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Published: June 16th 2015
I can’t believe I have been away for over 2 and a half months already – the time is absolutely flying and the knowledge of what the date is, or even which day of the week it is, is becoming less and less important (in the best kind of way).
Let me fill you in on what adventures I have been up to since I last updated the blog over 5 weeks ago…
I left the big city of Buenos Aires on a sunny afternoon and at the same time said farewell to Clair and Yanna. I had decided to begin an adventure on my own and they had decided to travel together for a few more days and then Yanna headed east to Brazil and Clair ventured west to Bolivia.
I, on the other hand, headed 23 hours (by bus) south to a little village called Camarones which is located on the east coast of Argentina within the Patagonia region. Lonely Planet offers this description of Camarones:
‘In the stiff competition for Patagonia’s sleepiest coastal village, Camarones takes home the gold.’
I had stumbled across the opportunity to travel to Camarones after I
started looking into volunteering during my travels. Although the travelling life is spectacularly great and all you ever really have to ‘worry’ about is what you want to do and where you want to go, I had this urge to not only be able to explore the world but to be able to contribute to something and immerse myselfin the cuture at the same time. This lead me to discover a program called HelpX:
HelpX is provided primarily as a cultural exchange for working holiday makers who would like the opportunity during their travels abroad, to stay with local people and gain practical experience. In the typical arrangement, the helper works an average of 4 hours per day and receives free accommodation and meals for their efforts.
I browsed through a few ‘ads’ that sounded interesting and I came across an opportunity to help a local in Camarones build a yoga studio on the coast using raw materials such as clay, grass and stones etc. After contacting the host I made my travel arrangements and ventured down to this isolated little town – much to the worry of my Dad and a few friends…
I
arrived in the small town on a lovely sunny day and at first was worried how my host, Lorenzo, would identify me as he’d said he’d just meet me at the bus station. About 10 seconds after getting off the bus it was quite clear that I was the only ‘tourist’ or non-local on the bus and straight away I heard my name being called.
Lorenzo showed me around the little village (with every street being able to have been covered in about 40 mins) and told me a lot about the area that he now called home.
Lorenzo is originally from France but after studying and working as a Psychologist he left his country in a 9m sailing boat and spent the next 2 years travelling around the coast of Africa and South America until he found Camarones and decided to settle there. Over the years he used his sailing boat to take scientists on research expeditions up and down the Argentine coast and as a result has a wealth of knowledge in many topics from flora & fauna (both marine and on the land), weather, the history of the area, lay of the land etc. His
various experiences made his stories well worth listening to and I learnt a lot about many things I never even knew existed.
A couple of days after I arrived a French couple, Juliet and Florien, joined me on this opportunity and the next day we headed to the work site.
The yoga studio was located outside of the town, about 40 mins walk away, and literally 5m from the beach edge. (The beaches here aren’t quite like the sunny, sandy shores we have in Australia – instead they are covered in rocks and have penguins frolicking just metres offshore.)
Our work days consisted of mixing a combination of clay, sand, stones, lime and water into a mixer to create the foundations of the studio. We then shovelled the mixture into buckets to move them to the spot where the foundation was to be laid. We filled big bags, sometimes up to 3m long, with the mix and then laid them down and compacted them. After a few hours on the job each day we would stop and head to the beach and enjoy a little tea break with biscuits and fruit where it wasn’t uncommon to count
4 or 5 penguins playing around in the water and a couple of times we were lucky enough to spot some sea lions just metres offshore.
The work was definitely physical and the Patagonian weather also added an element to contend with – some days were glorious sunshine, some days it rained and other days it was a struggle just to keep upright against the wind that blew across the dessert. It was very rewarding work though and at the end of each day we could see how much progress we had made.
During our down time I spent a lot of time walking through the incredible landscape around the town, reading, cooking and baking, learning yoga and meditation and playing card games. There was no internet, TV or even a full length mirror in Lorenzo’s home so it was simple living at its best.
We spent a lot of time just hanging out and I learnt a lot about France and its culture from Lorenzo, Juliet and Florien who all spoke very good English and I enjoyed teaching them about Australia. They had never heard of ‘Aussie, Aussie Aussie – Oi, Oi Oi’ so I enthusiastically
taught them this and at any random moment any one of us could yell it out knowing that the rest would join in. They all spoke fluent Spanish as well which I pretended every now and then to completely understand when in reality I had not picked up one word. I would often try to say something in Spanish and apparently I have a very ‘aussie’ Spanish accent which they found quite amusing and even made me repeat certain phrases to other locals in town just so they could giggle at/with me.
We generally worked for 5 days in a row and then had 3 days off and during our last 3 day break Lorenzo organised a fantastic camping/trekking adventure for us. As he had done a lot of research projects with the scientists around the area and had also been a trekking guide in Greenland just last year his enthusiasm, passion and knowledge was limitless. He was planning our menu at least a week before we left and even hand drew the route we would take on a piece of paper with a scale and everything.
We were dropped off about 30kms outside of town and spent
the next 3 days not seeing another person and creating our own route - either following an animal’s track or weaving our own way through the dessert shrubs, down deep valleys and across rocky cliffs. The scenery was just unbelievable and in a place that hardly many people would have, or ever will, see. There is no way that anyone but a local would have been able to navigate us through the area and I am so grateful to Lorenzo for his time and efforts with showing us this part of the world. Please check out the photos to grasp just a glimpse into what I got to explore…
After just over 3 weeks in the quiet little village it was time to leave and I headed to northern Argentina to a place called Mendoza. Although the 3 weeks of isolation and tranquillity were amazing and the overall experience was something I will never forget, I was keen to get back into the travelling scene. It took just over 24 hrs on a bus to reach Mendoza which went surprisingly quickly and I checked into my first hostel in almost a month and finally had some good wi-fi in
order to contact home and to see what news I had missed out on.
This was the first time I really felt like I was travelling alone and that I needed to get out of my comfort zone and try to make some friends in the hostel. I didn’t have any plans for the week that I was there but knew I didn’t want to spend it alone. I luckily plucked up the courage to talk to a few people in the hostel and by dinner time I had booked in for a bike riding wine tour the next day with a good crew.
We were picked up the next morning at our hostel and driven just 20km outside of the city to the first vineyard. Mendoza is one of the 8 Wine Capitals of the World and has over 1000 vineyards in the region so the information and of course the wine we tried were fantastic. After our first tasting it was time to jump on the bikes to head to the next vineyard which was a quick 10 minute ride away, although it wasn’t along a quiet little country track like I had possibly though…we headed
straight out onto the main highway where cars, buses and trucks flew by. We were kept in single file and reminded constantly to keep our camera away and your eyes on the road. Luckily we all arrived safely at each vineyard but I have to say that when we reached our last destination I was quite happy for them to take the bike and my responsibility for my own safety back off me.
My last day in Mendoza was overcast and chilly so we decided to head into the mountains to some thermal pools where we spent hours sitting outside in steamy hot water. It was the perfect thing to do on a cold winters day and again, the scenery was amazing. I don’t think any of us could have felt more relaxed as we headed back towards the city with most of us falling asleep on the bus.
The next day I enjoyed a quiet morning in the hostel chatting with some new friends before I headed to the airport to fly to Puerto Iguazu which is about 20 hrs north of Buenos Aires and home to the one of the seven Wonders of the World, Iguazu
Falls.
On my first morning here I spent my time running around trying to sort my Brazilian visa out. (If you are planning to travel to Brazil and want some advice on your visa – please contact me! There is so much you learn as you travel that you have no idea about back in Australia.)
After submitting everything I needed to to the consulate I decided to spend the afternoon on the Argentine side of the falls. I met a lovely English girl on the bus who was also travelling alone so we mapped out a route and decided to explore the park together.
I am literally lost for words as to where to begin with describing just how incredibly amazing and beautiful and mesmerising the falls are and what the whole experience is like. The park is set up to be very user friendly and although it is completely touristy with gift shops, tour groups and has man-made structures everywhere, it still feels like you are free to explore your own path and left alone in the wilderness. I spent two days exploring the park and it was incredible to see how different the falls
were after having a bit of rain overnight; it was like they had taken on an entire different personality.
The first day I saw the lower half of the falls and went on a boat ride that takes you right under an incredibly huge waterfalls’ white water (not sure of the technical term sorry) and was completely drenched from head to toe but you couldn’t have wiped the smile off anyone’s face on the boat.
On the second day I decided to spend my day alone and began with a two hour walk through the jungle in thongs, covered in mud from the rain in the previous days, to a beautiful waterfall where there wasn’t a single person. On my walk back I spotted some monkeys in the trees and although I was getting attacked by mosquitos and the threat of rain was looming, there wasn’t any place in the world I would have rather been. It was an amazing way to start the day and I walked along with the biggest smile on my face.
I then headed towards the top of the falls which is known as ‘Garganta del Diablo’ (or Throat of the Devil).
You hop on a little train which winds through the jungle and then walk about 1km on platforms that are over the flowing water that’s heading for the falls. Right at the end is probably one of the coolest, mouth gapping sights I have even seen – I’m pretty sure I just stopped in my tracks to gather the thoughts in my head of what I was seeing in front of me. Incredible. Just incredible.
Although I was getting wetter and wetter from being showered by the spray from the waterfalls I stayed there for at least 30 minutes just watching the endless flow of water over the land. I don’t think any of my photos can capture anything close to what it was like up there sorry - you may just have to make the trip over here just for it!
Luckily my experience of Iguazu Falls didn’t end there 😊 there are two sides to the falls, the Argetnine side and the Brazilian side, so a couple of days later (after some rain had cleared) I crossed the boarder into Brazil to see the same falls but from a different viewpoint.
From the Brazilian side
you get a much deeper appreciation to the overall size of Iguazu Falls. You don’t get as close to the waterfalls themselves but the views are spectacular and it really puts the Argentine side into perspective. It was amazing to see what a different view you could get by moving just 50m down the track – it was like you were looking at completely different waterfalls. As it had rained so much over the previous days the water of the falls had turned much browner and were extremely powerful. I got lost while I stood in the sun watching the water cascade down over the rocks – I really didn’t want to leave.
As you can probably tell, I think Iguazu Falls is an amazing place to visit. I was very close to not coming here as it is quite out of the way but I am so so happy I did!
After spending two amazing months in Argentina I am heading to Brazil tomorrow where I am looking forward to enjoying some sun and beach time as I’ve heard Brazil is a pretty amazing place to do it.
Hasta la proxima…
(until next
time…)
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