Argentina and Uruguay

Tobias & Tiffany Hallwood
Jan 10, 2020
6 min read

Argentina

Ushuaia

We arrived in Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world! Our hearts were overwhelmed knowing where we would be in a few short days. Making the most of our time in the “city at the end of the world,” we wanted to explore the town for a few days. We arrived on a Sunday and quickly realized everything was closed. Typically stores and restaurants close in the middle of the day and on Sundays most places are completely closed. We managed to find a pizza place and grocery store. The next day we stopped in at the travel agency, Freestyle, where we booked the Antarctica cruise. They set us up with pants and gloves and gave us the final details of our trip.

In the afternoon we hiked to Glacier Martial, which sits above the town of Ushuaia. Unfortunately there is not much of Glacier Martial left. However our trek up did allow us to enjoy stunning panoramic views of the town and the Beagle Channel.

The next day we headed to Tierra del Fuego National Park. We spent the afternoon wandering through the park. During our hike we were treated to stunning views of snow capped peaks, vibrant greenery, and all sorts of birds!

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the perfect marriage of European colonial splendor and South American vibrance and flair! It is truly a city that never sleeps!

Day 1

Our friends Martha and Ben were joining us for a week of travel, which started in Buenos Aires on New Year's Eve! We headed out around 7pm to grab some dinner and find a spot for the festivities. As we wandered through the Palermo neighborhood we quickly learned that the afternoon/evening siesta is a very real thing as we found place after place closed or closing. We eventually made our way to Plazoleta Julio Cortázar, where we would spend our New Years. For dinner we ordered a set menu which we thought came with a glass of wine each, needless to say we were shocked and pleasantly surprised when we found out it was a bottle of wine each! The restaurant was on a little square where people gathered at midnight to ring in the new year. We not only made it to midnight, but 4am (considered early for Argentinians who like to see the sunrise).

Day 2

After a late start to the day we headed to La Recoleta Cemetery. It is the resting place of over 6000 Argentinians and includes some notable people, such as Eva Perón. The cemetery is a giant labyrinth of lanes lined with large ornate and intricately carved mausoleums, in varying conditions. As you wander past each one you cannot help but wonder about the story of the people and families at rest there.

Later that evening we connected with Zack and Dave, some friends we made during our expedition to Antarctica. Dinner was a delicious family style platter of steak, salmon, grilled provolone, and various sides, accompanied by a few bottles of malbec wine.

Day 3

After another late start to the day we headed to La Boca, a vibrant and multi colored neighborhood of Buenos Aires. For lunch we stopped at a restaurant that had outdoor seating and a tango show!

Later that afternoon we headed to the neighborhood of San Telmo and walked along the cobblestone streets and explored the famous San Telmo market.

That night we had a little Myanmar reunion with our friends Karen and Hailey. It was great to be able to catch up and hangout on another continent!

Day 4

We spent our final day in Buenos Aires running some errands and relaxing. That night we headed to La Catedral Club for some tango!

La Catedral was a former warehouse, turned cathedral, turned tango bar and club.

It was dark with miss matched chairs and tables dimly lit by candles surrounding a wooden dance floor. The walls were covered in various eclectic paints and works of art and there was what looked to be a giant metal and cloth heart hanging way above the bar. The dark atmosphere helped bring to life the history of tango, as it was born in the dive bars and brothels of Buenos Aires.

The club offered tango lessons to anyone who wanted. The steps are quite simple as it is mostly fluid walking with a heaping cup of passion and dash of heated anger, but rhythm and movement are neither of our strong suits. After an hour or so of tango lessons, most of which consisted of Tobias being very confused, and the two of us trying out who’s a better lead, the real fun started! We spent the rest of the night mesmerized as we watched people of various tango levels go up to the floor and dance.

Then in between dances we were treated to a powerful electric guitar solo and a beautiful violinist and acoustic band. Before we knew it, it was 3am!

Buenos Aires is a city that captured our minds, hearts and stomachs! We will definitely be back!

Iguazú Falls

We made a quick trip to Iguazú from Buenos Aires. We flew on Saturday and left on Monday, giving us a full day to visit the national park and two half days to explore the town.

Puerto Iguazú isn’t much of a town and definitely caters to the tourists visiting the falls. It’s full of restaurants, souvenir shops, and handcraft stands. There was a cool lookout point where you can stand in Argentina and see both Paraguay (left of the river) and Brazil (right of the river).

On Sunday we headed to the national park and joined the many foreign and Argentinian tourists who wanted a view of the breathtaking falls. It was a hot day at 93 degrees, but we were determined to make the most of our time. There are a few different walks you can do to get views of the falls and we did three of them. Unfortunately we needed to book ahead for the boat ride, so we missed out on that. If you go, I highly recommend it! The boat cruises right up to the base of the falls and you get soaked!

We all agreed we picked the perfect order for our walk. The first walk we did was the lower loop. This gave us our first glimpse of the falls and the best view in terms of its beauty and splendor. It was so grand, yet peaceful at the same time. Rainfall and water levels had been low so we got a unique perspective of the falls being a bit more spread out giving glimpses of the greenery behind and between.

The next walk we did was the middle loop. This brought us up close to some of the falls. At one view point visitors are known to get completely soaked when the water levels are higher.

The last was a long walk to Devil’s Throat, the top of the falls. The park built walkways over the river above. It was strange how calm and quiet the river was. The water was like glass, undisturbed and unaware of the sheer drop it was about to encounter.

This view provided the exact opposite feeling of the peaceful lower loop. When we got to the falls all our senses were bombarded with the sound of rushing water, extreme height, and blasts of water to our faces. We could taste the salt and were confused for a moment till we realized it was the water washing the sweat away. It was extremely crowded at the top, but we managed to get a look over the rails and snap some photos of the largest part of the falls.

We walked back over the walkway and all agreed we earned a train ride back to the main part of the park.

Our adventures weren’t over yet. There’s a small waterfall with a pool where you can swim. This is supposed to be less crowded as it’s a 7km walk there and back. We bought some empanadas and a beer each and dragged our sweaty bodies and sore feet to the waterfall. We were rewarded with a cool dip in the water and relaxing in the shade before the walk back.

Uruguay

Colonia del Sacramento

We took a ferry from Buenos Aires across the Río de La Plata to get to Colonia. Colonia is famous for its tree lined cobblestoned streets and colonial buildings. We spent a relax few days here wandering the old streets and indulging on delicious food, wine and beer.

Montevideo

We spent a day and a half exploring Uruguay's capital Montevideo. Most of our time was spent walking the streets and exploring the city's plazas and historical landmarks.