Couple of (more) days at sea found us hot tubbing, card playing, eating plenty, reading, dressing up, and chilling. Do you see a pattern developing? Also got a massage at the spa. I must’ve still had knots in my shoulders from building last summer because she WORKED my back until it was loose but dang it felt bruised.
Next stop: Punta del Este, Uruguay. This was to be our true “beach” day. Punta’s claim to fame is a giant hand sculpture rising from the sand. We came. We saw. We experienced. Some of us got wet in the ocean. And then we found a waterfront cantina because by this time we were conditioned into ‘needing’ to eat every few hours—a cruise’ll do that for you. Strolled into as much of a shopping area as we could find, cooled down in a mall, then headed back to the ship. Side note: we traveled this time on Azamara. Had never heard of them before planning this trip but couldn’t recommend them more. Only 500 guests, no children, many “extras” complimentary.
Buenos Aires is nicknamed the ‘Paris of South America’ so we tacked on a few extra days at the end of the cruise to see what all the hubbub is about. Remember how when we breezed through on the front end of the trip we did the hop on/hop off bus to figure out what else we might want to see up close & personal? I might want to add that by this point in the trip we all had our ‘roles’ down pat. Greg, Tour Guide. Debye, Logistics Manager (in charge of all Ubers/taxis). Mary, Photographer. Jody, Tourist. So, what to do? First day we hiked Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve, an 865 acre plat of land bordering the Rio de la Plata riverbank. Got back to our Air B&B in the Palermo District in time to clean up & dress up to go back downtown for a Tango dinner extravaganza.
The next day was spent wandering through the weekly open air market. Treasures and trinkets. Art and crafts. Outlandish and precious. Something for everyone. The following day was to be our easy day since the final two were to start in the wee hours of the morning. We found the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, the cathedral where Pope Francis served as Archbishop before heading to the Vatican. As most, it was ornate and ostentatious. I often find my heart heavy in such surroundings. There is such a blatant dichotomy between evident poverty and opulent excess that often in such settings my mind and heart feel such discord that I feel ill at ease. Somehow the lily floor mosaics is where I found peace. Next stop was El Ateneo Grand Splendid, a bookstore that in 2019 was named the "world's most beautiful bookstore" by National Geographic. Now this is a place you could spend a day. Wow.
Back to the Air B&B where I crashed. Greg had been sneezing/coughing for a couple of days, and suddenly it hit me. They went out for a steak dinner while I rested. BTW, Argentinian beef is all it’s cracked up to be. 4 a.m. pickup for our last hurrah, a guided tour to Iguazu Falls, came early. Ride to airport, fly to Iguazu, ride to park, train to trails. There is an upper trail and a lower trail. Of course we did them both. Is it just a bunch of hype? Hardly. The falls are the largest waterfall system in the world. With a drop of 269 feet, they are 100 feet higher than Niagara. At almost 1.85 MILES wide, they are 3000 feet wider than Victoria. Their sheer magnitude are almost indescribable, especially the power of their sound. On a whim we decided to take the jet boat trip into Devils Canyon. You may get sprayed, they said. I watched as others returned a little damp around the edges. Why does it seem that we always find the daredevil? Our boat took the rapids with a little spray and fanfare. And then our captain freakin’ took us UNDER the falls. We. Were. Drenched. It was great. Oh. Until the van ride back to the airport and the flight back to BA. I did what I could with hand dryers in the bathroom. Just sayin. 4 a.m. - 10:30 p.m. was a long day.
Next morning was 5 a.m. pickup back to the airport for our flight home. Only a two hour layover in Lima and in bed in Decatur at 10 p.m. Another long day. Rise & shine & take a COVID test. Boogers. Our best guess is that fella next to Greg hacking his lungs out in Rio at Carnival was not a cold. Iguazu we were mostly outdoors with distance between us. We masked in airports/planes. Seems that’s just a risk of travel now. Greg is almost 100% and I’m probably 85%. Not sure if we’re resting from the COVID or the jam packed vacay—probably both. But it was another fabulous adventure and we, as always, are grateful and humbled that we got to experience another slice of this beautiful globe. I whittled down more than 3,000 pictures to my favorite 575 for anyone who wants to peruse the next time we get together. Or here is a link to around 100!
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