From Puerto Natales we headed back into Argentina, through what was the easiest border crossing yet – much easier on a public bus than on Trevor/Doris! After a relatively short bus ride of only 6 hours, we arrived in El Calafate, which is a very touristy town – I’m not sure how the huge number of tacky souvenir shops survive! (We did discover an amazing little bakery though that made the best empanadas and I think we had at least 3 each every day we were there!) The reason for being in El Calafate was to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier, about 80km north of the town, which is one of the few remaining glaciers in the world that is still advancing. We were going to trek on the glacier, but the cost was stupidly expensive for a very short time on the ice and as we’d already been on a glacier in Iceland earlier in the year, we decided to get the public bus and just view the glacier from the boardwalks at the visitor centre instead.
The glacier is pretty impressive – it stretches back further than you can see (30km), and the height of the end of it when it reaches the lake is around 75m. During the course of the day the glacier starts to melt a little and you hear thunderous fractures and crashes as parts of the glacier crack and break off into the lake. The blue colour of the ice is due to the low oxygen content of the bits that are only recently exposed.
We’d decided that a 40hr bus ride from El Calafate to Buenos Aires did not appeal and so we cheated and flew instead – well worth the money! We arrived very late into BA as our flight was changed, but having checked into our hostel at 1am, we discovered that the party hadn’t even started yet – BA nightlife starts very late – so instead of going to bed we had a couple of drinks instead. This set the tone for the days to come as BA is not a restful city and I’ve not quite worked out when anyone gets enough sleep! BA is a great place with a nice buzz about it although it doesn’t really have any particular must see sights.
On the Saturday we were there it was the polo final so a group of us headed over to the ground in the hope of buying last minute tickets. Unfortunately we weren’t prepared to pay 2,000 pesos each for the last remaining tickets so we decided to watch through the railings for a bit instead to get some photos before heading to a bar to watch it on TV instead. However, the weather was not on our side and the grey clouds became a torrential thunderstorm just as the match started. We saw all of 3 minutes of play before the whole match was called off. We ran through the rain to the nearest bar we could find, but we got absolutely soaked – I couldn’t have been wetter if I’d jumped in a swimming pool! At the bar I actually took off my dress in the bathroom and squeezed out a significant amount of water! A fun afternoon though and at least we can say that we have seen an Argentinean polo match.
On the Sunday, we wandered around the San Telmo district as there is an arts and craft market there and bought a couple of Christmas presents, before we headed to La Boca, the very colourful neighbourhood in the dodgy part of town, where you can watch tango dancers in the street while having a beer or two. We also came across a tango show in the street near our hostel where a live band was playing and anyone who wanted to dance could go up on stage. There were even people in the street just dancing. I stood there watching in awe as I cannot dance at all – I seem unable to co-ordinate my limbs as required!
For us though, the best thing about BA was the amazing steak restaurants. We went to La Cabrera in Palermo with some friends on our first evening in town and wow the steak was good. Le Roux ordered an 800g “bife de chorizo” (sirloin) extravaganza and he polished the whole thing off no trouble! I had a 400g “ojo de bife” (ribeye) which was divine. Overall an amazing dinner as the company, service and atmosphere were great and the accompaniments were delicious including a very nice cabernet sauvignon. The whole meal was so good that on our last night in BA we went again and had the exact same thing! We also went to Desnivel in San Telmo which was a cheaper restaurant that didn’t look much from the outside, but the food was great – Le Roux had yet another steak while I opted for some melt in the mouth slow roasted lamb. Our waistlines were visibly expanding over the 6 nights we spent in BA, but we just couldn’t resist the amazing meat in Argentina!
One thing to be aware of though in BA is the crooked taxi drivers – we had two bad experiences. The first was on the way in from the airport when the guy added on a lot of extra fees for baggage and tolls, which I couldn’t argue with as I don’t speak Spanish. The second incident was when the taxi driver switched a real 50 peso note for a fake and we didn’t realise until he had driven off. The best thing to do is to have the correct change but if you don’t, stay in the taxi until you’ve checked any change thoroughly.
Having said goodbye to our friends in BA – we were particularly sad to leave Will, Lisa and Alex having met them on the Navimag ferry 3 weeks previously - we again cheated and flew up to Puerto Iguazu (it would have been a 20hr bus journey!). We arrived at a rather deserted campsite recommended in the Lonely Planet as having “good facilities”. I’m not sure I agree with this, but as we needed to save some money after an expensive time in BA, we opted for the campsite anyway. Eventually we found the owner and set up our tent in what looked like a good spot. We subsequently discovered that the owner has 3 very noisy dogs and that pitching our tent anywhere near the house was a very bad idea. We had 3 rubbish nights’ sleep as the dogs barked intermittently throughout each night and earplugs seemed to provide no protection against the noise. Lesson learned tents and dogs do not go!! You’d have thought that I’d learnt this after the shoe incident but it appears not. I will take note this time though!
Puerto Iguazu was a small town purely in existence for tourists visiting the waterfalls 15km away and it seemed quite a poor place with a lot of street vendors bothering you in cafes. We had planned an extra day there though as we’d read that you could quickly and easily get a visa for Brazil from the embassy there as so many people cross the border to see the falls from the Brazilian side. Le Roux had got the many required pieces of information and evidence together having heard horror stories from some Australians trying to get their visas, and as he’d failed to get it in BA as there were no appointments left, we were a little worried about it. However, having turned up early at the embassy he discovered that South Africans don’t actually need a visa for Brazil! This must be the only time when South Africans are better off than Ozzies or Kiwis in respect of visas!! It was a relief that we were fine to go into Brazil, but frustrating that we didn’t get given the right information on the visa situation earlier. So few South Africans travel that it is hard to get reliable info on what visas are needed and how to get them.
The next day we caught the first local bus to the falls in order to avoid the worst of the tour bus crush, and for the first couple of hours we did have the trail to ourselves and could enjoy the views without fighting our way through the hordes of tourists. The falls (all 275 of them!) were spectacular and we spent all day wandering around taking in the amazing views and the thunderous noise of the water. The boat ride had been recommended to us so we coughed up the ridiculous amount and spent 12 minutes enjoying the view from the water and then getting totally soaked when the boat went up close to a couple of the water falls – fun but not worth the money in our opinion.
The most impressive waterfall was “Garganta del Diablo” (Devil’s Throat). The noise and power of the water was incredible – such an amazing sight. So impressive that I even recorded a mini movie of it! What struck me about Iguazu was how pretty it was with all the trees and bushes around – quite different to Victoria Falls. We met a lovely Canadian guy called Don at the falls and he has suggested that we don’t bother with Niagara as it doesn’t compare with Iguazu. We’ve not yet finally decided on that one, but as we’ll be so close, I suspect we’ll go to tick the box!
As well as the waterfalls, there was plenty of wildlife to see in the National Park. The zoom lens yet again proved useful as there were lots of different bird species hiding in the trees, including plush crested jays, tucans, vultures, woodpeckers and many more I can’t name! While we were trying to capture the vultures high up in a tree, there was a rustling in the undergrowth and this snake head popped out and I literally jumped back in fright!! It came forward a little further and it turned out to have some legs and was in fact a lizard and not a snake – phew!
We also came across some coatis, cute furry animals with long stripy tails, which were friendly and not at all scared by humans. One decided to rush me when I came out of the cafe with a couple of coffees. It turned out they were after the sugar packets on the tray but in the process managed to knock over one of the coffees and give me a fright - cheeky things! Whilst waiting for the little train later on we saw a couple of baby coatis playing – so cute!
After the day at the falls, we met up with Cedric and Stephanie for dinner, a lovely French couple we’d met in Torres del Paine through Will, and as it was our last night in Argentina, you can guess what we had – a final Argentinean steak! Nice, but not quite as good as La Cabrera – I don’t think anything will ever beat that steak! Le Roux also tried “chinchulines” (crispy intestines) – he enjoyed them, and I tried a tiny bit, which wasn’t too bad but I didn’t go back for more!
I was sorry to be leaving Argentina, and gutted that we hadn’t managed to fit in El Chalten and Bariloche in particular, but for the sake of my waistline (and bank balance) it was probably a good thing that we were moving on to Brazil! The scenery and food has been spectacular and I will definitely be back again in the future.
Complete photo album:
I also visited Argentina and stayed in a downtown Buenos Aires hotels.
ReplyDeleteThe city had so much to offer that I didn't want to leave!