Buenos Aires, Argentina (Part 2)

We arrived back in our home away from home in time for the weekends festivities. Nick had a prearranged booking at the infamous Milhouse Hostel while Sam and I returned to the more relaxed (and cheaper) PAX Hostel just a few blocks away.

Our first afternoon back was to include a graffiti tour through Palermo and neighbouring suburbs explaining the history and meaning of the many murals and stencil pieces throughout the city. The tour departed at 4.30pm which provided plenty of time as our bus from Neuquen was due at 12.30pm. This however didn't account for the bus being 2.5 hours late, which lead to an eventual rush to get to the tour on time.

The tour, operated by GraffitiMundo, lasted approximately 2.5 hours and took us to a number of sites in the area, and finished up at a graffiti-themed bar with a few drinks. I won't ramble on about the history etc as that's something for the tour to explain, but the diversity and underlying influences behind it are notable in the work.

For those interested the tour costs AR75 (all inclusive) and operates on Fridays and Wednesdays. Check out: http://www.graffitimundo.com

After a quiet night, we awoke early to head down to La Boca for a tour of the famous La Bombonera stadium, and to for a walk around the sourrounding colourful streets. Also, being a Saturday, there were plenty of markets and street performers on display. With no prior knowledge of what was involved we foolishly chose the museum and stadium tour package for AR35. Although informative, the tour was not worth the price of admission, and the museum was entirely in Spanish, well beyond my basic knowledge of the language. My tip: do the 'express tour' for AR20 which let's you tour the stadium by yourself. Better yet, try and score tickets to one of the games.

That evening we tried for the second time to head to Pacha. Learning from our previous mistakes with the Christopher Lawrence night (refer: Buenos Aires part 1 post), we arrived early to avoid disappointment. AR60 seemed a bit steep at first but it came with a free drink and is still pretty cheap for a club of this calibre back home. Although the club was at limited capacity when we entered the main room filled up quickly and subsequently the outdoor terrace area where we ended up spending most of the evening. The toilet-to-patron ratio was a bit of a circus with queues stretching into the front foyer for most of the night (even for the guys). Although being a predominantly house brand, it seems the Buenos Aires club has reinvented itself with most of the music being techno, after hosting trance DJ Christopher Lawrence two weeks prior. The outdoor terrace served as an ideal place to party the night away and eventually watch the sunrise with planes landing low overhead at the adjacent Jorge Newbery airport. For those looking to attend, be warned that the cheapest drinks available are AR20 each which is for woeful cans of Budweiser.

This served as less than ideal preparation for the next day in which we planned to awake early, head down to River Plate stadium and purchase some ticket for the 3pm game (we didn't really want to pay for the AR250 gringo package as attending the games isn't as hard as te hostels make them seem). Sleeping in till 1.30pm quickly put an end to this plan and we ventured down to the San Telmo street markets. All sorts of crafts were on offer, from antiques to handmade shoes (made on the spot!!) at reasonably cheap prices. The best buy turned out to be handmade leather wallets of varying sizes for wallets of varying sizes for AR25.

To bid farewell to Buenos Aires on the final evening I again indulged in the 400g steak. It still amazes me that you can get a meal of this size and quality for the equivilent of AU7.

We made a strategic change to the itinerary and booked a bus to Mendoza, with Cordoba to follow so as to make it easier to get to Salta after that. In retrospect it made no difference but we went with it anyway. Our 'cama VIP' package again hosted wifi. This time it actually worked. Nick highlighted the point that in a country where you can't flush toilet paper that you can send emails from a moving bus on a motorway. Hmmm...

Neuquen, Argentina

Our suprise destination for the end of our Patagonia leg turned out to be just that - suprising. I'm still not sure whether I'd call it a generally positive or negative experience, but here goes:

With Nick recovering back in Puerto Madryn for a couple of days, Sam and I trekked north-west before our eventual meetup on Friday in Buenos Aires. Similar to Puerto Madryn, Neuquen is a boring, dull and lifeless town, offering next to nothing to the average tourist. So why go here? Sams internet stalking came across another travel blog which told of an attraction that is both unique and a bit off the combentional gringo trail. About 1.5 hours north-west of Neuquen is an active dinosaur excavation that tourists are able to attend and participate in along side the on-site Paliantologists. Tours are organised through an agent and tourists can stay on-site anywhere between 2 hours and 10+ days.

After our arrival, we checked in at a textbook boring YHI hostel (one of only 2 hostels in town), and set off on a quick explore. Our walk around the town confirmed our initial preconceptions - Neuquen, in it's own right, sucks. Next on thenlist was to track down the aforementioned agent to organise a full day tour to the dinosaur excavation.

We followed the ever-reliable directions of Google Maps into the industrial precinct of Neuquen, and down some side streets. Not the most conventional location for a tour agency. The address no longer existed. We asked the adjacent meat wholesaler and then the petrolium infrastructure supplies outlet who eventually called for us. They had moved around the corner. After a quick chat we organised the tour and would set off the next morning for a full day at the site. This eventuates into a story in itself which I'll discuss below. Firstly however...

The Tour:
Our full day package would begin with the standard two hour tour around the site that most tourists undertake. This is basically an observational walk around the site and small museum area with a guide that explains everything etc. This proved useful as the last time I read anything about dinosaurs was in primary school. After lunch with 'the team', which was rather excellent, we would take a more hands on approach with excavation work, lab work, and finally making some casts and small models. Basically, we would go through a watered-down version of the actual process. Our excavation proved less than sucessful and we ended up empty-handed. However, one of the Paliantologists next to us did find some fossilised tree routes. We then went over to the lab when we'd work on some previously discovered bones to remove all the extra sediment/crap off them before the final stage of the process. I was suprised at the tedious nature of this process which basically involved tiny chisels and a lot of time. Surely technology has provided an easier way by now? After this we prepared the resin to create a final replica. To say ours didn't turn out as good as the professional ones would be an understatement.

Overall it was an extremely intersting and rewarding day. This was probably moreso as I wasn't too excited about the prospect to begin with. The length of the process from start to finish was alarming and a testiment to the patience and dedication of those involved - something I most likely couldn't do. We were rushed through it all in many respects but were still able to appreciate the time that goes into everything. Some of the processes seemed particularly 'old school' but I guess some things don't change.

The Drama:
Now for the downside of the day. When we met with our tour agent on the first day we were informed that the full day tour we were after would cost 200, not including a transfer. As we had no car, with a transfer would be 500. Due to the language barrier, we made certain to confirm that it was 500 total for two people, and not 500 on top of the original 200 quoted. This was confirmed again when our hostel made the booking. The day went ahead as described above, and all was good.

When we were dropped off we handed our agent the 500 as quoted. This was met with disapproval. 'where's the 200 for the park entry - the 500 only covered the transfer...' he claimed. We argued, stated we had no more money and he left. On review, 500 for a transfer was ridiculous considering our overnight bus from Puerto Madryn to Neuquen was only 225p/p.

Our amigo returned about 10 minutes later claiming we stole money from him blah blah blah and he would be calling the police. After some deliberation we decided it wasn't worth the trouble and presented the AR200 - again met with disapproval. It turns out it was US200 he sought. What? I'm pretty sure we were still in Argentina where the currency in the Argentinian peso. With the police due any minute, we again conceded and handed over the best part of AR750 on top of our original quote. Despite getting his money we copped a rant that we had disrespected him etc and that he's now going to have to explain himself to the police. Three armed police promptly arrived and asked questions. Given my Spanish is poor at best I had no idea what was said except for when thy asked what nationality I was. Thankfully Australian was good enough for them - perhaps I wouldn't have been so lucky if I was from elsewhere?

Anyway, what to do about this blatant rip off? Go to some sort of consumer affairs? Do they even exist in Argentina? Dob him into the tax man considering I didn't even get a reciept? Possibly. Step 1 is a name and shame. Quite simply, if you go to Neuquen and want to go dig for dinosaurs, don't use this company:

Diem Viajes
Chile 335
Neuquen, Argentina

So what are your options? The easiest way in my opinion is to organise your own transport (hire a car which is notably cheaper) and deal with the Proyecto Dino guys yourself. The location is pretty easy to find, you'll save a bit of cash and hopefully have a top day.

Puerto Madryn, Argentina (inc. Peninsula Valdes)

In retrospect 31 hours on the road went rather smoothly as we arrived in our new home for the next few days - Puerto Madryn. Although staying in the city, our reason for going there was actually one hour north in the form of Peninsula Valdes.

Our original plan was to stay in Puerto Madryn for one night before transferring to the peninsula's only hostel, from which we would walk/ride/drive/fly around to the various attractions. It seems Sam misjudged the scale of the peninsula as most attractions are approximately 100km apart by gravel road. Car hire was comparitively expensive with an immediate AR1000 charge if returned with a broken windscreen. It wasn't looking good.

Sam went into damage control while we reassessed the situation. After a quick consultation session with the tourist office we found a tour company that ran what we were after from Puerto Madryn. For future reference, we can thoroughly recommend Fugu-Tours. When we met with the owner at their office he took the time to show us photos from the peninsula and believed in what he was selling. The tour guides on the day were friendly yet informative and professional. 10/10.

The next day we set off on the tour. We had a stop at the town for a brief look around before heading out to Caleta Valdes to see penguins and apparently elephant seals that had since vacated. To our suprise we also saw a pod of five Orca's patrolling along the coast. While Orca's are known to be seen in this area at high tide it is more common to see them at Punto Norte, our next destination. For approximately 30 minutes we watched the four adults and one calf move along the coast before heading further north beyond our vantage point. Our tour guide mentioned that on occasions the adults can teach the calf the deliberate beaching/feeding technique we were keen to witness however we had no luck on this front.

With luck going our way we headed up to Punto Norte to the notorious Orca hunting ground. Here we could see four large Sea Lion colonies on the beach as well as a few obese Elephant Seals lounging in their own filth. We were hoping some of these Sea Lions would serve as dinner for an Orca. It wasn't to be unfortunately and we didn't even get a second view of the Orca's let alone see them feed. Disappointing but the chance to see Orca's is relatively small, and to see them feed on Sea Lions off the beach is apparently less than 5%. Our guide told us that when David Attenbrough filmed his documentary footage it was over a 5 year period. That's dedication.

As mentioned we didn't come to Puerto Madryn because it's a particularly 'cool' or 'happening' place, in fact, it's pretty dull. The executive decision was made to fit in one more Patagonia destination before heading back to Buenos Aires for the weekend. With Nick struck down by illness he opted to stay in Puerto Madryn for some R and R while Sam and I would head to Neuquen to the north-west before rendevouzing on Friday. On the way to the bus station to purchase tickets we stopped off at the Puerto Madryn Oceanic Museum which provided a historical account of the maritime town, and most interestingly, a very detailed outline of the Orca's history, hunting techniques etc. The tower of the museum could be accessed and provided a great view of the city. Above each window was a photo of the same outlook at the time of settlement which highlighted the changes that had taken place since.

In short the two and a half days we spent in Puerto Madryn was perfect, mainly because we were lucky enough to see the Orca's on the tour, otherwise I think the experience would have felt a bit unfulfilling. To the south of Puerto Madryn it is possible to go snorkelling with Sea Lions which we didn't do solely because it was AR500 per person, but it would be worth checking out if it's in your budget.

El Chalten, Argentina

After the horror stories we'd heard about Aerolineas Argentinas (the Argentinian installment of TAM), we were pleased to see our bags arrive at El Calafate. Although not quite the end of the earth, the south of Argentina is pretty much as south as you can get without going to Antartica (NB. Ushuaia is actually the southern most city, approx 5 hours south-west of El Calafate). As such, it was cold, very cold, and very windy. Walking from the plane to the terminal was an effort in itself. We chose to transfer immediately to El Chalten as it provided a cheaper and more efficient (read: tightass) location for our itinerary.

Three hours later we were there. In the meantime Sam managed to lose her polar fleece jumper - an essential item for the coming days. El Chalten has an alarming amount of accomodation for it's size (the population fluctuates from 300 in winter up to a booming 1500 in summer!). On the advice of others, we didn't book a hostel and decided it'd be easy enough to find it on the fly. Negative. It took about 2 hours, some walking and a few phone calls, but worked out in the end. We settled into a pretty basic hostel adjacent to the central shops which was also home to one of the world's fattest dogs.


The next morning we set off on a hike to Lago Torre, some 11km north-west of the town. Along the way there were plenty of opportunities to take in the surrounding landscape, and as I'm not as fit as I probably should be, take a break and relax. Like with everything else I've written, I don't think the photos do it justice. The remoteness of the location, the valleys, snow capped mountains, the rivers and all the rest really require a first-hand encounter. It was interesting when hiking to note how clean the air was, especially after being in Salvador, Rio, Buenos Aires etc. At times it actually burnt my lungs it was so clean. I guess I'm used to the dirty polluted stuff.




I was pretty certain I would be paralysed the next morning.

The ice climbing at the local tour company was fully booked for the next morning, so Nick opted for the 6 hour ice trekking tour, while Sam and I went cheaper again with just a 2.5 hour boat tour. Nick was back by 11am after his tour was cancelled. When we tried to get a refund for our afternoon boat tour we were told 'it will be going ahead blah blah blah'. We persisted with it the weather thankfully cleared up. We spent about 45-60 minutes at the Viedma Glacier which is the largest in the national park.




We kicked off at 6.30am the next morning for 31 hours of bussing up to Puerto Madryn. Good times!

Buenos Aires, Argentina (Part 1)

This post covers our first leg in Buenos Aires, the second being in about 7-10 days when we return from Patagonia.

We travelled in style from Puerto Iguazu to Buenos Aires, opting for the more luxurious 'super cama' bus, complete with blankets, dinner, breakfast, drinks and even wifi (which didn't actually work).

We arrived in Buenos Aires on Friday morning, just in time for the commencement of the weekend in one of South America's notorious party cities. Beyond this, my knowledge of things to do in Buenos Aires was fairly limited. In many respects, I considered it a city that was famous for being famous. Thankfully I was wrong as there is plenty to do and see, and the city is actually the centre of a very interesting yet controversial history.

We were staying in San Telmo which is one of the older areas of the city, and conveniently located for exploring. With much of the first day gone after the overnight bus, check-in etc, the afternoon was spent walking around San Telmo which has plenty of small markets and cafes to pass the time. As we were now in the heart of Argentina, a mammoth steak was at the top of our list for dinner that night. We succeeded, finding a 400g steak with rice and fries for only AR25 (approx AU8) just 6 doors away. This placed us in good stead for the night to come.

Like Spain, Argentina, and especially Buenos Aires has a very late culture, with many eateries open till after midnight, and bars and clubs not really filling up until after 2. We kept this in mind as we set off to Cocoliche, an underground techno club just 8 blocks away. The only signs of life in the deserted street was a stocky bald man leaning against a building. When we enquired about our pre-arranged guestlist, we were asked 'what gueslist?'. After he concluded we were alright to enter, we realized quickly that that was by no means a purpose built club, rather a cafe/diner (we think) that had been converted. The upstairs had been converted to a bar area with the downstairs basement serving as the dancefloor area. By 3am the basement was full. We were the only gringo's in the club which was a touch daunting, but at the same time what we were after - a club that the locals go to. No photos unfortunately, but they wouldn't do much good anyway as it was the music and atmosphere of Cocoliche that made it great, not the aesthetics (or lack thereof) of the venue.

The next day, we headed over to Palermo to check out some of the shopping on offer. The area about 8 blocks from Plaza Italia is known as the hot-spot of Buenos Aires housing numerous fashion boutiques (comparable maybe to Greville Street?) and on Saturdays is also home to an arts and crafts market. Although the afternoon proved generally unsuccessful from a purchasing perspective, it served as an enjoyable afternoon and triggered Sam's memory for a good steakhouse she had visited the week prior. Mental note added.


That night we rounded up some crew from the hostel and headed for Pacha. This is the Buenos Aires installment of the worldwide superclub also seen in Ibiza, London etc and actually looks strikingly similar to the Ibiza establishment. The night would host USA DJ Christopher Lawrence, our motive for attending. Furthermore, Nick managed to pull some strings and organise guestlist for the evening. Things looked good. We arrived shortly after 2am in true Buenos Aires style to find the car park gates locked with a mob of people around it. Beyond this, a lengthy line had formed at the actual club entry. We didn't really think much of this, deeming it normal practice until the 4am lockout drew closer. Apparently Pacha was waiting for a government inspection or something and hence, the lockout. Whatever. At 3.30am we pulled the pin and headed over to CroBar with a local we befriended outside Pacha. CroBar is a purpose built techno superclub and was absolutely rammed when we arrived (uncomfortably so). Jesper Dahlback was the headliner for the night, of whom, we missed most of his set. Again, I didn't take a camera so no photos.

The next afternoon we awoke just in time for some local cuisine (McDonalds) to erase the indulgences of the night before, and jump on our transfer to watch Boca Juniors v Tigre. After being burnt by South American football before (Refer: Rio de Janeiro post), this was their second attempt to show us what they had. Thankfully they redeemed themselves. We sat in the safety of the gringo area towards the Tigre end of the pitch. There are a few adjectives that come to mind when describing the atmosphere but the photos and videos I think speak for themselves. Despite the Boca reputation, Tigre got up 3-0, the highlight being the second goal from a wide cross and diving header past the keeper. The victory meant Tigre supporters were locked in the ground for 45 minutes after the whistle as Boca fans left the neighbourhood. Next weekend is Boca Juniors v River Plate which we will unfortunately miss. Some local sources have told us tickets can reach up to AR1100. Ouch! We will hopefully be able to make it to a River Plate game the following week when prices/sanity return to normal.

I managed to drag myself out of bed before 11am the next day and took advantage of a free walking tour (Google: BA Free Tour - good tip). They offer two tours per day and at the end you can tip the guide whatever you feel necessary. Our tour was to focus on the convoluted political history of Argentina and took us down Avenida de Mayo and through the Centro area, highlighting the various buildings and monuments that depict this history. I wont elaborate on everything that was said, but its an interesting story thats worth a skim over wikipedia if you have the time. 3 hours well spent in my opinion.

[PHOTOS PENDING]

Following a quick lunch stop we went to see Eva Peron's grave - apparently a must-see. To be honest my knowledge of Evita is limited pretty much to...well nothing, so I can't say this experience was overly profound for me. That said, I'm sure it's the opposite for many that visit, as the volume of flowers etc at her grave are a testiment. Here's a photo for your viewing pleasure.

[PHOTOS PENDING]

Monday night meant it was time for La Bomba, a live and energetic drum show in a fairly obscure warehouse/plaza thing for the bargain price of AR20! We arrived late to find the queue stretching down the block and around the corner. Thankfully it moved quickly and we were in within 20 minutes. The place was packed and it was hard to move around, even to get a drink or go to the bathroom. The 2 hour show was worth it though, with the crowd really getting into the show.

A 7.00am flight the next morning to El Calafate meant an early night. Nick opted to ignore this and stayed up till 4am. Dragging an unconscious Nick out of his bed is not how envisaged the morning. Crisis averted - we made the flight!

Foz Do Iguacu, Brazil/Puerto Iguazu, Argentina

Following on from Curitiba we headed further south to one of the 'must see' gringo attractions - Iguazu Falls. The falls lie at the tri-border between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay (although not visible from Paraguay). Apparently the two sides offer distinctly different experiences of the falls so we booked in a night at each. To our surprise, on arrival at the Klein Hostel (on the Brazil side) we were treated to a pool - not a bad touch. Again on the Argentinian side at the Che Legarto hostel we had a pool. Maybe it's an Iguazu thing. While on the Brazillian side of the border we also visited the Itaipu Dam. We then scored a discount transfer across to the Argentinian side of the falls to see what it had to offer. Here one can take a boat for AR100 (approx AU30) that takes you under the falls. In short the Argentinian side is significantly better - anyone that says otherwise or tries to sell some 'they can't be compared - they're unique' story is lying. The photos below don't really tell the whole story (they rarely do) as it basically just looks like he one waterfall taken from a number of different angles. In reality, it's a series of waterfalls that take a number of hours to walk around and see. I dont have any facts or figures about the falls but trust me, they're massive! Regardless, here they are for your viewing pleasure.

Falls:






Itaipu Dam:



This also brought our 5 week Brazillian adventure to a close. Very emotional. It's hard to believe how much ground we covered in that time and didn't even scratch the surface. In retrospect, the 4ish months we devoted to all of South America could have been spent solely in Brazil and still not seen everything. Oh well - sounds to me like an excuse to go back.

Curitiba, Brazil

We caught an 11 hour overnight bus from Rio de Janeiro and arrived in Curitiba for a two day stop over on the way to Foz do Iguazu. We decided not to be caught unprepared this time and took jumpers on board to combat the aircon, and purchased food to combat the hunger. As it turns out the bus provided blankets and pillows to combat the air con, and food to combat the hunger. Our hostel was only 5 blocks from the bus station which saved us from catching a taxi. We found out eventually that we were staying in a fairly rubbish area of Curitiba which can be quite dodgy at night. Thankfully Curitiba nightlife is also generally rubbish so there wasn't much need to leave the hostel at night.

Curitiba is a small city by Brazillian standards of 1.4 million people, and is a bit off the standard gringo trail. The motive for our stopover here was twofold. Firstly, it cut what would be a 20+ hour bus from Rio-Iguazu into two manageable portions, and secondly, Curitiba has long been considered one of the best examples of urban planning in not only Latin America, but the world. Because I'm a loser, I decided to check out a city that I studied at uni first hand.

Curitiba has the benefit of being a young city and learning from the mistake of places like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Two bus systems were developed; a standard metropolitan bus similar to most other cities around the world, and an express bus service that are double length and have dedicated lanes to avoid traffic congetion during peak times. These buses are accessed from the tube-like bus stops all around the city. The fare is paid on entry to the bus stop, bus pulls in, bus pulls out. It's not drastically different from any other bus system but the little changes they've implemented means that it works remarkably well. In addition to this, Curitiba boasts ridiculous amounts of public open space per capita which is noticable just walking around the city.




For our first day we took advantage of the tour bus which, for a price of R20, will take you around some 15 of the cities attractions, including 4 'hop-offs'. The circuit take about 2.5 hours, with buses every 30 minutes so it serves as a good, quick and cheap way to see Curitiba. We opted to stop off at; El Jardin Botanico which is apparently world famous:


Museo Oscar Niemeyer which beyond the work inside it was an amazing building:




NB: The museum consists of two parts linked by a tunnel that goes under the lake.

Parque Tangua - an old quarry that has been gentrified into expansive parklands:



and the Torre Panoramica which is a telecommunications tower providing great views of the city:



On our second day we decided to head to the historical centre which was walking distance from the hostel. Unfortunately it was Sunday and everything was closed. On the plus side as everything was closed, it was alot quieter and easier to walk around. The buildings that comprised te main square had been well maintained/restored with many having quite elaborate detailing.



We then headed off to Atletico Paranaense Stadium to try to get tickets for the derby between Atletico and Coritiba that night (we confirmed with the hostel that the stadium will be full. Refer Rio post). Due to the short notice the game had already sold out, however there were plenty of locals loitering willing to scalp seats at heavily inflated prices. We passed in preference for an early night before an 8am departure the next morning.

Next up: Iguazu Falls (from both the Brasillian and Argentinian sides), then onto Buenos Aires!