Argentina: Part 2

    Argentina – Part 2:

El Calafate: We boarded the 8:30 bus in Puerte Natales and soon crossed into Argentina at a small border crossing. We travelled for 6 hours with not much to see except flat wind-swept tundra. El Ovejero is a campsite recommended by the Lonely Planet and it is where we set up camp for the next 2 nights. Apart from a barking dog which kept us awake sometimes, I can definitely recommend the campsite to anyone as it was very good and had everything a camper needed. There were showers with hot water and for washing dishes, laundry service, small shop and an all-you-can-eat parrilla/asado which served spit BBQ lamb and beef! The town on the other hand is very touristy and very expensive.

We met up again with Will and went to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier which is apparently one of the few advancing glaciers in the world.  We walked along the boardwalks and were dwarfed by the impressive towering glacier that almost seemed alive as it emitted creaks and bangs. Huge blocks of ice broke away from the glacier and fell into the water below with a loud bang. I can see why so many people flock down to see the glacier – it is big, it is beautiful, it is intimidating, it is loud and it is advancing! Apart from taking many photos, there is not much to do so we took the early bus back to El Calafate for a nice all-you-can-eat buffet with spit BBQ lamb and steak. The restaurant we opted for that night was interesting as it was owned by a Chinese guy who served food that was half Chinese and half Patagonian BBQ! It was really nice and we were all very full by the end of it.

Our last day we spent packing up our gear and meeting up with Will before his long journey. He couldn’t find a flight to Buenos Aires and therefore had to opt for a 40 hour bus journey! We were really lucky to have booked our tickets well in advance! We also met a very nice couple who camped next to us - frantic charades and “Google Translate” revealed that they are cycling through parts of South America. Sometimes it can be really frustrating when we could not speak Spanish as you get to meet some really cool people but there is no way that you could have a decent conversation.

Buenos Aires: We reached BA at about midnight after a two hour flight from El Calafate. A crooked taxi driver ripped us off getting us to our hostel, Milhouse. We learned the hard way that a lot of taxi drivers are crooked in BA – they overcharge, short change and worst of all, they will give you fake notes! Please be aware of them and have exact change or make sure the notes are not fake. Look out for ragged edges, stain marks, water marks as well as feeling the texture of the note. Fake notes are usually not smooth and have a more “paper-like” texture. Also, hold the note against the light to make sure that you can see a proper water mark as well as a solid line from top to bottom (where the silver striped line is).

Milhouse: This was our home for the next 6 nights and we quickly came to know that Milhouse hosts many a messy parties! Most of the revelers sleep off their hangovers during the day and come out to play during the nights. The hostel itself, although a bit noisy at times, was very well equipped with a kitchen, laundry service, hot showers, nice rooms, wifi and a bar that served both food and alcohol. The staff were also helpful and friendly making our stay there very nice. Although a bit pricey (guess it is expected in a large city) Milhouse is a nice hostel for meeting new people and having lots of parties!

Meat!: Argentina is home to lots of very good meat and chimichurri sauce – a carnivore’s delight and definitely not a place for a vegetarian! The staff at Milhouse wore T-shirts with “Be vegetarian” on the front and “more meat for us” cleverly hidden on the back. La Cabrera was recommended to us as a really good steak house, which it was, as we went back for a second time! The steaks there were to die for – seared on the outside and nice and juicy on the inside. I opted for the 800g Bife de Chorizo (sirloin steak) both times and left a very happy customer. Each steak came with various little side dishes including beans, creamed spinach, artichoke hearts, aubergines, red peppers, mashed sweet potato, cauliflower and many more! I can highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who enjoys a good steak! For those people who have to wait outside for their table, free champagne is served.

Desnivel in San Telmo was another restaurant recommended to us. We went there with Will, Lisa, Alex and Cat. This restaurant is not as fancy as La Cabrera and slightly cheaper, never the less the steaks were also really good. I managed to sweet talk the chef into letting me pose for a photo next to the asado (BBQ) with two huge knifes! Typical meats include chorizo (spicy sausage), chinchulines (crispy intestines), bife de chorizo (sirloin), Bife de lomo (filet steak), Mantambre de cerdo (grilled pork flanks), asado de costillar (beef ribs) and grilled chicken (classed as vegetables by most Argentineans!). A word that I came to like is “chori”: the Argentinean equivalent of a hot dog. They use a chorizo sausage in a bun with chimichurri sauce – brilliant! I’ve since tried making the sauce myself as it is really good and goes well with meat although I have yet to perfect my recipe. Argentina was not good for our visibly expanding waistlines but there was just no way that I could stop myself from eating as much delicious meat as humanly possible!

Tango: We saw many people tango dancing in the most unsuspecting places in BA. Random streets were blocked off and a stage set up, complete with massive speakers, a band and lights. At first there would be only professional tango dancers onstage but as the night wore on locals would also migrate to the stage and take part. Some people would even dance in the streets, including old couples! Tango in BA is not to be missed – there is always a buzz and it is great fun seeing people dancing.  

Markets: BA also has many arts and crafts markets throughout the city. We visited the antiques market in San Telmo (open on Sundays) and were amazed by the bric-a-brac on offer. It seemed that match box collections (all with different pictures) are quite common in Argentina as we saw many vendors selling them. Yerba Mate is also very common in Argentina – we saw many of the locals walk around all day with their cups and thermos flasks filled with hot water. I thought my dad was an excessive tea drinker but these guys take tea drinking to a new level!

We also visited the colorful La Boca later that day. The streets were lined with brightly painted houses and caricature mannequins of famous people looked down from the balconies. La Boca is a vibrant and eccentric little place complete with street vendors and restaurants, most of which had stages where tango dancers entertained the diners. We had a drink (and some empanadas) at one of these restaurants while watching the tango – cheesy but great fun!

Polo: This is one of Argentina’s key sports and the final was on the weekend we were there. It attracted a lot of wealthy people all dressed very smartly in their designer clothes. We felt somewhat outclassed in our flip flops and T-shirts and we were unable to afford the ludicrous prices for last minute tickets.  We found a spot next to the fence and watched all the pre match entertainment. There was dancing horses, Indians, a brass band and tango dancers to entertain the hordes. We managed to see about 3 minutes of the game before the heavens opened and it literally pissed down with rain! We all got absolutely drenched as we ran for the cover of a pub at the other end of the block. Needless to say the polo was cancelled as everyone fled for cover with only the lucky ones getting a taxi! Although a wet and cold outing, seeing the polo was a great experience! Buenos Aires was great city to visit although not good for the budget! There were many markets, good restaurants, tango, polo, nice meat and nice people (excluding taxi drivers!). Overall the city had a nice buzz and comes highly recommended!

Iguazu Falls: From BA we took a flight to Iguazu and from there a transfer to our campsite where we pitched up our tent. After spending lots of money in BA we felt camping was a good option to save some money. The campsite (recommended by Lonely Planet) was a bit run down and I wasn’t that impressed. A noisy dog kept us awake most nights, even though we wore ear plugs, and to top it off the showers were cold. Most of the tables were wonky and threatened to fall over any moment and some of the electrics were really dodgy. I guess you get what you pay for…

I hadn’t managde to get a visa for Brazil in BA as I only discovered when I got to the embassy that you have to book an appointment online. My only option was to get my visa from the small embassy in Puerto Iguazu. I got up early and set off with my stash of paperwork only to discover that South Africans don’t need a visa for Brazil! This is unheard of especially since Australians and Kiwis need visas. At least it was a great weight off my shoulders and we could happily look forward to a visit to the falls the next morning.

We left early the next morning to take a bus from outside our campsite to Iguazu National Park. The falls consist of various sections which can be reached by either walking along jungle paths or taking a little train. We first walked down to see the lower falls and were quick to see a Tucan and woodpecker with a crazy yellow mohican. We’d seen Tucans in a rescue centre but never in the wild before which made it even more special! What made the lower falls special for me was a vivid rainbow in the spray of one the many smaller waterfalls. Gillian nearly had a heart attack when a large lizard (that looked like a snake!) darted out of the forest near us. There were also many black urulus circling in the sky above the waterfalls preying on dead animals.

After visiting the lower falls we stopped for a coffee at one of the restaurants. Sitting outside was a very bad idea as a coati jumped on our coffee tray as soon as Gillian walked out of the restaurant. It managed to spill one of our coffees and run off with a sachet of sugar! The coaties are as cute as they are cheeky and we always had to keep a watchful eye on them so that they did not get a chance to steal our sandwiches. After the coati incident we walked to the upper falls which were very beautiful indeed. The boardwalks overlooked a whole series of very impressive waterfalls - there are a total of 275 waterfalls in Iguazu! At that point the paths were filled up with tourists and we made our early escape to avoid the stampede.

To get to the “Devils Throat” we boarded the train where we met a friendly Canadian guy called Don. He told us not to bother with the Niagara Falls when in Canada as he didn’t think they were anywhere near as impressive as Iguazu Falls. The Devils Throat was a fairly long walk along a boardwalk but so worth it! We were awed by the vast amounts of water thundering down over the edge creating a spray of water. The thunder was so loud we almost had to scream at each other! I can’t recommend highly enough a visit to the falls.

That was also our final day in Argentina and we had to, yes you guessed it, have another steak of course! We bumped into a French couple, Cedric and Stephanie, at the falls (who we had met before in Torres del Paine through Will). We invited them to have dinner with us at a recommended restaurant called El Quincho. I opted for chorizo sausage and crispy chinchulines for starters followed by a nice juicy bife de chorizo steak. All of this was washed down with a good bottle of red wine! Great food, great wine and great company. What a nice way to spend our last night in Argentina!  

Argentina has been my favourite country in South America so far. The steaks alone had the unfair advantage of trumping all the other countries although there were many other good things like the amazing Iguazu Falls, Perito Morino Glacier, good wines, outdoors activities and many more! 

Complete photo album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=312123&id=749927742&l=716b1e9906

                                 

Chile

Chile:

The border crossing into Chile was one of the worst one to date.  The queues were long and the searches thorough (no fruit, meats, cheese, etc.).  At least none of our hidden chicken salad sandwiches were discovered! To top it off the border had one of the worst toilets I’ve ever seen – no seat, lock, paper or flush with remnants of previous occupants all piled up in an brown pyramid.

Santiago: We stayed in Hotel Libertador in central Santiago. It also happened to be the first screening of the new Harry Potter film and most of our group went to see it at the cinema. The place was absolutely packet with eager Potter fans and we had to stand in a very long queue. The movie was good and we found a hamburger place after. There were not a lot of proper restaurants around and hot dogs (known as completos) are pretty much on most menus as it seems to be a Chilean national dish.

The next day we spend most of our time searching for Gillian’s missing sleeping bag which was posted in South Africa and sent to the hotel in Santiago. It never reached Chile and there was also no way of tracing it once it had left SA. We also had to get rid of a lot of excess baggage and souvenirs which cost an arm and a leg. A “box” in Spanish is called a “caja” and we were told the “j” got pronounced as a “k” (it is actually as a guttural “g”). So I ended up asking the lady behind the counter “Tienen grande kaka?” which means “have you got a big shit?”!!!

That night we went as a group up the Teleferica to watch the sunset over Santiago. We 

were all armed with copious amounts of alcohol for a memorable last trip together as a group. The view over the city is good and definitely worth doing, despite the smog. From there we travelled to a sushi bar with most of our group determined to drink as much alcohol as humanly possible! The food there was good and we had a nice last night together. Some of our intoxicated group went on to party at a night club which we gave a miss (I was very grateful for that the next day!).

Santa Cruz: The next morning we travelled from Santiago with all our luggage to Santa Cruz for some wine tasting. We couldn’t find any camping sites on the internet so we decided to try and find one once we arrived. However, there were none and we had to resort to trying to find a hostel. We got lucky on the second place we found and booked into a very expensive but nice B&B. Our mission was to find another bicycle wine tour but our hosts didn’t speak a word of English so Google Translate (and the usual charades) came in handy and they directed us to a family guy who rented out his bicycles. We opted for the bicycles and decided to visit 3 vineyards the next day. 

Santa Cruz is definitely not on the “Gringo Trail” and it was nice not to see any other travelers for a change. We had a drink in a local bar where the drink of choice seemed to be a strawberry punch which was made from freshly cut strawberries, white wine and lots of sugar. A few of the locals there were pretty “punched-up” and kept offering to buy us drinks. They reluctantly let us leave the pub which was a good thing as we had to buy our bus tickets, draw money, do shopping for our picnic the next day and find a place to have dinner!

The next morning we had a nice breakfast at our hostel and collected our bicycles. We found ourselves in a completely different location when we took a wrong turn right at the start. This ended up being a good thing as we got to cycle some back roads and saw more of the landscape and locals. Many of the houses we saw were still damaged as there was a huge earthquake back in 27 February 2010. Many of the buildings on the vineyards were also destroyed so a lot of them had to close. Our first stop was a vineyard called Viu Manent which was closed for 7 months. The restoration has been done well and the views from the patio were beautiful. We were seated under some trees with a lovely view over the vineyards while we sampled 7 wines. The wines came with a mysterious silver bucket with an unknown use. Rumor has it that some people use it to spit out their wine although that to me is such a ridiculous notion that it will remain a mystery. I can definitely recommend this winery as it had everything – lovely views, good wines, friendly hosts and you could also take a carriage ride through the vineyards!

My bicycle definitely lacked TLC as I squeaked my way along the roads and also had to inflate my tyre every half an hour. We made our way to Montes which is situated, together with a number of other wineries, in the Apalta Valley. What made this winery memorable for me was that they kept their wines in a dark, ampitheatre and the aging of the wine was enhanced by Gregorian chanting music (I remain skeptical). It was quite magical though walking alone through the dark room with all the oak barrels smelling the aging wine and listening to the chanting!

Our last stop that day was at a winery called “El Ninas”. They were closed when we firs

t tried so we had our picnic next to a little stream while waiting for them to reopen. This winery was started by a number of French women although only one remains involved with the business today. We tasted some wines while standing near their large stainless steel tanks and oak barrels. Overall the whole day was really pleasant and we were both happy riding back to town although slightly wobbly.

Pucon: To reach Pucon we had to travel on a night bus (the only one available) for 8 hours. The bus was pretty good and the reclining seats comfortable. We took a taxi to our campsite where we met up with our Tucan friends. Adrian welcomed me with a strong “cowboy coffee” which was just what I needed after a night on the bus. I was very impressed by our campsite as it had lots of grass and a pretty little stream ran through it. Pucon itself is a beautiful town and it would be easy to mistake it for an Alpine resort as the houses and cute little shops are all wooden with metal clad roofs. The town sits right next to Lake Villarica, with the snow-covered Volcano Villarica looming in the background. Of all the cities and towns that I’ve seen in South America so far, Pucon is one of the most beautiful.

Our first day in Pucon was pretty easy going. We went into town to get our laundry 

done and I cooked a massive beef stew – complete with verbal and alcoholic help from the others! The day was a success as the stew was good, our laundry got done and we booked a trip for the next day to climb the volcano. Our tour company picked us up the next day and we were kitted out in ridiculous amounts of clothing to prepare us for our hike. The volcano is still active and it bellows a constant stream of poisonous gas which is visible from the town.  It is 2,847m high but because we’ve done many other high altitude climbs before it was not a hard hike. We snaked our way up the snow-covered slopes in endless switch-backs and we had to put on crampons to climb the last few hundred metres of slippery icy slope. The view from the top was absolutely stunning although we all choked on the poisonous gases coming from the volcano. The gas caused our eyes to water and throats to burn so we only stayed there for a short while. Going down was a lot of fun as we got to strap on “adult nappies” and slide on our bums down the slopes all the way to the bottom! That excursion had everything in it to make it a very memorable trip and it is very high up my favorites list! Gillian also managed to burn her nose very badly and looked like Rudolf the red nosed reindeer for days to come.

The Tucan group left the next day and it was sad seeing them all go. We stayed an extra day although we didn’t do too much other than having a BBQ on our last night. We had some excitement though when a dog dared to steal Gillian’s shoe! While we were out looking for it with our torches the dog came back and sneakily stole another shoe (of a different pair!). I’ve never seen Gillian so grumpy and angry in my whole life (except for when she gets bad cards while playing President) but luckily I found both the shoes in the neighbours yard the next day guarded by a very smug looking dog.

Puerto Montt: We travelled to Puerto Montt by bus which took about 6 hours. If you are into scruffy dogs and derelict houses than Puerto Montt is definitely the place spend a few hours. We stayed in a very scruffy looking neighborhood where all the houses desperately needed some TLC. The only place worth visiting was Angelmo in a bay next to the sea. There were many little seafood restaurants and we ate some of the biggest mussels I’ve ever seen as well as hot smoked salmon, and garlic and chili prawns. The dried smoked mussels threaded on seaweed was quite interesting to see (it took me a while to figure out what it was). The next day we boarded the Navimag cargo ferry which was to be our home for the next 3 nights. The boat was massive and carried all sorts of cargo on the lower deck as well as livestock. 

We stayed on the upper 2 decks and regularly frequented the 3^rd where the bar was 

located. The boat travelled through the Chilean fjords and the views from the deck were spectacular – snow covered mountains, waterfalls and ragged shore lines. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see much of the promised wildlife as the weather turned very nasty and strong winds and rain kept us indoors most of the time. We met a few people on the boat including Will (a friendly Aussie chap) and two Canadian girls (Lisa and Alex). We spent a lot of time with them while having drinks and playing cards. A highlight for me was winning a bottle of good red wine and a pen on our last night while playing Bingo. However, the catch was having to dance in front of hundreds of people to YMCA!

Puerto Natales: This town is situated in Patagonia and we stayed in a very cosy and friendly hostel called Yagan House and I can only say good things about it as the staff were very helpful and friendly - the homemade breakfast was also very good. The town itself is very touristy and expensive although we spent most of the day preparing for our up and coming 4 day Torres del Paine hike.  I came to learn that Patagonia is extremely windy (it never stopped while we were there!) and also home to “cordero a la espada” (spit BBQ lamb impaled on a sword) or cordero a la cruz (lamb on the cross). Once again zip-lock bags were my friends as I divided our food for the next few days into bags. We altered our original trekking plan in order to do the hike with Will, Alex and Lisa from the boat.

Torres del Paine (The W-hike): Torres del Paine is an UNESCO world heritage site

and one of the most beautiful parks in all of South America. It has been voted the 2^nd best hike in all of South America (after the Inca trail). It is home to many kinds of flora and fauna, as well as impressive ragged mountains, glaciers, rivers and milky ice-blue glacier lakes. There are many guanacos and if you are lucky you might even see cougars and foxes! We took an early morning bus to the park and from there took the catamaran to our first campsite (refugio), Paine Grande. The weather that day was very bad and the wind was howling. The waves on the lake that morning were so high they crashed over the top of the boat causing water to drip through onto us! We had to strap our tent down using extra pegs and all the guy ropes – we hoped it would hold up alright as we set off to Glacier Grey.

The weather got even worse and we experienced horizontal rain, snow, sleet and ridiculously strong winds that managed to blow a few people over! We managed to take a few quick photos of Glacier Grey while struggling to stand upright and keeping the camera lens clear of snow. It was about a 6 hour round trip and we were looking forward to our steak dinner back at the refugio. It was while I was cooking the steak that a random hungry hiker walked past me, looked at the steaks, then at me, back at the steaks and said “fuck you!” and walked off! I found it hilarious as I know all too well how people feel after eating boring pasta dishes for days on end…

That night we didn’t sleep well as the wind kept on howling and shaking our tent so we 

set off fairly tired the next morning when there was finally a short break in the heavy rain. My bag was very heavy and the going was slow. We trekked to Italiano where we had some lunch and started to hike up the valley. However, the weather was still very bad and we only took a few photos before heading off to set up camp at Cuernos. We set up our tents under some trees which at least gave us some shelter. That night it was bitterly cold and I had to put on most of my clothing to keep warm.

 

The next day we set off for our final campsite, Chileno. It was a tough hike as we had to hike up a mountain with our backpacks – at least the weather had warmed up and the sun even shone! The hike was beautiful with the lake on our right and the colossal ragged granite mountains on our left. Unfortunately the wind kept howling especially in the valley near the refugio and we walked like drunk people trying desperately to stay upright! The campsite was very nice and a mug of hot chocolate warmed us up. We played more cards and had an early evening that night to prepare us for a 3:30am start.

My alarm woke us at 3:15 the next morning with the tent shaking violently in the fierce 

wind. We debated for a short while whether or not to do the hike as the hike to the Torres del Paine towers had been closed the day before due to strong winds. We decided to bite the bullet and give it a go, so we set off in the dark with our head lamps. The hike itself was not as bad as I’d expected as we were protected somewhat by forest and we were pretty fit from previous excursions. The reason for the early start was to see the sun’s rays on the 3 Towers as they change colour with the rising sun. We made it there just before sunrise but unfortunately there was too much cloud and although we managed to see the towers we didn’t see the change in colour. The towers were very impressive looming over us and an ice-blue glacier lake. It was absolutely freezing at the top and many people brought their sleeping bags to keep warm.

 

It was funny seeing all the people doing the “Torres del Paine dance” trying to keep warm. Alex was especially funny doing her “Torres del Paine worm dance” as she squirmed and bounced around in her sleeping bag! From there we headed back to camp and hiked all the way down to the bottom where we hitched a lift off a very friendly Polish couple. They dropped us off at a campsite where we met up with our Tucan group. Unfortunately most of the crew were off trekking but it was still nice to see some of the group. We trekked up Mirador Condor the next morning with Scoota, braving the strong winds. The view from the top of the hill was beautiful and we were lucky enough to see two condors circling. After our hike we took a bus back to Puerte Natales and our cosy hostel. The next day we took a bus over the Argentinean border so we had to repack our heavy bags again.

I found Chile to be a very beautiful and diverse country with many extremes. Torres del

 Paine was definitely one of our highlights to date and it was nice meeting new friends and experiencing succulent Patagonian spit roasted lamb! Chile, even though a little expensive, is a country not to be missed!

Complete photo album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=306768&id=749927742&l=a320966f70

Argentina

                            Argentina:

Salta: A long day for most of our group because of Aoifa’s birthday the night before. The truck was scattered with the green faced sleeping bodies of the post alcohol abuse victims! The roads to Salta were very bad and Scoota took a few wrong turns as there were no signs on the road works. We had breakfast that morning next to a dry river bed and we soon saw, as usual, a random dog mysteriously appearing out of nowhere, as if by magic, and approaching our breakfast tables. These dogs are usually equipped with hypnotic powers and the biggest I-am-so-hungry-please-feed-me eyes that it is impossible not to feel sorry for them. It didn’t seem to matter how remote or how random our stops were, Scruffy Dog would always sniff us out!

We had to cross the border on our way to Salta which took much longer than expected as we had to carry our bags over the border to be searched and the truck had to get stamped through as well. We waited for a long time on the Argentinean side and many of us got sunburned while doing so. I crossed back over into the Bolivian border (without my passport) to go and buy some empanadas and just walked straight back over! When the others saw (and smelled) my empanadas it caused a mass exodus of hungry fellow travelers towards the Bolivian empanada stall. The truck papers eventually got stamped although it was necessary for Scoota to do some sweet talking and pay a little bribe (of course…) and at last we set off again.

We set up our tents in a campsite just outside of Salta that evening.  Max had been telling us all day long about a great steakhouse in Salta that had been recommended by various respectable people, which we were apparently not allowed to miss. We were all looking forward to some red meat after our staple diet of solo pollo (chicken only) for weeks on end in Bolivia and Peru. Argentina is well known for its red wine and melt-in-your-mouth steaks so most of us took taxis to the restaurant (even after arriving late at our campsite). The restaurant was packed with locals even though it was late on a Monday night which was a good sign. Most of us ordered the “chorizo steak” which was a good cut of meat of very generous proportions! Most of the girls (but not Gillian!) could not finish their steaks and I took pity on one and finished hers off as well as my own! The food was delicious and I already liked Argentina even though it was only my first day – good roads, lush green vegetation, petrol stations with proper toilets, finished buildings and of course red wine and meat! Even the dogs and people were less scruffy…

Horse Riding: The next morning we were picked up at our campsite for horse riding and a BBQ.  We were all very much looking forward to it as many people had told us about the amazing BBQ. Enrique, our bearded host, was a great guy with a great charismatic personality and an ever present teasing sense of humour. We arrived to an unsuspecting second breakfast of tea, scones, bread pudding and marmalade. Soon after we got on our horses and set off on a slow walk. The actual horse riding that day was very average but at least we got to gallop twice. I got told off for going too fast by our guide. 

What DID make it a very memorable excursion that day were the brilliant BBQ and our host Enrique. We got plied with red wine and copious amounts of really good red meat! All of us ate and drank our own body weight in meat and red wine and there was no saying “no mas” (no more) to Enrique! He kept on piling our plates with slices of fillet and topping up our glasses with red wine. He even spoon fed Matt his unfinished steak while making aeroplane sounds and finished off by kissing him on the head! It was a brilliant day – the food was superb and our host very entertaining. I can definitely recommend it to anyone: www.sayta.com.ar

Salta rafting: Our next activities were zip lining and white water rafting which were at a farm about 3 hours drive from Salta.  After setting up our tents we were given our helmets, wetsuits, jackets and life vests. The rafting was great fun and what made it even more fun was having a dog in our raft! The dog was very cute and just sat there in the middle with a please-don’t-splash-me-with-cold-water-again look in its face, sometimes resting its head on my knee. For many of our group it was their first time rafting and I’m sure their shrieks were audible for miles! Adrian went kayaking with the owner and it was fun seeing the owner doing tricks with his small kayak.

Next up was the zip lining after a bit of a climb to the top. The lines are suspended over part of a dam, along the mountain side and finally over the river back to base. It was great fun sliding along up high with a bird’s eye view over the river and our campsite. The longest run was 700m over the valley! I managed to burn my arm in a few places when I let go of my default position to pose for a photo although I can only blame myself for that. The rest of the day we lazed around the campsite playing cards, football or lying in hammocks and sipping on cold 1 litre beers.

Cafayate: We set off to this town for more camping and the promise of having a giant waterslide and pool where we could relax so most of our group was pretty excited to get there. To make the journeys go faster we’ve been playing cards (president, packets and shit head). This is especially interesting with Scoota racing the truck around corners and with us desperately trying to hold on to our cards! I even tried sleeping on the floor of the truck and found myself sliding back and forth banging my head. Due to potholes and ditches mysteriously appearing in the road at the last minute, Scoota regularly performed emergency stops which would propel all of us across the truck. This combined with driving around corners at 100 miles an hour made sleeping impossible!

When we finally arrived at our campsite we were all deeply disappointed to say the least. The giant slide was out of order and the pool half full of what looked like luminous green nuclear waste. Things hit rock bottom when we discovered hundreds of tadpole eating their dead mother.  There was no hot water for showers and also no grass for setting up our tents on. To pass time we sat around that afternoon and drank anything we could get our hands on – that included beer, whiskey, wine and half a mashed-up watermelon filled with generous amounts of vodka. At least the spirits we drank lifted our spirits as well as having a delicious dinner – bangers and mash topped with Scoota’s famous red onion gravy.

The town of Cafayate was actually very nice as it is a fairly posh wine town surrounded by vineyards. There are nice restaurants and shops and the trees are home to noisy olive green parrots. A few places offered wine tasting and you could also rent motorbikes, quad bikes or bicycles if you wanted to do your own thing. We tried wine ice cream at one shop called Heladeria Miranda which was a very bizarre but nice flavor and also recommended is the steak sandwiches from a shop called Sola (right across from the ice cream place).

Catamarca: Another night of camping but again we arrived to find an empty swimming pool with kids playing football in it, along with a fair few random dogs walking around. At least there was hot water and Adrian’s cooking group prepared Mexican food for us that evening. Max cooked strips of meat which was marinated with soya, Worchester, BBQ and Teriyaki sauce and we had them in tortilla wraps together with salsa, refried beans, lettuce, cheese and guacamole. The food that night was delicious and to top it off Max brought out the tequila which we swallowed down with sour candy worms – a very interesting combo! Apparently there is not much to see in the town and the only excitement that day came from seeing a huge spider walking underneath the truck. This naturally freaked out most of the girls who nearly deafened us with their blood curdling screams.

Cordoba: Eating good quality Argentinean steak was high on our agenda so we made it our quest to find another steak house (Parrilla/Asado) that evening. We found one of these wonderful establishments after much walking and consulting of locals. Adrian any myself had the all-you-can-eat meat carvery and the rest of the group ordered the Bife de Chorizo which was definitely the better option as it was melt in the mouth soft! I got beaten by the meat as it was just too much for me in the end and I pretty much rolled out of the restaurant that night.

The next day was a Sunday and most shops were closed. We tried to get American dollars from 8 different banks but not one of them had any! There is also not too much to see in Cordoba so we ended up catching up on internet chores at the hostel. It is very handy having your own laptop as WiFi is usually free in most hostels. The hostel also had its own kitchen so it was nice to be able to cook our own dinner that evening. Lindsay was a very happy recipient of leftover pasta and she had one of the biggest smiles I’ve ever seen (visible between mouthfuls of food).

 Matt and Hannah shared a room with us which was a special experience as entertainment levels are sky high with those two around! Matt walks and talks in his sleep and struggles to wake up in the mornings much to the annoyance of Hannah. It was like being in our own live soap opera with them around – I will miss both of them very much after breaking away from the Tucan group.

Mendoza: Mendoza is a pretty town with lots of tree lined avenues. We stayed in a nice backpackers near one of the city’s plazas. The backpackers had its own kitchen and they also offered BBQs. I met a few bikers there who were travelling from Alaska all the way to the Southern tip of South America called “Ushuaia”! It was interesting listening to all their stories and that night many beers were consumed. Two of the guys looking after the hostel were also very good guitar players and they supplied non-stop music for us. Later that evening most of our group ended up going to an Irish pub where we all got fairly hammered. 

Apparently it was a great evening although my memory failed me slightly…Claire found me trying to buy savoury food from a candy floss stand in one of the squares!

The next day I was not feeling the best so I didn’t do too much except for some shopping and wandering aimlessly around town. That night most of our group had the BBQ which the hostel prepared – sausages, beef ribs, steak and a token lettuce and tomato salad. Just before they hostel BBQ I made my famous roosterbrood (BBQ bread) for our group to try and it went down a treat! I also jammed a bit with my harmonica and the guitar players whilst sitting around the camp fire which was great fun. I really liked that backpackers as it had everything we needed and it also had a nice vibe about it especially with the guitars and friendly service.

Wine tasting:  For the next day we organized a wine tasting tour with a company called “Bike and Wine”. They picked us up from our hostel and dropped us off in the Maipu area which is known for its Malbec red wines. Our first stop was the Wine Museum where we got to see many of the old wine making implements and large oak barrels. We got to sample a glass of “don’t-give-the-gringos-the-good-wine” which was very average. From there we moved on to the delicatessen shop, where we had lunch of stuffed chicken breast with veggies and a selection of home-made dips which we swallowed down with a few beers. For dessert we had stewed quince with almond crumble and ice cream. We sat outside in their beautifully manicured garden and felt very posh indeed! 

From there we cycled down to a French winery. Our hostess there was very friendly and we tried a few Malbecs, a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Malbec Rose and a dessert wine. None of the wines blew us away so we cycled onwards to the next vineyard.

As this particular wine region is known for its Malbec we obviously tried a few more at our next stop. We also tried another Cabernet Sauvignon and Rose but again we weren’t blown away by any so it was onwards to our last vineyard - “Tempus Alba”, which ended up being our favourite. The restaurant is on a deck which has a great view over their vineyards. Their red Reserva blend and Rose were really nice and we bought a bottle of the affordable Rose for later. With all the red wine and cycling we felt pretty hungry and since we’ve been talking about a BBQ all day we headed back to Mendoza where we purchased ingredients from a local market.  That night we had one of the best BBQs we’d had in a long time with fillet steak, sirloin steak, sausages, sliced potatoes and mushrooms filled with butter, garlic and blue cheese all grilled over the fire. It was a nice way to spend our last evening in Mendoza! The next day we travelled to Santiago where we had to cross “the worst border crossing in South America”. 

That morning we travelled through the towering Andes mountains and had breakfast next to a river and a dried up scattered dead horse. This was the last journey with Tucan for many of us so there were mixed emotions. We felt compelled to play as many card games as possible to wind up Gillian for one last time, who was down on her luck. The last place we visited before reaching the border was a natural bridge called Puente Inca. The bridge consists of hardened limestone which formed over thousands of years from the lime-rich water bubbling out of the mountain. The Incas used it back in the days to cross that stretch of river.


Complete photo album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=302877&id=749927742&l=0d13887e59

Bolivia

Bolivia:

La Paz: This was the first city we visited in Bolivia which we reached via a border crossing. I had to stay behind a little longer due to my South African passport but eventually a baffled looking official stamped by passport causing me to sigh with relief! Please note that South Africans need a visa for Bolivia. Our first view of La Paz was from a viewing point on the roadside at the top of a hill. It is a beautiful city which is sprawled out between the mountains at an altitude of 3660m! The city is a mixture of rich and poor and the buildings range from modern skyscrapers to mud buildings. All the streets are lined with the usual vendors selling fruit, vegetables, pastas, rice, pulses, herbs, llama clothing, empanadas (pastries stuffed with either meat, cheese or a sweet filling), fried chicken, boiled offal, deep fried intestines as well as some dishes which I can only guess at! They also sell a lot of meat which is displayed unrefridgerated on the sidewalks and also include all the bits of offal ranging from entrails, lungs, and liver to trotters, hoofs and snouts.

La Paz is also known for the Witches Market and the Black Market where they sell electronics at very reasonable prices. Adrian and I visited the Black Market as I wanted to buy a notebook and external hard drive and Adrian wanted to replace his Sony camera which got damaged by sand when we visited the desert in Haucachina. One thing that I’ve found interesting is that shops selling the same thing all seemed to be clustered together, so all the electronics shops were all bunched together on one street. We were there too early and after a long search we found a coffee kiosk/shack (together with probably another 50 others) in a local market. The kiosk was situated right next to the meat section and every now and then we would get a waft of offal. The coffee was strong, black and laced with about 4 spoons of sugar! On a sugar high we were able to successfully purchase our goods after visiting many shops and comparing prices. One thing that amazed me though was the lack of bartering – at most markets that is the norm but it seems that most prices in the Black Market were fixed.

The Witches Market was also an interesting place to visit. They sold all sorts of interesting things but the most bizarre is probably the dried llama, alpaca and pig foetuses! These are placed underneath a newly built house and will apparently give you good luck! There were also a few shops selling musical instruments and I managed to buy a classical guitar with case and two plectrums for 270 Bolivianos (after some haggling of course).

The Ghost Ride: One of the must do things in La Paz is cycling the infamous “world’s most dangerous road”. This road is built high up around the edge of a mountain and many vehicles have fallen off the cliff edges in the past. In recent years they have built a new road which took care of this problem although this road still retains its reputation as the world’s most dangerous road. The Ghost Ride is an alternative and much more exciting ride as most of the ride is done on single track! We also started higher and got to race over loose shale hills while wearing gloves, helmets, trousers and jackets. On quite a few occasions we had the option to either cycle down a very steep and tricky bit - those who weren’t brave enough could cycle round an easier section. We had great fun cycling down some of these sections – sometimes locking the back break to slow down! Most of our group wiped out at least once, including me! 

Myself and Adrian raced after our guide, sometimes going very fast. We also got to do a few jumps and cycle down stairways. Even when it started raining we battled on with big grins on our muddy faces. We finished our trip that day in a haunted castle where we had a well needed shower and late lunch. It was a great day and well worth it - even though some of us had scrapes and bruises!

Potosi: Known as the highest city in the world according to the Lonely Planet. Other than visiting the mines there is not a lot happening. A small group of us went to visit the mines which proved to be very entertaining. First of all we had to get dressed in khaki colored overalls complete with hard hats, battery packs and headlamps. On our way to the mines we stopped at the mining market where we bought gifts for the miners. This included cookies, coca leaves, cigarettes, ammonium nitrate, detonators, fuses and sticks of dynamite! I couldn’t believe that you can buy dynamite over the counter and I bought some for myself (only 20 Bolivianos, about 3 dollars!) to blow something up at a later date!

The mines are wrought with danger and the death toll is very high. There are many young boys (sometimes as young as 12) working in the mines. The miners work ridiculously long hours and to cope with the work they constantly chew coca leaves. To activate the properties of the leaves they add an alkaline which is either carbonate of soda or quinoa ash which is formed into a hard block. The leaves are then chewed into a ball which they keep in their cheeks. This numbs them and therefore they can work very long hours. The average life expectancy of a miner is only 40 to 50 years old. The miners that we saw didn’t even have any dust mask on!

We saw a few devils down in the mines which the miners erected and give offerings to for good luck. The offerings include things like coca leaves, alcohol and cigarettes. For good luck the girls in our group had to touch the penis of the devil and make a wish! Afterwards we climbed up some narrow passages to reach the top and that is also where our guide showed us how to prepare the dynamite which she then blew up. The blast was massive and we all jumped when it went off causing many blurry photos! The mines were great definitely worth the visit and an eye opener, especially being able to buy dynamite over the counter for next to nothing! Other than visiting the mines, Potosi hasn’t got that much to offer – even the restaurants that we visited were very average.

Uyuni:  This was a very weird town with not a lot happening. The only things there are small market stalls and many pizza restaurants. The only thing to do is to visit the Salar  - the largest salt flats in the world covering an area of 12 000 sq km! We stayed in a hotel called Tonito which had their own pizza shop where we ate all the time. Their food was very good, especially their “death by chocolate” slices which were devoured very speedily by all the girls! Great was their disappointment when they ran out on the second night.

We went on a 2 day trip to visit the salt flats travelling in 4x4s. Our first stop was to see how the salt is harvested – the workers pile salt into mounds with shovels and they only get 10 Bolivianos for each pile so it is very hard work for very little money. The next stop was the “illegal salt hotel” which is completely built from hard blocks of salt. The only reason why this hotel is illegal is that they don’t want a village to spring up thus contaminating the salt flats. Once that hotel breaks down it would not be rebuild.

Our next stop was Fish Island where we hiked between the giant cacti and also stopped for a picnic lunch. On the way there our guide showed us a bus that crashed into island. It is a common problem for people to fall asleep or lose their way because of the long straight distances with very few landmarks! After lunch we had time to do our silly photo shoots on the salt flats themselves. Because of the vast area of the salt flats it is difficult to perceive distance and therefore you can create some brilliant photos with some objects up close and others further away. After about 2 hours of messing around with various props we drove to a very small deserted village where we stayed for the night.

The next morning we went to see the Chupati skeletons – they were very short hunter/gatherers who lived in caves and only came out at night because of the tremendous heat during the day. Carbon dating estimated that they lived about 1000BC! Apparently they all died because of starvation when the volcano erupted. Next we hiked up the volcano which was brilliant red and yellow in colour due to iron oxide and sulphur. Given the altitude, the hike was tough and some struggled to reach the top. After lunch in a little village at the base of the volcano we went to see the flamingos. There are 3 different types of flamingos (Argentinian, Chilean and Bolivian) – the Bolivian type being especially pink. We were given some more time to take some silly pictures having learned from our mistakes of the previous day and then we travelled back to Uyuni via a train cemetery which was a questionable stop as it was not very exciting at all.

Tupiza: From Uyuni we travelled to Tupiza via Potosi where we spent the night. That day it was Aoife’s birthday and because she is Irish most of us wore green. The roads were bad and we travelled mostly via dirt roads – playing cards were especially difficult with a shaking bus. The vegetation became more lush as we travelled out of the desert towards Argentina which was a nice change to the scenery. We had lunch in a dried river bed and some of our group had a shot of tequila to celebrate Aoife’s birthday. I had been like an impatient little boy waiting to blow up the dynamite I bought in Potosi and given the border crossing the next day I needed to use it!

Our lunch spot was a perfect place as there were no stray animals or other humans around. I picked a spot up on a hill away from the truck.  Adrian, my sidekick, helped with setting up the explosive by molding the dynamite into a ball for me while I connected the fuse to the detonator and crimped it into place. I had to twist the ends of the fuse between my fingers to fluff up the powder inside first. Next I stuck the detonator into the ball of dynamite and placed the ball on top of the ammonium nitrate. To secure it all I tied a knot around everything with the fuse line and hey presto! We were very quick to leg it down the hill in our flip flops greatly encouraged by the “psssssst” sound coming from the fuse! An eager entourage of fellow camera armed travelers waited for the big bang. The fuse took about 3 minutes to detonate the dynamite and the explosion was spectacular causing most of our group to jump! Please note that I DO NOT promote the use of dynamite – it is very dangerous and could prove fatal to not just yourself but others around you!

After our explosive lunch break we travelled onwards to Tupiza. We divided into groups to participate in a quiz that Mike had lovingly put together to entertain us all. I was in group No. 2 which was with Aoife the birthday girl, so we called ourselves the Shamrocks. It was only apt that we won that day being Aoefa’s birthday and we were all in good spirits when we reached Tupiza. That night we highjacked the roof terrace at our hostal and decorated it with balloons. There was also a cooler box filled with ice, beer and various bottles of strong liquor. Aoife made us each a little green shamrock to wear and Lynne and Steph had bought us all a little party hat. A set of iPod speakers supplied the music which caused most of our alcohol fuelled group to dance. We ordered takeaway (pizza and pasta) which we had on the roof. I left after that as I’ve had an irritating cold but the rest of the group partied on till late! I was kept awake by endless “woos” and drunken singing for quite some time – at least they had fun and Aoife had a brilliant birthday.

Complete photo album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=301703&id=749927742&l=9c84c6d163