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Published: April 5th 2008
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Buenos Aires
Recoleta Cemetary Leaving the cold behind we flew north to hot and humid Buenos Aires, immediately ditching the jeans for much missed shorts. We first visited BA´s biggest tourist attraction, the Recoleta Cemetary. Despite being possibly the strangest tourist attraction ever, it was really quite fascinating. As you enter you find yourself emersed in a mini city full of narrow streets where the houses are in fact huge mausoleums remembering BA´s elite, and one Sra Eva Peron.
Our next trip was to see world famous footy team Boca Juniors play not so famous Colon De Santa Fe. Arriving in La Boca we soon spotted the bright yellow stadium. Taking our seats high up in the stand we watched the fans scale walls and barbed wire fences to place their much loved banners around the ground. Despite star player Riquelme being injured, we did get to see the much loved Martin Palermo play, which was quite entertaining as he was a bit like an Argentinian Emile Heskey. The crowd was fantastic - singing (quite tunefully), bouncing and waving flags with just a tad more enthusiasm than the whinging Brummies at Villa.
We felt we couldn´t leave BA without at least attempting a
Buenos Aires
Which creepy street to go down? tango so we booked tickets for a tango show and got a free lesson beforehand. After walking in circles in a tiny room for half an hour and giggling lots, we learnt a whopping 8 steps, which probably won´t impress you in the slightest so don´t ask for a demonstration!
On our last night in BA we were walking home when all of a sudden all the cars started beeping their horns, and people emerged onto their balconies and began banging pots and pans together, creating an immense noise. Not sure whether we were in the middle of a celebration or the start of a riot, and feeling slightly intimidated, we sped up and sought refuge in TGI Fridays. We later learnt that it was a protest in response to the farmers blockade which was stopping food from entering the cities. The farmers were protesting due to imposed taxes by the government.
The next morning we risked a new adventure sport that we discovered in BA - taxi rides. Having previously swerved into pedestrians to avoid hitting a car on the way to the Tango show (luckily they jumped out of the way!) we risked life and limb
Buenos Aires
Boca Stadium - La Bonbonera on the way to the airport. Pleased as our taxi driver pulled over courteously to let the ambulance pass by, our smiles faded as we suddenly lurched forward and in a scene similar to Die Hard 3, followed the ambulance at high speed weaving through stationary traffic. Luckily we made it to the airport and our flight north to Puerto Iguazu. Having opted for a flight over the bus, we later learnt that the 13 hour bus ride we had avoided had escalated into 53 hours for some because of the blockades. Flying was a good decision.
We set off to see the Argentinian side of the Iguazu Falls, which are set amongst spectacular scenery in the middle of the jungle. Having ony been in the park a matter of minutes and already been overly excited at seeing some wild guinea pigs, we were amazed when a group of coatis (bit like a racoon crossed with an anteater) came crashing through the forest. Not the shyest of creatures they wandered across the path right in front of us. The weather wasn´t on our side that first day, but on the second day, when the temperature gauge read 29 degrees
Buenos Aires
The teams make their way out to an incredible amount of noise and paper. at 9am, we knew we were in for a scorcher. The falls were awesome, particularly the sheer volume of water plummeting over the edge at the Garganta Del Diablo (Devils Throat). We were even lucky enough to have a troop of capucchin monkeys pass overhead on our way out of the park.
We made the short journey across the border into the town of Foz Do Iguacu to see the falls from the Brazilian side. We weren´t overly enamoured with our first port of call in Brazil. Apart from the town being a bit of a dump, all the buses being fitted with ridiculously tight turnstiles
inside them, and the bus drivers seemingly driving in a manner to give all passengers whiplash at every opportunity, they also speak Portuguese. As Portuguese looks a bit like Spanish for dyslexics we thought that we might be able to communicate by using Spanish, but it is pronounced so that it sounds like a cross between Russian and Dutch so we have resorted to the international language of mime.
We did discover a whole new eating experience though. We were advised to visit a churrascaria, which was described to us a barbeque.
Buenos Aires
Tango whirlwind. This was underselling it slightly. The waiters would, every few minutes, bring over to each table a freshly cooked hunk of meat on a skewer and slice some off for whoever fancied it. This continued until our belts were tight, the meat sweats had set in, and we needed to lie down. We didn´t learn our lesson as the next evening we were lured into a pizza buffet for 3 quid. Again the waiters frantically sped between tables offering fast food delights. Of the claimed 52 pizza varities on offer Andy didn´t think much of the boiled egg and pea pizza, whilst we both agreed that the bolognese and chipstick crisp pizza was top notch.
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George & jan
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stunning
Well.... what can we say absolutely fantastic, speak to you soon