Thursday, February 08, 2007

Argentina (& Brazil)

We ended our cruise in Ushuia, which claims to be the most southerly city in the world. Although ‘city’ is a bit if a stretch as it is more like a small town. Our adventures seemed to have caught up with us here and all we could so was spend our day here exhausted, sleeping.

Next day, we flew to Buenos Aires and soon found ourselves dashing around the city centre on yet one more city tour. We had a quick look at the Cathedral at the main square which was memorable mainly because we knew it would be our last church on this trip. Hallelujah! Its most striking feature was the multi coloured mosaic floor and the tomb of General José de San Martín, liberator of Argentina. Also in the square is the presidential palace, or pink house, seen from a distance as there is a huge fence protecting it from the attentions of the numerous protests that take place here. We had a quick stop in the district of Boca where the famous Boca Juniors football club is located, and where that handy player Maradona started his career. It’s a poor district close to where the docks used to be, and was a natural magnet for the immigrants arriving from Europe in the early 20th century. There’s been some work recently to improve the area, especially close to the water with a pedestrian street arts and crafts market but the water is still polluted and there’s an acrid smell close to the former docks. We went back to the centre and had a short walk in a very pretty park full of joggers trotting around in the midday heat – they must have been English.

We left the city for a day out at an Estancia, or farm, about a 3 hour drive away. A number of Estancias are open to the public and provide accommodation for tourists, usually offering horse riding, cycling or just a peaceful retreat in the country. We were in the vast Pampas where the famous beef cattle are reared, and the landscape was quite a contrast from the rest of our trip being totally flat and featureless. We only had a few hours but managed a very enjoyable lunch with the four other guests hosted by the owner and his wife. The meal was a barbeque - asado as it is known here. The meat is slowly cooked over an open wood fire. There was a choice of beef, beef and even beef, and also a strange black sausage - all extremely tasty, washed down with salads, bread and a quaffable red wine. It was a long way to travel for lunch and I think that in hindsight we should have stayed the night

We spent much of the rest of our time in Buenos Aires chilling out in the numerous cafes, thankful to be able to get a decent coffee at last, or walking around the centre. The city is nicknamed the Paris of South America, and it is extraordinary how the majority of the buildings ape French architecture. We did manage a night out at one of the many venues offering dinner and an exhibition of tango dancing which was somehow booked by our travel agent. Surprisingly, we had a really fun evening possibly because our expectations were close to zero. The live band was excellent mainly due to an exceptional violinist.

Iguazu falls

Our final destination in Argentina was Iguazu falls in the north of the country bordering Brazil. This is the widest falls in the world spanning 3 kilometres, and comprising of over 250 separate falls. The falls are shared between Argentina and Brazil with the border separating the river Iguazu below.

We had two days to explore this natural wonder and decided to spend day 1 on the Brazilian side of the falls. The journey takes about an hour by car even though we were only traveling to the other side of the river about 200 metres away. There’s the usual formalities to be performed crossing the border but our Brazilian guide seemed to know all the officials and we whizzed passed the queued traffic and were through in no time. Once in the national park we decided to take a boat ride into the falls. It was raining heavily and we thought that we might as well get completely soaked. We weren’t disappointed as the driver powered up close to the falls, with the spray crashing around us.

Pretty much all the activities in the national park here centre in the falls. There’s numerous walking trails giving different vantage points on the Brazilian and Argentina side. We were staying in the Sheraton hotel which is the only one located in the national park, so we were able to stroll from the hotel onto the excellent walks around the falls.
The largest fall with the most volume of water is called Devil’s Gorge and is reached via a short 15 minute train ride followed by a twenty minute walk.

Our Brazilian guide Chris took great care of us. His younger brother has a trial for Man Utd, so we may hear from him in the future.


Argentina Ratings
Food 8
Coffee 7
Tango 8
Maradona Worship 10
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