| Argentina |
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| The Route |
| Highs and Lows Highs Iguazu Falls - Waterfalls are always impressive, but the 2 kilometer wide Iguazu Falls - remember the film The Mission - are pretty amazing. The access to the falls is very discreet, so the view does not get disturbed by the tourist infrastructure. Aconcagua - Although we only spent one day up in the Andes because of the amounts of snow, we thoroughly enjoyed the views of the snow-capped Andes and the excitement of seeing Aconcagua. Not quite as impressive as Denali in Alaska, but 7,000 meters is always worthwhile looking at. Lows 36 hour bus journey - A marathon journey from the Brasil-Argentine border to Mendoza. Even reading books becomes boring after a while. Snow at Aconcagua - Although we knew this was likely to be the case (as the winter is still running in this part of Argentina), it was a bit of a disappointment when we found out that the Base Camps at Aconcagua are still covered under 2 meters of snow. A little bit too challenging for amateurs like us. Argentinian prices - After the relatively cheap prices of the Brazilian Real, it was a shock to see prices quoted in Argentinian pesos that have been linked 1-to-1 to the US Dollar for the last few years. To our surprise, price levels were not very different from those in Europe. |
| Detailed Trip Schedule |
| Map of Argentina |
| The main reason for going to Argentina was this silly idea of ours to go and see the highest mountain on each continent. So we basically had to get on that 36 hour bus journey to go all the way to Aconcagua at the end of the winter season. Unfortunately, when we arrived in Mendoza, the city nearest to Aconcagua, we found out that there was still so much snow up there, that you couldnt even set a foot off the main road. We decided to take the four hour bus journey up there and see what we could do. There was indeed one to two meters of snow, but the scenery was pretty amazing. Since we arrived there fairly early in the day, we luckily managed to see Aconcagua from the main road connecting Chile and Argentina, before the clouds took over. Since there was not much left to do after that sighting, we headed straight back to Mendoza. It turned out we had been very lucky, as the Chile-Argentina had been closed for three days and had just opened that day. The next day, it was all covered up again. In order to kill some time the day before our sighting, we visited a winery in the Mendoza region, which was good fun. After Mendoza, we headed back north, another 18 hour bus journey, to Salta. Salta had been recommended as a place with more Andean/Indean character than the South of Argentina, which is more Europeanised. We decided to hire a car for five days, which was pretty expensive and resulted in us eating bread all week. The first two days we drove up to Parque Nacional de Calilegua, a relatively unknown park, that is just about accessible by car. We made some nice hikes in the park, including one where we had to cross knee-deep mountain rivers a few times. We then took a day off to watch three football games in the youth hostel (pretty sad, but fun): England - Albania, Belgium - Scotland and Argentina - Brazil. The next three days, we made a big circle, covering some of the other natural and historical sites around Salta. The landscapes were amazing and changed every day: from colour- and shapefull canyons to grand mountains. We also visited ancient Indian ruins and another winery, the Bodega "La Rosa". After Salta, we made our last - thank God - long distance bus journey to Buenos Aires. As far as South American mega cities go, Buenos Aires is quite pretty, but not pretty enough to spend more than two days. We visited the Recoleta cemetry where the Buenos Aires aristocracy are burried in massive mausolea - including Evita Peron. We also attended a Buenos Aires Philarmonic Orchestra concert in the majestic Teatre Colon. The next day we visited the La Bocca old immigrants quarter where Diego Maradona played in his early days for Bocca Juniors. This is where we heard the news on the street about the destrucftion of the WTC buildings. It goes without saying that we were in a pretty down mood when we had to fly to Rio de Janeiro the next day. |
| 26 August: Foz do Igua�u - Puerto Iguazu 27 August: Puerto Iguazu - Nightbus to Mendoza 28 August: NIghtbus - Mendoza 29 August: Mendoza 30 August: Mendoza 31 August: Mendoza 1 September: Mendoza - Nightbus 2 September: Nightbus - Salta 3 September: Salta - Lib. Gen. San Martin 4 September: Lib. Gen. San Martin - Salta 5 September: Salta 6 September: Salta - Cafayate 7 September: Cafayate - x 8 September: x - NIghtbus 9 September: Nightbus - Buenos Aires 10 September: Buenos Aires 11 September: Buenos Aires 12 September: Buenos Aires - Rio de Janeiro |
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