I have always been intrigued by the idea of "Welsh Patagonia" and finally a few days ago I was able to fulfil a dream and visit the place. There have been various waves of Welsh immigration to Patagonia after the first boat (The Mimosa) landed here in 1865. The Welsh migrants were looking for a new country, away from the pesky English where they could speak their own language and practice their religion as they wanted. Bizarrely, they settled on Patagonia - cold, desolate, wet, with poor agricultural prospects - not the most obvious choice! However, after various setbacks and problems, [View Full Entry]

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After coming down from Northwest Argentina we spent a few days in the centre of the country. We spent 2 days in Cordoba, Argentina´s second largest city, and to be honest it was enough time for us. I think we are developing an understanding of our likes and dislikes more as this trip goes on. We seem to find that big cities drain us and we cannot concentrate for too long on them! Having said that, Cordoba is a nice city and certainly has some pleasant sites. We enjoyed visiting the Musee des Bellas Artes (some of these Argentines certainly know [View Full Entry]

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So, after enjoying our brief stop in Salta, we continued our way southwards. We were hoping that going south might make the weather a bit cooler, but no such luck!! This is not going to be a long blog as there are too many fun things to do on this trip other than blogging, so hopefully the pictures and a brief summary will do! (Resolution: I will try to be a better blogger in the future...) Cachi The road from Salta to Cachi is very enjoyable, lots of mountains, switchbacks, farms, etc. We spent a few days in Cachi mostly relaxing. [View Full Entry]

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This blog claims to come from the city of Salta, but actually covers our time in Salta and Jujuy and surrounding areas. Northwest Argentina is hot, dry and the home of the majority of Argentina´s "indigenous" population. It is also home to some very high mountains (these are the Andes of course) and some gorgeous trekking opportunities. Salta City We started our visit to Northwest Argentina in the city of Salta after a long bus trip from Asuncion. Salta provides an excellent base for a few days before heading to the surrouding regions. We climbed the hill (San Bernardo) risin [View Full Entry]

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Paraguay probably doesn´t figure highly on most people´s top ten travel wishlists. And I think it is fair to say that that was true for us before this trip as well. But in fact we had a fun week exploring and it was nice to be back in a non-touristy part of South America (especially after Iguazú).We started off our mini-adventure by crossing the border from Posadas (Argentina) to Encarnacion (Paraguay). The crossing wasn´t too complicated and we were soon checking into our lovely Encarnacion digs (Hotel Germano). The lady running the hotel was very friendly and even complimented me on [View Full Entry]

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We decided to go to Brazil for the day to visit Iguazú Falls from "the other side". The Brazilian side of the Falls has significantly less trails to walk and less waterfalls to see close-up. However, it does have a great walk-way which takes you almost into the middle of one of the rivers to give a side-on view of the Devil's Throat. It is reasonable to say that the Brazilian side gives the panoramic view but the Argentine is better for the personal experience. Pictures here are just of the Brazilian side, so decide for yourself! Two problems we encountered [View Full Entry]

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After leaving Uruguay we crossed the border into Argentina and made our way to the city of Paraná - capital of its province and a handy enough place to stop. We spent a few days there sorting out our onward travel plans and enjoying the plentiful cheap steak. We also took in the city of Santa Fé across the river. It is a pleasant place to stroll for an afternoon, but after you have seen the museum and the old convent, you realise you have seen the highlights. Anyway, the main reason we were in the area was to visit the [View Full Entry]

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Ururguay is just a great country. Apparently it is known as the Switzerland of South America. Having never been to Switzerland, I find it difficult to draw comparison, but based on this trip I now think that Switzerland must be a very nice place. Colonia and Carmelo We started our trip to Uruguay by catching the ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento. This town is located north of BA and known as a popular day-trip destination. We decided to take our time exploring and so stayed for a total of 3 nights, all of them at the lovely Casa [View Full Entry]

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After nearly 2 weeks in our first city, we have decided to move on. We will be leaving Buenos Aires behind and going north to Uruguay. Buenos Aires has been quite an experience. It is a large city that takes a good few days to get your head around. Strangely, there does not tend to be massive crowding of people on the streets (unlike e.g. London´s Oxford Street on a saturday afternoon). The sights are mostly well spread out and so you find yourself doing a lot of walking each day. This of course suits us both well though, so no [View Full Entry]

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Well, what can I say. I have been dreaming of it since I was 4 years old, talking about it with Barry since we started going out together over 5 years ago and planning it seriously for the last year or so. That´s right, it is my year in South and Central America and it started on 5th September! We left Heathrow and after 2 flights, with a short stop at Sao Paulo, we made it to Buenos Aires. We had been on the same plane for over 15 hours and all in all, this was probably not the best state [View Full Entry]

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