After bumbling our way through with basic Spanish we took the bus to the main bus terminal then caught the Metro out to our Hostel. Desperate for some sleep and feeling rough we had 40 winks! After this we wandered around the Bellavista barrio (suburb/area) and decided to stop like everyone else for a few beers. We were quite surprised at how expensive it was so we decided to head out to the coast the next day.
We spent two nights in Valparaiso (Valpo), still jet lagged and confused we headed up to the UNESCO heritage old town and checked out the architecture. The following day we took the bus to Viña del Mar and tried to get over our jet lag on the beach. This was cool apart from getting stung by a Wasp (I really hate them!) but we did see a Seal swimming in the surf. We did avoid swimming after that as Seals usually attract unwanted fishies, such as Sharks!!!
After our two nights in Valpo we headed back to Santiago to give the city another try! We took the free walking tour around Santiago and although it lasted 4ish hours it was incredible. The tour guide was really passionate about his city and country. We really gained a good understanding and appreciation for Chilean history, culture and politics! If you're in Santiago please do this!! Felipe is a legend! We stayed in a different hostel where dinner and wine is free for guests. What a good idea! We met some great people, gained some excellent advice and had a great night out partying in Santiago! Money and time is tight for South America so we decided to move on to Argentina! Would love to head up to Northern Chile, Southern Chile and Patagonia in the future.
The bus from Santiago to Mendoza (Argentina) was really interesting. Especially cruising through the Andes and seeing the small ski resorts and villages in Argentina. We arrived in Mendoza the final weekend of the annual wine harvest festival. This weekend there is a kind of beauty pageant/competition as each winery chooses a representative or beauty queen. The beauts are put on floats and take part in a massive procession and eventually in a big concert where one of them is crowned queen.
We took a bus out to Maipu, the wine region of Mendoza to take a bicycle self guided wine tour. We really enjoyed cruising around the rural lane ways and villages trying the wine. It was a bit of a shock as most wineries in Aussie and NZ have free tastings but you have to pay here! Still was all good fun! That night we tried to watch the parade but thought better of it after all the wine!
The next day we did manage to catch a parade, we saw a big Samba band in Plaza de España, the traditional families of the area on horseback in traditional dress and the famous Gauchos (cowboys). This was very cool. There seemed to be quite a few political protests directed at the main stand of the parade. I assume the mayor and other officials were there. There was a big poster about The Falklands or The Malvinas as they're known here. I did feel a little nervous about being in Argentina with the rising tensions and 30th anniversary of the Falkland war approaching -but it was totally fine! This night we went to an all you can eat BBQ restaurant to try the famous Argentinian steak -what can I say! Yum!!! Ate far too much but tried loads of traditional dishes! All very yummy.
Next stop was Buenos Aires, after a rather expensive over night bus trip we arrived in the capital. We were staying in the microcentre which was a great central location. After getting our barings we went to the consulate of Paraguay so Ryan
could get his visa (I could get one on arrival -for free)! Most of the shops were blurting out Tango music which added to the vibrant atmosphere throughout this city!
We took the free walking tour the following day to get to know the city, more about the history, culture and politics of Argentina (no mention of The Falklands -phew)! We asked the guide about which Milonga (Tango club) to visit and she gave us a great recommendation. That afternoon we walked out to Recolecta barrio to check out the cemetery there. I know this sounds morbid but it is absolutely incredible, the tombs/mausoleums here are very impressive it is almost like walking around a village! We only had about 10 mins before it closed and we just about managed to pay our respects to Eva (Evita) Peron before the bells rang for closing. Recolecta is such a beautiful place, it has old school red telephone boxes like England! That night we went to the Milonga and enjoyed watching professionals and ammateurs dancing the Tango. This was great fun and much cheaper than the tourist shows!
We had booked a night bus to Peurto Iguazù so during the day we walked out to La Boca barrio -home of Boca Juniors football club and of course the handball champion of the world Maradonna! This was a great place to visit and the houses are painted really bright colours here. We also visited Palermo in the afternoon, we wanted to visit the Botannical Gardens but they were closed.
The bus to Iguazù took around 20hrs and the scenary was great. That night there was a massive storm and the lightening was fantastic! We stayed at a great hostel with a pool which was a dream in the 37+ degrees! We met some really cool people here and enjoyed stories from and advice for the road ahead.
Iguazù Falls are simply incredible! I have never seen anything like it before in my life, so beautiful. We managed to complete most of the trails and saw the falls from a few different heights and angles but it didn't get old or boring! I could've sat there for days! We saw lizards birds, butterflies, fish and the interesting opossum! That afternoon we chilled out by the pool and got ready for our next adventure. Loved Iguazù! Would like to come back one day to visit the South of Argentina and Uruguay.
Off the beaten Gringo trail in Paraguay and I really feel like we're exploring again! We luckily made our way to Encarnacion after a couple of irregular buses. Paraguay is by far the hottest country we've been to so far in SA. It's truly mellow and old school here, loads of little houses, farms, the dirt is bright red and the grass vibrant green! Really lovely country to visit. Encarnacion is a great place to stay to get out to the Jesuit mission ruins of Trinidad and Jesus. We spent about half Sunday wandering around the ruins, we waited ages for a bus to Jesus. We met a nice Polish couple who helped us to get there as the bus only runs every hour and who knew on Sunday! The amazing thing is that these ruins are in the lonely planet and there were no more than 6 tourists wandering around.... love it! There's a new man made beach in Encarnacion which is pure genious in the 38-40 degree heat here! There are even floodlights so everyone stays late with their esky's!
Next stop, the capital Asuncion. We had a bit of a wait at the bus stop so we finally sampled some Matè. Matè is a herbal tea that the people in Paraguay and Argentina go crazy for! Everyone carries around a flask and the cup with a metal straw. Matè is pretty tasty and we enjoyed killing time like the locals! Terèterè is an iced version of the tea and is very popular in Paraguay. We also tried the Terèterè, thought it was better than Matè. The seven hour bus ride to Asuncion was pretty hot but the scenary was great so that helped to distract from the jam packed bus. We caught the bus from the terminal to the city center and found a hotel. The hotel is owned by an elderly lady who was very accomodating. After a thirty minute chat about where we were from, what we do for work and what we were up to -all spoken in Spanish we were keen to check out the city's sights. Asuncion is by far one of the smallest capitals I have ever seen! After we had walked around and seen most of the sights we had dinner near the main square.
We checked out of the hotel the following morning and left our backpacks at the bus terminal. Ryan had read about a small Australian colony founded around 1903, later some brits joined and re-named the town Nueves Londres -New London. We found out that it was about 128km away from Asuncion, so we went to check it out. After eating some fresh Chipa (Paraguay's special bread made from Manoic, Cheese and eggs) on the bus we managed to get dropped off at the right place, negotiated a couple of moto-taxi's and we were there! Incredibly small, with barely a hand full of colonial buildings left we walked around the town.The Paraguay flag is the only flag flying these days it was really nice to visit Nueve londres! We later returned to the bus terminal in Asuncion and booked the bus up to Bolivia for 7pm that evening. Only a 24hr bus ride -if we're lucky......
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