Sep 2008

I don´t think I could be any more impressed with the southern edge of Argentinian Patagonia. Our time spent in El Calafate and El Chalten was great and the views spectacular. Of course words could never cover it.

From Buenos Aires we almost missed our domestic flight to El Calafate because we mistakenly assumed the flight was taking off from the domestic airport. Lesson: Always check the airport your leaving from! Luckily our driver took us straight to the international airport when we realized our mistake...for a considerable fee of course. The man deserved every penny though because we thought for sure we were going to miss our flight and have to deal with the aweful reprocussions in spanish but happily we made it by minutes. Or by the "skin of our balls" as Steve said. Aerolineas Argentina has a great reputation - didn´t stop me from being freaked out on the flight. I talked to one of the very friend flight attendents, who all spoke great english, and it really helped. He was so nice I felt bad I never got to say thank you to him for talking to me for a good hour of the flight. Anyway the first views of Patagonia were stark and desolate. Mountains in the distance but barren wilderness in between. The skies at points that evening looked simply surreal. Chilly and beautiful.

We stayed at America del Sur...which is probably one of the most reputable hostels in South America. Everyones stayed there or at least heard of it. Clean, spacious, with underfloor heating. The room was very nice and cozy. The staff very helpful and laidback. Fairly expensive town though and touristy. We met up with a friend and ex-colleague in a happy coincidence of luck. The next day we headed out together by taxi to Perito Moreno Glacier. Spectacular. Apparently one of the few glaciers still advancing. The blue of the glacier is amazing and the greenish run off another interesting colour of water I´d never seen. We had the place practically to ourselves because it´s off season. You could occassional hear the cracks of the ice. We went on a boat to see the north side as well. Cold cold wind but again very nice views. We stayed there for a few hours and the taxi driver took us back.

We debated between doing a long daytrip to Chile´s Torres del Paine park or going to much more nearby El Chalten overnight. We decided to do El chalten - Torres del Paine was 5 hours drive each way and barely any time for walking or trekking. This turned into a great decision. El Chalten is an awesome town. The small hub for trekkers, backpackers and climbers still retains a grassroots "real" feel to it. It hasn´t got too touristy yet. The views were incredible. The treks - challenging and worthwhile. Mount Fitzroy was so impressive. I´ll never forget it. Our second day we got particularly good weather. Anyway I recommend it to all and any Patagonian traveller. The pictures just can´t compare to the experience of feeling those stark peaks beside you.

The views both leaving and going from El Chalten were amazing also and Ranche Grande hostel, we´re we stayed overnight, was pretty good with a nice restaurant/coffee place build right in. We headed back to el Calafate on the famous Route 40 but I have to say I was loathe to leave the beauty behind. We spotted horses, condors, flamingos and guanacos (cousin to the llama). I love Patagonia.

For more pics check out:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=75854&l=034c0&id=684816071

Buenos Aires is one of those cities you just need to visit because it´s so famous. It´s got a good vibe to it. We arrived early Sunday morning when this vibe is dead. Almost nothing was open and it was quite chilly and overcast. We made our way to the hostel, our bed wasn´t ready yet so we had to wander for a while. Got lost on the subway system there but eventually got back to the room after lunch time for a shower then we headed to San Telmo. The bohemian tango heart of Buenos Aires. There´s an antiques market there on Sundays and at first we thought it was just in a building but then it spilled out into some other streets, and with it crowds and street performers and it a very good atmosphere. By then it was getting sunny as well, so that helped. Later that day after a nap we headed to Recoleta where another market is, however by the time we got there it was mostly done. This one appears to be much more popular with the locals because hundreds of teenagers were meandering around amongst hippies. Also good atmosphere if one was in the mood for reggae, the smell of ganj and hoards of loud teens. We weren´t so much in the mood so we ate and headed back. The next day though, once we were more fully rested, we headed back to Recoleta to see the famous cemetary where the weathly and famous get to be buried. Obviously the concept ´you can´t bring it with you´was lost on these folks because some of their graves weren´t much of a step down from their previous lifestyle. Frivolity that easily falls into the catagory of ridiculous, it is quite a city, and really very much it´s own city. Streets, houses, streetlamps the whole enchilada. It´s very pretty to look at though and beautiful from an artistic perspective. The grave of Eva Peron, though undistinguished compared to most and apparently a source of contraversy resides within. It definitely is worth a visit.

The next day we headed to Palmero, which is technically one of the recommended ´sites´of Buenos Aires. I´m not sure why. While it is a pretty park, it wasn´t all that interesting. We went to plaza del Mayo after which has a pink palace and through the shopping area where we were able to pick up a few english books. Buenos Aires as a whole I found a bit of a typical city. The buildings were pretty but unremarkable and very European. It does have a good vibe and would probably be great to live in but I suppose I´m more interested in natural phenomena while in a continent like South America. As that was our last day we went to a tango show and that is what makes Buenos Aires worth a visit. Tango. Impressive dancing and atmosphere that makes you want to learn. Beautiful music, beautiful dancing and good food. That was the most worthwhile part of our trip.

Other Points
The people seemed decent enough. Argentina as a whole seems much more safe than Brazil. The food is all pasta and pizza and meat. I´m not sure how they live. It´s like coffee and croissants for breakfast and empanadas (meat filled pastry) for lunch and pizza or pasta for dinner. Not my style but I´ve survived thus far. The empanadas de carne are great. Beef is in great availability and value. You could get two steaks for like $5 Pesos (1.10EUR) at the grocery store. You can barely get a bottle of water here for that price. The weather has been pretty mild. Not at all hot like I would have liked but I guess when they´re coming out of winter that´s too be expected.

Check out more pics here:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=75564&l=129db&id=684816071

After a very interesting 22 hour bus ride to Iguaçu Falls including moldy air conditioning, broken seat belts, broken smelly toilet and 2 hours of sleep; it was certainly a relief to arrive. I was convinced I would have picked up tuberculosis or some other horrific air borne disease from the bad environmental conditions on that bus but happily nothing came of it except a numb ass and disdain for Brazilian public transit. Apparently Brazilian buses are a luxury compared to buses in Peru and Bolivia...scary. Anyway the same day we arrived at 7am we headed straight onto more local buses to get across the Argentina border to Puerto Iguacu. This was not particularly difficult, the bus left us at the Brazilian exit point and we got stamped and then realized it was a 2 km hike to the Argentinan border. That day though was the first day of good weather we had seen in a week so we were happy to be in the light even if it including carrying our heavy bags. The crossing at the Argentinan border was relatively painless. The most trying part was the bathrooms which all appeared to be broken to varying degrees. I suspect however that we may have skipped a part of the border crossing process - we saw people walking through metal detectors and such but we had just walked right along. Perhaps all the chaos of big buses going through gave us a break.

Anyway we got to the hostel, Puerto Canoas, and it was pretty cool. Room was decent and there were hammocks outside. It was very colourful and we were lucky enough to be able to check straight into our room even though we were there at like 10am (normally you can´t book into a hostel till around lunch time). We had a bit of breakfast and then headed straight to the falls. We learned our lesson in Rio, never wait. If there´s good weather - do the sites. As much as you can. So straight to the falls, while the weather was beautiful. It was a long day but the falls themselves were amazing. Extensive and we walked quite a few trails in order to see it from several angles. What amused me the most were the animals though. I suppose through exposure to Niagara Falls, though not nearly as impressive, of a similiar mold, I was somewhat desensitized to the charms of waterfalls. The new and interesting animals though were great. We saw couti, some kind of cross between a a lemar and an anteater in appearance. Very cute. We saw some lizards that were either gigantic lizards or small komodo dragons. We saw a caiman, some sort of small alligator, so many butterflies, a toucan. It was great. Now that I definitely can´t see at home. Between the fabulous sunny warm weather, the friendly animals and the roar of the falls it made a great day.

The next day we just lazed around and enjoyed the town which is very laid back. A bit touristy but still very quaint just the way a sleepy small town should be. Another fun 20 hour bus ride to Buenos Aires next.

Check out more pics here:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=74140&l=0b877&id=684816071

Well the rain and cloudy weather hasn´t stopped. At least we haven´t been robbed. I suspect the grim weather is keeping the thieves at bay...that and our expressions of glum angry depression. We visited Copacabana. The beach was deserted but you could tell in the sunlight it would be a supurb beach. The views of skyscrapers and rocky hills. The shopping area around it was quite active as well so we hung out there for a while. We also bought the tickets for our upcoming 22 hour bus ride to Iguazu Falls. I´m trying to not think of this bus trip because it brings on somewhat suicidal thoughts.

Today we´re going to visit the infamous Christ Redeemer and Sugar Loaf. I don´t expect to see much but you kind of have to do it.

Check out pics here:
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=74140&l=0b877&id=684816071

Well the trip has finally begun! After a hellish 10 hour flight which despite the comforts of multiple movies, shows and three seats to stretch out across, was still miserable.

Steve was there to meet me at the airport and we headed by taxi to Hotel Columbia by a very expensive taxi ride. The taxi was rear-ended someone, my experiences have yet to improve when involving Brazilian taxi drivers. The hotel was fair and in the afternoon we strolled around while it was still light and had some food. We ended up in a restaurant that offered food by kilogram. So you can choose what you want and of how much. We tried quite a few things which were tasty but I would not be able to identify or name.

The hotel was nice and the breakfast which included papaya and melon was welcome.

We ended up choosing to go with the bus company 1001 to get to Rio. Mainly because it appeared to be the most popular. Seems like different ´levels´of buses leave at different times and for different costs. The bus we ended up on cost $78 Reais which was on an ´executive bus´which meant it had air conditioning and a certain level of reclination. The cheaper buses seem to leave only a couple times a day at awkward times and don´t have much in the way of comfort. The bus ride was fine at first but then half way the bus driver came in and said something in portugese that sounded suspicious and sure enough we ended up taking a detour through some small villages and when we came back onto the highway later it seemed like there was a huge backlog. We arrived in Rio almost two hours late - we were supposed to be picked up at 5.40pm by a taxi sent by the hostel we were staying in. Luckily he waited! We felt especially lucky when we saw the queue for the taxis at the bus station.

The hostel we´re is nice. We have our own room with a fan and temperature is not so humid that it´s stifling.

Our first day in Rio we did hang gliding. Which is supposed to be one of the ´things to do´. It was cloudy but apparently still a go. Now I´m not one for flying even so hang gliding shouldn´t really be on my menu. However I was more worried on the taxi ride there - with wild Brazilian driving keeping me on the edge of my seat. I was nervous when I looked over the edge of the cliff we were going to run off with little more than a oversized kite on our backs. The hang glider I was riding tandem with has 22 years experience so there was not much to worry about. It was like being a bird I suppose. Amazing views and quiet and tranquility. We glided for probably 20 minutes or so before we landed on the beach rather softly. All in all a great time.

We visited Santa Teresa later that day, taking a rickety ´bungee´ tram. Which has no railings and is accosted often by street urchins. Santa Teresa was a nice quaint area. The best part was the bookshop at the top of the hill with delicious cappuccino´s and the reggae/salsa band playing nearby. We listened to that till night time and enjoyed the famous local drink caipirhinas. Those simple moments of good music and drink was even better than hang gliding in my opinion.

Today it´s been raining on and off and from what I understand will be until after we leave - looks like we won´t be getting any lovely shots of Rio in the sun from the Sugar Loaf. We ended up at the Botanical Gardens which was quite beautiful and extensive. Surprisingly so. Next couple days we´ll be hitting Christ Redeemer, the Sugar Loaf, Copacabana beach and Ipanema Beach - should be good even with the grim weather.
Cheers