Argentina

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Hey!

I am on a mission to update my blog so here is the next installment........

After Bolivia our next stop was Argentina. We started in a smallish town called Salta which had a nice atmosphere about it, it actually felt really european (but a lot cheaper!) It was a real contrast to its neighbour, Bolivia.

It was weird though as they also speak spanish but we are finding it quite hard to understand....my spanish has come on quite well so far but being here makes me feel as i did when we first arrived in Lima! Oh well i am sure it will get harder when we get to Santiago and then hey who cares we are off to south east asia after that!

After Salta we stopped over in a town called Corrientes, again nothing to really write about, apart from the very fashionable teenagers who just hung around the main plaza. Some of their school uniforms were shocking, skirts that were almost non exsistent! Anyway it was a nice warm place to stop over before out next long journey to Iguasu Falls.

The journey all the way to Puerto Iguazu was really pleasant and warm so we were hoping that we were going have good wether to view the falls with, but no such luck it seemed to be that we were attracting bad weather, it was pouring down with rain the fisrt day we were there.............

The next day it was still raining but we decided that we had to go and see the falls otherwise we would run out of time! We wanted to see the falls from both sides so for our fisrt viewing we just hopped over to Brasil to see them!

For those of you who know me well it takes a lot to impress me, I was hoping for the wow factor when i saw the falls as all the guide books really raved about them............

We took abus to the national park and prayed the stupid rain would stop! The Ticket centre which had an exhibition was ultra modern, we actully noticed that the Brasilian town had a very american feel to it moreso than Argentina. There was another bus inside the park which took yuo the viewing points, when we got of we were greeted by these racoon type looking creatures! I think there were racoons but i can´t be sure, anyway they were scurrying around and jumping into bins looking for scraps of food. We walked along and our first sight of the falls were amazing! I was really impressed, they were massive we followed the trail and there were just multitudes of falls.....for anyone who loves waterfalls like me i would really recommend you go and see them. I obviously got snap happy and ended up w ith over 50 pics! They have constructed viewing platforms which actually go right to the edge of some parts of the falls so you got a real feel for the force and magnitude of the water. We were soaked by the end of our walk around but it was worth it i was truely impressed! The sun came out as we left the national park, which help to dry us up!

We wondered around the brazilian town for a bit, bought a couple of snickers to keep me going as i hadn´t seen any in Argentina! Then hopped on the bus back over the border. Overall i was a happy bunny apart from the fact that i still didn´t get to see a Toucan and they are meant to be loads near the falls, oh well......

The next day we went to see the falls on the Argentinian side, the national park is a lot bigger and you are meant to get a better view of the falls.

The park was very big and they used a long train to ferry peeps around. Both of us were thinking that today was not going to be as good as we had already seen them, but we were wrong it was fantastic. Again we were soaked but we got excellent views of the falls and felt very close to the edge at some points! The park was lovely too we saw monkeys, birds and funky butterflies. The best one we saw was black on the outside with white spirals then red and blue inside! And guess what by pure fluke i got to see to Tucans yipeeeeeeee!! They were cool and really close up so i got a proper view - probably made my day!

Our next stop was Buenos Aires, so had a long bus journey and we must have got stopped about a million times by the police. I managed to fall asleep for most of it which was a good thing as Ivan later told me that there was a stupid police sniffer dog on at one point and it was finding my legs very nice to smell!!!!

Buenos Aires had a massive european/american feel to it. Was cool but to be honest I didn´t really get to see much or enjoy it as i got a stinky cold, which meant i was in bed for a couple of days 😞 Did get to see the Casa Rosada, famous balcony where Evita stood to see her crowds. We stayed near the Congress building which was really grand. Also saw tango dancing - i so wish i could dance! (Rav you will be especially interested to know that there was a Subway! I didn´t go though plenty of other funky places to eat!!) Oh yeah i nearly forgot we went on a day trip to a quaint town in Uruguay we went across on a massive ferry........ It was a lovely cobbled town, named Colonia del Sacrmento. It had a tropical feel to it, plazas lined with palm trees and scwarking green parrots. We just spent the time soaking up the sun and eating very cheap food!

Next move was to the wine producing region of Mendoza. This is such a comfortable town, really pleasant weather and nice people. I felt really bad for the people sat on the bus near me from Buenos Aires to Mendoza as I was really coughing my brains out the whole night! My stupid cold is still lingering so havn´t done to many activities here. It feels as if our travels have moved from 5th gear right down to 1st! But hey i suppose I needed to take time to chill...you know me though I get really frustrated if im not doing something! Medoza has very pretty plazas and a beautiful Park which we took a stroll around.

I was feeling brave so I got my hair cut, was an experience i got to practice a lot of my spanish! The cut only cost 3 squids-bargain! Believe it or not it doesn´t even look that bad he he!

I think that is all my news for now, we are off to Chile, Santiago tomorrow which is meant to be ultra modern. That will be the end of our time in South America which is a little sad but I am really looking forward to our next adventure through South East Asia.

Hope everyone is good. For those of you back at school hope all is well......only a another week or so until ahlf term!

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