Argentina

Mendoza and Salta likewise as Patagonia is a must for most Argentina visitors and the climate is great and there is much to do.
Already the journey from Chile (8hrs on the bus during the days) takes us through amazing landscapes and country side.

Mendoza is the wine factory of Argentina. 80% of the countries production is here. Most of it is not for export as the locals just finish it and hence, next to horse riding, paragliding we decide for the half day winetour. Some funny people on the tour, but managed to buy a bottle for $15 (15 pesos = 2.5 pounds) which can´t be bought other than in the United States due to a binding 5 year contract the bodega has signed...there is is sold @ 70 dollars the bottle. Probably the poshest bottle we had our entire life. Being shattered after a 18 hrs bus journey to Salta we just had it in our hostel and i needed a nap afterwards. Not used to alcohol anymore or...

Well, the local drink in Chile was the Pisco sour. Kind of a grappa, served in a prosecco glas with lime juice and some nice sugar topping around the glas. Nice one ! BUT defininitely lethal as so yumm !

Activities and Mendoza: just arriving we had the same spiel as in many other places that the first day the weather is dissapointing and hence we don´t get a feeling for the place after day one. Day by day the weather improves, we extend the stay in the hostels and end up being nearly 5 days in Mendoza and even 7 days in Salta where it is finally boiling hot. What a difference as we got so jealous that you lot were doing BBQs in April in the UK, Switzerland and Germany.

Day1: To enjoy our time we rent bikes and go to the local Zoo which was really nice as it is located in the huge San Martin Park

Day2: Horse Riding. How lazy are these boys. Still a nice and easy trip as we ride up and down some nice mountains. I must admit i was looking for a little bit of action on these nice animals, but it wasn´t meant to be. Saw some really ugly dog though, apparently a mexican creature, not sure whether the locals were just taking the micky telling us chistes..ANYWAY, it the story made perfectly sense to us and we were entertained.

Day3: Winetasting (1 industrial bodega, organic olive oil factory - bought some nice stuff for my skin here, organic bodega). This is only a half trip and really interesting as well. Originally, we intended to do the bike & wine tour, but somehow nobody we met was raving about it, hence we gave it a miss

Day4: Paragliding. Now this was a hightlight as it was the first high adrenaline activity for me. Flew from approximately 1600m, luckily my instructor was a professional who is parapeting for more than 24 years and also flies a lot of competitions. We did some acrobatic stunts and some attempts of freefalls. Wasn´t scared which helped and really loved these 20min in the air, but must admit, i am done on it for a while as i got a little bit sick and wasn´t sure whether i would make it...(not pucking). It is the same as sea sickness and if you have ever spent any time on a boat with me, you know what i am talking about.

All in all, we leave Mendoza on a high, even with some little disasters on hostels....not worth boring you on those though....

Next stop SALTA
Didn´t really think to much about Salta the day we arrived. Yes, exactly, it was too cold again. We intended to stay for a couple of days, but once we changed hostels, met some nice people, waited for good weather, we did change our mind. There is loads to do here and no wonder this is one of the MUST places for people to visit. The original plan was to hire a car and do our first tour, driving ourselves to Cachi and Cafayate, but we headed for some adventure first.

Canopy, gosh this is so much fun. It is also called something similar to tyroling or so. Basically it involves you being connect to a zip and a carabiner and off you go from one moutain to the other crossing rivers, lakes or hills. We did this tour with an Argentinan super woman and her daughter and managed to converse in castelano for 2 whole days as they were on our other trip as well. Well, we got invited to an asado, BBQ, when we return to Buenos Aires, so it was worth the pain.

Downhill moutain biking. Again what a trip, we just loved it. We drove to the national park, stopped at the top and headed downhill for the next 5 hours, occassionally stopping to gain breath, have some food, have a chat and finished 45km later on a complete high !!!

The other days we just spent lazying around, Simon checking about every bar whether they would show the ManU Champions League game, which they lost so badly after all the hoo haa b4hand,...going for runs pretending to get fit and eating far too much in particular red meat, but in hinsight that was a wise thing b4 heading to our next adventure, BOLIVIA

It is quite late to go to Patagonia at this time of the year as it is pretty far south, but if not now when will we come again....so let´s make sure we get the best out of it now. Despite an early start of the winter as they say (it is still autumn) this whole area of Argentina is amazing. Pampa everywhere you turn. It is a rough country side, windy, lots of condors arounds and well why are we exactly here - of course to see the Perito Moreno Glacier and famous Fitz Roy mountain (never heard of it before the trip..but i am not an expert hiker as we know).

First stop: El Calafate... probably didn´t exist more than 50 years ago. Nice smallish touristy place and the gateway (80km) to the Parque Nationales des los Glaciares. We book a promo for the next day - Day 1 Trip to Perito Moreno with a short trekking - and Day 2 more glaciers Upsala, Spagezzi and the Bahia Orla on a Catamaran.

I can´t really add much comentary - i think the pictures talk for themselves. This is just an amazing, asthonishing and beautifull trip despite the freezing temperatures.

Next stop: El Chalten - four hours coach journey, the 3rd early morning in the row (really can´t do 6 o´clocks, always hated them) and we arrive in no mans land. 400 people live in this "village" off season, 2 people who live here are originally from this village, no paved streets, mobiles don´t work...it is cold, very cold and windy and why are we here ?? Trekking, i love it, Simon hates it, but needs to be done ! We know who is wearing the trousers ...only until i get socked in wet snow.

So, no bookings. You just get a map from the local rankers, take you backpack, some food and your legs and walk as much as you can to get to see Fitz Roy. Well we never managed it, our attempt has to be abadonned after we get soaked as we don´t have waterproof trousers and the snow is just too much. Nevermind, some of you got postcards...

Again, met some nice interesting people, bumped into people we met before and had an interesting time in this part of the world, but craving for at least warmer weather now, hence we head to Chile, Santiago de Chile via Buenos Aires as i found a good deal, only to pick up a new debit card in one of the many HSBCs in BA.

Well, hola again...i should really be writing in spanish going forward now that i mastered my 2 week spanish course (school was recommended to me by a SAP colleague from Germany and what surprise.. loads of german and swiss students hanging around).

BUT first things first:
Last days with mum:
Back from the Lake District, it is hostel time for Lejla and Ljubi and we choose the Hostel Obelisco, pretty central for the last 3 nights together. We have done most of the sightseeing on our first BA leg, hence i start my spanish course straight the next day whereas Ljubi has to make up her mind whether she is too scared of BA on her own or whether she masters this jungle of a city on her own. She goes for the second option and i meet her after the first 4 hours spanish school at the Puerto Madero for lunch and beers and that´s pretty much what we do for the next three days until it is a very very sad day. Wednesday the 14th of march and it has been literally 4 weeks, day and night we spent together, it is time to say good bye for now. Strange feeling, but this day was supposed to come, one way or the other and why not have it come on a highlight, when we enjoyed it the most...and i stopped nagging and teasing her...

Ljubi arrives in London approx. 20 hours later and makes her way to Germany the day after while i start enjoying my time on my own before Simon comes.

Time on my own: i decided to move hostels, go completely low budget in a dormitory in the Tango Inn Hostel in the San Telmo district. Time flew and i must admit that i had a great time with a lovely group of students coming to BA to improve their spanish, some people i met in the hostel and of course tango dancing. Well students..Helga from Germany is 66 and she amazed with her attitude to life and learning. Couldn´t believe how switched on she was....and all sorts of characters, you could start writing a book about. Once out of school i tried about 5 different tango schools with beginner lessons, private lessons to improve this really really difficult dance and i tell you, it was hard work. Naively, I thought you just need to learn the sequence of some steps and bob´s your uncle, but i was proofed completely wrong. It is all about posture and your body...even the wonderful new shoes didn´t help - it is just a painful start as with most things in life.

I decided to come back to BA (not sure when exactly this is supposed to be, but let´s keep it as a thought) !!!! Meanwhile I arranged to meet up with Julia (german chic who recommended spanish and tango schools) as were at the same time in BA in one of the famous milongas. As i never met her before and didn´t know how she looks like, i was sitting on my own until a local guy asked me to dance. I don´t know why my confidence level for this split second was on a high, but i said yes, thinking i don`t know anybody here, if i embarass myself and ......i can´t tell you how embarassing it was. I was literally walking on his feet and didn´t feel the floor at all. No need to write more ! He avoided me for the rest of the evening and i didn´t make any eyecontact with anyboday who fancied a dance.

Time with Simon:
Well, the little one finally made it after a couple of hick ups at home Hence, instead of starting our trip in a cheap hostel, we decided to start the whole thing upmarket with a boutique hotel in Palermo Veijo which is THE place to be, go, live, eat....in Buenos Aires. Simon was half impressed with the hotel, pretty impressed with Palermo and the happiest i have seen him for a long time, when he finished his first asado or was it a lomo (rumpsteak or filetsteak),
but the biggest smile on his face was the breakfast encounter: some actor he adores playing a rough irish guy in SHAMELESS (Paddy Mc...). Well, must have chosen a good hotel in the end, or ? We enjoyed the hotel and Palermo, but after 3 days of rest and luxury, it was time to think BUDGET and we moved to the cheap end of the city, back to the life of hostels.

Also check http://www.simonlejla.spaces.live.com
Oh, this is now a while back, so i have to start digging deep trying to remember, but one thing is for sure - the 5 days we had in this beautiful part of Patagonia will remain in my memories for a very very long time.

Ljubi and i decided to bite the bullet and slash out an additional 170 pounds per head to see the place "every Argentian wants to visit once in his life": Bariloche" - don´t quote me on this one, Ljubi read it in a german travel book.

In particular when i read that there is a nice and cosy hostel run by a slovenian family i decided this is destiny as 1) we could speak in "serbo croat" with them after all the fiasco in Brazil and if not 2) we could speak to the son in law who is german. By the time i read the sentence that we could decide for half board and be fed central european cuisine, i knew what we could expect. This would be like going home and being spoilt.

A short taxi ride from our hotel on a boiling day in BA to the local aeroparque which is much easier to get to than the international Eizeza airport...two hours later ...and a bit...(haven´t seen a flight on time in this country so far) we arrived in Bariloche. The airport was in the middle of nowhere (this reminds me of the last BB session.."Jade sits in no where") and i wondered where all the beautiful 9 lakes were and the amazing country side as all i could see out of the plane looked more like some sort of "Steppe" (yes guys you need to learn german again) or kind of desert with nothing really growing. Reminded me actually of landing at Split airport.

Our pickup somehow didn´t work and we arranged a cab to take us to "Katy`s Hosteria" (hosteria kind of translating into B&B). First thing i learned was that in Bariloche you won´t find any street names and numbers as such, obviously there are street names, but that´s not how you tell a taxi driver where you want to go, but that you actually tell him, how many kilometers from Bariloche you are staying. As we decided that we wanted to go for the full monty, relaxation pur, no city, no noise, no telephone and internet, Katy´s Hostel 24.3km from Bariloche seemed the perfect destination.

Set on the Llao Llao peninsula, this part of the world is magic. Never thought i would be such a nature bunny, but i just enjoyed our walks, strolling through natural parks, taking a boat ride on the famous lago de Nahuel Huapi, going for runs and passing one of the most famous hotels and obviously getting lost after misreading the map.

Well, by now i got over it and can admit it, but i am sure that mum hated me inbetween even after tremendous views we got, she was just exhausted after 12km and pretty happy that a bus turned up to take us back home (which only shows every 2 hours and was packed until the last standing space). The only other option would have been hitchhiking which is a no go, but what do you do when you are stuck in the country side....nothing too worry now as we did get the bus :-).

Bariloche town is nothing too special, except the chocolate you can buy at every corner and i must admit i had the best ever hot chocolate in my life.

Overall this trip was particularly special, because oft the special hospitality from Katy, Tone, Andriana and Dirk. We loved chilling in the beautiful hosteria with the beautiful gardens, hence eating organic home grown salads - excuse me where do you get that!! Dirk has also got his own travel agency specialising on Patagonia, hence great for chats to get tips for the rest of my trip with Simon. The hosteria is currently not in the Lonely planet, but the South america handbook and i urgently need to write a good review for them as that´s pretty much how you decide on where to stay in SA.

Highlights:

Day 1: settling in and enjoying Kati´s great 3 course dinner
Day 2: making most of the sunshire, experiencing the country side and getting lost
Day 3: too knackered for any world changing events, taking a bus to Bariloche for hot chocolate and developing the first set of pictures
Day 4: Boat trip on the famous Nahuel Huapi to Isla Victoria
Day 5: Cerro Otto, taking a cute red austrian gondola to a circling confiteria on the mountains, more hot chocolate
Day 6: heading back to BA.

Hola amigos ! It feels like being back in Europe. I am understood and i can understand; at least to a certain extend and it feels good being back in this city which i must admit..."I love !". It is indeed the Paris of South America, the food is superb, for us it is more than cheap. there are far too many dogs (with and without owners), not to mention the tons of dog sh** on the streets. Walking mainly in flip flops you can´t dare to wonder around, you must concentrate on the floor.

It´s pretty cold when we arrive and i am still not sure whether it is summer of autumn (change on the 22-3), but the taxi driver meets us in a pretty thick jacket which we are obviously not used to anymore and i read that they had floods the day we arrive, but it is the ideal temperature to do plenty of walking as it is not unbearably hot, but nice..ish warm.

It is the first trip to BA (´good air´) for Ljubi, hence we do most of the sights in the 4 days we spend here:

Day 1: Our Hotel is in the St Nicolas Quarter which is pretty central and we go for a walk to the Avenida and the Plaza de Mayo with the Casa Rosada in the back where Argentina´s president Kirchner works or should i say resides (apparently of swiss- croatian descent from what i heard). We can´t wait for our first proper steak so we head to the Puerto Madero (cool trendy hip port area) where we go to an "all you can eat" place. This place is amazing ("Siga de Vacha"). I have never seen so many different meat pieces (don´t forget my parents used to have a steak house for 20 years), no clue to which part of the cow they belong, but i am glad that i am not a vegetarian in this place.....the salads and all the rest are just fab and the wine is included in the fix price of 10 euros....so definitely no dieting in this place.

Day 2: The location of our hotel is really handy and we can even walk to Recolleta which is probably one of the best quarters. A visit to the "Cemeterio de Recolleta" (pls don´t look at my spelling in any language..) is a must ....good comparison is the Pere Lachaise (???) cemetery in Paris and like everybody else we head to the grave of Evita Peron. It is a nice day, hence we decide to do a lot of walking and sightseeing around the many many parks in this part of BA and end the day in the Jardin Japonais sipping green tea.

Day 3: San Telmo - this is one of the oldest neighbourhoods and it has got plenty of charme. Sundays there is a great market, but what fascinates me the most are all the tango dancers and the tango music around as....i am slowly getting into the tango mood.
For the evening we booked to see a tango show which is a must while you here. We get spoiled - pick up from the hotel - have a 3 course meal and around 10pm the show starts and it is fantastic. Tango is so emotional, the music, the singing and dancing is just great....can´t wait to start myself...(and then drag Simon to the milongas every night after midnight once he makes it....YES ! I am sure i am dreaming !!!!!)

Day 4: La Boca - Carminito. Famous for Maradonna and the Boca Stadium, for sure i am not being dragged to a futi game this time, but we make it to Carminito. The area with the colored houses made of "well blech"...sorry´forgot the english word, but you can guess what i mean...the cheap material you build a house if you can´t afford bricks :-). This is where all the immigrants (mainly italians) started their new life in the new world (it is close to a port).

We finally decided to spend the money and book a trip to Bariloche which is Argentina´s Lake District. Due to the fact that the plane ticket is fairly expensive and it is the 2nd flight in a month, we move to a hostel and stay in a double bed room. For one night we move a little bit out of the city to the Boedo district, another tango district and really enjoy the hostel atmosphere. Easy going, but crap matresses ! Never mind !