India Trevor and Lorraine 2019 part 1

In June 2019 Trevor and I headed off to northern India. OK, so June is hot but we were not expecting quite the extreme heat that we encountered. During the two weeks were there the lowest minimum was 43 ith the highest 48. Now that is hot!

This post will deal with general impressions.

Our starting and ending point was Delhi. There is an old and new part and our hotel was sort between the two parts in Dwarka. While the Radisson Blu Dwarka was obviously a high end hotel, we stayed here 3 times in all, they were doing renovations and each time we ended up on the corridor where the renovations were actively being undertaken.

We arrived in Delhi at the end of a very long day. We were up at 4 o'clock and arrived in Delhi just after 8pm with a 4.5 hour time shift.

We were very pleased to see a gent holding a Abyss Tours sign as we exited the arrivals halls. It was still quite hot which was a huge change to the very cool morning we had as we left Canberra. Mr Singh quickly escorted us to his car, which was air conditioned, something we were pleased about as we traveled from place to place on our tour, and we were soon heading for Dwarka.

This was our first experience of Indian road use. We had experienced travel in Eqypt but this was a little different. Firstly, the make up of the road users was quite different. While there were some buses and larger cars and trucks, most the traffic was on the smaller side. This included bikes, motor bikes and rickshaws (which were basically 3 wheeled motorbikes with an enclosed passenger compartment). It is amazing how many people you can fit on a motorbike and in a rickshaw.

We quickly became aware of the Indian road rules. I think there was one, quite simple rule: you are not to hit nor be hit by anything or anyone.

Lines drawn on the road were obviously there as guides only. Like we saw in Eqypt the formal number of lanes bore no relation to the actual traffic flow.

Horns were used quite commonly and generally as a warning that someone was passing another vehicle. There was a lot of horn blowing!

Patience was also a characteristic of the driver/riders.

Divided roads did not mean that the traffic flow was in one direction. Quite often there would be vehicles coming towards the traffic stream as the driver/rider was attempting to get to somewhere on the "wrong" side of the road.

Trevor and Lorraine in a rickshaw on our first (very hot) day in Delhi

Cows are sacred in India and they have their own ambulance service

Along with all the other things on the road there are also cows!

We came across a lot of trucks transporting fodder. The bit overflowing the top of the truck is a huge bag like container.

Trucks passing each other were a challenge. The rucks were often highly decorated.

Almost anything can be carried on the back of a motor bike. The motor cycle on the left has a pillion passenger riding side saddle which was quite common a common sight

The Iguazu Falls from the Brazilian side

A view of part of Iguazu Falls as seen from the Brazilian side

The weather in the Iguazu region can be quite fickle. We experienced it during our day at the Argentine side when the skies opened up and dumped a torrent on in the early afternoon. Fortunately we were about to have lunch and took cover, along with nearly everyone else in the park, in the eateries. Fortunately the rain cleared after a 30 minute deluge.

In the evening the rain returned. Trevor and I had ventured out and discovered that a restaurant quite near our hotel was actually open. It overlooked the junction of the rivers forming the three frontiers. As we watched the light fading the storm came in. It was a fantastic light and sound show with sheet lightning followed by thunder. It was quite spectacular. 

Fortunately there was a break in the storm just as we finished dinner and we managed to get back to our accommodation without getting soaked. The break was short lived and the lightning, thunder and torrential rain continued throughout the night and it was still raining when we left the hotel at 10 o'clock.

Going from Argentina to Brazil required two border activities. We had to officially leave Argentina and enter Brazil. With a bus load of foreigners this took quite some time. Fortunately for us our tour guide handled the formalities for us. We just had to sit on the bus and wait and wait and wait.

Once into Brazil we stopped for lunch, along with every other tour bus that was doing the crossing, at a place that served typical local food.

By the time we got to the Brazilian park that houses the falls it was just on 3 o'clock. Fortunately, access to the viewing trails was much easier on the Brazilian side. We were able to bus it to the trail head which saved quite a lot of time. 

By the time we got to the falls the rain had stopped. While the sky was still grey at least we only had to contend with the mist rising from the falls and not rain as well.

Here is a selection of photos of the falls as seen from the Brazilian side.

Unfortunately, it was not possible to capture the full grandeur of the falls using my camera.

If you ever get the chance to visit the Iguazu Falls I'm sure that you will be impressed. The sheer size of the falls is mind boggling.

Argentine Iguazu

The first real day of our tour had us up early for breakfast and a 5am departure for the Buenos Aires domestic airport. The drive through the darkened street was pretty with lights picking out features.

Getting through the formalities was straightforward however there was a very long trek to our gate.

View from our gate lounge toward the city

Once up in the air it was apparent that there had been a lot of recent rain. Rivers were running full, a brown, and lots of areas were covered in water.

Approaching Iguazu was announced by a plume of spray rising above the falls.

Down on the ground the large party took some time to be organised onto buses and transported to our hotels. The 140 odd people were spread over two hotels. We ended up at the Amerian Portal which was pretty comfortable and fairly well located.

Our guide from the airport gave us a wonderful briefing about getting a taxi to take us into town and also to visit the point where the three countries, Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, meet.  We were later to discover that we were only a km from the centre of town and less than 100m to the three frontiers. Just as well we forewent the taxi! No points for Elizabeth the ignorant guide.

Trevor and I walked into town and eventually found an ATM that was willing to give us cash. It was good to have some local currency.

Later I went for a walk and discovered that our hotel was right next door to the 3 frontiers.

The reddish river was the one coming in through Argentina. The colour caused by high iron levels. The blue river was from Brazil, I think

Trevor and I took advantage of the hotel spa and we joined a large group of our fellow travellers, all Aussies, for dinner at the hotel.

With such an early start to the day and still adjusting to the time shift we dropped into bed early.

Our start to our Argentine Iguazu day was early with our bus scheduled to leave at 7:15am. After another early breakfast it was out the door.

At least our guide today was knowledgeable and Veronica took good care of our large group of 50 or so.

A number of trails loop through the national park to take visitors to view points for the array of falls that make up the Iguazu complex. Fortunately for us there was a train to take us out to the furtherest trail head and to return us to the middle of the park.

The sheer number of falls, volume of water and breadth of the falls is hard to describe. Capturing them in photos does not do them justice so bear in min that the following photos just give a feel for Iguazu.

 Note: the water was a reddish brown

Spray was an ever present hazzard. We all managed to get quite wet as the misty spray drifted over us

That is enough for this posting.

All up we walked over 9kms during our waterfall meanderings.

The next post will look at the Brazilian side of the falls as well as some of the birds and animals that were encountered in the parks.