Ok first of all I just have to write this disclaimer. In my attempts to understand Spanish, my English skills have been deteriorating. Spelling, sentence structure, the use of tense- all of these seem to be suffering as I try to fill my brain with Spanish. Let´s hope that my Spanish (and English) improve by the end of this trip.
Crossing the Lakes District- From Puerto Varras to Bariloche
Ok so last time I wrote we were about to go on what seemed a relatively expensive (relative to South America that is) tour to cross the Andes from Chile to Argentina. Turns out we couldn´t catch the bus as we´d planned to as the road was closed to buses since a volcano nearby erupted earlier in the year (the same one that affected air travel in Australia).
After having done the tour and seeing what ´s gone into it in terms of all the transpot (4 buses and 3 ferries), the price actually seems quite reasonable.
The bus picked us up in Puerto Varas- while we were waiting there was another couple also there who had backpacks who looked as lost as we did. Whenever we fellow travellers we always wonder if they are worthwhile being friends with (most valuable ones are those that can speak Spanish but we´re yet to come across any of them yet!).First stop on the bus was a ´cascading river´. The river is bright blue because of minerals in the water. Pictures don´t really do it justice, but I can assure you that it was very blue.
Highlight of the tour was bus number 2 that took us up, over and through the Andes from Chile to Argentina. As we climbed higher the snow on the ground got thicker and thicker (apparently 1.5m according to the guide). On the other side in Argentina, next to border control was a little hut where a woman was selling chocolate bars and snacks and hot chocloate.
Also on our tour was a large group of Americans aged 60 to 80 years old. One of them mistook Marcello´s accent as American but we quickly corrected him.
After the tour we were dropped in Bariloche. Temperature here was -3 degrees to 3 degrees and windy. Apparently the snow up the mountain here was fanastic and I think at this point Marcello wished he could ditch me for the slopes.
We had planned to do a tour to see a black glacier but the tour was cancelled because of a rat plague. Since there was nothing else to do in Bariloche except go to the snow or eat chocolate (it´s the chocolate capital of Argentina wepve been told), we decided to move on to Buenos Aires so we could be there in time for a football game that our hostel was organising.
After a 22 hour bus ride on which meals served were generally composed of some sort of sugar, we arrived in Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires
On recommendation from friends, we decided to stay in a hostel where they pride themselves on being a ´party hostel´. What this means is that it's noisy, the organise lots of activities, they have a bar and so ´due to licensing laws´you are not allowed to bring your own alcohol into the hostel and you must bu their overpriced drinks. Despite this, we did have fun.
On our first day we met another couple who had also just come from Bariloche and are both from Sydney. We spent a lot of time with these 2. I had a night out with them (Marcello slept through it) at a Drum and Bass club which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately we´d all decided to visit a cemetery in Recoleta the following day we were feeling a bit shady as we tried to find out way there.
The cemetary contains the graves of lots of very rich people and is quite amazing (never thought I´d find myself going to a cemetary by choice).
Also, the football game! Well we got there about 2 hours before that game started. During this time fans spent their time decorating the stadium with flags for their team )Bocca Juniors. The game was pretty poor but the atmosphere was fantastic.
Buenos Aires is a massive city and reminds me of New York a lot. Generally we felt pretty safe but it was tiresome having people try to usher you into their establishments to eat your dinner. There were a couple of occassions when Marcello stood out the front of an Argentinian BBQ place and drooled over the meat in the from window which made us easy targets.
After a total of 7 nights in B.A. we picked up and moved on to Uruguay.
Uruguay
First stop was Colonia. Beautiful place. Everyone spends all of their time taking photos of everything. Or drinking Yerba Mate. Or doing both simultaneously
We had booked into a very clean and lovely looking hostel online. When we arrived the very lovely and English speaking staff member told us the website that we had booked through had stuffed up the booking and they´d had to put us in anothe hostel. In stark comparison, when we arrived to the other hostel it was filthy, they didn´t seem to know who we were (despite the fact they had been called 5 minutes prior to our arrival to say we were on our way), and they didn´t seem to care either.
Also this is where I first noticed a trend that has continued throughout Uruguay- there is often no toilet seat. And where there is one, women leave it up after doing their business. Even in women´s toilets! Go figure.
After seeing all there was to see in COlonia we moved on to Montevideo, capital or Uruguay. Highlight in Montevideo (for Chel at least) was Puerto Mercado where they specialise in BBQ meat. Marcello was in heaven. Again I think he was ready to disown me for a skiing meat eater.
Next door to the Market was the Museo del Carnival which documents the history (well sort of) of Carnival. After seeing this exhibition I have a whole new level of understanding of our dear friend Romeo. Romes, you are really just such a Latin!
We ave since moved on the a beach town called Punta del Diablo. The sun has been shining and, despite the cold cold wind, we have been to the beach a couple of times (only to sit on the sand and bask in the sunlight). Yesterday it was very cold but Marcello decided it wasn´t cold enough to strip down to his boardies and sunbake. Meanwhile there were people in pants and jumpers shivering in the cold walking past looking at us with the disdain that we often give backpackers back home who strip off in hyde park whe it hits 20 degrees.
There is a woman here with a churros stand that is very well organised and we may have been her best customers since discovering her yesterday. Between us we´ve had 7 and I know that Chel is itching to go back and have more!
We are now planning our next move and hoping it doesn´t include a 2:45am bus ride as we suspect. We are about to make our way back into Argentina to make our was up to Iguazu falls.
We are missing eveyone back home and would love to know what´s happening with everyone.
We are on Skype (all the hostels have Wifi and we are able to use Skype on Chel´s phone) username is Marcellorinaudo. Chel is on practically every day trying to speak to his brother so we are likely to be online. Keep in mind that we are sleeping from roughly 11pm to 9am and then have naps during the day so we won´t be on during these times (tough life, huh?)
Much love to you all
