Argentina: Iguazú Falls

Deep in the jungle, where the borders of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay meet is an outstanding feat of nature. For over 2 and a half kilometres stretch the Iguazú falls, waterfalls so great they make our own Canadian Niagara Falls seem small.

A Coati looking for food

What makes Iguazú so impressive is the shape of them. The water spreads across a large distance in a series of U shapes, interrupted only by small sections of tree-covered land. For most of the falls, the water dumps first from its highest point down to a middle section, then cascades further down to create two levels of waterfalls. Add that to the surrounding jungle and it is beautiful!

I arrived early (the first bus you can catch is at 7:20 am) and headed straight for the Upper Falls viewing platform. I followed a boardwalk that went right over the edge of the first, small waterfall. I could look right down to the crashing water 40 metes below. The walkway continued over two more waterfalls and I was looking down at the rocks and water when Mr E gasped and told me to look up. Ahead of us was a view of the entire stretch of waterfall...

My first glimpse at Iguazu Falls

Because we arrived so early, we had the falls completely to ourselves for the first twenty minutes but it was far from silent. That much water falling onto that many rocks creates write a roar!

After we'd explored the Upper Falls boardwalk, we took a train 20 min further into the National Park along the wide Paraná river that feeds into the falls. Another 20 minutes of boardwalk walking over the river brought us to a large platform that looks down into the most impressive section of the falls called The Devil's Throat.

Half of the water from the Paraná falls over the edge here, in a deep U-shaped channel. You can see water falling from the three sides of the U altogether onto the rocks below. Actually, its really difficult to see because so much mist is created from that much water falling at once. We were soaking wet by the time we left!

We took the train back to the entrance but this time hiked down the Lower Falls path. This is where you can see the two layers of falls, which is so beautiful. It's also where you can hop onto a boat that takes you closer to the falls, like the Maid of the Mist at Niagara, except much smaller.

We sealed our belongings in a dry sack, just wore our bathing suits, and held on tight for what would be a wild ride! First, the boat took us close to the Brazilian side of the falls so we could get pictures. Then, over to the Argentinian side. Next, the captain told us to put our cameras away and hold on... He steered the boat back to the Brazilian side but kept going and going until we were right under the waterfalls! Water pounded down on us from above, so hard that it was impossible to look up. Everyone was screaming like we were on a roller coaster. It was so much fun!

We had lunch with a view across Iguazú. At one point, we had to move because a curious coati tried to steal our snacks. Visiting Iguazú Falls had been the Number 1 thing that I had wanted to do before my trip stated and it did not disappoint!

Chile: Pitching In

Roughly 80 000 visitors come to Easter Island every year and as I told you in my previous post, it's a very remote island. You can only fly to it from two places: Santiago de Chile or Tahiti, an island in the French Polynesia. It's about a five hour flight from either place. The island itself is very tiny: it's about 163 square kilometres (the city of Calgary is over 700). So I ask you to think... When so many people visit such a small place, where do they put all of their garbage? There isn't enough space for a big landfill, it's unhealthy to burn it, and you shouldn't throw it out in the ocean, so, where does it go? Well, they have to send it back to mainland Chile, all the way across the ocean, which is very expensive.



So, I felt it was my responsibility to create even less garbage than I normally do, and to take as much of it out myself when I left. I tried to eat local foods and fresh things that didn't come in wrappers. I avoided buying bottles of water and instead used tablets to make sure the tap water was safe. And I was lucky enough to get to participate in one more thing to help the island's environment: I joined a group of high school students who were hiking out to an empty part of the island to plant trees.


The wind here on Easter Island is really, really strong, and there aren't very many trees. That means that erosion is a big problem here (when the land wears away and crumbles over time). One area in the island, in particular, is quite barren (empty). About 70 of us together hiked for a couple of hours to this section that is being rehabilitated.

It took us about an hour to plant 1400 saplings of Aito. This type of tree grows well in areas where the soil is really hard, rocky, and missing good nutrients. Once these trees start growing, they'll help to break down the hard soil and make it easier for other things to grow. Then Mako'i, Dodonea and Albizia trees will be planted as well. The naturalist in charge told us that about 90% of the trees we plant should survive, so we felt really good about what we'd done to help the island's environment!

Chile: An Easter Treat

From the coast of Argentina, it was a 12 hour bus trip back to the Andes. I spent two weeks hiking in El Bolson, then Bariloche, Argentina, before crossing the border into Chile. Chile is a skinny country that stretches from the desert in the North to the End of the World in the South. I was there earlier in the trip when I trekked through Torres del Paine National Park (click here to see my earlier post). They also speak Spanish, and the Andes create a natural border between them and Argentina. Chile's quality of life is similar to Argentina's, but to me it seemed a little bit better. The cities were much cleaner, there were sidewalks, and the National Parks are run very professionally. But to be fair, I haven't seen very much of Chile, so I would need to explore more to make a fair comparison.

I celebrated Easter in the capital city of Chile, Santiago. We met up with two friends from our trip to Antarctica, and rented an apartment together. We cooked a big Easter dinner on Easter Sunday and each called home to our families. Then on Easter Monday, we got a real Easter treat...we boarded a plane and flew to Easter Island!

Easter Island is tiny spot in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is the furthest place you can be in the world from somewhere else that's inhabited by people. It's literally in the middle of nowhere! Easter Island was formed over time by three volcanic eruptions and was settled by a group of Polynesians. A few explorers happened upon the island in their travels, the most famous being Captain James Cook in 1774. Easter Island became a part of Chile in 1888.



The native name for the island is Rapa Nui, which is also the name of the language and the people who live there. It is famous for their big rock statues carved to look like humans, called 'Moai.' Researchers have studied the culture of the Rapa Nui people and the moai for many years and they believe that the moai were carvings made to honour village leaders or important people in the village when they died. Their bodies were buried under the platforms, called "Ahu" which the moai stand on.




No one is certain the history of the moai but it is believed that the islanders themselves (the Rapa Nui people) pushed the moai over. It's easy to imagine how shocking it must have been for them to have explorers arrive and they suddenly learned they weren't the only people on the Earth! My favourite group of moai are the Tongariki group, which are 15 in a row on an ahu. These ones are enormous and it is a magical experience to watch the sun rise behind them.

My other faovurite place on the island is Rano Raraku, which is the quarry. A quarry is a big pit where rocks are carved out of the ground. The moai were made from hard volcanic rock. Partially carved figures, mainly heads, still scatter the hillside.





The moai are the main tourist attraction of the island, but it's also beautiful to hike around. The ancient volcanic eruption made it a very hilly place and there is one sandy beach that was created during a tsunami. The weather is tropical: hot and humid, and it's spectacular to watch the waves crashing on the cliffs. I absolutely loved the week that I spent here and felt very lucky to have come!

Argentina: Trained Killers

After weeks of hiking in Patagonia (the southern area of Argentina and Chile), it was a nice change to head north for some warmer weather. (It's still weird for me to say 'north' is warmer, but remember, the closer you are to the equator, the warmer and more constant the weather is, generally).

A Guanacho (kind of like a llama) crossing the water.
Guanachos are one of the only mammals
that can drink salt water.

It was a straight 32 hour bus ride that brought me to Puerto Madryn, Argentina on the eastern coast of South America. Here, it's easy to take a one-day car trip around Peninsula Valdes, an area known around the world to see Right Whales breeding. You can stand on the shore and watch them in the water...you don't even need to get in a boat to see them! We weren't there for the whales, though, (June-December is the best time to see whales, and it was the end of March when we arrived). Peninsula Valdes is known for another animal phenomenon: it's the only place in the world where you can see orcas beach themselves in order to catch seal and sea lion pups from the shore.

 

Peninsulas are areas of land that stretch away from the mainland, like an island, but still connected. They're surrounded by water on three sides.

Orcas, otherwise known as killer whales, are actually not whales, they're dolphins. They are incredibly intelligent hunters. While on the boat to Antarctica, I learned that some kinds of orcas work in teams to hunt seals lounging on icebergs. One orca will nudge the iceberg underneath to try to push the seal off, then another one will nudge the other side. They'll keep rocking the iceberg until the seal gets tired or confused or falls off and they can catch it. To know that their prey is not sick, orcas only eat animals that they have hunted themselves.

When we arrived in Puerto Madryn, we were disappointed to hear that it had been a difficult year for spotting orcas. For unknown reasons, they weren't coming as close to the coast as usual and they were hunting for food in other areas. So we didn't have our hopes up very high.

Fortunately, there are a few other things to see on the peninsula. We stopped at a large sea lion colony and watched the pups play in the surf. Sea lions, and elephant seals make an awful racket, barking and slapping around on the sand.

We also saw our fourth penguin species: the Megallanic. Larger than the three types we saw in Antarctica, these were also much quieter. They burrowed into the dirt to get away from the hot sun.

While we were observing the penguins, a truck came barrelling along the road with a siren on top spinning and wailing. Our driver quickly called to us, waving his arms frantically. "Orcas!" He shouted, "They've spotted orcas." We ran to the van and climbed in. He drove us to one of the best orca viewing point on the peninsula.

We waited nervously as they weren't actually there yet. Someone had spotted them down the coast and they were heading in our direction. But they could decide to turn around or go further out to sea. We crossed our fingers. Then one person pointed, and another called out, and we turned to see a group of five orcas swimming towards us, extremely close to the shore.

I couldn't believe how close to the beach they were! We watched them swim back and forth for an hour, with seals lying right there on the beach and even some swimming in the water, but they didn't try to attack. It was still so incredible to see them so closely. We left feeling very lucky and satisfied with our experience!

Around the World: How Tall is Tall?

You might be wondering how all of these tall buildings and monuments I've been seeing stack up against each other. Sometimes, things look really big because there isn't anything else around it, or because everything else around it is very short. Sometimes, buildings can look shorter than they are because they're surrounded by really tall things. Here, I'll line them up to show you how tall they really are.

First, let's do a quick review of the standard units of measurement. I like to use a saying to help me remember the metric units:

"King Henry's Daughter Makes Delicious Chocolate Milk"

The first letter of each word stands for a unit of measurement:

Kilometers Hectometers Decameters Meters Decimeters Centimeters Millimeters

Or, in their short forms: km hm Dm  m dm  cm  mm

If you can remember this saying, then you'll remember the order of the units of measurement and easily be able to tell how many of one unit is equal to one of something else. For example, there are 10 mm in 1 cm; there are 10 cm in 1 dm. There are 10 dm in 1 m, and so on.

I will use meters to show how tall these buildings are. If you can picture a meter stick, then you'll have an reference to go by. For me, 1 m is equal to the distance between my feet and my hips.

So, let's take a look at the height of these World Famous Buildings standing side-by-side.

     

Eiffel Tower, France: 324 m                St George's church, Ethiopia: 12 m

          

  Faro, Uruguay: 34 m                        Shiva statue, Mauritius: 33 m 

           

Qutb Minar, India: 73 m                 Calgary Tower, Canada: 191 m

     

CN Tower, Canada: 553 m                        Taj Mahal, India: 73 m

To see the difference in height between these structures, it would be even easier if we graphed them. I'll start by putting the heights up the y axis (the vertical line), and the names of the structures along the x axis (the horizontal line). Then, I'll use bars to show their heights. Now, I can really see how tall the CN Tower is compared with the other structures!

Organizing information in a graph is a great way to make more sense of it!

Chile: Rockin' in Torres del Paine

The Andes is the world's longest mountain range, stretching over 7 000 km through 7 countries in South America. When I went to Antarctica, I learned that the Andes range goes even further... underwater... to Antarctica! The Andes is also the tallest mountain range outside of Asia with its peak, Mount Aconcagua, in Argentina, rising to 6962 m in elevation.

In Chile and Argentina, I did some hiking in some beautiful National Parks. I was amazed by the types of rock faces we were seeing; they looked so different from our Rocky Mountains back home. So I was curious to do some research to learn more about how these rocks and mountains were formed. I'll focus on Torres del Paine in Chile, one of the world's most spectacular massifs.

It all started 12 million years ago...

Hot, volcanic magma spilled over the earth, cooling and hardening into the igneous rock called granite. Granite is very tough, it's about a 6.5 on the Moh's hardness scale of rocks. Thousands of years passed where layers of sedimentary rock on top helped to compress the granite even more.

Glacier Gray

Glaciers came next, covering the area. As they grew, retreated (calved), and shifted they wore away at the rocks (called erosion). (Check out my previous post about glaciers.) The glaciers lifted the layers of softer sedimentary rock and moved it as they moved. The rocks were slowly worn away until only hard, resistant rock was left: granite, in the shape of impressive, near 3000 m tall towers now called Torres del Paine.

I spent three days hiking and camping around the park. I saw one of the ancient glaciers, named Glacier Gray, and I woke up at 4 am to hike to the towers for sunrise. Seeing the first light of the day hit them made them even more spectacular!

El Calafate, Argentina: Icy Discoveries

In the mountains in Argentina, close to Chile, is the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (Glacier National Park). At its South end, is the town named El Calafate, and it is the perfect place to stay if you love snow and ice. That's because it's only an hour or so outside of the third largest glacier in the world, and one of the only ones that's not receding (getting smaller). The glacier's name is Perito Moreno and it is roughly 30 km long, 5 km wide, and 60 m tall.





The glacier formed in a valley in between these Andean mountains, a place where many storm clouds have emptied out their snow. The snow builds up and the pressure of it turns the snow in to ice. Gravity pulls the ice down the hill and the bottom section grabs onto soil and rock as it goes, giving it the look of lines of dirt in it. As it moves, the ice can also crack, creating crevices. The sun warms the ice, and some of it melts, meaning that the glacier sits on a river or lake. When sections melt or crack, it can make parts fall off, into the water, which is really exciting to see!



The other really cool thing is its colour. The glacier looks blue because the ice is very compacted, meaning light has a long way to travel through it. The light refracts (breaks into the colour spectrum) and blue light is the strongest wavelength of colour we can see, so the ice looks blue.




Even though you can't really see the glacier moving because it's going so slowly, you can hear it! It creaks and cracks and groans as parts shift and melt. The really exciting part is when you see a section break off and fall into the water. Because the glacier is so big, it makes some of the chunks look really small. But when you see how big the splashes are that it makes, you realize just how big those chunks of glacier ice are!