Week 8 and 9

We arrive in the morning in Rosario, we walked to the hostel that we had booked. After 30 mins of walking we realised that Rosario is quite a big place. We found the Hostel with help of two locals who were too helpful and walked us right to the door of the Hostel! We went inside said we had booked two beds for two nights, but no? They had no record of our booking and they had no room, as it turned out to be a holiday weekend. They kindly phone around other hostels but no luck. What shall we do? The receptionist then speaks to some guests having breakfast, he returns “we have one bed for tonight in their room then tomorrow is fine”, we take it.

That lucky break meant we could wondered around the city straight away, we saw the massive arch and monument commemorating their Independence (Carol fed a local dog again which at first didn’t want to eat the food i was given on the bus journey and didn’t want, but beggars can’t be choosers and it ate it after some persuasion), then we went to a museum of decorative objects and ornate decor which was interesting but I really liked that they played Crosby, Steals and Nash as we walked around.

In the afternoon we visited the two art galleries, Che Guevara’s house and walked down the river front. After a packed day we popped into a nice looking bar for tea and ate pasta and pizza washed down with a few beers, before returning to the hostel and the single bed that awaited us both.

 

Yes this is Beer in a Ice bucket and wine glasses!

The following day we visited a monument to Che and the local park, which was timed badly as a local football team was playing and their ground was in the park. After being disturbed we walked back to the hostel, to use the internet to plan the next day. That evening we ate out again, but the choice of food seemed a little lack lustring, so Carol had Pasta and I ate a plate of brown, a breadcrumbed steak and chips it was what the locals ate so I tried it. It was rubbish!

The following day with our plans to head to Tigre north of Buenos Aires and get a ferry to Uruguay, we headed to the bus station. On arriving and inquiring, the next available bus to Tigre was too late for the ferry. Suddenly we had a brain wave get a bus there? So we looked for a bus going close to the boarder of Uruguay. Gualguaychu! Getting two tickets there that left at 3 we had hours to kill. So with the change of plans we went to a cafe with WiFi to see if we made the right move. We spent the next 5 hours there rinsing the internet and eating and drinking a little.

So the new plan; we take the bus to Gualguaychu, spent one night there, then take a bus to Frey Bentos Uruguay. This plan went smoothly and was much cheaper than the other route. We got into Frey Bentos in the late afternoon, later than we thought as the hour changed and we didn’t realised. So with the incorrect time we walked as fast as we could to the Museum of Industrial Revolution, to us it was the old Meat Factory. Being late and not realising it we walked in and asked for a guide. One lady who spoke English kindly said she would but we had to wait till her colleague left as she was not meant to do a tour at the hour we had arrived. The tour was great, the factory was massive, the buildings all shabby and need of repair, the machines and spaces sat quietly in the knowledge of their past, 1600 cows and 4200 sheep killed per day boiled, minced, and tinned for our pleasure! After the we walked back into town feeling a little put off meat, but it was hard to avoid on this continent. Once again pasta was on the menu for tea and a bit of meat!

The Slaughter Room.

The following day we got the bus to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. Checked in at the Hostel Impeccable! Which to our surprise was (for our experience so far outside of Brazil) a clean and nice hostel. We spent about 2 days wandering around the city, which was pleasant, affordable and seemed a nice place to live.

 

But on we went and from here we took a ferry to Buenos Aires.

In Buenos Aires we stayed in the Ritz Hotel (Hostel), in the Centre of town, the hostel was nice but a bit dirty. As we settled in we met one of our room-mates a guy called John from Canada, he spoke of the city and as the conversation went on he turned it into a monologue of his thoughts of how the world is going to end and how all this information was given to him via the Bible and God, at this point me and Carol were thinking right how do we stop this guy talking without being rude and leave for some food. 45 minutes later the conversation is at a point to leave, so we ran!

Over the next few days we explored the city, seeing more Art exhibitions, Tango dancers, local markets, the spring celebrations, Italian settlers celebrations and a memorial to the fallen in the Falklands war.

 

Buenos Aires was fantastic but we had to leave Argentina is an expensive country.

We left on a night bus for Patagonia, Puerto Madryn. We arrived there in the afternoon grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed out to organise are few days, hopefully to see Whales, Elephants Seals, Sea Lions and Penguins. We decided to rent a car for the following day for two days.

The next morning we picked the car up at 9 and off we went, first to the Peninsula Valdes, here we spent the day, driving gravel roads for over 200km. The views were amazing, we got to see a few Elephant Seals, Sea lions and an Armadillo. That evening we camped on the Peninsula that evening we walked to the shore to see whales jumping out the water on the horizon.

 

 In the morning we headed to a beach to see more Whales, we had to get up early as they get close to the shore at high tide. We made it there in good time, we and got to see three of them swimming no more than 30m from the shore. We watched for about an hour before we had to hit the road once again, this time for the Penguin colony. At just under 200km we arrived just before noon. We entered the park, and were amazed by the number of Penguins. They were nesting, some up to a mile off shore. The views were brilliant we got so close to the Penguins as they watched over their nests or sun bathed. We spent two hours in the reserve after there we hit the road for a small town just south of Puerto Madryn called Gaiman. Gaiman is a Welsh settlement town so we headed there for a Welsh tea. Getting a bit lost on the way we arrived there later than we wanted, feeling it was a bit late we went into the first tea house we found, but this wasn’t what we expected and had tea slightly disappointed by the ‘Te Gales’ we had as it was very simple. Leaving feeling a little disappointed but happy, we walked down the street a bit further to find a sign advertising a Welsh Tea, we went in to find this was the real deal, so like good tourists we sat down and had Tea one more time. The cakes they served were nice i really enjoyed the Lemon Meringue pie and Apple pie, which reminded me of home. Finishing feeling a little caked out we set off again back to Puerto Madryn to return the car.

 Not Happy @ Te Gales

Much Better, look at the cosy!

 

The following day we got our next bus south to Rio Gallagos then west to a small town El Calafate.

Week 7

The day we leave for Paraguay, the heavens opened. We got drench getting to the bus for the boarder. We finally get to immigration get our passports stamped then, what? Where do we get the bus from? With no clear bus stop we decide to walk over the bridge in the rain. It was a long way down and the bridge had no real fencing for my liking!

We get across no problems, get stamped into Paraguay and into Cuidad del Este, this place was a chaos, it is a shopping centre for Brazilians, tax free goods at less than half the price! We on the other hand were having non of this in the rain "TAXI", straight to the bus station and out of town to Asuncion the capital.

The bus was busy with people standing in the isles, 6 hours of playing Sardines we find ourselves in Asuncion. One bus to the hostel and we are there, but no one answered the bell? suddenly a women comes from down the road saying she will phone the woman for us? 10 mins later a woman arrives to let us into the "hostel", no reception or anyone watching over the place it felt like a shabby flat, not a hostel. We pay and she leaves, we then find out the internet doesn't work, it has no fridge, we try and use the phone to contact the woman but it also doesn't work!

We dealt with it and over the following few days we explored Asuncion in 42 degress of heat! Seeing the city centre and a local town known for its ceramics, so good we didn't take one picture! We ate local food, one type which was like a scotch egg but made solely with chicken was nice.

After two days of heat we were defeated, and south we went to Encarnacion, the boarder town with Argentina.

Arriving in Encarnacion we found a hotel to stay, sorted ourselves out then came to leave to find the heavens opening! and it rained! Unable to leave the hotel we sat in the lobby using the free WiFi to plan are next move.  The following day we headed to some Jesuit renions outside of Encarnacion in a small village called Trinidad. We were the only ones there and explored the large grounds of this missionary site, which gave us chance to really take in the whole environment. It was an impressive place.

Later that day we went back to the hotel to collect our bags and off we went to Argentina and the town of Posadas.

We spent our time in Posadas relaxing in the main square and going to two Galleries containing what can only be describe as BA level paintings and thats being nice! The town was lovely and we really got a sense of wealth from the place.

Two nights then, south we head Rosario the next port of call!

Week 6

We arrive in Bonito, and it doesn't look so beautiful! We check in to our hostel and plan the following day. After a little deliberation we decide on the snorkeling down the Rio de Prata.
We take a cab to the park in which the river is situated, the road on the way there was crazy, shifting from Tarmac to mud on several occasions. We make it in one piece, wetsuit up and off we go.

We were drove to a point from which we had to walk through a forest, the walk was longer than we wanted as our wetsuits were very ill-fitting and uncomfortable! We get in the river and jump in, (the river it self is former by three natural springs which we got to swim over it looked like the sand bottom was boiling over) swimming in the first pool of the first spring we got to see lots of amazing fish and we swam over a 4m long Anaconda. After the pool we head down stream, swimming with loads of fish and getting close to a metre long Cayman. What an experience! But sorry no photos we couldn't be arsed paying for a waterproof camera.

The following day we relaxed, ate, then hit the road one more time for Foz do Iguacu. The bus journey didn't go to plan however, the connection didn't turn up so we had to wait 6 hours in a cold bus station for this bus, that was a slower route and didn't quite get us to our destination. 23 hours on the road we make it to Foz.

From the bus terminal to the hostel everything goes great, with help from a local saying when to get off the bus. We go to check in but the hosteler(?) was not prepared after having been away for a few days and the person left in charge messed things up. On the owners advice we head straight to the Brazilian side of the water falls. in the rush we forgot our camera so sorry no photos, but the panoramic views of the over 200 water falls were immense. But the best was still to come off to the Argentinian side the next day, we couldn't wait!

Getting the tour just after breakfast, we were the last to be picked up in the minibus. The guide sorted out all the boarder issues which was great and we cruised to the falls (with a slight detour to the three country point where you can see Brazil, Paraguay and stand in Argentina all divided by two rivers).
The tour started with the train to the first drop in the water falls called 'the Devils Throat', walking on a raised gangway we walked to a platform situated over the top over the falls. The view was breath taking, seeing the calm river suddenly plummet into a furry of white water vapour, with a thunderous sound. After this we got the train back to two path ways which went over and below a large part of the falls, it is hard to explaning how this felt , but I came up with the analogy of the brazilian view being mash potatoe (a stable, nessary item) the path ways being the sausages (good ones non of your richmond mushy shit!) and the devils throat the onion gravy!

 Devils throat above 3

 Local butterflies they liked my sweety skin!

What a great week, and goodbye Brazil.

Hello Paraguay and trying to speak Spanish!