After a busy start to the yoga year I took a short break to recharge before the main yoga by the sea schedule for summer starts along the Yorkshire Coast.
I headed over to South America for my first time to visit Argentina. With just 10 days I could only hope to scratch the surface of this amazing country so decided to focus on the capital city of Buenos Aires as well as a short trip up to the magnificent Iguazú Falls.
There’s lots of chat about the dangers in Buenos Aires, with it being notorious for pick pockets but I found the city to be full of friendly locals and lots to explore. I was visiting my brother and his wife who regularly stay in Buenos Aires so was lucky to have some inside knowledge.
We explored the colourful streets of La Boca which is home to the famous football team Boca Juniors, visited Recoleta cemetery, the final resting place of Eva Perón among many others. We browsed in El Atenea Grand Splendid, a book store located in an old opera house. I took a long early morning walk to see the floralis generica sculpture which still looks fantastic even if it is undergoing repairs at the moment.
Buenos Aires feels like a very European city and is sometimes referred to as the Paris of South America, the streets are lined with trees and there are parks and gardens at every turn. I had hoped to fit in a spot of yoga in one of the many parks but was too busy exploring and trying to keep cool! I stayed in Palermo a district full of cafes, restaurants and bars with street art on every available bit of wall surface.
An hour bus ride out of the city is the town of Tigre, from here we took a catamaran tour of the Paraná delta where people live on the islands and use the rivers as their roads. Shopping deliveries, rubbish removals and school buses are all done by boat.
After a week of exploring Buenos Aires I flew up to Puerto Iguazu in the North of Argentina, staying for two nights so I could visit Iguazu falls one of the new natural wonders of the world. Walking down to the river side in Peurto Iguazu you can see where three countries meet at a fork in the river, Paraguay is on one side, Brazil is in the middle of the fork with Argentina on the other side.
Unfortunately I didn't have time to hop into the other two countries but did spend a full day exploring the Iguazu Falls national park which was breathtaking. Having done my research I took an early bus (07:15) out of Puerto Iguazu to arrive at the National Park for 8am and took the park train for the Garganta del Diablo (Devil's throat). The train is a little bit like the miniature railway at Scarborough only it travels through the jungle!
From the last train stop I took the metal walkway out over the river to the top of the most powerful point in the falls. I had seen pictures and video footage before I arrived but nothing prepares you for the magnitude of nature putting on such a display, the sound of the water, the feel of the spray as the water thunders over the edge. The sight of so much water cascading to an unfathomable depth below was mesmerising.
I spent the whole day in the national park exploring the different trails including both the upper and lower circuits, giving so many different spectacular views of the falls. If you ever get the chance to visit you definitely should!
I saw lots of coatis, was disappointed not to see toucans or monkeys but extremely grateful not to encounter any pumas!
I returned to Iguazu airport to find my afternoon flight back to Buenos Aires had been cancelled (don't use FlyBondi if you are flying internally in Argentina as this is apparently a very common occurance!). I had to wait in the airport to catch the last flight back and finally got to my apartment at 1:30am.
My final day in Buenos Aires was spent enjoying breakfast in our favourite cafe and helado (ice cream) from Rapanui, my favourite choclate shop in Buenos Aires!
I loved my little taste of Argentina - it's definitely whetted the appetite to explore more of this fabulous country!
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