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Published: December 7th 2011
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Buenos Aires Ey up
Seeing as we are 3 weeks in I thought I’d better let you know that we are still alive and have not yet been kidnapped by Argentinean cattle rustlers. We are however about to embark upon the return leg of what was somewhat of a picturesque yet deadly outbound bus trip. I am sure the smell I picked up on when stepping onto the bus was just old diesel canisters and not actually alcohol on the drivers breath. Saying that it could have been a combination of the two and he may drink diesel to keep him awake at the wheel. The bus will take us down Routa 40 (famous Che Gueverra motorcycle diaries route and hide out location for Butch Cassedy and the Sundance Kid) to El Calafate which is a place we left yesterday to arrive at El Chalten where we are currently waiting on the bus at the bus station.
El Chalten is a town surrounded by snow capped mountains and turquoise lakes but unfortunately at this time of year has about as many people living/visiting as Chernobyl at Christmas time. The town is only 25 years old though and
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the wife on the crazy juice I am sure in the summer it is beautiful and bustling but in the winter it is a bit of a ghost town to say the least.
I suppose instead of telling you about what I am doing now, I should back track a bit and let you know what we’ve been up to since we arrived. We arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Saturday the 13
th August at about 8am. We had met an old but glamorous Argentinean lady on the plane who offered us a lift to our hostel. We were a bit unsure at first whether we should trust her or not but in the end we thought that no kidnappers would spend that much money on botox. Unfortunately in all the chaos of leaving the airport we lost her so no lift and no free botox for me. We got the bus and then a taxi to our hostel, well I say taxi, it was more like a dodgem with a 2 litre engine. Luckily everyone in Buenos Aires drives like a complete psycho so it is publicly accepted to cross in front of 8 lanes of oncoming traffic at 80 mph.
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Me and the wife wowing the crowds at the tango........ Buenos Aires has a lot of dog muck. I mean a lot of dog muck. Walking up the pavements was like playing a game of hopskotch. Other than the dogger it was a really cool place to stay. We did our Spanish classes each day for the week we were there and we spent the rest of the time sight seeing. We went to a tango show which was worth it just for the Roy Walker lookalike crooner belting out some Carlos Gardel classics, whoever he is. We ate a fair bit of meat whilst here as it is very tasty but is also one of the very few things in Argentina which is reasonably cheap. Speaking with other travellers who were here a couple of years ago they say that the costs have almost doubled making eating out quite difficult and travel a bit pricey. Please don’t feel sorry for us though we are struggling on.
We left Buenos Aires and headed on an 18 hour bus journey to Puerto Iguazu (also in Argentina – actually for the purposes of this entry assume that everywhere I talk about is in Argentina). The buses here
are quality - they go through the night, you get food (kind of) and booze and they have films on. So far we have watched Jurrassico Parko, Terminator Dos – Judgement Dia and Dude, Donde Esta mi Automibila.
The bus we are currently on has just set off so its getting pretty bumpy. I’m assuming our driver has a phobia of the side of the road as he appears to be driving in the middle of the road. Its fine though as the roads are pretty clear, oh hang on another car is coming. No its fine we missed him.
Where was I oh yes Puerto Iguazu was a little town which is purely surviving on the tourists who visit Iguazu Falls. If you haven’t heard of the falls they are a bit like Janet’s Foss near Malham in the Yorkshire Dales but just a bit bigger. The hostel was nice although we met a bloke who told us he was French and called Axel (serious???). I told him his English accent is very good i.e. he sounded English, to which he replied “I was born and raised in England”. Alrighty then...........!
Now then this is getting interesting we are currently taking over another bus but at about 1mph quicker than the other one and a car is heading for us. Jeeeees we made it. After we met the French moron we went to Iguazu Falls which were alright.
We got two buses (18hrs each) to a place on the Atlantic coast called Puerto Madryn as we were keen to do some whale watching. We were right in season for some whale ‘action’ and as you can see from the photos we saw a few but I was expecting from the money we spent I would be able to take one home with me or something or at least be able to eat a bit of one of them.
We then headed to El Calafate (22hrs by bus) to see the Perito Moreno glacier via a hole called Rio Gallegos or as the locals call it Rio Hasheho. Argi’s say ‘sh’ instead of ‘y’ and ‘sh’ instead of ‘ll’ and then they say ‘sh’ normally. But Judith is doing really well translating everything into simple English for me. There are puma's round here that eat
people so we have had to be extra careful when we go out walking a bit like when we go into the Dales and we have to be careful with the Yorkshire Panther. The glacier was again pretty average.
So all in all we’re soldiering on, gritting our teeth through it all and wishing we were back at home. I am sure that you think we are having a nice time when you look at the photos but it really is hard work. The smiles are painted on. If you look into our eyes closely enough you will see they are like a dead mans eyes. Where next then? Maybe the Argentinean Lake District? I’ll pack my poopa scoopa!
See you in a bit
Ste and Judith
More photos here
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