Uruguay

As our lovely spanish teachers from Central TAFE are Uruguain, we felt we should dash across the water from Buenos Aires to have a bit of a look at what Uruguay has to offer & find out if all the locals are as gorgeous as the only two Uruguain people we know.

The trip seemed like a simple procedure at first... but proved to be somewhat more problematic than expected. The simple option is to take a one hour boat direct from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento, one of Uruguay's star attractions. However, due to the ailing Aussie dollar, we decided upon the more budget option of taking a 3 hour boat from the town of Tigre, an hour north of BA. For once we planned in advance and investigated the boat options a few days before our departure. I was assured by the woman at the ferry terminal that there was no need to reserve seats on the boat for weekdays... turns out she was wrong. After a super early morning to get to Tigre, we were four people too late to get on the morning boat. This meant a leisurely 7 hour wait for the next ferry. When we eventually did get on the boat, it was a lovely ride through the undeveloped, coastal channels of Argentina and then across the (brown) Rio de Plata (some debate as to what it is) to the Uruguain town of Carmelo.

Pretty shorelines, but would be much better if the water was less brown and more blue!


Once at Carmelo (by this stage it was at least 7.30pm) we made a dash for the bus companies... and found to our delight that despite our 7 hour delay the bus to Colonia was there ready and waiting. However, despite this, we ended up missing the bus by mere seconds due to a lack of local currency to pay for the ticket & our run to the ATM being not quite fast enough. Our trip to Colonia eventuated the next morning and we spent several hours wandering around the seaside town which used to be a smugglers settlement. It is an exquisite little town with cobbled streets and many historic buildings along tree lined streets. However, it is small enough that half a day was ample for exploring its sights and we headed off to the capital, Montevideo.


Streets of ¨Colonia¨

Old city gates of ¨Colonia¨



View from the top of the lighthouse



More transport dramas were to follow with our bus breaking down part way during the trip necessitating us to wait on the side of the road for two hours until another bus arrived. Interestingly, the bus driver managed to get all the locals transported on other vehicles, while all of us tourists were left waiting.

However, despite the delays we did make it to Montevideo and spent the afternoon wandering around the old city. We spent our first night in an extremely noisy hostel. The band upstairs started at 2.30am and went through to 6am. Seven of the ten in our room didn't make it to bed until the band had packed up! This reinforced to us that despite the higher price, private rooms are definitely worth the expense!

Apparently the draw-card of Uruguay is the beaches. Unfortunately, we didnt take our camera out and about on the streets of Montevideo, so the photo below is stolen from Wikipedia... however, we are sure that our photos would have again featured a loss let blue and a lot more brown tones!


Beach in Montevideo

"Big Water"

Iguazu Falls.... well known as one of the continents big "Ooooh, Ahhhh" spots. And rightly so! "I Guazu" in the tribal locals dialect meaning "Big Water" is seriously big water! Both in height and volume.

Nessled on the border of Argentina and Brazil (and very close to Paraguay), the falls are 2.7 kms wide and consist of 275 waterfalls! Half of the Iguazu falls is the Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat); a U-shaped 82-metre-high, 150-metre-wide and 700-metre-long deafening torrent of falling water. Standing at the top of this mighty force is a belittling experience as 1,000,000 Litres of water pour over the edge each second. We spent most of the day just staring at all these falls and being overwhelmed at how cool it all was.







The heat would have been almost unbearable if it wasnt for the lush green jungle providing shade as you walked on the boardwalks between all the viewing platforms and the ability to stand close enough to some of the falls to get drenched in spray (You dried out in less than an hour anyway!).










To get another (even less dry) perspective, Tim took a boat ride that dipped you under some of the smaller sized falls that werent powerful enough to completly squash you. It was a very different experience, but if was mostly sensory overload of sound and touch since there was so much spray you couldnt see a thing! There was the option to see the falls from the Brazil side as well (which apparently gives a more panoramic view of the Devils throat) but us poor Aussies were going to be slugged $100 ish dollars each for a visa that we would use for a whole 2 hours (plus national park entry) making it a very pricey afternoon.



Instead we used our dwindling supply of dinero to try out zip-lining and canyoning. (Zip-lining is a flying fox through the treetops and canyoning is just a fancy name for "abseiling down a waterfall"). All in all a very fun day!

Buenos Aires

What a luxury to take a flight after all those lengthy bus rides! The journey via road from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires takes around 50 hours... and was only $20 cheaper than the 3.5 hour flight. The decision between the two options was not a difficult one to make. Buenos Aires is a fantastic city (12th biggest in the world). In the past it was one of the worlds richest cities, funded by it´s exports of beef, grain and wool. The neighbourhoods of the city are still filled with grand old buildings with corner statues, friezes and cobbled streets. With a population of 13.5 million, and a great deal of European influence, it is very different from the rest of South America, however there are lots of little things that constantly remind you that it is not a first world country yet. About 40% of the population was thrown below the poverty line in the financial crisis that the country experienced in 2001, and many have not been able to improve their situation since this time. In the evenings the streets fill with ¨cartoneros¨ (collectors of cardboard and glass for recycling), hauling their carts along the city´s grand avenues as expensive cars go flashing past. On the trains there are still many street kids and unemployed trying to sell lollies or cards for spare change.


Obelisk in the middle of a 18 lane highway in central Buenos Aires.
Typical street in down town Buenos Aires

One of the best things about Buenos Aires was that Rebecca was there and we got to hang out together for several days (although much to Bec´s dismay we did not have enough time to stop off at a Telos - aka ¨love hotel¨ - together as a three-some before we parted ways!). However, we did have time to visit a number of the city´s more famous (and possibly less seedy areas).

Unbeknown to us, the map provided by the tourist office, although largely correct, has some serious problems in the area of La Boca. This would normally not be too big a problem, except when you have been warned by every local and guide book not to stray from the main tourist path when visiting this working class ¨barrio¨. Despite drawing on our best map following skills, somehow we ended up well and truly off this evasive ¨Caminito¨. Eventually, after discarding the map, we somehow found the brightly coloured, corrugated iron homes of La Boca. The bright streets are the result of the ingenuity of a local artist who would go to the docks to beg incoming ships for their left over paint. The impoverished locals used the small dregs of paint to cover their homes, the result being a rainbow effect such as red window panes, green walls and blue eaves. We decided to walk back to the centre of the city along the river, however were stopped within 50m of ¨Caminito¨ by policeman who were permanently stationed at the fringes of the tourist area to stop them entering the ¨zona peligrosa¨ (dangerous zone)!

Tim in ¨La Boca¨

¨Caminito¨meaning ¨Little Street¨is the only safe place to wander in La Boca

¨La Boca¨is also home to the Boca Juniors Futbol club - about which Argentinians are fanatical!

Another day was spent visiting the barrio ¨Recoleta¨ which is a relatively swish area of town. This was heaven for those of us trying to spot the famed dog walkers. Porteños (the name for people from Buenos Aires) have a love for dogs, and a love for getting someone else to walk them on their behalf. As a result, a common site in the richer suburbs is a young guy walking the streets with a dozen or more dogs on leashes at one time. Apparently some of the amateur dog walkers actually walk their charges, but the more experienced walkers tend to head straight for a cafe, tie the dogs to a railing in a plaza and enjoy a coffee with fellow dog walkers. Although there were many sitings, (including a reasonable amount seen comfortably seated, sipping cappucinos at plaza side cafes!), the photographic opportunities were sadly limited.

These dogs don´t appear to be doing too much walking (their ¨walker¨ was over the road drinking a latte!!

Recoleta is also home to the city´s famous cemetery where many of Buenos Aires rich and famous are laid to rest including several presidents and Evita Peron. The cemetery itself takes up more than a city block and is filled with impressive monuments, extending deep below the ground with original statues carved out of marble and other expensive materials imported from Europe.

Monuments in the Recoleta Cemetary

Our visit to Palermo, the city´s funky, parked area, started off in an amusing manner. The three of us were approached by three young university students who asked us to come with them to their school for an assignment. As we had nothing pressing that we needed to do, we agreed to go with them and see what they were up to. As it turns out, they were part of an advertising school and were supposed to be using their skills in promotion to convince us to accompany them. Turned out to be an interesting form of pre dinner entertainment.

San Telmo is famous for it´s antique markets which we of course visited, but managed to resist buying any of the fabulous old telephones. Unfortunately, the promise of street tango performances went unfulfilled.

Not really what we expected when we were told there were ¨street tango performances!¨

Plaza de Mayo is the city centre and bordered by Casa Rosoda (made pink by the combination of lime and animal blood). Convenieintly, this central plaza was only a short walk from our hostel (Rayuela - awesome new hostel run by 5 friends). Plaza de Mayo is the site of many protests and almost every event of significance that has taken place in Buenos Aires. Today, the mothers and widows of the ¨disappeared¨ during the dirty war, still march in protest every Thursday at 3.30pm

Tim now has a fellow photography fanatic to swap ideas with

Rayuela - our fantastic hostel!

From Buenos Aires, Bec headed off to Patagonia with a strong warning not to use the word ¨coger¨ while we headed off to Iguazu Falls.

The end of the world is nigh!

Well we finally made it... from the middle to the end of the world!

(...and are completely over long bus trips!)

Our most southern destination is here in Tierra del Fuego (The Land of Fire), and Ushuaia... The most southern city in the world.

We didnt venture any further south as we were too scared we would fall off the world! (and the fact that we dont have USD$5000+ each for a boat trip to Antarctica!)

The bus trip from Purto Natales was (again long) and mostly uneventful except for a few hours delay sitting at each side of the border waiting for who knows what...

Also the customs guys laughed at us (racking up the chile/argentina stamps), since this was our 6th border crossing of Chile/Argentina!

The last hour of the trip was very scenic on the way into Ushuaia. It was like a fairytale christmas scene with snow dusted pines and a mirror flat lake with snow capped mountains all around. (Unfortunately there are no photos due to the bus windows being too dirty)

Similar to the ¨route 40/everythings closed¨saga, unfortunately we were a little early for exploring much of what Patagonia had to offer, so lots of walks were closed, the chairlifts were not operating and not many penguins had decided to come and visit either, (15 instead of the usual 15,000) so we didnt do the touristy boat trip either.

Thanks to the lovely Barbara and Patric, (the swissies we traveled with from Bariloche and split up only for the few days we visited Torres Del Paine) we had a delicious meal and hostel bed waiting for us, since they arrived in Ushuaia the day before. They had met 2 other swissies and together we shared our dorm room, day trips around the town and fantastic meals together.

About the only thing we did (apart from walk around the town and eat great home (hostel) made meals) was walk through the very muddy paths in the Tierra del Fuego national park. The scenery was nice, but was a bit of a dissapointment after spending time in Torres Del Paine, and seemed to be very pricey for what it was.

One sad, heart-breaking moment at this time, was Tim, losing his chulios (the black and grey beany with pom-poms and images of llamas from peru.) We retraced our steps, but failed to find it. :( ...RIP Chulios.

From here, with our time almost up, we needed to head back towards Buenos Aires. Luckily our spanish came in handy as we managed to get a cheap flight to Buenos Aires, saving 50+ hours on a bus for about the same price! (advertised gringo prices were about twice the price or more!)

From little mountain-side towns to a city of 14 million people... culture shock here we come!

Zigging & Zagging through Patagonia

From Bariloche we planned to take a quick six hour bus trip down to the town of El Calafate... however this was not to be. Despite what every guide book says, Route 40 which is the famous road down to El Calafate taken by Che Gevera, closes during winter and doesn´t open until the 15th of November each year. Instead of the documented 6 hour bus ride, the suggested option was a 32 hour bus ride that travelled right to the east coast of Argentina, down south to Rio Gallegos, before cutting back inland in a north west direction to El Calafate! After Renee´s recent bus experiences this was not an appealling option.

Instead, we came up with the brilliant idea of crossing the border into Chile and catching a boat south with the aim of eventually reaching El Calafate. We met a lovely Swiss couple (Patric & Barbara) on the bus out of Argentina who had the same plan as us and we ended up travelling with them for the next two weeks as our ¨brilliant¨ idea turned out to be some what less than time efficient!

We got off the bus in Puerto Montt and immediately tried to find out about boat options. Unfortunately the boat that travelled a long distance south had left the day before, so instead we decided to take a Navimag ferry to Puerto Chacabuco which was a 24 hour trip. The boat ride was beautiful, travelling through the Chilean fjords. We were accompanied by a group of young men from the Chilean Military. With only about five females on the entire boat, Barbara and Renee got a lot of male attention!

Renee after getting off the Navimag Ferry in Puerto Chacabuco

Sailing through the Fjords in Chile

Our Cabin in the Ferry

When we got off the Navimag Ferry we organised a ferry ride for the next day (Tim´s birthday) across the lake that lay between us and Argentina. Unfortunately, the ferry was cancelled due to strong wind and instead of the two hour ride across the lake as we had planned, we had 18 hours on a bus going around the lake (the second biggest in South America!!). As a result we arrived too late to cross the border and had to stay another night. The next day we managed to cross into Argentina but met another stumbling block when we were told that the road from there to El Calafate was closed... despite all of our efforts to avoid the bus to the east coast of Argentina we ended up having to take this option anyway! The bus ride itself turned out to be a good experience with only five us being on board most of the night.

The second biggest lake in South America... that we drove around instead of sailing across!

Our private bus ride to El Calafate

So, eventually, after six days of travelling, we arrived in El Calafate. The main draw card of the town is ¨Los Glaciares National Park¨ of which the Perito Moreno Glacier is the star attraction. The Perito Moreno glacier is one of only a few glaciers in the world that is not retreating. The terminus of the glacier is 5 kilometres wide, with an average height of 60m above the surface of the water, with a total ice depth of 170 metres. It advances at a speed of up to 2 metres per day or around 700 metres per year. At its deepest part, the glacier has a depth of approximately 700 metres. The enormous pressure caused by the massive amount of ice moving slowly down the valley causes large chunks of ice to break off regularly, calving icebergs of various shapes and sizes to be formed. The noise of the glacier creaking and groaning is incredible as is the enormous cracking sound that can be heard when a portion breaks off and falls with an almighty splash into the water below. We hired a car with our Swiss friends and drove to the National Park early in the morning with the hope of beating the ranger who mans the pay station at the entrance. Admission to the national parks is not a cheap outing with a charge of around $20 per person. Unfortunately the ranger overtook us in his 4WD a few minutes before arriving. However, despite having to get up early and pay anyway, we were amongst the first few people in the park for the day and had the glacier to ourselves for a few hours before the tour buses started arriving. We were fortunate to get clear (though cold!) weather, but the rain and wind had come in by the time the tour groups arrived. We huddled up nice and warm in the national park cafeteria whilst they wandered around en mass in horrible conditions.

One face of the Perito Moreno Glacier

Nice and warm in the cafeteria learning a dice game (Maya) from our new Swiss friends

From El Calafate we again crossed the border into Chile to Puerto Natales which is the base for visiting ¨Torres del Paine¨ National Park. We were running out of time so could only do a two day hike in the park. Even such a short hike was a bit daunting considering that the weather forecast was for 100% cloud cover, wind up to 140km hour, maximum temperature of 2 degrees, snow and rain. However, we were extraordinarily fortunate and got the most magnificent weather. Again, just visiting the national park was really expensive with the public transport and park entry for the two of us costing $280 (plus costs for the refugio that we stayed in over night etc). Incredibly pricey just to walk around in a national park!! Luckily it was magnificent and worth the money, however if the weather had been miserable, we might have felt otherwise.

A highlight of ¨Torres del Paine¨ are the ¨Towers¨ and the ¨Horns¨. Apparently there are only 20 sunny days a year in the park making it difficult to view either of these features due to cloud cover. We were fortunate to get a good view of both during our trek! We hiked for 6 hours through the stunning scenery passing icebergs and lakes of various colours until we reached our refugio located on the shore of Lago Grey with a view to Glacier Grey. This glacier, unlike Perito Moreno is receding, but still incredibly beautiful to see. We had to ban ourselves from using the word ¨beautiful¨ as it was being over used and not adequate to describe the splendor of the views.


Lago Grey in Torres del Paine National Park

Tim trekking towards the¨Horns¨

Glacier Grey

The ¨Towers¨ of Torres del Paine

View from our Refugio in Torres del Paine

The glacier from above