San Ignacio, Salta and Estancia Sayta

We left hot and sticky Puerto Iguazu and made our way back down south through Missiones to visit the well restored ruins of a Jesuit Mission in San Ignacio.

The Jesuits were a group of Christian Missionaries that came to the newly ‘discovered’ parts of South America to set up communities which allowed for the cultural cohesion of both the Christians and the Guarani, who were the indigenous people that inhabited this area of what is now Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. The missions were mostly set up in the 17^th century and worked very productively and effectively all over this large area until the Spanish rulers perceived them as a threat and expelled the Jesuits to which they finally conceded and left around 1738.

The Missions were an interesting social experiment. They created living and working systems for both the Guarani and the Jesuits and had a clear hierarchy. The work and productivity was mostly based around the arts. The creation of sculpture, music, paintings etc culminated both cultures and created a new fusion. The Jesuits and the Missions also served to protect the Guarani from invading forces who wished to enslave the indigenous population and put them to service under the Spanish and Portuguese rulers.

What first struck me about this area as we arrived on the bus and wandered around the town of San Ignacio was the brilliant burnt red of the soil. It reminded me of the colour of the terrain in Australia. Not to mention the continued blazing of the sun and the unbelievable heat of the area. 

When we arrived at the ruins we looked around the fantastic museum which held artefacts, filmed testimonies, examples of stories and music of the Guarani and Jesuits. Then we wandered around the site of the Mission itself. The walls were the same brilliant red of the soil, with incredible carvings and sculpture on them, something they term ‘Guarani Baroque’. Due to the huge model of the layout of the Mission it was easy to see that in the ruins as we wandered around. All in all very interesting, not least to see a not so evil side of the effect the conquistadors had on the indigenous populations of the area.

Then we caught a bus headed to Salta for twenty hours or so. 

So our first stop was to try the famous empanadas that Salta is famous for, a particular type of empanada called a saltena. It has more sauce. We ate a LOT of them during our time in Salta. They were yum.

Salta differed greatly from other Argentinian cities we had been to. In fact it didn't feel like Argentina at all. Things were cheap, it was a really hectic place but the people were really relaxed and friendly. There is a huge and beautiful plaza that people just hang out in and we managed to find good coffee places to sit and people watch. We also visited a fascinating museum called Museo de Montana Alto which was really informative about Incan history and culture. The most fascinating part of the exhibits were the information and videos of the mountain children. That is to say the Incan child sacrifices that were buried at extremely high altitudes and therefore froze, perfectly preserving their bodies for centuries until mountaineers/archaeologists found them and (somewhat controversially, although preventing looting) removed them to the museum. They are studied at only fifteen minutes every month to find out more about the cultures and practices of the Incas. There are three children and they are rotated every month. We saw the Lightening Girl who had fallen asleep after being plied with chicha and in a procession she was walked to the top of the mountain. The children that were chosen were taken from wealthy and highly respected families. After she fell asleep she was buried in the mountain. It was so eerie seeing her. She was so so life like. It was if she was still sleeping. Our voices dropped to a whisper in the quiet, cold and dark room. She sat there crossed legged, we could see the skin on her legs as if she was still alive, her hands were placed on her lap and her head was slumped forwards. It was incredible to see her.

Some more saltenas brought us out of our stunned stillness!

Then it was time for our stay on an estancia (ranch) to go horse riding with the Gauchos (cowboys). We got picked up from out hostel and driven about 50km to Estancia Sayta. 'Todos es possible con Enrique'. Enrique met us as we drove into the estancia and with a twinkle in his eye urged us to have breakfast with the others that had arrived and were already there before us. Then we were up from the lovely long outside table and into our chaps for the first of our two three hour horse rides.

Here is Gaucho Gil. The length and breadth of Argentina by the roadside you will see miniature red huts, surrounded by red offerings. These are to Gaucho Gil who used to wear a red handkerchief around his forehead. The story goes that Gaucho Gil used to rob from the rich and give to the poor so he was a hero. But when the government was trying to rid the land of Gauchos (due to prejudices, them not paying taxes etc) he was captured and hung. As he was about to be hung he said to the Governor if you take my body to my home and bury me there then your children will recover and not die from their illnesses. The Governor, his children fit and healthy, scoffed and ordered his execution. Sure enough shortly afterwards his children did fall ill. So the Governor ordered Gaucho Gil's body be taken back to where he was born and miraculously the Governor's children recovered. Here he is. There are whole shops dedicated to offerings to him.

Sam's first horse! He was a dopey sort. Can you see the leaves hanging from his mouth? Well he kept them there the entire ride, occasionally refreshing them but always leaving some hanging out his mouth like a country bumpkin. Brilliant.

We crossed quite beautiful landscape and the horses were very safe and controlled. They were very well looked after, looking healthy and happy. However I didn't really relate to mine very well. He was a bit tired and didn't seem to have a personality. I was looking forwards to when we would be allowed to gallop! Except I was a bit disappointed with that too as the Gauchos did it alongside you, holding your reigns which meant that I felt pushed to one side, and he kept asking me questions as we were galloping. It was all I could do to keep upright what with all the sideways pushing, giggling and questioning! I would have much rather done it by myself as I had before. I felt that they were being a bit backwards with safety there. 

After our first ride we arrived back at the estancia to a huge feast. It was exceptional food, so many plates of delicious food that were meat free (for a cotton picking change in Argentina) and enough meat to more than please the carnivores. There was no stopping the delicious wine top ups either! Sam had to take to hiding his glass!! 

Somehow after all that food and drink we were into our chaps and atop our horses again ready for our second ride. This time, due to the boring and frankly dangerous way they hold your reigns, make you lean sideways and bark questions about your life at you as you're trying to stay upright, I was determined to gallop by myself. The chance came and I willed my horse to gallop, 'Ya! Ya!!' To my amazement he did! It was brilliant! I got to the other end and the Gauchos were not happy. Shaking their heads and fingers at me I feigned a 'what? It was the horse' but I gave it away as I couldn't stop smiling!! Unfortunately fate didn't like what I did either as shortly afterwards a Darth Vader like evil wasp came along and decided I was worth stinging seven times!! AND on the bum. They all swelled up and I started to feel quite weird by the time we got back. I was too full and absolutely knackered so after a lay down I just couldn't get up so I didn't. I slept through dinner which was a strange experience according to Sam. Enrique the main Gaucho lived up to all of the stereotypes as he guided everyone through a conversation that was so utterly caricatured it was text book. Meat, wine, women, the different words for vagina, 'saucy' joke after 'saucy' joke. All meanwhile not allowing anyone to say no to a wine top up so that everyone's glass remained full for the rest of the night. I sounded funny the morning after not having been through it myself but Sam said that everyone was mainly laughing in consternation! Funny. Todos is indeed possible con Enrique.

Iguazu Falls

We arrived in Puerto Iguazu, the most north easternly point where Argentina meets Brazil and Paraguay, after a very long and stuffy bus ride. We only had a couple of bus rides left and we had yet to find such a bus that fitted with the fabled ‘amazing’ standard of the Argentine buses that we had heard so much about before in Colombia. Even from inside the semi air conditioned bus we could tell that the outside temperature had risen quite considerably. Upon leaving the bus we were hit with a wall of heat so fierce it made me dizzy! We searched and found our hostel under the searing forty degrees heat and both had long cold showers.

After talking to a few people we decided that we would visit the Brazilian side of the falls first then the Argentinian side. From what we could gather the Brazilian side held more panoramic and overall views and the Argentine side allowed you to get closer to individual waterfalls and had more trails and land to explore. So after cooking ourselves a dinner we had an early night in an ice cold air conditioned room.

Unfortunately we were so comfortable in our cool and sleepy bed that we didn’t get the earliest start that we had planned but still after coffee and media lunas we were on our way to Brazil!

The journey took hardly any time at all and no fuss at immigration on either side. When we arrived at the visitor centre though our eyes started to take in the inordinate amount of tourists in several very large queues. It was a weekend and the Argentinian summer holidays. After asking around we began to realise that we might be sometime before we can actually buy a ticket. Then there was another queue for entering the park and another to get on the buses that take you to the start point of several trails and to the cataratas (waterfall) trail.

It was all very well organised and although we were there for quite some time it didn’t feel like it and before we knew it we were zooming down the lane to the start of the cataratas trail. On the tourist sheep bus we travelled through the jungle on a neat tarmacked road. It was odd. I did hear some sounds and definitely smelt some smells that I remembered from spending time in the jungle before. I tried to imagine the jungle before the tourist road was built.

Then we were walking along the wooden trail path and under the shade of some trees and through some vines I caught my first glimpse of Iguazu Falls. (1) It was literally breathtaking. I stopped and stared at it, not really able to believe that it was real because it looked so perfect. We walked on, eyes fixed on the falls as they came more and more into view. There were lots of other people all around us but they too seemed to be so transfixed that there was a kind of hush that descended on the moving masses of humans around me. Then we started taking photos and we didn’t stop the entire day!

As we progressed along the walkway we saw the falls from different angles. We saw the Argentinian falls come into view completed with a huge Argentinian flag (of course) at the precipice of Garganta del Diablo. (2) We were able to see great widths of the enchanted masses of water falling and falling. The huge falls were cut into in great swathes by rock formations and huge bushes. This led to breaks in the water falling and magnified the paradisiacal effect of the scene before my eyes.

Amongst the shady parts as we ambled, multi-coloured butterflies fluttered around, strangely shaped birds hopped and warbled and we had to watch our toes as the Coatis (cute racoon/anteater creatures) started to nibble at them. (3) The sky was a bright pale blue and the greenery around us seemed so lush and jungle like and so vividly green. At some points during the walk we would look up in the sky to see many, many huge birds soaring wings outstretched round and round above the waterfalls. Even with all the people around us, it wasn’t hard to close my eyes and imagine that I was on my own finding this place for the first time. It is a magical place.

Further along the walkway took us closer and closer to a huge part of the falls. A standing platform enabled us to watch the sheer power of the water rebounding back up onto the falls itself. And the noise – it was so immense! (4)  There were different height levels of these standing platforms which all afforded a unique and enthralling perspective on the mesmerising water. We kept having to shake our heads to confirm what we were looking at! (5)

My favourite part of the walkway on the Brazilian side was the long windy walkway that stretches out before the falls and out into the large flowing river and culminates in a view right over one small but really powerful waterfall. Again, despite the hundreds of people we had to squeeze passed, I found it so easy to gaze in a steady awe at the greys rock boulders with sprigs of lush bright green grass springing from them, which punctuated the azure and crystal water as it flowed away from the immense power of the falls that had put them in motion. All the while we were walking along this walkway we were being soaked with the fine mist spray that had been picked up by the wind. It was an unearthly experience.

The next day we ventured out very early to the Argentine side of the falls. We got a local bus and arrived very quickly. In keeping with our experience in the rest of Argentina the organisation was sporadic, mismatched and a little confusing but after we made the mistake of joining the legions of other tourists on the little green train we decided and were able to do our own thing and walk the rest of the trails.

It was a lot more peaceful this side, a lot less people enabled us to wander and meander a lot more, and continue to take a gazillion photos. A second day out in the strength of the sun felt very dangerous though and we were covering up as much as possible. I’m so very glad that the sun was out however as there were many different brightly coloured butterflies fluttering around and we saw huge lizards lumbering across the paths and tiny curious monkeys in the trees who had tails that curled into a spiral. The best thing that the sun did when combined with the spray from the falls was create huge rainbows, beautiful! (6)

The Argentine side allowed us to go very close to the tops and bottoms of different waterfalls. It was crazy the contrast between the peaceful sliding of the water as it flowed towards the fall and then the torrid loud movement as it tipped over the edge and crashed down to the rocks below. There were points on each walkway that allowed you to look down right over the falls as the water fell to the bottom. (7)

We decided to get the green tourist train to the crescendo of the Iguazu Falls, the Garganta del Diablo or Devil’s Throat. After walking along many walkways across large sections of river and through wooded parts, the walkway opened up to the most colossal sound and the most unbelievable sight. The falls stretched around the high up edge of the land as an unfathomable amount of water was falling over the edge in colossal swathes. It was all we could do to stand and watch the incredible spectacle before us. The sheer amount of water was almost too much to comprehend and the sound was enormous. There was a fair amount of spray continuously soaking us and rainbows everywhere!  (8)

The walkway  spread around the highest of the falls and enabled us to look straight down the colossal body of water as it fell. It was an incredible experience and one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen in my life.

(9)

We arrived in Puerto Iguazu, the most north easternly point where Argentina meets Brazil and Paraguay, after a very long and stuffy bus ride. We only had a couple of bus rides left and we had yet to find such a bus that fitted with the fabled ‘amazing’ standard of the Argentine buses that we had heard so much about before in Colombia. Even from inside the semi air conditioned bus we could tell that the outside temperature had risen quite considerably. Upon leaving the bus we were hit with a wall of heat so fierce it made me dizzy! We searched and found our hostel under the searing forty degrees heat and both had long cold showers.

After talking to a few people we decided that we would visit the Brazilian side of the falls first then the Argentinian side. From what we could gather the Brazilian side held more panoramic and overall views and the Argentine side allowed you to get closer to individual waterfalls and had more trails and land to explore. So after cooking ourselves a dinner we had an early night in an ice cold air conditioned room.

Unfortunately we were so comfortable in our cool and sleepy bed that we didn’t get the earliest start that we had planned but still after coffee and media lunas we were on our way to Brazil!

The journey took hardly any time at all and no fuss at immigration on either side. When we arrived at the visitor centre though our eyes started to take in the inordinate amount of tourists in several very large queues. It was a weekend and the Argentinian summer holidays. After asking around we began to realise that we might be sometime before we can actually buy a ticket. Then there was another queue for entering the park and another to get on the buses that take you to the start point of several trails and to the cataratas (waterfall) trail.

It was all very well organised and although we were there for quite some time it didn’t feel like it and before we knew it we were zooming down the lane to the start of the cataratas trail. On the tourist sheep bus we travelled through the jungle on a neat tarmacked road. It was odd. I did hear some sounds and definitely smelt some smells that I remembered from spending time in the jungle before. I tried to imagine the jungle before the tourist road was built.

Then we were walking along the wooden trail path and under the shade of some trees and through some vines I caught my first glimpse of Iguazu Falls. 

It was literally breathtaking. I stopped and stared at it, not really able to believe that it was real because it looked so perfect. We walked on, eyes fixed on the falls as they came more and more into view. There were lots of other people all around us but they too seemed to be so transfixed that there was a kind of hush that descended on the moving masses of humans around me. Then we started taking photos and we didn’t stop the entire day!

As we progressed along the walkway we saw the falls from different angles. We saw the Argentinian falls come into view completed with a huge Argentinian flag (of course) at the precipice of Garganta del Diablo.  

We were able to see great widths of the enchanted masses of water falling and falling. The huge falls were cut into in great swathes by rock formations and huge bushes. This led to breaks in the water falling and magnified the paradisiacal effect of the scene before my eyes.

Amongst the shady parts as we ambled, multi-coloured butterflies fluttered around, strangely shaped birds hopped and warbled and we had to watch our toes as the Coatis (cute racoon/anteater creatures) started to nibble at them. 

The sky was a bright pale blue and the greenery around us seemed so lush and jungle like and so vividly green. At some points during the walk we would look up in the sky to see many, many huge birds soaring wings outstretched round and round above the waterfalls. Even with all the people around us, it wasn’t hard to close my eyes and imagine that I was on my own finding this place for the first time. It is a magical place.

Further along the walkway took us closer and closer to a huge part of the falls. A standing platform enabled us to watch the sheer power of the water rebounding back up onto the falls itself. And the noise – it was so immense! 

There were different height levels of these standing platforms which all afforded a unique and enthralling perspective on the mesmerising water. We kept having to shake our heads to confirm what we were looking at!

My favourite part of the walkway on the Brazilian side was the long windy walkway that stretches out before the falls and out into the large flowing river and culminates in a view right over one small but really powerful waterfall. Again, despite the hundreds of people we had to squeeze passed, I found it so easy to gaze in a steady awe at the greys rock boulders with sprigs of lush bright green grass springing from them, which punctuated the azure and crystal water as it flowed away from the immense power of the falls that had put them in motion. All the while we were walking along this walkway we were being soaked with the fine mist spray that had been picked up by the wind. It was an unearthly experience.

The next day we ventured out very early to the Argentine side of the falls. We got a local bus and arrived very quickly. In keeping with our experience in the rest of Argentina the organisation was sporadic, mismatched and a little confusing but after we made the mistake of joining the legions of other tourists on the little green train we decided and were able to do our own thing and walk the rest of the trails.

It was a lot more peaceful this side, a lot less people enabled us to wander and meander a lot more, and continue to take a gazillion photos. A second day out in the strength of the sun felt very dangerous though and we were covering up as much as possible. I’m so very glad that the sun was out however as there were many different brightly coloured butterflies fluttering around and we saw huge lizards lumbering across the paths and tiny curious monkeys in the trees who had tails that curled into a spiral. The best thing that the sun did when combined with the spray from the falls was create huge rainbows, beautiful!

The Argentine side allowed us to go very close to the tops and bottoms of different waterfalls. It was crazy the contrast between the peaceful sliding of the water as it flowed towards the fall and then the torrid loud movement as it tipped over the edge and crashed down to the rocks below. There were points on each walkway that allowed you to look down right over the falls as the water fell to the bottom.

We decided to get the green tourist train to the crescendo of the Iguazu Falls, the Garganta del Diablo or Devil’s Throat. After walking along many walkways across large sections of river and through wooded parts, the walkway opened up to the most colossal sound and the most unbelievable sight. The falls stretched around the high up edge of the land as an unfathomable amount of water was falling over the edge in colossal swathes. It was all we could do to stand and watch the incredible spectacle before us. The sheer amount of water was almost too much to comprehend and the sound was enormous. There was a fair amount of spray continuously soaking us and rainbows everywhere!

The walkway  spread around the highest of the falls and enabled us to look straight down the colossal body of water as it fell. It was an incredible experience and one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen in my life.

Return to Buenos Aires

We arrived off a twenty hour bus journey from what felt like the middle of the sun, excited to be back in beautiful Buenos Aires. There was much fun to be had! As we tramped the streets we felt the same feeling as before, loving this place! The air temperature was warmer and unfortunately the purple trees had disappeared, their blossom having turned into lush green leaves but the sun was shining and there was an almost constant summer breeze flowing passed our skin.


With our new feeling of the lightness of our beings we walked to the subte (tube) and took it up to Plaza Italia to find our hostel. As we neared we heard our names in the distance and there was Lene and Jakob across the road! So reunited with hugs we all went into the hostel, as they were staying there too. After washing the nightbus off our skin we all ventured to a little cafe that my lovely friend Simone, who lives in BA, told us about. Oui Oui in Palermo. If ever you should find yourself in Palermo Hollywood I urge you to go there. They serve such delicious food (proper food, full of goodness and love unlike other fare you find in Argentina) and the best coffee we found in the whole in the country. Also the best lemonade we have ever drunk, which has inspired me to try and make some of similar quality myself when I return and find a new home.


After filling our bellies with delicious food we booked a table at another delicious restaurant round the corner called Miranda for New Year's Eve which was the next day and headed to Recoleta cemetery. Full of catch up conversation and laughter, unfortunately Sam had a bit of an accident. As he was in mid flow he turned around and BOINK hit the side of his head on a lamp post! Styling it out he seemed okay. It wasn't until the next day (NYE) that he realised that he actually had mild concussion, bugger! That wasn't to be the only misfortune that came across his path on that day either. Whilst travelling on one of the many escalators into the subte, the escalator decided that it was hungry and that its appetite would be sated only by eating one of Sam's flip flops. Thus followed a baffling few seconds whilst Sam tried to wrench his foot out of the tightening grip of the escalator stairs and had to resort to pulling it out with his hands! Now it looks like a shark tried to eat his foot and took a chunk out of the heel! We couldn't stifle our laughter.

Recoleta cemetery is something else. It is an opulent Catholic affair filled with the mausoleums of the very rich, powerful and eminent dead of Buenos Aires. Including Eva Peron. We wandered around and soon observed to a slight point of horror that, unlike similar cemeteries such as those in Paris, you can actually see straight into them coffins and all.

So then followed a kind of weird fascination about when the coffins were placed in there. Some of them were really new, it was very eerie. Then some of the mausoleums had fallen into disrepair but the coffins still remained amongst the broken glass, rusted metal, fallen crucifixes and spider's webs.

Another thing that struck me about the place was the quality of the sculpture. I don't think I've seen such life like sculpting since Rome and Florence.

Beautiful, eerily life like figures adorned the mausoleums and led me to think that a wander around it at night might be a little too freaky.

Symbols that I had never seen before were everywhere.

There were also cats, mangy unhinged ones wandering amongst the dead as well. It was a visceral experience all in all.

The next day was New Year's Eve! We moved to our new hostel and then left for our delicious lunch. Miranda's lived up to initial experience there and we ate up really tasty food. I also drank the tastiest Pisco Sour I've ever had and we drank some delicious wine. Then Sam and I headed to a little plaza in Palermo to have a snooze on the grass in the sun and there was a man playing beautiful Spanish guitar as the breeze through the palm trees lulled us. 

A while later we had Danes and English amongst us so at 8pm we celebrated the Danish new year. We drank the rum we had carried with us since Colombia and toasted the new year by standing on our chairs and jumping into the new year Danish style. I like that! Might carry on that tradition.

Later, after abandoning my hope that we could get high up to see the city at middnight, I had heard that there was going to be fireworks at the port. So we headed down there. On the way we celebrated English new year in the Plaza de Mayo at 9pm Argentinian time.

After an amble around Puerto Madero amongst the uber rich families, the time for Argentinian new year had arrived! There were fireworks aplenty, champagne and sparkler fun to be had. All in all it was quite a tame affair though. In Argentina New Years is more a family thing with Christmas Eve taking the place of the wild and drunken times. It was pretty cool being in Buenos Aires though. Bienvenido 2012!!

On New Year's Day we decided to wander around San Telmo Market, a huge market that spread from a bright plaza filled with antique stalls and couples performing Tango right down Defensa, a long long road. The sun was shining and there was lots to look at and listen to. We saw a fantastic Tango band with the singer bearing his soul, complete with an old Argentinian man, drink in hand, feeling the pain and sorrow along with him. Fascinating. And a few couples performing Tango to the masses.

After an early night we were up on the 2nd ready to go and stay with Simone and Joe a bit further out in a  place called Triumvirato. It was so lovely of then to let us come and stay and they looked after us properly! So good to stay in their beautiful home and have some good meals and laughter together. Joe cooked us a delicious vegetable asado one night then Sam cooked up a storm as usual with a very tasty curry for seven! Joe also made us really good coffee every morning complete with a bag full of media lunas and other tasty fracturas. We were in paradise!

On our first day staying with them we decided to further explore San Telmo using a hand made calendar that Sam had bought from an artist chap at San Telmo market. He had drawn significant scenes from around the neighbourhood and fitted them together in a kind of walking tour on a map. We managed to get quite far on the tour taking photos to match the drawings. Here I am outside the oldest Tango Hall in the area.

Whilst wandering around the calendar tour we came to another old market. In here we found yet more creepy doll shops! What is the deal with this?

The day after we ventured towards the neighbourhood of La Boca. Simone had suggested that we head that way via Plaza de Mayo and the subte Line A. There was something special about the train cars on this line. They had remained virtually unchanged since the 1930s. Beautiful wooden interiors and slated wooden benches to sit on. We got off at the stop to go for some coffee in the oldest cafe in Buenos Aires, Tortoni. It was so beautiful inside, old painting adorned the tops of the walls, beautiful art deco panels and sculpted banisters twisted and turned and the cherry on top being the waiters who seemed like they were straight from when the cafe was established. I had hot apple pie and ice cream and Sam had Lomo sandwich and we both had delicious coffees.

To top it all off I was sat next to the bust of Carlos Gardel, an infamous Tango singer who awoke such passions in people, and by people I mean women, that he has reached near saint status, and upon news of his death some women actually attempted suicide.

After many warnings of how rough the neighbourhood of La Boca is we didn't venture too far into the backstreets but still managed to see daily life on the streets, the kids and their games, people sat on their stoops playing computer games, the vibrant graffiti. 

We wandered excitedly to the first home of Diego Maradona or as he is known over here ‘El Diego’, a virtual god in Argentina, Boca Juniors Stadium. It is also known as La Bombonera or The Chocolate Box and it is a fantastic place.

The pitch ends on the same line as the stadium seats start so you have a feeling of being almost on the pitch itself. Unfortunately we visited BA in their summer holidays so there were no matches for us to go to but as we were taken around in a large group and told about the stadium, we had an opportunity to all cheer and yell at the top of our voices, and just from that I could imagine the vastness of the noise that the crowd would generate at matches. They say that most players are intimidated by this stadium and it's not hard to imagine why. When a player from Boca scores the infamous doce section of the terraces goes blindly mental. They rush forwards and many jump up to the top of the metal fence waving their shirts wildly in a circle above their heads. I wish we could have seen this.

We spent a while going around the museum learning about the stadium and the players. Here's Sam 'El Diego' Rawlings...

We spent our final day in Buenos Aires running around trying to post a parcel back home. Fingers crossed it will get there! Not sure we would have even been able to do it if it hadn't been for lovely Simone coming to our rescue. Before long it was time to catch our bus to Puerto Iguazu to see the heavenly Falls.

Searing heat in Mendoza wine country

We arrived in Mendoza and taking our first steps out of the semi cool atmosphere of our twenty hour bus it became immediately apparent that we will be living inside an oven for the next few days. It was unbelievably hot and it was the day after Boxing Day, strange. We made our way to our hostel which was really welcoming and friendly but still hugely skin meltingly hot. We were grateful to see a fan next to our bed. There was a huge a very green grape vine growing all over the outside area and a roof terrace, which was only safe to out on when the sun had left the sky.

Despite all this, we decided to take a bus to the nearby wine making town, Maipu, and hire some bikes to cycle around the bodegas. Maipu was where the Italian immigrant families set up the first bodegas in Argentina, so it has the oldest ones in the country. It is possible to hire bikes and cycle on a self guided tour around the bodegas, taking tours of the wineries and tasting the wines they make. We had heard some horror stories at our hostel about people hurting themselves (one guy even smashed his two front teeth out) on dodgy bikes so we took our time choosing ours. We had a map and made the plan to cycle to the furthest point first and slowly make our way back down to the bike hire shop at the end of the day. Before I came I envisaged boozy, wobbly cycling around country lanes in the sunshine. It was not like this at all. There was a main road that we had to cycle one which was dusty and VERY main. I'm talking about huge trucks and buses zooming passed so close to us that we wobbled on our bikes from the back draft. It was scary and I was stone cold sober! There was no way I wanted to cycle on this road with glasses of delicious but intoxicating wine inside me! So, somehow we managed to keep hold of our safety and make it twelve kilometres to the furthermost point on the map, an olive oil making place, only to find that the next tour was going to be in tow hours time. Bummer. So we skipped that and disappointed we began cycling towards the first bodega, the family run Di Tomasso Bodega. 

It was good that we cycled so far up to that part of Maipu because we got to see the countryside as it was starting to be more beautiful and closer to how I imagined wine country to be like. Stretching out from the dusty madness of the road we were cycling on were vineyards at different stages of growth and fields of olive trees. It was becoming more peaceful as well as most of the giant trucks and buses had turned off the road.

Relieved to be off that road and onto some friendly country lanes on which Bodega Famille Di Tomasso was built, we parked up our bikes and joined a wine tasting session. 

We actually learned quite a bit. Particularly about how the wine is stored and flavoured. We tasted a wine that had not be put in a barrel and then afterwards a wine that had been in the barrel for six months and I could really tell a difference. They only use French and American oak to make the barrels that keep the wine. The first un-barrelled wine was disgusting, it tasted very chemically and not nice at all. The wine that had been in the barrel for six months was much more tasty, it had what they call 'body' and had a woody taste. 

The wine the family made was not amazing like some of the wine that we had found so far in Argentina but it was really interesting to learn about the process and see where the wine was made and kept. I also really liked seeing photos of the original family when they first came over and had their first harvest of the grapes. 

It was a beautiful and peaceful place. 

We had a meal next to the vineyards of yummy home cooked food. 

Then we got on our bikes and cycled to a large corporate bodega called Trapiche. 

We had a very comprehensive tour of the history and workings of this bodega and tasted some delicious wines. We learned a lot about the different grapes. 

Malbec is a very think skinned grape and can be drunk with a lot of different foods as it is a very easy wine on the palette. Cabernet Sauvignon is a more full bodied wine that the Argentinians like to drink with meat. Syrrah is a very heavy wine which grapes can grow in desert like conditions (perfect for Mendoza) as it does in the Middle East. Tempranillo is a very fruity wine that is so named because its grapes are always the first to be ready in the season (Temprano in Spanish means early). Not bad for a lay person, huh? So after these two tours we didn't have any time left for visiting any others so we cycled back on the torturous dusty road back to the cycle shop and after making it we had a well deserved gaseosa each! Phew! Not the relaxed, boozy and ambling affair I had imagined but interesting nonetheless. 


Our time in Mendoza was spent hanging out trying to keep out of the sun. We had coffees and media lunas under the merciful shade of the trees in the streets and watched the amusing people which seemed to fill the streets of Mendoza. The Old Taxi Guy for one. He was this old guy who had taken upon himself to be in charge of the taxi rank in town (even though said taxi rank would work perfectly fine without him!) He would use his stick aloft to hail taxis even though they were stopping at the rank anyway and then open the door for people to either get in or get out of the cars. He then merrily accepted tips as he stuck his tongue out at the taxi drivers. Plus there were snoggers EVERYWHERE. Everywhere you looked in each street there was a couple snogging each others faces off. Funny.


We decided that the heat and our visit had come to an end in Mendoza after a couple of days so we planned to be in Buenos Aires a day before we originally planned for. That would mean also that the very mid point of our trip (30th December) would be spent in a place we both loved. So off we set that night on a night bus to BA, beautiful Buenos Aires.