Patagonia

A day wasted with flights and waiting in the airport but eventually it was all worth it as Bariloche is one of the most stunning places I’ve ever been in. It is a mixture of Switzerland and Norway - huge lake and lots of mountains. We had a half day tour which took us around part of the lake. We also went up a chairlift and the view was spectacular. The lake is an unbelievable blue!

Barloche is also the chocolate capital of Argentina - I’m trying to control myself! As it’s classed as an Alpine area Fondu is often on the menu and yes I tried one it was just as you would get in Switzerland!

A day trip on a boat started in quite a spectacular fashion. We’d been told that we were having a half day trip leaving at 12:30 so had just started what we thought was a leisurely breakfast. Suddenly one of the hotel staff came to us and told us we had a message! Well the message was that the bus was waiting for us!! We jumped into gear and finally arrived on the bus apologising profusely but we did have the paper to show that the times were wrong. Anyway we spent an interesting day travelling on the boat and exploring a couple of islands. All you could do was stare at the wonderful views. We had been given a raffle ticket at the start of the trip and Valda won a, you’ve guessed, box of chocolates! She doesn’t eat chocolates so guess who has to demolish them!!!

Today we received a call from the company who got things wrong yesterday with profuse apologies and therefore not only gave us a couple of chocolates each but offered us a free trip on a cablecar to a revolving restaurant!

Unfortunately we decided to peruse the shops before our trip and both of us ended up buying leather jackets - made in Argentina of course!

Our trip in the cablecar and the revolving restaurant gave us spectacular views of Bariloche and the surrounding mountains. We had a very leisurely lunch enjoying the views! After descending we were waiting for a free bus when an Argentinian family tried to engage us in a broken English conversation and with our little Spanish and much miming I think we kept the bus queue entertained. They were a lovely family and we had photo’s taken together plus kisses goodbye!

Tomorrow we board a boat which takes us into Chile so it’s goodbye Argentina!
Some of the things which have been interesting in Argentina are:
Everything is shown as $ so you get a shock when you see a salad for $85 but that is really pesos and you divide by 6
The Argentinian’s are a very huggy/kissy nation - we’ve been hugged and kissed on a number of occasions and have restrained ourselves from shouting “Get a room” many times including on flights!
Ask for a Gin & tonic - they bring the gin and pour until you yell “Stop”and the gin is usually cheaper than the tonic!

Bottom of the World

Two flights later and we are in Ushuaia, known as 'The Bottom of the World’! Flights were good this time although there was one point, as we came close to Ushuaia, and looked out of the window it looked as if the wing would touch the mountain - yes there was an intake of breath!

It’s a strange place but quite beautiful in it’s own way. There are snow covered peaks and the bay. There are a few ships here and this is often the starting point for Antartica which is 1000km away - almost the same as going from Sydney to Melbourne!

Although cold the days are long. We were out walking around the town when Valda said, “ We won’t have dinner for a couple of hours!” My reply was, “I think we might eat now as it is 8:45!” She was shocked as it did feel  so much earlier in the day. It didn’t start to get dark until around 11pm and when we woke at 6:30am it was light! When we did go to dinner we had the most amazing casserole of crab and prawns. King crab is the go here and boy are they huge!

Our morning was taken up with a visit to the National Park and included a trip on a steam train. The views were stunning and there were lots of horses grazing in the areas we passed. One thing I found very noticeable was how much Mistletoe there was on the trees. A lazy lunch and lazy afternoon was the order for the rest of the day. Saw a very interesting poster, well for the Poms anyway.

When you cast aside the tacky souvenir shops the area is quite beautiful. the view across the bay and the snow covered Andes are (sorry) beautiful!

A morning spent walking around and visiting a couple of museums led us to a boat trip. We boarded a catamaran and headed out to the Beagle Channel but when it started to rain it didn’t stop us, we were out onto the deck taking photos. Our trip went for three hours and we saw colonies(?) of Cormorants and sea lions. It was so exciting to see the wildlife there in front of us instead of on TV or pictures. The whole area is very picturesque.

Today we caught a taxi up to the chair lift to go to the glacier but once again the heavens opened and it wasn’t the right thing to do so instead we sat in a lovely ‘tea room’, overlooking small waterfalls and forest, drinking alcohol laced hot chocolate - I could have stayed all day!

Our return to ‘Down Town’ ended at the Maritime museum and jail. We spent a couple of hours here as the history was fascinating.

Tomorrow back to Buenos Aires and onto Bariloche with too much time spent at airports and probably more excess baggage payments!!

Iguazu Falls

Up to Iguazu
We left our hotel at 7am to catch the flight to Iguazu. Didn’t start well at the airport as we had to pay for excess baggage over 15kilos and mine came out at 20kg. I couldn’t believe it as I was15kg when I left Sydney and I had a bag full of presents! Then we boarded a small plane and as we were boarding the windscreen was being cleaned - I suppose it was good that the pilot could see where he was going!! But what a flight! It started okay with good views over Buenos Aires but just after we’d been given our snack and a cup of tea the turbulence started and didn’t let up and it was amongst the worst I’d been in. Good thing you weren’t there Kerry as you’d have been screaming!  Suffice to say we arrived unscathed and are now sitting in a pleasant garden!.We have had torrential rain since we arrived but at the moment it’s let up. There are humming birds coming to a feeder next to us so we are finally with nature and not in a concrete jungle.

The last two days have definitely been OMG!! experiences. The first day we visited the Iguazu Fall on the Argentinian side. As we entered the park we walked through the jungle for a short time before catching  a little train which took us closer to the falls.. We had to walk for at least a mile on bridges spanning the river and the power of the water was awe inspiring. As we got closer to the fall we quickly put n our plastic macs as the spray was really strong and we could see people returning with saturated clothes! Wow when you finally saw the falls you were bowled over by the amount of flowing water. We had our photo taken at one of the main lookout and as we stood there great waves of water erupted over us and we were soon very wet! We continued on different trails taking in the fall from different angles - you just can’t get over the size of them.

We opted to go on a boat ride close to the falls and as we got close we put the plastic mac back on added the life jacket and boarded. We had been given ‘wet bags’ to store all our belongings in and decided to take our shoes off and put them in too. There were people stripping off to their swimmers, which we thought was strange until the trip started! We were so naive! The short version is that we went under the falls and it was like having a bath full of water thrown over you! In seconds we were drenched - how did the water manage to get into my undies?! It was awesome and luckily it was warm enough to cope with wet clothes but wewere really glad that we had taken our shoes off! We were then driven back to the entrance of the park. They reckon that you walk about 8 miles!

Today we headed to Brasil. The border is very close to here and there was no trouble with getting in to the country. We had decided to take a helicopter ride over the falls and it was an awesome 10 minutes. Seeing the falls from the air gave a greater perspective about how big they are. We then entered the park and had to take a bus to the first viewing point from the Brazilian side. You were given another panoramic view of the falls. These have to be the most amazing natural wonder that you can see and anyone coming to this side of the world should not miss Iguazu  Falls.

Tango

We learnt that 40 % of the people here are under the poverty line! You can see some people sleeping rough and our guide told us that there were  shanty towns around which we didn’t see!!
On the evening of New Year’s day we went to a Tango show. We were picked up at 8:30 and eventually got to the show after 9 and there we had a choice for our three course meal (how do people eat this late!) We were sat at a table with a couple of girls from Brazil as language was a problem we used quite a lot of miming to try to understand each other.

The tango dancers were amazing. I quite fancy the tango but not sure that I should even attempt to get my leg above my head! Then there are the flirty bits with legs going between legs - I would probably fall over so I will give this dance a miss. The orchestra was terrific but the couple of singers left us disappointed - perhaps that was because we couldn’t understand them! The whole place reminded me of  The Folies Bergère  in Paris.

We had a late start to the day after our late night and it was pouring with rain, cats & dogs style! We braved the rain to walk to a leather shop we’d heard about. It was very trying walking as the wet pavements were like  skating rinks. After trying numerous jackets on and being told that they could be made by the afternoon and “That colour is good on you!” suddenly finding that the prices were starting at $400+ we both walked out empty handed!

One of the most noticeable things here is that so few people speak English so I’m really being pushed with my basic Spanish but I am getting by and I think the people are happy that I try. We have “Dos Gin & Tonic por favor” off pat!

Have arrived in Argentina

With an overnight flight, wasn’t too bad, we arrived in Buenos Aires. From the air the city was a mass of high rise but from the ground it was just seemed chaotic with eight lane roads and lots of traffic. It took us about 45 minutes to reach our hotel and when we got out it was very warm after where we’d come from!

We were advised to book a restaurant for dinner for New Years Eve so headed out to explore our surroundings. We found the restaurant suggested and it looked decent with a reasonable price so we booked. Had a short siesta before going out to find supermarket and then to dinner.

On NYE we were taken on a tour of the city. It’s not as modern as we’d thought but there are lots of French and Italian influences in the buildings. We visited Cementerio do la Recoleta, a cemetery which was very different as you could see many of the coffins in the vaults. I thought it smelt a little strange! Many of the vaults were rundown and there were some extremely old coffins but some were well cared for and very large. This is where Eva Peron is buried.We then visited the church that Pope Frances was from.

We visited the area where Tango started - it was a colourful couple of streets and fine during the day but not a good spot at night. As we had a drink there were a couple of tango dancers - great foot work. A sit was NYE we went out to the booked restaurant and enjoyed a really good dinner but didn’t make it to midnight!

Today had a walk around the local area. Everywhere was closed and the streets deserted - very strange!

Windy city

Lauren gave me a city pass as a gift so it has been well used but first Justin and I, Lauren wasn’t feeling well, went to the John Hancock building and enjoyed views and drinks on the 96th floor! We then became cultural and visited the Art museum.

The weather has been a lot milder with bright sunshine so I have walked the streets of Chicago going from place to place and it’s a really nice city. I tried to get to the skydeck-basically a box stuck on the outside of a building a million miles in the air. Yes I’m exaggerating but I’m not that good with heights! It was such a shame that the queues were 2 hours long so I decided against the visit! I then met Justin and Lauren at the Field museum (History) and it proved to be another brilliant museum.

It is so much colder today , minus 2 with freezing drizzle but not to worry I head to Buenos Aires and some heat later today!

Chicago

With warnings that a very bad storm was approaching I was hoping that I’d take off before it arrived but as you can guess that wasn’t quite what happened. We were boarded okay and then started the pullout. It certainly felt as if we were moving but each time I looked out we were in the same spot! The strong winds had started and we rocking the plane so hard that we’d become jammed against the tug pulling us out! Finally the tug gave us up and we headed down the runway. It was certainly a very testing take off as we were just being blown all over the place but eventually we made it into more settled air and we were on our way.

The flight was just under 9 hours and was fine unfortunately the same couldn’t be said about passport control! We queued for two hours to get passports stamped and entry into the USA! Amazingly no one ‘jacked up’! Justin was there to meet me which was great. The cold hit you as we left the airport, in fact it was hard to breathe, the pilot told us it was minus 12!!

I woke early on Christmas Eve and ventured out for breakfast. The cold was overwhelming - I later found out that it was minus 19!! As I was having breakfast the snow started to fall. Talking of breakfast I’d forgotten how large the meals are! I’d ordered Eggs Benedict but I received enough food to keep me going until the evening!

View from room

I walked around until the cold drove me back to the hotel but in the early afternoon I headed out to the railway station to catch up with Justin, Lauren and her family. It was a 45minute train ride and as we moved away from the city the snow became deeper. After a short drive we arrived at Lauren’s family home where I was greeted by her mum, dad, sister and three dogs. We had a lovely evening with delicious food and lots of talking. The interesting part was that coyotes and wolves pass through their garden at night!

It had snowed a little during the night so I got my white Christmas! Lauren’s family don’t celebrate Christmas as we do, I think that thanksgiving is more important, so we followed their tradition and went to the movies. We saw the Hobbit which was really good.

Lauren drove us back into the city and we met for dinner. We went to a really good steak house and had some great steak. Snow was pelting down as we left the restaurant.

Boxing day morning Justin, Lauren and I visited the Science museum - it was one of the best museums I’ve visited. In the afternoon I walked down to the Navy Pier. It wasn’t that exciting but the walk did me good.