Argentina, such an immense country, so diverse. We started near the top of the country and worked our way down one side, zig-zagging in and out of Chile. We then worked our way up the eastern coast towards their capital city, Buenos Aires, and eventually Brazil.
Our first stops were in the far north of the Country, Salta for Christmas. A small colonial town which, due to Christmas, was closed most of the time that we were there. After a rather drunken Christmas which involved someone taking Laurence’s clothes from beside the pool (thinking that someone had left them behind by mistake), which left Laurence to take the taxi home in his board shorts, we moved on to the Estancia.
Rio Ceballos, our estancia stay with local Argentinians and gauchos (cowboys). I must say that I was a bit disappointed with this visit initially. It really did just seem like a nice and big house, feeding us loads of meat and red wine, and taking the tourists out on a horse ride each day. There were no discussions or demonstrations of what the gauchos actually did for work there (except for flirt and sleep with the pretty tourists that came along and were willing). Overall, the food was outstanding (and Laurence experienced what I had been promising – that once we get to Argentina the food would get better and that he would have too many choices for meat. I believe that he ate himself into a food coma each day), the wine was very nice (and extremely potent), and the stay was nice and relaxing (which was required due to the hangovers that the wine inflicted upon most of the people that we were travelling with, including myself). Laurence and I did go horse riding once, and it was a wonderfully funny experience watching Laurence bounce along after the people trotting their horses – since Laurence wasn’t giving instructions like stop or go, the horse did what it felt like.
Cafayate was a glancing visit, but a place that seemed to be well worth another look. We (I) spent the afternoon tasting the wine of the region and looking out over the beautiful landscape. Laurence found a cheese platter while I tried the local varieties, Torrentes and Tannat.
As we made our way further down, always down, down, down, down, we stopped in at the Quilmes Ruins. These peoples were known due to their resistance to the Incas, having not been conquered until after 100 years of fighting with the Spanish in the mid-1600’s. After that it is the sad story that we usually hear, the people were sent away from their land, they had to walk to the new reservation, and almost no-one survived.
Coming up to New Year’s we headed to the main wine making region of the country, Mendoza. Once again, most of the town was closed due to the public holidays, but I did manage to fit in a little wine tour to 3 wineries. I must say that the wineries in Cafayate were better (with the wine being better as well), but I think it has something to do with the wineries that this organised tour took us to. I think that we will need to take a wine trip to Argentina and explore these two areas independently at some point in the future. We also managed to take a time out from the whole travel thing and head to a mall to have dinner, a drink, and a movie with some friends that we had made. This was just what the doctor ordered and allowed us to refresh and reset after 2 months of full on travelling.
After a quick zag into Chile, we tracked our way back to Bariloche. This town, set amongst lakes and the Andean mountains, must be one of my favourite little towns that we have visited along the way – the downside, the wind. It is amazing how the wind can pack a punch here. We had been told that Patagonia wind was strong, but this was our first real experience of it. Being summer, we are not sure that a winter wind would be advisable. Once again, we gorged ourselves on Argentinian meat – eating far too much. But this time we were planning a hiking trip, so the excess meat would work itself out. Unfortunately, Laurence had a little mishap. As he was chasing after me (as he thinks that I cannot walk back to the hostel by myself) he fell into a pothole and sprained his ankle. It was a pretty spectacular size by the time that I saw it, and it was clear by Laurence’s face that it was incredibly painful. After having him bandaged up (by someone else as I cannot do that kind of thing – but think that perhaps I should take a course at some point), I helped him down to the dorm room – as would be my job until he could walk on it properly again.
The next morning, after depositing Laurence on the couch in the hostel reception, I headed out on the small hiking trip. A ground of us walked around a number of lakes and up a few hills (MOUNTAINS!!) to take a look at the beautiful Nahuel Huapi National Park. It was a stunning day (yes still windy) and well worth the effort.
We drove further still, down, down, down, through the Argentinian Patagonia – sometimes like wasteland, sometimes like bushland, always windy. On our way down, we went to an archaeological site called Cueva de las Manos (the Cave of the Hands). The caves consist of rock paintings (hand prints, some animals) from over 10,000 years ago. Having seen them, I could see how some people just think it’s a bit of a hoax – for them being 10,000 years old there seem to be a lot of them that seem to be in better condition than they should be. Due to Laurence’s ankle, he stayed at the top of the hill and saw nothing but the valley.
Almost there, almost at the bottom we stopped in a town called El Calafate. We didn’t see much of the town itself as the main attraction is the Puerto Moreno Glacier. A beautiful, big, blue (ish) glacier which seems stable even with global warming knocking on its front door. While we were standing there, in front of this immense thing, an enormous chunk of the glacier broke off and fell into the water. An impressive site for the waves alone, but to see the iceberg floating away afterwards, magical.
Down, down, down through Patagonia. Windy. Freezing. Wet. Cold. Finally, we make it to Ushuaia the southernmost town in the world. Surprisingly, it is not as cold as Patagonia. It is expensive though, must be due to all the border crossings to get here or the fact that the waters are supposed to be dangerous to navigate. Unfortunately, there is land below it – loads of it – so it is not as impressive as it could have been. Laurence decided that it is a good idea to go swimming “at the end of the world.” A group of people (males) also liked the idea and the next minute they are stripped off to their boxers and in the water, a few seconds later (after proof had been obtained) they are racing towards the shore to get their clothes back on. We understand that the water would have been between 2-9 degrees (Laurence claims it was down the 2 end, I think it was more down the 9 degrees end due to the season).
On our way out of town we took a look at a King Penguin colony.
Up, up, up to El Chalten and Los Glaciares National Park. A stunning little town surrounded by hikes and mountains. Laurence is walking on his ankle again but didn’t want to come on any walks. On the first day, I went for a walk up the Condor path with some fellow travellers. It was a 2-hour return trip walk, but at their pace I think we did it in almost half the time. The view was spectacular, really stunning. On the next day, I walked halfway (maybe a little less) up towards Mt Fitzroy. The day was cloudy and windy, we decided that since you couldn’t see it very well at the viewpoint than you wouldn’t see it any better along the path (and, incidentally, we were correct having seen other people’s photos from that day). El Chalten itself was an interesting little town. It was full of tourists, cafes, and souvenir shops but only had two cashflow machines. One machine’s chip reader was broken and the other was out of money – we asked and, apparently, they only fill up the machine once a week and the money runs out on the first day. The next oddity was that only about 4 places in town took credit card. So, Laurence and I ate empanadas and frequented the same restaurant over and over again for our stay – not the cheapest way of living but Laurence was happy as it was an Argentinian BBQ place that would accept our card.
Up further still, we are heading to warmer temperatures again, we stop in Camarones to see the Magellanic Penguins. Thousands of the little penguins were nesting and waddling around. Smelling terrible and making incredible noises.
Last stop before the capital was Puerto Madryn a little Welsh town. We went to a Welsh Tea House which was nice, but was much like a normal café with tasty cakes as treats. The good thing was that the tea actually tasted great – strong and with flavour – unlike the rest of the tea in South America (just to Rosanne standards!!). The town itself was much like any other beach town. It was nice, a little too warm, but nice and relaxing.
Finally, we make it to Buenos Aires – the place that I most wanted to go to in Argentina, it took long enough!! The capital is just like any other city but I have been waiting for so long that it seems wonderful. What is not like any other city is the history of it, the places that you can see, the things that you can do. In the city we had a pretty tight schedule, no sleep-ins for Laurence, as there is a lot on my list. Within an hour of getting into the city we are out on a walking tour. We see the political side of the city and learn about the dubious choices that politicians have made, recently and in the past. We hear that the country is experiencing inflation and that really, we should have visited 5 years ago when it would have been a LOT cheaper.
The next morning we are on our second walking tour, one that takes you through the richer areas of the city, the parks, and up to the Recoleta Cemetery. It is raining, but that won’t stop us! In the evening I headed out on a food tour, tasting wines from the region, cheese platters, steak, fried cheese, sausages, dessert, and tea.
One of the evenings we attended a Tango Show. It was very nice, a little choregraphed but nice. We did have a good evening out though as we ended up at a bar playing pool until 2 in the morning.
On our last day in Buenos Aires we went on a Street Art walking tour, 
went to a sushi restaurant for dinner and ended up in a speakeasy bar for a round of drinks. What is a speakeasy bar? Well, after eating dinner we asked to see their wine cellar. Once in there we took a ‘secret entrance’ into the bar which can only be accessed from the restaurant. It was quite entertaining as some of the people we were there with didn’t know that we planned on going to a bar there or that there was a bar there – the looks on their faces made it worthwhile.
On our way further north, we stopped at a place called San Ignacio Mini a Jesuit Mission established in the 1630’s. These missionaries lived there with the indigenous population – abut 3000 in total. This is the best-preserved mission in the area.
Our last stop in Argentina was Foz do Iguaco, one of the world’s largest waterfalls. As the waterfalls straddle Argentina and Brazil, we visited this side first (by re-crossing into Argentina as we were then staying in Brazil – my passport has about 15 Argentina stamps in it now!!!). This side of the waterfalls is huge; there are walkways everywhere, the waterfalls are huge, and so close. I think we walked around the paths for about 5 hours and had not quite finished. But we had walked to our boat trip – our chance to go up close and under some waterfalls!
What a spectacular finish to Argentina!