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Hi all...
So as we said at the end of our last blog, it was raining in Florianopolis.. but on to sun in Montevideo, time to move on after a lengthy couch journey of course which felt more urgent by the on-board crew of one; Christian, who spent most of the trip storming up and down the aisle serving drink and food at phenominal rate athough we did get pillows and blankets on this one. Bonus!
Arrived in Montevideo and sun was out, checked in to hostel Che Legarto which had unusual ideas on cleaning the bathrooms... (i.e really not - yuk) Hired some bikes and rode along the coast after a wander around the city, had lunch in the indoor market a lot like Borough market but with a lot more meat on grills - ordered too much, blood sausages, chorizo, sweetbreats (thought it was pork), entrails (hmmmmm), lamb and a single roasted red pepper for the veg...
Nice city, quite relaxed and some decent, cheap places for a carafe of local wine or two - tried an olympic sanwhich - wasn´t as good as an olympic breakfast from little chef though! Had to stay an extra night as it was a bank holiday and everyone had headed to our next destination meaning we couldn´t get a room so we checked out of che dump and booked a hotel a couple of streets away which turned out to be pretty decent and cheaper!! So we spent the saving on pre dinner beers and crisps! Ready for our journey to Colonia!!
Piffling 2 hour journey to Colonia this time. Beautiful little town on the coast looking accross to Buenos Aires. Cobbled streets, lots of dogs wandering around, decent wine and some great Pizza all topped off with superb crystal blue sky and sun - definitely a favourite with the champagne backpackers!
Also had some great banana split ice cream and coffee at a place called the drugstore (was actually a cute cafe) for some book reading in the sun amongst the old cars and cobbles.
Stayed in a lovely home run little place for the first night but a bit out of town so moved to anther in the centre for the second night and cooked our first meal on the continent - pasta, not very adventurous eh.... but efforts do improve
Next day was the Boat to Buenos Aires, short little ride - Didn´t quite dock where we thought we would - our cheaper boat dropped us in La Boca which is a notoriously ´edgy´area of the city ... great! After thinking we could walk to our hostel we realised the error of our assumptions and jumped in a cab. Scooched around the city, good hostel for first night and delicious parilla (bbq) dinner, yummy steak, and of course delicious red wine. Moved hostel after the first night to be in the district of San Telmo which was lovely - nice little plaza, good bars, cafes and restaurants.
Escapades in Buenos Aires included lots of coffees and croissants (or as they call them media lunas), tango show at Cafe Tortoni which was excellent, visit to La Boca (where unlike someone else in our hostel we were not subjected to a 3pm knife mugging), strolling around affluent Palermo, beers and pizza, LOTS of steak and red wine - we even cooked twice at the hostel and buying the steak in the supermarkets is still SO cheap and the most delicious stuff... literally melt in the mouth. What else,..... oh yeah 5 quid opera tickets at Teatro Colon which is a gorgeous place, lots of red and gold (reminded me of the Rex in Berko)... standing tickets for 3 hours of German opera with spanish subtitles just about exhausted every muscle in our legs but was well worth it. Paul whole heartedly agrees! One of Pauls highlights was stopping at a really simple bar-bbq where the main chef cooks everything in front of you, we had steak sandwiches for about 3 quid for the both of us ... all wihle ´talking´to the locals... somewhere between my rusty spanish and their few words in english we made some friends with those old boys! Brilliant!
After 4 nights in Buenos Aires we headed 2 hours west to San Antonio de Areco, gaucho country, where we stayed 1 night at Estancia La Portena which is one of the most beautiful, homely, authentic, comfortable and serene places we´ve ever been. Run by a columbian lady and her argentinan husband (who seems to know the spanish and dutch royal family!) and some local gauchos, this was a real splurge, treat. Lovely welcome drinks, asado (bbq) lunch - yum, gaucho songs and music, afternoon sitting in the landscaped grounds soaking the sun, and horse riding trips at sunset - this made a real impression on us and we cant wait to go back. We met a local couple there who were having a night away from their 5 kids - the guy was hilarious and amongst his past travels managed to be in the UK at the time of the thatcher riots and was also telling us how he lived rent free in london as a squatter - was shown the ropes by a kiwi back in the late 70s - crazy and very funny stories! Seemed like a very respectable and well travelled guy now.....
We left there yesterday afternoon feeling sad to go.... but always excited to be on the move to the next new place. Overnight bus with some of the countries loudest snorers... honestly they have a few respiratory issues over here I think ... and so today we have arrived in Mendoza..... where 70% of the country´s wine is from..... smart! After all we drunk in Bs As we are still ready for more so plan to go and visit some bodegas tomorrow, possibly by bike to balance out the naughty indulgences of being here - the eating and drinking is just too good to say no to. Weather is glorious today again - having a real lucky streak of blue skies, sunshine and lovely spring heat that surpasses our summer sun!
Well, shall try and load a few pics to update you visually on what we`ve been doing and where.... may take a while...
Hope all well back in the chilly UK - let us know your news.
Much much love as always,
L&P xxx
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