Flying into Argentina on the 5th of July started a new leg to our trip. Buenos Aires is a city of 13 mil people, very sophisticated and modern, a vast change from Peru and Bolivia.
We hit the Milhouse hostel like every backpacker tells you too, but found the setup and staff very restictive after the laidback feel of the point and loki. They were good for getting easy access to the massive clubs in BA. Basically you have a couple of drinks around 8pm, have dinner from about 9.30 til 12.00, a couple more drinks then hit the clubs around 2am! This gets you home around 6-7 so you quickly become nocturnal! The food and wine here is brilliant, the BEST steaks Ive ever had, good red wine. Great for the taste buds but not the wasteline.
We spend 4 days simply wandering the city, similar to NYC until we met up with Lizzie, Paige and Ellen again. It was great to spend some real time together after the flying visit 2 weeks earlier. We got an overnight bus up to Iguazu falls, which was amazing, even better than Niagra falls I thought (photos are more important than words here), we also did a adventure afternoon that involved rock climbing and abseiling. Unfortunately the weather wasnt the balmy tropical stuff we had been expecting, but a good couple of days despite another frustrating hostel experience with Hostel international.
Back in BA and a couple of days around town checking out the suburbs of Recoleta (Evita Grave), La Boca (famous for soccer (the home of Maradona) and tango) and Palermo. Next to Uruguay
SEE URUGUAY ENTRY
Back in BA we said goodbye to Paige and Ellen who flew back to Oz. But we did meet up with Pip and Grace again (travel friends from NY and La Paz). All you can eat steak at Siga la Vaca (follow the cow) followed by the forgotten disco was a fitting farewell. Desnivel is our favourite restaraunt dew to its kooky staff and mouth watering steaks, the rarer the better!
Sheepy and Matty are heading on to Mendoza tonight while Lizzie and I stay in BA to do a week of spanish. We feel a little embarassed here with only dodgy travel spanish. Will meet up with the boys again in Mendoza or somewhere nearby.
6/9/07
Time to catch up on lots of old details. Lizzie and I spent a week in BA at the IBL Spanish school. It was a very intense course full of very intense people so was quite hard work. But this was probably good for our spanish. We didnt get up to much else this week, cooked for ourselves for a change, but we did take in a tango show. The skill of the dancers is amazing. After the tango lesson we had, I had new admiration for their talent.
On the friday night, after running around for the stupid Brazilian consulate, I got my passport back with a tourist visa. The ridiculous amount of red tape was appauling, but at least I have that crappy piece of paper in my passport. Now its time to head to Mendoza.
Mendoza was a great change from BA, people were much more polite, welcoming and the smaller city was nice too. We spent 3 days there, 1 walking through the city, 1 rather hungover after meeting 4 chilian marines the night before, who overestimated our tequila drinking abilities, but showed us a good time at club ¨geo¨. And 1 on a wine tour (what the region is known for). We took in 2 winerys and a liquor distillery who were a bit stingy on samples, but then had a magnificent smorgasboard lunch that would have sunk a ship. So a great day in all.
Then on a night bus to Malargüe, a now where town that happens to be close to Las Lenas ski fields. We signed up for 2 days of snowboarding, and had a great time on good snow. Unfortunately we didnt get the discount we had seen advertised, and we had some trouble getting buses out of town to Bariloche, but we did meet Philip and Thomas, 2 crazy austrians along with some french guys and a professional Japanese Snowboarder who showed us a good time. I felt quite out of my league but that didnt matter. We would meet these Guys again in Bariloche by accident.
In Bariloche, we finally caught up with Sheepy and Matty, and hit the slopes for another 2 days. The second of which was after a 60cm dump of powder. It took a couple of runs to get used to, but once I got the water skiing technique down pat, the rest of the day was brilliant! Bariloche was better than Las Lenas, because it was bigger, better terrain and much cheaper. The town is similar to Queenstown, NZ. Set on the edge of a beautiful lake and maintains a cosy atmosphere despite its obvious touristy facade. We had a great time and met lots of fun and interesting, likeminded backpacker. Lizzie is quite the snowboarder now, and we got to catch up with Sam and Kate (friends through physio) to have dinner and exchange travel stories. Its still amazing meeting friends by random in far away countries!
The boys decided to keep there flights out of BA so went up there while Lizzie and I continued on to Patagonia...