Barriloche

The 20 hour bus journey went much quicker than anticipated- helped by snacks, monopoly, good scenery and no snoring men! We arrived in Bariloche, at 5:30pm and were greeted by the blazing sun. This place still had its ski resort vibe despite it being the summer time of the southern hemisphere, with it's surrounding snow capped mountains, wooden chalet buildings and abundance of chocolate, cafes and ski wear shops. Periko hostel was very pretty with the cleanest kitchen and a sparkling oven and best of all we had double rooms. Having been in 4 bedded dorms often with bunk beds for nearly two weeks this was a luxury. We headed out armed with two for one beer vouchers provided by Marco (works in the hostel and apparently learnt his fluent English from you tube!) To celebrate Halloween we dressed in typical English style- as ourselves we headed to Antares bar. The boys drunk a few pints of home made Kelsh beer, Caz two halves of honey beer and myself...Sticking to what I know- A bottle of white wine. Not only was the quantity I drunk a lot more but we have recently found out that wine produced at high altitude, has a higher alcohol percentage and also is Argentian wine is often higher than it states on the bottle to avoid paying the next level of tax! we ended up eating at this bar, (good job for me) then stubbled upon the lost Vikings pub. Caz and I overly excited to find Malibu on the shelve! We met a couple of 30 year old englishmen walking for cancer research all over south America, averaging 15miles per day with their rucksacks, and camping gear on their backs for an entire year. Puts our "travelling" to shame. Now well oiled, we eventually found our way home - rich running back to give the guys 100 pesos. Telling them that even if they ended up spending it on beers they deserved it!

Our second day we awoke to find people walking the streets with face masks on when we looked out our windows. A volcano nearby had erupted in july and was still going the recent wind change had caused the ash to become much worse. Until we stepped outside we didn't realise just how dusty and painful the ash (which felt more like sand) whipping around us was, not to mention it preventing the warmth of the sun either. It did not take long before we took cover in a cafe shop, an excuse to eat again. A chilled out evening at the hostel ready for our next excursion- rafting!


mike and Caz debated with rafting, saying it would be too cold but decided to go ahead with it as not wanting to miss out. Thet were not disappointed! We were picked up and headed up into the mountains, stopping for our second free breafast of the day in a little cabin on the river. Mike was gutted as he was hoping for some eggs but once again it was bread, jam and dulce de Leche. Into our wrestler looking wet suits, making rich's legs looking skinner then ever, and my boobs popping out either side. A few body slams' a safety talk and we were in our raft, the boys at the front, Caz and I at the back. We had 10 rapids ahead of us. I was nearly was thrown out the boat down 'deep throat' and the whole boat nearly flipped down rapid 'relax'. About 1.5 hrs later we had numb feet from the splashes into the boat and only one rapid left to survive. Our guide advised us all to sit at the back of the raft while we were in calm waters. Doing some sneaky bouncing action and pulling a rope that was attached to the front he caused the entire boat to fall into the freezing water apart from Caz and I -wahooo!!! The boys were pulled back into the raft teeth chattering. We then breezed the last rapid and had a BBQ lunch back at the cabin and headed home buzzing.

The next morning we got up early and decided to rent a car for a week to explore the rest of Argentina. We booked it for 6pm that evening. So go fill our day we decided to catch a bus to Puerto Panoelos (about 45m out of town). This proved slightly difficult we first of all didnt realuse we needed a ticket before we got on then could find where to purchase it from! Eventually we got there though and took ourselves for a walk through a 'petrified' forest which seemed to be attacking us. Branches grabbing mike's hair and I managed to lodge a rather large piece of wood into my shin (no sympathy from rich). We found a beautiful clear lake, but only brave enough to paddle up to our knees as the water was sooo cold. On the way back we stopped off a a view point. Having got confidence in ourselves from walking all those steps in salta we stuck our noses up a the stair lift and decided to walk, I mean climb it! Error. Very hot and sweaty and Caz not impressed she chose to wear her Birkenstocks that day. As ways it was worth it though for the view. A noodle take away and we began our first leg of our road trip- first stop el bonson.

Cordoba

We arrived in Cordoba, Argentina's secondest largest city at 9am. The day had not got off to a good start as I was kept awake on the overnight bus by a snoring Argentinian man (even my iPod on max volume could not drown him out!). We then were split up into 2 taxis as the taxi men refused to take all 4 of us with our rucksacks, day bags and the CAnson's extra plastic bags (by the way Natalie, Caz is suggesting you're the reason for the excess clothes she has!).

We all managed to arrive at Link hostel-which had a great rooftop terrace we had to ourselves, provided our best free breakfasts (the usual bread, cereal extra but with a baked peanut butter sponge cake every morning)! Jayne- I have made a U turn on the road to skinny ville! We then headed out to explore a bit of the city and to grab a bite to eat. The heavens opened and down came our first taste of rain since our treking to Machu Picchu 3 weeks earlier. We trenched through what we found out over the next few days was the ugliest part of the city but was saved by a cafe serving submarinos (an excellent hot cholate = hot milk with a melting flake of real cholate). The rain continued so we headed back to Link hostel armed with beers and Tia Maria, which we had to sneak in as it was prohibited, a way to get us to buy alcohol from them. But having been brought up to sneak gin and tonics and boddys into the cinema -this was no test!

After an afternoon of drinking we decided to treat ourselves to a good bit of Argentinian steak. We were recommended a place and were quite hopeful. Considering it was not a cheap meal, the steak was very average and the vegetables were boiled so much the carrots were the same colour as the broccoli. Having not been very impressed with the food or our service Rich refused to pay the tip which was included on the bill by telling them he wanted to pay it in cash. Once they had refunded the money for the tip we legged it- only leaving a tooth pick to represent our appreciation. A few days later the money came out of Rich's bank account- it was not as expensive as we thought, £70 for all four of us including drinks! Tight gits!

For our second day in Cordoba we headed to the park,very pretty with a central lake and found some concrete sun beds. As uncomfortable as they sound rich still managed to fall asleep (see photo). We played some frisbee and watched a girl practice trapeze acts on a ribbon she tied to a tree. The funniest part of the day was us all getting thrown out of a taxi when Rich pushed the reset button before we had set off as it was already logging 6 pesos (equivalent of £1). We were then bundled into the taxi behind and rich immediately caused another commotion by trying to push his faulty seat back. The second taxi obviously had seen us get thrown out the first and did not seem impressed with us at all. Especially with us 3 giggling away in back.

That night the boys managed to BBQ some steak and sausages. Caz and I were on salads and chimi churi making (it helps when you have the right ingredients -parsley does not make a good coriander substitute).

Our last day was spent wandering the more beautiful streets, meandering along the river side road and discovering some little boutique shops. Caz and I had a great take away-a huge burrito, the boys holding out for chicken and chips they has spotted earlier that day but ended up with a sandwich, 6:30pm is apparently not tea time in Argentina! It was time to leave for Mendoza on another over night bus. Wanting to get our own back on the taxi men Rich flagged one off the street while the rest of hid around the corner with all our bags. Before the taxi man could say anything Caz and I were in the back with the boys packing our bags in around us. It would have been a squeeze anyway but Rich had managed to call a taxi with no boot. Hysterical laughter from Caz and I drowned out the taxi man's Spanish protest and soon he was laughing with us. Caz and I had steams of tears the whole way to the station, which was fuelled by mike declaring his claustrophobia. We provided entertainment to some locals as we piled out of the small fiat punto, bag after bag like a magician's hat. Next stop- Mendoza, wine capital of Argentina.
Ps more photos added to last blog (salta as requested) and entries more to come very soon