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This semester I did not go through the trouble of extending my student visa. Instead of spending another $160 dollars (plus a last minute ticket to Los Angeles to the closest Chilean embassy to Colorado) I decided to enter Chile with a tourist visa and go on an international trip before my 100 days were up. Therefore, my friend Kaitlyn and I planned a trip to Buenos Aires and Iguazú Falls for the long weekend of Labor Day. A good friend of mine from Denver also decided to come visit South America and tagged along on our trip, along with two other friends from the exchange program. Before leaving, we asked for recommendations from friends who have visited the city in the past so we arrived in Argentina with a long to-do list for our 5 short-days.
In all honesty, none of the days were short. We woke up early nearly every day, had a quick breakfast of medialunas and mate at the hostel, and hit the streets to fit in as much as we could. We arrived Wednesday afternoon and had a long, delicious dinner at a restaurant where we were the only ones for three hours straight (which probably had something to do with workers strikes and protests the day before and Labor Day). The next day, we took two walking tours, one in the artsy but historically poor neighborhood of La Boca and the following in the inner-city cemetery which housed the corpses of the Argentine elite in magnificent mausoleums. As if two walking tours were not enough, we spent the late afternoon at Museo Malba, the Latin American art museum. Finally, we had a well deserved dinner at Siga La Vaca, a grilled meat buffet.
Our third day was our longest by far: twenty two hours and over 33 thousand steps from the time we left the hostel to the time we got back. But it was all worth it. Iguazú Falls has been on my bucket list since my high school friends went there on a trip 5 years ago. The jungle was every bit as magical as I had hoped. The national park is extremely well maintained as the main paths to the waterfalls are all elevated off the forest floor in order to better preserve the ecosystem. We saw many animals including gigantic ants, colorful butterfly, coatis who tried to steal our food, huge spiders, parrots, monkeys, and even an alligator, a turtle, and capybaras. We were blessed with a beautifully sunshiny day with a slight thunderstorm that only briefly hit us in the afternoon. After a full day of hiking and seeing breathtaking views, we headed to the town of Iguazú (which borders Paraguay and Brazil). Our feet were incredibly sore so we rested while eating the last of our sandwiches.
The following day we slowed down the pace, and after a late breakfast at the hostel we went to an old theater that has been converted into a bookstore. Then, we walked through the city streets to an artisanal market in Plaza Frances where we shopped for souvenirs. Later in the evening, I met up with my friend Fernanda from Peru who I hadn’t seen for over four years, and we reconnected over a wonderful Italian dinner. We finished off the night by going to La Catedral de Tango, a warehouse that has been artfully converted into a local tango club. Although not everyone in our group was willing to dance, we all enjoyed wine and Kaitlyn and I took full advantage of the ballroom and learned the basic steps of the Argentinian tango.
The last day we woke up to pouring rain, and we packed our bags preparing for our flight back to Santiago. Fortunately, by the time we set out to visit another famous artisanal market the rain had stopped and we happily ended our trip by shopping for more gifts and trinkets in order to spend the last of our Argentinian pesos.