A Buenos Aires Birthday

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So, Rio was an awesome city and we were a little bit sad to be leaving, but on to new countries and nearly the new seventh natural wonder of the world, so it wasn't too bad.

After another lengthy journey involving overnight stops in airport chairs (never again) and more than 100 hours in a bus (or so it felt), we arrived in Peurto Iguazu, Argentina, ill. Fever number four in three months, something is telling us that a blood test might in be order if it happens again.

Luckily we found a cute little hostel (Hostel Sweet Hostel) which had en-suite rooms, a kitchen and a swimming pool (!) within our budget. We then spent another few days recovering and sleeping. Steve didn't have a fever, but had some kind of food poisoning. We haven't been lucky recently with ailments.

Well, with our motors running at 90% we finally took off to Iguazu Falls and wow, it didn't disappoint. The Falls are enormous and are made up of lots of smaller falls, the biggest being The Devil’s Throat. To access it you walk for around 1km on a raised walk way over the River Iguazu, as you get closer to it the sound gets louder and louder and over the trees you can see a white mist from the spray. Unbelievably they have managed to construct viewing platforms right on the edge of the drop where you see a tremendous amount of water going over the edge. It makes your heart stop with awe. People say that you get happy emotions when in the vicinity of the Falls and it’s true.

With some birthday money we splashed out (boom boom) on a speed boat ride around the base of the Falls. It was so much fun! We should have been a little concerned when other people in the queue were stripping off to their undies and some even had swimming costumes on, but hey ho, surely we’ll just get a little wet from the spray. Well as it turns out the boat actually goes under the Falls, we were soooo wet that we left a trail of soggy seats and benches all the way back to the hostel. It was very very funny and also extremely cool, another thing for the Christmas list - a speed boat.

After a truly excellent day we had just enough time to shower, change and hop on a bus back to Buenos Aires to meet up with some friends from home, Lisa and Ian, who have kindly said that we can kip on their floor whilst sampling some of Argentina’s finest.

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind few days, catching up and celebrating my birthday. Considering I am half way around the world it has been amazing the number of cards and presents I’ve received. I have been touched by all of your birthday wishes. As you will see from the photos I’ve been acting more like a teenager than a 33 year old… it’s been fabulous fun.

Due to various red wine reasons we’ve not actually done that much sightseeing, but first impressions of BA is that it is bloomin’ massive. They have a detailed 192 page instruction manual for the buses which Steve has managed to decipher so we are generally OK for moving around the city.

The question is now, as it has been for two days, do we travel for nearly 40 hours to do a one day boat tour to see elephant seals and whales, or do we stay in BA to experience some of the sights, pop over to Uruguay with Lisa and Ian to do a visa run, see some tango and just generally enjoy the city at a much slower pace? Our flight is on Tuesday so time is of the essence.

To Patagonia or not to Patagonia? - that is the question.

So many thank yous to everyone, including Lisa and Ian who have been so generous with their floor space and have proved to be excellent in the party department (but we already knew that).

Lots and lots of love and red lipped kisses

S & (a slightly older) S

XxXxXxXx

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Photos

Three Countries
Willy in Argentina, to the right - Brazil, to the left - Paraguay.

Missing the train
We decided not to wait 15 mins for the train and walk to the Devil's Throat. It was worth it to see a whole family of what we think are ant eaters.

Walk way
We had about a 1km walk along raised walkways like this to the biggest falls of the bunch. Pretty cool.

So funny...
Flutterbyes everywhere!

Getting lost on the lower trail
looking for our speed boat.

Comments

[M&D]

Brilliant video - and fantastic blog. We are lifting our glasses to Lisa and Ian - cheers to you both xx Now - where is this photo of Steve's head!?!? lots of love xxxx

[Sheryl and Steve]

Hi M&D
Thank you! I think we'll be waiting another day to raise any glasses this end :O) I'll get a photo of his head now there's a scab. It looks a lot less like Hannible Lector has been at him. Lots of love xxxxx

[SoodPav]

Drunken monkeys!
Yay! So wicked having you guys here. You should never leave!! Although your budget may not survive if you do...do it do it do it!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Sheryl and Steve]

SoodPav
Budget and liver!!! Having a ball, thank you so much for having us. xxxxxxx

[Julz]

Few questions!
Your photos and blog are amazing. Congrats on putting together such a comprehensive narrative of your trip. I am an Aussie planning on heading over to Sth America in June/July next year for about 6 weeks. What has the weather been like? Pretty cold at night i take it? Is it easy to get around? Seems like you have been travelling by bus a lot - what's that like? CHeap? What about flights? I hear they are relatively expensive? Do you think it would be safe to travel solo?