Walking In The Air - A Different Kind of Christmas

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The transition from travelling with Fiona to being by myself was made much easier by the fact that I seemed to already know several people in Buenos Aires. There was Jackie P, Alistair (a friend from England) and several other people I had met in different parts of South America so there was never any time to start feeling lonely.

Alistair and I went off to Mendoza for a few days and the 13 hour bus ride was definitely the swankiest so far. I finally got to play bus bingo (or "Bingoooo AN-DES-MAR" as the conductor kept announcing emphatically in an attempt to whip up some enthusiasm) but I didn't win and the excitement was short-lived! Dinner was also included and the menu was announced over the tannoy. I was sure that champagne was mentioned but this seemed so incongrous and, having some difficulty adjusting to the Argentine accent, I let Alistair convince me that I had misunderstood and instead we would be having something mushroom-based (champignones). But no, we were indeed ostentatiously served with glasses of champagne after dinner. Hilarious! Perhaps National Express need to up their game.

Mendoza is the heart of the wine growing industry in Argentina and there are vineyards a-go-go covering the surrounding areas. A popular way to visit them is to tour by bike, and the flat ground, gorgeous weather and a group that was great fun made this a really enjoyable day out. At least we thought so but Charlie, a very entertaining English guy in our group, kept complaining we'd been "bloody shanghaied again" every time we had to pay a few pesos to taste the wine! In truth the wine they gave us was all very young and none of it particularly nice I have to agree, but it was still a great way to spend the day. We also visited a place where they made liquers and spirits and between us managed to get free samples of just about all 20 varieties on offer. My favourite was a fantastic dulce de leche liquer which was like Baileys only with a Caramac flavour, yum! We wobbled home very happily at the end of the day.

Mendoza is also a very popular spot for 'adventure tourism' and I can proudly announce that I went paragliding! Yes, I know, it was a bit of a shock to me too but it's true. It was Alistair's fault mainly as he had always wanted to do it so I agreed to accompany him and then decide later if I wanted to do it too. When a random bloke picked us up with the chute bundled up on the back seat it didn't inspire much confidence and when we arrived alone at the top of a seemingly randomly chosen hill I was very glad that I had not signed up to jump. Appearances can be deceptive, however, and I later found out out that the guy was in fact the Argentine paragliding champion. Then other people started to turn up and having been able to watch several people jump happily (and, more importantly, without fatal incident!) I decided that, given that the weather was perfect too, I would probably never have a better opportunity than this. So off I went!

Over here this sport is called 'parapente' and you are strapped in front of a guy who flies the chute. You both have to run off the top of a hill to take off and the intial rush was incredible. Once in the air you can sit in a type of sling and just enjoy the view. My flyer, Tato, was such a pro we caught lots of thermals and were going higher and higher for ages. I was in the air longer than others who took off after me but actually half an hour was enough as I started to feel really sick. I think it was the motion as it was worse when we were climbing high in circles but I guess it could also have been the nerves! Landing was a breeze and as Tato gently touched down I felt very grateful having just watched the person in front of me fall painfully flat on the their face! The whole thing was very cool and I was very pleased that I had done it.

After that I felt brave enough to conquer a long-standing fear of mine: white-water rafting, so signed up for the next day. Just as we were putting all our gear on another group came back saying that two of their rafts had flipped over. Two people had spent a long time in the water before being pulled back in and were so scared they had insisted on walking back. Urk! That was enough to put me right off and I chickened out. Ah well, one step at a time! We still had a lovely day as we were out in the mountains and went abseiling and trekking instead. The rest of our time in Mendoza we spent sampling more of the wine in the restaurants, feasting on juicy steak and scoffing ice cream. There seemed to be an ice-cream parlour on every corner and they were buzzing at around 1am. What a perfect way to round off an evening!

I arrived back in Buenos Aires on Christmas Eve feeling decidely un-christmassy, especially as the temperature was pushing 40 degrees. I had decided to treat myself to staying in a posh hotel over Christmas and congratulated myself on this decision whilst enjoying cocktails by the pool on the roof terrace! Christmas Eve is the bigger celebration here and we had a wonderful night. We found a restaurant with amazing food and great atmosphere down in the Puerto Madero docks area. The river and bridges were all lit up and there was dancing on the quayside. As we walked along, the music changed from latin salsa and suddenly 'Fame' came blasting out of the sound system! They must have known I was coming! Cue a couple of hours of cheesy music and silly dancing. Perfect!

In between Christmas and New Year was fairly quiet but this is a great city for wondering around as all the districts are so different. Its also a shopper's haven but I'm saving my pennies for the moment as I still have six weeks travelling left and my finances are not looking quite as healthy as I'd hoped! I visited Recoletta cemetery which is not as macabre as it sounds. Only the elite are buried there, and most of them in very grand tombs so that the cemetery resembles a mini-city. It was very interesting and seeing the throngs around Evita's tomb inspired a visit to the Evita museum to find out more about this remarkable woman who has become so revered. We also visited art galleries and markets and just took in the atmosphere. I seem to have got out of the habit of taking my camera though as I don't have many photos at all. I would have liked to catch a football match as it's so important here but the season finished two days before we arrived.

Tango is big news in Buenos Aires but we managed to keep missing impromptu street shows. Instead we went to a superb evening show at Cafe Tortoni where the music and dancing were mesmerising (perhaps I could get into 'Strictly Come Dancing' after all, Meg!) Had a brief foray into the nightclub scene, which don't really get going til 2am, before deciding that I'm getting too old for that sort of thing and resigning myself to being one of the first to bed in the hostel! I could live with that but was a bit embarrassed to realise I was also the last to wake up. How can people go to bed at 6am and get up at 9?! Thats just silly!However I did manage to stay out til 5.30 on New Years Eve and was pleased I'd finally entered the Argentine timeframe, if only for one night! I went to a cool party in San Telmo with Jackie and all her friends, along with Barbara, a Swiss friend I had made in Salvador. There were lots of interesting and friendly people but probably the best bit for me was watching fireworks go off all over the city from the roof terrace.

So now its 2007 and time to leave Buenos Aires for the last part of my travels. I feel I've got to know this city quite well and really like it here, although it can be unbearably hot. As I'm sure I've already mentioned one of the huge appeals is that it's so cheap you can eat, drink, sleep and shop in a style that I couldn't afford in the UK. Whilst that's great news for us tourists, the economic crisis that precipitated this situation has obviously left its mark on the people who live here. Buenos Aires looks like a European capital with a wealthy infrastructure but the number of children selling stuff or begging on the streets is similar to Quito. There's also rubbish everywhere caused by people rooting through the dustbins collecting cardboard which they can sell on for 10 pesos per kilo (less than 2p). In the middle of the night its not unusual to see these 'cartoneros' pushing a sky high pile of cardboard on a shopping trolley through the streets as they try to eek a living out of the city's rubbish. Not to end on such a depressing note though I do also have to add that the people here are amazingly friendly, especially workers in shops and restaurants, and it appears to be genuine rather than the superficial 'have a nice day' variety. As one taxi driver told me, the people here may be poor but they know the value of friendship.....

The condensed version: A very different festive season full of thrills, cocktails and city-life with not a single brussel sprout in sight!

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Comments

[Marie Harris]

Happy New Year
Can't quite match your stunning celebrations and unfortunately there were numerous sprouts on the table here, but had a great time anyway. Hope you have a fantastic last few weeks. Love Marie