Argentina

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Hola Chicos,

Hello from the South of Argentina. Just sitting here in my five pounds a night hostel not far from the Glaciar Perito Moreno. Finding myself pretty relaxed I thought I would do a blog as it´s long overdue.

There is already a lot to tell you about here in South America.
We arrived in Chile on the 11th of July muchos worried about our lack of Spanish and out of our comfort zone fom NZ where everyone spoke English and things felt very normal. It was a long flight and Lorraine had been a little worried on the flight especialy after the Rio Air France disaster but we made it safe and sound.
We made it into town on the local bus after much gesturing and arrived into Santiago. Got our hostel from the lonely planet sorted and made our way up to our beds. We hadn´t slept much in a couple of days. The place was nice and very friendly, a good start. Turned out the South Americans like to siesta and go out to party at about 01:00 in the morning. This meant that throughout the night people were coming in at all hours of the morning and making a racket. We didn´t get much sleep for the next couple of days. I think though that Santiago is a hub for people starting/finishing their S. America trips. It´s either a leaving or arriving party most nights. We might have joined in but we were so tired from travelling.
Santiago was nice, especially the highly elevated park on a huge rocky outcrop overlooking the bustling city and onto the Andes (smog permitting). However after three day we decided to head onto Mendoza in Argentina to see what was going on over there ( and perhaps get some sleep).
We emt a nice Chilean man on the bus on the way over the Andes (superb bus ride iver the mountains) who helped us with our border crossing, forms etc. He evn offered us a place to stay at his sisters place with promise of big steaks and beer. I get a little paranoid around strangers (especially kind ones) and had visions of dungeons and torture so thanked him for his help but declined on the accomodation. He was O.K with this and seemed happy with a picture of him and Lorraine together for his facebook.
Mendoza was class. We met a lot of fellow travellers and went on a bicycle wine tour, a day on bicycles going around four different vineyards for tours and wine sampling. We even got a police escort later in the afternoon, I think they have had trouble with sozzled gringos on bikes previous to us. We were all in full control of course. Big thanks to Mr Hugo for the bikes and the free flowing wine on the return to his bike shop. Mr Hugo is a living legend all around Argentina.
We checked out the hot springs, seven different temperature thermally heated pools by the surrounding volcanoes.
We ate huge steaks (3 quid and about the size of an elephants heart!?!).
Huge lunches and copious amounts of wine which was cheap but probably some of the best you can get. (The vineyards assured us they kept the good stuff in the country).
It was sad to leave there as we met some really good people but we wanted to head South. Colder weather but lots to see.
Next stop Bariloche. We were not sure what to expect but we got there and were picked up and taken to a ten storey apartment block at the top of which was a penthouse hostel overlooking with an almost 360 degree view of the lake and the surrounding mountains. We met a lot of travellers there and had another bike trip. This time through the mountains and to some amzing spots. Attended a birthday party of the hostel staff, this entailed wine tasting and dancing. I must say my Spanish dancing was spectacular and came as quite a surprise to me. Not sure what everyone else thought but I am blocking that out. We went for more cheap but copious steak and wine (when in Rome...). Out for a drink at 1am, as you do. Had ice cream the size of a house. Lorraine still cant look at any since and that´s almost a week ago! When not out doing this we were able to stay in and enjoy the view, chat to other people, drink wine, play poker (Lorraine wiped the floor, and wont let me forget it) and generally became throughly relaxed. It was sad to leave there as we had made friends with other travellers and the staff that worked there.
Next stop was Puerto Madryn, homes of the whales. We got there after another epic bus journey and went straight to bed for a few hours. Up at lunch and down to the pier. Not much going on until we seen a seal swimming by. Very excited. We were watching him go under and come up for air every few minutes. To see them in the wild just a walk from the beach was cool. Then the whales arrived, they were far out but you could make out that there were at least three of them. This really set us up for the following day when we went out for the proper boat trip. This involved an 80km bus trip out to a small town on the coast. We got our life vests on and headed out along the coast for about 30 minutes. Then the whale action really began. There were at least four whales swimming around the boat, under the boat coming up and blowing air and water up around us. They were so close it was unbelieveable. One of the most fulfilling things we had done to date. It was so awesome it was hard to register that these things were real. Universal studios were surely at work here. We watched them for two hours, took hunderds of photos and videos and gasped and shouted everytime one of the big boys came over to see what the craic was with the gringos on the boat.
Next we headed out of P. Madryn and down to El Calafate to see the Moreno Glacier. This was another full day on the bus. Luckily we had met a couple from U.S.A and we all headed down together. Another 22 hours flew in. Once there we gotr our free cab to a hostel and all agreed to share a cab the next day to the glacier. About 30 ponuds for the 85km ride, three hours wait and return home. I got to sit up front and listen to the cabbie, Mario talk Spanish to me the whole way there. Everyone was impressed as I repeated keys words to Mario and translated to those in the back. The fact that I was watching Mario for key facial expressions and making up what he was saying to those in the back didn´t seem to matter.
Once there though we were thrust into another world. This Glacier was huge, 80m high, 5km wide and 14km long!!! The thing was colossal. The noises it was making were also immense. Great moans and cracks. We all felt very small and insignificant. Then an hour in, when we were all standing facing the beast a huge wall off ice broke off the front and crashed into the water. The sound was like nothing else. Cheers went up and we all felt elated. Nature is surely the greatest thing man can every hope to experiance. (Sorry for sounding like an idiot but this was sweet as).
Hundreds more photos taken the three hours we had there flew by. It was sad to go. We wanted to see another huge part of the ice wall fall and indeed as we were about to leave an even bigger piece crashed into the lake. What a farewell.
Just back I thought I would tell you all about the experience. Argentina rocks. This is a country that needs visiting and for a good long while. This is three weeks in and we have experienced so much, both the land and the people have excelled all expectations.
More to follow, hopefully things will continue at this pace although our time here may pass us by too quickly.

Peace out,

Niall and Lorraine.

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Photos

BMX bandits
Riding the wine tour

Mr Hugo
The legend Mr Hugo

Hot Springs of Mendoza
Cooking up some human broth

Bariloche
The view from the ´Penthouse´

Whale from the boat
Four whales were just of the side

Whale under the boat
One of the bad boys passed under for a closer look - kind of worried about it capsizing us but all was good

Glacier Splash
A huge chunk splashed into the lake

Glacier to the mountains
The Glacier up to the mountains supplying it