Bingo and Beaches

Yesterday afternoon I boarded the bus for the 18 hour trip down to the northern part of Patagonia. The first hour or so is spent just getting out of Buenos Aires, before heading through the plains and ranches. The bus seats were very comfy, reclining to around 140 degrees (still not a flat bed, but pretty nice). There is a air-stewardess type person on board (the main difference being that he was a man, and we weren't in the air) and after a few hours on board there was a game of bingo. Thankfully this was the only organised entertainment of the journey, I'm not sure I could have handled a whole 18 hours of red-coat type organised fun. The food isn't that bad in the bus. They stop to pick up dinner on the way down, so it's at least warm, although lacking a bit of taste, and they're generous with the wine which helps to drift off.

I arrived this morning at around 9.30, but had already missed the departure to see the sea lions. I was pretty exhausted anyway, and so happy enough to wander around the town and along the coast killing some time. I've booked onto the tour tomorrow to go to the peninsula and do the whale watching, which should run provided the wind doesn't pick up too much.

I have some photos, but this computer doesn't seem to want to read my memory card, so they'll have to wait.

Packhorse

I will be carrying some extra weigt until I get to Chile where, apparently, they have a postal system capable of dealing with international parcels heavier than 2kg! I will then be able to offload some stuff (probably to then replace the weight with llama wool jumpers in Peru!).

Last night and future plans

This is my last evening in Buenos Aires - i'm leaving tomorrow at around 3pm for my 18 hour bus journey to Puerto Madryn. Puerto Madryn is a long way South of Buenos Aires, however is still only really in the very northern part of Patagonia. The town itself is very small but is the main starting point for exploring the peninsula where there's whale watching, sea lions and outside of the summer months, penguins. Puerto Madryn is also located in the part of Patagonia that was settled by the Welsh many years ago, and some of the more isolated villages in the area still have some welsh-speaking inhabitants.

Buenos Aires to Peninsula Valdes (bus will not actually cross ocean).

I'm interested as to how this 18 hour bus journey is going to be. I've got a seat which is a nearly-flat bed, and I've generally heard positive reports to date on the comfort and facilities on board. My intention is to do one of the tours in the afternoon after I arrive and a further full-day tour on the Monday. Both are, however, weather permitting with the wind often preventing the boat tours in Winter. I will just have to hope...

Jazz in Buenos Aires

The other evening we went to the most-famous jazz club in Buenos Aires, Notorious. Whilst Buenos Aires is more famous for its Tango, the guide books and general Internet research had suggested that this place was worth a visit, and given that it was only 4 blocks from where we're living, I thought it could be a good choice for an evening. The entrance was around 15 dollars, and the food pretty reasonably priced. We saw a trio who play an "American songbook" collection every Tuesday evening who were fantastic. The evening was definitely a highlight of Buenos Aires so far, although perhaps it seems a bit bizarre to say that given that there is nothing particularly unique to Buenos Aires about Jazz! Perhaps I'm just not that much of a Tango fan...

It's a very small restaurant, but a good venue.

The five of us who went - 3 American friends and one from Ireland.

In case anyone notices the half-sized bottles of wine on the table, it was because they had run out of 750ml bottles on the cheaper end of the wine card! Some Malbec from Mendoza was the obvious choice (will be a stop on my travels next week).

Cafe Tortoni

Buenos Aires' oldest coffee shop, one block away from the spanish school. We might have stayed longer had it not been so cold!

Rugby

Some photos from the England Argentina Rugby match on Saturday. I went with a couple of friends, although we all bought our tickets separately so were spread about the ground. It was a fun afternoon, although perhaps might have been a better atmosphere had the match been closer. I think a lot of the Argentinean fans were rather disappointed with their team's performance. 

Yesterday I bought my bus ticket for the next stop on the trip - Puerto Madryn. I'll post more about it in the coming week, but after I've finished the Spanish course here in BA I'll be moving South towards the northern part of Patagonia to see some wildlife. I'm hoping it's not going to be too cold! The bus journey is 18 hours but I've gone for the top class of seat which I've heard is pretty comfortable and I should be able to sleep on overnight. The ticket was about 80 USD, which was quite a bit cheaper than I expected to pay from looking at the website, but as far as I can tell from looking at the receipt, even with with my Spanish I did manage to buy the correct ticket...

Christina's house

The Casa Rosada is the building housing the offices of the Argentine president in Buenos Aires and at the weekends is open to visitors. The entrance is free and includes a tour of about an hour - you have to take the tour to see the interesting stuff, no unaccompanied wandering allowed. The building is a rather striking baby pink and serves, in addition to being Christina's office, as a museum and venue for press conferences or the hosting foreign visitors.

In the entrance area they have a gallery dedicated to South Americans of importance. Eva obviously makes an appearance, and in general the room could be described as a guide to South American street names and cities - they get very repetitive with the inspiration used for their roads and place names.

This photo is of one of the conference rooms in the house. In the glass case in the corner is a dress of... Eva Peron! Who would've guessed it! I'll save you a picture from the next room where you could see Eva's writing desk and the Eva Peron Balcony.

The main room used for press conferences is a room dedicated to famous South American Women (I suppose it's only fair that Eva has to share some of the limelight). Eva still has a pretty prominent place in the room.

Eva. Again.

The visit also includes some other rather impressive rooms and closes with a trip to Christina's office. This is the part where you're not allowed to take photos, although you can't really get that close to her desk anyway. Perhaps with a super zoom lens you could see classified information of a planned recapture of the Malvinas. 

The photography isn't great, although we weren't allowed flash inside the building. Overall it was an enjoyable trip and certainly worthwhile given it was free. Whilst there is another museum dedicated to Eva Perro, I think the Casa Rosada has probably also ticked that one off the to-do list!

South American Chocolate Bars: Part 1. The politically incorrect

The Bombay and the Peking would also sell well!

Coffee breaks

In a lovely traditional coffee shop round the corner from us.

Operation cut the pumpkin

Photo from the other week taken by a housemate. I couldn't resist the temptation to buy another one today and I found we do have a blender so pumpkin soup it is for the week.

Iguazu Day 3- Just popping to Brazil!

Today we went to the Brazilian side of the falls (which are located at the point where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet). Officially, I believe the falls are on the Argentinean side of the river, however this does mean that from the Brazilian side you are looking onto the falls, as opposed from approaching from behind or the side, which gives you a very different view, and I suspect is the reason why for most people their trip involves a visit to the park on both sides.

It was another early start for us. It's not strictly necessary to be at the park early, but the coaches arrive a bit later, and the humidity start to arrive in the early afternoon, which makes the place much less pleasant to walk around. We took the bus to the Brazilian waterfall park, which involves getting off the coach twice in  each direction (Argentinean and Brazilian immigration), although the whole journey only takes about half an hour.

The Brazilian park seems slightly more modern than the Argentinean park, it also might have been more expensive, but I'm not sure because I forgot to look up the Brazilian exchange rate before I went. I think it's safe to assume that as a tourist hotspot, things were quite pricey. As on the Argentinean side I was impressed with how everything was set up and organised, and as a tourism business I would say they are generally running "the waterfalls" pretty well.

The one downside to the Brazilian side is there there isn't really so much walking to be done. The whole trail is around 1km long, and then you're sort of done. We took about an hour and a half to wander round, stopping for photos, and crossing over the path in front of the falls where you get hit with water on one side of you like you were in a shower! After this we decided to take a trip into the town on the Brazilian side which was about 30 minutes a way. This was, unfortunately, not hugely successful. The town was eerily quiet and had a slightly uncomfortable feel to it. Perhaps it is only because it was Sunday and the tourists were all out at the falls, but after a swift walk around (during which we didn't even find a cafe where we wanted to get something eat) and we decided to head back to Argentina (where at least we understand the language!)

I'm not entirely sure it's necessary to rank which view of the falls was better, and they are both pretty impressive, and for most people who have gone to the trouble to come here (given it's quite a way from anywhere), a trip to both sides would be natural. However, the panoramic view of the falls from Brazil was probably more awe-inspiring than from Argentina, even if you are perhaps closer to the falls themselves in Argentina. What is so impressive here is not only their height (although on the list of top-dog waterfalls of the world by height they're not number 1), but the sheer number and breadth of them, and this impression is best appreciated from Brazil. And the trip to Brazil meant another set of stamps in the passport...

Iguazu Day 2- Argentinean Side

We got up this morning before 7, and took the 20 minute bus journey out to the park for the waterfalls. It was actually pretty cold when we got going, but the sun was shining!

The entrance to the park costs around 20 dollars and there are 3 paths marked out that you can walk along. We got there pretty early, noticeable before the crowds and were on our own for much of the first few hours.

The waterfalls are very impressive, with the main section of waterfalls but plenty of smaller falls around the side. With the sunshine as well the place becomes filled with rainbows. The park is also kept in good condition. Whilst it is definitely a very tourist-oriented venue build around the main attraction, it is clearly well maintained and the paths well constructed for seeing the falls. In the afternoon we also took a short boat trip long a part of the river upstream of the falls which was interesting to see some of the birds and animals around the falls.

First photo of me on the blog

No great photo skills... but rainbow!

Iguazu day 1

After Spanish class today we headed off to the domestic airport in BA for our flight to Iguazu. I had the luxury of flying business class - the "silver lining" of the problem I initially had booking the flight was that when I went to rebook the next day, the price for economy had risen, but there was a promotional price for business. Rare stroke of good luck!

The domestic airport in BA is very new and quick to get through, even if you do pass by an odd "The Malvinas are Argentina - and their natural resources too" display before security. The flight was only about two hours, and we were out of the airport in Iguazu in a few minutes.

We're staying at a hostel/hotel that seemed pretty good value, a room for the two of us and there's a swimming pool here too. The one thing that hits you as soon as you arrive is the humidity. At the moment it's 94% and around 17 degrees. We went for a walk around the village this evening. It's very tourist-oriented (as you would expect) and there is certainly the impression that there is not a lot on offer for the economy here other than the tourists. Our plan is to go the the Argentinean side of the park tomorrow, taking a bus around 8 - will try to post some photos tomorrow.

Spanish word of the day: catarata

I booked flights yesterday for a trip this weekend to iguazu. Its around two hours away, right on the boarder with Paraguay and Brazil.  From what i've heard they might not be the largest waterfalls in the world but the national park is meant to be spectacular. The school were also very flexible in moving my afternoon classes forward a few hours on friday so I can fly late afternoon. I'm going with the swiss girl I live with and looking forward to the trip!

Have it Uruguay!

This weekend included a trip to the small land wedged between Brazil and Argentina, Uruguay. Besides being just a stamp-collecting exercise (who could resist the opportunity to get more in the passport when you're so close to the boarder?), I was interested in visiting the country and capital, Montevideo.

The population of Uruguay is roughly 3 million, with around half living in the capital city. In terms of economic strength, it's up there with Argentina and Chile (although if pavement quality is to be used as a gauge of economic development, Montevideo is doing better than Buenos Aires) and has won the world cup twice (most recent performance was 4th in South Africa). Wikipedia also informs me that it has the highest number of cattle per head at 3.8. Who knew!

Anyway, the trip to Uruguay is most conveniently made by boat - a roughly one hour trip across Rio de la Plata, which takes you to Colonia, a rather picturesque colonial town, before a two-and-a-half hour coach trip down to Montevideo. Going abroad means going through immigration, which makes you briefly grateful for the ease Schengen brings most cross-boarder travel back at home.

Coast in Montevideo

I arrived pretty late on Friday (midnight) but fortunately the bus terminal is in the centre of town and was pretty packed full of people. I hopped in a taxi to the hostel with a very friendly driver who upon telling me the cost of the journey went to great lengths to explain how that was calculated and cross-checked with his official journey price list. I wasn't really that concerned given it had cost a few dollars...

Saturday was spent wandering around Montevideo. It's fairly similar to Buenos Aires in terms of architecture (Argentinians have described it to me as just another "district" of BA), but was considerably less busy than BA. It's probably not a town filled with things to do that would keep you busy for hours, but it was nevertheless nice to walk along the water front. A little further up the coast is Punta del Este which is the Argentine beach resort of choice, which has more of the tourist oriented beaches and activities.

Colonial architecture, this is the museum of indigenous art

They have lots of really old cars all round the city.

Late Saturday afternoon I got the bus back to Colonia. I'm hesitant to describe the bus journey as interesting because there is literally nothing between Colonia and Montevideo. There was a rather impressive sunset over the horizon which provided some entertainment before I fell off to sleep in the extremely comfortable and super-reclining coach seats they have here.