Iguazu to Bahia Blanca

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Iguazu to Corrientes

Next day started off fairly straightforward until Gerardo entered the dining room to announce his departure to hospital. It transpired that he had thrown his hand in the air - during the course of getting ready - straight into the metal ceiling fan. This required several stitches which were undertaken sans anaesthetic! This hasn't prevented him from riding albeit with a wet weather over glove as he couldn't fit his bandaged hand into his riding glove.

So a slightly later start at around 8.30am. Our next drama was a fright for String when a motorcycle rider (not one of ours) was hit from behind and sent sliding down one side of String whilst the riderless bike flew down the other side of him. String missed both and felt lucky not to be physically involved in the incident.

The rest of the day was VERY uneventful and we felt a bit sleepy with boredom. There were large swampy green flats that had beautiful avian wildlife on them which was about the sum total to look at aside from the odd interlude of a small town.

We arrived in Corrientes late afternoon.

Corrientes to Parana to buenos aires

Fairly transit days with lots of agriculture around us. The houses and cars seem to have 'improved' (by my standards at least) and look more westernised. We spent the night in Parana at Bio Citi Hotel which was a vegetarian boutique hotel, before heading to the big smoke of Buenos Aires. We fought through heavy traffic for about an hour once we got to the city and when we thought we were nearly at our hotel we found the road was closed due to a demonstration (again I don't know what it was about). Gerardo approached the officer on point duty and we were able to slip around the side of the demonstrators to our hotel which was directly outside the obelisk.

What a huge, beautiful, humming, cultural and architectural metropolis! I loved this city and could have spent more than the 2.5 days we had here exploring it. To me it felt like a Latino version of New York City with its busyness, flashing lights reminiscent of Times Square and hedonistic vibe. The buildings seemed to be Beaux-art architecture and reminded me of Paris in places.

We spent literally hours and hours just walking the streets taking in the essence of the city. It is definitely a place I would recommend visiting and would return given the option.

The following morning we rode to Olavarria which had the feel of a town that previously had industry of some sort and maybe then it failed?? I'm only guessing; it just seemed like a ghost town with not a lot happening, even taking into account the public holiday.

Breakfast the next morning was fun as the hostess made a real effort with her English while we tried our espanol. She drove a Ford Cortina which gave us a conversation piece and we had some good laughs. 8am Gerardo had made some arrangements for if we wanted to do an oil change (which we elected to do).

We rode a few minutes away and did a very expedient oil change before heading south towards Bahia Blanca. The wind was a bit stronger today so we rode faster as the bike sat better in the conditions if we rode 10kph faster.

Again lots of agriculture and cropping which looked great from my perch showcasing the (almost) clear blue sky against the golden crops swaying in the wind.

We arrived in Bahia Blanca around 3pm and we were surprised at the size of the city given we pretty much drove in with no traffic! Again some beautiful buildings and a pretty city.

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