Blogs from Argentina, South America - page 1067

After a few busy weeks in Bolivia we thought we would make our way south to Argentina for some R&R, but first we needed a stop to break up the journey, so we decided on a small mining town named Potosi. I honestly didn't read up on the town too much but had heard from other travellers that it was a quite a unique place. We arrived early in the morning and after finding a decent hostel we were able to arrange a tour of the local mines that were still in operation. I realize that it sounds bizzare that we were able to visit mines that were still operational, but after all this is Bolivia we are talking about. First we were taken to the local miners market where the miners buy their materials. It ... read more

Yet more news since last time - we are engaged! We´ve spent the last week or so in the mountains around El Chalten (Fitzroy range) mostly camping and trekking. Ben and Subhani have headed on to the rest of their travels after Ben joined us for the first day of trekking (Subhani quite sensibly staying indoors in the horrendous weather!) though we are planning to meet up again in the Argentinian lake district for a drink or two before they head to Chile and Bolivia. We havn't yet managed to get out of bed before 10am without Ben there to get us organised in the mornings! The first couple of days were pretty bad weather wise with incredible winds and a fair amount of rain, howether things eventually picked up and we trekked to a fantastic ... read more

Leaving Asuncion in Paraguay we are headed for Salta in northern Argentina. A midmorning bus from Asuncion and another lengthy border crossing (made worse by immigration officials trying to get me off the bus and alone to coerce me into paying them a tip for stamping our passports, us being the only gringos on the bus and Paraguay being bribe hungry), followed by another luggage search five miles into Argentina, gets us to Resistencia, where Claire runs to get us onto the bus to Salta that should have left 5 minutes before. This she does and we get straight onto the overnight bus, pleased with ourselves at having made the connection and not having to stay in Resistencia, but realizing another night bus lies ahead without a gap to wash our faces or eat dinner. In ... read more

"I´m going over to that brook with this meat pie, where I plan to eat enough for three days, because I´ve heard my master , Don Quixote, say that the squire of a knight errant has to eat whenever he can, and as much as he can, because they might go into the woods so deep they can´t find their way out again for six days, and if the man isn´t full, or his saddlebags aren´t well-provisioned, he might stay there, as often happens, until his flesh wrinkles and dries like a mummy´s." (Sancho Panza, Don Quixote First Part Chapter L) I have been following Sancho´s sound advice during my time on the Carterra Austral (Southern Highway) in Chile. As a result my commitment to a spartan existence under canvas has faltered somewhat recently. As the ... read more

Wanted to watch a soccer match in Brazil but since it was the Carnaval period, there were no soccer matches on. Moreover, after all the misadventures, we didn´t want to further traumatise ourselves by going to a stadium with rowdy crowds. So we decided to go to the next best alternative, watch a soccer match in Argentina. We watched the match between Boca Juniors (supposedly a pretty famous team here) vs Quilmes A.C. The stadium is located in the La Boca area, which is supposed to be a more dangerous area where one shldn´t wander ard, so we decided to join a ¨tour¨ where a guide will pick us up from hostel to bring us to the stadium and escort us to our seats. The stadium is pretty ´´log´´ but it´s ard 5 storeys high and ... read more