Side trip to Nara

A typhoon swept through Japan over the weekend, which had the effect of blowing away a lot of the cherry blossoms. I went back to a spot that I took a picture from before the typhoon and tried to capture the "after".

Before

After

Lucky I caught the cherry blossoms when I did!

Today I got the chance to do a side trip to Nara, which is an hour train ride outside of Kyoto. There's a wonderful park there, filled with very old wooden temples, a huge (also very old) wooden buddha, and deer. Lots and lots of deer. More on that in a bit.

Pagoda at Kofukuji Temple

I was a little surprised at how big Nara Park is: it turns out it covers 1,300 acres. Obviously, I only saw a small slice of it, but it was beautiful once you got away from the cars. The highlight of the park is the Todaiji Temple, which contains Japan's largest bronze Buddha statue. To hold it, they then built the word's largest wooden structure, the Todaiji Temple. 

Todaiji Temple

Buddha. I think this picture doesn't do it justice - it was huge!

 The other cool thing about Nara Park is that there are a ton of deer that allowed to roam freely throughout the grounds, as they are considered divine messengers of some sort. They're really tame and friendly. Some might say too friendly, as I was warned by a kindly shop owner to zip up my purse so the deer don't nose their way into it. You can buy "deer cookies" for 150 yen (about $1.50) to feed them, and they'll come right up to take them out of your hand. Some of them got a little aggressive about it, bumping into you to try and make you drop your pile of cookies.

Nara still had cherry blossoms! The deer seem to be enjoying the view.

Greedy deer wolfing down his cookie

I enjoyed Nara, but after walking 0.001% of the park for 4 hours, my feet hurt and I hightailed it back to Kyoto. I realized that for all my talk in my earlier post, there was a pretty big tourist spot that I missed seeing last time: Nijo castle. Eager to correct that oversight, I made my way back to it in time to catch it before they closed for the evening.

It was very cool, full of beautiful tatami rooms and painted paper/wood panel sliding doors. Unfortunately, they didn't allow photography so you'll have to take my word for it!

They make you take your shoes off and store them on these shelves before going in.

 In the castle gardens, I caught these two gardeners on ladders up in one of the pine trees. It's hard to see in the photo, but they were basically brushing the loose pine needles off of the tree with little hand brooms. So that's how their gardens look so nice all of the time!

It's been a good trip, but I'm looking forward to getting on the plane to go home tomorrow!

Sakura season in Kyoto

It's an interesting experience visiting a foreign city for the second time. The pressure is off to hit up all of the major tourist spots. Without the need to see the "top five greatest temples in Kyoto" or whatnot, my sightseeing goals were much simpler: see cherry blossoms!

And see cherry blossoms I did! I was lucky in that my conference landed in the beginning of April, traditionally the optimal time to see cherry blossoms (sakura) in Kyoto. I was unlucky in that this was their earliest cherry blossom season on record. Cherry blossoms have a notoriously short shelf life, so by the time I landed it was clear they were already on the downslope of their bloom - some trees were bare from the blossoms having already come and gone. Regardless, there were still a lot of trees with plenty of blossoms still on their branches. Below is just a small selection of the many, many, many pictures I took of the flowers. They were just so beautiful and ethereal!

I also some cool wildlife walking around, like this bird outside one of the temples. I thought it was a carved statue, until it turned and blinked at me.

This was the garden of the Kyoto international conference center, where I've been spending 12+ hour days. Luckily it's quite a beautiful backdrop, with the koi ponds in the foreground and the cherry blossoms and hills as backdrop. On the left by the water you can see a crane that was flying back and forth over the ponds.

One food-related note: the food is much much weirder than I remember from last time. Maybe it's because I'm eating "fancier" hotel and conference food this time, instead of scraping by as a poor graduate student, or maybe I'm getting more crotchety in my old age. Either way, it's been difficult to get a solid meal during my time here. Whether it's salad and potato salad with my breakfast plate (see below), or shrimp and squid lurking in the spaghetti at the buffet lunch, it's been a bit touch and go. Thank goodness for 24-hour 7-elevens and their endless supply of cheap and tasty konbu onigiri. Now that's the food I remember eating in Kyoto on my last trip!

Puerto Iguazu and Iguazu Falls: Costs and Other Logistics

I found it really difficult to get information before I left, so here's my attempt to inform posterity. Information is accurate to my experience only (n=1, as we say in science) and is as of March 17, 2013. Your mileage may vary.

Here were the cost breakdown:

• Taxi ride from IGR straight to Iguazu Falls: I was quoted AR$110 but talked him down to AR$100
• Entrance for American to Iguazu Falls: AR$175
• Locker at Iguazu Falls: AR$50 (It was huge! It probably could have fit two of my backpacking backpacks)
• Boat ride into the falls ("Adventura Nautical"): AR$150 (I'm neutral on if this was worth it or not. It was cool, but I'm not sure it was any cooler or the views any better than what you got walking the Lower Circuit trail)
• Taxi ride from Iguazu Falls to my B&B (situated ~10 min drive outside of town): AR$100 (the B&B owner had told me this usually runs ~AR$140, but I had negotiated a flat AR$100 fare for all my taxi needs with my first driver)
• One-way bus rides in Puerto Iguazu (e.g., from outside my B&B to the GuiraOga, from GuiraOga to the main bus terminal in Puerto Iguazu, from the Tres Fronteras [Triple Border] to my B&B): AR$3
• One-way bus ride to Iguazu Falls from Puerto Iguazu (and vice versa): AR$30 (I never did this, but saw it posted)
• Entry into GuiraOga: AR$75 (included guided tour. I actually don't think you can go anywhere without the tour)
• Taxi ride from my B&B to the airport: AR$120 (arranged by my hotel)

 Buses in Puerto Iguazu

Buses in Puerto Iguazu are easy to take. They are all big red buses labeled "Rio Uruguay" (something that confused my when I first saw one at the bus stop in front of Iguazu Falls since I thought they were tour buses from Uruguay). They say in the front where their destination is. Those that say "Cataratas" are heading through town and out to Iguazu Falls. Those that say "Tres Hitos" are going to the triple-border between Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay. I think there were those that said "Iguazu" that were going to the bus terminal in Puerto Iguazu, but I didn't take any of those. You hop on at the bus stop, hand the bus driver your fare. I always said where I was going. I don't know if that was necessary, but it was helpful because sometimes the bus driver would tell me when my stop was approaching.

One time, a man from the bus company hopped onto the bus too and asked to see everybody's ticket, which he then marked and handed back. I'm not sure what his purpose was, since there's only one entrance/exit (unlike the buses back home) so it seemed difficult for somebody to sneak on without paying.

Taxis in Puerto Iguazu

Near the baggage claim at the IGR airport was a stand set up by the exit, labeled "Remises". They had posted fares to popular destinations on the wall behind the two stools. I thought that the guys behind the counter arranged things for the taxi drivers, but it turns out they were the actual taxi drivers. As soon as you arrange the price with them, they hop up and take you to their car. I tried paying the guy at the stand because of this and he told me "No, pay me when we get there". 

Although the fares were posted there at the airport, I found that everything was negotiable. My first driver at the airport may have been entrepreneurial than most, but he proposed a deal where he would pick me up from the falls and take me to my hotel, then pick me up the next morning to go to the falls and pick me back up at the end of the day for AR$100 each ride, plus he'd throw in a free ride from my hotel to the airport. I wound up not using him the second day since I didn't need to go back to the falls, but it taught me that you should always negotiate!

Getting around Iguazu Falls

There's a convenient train that takes you from Central Station (where you enter the park, nothing there but souvenir shops, restrooms, and food stands) to Station de Cataratas (where the Upper and Lower Circuit trails are, plus more food stands and restrooms) and then on to Station de Garganta de Diablo (also with restrooms and food stands). The train rides aren't anything special, in my opinion. You can also walk between stations instead of taking the train, but in my opinion it wouldn't be worth doing between Station de Cataratas and Station de Garganta de Diablo, because it's kind of long and you're walking next to the train tracks. Between Station de Cataratas and Central Station, however, is a nice trail (Paseo Verde) that took you through a dense jungle area on a nicely paved path. The scenery wasn't spectacular or anything, but it was a pleasant shaded walk and a nice change of pace from the train.

Once you get off at Station de Garganta de Diablo, I think the only path you can really take is the set of boardwalks over the river to the Garganta de Diablo (Devil's Throat). It's all very level and decently wide, has several resting points off the boardwalk where you can sit and take a break without getting in everyone's way. Tons of butterflies everywhere, some creepily huge spiders off in the jungle, and some cool birds. The boardwalk dead-ends at a viewing platform above Garganta de Diablo. If you go to the right you're pretty guaranteed to be hit by some spray at some point (at least while I was there) since you're closer to the falls, while the area to the left seemed a bit  drier.

At the Station de Cataratas, you can take the Circuito Superior (Upper Circuit) or walk a bit further to take the Circuito Inferior (Lower Circuit). What's nice is that if you start at the trail closer to the train station (Circuito Superior), at the end it drops you off near an entrance to the Circuito Inferior, so they flow quite nicely. That's the order I did it in, but I did find the Circuito Inferior to be more impressive. Both have more boardwalks, although unlike the Garganta de Diablo trail, these also had some stairs (not too many). There may have also been handicap-accessible ramps everywhere but I wasn't looking too hard.

There were supposedly water fountains everywhere, but I really only spotted one by the Station de Garganta de Diablo, near to the restrooms. Lots of fast food stands and restaurants near each of the train stations, however. Also fairly overpriced and unappetizing looking, in my book.

See my earlier post for my impressions of the trails. I spent seven hours at Iguazu Falls (albeit on a Friday [fewer people] and on a day that the Isla de San Martin and Paseo Macuco were closed [which would presumably have taken more time]) and did both the Garganta de Diablo and Circuito Superior twice, and spent a really long time on the Circuito Inferior, including the Adventura Nautical boat ride, and I felt that was a sufficient period of time. I had no desire to go back the following day, which is kind of sad since I had budgeted two days for Iguazu Falls.

GuiraOga

Since I had an extra day free, I went to the wildlife sanctuary GuiraOga. They were a 30-minute walk from my hotel along a really ugly main road. It would have cost me AR$3 to take a bus, and knowing what I know now, I should have taken the bus.

GuiraOga had two English tours the day I went, at 10 am and at noon. I found this out because my hotel called to check; I couldn't find the information on their website. It was an excellent tour and my tour guide knew all the animals' names and histories by heart, and spoke with perfect English. I was the only one on my tour, so I got to ask lots of questions, and I never felt like she was rushing me along. The animals were all in spacious cages, but looked quite happy and I thought based on my tour guide that the sanctuary really tries to get the animals rehabilitated and back into the wild. The ones on permanent display there are those that wouldn't survive in the wild. The tour took almost two hours exactly, and there were a ton of birds, mammals, and reptiles to see, and unlike at some zoos that I've been to, all of the animals were easy to see (i.e., not hidden in some log or back room). I don't know how they managed that since the animals had plenty of room to move and lots of trees and bushes inside their cages.

Money

I'm not going to pretend I understand how this works, but there's a not-so-secret black market for US dollars. Except it's not a black market because the money changes have real storefronts and are regulated somehow, but they operate outside the official exchange rate. For example, right now the official exchange rate is 4.98 Argentinian pesos to 1.00 US dollars. But at the money changer (casa de cambio), you can get 6.5 pesos to 1.00 US dollars, which is like winning 30% more money or getting a 30% discount off everything for practically no effort. I say practically no effort because I'm actually unclear what goes into making the change. I benefited from having taxi drivers and other people I met offer to either exchange my money right there or go on my behalf to the casa de cambio (note: in this case make sure it's somebody you trust!). Either way, waaay better exchange rate than at the ATM, plus no pesky ATM fees. However, I do wish I had brought more US dollars now.

 

Iguazu Falls

I LOVED Iguazu Falls! I'm still marveling about that because halfway through my visit there I was still kind of meh about it. To understand that, I think I have to explain that I visited the park attractions in entirely wrong order.

But first, to start at the beginning...

I woke up at 3:00 am to catch my ride to the airport in Buenos Aires. Since it was really ridiculously early, somewhat predictably I was way too early for my flight and wound up sitting in their holding area for 2 hours before they would let me approach the security checkpoint. When I went to check-in for my flight, the woman behind the counter notified me that my bag was 8 kg, which was over their 5 kg limit. She let me take my bag back, which I then hauled into the bathroom. I put on practically every item of clothing I had packed and waddled back to the counter where my bag then passed muster.

The flight to Iguazu Falls airport (IGR) was a mere 2 hours, just enough time to get up in the air, get a drink and a snack pack, and then begin the descent. The IGR airport is TINY! Two, count 'em, two gates in total.

I went straight to Iguazu Falls from the airport and hopped right on the park tram/train to go to the Garganta del Diablo.

To get the Garganta del Diablo, you walk across endless catwalks suspended over the murky brown river water

But when you get there, you are suspended right over the waterfalls

 And they're a pretty great looking set of waterfalls (ignore the goofy worried look on my face)

But, I don't know about you, but there's only so much time that I want to spend leaning over a metal railing gazing at a freakin' big waterfall. It turns out that limit is ~15 minutes for me, complete with picture taking, movie filming, panorama stitching, etc. So I headed back to the train to go the next station, where there was an Upper Circuit and a Lower Circuit walk.

I started on the Upper Circuit, which gives you lots of great vistas, and you can peer down from the top of the waterfalls

Which is all very cool, but see above: there's only so much time I can spend looking down at a waterfall. I'd been at the park for a whole 3 hours and feeling a little bit letdown. Everything was neat to look at, but was it worth flying across a country for a daytrip?

Then I went on the Lower Circuit. And my whole perspective changed. See, the Lower Circuit drops you down to (predictably) the lower level of the falls. Which means you can see how immense and powerful the falls really are, something that's hard to grasp from the top. In particular, there's one lookout point where you are literally something like 50 meters from the base of the fall:

As soon as you run out there you are immediately soaked through with mist, and you can't hear anything because the water is roaring over the rocks, and you can't see anything because there's just water everywhere. And it is AMAZING to feel that energy pounding through the rocks, through the catwalk, and through you. It was such an adrenaline rush, that I actually ran out there at least half a dozen times, just to get the thrill again.

It turns out I can only spend 15 minutes standing on top of a waterfall but I can spend an hour and 15 minutes running into one over and over again. I was so wet by the end my fingers had turned prune-y and I had to take off my shoes and dump the water out of them.

After that, I was in love with Iguazu Falls. I did the boat ride that takes you out onto the water, and under a waterfall, and it was as thrilling as running across that catwalk over and over again (although significantly more expensive). I went back through the Upper Circuit and the Garganta del Diablo and had a new appreciation of the views from the top, and how they powered the incredible falls below.

All in all, I spent seven hours at the park, and feel like it was well worth the cross-country journey. The problem is, while I had budgeted two days for Iguazu Falls, I also feel like I saw everything at the park...twice. (San Martin Island and a nature trail I was planning on doing are closed due to the heavy rains they had earlier this week). So, what to do tomorrow? Stay tuned...