It Takes Two to Tango

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Think Nic left off in Buenos Aires, when we were just on our way to tango, so I’ll pick up from there!
Excuse me if my writing is non-sensical; some crazy young punk is playing unbelievably loud slash/death metal (whatever the kids call it these days) which may hinder my creative flow!
Our Tango evening kicked off with a lesson. We thought it was strangely quiet, but realised that turning up when Argentina were playing in a World Cup qualifier with Maradona in charge for the first time may not have been the best idea! Nic, bless him, was really pleased with his Tango skills, and anyone who’s ever seen Nic’s size 12’s dance may laugh , but he wasn’t so bad, and compared to the other two particularly unfortunate examples of the male species there, he was like a handsome Anton du Beke. Although it wasn’t typically my kind of dance (not enough wiggles and jazz hands for me) I was obviously still very talented, and I’m sure I could give that Flavia bird from Strictly a run for her money! (: After satisfying the appetites we’d worked up, and whetting our parched lips with the continuous flow of local Malbec they kept plonking on our table, the Tango show began. It was so good, such a passionate, romantic and at times aggressive dance! Nic even got to have a little dance with the scantly clad lady (well that was debatable) dancer, whilst I had a little spin with Carlos Tevez’s greasier younger brother. All good fun but think I’ll still be sticking to my belly dancing when I get back.
We’ve managed to visit the cemetery where Eva ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina’ Peron was buried, and all of the other cultural must do’s here in B.A. (OK, that last part’s a lie, but we did try to go to a museum today and they didn’t open until 2p.m, how lazy is that?) Went to the wonderful San Telmo Sunday market, probably the best market ever. Probably. Packed full of antiques, handicrafts and art, live music and Tango, such a buzzing atmosphere - being caught up in the Tango spirit still we purchased some cute little paintings of the dance too, suckers.
We also managed to visit the colourful tourist area of Caminito in the La Boca district, home to the Boca Juniors (who Diego himself use to play for, before he got fat, bit of a legend around here from what I hear). It was a really interesting, vibrant place, but we had to walk through Argentinean Moss Side to get there! (Mum, think this was the place you meant to tell me not to go to, but forgot what it was called, so we went! Oh well, now you know for next time your other daughter goes there!). Anyway we’re alive and survived with all our belongings intact.
We said goodbye to B.A. for the first time last Tuesday, and to the weird giant Centaur painting staring menacingly over our beds (we were staying at some ‘arty’ hostel, each room painted by a different local artist, all really cool, apart from ours) and hopped on board for our flight down to El Calafate, almost the very south of Argentinean Patagonia. As we got closer the views from our little window got better and better, being so high and having nothing for miles to make comparisons to, the perspective of the landscape was really peculiar. The land looked really flat, pocked with little lakes of black, green and blue, and as Nic’s little head insists - areas did look like giant craters where meteorites may have crashed into in the days of the dinosaurs, all with towering snow-capped mountains in the periphery. You really got a sense of the vast nothingness of Patagonia, such an isolated lonely place, but after bustling B.A. is was a welcome change.
As all the guidebooks say, El Calafate as a town isn’t pretty and it isn’t cheap, but there are lots of cool things to do around it, so we’ll forgive it! Our first morning there was cold, rainy and pretty miserable. We tried to walk around the beautiful lake near-by, but the path hadn’t been finished and the packs of wild dogs (that the guidebooks don’t warn you about) soon started to follow us. Being a dog-a-phobe I marched Nic home immediately. The day brightened up and we set off late afternoon on our horse riding trip at one of the many Estancias in Argentina. I donned the ridiculous helmet on offer, just in case (Nic didn’t, naughty Nic), and we got paired up, rider to horse, by the owner. Nic got a fine stallion, Al Capone, whom we later found out liked to turn around and bite the feet of his rider. I got Roberta, back of the line, stopped to eat and wee far too often, occasionally went her own sweet way, a bit old-school I reckon - not quite sure what the guy was thinking when he matched me and her up but I liked being the lone wolf at the back of the pack. The views over Cerro Frias were amazing but as the sun started to set I was relieved we were only riding for a few hours as it soon got freezing, even with the five layers we were wearing! We made our way back to the log fire of the Estancia for more meat and some rice pudding, swilled down with a good glass of red - we were warmed back up in no time!
Our main reason for heading down to Patagonia was to visit Los Glaciares National Park, so on our second day there we headed off to see the Perito Moreno Glaciar. Not the biggest Glaciar in the world (quite possibly the 4th?) but it was pretty massive, Nic informs me that the it‘s face which meets the lake is 60m tall and 5km wide - anyway it was BIG! We ate our lunch of empanadas in front of it in the hope of spotting some giant ice chunks falling off the face, there were loads, some the size of a house or larger crashing into the lake with a thunderous clatter. It was amazing, sad as I am I could have watched it all day, trying to guess where the next piece would fall from (never being right). To top it off they had the BEST hot-chocolate up there! Mmmmm!
After 3 nights of icy cold weather (for the first time you guys back home will have been warmer than us) we flew back to hotter climate of B.A. for the evening before our next day overnight bus up to the Iguazu Falls! I’ll take this chance to wow you with how well we’re progressing with our Spanish. All we wanted to do was get to the bus terminal, if I’d had my way I would have jumped in the taxi and just said “Terminal Omnibus, por favor”. Nothing flashy, but it would’ve served it’s purpose. Nic on the other hand, always going one better, wanted to test out some of his more advanced language skills. He got into the taxi and said something which I didn’t understand, but he assured me would be more than appropriate. He wasn’t quite so sure of himself as we began pulling into the ferry terminal. Being so typically British, we jumped out of the taxi, thanked the driver, not forgetting to tip him, before walking (with our heavy bags) to the Terminal Omnibus. I wasn’t ecstatic to say the least!
The bus company up to Iguazu were amazing though which cheered us up after the ferry incident (don’t worry Clive, Nic got some good photos for you). No longer had we settled down into our giant cama suite chairs/beds than the very efficient steward was coming around offering canapés and Brandy and Coke or Martini and 7Up! Not that I‘m telling tales but Nic polished off two large Brandy and Cokes, before deciding on Vino Tinto to go with his meal (then drinking mine) and after that there was no way he was going to be turning down all that champagne on offer! Poor National Express/Mega Bus have a long, long way to go!
So we went to see the mighty falls from the Argentinian side on Monday. There is a lot of ground to cover if you do all the trails and it was all amazing , with thousands of colourful butterflies everywhere, but we saved the piece de resistance, La Garganta del Diablo (The Devil’s Throat I think) until last as a finale. It was breath taking. Nic ,whom I’m convinced wasn’t allowed near water as a small child and gets far to excited at the sight of a fountain, could hardly contain himself! In the words of Eleanor Roosevelt upon visiting the falls, “Poor Niagara!” - not that I’ve ever seen Niagra falls.
Then yesterday we popped over to Brazil for the morning, just because we could, smoothly passed the laid back customs officials, to see what it all looked like from over there. Although you only need a couple of hours to see their views there was one spectacular lookout point which may have, arguably, single handily beaten the Argentine side. You could see La Garganta del Diablo, but also all around it which you couldn’t on the Argentine side, and also the morning light was perfectly casting rainbows across the falls. Just perfick!
Back in B.A. for the third and final time now before heading up to our last destination in Argentina!
Hope all is good back home, big love Cat xxx

P.S. Nic’s sister Laura is the winner of the Where’s Wally competition from the last entry, being the first (and only) entrant to get it right. Fantastical prize to follow!

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Photos

United Buddy Bears
Found these bears in the centre of BA - each representing a different nation

Nic at Hito Tres Fronteras
Paraguay to the left, Brazil to the right and Argentina at the front

Comments

[Cat's Mum]

comment
Loved your tango picture. Think should be your new facebook picture. Also what's the good of passing on all my advice if you ignore it. I have a lot you can ignore about Peru