EXPLAURA @theexplaura-blog-blog - Tumblr Blog

A Splendid Seattle Sunday

More photos from the Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls

One of the great natural wonders of the world, these falls are incredíble!! Massive and set against the backdrop of a steamy subtropical rainforest, las cataratas (waterfalls) should definitely be on anyone’s bucket list. It’s a magical place, with masses of gushing water, rainbows, animals, butterflies, and smiling tourist faces everywhere.

Both sides of Iguazu provide awesome and up-close views of the falls in addition to plenty of tourist activities. The Brazilian side offers zip-lining and helicopter and boat rides. The Argentinian side offers boat rides as well. Both sides also feature various easy hiking trails that allow you to see many different sections of the falls. You can even get to know some endemic animals. Especially be on the watch out for surprise encounters with Capuchin monkeys and coaties. They’ll try to swipe food from your hand or scratch at your bag if they smell something inside. I saw one coatie disembowel a plastic bag of its fruit. They’re crazy for food.

For all those romantics out there, the falls can also be enjoyed under a full moon. Time your arrival with this part of the lunar cycle and you can enjoy a tour, on the Argentinian side, on what will surely be an enchanting night. The moon is so bright that sometimes your photos look as though they were captured during the day. Beware, though, the mist is strong at night and there is no sun to dry you off, so bring a towel, a poncho your sense of adventure and enjoy this evening escapade at the mighty falls.

#Iguazu Falls #Argentina #Brazil #Capuchin monkies #Coaties #Iguazu full moon tour

In Palermo, he’s everybody’s neighbor

In the swankier neighborhood of Palermo, in the great city of Buenos Aires, lives a homeless man. He resides permanently at the crossroads of Av. Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz y Av. Santa Fe. I feel like I have to share about his existence because it just makes no sense. He’s not much on answering questions, and Matt did try, but so many come to mind. How is it that he has posted up a residence of sorts outside a subway entry? Why do the cops leave him be? How did he acquire a bed and box springs, a hand-made closet, and, most surprisingly, a TV with cable?! How does he keep himself and his 2-dogs fed?

It seems as though no one minds or, at times, even notices. This is odd because he takes up a sizeable amount of sidewalk. I don’t know, maybe he’s like Austin’s Leslie Cochran (RIP).

#Buenos Aires Argentina #Leslie Cochran #Palermo #lindsay lohan #homeless #cable TV #remote control

After the twins left….

After Lea and Mer left, Matt and I did a few more touristy activities in BA, most notably visiting el Planetario Galileo Galilei. The building itself is fun to visit, especially at night, due to its spacey sci-fi design. Plus, their recently purchased 3-D projectors added a realistic effect to our voyage through space.

We also took one extra day-trip while in BA and that was to Tigre, Argentina. It is easily visited via the bus metro from downtown. Although considered a different municipality, it just seemed like it was a far lying extension of the Buenos Aires city limits. If you had ample time in BA, I’d say go, but if you don’t, you’re not missing too much. It is known, however, for their Tigre delta boat rides, with views of picturesque marshy settings. We only walked along el Río Plata delta and visited the city’s art museum. Fue un día muy tranquilo.

#Buenos Aires #Argentina #Planetario Galileo Galilei Buenos Aires #Río Plata delta #Tigre Argentina

Side trip to Colonia and Montevideo, Uruguay

If you’re interested in visiting Uruguay from Buenos Aires, it’s very easy. You can take a quick boat ride via Buquebus, to either Colonia or Montevideo, Uruguay for about $100 round-trip. We opted to take the shorter ride to Colonia in order to enjoy this beautiful colonial town. It was then just a 3-hour bus ride to Montevideo.

Our main reason for visiting Uruguay was to participate in el Festival de Cordero y Tannat (The Festival of Lamb and Tannat Wine). Luckily the festival coincided with my sisters’ visit and, well, we all love lamb and wine – especially when they’re consumed together. Los Caminos del Vino is a group of family owned bodegas that hosts this annual festival. We opted to visit Bodega Bouza Boutique because its menu looked most appealing, it was only a short taxi ride from Montevideo, and because it has a fabulous classic car museum. We were all extremely pleased with our meals, with the tour, and with the Tannat wine.

Although it was just a quick weekend trip to Uruguay, we all had a great time and would recommend a visit if you’re in Buenos Aires. Overall, Colonia is worth seeing to get a small, colonial town fix. Montevideo felt like a much sleepier, maybe even a traquilized version of Buenos Aires and was a nice break from the bustle of the big city. We all wouldn’t have minded staying longer, but had to get back for the Sunday San Telmo market.

#Colonia Uruguay #Montevideo Uruguay #Buquebus #Festival de Cordero y Tannat #Tannat #Los Caminos del Vino Uruguay #Bodega Bouza Boutique #classic car museum

Bueno Aires - Barrio La Boca

#Buenos Aires #Argentina #La Boca #La Boca fútbol

Buenos Aires - Museos

#Buenos Aires #Argentina #Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA)#Museo de Bellas Artes #Museo Evita

Buenos Aires - Cementerio de la Recoleta

#Recoleta Cemetery de Buenos Aires #Buenos Aires #Argentina #Cementerio de la Recoleta

Buenos Aires - Parks

#Plaza Mitre #Buenos Aires #Argentina #parks #ecological reserve #botanical gardens #Japanese tea gardens #jardin botanico

Buenos Aires, Argentina aka BA

Buenos Aires is enormous and very much alive. No matter the time of day, people are walking in the streets or enjoying activities in the many city parks (e.g. dog walking, soccer, smooching). Everyone is living a bustling big city life. It’s frenetic and offers so much in the way of tourism, but feels more European than Latin American. And, Porteños seem to be quite proud of this European-connection. We were very fortunate to have scored a super sweet couchsurfing gig while in BA, house-sitting in the very nice Palermo neighborhood for about a month. Luckily, this corresponded with the time that my sisters came down to visit.

Matt and I were extremely excited that my sisters had finally arrived. Like us, the twins enjoy urban hiking (term coined by sister, Meredith), visiting museums, and eating delicious food. Oh, and savoring delicious wines, of which Argentina has plenty. With this in mind, we attempted to see as many tourist sites as we could, often walking to them and, thus, seeing some sites from all angles. On our first day, we walked around el Puerto Madero and took pics of La Casa Rosada (the presidential mansion). During the rest of their 9-day vacation, we also visited the Evita Museum, the Japanese Tea Gardens, the ecological reserve (go there!), the MALBA (one of the best modern art museums I’ve ever visited), el Museo de Bellas Artes, the Recoleta Cemetery, and el barrio La Boca (w/its soccer stadium and street-side tango dances). While urban hiking, we also luckily came across a mini-live music festival in the El Centro Cultural Recoleta and did plenty of window-shopping.

One of our favorite activities in Buenos Aires was attending the Sunday San Telmo Market. Essentially it’s a plaza and mile (at least) long street filled with antiques and artisanal goods. You can spend a whole afternoon there trying to see all the knick-knacks and crafty things the Porteños want to sell. In addition, you’ll catch various street performances, including tangos, tango-bands, and even a drum circle.

Although there is plenty to do in Buenos Aires, including a very lively nightlife (recommend La Catedral on Tuesdays – great show!), Matt and I wanted to take my sisters on a side-trip to Uruguay while they were down in South America. And, why not? Uruguay is only a quick boat ride away.

#Buenos Aires #Argentina #Evita Museum #Buenos Aires Japanese Tea Gardens #Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA)#Buenos Aires Museo de Bellas Artes #Recoleta Cemetery de Buenos Aires #El barrio La Boca #San Telmo Market #La Catedral Nightclub of Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires - San Telmo Market

#Buenos Aires #Argentina #San Telmo Market #mercado

Buenos Aires, Argentina - Urban Art

#Buenos Aires #Argentina

Rapa Nui = Easter Island = La Isla de Pascua

Every February, Rapa Nui hosts a custumbrista fiesta called the Tapati Rapa Nui Festival. It showcases their traditional dancing, several sporting activities, and is an overall homage to the island. According to our couchsurfing host and friend, Jenny, the islanders essentially prepare for this festival all year long. It’s a very big deal. Following the festival, LAN airline starts offering very affordable flight tickets to the island, from Santiago, for the low-season month of May. Matt has been fascinated by Easter Island since his childhood. So, we have watched numerous documentaries on Netflix (see: BBC’s The Lost Gods of Easter Island; NOVA’s Secrets of the Lost Empire). Needless to say, Matt and I were keen on visiting this extremely isolated island.

Rapa Nui is considered part of the Polynesian islands, which is evident upon arrival. They have a culture highly tied to the sea and are master rowers and fishermen. Their accent (Rapa Nui is still widely spoken across the island) when speaking Spanish is similar to that of native-Hawaiian residents speaking English. We heard everyone on the island is an artisan of sorts, whether it is as a dancer, sculptor, costume-maker, and/or musician. We found this to be true upon meeting Jenny’s neighbor, lovingly referred to as el vecino. In addition to being a farmer, el vecino sculpted wood, made costumes for dance ceremonies, and played the ukulele. Overall, Rapa Nui is a small tropical island with perfect weather and offers so much in the way of tourism. Essentially, it is an inhabited archeological site set on a beautiful hilly, volcanic landscape.

We were fortunate to camp on the land near Jenny’s rustic cabaña, just a little ways outside of the island’s only city, Hanga Roa. Jenny’s island home is located on a giant piece of property and provided us amazing views of a Moai, Hanga Roa, and the crystal clear ocean. Jenny had lived on the island a couple of years, so she was able to give us some insight into the culture of the people and must see places and activities to do. When we weren’t with Jenny, we were busy with many activities: a traditional dance show; snorkeling, biking, taking thousands of pictures of the giant Moai and their sacred Ahu platforms, sunbathing on pink-sand beaches, walking through lava tunnels, and camping around the island. Camping is technically not allowed, but if you get to know some locals they’ll let you know “safe” places to set up tent.

Some people stay on Rapa Nui for just 3 days, which would require you to rent a car/motorcycle in order to see all the important sites in that time. We, however, wanted to make the most of the opportunity and opted to stay for 10-days. There are a plethora of books on the market related to the history and culture of the island as well as sites you should visit. The tourist’s office gives out free island maps, which also provide information regarding important sites to see. We brought backpacks full of food from the mainland to keep our expenses low and biked across the entire island twice while we were there, soaking up as much of the island’s beauty as we could. It was a magical experience and is one of my most favorite destinations we have visited thus far on the trip. Even after 10 days, I was sad to leave.