The Lakes District

Above Patagonia, in Chile and Argentina is the beautiful Lakes district where the landscape is all mountains, lakes and volcanoes. Our first stop here was Bariloche, which is technically at the top of Patagonia. This town was full of St. Bernard's and chocolate shops. They were even building the worlds largest chocolate egg during our stay (to be finished by Easter).

 

From here we took a bus ride acrosss the border to Valdivia. On our day stop in this town we went on a tour of a submarine which was all in Spanish, so we didn't understand much, watched some sealions lounging at the back of the fish market waiting for a fish head and took a bus to the local Kunstmann brewery to sample some German inspired, Chilean beer.

Next stop was Pucon, an adventure town set on a lake with a volcano. We got off the bus here with nowhere to stay and happened to bump into a couple of Americans and New Zealand guy with a bag of meat who invited us back to their hostel for a room and a BBQ. We took up the offer and enjoyed our say in a very laid back hostel that was more like stayIng at a mates place.

Black sand beach on the lake

Climbing the volcano is the number one attraction for tourists in Pucon, so we signed ourselves up. Unfortunately we got some pretty ordinary guides for our trip, they didn't allow me (Tara) and another girl go to the top basically because we were too slow. They said it was dangerous because we didn't have the energy to move for falling rocks, but sitting at the spot where we turned back, I saw girls in worse condition than me go on :( Anyway, we girls had a bit of a bitch and a laugh about it at the base and I decided I will try to see the top of a volcano again in Costa Rica.

James had a bit more luck with the climb, he made it to the top to see a magnificent view, get a mouth full of toxic fumes and slide down the snow to speed up the descent. Dressed in a ridiculous outfit which included an 'arse protecter', the slide down is also aided by a plastic paddle which you sit on. This has two main benefits; it further protects your arse from the snow/ice/rocks and it also makes you slide down extremely quickly!

The top of the volcano

The arse paddle

James in sliding gear

 

James also did a hydrospeed excursion which is a cross between white water rafting and boogie boarding down a river. Decked out in a full wetsuit, helmet and flippers you float down the near freezing crystal clear water through the rapids making sure not to get caught by a trout fisherman standing on the banks. It was a lot of fun and hopefully we will get the chance to do it again.

 

 

Uruguay

Sunset in Colonia, Uruguay

Since we were so close, we decided to head to Uruguay for a few days to see what it had to offer. First stop on our short itinerary was Montevideo. Here, we took a leisurely ride along the coast to visit the city beaches. Unfortunately, it wasn't warm enough for us to go for a swim, but, it was still a lovely ride (despite the bikes we hired that were falling apart).

Next stop was the quaint little Colonia, a cobble stoned town full of history. There were plenty of charming little streets to explore.

This town also boasted its very own bullring, however bullfighting was outlawed by the Uruguayan government in 1912, just a few years after construction was completed. As a result the glory days are long gone for this arena and it has been closed to the public for the past 100 years.

Fortunately we were able to find a hole in the fence to get a closer look, and marvel at what it once would have been. Although the walls and stands are falling down, strangely enough, somebody still cuts the grass!

 

 

End Of The Earth

After two weeks of seeing the sights of Buenos Aires and surrounds it was time to venture South, to the very tip of the Andes' - Patagonia. After landing in El Calafate international airport, which is nothing more than a control tower and a runway in a field, we headed for the small town of El Chalten for some challenging trekking. The 24km hike was well worth it for the beautiful views of Fitz Roy.

Fitz Roy behind a glacier fed lake

Our next day's walk was on a glacier, ice trekking. The pictures don't do it justice, but this was really amazing! Then to top it off we ended the trek with a cup of baileys served on five hundred year old glacier ice.

Ice trekking on a glacier

Our next stop in Patagonia was back to El Calafate for another glacier - Perito Moreno, this time it was to watch huge slabs of ice carving into the lake.... It might not sound exciting, but when the block of ice is the size of a 20 story building, it's pretty awesome.

Whilst we were here this section which looks similar to some one giving the bird, use your imagination and you'll see it, fell into the water.

Next it was time for a workout again, so we headed to the "hills" for three days of camping and trekking. The "hills" we're actually 3000m peaks in the Torres del Paine national park. Unfortunately we weren't as lucky with the weather as we were at Fitz Roy, so we barely got to see the peaks through the low cloud cover. The treks were still beautiful and we would definitely recommend this national park to anyone who appreciates nature.

Trekking in Torres del Paine national Park

With all the hard work over it was time to head to the "Fin del Mundo" (End of the World), Ushuaia to collect a stamp very few people get in their passport. We went there via Punta Arenas which, unluckily, had a once in 20 year flood for our stay.

The aftermath of the flooding in Punta Arenas... Not much sight seeing on this day!

Ushuaia is the southern most city in the world, it is only 1000km from Antarctica. There were plenty of tourists here about to head on expeditions to the southern continent. This was a cold place, it is summer here but that didn't stop it snowing. We spent our time checking out wildlife, 4 wheel driving and getting drunk on St Patricks day in an Irish pub at the End of the World, with people from all over the world!

A curious penguin pecking our legs

 

 

Iguazu

We made our first trip into the jungle, and we loved it. From the bus ride to the scenery, our trip to Iguazu Falls was a success.

The trip started with a 17 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu. It may sound like an ordeal, however, we went via "Cama Suite" which is the 1st class of coaches. Our ultra wide seats could fully recline into beds, we had individual TV's and we were even served champagne, whiskey and wine! I slept like a baby for most of the ride.

The Iguazu Falls at the national park we went to visit were awesome! I would recommend it to everyone. I only wish that I saw a jaguar... Maybe when we go to The Amazon. We did see some other wildlife, including the very cute, albeit cheeky, coatis. These little creatures were experts at stealing lunches from backpacks.

 

 

 

 

 

The waterfalls were the main show at the park. The sheer size of the falls was breathtaking, not to mention the roar of the water as it fell to the rocks below. On average over 100,000 cubic metres of water falls every minute - that's 40 Olympic swimming pools! We even got to take a boat ride under one of the falls... It was like a natural theme park ride!