Day 4 – another beautiful sunny day
Today was a fun day with the primary activity of driving out to La Lorenza, the private reserve of Emilio and Picu White about 1.5 hours from the National Park. Emilio is a well-known nature photographer in Argentina and a book of his photography is in each room of our hotel and his photos line the walls of the stairwell in the hotel. The reserve is a beautiful conservation reserve where the Whites invite small groups for a “jungle” hike and a kayak experience followed by a fresh lunch prepared in their home.
The last 8 km of “road” to their home is quite an adventure. It makes most of our dirt roads look like they are pristine new blacktop.
The home sits at the top of a bluff overlooking the Parana River, which forms the border between Argentina and Paraguay. Following a safety talk and demonstration of how to get in and out of the kayak, we hiked down to the river and kayaked for about 1.8 miles. We first kayaked along the Parana River (likely the closest I will ever get to Paraguay) and then turned to go down the Uruguay Stream to a pull out spot. The river was pretty high because of recent rains so the pull-out spot was underwater, making it a bit more challenging to exit the kayak, but the guides were there to assist and make sure no-one was dumped.
Yes, I let Bill captain. LOL
After kayaking, we stopped to put on hats with mosquito netting and grabbed walking sticks. While the trail was a bit steep at the beginning, I think the walking sticks might have been a bit of overkill, but the mosquito netting was not a joke. There were swarms of mosquitos that would have eaten us alive had we not been wearing long sleeves and pants and the hats with mosquito netting.
We stopped along the 1.3 mile walk back through the “jungle” to admire the plant life. There were some plants called monkey ladders that had twisty branches or trunks would probably be more appropriate since they went from the ground up, but were only about 4-5 inches in diameter. They seemed to have stair steps that the monkeys can use to climb.
Many of the neighbors along the “dirt” road are farmers – perhaps some of you recognize this crop. : – ) All is planted by hand and they raise the crops for themselves and to sell in small quantities in Iguazu city. They are happy to live with just a little bit.
After the trip back to our hotel, we sat by the pool for a bit and then took the lower trail through the falls one last time.
