Argentina
Expedition
Exploring
Northern Argentina
20180211-0308
Final Update:
20180307
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The Devil's Throat at Iguazu Falls.
Sony A7RM3:
1/500 sec, ISO 100, 16mm at f/8
All photos copyright, Bill Caid 2018. All rights reserved.
The
Trip
Argentina, and other South American countries,
have been on "our list" for some years. We traveled to
Brazil many years ago and had a great time. This time,
our plan was to
visit Argentina and explore the northern part of the
country. Our original idea was to fly into Buenos Aires and get
a rental car and drive around. But, Argentina
is a very large country and the distances between cities are substantial so we concluded
that the driving
time would become a factor. So, we elected to
fly for the long-distance legs of the journey and use
a rental car
to explore the close countryside. Our final
plan was to fly into
Buenos Aires and then immediately fly to Iguazu
Falls at the triple border of Argentina, Brazil
and Paraguay. We planned to stay
several days at Iguazu Falls and then fly to
Cordoba to get our rental car. From
Cordoba, we would head toward Mendoza and
then north along the foothills of the Andes
Mountains to Salta. The
Cordoba-Mendoza-Salta triangle has a number
of national parks and plenty of
good things to see and do,
but distances are substantial so
planning is required. We
will return the rental car in Salta
and fly to Buenos Aires to check out
the city for a few days
before heading home.
Tracking Our
Location Via The SPOT
Some years ago, after
a scary
mechanical failure in the canyons and mesas of southern Utah,
we decided that we need a better way to advertise our position
and call for assistance if needed. Kathleen found out
about the SPOT which is a GPS locator that transmits your
coordinates via satellite so that others can see your
location. The location is plotted on Google maps and a
"bread crumb" feature is available for an additional
fee. We have the enhanced service, so you can see our
historical path back 50 updates or so. See our current
location plotted on Google Maps in Real-Time via SPOT
satellite geo-locator device. This page is
"book-markable" and is updated approximately every 15 minutes,
but may miss updates due to inability of our transmitter to
reach the satellite. The communication is "open loop" so
the device never knows if it's messages are actually going
anywhere, it just keeps trying until the next update is
available. If we are in a congested urban area with high
buildings (like Manhattan) or in deep canyons, the position
may not update. We try to send an "OK" message once a
day just to let everyone know that we are, in fact, OK.
Given that this is a remote area and has many obstacles (like
mountains), it is not clear how well this capability will
perform.
Connecting and
Contacting Us While on the Trip
Because of internet
connectivity issues on a previous trip, we purchased a MiFi
cell phone modem that allows us to connect nearly anywhere
there is at least 3G service via cell phone (which is most of
the cell phone service area available today). But, as we
all know, cell phones are useful many places, but not
everywhere has coverage, particularly in the remote areas of
the country and outlying territories. Our phones and the
modem are enabled daily so you may contact us, although it may
take a few days for us to respond. But, we will
respond. My email, spelled out, is "bcaid at yahoo dot
com".
Photographic
Hardware
For this trip, the bulk of the photos
were shot with my new Sony A7RM3 with either a fully manual
35mm Voightlander, automatic Sony 24-70 f/2.8, or automatic
Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 lens. Kathleen brought her FujiFilm
XPro-2 camera with 16-55mm lens.
GPS Path Logs
We usually travel with a GPS transponder, our SPOT, to allow
our friends to keep track of us should things "go
south". As noted above, a previous trip and "gone south"
and nobody knew where we were. The SPOT allows us to
have a record of our path and overlay it on either maps or
satellite images. Both are below. It should be
noted that the SPOT reporting is an "open loop" protocol with
no guaranteed delivery of location. As such, it will
miss some positions, thus explaining the missing
updates. Typically, the misses are associated with being
in high-walled canyons or other areas that impeded a clear
path to the satellite. The star icon represents an
intentional "OK" message that must be triggered by a
combination of buttons on the SPOT device.
Our SPOT logs overlaid on a road map of northern
Argentina. Note there are reports shown as star icons
from Buenos Aires in the lower right corner and from Iguazu in
the upper right corner.
Our path overlaid on a satellite image. Note that the
western part of the country is in the foothills of the Andes
mountains and is very rugged. The eastern portion of the
country is relatively flat farm land.
Trip
Details
The link
table below contains links to the photos and dialog for each
of the days of the expedition.
Conclusions and
Advice to Travelers
Foreign travel
requires a substantial amount of pre-planning and
preparation. When you go, be sure to check the State
Department's web site for travel advisories, visa requirements
and any vaccinations that may be required for your chosen
destination. Notify your bank in advance of your trip
lest you stand the chance of the credit card being disabled or
flagged as stolen. Sometimes, with luck, reasonably
priced plane tickets can be obtained if the seats are booked
sufficiently in advance. Verify that your passport is
valid, not due to expire during your travel and has at least
one free page available for entry and exit stamps.
Requirements vary by destination countries, so forewarned is
forearmed.
Yellow Fever is transmitted by mosquitoes and is enjoying a
resurgence in the northern part of the country. Check
about vaccination requirements before you travel. We
encountered signs and warnings in the area near Iquazu, but
nowhere else.
Argentina has had multiple currency crashes over its history,
each one producing devastating effects on the welfare and
confidence of the average citizen. The effects of these
past crashes (the last on in the 2000's) is readily apparent
today. ATM machines are pervasive and easy to
find. Finding cash in them, however is
hit-and-miss. Withdraws are limited to 2000 pesos per
transaction and it comes with a hefty 6% fee (a bank tax, if
you will). Machines are not restocked frequently, thus
allowing the banks to hold on to more of the citizen's cash
for longer and preventing a potential run on the
bank(s). We had no trouble using our card at these
machines, that is to say the network recognized us and allowed
access. Gaining actual access to cash was another thing
altogether. Banks have the population by the balls, they
fully control who gets what and when they get it. I
believe that the restocking schedule for these machines is
intentionally infrequent to assert this control. The
mostly rural areas will require cash for purchases, so you
must have some cash available. Given the history of
currency instability, American dollars are not only accepted
everywhere, but are preferred. I always travel with a
big wad of dollars "just in case", but these were expended in
just a few days requiring daily withdrawals from the
ATMs. Credit cards are accepted in the cities at the
better establishments, but you cannot count on that in every
location. Frequently, tips must be paid in cash, so
proceed accordingly. Ditto for taxis.
I found the food to be, particularly beef, to be great.
That said, you really need to like beef to eat here as it is
the primary protein. We both found the food to be bland
as the use of spices is rare. And, when spices are used,
it is typically only salt. If you are a food bigot,
bring your own spices as you will not find them here.
Simple black pepper is nowhere to be found.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2018, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.