TravelStream™ news feed for member domcrean on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/domcrean en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:29:41 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domcrean/1/1224938520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domcrean/1/1224938520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domcrean/1/1224938520/tpod.html Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:29:41 -0400 Andes, Amazon, Argentina and more - The trip of a lifetime.

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Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina

So back to Buenos Aires for our final week in South America. Who would have thought it would be over already!? We sorted out another apartment and managed to get another discount which was nice considering our financial position! There isn´t really a whole lot to say about this week.



We have relaxed and strolled around much like the first time. We finally managed to meet up with Chrissie and Caleb after 5 months of missing each other. It has been great to see them again, to talk about the places we have visited and to remind us of the things that we have enjoyed so much on the trip at a time when it would have been easy to feel sorry for ourselves.

We visited the Zoo here which was pretty good, although having seen so many animals in the wild during the trip it was a little sad to see so many caged up. We also went out to see a tango show and have dinner, which was a great night out. The tango show was brilliant and was performed at the incredibly atmospheric Cafe Tortoni; a beautiful and very stylish old school cafe. The show was really well done with the crowd sitting at tables enjoying a drink or some food. It had a bit of everything. Theatre, some singing, an incredible band and, of course, some fantastic dancing. I am no expert on dancing but the standard seemed pretty good to me and we really enjoyed it. After the show we wandered down the road to get some dinner, and found a nice cafe/restaurant where we chatted away and drank red wine until we realised that it was half past midnight and we had managed to outstay the Argentinians! We felt proud of ourselves, we had become locals!














I guess that is it really. It´s all over for our epic adventure. Almost 5 months, about 8000km, 5 countries and 2 cameras later the trip has come to an end. It is amazing how quickly it seems to have gone now. It is funny how looking back foreshortens time in the brain. I can remember midway through Ecuador looking forward and wondering how 5 months would be be possible, it seemed like an eternity away. I remember telling other travelers that we were in our first week and thinking how scary that sounded. Now we are here, the final two days before we return. I have mixed feelings about coming back. Obviously, I am looking forward to seeing friends and family who I have missed, but the thought of routine is a little unnerving to say the least.

People asked me before and during the trip: "why South America?" and I have struggled to give them a reason. It has always been somewhere that fascinated me ever since reading "Tintin and the Prisoners of the Sun"! The trip has easily lived up to my expectations and, in places, far exceeded them. I am so glad that I challenged myself to do this in the first place and that I have allowed myself to enjoy it. I am glad that George and I are still talking and getting on well with each other. Of course, there have been difficult, stressful times and cross-words have been spoken, but they have been few and have never lingered for long.

As for me, will I be coming back a changed person? Only time will tell I guess, but I doubt I will have changed that much, I think I am too old for that. I think that I will come back a little more of a patient person and I hope that I am able to take things a little less seriously, after all I don´t have to work down a mine in Potosi to support my family!

So was it worth it? Hell, yeah! I have seen the most gorgeous, take-your-breath-away natural wonders, challenged myself mentally and physically, I have glimpsed into South America's history, experienced different cultures, and come into close contact with beautiful and interesting wildlife. Yet I feel like I have only just scratched the surface of the hugely diverse continent. I will miss Ecuador´s incredible diversity, Peru´s proud Inca heritage, the struggle of Bolivian people in their beautiful country, and the surprisingly welcoming people and great steaks of Argentina. If I am forced to choose a favourite country or a place I would most like to revisit; it would have to be Ecuador. The trip to the rainforest was an incredible and truly unforgettable experience. The rich diversity of both people and geography makes it a special place. Above all the trip has made me realise that although it might be true that there is no place like home, there are certainly some other places out there worth seeing.

It most definitely has been "The Trip of a Lifetime".
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Mendoza, Argentina

Bariloche and the white water rafting done we set off to a small town called Junin del Andes just 4 hours North. It was smaller and we hoped that we would be able to find a cheap place to stay and would be able to do some walks from the town. We arrived there at about midday after another beautiful bus ride. We headed out of the bus station to try and find somewhere to stay. The town seemed quiet and was a lot warmer than Bariloche. We arrived at a hostel in the Lonely planet only to find that it had closed down. O well. We searched out the Tourist Information office for a list of places to stay. Unfortunately on checking the list we realised that this was the most expensive small town in the world! Hostel/hotel prices were much more than we had expected. There were a couple on the list that seemed reasonable. I headed off to one but had no luck as it also seemed closed. George headed to another but this one didn´t seem to exist. Our negativity returned! We sat on a park bench in the sun and resolved to carry on our journey straight to Mendoza. Unfortunately this involved a 4 hour wait until the next bus the need to make a very tight connection in Neuquen. We were desperate to leave so we took the gamble.

Five o´clock came and the bus turned up. We jumped on and started the stopwatch running! The guy at the bus station had told us that the connecting bus would wait for us if we were late. I wasn´t convinced. Anyway we made it to the outskirts of Neuquen just about on schedule and I began to relax. I didn´t fancy wasting money staying the night here. Just as we hit Neuquen we had to follow a diversion. This was a bugger, our time was ticking away fast and we were heading into the middle of nowhere again! We got to the bus station 5 minutes after our connection time and saw an Andesmar bus at one of the platforms. As we got nearer we saw them beginning to close up the doors and preparing to leave. In my panicked state, which I thought I had banished, I told George to get downstairs quickly and I would bring the bags. It wasn´t our bus! Did that mean our bus had left?! Frantic checking with the guards quickly established that our connection was also late. Phew. I relaxed, kind of. I don´t know what had come over me. For some reason I was more stressed than on any other bus ride. It was weird!

Anyhow, the bus turned up late and all worked out fine. We got to Mendoza a little later than scheduled but all was well. We hadn´t booked anywhere to stay and we got a bit of a shock at the prices when we started checking the prices of the places recommended. The dorms were what I had expected to pay for doubles. Finally, we came across one that told us they had double room for ARG$ 90. Not bad. We reserved it and jumped in a cab. The cab ride was very reasonable and it was probably the first time that we hadn´t been overcharged to get from he bus station to our hostel. On arriving at the Parque Central hostel we were greeted by the incredible friendly Gabriel. He proceeded to tell us about all the tours on offer and give us huge amounts of info that was difficult to take in after just getting off the bus. He also told us that he had made a mistake with the price and that it should have been ARG$80. Even better. Then we noticed that it was a "minihostels" hostel to which we had been given free membership in Salta. Another 10% off! The room ended up only costing us ARG$72 which is a bargain. Although the hostel wasn´t the nicest place we had stayed, it had a nice vibe and seemed like a good place to relax for a while!


Now then, our stay in Mendoza. Hmmm....well....there is not a huge amount to write I´m afraid. We generally spent the week relaxing in the beautiful sunshine, drinking Cortados in pavement cafes, and eating steaks in outdoor restaurants. Although it wasn´t the most exciting of weeks it was really nice to get some more sun and the experience of hay fever in October surely won´t be repeated for a little while. Mendoza is an easy place to fall in love with. The pace of life was necessarily slow even in mid spring. I can only imagine what it is like in the height of summer! Plain trees line the streets and there are parks and small plazas all over the city. The buildings are not very old (earthquake in the late 1800´s) but there was a certain charm to the place. We got stuck here for a week! Nice. We did however do the most important thing there is when one is in Mendoza; we hired bikes and cycled around the vineyards of Maipu. It was a beautiful hot sunny day and the area was gorgeous. There were endless vineyards and olive groves to cycle around, backed by the imposing Andes in the distance. We started our tour at the wine museum which was really interesting and definitely well worth a visit. They had huge amounts of old wine making equipment and it was interesting to compare the old methods to the the new, robotic, temperature controlled methods of modern day wine making. Tour done, we got on our bikes and pedaled off to the first of the vineyards. It was great to be cycling and moving around by some other means than bus.
The first Bodega was a very small outfit (I can´t remember the name unfortunately) and we tucked into some of their wines. It was midday and we hadn´t eaten. The wine wasn´t bad, and there was better to come that day. It was ok but not up to what I had expected. We then had another glass which we took outside and enjoyed in the sun whilst having a little bread and cheese that we had brought with us. We headed across the road to the next vineyard, Tempus Alba.





Whist this vineyard was also pretty small, it was very modernised. Stainless steel tanks and temperature controlled cellars. The setting was gorgeous and they had a wine bar/tasting room on the roof. Here we choose the slightly more expensive option so as to try the better quality wine. It was well worth it. We sat under parasols, looking out over there experimental vineyard sipping really excellent wine. We tried the best Rose I have ever had, a Malbec and there signature wine, Pleno, which was a blend. They were all good, and the signature wine was special, I wished I had the money and wherewithal to ship some cases back! The 'tasting' measures they poured were incredibly generous and George and I set off a little wobbly on our bikes.

We cycled off for a 6KM stint to our next port of call taking in the beautiful views around us and trying not to get hit by the occasional truck that sped past us! We decided to break up the wine and go for a tour of an Olive grove.
The tour was completely in Spanish and trying to follow the olive oil production process after drinking wine proved a little tricky. We got the idea though and smell of the place was incredibly olivy! The next Bodega, Carinae, was just over the road and was the most complete tour of the day. A really friendly and enthusiastic girl showed us around the whole place giving us a full description of the wine making process. The highlight was going into the maturation cellar where they were storing the wines in oak. The smell was incredible. A slightly caramelized smell of the burnt oak, mixing with fresh smelling oak and wine gave a real impression of how wines develop in oak and gain there complexity. It was really interesting.
I would have loved to be able to try wines at different stages of maturation but unfortunately had to suffice with their finished product, which was pretty good too! Of the vineyards we visited the overall experience at Carinae was definitely the best. The wines at Tempus Alba, however, were fantastic! It had been a great day out and we got back on the bus a little sleepy from the cycling and red wine.

Like I said before, the rest of the week was a little uneventful. We changed our flights to return home from Buenos Aires and arranged to rent another apartment there for the last week. We decided to return there as we had enjoyed it so much the last time. Chrissie and Caleb, friends we had met in Quito and had tried to meet up with ever since, were also going to be there. It would be a nice end to the trip and it would give it a certain symmetry.


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San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

So we were leaving El Calafate pondering our ridiculously long bus journey to Bariloche. It was going to be a vast double overnighter with two changes of bus and a large cost. Just before boarding we noticed a sign saying there was a direct bus to Bariloche that ran every Friday. It was Friday! Excellent. We had already booked our tickets to Rio Gallegos but we knew we could meet it there later in the day. It would just mean a 5 hour wait in the most boring bus station ever! No matter, it was saving us $$$$!

We arrived at Rio Gallegos and sat around people watching and playing an extremely long game of scrabble. George is trying. I mean to say George is trying hard to beat me and she is getting pretty good too. She has one a few games. This killed a couple of hours but I have no idea how we spent the rest of the time. Happily the bus arrived on time and I was actually pleased that I was about to spend 26 hours on the thing! I even looked forward to the inevitable Denzel Washington/Will Smith films we were bound to be shown!

The bus was empty which was nice as it meant that we could stretch out and have a two seats each. I managed to get a good night´s sleep although the standard of the food was dreadful. One ham and cheese sandwich and two chocolate biscuits! We had gotten used to better! Funny how things have changed from Bolivia, where if there was a reclining seat you would be happy!

The journey was fairly uneventful and we got to Bariloche at about 10pm George having booked us into a hostel over the phone. We arrived at the hostel and checked in. It was a funny place completely made from wood, with a great kitchen. Rooms seemed to exist everywhere and people would emerge from the ceiling randomly. Anyway it was a nice enough place. We were starving (due to the poor food on the bus) but if you want to be anywhere in the world at 11pm and hungry it is Argentina. We wandered 100m down the road to the first Parrilla we came across and took some seats. There was some live folk music being played by a Father Christmas impersonator but it was cosy and relaxed. We stuffed our faces and looked forward to the next day.

I awoke the next day my mind completely foggy and functionless. I guess it was the 38 hour trip catching up with me. The next day George felt the same. We spent these days wandering around Bariloche. It is a strange place which is basically a Swiss ski resort in the middle of South America. Wood cabins, chocolate shops (the size of a Tesco Express) and fondue restaurants. It was incredibly touristy. Lots of people we had spoken to really enjoyed it here but we weren´t so keen. Our spirits were down and the vast distances we had covered had put a dent in our wallets. Our thoughts were beginning to turn to home. We decided that we would give Chile a miss, there was nothing that we were overly excited about seeing there, and it was even more expensive than Argentina. We decided as we had enjoyed it here so much that we would finish our trip in Argentina and fly out of Buenos Aires. We probably didn´t give Bariloche its due but never mind.



The next day after making the decision we felt a little better. We decided to try and push ourselves on and enjoy the last 3 weeks. We couldn´t let such an amazing trip peter out. We needed something to shake us awake again! There was only one thing for it, White Water Rafting! For some reason it was something that I had always planned to do on the trip, the thought of it appealed to me. We booked up our places and paid what seemed like huge amount of money to the company. We didn´t care, we needed something exciting to lift us!

We got picked up the next morning and headed out of Bariloche. It was at this point we realised the appeal of the area. It was absolutely stunning countryside. Cristal clear streams, bright blue lakes, pine forest, and snow capped mountains everywhere. The sun shone, it was to my mind as near perfect countryside as you could hope to see. We drove out to our starting point a small camping ground with a log-cabin restaurant where we had coffee and pastries for breakfast. The guides, one boat man, one canoeist safety man, and a photographer, got the boat and other equipment ready. Then came the part we had been looking forward to. The wet suits. You will see from the photos that there are not the most flattering of attire. The steaks we had put away over the past 6 weeks being shown off in all the glorious detail!


Dressed, excited and slightly anxious about what was to come we carried the boat down to the water. Here we got detailed instructions, mostly in Spanish, about what was to come. Then into the boat on some nice green-blue, calm water. The forest lined the steeps banks on both sides of the river and snow capped mountains rose high in the distance. It was a perfect setting for our first rafting experience! The safety instructions now came, again in Spanish, I hoped that I was getting the gist. The accompanying canoeist told us only to grab the handle on his canoe when he said to. He told us not to grab him or his water shield thing. "If we did" he said without a hint of sarcasm " he would swim to the bank and then kill us!". There were nervous laughs from the passengers of the boat!

We floated gently downstream practicing the following instructions and getting ourselves firmly anchored in the boat. The instructor ensuring that we were sat on the outside of the boat. Then came the first rapid. "Adelante" screamed the instructor. We paddled as hard as we could, apparently it is best to meet the rapid hard. We hit the rapid. Cold, clear water immediately soaked us as the boat hit the water. It rose sharply, then dipped down at a sharp angle. "Adelante" screamed the instructor. We tried to paddle in time with each other, but the strokes became messy and more often than not they found nothing but foam and thin air. After 15 or 20 seconds of panic, excitement and frantic paddling we emerged into clear water. Wow! It was quite a buzz. Our legs ached a little from gripping on for dear life. Everyone was grinning from ear to ear. It was brilliant!!

This fearful and exhilarating act was repeated 10 or so times down the river encountering aptly named rapids such as "The Devil´s Intestines"! Spanish instructions being screamed, ducking away from on-rushing rocks, extreme leg gripping and frantic paddling. Before one rapid, appropriately called Boiling Water, the instructor informed us that if we came out of the boat at this point we would probably not surface properly form a hundred metres or so. I adjusted my legs to gain more purchase. I didn´t fancy a swim! At one point the guy in front of me very nearly went in the water both legs coming unattached. I stopped paddling and grabbed him the best I could. George told me after we had been told expressly not to do this. Must have missed that instruction! There were certainly some hairy moments on the way down but I´m glad to say that we made it without losing any crew or flipping the boat!

We got to the Chilean border and disembarked. We were all tired but everyone still had a grin on their faces. I think George must have been in shock, it´s the only reason I can think of as to why she chose to keep her helmet on for the last group photos! We got changed and headed back to the start point for a well earned, huge Parrillada (BBQ) and some beers! It had been an amazing experience and definitely something I hope to do again in the future!


That is just about it for Bariloche. Maybe we hadn´t given it our full attention, hence our indifference toward the place. It was touristy and expensive and a little kitsch but the surrounding countryside was absolutely beautiful. We left Bariloche feeling more positive, the rafting had certainly revived our spirits.


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El Calafate, Patagonia, Argentina

So the homeward leg began and when you are at the bottom of the world, the only way is up! We headed North, back through the many checkpoints of Tierra Del Fuego. I´m glad to day that this time the journey was pretty uneventful. The wind was almost non-existent and I managed to catch forty winks. We were heading back to Rio Gallegos to catch a bus to El Calafate, home of the Perito Moreno Glacier one of the few advancing glaciers in the world and supposedly quite a sight.

We had a 3 hour wait at Rio Gallegos before our five hour "shuttle" to El Calafate. Not much excitement on this journey as far as I can remember, mostly just sleep. We arrived in Calafate at about 12.30am and walked a short way to our Hospedaje where we were greeted by a slightly scary and intimidating lady. This place was closer to a B&B than a hostel, except there was no breakfast. Any how it was bloody cheap and very nice and clean. Quite a find. I dumped my bag on the bed and incurred the wrath of the scary lady who told me in no uncertain terms that my bag was dirty and not to put it on the bed. Ooops. Anyhow she soon left us in peace and we quickly went to sleep. We had to get up early the next day to head to the glacier.

We had decided to do the glacier tour on the cheap and after our breakfast at the petrol station we headed to the bus station to catch the public bus to the glacier. We arrived just in time and hopped on. We set off with the bus less than half full. It was a 80km, hour and a half journey to the glacier on gravel roads. The scenery was absolutely stunning. Snow capped mountains on both sides, big sparkling lakes and lush green fields with gauchos from the Estancias herding horses and cattle on horseback. At one point the bus gave us a scare as it refused to change gears. We only had one day to do this trip and this was it. Luckily after some gentle coaxing the clutch returned and we were off again.

As we drew closer to the glacier and entered the national park the scenery changed slightly and more trees lined the steeper slopes. As we rounded a sweeping right hand bend we got our first good sight of the glacier from around 2km away. We gazed down the valley, along the lake at the giant wall of ice that formed a huge blue dam across the lake. Wow! Another natural wonder to add to the list. We took the first of about a thousand photos and then headed onwards toward the ice.

We got to the glacier and jumped out of the bus eager to get up close to the ice. First up was a stroll along the walkways that brought you within about 80m of the glacier a gave you a view from slightly above the top of the glacier. From here you could get a panoramic view of the whole thing and see the progress it had made from its starting point 2000m up in the mountains. As with Iguazu Falls, witnessing such a huge natural wonder had one of two effects. You flit between silent awe and giddy childishness. It was definitely spectacular! We strolled around and took pictures. Its vast size, setting and blue colour were incredible. But what surprised me the most was the sound. It creaked and groaned as the ice relentlessly and powerfully advanced down the valley. Occasionally, huge pieces of the face would break away from the glacier and crash down to the icy lake below causing deep thudding, splashing noises and setting waves in motion. Another ice berg on its way down the lake.




Currently the glacier is fully damming the lake but occasionally the pressure builds to such levels that this dam breaks. This huge collapse is quite spectacular and George and I decided to have our picnic lunch at the point where this dam had formed. Just on the off chance. We sat and stared, transfixed and fingers crossed. We listened hoping that the almost painful sounding groans were the prelude to a mighty collapse. Unfortunately it didn´t happen. Although we did witness quite a huge breaking-off. A piece of ice about the size of a small terraced house gave up to gravity and came crashing down. We were happy with that. Not as happy as the woman who had just started filming in exactly that spot as it happened. Bitch!

After lunch we headed to the boat trip so as to get even closer to the glacier and see it from the water. This was when you really got to appreciate its vastness. At its peak it is 80m high and it is quite an intimidating sight. We headed toward it dodging between small, blue icebergs. As we got nearer the temperature dropped rapidly and the blue colour became more apparent. We got a great view of the dammed section and of the striated (my old Geography teacher would be proud!) rocks on the side. It is hard to really describe how it was, the pictures will hopefully help a little. It was another incredible site and well worth the effort to go and see.



We headed back to the town feeling content. I wish I could have seen more of it and gotten even closer. Maybe I will have to become a Geologist or something. That evening we did the dirty and indulged in our first and definitely our only Tenedor Libre (all you can eat)! It was wrong and I feel ashamed. I have vowed never to eat somewhere like that again. After all it´s not like the steaks are small here!

We set off the next morning headed for San Carlos de Bariloche but not before connecting in our now most visited bus station at Rio Gallegos!
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Ushuaia, Patagonia, Argentina

So we boarded the bus down to Rio Gallegos a longish 18 hour journey. We had decided that we would head to the Glacier at El Calafate and then start to head north again. This wasn´t the most eventful of trips. George did get singled out by a school child doing a reading club at the bus station. I looked the other way whilst George struggled to understand the book for a 6 year old being read to her. George enjoyed it and made the kid´s day when she presented her with a pack of John Lewis coloured pencils as a reward!

We got to Rio Gallegos at 8.30 am a bit giddy as always after an overnight bus journey. We scanned the various bus companies for buses to El Calafate and something jumped out at us. There was a bus leaving at 9 to Ushuaia, the Southern most city in the world in the extreme sounding Tierra Del Fuego. George looked at me pleadingly. It had been somewhere she had been keen to visit, and the notion of reaching the very bottom of South America appealed to me too. We booked our tickets, excited about the quick change of plans but a little anxious that we hadn´t booked any hostel and that we didn´t know quite what to expect. Too late now.

After a long, drawn out security check we set out. The journey was to involve 4 border crossings and a ferry crossing across the Straights Of Magellan. An exciting sounding journey. We headed off and after 45 minutes or so had reached our first border check, the exit from Argentina. The wind was howling and buffeting the bus. Everyone jumped off the bus, staggered through the wind and queued quietly while the over-officious Argentian border police solemnly stamped passports and exit cards. Back on the bus we got and on we drove for a couple of hundred metres to the Chilean border. We stopped for a while waiting to be beckoned off the bus, the wind still howling. After 5 minutes or so the conductor got back onto the bus and told us that the Chileans were not going to let us pass. At first we thought it was due to cock up by the company, bus as it turned out it was due to the wind. It was so strong that the ferry crossing 2 hours down the road was too dangerous and they had stopped services. Bugger! Not a good result. We turned the bus around and headed back to the Argentian border. We stopped at the bus again and waited. After 20 minutes or so waiting, there would be a lot of this, we were told we were going to attempt to cross the Chilean border again.

As we sped toward the border, the wind was still howling, and I had visions of us driving straight through the gate, smashing it to pieces James Bond style! It didn´t happen. The Chileans had decided to let us through to take our chances at the dock. We had until 5pm for the wind to drop and for the ferry to start up before we had to turn around and head back. We decided to take our chances. Another round of stamps, and declarations of no fresh food being carried and we were through. At this stage it was exciting, a real on-off roller coaster of a journey. We got to the docks at 1pm, 4 hours into our journey with another potential 8 or 9 to go! Maybe this wasn´t such a good idea after all! Damn spontaneity!



We sat around on the bus and occasionally ventured out into the gale to stretch our legs! A look to the horizon showed black cloud, and the straights looked choppy. At this point I didn´t want them to take any risks and I almost hoped that we would just give up and go back. I didn´t fancy a dangerous boat ride! We sat around for a couple of hours and then in the distance blue sky began to appear, and the was movement among the bus drivers. The wind seemed to have calmed but only a little as far as I could tell. Then the sight we had hoped for, a ferry was heading for the dock! We were on our way. We got off the bus and walked onto the ferry, the passengers exchanging nervous glances with one another!



We set off and almost immediately the boat began to rock from side to side and up and down. I hoped I wasn´t going to be sick and more importantly that we would make it across! As we ventured further across the straights the water got choppier and the wind stronger, the buses and lorries swaying outside and us feeling a little queasier. We carried on and soon the other side came into sight! We looked like we were going to make it! Phew!

Back aboard the bus we passed the "Welcome to Tierra Del Fuego" sign and immediately it began to hail. Hard. Where on earth were we going. We drove on through empty, weather beaten landscape. It was 4 hours until we we reached Rio Grande back in Argentina after more stamping and waiting at border crossings. It was 8 pm and now dark. I began to wish we had hostel reservations! We had another 3 and a half hours to go before we reached Ushuaia! As I worried, George dozed off. We drove on through the dark and about an hour out of Ushuaia I looked out at the window. It seemed a little bright our there. I looked more closely. Snow on the ground. Great. I looked again and saw the snow coming down in thick sheets. This was getting more and more ridiculous. I had visions of us arriving at midnight to 6 feet of snow and nowhere to snow. For the first time on our trip I hoped and prayed to the god of travelers that there would be a hostel tout at the bus stop!

There was. I have never been so happy to hear the voice of a tout shouting "you need hostel". I grabbed the flier, asked how much, and without really listening to the answer got into his waiting minibus! And relax. The now was still coming down, but now it seemed romantic and exciting, not intimidating. I guess, in hindsight, the excitement of the journey made the whole thing more of an adventure and we were able to appreciate the remoteness of the end of the world even more fully. We got to hotel at just after midnight, opened the door to our warm and toasty room and collapsed on the bed. What a journey!

We awoke to grey skies and blanket off snow covering everything. We had breakfast overlooking the town and out to the Beagle Channel. We decided to head to the museum housed in the old prison. It was quite a big old museum and had displays on Maritime things, the history of the prison, and some stuff on Antarctic exploration. All in all it was a bit pricey, although the section devoted to the prison and penal colony was really good and very well done. We visited the Antarctic stuff hoping to find interest exhibits and hopefully some references to Thomas Crean, but there was nothing, not really even much mention of Scott. Very strange.

Day 2 and the skies had brightened, for a while at least, weather here just seemed to happen. One second beautiful blue skies and the next snow was coming down. There clear conditions gave us our first view of the mountains that surrounded the town. They were quite imposing and it was the first time on the trip that the Andes ran from West to East rather that North to South. We decided to risk the weather and go for a walk up to the ski lifts that were operating. Not before I went to buy myself a new camera though. For some reason the prices in Ushuaia were pretty competitive and I found one I like and snapped it up. Anyway we had a good walk up to the ski lifts and after suffering another bout of vertigo/fear of heights a good ride on them up the mountain.

Day 3 was another walking day. The weather had warmed and the snow had melted in the town. We headed up to the ski lifts again. This time taking the no accessible and much more scenic route up the mountain, through the forest. It was really beautiful. A real untouched winter wonderland. We got to the ski lifts earlier and headed up the mountain. We were determined to walk to the glacier today and we had given ourselves time. We set off through the snow staying on the "path" of already trekked snow. I wanted to do a snow angel so stepped off the path I took two steps before my leg went through the snow up to my waist! I was stuck. George laughed before giving me a hand out! I would stick to the path from now. We trekked up the hill, occasionally looking back at the incredible view over the town and in the distance. It was a beautiful but stark landscape. Up we went, not really sure where we were headed. We had our mini picnic on some rocks at the end of the world it was quite a setting. The path became steeper and steeper and the snow deeper and deeper. It wasn´t apparent where the end was so after a couple of hours tiring walking we decided to turn around and go back our mini adventure over.


We headed off the next day, glad that we had made it to the end of the world. We were to head North from now on for the first time on our journey. The homeward leg had now truly begun.
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Puerto Madryn, Patagonia, Argentina

So we left Buenos Aires and started our journey South. The bus ride was another overnighter of about 18 hours! Water off a duck´s back to us now. We were heading for Patagonia our first stop being Puerto Madryn and the Peninsula Valdes for some David Attenborough wildlife adventures!

We arrived on time and quickly checked our emails to arrange to meet up with our traveling pals, Toby and Louise, who by now probably thought we were stalking them. Well we were! They had arrived the night prior and we had discussed hiring a car for a couple of days to see the area at our own pace. Upon checking we discovered that everything was in place and we arranged to meet up to start our mini road trip! First though we need to find somewhere to stay. We wondered about looking for a place in Lonely Planet which was actually not where they said it was, and happened upon a hotel. We went in to check the prices. They quoted us AR$165 a night, too much for us. We must have looked tired or something, but the lovely girl on reception could see that it was out of our budget and said maybe there was a possibility of a discount. Now, my experience in South America is that if someone offers a discount before you even have to ask there is a good deal to be done, and a quick look at the keys on the wall showed there was hardly anyone else staying there! The girl asked how much we could pay, I went for a cheeky AR$110 thinking that it would be turned down point blank, but the girl got on the phone to the boss, and without any delay he agreed! Low season bargain! I advise everyone to try it! The place wasn´t the Ritz but it was quite good enough for us, private bathroom, cable, and breakfast all included! No time to rest though, we had a quick shower and headed out to meet up with the other two!

We arrived just in time to sign off on the car, and I volunteered to be the second named driver! Eeeek! George looked worried and, given that I actually can´t remember how to drive, she should probably have been the other person! Never mind, it didn´t really matter in the end as Toby heroically managed all the driving over the two days, all 600 miles! That is almost the equivalent to Oxford to Edinburgh and back! Scale here is crazy! After giving the car a thorough once over Toby tentatively set off, and took this opportunity to tell us that her hadn´t driven an manual in years! Great job! The first thing to get used to was the unmarked and unsignalled crossroads and one way system. We decided that it was best to stop at all crossroads as it appeared that no one else did! We navigated our way out of town and on to the open road. Everyone took a sigh of relief, the long straight roads were fairly easy going!

As you may have guessed from the name Puerto Madryn this area of Patagonia is the 'Welsh' area where settlers came around the beginning of the 1800´s. Towns in this area have names such as Trelew, Gaiman, you could stay in Dyffryn Gwirdd hosteria or take a stroll down (and this is my favourite) Calle Juan Evans! We headed to Gaiman for a 'Welsh Tea'. It was a pretty little village full of brick houses and Welsh Tea rooms! Very odd really. We drove about and found the very chintzy 'Lady Diana Spencer' Caerdy'dd Casa de Te Gales! It truly was one of the strangest places ever, like something out of Alice in Wonderland, it wouldn´t have looked out of place in Vegas! The gardens were perfectly kept and the hedges and bushes perfectly trimmed, there was even a giant tea pot outside! Inside was one of the most kitsch places ever. I am not sure I can describe it accurately now as it seems so dreamlike in my head. The place had been visited by Di 15 or so years back, something they were evidently very proud off. There were picutes and memorabilia everywhere! The wallpaper was floral and the table clothes pink and and the carpet red. The tables were immaculately laid with white lacy doilies, white china and mini flower basket decorations! Mmmm mmm! What a place!

As for the tea itself, I´m not sure quite how authentically Welsh it was, but that wasn´t really important! It was huge and the tea was good and strong! There was hand cut sandwiches, buttered bread and jam, and a huge selection of various cakes. All of this served by some welsh looking (?) old ladies in black skirts and white pinnies! Brilliant. The best thing, undoubtedly, was the tea pot cosy. It topped the whole thing off perfectly! Woolly and red it clashed beautifully with the pink tablecloth. What a place! We gorged ourselves stupid until we could eat no more. Our blood sugar soared and I thought I would explode. I have never eaten so much cake in my life! Nor in such overdone surroundings! Fantastic!

We waddled out like the penguins we were off to see next, our minds working overtime on the sugar we had consumed, our mouths jabbering nonsense as they tried to keep up. I hoped Toby´s attention would hold for the journey to Punta Tomba and the colony of Magellanic Penguins we were off to see. It was quite a drive, large portions of which on gravel and sandy road. I think Toby enjoyed drifting the car around the corners once he got used to it. We arrived at the colony at 6ish and were staggered at the AR$35 per person they were charging. However, we paid up and within a couple of minutes had forgotten about the charge. I figured that we were going to see a few penguins from a distance but in actual fact we were walking right through the middle of their colony! It was brilliant. Apparently the colony at peak times can have up to 300, 000 penguins breeding there. At the time we were there about 15,000 had already arrived. The males are the first to arrive from the sea and they compete for the best nesting sites, cleaning and tidying and generally making a pad to impress the ladies! The female penguins turn up and waddle up the beach and the hill listening out for the comedy calls of the males! It was quite a sight. Everywhere you looked there were penguins. They were inquisitive and quite tame, some calling, some busying themselves with tidying, some couples already together snuggling in their nest and some fighting each other! We wondered around laughing at their comedy pantomime performance. I thought they were great and it was all I could do not to pick one up! They really seemed out of place on land! As the sun set we looked watched the penguins continue to come in form the sea looking for their partner and their new home. It was a really nice setting!

The next day we set out to the Peninsula Valdes and some whale, seañ and penguin watching. It was quite an exciting prospect as we were here for prime whale and elephant seal season. Our first stop was at a beach just 15 or so kilometres out of town to try and see some Southern Right Whales. We drove up to the beach and went for a stroll looking out to sea. It didn´t take long for some action. There were a couple of pairs of whales larking around about 50 m out to see. We watched for a little while before moving on. Not a bad start I thought. We headed on to the headland which was slighty elevated, hoping we would get a good view of the whales we had just seen from above. When we arrived we found a few more groups of people already there and as we peered down not only did we see the whales from the previous beach but also 15 or so whales playing around on another beach down below, where onlookers had gathered. These were even closer, just 15 or 20m off shore. We looked on from our vantage point, open mouthed at the whales proximity. They seemed to be having a great time, larking about in the relatively warm waters. We watched as a mother and calf swam around the headland from one beach to another, gracefully moving through the water with no apparent effort. It was a beautiful sight. After 20 minutes or so we headed down to the beach for a closer look. There were lots of pairs of mothers and calves rolling around in the shallow waters. The mothers teaching the calves, useful swimming techniques. Occasionally, you would here the deep, heart shaking sound of the whale-speak or the loud hiss of a whale breathing. They seemed to be enjoying themselves a great deal, almost playing to the crowd as they bobbed their barnacle encrusted heads up and down or rolled onto their backs sticking their huge fins out of the water. I felt quite lucky again to be watching this. It wasn´t until the next day when we visted an eco center and I found out that there are only 3000 of these animals left that I realised how lucky! It was a great start to our wildlife day!

We set off to our next destination, the large Peninsula Valdes. George was particularly excited that we would be visiting the famous Killer Whale or Orca beach made famous by the Attenborough footage of the Orca riding the waves onto shore to eat the baby seals (apparently her favourite wildlife film - sicko!). Unfortunately we would be too early to even have a chance of witnessing this for ourselves; it was unlikely we would see one at all! Our first stop was at a small town to have our pre bought picnic lunch and to get Toby a couple of cups of much needed coffee. Then it was on to Orca beach. As we expected there were no Orca there, but there were groups of Elephant seals. They were another funny looking animal and were more out of place on land than the penguins! In fact they only need to come to land in order to give birth otherwise they would live in the sea all the time. The enormous bull seals groaned and grunted or simply slept, whilst their harem of females prepared to give birth. They were just simply big bags of blubber with faces at the end! They didn´t do all that much, but I guess that was why they were there! Just to chill out and take things easy!

The next stop was another penguin colony which we didn´t stick around at for long as time was against us and there was one more location for elephant seals and the possibility of Orca sightings. As we got to the beach the sun was just going down and we knew we had only about an hour or so of light. We wondered along the path ,down to the beach and saw the seals. There were many more here and the mothers had already given birth so there were loads of black 'little' pups. WE were able to get much closer here. There was one particular pup who had only just been born, within hours we guessed given the fact that the umbilical cord was still attached! In its blind state it was trying to suckle, the mother calling to it and trying, in the most awkward fashion, to maneuver a good feeding angle without crushing the wrinkly ball of fat! This was a real Wildlife on One moment! Apparently the babies put on something ridiculous like 200kg in 6 months and the mothers lose 300kg! Crazy fast weight gain! Also, fact hunters, elephant seals show one of the biggest dimorphism's (I think this is the right word) of any species with the male being something like 5 times bigger than the female! Interesting, no...?

Anyway the sun was setting and it was a beautiful setting; seals lined the beach and a rainbow appeared on the horizon. I busily snapped away as the others strolled off. Suddenly I heard excited screaming from the others. Apparently Toby had just finished declaring that if he were an Orca he wouldn´t come to this beach, when George (jungle training still working) spotted the big, black fin of an Orca 80 or so metres out to sea! They shouted out to me and pointed but I couldn´t see anything. I joined them and there it was again. Swimming parallel to the beach, we hurried down the path trying to keep up with it, the light was fading fast now and we were keen to all get a good sight of it. I wasn´t convinced it was an Orca at this point but the others assured me that it was. We tracked it and then it was confirmed, the binoculars showing clearly the white and black markings of an Orca. A male, George "Attenborough" assured me, the dorsal fin was straight! Anyhow, it was all very exciting and scored massively on the Wildlife spotters scorecard, a million billion points apparently! We headed back to the car, all congratulating each other on a good wildlife day out, and it really was!



The next day we said goodbye to Toby and Louise over lunch. It would be our last time together as our paths led in different directions from here. It was really sad to say goodbye to them, we had made good friends and shared some good Argentian moments together. We wished them well on their travels hoping that we would keep in touch and see them in the future. We were off to the far South.......




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Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina

So we left Puerto Iguazu relaxed and amazed after the beautiful sight of the falls. We were excited about the prospect of having our own place in Buenos Aires for 10 nights, at a bargain price too!. It was going to be great to settle somewhere for a while and unpack. I wasa little nervous and my usual pessimistic self, worrying that something was going to fall through or that we wouldn´t be able to draw all the money we needed!
As it turned out all went smoothly enough. Our bus arrived a little late but after a difficult telephone conversation and an expensive taxi we arrived at our place situated between the swanky neighbourhoods of Palermo Alto and Recoletta, just 3 blocks from the tube! We had got lucky again. Although the appartment wasn´t all the nicely decorated, it was clean and comfortable, and above all it had more than one room! George immediately unpacked everything form her bag as I slumped on the sofa. It already felt like home!


Weirdly I can´t think of a great deal to write in this blog. That is not to say I didn´t like Buenos Aires, in fact I absolutely loved it. It is probably my favourite city. It´s just that we did lots of routine unintresting things. As you will probably guess by now those things included lots of food and wine! But in this case we had our own kitchen and dining table to enjoy! We watched cable, went to the cinema, shopped in supermarkets and grocers and did washing. It was a completely different experience to everything else so far, but it did give us the oppurtunity to experience the city as one of it residents, minus work and the ability to understand much of what was being said!

Buenos Aires is divided into quite distinct districts each with its own charecteristics, archetecture and feel. We basically spent the next ten days exploring as much of them as possible. We also met up with fellow ex-pat residents for the week; Toby and Louise. They were staying in the slightly younger and more happening area of San Telmo. We met them there on Sunday and spent hours wondering around the streets of flea markets and antinque shops that the area is famous for. There were street performers all over and we had a beer outside a coffee and watched the world go by whilst listening to and occasionally watching some Tango! It was a really nice area with a great feel to it. I think I would probably choose to live in this area if I moved to BA.


We vistited the Boca are, home of Boca Juniors (unfortunately didn´t get to watch a game due to money, illness and timing!). This is the poorer of the central BA areas. A few burnt out cars and a slightly dodgy feel aside, it was nice enough. We visited Caminata, in Boca, famous for its brightly paited houses. Whilst it was a little touristy it was still really beatiful adn again there werw street artists and tango dancers around. We also visited Palmero Viejo. This is the trendiest of all the areas. Full of posh restaurants and boutique shops. We felt a little underdressed for this area. Everyone looked so shiek and trendy and we wer traiping around in our slightly dirty and worn clothes! Never mind.

Our own neighbourhood was full of posh appartment blocks, with delis or restaurants on most street corners. We foudn one particular restaurant that was a great find. Obviously a locals favourite it was full almost every night, and one night we even decided to queue on the street we liked it so much! It was nice to visit the same palce afew times. We began to feel like a locals.

All in all the 10 days we spent were great and as I saind before, it is truly one of the best cities I have visited. They seem to have managed to cmobine the good aspects of the nice European capitals, thrown in a bit of New York and given it a latin edge! It was pretty perfect! Only downside to the stay was the fact that I got pickpocketed on the underground and lost my camera! A bit of a bugger as I had been keeping my favourtie photos on their, luckily I had downloaded almost all of them onto the webiste but I still lost some. I chose to look at the positive and decided that the reason I lost it was that I had relaxed too much! Who would have thought that possible from me?

We did do lots of other things too, but I don´t want to bore you with an "and then we went.....and then we did......" blog, plus it was a few weeks ago now so I have forgotten some of the things! Oh well, on to Puerto Madryn!
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Puerto Iguazu, Litoral, Argentina

We boarded the bus to Iguazu at 4 pm in Salta an epic 23 hour bus ride ahead of us! It is funny to think that at the beginning of the trip a 16 hour flight seemed epic, yet now we consider a journey of that length normal. Funny how your brain adjusts to scale so quickly. However, I wasn´t looking forward to 23 hours on a bus. As it turned out the bus was pretty comfortable and both of us slept fairly well. I kept George happy by feeding her empanadas at regular intervals. Seemed to work ok.

We arrived on time in Puerto Iguazu with no major incidents from the journey to report. It was nice to see the earth changing to the deep reddish brown colour again and the vegetation get more dense. We were getting closer to tropical forest again, the cold and desolate Altiplano of the Andes fading in our minds. We wandered down to the hostel that we had booked and the blue skies and warm sun brought a smile to my face. We arrived, a little hot and sweaty at the hostel and were met by a really friendly guy at reception who offered us both a free, ice cold beer on the house! It was only 11.00am but we didn´t have to be asked twice! He showed us to our room , which was nice and clean, and showed us around the rest of the place. There was a really nice kitchen/BBQ area with tables outside, a pretty courtyard with climbing plants and bright flowers, all painted with bright colours. It was really tranquil and the perfect place to kick back in the sun. It wasn´t long before I was changed into my shorts and sitting outside our room, sipping a cold beer and watching humming birds and butterflies amongst the flowers. It was going to be hard to leave this place!

After relaxing for a while we decided to head into the center of town to get our bearings. This was easier said than done. Even George, with her salmon-like sense for directions, struggled to get used to this small town´s layout. I think it was because we had gotten so used to a grid system that our minds couldn´t cope with the strange a-symmetrical layout. At the centre point of the town is a roundabout with 7 or 8 roads leading from it! Any how we managed. The pace of life here was pretty relaxed, especially as we were here outside the peak season. Shops seemed to open and close at random times and shopkeepers sat around outside habitually sipping their mysterious looking mate (green tea of some kind). It was nice and for such a touristy destination not overly touristy somehow. We had lunch in a cafe in town and headed back to the hostel for some R&R and to plan the next day´s trip to the star attraction of the area, Iguazu Falls!

I must admit that before starting to plan this trip, I had never even heard of Iguazu Falls. Niagara, Angel, Victoria I had heard of, but never Iguazu. It is odd considering just how spectacularly beautiful and enormous they are! I had tried hard to avoid all photos of Iguazu as I wanted it to be a bit of a surprise. The only time I saw any detail was during the incredibly poor final Indiana Jones film! We woke early(ish), and had carefully planned the order of the day hoping to avoid the crowds as much as possible.

We arrived at the entrance to the park at around 9am and bought our tickets. We had figured that most people would head straight for the main attraction the Garganta del Diablo or Devil´s throat. My book had recommend first seeing the falls from a distance so we instead headed for the lower trail. This would give us sight from a distance and allow us to walk through the forest with the minimum of noise. The path to the beginning of the Lower Walk went through a small section of forest. We were a little surprised that, given the proximity of this path to the main park area, there were signs saying not to feed the animals and to keep children close due to the possibility of big cats! Yeah right I thought! Well within 30m I was eating my words. No big cats luckily, but a rustling in just off the path (jungle training kicked in!) led to the first spot of the day, a Coati! This was followed by a whole family traipsing past in front of us! It was quite a shock really. So much so I didn´t manage any good photos. We carried on, lots of bright butterflies fluttering around us. A bit further on another rustling produced some kind of giant rodent thing, not sure what it was but it was a bit more shy than the Coatis. Amazing that we had such spots within the first 300m of the park!

We carried on past the train station (a small gas train transports people around various points of the park) and it seemed our strategy had paid off. The station was packed full of people waiting to be taken to the Devil´s Throat. we smugly walked past and on toward the beginning of the lower trail. At the start of the trail we got our first glimpse of some of the falls at a distance of about a mile or more. At first I didn´t want to look, somehow thinking that this would spoil the surprise. Pretty stupid I guess. When I did look though it was quite a sight. Even from this distance you could see the spray and the sheer size of what was ahead. It brought a smile to my face which grew as the morning went on.

We set off again along the path knowing now what we were getting closer to. As we got closer we could hear the distant roar of the falls. The whole park is made up of over 250 separate falls. As we rounded a bend and a clearing in the trees and our excitement and anticipation rose. We looked down the river and in the distance we got our first decent sight of the Devil´s throat.

What a sight it was. The smile broadened and I snapped away, not able to get over the size of it even from this distance. We carried on until we reached another viewpoint. From here we had an amazing panoramic view of the Devil´s throat and of the San Martin falls between them the Island. It was truly spectacular. The light was amazing and swallows darted in and out of the falls. In the spray bright rainbows, condors circling rising on the thermals. Beautiful butterflies and bright red and purple Begonias (maybe) all around. It made me feel like a child after too many orange sweets! I was a little giddy. For a while it seemed affect George differently. She was quiet and seemed to truly be in awe of her surroundings! It was an incredible spectacle (both the falls and George quiet!)


We carried on along the trail getting loser to the powerful water all the time. Occasionally stopping to look again and take more pictures, as if you had to prove to yourself where you were and that this was real. We took a small boat to an island between the main falls and walked around. The signs warned to keep on the path in case of snakes. We were so obsessed with looking for snakes that it we were completely unaware that we had entered the realm of the condor. The first one startled us as it flapped its black wings above our heads, and then we noticed that they were everywhere. Incredibly tame and obliging our photo taking! From the island we got our first taste of the San Martin fall up close. They roar was like a plane landing and spray soaked us as we got near. We stood at the viewing platform, transfixed on the water crashing down. It was quite hypnotic.


We headed to lunch excited and giddy. It had been worth the wait. Lunch was expensive, and we were annoyed that we hadn´t organised a picnic. In the afternoon we went on a long walk through the slightly disappointing nature trail. We had expected to see some monkeys and other interesting things but all we saw were lots of butterflies. Maybe it was too warm for them who knows?!

After the walk we had one final destination, up close and personal with the Garganta Del Diablo. Our organisation had definitely paid off. We took the little train to the last stop and it was virtually empty. We disembarked and walked the kilometre path across the wide rivers that fed the mighty falls. The roaring sound of the distant fall grew as we approached, an old, destroyed walkway ran alongside ours a reminder of the power of the river during wet season. We were close now, the rainbow-filled spray visible. It was amazing to watch the calmness of the water even within a couple of metres of the huge falls. It had no idea what was about to come. I wondered how many times the same water molecules had fallen over the falls.

When we finally were in full sight of the falls it was truly breathtaking. The spray rose high, he sunlight catching it and forming vivid colours. The roar was load a the power immense but it was somehow calm. Very hard to explain. As before watching became hypnotic. I had possibly the strongest spell of vertigo ever as I leaned on the railings. I started to feel dizzy, and a little queasy and then had the feeling of falling. I even felt my thigh muscles tense slightly and push me up on my toes a little! I took a couple of steps back!

Another amazing sight for the trip! A place I didn´t know existed before we planned. In parts it looked like paradise. I hope the pictures do it justice.


The rest of the time in Iguazu was spent relaxing, eating and sunbathing. We met up with Toby and Louise for dinner and what was the biggest steak to date!
George and I ate our first Parrillada of the trip which was quite fun. Basically a mini BBQ is brought to your table plied high with too much meat! Ours included some offal; kidney and chitterlings as well as steak (two cuts), sausage, chicken and black pudding! Ridiculous!


We had to leave this place before we became addicted to the relaxed atmosphere and turned into 300 pound sun burnt whales! It was time to go to Buenos Aires. We decided that we needed to stop somewhere for a while so we decided to rent an apartment and after some hard bargaining we found a place. Buenos Aires here we come!
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Salta, Northern Argentina, Argentina

Our Andean adventure behind us we looked forward to the easier , if a little more expensive, Argentinian leg of our trip. Although sad to be leaving the colourful and interesting Bolivia and Andes behind us we were quite tired, a symptom of the altitude affecting my sleep, we looked forward to tap water (oddly) and identifiable meat!

Our bus arrived and it was clear straight away that we were back to relatively comfortable travel. We set off for our short seven hour journey to Salta feeling happy that our decision to get up at 3.15am seemed to have proved to be a good one.

I was getting comfortable and settling down to some much needed sleep when, just five minutes into our journey, the bus came to a halt. "Security Check" I thought to myself and continued to dose. Three hours later we still hadn´t moved! Our early start now completely pointless. It was frustrating, but if this trip has taught me anything it is patience! In a way it was quite amusing really. We had carefully, and fortuitously, managed to avoid all roadblocks and disruptions, even through the minefield of Bolivia. Yet, within two kilometres of Argentina we were held up by a roadblock! Just when we thought they were were going to cancel the bus and we were going to have to arrange to stay in an unpleasant border town for the night, the conductor announced that we were going to try the old raod out of town. WHAT!? Why didn´t we try this idea two hours ago I thought! Never mind, we were off and that was the important thing. We set off and, apart form the fact that the bus almost broke down, the rest of the journey was uneventful. We arrived in Salta tired and hungry 16 hours after setting off that morning!

We arrived at our hostel, or so we thought, only to find out that there are two Corre Caminos hostels in Salta and we had come to the wrong one! Luckily there wasn´t a problem, the tow places are run by the same group and the friendly guy at the hostel said if we liked we could saty there that night and then move on in the morning. This sounded ilike agreat idea to me. I wasn´t keen on traipsing across town. I just wanted food and then bed! We got changed and then headed out. Our heads spun with all the traffic, the paved roads and the bright signs and street lights. It was so different to what we were used to and it was quite disorientating. Unsurpisingly, I had been looking forward to my first Aregentian steak for some time and I wasn´t going to let my tiredness or a late bus stop me! As we got to the main square we first of all saw the bright pink cathedral which dominates the area.

There was a huge crowd of people outside so we moved closer thinking there must be some kind of event going on. Turned out that it was just people who couldn´t fit inside the cathedral for mass. Crazy busy and this on a Friday night at 8.30! The main square was lovely with street cafes, palm trees and brightly coloured flowers. Theclimate was nice and warm and people were miling about and have drinks in the cafes after work. It was really nice, if different to what we had experienced so far. Way more European!

We wandered around for a little while looking for a nice restaurant to go to. We finally settled on a nice looking place with an open fire pit with baby goat roasting over the open coals and a huge parilla (BBQ) with eqaully huge steaks sizzling away on it. Inside lots of neat tables with white tableclothes and big wine glasses. It looked the perfect palce to start our Argentian steak fest. We weren´t to be disappointed.

Although we had sat down at around nine the place was still pretty empty, must be the fact that it´s Monday I thought to myself. We got the menus from our waiter a looked through our eyes widening at each page turned. There was a lot of meat and red wine. Perfect! We both ordered the Bife de Chorizo (Sirloin) with some chips and steamed veg on the side to share along with there house red for about. The wine cost only 7 pesos (about a pound thirty!) everything else was quite pricey (for us). The waiter congratualted us on our choice. Nice. When the food arrived it was worth the wait! It was great. The steaks were huge, perfectly cooked and tasty. The wine big and spicy! Tiredness was forgotten for a little while! Amazingly our stomachs had shrunk and we had a real problem eating it all. We left the restaurant tired, happy, full, and a little tipsy! It was about 10.30 and the place was still filling up. I was going to like Argentina even if my waist line was not!

We woke the next day to a beautiful sunny day and decided that we would move to our the hostel we had booked. We jumped in a cab (which the hostel paid for - nice touch) and headed across town. Although the new hostel wasn´t as central, it was much nicer and far better value. The rooms were set around a central courtyard and there was a swimming pool, pool table, free internet, nice kitchen and parilla! I would definitely recommend it. We really liked it. The staff at both places were really friendly .

Unpacked and refreshed we went to the supermarket toget supplies. We knew that our budget did not allow us to eat out in Argentina as much as in the other countries and we would have to do more self catering. It was actually quite nice to cook for ourselves again and I must admit I do like looking around foreign supermarkets (something that drives George crazy!) We spent the rest of the day generally relaxing and reading by the side of the pool. It felt like being on holiday! It felt so good to be in shorts and a t shirt again after two months wrapped in layers of clothes.

The next morning we got up early and headed to the park for a trip on the cable car! It was another nice day when we got to the immaculate cable car staion just as they were opening and we jumped on the 2nd car to go up. After overcoming my fear of heights (and cable cars) it was nice to look out over the city and surrounding mountains. George decided that she would pray on my fear and rock the cable car! Funny. We got to the top and walked around the nice gardens and pretty waterfalls. It was all quite pleasant but we have been spoiled for views really. We thougth we should try and get some excercise so decided to walk back to the hostel; an hour walk that took in some of Salta´s pretty residential neighbourhoods. I looked around and thought to myself "I could definitely get used to this place." The people were all friendly, it had a great climate, the food was nice and the surroundig area beautiful. When we asked a guy we had met in the hostel how long he had been in Salta, he looked slightly embarrassed and surpirsed as he realised it had been three weeks! It was easy to see how it could happen.

That afternoon whilst having lunch we met a couple from South London, Toby and Louise. They had had enough of the reat race and quit their jobs, sold their house and decided to do some travelling before hopefully settling again in Australia. It was really nice to meet up with some more people. We hit it off straight away, chatting away for couple of hours before deciding to head to a museum together. Party animals eh!? The museum was quite good though, with great examples of more Inca mummies and asscociated burial artefacts. It was nicely laid out and the mummy quite impressive and it was good to read a different interpretation on some of the Inca ceremonies, but it was way overpriced.



After the museum we all decided that after the andean cold evenings it was time to take advantage of the warm evening and street cafes. We chose one on the main square and sipped beers as we watched people bustiling around, buskers filling the air with music. It was nice. We chatted away until it was time to head back to the hostel for a barbeque. Amazingly this was free. A perk of being organised for once. Finally, our organised neuroses had paid off! They BBQ was great. Loads of meat (unsurprisingly), potato salad, and green salad all awsked down with bucket loads of wine. There was the two of us, Toby and Louise, a Swiss girl called Maria, and a Kiwi called Donna plus Fernando the hostel´s BBQ master. We were allslightly older travellers (middle aged to you Vanessa!) with George being the youngest so we all had lots in common. It was a great night, and it had been ages since I had stayed up late and drunk too much!




The next day was a bit of a wash out really, I got up late with a foggy head and we basically just mooched around. I did recover in time for supper though and we went out to the same restaurant as the first night. Excellent again!

The next day we decided to buy our bus tickets to Puerto Iguaçu before we got stuck here for three weeks too! It was to be our first 24 hour bus journey. I wasn´t looking foraward to it.

I really enjoyed Salta and its feel. Streets coming alive from eight in the evening and restaurants filling up at ten. The firendliness of the people was also really nice. I had been worried and had read that Argentinians might be a bit standoffish especially given English-Argentian relations weren´t great in the past! But we found everyone to be really friendly and warm. I hoped the rest off Argentina would be as enojoyable.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domcrean/1/1220998320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domcrean/1/1220998320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/domcrean/1/1220998320/tpod.html Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:47:57 -0400 Andes, Amazon, Argentina and more - The trip of a lifetime.

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Villazon, Bolivia

Not knowing what time buses left from th border to Salta we had decided to not take any chances and so we got up early at 3.15am to catch the 4.00am bus to Villazon and the Argentian border. After a minor misunderstanding with the hotel about whether we had paid or not,we headed to the bus station in the dark. As normal in Bolivia the bus station was busy, but we had no problem getting tickets. I was looking forward to hopping on the bus and catching some more Z's. However, as was fitting for our final journey, the bus turned out to be the most noisy, rattly, and shakiest bus to date. And it was freezing cold. Sleeping was not really an option.

Luckily, for some reason the bus arrived an hour early and we arrived in freezing cold Villazon at 6.20am. A little dazed and tired we got off the bus and were met by a thong of touts waiting to sell us tickets to Argentina. We grabbed our bags and were hurried to an office by a busy little woman who was snuggly wrapped under a multitude of blankets. A bit of haggling later and we had our tickets and the same busy woman was marching us to the border. We got our exit stamp from the disinterested and relaxed Bolivian officials in their ramshackle office and carried on over a bridge to the altogether more imposing and official looking Argentian border. We had to wait in queue here for about 20mins or so until they opened and when we got to the window the officious-looking policeman stamped our passports with so much as a Buenos Dias. No pleasantries here then! We went to the border and had a rather half hearted bag search, phew! Just kidding! He could obviously tell George was no smuggler. The busy lady had waited for us all that time and now whisked us into a taxi. It wasn't until I asked her the time that I suddenly realised that, due to the time difference, we only had 15 minutes until our bus left! It is weird to walk 50m and lose an hour! We made our bus with time to spare.

We were in Argentina now and I suppose the home leg of our trip. I was surprised how sad I was to be leaving Bolivia. I felt an affection towards Bolivia and the plight of its people. They seem to have had the biggest problems recovering after the conquistadors left. They seem to get shit on by just about everyone and have never won a war. As a result they have lost their coast and lots of mineral rich land to neighbouring countries. Despite their hardship, the people we came across and spoke to were friendly and in the main seemed fairly positive. They seemed to have an appropriately dark sense of humour. It is another country full of beautiful, diverse landscapes: from the bitterly cold Altiplano to the lush cloud forests and jungle. I will never forget the surreal landscape of the Salar and lagunas and the beautiful contrasts of colour and light there.

If the infrastructure was better and the people's propensity to block roads was decreased, I have no doubt that Bolivia would become as popular as other surrounding countries for tourists and backpackers. Maybe, though, that is part of its charm and uniqueness. With the bad buses, road blocks, upset tummies and cold rooms
you cannot help but become part of its daily struggle and inconvenience. And, in a small way, by the end of it all you feel a little bit more Bolivian than when you started.
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