Buenos Aires, Uraguay, Florianopolis and Iguacu Falls

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Dear All

We loved Buenos Aires and ended up staying for five nights - we could have stayed longer but we are now against the clock before it´s time to come home (eek!), so we had to tear ourselves away and move on. There was so much to see and do there and it seemed to have a real ´buzz´. Plus of course the food is great, as long as you´re not vegetarian!

We stayed in two different areas of BA: the first two nights in a trendy area with lots of bars and restaurants (Palermo Viejo) but in a horrible hostel (SOHostel) - the people that ran it were unbelievably rude and unfriendly and it wasn´t very clean; and the last three in hostel by a 10-lane highway but on the edge of a nice area (San Telmo) with a lovely friendly and helpful owner and in a lovely characterful old building (Hostel Sol). I feel the need to give the names in case anyone else is going to BA any time soon! Being away this time in particular has really hammered home how much the attitude of the hostel owners affects how much you enjoy a place - much more than the quality of the hostel itself - we are always far more prepared to cope with a rubbish shower or a tiny box room if the owner makes us feel welcome.

We enjoyed lots of tango in BA - both free milongas (local ´dances´) in the streets, in the squares, at cafes and restaurants, and also at a professional tango show (a Christmas/birthday present from Amy and Mark - thank you!). The show included a three-course meal, free drinks and even a free tango lesson. If you ask nicely we will give you a demonstration when we get home, but don´t expect much - we weren´t very good! All good fun though.

We caught a catamaran out of BA, across the river estuary to a little town called Colonia del Sacramento in Uraguay, a UNESCO Heritage Site. The town has become a popular weekend getaway for Porteños (people from BA) and you can see why - it´s really cute and quaint with cobbled streets and lots of lovely cafes and restaurants (all very expensive mind you). We stayed one night then moved on to Montevideo, the capital of Uraguay.

Montevideo was nice but seemed to us a bit like any another southern South American big city with a European feel (we´ve been to a few now), and after spending time in BA it didn´t really get us very excited. We ended up staying two nights because the buses to Florianopolis (our next stop) were booked up with local holiday-makers, and we had a nice time wandering around the old town, eating amazing barbequed meat in the market at the port (one steak meal was enough to feed us both, they give you so much, an they cook it on an open fire right in front of you!) and managing an hour on the beach, burning our feet on the sand playing frisbee, before having to retreat to the cool and shade of a shopping mall!

An overnight bus took us to Florianopolis, which is the main town on an island (Ilha Santa Caterina) just off the coast in southern Brazil. The island has lots of gorgeous big beaches and is popular with surfers. Apparently the New York Times has hailed Florianopolis as a cross between Ibiza and San Tropez - all the beautiful people now flock there and lots of world-renowned DJs play in the clubs. Not being the biggest clubbers (showing our age!), we stayed at a relatively quiet beach called Praia do Santinho at the north end of the island, in a little pousada with the friendliest, most helpful owner we have ever met. A short walk from our room, past the swimming pool, across the road and over the dunes took us to the beach where the sand was so fine it squeaked when you walked on it - as whatsisname from The Apprentice would say ´That´s what I´m talking about!!´ This was our first experience of a Brazilian beach and it lived up to expectations, with lots of scantily clad beautiful women playing volleyball and drinking fancy cocktails on the beach. Unfortunately it rained quite a bit while we were there but we still managed to make the most of it. On the day we left we set off in the morning to walk the 40 mins over the dunes to have a look at the next beach down the coast, which has no development at all and virtually no people. As soon as we got there it started to rain, and after unsuccessfully trying to shelter behind a sand dune, we decided to head back, but not before stopping at the biggest dune to run up and slide down it in the rain, arriving back at the pousada dripping wet, covered in sand and looking decidedly dishevelled!!

After being packed off by the lovely lady owner with a box of chocolates (bless!), we boarded our next overnight bus. Brazil´s buses don´t match up to the good example set by Chile and Argentina and are more like bog-standard coaches (but with a bit more leg room) and no food. We stopped at some services for dinner at 10pm, ate an empañada each and then donned our ear-plugs, eye masks and neck cushions (we are such bus geeks!), ready to get as many winks of sleep as possible, and arrived many hours later in Foz do Iguacu.

Here we stayed three nights in a hostel on a farm in the middle of the fields, with views back across to the rainforest in Argentina just the other side of the river. It was a small hostel and we met some lovely people there - we were a bit like a little family, sitting down to breakfast and dinner together and doing trips together in the daytimes. It was great! We saw the Iguacu Falls from both the Argentinian and Brazilian sides (they are right on the border) and they were truly spectacular - such huge volumes of water hurtling over so many falls! The best bit was the boat ride at the bottom of the Falls - thankfully we were prepared to get very wet and we certainly did - they take the boat right up to the bottom of the Falls and it´s like being in a shower! Our friend Andy has a waterproof camera and videoed the whole experience - coming soon to Facebook we hope!

After Iguacu it was on to Sao Paulo and then along the coast towards Rio, but I´ll leave that for the last installment of the blog (sob!) that we´ll write in Rio. Thanks for reading and see you soon!

Lots of love
Kirst and Tim xx

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