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Buenos dias from Barriloche
Rightyo, we're now in a place called Barriloche, famous for its mountains, lakes and much to beth's delight, its chocolate!!
Since we last updated we flew down to Buenos Aires, capital of Tango and Steak!!!! Having checked into our hotel we then went for a wander around the central part of the city in an effort to book ourselves in for a tango show. We ended up with one the same evening and following our huge 2 quid steak made our way along. Now even as the non-dancing fan that i am, i have to say that the speed and closeness at which they move is incredible and it was worth every penny.
The next day we set out on one of our explore the city in one day attempts which proved to be a big success. Our first stop was the pink palace and the balcony from which Evita made her famous speech. From there it was onto the tomb of the Argentine Liberator Jose San Martin and then onto the English tower which is supposed to look like Big Ben but was quite pathetic in comparison. We then headed to the Barrio (neighborhood) of Recolecta where we visited Evitas Grave before wandering back down to the national congress. It was a long and tiring day but it did give us a great feel for the city and its largely laid back and European influenced vibe.
The next day, we met up with beth's friend Jayne from her days back at Chameleon in London, who happened to be travelling Argentina and Chile whilst we were. We had couple of ours in a cafe swapping stories and catching up (or in my case getting to know) and then made our way to La Boca (Famous to those football fans out there for being home to Maradonna). The area itself is extremely colourful and quirky and is home to many a talented argentinian artist and sponaneous tango peformance. We spent the afternoon wandering the streets and haggling before heading off to catch our 15 hour night bus to Mendoza.
Now we dont like talking about night buses so we'll leave that there, but upon arrival in Mendoza we were surprised to find out that the hostels we had ear-marked for a night were all full or extortionate and in response to our protestations we were reminded that this is indeed high season and we'd best get used to it.
So having settled in to the cheapest one we could find, we set of on a walking tour of the cities plazas, which are quite a central part of city life in south America and then checked out a local crafts market before heading out for some dinner. The next day we set off for the cities park which was its main attraction apart from wineries! It was huge and with the combination of lake and hillside view point well worth the visit. Mendoza itself is a very very chilled out town and the streets are great for people watching etc, you can see why people may stay a while!
However, not us, again it was a night bus to Barriloche except this one was 20 hours, a new record for us and not to be repeated! Barriloche is one of the most beautifully set towns i have ever seen with snow capped mountains to the east and a beautiful blue lake to the west. We have spent the day here walking around the different areas of the lake and tomorrow plan to do the 4 hour ascent of mount cathedral where the views are supposed to be incredible. In the meantime its off to buy some more choccy as Beth has developed some deep withdrawal symptoms!
From here we fly to El Calafate (this is an unscheduled flight but given that the bus journey would have taken around 40 hours we felt it was better to have more time in the places than sat on a bus!!!) Where we will spend christmas and then back up to Buenos Aires (also an unscheduled flight!!) before heading off to Iguacu falls, from where beth will do an update.
Hope everyone is well and we both wish everyone a very happy christmas
lots of love
Beth and Rich xxxxxx
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