We finally arrived in Argentina after a very round the loop flight path from Quito. Have you ever been on a flight for only 35 minutes, dropped half the passengers off (while you stayed on the plane) and then just kept on flying? Very odd.
Puerto Iguazu was our first destination, of course to marvel in the stupendous Iguazu Falls. The water, ever so calmy streams down the river, and then suddenly the earth falls away and it roars down into the Devils Throat. Every so often there is a huge spray of water from the mouth of the falls and everyone gets soaked!
The roaring Devil`s Throat!
Some more waterfalls...
And a pretty rainbow!
In Puerto Iguazu we were also successful in getting a Brazilian visa! Yay! And sampling the first of many delicious empanadas and gigantic ice-creams. It was also the beginning of many long bus trips!
A very happy man with his Brazilian visa!
B is for Brazil
Visa in hand, we crossed the boarder bound for the bum bearing beach of Copacabana in Rio De Janeiro. It delivered! We have never seen so much cellulite in our lives! There were definitely a good share of Brazilian Beauties, but there should be full brief bikinis for grandmas. There was no bum bearing for Scara though! We said a little pray as we stood under Cristo Redentor to help digest the kilos and kilos of meat we were consuming.
Hydrating on Copacabana Beach
Also hydrating on Copacabana Beach, local style
Cristo Redentor spreading the love to Rio
As U2 descended on Sao Paulo with all its fans, so did we. It made finding accommodation extremely difficult; it was such a hassle settling for a hotel instead of a dorm for a couple of days! The city is much bigger than Rio, so we had lots to explore. We visited the Football museum, practically a shrine to Brazilian soccer legends; in quite the spectacular setting under the stadium. Sara not quite being sick of markets yet, we meandered through a few, always titillating the tastebuds with more empanadas, African influenced dishes and tempura type pancakes. We flashed through Brazil, with the hope of one day going back for more.
Tasty tempura pancake
An art exhibition we stumbled across with an entire wall of post-it notes!
B is for Bolivia
We went back to Bolivia for part 2. It sounds like a bit of a round about trip, but some how it all made sense to us. Well Bolivia pulled out all it's tricks, including the entire country blockading every major entry point in and out of it's major cities. It made for interesting bus journeys, as we walked through blockades to swap buses and continue our travels. We visited a number of small towns along the way to our major destination of the Salt Flats, including Cochabamba, Sucre and Potosi; each having it's own unique charm. We joined a Frenchman, Englishman (its starting to sound like a joke...) and German woman for a 3 day jeep guided tour through the bumpy terrain of the south west Bolivia. We saw an ever changing landscape including the stunning Salt Flat sprayed with the water effects of wet season, red dessert, coloured lagoons, volcanos puffing smoke, train graveyard, the Valley of the Rocks and the Rock Tree, geysers, flamingos and wild llamas. At times it was simply breath taking.
Jumping for joy
Getting squashed!... like some of Sara's ridiculous jokes
Salt mounds at the flats
Sun burnt salt cracking
It looked like it would go on forever
The train grave yard
Sara on top of a huge rock in the Valley of the Rocks
Taking in the unbelievable setting
Stunning nature
Scott being all arty and stuff....
Mars - the red desert
A is for Argentina (again!)
Not quite experiencing the Argentinian way of life to the fullest quite enough the first time, we went straight to Mendoza; wine country! The Argentinas can make a very fine drop as we discovered. So we hired some bikes and peddled our way through a few boutique vineyards. Pretty soon we were very happy cyclist and sharing the narrow roads with shonky Argentinean drivers. Great way to see it all and favorite saying for the day was 'beautiful part of the world'.
Photographic evidence that Sara can ride a bike
Wine tasting!
Our final city in the Americas was Buenos Aires. We were really looking forward to settling into a city for a few days and celebrate the end of our South American Radventure. Buenos Aires did not disappoint! We choose a beautiful part of the city to base ourselves and enjoyed the very trendy European cafe culture of Palermo. The wide tree lined streets and trendy shops had Sara zig zagging down every street with constant 'Ohhh that's pretty!'
The luxury of 5 days in one place meant we had many lazy mornings, which often ended in going to a delicious bakery to devour some tasty empanadas. Highlights of BA would definitely include sipping a bottle of Mendoza wine in the beautiful parks around Palermo, getting caught up in the passion of the locals at a futbol match, finding some very funky pieces of art at the San Telmo street market, listening to a street Orchestra (again at San Telmo), watching some street tango, soaking up the small but impressive art museums all around BA, the strange stroll through the Recoleta cemetery (along with hundreds of other tourists, which makes the experience even weirder) and an interesting wander through downtown which takes you from the green palace to the pink house (very colourful in a number of ways!)
May I have this dance?
San Telmo Markets - reminds me of Rozelle Markets without an awesome coffee stand!
A little music at San Telmo Markets
Goooooooooooooooooaaaaaallll!!!!!!!
Happy hour in the park
Possibly the biggest highlight for us in Buenos Aires, however, has been the delicious food we have been able to enjoy! Apart from the mouth watering aforementioned empanadas, we made a daily pilgrimage to amazing ice cream shops all around BA to purchase a 1/4 kilo tub filled with ever changing, but always scrumptious flavours of ice cream (these included Vanilla, Chocolate, Chocolate Suisse, Chocolate Persicco, Frutilla, Frambuesa, Dulce de Leche, Americano, Menta Granizada, Coco del Crema, Cookies & Cream, Banana Split, the list goes on .... )
Ice-cream!
The other delectable delight we have enjoyed daily that melts in your mouth has been the Buenos Aires steaks. Nightly dinner trips to many of the phenomenal surrounding parrillas has meant many meals with unbeatable steaks cooked to perfection that ooze juicy flavour and another bout of meat sweats for Scott.
Mmmmm... tasty!
Ciao for now,
Scara
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