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Published: November 28th 2009
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Santiago
Cool guy in a cool city! UPDATED WITH PHOTO'S
Hola Chicos,
I know I know, it´s been a while. We´ve literally just been too busy having an amazing time. Some of the most amazing parts of the trip have happened in the last few weeks. So last time we wrote, we were in Santiago......seems like a looooong time ago.
I did realise that we forgot to mention one of the hotels we asked for a room in Santiago asked us if we wanted it for an hour or overnight!!!!! Classy....needless to say we didn´t stay there...pretty funny though.
So from Santiago we moved through a couple of places pretty quickly due to bad weather. We were particularly disappointed about the Lake District on the Chilean side (it spans both Chile and Argentina) as we didn´t manage to see much due to the wind driving the rain practically horizontal. We were forced to spent a couple of days in our room by the fire listening to the storm raging outside. Still it was nice to slow the pace right down and prepare ourselves for the multitude of highlights we were about to experience. The first of these was as we headed up into
Argentina awaits
On our way to the Chile-Argentina border the Andes towards the Argentinian border crossing. We'd seen a few snow capped peaks through the Lake District but now we were right in amongst it. After alighting the bus to have our passports stamped we had to wait a while for the rest of the passengers from the bus went through their own entry procedures. Any of you that know Em will probably guess what´s coming next but I specifically recall one old lady´s shocked but smiling face as she came out of the office to see my lovely wife jumping around in the snow like a 5 year old, asking if we had time to build a snowman. Alas, we only had a brief moment to take a couple of photos and we were shuffled back onto the bus leaving the bemused Argie officials clearly discussing whether or not they should have let that little zorro (spanish for fox I´ve just learnt!!) into their country. Still, very funny!
Argentina´s beauty hit us from the first second we entered the country and it has maintained a spectacularly high level of stunningness (I know that´s not a word) wherever we've been. There has been the occassional moment where anger
Up in the Andes
Freezing our Andes (and our Feetees) off! has boiled over after seeing yet another shop with a photo of Diego Maradonna´s face smiling at me but all in all it´s been a fantastic country in which to travel. Our first journey through ´The Seven Lakes´was just like no other place on earth I´m sure. There is nothing quite like seeing something so breathtaking when you are just passing through on your way to a different destination. People pay a lot of money for tours of this incredible region and although we weren't able to stop and walk around, we were over the moon to see such a landscape from our bus window. Plus, the weather was starting to be kind to us. We'll have a crack at putting some photos on this blog but if we don't manage the only way I can describe the area is the bluest of blue lakes, backed by soaring snow covered mountains. Just incredible. When we finally reached our destination of Villa de la Angostura we took the first walk in the Lake District. We both love the English Lake District back home and although it does actually sting me a bit to say this, it was like seeing their big
brother and sisters!
Bariloche is one of the cute towns we visited in this region where we stayed in a lovely little hostel and met an Icelanic dude that looked exactly like Roger Federer!! We also hit on a tidy little scam in this town famed for it´s chocolate. One word....samples! Of the hundreds of chocolate shops about half of them were giving away free samples, ah what a great afternoon that was. Ha ha. Bariloche is also the current champion for 'world's best ice cream'on the official Chris and Em chart. Check it out, Lemon Merangue Pie Ice Cream, we would say to any of you that it would be worth the hundreds of pounds to fly and then bus yourself over here to try just a single mouthful, just heaven.
Oh, not being mean but while I remember, we were watching the tv last night and a 'sarcofagus'was mentioned. Not that I am particularly clever in any sense but it did tickle me, not when Em asked what that was...but when she admitted that she thought it was a dinosaur! I love my wife. Endless entertainment.
Where were we, oh yes, from The Lakes of
Argentina we started the long trek north to Iguazu Falls. Totalling three overnight bus journeys we actually stopped at some lovely places. Mendoza is in the heart of the wine region and is a beautiful city with a humungus main square. We spent a couple of days in the searing 40 degree heat, walking around the gorgeous tree lined streets and browsing some of the best markets we've seen anywhere on our trip. We also stayed in a self catering unit so were able to cook for ourselves...well Em cooked! On our last day we took our previous night's leftovers and had lunch in the park. When we had had enough (and still not finished the mountain of chicken and beetroot salad) we chucked a wonderfully pink carrier bag into a nearby bin. Moments later a pretty well dressed man wondered over, took the bag out of the bin and walked off across the park happily and greedily dipping a clean hand into the bag then emerging with beetroot red digits full of said lunch. We're still not sure if he was a tramp, I mean, he had a set of keys attached to his belt! Very odd but good
Clever Girl
Em frrrreezing at the first of many lakes. luck to him.
Cordoba was our final stop before hitting the world's most beautiful waterfalls. Billed as South America´s cultural capital we had pretty high expectations and although we did like it, I found my personal highlight to be the discovery of Argentina´s largest 'Tenadore Libre' (All you can eat buffet!!!). It was just mind boggling. A room the size of a football field crammed with tables and chairs all centred with three massive serving stations. Pasta, pizza, full on BBQ, sushi, chinese...oh the list goes on, and don´t even get me started on the deserts. All for 3 pounds each. What a place!
Ok, so finally we get to Iguazu, our destination to surprise Em's mum and dad. They thought we might pop up somewhere on their trip through Patagonia but weren't expecting us to be there in the most northerly part of the country. We had arranged with their hotel to allow us into their room before they arrived and jumped out of the bathroom just after they entered the room. It was classic. We spent a lovely three days with them, catching up and taking in a couple of Caipirinha enhanced cracking meals. A Caipirinha
is a lethal (and complementary) cocktail provided daily by their hotel. Oh, and the waterfalls weren't too bad either! I have to say more than that. Seriously, on the Argentinian side the waterfalls are incredible. You can get right up close to the Devils Throat and some of the views from the walkways are very beautiful. However, if we'd left it to just one day, we would have said they weren't as spectacular as Victoria Falls in Zambia. Luckily for us we also visited the Brazilian side where they rival or maybe even beat Vic Falls. This has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. We spent the day taking in the sunshine and cooling off by daring to venture to the furthest point on the walkways that take you right out into the spray from what have to be the most wonderful waterfalls on the planet. Taking this into account, we were in a pretty good mood. A mood only enhanced by Em´s dad wearing his backpack underneath his waterproof jacket to protect it...hence his new nickname Chris 'The Tortuga (Turtle)'Williams!
Well, this is taking longer than I thought and I know some of your
attention spans will be waning by now. We're actually a couple of weeks along from their now but we'll catch you up as soon as we can.
Love to everyone.
Chris and Em xx
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