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Argentina

Salta

Salta is a small town in Northeast Argentina. When we arrived here the town was having an important religious holiday. The people of the town were walking to the main plaza in hordes, which is where their church is located. They sung religious hymns and prayed although we couldn't understand too much of it since it was all in Spanish. Adjusting to the way of life in Argentina was a little difficult since the restaurants here open for dinner at 10 PM. The locals told us that their way of life is dinner at 10 PM, bars at midnight, clubs at 2 AM,and always bring your sunglasses to the clubs since you will leave in daylight. Argentina is famous for their steaks and that night we asked a local where we could get the best steak in town. We were sent to a restaurant called Viejo Jack's where we had the best steak of our entire lives. We thought we were in for a treat later on since this town was so small and the steaks would probably be even better in the bigger towns. Much to our dismay, we were wrong! Viejo Jack's, located in a little town in Northern Argentina has the most tender and flavorful steaks in all of Argentina. Salta had a funicular (chair lift) up a huge mountain which provided us with fantastic views of the city and surrounding areas.

Cafayate

Argentina has a huge wine industry. Cafayate is home to many of the vineyards and wineries, however Cafayete is a tiny town. We rented bikes in the town and biked to the various wineries in the area for tours and tastings. The most common wines in Argentina are the Malbec, which is red and Torrontes, which is white.

Cordoba and Villa Carlos Paz

Cordoba is a college town and has many young people living there. This city was more modernized than anywhere we had been in South America. The architecture was beautiful and the city had many plazas. We went to a huge craft market here. We took a one hour bus ride to Villa Carlos Paz, which according to our guidebook was a "mini Las Vegas", but our guidebook was wrong. Aside from the fact that the town had a small one room casino, there were no similarities at all with Las Vegas. Fortunately, the town was located on a lake and was a wonderful place to visit. We walked around a lot here and enjoyed the scenery and the environment, as there were no other tourists in the town.

Mendoza

We arrived here on the first day of Spring (we are in the Southern Hemisphere so that is the same as North America's first day of Autumn) and were delighted to learn that the town was having a Spring Festival that day. We were informed that on the first day of Spring all of the schools close to give the children a day off and the city holds a free concert in the park. We walked over to the park and discovered masses of children and teenagers sans parents. The kids were playing sports, having picnics, and listening to a concert. The concert was a huge production and we were shocked that it was free. It went on for about 8 hours, although we didn't last that long!

Mendoza is where the majority of Argentina's vineyards are located. The Argentinians are very proud of Mendoza wines. We decided to take a tour of three wineries and have a nice lunch at one of them. The wineries were all extremely elegant. One looked like a Mayan Pyramid. Another had a smell room, where you could smell 48 scents that are found in wine. Four of them are actually considered defects, such as mushrooms. Then we were given a glass of wine and tried to determine which five scents in the room were in the glass of wine. The lunch was delicious. It was a five course meal with a different wine for each course. The wine that accompanied dessert was the most expensive wine produced at the vineyard. We toured the wineries and learned a great deal about the production of wine. We were even allowed to climb into the huge vats where they produce the wine (we hope they clean them before they use them again)!

Our hostel here gave of all their guests a free glass of wine each night. They also had a barbecue one night which ended up being a great way to meet people and enjoy steak and wine.

Bariloche

As we headed further South, we reached Bariloche, a gorgeous town located on a lake and surrounded by mountains. The town itself reminded us of ski towns in Colorado. The first day we were there we rented bikes and rode to different viewpoints, lakes, beaches, and villages. The second day we were there we went skiing/snowboarding. The views from the top of the mountain were gorgeous and reminded us of Tahoe, with mountains and lakes all around us. Our hostel had a jacuzzi on the top floor where we watched the sunset over the mountains and lake. We went to a restaurant that one of the locals recommended. The specialty was their milanesa napolitana. This is essentially a breaded fried steak smothered in tomato sauce and cheese. It was unbelievable and we shared one which was too big for even both of us to finish.

El Bolson

This town is really small and surrounded by snow covered mountains. The town is famous for their craft market which is held three times a week. The locals are known for their craftsmanship and creativity. It is a real artist's village. The town also offers a lot of trekking. We started a trek that we found on the map and the trail just kept climbing higher and higher as time went by. Before we knew it we were trekking through snow which was fairly difficult. The trek was a lot more difficult then we had anticipated but the views were astounding. Rachel did another hike on a different day that took her to see pretty views of the valley, as well as, a huge rock that looks like an Indian's head and a waterfall.

Puerto Madryn

We headed over to the Atlantic Coast to Puerto Madryn, which is located on the beach. At this point though we were so far South that the ocean is freezing. We walked along the beach and were able to see the Southern Right Whales flipping their tails and fins out of the water. This town is known for its vast amount of marine life. We rented a car and drove to see the huge colony of Magellan Penguins. There were 800,000 penguins and it was mating season. We were able to walk around them as the males were making their mating calls to attract a partner. Most of the penguins were already paired off and stood in pairs and many of them were mating as we walked by. One pair already had an egg in the little hole in the ground and the male was guarding it. Next we drove to a beach where we saw massive elephant seals. The adult males reach a length of about 20 feet and weigh 5,500 pounds.

El Chalten

El Chalten is one of the smallest towns we visited. In fact the town did not even exist until 1985. It is the home of some of the best trekking and mountains in Argentina. Our first day we went on a trek to see the Fitz Roy Mountains. They are known for their jagged peaks. The weather in El Chalten is very unpredictable so we were lucky that we were able to see the peaks. We also did an ice trek an El Chelten which was an incredible experience. We trekked to a river where we crossed on a zipline. Then we trekked further to Glacier Torres. There we put on crampons and walked onto the glacier. It was an exhilarating experience to walk on a glacier, especially when we looked down at the big crevasses and then had to leap over them. The hardest part was that the winds were blowing at 90 miles per hour with gusts of 120 miles per hour. Rachel actually had her own guide assigned to her who was told to make sure she didn't blow over. We ate lunch on the glacier and then were given ice axes to climb up an ice wall. We were both really good at climbing up the wall. Then we trekked back. The entire day took 10 hours and we were exhausted! On our last day in El Chalten the town was having a rodeo to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the town's existence. We went to the rodeo and all of the gauchos (cowboys) were dressed in their traditional garb. They had an asado (barbecue) where they had two cows and twelve lambs on crosses set by a fire. We ate some meat and watched the gauchos ride the broncos.

El Calafate

The main attraction here is the huge Perito Moreno glacier. The glacier is three miles wide and 240 feet high. The glacier is actually still growing. Every 20 minutes or so we would hear a rumble and then watch as a huge chunk of the glacier would break off and crash down into the water. The glacier is visually breathtaking and there were plenty of different viewpoints to pbserve it from.

Igazu Falls

These waterfalls are the division between Argentina and Brazil. We visited the falls on the Argentinian side. The best part of the falls was named Garganta del Diablo, where so much water flowed in that a massive whirlpool was created. We also saw lots of other points of the falls which have a width of 8,800 feet and a height of 269 feet. There was even one viewpoint that made us soaking wet from the mist of the falls. The hostel we stayed at here had a Halloween party that night. They had a barbecue and gave us special Brazilian drinks called caipirinhas which are similar to mojitos. Next, the music started and Samba dancers came out and taught us how to samba.

Buenos Aires

When we arrived in Buenos Aires the ex-president had just passed away. He was the husband of the current president and we learned that he was supposed to be re-elected at the end of the term of his wife. Apparently. he is still running the country through her but is required to take a term off as he can only be president a certain number of years in succession. The country went into mourning but at the same time the other political parties seized the opportunity to rally for their candidates. So, as we entered Buenos Aires there were parades and protests all around the city. The demonstrations only lasted one day so it didn't interrupt our time here.

We went to Recoleta cemetary where all of the wealthiest people of Buenos Aires are buried. They are all in ornate mausoleums. A lot of the past presidents and generals can be found here, as well as, Eva Peron. We went to an area called La Boca which has brightly painted buildings, people dancing tango in the street, and artisan markets. Rachel went to a famous antique and craft market in an area of the city called San Telmo where the vendors try to dress up as crazy as possible. At Plaza de Mayo we saw many government buildings including Casa Rosada, the President's building. This building is famous for its balconies overlooking the Plaza where many politicians would address the people. We spent a lot of time walking around the city, along the water, Avenues Florida and Santa Fe, which are pedestrian streets, and seeing famous city monuments. We also spent some time sampling the city's finest steakhouses. Our favorite one in Buenos Aires was called La Cabrera in Palermo where they brought out perfect steaks, accompanied by a plethora of side dishes.

Our final night in Buenos Aires was the futbol (soccer) match of the two most famous Argentinian teams, River Plate versus Boca Juniors. Although we went with a group of tourists, we selected tickets in the upper section which is known to be where the rowdy fans sit. According to the locals...you can either watch the party or be the party...so naturally we chose to be in the party! As we walked into the stadium we saw stacks of newspapers and we were instructed to grab as much as we could and bring it to our seats. Two hours before the game started the stands were already full and everyone was busy ripping their newspapers into confetti pieces. The upper section was filled with people who had streamers, flags, umbrellas, and there was even a drum section. As the home team (River Plate) was announced onto the field, the fans erupted throwing confetti everywhere, setting off fireworks and smoke bombs, and chanting at the top of their lungs. Next, the fans on the top row of the stadium started unfurling a massive flag which covered the entire section of the stadium behind the goal from top to bottom, over approximately 18,000 people out of the 76,000 in attendance. We learned that this flag cost them 300,000 pesos which is $75,000 US dollars. The game started and the fun began as the fans did not sit down for a single second nor did they stop chanting and screaming for a single minute. We tried to join in as much as we could but when in doubt we just jumped and threw our arms up with the rest of the fans. The craziest part of the whole game was when River Plate scored a goal and the fans started lighting flares which wasn't the best idea since there was a layer of newspaper confetti everywhere. About 6 people away from us an eight year old kid was given a flare which then lit up the newspaper and erupted into a fire. The fans around him stomped it out and just continued cheering and chanting like it wasn't a big deal. After that the Boca Junior section lit their flares and threw them onto the River Plate section below them. Fires were being put out everywhere. When the game finally ended and River Plate won (1-0) the home team was required to stay in the stadium for 30 more minutes to let the away team leave and prevent fights. As the Boca Junior fans left their section they lit about 6 fires and walked away. Firefighters were quick on the scene to put out the flames. And yes, we have video evidence to prove all of this. Finally we left the stadium and one of the craziest yet most enjoyable experiences in South America.

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Photos

Viejo Jacks in Salta
Best steak ever!

Ian & an Elephant Seal
He didn't like Ian very much