We Roam Around

For our main stay in Iguazu we are spending 4 days of pure richness on the Brazillian side of Iguazu at the Hotel Das Cataratas… Our driver from Argentina to Brazil was fantastic, he stopped us on the way to our hotel at the only company that does helicopter flights over the falls.  $110 per person later we were seeing the falls from the first time from the air.  The sight was so amazing it almost brought me to tears.  If you come to Iguazu, you HAVE to see it from the air.  The falls are so big that it’s hard to see the whole thing from the ground.  From the air we also got our first glimpes of our magnificent hotel sprawled on a cliff right next to the falls.

Magnificent, rich, impeccable, beautiful are all great words to describe this hotel.  I’ve stayed in some nice hotels in my time but the Das Cataratas is a gem.  It’s a huge pink elephant sitting with a perfect view of the falls, 10-20 minutes walk to the point where you’re getting wet from being so close to the falls.  From the moment you walk in the large oak doors you’re being looked after by the swarm of staff, hired to make sure you have EVERYTHING you need.  The lovely young woman behind the counter is bursting with smiles like she’s been waiting her whole life for you to walk in that door.

We check into our room which is small but glorious with a huge soft bed, beautiful antique chairs, a large window which shows an interrupted view of the falls, a huge bath and complementary Havaianas (of course, we’re in Brazil!);

Outside, in the lush garden is a huge pool surrounded by reclining chairs and a large dining area.  The moment you walk into the pool area you have a cocktail, wine and food menu in your hands and someone is laying towels out on a recliner.  You are served complimentary olives and nuts and your drink is not allowed to get empty.  Someone will come up to you at least once an hour to make sure that everything is OK and they will get anything for you if you ask.  Nothing is too difficult; you want to be in full sun with your face in the shade?  Done.  You want some sunscreen? Done.  You want a cocktail at 10am? No judgement… done.  Perfecto!

We spent that afternoon beside the pool and walking to the falls.  As I said earlier, within 10-20 minutes walk you will find amazing views of the falls and can even get so close that you’re being sprayed by it.  Along the trail you’ll meet a few tourists (but not as many as I would have imagined) and a lot of naughty Coati’s! I’ve got so many beautiful photos of this walk but I’ll share just a few for now;

What an amazing day!  We topped it off by having an impressive buffet for dinner at the hotel restaurant then having a port and cigar at the hotel bar… feelin pretty rich! … Until I look at the bill at the end of the 4 days… but that’s still 3 days away!  Today we’re off to play tennis (my first ever game), to a boat ride to the falls then go into the Brazilian city for dinner.  I’m sure I’ll have more to brag about soon.

Until then, Adios!

-Chrissy

After the culture shock of Bolivia and the food of Ecuador, Argentina was a little bit of paradise… I have never met a single person who doesn’t like Argentina and more specifically; Buenos Aires.  I now see why.

Driving through Buenos Aires (BA) from the airport was enough for me to get excited.  We drove past classy restaurants, providores packed with cheese and modern, expensive clothes stores.   It was everything that you would expect from the ‘Paris of South America’.  I could feel the good food and expensive clothing frenzy coming on and I wished that I could sell a limb for a few extra thousand so I could just go crazy.  Unfortunately, we’re at the end of our trip and we maxed out the budget weeks ago (back in Bolivia).

We only had a night in BA before heading off to Iguazu so as soon as we checked into the hotel we went out to make the most of the fantastic food scene.  We were staying in Palermo so we were not disappointed.  The food and wine… was amazing.  I just can’t wait to come back to BA for a good amount of time so I can uncover more of its gastronomical secrets.

After BA we made our way north of Argentina to the town of Peurto Iguazu.  This is the gateway for most people to the Iguazu falls.  For us, we just wanted to spend our day in the town.  This is a sweet little town, run mainly by tourism.  It’s a little expensive and it shuts down in the middle of the day while all the tourists are at the falls.  Apart from that, it’s still full of great Argentinian food and wine and cheerful, friendly people.  The hostels are overpriced and disgusting so we decided to stay at the Hotel Jardin (http://www.jardindeiguazu.com.ar/) which was really nice; friendly staff, nice pool area, abundant breakfast and comfortable rooms.

- Chrissy

Very quick post for you all. We just checked into Das Cataratas overlooking Iguazu Falls in Brazil. Did a helicopter flight this morning over the falls (you can see the colonial style hotel we are staying in), so here is the unedited video shot with the Recall XD1080 HD Camera provided by RaceRecall.

Much more to come about Iguazu

If you are like us, and travelling through La Paz, you might find it hard to find up to date information about good restaurants and eating out in La Paz. I’m not sure if there is a lot of Spanish info, and not much Englisg information, or if there just isnt much of a reastauarant scene in La Paz, but we thought we would type this to help those looking for a nice restaurant in La Paz.

A lot of the ‘tourist’ places to eat out offer decent ‘Western’ style fare. There is an area within walking distance to most hostels called Four Corners (http://www.4cornerslapaz.com/), which has a number of restaurants owned by one very wealthy family. We ate in two in the Four Corners district; ‘The Steakhouse’ and ‘Sol & Luna’. Bare in mind that as these places all cater for tourists the prices are a bit higher than what you would pay at a ‘Bolivian’ restaurant (which are hard to find anyway). I’m talking about 300 Bolivianos for a decent meal and drinks for 2 people, thats roughly $50 AUD.

The Steakhouse was actually really good with amazing spicy chicken wings, and then perfectly cooked steak to follow. The manager there is a nice English guy who seems happy to help with anything and always happy to chat with other native English speakers. The next night Sol & Luna was a big disappointment. It took over half an hour to get our first drink, the staff were slow, and many items on the menu weren’t available. When the food eventually did come it was good, but the lack of service spoiled the meal for me.

We did however manage to find a couple of non tourist restaurants in La Paz. The first is Restaurant Utama, which is located ont he top floor of the Plaze Hotel (http://www.plazabolivia.com.bo/), on Avienda Mariscal Santa Cruz (the main street, right next to Plaza del Estudiante). As far as we could find out, this is one of the closest forms of fine dining available in La Paz. The food here was a modern twist on traditional Bolivian food and we had both trout and llama (as opposed to Alpaca which we tried in Peru). Both were good, however the llama was a bit tough, overcooked i would say. The winner of the night for me was the entree of beef carpaccio, which had capers and a nice drizzling of balsamic dressing. Meals here were cheap for an upmarket place, with mains being around the 40bs mark (6 – 7AUD). The view alone is probably worth the meal price however.

The best restaurant in La Paz, for both of us however, was one we just happened to stumble across called La Casona (http://www.lacasonahotelboutique.com/). La casona is located right next to the main San Fransico Church, and it is set in part of an old 17th Century mansion, giving it a real sense of history as you walk through what used to be the old carriage doors. The food here is amazing and would definitely hold its own against (and beat) a lot of nice eateries in Sydney and all over Australia. We had a 3 trout entree which was served with Chevre and then a vegetarian lasagne and roast lamb leg, and yes, they actually bought out a whole roasted lamb leg. It was actually probably the best meal we have had on our entire trip; entire bill 200Bs (<35 AUD). If you are in La Paz, definitely try and check out La Casona restaurant.

On the beer front, i did manage to try a couple brews at the Worlds highest microbrewery. It is located in a hostel called The Adventure Brew Hostel (http://www.theadventurebrewhostel.com/) and brews a brand of beer called Saya, with a few different varieties. Personally i thought they were all a little too heavy on the (German) Munich hops, but if i had to pick a favourite i would go with a slightly stronger one called Oktober.

-Shaun