Torres Blancas San Carlos de Bariloche

... some chips in my backpack. Of all the thousands of people that a caught trafficing DRUGS I don't want to be detained trying to smuggle fruit across the border. Ironicly I was not stopped but Lisa was and all she had in her backpack was a bra and a pair of panties that she could not fit in her carry-on bag. She was so embarassed that the guards had to pick through her UNDIES. She was so mad that she got searched and I didn't. I told her ...

... way we came we took a longer and scenic route so we could see other views on the way back. It was really cool...the terrain changes a lot out here in a short ammount of time. I´m surprised how well we did driving this little VW Golf up and down the dirt roads and little passes we had to go over. Of course almost every car out here is a mini hatchback. We got back to Villa la Angostura in the afternoon and debated on staying ...

Crossing back into Argentina and another stamp in our passports...we`ve spent 2 nights in El Calafate, a town on the edge of Lake Argentino. Lovely little town and right near the Moreno Glacier, we had a nice wander around and gathered our things together ready for our journey along the isolated route 40...a mostly unsealed (AKA: bumpy!) road. We were unable to make one of our planned hostel stops as the road was in such a bad state so had to divert back onto ...

... we took what we could. In general the accommodation was great and we had the fortune of sleeping in a few family homes. We didn't do as much camping as we would have liked, but this was either due to weather or lack of a suitable camping area. The two nights we did camp were in stark contrast, the one terrible, the other amazing and situated on the river bank of the Futaleufú river with large areas for campsites and power outlets. The activities we did along the way were ...

... the busconnection is quite limited. Also I booked a trecking tour with Iceclimbing and hiking on a glacier for the next day and checked into "El Relinchio", a central located camping area with HOT showers (very important) ... El Chalten is an amazing town - It could be out of an old western movie (if you ignore the obvious signs like cars and electricity). The town consists ...

... I was not sure that would be possible. Gabriel explains that there are forests of these but they are further north than we will be going. I am content to have seen one! Anna and Gabriel are reviewing the activity possibilities in each of our locations for canoeing/kayaking, horseback riding, boat rides, hiking and driving directions. There is no shortage of possibilities and we can structure the days to be as active as we want. This is one of the ...

¡Hola mis amigos! ¿Qué tal? Aprendemos pocito mäs español en Bariloche por una semana - ¡Muy bien! Pero... mucho practicamos es muy, muy necisito! Translation (más o menos - more or less) - G'day friends! How's it going? We learnt a little more spanish in Bariloche for a week - very good! But... much more practice is very, very necessary! After another rather luxurious Argentine bus journey from Mendoza (these are like the Hyatt on wheels compared to our ...

... going to a proper party as opposed to the green beer fests that were going on in the Irish bars in town. So began a hectic St. Patrick´s Day. After Cerro Otto, I returned to town for a two hour private Spanish class in school. An important verb here in Argetntina is ´matear´. It means to drink maté, (the local tea I suppose but very much part of the national culture) and to chat. So the prof and I spent the class ´matear´ing en español, por su puesto and practicing pronouns and ...

Paso de las Nubes From Córdoba we headed to the notorious but magnificent tourist trap of Bariloche. This Swiss-styled town lies on the shore of massive Lake Nahuel Huapi, inside the Andes. The approach is a spectacular drive up the foothills with craggy peaks and numerous vividly blue lakes in an otherwise barren brown landscape. I swear I saw flamingos in one of the smaller lakes and I definitely spotted a rhea, and we passed a number of ...

Ruta 40 - On the bus from hell!!!! Things had not been great that day after we had lost all of our fantastic penguin photos from the memory stick. But things were about to get a whole lot worse! We arrived at the bus station in plenty of time to catch our bus, which was due to leave at 9pm. A bus turned up but we had not thought it could be ours as it was old and only one deck high. Now let me explain for those of you who have not had the ...