By Judy Carmack Bross
Visitors on the Brazil side of Iguazu Falls view the Devil’s Throat cauldron.
“Argentina has the Falls, Brazil has the view.”
When it’s 97 degrees, a boat trip under the Iguazu Falls in Argentina and Brazil is yet another way you welcome this natural wonder of the world that led Eleanor Roosevelt to say “poor Niagara” when she visited.
The Argentine side of the Iguazu Falls whose name means “big water”.
The ultimate splash zone—where your clothes dry quickly in the heat and you are off to see more of the 275 individual waterfalls— which followed sophisticated Buenos Aires now in late springtime convinced me that there’s no country I’d rather visit whether soaking wet under the falls or strolling blossom-filled boulevards.
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The coatimundi makes his presence known as we head to the Falls.
Peaceful iguanas are everywhere.
Taller than Niagara and wider than Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Zambia, Iguazu Falls is often revered as the world’s most spectacular waterfall and is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Situated on the triple frontier of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay which you can see in the distance, Iguazu Falls spans an almost two-mile width. A UNESCO World Heritage site with an incredible u-shaped chasm called Devil’s Throat, it offers a bird sanctuary where you are in direct contact with almost 1500 winged creatures in high-ceiling habitats, and hotels in the rain forest with spa amenities.
Toucans kept an eye on us, while parrots, macaws and scarlet ibis showed their Technicolor feathers. |
The plush-crested Jay flitted back and forth close to the Falls.
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The flight from Chicago to Buenos Aires is a long one, then another hop to Iguazu but the fact that Argentina is just three hours ahead of Chicago time takes away jet lag symptoms. I came with no preconceived opinions and not enough research but left knowing I wanted to come back next year at the very same time.
Jacarandas begin to bloom for a month all over Buenos Aires in late November and the tilos or linden trees fragrance the air with their blossoms.
Lavender Agapanthus or lilies of the Nile compliment the jacaranda trees are planted in the multitude of broad gardens all over town.
A walk along the wide boulevards shows the Parisian influence everywhere, and the Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo and the Museo National de Buenos Aires both show paintings, sculptures and fine porcelain collections from France and Italy in particular. The current show of opera costumes at the Museo National de Arte Decorativo focuses on the composer Puccini’s triumphant visit to the Teatro Colon in 1907, begun like the Chicago World’s Fair to celebrate Christopher Columbus’s 400th anniversary of his arrival in the New World.
Opera costumes on exhibit. When you visit, have lunch al fresco at the museum’s charming and chic restaurant, Croque Madame.
The Italianate Teatro Colon where the acoustics are among the best in the world. It took 20 years and finally opened in 1908 with Giuseppe Verdi‘s “Aida”. It was visited by the foremost singers and opera companies of the time.
Underneath its European veneer is the Argentina of Evita and Juan Peron, President of Argentina from 1946 until his overthrow in 1955, and of the dark period of the “Dirty War” from 1974 to 1983, when up to 30,000 “desaparecdos” were swallowed up by the terrorist regime which ended only with the economic collapse and the disastrous Falklands War. Since 1977, every Thursday at 3:30 pm, there is the haunting Mothers and Grandmother’s march around the Plaza de Mayo across from Casa Rosada, the “pink house” which is the President’s workplace. The march is open to everyone who wants to join them, and many of the original marchers who had lost children still participate. An excellent book called Hades, Argentina by Daniel Loedel tells about this time of terrorism using a tread of magical realism so noted in Latin American literature.
The Mother’s Marches have been going on since 1977 and a few of the original mothers still walk each Thursday in honor of those they lost.
Visitors find the way to the grave of Eva Peron with other members of Juan Peron’s family in the Recoleta Cemetery.
The Recoleta Cemetery with its almost 4700 vaults above ground, is located in the city’s most fashionable zone and the Peron family site, featuring a plaque with Evita’s likeness, attracts so many. The entire cemetery is laid out in sections like city blocks, with wide tree-lined main walkways branching into sidewalks filled with mausoleums, giving the visitor the feeling that you are walking in the city of the dead.
We wondered this story of this hero in Recoleta who seemed to be standing on a ship. The Recoleta Cemetery has graves of Argentinian Presidents, Nobel Prize winners and war heroes.
Lingering all around is the impact of Argentine poet and short story writer Jorge Luis Borges, often called the greatest writer in the Spanish Language of the 20th century. Borges endorsed the notion that time is but a figment of the mind, allowing for a circular concept of time which makes time travel possible. He was one of the most powerful influences on the literature of magical realism that shines forth in Latin America.
Borges’ quotes sum up many things Argentinian. He was a great lover of tango and said tango was “a direct expression of what poets try to say in words.”
Street tango dancers on a Sunday in San Telmo.
Even the audience is invited up to learn.
Tango is everywhere on the streets of Buenos Aires. If you are not interested in the late night post dinner performances offered up for tourists, simply walk through the neighborhoods for impromptu tango. One of the best in is the San Telmo neighborhood during a wondrous Sunday antiques market filled with treats from homes where residents loved to collect china and silver from Europe.
At the San Telmo street market, treasures, often from the homes of Buenos Aires residents who sailed to France years ago to fill their houses most frequently in the style of houses along the Boulevards by Haussmann whose architecture transformed Paris in the 19th century.
The neighborhoods of Buenos Aires fascinate. From the commercial area of Puerto Madero featuring the Woman’s Bridge designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. It is said to have been designed to resemble a tango kick.
The Woman’s bridge celebrates an area with many streets bearing the names of significant women in the city’s history.
Buenos Aires’s most colorful neighborhood welcomes with a statue of soccer star Lionel Messi celebrating the Word Cup. Many of the houses are painted blue and gold in honor of the Boca soccer team and its huge stadium there.
The beef and pastries are surely best there than anywhere, whether it street empanadas or medialunas, the Argentine version of the croissant, with egg and sugar. The elegant bar at the luxury Alvear Palace Hotel in the Recoleta neighborhood, recommended by Classic Chicago columnist Philip Vidal and Chip Mottier.
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Bar dining at the Alvear Palace Hotel and its furniture. It was designed to accommodate increasing European visitors to Buenos Aires and was taken to its Louis XV and XVI elegance in 1932.
“Tango is the way Argentines walk through life.” –something a dance teacher told me many years ago. It captures a visit like this, varied from the Iguazu Falls to Buenos Aires, where you just listen to the music playing in your head and move.
(Author’s note: I was very grateful to my friend and tour guide Sally Kalmbach who found great places and wonderful guides. She plans excellent itineraries in addition to cruise bookings and makes it easy for the traveler going to a place they know nothing about. She can be reached at sskalmbach@yahoo.com).
