Partying and Patagonia, Argentina

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Well, as usual I am miles behind but my memories of Argentina, despite all the partying, are still very clear!

My trip across the border to Argentina from Brazil would have been completely uneventful were it not for the bus company selling me a 'cama' (bed style) seat that barely went back 2 inches. Needless to say I kicked up holy blue murder and had a big row (in Spanish! So proud!) with the bus driver. About an hour later and through much negotiation I finally got a decent seat for the 30 hour bus journey. Phew!

Buenos Aires
First (and last) stop was Buenos Aires. Wow, I love this city! It is so full of culture, great restaurants, fantastic people and of course amazing nightlife! It took me a while to adjust at first to their lifestyle but once I got used to it I was loving it. Basically life here tends to start off around 5 in the evening. You may get a shop open for a few hours in the morning, the streets are deserted in the afternoon, and buzzing by 8 in the evening. Dinnertime is between 9pm and 12am, nightclubs open at 2am and finish up around 10am! Weddings start at 8pm and the dinner is at 2am. Everythings backwards! It gave me a great excuse though to sleep all day after a night of partying! While I did get out and see the city (a personal tour courtesy of a local!), Buenos Aires for me mainly consisted of eating lots of steak, seeing tango, going to a cool drum show, and of course sampling the nightlife. Obviously other Celbridge heads loved it as much as me as I met 3 other people from Celbridge in my hostel - you can't go anywhere! Who is left in Ireland, because half of the population seemed to be in South America!

Cordoba
Finally left Buenos Aires before it took me over! I was feeling pretty run down by the time I left so unfortunately my next stop, Cordoba, didn't get as much attention as it should have. Again, I did a city tour courtesy of a local (yes, the same one!), tried out the nightlife halfheartedly and did a lot of sleeping! Highlight was definitely the rugby game I went to which was a regional final between Cordoba and Tucuman. Was great fun, especially as myself and the two New Zealand girls I was travelling with were the only 'gringos' there! Sitting in the stands cheering with the locals was great!

Mendoza
Next stop was Mendoza where I finally perked up and got back into the travelling spirit. We spent several happy, action filled days here. Mendoza is a beautiful city with so many parks and squares. We did a lot of strolling around, relaxing and being flashpackers by getting facials! A real treat! We also spent a fab day in the Andes going white water rafting, abseiling and horseriding. Thankfully I neither fell into the water, fell down the cliff, nor fell off the horse! The insurance company could breath again once I had finished the day injury free! I also very surprisingly managed to keep myself on the bike the day that we did the wine tour! This involved cycling around vineyards and olive farms for the day trying as much of the wine as we could. Was a fab day and we definitely tried plenty of the wines, especially the free wine offered by Mr Hugo, who rented us the bikes, at the end of the day! We got back onto the bus a very merry, wine filled bunch!

Time to move on down towards Patagonia - the piece of Argentina that I was most excited about. Two very random things happened relating to this bus journey! Firstly, I met a guy at the bus station who I knew from the Gaeltacht ten years ago - again you can't go anywhere! And secondly, when I get to my hostel in Bariloche they had another Aine arriving on the same bus as me and had only booked one bed, assuming we were one and the same person - not such a common name in Argentina! Needless to say we were best buds thereafter and ended up travelling together for a few weeks.

I started in Bariloche and stayed in a beautiful hostel that had views over the lake. We had a brilliant night in the hostel on Easter Saturday as they had organised an Easter party. Was really good fun. Unfortunately we were too early for ski season so we entertained ourselves by cycling around the lakes, climbing to the lookout, taking in the beautiful views of the mountains, and trying not to freeze while watching the sunset over the lake.

Unfortunately it was time to move on. Next stop Puerto Madryn, which is famous for its seals, whales, sea lions and penguins. Unfortunately I was a bit late in the season to see the whales but I did get my first ever glimpses of sea lions, penguins and seals. Fingers crossed there will be plenty more opportunities in New Zealand and Australia!

Moving fast again as was tight on time to make it for my flight to New Zealand, we spent nearly 2 days on a bus to El Calafate. The main attraction in El Calafate is of course the Puerto Moreno glacier. A group of us hired cars and set off early to watch the sunrise over the glacier. I drove like a granny given that I hadn't driven in a while and was dealing with having everything the opposite to home - kept banging my hand into the door when I went to change gears! We made it on time though, and wow, it was worth it. Absolutely amazing to watch the colours of the mountains and the glacier change from pink to orange, to gold, to blue. It was out of this world! The glacier was so huge!! I couldn't believe its size. We spent the day walking around the glacier and taking a boat trip to get up close. It was so cool to hear the cracking of the ice, then see a big piece fall off, and hear the sound of it falling into the water which was almost like thunder. We spent over 6 hours looking at the glacier before setting off back to El Calafate. We all had numb feet by the end but it was worth every chilblained toe!

Last stop in Patagonia before heading back up North was a little town called El Chalten. Again, another spectacular place with views to rival anywhere in the world that I have been to date! Again, the same gang from Brazil and Buenos Aires are still stalking me!, and we had a great few days doing some hiking. I was terribly unfit after too much partying and eating in Buenos Aires but I survived! We spent two days hiking and had the opportunity to see Fitz Roy and Torre mountains, as well as some lakes and glaciers, though far smaller than Puerto Moreno. It was a fabulous few days and I felt a lot healthier afterwards! Though that was not to last as I went straight back to Buenos Aires for 4 more days of partying!

Another long journey to Santiago on the overnight bus in order to meet my New Zealand flight. My wonderful and whirlwind Central and South America adventure was finally over after making my way from Mexico to Patagonia. My trip involved 420 hours on buses, 20 hours on flights, 10 hours on boats, a stolen ipod, a kidney infection, a chest infection, a bruised diaphragm and a sprained ankle, as well lots of fabulous memories and life long friends. South America certainly hasn't seen the last of me. Hasta Luego!

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