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Published: March 14th 2012
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I expect some of you have been wondering why I haven’t updated my blog for a while. Well, the honest truth is, I am having far too much fun. However, after receiving several complaints about the lack of updates I have decided to return to sitting at my computer for several hours (despite the glorious sunshine outside), to update you on my progress!
So this stage of my journey started out with a 15 hour bus ride over the top of the Andes from Chile to Argentina. The views were outstanding, with flamingos, llamas and rheas all bring spotted along the roadside. Unfortunately, the 6 hour wait at customs was not so thrilling. I ended up with some other foreigners on the bus so luckily there was a nice atmosphere and plenty to talk about. Some of the most interesting/bizarre people I have met have been in this sort of situation and this was no exception!
We arrived in Salta at about 2 o’clock in the morning. Probably the worst time to arrive in any place as it is too late to easily find a hostel and too early to wait it out until dawn. Fortunately on this occasion
we were mobbed by hostel-employees trying to out-do each other and get us to their accommodation. I, along with two Germans I had met on the bus, managed to negotiate a deal with one of the touts and they paid for a taxi direct to their hostel. Salta itself is an amazing city and its tropical and humid atmosphere made a big change from the deserts of the previous few weeks. Unfortunately the hostel was not so good. Although very clean and nice there was no atmosphere and it was very boring. I moved to a grubby looking establishment down the road and here I had an absolutely brilliant time. I managed to spend the week in this town and I am not entirely sure what I did. Although I went for a short walk each day I can’t say I achieved a vast amount – this tends to happen in the relaxing hostel where there is a good group of people. The one thing I did do one day was head to a museum which held some perfectly-preserved Incan child mummies which were made as sacrifices over 500 years ago. Their faces were contorted in pain and fear and
they looked like they could still be alive. It was very eerie, and my mind kept playing tricks on me that made them look like they were moving so I didn’t stay long.
With one of the Germans I had met on the bus over the Andes, I heading east to the town of Mercedes in Argentina’s North-East province of Corrientes. This was well off the general tourist route and there were no backpacker hostels. Arriving at around 2 o’clock in the afternoon meant that everyone was avoiding the searing midday sun and having a siesta. This included the owners of every hotel in town and we soon discovered we would not be able to check-in anywhere until 5 o’clock that evening. Grubby and tired after a 20 hour journey we sat in the central plaza and waited. Fortunately, we did manage to find an ice-cream shop that was open. Argentina has some of the best ice-cream I have ever tasted, apparently due to the huge number of Italians that settled there in the 1900’s.
The reason for heading to Mercedes was to reach the small village of Colonia Carlos Pellegrini in the marshes known as the Esteros
de Iberá. This has the esteemed title of being the second-largest swamp in the world. I am sure you are thinking this is an odd place to visit, but it was well and truly worth it. The first animals I saw on arriving were capybara – animals like guinea pigs, but the size of dogs. Walking down to the bottom of the hostel’s garden I immediately saw the eyes of several caiman (like crocodiles) which were lurking just below the surface of the water. Our guide then took us out on a boat through the swamps full of dozens of species of birds, deer and more of the animals I saw around the hostel. This area almost had too much wildlife, much of it inside the hostel buildings. Whilst cooking dinner, a tree frog fell off the ceiling and landed on my shoulder. Several of its amigos lived in the shower and during the night they kept up a chorus of song, accompanied by the crickets which lived under the bed.
After Esters de Iberá I travelled deeper into the tropics to the Iguazú Falls on the Brazil-Argentine border. It was HOT here, but fortunately even the cheapest hostels
had their own swimming pools. The waterfalls must be one of the most spectacular natural sights in the world. The vast river plunges an incomprehensible amount of water over the cliffs each second. The hostel manager told me that being around a waterfall naturally makes you happy and this certainly had a very relaxing effect. Despite being unashamedly touristy, the waterfalls don’t loose any of the charm with the crowds that flock there all year round. After this I hopped the border to Brazil, and was surprised to find how expensive everything was (even more than Europe). Apart from this. it was very much there same apart from the tropical fruit for breakfast and, for some reason, a large number of Lebanese restaurants.
Thanks for reading this blog and I will try and get the next one up soon!
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