Author: Dave Albeck

Salta, Argentina

(new strategy – I’m adding text to the blog before I forget too many details, then updating with photos as I find time to sort through them)

Having read about Salta’s history as a mule depot on the overland route to Potosi, I was expecting a half-derelict colonial town on the edge of arid badlands. Instead, Salta turned out to be a thriving town in a region of fertile cropland, with scenic hills in the near distance.

It was a pleasant place to stay – bustling but not terribly crowded or noisy, tourist-friendly but not Disney-fied, and not a single plastic reindeer to be seen. Our only problem in Salta (same throughout Argentina) was adjusting to the daily rhythm. Most restaurants don’t even open for dinner until 8 PM, which meant Henry’s bedtime had to be adjusted, and all our morning activities delayed accordingly.

When not too tired, Henry had a great time out on the streets at night. The neer-do-well teenagers hanging out in the park were suitably impressed at his headstand skills, and taught him some new breakdancing moves.

It was hot during the day – not unbearable, but wearying. Smaranda happily stood out in the sun taking video of folk dancers, but Henry and I were strategically ducking into churches for shade. Our apartment was near the pink church, which isn’t far from the red church; we didn’t notice the blue church until the end of our stay.

  • Tradition Day at school
  • street festival

Smaranda arranged for a driver who happened to be an avid birder, and he took us to a lake with lots of birds – and provided binoculars and a spotting scope. We were a bit too far for my camera, but Smaranda got some good photos by holding her phone to the scope. We hired him again to take me into the hills the next day, while Smaranda and Henry explored the town.

  • jacana
  • whistling-ducks
  • great egret
  • bare-faced ibis
  • andean gull
  • cormorants
  • savannah hawk
  • cowbird
  • Golden-breasted woodpecker

above: lake and roadside. Below: another pond, known to be home to Southern Screamers.

  • monjita
  • southern screamer
  • silver teal
  • jacana
  • brazilian teal
  • andean duck

San lorenzo hills:

  • saltator
  • broad-winged hawk
  • piculet
  • arum
  • poinsettia sp.

Iguazu – Argentine side

The town of Puerto Iguazu offered one immediate contrast from Brazil: all streets had signs listing their names, and even the houses had numbers! In Brazil we’d gotten proficient at using plus codes to find our lodgings or other places, but that wasn’t necessary any more.

But who cares about the town, let’s get straight to the waterfalls!

  • coati feeding station
  • anhinga
  • plush-crested jay

They closed the park at 6 PM, just as the light was getting good…

Foz de Iguacu (Brasil side)

Someone once said to me, about Bryce Canyon, Utah: “It’s beautiful, but you end up taking the same photo a hundred times.” Iguacu is kind of like that: big, beautiful, but hard to capture.

We started with a boat ride right under the “three musketeers.” I had to put my camera away for the good parts, but you’ll see photos I took of other boats doing the same thing.

Next, we headed up the trail to get a closer look at the “Garganta del Diablo” – the Devil’s Throat.

Iguacu part 1: Parque das Aves

We arrived in Iguacu in the late afternoon to a temperature of 38 centigrade: too hot to think of going anywhere but the swimming pool. Next morning we headed out to the bird zoo before the heat became too stifling. Unlike the waterfall, visiting the bird park does not require getting thoroughly soaked, so we needed to go early.

  • Southern Screamer
  • They had several guans, not sure which one this is
  • plush-crested jay
  • scarlet ibis
  • boat-billed heron
  • curl-crested jay, female
  • harpy eagle
  • alpinia?
  • cactus
  • hyacinth macaw
  • white-cheeked pintail
  • cassowary

Gramado

Gramado is a well-to-do tourist town in the hills north of Porto Alegre. We arrived just in time for “Natal Luz”, a festival of Christmas lights, plus shows and music and so on, that lasts from October until late January. The town has a certain German architectural flavor, and the Christmas decorations at first reminded me of a Weihnachtsmarkt, but after a few days I decided the sheer overabundance was more American than German.

The town does have a lot of fondu restaurants, a proportion of blue-eyed residents, and even the tourists are paler, on average, than we’d seen so far in Brasil. Plus, the town is proud of a freak snowstorm a few years ago. You can get your photo taken against a snowy backdrop. You can also try out indoor skiing or one of seemingly dozens of theme parks, half of them sponsored by a local chocolate company. On the one hand, there were plenty of things to do, but on the other, parking was terrible, prices were high, and the constant commercialism was wearing.

Still, with bracingly cool weather (including some sharp afternoon thunderstorms), excellent scenery including a spectacular waterfall, and a large zoo, the town is well worth a visit.

  • Surucua trogon
  • Canela: Catedrao de San Pedro