Argentina rocks

Bolivia footnote.....

We arrived back after the death road bike ride and I was looking forward to a nice long bath and an early night before our morning flight to Argentina, but events had conspiried against us and instead we spent the next 2 hours engaged in a fierce debate with the manager of our hostel and the local constabulary, about $40 dollars which had mysteriously vanished from our bedroom. I didn`t really hold out much hope of getting the money back, as my spanglish doesn´t really extend that far, but we had a good stab at explaining the situ to the police in our pigeon spanish at 11pm. What fun! This involved me gesticulating and eye rolling a lot and a very moody Robbo insisting that regardless of what the police or the owner said that he would not be paying the bill. The policmen didn´t look too impressed, and I started to have a bit of a panic that Ben would get arrested and we would miss our flight, so we ended the evening in a stalemate. In the morning Ben went down for round 2 but I think they had had enough of him scaring off all the customers in reception as the concierge finally said we could leave with out paying. So we skipped off very pleased with our moral victory, although I am slightly worried that we are the newest addition on Bolivia`s Most Wanted list.

Argentina

So after that drama we were looking forward to a change of scenery. The flight from La Paz was great as we took in the views over the Andes. We flew in Buenos Aires after a stop in Santiago and we were immediately struck by the change of atmosphere. You really feel like you have left the third world and arrived back in the developed world. BA has a really european feel and is described in lots of guidebooks as being like Paris 100 yrs ago.

The capital is full of tree lined avenues and trendy cafes, perfect for idlying away the days and people watching. This is also the place to go if you like a bit of shopping (Mrs Croz). Argentines spend a considerable amount of cash on looking good, so you can while away the hours looking in boutiques and chuckling to yourself about the price of everything. The peso is 3:1 against the dollar now, so since the devaluation of the peso Argentina has become the perfect place to stock up on designer bits and bobs. Of course I was not allowed to indulge as Ben had a tight grip on the purse strings.

We arrived at our hotel and I felt like we had died and gone to heaven. Mark and Jill had treated us to a couple of nights in a swanky place called Malabia House (www.malabiahouse.com.ar), which I would recommend to anyone who visits BA. We arrived and we treated to a fantastic glass of wine (a first since we had been away), and then shown to our beautiful bedroom. I nearly cried when I saw a white fluffy bathrobe and a pair of slippers in the wardrobe. I tried to explain to Ben what this meant to me, but he thought I had gone totally loopy. However I am sure any girls reading this will understand why I was so happy after months of staying in grotty hostels. It was absolute bliss!!

We were staying in a lovely area called Palermo Vieho, which is an old quater of the town. We did a bit of shopping the next day and waited for the Robbo Snr´s to arrive. They settled in after a long trip from Toronto and then we went out to try our first steak. Haha, we certainly weren´t dissapointed. Ben and Mark´s faces were an absolute picture. You certainly wouldn´t struggle doing the Atkins Diet out here.

The next day we went to San Telmo to have a look round the antiques markets and then went out to Guido`s Bar for dinner. We didn´t really know what to expect when we arrived but we had heard it was a good place to eat and it was packed with locals which is always a good sign. The walls of the restaurant are covered with pictures of famous stars including signed shirts from the La Boca football team.

There's no menu, you just sit down and get presented with appetizers, and then the specials of the day arrive. But the best bit is pud. Marinated cherries, tiramisu and some cracking icecream. It was wonderful. It is all slightly chaotic but really charming and you really feel like you are experiencing a bit of the local culture.

The next day we went to San Antonio de Areco, which is a small town a couple of hours from BA. The main attactions here are the local Estancia´s which are home to the Gaucho´s (Argentine cowboys). We visited Estancia El Ombu (www.estanciaelombu.com/eombu.htm) which is a beautiful ranch about 6 kms from SA de Areco. The grounds of the ranch are stunning. The cattle have 300 hectares of farm land to roam around in and as a result they look pretty happy.

We were given a tour around the ranch and then watched a gaucho show, where Ramon (the chief dude) and his family demonstrated their skills on horseback.

We also got to have a ride on the horses and this time Ben didn´t get a Dobbin (much to my dissapointment) so we managed to have a decent ride. And Ben had time to give Ramon a few riding tips.

Lunch was a real treat as they BBQ their own cattle, so we had a massive amount of meat to feast on, plus a couple of bottles of wine to wash it down, so we were pretty content for the rest of the day.

The next morning we headed back to BA and went to La Boca which is the working class area of the city. It is really popular with tourists and attracts lots of pickpockets so the men were on their guard. The houses here are largely clad in corregated iron and painted so it is a really colourful place.

We had a bit of a wander round and looked at the local art work before finding a quiet spot to sit down and have a drink. We were there for about 2 mins before Ben was accosted by a woman and made to dance the tango.

He looked suitably embarrassed but I think he was just relieved not to have to wear the full outfit sported by her dancing partner.

In the evening we took Mark and Jill´s first night bus to Montevideo in Uraguay and I think they were quite impressed with the whole thing (it is a bit better than National Express). You actually have a bed to lie in which makes a 10 hr journey almost bearable. Uraguay is a really interesting place. It hasn´t really been discovered by tourists yet, so it is quite quiet in comparison with BA. We spent some time in Montevideo and and also headed to Colonia which is a really small town not far from the border with Argentina. Both places are really lovely, but I kind of missed the buzz of Buenos Aires.

After some messing around with the local airline, we managed to fly to Iguazu falls in the north of Argentina to see the falls. This wasn´t originally on our itinerary but we had heard such great things we decided to take detour and we are all glad we did.

The falls are really stunning. These pictures doen´t really do them justice but at least you have an idea.

As part of the day you can take a a trip in a truck along the nature trail which runs down the side of the falls. The park is in teperate rainforest so you get to see lots of wildlife including birds, butterflies and the odd puma if you are lucky.

After you get off the truck you then take a ride on a boat which goes on the river up to the falls. Unfortunately they don´t tell you that you are going to go under the falls and get completely drenched, so it came as a bit of a shock.

After our stay in Igauzu we took a flight to Mendoza - wine country, to try our hand at a bit of wine tasting. It is like an oven there - 38 degrees when we arrived, so we were hugging the air con units a lot.

We took what has to be desribed as the worst bus tour in the world in Mendoza. We wanted to see the local sites but by mistake we booked onto a spanish comedy tour of the city, which involved the local am-dram class dressing up and `entertaining` us for an hour with a little play/musical. It was so bad I ended up wearning my earplugs for the last 20 mins.

We went on a couple of wine tours around the local area, which were really good fun and had a wonderful lunch at one of them. Ben says this is a picture of ´the love of his life and Tiggy´.

We also ate at some fantastic restaurants in Mendoza including La Barra, which has affliliations with the Argentine rugby team, so Ben and Mark had a great time chatting to the staff there. We left Mendoza after a few days and we have now travelled onto Chile, and are about to head south towards Patagonia (scary), but that is another blog. So just to finish off - Argentina has to be one of the best kept travel secrets in the world. The place is really wonderful and yet there are hardly any tourists here yet. So get yourselves over here before everyone finds out!

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