Calafate 2 I have first shower this morning before the others are awake, and Chris comes running in. IT’S BEEN SNOWING! I dry off and poke my head out of there to find the area covered in a white blanket of snow, but with a clear blue sky. Further dark clouds on the horizon though …… Weird because this is spring going on summer and not expected. Another good breakfast and much speculation as to what the day would deliver as we head off to our 2nd day of glacier viewing. As we leave the dark clouds turn to further snow. [View Full Entry]

---

---

Bariloche We arrive in Bariloche and Peter’s bags are successfully re-united with him. The flight was attractive as it skirted the Andes all the way (90 minutes) and provided some good views, but the worn windows on the ageing MD80 didn’t allow any clear photos. We check into our hotel - the Panamericano Casino and Resort. The sign on the front door indicated 5 stars, and this place may have been - but that would have been at least 20 years ago, and the place is at least 10 years overdue for a full refurbishment. All have problems with our rooms [View Full Entry]

---

---

In Buenos Aeries again today, and while there was a full day tour, it was a relaxing tour designed to allow us all to recharge our batteries. Not quite sure that it worked as we are all pretty tired. Anyway, nice bus ride thru the northern suburbs of BA to the quiet affluent suburb of San Isidro. Went thru a Museum and yes, a Cathedral there too, before jumping on a train along the coast to the river delta at Tigris. There we had a relaxing boat ride thru the canals past extremely wealthy clubs and houses as well as a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ok 2 in one day! What a night. Off to the Tango show. I had read disparaging reports on the internet about this place. How wrong! Hall was great, food was magnificent, unlimited wine was included and the show with plenty of female extremities on display was more than excellent. The guys were good too but its not Kosher to mention that! Late dinner (Pete and Chris brought back 8 beers from their shopping 'spree'! so that was a good start.) Food: Crab on Guacomole CousCous (sp?) was fantastic, followed by a legendary (by now) Argentinian steak that you couldnt jump [View Full Entry]

---

---

Reputed to be a little like Paris, Buenos Aeries is indeed a little like the Paris I recall from my visit (in 1972!). While we were scheduled for a Tango Show dinner last night, they sensibly moved it because of a late afternoon flight from Foz Iguacu. We didnt get in until after 6.30 so it would have been a bit of a rush. A quick walk around the hotel area and Chris Peter and I settled for a meal in the local food court. Chris and Pete had a Grande Hamburger with chips and a small bottle of wine (beer [View Full Entry]

---

---

Gday again Well today was the day that the weather caught up with us. In the National park, we are in a rain forest. We had plans to go to the Argentine side, walk over and beneath the falls, then do the jet boat ride under the water. We did all of that - and we knew that we would get wet in the boat. What we didnt know was that the skies would open up and drench us before we even got anywhere near the falls. It was all good fun but following on from last night, your correspondent was [View Full Entry]

---

---

Checked out of Rio Just in time. Shrouded in mist and fog as a cool change swept in from the Atlantic. Uneventful flight to the falls and checked into our hotel (whose name I havent worked out - but it is now part of the Órient Express' group) which gives it the right to charge stupidly for everything. Fine old place but a bottle of wine costs $60 and I bought 2 for mum's party! The fallsh are great (from the Brazil side so far) and the hotel is fine too, and Mum's first party went Verrrrry well! - Another when [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, the second day in Rio. Firstly I apologise for not having pics attached yesterday, but for the first time I sent them thru an Internet café, and couldn’t load the special software for uploading a quantity of pics. While I did so one by one, they all disappeared into cyberspace ……… Now for the day. Great start - with a trip on the double cable car ride to Sugarloaf Mountain. Another good experience with great vistas from both the half way Estacio and from the top. Interestingly, we were well above the planes coming in to the domestic airport. (Some [View Full Entry]

---

---

Where do I start? From the last report in LaPaz, we had an exhaustive days travel to Rio. A total of 3 flights - with stopovers in Santa Cruz in Bolivia, Sao Paulo (the largest city in Brazil with 19 million ppl), then Rio. All the flights were good - although the first two which were with Aerosur (Bolivia’s national airline) and the plane and service were both very spartan. Not so much as a single tv in the first model 737-200. Since the definition of a good flight is one which takes off and lands without incident, all were GOOD [View Full Entry]

---

---

So then, La Paz La Paz is the capital of Bolivia. Home to 1.8 million people mainly of the Aymara indigenous race. The majority live in the canyon described in yesterday’s note while about one third live in the adjacent ElAlto satellite city on the plains above the CBD. ElAlto is the area first spotted on the drive from Peru and that is a shame since it is a dusty third world place with limited modern infrastructure and traffic chaos. The lower areas are more reasonable - with the CBD a mix or relatively modern buildings and older style colonial buildings. [View Full Entry]

---

---