Last days in BA

On Thursday 28th we went to Tigre. We caught the underground to the Retiro train station, from where we caught a train to Tigre station, about 50 minutes from BA. There were houses/apartments all along the way.

Tigre is a town near the mouth of the River Plate. The area is a large delta (estuary) with lots of islands joined by navigable waterways. All the islands are covered with houses, in varying states of repair. All services and materials have to be brought in by boat. We saw supermarket boats and the police and construction boats, as well as taxi boats.

We took a one hour boat trip around the delta. It was interesting to see all the people on holiday, some swimming in the brown water. The water is full of sediment, so it is supposedly safe to swim in....

We wandered around the local market and had lunch at the end of one of the piers. It was too hot to be out for too long in the sun, so we headed back on the train about 3pm. When we got back to the main train station the subway line was closed - of course we didn´t know why - and there was chaos outside as it is the subway line which crosses the city and links to all the other lines. Therefore we took a taxi back to the hotel and had a shower and cooled off in our airconditioned room. We have enjoyed having the aircon over the past few nights!!

We walked to a local restaurant, Gigon, at the intersection of San Jose and Chile streets, took a few extra blocks to get there so we were a bit hot and sticky by the time we arrived. Our city tour guide had recommended it, as it is a true local eatery, not where tourists go. So we celebrated the end of our tour with fine Argentinian steaks (no need to have red meat for ages, as we must have stored lots of iron while here) accompanied by local champagne. In keeping with local custom, we arrived about 8.30pm and left about 10.30 - more locals were just arriving.

One of the less pleasant sights we saw on returning to the hotel was people scavenging through other people´s rubbish, looking for recycalabes and even eating some of the food. There was even a mother with her baby in a pushchair. The rubbish is pulled out of the plastic bags and strewn around the footpath... There were plenty of police around, one on every block, so it felt safe.

It is now 9.45am on Friday morning and we are about to take a taxi to La Boca to do some last minute shopping. We are returning about 2pm to freshen up and finish packing, then head to the airport. We will miss out on Saturday 30th, and arrive in Auckland at 4am on Sunday 31st. Fog permitting we will be back in Wellington at 8am, and home soon after.

This has been a tour of contrasts, lots of kilometers (about 8000) with lots of steppe country to cover, and few towns and cities. Chile and Argentina have lovely mountains, and the desert, although sometime monotonous, has a beauty of its own. Despite the roughness of the road we enjoyed travelling up Route 40, and some of the allure of that route will be lost when it is all completely sealed.

Till next time, signing off -

Liz & John

27th January Buenos Aires

Yesterday was spent wandering the shops, not very successfully. Lots of toursit shops and far to hot to be very focussed on the task. We joined a colleague Steve from the UK at 5pm and had a cold beer together before retiring to our room for a cold shower and rest before the Tango evening.

This was just a walk down the road and was very enjoyable - a 2 hour show where the whole group attended. The place we went to is the oldest Tango show in BA, opened in 1858. Then on to a famous steak house for dinner, starting at about 11.30pm - we finally got to bed at 2.00am. The steaks were delicious but far too large for one. Liz and I shared one which must have weighed 500g.

Today we farewelled colleages on Cindy the truck as they headed north to Rio. We then changed to an airconditioned room, lovely. This afternoon we wandered the streets and then took the tube out to Palermo Soho to look at clothes and have dinner. It´s now 10.30 at night and the hotel is next door. Just returned on the the underground.

Dinner was nice, and we got to eat vegetables, the 1st time in South America.

26th in Buenos Aires

Yesterday we had a relaxing start to the day organising our laundry and updating the blog site. Then off to see how the underground works and a trip out to the botanical gardens. It looked like a storm had been through recently with many trees down. It was a bit neglected but a very interesting collection of plants.

Then on to the adjacent zoo where John managed to get photos of some of the birds and animals that had eluded him in the wild. It even had a tuatara with chicks hatching out of eggs. We got ripped off buying lunch at a Macdonalds type place, the only place to eat, at 25 pesos each for a buger, fries and a cold drink = no other choice of food. Very hot at about 36 degrees, so we had to keep buying bottled water.

Then on to the Japanese Gardens for a stroll before meeting two people off the other Dragoman truck and a taxi back to town.

We went for a cold beer at a cafe on the corner down from the hotel a 6.00pm and had a snack, then back to the room for a cold shower and a freshen up before joining the rest of our team for a drumming show across town at about 8.30. The group were a bunch of Brazillians who do a show every Monday, about 12 of them on bongo and kettle drums etc. They are supposed to be one of the best groups in South America. It was very hot, but they sold ice cold beer in one litre cups!

The show was loud and very fast paced. I reckon there were 2000 young people there, mostly foreign tourists by the look of them - as well as a few oldies like us. Then a taxi back to town for dinner starting at 11.30pm - looks like we are catching on to the Argentinian habit of eating late. In bed by 12.30 this morning for a well earned sleep.

25 January 2010 Buenos Aires

Since our last post we have travelled 1500ks to BA.
On 22nd we packed up camp and left at 6.30am. We stopped on Puerto Madryn to drop off 8 of our colleagues as they were catching a plane to BA so they could attrend a concert by Metallica that night.
There were 11 of us left, and so we had 2 seats each on the truck. We had breakfast on the road - meusli bars, yoghurt and banana. So we drove 750ks that day, with a short stop to have a picnic lunch, and a couple of stops at petrol stations. Only hiccup was when part of the exhaust fell off the truck. Riki repaired it that night, until then we sounded a bit like a steam train.
As the day went on it got warmer and warmer. Sights along the way - we started to see the first agriculture, around Viedma. Until then it had all been desert steppe country. Still very few houses and nothing in between.

Camp that night was on the coast at a large camping ground, in the middle of nowhere. Lovely spot, with a much appreciated swimming pool. People from Argentine, Chile and Brazil all seem to go camping for their holidays, in very small tents with all the family in together. They are all up till late at night, South American fashion.

Next morning (23rd) we had breakfast and left at 7am. 550ks to go! It was a scorcher of a day (nearly 40 degrees, the hotteswt on BA on record). It was now through agricultural land, evidence of a higher rainfall environment. Mostly flat all the way.

The road finally became 2 lanes each way, there were lots of trucks on the road and overtaking was necessary as they travel at 80 or 90ks, so when it became 2 lanes that was much easier. Then we hit 4 lanes, and heading into BA 6 lanes.
The houses (apartments) began about 25ks out. We arrived at 4pm. Our hotel is in the centre of the city, John and I have them penthouse suite....well, we have a large (for here) room at the top of the hotel. It is hot, as only has a fan, no aircon.

That night we went with a large group of us to a restaurant on the Docks, a big steakhouse. The Docks were the original port buildings and have all been beautifully refurbished as restautants and offices and apartments.

The city is surprisingly attractive, many old European style buildings. Lots iof Plazas and trees on the streets.

Yesterday, 24th, we wandered around the central city in the morning, and went to a large market. Being Sunday all the shops were shut and it was fairly quiet. In the afternoon we went on a tour of the city highlights. First to La Boca, where the area is fanous for its coloured buildings made from surplus port materials 120 years ago by the new immigrants. They used iron and timber, and painted the houses with leftover boat paint.

We also went to see Evita´s tomb in the famous Recolleta cemetery. This cemetery was full of amazing mausoleums, all laid out like in a city on little streets.
The guide explained the history of the city, and talked about the many statues and monuments. We caught the underground back for the last 1.5ks, the original carriges (refurbished) on what was the first underground in the Southern Hemisphere.

On the evening we took a taxi with Charles and Pat to La Boca for dinner in a local restaurant. Lovely meal. Finally got to bed about 1am.

21st January, Puetro Madryn

Yesterday, after doing our last update, we had lunch then walked along the beach back to the camp. It was about 40 degrees, and a 5km walk along the beach. There was a very strong wind all afternoon and into the night. Before dinner everyone appeared in their penguin outfits, some looked really good.

We had a party after dinner to celebrate Snell´s birthday. During the night, at about 2am, there was a terrific wind - probably as a result of the extreme heat of the day. The sand was blowing into our tent and over us, through the mesh and fly. Fortunately the tents all stayed in place.
The campground was really full, with tents everywhere. There is always a queue for the showers, until about 1am and starting again at 6.30am. Liz got up at 6.15 this morning to have a shower, as she was on breakfast duty.

We left camp at 8.30am and headed for the Wildlife Reserve. It was an hour´s drive to the start, and then we drove on a gravel road for another hour to the place where we could view penguins. Since these were the same as those we saw at Camerones we did not stay long there, but carried on to the next spot where we saw elephant seals. There were not many on the beach. While we were there though a couple of orcas swam past. We were about to leave, so we were already on the truck. However Liz managed to see the fin of one as they headed off. Some of our group saw them up close to the shore and were very impressed - great big animals.

We then drove for an hour to a more northern spot where we saw hundreds of sea lions. There were males, females and new pups, one was born while we were there. Noisy, writhing, smelly...lots of fighting and posturing. We hoped the orcas might make another appearance as it was high tide, but it was not to be.

Drove back to the city, 2 hours, half of it on gravel. Sonce we were quite late (6pm) we have all stopped to eat in town, rather than cook at the camp. Tomorrow we will leave at 6.30am with two long days drive to get to BA:

So next update will be from there in a few days!

20th Jauary - Peurto Madryn

We left El Chanten on 17th Jan. It was raining when we left the town, but cleared up as we left the mountain area. We drove, and drove, and drove - long stretched on Route 40 on gravel roads. There were no towns or settlements. We saw a couple of guanaco herds, 2 herds of horses, a dead armadillo and not much more!

About 4.30 we arrived at a UNESCO World Heritage site. This was the Caves of the Hands, where about 9000 years ago the locals blew colouring over their hands and left negative prints on the rocks.

From there we drove until about 8pm when we arrived at a camping site. So it was tents up, dinner to cook, and bed. The stars were very bright there as there were no lights at all. The electricity generator was turned off at 11pm.

Next morning, 18th, we drove some more through yet more pampas lands. Still on Route 40. We drove through a horrid little town, where we stopped at the supermarket to get what we could. The town was all gravel, and very dusty.

All these days there was a consistent 40-50kph wind blowing off the Andes - lots of dust.

We drove on to Camerones, as there was no camping spot to be found before then. Passed through Comodore Rivadivia, a port city servicing the oil industry, which is on the Atlantic coast.

It was 10pm and dark when we got to Coamerones, but we were a day ahead of schedule. Again, tents up, scrambled eggs for dinner as too late to cook.

Next morning was sunny and warm. We packed up camp and at 10am collected our guide and drove into the National Park for 26ks to a penguin colony. There are 26000 breeding pairs of Magellenic (sp?) Penguins there, and you can walk through the colony on a board walk.

Leaving the National Park we rode on the open top deck of the truck to the main road, lots of fun but very windy and dusty. Saw a live armadillo.

Left Camerones and headed along Route 3 to Puerto Madryn where we arrived about 8pm. We passed the scene of a fatal car accident on the way. The road is very narrow by our standards, well sealed and in good condition though. We are a night ahead of schedule so have three nights here instead of 2.

Peurto Madryn is a port and beach settlement. There were thousands of people on the beach when we drove through to the camp site last night. The camp is on a hill beside the beach. It is again hot and sunny! 32 degrees. The thermals have all been put away!
Today we have a free day and so finally get to the internet and catch up on things again. Tomorrow we are spending the day going to a wildlife reserve to see sea lions, etc. Then two long driving days to BA.

It is one of our groups birthday today, so we are having a special dinner and a Penguin Party - dressing as penguins - tonight. The camp will be busy as there are 4 other overland trucks expected today, all heading to BA.

16th January El Chalten

Yesterday John did a 22k walk with mates, and Liz did a glacier walk.

Today we had a sleep in. Breakfast was at 9 am, then we went out about 11am and had coffee. Tyhen we went  to a Condor lookout. There were no condors to be seen - I think it meant a bird,s eye view of the town! However there was a great clear view of Mt. Fitzroy and surrounding peaks. 

We wandered back slowly into the little town. Had a siesta, then went to a closeby waffle restaurant for their Waffle 2004, a waffle with apples, cinnamon, run and icecream.

The next few hours were spent chatting to fireind in the bar. Dinbner was a chicken steak, very nice and huge - we shared one between us.

Tomorrow we have a 7am breakfast, then hit the road. We are bushcamping for the next few nights, so won{t be updating. Only 6 nights until we reach Buenos Aires.

Weather has been great- for here! Fine, sunny but windy as.