geyser. A further 7km into the park the road ends and from there it is possible to take a guide and canoe trip on the waterways for some up-close viewing of cayman, capybara and many water birds. The canoe trip is not very long, partly because the water levels at this time of the year are lower, but only cost the princely sum of ZAR55 per person. At this point we couldn’t help but marvel at the differences to Brazil, in Brazil there is a general lack of appreciation for nature and it would not have been possible to access the park, let alone camp, without paying either substantial entrance fees and/or being required to take a guide whereas in Argentina we had been able to access the park and camp for free and pay a ridiculous low amount for an excursion.
Surrounding the camp are a number of short walking trails which you can do on your own, while wandering down one of these and busy taking photos of all the wild flowers, we practically bumped into a Marsh Deer who emerged from a thicket of plants. He wasn’t fazed by us in the slightest which made for some fantastically close up pictures. Over supper on our second night, we seriously debated staying for a few more days but alas with so much of Argentina still in front of us (and below us) we decided to move on.
The wine country of Mendoza was calling and we thought we were in for a relatively boring week of driving across the country, as many of the blogs we had previously read were not that complimentary of this part of the country but thankfully and much to our surprise it was in fact an incredibly scenic and varied drive. First up was a southward leg with the Ibera type grasslands on our left and the Parana river on our right, (South America’s second longest river @ nearly 5000km in length) until we reached Cordoba and could cross under the river via a very impressive tunnel.
Sometimes the smallest things can leave really lasting impressions and our campsite in a little town of Villa Carlos Laz Paz just outside Cordoba may be one of those – it had the most fantastic hot showers, with great water pressure and unlimited water. For context, over the last 7 months we have got very used to what is commonly referred to as a “suicide shower”. It is termed a suicide shower because it is basically a shower head with an electric heating element inside it, which means if there is any dodgy wiring you stand a good chance of having a shocking experience…. Fortunately, in our time here we haven’t had any such experiences but Stuart has vivid memories of a few mild shocks when touching the taps from his trip to Bolivia in the early 2000’s. The other negative with the suicide shower setup is that in order to have decent hot water, a low volume needs to flow through the shower head which sometimes can mean only a dribble so a normal flowing shower with hot water “on tap” was almost a reason on its own to extend our stay! The campsite itself was nothing special and so alas we did not stay more than one night but MAN those showers were great.
Leaving town, a long but spectacular climb awaited Mr Jones as we took Ruta 34 which winds its way up into the Sierra Grandes ultimately reaching a height of 2000m asl, considering that for the last few months our average altitude has been in the region of 100m this was quite a change. Along the way we made multiple stops to admire the view and at one point watch the Andean Condor soaring below us. The condor is the world’s largest flying bird.
Near the summit of the mountain pass we took the turnoff to Parque National Quebrada de Condorita where we hoped to spend the night but first we enjoyed a lovely lunch of cold meats, cheese, olives and pickled onions while parked outside the ranger station. These delights we had picked up a few days earlier when by chance we stopped outside a very nondescript deli in a small town while on the search for a butchery that sold lamb – Tania had been craving some succulent lamb chops on the braai since before Brazil and so far despite numerous searches had not been successful. At this stop we also weren’t successful but the quality of the deli and super low prices partly compensated for the disappointment.
The national park has a number of longer trails available which appear very popular, but Tania’s foot and hip issues are not conducive to longer walks so after lunch we undertook one of the shorter trails before settling in at the trailhead for another night of wild and free camping. We have a phrase called “bush tv” which usually applies to the visual feast when camping in wild areas, whether it be the dramatic landscapes, animals or bird life that can keep you occupied for hours an end as you observe and admire. On this afternoon we instead picked up reception for a little bit of crime drama! A French paraglider landed a few hundred metres from where we were parked and not long afterwards a park ranger arrived and over the next few hours we binge watched a few episodes as the arrogance of the flyer (who clearly was not allowed to fly over or land in the the park) quickly escalated the conflict, resulting in the arrival of multiple park rangers and ultimately ended with what we assumed was the confiscation of his paraglider and an escort out of the park.
Leaving Parque National Quebrada de Condorita we continued to marvel at the visual spectacle that Ruta 34 gave us, initially high alpine grasslands, then spectacular rock formations and canyons before finally dropping off the mountain to Mina Clavero via a spectacular mountain pass that afforded endless views across the dry lowlands to the west. It is most definitely not known as the Route of High Summits for no reason. In Mina Clavero we stopped to grab some empanadas for lunch and for Tania to visit a carnaceria in search of lamb chops. The lamb chops remained elusive but she did score some very nice sausages and the empanadas, were well worth the wait while they were prepared fresh.
It is going to sound like a stuck record but the afternoons drive once again left us marveling at the scenery and how much it could change in such a short space of time. We probably only covered a couple of hundred kilometres for the day but we went from alpine grasslands to meandering through small european style villages along the base of the mountain before finally crossing hot and dry scrubland which felt very much like the Karoo. The day ended just outside the entrance to another national park, this one being Sierra de las Quijadas, as they don’t have camping inside but provided you are self-sufficient you can park outside in a little clearing and visit the park during the day. This was to be our third national park in Argentina and in all three we had not had to pay an entrance fee or camping fee, such a contrast from Brazil where often even a visit to a minor waterfall would incur an entrance fee and where we did not find a single national park with facilities for camping (everything was privatized).
The park offers a number of walking trails, some longer and some shorter, this time we did a medium length one which took you to various viewpoints overlooking spectacular rock formations. Once again, a visual spectacle!
The only downside to the park was that there was zero water available and while we carry quite a lot of filtered water (60l capacity) in Mr J main water tank we prefer to not use that for general use activities like dishes and showers, for that we have the bumper tank and a loose bag with a total capacity of 30l. After using some of this in the high mountains and not refilling then when we had the opportunity it meant that after two days camping wild this general use water supply was getting low and so after our walk it was time to hit the road and complete the last leg into Mendoza. Along the way, that afternoon we did stop briefly to admire one more dramatic change in landscapes, being the vast sand dunes @ Bosques Telteca.
The first couple of days in Mendoza were spent in camp as we firstly enjoyed some downtime from the frequent moving interspersed with ticking off the many jobs that accumulate when moving frequently, these can range from simple things like giving the inside of Mr J a spring clean to rotating his tyres which is always a good cross-fit workout for Stuart as it involves removing the spare and “changing” all 4 tyres. On the 3rd day we ventured into town for more admin related tasks: laundry, finding a place to fill our South African gas cylinder (every country has different connections and so it can get complicated), finding a mechanic to change the gearbox oils and loading data onto our local SIM card. It was while dropping off laundry that Tania heard a South African accent which it turned out belonged to Pieter & his Argentinian wife, (she has an Afrikaans English accent), they are both winemakers who live in Hermanus but are in Argentina visiting her family. Apart from a lovely conversation and comparison of the similarities to life in SA versus Argentina the one key takeaway was that when overseas we all really really miss Woolies!
On our 4th day in Mendoza (nope this isn’t a mini advent calendar), it was Devon’s birthday so given that we couldn’t be with him in person to celebrate, we decided that the next best thing was that we took ourselves out for a lunch and wine tasting. The only hassle was that you couldn’t really enjoy the wine tasting knowing that you still had to drive across town to get back to camp, so on the 5th day in Mendoza we decided to relocate to an “estanciomento” in town. An estanciomento is a parking lot and the one we had chosen is regularly used by travelers to park & sleep in overnight while having easy access to town, this sounded ideal as it would allow us to explore central Mendoza during the day and then have a night out on the town later. Apart from needing to further celebrate Devon’s birthday we still hadn’t had a spoil for Stuart’s 50th a month prior and so figured this was the perfect opportunity. As it turned out the night on the town didn’t happen as we overindulged on a giant pizza at lunch and so didn’t in fact make it out for supper later – this turned out however to be a blessing in disguise.
The blessing in disguise was that the following day we headed out of Mendoza, after a lovely breakfast in a funky cafe near to our parking, to a wine valley region called Tupangato and here we enjoyed a 4 course lunch with unlimited wine all for the princely sum of ZAR250 per person. A far better proposition than in downtime Mendoza and in a far more spectacular setting. As an added bonus the Bodego Jean Bousquet’s Chardonnay was the best we have had since leaving SA and so we left with 6 bottles, the Malbec wasn’t half bad either and you could get it in “papsak” which meant we departed with a few of those as well.
And that rounds off the month of October: after 6 months, it was a sad goodbye to Brazil but it’s been a great introduction to Argentina and we are already trying to figure out how we can stay here for 6 months.
As usual below you can find links to other parts of the blog which complement the travel diary:
Captain(s) Log: October 2022 After last months lows, a month of “wow’s”
Overview of overnight locations and therefore route travelled
Practical Information: Argentina (Obtaining a local sim card, the Blue Dollar mechanisms, etc)
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