Northern Argentina - Corrientes & Salta

The contrasting experiences of Northern Argentina in the last week or so have seen us both reach the highs and lows of the trip to date.

Corrientes, was only ever intended to be a brief stopover en route to Salta, that turned out to be a travellers lesson in how to fill in time in a town where there truly is nothing of any interest to see or do. From misreading of the map that resulted in an hour walking to find a hostel in a stinking heat to the hotel room that was a shoebox (Kim could span her arms from one wall to the other), it was a disaster. The temperatures were unbearable and everyone went on siesta in the middle of the day making it impossible to find the cold drinks we were hoping for...

We arrived in Salta after another long bus journey a bit downbeat and hoping for an fast improvement in our fortunes - how lucky we were, Salta is definitely a thriving and attractive place to be.

We quickly meet a group of like minded tourists at our hostel from as far and wide as England, Egypt and the USA, and joined tours though the hostel to Cafyete, San Antonio (following the route of the train to the clouds we had hoped to enjoy (now closed due to political issues) and finally Cachi.

Each of the journeys meant an early start but the scenery was varied and spectacular, changing frequently along the way. The mix of nationalities on the tours made for many interesting moments. (All the tours were organised through our Hostel - Hostelling Internationals Backpackers Home, which is extremly good if you are in the area).

Perhaps the most interesting moment was on the Tour to the Clouds which was the day before May Revolution in Argentina - one of the public holidays. This year the president was visiting Salta.

Much like George Dubya the president is not well liked so she was bringing in supporters from all over the country to support her. Protests against this meant that the petrol stations were not giving gas to anyone including our bus which desperately needed fuel...four petrol stations, much heated discussion (none of which we understood), and some aggressive fuel conservation (including rolling down hills) later we made it back to Salta and rolled into a petrol station that was serving customers.

Finally we spent a day exploring the town, enjoying a few of the local brews (and the best empanadas ever) before catching a bus to Bolivia at midnight.

Overall Argentina has been really great, and we hope to visit again.

Unfortunatly getting photos up is proving difficult, but we hope to update the albums soon!

Apologies if some of the photo files are a bit big - i´m doing my best to correct that - click one of the slideshows or the link to more photos to see all our albums.

Adios Argentina,

Dave & Kim

Iguazu Falls

After the bright lights of Buenos Aires we moved on to the quiet of Puerto Iguazu to visit the Iguazu Falls.

The 16 hour bus ride was better than a long haul flight except for the food which was below average.

The bus arrived midday so we spent an afternoon walking around town in serious sweat inducing conditions with the highlight for the day being the overlooking where the Iguazú river and the Paraná river meet, forming the natural borders of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.

An early start allowed us to take in all of the trails established to view the falls from the Argentina side of the river which was truly spectacular with high and low level trails allowing viewing from various points above and below the falls, including the top of Garganta del Diablo (The Devils Throat) - the largest of all the falls.

We managed to meet two frenchies in the hostel who each spoke French, Spanish and English, which was nice as we took a taxi across the boarder into Brazil the following day with one of them to view the falls from the other side, and visit the bird park opposite the entrance to the falls. Nic (Frenchie) had spent a year living in Australia before travelling NZ for a month so was able to amuse us with the customary "Hey Bro!", then he started talking rugby...(enough said).

The view on the Brazil side was less spectacular than being up close on the Argentine side but gave a more panoramic view of the falls as a whole, given how easy it is to cross the boarder it is a most do.

On our visit to the falls in Argentina we had followed a two hour nature walk in the hope of seeing some wildlife but unfortunately we didn´t see anything - the Brazilian Bird Park was the answer to this and we were able to see the toucan we had hoped to see along with many parrots including one we we able to hold for photos and some snakes (Anacondas and Boa Constrictors).

Next we move off the tourist trail a bit to Corrientes, Argentina as we head for Bolivia.

Until next time,

Dave & Kim

Steak Paradise!

With no real expectations other than a hope to find the greatest steak on the face of the earth we boarded an early morning flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

We arrived mid morning Sunday and were keen to check out a football match that day so we didn't miss out. Unfortunately we had arrived a week to late to see Boca Junior (Maradonnas old club) play River, which is one of the biggest rivalry's in the league. Instead we joined a tour to watch San Lorenzo vs Independiente at Estadio San Lorenzo. There are simply no words to describe the atmosphere with both sets of fans singing and playing music through the game and on afterwards even when it became clear the home team would lose!

Most of the time in BA was spent on foot checking out the local barrios (neighbourhoods), including the Microcentro, Recoletta (BA's Remuera and home to the grave of Eva Peron), San Telmo (crafts, antiques and restaurants), La Boca (the famous coloured houses, and home of the Boca Juniors Estadio) and Tigre on the outskirts of the city where we enjoyed an hour long river cruise.

We went to two very different steak restaurants. La Brigada in San Telmo should be on the list of attractions for any visitor to BA. For $50USD between us we sat down to what can only be considered the best steak ever, although it must be said we were jealous of the guy next to us with an eye fillet that was near 10cm thick!!!, just be aware though if you order steak all you get is steak - salad is extra. The next place was an all you can eat down on the waterfront and for $15USD each you got a drink (bottle of wine or jug of beer), unlimited meat, salad, papas fritas (fries) and a desert, while the steak wasn't up to the standard of the last place we certainly got our moneys worth.

Highlights were the football match, La Boca (although I don't recommend walking here because it didn't exactly feel safe), a cruise on the river in Tigre and a Tango Show we attended at Cafe Tortoni which is the oldest cafe in BA. The architecture in and around the city needs to be seen to be believed.

The city is beautiful and we would like to come back and go shopping here in the future and check out the San Telmo markets on a Sunday.

Knowing we need to carry our packs for the next two months with anything we buy along the way acts as a great deterrent in the shops and means more money for steak as we continue through Argentina...

Should you be looking for a hostel in BA, we highly recommend El Firulete which is on Maipu Ave but you will need earplugs as every bus in town uses this one way street...

Next Stop Iquazu Falls (after 16 hours on the bus),

That's it from carnivore heaven - take care,

Dave & Kim

Santiago - Chile

Hi All,

We arrived in Santiago, Chile after the 11 hour flight from NZ at about 1 in the afternoon Santiago Time.

Leaving behind family was hard but thankfully the flight passed quickly and we both managed to get some good sleep that left us ready to get out and explore on our arrival.

We had planned to take a shuttle to our hostel but on exiting the airport a nice english speaking man pointed us to a cab to the hostel for $15 (US), which was about the same as the shuttle would cost. We hoped in the cab and arrived safely only to have an arguement with the driver who told us the 15 really was 15 thousand pesos ($30 usd). Needless to say Kim was not happy!

We set out that afternooon from our hostel, Hostal Forestal to see some of the city but it wasn´t long before we began to feel the flight catching up on us. The next day we walked up Cerro San Cristobal where we checked out the view of Santiago and the monument before catching the funicular (a cable car) back down. The view was impressive but would have been more so had the winter smog that impacts Santiago not been present, we just managed to grab a glinpse of one peak in the Andes. More exploring followed by dinner and a few beers with some of the hostel crowd followed.

Next day we visited Viña Cusiño Macul - Chiles largest family owned winery.
The winery we visited is essentially a museum now and there is a larger site further out of the city as the rapidly expanding city surrounded the existing winery. The wines (red) were divine and we would certainly recommend this place if you are in Chile. Interestingly the family has a special room in the underground cellar that contains wines from every vintage going back as the founding of the winery in 1856 for their personal use!

Day three had us checking out the city, which was great followed by a night drinking pisco sours (Chille´s national drink) at the hostel before heading to a pub with some hostel folk.

The next day was essentially a quiet day in preparation for the early flights to BA which after three days of cold showers would make a welcome change.

Overall Santiago was friendly and a great place to start out on the adventure we have planned...

Next stop is Buenos Aires - until then take care,

David & Kim