Mendoza, Montivedeo and beyond

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Well hello from Buenos Aires - guess what??? Its raining - hee hee!!!! Sorry to say though it is still 20 degrees plus and we are still in shorts and t-shirts! However it is raining that hard that we have retreated to an internet cafe and we can update all our emails etc etc!!

So let us begin from Mendoza in the north of Argentina.

We arrived in the early morning and hopped into the centre of town. It has wide open avenues that are all completley tree lined. Mendoza was flattened by an earthquake back around 1869, so the architects and planners designed the town on wide open avenues and squares, fearful of another earthquake. This meant if there was another one (which evidently there hasn´t) there was room for the residents to flee into the avenues and squares safely away from falling debris. As there hasn´t been another one (of significance) Mendoza remains truly beautiful. The trees take the heat out of the day and you can walk in relative comfort along wide open avenues and visits all sorts of plazas small and large. We walked past fantastic houses and upto the main park, which again was truly spectacular. Rose gardens, a huge lake, massive trees. The ´other half´appear to live in Mendoza, as the tennis clubs, gym club, polo ground testify. We have walked probably all of Mendoza in the few days we spent here but we have thoroughly enjoyed it. We have eaten the best steaks (and for anyone who knows me, that is saying something!) and enjoyed the evening atmosphere in the street cafes.

We caught an overnight bus again to Buenos Aires, and true to form, on taking our warm kit on board we didn´t need it!! We had seats right at the very front of the bus and had a fantastic view down the very straight road to BA. We crossed what must have been the very north tip of the Papma and as the sun set, we started seeing flocks of parrots coming into roost. We passed many many vineyards en route.

We hit BA early on and tried to get off at the first bus station, which we realised in time was the wrong one!! So back on board we carried on for a further half hour or so into the centre of BA. Wow what a greeting it gave us. Four lanes of traffic either side and completley buzzing with all the traffic imaginable. The bus station is on the port side of BA which means skirting the very central part to get to and then depending where you plan to stay means heading back through the heart of BA. So we had two very good introductions. We are stopping in the San Telmo area of town, which is the heart of the tango and the antique area. Oh its good!!!

Our first day we walked into the heart of town and visited the main square, the presidents palace (where the Perons lived, and Eva made her famous balcony speech from), the bank, cathedral, Avenida Florida, lunched on empanadas (better than Bolivias!) and wandered back to San Telmo.

The Palace is set at the far end of the square and is pink. There are barricades not far from it which you can cross, but there are riot police, armoured cars with water guns all very present, as demonstrations are a weekly occurrence here. One wouldn´t want to argue here with these guys but we are not a bother to them and they don´t mind us!! The palace is impressive and dominates the whole area, and you can well imagine the days of the Perons here.

We wandered into the bank, purely to withdraw some money and were met with a real experience (can I work here please it knocks spots off our banks!!). A huge circular domed interior greeted us, with marble everywhere, marble statues, wood and brasswork. We just stood there and took it all in!! When finally we found an atm, we worked out that only one person could enter (David was asked to leave me alone!!) and they are watched by armed guards (this is the norm for all atms here).

Our next day we realised that our plans to goto Iguaza were scuppered because the costs had doubled - boo hoo - but that´s life - so we decided we would go down to the ferry port and goto Montevideo instead. Here we had a little experience!!! Now I will not name who this happened to and fortunatley it was after we bought our tickets, so we could beat a very hasty retreat!!

So one of us had to goto the facilities here in the port. Oh what lovely facilities they are (infact all of Argentinas toilets beat the UK´s hands down), marble, air conditioned, brass and woodwork are all here to greet you. On flushing the toilet and turning to open the door, the person involved quickly realised that the lock on the door was - for want of a better description - buggered!!!!! No great shakes there, until the person realised that the toilet had decided (in its infinate wisdom) to do the complete opposite of flushing and was now erupting over the bowl and onto the floor!!! So a little mild panic was now taking over and a little more rattling of the door and lock was taking place. On checking over the shoulder again, the situation was beginning to get a little more serious and the gap between the floor and door was weighed up as a means of escape. However, as the tide flowed in, there was no escape route and unassumed rattling, pushing, pulling and panic was now taking place, met by assistance of the same on the other side. Finally oh finally the door and its lock gave way (not before the feet got wet!) and met by a rather serious looking attendant the aforementioned person beat a very hasty retreat (not even stopping to wash hands!!!), grabbed the awaiting partner and left!!! Fortunatley as only we could, the funny side was seen - we only hope that there were no ´wanted posters´ waiting for us on our return the next day!!

So we headed for Montevideo the next day - a three hour journey on the Rio Plata (River Plate). The port is in the old part of town and we simply walked straight out through the old town (past the tourist market waiting for the americans coming off the cruise liners) and up into the new town. Our hotel was situated just off the main square. We had a quick walk round to get our bearings and then hired bikes and rode along the sea front of Montevideo. The brakes on mine weren´t brilliant but as it was flat it was ok. We had several hours out enjoying the sun, but had very sore bottoms by the time we got back as the saddles were incredibly hard!! There are lots of parrots here, as in BA - sorry random thought - I just had to add!

The next day we took another bus journey out to Colonial de Sacriemento. Colonial is very old and a port. Cobbled streets, very old buildings and a total tourist spot but not overcrowded. You can even hire golf buggies to go round if you so desire!! Very very pretty and lots of photos taken. We climbed to the top of the lighthouse which gave fantastic views. David was walking along minding his own business, when a hummingbird fell out of the sky and dropped at his feet!!! Unfortunately though, the poor little soul had met his maker which was very sad, but then that´s life.

Our next day and half was spent at leisure round Montevideo. On Sunday the whole place closes except for a few bars and cafes etc. We managed to have a good look at the old town without having to dodge traffic. We also walked out to the end of the harbour wall where all the locals were fishing!!! Our meal that night was huge!! We had a shared salad as normal but then had our own meals. David ordered breaded chicken, with a portion of chips. However unknown to him it came with two huge salads, two fried eggs and with that extra portion of chips. I had a ham lasagne (bizarre!) which was equally as big. We both admitted defeat half way through and asked for the remains to be boxed up (we gave it to a homeless guy). We did - ahem - have dessert though!!!

Back to Buenos Aires for a week or so now (not after spending money in duty free en route on ooopps - Minstrels, and perfume!!). We spent yesterday in Tigre, a suburb of BA. Its on a delta, so we took a river crusie and looked at very posh houses where your mode of transport is a boat!!!

We are now very adventurous taking the underground, buses and trains and of course walking!!

We have also visited the zoo. Set in very fine architectural grounds it is an eye opener. However, whilst the smaller animals have the room to wander the larger animals don´t and of course raises the question of zoos. There is some sort of water rat or vole that just wanders around the zoo and if you stop, because they are so tame they wander up to you, completely unfazed by your prescence. The zoo sells food for you to feed the animals (all except the obvious) which is making them tame and expectant, which opens all sorts of questions.

By chance Deep Purple have played in BA and David managed to get himself a ticket (sorry folks I left him to go on his own, not my cup of tea) and he had a mad night. He queued up two hours before hand and managed to get to the front at Luna Park. Once the guys came on he lasted about half an hour in the mosh pit. The South Americans went absolutley mad when Deep Purple came on and David couldn´t get over it, he has never seen or heard anything like it. He couldn´t move and his only movement was with the crowd. Due to the intense heat he decided it was a better option to get to the back. Even the youngsters were fainting and having to be pulled out! He had a fantastic night and had to walk all the way back because he couldn´t get a taxi!! He got back around 12.30am quite foot sore but a happy chappy!! He has now discovered they are in Caracas when we are!! As for me, I had a wander around San Telmo and ate on my own. I have found an amazing market. The only indoor one left in the whole of BA. It has stalls of meat, fish, fruit and veg, clothes and antiques. The glassware here is breathtaking, we could spend a fortune.

So as for the rest of our time here, we are going to do lots of exploring. We are going to head out to the Recoletta, where the cemetary is and explore that area. It´s where all the diplomats live and where the embassies are and is also the really posh area of town!! We are going to the Boca area at the weekend (the original port of BA) as there is a market, and impromptu (supposedly!) tango shows and various artists etc performing. We might goto the football aswell but depends if we can get tickets.

We then goto Caracas on the 3rd, but we intend to hit the coast and get away from Caracas because it is apparently not a very nice place, and to be fair neither of us have any desire to stay there. Then sadly we are wending our way home on the 11th, but that´s in the future and we are going to enjoy ourselves until then!!!

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