South America #2 - Bariloche, Puerto Madryn & Buenos Aires (1)

25 November: Mendoza - Bariloche

Our first longer distance bus trip saw us head 17 hours south and it wasn´t too bad at all. Enough leg room to be able to sleep, plus 2 (bad) movies, dinner, breakfast, lunch and a game of bingo as we neared Bariloche. Which was encouraging, as the numbers being in Spanish didn´t present any problems. Maybe there´s hope yet.



We took Ruta 40, which is Argentina´s Route 66, eventually taking the 7 Lakes Road into Bariloche, in Nahuel Huapi National Park and at the foot of a lake bearing the same name, all of which is in the north west of the Argentine side of Patagonia. We left when night was falling but when day broke the next day the scenery was stunning. The lay of the land and the water alongside the course of the 7 Lakes Road was what I imagine bits of North America must look like.

We had a very chilled out hostel, right on the lake. The town itself is a fairly standard mountain town - kind of unremarkable except for being not exactly cheap. It's surprising how much it´s costing in Argentina so far. All the hype about this country being dead cheap may have been true 3 or 4 (or especially 10) years ago, but not now. And especially not in Patagonia.



Bariloche´s even got a Pacha but it wasn´t opening until the height of the high season, so we made do with another ludicrously over-priced place to drink.



The area surrounding Bariloche is loaded with stunning lakes and mountains, some shared with Chile. We wanted to kayak down a nearby river, but apparently the national park authorities were restricting the number of concessions to operators to offer kayaking which made it too expensive. So we hired a car for a couple of days and, assisted by some locally sourced produce, headed to the hills for a couple of mini roadie day trips.


(not the car we hired)

It´s amazing how similar much of this area is to some of NZ, about the only giveaway that you´re not in NZ is the absence of ferns. Which, on reflection makes sense, as NZ split off from what is now Argentina before the continents split apart and took shape. The major exception to this similarity was a black glacier, which had some of the most bizarre landscape and colours I´ve ever seen.

The bits that break off float around in a milky coloured lake at the foot of the glacier, creating an enormous milkshake with ice cubes to scale, before eventually melting away into the river beyond.

29 November: Bariloche - Puerto Madryn

After Bariloche, we headed cross-country, to the east coast of Patagonia. Not the sort of place you'd expect there to be a Welsh heritage, but this area's got heaps of it from way back.

Puerto Madryn sits by the Península Valdés, which is apparently a bit of a hangout for whales and penguins. I'm convinced there's a global cartel operating, so any arrangement where passengers get in a regular boat and head a little way off the coastline to see whales surfacing for a few seconds, should be really expensive. Do these people actually pay the whales? Have the whales formed a union? We didn't go to see whales.

Apparently at some times during the year you can see them from the beach (maybe this is their equivalent of a free sample) but we weren't there at the right time.

what a whale might look like

There didn't seem to be a great deal else going on in Puerto Madryn, but the beach is nice enough and we went to an Ecoparque too, which was a museum giving all sorts of interesting information about local wildlife.

2 December: Puerto Madryn - Buenos Aires

So after our northern Patagonia jaunt it was time for the bright lights. I didn't know how I would react to Buenos Aires (or BA as everyone seems to call it) after enjoying Santiago so much, but I was looking forward to dipping my toe in.

Where do I start? It's a fantastic city. We were staying in an apartment in one of the wealthier suberbs - Palermo - which had everything we needed within a 5 minute walk. Wide, uncrowded streets, clean, and loaded with parks and trees, good places to eat, and beautiful women.

Our first afternoon saw us take a walk from Palermo to a neighbouring, also well-heeled area, Ricoleta. First stop was the most bizarre cemetery I've seen. They don't have simple grave stones here, but elaborate sarcophagi in which the dead are interred. The great and the good are buried here - former presidents, heads of trade unions (no whales, mind), military heroes etc, but the most popular one is where you'll find Eva Peron, aka Evita. From there we wandered to a nearby park which was very relaxed, and then an art museum containing some Rembrandts and various other old and new works, which was also pretty cool.

Day 2 and we were off to San Telmo, which is a fairly touristy, bohemian area. It used to be where the rich folks lived, but years ago disease pushed many of those who could afford it further out to Palermo, and the massive houses they occupied were subdivided into apartments. Again the streets we saw gave an impression of being relaxed and unhurried, without massive amounts of noise or traffic. Like Palermo and Ricoleta, you wouldn't know walking around here or sitting having a beer that you were in a city of 13 million people. We went to look at the Museum of Modern Art but it's being renovated and was closed. Someone had tagged the top of the sign for it, which I guess you could argue is a small expression of modern "art", so maybe we didn't come away entirely empty handed.

The third day we headed to the centre of the city, which I guess does what it says on the tin. Much more chaotic and what you'd expect a big city like this to feel like. That night we headed out in Palermo, first to a great little bar called Campobravo, then to a club called Crobar. The bar had as many beautiful women under one roof as I've seen anywhere, as probably did any number of bars down the same street. The club was okay without being superb. The music was pretty good and wouldn't be out of place in Ibiza. The crowd didn't seem as up for it as they may have been and the layout of the club wasn't such that you'd go off on little wanders checking out different rooms. Still, the drinks weren't as pricey as feared and, though I doubt I'll go back to that club next time, if that's an average sort of spot then some others in BA are sure to please.

Our final day had a proper little random treat lined up for us. The guy we rented the apartment from came through with some tickets for the national polo championship final. I didn't see myself going to polo ever, let alone a big event in Argentina. My preconception of polo was that it was a bunch of toffs on horseback playing glorified croquet. I still think it's a bunch of toffs on horseback playing glorified croquet, but it was a great day out and I'd go again given the chance. It was a strange kind of setup for what is essentially the equivalent of, say, an FA Cup final. The surrounding area wasn't brimming with pre match atmosphere and entertainment, and even afterwards there didn't seem to be a massive amount going on. We didn't stay out that late, as Ed and I were off south the next day.

I will definitely come back to BA, maybe for a month or so, live in an apartment and learn some Spanish. I've been getting by just fine on limited Spanish and whipping out the phrasebook now and then, but that's not enough. I want to be able to really dive into South America, and that's impossible without having a decent grasp of the lingo. One very noticeable thing here is how good most tourists are at Spanish. In other parts of the world people use English as the lingua franca, as I found in eastern Europe, but here Spanish is the only currency in town. Many locals, particularly younger ones, understand a little English, but to get anywhere here you have to be speaking their language. Besides, Spanish is a great language, pleasant to listen to and fun to speak. I might still have no luck with the girls here when I've learned their language, but even less if I don't.

Next up, we're off back down south. In Ed's case, a long, long way south...