Argentina - the land of red wine and red meat
Salta
Following a long border crossing with surprisingly tight customs and security searches we finally made it into Argentina. The first port of call was to be a city called Salta which was still a few hours bus ride from the border with Bolivia. We made our way to the bus station and tucked into our first Argentinian meal while we waited on the bus. We had been counting down the days until we were in the land of good meat and red wine and could not wait to sample what Argentina had to offer. Our first meal was decent but not amazing so there was still some work do be done!
We struggled to come to terms with the stark differences between Bolivia and Argentina - it was crazy! As soon as we crossed the border EVERYTHING was more developed. In terms of infrastructure the roads were bigger and smoother with decent signs and the cars, buses etc seemed relatively modern and in good condition. The houses and buildings that we passed were complete and more akin to buildings we would have back home. Even the animals looked healthier and you could clearly see European influences in the people we passed by - we had not even driven 30 minutes from Bolivia and already it would not be too difficult to imagine you were somewhere in Europe.
We arrived late into Salta, found our hostel which was one of our favourite hostels so far and had a quiet night. The next day we slept in and took a relaxed wander round the town centre - enjoying our first taste of the famous empanadas, yummy!!!! The centre of Salta is really pretty and having spent the last month in Peru and Bolivia it was nice to be somewhere more developed and with some home comforts that we had been missing lately. In the afternoon we went to the MAAM (Museo de Arqueologia de Alta Montana de Salta) which is a museum in the main square and is home to some mummies of sacrificial children from the time of the Inca's that were recently discovered in the surrounding Andean mountain range.
These children were offered to the gods of the mountains to appease them and ask for good weather and growing conditions for the next years crops. The mummies were in really good condition which was a little disturbing as was the ceremony and ritual that surrounded the sacrifices. The children were as young as 11 and they were likely chosen at birth to be sacrificed at some point in the future and this would have been considered a huge honour for the children and their families. When the time came they would trek up to the peak of the mountain with the chiefs in the community which could take weeks. Once at the top they would perform a special ritual and the children would be dressed in elaborate robes and head dresses and would drink a special cocktail and chew on coca leaves to prepare. From examination of the mummies it appears as though the children were hit on the head to either kill them of knock them out and they were then buried along with various artefacts like cups and vases. Several examples of these sacrifices have been found in South America and it is believed there are many more discoveries to be made. That evening we headed to the local cinema and went to see the new James Bond move - Skyfall - and treated ourselves to a MacDonalds dinner!
Like many cities, Salta has a great viewing location in the form of a hill in the middle of the city so the following day we took the Salta Tram or Teleferico up Cerro San Bernardo to see the vista of the city. The cable car ride up was great and the views from the top were spectacular.
That evening we went in search of the famous Argentinian steak and red wine and we were not disappointed! Jacks restaurant was the name and the menu was pretty comprehensive but there were only 2 items on our cheque at the end of the day - the biggest stake in the world and one bottle of local vino. Delicious!
That night we headed back to the hostel and had a party with the other folks that were staying there which was great. The night life doesn't get going until about 2am so around that time we all made our way downtown to a local nightclub and danced the rest of the night away!
The next day we were feeling a little tender so chilled in the hostel until we caught our night bus to the land of wine - Mendoza!
Mendoza
Feeling a little tired after the night bus we searched for the hostel we wanted to stay in but unfortunately it was already fully booked by the time we got there so we spent most of the morning looking for another one. By the time we got ourselves all checked in and sorted out it was the afternoon so we decided to spend the rest of the day getting Calum's foot checked out by the doctor as it had been sore for a while. The reception at our hostel recommended going to A&E as opposed to a health centre so off to the hospital we went! Luckily and surprisingly the Argentinean health care system seemed to be pretty efficient and at one time 6 doctors were prodding Calum's foot! In a couple of hours, after communicating as best as we could in Spanglish, we were out of there with prescription in hand - simple! We chilled out the rest of the day and made our own dinner in the hostel.
The next day we went for a long walk around the Parque San Martin in the town centre. The entrance to the park has massive gates that are said to have been constructed by McFarlanes Ironworks of Glasgow!
That night we had perhaps our worst dinner in Argentina ever! Poor choice at a German Bier Halle but we made up for it at an amazing ice cream parlour afterwards!!!! Mmmmmm!
The next day was the highlight for us - the raison d'etre for going to Mendoza - WINE TOUR!!!! Several people had recommended Mr Hugo's bike tour so that was where we headed to start our tour. On the bus on the way there we got chatting to a fellow wine enthusiast - Jacopi - who also joined us on our wine adventure so the 3 of us made our way to see Mr Hugo and rent some bikes for the day. All of the wineries are in about a 10k area so once we were all kitted out with map in hand we made our way to the furthest away winery to start our tour. We went to 4 wineries (Trapiche, Tempus Alba, Vina El Cerno and Bodego Familia Di Tommaso) - a mixture of small family owned business that produce their wine using traditional techniques - with significant amounts of production carried out by hand, and large mass production operations that export their wines all over the world. It was really interesting to see the contrast between the two types of vineyards. We tried lots of wines - even splashing out for the reserve collection at one vineyard which was exceptional! After all that cycling and tasting we finally ended up at the beer garden for a well deserved pizza and a pint to round the day off.
That night we made our way home to Mendoza to catch another night bus to Cordoba.
Cordoba
When we arrived in Cordoba there were some protests and demonstrations taking place in the city centre in opposition to the prime minister so no taxis were running and we had to walk for ages in the baking heat to find our hostel. We saw some of the demonstrations but didn't get caught up in anything too serious.
We found our hostel which was really nice and spent a few hours catching up on some sleep and doing some admin. We went for a wander in the afternoon and visited Museo de la Memoria. This museum is housed in a former military centre operated by the Department of Intelligence (D2) and was used as a torture and detention centre during Argentinas military dictatorship. During the military dictatorship, families who suspected of being political agitators were kidnapped and tortured at this site and the children of these families were "reassigned" to "less politically suspect" families. There are hundreds of photos of children who were taken from their families and never reunited - today parents and family members are still trying to find each other.
We also did a tour round the oldest University in Argentina - Universidad Nacional de Cordoba which was founded in 1613. The university holds an ancient book collection including part of the Jesuit's Grand Library. Also in the collection is a very old printing press and books that have leather covers made out of skin from calf foetuses.
That evening our hostel cooked a BBQ dinner for everyone that was there which was tasty and a great way to meet other people that were staying at our hostel. The next day we had a lie in, went to the cinema to see [x] and made some dinner at the hostel before catching a night bus to our next destination - Buenos Aires!
Buenos Aires
We had been lucky with the weather on most of our travels but on arrival in Buenos Aires we were confronted with torrential rain as we wandered the streets looking for our hostel. We eventually found it and had a quiet afternoon before taking a walk once the weather cleared up. BA is a great city to wander around and we spent our first day in the downtown area and visited Plaza de Mayo & Casa Rosada which is where the famous balcony is located from which Eva (Evita) and Juan Peron gave many speeches.
We spent our second day exploring further and walked round the Palermo area which has lovely parks and gardens and is also home to the Eva Peron Museum which was really interesting to walk around and learn more about the history of Argentina and Eva herself. That night we had a BBQ at our hostel with several helpings of the famous Argentinean meat which was great before heading out to a local night club with some new friends from the hostel.
We had a slow start to the next day following our night out but continued our walking tour around the city. Highlights included La Recoleta where you can find the family tomb of Eva Peron in the local cemetery. This was a beautiful cemetery with many tombs both old and new. We took our time walking around before we happened upon the famous tomb we were searching for.
Later that day we visited the San Telmo area which is filled with independent boutiques, antique stores and coffee shops. It is the oldest barrio (neighbourhood) in BA and has such a fantistic atmosphere and great to walk around the narrow lanes and cobbled streets. We even managed to catch some Tango in the main square!
That evening we chilled in the hostel and shared our first mate with some fellow travellers. Mate is a special tea that originated from South America and has quite a bitter taste but is a very traditional drink that is shared amongst friends. Can't say that we became fully accustomed to the mate taste in the time we were there as it seemed very bitter to us but it was great to try and a nice way to get to know some people in our hostel a little better.
Day 3 in BA saw us head down to the famous La Boca to the caminito area which was an amazing sight. The area is so colourful and full of arts, crafts and dancing!
On our final full day in BA we went to the Sunday market in San Telmo to see the antiques stalls in Plaza Dorrego. This was a really cool area to walk around and we managed to buy a few trinkets for friends and family back home. We finished the day off with a Parila lunch which is a mixed grill Argentinean style and includes sausage, morchela (black pudding), steak, liver, intestines and one or two other unsusual meats that we weren't good at identifying!
Might not look the most appetising, especially the intestines which neither of us could stomach more than a taster of, but the rest of it was pretty tasty, especially when washed down with a bottle of Argentinas finest red wine!
Argentina had been amazing, loved all the atmosphere, history, local delicacies & wine, tango and colourful streets and characters. Can't wait to go back but for now we had to continue our trip - next stop was a ferry ride to the costal town of Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay.
Uruguay
Colonia del Sacramento
We arrived in Colonia del Sacramento around 9pm and the plan was to just have a wander and find a hostel as we'd been told it was a pretty small place. Sadly we quickly realised it was a bank hol weekend and the majority of the hostels were fully booked already. On our 4th or 5th attempt we finally found one that had a couple of beds left so we dumped our stuff and settled in for the night.
As this was a small place we just planned 1 day to see the town before heading onto the capital Montevideo. So we got up early and headed out to follow the do-it-yourself walking tour starting with the old town wall which runs along the coast and then up to the lighthouse which gave us an awesome view out over the town.
We then walked past a huge dinosaur skeleton (which we assumed must be fake but was very impressive none the less). We then stopped for some lunch and a beer before heading over to the pier for some more great views out across the sea to Argentina. It was a really nice, relaxing day just wandering around and by the time we'd had an ice cream on the pier we agreed we had seen as much of Colonia as we wanted to and made for the bus station to head to Montevideo.
We then went for some coffee where we some the first of many horse drawn "bin lorries". Not quite the romantic horse drawn carriages you see in Paris but apparently the absolute norm in Montevideo. On the way home we stopped at the supermarket and bought some big steaks as we had been told the beef in Uruguay was amazing and it didn't disappoint. We each had a delicious steak for all of £2 each!!
Our second day in Montevideo we had a long lie and then headed for a walk along the coast to the beach. Sadly it wasn't the nicest day so neither of us were going anywhere near the sea but it was dry and still a beautiful coast to walk along. The hostel had recommended a place for lunch where we could get some great seafood for pretty cheap......sadly their opinion of great an cheap were not the same as ours. We had some very average calamari and some really horrible paella which ended up costing us £35 (a lot to poor travellers used to spending £5-£10 on lunch. Fortunately we had something to look forward to after lunch as we had been speaking to our friends that we met in BA who were now also in Montevideo so we had arranged to meet them for a few beers before we left. We had a great afternoon catching up with Andres, Ida and Joanna, even visiting Andres old primary school which we were next too.
It was a great way to end our time in Montevideo catching up with friends and hearing about where they were heading next. For us we were going for the bus up to Salto en route to Iguassu falls. It would only be another one day stop but we had heard they had a water park!!! Reason enough to visit anywhere!!
Salto
Following a long overnight bus we eventually made it to Salto arriving at 6am. Out plan for the day.....water park.....bus to Iguassu falls, it was that simple. Sadly of course the water park didn't open until 10am so we had 4 hours to kill and quickly found that though Salto had a water park, it had nothing else!! So we whiled away the hours in the bus station, having breakfast, catching up on emails etc until we could head to the park!
At last 10am came though and we could head to the waterpark. We picked a great day for it too as the sun was out and it was a hot day so there was no better place to be. It may not have been of the slides of Wet and Wild or the rapids of Oasis (back in the good days of course before centre parcs ruined them with their health and safety) but we had a great day in the sun, lounging on the lazy river, racing on the flumes and screaming on the kamikaze slides.
Sadly it got to 4pm and we had to head off in order to catch our 2nd night bus in as many nights on to Iguassu falls. We had a brief stop in concordia but sadly the only thing that happened of note there was Sarah getting her card cloned by a dodgy bus company. Luckily we got it back a few days later but that was just the beginning of our cash troubles once we got to Brazil.....more on that later though. For now it was onto the bus and onto the amazing Iguassu falls!!
Iguassu Falls
Undoubtably one of the highlights of our whole trip turned out to be Iguassu Falls. We only visited the Argentinian side but it was an incredible day and we couldn't believe how impressive they were. As much as I love the pictures we took, they still can't do the falls justice and I urge everyone and anyone to visit them at some stage.
We arrived at the falls around 12 which gave us plenty time to see all the different sections from all the various viewpoint. We decided to leave the "Devils Throat" till last as we'd been told it was the most impressive and so worth seeing as the 'big finish'!!
So we headed for the first two sections of the falls which gave us some amazing views looking back up at the falls. The greenery and sheer number of waterfalls were amazing and the walkways were great for getting you really close to the falls. The spray coming off them was great for cooling us down on such a hot day too. We thought about doing one of the boat trip that take you into the mouth of one of the big falls but in the end decided not to bother as 1) it was very expensive and 2) the queue was already pretty big and we didn't want to spent our time standing waiting. So we just enjoyed walking between all the falls and taking in the huge beauty of them all before making our way toward the devils throat!!
The first thing that struck us as we headed towards the main attraction was the number of people walking past having already been to the devils throat, absolutely soaked!! Also as we crossed the walkways over the water you could see the old crossing that had been washed away in times of flooding. The force of the falls was starting to dawn on us. As we got closer and closer the noise started to pick up as well growing louder and louder with every corner we turned. Finally we arrived at the viewing points and realised why everyone was soaked. If was as if it was raining such was the amount of spray coming off the fall, and this was standing above it too. It really was an incredible sight out over the biggest fall especially when you looked down into the cloud of spray which seemed to go on forever. I honestly never expected to be so impressed by these waterfalls but as it turned out it was one of the most amazing sights of our whole trip!!
We left the falls both awestruck by the size and beauty of the place and agreed it was undoubtably one of the highlights of our trip. That night we went for a great steak dinner to sign off on our time in Argentina and Uruguay and celebrate (or should it be commiserate) the fact that we were now heading to the final country of our round the world travels.
Brazil
Florianopolis
We arrived in Florianopolis as our first destination in Brazil with the plan being to make our way up the east coast from beach to beach. We needed some cash to get to the hostel from the bus station and this is where our money issues in Brazil began. Calum tried to take money from his bank card - no luck it had been blocked. Sarah tried to get some from her bank card - no luck also blocked. Sarah then tried her travel card and managed to get some from it but had much less on it than we expected. Calum's travel card had been swallowed in Thailand so tried his amex - no luck, the cash machines don't accept amex, uh oh this could get tricky!!
We managed to get to the hostel with Sarahs money but unfortunately had to spend the whole first day traipsing from bank to bank in the city centre trying to find somewhere that would take amex. In the end a western union from the folks was required before we finally got hold of RBS to get them to unblock our cards, what a palava and frustrating start to Brazil.
Florianopolis was a much bigger place than we realised but renowned for its beaches. So after feeding the local monkey that liked to visit the hostel garden (see pic below) we headed off for the beach. We jumped on the bus and thought we just needed to stay on until the last stop......we were wrong. When we got off we were apparently "very far from beach" but we could get there but cutting across the sand dunes at the end of this random street. So we walked....and we walked....and we walked some more and we climbed some dunes and after what felt like forever we finally found a beach, which was deserted!! We could see lots of people at the other end though so we started walking along the beach until we got the the "swimming area" and at last could cool down and enjoy some rest on the sand.
I should mention we had an awesome hostel here too which sadly was a bit isolated but had a great pool and garden so we spent both evenings chilling with a few beers and home cooked meals in the garden.
Our last day we decided to head to a huge lake in the centre of the island best known for its kite surfing and local restaurants around the banks. We were recommended a little place that you can only access via boat so we headed there for lunch time to enjoy a wee boat ride an then some of the local speciality - prawns, prawns and more prawns!! It was another beautiful day so we were even able to have a quick dip in the lake before an amazing lunch and some very tasty beers to wash it down. That afternoon we enjoyed chilling at the lake before we had to head back to catch our night bus to Sao Paulo and then onto our next stop Paraty!!
Paraty
The next stop on our journey up the east cost of Brazil was Paraty. It was great to arrive in a small town having spent the last few days in such a big place and we knew as soon as we arrived that we were going to have a great stay in the quaint little town. The cobbled streets and bustling markets were great to just walk around and to be right on the beach too, it was the perfect place to relax.
We had a great hostel too, a little place right on the beach run by a really nice couple of local guys. it was busy too though everyone was there for the same reason, to chill and enjoy the sun, sand and cervesa's. On our first day we were recommended a beach a few miles down the coast called Trindade and so as it was such a hot day we jumped on the bus and headed down. It was not a disappointment, there were 4 mini beaches to choose from, all with deck chairs and umbrella and servings beers cocktails and delicious seafood. We found a great spot on one of the smaller beaches and had a great day in the sea. That night we came back to the hostel and had an awesome BBQ run by the owners and they had also organised for a band to come and play. The 4 guys from Uruguay were great and it turned out to be a brilliant night of bbq, beers and great music.
The next day we went on one of the boat trip with a few others from the hostel. It was a pretty basic concept, the boat takes you round some of the best beaches and islands off the coast and lets you swim, drink and sunbathe all day. Again we had a beautiful day and so it was a great trip so some cracking spots along the coast. We were able to get in some good boat jumping and diving too into some of the clearest water we had swam in since we'd been away. After the boat trip we took some time to just wander the streets of the town and try some cake from one of the numerous street stalls that were all over the place. We then went for a really nice dinner at a local italian before another night with everyone at the hostel enjoying some beers and good chat till the early hours of the morning.
The next day we got up for some breakfast and then headed for the bus to Isla Grande, an island just off the coast of Rio that we'd been told was as close to paradise as we were likely to see. We were looking forward to seeing if it could live up to that billing!!
Isla Grande
We travelled to Isla Grande with two danish friends that we met in Paraty, Lasse and Laura. It took a few hours as we needed to get the bus and then the boat but upon arrival we met immediately met a very friendly local that offered us a good deal at his hostel near by. Sadly when we got there someone had beat us to it and booked the rooms so instead he offered us rooms at his house which he wasn't using at the time. This was really cool as we got the whole place to ourselves including a huge bbq which we made great use of that first night as we cooked up a feast for the 4 of us!
Rio de Janeiro
We arrived in Rio in the evening and the party had already started in our hostel!! It seemed we made a great choice in accommodation to see out the last few days of the trip. The place was buzzing with people enjoying a bbq and lots of caipirinha's! We immediately got chatting to a few people and had a great night getting to know them all over great food and a few drinks.
The next day a group had already decided to book up for a favela tour which we were also keen to do we we joined them and set off to the Rocinha Favela, the most famous favela in Brazil. Our guide was awesome and we set off to walk through the alleys and streets of the favela but very quickly we both uncomfortable at the essence of the tour. The fact was we were paying to go and see how poor the conditions people had to live in and it felt quite invasive to the people living their every day lives. As i say though the guide was great and quickly took us to a few places to show us how the community are looking to improve the lives of the people in the favela's such as an art school and a nursey. We also stopped at a local bakery which had an amazing array of cakes and sweets and were treated to a music performance by some of the local kids that just used buckets, signing and dancing to put on a great show.
It wasn't though until we got to the top of one of the building and looked back across the favela that you really appreciated the size of it. It was incredible how far it spanned and the fact that the drug an crime rates have decreased so much in recent years is an amazing achievement for a community that size!
We arrived back at the hostel to be told there was going to be a samba class on that night. As you can imagine Sarah was delighted….Calum a little less so. We chilled for a while and then it was time for some samba so Sarah and a few of the other girls headed to the main room while Calum and a few of the guys sat watching some Brazilian football. However it wasn't long before the guys were coerced into joining the dancing which actually turned out to be a great laugh with lots of hip shaking and feet sliding! The rest of the night was then spent in a similar fashion to the previous. It really was a party hostel and before long the caipirinha's were flowing again and we were heading out to a few of the local bar's in Lapa. There must have been close to 20-25 of us so was a great laugh and a great atmosphere!!
The next day we decided to head to Sugarloaf Mountain with a few of the others from the hostel to soak in the views of Rio. We climbed up which was no easy task following the night before and in the 30 degree heat but it was well worth it once we got to the top. The views across the city were unbelievable from the beaches all the way to the favela's! We then grabbed some lunch and headed to the famous copacabana beach to enjoy the afternoon sun. As you can imagine the beach was busy but we got a few loungers and with beer and food served to you by the passing locals it was a great way to spend an afternoon. We also caught a glimpse of some of the famous brazilian beach football and even more famous brazilian thongs that all the women seemed to prefer over bikini bottoms….so something for Calum and Sarah!!
Out of nowhere though the clouds suddenly came in and an unbelievable storm started to brew. In a flash there was heavy rain, thunder and lightning and we all had to run for cover. It was amazing to see how quickly the place emptied apart from the few nutters that kept swimming. The waves were big enough without the rain so the storm signalled the end of our day on the beach. We headed back to the hostel and got ready for our last night in Rio and the last night of our trip. We decided to go for dinner just the two of us to celebrate the end of our round the world travels. We were recommended a transitional brazilian place that served various skewers of meat to your table and we weren't disappointed! The food was incredible and with some great red wine it was the perfect dinner to end with. We then headed back to see everyone at the hostel and party our last night away which we did very successfully in a few of the Lapa bars including one that had some awesome live music. It was all in all a fantastic final night!
Thankfully our flight back to the UK wasn't until the evening so we had just enough time to head and see "Christ the Redeemer" on our very last day. It looked pretty cloudy when we arrived but the mist gave it a great eeriness as we climbed up to the statue. And then as if by magic when we arrive at the top the clouds parted and the sun came out so we had some more great views across the city and of the amazing statue itself. We spent an hour of so just soaking up the sun, views and atmosphere at the top as it was buzzing with people, before heading back to get all our things together and say our goodbyes. we had just enough time to nip to the local market in Lapa to pick up a few last minute presents and some souvenirs. Sadly we were missing the famous Lapa street party that happens every Friday but in fairness we'd had our fair share of nights out the 7 months so i guess we could miss one.
SO……..we packed our bags one final time and got ready to head to the airport. It had been an incredible trip that i don't think i can really sum up without it just turning into a string of superlatives. We met some amazing people, spent time in amazing places, did amazing things and had undoubtably the best time of our lives and we could not have enjoyed it anymore. To everyone that we met along the way thank you for adding to the experience we had and to everyone that is reading this thinking about travelling there is only one answer…..go, you will never regret it.
Now it's just time for our next adventure……Whistler, Canada and we cannot wait.
Cheers
Salta
Following a long border crossing with surprisingly tight customs and security searches we finally made it into Argentina. The first port of call was to be a city called Salta which was still a few hours bus ride from the border with Bolivia. We made our way to the bus station and tucked into our first Argentinian meal while we waited on the bus. We had been counting down the days until we were in the land of good meat and red wine and could not wait to sample what Argentina had to offer. Our first meal was decent but not amazing so there was still some work do be done!
We struggled to come to terms with the stark differences between Bolivia and Argentina - it was crazy! As soon as we crossed the border EVERYTHING was more developed. In terms of infrastructure the roads were bigger and smoother with decent signs and the cars, buses etc seemed relatively modern and in good condition. The houses and buildings that we passed were complete and more akin to buildings we would have back home. Even the animals looked healthier and you could clearly see European influences in the people we passed by - we had not even driven 30 minutes from Bolivia and already it would not be too difficult to imagine you were somewhere in Europe.
We arrived late into Salta, found our hostel which was one of our favourite hostels so far and had a quiet night. The next day we slept in and took a relaxed wander round the town centre - enjoying our first taste of the famous empanadas, yummy!!!! The centre of Salta is really pretty and having spent the last month in Peru and Bolivia it was nice to be somewhere more developed and with some home comforts that we had been missing lately. In the afternoon we went to the MAAM (Museo de Arqueologia de Alta Montana de Salta) which is a museum in the main square and is home to some mummies of sacrificial children from the time of the Inca's that were recently discovered in the surrounding Andean mountain range.
These children were offered to the gods of the mountains to appease them and ask for good weather and growing conditions for the next years crops. The mummies were in really good condition which was a little disturbing as was the ceremony and ritual that surrounded the sacrifices. The children were as young as 11 and they were likely chosen at birth to be sacrificed at some point in the future and this would have been considered a huge honour for the children and their families. When the time came they would trek up to the peak of the mountain with the chiefs in the community which could take weeks. Once at the top they would perform a special ritual and the children would be dressed in elaborate robes and head dresses and would drink a special cocktail and chew on coca leaves to prepare. From examination of the mummies it appears as though the children were hit on the head to either kill them of knock them out and they were then buried along with various artefacts like cups and vases. Several examples of these sacrifices have been found in South America and it is believed there are many more discoveries to be made. That evening we headed to the local cinema and went to see the new James Bond move - Skyfall - and treated ourselves to a MacDonalds dinner!
Like many cities, Salta has a great viewing location in the form of a hill in the middle of the city so the following day we took the Salta Tram or Teleferico up Cerro San Bernardo to see the vista of the city. The cable car ride up was great and the views from the top were spectacular.
That evening we went in search of the famous Argentinian steak and red wine and we were not disappointed! Jacks restaurant was the name and the menu was pretty comprehensive but there were only 2 items on our cheque at the end of the day - the biggest stake in the world and one bottle of local vino. Delicious!
That night we headed back to the hostel and had a party with the other folks that were staying there which was great. The night life doesn't get going until about 2am so around that time we all made our way downtown to a local nightclub and danced the rest of the night away!
The next day we were feeling a little tender so chilled in the hostel until we caught our night bus to the land of wine - Mendoza!
Mendoza
Feeling a little tired after the night bus we searched for the hostel we wanted to stay in but unfortunately it was already fully booked by the time we got there so we spent most of the morning looking for another one. By the time we got ourselves all checked in and sorted out it was the afternoon so we decided to spend the rest of the day getting Calum's foot checked out by the doctor as it had been sore for a while. The reception at our hostel recommended going to A&E as opposed to a health centre so off to the hospital we went! Luckily and surprisingly the Argentinean health care system seemed to be pretty efficient and at one time 6 doctors were prodding Calum's foot! In a couple of hours, after communicating as best as we could in Spanglish, we were out of there with prescription in hand - simple! We chilled out the rest of the day and made our own dinner in the hostel.
The next day we went for a long walk around the Parque San Martin in the town centre. The entrance to the park has massive gates that are said to have been constructed by McFarlanes Ironworks of Glasgow!
That night we had perhaps our worst dinner in Argentina ever! Poor choice at a German Bier Halle but we made up for it at an amazing ice cream parlour afterwards!!!! Mmmmmm!
The next day was the highlight for us - the raison d'etre for going to Mendoza - WINE TOUR!!!! Several people had recommended Mr Hugo's bike tour so that was where we headed to start our tour. On the bus on the way there we got chatting to a fellow wine enthusiast - Jacopi - who also joined us on our wine adventure so the 3 of us made our way to see Mr Hugo and rent some bikes for the day. All of the wineries are in about a 10k area so once we were all kitted out with map in hand we made our way to the furthest away winery to start our tour. We went to 4 wineries (Trapiche, Tempus Alba, Vina El Cerno and Bodego Familia Di Tommaso) - a mixture of small family owned business that produce their wine using traditional techniques - with significant amounts of production carried out by hand, and large mass production operations that export their wines all over the world. It was really interesting to see the contrast between the two types of vineyards. We tried lots of wines - even splashing out for the reserve collection at one vineyard which was exceptional! After all that cycling and tasting we finally ended up at the beer garden for a well deserved pizza and a pint to round the day off.
That night we made our way home to Mendoza to catch another night bus to Cordoba.
Cordoba
When we arrived in Cordoba there were some protests and demonstrations taking place in the city centre in opposition to the prime minister so no taxis were running and we had to walk for ages in the baking heat to find our hostel. We saw some of the demonstrations but didn't get caught up in anything too serious.
We found our hostel which was really nice and spent a few hours catching up on some sleep and doing some admin. We went for a wander in the afternoon and visited Museo de la Memoria. This museum is housed in a former military centre operated by the Department of Intelligence (D2) and was used as a torture and detention centre during Argentinas military dictatorship. During the military dictatorship, families who suspected of being political agitators were kidnapped and tortured at this site and the children of these families were "reassigned" to "less politically suspect" families. There are hundreds of photos of children who were taken from their families and never reunited - today parents and family members are still trying to find each other.
We also did a tour round the oldest University in Argentina - Universidad Nacional de Cordoba which was founded in 1613. The university holds an ancient book collection including part of the Jesuit's Grand Library. Also in the collection is a very old printing press and books that have leather covers made out of skin from calf foetuses.
That evening our hostel cooked a BBQ dinner for everyone that was there which was tasty and a great way to meet other people that were staying at our hostel. The next day we had a lie in, went to the cinema to see [x] and made some dinner at the hostel before catching a night bus to our next destination - Buenos Aires!
Buenos Aires
We had been lucky with the weather on most of our travels but on arrival in Buenos Aires we were confronted with torrential rain as we wandered the streets looking for our hostel. We eventually found it and had a quiet afternoon before taking a walk once the weather cleared up. BA is a great city to wander around and we spent our first day in the downtown area and visited Plaza de Mayo & Casa Rosada which is where the famous balcony is located from which Eva (Evita) and Juan Peron gave many speeches.
We spent our second day exploring further and walked round the Palermo area which has lovely parks and gardens and is also home to the Eva Peron Museum which was really interesting to walk around and learn more about the history of Argentina and Eva herself. That night we had a BBQ at our hostel with several helpings of the famous Argentinean meat which was great before heading out to a local night club with some new friends from the hostel.
We had a slow start to the next day following our night out but continued our walking tour around the city. Highlights included La Recoleta where you can find the family tomb of Eva Peron in the local cemetery. This was a beautiful cemetery with many tombs both old and new. We took our time walking around before we happened upon the famous tomb we were searching for.
Later that day we visited the San Telmo area which is filled with independent boutiques, antique stores and coffee shops. It is the oldest barrio (neighbourhood) in BA and has such a fantistic atmosphere and great to walk around the narrow lanes and cobbled streets. We even managed to catch some Tango in the main square!
Day 3 in BA saw us head down to the famous La Boca to the caminito area which was an amazing sight. The area is so colourful and full of arts, crafts and dancing!
On our final full day in BA we went to the Sunday market in San Telmo to see the antiques stalls in Plaza Dorrego. This was a really cool area to walk around and we managed to buy a few trinkets for friends and family back home. We finished the day off with a Parila lunch which is a mixed grill Argentinean style and includes sausage, morchela (black pudding), steak, liver, intestines and one or two other unsusual meats that we weren't good at identifying!
Might not look the most appetising, especially the intestines which neither of us could stomach more than a taster of, but the rest of it was pretty tasty, especially when washed down with a bottle of Argentinas finest red wine!
Argentina had been amazing, loved all the atmosphere, history, local delicacies & wine, tango and colourful streets and characters. Can't wait to go back but for now we had to continue our trip - next stop was a ferry ride to the costal town of Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay.
Uruguay
Colonia del Sacramento
We arrived in Colonia del Sacramento around 9pm and the plan was to just have a wander and find a hostel as we'd been told it was a pretty small place. Sadly we quickly realised it was a bank hol weekend and the majority of the hostels were fully booked already. On our 4th or 5th attempt we finally found one that had a couple of beds left so we dumped our stuff and settled in for the night.
As this was a small place we just planned 1 day to see the town before heading onto the capital Montevideo. So we got up early and headed out to follow the do-it-yourself walking tour starting with the old town wall which runs along the coast and then up to the lighthouse which gave us an awesome view out over the town.
We then walked past a huge dinosaur skeleton (which we assumed must be fake but was very impressive none the less). We then stopped for some lunch and a beer before heading over to the pier for some more great views out across the sea to Argentina. It was a really nice, relaxing day just wandering around and by the time we'd had an ice cream on the pier we agreed we had seen as much of Colonia as we wanted to and made for the bus station to head to Montevideo.
Montevideo
We arrived in Montevideo and found our way to our hostel which turned out to be a great place right in the centre of town run by a couple of italian guys. They gave us some great advice of things to do over the couple of days we had a plan for our time in the capital.
We started the next day by heading to the old town and having a wander around the main square, old street and old fish market which had now been turned into a great food market. We then headed to an art exhibition which the hostel recommended which was full of graffiti art, modern art, strange sculptures, amazing videos and all in all huge amount of colourful creations.
We then went for some coffee where we some the first of many horse drawn "bin lorries". Not quite the romantic horse drawn carriages you see in Paris but apparently the absolute norm in Montevideo. On the way home we stopped at the supermarket and bought some big steaks as we had been told the beef in Uruguay was amazing and it didn't disappoint. We each had a delicious steak for all of £2 each!!
Our second day in Montevideo we had a long lie and then headed for a walk along the coast to the beach. Sadly it wasn't the nicest day so neither of us were going anywhere near the sea but it was dry and still a beautiful coast to walk along. The hostel had recommended a place for lunch where we could get some great seafood for pretty cheap......sadly their opinion of great an cheap were not the same as ours. We had some very average calamari and some really horrible paella which ended up costing us £35 (a lot to poor travellers used to spending £5-£10 on lunch. Fortunately we had something to look forward to after lunch as we had been speaking to our friends that we met in BA who were now also in Montevideo so we had arranged to meet them for a few beers before we left. We had a great afternoon catching up with Andres, Ida and Joanna, even visiting Andres old primary school which we were next too.
It was a great way to end our time in Montevideo catching up with friends and hearing about where they were heading next. For us we were going for the bus up to Salto en route to Iguassu falls. It would only be another one day stop but we had heard they had a water park!!! Reason enough to visit anywhere!!
Salto
Following a long overnight bus we eventually made it to Salto arriving at 6am. Out plan for the day.....water park.....bus to Iguassu falls, it was that simple. Sadly of course the water park didn't open until 10am so we had 4 hours to kill and quickly found that though Salto had a water park, it had nothing else!! So we whiled away the hours in the bus station, having breakfast, catching up on emails etc until we could head to the park!
Sadly it got to 4pm and we had to head off in order to catch our 2nd night bus in as many nights on to Iguassu falls. We had a brief stop in concordia but sadly the only thing that happened of note there was Sarah getting her card cloned by a dodgy bus company. Luckily we got it back a few days later but that was just the beginning of our cash troubles once we got to Brazil.....more on that later though. For now it was onto the bus and onto the amazing Iguassu falls!!
Iguassu Falls
Undoubtably one of the highlights of our whole trip turned out to be Iguassu Falls. We only visited the Argentinian side but it was an incredible day and we couldn't believe how impressive they were. As much as I love the pictures we took, they still can't do the falls justice and I urge everyone and anyone to visit them at some stage.
So we headed for the first two sections of the falls which gave us some amazing views looking back up at the falls. The greenery and sheer number of waterfalls were amazing and the walkways were great for getting you really close to the falls. The spray coming off them was great for cooling us down on such a hot day too. We thought about doing one of the boat trip that take you into the mouth of one of the big falls but in the end decided not to bother as 1) it was very expensive and 2) the queue was already pretty big and we didn't want to spent our time standing waiting. So we just enjoyed walking between all the falls and taking in the huge beauty of them all before making our way toward the devils throat!!
The first thing that struck us as we headed towards the main attraction was the number of people walking past having already been to the devils throat, absolutely soaked!! Also as we crossed the walkways over the water you could see the old crossing that had been washed away in times of flooding. The force of the falls was starting to dawn on us. As we got closer and closer the noise started to pick up as well growing louder and louder with every corner we turned. Finally we arrived at the viewing points and realised why everyone was soaked. If was as if it was raining such was the amount of spray coming off the fall, and this was standing above it too. It really was an incredible sight out over the biggest fall especially when you looked down into the cloud of spray which seemed to go on forever. I honestly never expected to be so impressed by these waterfalls but as it turned out it was one of the most amazing sights of our whole trip!!
We left the falls both awestruck by the size and beauty of the place and agreed it was undoubtably one of the highlights of our trip. That night we went for a great steak dinner to sign off on our time in Argentina and Uruguay and celebrate (or should it be commiserate) the fact that we were now heading to the final country of our round the world travels.
Brazil
Florianopolis
We arrived in Florianopolis as our first destination in Brazil with the plan being to make our way up the east coast from beach to beach. We needed some cash to get to the hostel from the bus station and this is where our money issues in Brazil began. Calum tried to take money from his bank card - no luck it had been blocked. Sarah tried to get some from her bank card - no luck also blocked. Sarah then tried her travel card and managed to get some from it but had much less on it than we expected. Calum's travel card had been swallowed in Thailand so tried his amex - no luck, the cash machines don't accept amex, uh oh this could get tricky!!
We managed to get to the hostel with Sarahs money but unfortunately had to spend the whole first day traipsing from bank to bank in the city centre trying to find somewhere that would take amex. In the end a western union from the folks was required before we finally got hold of RBS to get them to unblock our cards, what a palava and frustrating start to Brazil.
Florianopolis was a much bigger place than we realised but renowned for its beaches. So after feeding the local monkey that liked to visit the hostel garden (see pic below) we headed off for the beach. We jumped on the bus and thought we just needed to stay on until the last stop......we were wrong. When we got off we were apparently "very far from beach" but we could get there but cutting across the sand dunes at the end of this random street. So we walked....and we walked....and we walked some more and we climbed some dunes and after what felt like forever we finally found a beach, which was deserted!! We could see lots of people at the other end though so we started walking along the beach until we got the the "swimming area" and at last could cool down and enjoy some rest on the sand.
I should mention we had an awesome hostel here too which sadly was a bit isolated but had a great pool and garden so we spent both evenings chilling with a few beers and home cooked meals in the garden.
Our last day we decided to head to a huge lake in the centre of the island best known for its kite surfing and local restaurants around the banks. We were recommended a little place that you can only access via boat so we headed there for lunch time to enjoy a wee boat ride an then some of the local speciality - prawns, prawns and more prawns!! It was another beautiful day so we were even able to have a quick dip in the lake before an amazing lunch and some very tasty beers to wash it down. That afternoon we enjoyed chilling at the lake before we had to head back to catch our night bus to Sao Paulo and then onto our next stop Paraty!!
Paraty
The next stop on our journey up the east cost of Brazil was Paraty. It was great to arrive in a small town having spent the last few days in such a big place and we knew as soon as we arrived that we were going to have a great stay in the quaint little town. The cobbled streets and bustling markets were great to just walk around and to be right on the beach too, it was the perfect place to relax.
We had a great hostel too, a little place right on the beach run by a really nice couple of local guys. it was busy too though everyone was there for the same reason, to chill and enjoy the sun, sand and cervesa's. On our first day we were recommended a beach a few miles down the coast called Trindade and so as it was such a hot day we jumped on the bus and headed down. It was not a disappointment, there were 4 mini beaches to choose from, all with deck chairs and umbrella and servings beers cocktails and delicious seafood. We found a great spot on one of the smaller beaches and had a great day in the sea. That night we came back to the hostel and had an awesome BBQ run by the owners and they had also organised for a band to come and play. The 4 guys from Uruguay were great and it turned out to be a brilliant night of bbq, beers and great music.
The next day we went on one of the boat trip with a few others from the hostel. It was a pretty basic concept, the boat takes you round some of the best beaches and islands off the coast and lets you swim, drink and sunbathe all day. Again we had a beautiful day and so it was a great trip so some cracking spots along the coast. We were able to get in some good boat jumping and diving too into some of the clearest water we had swam in since we'd been away. After the boat trip we took some time to just wander the streets of the town and try some cake from one of the numerous street stalls that were all over the place. We then went for a really nice dinner at a local italian before another night with everyone at the hostel enjoying some beers and good chat till the early hours of the morning.
The next day we got up for some breakfast and then headed for the bus to Isla Grande, an island just off the coast of Rio that we'd been told was as close to paradise as we were likely to see. We were looking forward to seeing if it could live up to that billing!!
Isla Grande
We travelled to Isla Grande with two danish friends that we met in Paraty, Lasse and Laura. It took a few hours as we needed to get the bus and then the boat but upon arrival we met immediately met a very friendly local that offered us a good deal at his hostel near by. Sadly when we got there someone had beat us to it and booked the rooms so instead he offered us rooms at his house which he wasn't using at the time. This was really cool as we got the whole place to ourselves including a huge bbq which we made great use of that first night as we cooked up a feast for the 4 of us!
The island was beautiful but unfortunately it was a bit wet on our first day so we used the time to move to the hostel we had booked and phone home to catch up with the folks etc. We had a wander around the main town too and enjoyed some lunch at a local restaurant but all in all it was a pretty quiet day. That night too we just caught up with a few friends that had also arrived from Paraty and had some dinner and a few drinks but it was a pretty quiet place so by midnight the bars closed and it was time to head home.
The next day we had booked to Astro-diving!! We had no idea what this was but the night before we were offered a deal to do it for really cheap as they were trying to promote it so we decided to give it a go. He headed off on the boat in the morning with 3 girls from the UK and a couple of spanish guys and went to a really beautiful spot round the other side of the island. They then talked us through the diving which was basically that you put in a big helmet (similar to an astronauts) and then walked along the sea bed. It was awesome fun. You were only down there for 10mins or so but it was amazing to see the fish and bounce along the sea floor as if you were walking on the moon. It was a really unique things to do and we'd highly recommend it to anyone! Afterwards we enjoyed some time just swimming and sunbathing before heading back to one of the nicest beaches on the island for the rest of the day.
That night we met up with the guys again for a similar night to the previous, a few beers and cocktails on the beach.
We got up on a beautiful day for our last day on Isla Grande and headed for the number one beach on the island Lopes Mendes. To get to the beach it was 60-90min hike through the jungle but everyone we spoke to said it was well worth it, esp on such a great day. So off we set through the jungle, the path was fine, a few steep hills but when we made it to Lopes Mendes it was well worth it and suddenly you could see why people likened the island to paradise. It was such a long stretch of white sand and beautiful blue water, one of the most amazing beaches (if not the most) of our whole trip!! We spent the whole afternoon just swimming and relaxing on the beach before we had to head back for the boat to our last destination in Brazil and in fact our whole trip....it was time for RIO!!!
Rio de Janeiro
We arrived in Rio in the evening and the party had already started in our hostel!! It seemed we made a great choice in accommodation to see out the last few days of the trip. The place was buzzing with people enjoying a bbq and lots of caipirinha's! We immediately got chatting to a few people and had a great night getting to know them all over great food and a few drinks.
The next day a group had already decided to book up for a favela tour which we were also keen to do we we joined them and set off to the Rocinha Favela, the most famous favela in Brazil. Our guide was awesome and we set off to walk through the alleys and streets of the favela but very quickly we both uncomfortable at the essence of the tour. The fact was we were paying to go and see how poor the conditions people had to live in and it felt quite invasive to the people living their every day lives. As i say though the guide was great and quickly took us to a few places to show us how the community are looking to improve the lives of the people in the favela's such as an art school and a nursey. We also stopped at a local bakery which had an amazing array of cakes and sweets and were treated to a music performance by some of the local kids that just used buckets, signing and dancing to put on a great show.
It wasn't though until we got to the top of one of the building and looked back across the favela that you really appreciated the size of it. It was incredible how far it spanned and the fact that the drug an crime rates have decreased so much in recent years is an amazing achievement for a community that size!
We arrived back at the hostel to be told there was going to be a samba class on that night. As you can imagine Sarah was delighted….Calum a little less so. We chilled for a while and then it was time for some samba so Sarah and a few of the other girls headed to the main room while Calum and a few of the guys sat watching some Brazilian football. However it wasn't long before the guys were coerced into joining the dancing which actually turned out to be a great laugh with lots of hip shaking and feet sliding! The rest of the night was then spent in a similar fashion to the previous. It really was a party hostel and before long the caipirinha's were flowing again and we were heading out to a few of the local bar's in Lapa. There must have been close to 20-25 of us so was a great laugh and a great atmosphere!!
The next day we decided to head to Sugarloaf Mountain with a few of the others from the hostel to soak in the views of Rio. We climbed up which was no easy task following the night before and in the 30 degree heat but it was well worth it once we got to the top. The views across the city were unbelievable from the beaches all the way to the favela's! We then grabbed some lunch and headed to the famous copacabana beach to enjoy the afternoon sun. As you can imagine the beach was busy but we got a few loungers and with beer and food served to you by the passing locals it was a great way to spend an afternoon. We also caught a glimpse of some of the famous brazilian beach football and even more famous brazilian thongs that all the women seemed to prefer over bikini bottoms….so something for Calum and Sarah!!
Out of nowhere though the clouds suddenly came in and an unbelievable storm started to brew. In a flash there was heavy rain, thunder and lightning and we all had to run for cover. It was amazing to see how quickly the place emptied apart from the few nutters that kept swimming. The waves were big enough without the rain so the storm signalled the end of our day on the beach. We headed back to the hostel and got ready for our last night in Rio and the last night of our trip. We decided to go for dinner just the two of us to celebrate the end of our round the world travels. We were recommended a transitional brazilian place that served various skewers of meat to your table and we weren't disappointed! The food was incredible and with some great red wine it was the perfect dinner to end with. We then headed back to see everyone at the hostel and party our last night away which we did very successfully in a few of the Lapa bars including one that had some awesome live music. It was all in all a fantastic final night!
SO……..we packed our bags one final time and got ready to head to the airport. It had been an incredible trip that i don't think i can really sum up without it just turning into a string of superlatives. We met some amazing people, spent time in amazing places, did amazing things and had undoubtably the best time of our lives and we could not have enjoyed it anymore. To everyone that we met along the way thank you for adding to the experience we had and to everyone that is reading this thinking about travelling there is only one answer…..go, you will never regret it.
Now it's just time for our next adventure……Whistler, Canada and we cannot wait.
Cheers
