Primera Etapa - Stage One

---

Righty ho, time for our first blog, and so far we’ve made it from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Buenos Aires and onward and upward to a sweet little town called Mercedes. But let’s not jump too far ahead of ourselves just yet.

Stopping over in Sao Paulo is not something we’ll be putting on the recommendations list. Let’s just say we were a pair of chicken lickens, more worried about the sky falling down than much else. Our Taxi driver was anything but reassuring and the TV news reported nothing but murder, kidnap, stabbings... The reality of the day was far less frightening, and we had to laugh at the overly conspicuous porn cinema next door. Perhaps we over reacted, but it made for a comfortable and worry free stay in Buenos Aires.
The cobbled streets of San Telmo take you back to times of spontaneous street tango, and the shops hold little else but antiquities. It was everything I expected and then some. This part of town was quite enchanting.

It’s always a bonus to catch up with an old friend, but even better if they’re a local. Andrea, an ex AFS student is now a resident doctor in BA - (how things change in 8 years!) - We met for coffee and then she had us round for stacks of argentine meat. We like meat. Chorizo, churrasco, steak and a whole lot of unnameable cuts. The ice-cream was top notch too. Hats off to Andy.

Hopping it straight to Mercedes de Corrientes means a 6am departure and 10 hours of uneventful bus riding. The right-hand side of the bus did however provide a nice flat (incredible flat) view towards Uruguay.
So far not much happening in Mercedes, and we are waiting to catch the bus up to Colonia de Pellegrini, and its shores of Laguna Iberá. Just how long we have to wait will depend on my current ‘digestive’ issues. It appears the cholera inoculation does not work.

CATALÀ!!
Bones a tothom!!!
Aquí comença la nostre aventura per Sud i Centra América!
Per qüestions de vol vam passar dos dies a Sao Paulo(Brasil), i la veritat es que es una ciutat molt insegura, tampoc va ajudar molt que estiguéssim en un hostal molt varat, sota un cinema X. Quant es fa fosc millor no sortir, la mateixa gent de la ciutat esta molt cansada de assassinats i segrestos.
Després em estat dos dies a Buenos Aires al barri de Sant Telmo que ve a ser com el Raval a Barcelona, un cop has estat a Sao Paolo, es un plaer! Llavors em agafat un bus(colectivo),es diu aquí, i en nou hores ens em plantat a Mercedes, una ciutat al Nord-est d'Argentina, que esta pujant cap a les catarates d'Iguazu. La Rach a tingut uns petits problemes digestius!!

---

Photos

Ángel in Buenos Aires Bar
Funky little bar in San Telmo, Barrio de Tango

Cementerio, Recoleta
Fantastic Graveyard, of the rich and important. Evita's tomb is just one.

Andrea and Leandro
Excellent hosts, and great to see Andy again

Rach en Mercedes
Davant l´esglesia de Mercedes, Corrientes.

Ángel, Mercedes
Just sitting. Not much else to do in this town.

Ángel, being good
This is the part where I am sick in Bed, and having a husband really counts for something.