Bathed in Iguassu Falls and mving into Central Argentina

Well I hadn't expected that the Argentinian side of Iguassu could have outdone the Brazilian side but I think it just about pips it to the post.The Brazilian side provides and awesome panoramic of the falls in al of their glory and then takes you in towards the base of the Garganta del Diablo or Devil's Throat. However, over on the Argentinian side you get to walk acrossthe top of all of the falls and come within touching distance (certainly within heavy spray distance) and you even get the oportunity to get in a raft and go directly underneath one ofthe falls / which I of course took with both hands. We took the trip out and went directly under the "3 Musketeers" fall for a heavy and fresh wash which was a relief from some of the heat. The falls all had me in complete awe, such an unbelievable volume of water cascading and suporting all sorts of wild and interesting creatures round - from the colourful spiders (which i wasn't too hot on!) to the capuchin monkeys following us in the tress and the countless colouful butterflies hovering in the air like suspended confetti! A-mazing.

The nextday cmae our epic 21 hour cama-bus journey from Iguassu to Cordoba in central Argentina. The bus journey was not nearas bad as it sounds. It was comfortable, we caught up on diary writing, had a chat, read, ipodded and watched some really bad films! Cordoba was worth the effort. Argentina's second largest city, it is covered in lovely old colonial spanish churches (as therewas a high jesuit community here a couple of hundred years ago) and a vibrant set of bustlng streets and shops. 

Yesterday, we went on a day excursion to see Che Guevara's childhood house in La Alta, which takes you up into the mountain range overlooking a wide valley that has had lots of artificial lakes created in it. Having learnt a bit about Che, we went to a pedestrian town up in the mountains called La Cumbresita. Very cute and containing a number of wood log cabins in germanic style (for some reason) but very nice. After climbing rocks to get high up to a waterfall and spending some time with other travellers from Peru (quite productive) and Canada, we headed back to the hostel to rest! Now for Mendoza.We leave tonight.

Football, buses and waterfalls

Quite a fun couple days! I would hope so otherwise this would be pointless. Annie and I jumped on the ferry back from Uruguay on Sunday in a big rush to make it back on time for the Boca juniors football game that we had booked. We were due to be picked up from the hostel at 4pm and had been told (categorically and after numerous questions) that the ferry would arrive somewhere between 15:00-15:30. We are sat there on the ferry and at about 15:20 I start to worry. Buenos Aires is back on the horizon but is a good 20 minutes away. "nevermind, we can get a cab", I thought. 40 minutes later the ferry pulls in. Annie and are in in rush rush mode at this point. We are already late and have to get our bags and back to the hostel on time. After a lot of rushing with big backpacks and panicked cab flagging, we sat in traffic about  2 minutes from our hostel. the time is 16:31. We had given up by this point and submitted to having to call a cab and catch them up. "If only I could go back in time" I thought. And then I realised it. We HAD gone back in time as Argentina are an hour behind! I confirmed this with the cab driver and high fived Annie. Issue over. 


The football was amazing. Such a spectacular compared to in the UK. There was dancing, fireworks, thumping, and chanting. Us foreigners out in as much as we could and I started to pick up some of the chants and sing along. The best one was "Come on, come on, Maradona wants you to win!". Haha! Yes he does! It was a good result for Boca Who finished Arsenal 2 - 1. 


Yesterday was a bank holiday in Argentina, so we decided to do what the locals were doing and headed up to the Palermo region for a day in the park and the zoo with our new found friend ´Dev´from London. Very relaxing. However, Annie and I then had a trek through torrential rain going to retiro station for a bus to iguassu (16 hours!!). Having soaked ourselves through we sat down and relaxed and watched the in-flight movie. A romcom with hugh grant. Nice (!). 


We arrived today at 11:30 after a reasonable trip, and two hours later (having washed etc) went on a half day excursion around the Brazilian side of the Iguassu falls. OMG - how spectacular! As soon as I saw them I fored up inside and got really trigger happy with the holiday snaps. the walkway took tourists along a huge stretch opposite the falls and it just got better and better, culminating with a walkway across the falls themselves where you get soaked to hell by all of the water spray! COMPLETELY worth it! ;)  It´s one of those things where nature demands the utmost respect for being so powerful. Nearly as powerful as me. Tomorrow is the Argentine side of the falls which is supposed to be even better, but it´s going to take some beating!


Oh PS - lots of spiders and lizards. Hmmm....

Montevideo

So we´ve done Montevideo and leave the country by ferry at 13:01 today. First impressions - it´s definitely a poorer city that Buenos Aires is. I knew that but you can really see and feel it. Somehow yesterday when we were walking round and getting to know it, there were no cars on the streets anywhere. I was like a ghost town. Not quite sure why, but it gave a funny feeling especially when walking around the old colonial style buildings in the old town- many of which are derelict or rundown. 

Due a problem with bookings, we ended up sleeping in a dorm of 8 last night. 6 other smelly and farty men. :) No it wasnt that bad! I slept through like a log and so did Annie. And we were allocated top bunks! Flash back to my childhood! It´s not as comfortable doing things that way but meant that we only paid 8 pounds for the night. 

Now we are ready to head back to Buenos Aires.  We have a Boca Juniors football match to go to later, which is going to be amazing.  Things really heat up in matches over here and I can´t wait to feel the cauldron of emotion,  frustration and passion erupt. Then, off to Iguassu Falls tomorrow. Cool.

Chilling in Uruguay

Whoa! I am loving this trip so far! The flights over were fine but the landing on the second from Sao Paolo to Buenos Aires was a little bit hairy. I have flown a few times but WHOA! I said to Annie afterwards (as we were rating landings) that I gave it a three. Basically, as we touched down, there was heavy veering from left to right. Unhealthily heavy veering. I gave it a 3, with a 2 being collapse and 1 being kaboom. The people here are great, and the hostel organised a really good, informed and historical walking tour around the city (Recoleta region) where we saw, amongst other things, Evita Perons final resting place.  We arrived safely, managed to get some sleep and have enjoyed the last two days or so in Buenos Aires, dancing the tango (i got a certificate to add to my CV!), eating Argentinian steak (medium rare of course!), tour of the Boca Juniors stadium, and am now sitting in a cafe in a lovely place called Colonia Del Sacramento in Uruguay. 

We took the ferry across here yesterday with about 15 minutes to spare, so my fitness has undoubtedly improved as I ran around the terminal trying to find out how we got on the damn ferry. All character building (I had to tell myself). The country is lovely and the people are great. Colonia is an old settlement on the river plate and has remnants of monastries and fortresses mixed with and now housing little shops and restaurants, with cool blossoming flowers in pinks, blood reds, purples and blues coming out of the old stone work. We stopped for lunch today in a grill restaurant by the beach and the sea and had some wine and fresh fish. I have to get ready for the bus trip to Montevideo now. If  I get enough sleep then I may venture out on the town tonight (it being Friday) and see what Uruguay has to offer.

The night before

Right, so, nearly sorted now. Went out and bought a day pack today, which you would have thought would be quite a straight forward and easy task but instead I ended up trying on loads of random bags in Lakeside till i settled with a nice, not too large khaki backpack. Mission accomplished. Am now (mostly) packed,have all those handy little bits like liquid plaster, head torch, lonely planet, diary and Uno cards! 

Now just to wait for the results of the X Factor, so that hopefully i can go with peace of mind that Wagner will not get to Christmas number 1! Then it's off to sleep in my cosy bed for the last time in a while to get some rest for the journey tomorrow night. Need to sort out the insurance tomorrow morning and then Thunderbirds are go! 

First stop is Buenos Aires in Argentina and we'll be there fior a while before moving into Uruguay. Am already praying for some awesome films on the flight over. Love it  :)

Last day in office

Last day in the office. I have just put my out of office on to say that I am on an extended career break. Didnt say that I'd deal with the query on my return, as (a) dont know that I will cos it's so far in the future and (b) who knows - may not be coming back here!  :)

Starting to get the handle of these blog things now too. Just need a bit of work on the base page, so cut me some slack. ;)  I thinhk other people can comment on this stuff too. I'll try not to make it too boring and only fill you in on the exciting stuff, like when I get leeches stuck to my eyeballs, or have a voodoo man in the amazon jungle make my arms grow to sloth size, and give me a native sloth name like "chi-chi".

Anyway I digress... have a good Christmas and New Year everyone, and I'll be in contact. Fire it up....

Flights are Pricey

Flights are pricey. Wow man. Am looking forward ti China. It's gonna be the nuts! Yahoo!

Getting ready

Starting to get ready now. Have all of my stuff and getting excited. Can't believe I'm going. Testing, testing, 1-2-3!