Off to BA - ´Good Winds´

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  Buenos Aires, Argentina
Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Copied from Lou's TRavel Blog-

Travelogue

Leaving on the 4th January, I winged across the dry orange stretches of the Khalaghadi through which the enormous silent grey Orange river snakes a path ... and then over the endless ocean, musing that the last time I did this route it took me more than a month in a wee sailing boat! Hardly surprising when one has a bird´s eye view of the vast deep blue green that stretches from horizon to horizon! This time I was in the lap of luxury .... business class per favour of Voyager!

Met my nieces who were keen to scamper fast out of Sao Paulo ..... one huge city! We allocated ourselves roles:- Jules is the researcher ... mapping out where we want to go ... Sarah is logistics manager especially in terms of transport and I am meant to be the communicator!!! We look quite a sight laden with our back packs and travelling on the local transport - buses, metro etc.

In the rain we headed South for the coast travelling through lush countryside and rolling hills which reminded us of KZN ..... in fact we saw so many of the same trees .. flamboyants, feather duster trees and even our own acacias and strelitzias!!. ... twas very beautiful!

In Curitiba we got our first feel of European/Spanish Catholic influenced towns and cities, with their statutory plazas and Cathedrals! I was struck how so many of the plants in the plazas and parks are identical to ours .. most being exotics! There was most definitely a colonial style that borrowed plants from all over the world! However it is truly comforting to see the Jacaranda and the Tipuana (that huge tree in my Brooklyn front garden with yellow flowers) in their natural habitat.

01-BA

Curitiba is a world recognised model town in terms of efficient services. There has been a high influx of European and Japanese residents. In fact the South East is talked about as the white ´´part of Brazil. We found a cheap hotel on the plaza opposite the cathedral .... very stunning view from our room. As most people do in South America we wandered around in the evening until late, visiting the old University part of the town which was full of students and drinking places on the cobbled streets amidst beautiful old architecture.

What surely strikes any South African visitor are the effective and efficient public transport systems. Whether it be within urban areas or networking between towns and cities, buses criss-cross the land 24 hours around the clock. The stations are the hub of each town and do not go to sleep ... vast numbers of people are transported to all corners ... families on holiday, tourists, business people etc. We can certainly learn from South America!!

Both the Brazilians and Argentinians have been so friendly and helpful. There is no hassling and jumping on us to buy .. nor bargaining, which the gals highly appreciate in contrast to the Far East.

The damper was the ceaseless rain! Not ones to give up, we continued to a port town of Parangua, full of sea and pirate history and then onto the glorious island of Ihla do Mel (honey isle), which is very unspoilt and somewhat of a hippy hangout. In pouring rain and raging wind we valiantly tried to rock hop from beach to beach ...

02-Funky graffitti

but in the end we gave up, not even swimming as we were drenched, frozen rats!

We opted instead for the warm comfort a bus, making our way cross country on a 14hr trip to Iguazu Falls. Thankfully after 7 days of rain we arrived to perfect sunny weather, which is essential to appreciate the awesome beauty of the falls. They are magnificent as the photos bear testimony!

From Brazil we went across the border to Argentina and much preferred seeing the Iguacu falls from this side ... more walks and options so one did not feel quite so crammed and regimented, filing with multitudes! It is the number 1 tourist destination so we should not have been so shocked to discover that we cant just pop on a bus as we wish. With the next available seat to Buenos Aries only a week later ... we managed to organise a trip to Esteros nature reserve that seems an unknown gem ... even to Argentinians! It was lovely! .... reminiscent of the Botswana Okavango delta and Kosi Bay. We had a wonderful three days there .... with no connection to the outside world! We took boat trips and horse ride ... seeing the rather cute caymans (well in contrast to our not so friendly crocodiles) and contented cappybaras munch in the water all day ..... but the best was the rich bird life!

Finally we got a bus to Buenos Aries (better known as BA), getting stuck in Mercedes, which was very quaint and appealing, full off dilapidated colonial era houses and not one high rise! We slept in an artistic old colonial home with courtyard and amazing tiles etc that had been transformed into a hostel.

03-Regoletta cemetry

In fact most hostels are old spacious homes so that they can squeeze in large numbers ..... the limiting factor being the poor and limited bath and toilet facilities!

BA is mind-boggling. The vision of grandeur of the colonial masters is incredible and seen at every turn, with plazas, palaces, cathedrals, buildings and streets larger and better than the European originals. At the turn of the century .. clearly a time of plenty ... they bought craftsmen and materials from Europe. The strongest influence was French and Italian. BA boasts the widest street in the world - 14 lanes. Many of the buildings are beautifully maintained with modern high-rises complementing the style. It is a city of over 12 million people and in order to house them ... the old spacious high ceiling buildings are converted, with medio - half - floors created and rooms sub-divided. There isn´t the same obvious opulence of Johannesburg and SA cities, nor the same strong separation between the richer and poorer areas. They live side by side. What is really striking is the national pride in the arts. I went to endless art museums and galleries, most sponsored by a benefactor. The arts page boasts over 50 theatre productions. I went with Martin and Carmen to see Tanguerra - a brilliantly staged dance drama based on the Tango - of course. It was in a gloriously sumptuous theatre of plush red velvet and gold. Museums have been disappointing ... scant information and poorly designed. But in a way BA is a living museum with it richness of heritage.

After my crises of stolen money and passport and the swift provision of a temporary passport from the South African embassy in Buenos Aries I decided to try out my temporary stamp-less passport, leaving from Buenos Aries to Uruguay rather than get all the way to Bolivia to find it unacceptable! Uruguay is within easy distance over the vast Plate river ...

04- Wanna go Tango Dancing?

a delta made up of the Parana and Uruguay rivers that looks like a brown ocean. To give you a sense of its size, Buenos Aries has a busy port - 250ks up river. With to-ing and fro-ing between immigration officials and ticket offices and some fast talking I was finally stamped out of Argentina and into Uruguay! Taking a high speed, gi-normouse hydro boat, three hours later I stepped out into the most delightful town of Colonia Sacremento. It is a world heritage site and the powers that be have ensured it has kept its integrity, restoring the old town walls and buildings that date back to mid 17 th century. The Portuguese and Spanish fought over it, with it being a smuggling port for a long time. The cobbled, tree lined streets and water´s edge boulevards create an old world charming ambience, especially inviting when the candle lit restaurants and cafeterias open up in the evenings. The old part of the small town has been beautifully restored. I am still struggling with siesta and when to expect things to open. In Uruguay the sun goes down around 10h00 a la Cape Town and everything starts and goes on so late that I found myself returning to the hotel around 2.00am in the morning! Suits me ... but not les gals, who are early to bed types! Uruguay is more gentle than Argentina .. everything a bit smaller. The part I saw has verdant green countryside, with farming on family owned smallholdings. It is full of European settlers, especially the Swiss who have introduced dairies, cheese and patisseries. I caught buses from little town to little town, ending up in Carmelo. The buses like in Argentina were were efficient although older .. and most people travel distances on them. Otherwise it is bicycles and scooters and for a few, very old cars. Horses and carts are pretty commonplace. It is the so-called brash and much richer Argentinians that drive around in smarter cars .... but still nothing like South African urban areas with a plethora of the latest and biggest models. I took a different route back on a catamaran gliding past endless islands, deltas, and mangrove swamps, with working ships and pleasure launches bustling up and down river. On re-entering Argentina one became aware of some of the wealth there must be, with one yacht or motor launch club after another and fancy homes on stilts with immaculate lawns. However in the main the houses were, like elsewhere, very small and basic ... a lick of fresh paint stands out from the dirty, run-down norm. From BA I met up with the girls in Mendoza ... the heart of the wine growing region. I had no idea the quantity of wine Argentina produces ... but mainly for the domestic market. These days I understand they are competing on the world market .. with their famed Maalbeck being recognised. We bicycled around ... most interesting... tasting here there and everywhere. The girls are determined to get me onto the booze! This region is hot and dry with irrigation using the waters of the Andes. It has nothing of the verdant, classy and immaculately run wineries of the Cape.


From Mendoza we ran parallel to the Andes, heading North and into the most incredulous terrain, where you can see how the range was radically formed. I just wish I could get my photos up ... you would not believe the colours and the strangely hewn landscape. We bus hopped through the backwaters and see something of this unique part of the country. In a wee oasis called San Augustin in the Valle de Fertil (Fertile Valley) .... by oasis do not think of lush verdancy ... but a wee town that has trees in an otherwise dessicated environment we reached the Valle de Luna - valley of the moon. It was amazing! With an early start we climbed a mountain and looked over a UNESCO world heritage site ... an awesome lunar landscape ... with a red rock mountain ridge and green and yellow belts and a white moon-like stretch running for 50 ks. It is in this terrain that the earliest known prehistoric creature was found ... Eoraptor Lunesis estimated at 230 million years ... and the later Herrosaurus. It is a gold mine of fossils, which were unearthed (so to speak) when the Andes ridge was formed 65 million years ago. But the scenery is powerful and stark with strange shapes carved out of the white clay. There are river beds that have flash floods that last for 5 to seven hours once a year!! And yet the Agabarrolla (not too sure about the name!!) tree actually grows, feeding all life around it by reaching 20 metres into the ground for nutrients and water! Summer day temperatures can reach 48 max 50 degrees and in winter at night it is minus 10 - 15 degrees and 20 in the day! Up the mountain were cactii and other scrub plants that feed off the dew. And as luck will have it a family of 3 condors flew around and high above us!! I was thrilled!

Since when we have visited adobe style villages in these techni-coloured mountains ... and I have jumped around with throngs of others to celebrate carnival, which is happening all over in this North West region.

Next stop Chile by bus over the Andes

Very few people speak English ... so it is a challenge! I am doing pretty well and Sarah is learning the key words but dear Jules can only try her charm!

I am adapting well to life on the trot and having to count each penny. Good for me I reckon in my old age and before I become too inflexible! I do miss my cup of `proper` tea with fresh milk! Tea is drunk here but in a wild array of different teas. Whilst coffee seems to be the drink of choice in restaurants and cafes .. the Argentinians actually drink Yerba Mate - constantly. They walk around with a flask of hot water, their own cups and special silver spoon-straw through which sip a very bitter brew. It is supposedly good for you and acts as a stimulant. No wonder the Argentinians do not sleep ... Everything comes laden with sugar! So what with a high cholesterol meat diet and sweet tooth it is not the healthiest. We have opted to buy fruit, salad and yoghurt as our mainstay meal. Natural unsweetened yoghurt is almost impossible to come by and fruit salad always has tinned fruit with syrup included ..... making one think that the new healthier way of eating has yet to hit these shores! I must say the people are very attractive .. friendly and warm!

Take care .... hasta luego!

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