South America - Argentina 6th February to 2nd March

Argentina

Perito Moreno glacier

El Calafate

Our first stop in Argentina is El Calafate. It´s a 5 hour drive away from Puerto Natales and boasts the best glacier in the whole of South America. During the bus journey we get talking to two Canadian guys and they invite us to join them for a BBQ that evening at their campsite, we happily except. We have a lovely 'asado' (BBQ) and then get ready for tomorrows adventure - the glacier.

Ice to see you!

It is AMAZING, the glaciers we've seen so far pale in comparison, it´s huge, the scale is mind-blowing. Unlike most other glaciers around the world this one is advancing by two metres per day so huge chucks of ice are constantly breaking off and falling into the water. Stunning!

Iceberg ahead!!!

El Boson

The next stop heading north into Argentina's Lake District is El Boson situated in the foothills of the Andes. It´s a small town that is well known for being home to a lot of hippies, although most now live in small communities on the outskirts. We spend three days here relaxing and enjoying the town's famous craft market and handcrafted beers as well as heading to a nearby lake to cool down.

Barriloche

Just an hour or so north of El Boson is the bigger and more commercial town Barriloche. It is located on the shore of a vast lake and is surrounded by Andean mountains which make it a popular tourist destination. The town itself has a lot of German and Swiss influences as many immigrated here in the 1900's, this can be seen in the architecture, chocolate and beers.

As we are only staying here for a couple of days we decide to partake in a days hike up to a regugio (shelter/campsite) in an area called Cathedral; so named after the huge cathedral like pinnacles of rocks surrounding it.

Refugio Fray

Let's rock! The Cathedral pinnacles


The Cathedral

Buenos Aires

I'd heard from many sources that Buenos Aires is meant to be one of the best cities in the world, I was really looking forward to going there and experiencing it for myself......It does not dissappoint!

The capital city is home to about 13 million people and boasts many different neighbourhoods which each has it's own personality, for instance there is the bustling Microcentre with it's grand architecture, San Telmo which is edgy but arty and is the place to see people dancing Tango in the streets, La Boca with it's colourful building and the newly renovated docklands Puerto Modero. We opted to stay in the area called Palermo which has beautiful tree lined avenues and plazas and plenty of alfresco restaurants and bars.

Famous graveyard in the rich neighbourhood Recoleta (Evita´s grave is also there)

During our time here we wandered the streets and acted the tourist and of course sampled the famous nightlife. The Portenos (people from Buenos Aires) don't eat until 22:00pm and party until dawn, and along with various friends we'd met along the way we also adopted this time frame and had an unforgetable week.

Eco Yoga Park (General Rodriguez 2 hours outside of Buenos Aires)

The Hare Krishna temple.

Whilst searching online for places to volunteer we came across a place outside of Buenos Aires where we could work on a farm and enjoy vegetarian food and participate in yoga for a week. We thought it would be excellent chance to experience something new whilst learning about ecological farming practices. It was an interesting bus journey to get there which seemed to take us to the middle of no-where; we were unsure what we were letting ourselves in for. When we finally arrived we breathed a sigh of relief as it was in a lovely location but were suprised to find out that it was run by Hare Krishnas who were currently celebrating a festival. There were people chanting, singing and dancing all around us. Thankfully there were other volunteers as well and we soon made friends. The week went by slowly at the pace they are accustomed to, it consisted of getting up at 6:30 in the morning to work in the vegetable garden and stopping at 11:30. The afternoon was ours to practice yoga or relax and the evenings ended with a film (usually with a political or philosophical message). Overall it was a great experience and we made some great friends and lasting memories.

The accomodation. A midnight wee can be deadly!

Slaving away on the garden. It's 6am.

`The Guru' comes just once a year. Like santa I guess.

The food. Nice but no steak. Or beer.