It has been an interesting and fun few weeks in Argentina, but our travels here are coming to an end. We are looking forward to the next leg of the journey, but it will be many fond memories that we leave with. Argentina has been the most pleasant surprise of all our destinations so far, and it has definitely found a place in our hearts along with the rest of South America. We have met many like minded people from all over the world while we have been here, and from talking to them, there is so much more that we need to explore in this continent. Argentina is now on the top of our list for return visits, there are so many things we just havenīt had time for, but we have done so many great things and seen so many beautiful sights we are just looking forward to next time...
This map hopefully gives you an idea of where we have been in Argentina. The distances are hard to imagine, but we took a bus from El Calafate to Bariloche, and it took 33hrs... a very long and tedious journey! The red dots are where we have been in the 4 weeks we have been in Argentina.
We have one week left and this might be our last opportunity for some time to update the blog... Chile is our next stop and then New Zealand. Our flight is 13hrs, but after all off our over night buses this sounds like a breeze!
Our last overnight bus was our journey from the lake district Bariloche to Mendoza, heart of the wine district. It is with a great sigh of relief that we leave these behind. The buses in South America are fantastic, like first class on an aeroplane, but sleep is sometimes hard to find on a bus, when the roads are windy, and you are either freezing from an over-eager driver who likes air con, or one who enjoys to watch his passengers sweat in a sauna bus! If anyone ever comes to south America, you must try the buses they are definitely an important part of a holiday here.
Since our last blog we have only been to a couple of places, but it has been nice to stay in the same place for a week and enjoy what the areas have had to offer. After El Calafate and the glacier, we headed off to the lake district. The setting of Bariloche is beautiful, serene, completely clear lakes surrounded by the snow topped Andes, what more could you ask for! Some lakes we drove by on the bus journey were mirror lakes, which reflected the mountains, absolutely beautiful, unfortunately not quick enough for photos, but many more opportunities for lakes in New Zealand! Bariloche is very pretty, swiss looking as there are a lot of log cabins, and pine trees and we even saw some St. Bernards with their first aid barrels, very cute! The area also has has a large swiss presence, as there are many swiss settlers, hence the log cabins!
We took the opportunity to do some exercise while we were there. Cyling and horse riding.
Well, the cycling sounded like a good idea at the time, beautiful scenery, sunny days... What we forgot was that we have not sat on a bike for over 4 months, let alone ridden one 70km in one day. As you would expect, being near the Andes it was very hilly, we mastered some impressive hills during the first part of the day, but as soon as we got on the bikes after lunch, we realised our mistake... saddle sore bums! Oh dear, they were very sore and getting back in the saddle was agony, made even more painful with the knowledge that we had over 30km left to cycle! Despite this the views were spectacular, even though we vowed never to get off the bike, as getting on after a break was not good, the views were so breathtaking you just couldnīt help but stop and admire them. Hopefully the pictures do the lakes justice. we had a perfect day, and even though we were sore, not helped by the 6km of very bumpy gravel road, every ache was worth it! We even managed to get back before dark - what an achievement!
If the cycling was not painful enough, we foolishly had booked horse riding for the next day. Could our backsides take any more? The horse riding was lovely, very peaceful, walking through the trees on the mountainside. Neither of us have ridden horses before so we were both a little anxious, but nothing to worry about, the horses were mostly well behaved, and the effortless way of getting around made up for the legs being scraped on thorn bushes! Riding through the woods and picking berries and apples off the trees was an easier way of getting around.
After Bariloche was Mendoza. Heart of wine country, and the wine here is fantastic. We have both learnt a great deal about wine while we have been here, but we know that we will not be able to afford the wine we are drinking here back home. A bottle of wine here costs 2 pounds for a good bottle, if you spend 3 pounds you are splashing out! The 3 pound bottle have security tags on them, because they are considered expensive. It is going to be so hard going to New Zealand after being in such a cheap country, a culture shock for sure! We have done the winery tour, learnt so much about wine making and the different methods for red and white wine. we have tasted copious amounts of wine and enjoyed them all! The highlight of our stay has been the Wine festival, again more wine, but also a big show in the enormous amphitheatre in the cityīs park which can hold 30000 people. It was very impressive, the main purpose of the show was to elect the harvest queen, so it was a little like a poor mans Miss World. Lots of smiling girls prancing around. But, there was a very impressive show with great dancing and costumes. The build up to the show was a parade the day before, which had floats which held each queen. The girls threw out things for the crowd, but this was not your usual lollipop throwing. Oh no! They were throwing cartons of wine into the crowd, fruit, one float was grilling meat and was handing out sandwiches! But the more butch girls were throwing melons, yes! melons! you really had to have your wits about you, flying friut is not safe!
Anyway, we are off to the mountains for a few days and then we head over to Santiago, ready for our flight next Monday, if we get the chance we will add our photos as soon as possible...
So it is goodbye South America, hello New Zealand...