Patagonia, Wine district, Mendoza and Chile

Hola!



Its been a while and we've done a lot in that time so think this is gonna be a bit of a long one sorry!!



We've got on out first internal flight in Argentina and headed South to a place called El Calafete the flight took 5 hours so it shows how big a country Argentina is!! We arrived in what was probably a one roomed building absolutly tiny and when you stepped outside the airport (if you can call it that) there was nothing to be seen! We got on a trusty minibus which took us to our hostel! We don't really know what we were expecting but it was like a big open space with a couple of houses dotted around with a view of an amazing blue lake! Our hostel was really nice and to our surprise they were putting on free dinner!yey! For dinner that night it was cottage pie which we thought was great. However, we didn't have the usual peas or carrots with it. They had rice! They do love to carbo load and all argentinians still remain skinny! (I hate them!!) We got an early night as the next day we were to do our mini trekking on the glacier!



8am we got picked up by the bus and it was still dark outside, it took an hour and 20 mins to get the glacier by which is had only just got light when we got there! We got on a boat which would take us across a lake. We went on the top of the deck to hopefully get good views but after about 5 seconds we couldn't handle the wind or the rain so it was very short lived! we were met the otherside by our guide 'Carlos'. We had all the clothing to do the trekking i.e warm jackets, hats etc. But we were missing gloves. We had met a northern couple who had done the trek the day before and said they asked to borrow some gloves and they were lent them so we thought we'd do the same! Nic asked Carlos if there was anyway we could borrow some and he turned around and said 'No, you were told to bring all your own clothing'! Following this response he gave a little talk about the glacier and said 'its very important to wear gloves as the ice can be sharp!!' we were thinking thanks Carlos!! Luckily we were fine though and there were no tumbles! The trek was awesome. We were given proper grampons which proved to be very difficult to walk in as you had to walk like John Wayne to avoid tripping over! We were on the ice for about 1 1/2 hours and our reward at the end was a glass of whiskey with freshly chipped ice from the glacier and a chocolate! ( the only problem was, niether nic or i liked whiskey).



After the trek we were back on the boat where we went to a viewing platform whereby you could see how big the glacier really was! (it was bigger than the size of Buenos Aires and BA was big!) Very cold and tired we were out cold sleeping on the bus on the way back and i woke up to forget where i was! We had another free dinner that night but unfortunately got landed talking to the most annoying couple in the world! The girl was from London and boy from Hereford! I couldn't believe Herefordshire could produce such a wanker! They both went to Warwick therefore spoke down to us considering we only did sports science ( in nic's case sports coaching haha!) and banged on about how great peru and bolivia were and couldnt believe we didn't go there! We swiflty made excuses that we had to go to bed and escape the patronising conversation!



The next day we were organising our next move which we soon found out the bus would take 28 hours!! all because one road was closed because it was coming into winter!! But it was gonna be a comfy bus and we hoped for english speaking films again! we got on to find most of the people on their were travellers which was pretty cool! 6 films later and hours and hours of deserted landscape we eventually found our selves in our next destination Bariloche!



We arrived to again more rain and it was 10 o clock at night so we got a taxi to the hostel! We soon found out when we got in there was no seat belts! After this we realised the driver speedometer didn't work and when were were probably going about 70 miles an hour he thought it was a good idea to answer his phone!!! We were very happy to arrive at our hostel to say the least! After a good nights sleep we were pleasantly surpirsed when we came out to breakfast to see a fantastic view of a lake!! On a quite a nice day we thought we would we would be active and go on a famous bike tour of the 7 lakes ( which is what makes Barlioche famous). We were told the distance was 27km which was a scary thought to begin with but they were pretty good mountain bikes with 24 gears and thought we'd stop off for a nice lunch etc. After about 5 km I was pushing my bike up the hill!! ( Yes i know what you're thinking we're sporty we're supposed to be fit, but not hills like we were doing on gravel!!) After about 7 km we were very happy to stop for a hamburger and homemade chips for lunch in a quaint swiss little village. We sampled some homemade beer then were on our bikes again! After lots of pedalling, pushing the bikes up hills and some spectacular views I was more than happy to reach the bike shop and hand the bike back!!!



That night we realised that we were very much hurting from the lack of cushioning on the seats and headed out for some drinks with a scottish and geordie lad to num the pain!! We soon realised we've been out of uni for too long and could not keep up with their drinking pace!!! especially when it was more homemade 10% beer! We played some cards and soon got kicked out of the pub to head home for a goods nights sleep before being active again the day after!!



The next day was the day nic would overcome his fear of horses!! We booked to go on a 2 hour horse trek! We thought we would come to some big stables etc! but no, there was just one man with about 12 horses attached to a tree! The demonstration was very short considering most of us were novice riders!! It consisted of hold onto the reigns and kick the horse! After this he even gave us a stick!



Luckily the horses tended to follow the one in front but this also meant when the one in front trotted your horse started to trot! It was all my luck I got stuck behind an Israelly girl who didn't like hurting animals, therefore didn't use the stick or kick the animal!!! The path was really narrow and I couldn't get past!! No matter how much our guide shouted at her 'use the stick' her horse was happily walking along!! I took it into my own hands to kick my horse as much as possible which made her horse run as well! We eventually caught up with the rest of the group! We climbed up a pretty steep mountain to an amazing view and on the way back down, feeling a little more confident we trotted and cantered a lot more!!



That night we had a couple of drinks with two irish lads which came horse riding. The beer was quite expensive in the hostel bar so we soon moved onto the red wine (which was an error). We woke up very hungover the next and awaited our bus to the next destination.

We got on the bus at 4pm and it was going to take in total 17 hours! We had a very chirpy steward and about 4 hours into the journey he brought round bingo cards!! Although after realising we didn't speak much spanish he put the tray of numbers on nic's lap so we could see what numbers he pulled out of the bag!! Sadly we didn't win being very competitive we were disappointed to miss out on the prize which was a flask!

We arrived in Mendoza (wine district). The first day we walked around the city which wasn't a lot and stopped for steak for lunch! and that night we headed to a pizza party organised by the hostel!! After all you can eat pizza there was free tequila shots and lots of (dodgy) argentine music!! We didn't drink too much considering we were going on a wine tour the next day.

We rented bikes and headed to our first winery, where we had a tour of how wine was made etc and how you are meant to taste it!! We now like to think we are wine experts but that was after a few glasses of malbec!! We also went to a chocolate and liquor place and further wineries one of which we had the best steak sandwich ever!! After what seemed like a very informative day we went to bed fairly early ready for a further day of travelling the day after.

The next day we headed to Chile on an amazing ( hair raising) bus journey over the Andes. We arrived in a very nice hostel and had our daily siesta and headed out for dinner. We asked the guy in the hostel what some traditional Chilean dishes were and one consisted of Chips, fried onion, fried egg and a sirloin steak so that was a definate choice for us and we even shared it and could barely finish it!! The next day we did pretty much the only thing there is to do in Santiago which is to go up a cable car. Which was pretty high and because Santiago is so polluted you could see where there was a layer of smog over the city!

Today we are just wasting time before catching our flight to Auckland, where we will most definately be happy to be able to have conversations with natives in english!!

So Part 1 of our trip ( South America) is over and we're definately looking forward to the rest!!

Nic and Jen

Rest of Buenos Aires and Iguazu Falls

Hola,

The rest of our stay in Buenos Aires was good and have definately had the best food ever which at the moment our days are revolved around!! We thought we would sample the local buses and when we stood at the bus stop the destinations we wanted was on the front of the bus so we happily got on! after about 15 mins we realised we hadnt reached our destination (which we should have done) and we soon found out we had got the bus in the opposite direction!!(you are probably thinking thats a stupid mistake to make) However it appears that when you can speak very little Spanish it is an easy mistake to make standing on the wrong side of the road! So after about an hour on the bus doing a round trip (we cant say we havent seen all of Buenos Aires) we reached La Boca! This is a part of town with lots of colourful buildings and holds the famous Boca Juniors stadium! Home of Maradona!!

We are learning a few more words in Spanish the most used is Habĺa Inglesas? (Do you speak english?) But when nic went to ask for something (having told him bout 20 times how to say it) he said to the guy Pablo Inglesas!!! I think the guy just humoured him at his response saying "a little"!!

Having grasped the local buses we went onto another area called San Telmo where we officially had the best steak ever!! it was in a quite a dingy place but was absolutely filled with people and was quite noisy! we shared a fillet and by the size of it was very glad we did along with some chips and salad!!(very british) we did refrain from asking for tomato ketchup!!Along with a litre of beer the bill came to 10 pounds!!

Everyday we have our usual siesta and that night we headed out for a couple of drinks in the nice part of town Palermo! found some really quirky bars one of which had a whole room dedicated to board games, therefore we took advantage and played a game of battleships!! Our next bar was a little bit more upbeat playing some stevie wonder! we shared our first bottle of argentinian wine which cost us 3 pounds! being a litle bit tipsy we headed back and got on the bus home arriving at our hostel about 2 o clock the same time the argentinians are going into the clubs!

The next day we finally go to go to the zoo! It was brilliant for 3 pounds! saw all the big cats, elephants and even a polar bear! ( not sure how happy he was in the 25 degree heat!) after we headed for our usual lunch had menu del dia for 5 pounds - steak with the most amazing mash potato a drink and desssert!! That evening we headed to the oldest cafe in town (Cafe Tortoni) for some tango!! In a small intimate room of only 50 people we listened to a live band, a dodgy man singing and two brilliant dancers who would give Vincent and Flavia a run for their money!we paid 12 pounds for the 1 hour and half show!!Not bad for our live version of Strictly Come Dancing! This was our last night in Buenos Aires!

The next day we had the morning to kill before catching our bus to Iguazu falls! We werent really sure what to expect from the bus but we were pleasantly surprised! Wide comfy seats a pillow and a blanket! and to top if all off the films came on and were in English with Spanish subtitles brilliant!!We watched Slum dog millionnaire, the boy in the striped Pyjamers!! the time flew by and we both probably got 6-7 hours sleep which wasnt bad! We arrived and headed straight to the falls which were amazing never seen anything like them!(will try and put some photos up) Again the next day we went which consisted of about 10 km walking!! Not good when I have continuous shooting pains going through my foot!!We saw lots of animals incluing monkeys and colourful birds! Luckily on the second day we were just leaving when it started to absolutly piss down! We got stuck in a tropical thunderstorm!!We think it rains in england! Nothing like this!! Our final day in Iguazu we headed to the Brazilian side (another stamp on our passport)! It was a really good panoramic view of the falls! We then got back on our trusty bus yesterday and headed back to Buenos Aires where we arrived this morning! Just killing time today before catching our 8:10am flight in the morning to patagonia! Where the glaciers will be our next stop!!we have our warm jackets ready for the cold!!

Hope all is well

Love Nic & Jen
xxxxx