SALTA- road trip

Went on an amazing road trip down the iconic route 40 in Argentina...check out the pics...



Road to Cachi



Open road



Spacious



Cactus



On the road







Our hostel





Add caption





Quilmes ruins





Route 68





Salta



Puerto Igauzo

So! I have finally put some pics into the other blogs so back track a bit and you will be able to see the photos. Because i have lost my camera I can´t put any my own photos up and all the photos are on Tasha´s account. So if you fancy seeing the whole array of photos then I would add Tash Lippold as a friend...she will love it!

Anyway...we got away from horrible BA on another horrifically long bus journey all the way up to Puerto Igauzo and arrived in the nicest hostel ever! the hostel owner was so lovely and helpful I wanted to give him a massive hug! But we were starving arriving off the bus because they didn´t feed us so went for the largest meal EVER! literally was so stuffed i had to lie down afterwards.  We had a really friendly hostel and everyone spoke english, we met some lovely Israel people, english, Belgium and it was a really good vibe in the hostel.  On our first day we went down to go and look from a viewing point and from there you could see Paraguay, Brazil which was really cool.  And in the evening we went down to watch the sunset and met another english girl called Ruth...she turned out to be really cool northern girl and so we invited her on our travels to Paraguay the next day!

2 countries from one viewpoint ..Brazil to right..Paraguay to left

We decided to go to Paraguay because i wanted to get a new camera and Paraguay is the best place for cheap electrical goods so off we went to Paraguay. We got the local bus that takes you out of Argentina through Brazil but you don´t stop and then into Paraguay. We got our stamps and went to the first electrical store! It was a manic place, people everyone, vendors shouting at you, food stalls, every kind of electrical item you could ever need in your life! So we were quite snappy about our trip because it was quite overwhelming. 

Then we had to exit Paraguay cross over the bridge and enter Brazil , more stamps! my passport is looking very well travelled now. And from the Brazil side we went to go and see the massive dam they have shared between Paraguay and Brazil.  Its called Itaipu dam and it took about 16 years to build. IT is absolutely enormous and the tour we were on took us around, got to take some photos and see it all. Which was a really cool little trip, but we had forgotten that we needed Brazilian R so buying things was a little tricky. After that we exited Brazil to re enter Argentina again. So in one day we crossed 2 borders which is pretty epic but extremely tiring!

Itaipu Dam

The next day was the trip to the water falls itself. The day started out fairly muggy and cloudy but it started to clear up and we had gorgous sunshine in the afternoon. The waterfalls itself were amazing.  Really cool and the argentinan side had a really well planned out park to take you around to see it all from viewing platforms as well as going up close to the Devils mouth. You got soaked by the spray which was really fun and there were loads of school kids screaming every time a big spray came over so you felt like you could do that same!!

2 small waterfalls

Igauzo

Very wet after going close to the waterfalls

So we spent a half day there at the waterfalls. We would have spent longer but there had been big rains so that water in the waterfall basin was really high and we couldn´t go across to this small island or go the waterfalls to swim which was a real shame.  However, our new budding friendship with Ruth has meant that we all travelled together from Igauzo to Salta.  On our bus journey we met 2 other travellers who we are now planning a little road trip to Cafyate.  But seeing as we have just arrived need to have a shower first, brush my teeth , probably need to wash some clothes and generally make myself feel human again!  All for now. J xxx

Buenos Aires

We arrived into Buenos Aires after a 24hr bus which was REALLY long! The bus company that we went with, Andesmar were actually really good and we got food throughout our 24hr bus journey starting with a cake and tea and we had dinner, breakfast and yet more cake and coffee! Positively comfortable.

Arriving to our hostel was a different matter. The hostel was dark, dirty and pretty disgusting...but we thought that as we had had such luck with all our other hostels it would be alright so booked in for 4 nights and went out for dinner in the cool district of palermo where everyone sits out in the streets, drinking, chatting etc and listening to live music which was pretty fun and we went to bar with some pool tables....it all started so well!

The next day we went into the city centre not really having a clue where the hostel was and where we were meant to be going.  Buenos Aires is large, sprawling, has loads of dog poo on the streets and can be beautiful and modern but at the same time a big dirty city...so we headed for the main city centre to see the catedral and the main shopping centre party...tash got very excited about all the shops along florida street which we wandered along.  we stopped at the end and tash had realised that her /70 pound watch had fallen off her wrist so we had to charge back along the street to try and find it to no avail. both of ours spanish is pretty basic and even the police were no help.

So we decided to get out of the city centre and head down to the very cool and chic area of la boca which is where the massive football statium is and its where tango is and all the colourful buildings you expect from B.A. we had a wander around there and had lunch...and it was really cool area.. lots of street art and a really good vibe.

La Boca

We then got the bus back to the centre and we wanted to go and see the cemetary in Recoleta which is meant to be amazing, with all these elaborate graves...but on the way to this place we got played by these thiefs who took off with my bag...yep pretty awful..but very common and we were pretty much text book robbery...they sprayed some stuff on our backs then separated us from our bags..they even had to drag tash away from the bags and then took off with mine...so i was pretty pissed off - more at myself for being a complete idiot.

So then we had to go through the whole performance of getting the police report, telling insurance etc...we had to wait until monday...and tash wasn't that keen to do anything on sunday but i managed to convince her to go out and so we did actually get to see the cemetary which was really cool and there was a small market nearby it...i just wanted to spend as much time as possible away from the hostel which was really not nice because the roomy of ours kept smoking weed all the time so it gave me a massive headache!!! so we didn't really have a good trip at all to B.A .

By the time we sorted out the new card i have to get sent out to me, the police report all Tash and i wanted to do was to get out of B.A. so we booked ourselves a bus out to Puerto Iguazu which we promtly got on our bus and drove through the thunderstorm away from the nasty big city!!!

So now in Iguazu which is where one of the biggest waterfalls in the world is and we are planning a little trip to go over to Paraguay because apparently they have cheap electrical goods which i need then go to the falls the next day so i can go snap happy once again. we are also staying in the nicest hostel ever and they are super helpful with all the directions so its really nice to feel safe again!

So had a pretty bad couple of days but hopefully everything is sorted again now and we can get on and put that behind us. All of now. J xxx

Argentina - El Calafate, Chalten, Bariloche

El Calafate turned out to be really cool place to visit.  After the trauma of almost not getting into Argentina our hostel I Ken Keu put on a feast of  a BBQ for our first night and everyone in the hostel all stayed in that night to eat and OD on meat! Literally the biggest feast of meat i have ever had all washed down with red wine! simply delicious! I have a really good photo of it but the internet/computer won't let me add it! so sorry about that.

The thing to see though in Calafate is the Perito Moreno glacier which is GIGANTIC!! i took the cheaper option and just went for a few hours to walk around the platforms they have set up near the glacier which was pretty incredible. Just out of this world big. you feel very small and insignificant! So we did that for a day and then also joined up with an Irish man called Richard to go walking in a nearby national park *3 hrs away! which was stunning, blue sky, sun, definately feel that summer is on the way now.  The walking was quite hard because it was mostly uphill but really worth while and gorgeous views of Fitz Roy - one of the prominant peaks.


Puerto Moreno Glacier

We had a bit of a mare on our last day. Tash and I lost each other in town, i was sending postcards and she was getting money out and then tash had forgotten her card, lost money, and with only 1 hr before our bus was leaving had not checked out of the hostel! slightly tense...... then the bus journey itself turned out to be a real nightmare because there was this really irrating little child on board that did not shut up for most of the 20 hr journey! i was about to kill it!! i also managed to get a chair that didn't recline properly so i was sitting upright for most of the time which was not nice!

Fitz Roy peaks

anyhoo! we got to Puerto Madyrn which is further up Argentina on the coast.  We are slowly m aking our way up from the south and Patagonia region.  This is a fairly boring town and the main attraction is the whales and as a not very animal watching person i wasn't exactly excited about this place.  however we had  a really good hostel which had super fast internet and we could lounge around and watch movies.  We did go and see the whales but rather than paying a ridicilous amount we hired bikes and bumped along a very gravelly road to sit on a gorgeous beach and saw some whales off the beach...got 2 photos! that was it.

moving swifly onwards to Bariloche which is kinda similar to Pucon but much bigger is the capital of the lake district of Argentina and one of the most beautiful places we have been so far.  Its a bit like being in Swizaland because of all the wooden chalet houses, chocolate shops and snow capped mountains and beautiful likes.  we spend one day walking up to 2 glaciers, one white and one black, which was really nice,,,full day out with a long walk and great photos. we made friends with a french guy called Remy who joined us. he also joined us for the biking the next day which was a highlight of the trip so far.  it was very hilly...which was challenging but the views were to die for.  if you like outdoors, adventure activities of any kind this is your place. skiing in the winter and excellent walking and biking in teh summer. it was my favourite day so far.

Chico Circuito bike ride around the lakes near Bariloche

so its 3 weeks in to the day and we have made it from Santiago south to Patagiona, and now back up again. We have travelled distance wise a VERY long way! but it hasn't seemed rushed or anything.  there is so much to do in Argentina that i think we will be here for another couple of weeks.  Next stop is Buenos Aires on a 24 hr bus from Bariloche ! YAY! sorry about the lack of photos i will try and sort that out when we get better computers. all for now. J xxx

Navimag - Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales

Having left Pucon and all the activities we got on a bus , about 6 hrs, to get us down to Puerto Montt to catch the Navimag ferry that takes you all the way down to Puerto Natales in Southern Chile in the Patagonia region.  We didn´t really know what to expect from the Navimag ferry having heard some rumours about bingo nights and other questionable entertainment.  However the Navimag passed all expectations..for those people wishing to travel slow this 3 day ferry ride is pretty cool and turned out to be a lot of fun.

Navimag ferry!

We were the last ones to check in and last onto the boat as well and having only booked the cheapest tickets we were expecting to be put in a corridor for the 3 days with no window in the bottom of the ferry somewhere.  However, we got lucky...the manager of the ferry saw us and another girl who was sharing near us and because the ferry was very empty we were able to upgrade for free to a cabin for just the 2 of us with a window...luxury! Our new friend Eva, a German girl, who spoke really good spanish became our new partner in crime for this trip.  There wasn´t much to do on the boat bar talk to everyone, walk around the decks and eat.  Eating became a big part of our day and we got fed really well.  We were practically in a carb coma after every meal! And for some reason we were hungery every meal despite not doing a lot in between. 

But the scenery was amazing...passing through narrow passageways, snow capped mountains, birds and the odd water puff from a whale we had lots to see.  we also made friends with other people on the boat including some local Chilean army men who were taking some 10 horses down to Puerto Arenas for a competition.  After some bonding over photos we got to go down to the lower deck, which we weren´t meant to do and go and see the horses! We got to feed them and take pictures. However their English wasn´´t good and our spanish, apart from Eva was rubbish so sign language was the only means of communication!

Cold ferry ride

day 2 we got to get off the boat and see a small village of 250 people which is located in the middle of all these islands called Puerto Eden...we had to wear the oldest looking lifejackets, it was questionable whether they would actually keep you afloat or not.. but it was good to get off the boat and go for a walk around and it made you appreciate living in England!!

However the highlight of the ferry ride had to be the disco we had at the end...i know , who would have thought it! we were meant to have a bingo night but Percy our guide had told us that there were no prizes...but instead there was a disco.  Imagine a lounge area on a ferry with most people sitting down enjoying their evening and a few select people, me, tash, eva, another german guy called stephan and the army men all dancing the night away! it was great fun.. they introduced us to pisca cola which is the local drink plus coke cola...actually quite nice...we also got taught how to dance and every idea i had about latin american men dancing was pretty spot on..they have magic hips! it was hilarious to them that we couldn´t dance and we found it hilarious that we were even trying!

Our new friend Eva

Anyway, after all that we disembarked...we were the last ones off  because we were chatting for so long we didn´t realise that we could get off! We stayed with our friends Eva and Stephan who were preparing to do the W trek in Torres del Paine and Tash and I booked our bus out to El Calafate in Argentina.

Getting to El Calafate involved a border crossing which I didn´t really think about..i had my passport i was all fine...however, when we got to the border control to get out of Chile disaster struck! i had lost an all important piece of paper that turned out to be my visa for Chile which i needed to get out of CHile!!!!! well that were lots of umm and ahhhing - i held up the queue! i started to worry...tash thought she had lost her piece of paper too but then found it! such drama...anyway, turns out you can just fill in another piece of paper and pretend that you never lost it at all so no fuss there...had to then check into argentina and get our stamp and we were on our way again. arriving into El Calafate around lunchtime to get into our adorable hostel called Keu Ken...it has the most beautiful views across the lake and its from here that we are going to go and see Perito Moreno glacier....and other adventures!

hopefully going to add the photos in later...all for now. J xxx

Pucon part 2

Hi Everyone! Apparently there have been 433 views of my blog so far which is frankly amazing and astonishing ' pls keep reading and any comments would be lovely. 

Pucon has been a mixed bag so far in terms of weather! rain, sun, cold hot etc.  But the day we decided to trek up a 2800m volcano it turned out to be sunny.  And while this might sound lovely it was actually fairly annoying.  Firstly we were really hot, and secondarily we couldn't slide as fast on the way down.  Yes the way to get down involved a tobogan! So we set off at 6-45 AM to get our kit on for the hiking which included waterproof trousers, coat, gaters, muff, helmet and crampons.drove up to the point where we had to start walking and started! now i hadn't really read much about the whole hiking part of the volcano and didn't realise how hard it would be.  It was REALLY hard! walking through think snow for over 6 hrs! And it was only up! However I did manage to make it which was highly satisfying but it was really cold at the top so we got there and basically turned around straight away! The best part about walking up and getting to the top of Volcano Villarrica was the going down.  You get to tobogan down which is the coolest thing EVER! OMG i have never gone so fast in my life and it was soooooo fun!"

The day after conquering the volcano my legs were shattered...They hurt, ached and pretty much decided not to work! Getting out of bed was difficult.  So I decided to have a rest day and read my kindle which was really nice.  The hostel. that we are staying in has a lovely woodburner fire so keep you warm and its delicious! Picture below is me, the pickaxe and tobogan ..ready for the descent!


After my day of rest, Tash went white water rafting. We went on another hike into the Huerquehue National Park which was stunning.  We were really lucky with the weather and we had sun the whole way and we trekked up a massive mountain to get so these really beautiful lakes and had the place all to ourselves. having lunch on the edge of the lake. We had our little packed lunch and made our way slowly back down where we bumped into this English couple we had met 2 nights previously and sat chatting to them for 2 hrs before the bus home turned up. Picture below is the 2nd lake we went to and the lake where we had our lunch.
























On our last day in Pucon we were going to go to the hot springs but decided that our time was better spent shopping! Also tash is feeling a bit under the weather so shopping seemed like a sensible way to spend the day!!

Next stop is Puerto Mott which is ferry terminal town where we are going to pick up our ferry down to Puerto Natales in Patagonia.  The ferry is taking us through all the islands off Chile which should be cool and we have met several travellers already who are going on the say ferry as us so should be a banterous trip!
Pucon has been a really nice start to our adventures, despite the rain and now after 5 days here I'm looking forward to going south to Patagonia! All for now. J xxx

Santiago..Pucon1

 So...we arrived. In south america...In Santiago and we were expecting some sun Im not going to lie but it was actually a bit cloudy. We were lucky enough to know someone in Santiago to stay with.  He is a shipping family friend and it was amazing to stay with an english speaking person for the first few days and Harry and his girlfriend Quitterie really spoilt us rotten! we got taken out to really nice restaurants, drank lovely wine and cocktails, literally living the dream in Santiago and got to meet all their really lovely friends as well.  We got taken to the most amazing sushi restaurant...my mouth is watering at the thought of it now..and we saw LMFAO in a cool club in a hotel in Santiago! it was pretty random but really fun..neither of us packing going out clothes so our attire was questionable considering we were in a pretty smart club..but heyho!

  In between all this socialising we did manage to get to see Santiago and I have attached a few photos below to give you a picture of what it was like. slashing cancel that the internet is not loving me at the moment..you will just have to wait! hah!  There isnt really much to Santiago for tourists.  We walked around, saw most things in the city centre and the park but what made our time there were Harry and Quitterie.  So having ticked Santiago off the list of things to see we headed South to Pucon.  Pic below is panoramic of Santiago.

 





Pucon is activity central.  After our first long bus which was 11 hrs overnight on a semi cameo bed which was frankly incredible.  You are practically flat and once you get over the nosiy snoring and how overheated you are its lovely.

So Pucon...its not the best time to go and see Pucon because of it being the spring time here and so it was a bit rainy when we arrived but this did not deter us from venturing out into the wilderness and going horse riding.  Now Ive ridden a horse before, back when i was 11. add 10 years on and i don{t think i have got any better at it.  the one cool thing was we got to wear a poncho! which was awesome. my horse decided that it wanted to lead so i spend most of my time ahead talking to no one...it was just me, Tash and the guide. While Tash had a guided tour of the flora and fauna in broken spanish and bonded with the lovely Chilian guide i was trooping ahead with our ride! It was still really fun...we got to canter which was kinda scary and have a local meal at the end. 

Pic below PONCHO enough said!



Needless to say that after a sleep lacking night bus and a LOT of fresh air we were pooped by the time we got back to the hostel and crashed out...no late night, not wild parties...just the kindle and bed! this needs to change!

However the first few days here in Pucon have been lovely..the rest will come later, including our trek up Volanco Villarrica. All for now. xx