Ravens Travels

Okay so we hired a car originally for four days but extended it to five days because we had so much to see. The best deal was with a large company that ended up being about 1000 peso between the four of us including insurances etc for a group b car. The car was a corsa, not the ones we’re used to but a Chevrolet, it was a decent size and the boot fitted the four large backpacks so we were happy. Our travel companions were Chris and Helen, a couple from the UK that we had met before at a campsite in Ushuaia, really good people to travel with. For insurance and cost etc Chris was the driver and for her sense of direction Helen was the directions person, Arjan and I, well we tried but we don’t drive and our sense of direction doesn’t take into account one way roads, ...

On the first day we left Cordoba around noonish and headed about 35km to Alta Gracia, now dubbed forever Andy Garcia.... here we visited the Museo Casa de Ernesto Che Guevara, the museum is in the old family home, and a bargain at 3 peso entry fee. Che’s family moved here originally because of the drier climate, which would help with his asthma. Many the photos are many recognisable ones from various biographies and documentaries. As Arjan had just felt one such bio before we left he was able to add to the information provided. Even though it was informative it was very hero worship and tries to make you think that he was perfect, but nobody is.... I suppose like everything memories get distorted over time and stories grow lives of their own. I was tempted to give into the shopaholic side and buy loads of cheesy souvenirs but in the end the budget side one and I settled on a replica Cuban note with Che's face on, something small to stick on the wall.... After the museum and some lunch we headed to the local Jesuit estancia, I can’t say too much about it, the building was nice but the inside rooms did little to appeal to me.

From here we headed to the resort town of Villa General Belgrano. It’s a quirky town that is very proud of its German origins advertising German microbreweries, black forest gateaux and goulash. The town main street has many restaurants displaying cheesy photos of people in traditional clothes etc but it seems like a theme park more then anything. There is even a children’s amusement ground called Oktoberfest, which borders on the main roundabout, which displays large beer kegs. The hostel we’re staying in is set in a forest at the edge of town and is really nice, though the mosquitoes are treating us like we’re the three course meals, they keep anyone looking for the swimming pool on the grounds. (Stats - dorm 15 pesos, 4 pesos for breakfast).

The next day we head to Le Cumbrecita so we can walk up Cerro Wank and giggle and take silly photos of the sign, yeah yeah I know, but its fun to not grow up the walk isn’t too bad in itself but the mosquitoes are vicious, they’re huge and bite through your clothes...

From here we head to Mina Clavero, this town is nice but in itself there’s not too much to see, we use it as a base for other sites close by. The hospedajes primavera is nice and quite cheap, double rooms ensuite for 4 pesos (10 euro)... but it and the place across the road seem to have been hijacked by senior citizens... at least we know they’re quiet, though they did have a party.... The first day we get up early and head to the Parque nacional Quebrada del Condorito but before we can get there we end up in a fog that is quite dangerous, we can’t see anything, by some stroke of luck we manage to pull the car over and after nearly driving into we see we are at el condor cafe, as its too risky to keep going we try to waste some time by having food and playing coin games which are still going through my head.... after the air clears a little we decide to change our plans and go somewhere else for the day as no one wants to take a risk in that kind of weather especially on cliff roads.... we head instead to Rocsen Polyfacetic museum.
This is another addition to the weird and wacky visits. The outside is decorated with nearly 50 statues that are supposed to 'represent the evolution of thought´, they show philosophers, historic leaders, religious figures and writers.... the inside itself is a huge warehouse filled with everything, thrown together by a man.... You enter an area filled with chaos, there are old cars, bikes, tractors, trailers, bottles, posters, dolls, toys, stones, books, lamps, stuffed animals, musical instruments, cameras, type writers, record players, medical equipment , even skulls and a shrunken head, I could go on forever trying to list it all, its just crazy !! I know there is some order to it but it doesn’t jump out directly.... what’s more scary is that Arjan seems to feel at home, we even spot similar items to his own, camera, glasses, old bibles, voodoo stick... when i was there i could see what our house could end up like.... at least i can charge an entrance fee after the museum we head to see a damm,

it was smelly, enough said about that!!!

The next day we try again to go the condor park and we succeed with big blue skies. The walk to the balconies takes 2-3 hours, from here you can see young condors learning how to fly but they were on the other side of the gorge so you couldn’t see them properly without binoculars.... when we decided it was time to leave two large birds landed near us and then it was time to take out the cameras and become trigger happy, Chris claimed the best photo point on top of a rock which he creeped to, he got some really good shots and now I’m curious if any of mine did...

as we were leaving we bumped into Jeff an American guy we had met before, he knows everything about birds or at least seems to, he’s traveling around most of the parks in Argentina with his tent and binoculars...he’s a nice guy but I kept finding myself drawn to the tattoos on his arms, they’re all of different birds, and really detailed, I’m impressed but ouch ! We couldn’t spend too long talking to him as Helen and Chris were waiting for us in the car, those guys are quick!!!

The next day involved a lot of driving and a detour into a hippie town, it seemed like an interesting place but we didn’t have time to explore though we did count some tie-dyed hippies the local tourist office told us about the most amazing river in the Cordoba region but we ended up taking the wrong road and didn’t see it.... we did end up with a long scratch along the car though... this led to some humming and hawing about trying to cover it but whats done is done.... we keep travelling through dirt roads over and around the mountains with pitspots to take bird photos (damn birds wouldn´t stop flying away or stayed out of range), we arrived in Estancia Santa Carolina in good time, its a nice church but well i was expecting more then mozzies.... the caretaker was quite nice and very informative ,

he said he like punk music and then ran to a cd player so i was wondering what he was going to play but to my ear it sounded religious though he swears it wasn´t , ah well it was a church.....

That evening we reached the town of Jesus Maria, the cheapest place we could find was booked out so we ended up paying 90 peso for a double room, the hotel was nice but the air conditioning drowned out all noise including thinking... the next morning and our final journey before heading back is to the local estancia.... we were there just after its advertised opening time of 8 to find that it officially opens at 9 but they opened a little earlier for us, similar to before, nice building but could have done without going into all the rooms......from here we made it back to cordoba in good time and bidded bye to our travel chums.... wonder what they thought of us....

We decided to stay another night in Cordoba just because , the next day we headed to Puerto Iguaçu, the journey was 20 hours long but who can complain when you get champagne on the bus.... ahhh this is the life.... at the final end of the bus journey we transferred in posada and met Naomi and Israeli girl who was traveling alone for a few months, she’s a nice girl, the next day we head to the water falls, the Iguaçu waterfalls border Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, though only the first two have the view points. On the bus there we bumped into Naomi who came along with us.

On arrival in the park (30 peso entry fee) we are covered by butterflies, they’re so tickly, they ´re very beautiful and hopefully a few shots turn out. The waterfalls themselves are quite impressive and we walk to most of them, the main one at the devils throat is huge and covered in mist from the power of the water as it falls.

The next day we headed to the Brazilian side were there is less butterflies but a better view of the falls from a panoramic aspect, same price again, 30 pesos, the choice of which I prefer well the Argentinean side if I’m honest, its less organised but you have more a sense of nature and animals...I know I know, I’m turning into a nature freak but its so beautiful in many of the parks or even just gazing from bus windows...


We also visited a little hummingbird garden in the town on the Argentinean side, it was very cute and there were so many birds, at one stage I was holding one of the food supplement bottles and there was many fluttering around me....

Okay onto the next town, from here we headed to posadas; this was just a stopgap to head into Paraguay. That’s were we are now and I’ll fill you in on that later.... tomorrow we’re going on a boat trip for a few days, lazing in our hammocks, mine is a crazy purple and yellowy mustard colour , gazing at the scenery... traveling can be hard but its so rewarding to see so much....

When we arrived in Barriloche we found that it was really hard to get accommodation, our timing was wrong!!! In Argentina only two places celebrate Passover - Buenos Aires and you guessed it Barriloche... nearly every hostel and hotel had been booked out by travelers from Israel, we found a room in a hostel called Backpackers Barriloche, a dorm room is about $25 peso per person (euro 6.25), the place didn’t look like too much but it was a place to drop the bags and look around. The town itself has a nice setting and is very pretty but this may sounds strange but its too clean, too many straight lines, we headed off to the national park information office to ask about the local park and the lady who worked there couldn’t have been more helpful, she was really good but in the end we decided that our legs and feet needed a break so not to go. The town itself is famous for its chocolate... and it is sooooo tasty!!!! We also had the best ice cream every here!!

Between Passover and the ceremonies for the Falkland war the area was swamped with people, so after one night we decided to take the scenic bus journey to the nearby town of san martin los andes. The bus passes through the famous seven-lake route which is breathtaking and which also passes by where we were thinking of hiking so we still felt like we got to see the area. The areas that we passed through screamed of idyllic holidays for wealthy people, from the yachts on the lakes, the expensive cars and the designer clothes... and no we didn’t stop!! The town of San Martin is very clean, you are nearly afraid to step on the pavement in case you break something; it’s a nice place for a day visit but not for us. We checked locally about other hikes we were interested in but you can’t get to them by public transport and as we don’t drive that would have meant over priced tours... so the next day we were on our way again...

We got to the bus station early and found that we were in time to get a bus to Neuquen and from there we could transfer to Mendoza.... so we left the lake district quicker then we expected but hey the wine district isn’t a bad place to escape to ....

As it was Easter week many places in Mendoza were already booked out so after dragging our backpacks in and out of hostels we found beds in a dorm (25 peso) in the Itaka hostel... the hostel itself is quite nice, there is a pool and bar in the back, table tennis by the side, badminton net, pool in the games around, card tables, and free internet (well one pc between a full house!!). The staff were also really nice a bit crazy! Only negative side was some of the guests!!! For a few nights we were sharing with three blonde girls from Sweden (could have been Denmark but they weren’t very communicative), I nicknamed them ´snow trio´ for the powder they left on the table in the room, the bit they didn’t get up there noses if you get my drift, they were horrible rude.... they had obviously being sharing the powder with other guests as a few times during the night people kept coming in looking for the girls and talking about doing lines, one night there was an English guy doing a line by the sink in the common area, so much for all the posters about illegal items etc... Anyway we stayed clear of the groups but it wasn’t a place to catch up on sleep or to recoup as our original plan, the music blares till 4/5am and people come and go all hours, I know, I know that’s hostels, well actually it hasn’t been like that everywhere we have been, its been the exception and not the norm... one night a very drunk guy came in and even tried to get into my bed, he was quickly removed from the room, aside from those people we did meet some nice people, Anna from the UK who had been traveling for a similar time as us, Tom from the UK who has been traveling the world as a contract English teacher ( yes we have the same cert as him!) who was going to start a contract soon in Santiago, Ida a funny girl from Israel who won 50 peso in the casino....... so its not all bad people, don’t get the wrong idea....

Okay the town itself is really nice, it is so hard to believe that we are in the desert, it is so green, the streets are lined with trees, the only tell tale sign is the irrigation channels gurgling through the streets and parks.... the parque general san martin was just up the road from our hostel, it is a large city park that is perfect for strolling around or even just sitting beside the lake watching the world go by or catching up on some reading. It reminds me a little bit of the Phoenix Park in Dublin, there’s even a zoo in it... like a lot of Argentina the streets by day are quiet but in the evening and night time the place comes a live, the plaza independencia is a bustling centre of activity, when we were there we saw two very funny comedians, a puppet show which we didn’t understand all of it but we heard references to George bush, the crowd seemed to find it very funny, sometimes it would nice to have better Spanish but we’re getting there ! There was also singers, a panpipe band, jugglers and many artisan stalls selling jewelry, clothes, scarves and little statues of elves (you wouldn’t believe how popular they are in Argentina and they’re not all cute, some look possessed)...the area we’re staying is av aristides villanueva, its the main area for restaurants and bars, its got a great atmosphere at night,

On one of the days we took the local 172 bus (1.40 peso) out to the Maipu area to sample the local wines and visit the wineries, we headed out to bodega la rural as it is one of the biggest wineries and has a wine museum, the tours that day were only in Spanish, though on other days they are in English, well you live and learn etc....

the wine at the end was nice but we’ve had better in the restaurants, after all the tour is free you don’t expect the good stuff , the tour itself is very short and a bit disappointing... though we did notice that they have a very familiar way of presenting some of their historic tools to the public, one room reminded us very much of a barn in the donkey farm in Epe... oh and Ard you would have loved all the tractors, there were some really old ones...

On Easter Sunday we took the bus out to the difunta correa shrine at vallecito, the return bus journey is 29 peso per person and well worth it ! The story goes that during the civil war in the 1840s Deolinda Correa followed her husbands troops on foot, carrying her young child, she was eventually found dead of hunger and exhaustion but the baby was still alive and nursing on the dead woman’s breast, it was seen as a miracle and is believed by many people in Argentina, people have written to Rome to ask her to be ordained a saint but it hasn’t happened so instead she is a soul. On many of the roads in Argentina her shrines can be seen surrounded by bottles of water to quench her thirst, some of her biggest supporters are truckers, one of the biggest days to visit is Easter when 50,000 people visit... to be honest i expected to find it cheesey but its strangely moving, the first person we meet on the bus is an older lady who has made clothes and a swan to ´gift´to the difunta, many people on the bus have photos and plaques to leave, when we get on the bus we´re asked if we´ve brought anything, emmmm our water...anyway in the town there are many little stone buildings the size of a boxroom filled with offerings to the diffunta for deeds done, one room is dedicated to wedding dresses with thanks from women who say that without the difunta they wouldn´t be married, theres a room filled with uniforms- mostly military and looking at the ages of the photos and id´s in the room they are from the falklands war mostly, there is a room dedicated to sports and bets won (loads of monet by the looks of it), there is a frame with two photos and a piece of long braided hard - the photo contains a girl with long hair and then with short hard, she was offering her hair up as an offering, the one i found the most moving and disturbing was actually three photos bound by a black ribbon with gold trim, the first photo appears to be taken in the early eighties and is a baby in an incubator with breathing tubes and see through skin, the next picture shows the baby slight older, maybe a few months but looking peaceful in a pale wooden coffin with blue slik lining, the final picture shows a second baby looking very healthy , happy and grinning, the baby has the same features as the other child so the baby is related , possibly a brother, and from the style of photo you can tell it was taken possibly 10-14 years later, i don´t the real story but i´m presuming they´re thanking the difunta for the chance to have the first child and then taking him peacfully and then for finally allowing them to have another...... i left that room very solumn and in thought, but then everyone did, after checking out all the rooms we headed up the steps to have a look at the shrine which is supposed to be in the place were she died, every so often you would have to step a side in the queue to let people pass, no these people weren´t skipping the queue in a hurry , they had crawled from the bottom step up many , many step on their hands and knees, many holding children and even one man with a very obviously new born baby, they were crawling up to offer thanks and kiss the statue at the top, it was quite moving but also scary, what if they dropped a child, ....

So anyway on the Monday we got the bus to San Juan, we didn’t really do much here but catch up on our sleep and relax,

After a few days we headed to Cordoba, the city has some nice colonial buildings but to be honest it just feels like a city, lots of smog, cars and people, we visited a few cathedrals, one which has a roof that looks like its an upside down ship, we also visited an under ground Jesuit crypt - this was weird, imagine an old brick tunnel with a cross, spiritual music and of course nude life drawings adorning the walls! Yes it’s an addition - weird places to visit!! We went to a fantastic Italian restaurant called le mama, the pasta is so good.... the hostel itself was nice, Cordoba backpackers (6 bed dorm 20 peso per person, 4 bed dorm 22 peso, or a private twin room was 27 peso),
The people were really nice and the bar had funky music,

Here we met up with the English couple that we had met before in Tierra del fuego, Chris and Helen, they’re really nice, they gave up work and sold their house etc to travel and its now 20 months later ... after catching up the four of us decided to club together and hire a car for a few days to explore the surrounding areas off the beaten track...

and as promised before, here is the link for Arjans blog.....

http://bardamu.travellerspoint.com

Gaiman is 17km from Trelew and reachable by local bus for 2.25 pesos each. According to the guide books as you walk through the town you will here welsh still being spoken...what we found was a cute picturesque town with small storeybook houses with rose gardens and tea rooms set around a plaza overlooked by hills. T he best thing about the village is at the edge of it, Parque El Desafio. The books and papers call the creator and 86-year-old artist Joaquin Alonso the ´dali of recycling´.

In 1998 he even gained a place in the Guinness book of records. The park houses over 80,000 soda cans and bottles, which have been recreated for the imagination of children. Originally he created the park as a free way to entertain his grandchildren. Within the area you can see a recreation of castles, dinosaurs, the taj mahal, flower gardens and plazas to commemorate those lost in the Falkland war. Around the park are little plaques with sayings and quotes that inspire and cause you to giggle and smile. Similar to the wizard of oz you follow a path of yellow around the park in this case they are tulip bulbs (plastic bottles originally).... This park is a must see for eccentric artistic imagination.

On the Saturday afternoon (over a week ago) we went to Punta Tomba. It is possible to get a private taxi there for a cost of 220 pesos one way or an excursion coach return ticket for 90 pesos (plus reserva access fee of 20 pesos). Punta Tombo is about 110 km from Trewlew.
Over half a million Magellanic Penguins and many other birds can be found there. Most people go at 8/9am as its cooler in the morning and more penguins are gathered together on the beach. We went at 2pm, the penguins were waddling through the bushes and easy to see, well we were standing right beside them, there was also less people at this time, which was good. It was surreal to be walking so close to them but also keeping a little distance as t hey can bite!! As it is the end of the summer here the baby penguins are in the process of losing there grey feathers and are growing the more recognisable black and white ones. Our trip was spent with Antonelle and her Uncle from, Torino, Italia. Very good people to be on a trip with, they also spoke Spanish, which was very handy for translations.

Okay food update in Trewlew it has to be in ´La casa de juan´, we were really spoiling ourselves here with this place as with all the night traveling we didn’t always have time for food so its a good place every odd day...This particular restaurant hah high ceilings with a spacious, airy bright dining area. From our seat we could see into the kitchen via large windows. Between the kitchen and us was a large open ground fire /bbq were the meat was being cooked. The menu had an extensive wine list that seemed to go on a bit but we eventually chose a malbec as this is our current chosen type...also managed to catch the last king of Scotland that night in the cinema, great acting not sure about the rest....

The next day we get the bus to Comodoro Rivadavia. As the bus was in the afternoon we still had time check out the museum- museo paleontologico egidco feruglio. Its a natural history museum that focuses on dinosaurs + fossils. It was a good museum with some funny cartoons for explanations as well as the usual detailed ones. You can tell which type I preferred (even if they were meant for the children.... one was detailing the various animals crossing the borders into various countries before the splits etc, very cute one.)....

The bus to Comodoro Rivadavia of course was delayed and took about six hours. Arriving around 11 at night we went straight to the closest budget place - hospedaje belgrano, the older couple that ran the place are really sweet with two dogs and a cat. The guy even thought me the phrase ´ver la´to see/ view, so now I can ask to see the room first, handy one to know... The room was quite old fashioned with a bed, old-fashioned dresser, sink (shared bathroom at end of corridor) and a table and chairs but very cozy, clean and warm. The town itself smelled of petrol, it seemed to seep from every corner. Its a town that made its money on oil so its not shocking to smell it everywhere, nothing else to say about the town really as it was a flying visit. At the bus station we bumped into Antonella and her uncle again, have a feeling we’ll see them again many times. Not a bad thing as they’re nice people...

The bus from there to Rio Gallegos was three hours late!!! Are you as shocked as us.... not at this stage... they’re nearly all late.... we went coche cama again as a 12 hour journey required a little comfort (yes I know it will be hard in Bolivia, so now when we want to go in comfort we’re taking the chance) ...On the bus we met Matthias a guy from California who has just spent the last four months in Brazil and the last day and a half on buses.... As we arrived at 2 in the morning it was lucky that we did meet him, we hadn't made any reservations and he had phoned ahead to a hostel to say he was arriving late. Luckily he invited us to tag along and after waking the poor owner up we got a bed for the night in one of the dorms (25 pesos per person), the next morning we tried to get the next bus out to keep traveling but we were there too late so we had to stay another night in town, we tried several hotels in town for a private room but they don't like backpackers and kept telling us they were full, we know they're not because people went in after us without res´s.... so we went back to the hostel and a couple had just moved out of the double room, so we could have it for 70 pesos (private bathroom, TV, etc..)..A very nice family runs the place and handily it’s the closest place to the bus station (if you are unfortunately stuck in this place) - Casa de familia elcira Contreas.

The next day the 9am bus actually arrived on time!!!! Knew that would shock you as much as it did us! So we were on our way to Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia... just to let you know it has been getting a bit colder each time we got further south... its jumper and scarf time... The bus journey was 12 hours long and went through some really nice scenery.... all I can say is that its a beautiful country... The first night we stayed in an apt for ease, double room, 85 pesos, we were supposed to be sharing it with a six-bed dorm but it was empty so it was all ours, hehehehe. it was a nice apt, very clean and so new you could still smell the paint, its owned/ managed by the posada hostel ( up the steps near the supermarket on av san martin...)... so on our first night we decided since we hadn’t really gone out yet we would head to the Irish bar ´dublin´were 5 rounds for two people is 50 peso..... Bit expensive but not too bad for an Irish bar (they tend to be the most expensive anyway), its a really nice bar with some quirky posters. I could tell I hadn't drunk in a while though because I could really feel it the next morning. The next we checked into our new lodgings - the campsite!! Yes we finally used the tent etc.... the site is 3km from the city center (this is an uphill walk and its not too bad, well until you get to the final hill, then that kills you.)...Anyway camping isn't too bad, we have blow up mattresses and pillows (yes I know that’s cheating), the tent itself has withstood rain and wind without letting us down so we’re happy.... only bad things is that it is freezing at night, if you stay over 3 nights you pay 10 peso per person, we stayed 5 so that was our cheapest stay so far!! Only problem is that it is freezing at night!!!!! In the evening times everyone gathers in the kitchen to swap stories, cook food, make jewelry, listen to someone sing and play the guitar, chill or just warm up by the fire.... the people are so friendly and very open.... while we there though we did do one bad thing, everyone was cooking vegan and veggie meals and in our hunger state we started tearing into our roast chicken with Arjan enjoying it so much he was ripping it with his hands, whoops I turned around to see us being stared at and that the music had stopped.... still they didn't seem to take too much offense and it was obvious lectures wouldn’t work.... in general everyone gets together and takes turns cooking the meals, it cuts down on costs, only prob is that they don't generally eat till after midnight so we skipped it a lot....

Okay so in Tierra del Fuego, we’ve visited two museums, one is a small one about the Yaman tribe, it’s was very informative and quite moving. The people who came to help the tribes with good intention actually helped to wipe them out, by clothing the tribe who originally wore nothing they helped spread disease and infection causing the once large tribe to by wiped out, in about 30 years they depleted down from being one of the largest tribes to being virtually wiped out, which eventually happened. Out of our main tribes in the area of many thousands of people only one such tribe is still in existence and there are only a handful left.... maybe it would have been better if they had been left to their own ways.

The other museum was a larger history museum of the area it is set in the old prison, the first part is about the ships that sunk in the area but what interested me the most was the second part which explains about the prisoners, they had children as well as adults here, the cases in the cells (very cold and creepy) went in to detail about why some people had been sentenced and what happened to them, one of the creepy ones was from 1912 about small man with the big ears who killed children, mostly babies in Buenos airs..... He was a horribly creepy looking man...

From town we got the bus to the national park (25 pesos per person), at the entrance you pay 20 pesos to enter as not local to trek, over various days we did quite a lot of the park, its a beautiful park with amazing wildlife, fingers crossed these photos turn out!!!

We also trekked to local glacier martial (apologises for spelling but from an empty reception area I’m now surrounded by queuing people), a nice relaxing ski lift and then a hill walk start the hike, the walk is hard and sweaty despite the fact that parts of it are through snow!! The views of the town are amazing though...

Well better go the queue is expanding into the rooms, aghhh, tomorrow morning at 5.20 approx we head to punto arenas and then to punto natales to trek in chile to the W... explain all later, oh the hostel we´re in now is just off the center of town and prety funky, nice crowd etc. our room is called the green room but i´m calling it the irish one, walls are green and white and the bed spread if orange... leadings up to paddys day and all!!!

Okay so last time I was telling you about being sunburned in Sierra de la ventana. This caused us to spend a few more days then we originally intended on in the area. Luckily it’s a really nice peaceful place. The Hotel provincial we were in is just at the edge of town. To be honest we spoiled ourselves, its the most expensive in town at 92 pesos for a double room ensuite. Though both the interior and exterior are shabby and starting to fade it is still very apparent that this was a hotel of grandeur and style albeit a few years back...The breakfast is laid out by a silver haired, straight backed man who for all purposes reminds me of a butler from old English black and white movies. He also carries a look upon his face that tells you that he thinks he is too good for this and lo and behold at nighttime he works in the Casino in the back of the hotel. Here he looks more comfortable as he scans the crowd and money..., which changes hands quickly and in abundance! The casino appears to be the main breadwinner for the hotel and is a huge draw to the surrounding area up until its finish time of 4am...

From here we reached Bahia Blanca late in the evening. The bus was delayed... this is a trend that keeps reappearing time and time again. In our wisdom at 11.30pm we decided that it would be a great idea to walk around the town using our guidebook map to see if we could find the hotel ourselves rather then pay the few pesos for the taxi. After getting lost we arrived at our hotel sweaty and tired...Anyway the Hotel Las Vascos is near the run down train station. The room itself was like a mini apt with wooden floors and a ´look only´ balcony. Well at 60 pesos you could say we saw everything through rose tinted glasses. That night we managed to get badly attacked by mosquitoes.... and this is on top of the sunburn... This led to very tired people who had to kill a few hours before getting the bus out of town a few hours after check out time.... so we whiled the time strolling around (yes with the bags etc), and sitting in the park reading and people watching. At one stage there were three children, two girls and a boy playing across from us. The boy could have been an acrobat. He was throwing himself from the branches of trees without a care in the world. It appeared that he was throwing his flip-flops at leaves but after a few minutes it was apparent to see that he was trying to catch a young bird. After a few minutes he managed to get his flip-flop stuck in the tree but caught the bird (it was still very new to flying...) He brought the bird down to his sisters! Like a trophy from a ceremony. The youngest girl about 3-4 yrs old started petting it, as did the older girl. After a lot of attention the bird tried to escape... but unfortunately their affection caused wounded wings... feeling very guilty they started to score the park looking for twigs and leaves to make a nest for the bird to recover in..... For us the town was just a stopgap - a way to break up a journey....

From here we took a bus with the ´tramat´bus company for 163 pesos for 2 ´coche cama´seats for the 8/9 hour journey to Puerto Madryn. These were very comfortable large reclining leather seats.... what a way to travel... this bus was also delayed but as it meant we got to the town at a more reasonable hour of 7am we were happy. It made it easier to find a place to stay in the seaside town. After getting lost again and cursing our maps we got to our chosen hotel... Hotel Yanco.... its a stones throw from the beach front. This hotel has various types of rooms from luxurious beach facing ones to ones like ours, the back packers choice, the room though small was ensuite and very clean, even had a TV, (ended up watching Beverly hills 90210, are you jealous Ruth, Dylan was in it a lot ... )... anyway for 80 pesos in a very popular town we did pretty good, the staff in the hotel were very sweet and the owners grandparents were irish so he was even nicer to us when he saw the passport.... One of the days we tried a restaurant recommended in the guide book, ´Caccoras´, all i can say that was a major mistake... so the next day with bad stomachs we decided to hire bikes (50 pesos for two for a day) and cycle for just under 40k around the town and then on to Punta Tomba to see a permanent sea lion colony. The journey there wasn’t too bad, though the majority of it was on pebble filled, bumpy roads but it seemed down hill for most of it.... on the way back we encountered the famous local winds, going up or down hills was a nightmare as you were at a standstill, the wind seemed to come from all angles and yes being clumsy I fell.... but still we did and saw some great scenery and animals along the way.

For photos, well the look out point is 15m away and feels a lot further, especially when you can’t get a good shot with your 300mm lens... Luckily the day before we had walked the 5/6k roundtrip to the local ecocenter and understood a bit more about what we were looking at. The ecocenter is small but very laid out with very detailed explanations. It is well worth a look and shouldn’t be missed. On the third floor there is a viewing gallery with floor to ceiling windows overlooking the bay, which would be perfect to watch whales in the right season (dec), as it was we relaxed on the couches and browsed their extensive nature library.... The night of the cycle we decided that a good dinner was in order for energy etc so we tried out a fantastic restaurant on the beach itself. For the life of me I can’t remember the name but it began with a ´V´and is across the road from popular ´La Barra´. The V restaurant was so popular that people even waited to get tables, and I don’t blame them, The food was tasty and good value, for a large salad, two main courses (Arjan steak and chips, me - pasta), two deserts (yummmmmy), and a bottle of malbec norton wine it cost about 89 pesos, I’m getting hungry just writing this, aghhhhh... as the town is popular with cruise ships you here a lot of north and central American accents which is really strange for us as we hadn’t heard any English in a few days, the phrase book and dictionary are getting a lot of use at the moment !!! When we checked out of the hotel after two days we were a ´thank you for your stay little presentation pack of shells in a bow, its the little things that’s make you smile and so far they haven’t broken....

From here we traveled about one hour to the town of Trelew for 7.50 pesos each, the hotel here - residential argentin´- served a purpose as in it has a bed, the good stuff the staff seemed relaxed, the bad it wasn’t a clean place and not very well maintained.... put it this way when you’re handy washing clothes in the sink its a bit dodgy that the basin keeps moving away from the wall... this was the cheapest place in town that was available at 80 pesos...we used this town as a gateway to nearby welsh settlement Gaiman and the penguin colony Punta Tombo.......

Leaving Dublin was not without its own complications. The check in operator wasn’t sure about visa requirements and was reluctant to let us through. After Arjan produced proof of our flights in Oct it was plain sailing. On a side note in Buenos Aires they didn’t care or check about return flights etc.....

Basic stat time (I know groan.........), the weather in Buenos Aires is averaging around 30 degrees; exchange rate for the euro in the airport is at 3.55, in the city 4.02!!!!! Be careful were you change.... we were among some of the lucky people... There is a bus to the city centre from the airport for 25 pesos per person, which takes about 45 mins...

The hotel we stayed in is Hotel Ancon, it is on a very expensive street (av alvear) but its actually one of the cheapest hotels that we found in its class, the staff our friendly, its in a central location and costs about 90 pesos per night...

Buenos Aires is a large cosmopolitan city with a European feel; it feels very similar to Paris in fact. Its full to the brim with the hustle and bustle of people from all different cultural backgrounds (you could spend a long time trying to figure out where everyone came from originally, taking into account the huge immigration in the country history)...there are many big brad designer names and lots of dog and poop!! Watch were you step!!! The metro is one of the oldest in the world, for 0.70 peso a ride its a steal even if its just to go and appreciate the murals.... it makes a change from graffiti but even that has an artistic charm to it...

Plaza san Martin is a scenic quiet park that is shaded by huge old trees, its just perfect for retreating from the heat and the bustle of the streets. One of the main shopping areas is Florida where Gallerias Pacifico is, (a French styled shopping mall) famous for its murals, vaulted ceilings and past...

On our way to Plaza de Mayo we passed by a demonstration outside the justice department. To be honest I have no idea what they were protesting against and didn’t want to stick around and find out.... it didn’t appear too peaceful when the guys at the front have their faces covered with scarves and have steal bars in their arms... would you have stuck around???

Plaza de Mayo is where the Madres de la Plaza marches around the square every Thursday at 3.30pm. Still to this day they are marching to demand information surrounding the disappearance of their children. The first march began in 1977 when the year before such demonstrations had been banned, they were accommodated as they marched under the band of motherhood, ...The women walked around the plaza carrying a long banner, selling leaflets and books to help fund their work, though there were a lot more tourists there then ´mothers´...

To see the grave of Evita / Eva Peron we headed to the cementario de la recoleta. The crypts hold the elite of the city. It’s very impressive to see but also appears to be very much a cat sanctuary as the workers here feed them and look after them... (Arjan has a story about one of the people / animals buried here but he’ll fill you in later / he’s checking the football scores....)

We also visited a museum for painter, inventor and poet Xul Solar. Before we checked it out I had no idea who he was. He’s a very intriguing guy though. His possessions on display show his interest in the occult, philosophy and tarot. He created a ´pan-chess´game; its much more complicated then chess with a separate board and more multi dimensional pieces. He also stripped pianos of their keys and created a new musical notation based on three layers of primary keys. He also created two languages...

Visiting another museum - museo etnografico juan b ambrosetti....
This held many artifacts from tribes long since gone / wiped out.... When checking the history of one such tribe we found out that when some Dutch dead vanished in the night the other crew members decided that the locals must be cannibals and spread rumours throughout the world to that effect. The tribe were then tortured and persecuted, while some of the members were brought around Europe as part of a freak show (the museum holds one of the posters from Paris). The museum also held some beautiful photos of people from the 1940s to present time in traditional clothes...

From Buenos Aires we traveled by ´semi cami´night bus to Sierra De La Ventana. It’s a nine-hour bus journey, 63 pesos per person, but as the seats recline and there is air conditioning, it’s not a bad way to travel... This town is a picturesque town in the pampas, with a river running through it, sitting at the edge of a mountain... There is a lot to do here if you want to - swimming, hiking, trekking, cycling, fishing etc or what we chose relax beside the river and watch time go by...we sat out for two hours with sun block, not at the hottest part of the day and managed to get very burnt, so spare a thought for us in pain ...

Cost Update:
oh and drink wise (litre of beer in supermarket 3 pesos / pub 8 pesos....wine from 4-15 pesos/ steaks from 7-15 pesos.... According to Arjan the steaks are the best he´s ever tasted !!! ))).....