Argentina

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The flight to Argentina from Sydney was a surprise. When we got our seats, they seemed to be not in first class and not in economy class but something in between. We noticed that the seats were bigger and instead of the usual 3, 4, 3 seat lay out, it was 2, 3, 2. We were offered champagne or orange juice before we even started moving. The flight was great. We got better food than normal too. We dont know why this happened, but what a difference it made to our flight.

We arrived in Buenos Aires half an hour after we took off from Sydney (so what happened to that day????) and immediately had issues getting money at the airport. Eventually the travellers cheques have come in handy! We got into town and noticed how European it is. We stayed in the San Telmo district, which is tango town. We hit the cafes for food and beer before going to bed for what should have been 2 hours (to allow our adjustment to the jet lag), but unfortunately slept till midnight! Actually BA only gets going at this time, and it was Saturday night, so we went out to a bar for a few hours before joining folks in the hostel till 6 in the morning and of course completely buggering up our jet lag.

Sunday is antiques market day with free tango shows in San Telmo. We had a great time strolling through the market and ate our weight in ham and cheese for lunch. On our next day we searched and searched and searched for Recolleta cemetery in amongst dodging the dog poo that is absolutely everywhere in BA. They love dogs here, there is even proffesional dog walkers that take out about 10 for a walk on leads at the same time. Eventually we found the cemetery. Wow, the rich and elite of BA are burried in style with huge sculptures and statues round their shrines. We found the one of Eva Peron and then got creeped out at all the coffins which are lying in view.

For our last day in BA we headed to famous La Boca district to see the multicoloured buildings. It was nice enough, but once you have seen it you can only shop for very tacky souvenirs. As we were told it was dangerous to walk through the neighbourhood to get back to our digs we took the bus. This was a faff as instead of the normal tried and tested method of bus travel where you give the driver your fare, you have to tell him where your going then put money in a machine that spits a ticket out. We were supposed to pay 2.40 pesos, which we appeared to have. We kept putting it in the machine but couldnt get our tickets out and meanwhile were holding up the bus queue and making the driver really pissed off. Vik was trying to explain that the machine was not working and we tried and tried again. Vik got fed up sat down and left Neil to try again whilst the bus driver was going nuts. Vik then tried to get off the bus but he wouldnt open the doors. It actually turned out that one of the 20 cent coins that we thought were Argentine were Singaporean so we didnt actually have enough money. We were already half way back to San Telmo at this point so he just let us off with 20 cents, but not without going berserk. After this experience we were totally deflated with Spanish as that night we headed to a restaurant and even though we were ordering from the menu in Spanish, the waiter was smirking because we were obviously foreign and dont speak properly. Its actually very difficult because the Argentinians pronounce their spanish differently than everywhere else and as we found out they are not tolerant of anyone. They seemed to be a little arrogant and pretentious and subsequently both a Bolivian and a Venezuelan said that the rest of South America thinks this. Im sure there are plenty nice people too, but we just didnt see any.

Anyway, if the people of BA were rude, their bus services are incredible. We were headed on an overnight bus to Iguazu falls on the border of Brazil. The seats are massive and fully reclining so they call them "Cama" litterally bed. They served us food and drinks on board and showed movies. We arrived more refreshed than we ever had on an overnight bus trip so we actually managed to check in to digs and head to the falls that day.

At first we tried to get on a bus to Paraguay but we got on the right bus and shortly thereafter arrived. First stop was the "Garganta del Diablo", meaning devils throat. This was truly magnificent, you cant see the bottom due to the sheer force of the water, its just mist. We checked out all the view points of the different falls and as it was a perfectly sunny day there were rainbows being cast across the bottom of the mist. It was like something from a fantasy movie. Everybody tells you how magnificent it is but you have to see this place to take in the feeling that it gives you. Cant say anymore really.

So you can also see the falls a second day from the Brazilian side and people say that you havnt done it properly until you see both sides, but by 6 hours of waterfall viewing you definately wont ever get the same WOW factor that you had from that first glimpse and we just didnt want to lose that memory by over doing it.

We swithered about heading to Paraguay for something a bit different but decided that it might be too much detour and took a 22 hour bus to Tucuman in Northern Argentina, on the promise of hiking or horseriding (according to Lonely Planet). We arrived there and tourist info desk was useless. They only give info on the local pubs and restaurants and said there is no hiking etc.... We did see a leaflet for hiking in the hostel but its only one company that runs it and is therefore pretty pricey. We decided that we will only stay one night in Tucuman so headed to the bus station for our ticket out and noticed that there was a street full barbeques. Australian BBQs were a big dissapointment but the Argentines really know how to do a proper BBQ, we saw some of the biggest peices of beef you could imagine. We went along for some food, beer and the latin music and finally felt like we were in South America.

We took the windy 6 hour bus up to Cafayate. A little tourist town that is very pleasant and has amazing valleys and rock formations surrounding it. We cycled round there a bit and checked out the amazing Quebrada de Conchas (gorge of shells). This place is made up from seabed pushed up here by the tectonic plates. There are many different minerals and areas with 7 colours of rock.

From Cafayate we headed to the city of Salta. It was freezing when we arrived and just down right miserable. It was hard to see the appeal of the place. We had really got it wrong with our travels in Argentina as all the tours on offer were to go back from where we came, so we should have made our tour on the way to Salta, oh well. We visited the museum of archeology and saw one of the best preserved mummies ever found. There were 3 children found at the top of an Argentine mountain 6700m high. They are 500 years old and from Incan offerings to the mountain. The artefacts found with them looked like they were dug up yesterday and the mummies were haunting. They are not all on display so as to help protect them they take turns about. The photos of the young maiden look as though she is just sleeping.

So without wanting a tour or having anything much else to do in Salta we headed for Humahuaca, a small town heading further North towards Bolivia. When we arrived there you can tell your getting closer to Bolivia as the ladies are dressed in the shawls and bowler hats. We walked 10km out into the desert and 10km back. We brought our lunch of empenadas (like spicy meat pasties) and walked to a village made of mud bricks. We went past loads of huge cacti and a herd of goats and the goat herder but never saw another soul on the whole trek. We were knackered and sunburned by the time we got back. Both of us now realise why cricketers wear that thick white sunblock on their lips.

So we never did much more in Humuhuaca and just decided to bite the bullet and head for Bolivia. We didnt really see a lot of Argentina. Its a massive country and some of the best attractions are at opposite ends.

The food started off amazing, with pizzas, criossants, good hams, cheese, red wine and steak, but there is little else on offer and it starts to get boring. From shopping in the supermarkets it was hard to see what the people cook, there are just aisles full of tinned tomatoes, tinned peaches and the famous Dulce de leche (a kind of toffee spread). Alcohol was mentally cheap in the supermarkets with a litre of cheap red wine coming in at 60p and a litre of decent beer at 50p. Even a decent bottle of red is around 3 GBP. It was funny as it was cheaper to drink nice wine than bottled water. We have never eaten so many croissants, which appeared to be the only option for brekkie. These guys love pastries.

A short but sweet time was had so when we can stomach croisants again then we would definately go back to experience the South.

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Photos

At Garganta del Diablo
Too much spray for a clear pic

Bright Beatle
Just adding to the rainbow colours all over Iguazu