Week 23
Monday. The ride to Villazon was the bumpiest yet and resulting in us both not sleeping very well. So when we arrived at 3:30am (border not opening until 7am) the idea of roughing it on the streets for 3.3 hours did not appeal to us, and neither to Oliver a guy also from the UK making his way to Argentina. We all decided to find a cheap hotel, sleep a few hours and then make our way to the border.
This border crossing had to be the worst yet in terms of time wasted cueing! We arrived at 9:15 and and finally got our entry stamps into Argentina 11:45am! We then walked to the bus station and caught the bus to Tilcara!
By the time we reached Tilcara (4 hour bus ride) and to our hostel, La Morada, we were absolutely knackered! We quickly made the decision to stay there 2 nights instead of 1.
We were both excited to be in Argentina (finally decent food and more importantly wine!) and after searching on TripAdvisor we decided to eat at the most recommended restaurant in the town - El Nuevo Progreso.
Everything about this place deserved top marks! The food was amazing, the wine delicious and the meal was a complete bargain! Steaks, bottle of wine, and chocolate mousse costing only £25!
Week 24. Half way through our adventures!
Tuesday. Today we visited a place known as the Hill of Seven Colors in the small town of Purmamarca. A destination recommended on various Internet sites but not in Lonely Planet. Getting there was easy - we only needed to catch a 30 minute bus ride from Tilcara.
The town was really pretty with a huge artisans market. We bought a few things to take back home and then walked for about an hour enjoying the views around us.
Feeling a little tired of eating out, I attempted to cook us dinner in our room. Cooking pasta in a kettle worked out better than expected! However I wouldn't rate the overall dish much - best to keep eating out!
Wednesday. We caught the 4 hour bus to Salta and arrived at our hotel (hotel Samka) at 5pm. We dumped our bags and had a little wonder around the town.
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| Our private little home in the garden (not the caravan!) |
We were finding it difficult adjusting to the eating habits of the Argentineans. Typically they start the evening activities around 10pm!! By 7pm we were starving but hardly any restaurants were open. Luckily we found a nice Parrilla which was open and had a few other gringos feasting away on plates full of meat.
Sometimes I wish I had a dictionary when eating out as my Spanish isn't that great with regards to food. I ordered what I hoped to be a chunk of sirloin but instead what came out was a portion of cow rib (Asado de tira) - I am surprised that I still have teeth left as it was sooooo chewy! Major dissapointment!
Thursday. Another day wondering around Salta. The guide book raves about this city but I do not understand why. It's ok! There are lots of shops and restaurants but not much else. 2 days here was enough.
Highly recommended in the guide book is to try empanadas in Argentina - the best in South America. So with this in mind (and a budget to look after) we ate at an empanada restaurant near our hotel. 50 pesos served us 12 small empanadas filled with minced beef, chicken and cheese. They were delicious!
Friday to Monday. It has been a dream of mine to stay at a ranch in Argentina and ride horses all day long. So this is what we did for my birthday weekend!
After a lot of research we chose SAYTA. This place was great and the charismatic Enrique welcomes you to his ranch as soon as you step out of the taxi with a huge cheeky grin. If you love food, wine, horses and beautiful countryside this place is perfect.
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| Cheeky Enrique! |
We rode every day in the morning for about 2-3 hours and then stuffed ourselves with barbecued meat and red wine (very easy to drink!) for lunch. We then got back on the horses (a little merry!) and rode again for another 3 hours.
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| Lunch time with Enrique |
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| Wine before lunch |
By the time we returned after the afternoon rides, we were knackered and a little sore! It was then time for tea and cake, followed by a nice relaxing siesta.
In the evening we sat and drank copious amounts of wine into the wee hours and ate even more delicious meat!
We both had a really great time at SAYTA and would highly reccommend this place.
Monday. We said goodbye to the lovely Enrique and made our way to Cafayate - a wine growing area in Argentine. The journey only took 4 hours and we stayed at Cafayate Backpacker - cheap place but not the nicest! Once we were settled in, we explored the town and visited a goats cheese factory our first Winery - El Testino.
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| Cheese! |
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| Wine!! |
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| Enjoying ´picada´ |
Week 25 and 26
Tuesday. Today we went on a bus tour (120 Pesos each) to look at the interesting sandstone formations in the surrounding area.
In the afternoon we went to the Nanni winery to taste some more wines. This is the only organic producer in the area and I have to say that the wines were very nice - we ended up buying a couple of bottles to take back home.
Wednesday and Thursday. We left Cafyate at 2pm to catch a bus to Mendoza, not before we tried some wine flavoured ice cream! It was yummy! This was a long bus journey with a 3 hour stop over in the not very nice Tucamen. We arrived at Mendoza at 2pm on Thursday! Our bums were a little numb!
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| Argentinians drink so much Mate, that they have one of these at the bus terminal! |
We stayed at Hostel Macondo which was in a nice residential area of the city, a good 20 minutes walk to the centre of town. We dumped our bags and then had a wonder around the city finding yet another place to eat more steak! After dinner we wondered around a bit more to burn it all off.
Friday. The main reason we came to Mendoza was to try even more wine! Instead of going on an organised tour, we decided to hire bikes and do the touring ourselves. We caught a bus from the centre of town (from Calle Rioja bus 10 172) to Maiou where we hired our bikes from Hugo (50 pesos each). This was much cheaper than the 300 pesos we were quoted in town for a 3 hour tour!
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| Not quite the view I was expecting cycling to the vineyards! |
Following the map that we were given at Hugos, we cycled for about 45 minutes, before reaching our first Vineyard - Bodega Familia Di Tommaso. We decided to visit this one as it was one of the oldest vineyard in the area and had received some good reviews on tripadviser. The tour of the vineyard with a tasting only cost 50 pesos each and took about 1 and a half hours.
It was really interesting to see where the wines used to be made and hear all about the wine producing process.
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| Grapes leaving the vineyard to be made into yummy wine! |
We then cycled to a beer garden to fill up of empanadas and beer before making our way to the next vineyard.
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| Hmmmm eating the grapes given to us from the truck driver |
The second vineyard we visited was the more industrial Trapiche vineyard. It was great to compare this one to the previous place. Amazingly the tour and tasting was free and we left a little merry - riding the bikes to the olive oil factory was amusing!
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| Massive vats where the wine is made |
This was the last stop of the day and for 40 pesos we filled ourselves up on bread various dips and some strange tasting liquors.
Saturday. It was a beautiful day in Mendoza and as our bus to Bariloche was not until 9pm (Andsesmar 1,050 pesos each, semi cama), we decided to have a walk around the massive park and chill out at the hostel eating delicious cured meats and cheese from the local deli.
Sunday. We finally arrived at Bariloche at 5pm after the 18 hour bus ride! We both could not wait to get off that bus. We stayed at the Green House Hostel where we had our own attic room with a balcony with views of the nearby lake - lovely!
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| View from the bus ... |
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| ... beautiful! |
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| View from our balcony |
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| The Green House Hostel |
Monday. Barloche is in the area of Argentina known as the ´Lake District´and is a perfect place to hike, bike and have lots of fun outdoors. With this in mind we decided to walk all the way to Llao Llao from our hostel - 26km in total. At km12 we were joined by 2 dogs which seemed to take a liking to Roland (I named them Wagtail and Tiedie!) and followed us all the the way to the Cerro Campinaro chair lift at km17.5. I felt bad leaving them behind - they even started to follow us when we were on the chair lift!
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| Bonita beach |
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| Wagal and Tiedie |
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| Going up on the chair lift ... |
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| ... going back down |
At the top we had an empanada lunch with stunning views of the surrounding lakes and mountains.
As we were making our way back down, we couldn't believe it when we saw Wagtail and Tiedie! And as soon as they saw us, they came bounding over to greet us!
We reached Llao Llao after 5 hours of walking and quickly decided to catch the bus back to the hostel.
Tuesday. Another day of adventure. We caught the bus to the base of Cerro Caredral and followed the trekking route to the cabin at the top of the mountain - Refugio Frey. This was a lovely walk which took about 4.5 hours in total (up and down). The view at the top was worth all the sweating getting there!
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| We made it! |
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| At Frey |
After a quick siesta we caught the bus into town and ate at El Boliche which was recommended in the Lonely Planet. OMG we had the biggest steak ever here and we even managed to eat it all! Felt quite ill after!
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| OMG!! |
Wednesday. We were both absolutely knackered from our previous adventures, so we had a duvet day and did nothing all day! For the first time in Argentina, we actually couldn't stomach any more steak! The steak we ate the previous night had finished us off! So for the first time in ages, I cooked us spaghetti bolognaise in the hostel - it was yummy!
Thursday. Feeling refreshed from our duvet day, we felt ready for another adventure. We hired bikes from the hostel (130 pesos each) and biked the Circuito Chico, stopping at some lovely beaches along the way and we also visited Colonia Suiza.
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| Playa Villa Tacul |
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| Playa Los Troncos |
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| Pit stop ay Colonia Suiza |
Friday. Our last day in lovely Bariloche. We have both really enjoyed staying here. Our bus to Buenos Aires (Crucero Del Norte, 1150 pesos each, cama) left at 3pm. 21 hours later we arrived in Buenos Aires.
Week 27
I first visited BA over 10 years ago. After this visit, I had voted it my favourite city in the world. I was looking forward to seeing it again and to see if I still loved it as much as before.
We spent just under a week here and for the first time in 6 months we had our very own apartment which we found using Air BNB and at 40 dollars per night it was worth every penny!
It was so nice to actually live in the city rather than be a quick-visiting-tourist, especially after travelling constantly from place to place over the past 6 months. It was nice to have somewhere to call 'home'. With this in mind we really relaxed here and enjoyed a slower pace of life. We got up late every morning and then chose one place to visit during the day. Evenings were either spent enjoying the nightlife or cooking meals in the apartment.
So here is a summary of what we got up to ...
You cannot go to BA without sampling some of the fantastic nightlife. However you have to be prepared to put on your dancing shoes no earlier than 1am! Porteños like to start their evening late! So with this in mind we drank wine in the apartment and headed out about 12am.
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| Dancing the night away |
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| Very 'happy' after our night out! |
One of my most favourite places to visit in BA is the Recoletta Cemetery. I could walk around here for hours. Some of the tombs are like works of art.
Evita is buried here and anyone who can find her tomb in under an hour is lucky! Unfortunately we had partied hard the evening before and were suffering with hangovers, consequently we did not have the patience to find it (feeling sick and in need of protein) and left after 1 hour - I had seen it previously so was not too disappointed.
A great way to see some of the main attractions in BA is to take part in a free walking tour (you can tip them after if you want to) and that is what we did.
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| Don't cry for me Argentinaaaaaaaaaaa |
There are many different barrios in BA some are worth visiting and some are not. We concentrated on some of the more well known ones; San Telmo (famed for Antiques) Palermo (great bars, restaurants, parks and shopping), Recoletta (where we stayed and has a great weekend market) and Boca (alternative side to BA).
Argentines love to chat for hours on end while drinking a cortado (small coffee with milk) or two. One of the oldest and most famous place in BA to do this is Cafe Tortoni.
BA = Tango. For our last evening in Argentina and in BA we went to see a Tango show. Very touristic but it was fun.
And finally, we could not say goodbye to Argentina before feasting on one last piece of barbecued meat.
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