Enter Patagonia - Puerto Madryn

October 26-29, 2007

Patagonia got its name because it is the land of people with big feet. Random piece of trivia to begin the blog...

Puerto Madryn was one of the first places to be settled in Patagonia, back in the 1800´s by the Welsh. There are still small communities nearby which still have schools that teach Spanish, English and Welsh. We visited one of these towns called Gaiman but didn´t fall for the tourist trap of paying $30 pesos for Welsh tea.

We visited this part of Patagonia not for the Welsh influence but for the unique wildlife in the Parque Nacional Peninsula Valdes.

Every year between June and December hundreds of Southern Right Whales come through the area and the bay off Peninsula Valdes is a perfect area to do a bit of whale watching. Seeing whales is not guaranteed but it´s highly likely and we were lucky to have great weather and plenty of mother and calf whales to choose to watch. It was one of the most amazing experiences we´ve had, being in a small boat with about 50 people and having whales swim right up to us, rolling around playing and bobbing up and down like big blubber in the ocean.

We were also lucky enough to see heaps of guanacos grazing in the bleak desert-like terrain (it reminds us a bit of Pyramid Hill). Guanacos are wild South American camelids, smaller than llamas but bigger than alpacas. We saw Rhea which are very similar to emus and these crazy animals called maras or Patagonian hares. They are massive and are rodents, not lagomorphs like ordinary hares or rabbits. And they can walk or run, they don´t hop!

On another part of the peninsula we saw elephant seals. At this time of year they lie around on the beach losing weight. When they turn up at the start of the spring they can weigh up to 3000kg! They lose between 7-13kg per day. We watched from the edge of the beach as big males searched for a harem of good looking, eager females to mate with. Most of the time there would be another male who would assert his authority and give the loitering male a big dis-allowed!

Our final treat of animal watching for the day was a point where Magellanic Penguins nest. We saw a few but the following day was ´Penguin day´! Punto Tombo is about 150km south of Puerto Madryn and the home of approximately 700,000 penguins. We saw a fair percentage of them sitting on eggs in nests, walking around the headland, standing preening themselves, surfing the waves on the beach, swimming in the ocean, calling their mates from one side of the valley to the other. We were also able to walk amongst them without disturbing their habitat. Seeing penguins on the big screen is good... in real life way better! These Magellanic guys are way bigger than our fairy penguins back home too!

Unfortunately we didn´t see any killer whales (or orcas as they call them here) coming into the beach riding the waves trying to get a seal or two for dinner. It´s a rare occurance at this time of year. We also didn´t see andy armadillos or foxes. They proved too elusive for our skilled animal watching eyes!

Quick Visit to Uruguay

October 21-23, 2007

We perhaps need two separate blogs for Uruguay as we came away with mixed feelings, mainly about the centre of the capital, Montevideo.

We caught the ferry from BA to Colonia, a small port town established in 1680, and jumped on a bus to Montevideo. The first thing we noticed was how beautiful and green this place was. A lot of the country we saw on our two and a half hour drive between Colonia and Montevideo was dairy country and they are having a very good spring! Sorry to tell you this all you Aussies.

Montevideo honestly cannot be described as a beautiful city in our opinion. And this is where our opinions differ a little bit. On one hand you have some very grand buildings, statues and monuments, some quite old. On the other hand you have very dirty streets and surroundings with a not so nice feel about it. Like most big cities we´ve experienced in Latin America there is a big separation in classes. There are upper class areas to slums. We could perhaps see a bit of both in the centre of Montevideo.

One area which was nice was the pier. We visited here on a Sunday afternoon and there were people everywhere with their fishing rods, thermoses and maté. Maté needs a bit of explaining. It´s not mate as in ¨G´day mate¨. It´s pronounced ¨martay¨. It´s popular in Argentina and it´s religion in Uruguay.

Rarely did we see a Uruguayian without the traditional mate cup (made from a hollowed gourd) and a thermos. The tea (called Yerber Mate) is brewed from the leaves of a native holly which is found in the mountains of northern Argentina, southeastern Brazil and Paraguay. The tea is not drunk directly from the gourd itself but sipped through a perforated metal straw called a ´bombilla´. The flavour is fairly herbal but a bit grassy, not dissimilar to green tea. It was very bitter though and despite Fi being happy just having one sip, Davo is now on a mission to leave the country with his own Mate set for use back in Australia.

Another part of Uruguayan cuisine which we experienced were the chivitos which are basically a really good steak sandwich which is served as a sandwich or as an open plate. Davo was pulled aside by a TV reporter in a public square and interviewed in Spanish. He was able to say, ¨Hola,¨ that we´re from Australia, we like Uruguay and especially the chivitos! Famous for a day in Uruguay!

The highlight for us in Uruguay was visiting Alberto and Magda, friends of a friend in Australia. They have lived in Australia themselves for about five years before moving back to Montevideo late last year and very kindly invited us for a proper Uruguayan home cooked parrilla or BBQ. The parrilla is a big brick structure equipped with wood storage area, food preparation area and sink. However Alberto was telling us of his plans to build a ¨real¨ parrilla since they´ve just moved into their new place. Davo wants one!

Magda generously gave us a drive around tour of some of the suburbs of Montevideo and we learnt a lot from talking to them over dinner. We also had a taste of the famous yerba maté and it definitely has an aquired taste.

Colonia was a nice little port town which we had a look around for half a day before catching the ferry back to BA. One of the ¨things to do¨ is hire a buggy to drive around. It was pretty cheap so we had a go for an hour. Once it started backfiring because it was low on fuel we knew it was time to take it back!

Buenos Aires

October 17-21 & 23-25, 2007

We were both pretty excited to arrive in BA as it was the second time Davo had been and Fi had heard a lot of good stories from him about it, especially about the steak. It was Fi´s aim to put on 3kg. Davo suggested she just eat 3kg of steak!

Our first day there we freshened up after our long bus ride with a few ham and cheese empanadas and a fresh OJ from an old favourite shop of Davo´s next door to the hostel, before doing a bit of window shopping in the low priced and quality shops that BA has to offer. Afterwards we went to Davo´s and now one of Fi´s favourite restaurants in the world, Siga la Vaca, translated to Follow the Cow in English. It is all you can eat steak and a bottle of wine each plus dessert and salad if you want it! All for a rediculously cheap price. We spent three and a half hours there enjoying some fantastic grub and even better company.

We spent just over a week in BA and broke up our time there by heading over to Uruguay by ferry for a couple of nights (see the following blog). During our time we did a fair bit of relaxing and taking it easy while also checking out some of the highlights of the town from Davo´s last visit and also some even better new ones.

We wandered around the colourful streets of La Boca, watching street tango and admiring the artwork and touristy shops. We had a peep at the elaborate Recoletta cemetary with massive tombstones and chapels built for BA´s rich and famous dead people, including Evita (Eva Perón). Afterwards we toodled around the weekend market. We hoped to see a polo match (which is big in Argentina) but unfortunately there were no matches on at the time so instead we had a peek at tthe empty arena. We wittnessed the marching of the mothers (Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo) which takes place every Thursday. Mothers of the children stolen by the Argentine government in the dirty war (1976-83) gather every week wearing white head scarves as a symbol of peace, in hope of being reunited with their children.

Just by chance, we ran into our Aussie mates Mike and Anna who we had met in Rio. We went searching for an ideal place to see the rugby world cup 3-4 playoff between Argentina and France. It was an electric game and a great atmosphere seeing Argentina win. Although I think the locals would have been a lot more excited if it was a football (soccer) game.

We´ve both decided to have a career change when we return home and become Australian champion tango dancers. We had a short tango lesson before having a sit down meal, all you can drink wine and bing treated to a spectacular live tango show. Having the leson really made us appreciated how difficult it is and how good these guys were. However, we rated ourselves as good beginner tango dancers and reckon we´ve got what it takes to take it to the next level!

After returning from Uruguay we stayed in the trendy area of San Telmo, famous for being the place where tango originated and also for its antique markets and shops.

We were lucky to have been put in contact with Juan Pablo, (thanks to Alberto from Uruguay) the manager of a dairy farm 50km from the centre of BA. He had very generously offered to take us to his farm for a tour for a peep at the Argentinian dairy industry. His farm was special in that it was surrounded by suburbia since BA is a rapidly expanding city and also because the primary aim of the farm is genetics. They milk 170 Jersey cows, some three times a day and others twice a day. They have about 500 hectares and use a lot of the land for cropping. It hurts to say it but everything was so green, the pasture was beautiful and lush and so long in parts that it was a problem for them to keep it short enough.

A unique aspect of the farm compared to Australian dairy farms were the flood lights in the back paddocks which helped to reduce the incidence of cattle theft, along with the patrolling security guards. Another major difference was the supply and cost of labour. They had approximately 20 people working for this farm.

We were really impressed by their calf rearing system where each calf was tethered to their private little house and small grassy area (see the picture). They live here more or less isolated from contact with other calves for the first 2-3 months of life. The area and labour available on the farm, coupled with their rotation system, means the incidence of disease is low and the calves grow strong.

They supply an icecream company called Munchi´s, owned by the richest man in Argentina and we were lucky enough to be treated to a sample. The factory was next to the farm, as was a big educational animal park, established by the wife of the richest man. Juan Pablo took us out for lunch and icecream and then allowed us a few hours to wander around the park. It was like a zoo but better. We saw hippos being fed which was amazing, zebras, flamengos, crocodiles, meer cats, tigers, all sorts of African animals, Patagonian wildlife and even a few wallabies. Then there was the aquarium which rivals the one in Melbourne.

On our return trip to the centre of BA, Juan Pablo drove us around some of the outer suburbs of BA which gave us a very unique insight into the life in Buenos Aires which most tourists would shurely not be exposed to. We saw an example of the rapidly expanding city, many new middle-upper class homes being build on land that was formerly swamp land, but has been transformed by landfill. We also saw examples of the slums and the lower class areas. One of these was neighbouring an upperclass area. We drove along the fence line that separated the two. A large, strong fence that was about 3m hight that you could not see through. It separates two classes of society that live next to each other but in reality are worlds apart. We also got a glimpse of the ritzy, classy suburb of Tigre which thrives on weekends along the banks of the river and is frequented by water sport fans.

We cannot thank Juan Pable enough for his generosity and kindness and for going to so much trouble for us amongst his busy schedule. He has joined the long list of people who we are extremely grateful for helping us along our travels.

Iguazu Falls

October 13-16, 2007

So we arrived in Foz do Iguaçu on the Brazilian border of Argentina and Paraguay. People from all around the world come here for one reason, to see the amazing Iguaçu falls. They are a series of about 275 waterfalls that have slowly carved the landscape over 1.5 million years to become the spectacle they are today.

It´s possible to view the falls from the Brazilian side which gives a broad overview of the falls and the Argentinian side which gets you in amongst it all and much clser to the action including the biggest waterfall, the Devil´s Throat (Garganta del Diablo). Most people will tell you it´s best to see the Brazilian side first and that the Argentinian side is better.

We had beautiful weather and were lucky to see some amazing rainbows forming amongst the immense spray caused by the falls. The animals were as big a highlight as the falls themselves. We saw these furry anteater type animals called Coatis, which had a one tracked mind for food. They were unaffraid of humans and would come and sniff your bag in hope to find some loose crumbs. There were colourful butterflies and birds that were loving playing in the spray. There were also gigantic stripey worms.

We crossed the Argentinian border the following day without any dramas and had a day of rest, most of it spent sitting in an undercover outdoor pub, eating empanadas (an Argentine specialty) and drinking Quilmes (brilliant Argentine beer) while we saw Argentina lose to South Africa in the rugby world cup semi finals.

We were now in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina. Seems that the spelling of Iguazu-Iguaçu is a subject of confusion. At least it makes sense that these two forms exist since the Brazilians speak Portugese and the Argentinians, Spanish. But we also came across Iguassu, Yguazu and Y-Guasu, so maybe we´ll make up our own version and call it Igwarzoo for now since that´s the way we pronounce it?

We had pretty high expectations for the Argentinian side given it was meant to be better and we´d enjoyed the Brazilian side so much. It didn´t disappoint. There is a point where you can stand right above the Devil´s Throat and peer over the edge and into the abyss of white spray. Walking towards it is one thing, seeing masses of water disappear over the edge of a huge cliff or crater. Standing there looking over the edge is something else. It was very hard to walk away!

The animals here were fantastic too. Davo was on crocodile and puma watch while Fi was on tucan and armadillo watch. We came away 1-1, seeing a big croc (well, medium sized...) and a beautiful tucan. We saw countless other birds, all shapes and colours, including one bird of prey that we spotted flying very low amongst the spray and waves at the base of the Devil´s Throat. As we watched, it seemed to be sucked in by the water. We waited and watched, but it didn´t resurface. Not sure what it was thinking really...

One thing which made it interesting was that it chucked it down in the afternoon and we got royally drenced. We had wet weather jackets luckily but the worry was our camera that got a little bit moist. It spent the next few days going in and out of a camera coma but it seems ok now (touch wood).

We said goodbye to Iguaçu, Iguazu, Iguassu, Yguazu and Y-Guasu and jumped on an 18 hour overnight, luxury bus with champagne and whiskey to Buenos Aires.

Beaches of Southern Brasil

October 6-12, 2007

So we got our first taste of low priced, luxury South American buses as we travelled south to Isla Grande.

Some say the most beautiful beaches in Brazil are on this island, the pick being Lopes Mendes. We obviously haven´t seen enough of Brazil´s beaches to comment but this is one of, if not the most beautiful beach in the world for us. White sand, so fine that it squeaks beneath your feet. Studded with palm trees offering cooling shade and backed by thick jungle. Crystal clear, aqua blue, warm(ish) water which turns into big surf occasionally but for us offfered small, playful waves. Monkeys and not too many people, if you´re not there during peak tourist season which we weren´t.

We did the two hour jungle walk there and back from our hostel and saw monkeys that came right up to you, unaffraid and unthreatening. We saw black squirrels, lizards, all sorts of birds including hummingbirds and walking along the beach one day we also spotted dolphins jumping around the surf.

Our second visit to Lopes Mendes we took a boat and Davo hired a surf board to carve up some waves. It was surreal to be paddling out there watching sea birds dive and catch fish and just to take in that I was surfing in Brazil. Not quite as surreal though as having a havaiana thong float up to me in the surf. Only in Brazil.

The one Brazilian word important to know on the island was ¨tranquillo¨. It was very chilled and laid back. We spent a couple of evenings teaching Fi to play chess. Sipping on cold Sol beers and nibbling on fried calamari or pay by the kilo meals were other favoured pass times. There were multiple local guys pulling around big trollies filled with very good looking desserts of which we tasted a few, careful to choose desserts that were nut free.

Our next destination was Isla do Mel, a bit further south. We caught a ferry, taxi, bus, metro, bus, train, bus and another ferry to get between the two islands, crazy times. We had to pass through Sao Paulo, a massive city which from most reports is good to pass through. The train journey we took between Curitiba and Paranaguá is the best in Brazil according to our guide book and we took in some stunning views of mountains covered in jungle.

Isla do Mel was a more deserted version of Isla Grande. At least it was for a few days and then they decided to have a public holiday in Brazil and the 106 bed hostel we planned to stay in went from having 6 people to being booked out. We spent our time walking along the big, peaceful beaches, over the rocks and through the jungle. Part of the walk involved climbing over rocks on the waters edge. At high tide during big surf it can be a dangerous place to cross. So to avoid being swept out to sea, after narrowly avoiding sudden death a week earlier, we had to hack our way through jungle on higher ground. Lots of fun.

A group of three Poms who had just started an around the world trip decided to hang out with us for a few beers. We were staying at opposite ends of the island and despite our warnings of the last boat leaving at about 5.30pm they decided to hang around until it was completely dark and they had spent their last bit of money on beer, without eating. They had no torches, not even a camera or a phone to offer some light. There was no moon and even if there was the clouds were hiding it. We gave them a dose of mozzie repellant and a map, not that they could read it and joked about getting their mums´ email addresses so we could let them know that their boys loved them and to apologise for their stupidity so early into their trip. They set off of the one and a half hour walk through the jungle, along the beaches and over the rocks. The one thing going for them was that it was low tide. We were catching the same boat back to the mainland the following day and looking forward to hearing about the journey, but they never showed up. End of story! And we never got their mums´ email addresses!

We encountered more wildlife, un-fortunately some of it was dead and washed up on the beach including the sea turtle being fed on by large scavenging birds, (fortunately not including any washed up Poms... surely they´ll be fine!) Some of the wildlife we encountered happened to be reptilian, big iguanas, much to Fi´s disappointment.

The hords of Brazilian tourists rocked up for the long weekend but we like the island more when it was quiet so decided to take an early departure to Foz do Iguaçu.

Rio de Janeiro... Oh Oh When My Baby!

October 1-6, 2007

Arriving in Rio involved mixed emotions for both of us, excitement, nervousness, anticipation and a little bit of sadness having left England, our home for over a year.

It lived up to most expectations and turned out to be one of our favourite cities in the world. One expectation it failed to live up to was the danger. We came expecting to be mugged and robbed and therefore initially carried nothing that we weren´t prepared to lose. This expectation was avoided partly due to the area we stayed in. Ipanema is a very clean, safe and wealthy area of Rio. It neighbours the famous Copacabana beach and a lot of locals seem to think it is surpassing it in beauty and happenings these days.

Our first few days were spent lying on the beach. Why not! The sand was so fine and after being in Europe for so long and ¨putting up¨ with thier sub-rate beaches (hahaha) this was heaven. Not to mention the other scenery. The rumours about the g-bangers are true. Neither of us really digged the latest fashion for men though. They were like bike shorts but without the leg bits. Normal budgie smugglers with a bit more material. Sorry for inducing those nasty mental images.

You could pretty much buy anything you needed on the beach. From coconuts to cold beers to fried cheese (they even carried around mini stoves to fry it) to much loved air biscuits. And the characters selling these items were much loved or much feared as well. Especially the bloke selling pineapples who wore a big hat filled with pineapples, big yellow washing gloves and crept up behind innocent beach loungers and yelled ´pineapple´at them in Portugese. Not sure if he sold many?

We met up with Davo´s mate Liana, whom he met while studying Spanish in Barcelona earlier in the year. She was our tireless and most helpful guide for the week and we can´t thank her enough for all the trouble she went to for us.

The first place she took us was up to the famous Jesus Statue (Cristo Redentor). An obvious place to start site seeing in Rio. Perched high up on the highest of Rio´s many peaks, it gave us a spectacular view of the city and it´s beaches. This was followed by an awesome all you can eat restaurant serving all sorts of traditional Brazilian dishes like rice and beans, fresh fish and sushi, cheesy empanadas and meat carved of a spit straight onto your plate. Belisimo! Who could have thought our day could get any better when Liana invited us to a private beach party on Copacabana beach with free beer! It was part of the International Film Festival in Rio at the time and we were mixing it with famous Brazilian movie stars. No really!

The next day Davo spent in hospital, thanks to his old mate peanuts. You´ve probably read the email... if not, read the email.

To recover the following day, Liana invited us and our new Aussie mates Michael and Anna, to lunch at her mum´s house in Leblon for a beautiful, traditional, ´nut free´ meal. We also did a drive by tour of some of the main areas of the city. In the evening we joined a crazy possessed bunch of about 70,000 locals at Maracaná (the Rio football stadium aka holy turf) to see a football match between top of the table Sao Paulo and lower ranked but much loved (in Rio) Flamengo. Literally all of the locals we met in Rio were Flamengo fans. They weren´t expected to win but we saw them get up 1-0. The atmosphere was incredible. Try and picture 70,000 people ripping off their shirts, waving them above their heads in unison. The dancing, drums, music, chanting, flares all create an electric atmosphere that us Aussies don´t come close to replicating in a sporting arena.

Who would have thought this day could get any better, when Liana took us to a late night samba club (also famous in Rio) where we mixed it with a different group of locals, including one old timer dressed in a white suit with white shoes and a red tie, who danced with two girls at a time on multiple occasions. Legend! The seven piece live band set the scene while Fi received a few free lessons from some more than able teachers and Davo did his best not to stand out.

Our last morning in Rio, Davo impuslively decided to jump off a 525m high cliff with a hang-glider and capable pilot attached. There was a ten second lesson before we jumped which involved running with an arm over the pilot´s shoulder for ten metres and then we were flying. We flew over buildings, mountains, favelas (the local slums), beaches and hotties on the beach - apparently one of the best places on the planet to hang-glide. It was an amazing experience.

We climbed another of Rio´s peaks in the evening, called Sugar Loaf, because that´s what it looks like. This time we climbed by cable car. We chased a few monkeys around the hilltop before wittnessing another beautiful sunset, apparently worthy of a round of applause (the second one of these we´ve seen on our travels, the first in the Greek Islands).

Rio is a fascinating and vibrant city and it doesn´t entirely deserve the ¨dangerous¨ tage that it gets, although some parts it certainly does. There is a great divide separating the classes of society from the rich and wealthy around Ipanema and Copacabana to the poverty stricken favelas. We only saw a snippet of the action, the night life, the dancing and can only imagine what it would be like during Carnival. Hopefully we´ll be back to enjoy it one day.