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Published: March 24th 2009
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Ho´la!
Took a five hour bus journey from Puerto Natales to El Calafete in Argentina through Patagonia (they look half an hour away from each other on the map). . was a bumpy ride and a bit of time was taken up at border control, as we got into Argentina there was a brief five minutes where I saw pink flamingos, wild horses running across the plaines, ostrich grazing on the side road, bulls, a group of eagles flying above, and Lama´s playing . . and then didn´t see anything until we got to El Calafate . . . stopped off on the mountain road to overlook a view of Patagonia which must be the deepest valley I've ever seen, photos don't do it justice.
El Calafate is a small town but a lot more modern than Puerto Natales . . stayed in great backpackers on the edge of town called America Del Sur - again lots of dogs are about but the ones here just follow you for ages. Booked a day long boat tour to take in all the four main glaciers and ice bergs in the area called the Upsala . . The glaciers arer huge
and from a distance you see the ice coming from the top of the mountain and out to the lake, the glaciers are 60 to 80 metres in height, go back for kilometres and are constantly increasing or decreasing . . I didnt get to see any carvings (the ice falls away from the glaciers naturally) but still a sight to see and as the boat edges close to the edge the ice towers over you. Ha! Most stunning and strange of all though where the icebergs . .you can see on the photos the shape of some them are amazing, I didn´t expect to see an iceberg in the shape of a cone, a pyramid and giant triangle shaped one with a perfect hole through the middle . . some of them are brilliantly blue with weird dents all round them. . we stopped off for a walk in a national park area and walked through some woods and to an area where broken off ice sits in the cove . . has been the highlight of SA so far . . . there was always a scrum to take photos and I was the only English speaking person
on the boat so didnt speak to anyone all day but was still still a great spectacle.
Met up with a good fella from Brighton called Justin at the hostel and had a couple meals and drinks with him . . managed to watch Liverpool league game on Tuesday . . again the steak houses are everywhere and all of the places do Empanada´s . . basically pasties but with sweet pastry and a mixture of meat, cheese and ham for fillings . . very hard to come across vegetables with food and you only get the option of potato in most places . . or we just can´t understand the menu!
Decided to cut out a few towns and long journeys in cold Patagonia and took the 3000km flight up to Buenos Aires with Justin on the Friday, we enjoyed a night in the Palermo region of BA. . great feel to the place and again people are freindly and it's similar to Europe with main Plaza's full of bars and people eating from late evening and staying out till 7 in the morning. Got talking to a few Argentinians and main topic of discussion was music
and football . . next day went to the Obelisk in the centre of town which is in the middle of the biggest avenue in the world, none stop traffic and the smog here is very similar to Chile! Good to be back back to the warmth and wearing flip flops and shorts again though. Went round the main avenues taking in the sights and had a few drinks with Justin. On Sunday went to a River Plate football game. . . nuts! None stop singing and bouncing and the game was funny to watch with 4 players sent off and River winning 3-1 . . crowd were going crazy near the end and almost everyone had their tops off bouncing up and down, even 40 year old guys come the match in the full footy kit . . have put a vid on here but not that good a quality after being uploaded - you get an idea of what it was like though. River were playing Arsenal and their supporters were up in the corner behind a fence with thick barbwire surrounding them. . we all had to wait at the end of the game as they don't
let both sets of fans out at the same time, can see why! Went to the game on part of a tour and they gave some interesting info on the history of the football here: out of the 20 teams in the top division here 16 are based in Buenos Aires - grounds are everywhere; River Plate is an English name they used when creating the club; River used to play in an all white kit but kids were playing in a carnival years ago and a red banner fell on one of them so they all started using the red banner and the club eventually took it over as their offical kit; first fighting between Boca Juniors and River fans was in 1914 and they haven't stopped since! People of BA (Paterno's) are great (especially taxi drivers - mad) and I've also shared some of the drink they call mate with them - pronounced mattay . . like green tea out of a cup with a mettle straw, they all drink it . . .
After the weekend in BA headed over to Mendoza for some more wine tasting . . took a 14 hour bus journey! Might
sound bad but these buses are like sitting in business class on a plane with the seats going almost all the way back and are thick cushioned for comfort; you can have a bed on the bus for a bit extra as well. Watched a couple of DVDs and got a decent nights sleep. Mendoza is a nice town with tree lined streets and big parks with fountains and statues throughout . . lots of people exercising as well - need to do some fitness work here! Stayed in a hostel called Independiente and day after getting there went on a 'wine and bikes tour' - was one of the best things I've done . . get dropped off at bike shop and given a map with 10 vin yards over 11 kilometres . .initial ride was bit scary on the roads but once you got to the vin yards it was cool. Went to a museum/vinyard and they gave a great overview of the whole wine making process and how it first started with the people crushing the grapes by feet in cow skin to now where a truck full of grapes comes in and dumps the lot into
something like a big blender! Was great hearing how the wines are matured in French or American oak barrels to give its flavour and how significant it is for how the wine is going to be . . got put into a bike group with three girls from London and they were a good laugh . . spent the day at about 5 vin yards and some of the vin yards are so modern they were like walking into a trendy bar in a big city . . eat great BBQ steak at one place and drank lots and lots of red wine throughout the day . . perfecto! Bit of a hard bike ride back but well worth it . .
Off back to BA to meet a guy called Ian who's is flying in from Switzerland (went to Japan with him and my mate Kev a few years ago) and then making my way up to the far north to see the Iguazu falls on the Brazilian border . .
Quick Spanish lesson
Baños is toilet/bathroom, correct way to pronounce it is Banyo . .
I've been saying Banosa . . reliably informed this means @rsehole
. . basically I've been saying Please, @rsehole when asking for the toilet!
Chicken is Pollo and pronounced Puyol or Pusshl . . I´ve been asking for a game of Polo at the restaurant!
Ciao Ciao!
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