Uruguay by hook or by crook

After leaving Buenos Aires the plan was to drive the truck into Uruguay and visit the towns of Colonia, Salto and the Capital Montevideo. This however was impossible to do. All the borders between Argentina and Uruguay are currently closed to traffic. The Argentinians are not at all happy with the Uruguayans and it is all because of a paper mill (hope you are following this Paul!) The Uruguay people want to build a paper factory on their side of the river. The Argentians don't want this because of all the pollution it will create. The local Argentians have taken matters into their own hands and protested by closing their sides of the borders. The Uruguay government has even taken the Argentian government to court demanding they act against the local Argentian people. Uruguay lost the court case and the Argentian government are leaving the local people alone to protest any way they like. And all this has been going on for 18 months now. Uruguay is believed to have lost over $400million in lost tourism. In a nutshell it meant the truck was not going anywhere near the Uruguay borders. But becuase we were foot passengers, we were allowed to board a ferry to Colonia. So the group abandoned the truck and went on foot to Uruguay by ourselves.
Colonia is a beautiful little town, cobbled streets, old city walls and I spent an enjoyable day wondering around. Unfortunately Damian the walls were only ruins and you couldn't walk around them - I know you will be dissapointed!
We then took a bus and made our way to Montevideo, the capital. This is not the most attractive city in the world - in fact the locals don't live there - they live out in the vast suberbs and commute in. It also has a large naval base and harbour but most importantly they had a very nice stretch of beach. I spent a very relaxing day on the beach - building sandcastles, having sand fights, messing about in the sea - generally acting like children and it was great. For the first time in many many months, I felt as if I was on a normal relaxing holiday. It won't last long - I'll be back on a very hot truck before I can say "Its not a holoday - its an adventure" Glad I have seen Uruguay - well as much as you can fit in in 3 days and very glad I got to taste the Urugauyan wine - Don Pascual. Tip for all wine lovers - Uruguayan wine is the way forward!

Land of the Tango

After a couple more long driving days we arrived in the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires. This is supposed to be the home of the tango. I spent an evening at a tango show in a cafe that would not have been out of place in Paris a hundred or so years ago. The show was spectacular. How an earth both the man and woman manage to kick their legs simultaneously through their partner's legs without doing themselves an injury, is beyond me. These people have alot of skill - and you realy wouldn't believe what they could do with wooden balls on a rope!! It was nice to spend a few days back in a city after the camping and tiny towns of the last couple of weeks. Felt very civilised to be able to go out for drinks and meals until the wee small hours. Nobody here even bothers eating before midnight.
I ventured into the Recoleta Cementry. Its famous for being the final burial place of Evita (Eva Peron) but the place itself is a work of art. It does not have graves but tombs and vaults. Each tomb is built by the family and they are very elaborate, most have imported italian stautes within them not to mention being covered in marble. Evita's tomb by contrast is not at all elaborate it is simply a plaque on the wall of her families vault. Mind you it has been sealed with alot of concrete and metal to stop anyone else stealing the body. Her sister only got Evita's body back 50 years after she had died. I know this as I also went to the Evita museum. Another region of Buenos Aires that was breath - taking was that of the Boca suberb. Footie fans will recognise the name but as well as housing a very famous stadium - it has a very colourful approach to homes. Boca was the first settlement in Buenos Aires and it was were all the extremely poor Spanish and Portuguese workers first landed. The area is still the poorest neighbourhood and therefore at night becomes the most dangerous part of town but during the day it is beautiful. To try and eleivate the harsh conditions they found themselves in, those first settlers painted their houses a myriad of colours and the houses are still kept in the same way. The place had such an artesian / old parisian atmosphere with alot of tango going on. One old chap (he must have been late 80's) even got me tangoing in the street. Alas I was useless but good comedy value for my friends! Buenos Aires is a great city but after 4 days there I am looking forward to seeing some more beautiful scenery and natural sights. There is only so much city life I can take at the moment - I have turned into a great outdoors type. Mind you its alot easier to do here due to the very comfortable weather conditions!

The End of the World

After the breathtaking sights of Patagonia we ventured as far south as possible over land. I arrived in Ushuaia, the most southernly city in the world. This is the place to come if you want to go to Antartica. Alas I didn´t have $3000.00 to spare so I couldn´t go. Tierrra del Fuego (where Ushuaia stands) is actually an island off the bottom of Argentina and Chille - not part of the mainland. A ferry needs to be caught from Chille to get there at all. Tierra Del Fuego is cold - in the height of summer the average temperature for Ushuaia is 12 degrees. With wind chill factor this becomes alot more colder. Apart from having too many american tourists for my liking Ushuaia wasn´t too bad. I went out for a catamorran ride in the Beagle Channel. The waters around Antartica are the roughest in the world and coming back down the Bagle Chanel by sea can be likened to being on a continuous very high roller coaster. The waves were huge - totally encapsulating the boat. I totally loved it and my stomach wasn´t bothered by the waves - but I was in a tiny minority - I have never seen so many people vomiting in the same place before. This is the lighthouse in the middle of the Channel on a much calmer day - I was unable to take a photo as it was literally impossible to stand up and hold a camera at the time we were passing. After eating what is possible the nicest food of the journey at a very posh seafood restaurant (giant mussels for me) - it was time to start going north again. There is not much between Ushuaia and Buenos Aires except scrub land - so we drove for 5 days solid. Look at a map - the distances are immense. To break up the journey we stopped at the Valdez Penisular - a giant national park. I saw hundreds of penguins not to mention elephant seals, sea lions, armidillos, guancos and grey foxes. We were not lucky enough to see an Orca but to tell you the truth I was over the moon with the Armidilos. What bizarre little creatures these are but my goodness - they are fast. Looking forward now to being back in a city and being able to shower again!

Breathtaking, breathtaking, breathtaking...cold

Have been moving further down South America, remaining in the jaw dropping beauty of the Patagonia landscape. Patagonia is an area of South America that runs down the western edge. It encompasses many national parks and has areas in both Chile and Argentina. Whilst camping at El Chaten (Argentina) this is the view that greeted us from our tents. It is the Fitzroy mountain range and I enjoyed a leisurely hike up one of its many paths. Slightly further south I ventured out to the Moreno Glacier. This glacier is the only one in the world which is static - that is, it loses approximately the same mass each year at the front (by ice falling off it) as it gains from the back which the formation of new ice. This is the first glacier I have seen and impressive does not do it justice. It is very difficult to find the words to describe adequately the sights I have seen in Patagonia, so I´m afraid impressive, breath taking, jaw dropping will have to do. Its 5km wide and 30km long and has a depth of 170 metres - so in glacier terms it is not the biggest but it is one of the best. We took a boat trip up to the north side of the glacier and watched as the ice creaked and cracked and large chunks fell into the sea. Spent most of the afternoon stood transfixed at the beauty of it all. You need to come and see this place. Then I spent the next few nights camped out at Torres Del Paine (Chille) - where my luck ran out. The weather turned on us, and instead of the unseasonally high temperatures, they returned to what they should be for this part of the world in January. Bear in mind tht January is high summer here - the average summer temperature is 12 degrees C. That wouldn´t be so bad but alas rain and gale force winds are also the norm. Attempted to hike the very difficult two towers walk (there is actually three towers so I am confused about the name). Got half way when the blizzard, hail and wind strong enough to knock us over made us turn around. This is what I should have seen if the weather had held out. But I´m not disheartened - they will be plently more walks to do in the next place. That place is Ushuaia. Its the most southern city in the world - the last stop before Antartica. The average high summer temperature there is 9 degrees C. So glad I´m going now and not in winter. You all know all good I am with the cold!

Celebrations all round

Happy New Year to you all. I spent my new years eve at Bariloche, an Argentian ski resort. its summer here at the mo and very hot (we had alot of sun - sorry Steph) so there is no skiing but there are loads and loads of chocolate shops to make up for it. The place looks like it is an Alpine village complete with Swiss chalets - It doesn´t look like it should be in the middle of South America! Obviously I had to toast the arrival of the new year with a couple of drinks. But seeing as I am with a large group of people, I also had to toast the arrival of the new year in each of their countries of origin. As we have Kiwi´s with us that meant having a drink at 8am local time (new years eve), going through all the other countries represented eg South America, Greece, Germany, England (at 9pm), Argentina obviously at midnight and then we kept going to try and mark the Canadian new year at 5am. I´m afraid to say I didn´t quite make it - but then again neither did the Canadians so I didn´t feel that bad.
Crossed the border yet again to Chile where I spent a couple of days relaxing upon a riverbank in the blazing sunshine. We then drove down Chile in the shadow of the beautiful Patagonian landscape. Its mountains, glaciers, ice blue streams and lakes not to mention thick lush forrestry as well. The road we are on has been called the most beautiful in the world and I can well believe that it is. The road is only accessible for 2 months each year during the height of summer - all other times it is a mud and ice road too dangerous to use. It was these surroundings that greeted me on my birthday. The truck I am on had been decorated with ribbons and balloons and I was made to wear a special pink crown for the day. Diane my tour leader had even baked and iced me a huge chocolate and caramel cake complete with candles. I doubt I will ever have a birthday with such a spectacular backdrop again - good job I made the most of it!