We are now in buenos aires, having spent a week in Mendoza. In Mendoza we did a bikes and wine tour where we visited 4 wineries, 2 of which with their own vineyards on site! As part of the tour we rode between the wineries, and in each winery we got 3-4 glasses of wine to try (unfortunately not full glasses) the wineries ranged in size from making 100k to 1.8million bottles a year! We took it relatively easy the rest of our time in Mendoza but did a fair bit of walking around the cities massive park! We found the Liverpool pub, with typical beatles posters for decor, though the maps of Scotland and Wales where some what confusing!!!
So a 15 hour bus ride saw us arrive in buenos aires, only to find everything, including mcdonalds, closed apparently because of the census! Also in the time we where travelling the ex president(the current presidents husband) had died, the main square outside the presidential palace was filled with mourners waving flags, carrying flowers, and displaying messages of support. On thursday we again walked to the presidential square where railings had been setup to herd the mourners into see the casket lying in state, along with this Thursday has traditionally seen protesters march upon the palace to air their grievances, this was no different as the roads were filled with the sounds of drums and chanting! The coffin has now left BsAs and is to be buried in Patagonia somewhere!
Katie bought a pair of jarg ray ban sunglasses, only for the weather to totally change from glorious sun to heavy, constant rain!
In BsAs there is an area named soho which on a Saturday all the bars open in the day and allow local designers to display their designs, and there are some really cool little shops!
We have been introduced to beer pong, an overactive drinking game, that if neither team are very good you don't drink very much! Also found a herbal Argentine spirit called fernet, it's 43% and tastes a little bit weird.
Thursday night a guy got knocked over by a car infront of our very eyes, what made it worse was the total lack of communication skills, to see if he was ok, even though he did walk away from it!
We keep losing our bottle over buying stuff because the exchange rate is 6 to 1 so things seem expensive when they are actually really cheap, like a kilo of fillet steak in the supermarket is about 6 quid an that's in the capital!
Well we take the boat to Montevideo(Uruguay) on Monday and have about 10 days there before returning to BsAs for a few more days before heading to the colder south!
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
A little bit cuckoo
It turns out the weekend we arrived in cordoba was an argentinian holiday, so on the Sunday and Monday it was quite busy in the town but with none of the shops open, on the Monday in the main road through the city a stage was setup and a "famous" Argentinian band performed for free in a folky style concert, but only after some expressive dancers had warmed the crowd up.
Whilst in cordoba we visited a number of museums, explored the city, and spent some time doing nothing in the park! Oh and went for all you can eat yum! We also found orange flavoured smirnoff and drank it with fanta grapefruit liltalicious!
On one occasion we took a bus to a small town in the sierras with the prospect of visiting che Guevara's childhood home! When we arrived we found a sorry for itself tribute to the rascal and rebel, the house he lived in for all of 5 years and the museum was a few reproductions of family pictures and a few maps! The only plus was a real life autograph from Hugo chaves and fidel Castro!
From cordoba we travelled to villa Carlos Paz! A small town dubbed the las Vegas of Argentina, the only thing I can see in common with las Vegas is it has more than one casino and sells loads of home made t-shirts! oh and a giant cuckoo clock! In Carlos Paz we did manage to hike up a small "mountain" and got some impressive views over the whole town. And we had ice cream, 2 waffle cones 5 scoops of ice cream came to less than £2!
Currently on the top deck front seats of a bus to Mendoza, great view of the setting sun, and a good way to spot the emerging nights stars! A few close encounters involving scooters not moving quick enough and the bus almost giving them a helping hand! The road we have taken so far is similar to the snake pass, lots of twists and turns through the sierras! There's a Brazilian film on the tv spoken in Portuguese and Spanish subtitles, makes for interesting viewing (2 filhos de Francisco if you are interested)
One thing makes this bus journey different! The buses are usually freezing but tonight both of us are radiating heat due to the sun burn attained today walking near the lake in Carlos Paz!
Well 9 hours or so till we arrive in Mendoza, wine country of Argentina woop woop!
Whilst in cordoba we visited a number of museums, explored the city, and spent some time doing nothing in the park! Oh and went for all you can eat yum! We also found orange flavoured smirnoff and drank it with fanta grapefruit liltalicious!
On one occasion we took a bus to a small town in the sierras with the prospect of visiting che Guevara's childhood home! When we arrived we found a sorry for itself tribute to the rascal and rebel, the house he lived in for all of 5 years and the museum was a few reproductions of family pictures and a few maps! The only plus was a real life autograph from Hugo chaves and fidel Castro!
From cordoba we travelled to villa Carlos Paz! A small town dubbed the las Vegas of Argentina, the only thing I can see in common with las Vegas is it has more than one casino and sells loads of home made t-shirts! oh and a giant cuckoo clock! In Carlos Paz we did manage to hike up a small "mountain" and got some impressive views over the whole town. And we had ice cream, 2 waffle cones 5 scoops of ice cream came to less than £2!
Currently on the top deck front seats of a bus to Mendoza, great view of the setting sun, and a good way to spot the emerging nights stars! A few close encounters involving scooters not moving quick enough and the bus almost giving them a helping hand! The road we have taken so far is similar to the snake pass, lots of twists and turns through the sierras! There's a Brazilian film on the tv spoken in Portuguese and Spanish subtitles, makes for interesting viewing (2 filhos de Francisco if you are interested)
One thing makes this bus journey different! The buses are usually freezing but tonight both of us are radiating heat due to the sun burn attained today walking near the lake in Carlos Paz!
Well 9 hours or so till we arrive in Mendoza, wine country of Argentina woop woop!
Tuesday, 12 October 2010
A few small Pictures
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| Copacobana Beach |
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| Christo(Rio) |
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| Ilha Grande |
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| Waterfall Ilha Grande |
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| Paraty River |
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| Botanical Gardens Curitiba |
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| Paraty |
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| Iguaca Falls(Brazilian) |
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| Katie @ Iguaca |
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| Oscar Niemayer Museum |
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| Iguaca Falls(Brazilian) |
Sunday, 10 October 2010
Don't do that there!!!
Ok so a long while since we posted anything! So Sao paulo was a huge place, Paulista avenue the new business centre of the city had a very American feel lots of highrise buildings, and clearly separated blocks! The old centre has some very picturesque buildings, but there's also a large homeless population which is clearly visible!
After a week in Sao Paulo we took a trip further south to a smaller but older city called Curitiba! In Curitiba we took an open top bus ride around the city taking in all the sights and stopping the see the botanical gardens and tangui park, we also visited the uniquely styles Oscar niemayer museum which houses a collection of architectural designs by the man himself! It was in Curitiba we had our first wierdo experience, a guy who could speak as much English as we can Portuguese decided to talk to us with what seems like the intent to to get one or both of our phone numbers, we finished our drinks and ran into the dark wet night away from him!
A 10hr overnight bus found us in foz do iguaca, the Brazilian side of the worlds "widest" waterfall, widest being a cheat seeing as they are made up by 270+ falls, the pictures don't do the place justice, the shear force of nature is unbelievable. We crosses the border into Argentina to see what their side of the falls had to offer, while more organised and tourist centred the views on offer where nowhere near as spectacular as the braIlian side!
After the stay in foz we headed across the paraguayian border, only for us to realise the bus doesn't necessarily stop at the border so we had to jump off the bus and walk back to get our exit stamp, in the meantime the bus had left leaving us to walk across the bridge of friendship and into paraguayian customs!
Ciudad del este is just one huge Market where the worlds pirates hang out! You name it they probably have a copy of it! From clothes to shoes, from iPods to slypads, one chap would even embroider the logo you wanted whilst you waited!
From ciudad we headed 6 hrs, for a tenner, on the bus to asuncion with the treat of badly dubbed Spanish movies blazing over the buses speakers, upon arriving at the bus terminal and waiting in trepidation at what we hoped was the right bus stop into centro! Eventually the bus came and we hopped on expecting a 10-15min bus ride, oh no half an hour later we where still on the bus heading past a "picturesque" local square, filled with tarpalling tents, and shoeless vagrants, and surprise surprise 2 blocks later was our hostel!
Asuncion didn't really offer much and the 6 nights spent there was overkill, especially after night 4 seeing a middle aged woman pissing in the gutter of a busy street! Only saving grace was the recommendation of the brittAnia pub, a proper bar serving reasonably cheap beer, and playing Brit-pop from all decades!
So now in cordoba, possibly the most European city we have been to so far, loads of bars and clubs(there are 9 universities in the city)! The bus ride here was a drag, 1 bus took 6 or so hours b4 we had to change onto our night bus, this bus creaked at every bump in the road, which where frequent as every road on the 12 hour journey was seemingly a cobbled street! Also the numerous snorees nearby did not help and the occasional sleep induced fart! Our first night in cordoba was fun we walked to the main square to find a wedding coming out of the cathedral, @ 10pm! And for a soundsystem getting set up in the square, apparently for a tango display, but imagine our surprise when the "display" was a load of local oldies who come out every Saturday night to dance in the square, just like being in the legion on a Saturday night! One couple, then chap about 85, would of put the celebs on come dancing to shame!
Well of out to explore the other surprises cordoba has instore!
After a week in Sao Paulo we took a trip further south to a smaller but older city called Curitiba! In Curitiba we took an open top bus ride around the city taking in all the sights and stopping the see the botanical gardens and tangui park, we also visited the uniquely styles Oscar niemayer museum which houses a collection of architectural designs by the man himself! It was in Curitiba we had our first wierdo experience, a guy who could speak as much English as we can Portuguese decided to talk to us with what seems like the intent to to get one or both of our phone numbers, we finished our drinks and ran into the dark wet night away from him!
A 10hr overnight bus found us in foz do iguaca, the Brazilian side of the worlds "widest" waterfall, widest being a cheat seeing as they are made up by 270+ falls, the pictures don't do the place justice, the shear force of nature is unbelievable. We crosses the border into Argentina to see what their side of the falls had to offer, while more organised and tourist centred the views on offer where nowhere near as spectacular as the braIlian side!
After the stay in foz we headed across the paraguayian border, only for us to realise the bus doesn't necessarily stop at the border so we had to jump off the bus and walk back to get our exit stamp, in the meantime the bus had left leaving us to walk across the bridge of friendship and into paraguayian customs!
Ciudad del este is just one huge Market where the worlds pirates hang out! You name it they probably have a copy of it! From clothes to shoes, from iPods to slypads, one chap would even embroider the logo you wanted whilst you waited!
From ciudad we headed 6 hrs, for a tenner, on the bus to asuncion with the treat of badly dubbed Spanish movies blazing over the buses speakers, upon arriving at the bus terminal and waiting in trepidation at what we hoped was the right bus stop into centro! Eventually the bus came and we hopped on expecting a 10-15min bus ride, oh no half an hour later we where still on the bus heading past a "picturesque" local square, filled with tarpalling tents, and shoeless vagrants, and surprise surprise 2 blocks later was our hostel!
Asuncion didn't really offer much and the 6 nights spent there was overkill, especially after night 4 seeing a middle aged woman pissing in the gutter of a busy street! Only saving grace was the recommendation of the brittAnia pub, a proper bar serving reasonably cheap beer, and playing Brit-pop from all decades!
So now in cordoba, possibly the most European city we have been to so far, loads of bars and clubs(there are 9 universities in the city)! The bus ride here was a drag, 1 bus took 6 or so hours b4 we had to change onto our night bus, this bus creaked at every bump in the road, which where frequent as every road on the 12 hour journey was seemingly a cobbled street! Also the numerous snorees nearby did not help and the occasional sleep induced fart! Our first night in cordoba was fun we walked to the main square to find a wedding coming out of the cathedral, @ 10pm! And for a soundsystem getting set up in the square, apparently for a tango display, but imagine our surprise when the "display" was a load of local oldies who come out every Saturday night to dance in the square, just like being in the legion on a Saturday night! One couple, then chap about 85, would of put the celebs on come dancing to shame!
Well of out to explore the other surprises cordoba has instore!
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