Northern Argentina

---

The crossing into Argentina was one of the best bus journeys that we have done. As it cuts through the Andes we knew it was going to be impressive but what we hadn't realised was that the border was actually at 3,200m, no wonder why in winter, the route is sometimes shut for weeks at a time. There was a big queue for the lorries from both countries to cross which made maneuvering around the tight corners a bit tricky, especially when our bus driver insisted on overtaking the lorries, only to find ourselves having to reverse back as there was something coming in the other direction - there was a few tense moments when the edge of the mountains loomed particularly close!


Mendoza was a nice town, made up of wide streets as a result of an earthquake that they had in 1860s. We had a few days wandering around the streets and plazas, mostly window shopping at all the great things that we can buy before we fly home from Buenos Aires in a few months time. It is definitely a lot cheaper here than Chile and so far the weather has been a lot better too.

We saw our first street protest here, apparently they happen all the time as it is a very socialist country. There was only about 6 guys with drums but you would have thought there were thousands for all of the noise they were making - we were just crossing the road when they set off a fire-cracker, me and Sam practically dived for cover as we had just been reading in a magazine about how an American tourist got shot in the leg here last summer - we tried to recover but it didn't look very cool!! Mendoza is also in the middle of a wine region, so we did an evenings tastings with some friends that we met at the hostel..it was all very nice with the cheapest being 5 pounds, a great bargain.


From here we headed to Cordoba, the second biggest city in Argentina after Buenos Aires. Its a young and party place, mainly because of the 7 universities that are there. We took a day trip out to Alta Gracia to see the surrounding area and also visit the Che Guevara museum, which is one of the houses where he lived with his family. Its the best museum we have seen so far, with lots of original photos and letters that he wrote home from his travels.


We have spent today walking around the Iguazu Falls. One of the most impressive natural wonders that we have seen on our travels. It is like a pre historic theme park and some parts just don't look real as they are so beautiful. There is not much else I can say about them, the pictures will do it slightly more justice but you really have to go and see them to understand that it's more than just a heck of a lot of water! We also saw brown capuchin monkeys, lots of coatis and many birds as the falls are in the middle of a rainforest that still supports the natural wildlife. They say you can also see jaguars and pumas but unluckily or luckily (depending on how you see it) we didn't see any.


We are off to see the falls from the Brazil side tomorrow, not a bad place to spend your birthday! (ok, it is my 30th).

---

Photos

Chile to Argentina crossing
Lorries for miles but at least they have a good view

Multicoloured mountains
Better than anything we saw in Oz!

Mendoza
Taking a stroll in the park

The man himself
And a fine looking one at that

Garganta del Diablo
The Devils Throat

Breath taking
More falls but the pictures hardly do it justice

Salto San Martin
Hola!

Rainbow
If you look hard enough...

Sam and Coatis
A relative of the raccoon, looking for a piece of Sam's apple..no chance!

Comments

[Roddy]

Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday Rache hope you have a great day and hope to catch you in Brazil xxx