La Pedrera
Our few days in La Pedrera were unquestionably beautiful and serene. The town is as laid back and lazy as we could have asked for on a beach holiday! There are two beaches to vary the routine - one with waves that had the ability to easily toss us around with their strength (instead we spent most of the time just watching the surfers). The other beach was stocked with people as the surf was much gentler and the swimming was good.
Picturesque beach in La Pedrera!
The days were very nice. And then we had to return to the hostel...the hostel from HELL!
I know that very few of you will have sympathy for the whining that is about to happen here. Yes, we were on a beach, yes we are not returning to a day job (yet)...YES, we appreciate all of that! But it still doesn't change the fact that in the middle of our life-cation, we became super excited at the prospect of a relaxing beach vacation. And it also doesn't change the fact that we have the capacity to be super disappointed when things don't work out according to plan.
It seems as if every Argentinian and their dog was also in La Pedrera for their summer holidays, resulting in prices being driven up, and availability way down. We locked into a decently regarded hostel (El Viajero) for 4 nights (paid in advance). It is one of the most expensive hostels we have ever stayed in, but we deemed it worthy enough - who really cares what it's like anyways, as long as the beautiful beaches are nearby, right?
WRONG! What a nightmare this place was, and how quickly our beach getaway went downhill.
We felt very out of place, even unwelcome, by the staff. They were snide and unhelpful. The room was unbearable. We had a choice between either dealing with muggy heat, or opening the screenless window and dealing with a severe bug infestation. We chose muggy heat and suffered sleepless nights (and STILL many mosquito bites), before finally giving in to sleeping pills and cold showers in the middle of the night. We were relentlessly careful not to touch the walls that were covered with many squashed bugs from previous tenants. Finally, in order to keep the hundreds of ants from crawling under our door and all over our room, Pete ingeniously placed some peanuts a few feet away from our door which drew their attention away from harassing us.
After the second sleepless night, we asked for reprieve in the form of allowing us to leave early with a refund for unused nights, or at the very least, a fan. Their policy did not allow for refunds. Fans were supposedly "on order". Why on earth an accommodation would not put fans in place before summer (and high season) is beyond me? And why would they want disgruntled visitors to stay on and become more miserable?
Do they not know who we are?? (HA!)
We endured the last couple of nights there with chemical assistance (beer and sleeping pills). On both nights I enjoyed cold showers before bed, and then again during the middle of the night when I woke up and the sheets were soaked with sweat. Those four nights in total were easily the worst of our trip.
And so, after all this said, if you still don't have any sympathy for us, then please at least have it for Pete...having to deal with his sleepless and miserable wife. It wasn't pretty.
La Paloma
Just 12 kms from La Pedrera, we spent two nights in the bigger and more touristy La Paloma. Wanting to give ourselves a treat, we upgraded from a trashy hostel to a rundown hotel! Gone was our need for sleeping pills and ant-diversion-techniques! The room did have a fan (although it wasn't the greatest, so I still ended up with middle of the night showers), but all-in-all, it was a big step up from the previous place. And, best of all, it was directly on another beautiful beach!
With umbrellas, chairs, and towels provided by the hotel, we felt like we were in heaven. Our days were spent without a care, alternating between sun, shade, and surf.
Our evenings were just as beautiful as our days. On our first night, we witnessed the most unbelievable sunset either of us has ever seen. So much so, that some of the Argentinians behind us even applauded as the sun finally set. It was, very, VERY amazing.
Canadian influence?
There is one thing that I must mention here. In every restaurant we have been to in Uruguay, a "Chivito Canadiense" has been on the menu (which translates to a Canadian steak sandwich). Finally, in La Paloma, our curiosity got the best of us and Pete ordered it.
It was a large steak sandwich, complete with a fried egg, fried ham, cheese, lettuce and tomato. Essentially, a heart-attack on a plate. Now, why this sandwich is called "Canadian" (I've never seen it on a menu in Canada!), or how it has made it's way onto every menu in Uruguay, I would be very interested to know!
Montevideo
We left the touristy beach resorts behind and began our trip back down the coast with a stop in Montevideo, Uruguay's capital city. We allotted only one night here, in the interest of getting to spend more time in the town that stole our hearts when we first set foot into Uruguay (Colonia).
It was quite a slap in the face to be back in the city, amidst the aggressive traffic and noise. And once again, we found ourselves in a less than desirable hostel...a weird place with twisty halls and little stairs - the roof in our room is only 2 inches taller then Pete's head. We are beginning to think that perhaps this is just the way things are in this country. All the more reason for us to set-up shop here? Hmmm...
We got in late, thanks to missing our first bus out of La Paloma, so we really only had time for dinner and a short walk down La Rambla, a promenade along the beach on which the city is situated. The cityscape was quite a spectacular view at dusk:
We slept fitfully in the hot room, and are up early this morning and ready for another short, 3 hour bus ride back to Colonia. We are rounding off our venture into Uruguay with 2 blissful nights in a room with air conditioning (this was a MUST when booking!) We are also excited to meet up with our American/Canadian friend Kylee who is also passing through (we met Kylee in Sucre). And then our beach vacation is officially over...back to our life-cation. Sigh.
MORE BEACH PICTURES!! Click here
Yesterday marked exactly 5 months since we left home, and we have already logged a total of 60 posts on this blog!I have to say, that I am severely running out of adjectives to use after so many posts. And I am sure you are tired of reading how "beautiful" or "amazing" or "incredible" that things are. But, what else can I say? Every place we see introduces us to something new, whether it be a "beautiful" view, an "amazing" new friend, or an "incredible" experience.And now that we are a few days into Uruguay, I wish that I had new, more expressive adjectives to use for how we feel about being here. Is it possible that if I just add the word "very" to the front of all the others that it will have the intended effect? Probably not. But, it is the best I can do without downplaying the significance of every place before this, or all the other places we have yet to visit. If I use "very" this time, then perhaps I will have to use "very very" if we find a place to top this.Pete and I came on this journey with a few objectives in mind. One of them (not sure that everyone knows this?) is to potentially find a place to set-up shop. We are interested in finding a place on or near a beach and open a bed & breakfast. We aspire to permanently drink wine on the beach while watching the sun go down, and to never have to shovel snow again. For us, this is our definition of happily ever after...And we now have our first contender to set up shop! We came to Uruguay with few expectations of this small country, but it has blown us away thus far. Our first two nights were spent in Colonia del Sacramento, a one hour ferry ride from Buenos Aires across the widest river in the world - the Rio del Plata. The historic downtown of Colonia is another UNESCO World Heritage site, complete with cobblestone roads, a gated entrance and brick buildings restored to their original brilliance. All development is kept in check via a town "good taste office" which rules on whether any additions are indeed in good taste! It is a major tourist attraction (mostly for Argentinians), yet somehow still manages to keep it's very laid back charm.
The gate to the old town
Not to mention, a 5km stretch of beach along the river! It is "very" beautiful. We liked it "very" much.
We spent our one full day on this beach, quite undisturbed! We followed it up with an evening out at a waterside restaurant, watching the sun fade on the water while enjoying some cool drinks and a delicious dinner. Does it really ever get better then this? We are "very" much in love with Colonia.
Yesterday we packed up again and spent 5 hours on the bus, moving up the eastern coast. We are now passed the river and directly on the Atlantic Ocean, excited for the more spectacular beaches that all the pictures have promised us. We blew past all of the popular beach resorts in favour of a more laid back (and cheaper) locale and find ourselves in La Pedrera, a very small, hippy beach town. We feel a little out of our element - we have seen very few gringos, and we also prefer to walk around town with most of our clothes ON, thankyouverymuch!We have four days in this town, which will likely be quite enough. The hostel is a little scabby, and I spent a good 1/2 hour last night in an epic battle with a monster bug in our room that refused to die. There is no fan in our room, and no screen on the windows, so we are choosing to endure the muggy heat instead of further bug infestation. Very little sleep was had last night.But, there are BEACHES! Anything can be endured for beaches. Especially "very" beautiful, amazing and incredible ones. Whether this town is a potential to setup shop is yet to be seen, but we have a few more places to explore...
There have been a few places along this journey where either Pete or I have looked at the other and said: "Holy shit. I can't believe we are in X!" This has happened probably less then you might think, as many places we have visited we had never even heard of before we got here. But every once in awhile, this feeling hits us like a tonne of bricks...Holy shit, I can't believe we are in Buenos Aires!!Visiting Buenos Aires has been a longtime dream of mine - I've always wanted to dive into this large, cosmopolitan, European city of South America that everyone loves. And after almost five entire months since we left Canada, we made it here.Another lengthy overnight bus trip from Puerto Iguazú brought us into the city mid-morning on Friday. I had actually found myself looking forward to the 17 hour trip - not only have we found a seriously comfortable way to travel, but it saves paying for a night in a hostel! However, as the law of Murphy goes, as soon as you get comfortable with something, it changes, and this bus ride was not our most enjoyable. A last minute bus change meant less comfortable seats, the dinner was only made better by adding copious amounts of mustard, and we were seated near the only bathroom, which meant constant interruptions from the many people who visited. The only saving grace was that we finally got a decent movie (Quentin Tarantino's latest, Inglorious Basterds), but then they followed it up with Disney's Princess Protection Program. What kind of a line-up is that?Regardless, we made it. But after only two days we leave again as we are booked on a ferry to Uruguay. I wish I could say that we made the most of this time, but our first day was spent in recovery from the bad night before, plus from the many hours we've spent on a bus and generally just rushing in the past week or so. We were also frantic to get some planning done for the next stage of our trip (we are touring this area in the height of summer holidays, we have no choice but to book in advance to secure rooms).We did however, need to eat, and part of experiencing this great city is indulging in the many fantastic restaurants! Luckily, we are withing walking distance from a few good ones, and we were very happy to indulge in something other than steak, pasta and pizza (menu mainstays across this country).We woke up yesterday well rested and ready to explore this section of the city. We stayed in the historic neighbourhood of San Telmo - famous for the severe fighting that took place during the early 1800s between Britain and Spain. We decided to follow a walking tour guide from Lonely Planet and ventured out on some of this areas most notable streets.We fell in love with the traditional streets just around us. We loved the sounds of the cars driving by on the cobblestone roads. We loved all of the original colonial architecture, and even the graffiti that decorates much of it. We loved the many, many little antique shops that dot the streets and the quaint little designer shops and cafe's in between them. The size of my backpack dictates that no shopping is allowed...but oh, how I wanted to make it overflow with the many amazing things we found!
Our walk took us into to the city center, and one thing startled us immediately. For the size of this city and it's many inhabitants (around 13 million), it is awfully quiet. It could be because we are visiting on a weekend during summer vacation time, but it doesn't have the rushed pace of other big cities we've been to. For these country mice, that is a big plus. We walked through the main city plaza enjoying the expanse of the buildings and green space almost entirely to ourselves.
The appeal of the buildings and atmosphere was lost though, as the walking tour then guided us down a pedestrian mall complete with a mix of North American brand names that take away from the foreign charm of any place we visit. We were also constantly accosted by people shoving pamphlets in our face for their nearby restaurants. We picked up our pace and got out of this area - we had far to go yet, and the oppressive heat was starting to wear on me.Well, we didn't make it too much further, and that was enough for me. I started to feel dizzy and very tired - we had walked quite far in the extreme heat (we are in the muggy 30s here), and were also in need of lunch! Resolving ourselves to the idea that we would could just continue our tour on our next visit, we got into a cab and back to our neighbourhood we went.After a good lunch, lots of water and a long siesta, we got ready for a traditional evening out - it was time to tango, baby! Although the concept of a dinner/tango show has become a totally touristy, kitschy thing to do, we knew it was a must in experiencing Buenos Aires. And there is one very good reason why things become touristy - it is because it is that damn good, that everyone must partake!
While the dinner was nothing to write home about, the show was nothing short of amazing. Incredibly passionate performances by various singers, a tango pair, and finally a flamenco dancer that took our breath away. I had never quite seen anything like it - the flamenco dancer moved like her feet and hands were controlling her, and not the other way around. The whole evening was quite moving and a perfect way to spend a hot, Buenos Aires evening!!And so, after this little gratifying taste (an appetizer, if you will!) of this glorious city, we are out the door. The beaches of Uruguay are beckoning, but we will be back in Buenos Aires for at least a week in February to enjoy the main course...
~20 extra hours on a bus.............$1502 nights in an overpriced hostel.....$100Park fees, lunch and boat ride.......$120
Seeing one of the natural wonders of the world....Pricey. But still totally worth it!
The Iguazú Falls are hailed as the must-see of South America - a series of waterfalls standing at 72 meters at it's highest point (~20 higher than Niagara Falls), and surrounded by an immense jungle with a lot of unique flora and fauna. The Falls split the Argentina and Brazil border, and so Pete and I planned 2 days in nearby Puerto Iguazú in order to spend one day in each country and see the Falls from the different vantage points.
There are only two countries in South America where Canadians need to pre-obtain visas in order to enter: Brazil and Paraguay. However, research told us that Brazil would "unofficially" allow us to enter for a day without it, just to see the Falls. And, unfortunately, our research was dated and wrong. No longer does anyone get a free pass...in order to get in, we would have to purchase a 4 hour visa for $120! Ridiculous!
Other research also told us that if there is only one side to see the Falls from, it's in Argentina. The national park surrounding the falls is well laid out with several kilometers of walking paths allowing many vantage points.
The Falls are, simply stunning. The loud rush of water, the rainbows over the mist, the hundreds of different colorful butterflies, the cool spray over the walkways. The whole experience of our day in the park is something that Pete and I could never forget. Few words can describe it...hopefully pictures help...
And as if just viewing the Falls wasn't enough, we boarded a boat that took us right under the streaming water! It was quite a rush to be taken over the churning water and stop right beneath the Falls - I was amazed that they actually took us all the way in.
For more pictures, click here.
We came a long way to see this spectacular sight, which did not disappoint. Today we are on another long distance bus - 17 hours to Buenos Aires. Only a couple of days there before we get our fourth passport stamp in Uruguay - time to hit the beach!
Salta, the beautiful...as it is known around these parts. When we first got to the city a couple of days ago, Pete and I were not convinced. Another noisy city with crazy traffic. The city parks could all use a facelift and the area where we stayed felt kinda sketchy.
And then, we gave it a chance. We settled in after our overnight jaunt to gorgeous, quaint Cafayate, and put our bias against cities aside. We took it all in, thanks in large part to the guidance of our friend Ruth who knows the city well.
We enjoyed a casual sidewalk dinner listening to Argentinian folk musicians. We rode a gondola to the top of Cerro San Bernardo to get a view of the vast city. We did a bit of shopping, marveling in the quality artisan products we could find - not all the shops were jammed with the typical tourist fare. I felt my eyes well up with tears during one museum visit. We sat at a plaza cafe, doing some serious people watching while the waiter free-poured the liquor. We toured through two jaw-dropping iglesias and marveled at the brilliant indulgences of the Catholic church. We even went up into the mountains of the city's outskirts and did some horseback riding.
We are now believers.
This city sums up what we love about Argentina. Even though the country is quite a bit more modern then, say, it's Bolivian neighbour, it has also retained much more of it's old world charm and culture then it's neighbour to the west, Chile. It is buzzing with energy, and set against a rustic, colonial backdrop. It has been a true highlight in our exploration of Argentina.
The one sad aspect of this stop (besides leaving it) is that we have also said goodbye to two good friends that we had the pleasure of meeting up with during our travels - Gill and Ruth. It is a true fin de una epoca, as we all head our separate ways with little chance of crossing paths again in our South American travels (unless of course, Gill starts stalking us again). It is hard to imagine the road ahead without them.
A few more details and pictures on this unforgettable city...
MAAM - Museo de Arqueologia de Alta Montaña
We have done many museum tours in the past five months, but nothing has been as gut wrenching as this one. MAAM houses an understandably controversial exhibit.
In 1999, the bodies of three children were found some 480km west of Salta, near the Chilean border and on the peak of a mountain. From their clothing, accessories and markings they bore, it was determined that they were high-ranking human sacrifices of an Inca tribe. Given the high altitude at which they were placed, their features and everything they wore remained remarkably intact.
Only the boy, aged six, was on display during our visit as all three of them are rotated through on a six month basis in order to ensure preservation. He was displayed in the exact position in which they found him, his hair sprouting up and his skin perfectly preserved. Perhaps it is a good thing that we were not able to see all three as I immediately had tears come to my eyes and felt slightly nauseous on seeing him. It was a very chilling experience, to say the least. It is expected that there are many more such sacrifices yet to be found high on that mountain.
Churches, churches, and more churches!
Not that the pictures can give any indication of the jaw dropping sensation when viewing one of these magnificent buildings in person, but here they are anyways...
The Gaucho lifestyle
A very important icon of Argentinian culture is The Gaucho - that lonesome cowboy who tends to the open ranches with his incredible horsemanship. Who else do you think takes care of all this amazing beef that we love?
It is no surprise then that agrotourism is a huge deal here. People come from all over and pay good money in order to actually stay and WORK on a farm alongside the gauchos. Now, I am all about trying to experience different cultural aspects first hand, but I ain't paying to work nowhere! Also, what would my many farming relatives have to say about the fact that I was putting out my own money in order to work on a farm when they would let me do it for free?
We opted instead yesterday for an afternoon of riding horses alongside a gaucho in the mountains surrounding Salta, followed by a traditional asado (bbq) on the open grill.
I am NOT a horse person, and have only ridden twice in my life, with about 20 years spanning each time. In fact, horses have always scared me for the fact that they seem so uncontrollable. However, if I can jump off a mountain with only a piece of fabric protecting me from free-falling, then I surely can ride a damn horse for a couple of hours!
To be on the safe side, I asked for a horse that was muy tranquillo. I got what I asked for, that's for sure! I got the oldest, slowest and most stubborn horse possible. Up into the mountains we went, and I was always pulling up the rear, to the point that our gaucho had to come back and be sure that I was still with the group of seven. The horse would move only at one pace, and only when he felt like it. He also never liked to stick to the actual trail much, instead walking just far enough off of it to ensure that I was getting thoroughly scratched up by the thorns that lined the side. I'm pretty sure he hated me.
At one point, just after the peak of the trail, I caught up to the group only because they were all stopped. An English girl in our group had gotten off her horse and was crouched on the ground beside. She apparently wasn't feeling very good from something she ate a day ago, and with all the heat from the sun she had to stop as she thought she was going to be sick. Only a minute later she passed out completely for a good 20 seconds while her sister started freaking out trying to revive her. When she finally came to, she was completely delirious and was alternating between apologizing for the delay and asking for help. The gaucho took her on his horse and road her back down the hill for attention.
A scary few moments for all of us, but she was fine when we saw her later, just having been dehydrated and overexposed to the heat. We continued on our way down the hill, rather then waiting for the gaucho to return (as we probably should have). My arms show the reason why as I have a number of scratches from the thorns that overgrew the path on the right, when we obviously should have taken the path to the left!
Riding thru some thick brush
A 23 hour bus ride for only a 2 day stop! Our longest trip yet, but the destination will be worth it. We are off to see the Iguazu Falls, which are taller and supposedly more magnificent then Niagara by a long shot.MORE PICTURES!! A lot to catch up on...click here.
Picturesque beach in La Pedrera!
