C & C globetrotting around the world…

The journey from Montevideo to Foz Iguazu took forever. We left Montevideo by bus at 1:30pm to Salto, the border town in Uruguay. In Salto there were no buses crossing the border because it was Sunday, so we had to take a taxi for the 40km across the border to Concordia. In Concordia, on the Argentinian side, we had dinner at a pizza place before taking an overnight bus to Posadas. There we changed buses to San Ignacio Mini, a small town further North. We arrived in San Ignacio after 22 hours, 3 buses and 2 taxis.

San Ignacio has well-preserved ruins from a Jesuit mission from the 17^th -18^th century. We had planned on visiting them the following day, but unfortunately it rained, so we left to Puerto Iguazu without having seen them. Instead, we used the time at the nice HI hostel to relax and catch up on the blog.

Puerto Iguazu, the gateway to the famous waterfalls, was only 5 hours away. There, our hostel was really nice and we met 2 British guys with whom we spent a nice evening chatting and laughing. The next day we met up with Karina and Patrick, who came from Brazil to visit the falls and pick us up. Christoph had talked so much about these falls and how they are 10 times more impressive than Niagara Falls, so Cecilia was very excited to finally see them.

The name “Iguazu” comes from the Guarani or Tupi words meaning “water”, and “big”. Legend has it that a god planned to marry a beautiful woman named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In rage, the god sliced the river, creating the waterfalls and condemning the lovers to an eternal fall. Numerous islands along the 2.7-kilometre-long edge divide the falls into numerous separate waterfalls and cataracts, varying between 60 to 82 metres high. The number of these smaller waterfalls fluctuates from 150 to 300, depending on the water level. About half of the river’s flow falls into a long and narrow chasm called the Devil’s Throat (“Garganta del Diablo”). The Devil’s Throat is U-shaped, 82 meters high, 150 m wide, and 700m long. Names have been given also to many of the smaller falls. About 900 meters of the 2.7-kilometre length does not have water flowing over it. The edge of the basalt cap recedes by 3mm per year.

Niagara Falls has a higher water debit, but Iguazu are indeed very spectacular. The best part is that you walk through the jungle and suddenly arrive near a waterfall. You continue walking in the jungle some more and see another one. There’s also animals and birds around, making for a very cool experience. The Devils’s Throat, which we visited last is the most impressive and reminds of Niagara Falls with its U-shape, but is much higher (82m vs 51m). Iguazu currently has the second-greatest average annual flow of any waterfall in the world, after Niagara. It was amazing to see and we had a wonderful day. To finish the evening and celebrate having met our friends, we went to a Churrasco Rodizio, the typical Brazilian steakhouse (like “Le Milsa” in Montreal, only better) where they come around with all kinds of meat cuts on gigantic skewers. They also had a great buffet with a huge selection of sushi, salads and sweets, so we enjoyed our dinner very much.

What a great day to start the last month of our trip in South America!

We arrived in safe and sound Buenos Aires in the morning after a long bus ride. From the traffic you right away get a feel of the second-largest city in South America (after Sao Paulo). We heard a lot about Argentina’s capital and Christoph had been here about 10 years ago, so we were very excited to be here. This city with 13 million inhabitants has lots to offer and we stayed a week. It has history, culture, arts, beautiful architecture and a certain vibe to it. To top it all off, we were visiting friends we made in Vietnam on the Cuchi Tunnel tour: Sabrina and Gaston.

For the first 2 nights we stayed in a hostel in San Telmo and were happy to be able to check in right away. After all that sitting on the bus, we walked around the neighbourhood admiring the nice architecture. We had lunch on a terrace and took in the atmosphere of San Telmo, a famous neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. It’s full of cobbled streets and aging mansions. Historically its low rents have attracted artists, but now there are lots of boutiques and restaurants. The neighbourhood was a fashionable place until 1870 when a series of epidemics drove the rich elite northwards. Subsequently many mansions and houses were subdivided and turned into immigrant shelters. Our hotel was one of these beautiful mansions. San Telmo is also home to Tango, so there are many restaurants offering tango shows. Unfortunately it’s too expensive for us on this trip to attend one. While walking around in San Telmo, we saw lots of small shops making and selling fresh pasta. The big Italian influence is visible by the many pasta and pizza shops, but also in the fact that people speak Spanish with an Italian accent and use Italian expressions. It’s really funny actually. For dinner we went to “Don Ernesto”, a well-rated steakhouse in San Telmo. We celebrated our 4-year wedding anniversary there with steak (duh!) and wine. It was all very good and we even got some Limoncello on the house. Not a bad start to Buenos Aires, eh?

The next day we set out to visit the city and walked towards the Plaza de Mayo. We passed by the “Manzana de las Luces” (Block of Enlightenment), a solid square of 18^th century buildings including Iglesia San Ignacio (BA’s oldest church) and Colegio Nacional, an elite secondary school. Underneath this block are old defensive tunnels built by the Jesuits in the 18^th century. Arrived in Plaza de Mayo, we did a tour of the plaza. It is the city’s oldest square and its current name commemorates the May Revolution of 1810. Around the plaza are located several city landmarks. We took a look at Casa Rosada (actually pink), the presidential palace. We wanted to visit it, but it’s only open to the public during the week-end. We passed the Banco Nacional before arriving at the Cathedral, where we saw the changing of the guards for liberator San Martin’s tomb. The Cabildo, seat of the government during colonial times, is also on the square in a nice building. From there we walked around on Florida Avenue, a pedestrian street alive with shops and vendors. We walked until the fancy Galerias Pacifico shopping mall which has painted ceilings and chic boutiques. The food court there was very expensive; actually the same price as a lunch menu in a regular restaurant in San Telmo. McDonald’s menus were also the same price with a Coke: 44ARS ($11-12). Why would anyone buy one instead of getting a real lunch with a glass of wine?! Later we met up with Salim, a friend from the Uyuni tour in Bolivia, and took the metro to the Palermo neighbourhood together. The metro is pretty old and very crammed, but they have cool mosaics and it was a fun experience. In Palermo Viejo we walked around the tree-lined streets and sat down on a terrace. On the way back to the metro, we passed many trendy boutiques and chic restaurants. The area is also known for its nightlife, but we didn’t stay.

On Saturday we got picked up by Sabrina and Gaston in our hostel. It was nice to see them after having met them in Vietnam almost a year ago. We drove to Puerto Madeiro, the city’s newest neighbourhood, is an area of renovated docklands lined with pedestrian walkways, restaurants and bars. Since it was Saturday midday, there were hardly any people out yet (everything happens much later in Argentina), but the area is nice and it felt good to walk around and enjoy the crisp but sunny weather. Afterward a quick bite (“bondiola” sandwich), we went to Reserva Ecologica made on reclaimed land. Here we walked around on the dirt paths and enjoyed the nature around us. In the afternoon Sabrina gave us a car tour of Recoleta and San Isidro in their new car. On the way we stopped at a spot by the Rio de la Plata where you can see Buenos Aires from the water. The river is so large, it appears to be a huge lake. These fancy neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires have beautiful mansions and romantic tree-lined streets. We also drove by the President’s House, but you can’t see it due to high walls. In San Isidro we walked around a little bit through a market fair and visited the Cathedral. For dinner we all went to an all-you-can-eat meat restaurant (“tenedor libre” – free fork) called “Lo de Charly” (Charly’s Place). Sabrina and Gaston had suggested going there because this way we can try the zillion different Argentinian beef cuts on the grill and see which ones we prefer. That was a great idea and they could explain to us each one too! We tried everything: morcilla (blood sausage), chorizo (sausage), rinon (kidney) and chinchulin (intestine). We tried these, but what we were really there for was the different cuts of meat. We had vacio (very good), bife de chorizo (excellent), entrana (also very good), tira de asado (ribs), matambre and matambre a la pizza (they love meat so much, they even use it instead of pizza crust!). It was fun and interesting to try all these different cuts adn you can even chose how well each piece should be grilled. Amazing restaurant! We had some wine and stayed for a long time, longer than anyone else around us.

We were happy that Sabrina and Gaston were free this week-end and we could do things together. On Sunday we drove to Tigre, a favourite week-end destination for Portenos (people from Buenos Aires). There we walked around a bit and took a guided boat ride in the Delta del Parana. This is the only delta in the world that ends in a river (instead of the sea). It was really interesting to see and we admired the cute little houses. We stopped for a quick visit to the house of former Argentinian president Sarmiento (who reformed education) before resuming the tour. From there we drove to San Telmo to walk around a pedestrian street-market area (only on Sundays) until Plaza Dorrego. This is the second-oldest square in town and is surrounded by cute little restaurants and cafes. For dinner Sabrina and Gaston had invited some friends over, so we went to Chinatown to buy some specific groceries. We had all been to Thailand and loved the food there, so we cooked some Thai green curry. It wasn’t as good as in Thailand (lack of ingredients), but still nice to have. Cecilia told them about “mango sticky rice” and was surprised that the others hadn’t even heard of this dessert. Our trip to Thailand wouldn’t have been the same without this delicacy…

Sabrina and Gaston worked during the week, obviously, so we kept busy visiting various attractions. One day we stayed home to work on the Blog, sort pictures and plan the next few weeks of the trip, something that is necessary every now and then. We spent the evenings with Sabrina and Gaston and it was always a lot of fun. One day we went down-town early to explore the city more. We took Avenida Florida until the Plaza de Mayo where we bought our tickets for the double-decker TouristBus for 2pm. We continued walking to San Telmo. We walked around looking for a lunch restaurant, but then decided to go back to Don Ernesto where we had been for our wedding anniversary the previous Thursday. Cecilia ordered a menu of the day and Christoph a piece of “bife de chorizo” (our favourite cut). It was a huge piece and very good. We passed the Danish church before hopping on the TouristBus – finally. The bus was heading to La Boca, a working-class district situated along the old port and at the “boca” (mouth) of the Rio Riachuelo. It was built by Italian immigrants from Genoa and is also home to the Boca Juniors soccer team and Maradona. We got off the bus at the stadium, but it was too expensive to visit, so we just took some pictures. Unfortunately there is no game on during our time in BA, otherwise Christoph would have loved to go. La Boca’s main attraction is “El Caminito”, a short pedestrian walk lined with corrugated-metal buildings painted various bright colours. Since this was a poor neighbourhood, people would paint their houses with left-over paint from the shipyards. This resulted in houses being painted in many different colours, depending on the quantities left over. Today, it is very nice to see and adds life to the place. There are also many local painters who sell their art here (some of it very beautiful) and people dressed in tango clothes offering to take pictures with you. We sat down in a restaurant to have a coffee and watch a dance performance. There were 2 couples dancing tango and then we also got to see a traditional dance of a “gaucho” with a “china”. It was lots of fun to watch them and we even took some pictures with them, for free.

We hopped back on the TouristBus and drove through the Baracas and Puerto Madeiro neighbourhoods before getting off at Plaza San Martin and taking pictures with the clock tower. We walked around passing Teatro Cervantes and Teatro Colon. We would have liked to visit the latter, but again it was too expensive. Avenida 9 de Julio is one of the broadest streets in the world with its 16 lanes (8 in each direction). In the middle is the Obelisco commemorating 4 important moments in Argentina’s history. On the way back to the train terminal we walked on Avenida Corrientes, a busy street, and then Reconquista Ave, which has recently been turned into a pedestrian area. Around this time people were coming from work and we saw many cafes packed with people. It seems they go for a bite after work before going home. Then they have dinner at 10pm or so. Portenos live on a different rhythm where everything happens later. On week-end, people don’t go to the disco until 2am or so, which is quite funny for us since discos close at 3am in Montreal. We took the train from Retiro home where we met up with Sabrina and Gaston again. Together we went to buy some artesanal pasta: 4 kinds of raviolis filled with different things and “caseira” sauce. It’s nice that there are so many of these shops around selling fresh pasta. The taste is sooo much better. While we were waiting for the pasta to cook, Sabrina and Gaston were telling us about making raviolis and gnocchis at home and showed us the tools used. It sounds easy and fun. Maybe we’ll start doing that since you can really taste the difference. We also talked about other Argentinian and Hungarian food, which was lots of fun. Dinner was delicious and we had a Rose wine from Bodega Nanni in Cafayate to go with it. Overall a wonderful day.

On the last day in Buenos Aires we took the train down-town with Sabrina. We bought some pastries and coffee before hopping on the Tourist Bus again in Plaza San Martin. We drove to Recoleta, the fancy neighbourhood, passing the Faculty of Law and the “Flower”. At some point we got off the bus and admired the huge ombu tree on Plaza Intendente Alvear. Then we visited the 1732 Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de Pilar before entering Cemeterio de la Recoleta. In this classy necropolis surrounded by high walls rests Argentina’s elite. We wondered through the alleys admiring the detailed marble facades and grand statues. We saw the grave of former president Sarmiento, but the most people were at Evita’s grave. We hopped back on the Tourist Bus until the end of Avenida de Mayo where we saw the green-domed Palacio del Congreso, modeled after the Capitol in Washington DC. It was finished in 1906 and faces the plaza. For lunch we went to “La Americana”, a place known to have the best empanadas in town. We had some empanadas (they have a big variety) and also a slice of fugazetta and everything was really delicious indeed. We wanted to visit Palacio Barolo built in 1919 and considered the first highrise of Buenos Aires (at 100m). It pays homage to Dante’s “Divine Comedy” featuring references and analogies to his epic poem. Since it’s an office building, there are no tours until 5pm unfortunately and we didn’t want to wait around for 3 hours. In the evening we made “sarmalute in foi de vita” (wine leaf rolls) with Sabrina and Gaston. We had fun making them and the result was pretty good too. It was our last evening together and we had fun chatting. We were so happy to see them again and hope to see each other again soon. Thank you so much Sabrina and Gaston! We had a great time in your lovely city.

Buenos Aires is big, but it’s not oppressing. There is so much to do, hence the lengthy post (sorry!).  It reminded us of Paris with its beautiful architecture, elegance and culture. If we were to move to one of the cities visited on this world trip, Buenos Aires would be one of them. Beautiful city, pleasant climate, good food and nice people… what more can you ask for?

Continuing South, we had a beautiful bus ride with some impressive sights in the Valley of the Río las Conchas (Quebrada de Cafayate) between Salta and Cafayate. The landscape was really amazing and we wish we could have explored it more. A great way to discover this area is by car since then you can stop along the way to go into the various canyons and faults and to take pictures. Cafayate is a small town at 1,683m altitude and is one of the most important wine producing regions of Argentina because of the quality and originality of the wines produced in the area. The wines produced around here benefit from the low-humidity mild weather of the valleys. The most characteristic type of wine cultivated in the area is Torrontés. This is a white Argentine wine grape variety, producing fresh, aromatic wines with moderate acidity, smooth texture as well as distinctive peach and apricot aromas on the nose. Torrontes has a very fruity aroma, but the wine is actually dry and crisp. Wine connaisseurs say that the aromas are reminiscent of Muscat and Gewurtztraminer wines. The Salta region in northwest Argentina is particularly noted for its Torrontés as the grape thrives in cold dry, windswept conditions.

Arrived in Cafayate, we found a hostel and had lunch at the market “comedor”. Later we visited Bodega El Transito, a modern winery, where we tasted some wine. It wasn’t too good, so we didn’t buy anything. We also went to a wine shop where we tasted more wines and although the guy was friendly, he served the wines at the wrong temperatures and hence they weren’t at their best. For dinner we bought groceries: wine, steak, onion and bell pepper. It was funny because the store didn’t have change, so they gave us a lemon instead.

The next day we took a free winery tour organized by the hostel with a few other people. The vineyards in the area around Cafayate are located at altitudes between 1,700-3,000m, making them the highest in the world. The first winery was Bodega Vasija Secreta with 190 hectars and 100-150 years old. They have a small museum on site and we got a guided tour of the museum and the wine-making process. We tasted a few wines, which were better than the ones yesterday, and bought one. The second winery was Bodega Domingo Hermanos with 220 hectars and also 100-150 years in operation. They let the wine ferment in fiber glass tanks, which they then age for only 3 months in oak barrels, producing very young wines. They are more for mass production and selling to restaurants in 5L demijohns. Both wineries we visited feed the grape leftovers to sheep and cows and use their milk to make cheese. The dung is used as fertilizers in the vineyards. At Domingo Hermanos we tasted a few wines and cheese and they were very good. Although they make table wine for restaurants, they also produce really good wine in their Reserva Collection, of which we bought a bottle. Domingo Hermanos is also starting a vineyard at higher altitudes, but this will be a boutique wine and we didn’t get to try it. It should be good though. Across from Domingo Hermanos, there was a stand selling salamis and cheese, so we tried llama salami. It tastes quite good. That was the end of our tour, but we wanted to taste more. Together with Kait, a girl from the US, we set out to visit another winery. Bodega Nanni is a boutique winery with only 47 hectars and organic wines. We tasted 4 different wines (Torrontes, Cabernet-Sauvignon Rose, Tannat and the Torrontes Late Harvest, a dessert wine). They were all very good (the best from all we had here in Cafayate), so we bought a bottle of each. It’s a little crazy if you’re backpacking, but we will drink them on special occasions before we fly back. Not only was the wine really good, but the lady who did the wine tasting spoke English and she explained the wines very well. The place was also nice and had cool tables made of barrels and corks. Quite a fun morning!

On the bus from Cafayate to Tucuman the scenery was arid at first, but then we entered a narrow green valley with lots of curves and construction. In Tucuman we changed buses to go Buenos Aires. As soon as we got on the bus, the “attendant” asked us to close the curtains in order to prevent rocks thrown at the bus to injure us. That sounded scary, especially since there were rock marks on the window already and we were sitting in the first row. The overnight bus from Tucuman to Buenos Aires was great though. We had a “cama” (bed), a seat that was reclining 160 degrees. At 10:30pm they served us a full 3-course dinner with wine (and refills), chocolate (on top of the dessert) and whiskey. That was luxury and no rocks were thrown at us luckily.

We crossed the border into Argentina and immediately felt the difference. We dropped to 1,500m altitude, so the temperature was much milder. It also started progressively being greener. On the way to Salta we saw interesting mountains with various colours (the Mountain of 7 Colours is around here). Salta, situated in the Lerma Valley at 1,152 meters above sea level is nicknamed Salta la Linda (“Salta the beautiful”). Within Argentina, it is the city which has preserved its colonial architecture the best. The city center features a number of impressive buildings dating back to the 18^th, 19th and early 20th centuries. The city’s museums exhibit a wide range of artifacts and art work from the native civilizations that flourished in the area (Salta is located in the Southernmost region of what was the Inca empire), as well as from the 16th century Spanish conquest and the colonial and post-colonial periods.

After a night on the train and the long journey, we slept in the next day. At lunch we went to an “asado” place. For 43 pesos ($10), we got a serving of grilled meat for one person. This ONE serving was actually enormous: 2 sausages, 2 pieces of steak, 2 small racks of beef ribs, 3 potatoes and salad. We ordered some wine to go with it and it was more than enough for both of us, obviously. We were both very happy to eat meat, after having lots of chicken on the world trip and rice with potatoes in Bolivia. Afterwards we walked around town, but it was pretty empty. We later found out that Argentinians take a very long siesta and come back out much later. We went to the main square and visited a really nice building. It’s nice to see real buildings, made of bricks and stones, not salt or adobe.

In the evening Christoph visited the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology (MAAM), which exhibits the “Llullaillaco Children,” one of the most important archaeological discoveries of recent times. The three Inca children were found frozen at the peak of Mount Llullaillaco, 6,700 m above sea level, in 1999. Studies reveal that they lived more than 500 years ago, during the height of the Inca rule, a short time before the Spanish Conquest. The museum exhibits this wonderful discovery through a scientific perspective and in a didactic way to help us appreciate and further understand a culture that is still alive today. The expedition to research and extract these mummies was not easy at all due to the high altitude (the highest camp was at 6,600m) and severe weather conditions up there (sometimes -37°C). Not only did the Inca manage to excavate the tombs but they also built structures at more than six kilometers high using the stones they found on the mountain’s peak. The first discovery at the offering site at the summit was that of three llama figurines. The body of the Inca Boy was situated 50 cm bellow this place. On the same day, a few meters to the north, the researchers located the body of a young girl, today known as The Maiden. It is believed that these 3 children were sent to Cuzco to receive the blessing of the Inca king. Upon return, they were brought to this site and prepared for sacrifice. The museum was very interesting and Christoph enjoyed it a lot.

The next day after breakfast we met up with 2 Australian girls and went to San Lorenzo, a quaint little town outside Salta. The houses and domains around there are pretty impressive and the area is nice and green. We walked around there and had delicious ice cream before coming back to Salta. On a completely different subject: Matt Damon´s wife comes from Salta.