Wet and Wild

As we're nearing the end of our trip some tough calls had to be made. The first of these was getting ourselves to Iguazu Falls, a 36 hours trip, including two back-to-back overnight buses, covering the 2,000km distance in one go, arghhh!

We arrived in Puetro Iguazu in the early morning. It was already hot and humid. As we stepped off the bus it hit us like a fan forced oven. I was sweating without movement......

After our recent disappointments due to bad weather we decided we'd head straight out to the falls given the current conditions were above average. We dumped our bags at the hostel, put on our swimmers (with clothes on top) and jumped onto the local bus (it was only 2 pesos vs the taxi option for 100pesos).

The first thing you notice as you approach the falls is the noise, the rumbling of water descending the 80metres and smashing into the river below. The next is the feel, the spray starts to sprinkling across your face as you head toward the edge. And then it's the visual, seeing the water glide over the top of the falls getting transformed into a twisted cloud of vapor, bouncing as high as the falls themselves. It's an epic experience.

The lookouts are accessed via walkways, suspended above the rushing water, given you amazing access to the best vantage points. It's an impressive engineering job. Once we'd seen the falls from above it was time to view them from the front.

A boat tour, how lovely.....no, how crazy! We headed down river to the launching point, as we walked we kept passing other tourists who'd just returned from their boat trip, soaking wet with smiles from ear to ear. We paid our money, we stripped down to our swimmers, got issued our lifevest and boarded the massive rubber ducky with twin 250hp outboard motors. And off we went into the water falls. The captain skillfully drove us towards the falls, with the motors on full throttle we moved into the impact zone, the boat getting smashed with water, bouncing over the waves, it was great fun (and a little scary).

After the boat ride we'd seen it all, we strolled back across the walkways toward the park entrance and with about 500m to the covered bus stop the heaven's opened and we're soaked again. We just made it.

The next morning was spend lounging beside the pool at the hostel (an old casino covered into accomodation) and then back on a bus in the afternoon, next stop Buenos Aires.

The first lookout - some serious power

covered in spray

The falls from one of the walkways

Just some of the 2.7km of falls

On route to the boats

One last photo before we head into the falls

You can see the other boats under the spray

still soaked to the skin

It's not about the bike

From the Atlantic coast we headed West into the Andes mountains. The journey itself was pretty spectacular with the road winding long the valley floor, passing snow covered mountains and deep blue lakes. Let me just say it now, the buses in Argentina are an absolute pleasure (especially compared with the crap we've endured in the rest of South America). We took the "Cama" option (that's 'bed' in Spanish), the seats are like business class on a airplane and you meals (and wine)!

First stop was the alpine town of Bariloche, sitting along side Lago Nahuel Huapi and surrounded by a number of ski resorts. In winter the town is heaving with skiers and boarders but in summer it takes on a more laid back vibe (much like any other ski town). Our first afternoon was spent scoping out town and planning the next few days. We stayed at Hostel 1004, on the 10th floor of an apartment building, the views were sublime.

Our first adventure was the famous "Circuito chico", a 25km bicycle tour around the lakes and forest. We thought to ourselves "25kms, that's nothing, should be sweet". Well, once we got underway we discovered it was a little more hilly than we'd expected (not mentioned in the guidebooks). It ended up being pretty tough work but well worth it.

We woke the next morning feeling a bit tender, which was good timing for me as the Wallabies game (against Scotland) was being shown on TV but we lost 9-8, arghhh, which meant Victoria had to endure a pretty grumpy husband for the rest of the day.

The next day need to be more active as we had dinner at the local parrilla (Argentina steak house) and polished off half a cow and a bottle of Malbec. So, we hiked to the top of the local ski mountain. The views from the top were incredible, there's nothing quite like lakes and mountains.

We'd now overdosed on lakes and mountain vistas. So, we took an overnight bus North to Mendoza, the 'wine' capital of Argentina. It's a beautiful city, enjoying wide tree covered streets and plenty of green space, but once you've done the standard "walked around the old town" there really isn't too much else to do. So, the next day we headed out to Maipu, the wine growing region on the edge of Mendoza, for our bicycle wine tasting tour. We picked up some wheels from "Mr Hugo", an old guy who offers free wine at the end of your tour, and off we went in search of wine!

It was a fun day but not quite what we expected. The tour was actually just us cycling down a semi-main road (B-road in UK) stopping at the various wineries which offered tastings. it wasn't quite the same as the picturesque image we'd developed in our heads. Nevertheless, we made it five wineries, ranging from boutique labels (around 70,000 bottles per year) to the massive Trapiche operation (over 5 million annually). Although, after the first couple of glasses it all tasted the same.......

So, after a little over a week of mountains and boozing it was time for something special, next stop Puerto Iguazu.

Mountains, lakes, Victoria, Justin

Rollin' on my sweet ride

Dos águilas (Two eagles)

The view of Bariloche from our hostel room (seriously)

About half way around the Curcuito Chico

At the lunch spot

Victoria crusin' on our wine tour

Outside our favourite winery "Tommaso"

"mmmm, has this been aged in American oak?"

In the nerve centre

Glacier threat to Bolivia capital

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8394324.stm

Fears are growing for the future of water supplies in one of Latin America's fastest-growing urban areas - Bolivia's sprawling city of La Paz.

A whale of a time

Our next stop was Puerto Madryn, for some whale watching, after another 24hr overnight bus trip. We arrived in the afternoon with enough time to book our tour for the next day. The tours head out to the Pennisula Valdes, which is a protected animal reserve where Southern Right Whales come every year to give birth to their young, before heading south to Antarctica in December to feed on krill. We weren't sure what to expect as we'd heard you might (or might NOT) see any whale on the tour but we were blown away.

Our boat tour took us into the bay and immediately we came across a mother and calf (it was feeding time). Unfortunately they swam away from the boat, so we left them in search of more action. Before long we found a inquisitive and playful calf, about 4 months old and already 10 metres long. It was spashing its flippers (apparently signalling to its mother), showing us its tail and then it came within a metre of the boat. It swam underneath and around the boat for about half an hour, and as it swam off it jumped out of the water (called breaching) about 3 times into the distance. A perfect tour they say when it comes to whale watching. We were absolutely stunned with how many whales were in the bay, we could see lots of them also in the distance. A very special place.

After a short lunch stop, we continued north up the coast and spied on some baby elephant seals, not very interesting as they lay on the beach and did not move. We were hoping to see an Orca (Killer Whale) jump out of the water and feast on one of the seals but no such luck (Justin was very disappointed). We also visited a colony of Magellanic penguins, most of them sitting on their eggs waiting for them to hatch, we saw two tiny penguins no bigger than about 8cm´s tall, very cute.

What a day, we hit the jackpot. Another unforgettable experience.

The whale watching Boat

The whale calf showing off for the crowd


That's a flipper

(and yes, my camera lens now has dirt on the inside of the lens)


Some tail action

The calf breaching, just amazing

Excited about the whale show

Elephant seals (fat, lazy and stupid)


A couple of penguins (very cute)

.........and busting some moves