Clases de Español

Well after completing 10 hours of spanish lessons (paid for a class, ended up I was the only one in it! Bargain at 300ish pesos), I can now say that I am not fluent in spanish. However I can say that my understanding of spoken & written spanish has improved a hell of a lot (me speaking spanish still leaves a lot to be desired though). The best part is that I'm more comfortable in picking up new words, particularly as I've got a basic understanding of sentence structure and link words (I still stuff it up when I try and put a sentence together, but I mostly understand when I hear it)

One of the best things about having done these lessons, is that when a native speaker finds out that I don't speak spanish but am trying to learn, I now get more out of their improptu lessons :-) Though that said I have noticed an interesting aspect of learning another language, I'm not sure if its just me, but I don't think so..

In essence it is that when people have long conversations or there is a reasonably long bit of text (say in a museum or newspaper article) that I actually have the most understanding, when a short sentence is used (in conversation or on a display) I need to know 1 specific key word being used to understand the whole sentence... Whereas in a long conversation there is usually a running theme where the topic is usually repeated multiple times, but in different ways. Meaning that I, with my limited spanish vocabulary am more likely to understand 1 of those 3 ways that you used, I can then put into context the other words and hopefully recognise them the next time they are used.

It's just something I've noticed in trying to learn more spanish, that I want people to do the opposite of what you (and I include myself in this) do when you meet someone who doesn't speak your language, you use shorter sentences, this only helps when the person knows that specific key word. If you use a longer sentence I seem to have a better chance...

Of course this only helps when I understand at least one or two of the words in that longer sentence, if I don't know any of them I'm still stuffed. For that I've got my lonely planet phrase book (which I'm studying during these long bus journeys!) and of course the fluent Cath (who I keep bugging with "¿Como se dice ...?", "¿Qué significa ...?")

Ok, I didn't really know what to say about learning Spanish, but I guess there was something... Hopefully it made sense, if not I'll try and use fewer words :-)

Where are we?

Just a quick follow on, we're currently in Puerto Madryn (about 17hrs South of Buenos Aires) have been out to see the whales and off to see the half a million penguins tomorrow. Should have some spectacular pictures to upload in a couple of days!

Take care,
Andrew (& Cath)

Buenos Aires photos part 1

Some of the many Plaza San Martin hearts :-)


Evitas´ tomb & the ornate cemetery



At the fútbol :-D


Casa Rosada

Madres de la Plaza de Mayo

La Boca - el caminito

Cath with Nancy and Pancho 's brilliantly named dog - Lennon!

Us with the family (and delicious ice cream!)

Final Buenos Aires

On Thursday afternoon we finally managed to meet up with Nancy and Pancho, who very kindly came to pick us up from the hostel. We then headed to the main square, Plaza de Mayo, to see the weekly Madres de Plaza de Mayo march. In a nutshell the mothers of some of the many people (estimated up to 30,000) who disappeared in Argentina during the military dictactorship (from 1976) began to march in the city centre in the 1970s and continue to do so every week. It was originally just to fight for justice for the disappeared, but has become a human rights organisation with further reaching aims. We were really pleased to have the opportunity to see it for ourselves.

From here, Nancy and Pancho took us to La Boca area of town, home to the famous brightly coloured building (Caminito) as well as the football stadium and lots of tango. We resisted the temptation to have our photo taken with a Maradona lookalike, but Andrew found the tango dancer a little more difficult to resist. Will post a photo soon... We then headed to Nancy & Pancho's house and enjoyed some far too delicious pastries (called facturas) and the incredibly popular local drink mate which is similar to herbal tea, only quite bitter - definitely an acquired taste! We also got to meet their lovely dog Lennon, so called because Pancho is a Beatles fanatic. I did try speaking to the dog in scouse but he didn't seem too impressed! All in all it was really good to spend time with the family, who made us feel extremely welcome. They also asked us over to join their family for a traditional asado (BBQ/grill) on Friday night, an invite we were very happy to accept.

I spent some more time wandering through some of the leafier suburbs of town on Friday morning, before meeting up with Andrew post class. Pausing only to go to the supermarket so Andrew could learn some more Spanish shopping vocab, we had a typically good and cheap lunch before going to the Museo Nacional de las Bellas Artes - aka National Art Museum. There is a pretty impressive collection there, the most famous piece being Rodin's statue 'The Kiss' and also a good selection of other international stuff (including some impressionist paintings which I always particularly like) as well as national collections.

Early evening we headed back over to Nancy & Pancho's to sample some real local cooking; again we will post some more photos next time we are in an internet place where we can upload. Andrew and Pancho overcame their language barrier whilst cooking on the huge outdoor grill - Nancy and I decided that BBQ style cooking is a universal male language in itself! We had a great time, and headed back to the hostel well and truly stuffed with food and really happy that we had been able to get to know them a little.

Saturday was our last day in Buenos Aires, and we managed to fit in some more sightseeing round the central area, revisiting some of the things we had seen only briefly. We also had another bargain lunch - eat as much as you want including lots of salads, good chinese food, a grill and various desserts amongst other things - for under 2 pounds each. We were trying to work out what you could get in central London for that price and gave up pretty quickly.

My last stop in the city was the outdoor shop - I bought a really tasteful (honestly) orange wind and waterproof jacket to see me through the next few weeks. My old one wasn't in the greatest state, and the general message about Patagonia is that it is windy and can be very wet, so really thought I should go prepared. We finally waved the big city goodbye early evening, as we boarded our overnight bus for the 17 hour journey to our first Patagonian desitnation - Puerto Madryn.

More Buenos Aires

By Monday the heat had really kicked in; it was about 30 degrees but felt hotter not least because we were in the middle of the city. In search of at least some breeze we headed to the recently redeveloped port area, Puerto Madero, which as would seem typical of such areas across the world is full of higher end restaurants and bars. Quite interesting to see but nothing too special. We also wandered onto a tall ship which had been turned into a museum - it was good to see photos of some of the expeditions it had survived especially as some of the places were down south of the country ie where we are headed next.

We then walked through to the main square - Plaza de Mayo - home of the famous Casa Rosada (Pink House) ie the main government building where Evita made her famous speeches to the people. This area is also where all the other government offices are concentrated, as well as the cathedral. After walking for a few hours I was starting to feel the effects of the heat (Andrew's theory is that my body is confused because it should be nearly winter!?) and so we headed back to the hostel to crash for a while.

I soon felt better and we decided to head out to a highly recommended steak house (Parilla) called Desnivel, which was so good that even I almost got excited about eating steak. Also, before we went out I had called Margarita's sister Nancy to try to arrange meeting up. I found the conversation really difficult as the place I was calling from was very noisy, and I'm really not very good at speaking Spanish on the phone at the best of times. We got there in the end and I arranged to call her mobile the next day to arrange meeting up on Tuesday evening.

Tuesday morning was the first of Andrew's classes so he went to school and I went shopping! There is an incredible amount of leather on sale here and at a fraction of the price you'd pay at home. I resisted the shoes (Em aka fabshoes - you would love it here!) and came away with just a new purse - pretty controlled, I thought. I suppose it helps that I don't like shopping that much in the first place, especially when people are trying to push you to go into their shops. Nevertheless the range is very good and if I didn't already have nearly full backpack I might have been more tempted.

After Andrew finished class (he'll post more details later re what he's been learning) we headed to the vast Retiro bus station to arrange our trip out of Buenos Aires. It was also a good way to get into the air conditioning to escape the 35 degree heat! As Andrew's classes were 2 hours a day for 5 days, we opted to get an bus to Puerto Madryn overnight Saturday - a 17 hour trip, yes Argentina is big! Once we had sorted that out I managed to speak to mum (and dad again) which was great although I have to admit made me want to go home! I'm fine again now but I suppose it would be odd if we both didn't have our moments as life on the road is far from normal (whatever that may be...)

Anyway, after looking at some more bus options and puzzling over how on earth we're going to get to all the places we want to see in the time we have, we headed off to the really fascinating Evita museum. I already knew a fair bit about her life, but what I didn't realise was the extent to which she was hated by many. For example, I wasn't aware or at least didn't remember reading that after her death her body was kidnapped then remained missing for years. Her influence here was clearly immense, but love for the Perons certainly wasn't universal.

Meanwhile, throughout Tuesday we had tried to get hold of Nancy but with no success, so we ended up having a quiet dinner near the hostel - where bizarrely Andrew's chicken was served with a fried banana! When I finally spoke to Nancy again on Wednesday it turned out that she hadn't received my messages and had been trying to contact us at a different hotel with a similar name. Unfortunately this meant that we had missed the meal to which we had been invited on Tuesday, but we did makes plans for later on the week.

Wednesday meanwhile was good in so much as the heat had subsided, and I was therefore much happier to be doing some more walking round. Andrew went to class, whilst I wandered round the attractive and affluent area of town where his school was (Palermo). As it happened the place where I had worked five years ago was nearby, so we had lunch at the cafe from which I had eaten takeaway twice a day for about 2 weeks! It was odd that they area didn't seem too familiar to me but then it was a long time ago. We spent the afternoon in the MALBA modern art museum, which I would summarise as generally interesting but not necessarily our most highly recommended!

Buenos Aires - last weekend

Sorry we're a bit behind on this, I actually wrote this on Wednesday but blogger has been refusing to publish any posts! Will update more very soon...

It's now Wedensday evening and as we've been here for five days I thought it was about time to add an update or 2 before I start to forget things - photos to follow, sorry non readers! It doesn't feel like we've done a huge amount, but then when I start to think about it I suppose we have been reasonably busy. We just don't feel the need to rush around as for a change we have plenty of time. Also it has been unusually hot for mid Spring; although Andrew can handle striding around in the sunshine after years of practice, I've been struggling a little more and as a result the pace has generally been reduced to a slow stroll!

Saturday was our first full day here, and we decided to be true tourists and head to the Recoleta cemetery where Evita is buried. As we walked the half hour or so to get there we came across a large display of giant model hearts in Plaza San Martin, each one decorated in a different way. We were told that the exhibition was commissioned to celebrate a local heart surgeon winning the Nobel prize. It was one of those unusual things that it's always good to a stumble across, and is indicative of the variety of things going on in Buenos Aires, particulalry arty stuff.

The weekend crafts fair in the park next to the cemetery was another indication of this. Granted there are some tacky things on sale there and tourists are the main buyers, but generally speaking the many stalls contained very different things than we had seen elsewhere. There was plenty I decided would look lovely in the house we don't yet own (a common theme) but as most items were either breakable (gorgeous glass) or wooden (and therefore difficult to get into Australia) our stash of pesos lived to see another day. Good job really as relative to other places we have been it is quite expensive here - although still very cheap by UK standards - and we are certainly spending more in day to day expenses.

We finally made it to the cemetery itself, and found it rather odd to be a sold a complete map of where the deceased elite of Argentina are now at rest. Many people come here just to see Evita's tomb, but the whole place is a spectacle in itself as the tombs are so ornate - in fact some might say over the top, you can make up your own mind when you see the photos! It is a big area surrounded by high walls, but as it is in the middle of the city the surrounding area is quite built up. Many people must therefore look out of their office windows and see tourists wandering round a cemetery, strange when you think about it but seemingly very normal here.

Pausing only for a quick beer, we wandered back towards 'home' through some of the smarter areas of town. As it was Saturday evening we did think of going out to some bars etc but in the end we didn't really feel like it so opted for a quiet evening instead. The bar in the hostel is really chilled out - and has some very comfy sofas - so we were quite happy to hang around here. The clubbing scene is apparently really big in Buenos Aires (in fact we have met one couple who have done several 20 hour bus journeys just to get back here for the weekend!) but seeing as we don't really go clubbing at home we're not really that bothered about it here. It was also a case of trying to kick our body clocks back into something vaguely resembling normality, and making sure that we were awake to do some more things on Sunday.

We were therefore up at a reasonable time on Sunday morning and headed down to the San Telmo area of town. This is where a lot of the tango culture is concentrated, and is also home to a huge antiques market on a Sunday. The number of stalls and shops was impressive, and it was good to just soak up the atmosphere. Unfortunately we weren't able to spend too much time people watching, but we didn't mind too much as we were off to the futbol...

Bearing in mind I had just heard the depressing news of the Liverpool defeat at Old Trafford I wasn't really in the mood for football, but whilst in Argentina it just had to be done! Unfortunately there wasn't a Boca Juniors game this weekend, but we did get tickets for the next best thing ie the almost as famous River Plate v Rosario Central (mid table). On the advice of several people we had gone as part of a tour - tickets, transfer and a guide included - as it is not really considered safe to head to the ground alone, but to be honest it didn't feel at all threatening. I suppose that may be because I have been to a fair few football matches and so wouldn't really expect it to be the most polite of environments, but of course there is also a fair bit of profit to be made by exploiting tourists' fear of the unknown.

After an early afternoon pick up from the hostel we did several loops of the city centre to pick up other tourists, and eventually we made it to the stadium. We had been told that we would be heading to the club shop (Rivermania) first, which made sense, but it did seem a bit odd that we had to duck under the partially closed shutters to get in. We got the distinct impression that they were expecting a riot and we were being sheltered from it! To be fair, security was tighter than perhaps is usual as there has been some civil unrest in the area over the past week - the Boca game in another area was cancelled because security could't be guaranteed - but I don't think tourists would really be a target and there were no obvious signs of problems in the vicinity.

The match itself was an easy win for River Plate, putting them one point ahead of their arch rivals Boca at the top of the table at least until the games played even out. It wasn't the greatest game of football I've ever seen but the atmosphere was fantastic, two particular highlights being the drenching of the main home and away stands at half time to cool down the packed terraces, and the reaction after the final whistle. We have that on video so will post it up here soon. After the match, we ventured out to a local Chinese restaurant where we had a pretty decent meal. It's definitely one of the advantages of being in a big city to be able to get all types of cuisine again, it's amazing what food you miss simply because you can't get it!

The road to - and day 1 in - Buenos Aires

Fortunately our bus for our 9 hour trip from Cordoba to Buenos Aires left dead on time at 11.15pm on Thursday night, but unfortunately we didn't manage to get anywhere near a full night of sleep despite paying extra for the fully reclining 'coche cama' (bus bed) seats. Even I - aka the Queen of Sleeping - struggled! I think it may have been because we weren't exhausted enough when our trip started, and also there seemed to be a few problems with the air con so we kept on waking up either boiling hot or freezing cold. We weren't too worried as we had already booked a hostel and so headed straight there feeling rather smug about our pre planning, and looking forward to a shower and a few more hours of sleep.

The best laid plans and all that! We were a little concerned that our taxi seemed to be heading a fair distance away from the central bus station, but decided that we were in a large city with a decent tube system (called Subte here) so it didn't really matter if we weren't staying right in the centre of town. We arrived at the hostel which seemed decent from outside, and the communal areas also seemed fine. However, when we saw the small and at best rough around the edges despite efforts to make it look arty room, the dirty pillows, the 2 far from great showers between approx 20 people and worst of all something that looked suspiciously like a dead bug on the lumpy bed we decided not to stick around! Unfortunately it ended up that we had to pay for the first night - reasonable enough I suppose, as our booking was for 6 nights and as far as I was concerned it was not a lot of money well spent to get out of there.

We left our stuff and headed out for breakfast then to a nearby internet cafe to check out a few more options in the city. Armed with our list we went off to check them out with the help of the very easy to use Subte, and although not brilliant found a couple of decent places which we would have gone with. However, bearing in mind we are planning to stay for a week we were prepared to keep looking despite it obviously all taking a bit of time. In the end we had everything sorted by about 2pm - including a return trip by Subte to the original hostel - and we were really glad that we hadn't given up our search earlier. We have ended up in a really lovely freshly decorated double room in a very recently converted, extremely central, reasonably priced hostel which actually feels somewhere between an apartment and a hotel. Have look at the link and you'll see what I mean: Hostel Suites Obelisco

The only real drawback is that is is pretty quiet in terms of meeting people (we've only met one other person so far) but then this is also advantage in some ways as we have our own - much needed at this stage in the trip - space. Also it is Friday night so most people are probably out (yes, I know we should be too, having a few drinks in the hostel bar where we are now and it is well past midnight if that counts?) and I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunity to be sociable over the next week.

Andrew is also taking 10 hours of Spanish classes here, starting on Tuesday, as he has been increasingly keen to learn some more of the language as the weeks have gone by. He's picked up a fair amount already and I have been teaching him some of the basics e.g. numbers (something else to do on long bus journeys, especially when there's on-bus bingo!) but he's really looking forward to building on that with some proper teaching. He was able to arrange his classes easily through the hostel. I'm pretty sure that with his undoubted talent for learning computer languages he should do pretty well with the basically very logical Spanish language - not sure how he'll go with the irregular verbs though, should be interesting!

There is also so much to do and see here that we're looking forward to starting exploring properly tomorrow - so far we have just wandered around our immediate area which is pretty much the equivalent of London's West End. As some of your know I was out here for a few weeks 5 years ago doing some work for the company I used to work for, but I only had one day off so very much looking forward to seeing some of the things I frustratingly almost saw then. Also, Margarita & Amon (hi if you're reading this!), our Chilean friends from home who many of you will have met over our wedding weekend, have family here (Margarita's sister & family) so we will be contacting them over the next few days and hopefully we will have the chance to meet up.

All in all, we're really looking forward to spending time in Buenos Aires and the icing on the cake (and, by the way, there is a massive amount of very delicious looking cake on sale here)...no buses for a whole week!

PS It was really good to speak to Andrew's Mum, both our Dads and Helen on Thursday/Friday. Mum - very sorry I missed you, hope you enjoyed your evening on Thursday and I will give you a call over the next few days. Lots of love to all and see you all very soon xxx

Tucumán y Cordoba

Spelling update: having keyboard issues (every one I use seems to be different) so the accents have gone again for the time being I'm afraid...

It's been a challenging few days since we last posted, as we have been travelling a lot and it has all started to catch up with us. Well, me in particular, although I'm feeling much better again now that we're going to be in Buenos Aires (more about that on the next post) for a week or so. That's not to say that we haven't enjoyed the cities we've visited in the past few days but I suppose it's just a case of having done lots in 6 weeks and covered a fair distance in the past week alone. In fact, as one of our many methods to kill time whilst travelling we added up how many hours we had spent on buses and trains since we arrived in Lima - yes, we were very bored... The current count is approx. 89 hours, which doesn't include the (infamous) jeep trip or day tours etc. Quite scary!

Anyway, going back to where we left off, on Tuesday afternoon we wandered round Tucuman feeling increasingly tired, but enjoying the relaxed small city atmosphere of the place. It was very clear that this is not a city used to many English speaking tourists passing through, and lots of people turned to look at us when they heard us talking - quite a novelty compared with a most of the places we have been to so far. A few people actually stopped to ask us where we were from, and seemed really pleased that we had chosen to visit their city; it certainly seemed like a friendly place and had some attractive architecture as you can see.

We were however, more than ready to leave when the time for our bus came closer, mainly because we were exhausted and looking forward to getting some sleep. We were due to board at around 1am (by which time we had been up 20 hours) but unfortunately the coach didn't make an appearance until 2.40am. To say that we were a bit grumpy would be an understatement!

However, when we finally left we managed to get a reasonable amount of sleep and so on arrival in Cordoba at around 10am on Wednesday we felt just about lively (and brave) enough to book our next overnight bus to Buenos Aires for Thursday night. Perhaps needless to say we opted to use a different company, easily done as there is a long list to choose from on many routes. We then checked into a decent enough hostel in Cordoba for the night, and I crashed out for a few hours, leaving Andrew to wander for a while. Later on we both had a walk through the city, but it was certainly not the most active of days and we spent the evening relaxing in the hostel.

The next day we felt much more with it, and we were able to take in some of the interesting sights of the city. Cordoba has a very strong university tradition and is therefore known as 'La Docta' - as a result of its historical importance the city is designated a UNESCO world heritage site and I suppose it could be described as the Oxbridge equivalent in Argentina. It is home to the oldest university in the country, founded by Jesuits in the early 17th century. We had a really interesting tour of the the old university building - with an excellent guide who was struggling with a load of largely disinterested teenagers!

We also were taken round the adjacent Compañia de Jesus church dating back to mid 17th century. It was once one of the most important churches in central South America, and is therefore ornate inside despite a relatively plain exterior. It has a particulalry interesting and unusual ceiling, shaped like the hull of a ship. I also found it really interesting that there was a connection with Lourdes (where I went a few times as a teenager as part of Liverpool Youth Service to help look after sick pilgrims) in that one of the Italians who was involved in the construction of a side chapel in the late 19th century had apparently promised a relative that they would include a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes. It was quite a surprise to find this so far away from the South of France, but the varied rather than strictly colonial European influence is feeling stronger the further we get into Argentina; there has been a lot of immigration here over the years. In fact generally speaking Cordoba had a very European feel and it was nice to sit out in the cafes enjoying the the sunshine and sampling the local (cold - see photo!) beer.

I was also relieved that I was once more able to understand most of what was being said. I have been getting increasingaly frustrated in the past week or so as the accents in Northern Argentina are very difficult for me to follow. I didn't have too too many problems in Peru or Bolivia despite the clear variation from the accent in Spain, but in Argentina I had found that they speak incredibly quickly and not very clearly, don't like pronouncing the letter s, and the 'll' sounds is a strong 'j' amongst other things. The guide on our Cafayate trip actually apologised for the fact that his region's accent is one of the most difficult to follow, so that reassured me slightly, but as we have headed further south it has been getting easier again. Let's hope it stays that way...


Tucumán town hall lit up at dusk..


Some photos from wandering around Cordoba, first the Jesuit church (which looks like an upside down ship's hull inside)

A tram on display (though they don't seem to have them any more)

A view in the central courtyard of the original Jesuit university college of Cordoba

The Cathedral which is a very odd mix of styles


A photo of the interesting purple trees that we've been noticing recently (there were lots in Tucumán), which Cath wants to plant in our garden (when we eventually get one) We're a bit botanically challenged - anyone know what the tree is????


And finally just an odd photo (to signify the nice relaxing day we had in Cordoba), where when I poured my very cold beer into my very cold glass a small reaction occurred that turned almost half the beer into ice.. Still tasted good though :-)

Cafayate - photos

View through the main plaza

Some of the mountains north of the town (it was a bit windy so Cath nearly lost her hat!)



The wine and cheese tour :-)

Salta, Cafayate & Tucumán

Before I start, in case anyone had noticed - and I know there are some Spanish speakers amongst you - I have only just worked out (well, I asked Andrew) how to get accents on letters. Will try to get it right from now on...

We are now in a city called Tucumán, and 5 hours into the 13 hour gap between arriving here from Cafayate and getting on our overnight bus to Córdoba. We leave at the highly uncivilised hour of 1.30am, but decided to keep moving rather than spend more time here as it not an especially inspiring city and is also stuffily hot. However, it has been worth stopping here as I have just had the excitement of wandering round the biggest supermarket we've seen in South America so far. I love supermarkets in other countries, which stems I think from going to massive French hypermarkets whilst on holiday as a child. Even more exciting is that I have just bought a Spanish version of a book from the Redwall series by Brian Jacques. When I was 7 I performed in a play called Redwall which was later turned into a bestselling children's book, and a series of other books followed. They have been massively successful worldwide, but it was still slightly odd to stumble across one on Argentina and of course I just had to buy it!

Anyway, enough of me acting like a small child, back a few days for an update on what we've been up to. To be honest we didn't really do much in Salta, but we did really enjoy our relaxing time there. It is an attractive city to be in despite being very busy and we enjoyed some good food and wine, including Andrew's first steak of what will no doubt be very many (Ryan - we will see what we can do re your typically random request for steak photos!) On a more negative note, the hostel we were staying in was not great, especially as I ended up with flea bites from the resident dog. As per usual I reacted badly to them and although much better now, it was more than a little annoying.

This was an example of a hostel raved about in our Lonely Planet guide being not very good, and we are finding that if at all possible getting tips from other travellers is the way forward; the book is a good few years out of date and so things can change quite significantly. Reviews are also inevitably subjective, and some of the places highlighted as must see are not always great in our view. Of course the people you are with can also make a huge difference, and fortunately we have generally been very lucky in that, especially over the past few weeks. And in case anyone was wondering we're still quite happy spending time together too!

As you have probably realised, we are taking a bit more time working our way through Argentina, so we're stopping off at some of the smaller places along the way rather than just hitting one city after another. After a bit of research we decided to make an early start on Sunday to head 4 hours South to the town of Cafayate, which is in the middle of a big wine region. It is famous for Torrontés white but there are also some more than decent reds. We thought that a combination of wine tours and exploring some of the nearby apparently stunning rock formations would be a reasonable combination. We weren't disappointed, especially as this time we were in a really good hostel where a tour of a couple of local wineries was included in the 3 pounds each per night B&B cost!

We were also able to get on a 5 hour tour of the Quebrada de Cafayate on Sunday afternoon, which we really enjoyed. As you'll see from the photos the area is impressive, and also it was good to do a bit more active (albeit gentle active) stuff again. No, we're not going all sporty on you - far from it - but there is a danger of wine and delicious food taking us over so we are tryng to keep a balance, honest. We definitely tipped in favour of the wine yesterday though, after our wine and cheese tasting tour starting at the rather dangerous hour of 10.30am - not a bad way to spend a Monday morning!

It was really interesting to find out more about how the wine is produced, and even more interesting to find that you could buy an extremely good quality Merlot for about 3 pounds. We had a really good day and met some really interesting people sitting out on the sunny terrace in the hostel, but needless to say getting up for a 6am bus this morning was not much fun. We're glad we did haul ourselves out of bed though, as we're looking forward to seeing a few more places over the next few days before reaching Buenos Aires in time for the weekend.

Some of the beautiful mountains around Tilcara

Views from the walk around Purmamarca


Us by the ruins (El Pucara) near Tilcara

Our first few days in Argentina

Before I go any further, for those of you who are just looking at the pictures (and I know there are a few of you out there!) we will be posting some more within the next day or so. In the meantime just wanted to add an update about our journey from Bolivia into Northern Argentina, and our first impressions of this huge country.

We left Tupiza in Bolivia on Tuesday afternoon, and travelled the couple of hours to the border on a very shaky bus. The road was pretty rough and it really did feel like the windows were going to fall out as we rattled along. We got to the border town of Villazon and the border crossing itself was very straightforward. We were travelling with an Aussie/Kiwi couple, Teneille & Rob, and the four of us jumped into a cab on the Argentina side (in the town of La Quiaca) for the short trip to the bus station.

Our destination was Tilcara, a small village about 3 hours south of the border. After being hassled by various bus companies (we're used to that now) we got tickets for a bus we thought would be leaving in around an hour and a half. However, we didn't realise that Argentina time is one hour ahead of Bolivian - we're now just 4 hours behind the UK - so we didn't have a long wait at all. The bus ride was fine, and the roads very much better than the Bolivian ones. In fact the higher standard of living in Argentina was immediately obvious despite the fact that we were in the country's poorest province. It wasn't just the roads, but the buses, range of food available, better cars and most striking of all the sudden appearance of street lights in even the smallest towns, which we realised we hadn't seen for quite some time.

We were lucky in that our bus wasn't searched en route from La Quiaca. Smuggling across the border is a big problem so searches are common - we got away with just a quick passport check. We reached Tilcara at about 10.30pm and, as instructed, headed to catch a cab to the hostel we had booked. Considering we were in a small town of approx 3000 people this was easier said that done. After a few minutes of hanging round like, er, confused tourists we decide to follow a sign to a nearby hospedaje (guest house) and were really glad we did. Tilcara is somewhat off the usual gringo trail, but is well known as an artists area due to the stunning backdrop of multicoloured mountains. The accommodatation we ended up with really reflected this arty feel - not the most luxurius setting but very homely, rustic and quirky and best of all less than half the price of the other hostel we had planned to stay in!

The next day we caught the local bus for the half hour trip to the nearby town of Purmamarca to go for a walk around the beautifully coloured rocks. We then headed back to Tilcara and walked up to the fort of Pucara above the town. I think you probably need to see the photos to appreciate the stunning views! The other big excitement of that day was the food - nearly as cheap but much better than what we had been eating in Bolivia. The Lonely Planet describes Bolivia´s food as "ho-hum" and that is pretty accurate, whereas we were able to get much more creative stuff as soon as we crossed the border. One big excitement was getting fresh vegetables with our meals as this is something we had really been missing.

After wandering through the at times very grim (lots of skulls!) Tilcara museum yesterday morning, we caught a lunchtime bus and arrived here in Salta late afternoon after being slightly delayed by a half hour pretty half hearted bus search. Salta is a busy city with lots of shops, and despite the fact that neither of us are big on shopping it is good to be somewhere where we can buy a few things we need. Andrew finally managed to get some trainers that fit him - we've been trying since Cusco! We also spent a very excited half hour in the supermarket, and made dinner for 6 for a mere 1 pound each including - you've guessed it - just about every variety of veg we could get our hands on.

Oh yes, and the wine is amazing and so cheap, so there were a few sore heads in our hostel this morning. We're off to do some wandering around the city now and plan to stay in Salta until Sunday, before heading a few hours further south to some of the best wine regions. Dad - not quite sure when our next tea day will be!

From the Salar de Uyuni to Tupiza

We set off at 7am on Friday morning, after establishing the night before that we were going to stop to see some mummies in the town of San Juan. This little side trip was interesting, although the mummies themselves were a bit grim and not always especially realistic, leading us to suspect that some were planted there simply to get 5 bolivianos out of tourists. Oh, such cynics we are! Our next stop was the really fascinating caves which were formed from fossilised algae and only discovered in 2002. Even I had to stoop to avoid hitting my head, which of course I didn't do - another bruise to add to the one I got when stumbling from the jeep the previous day. Consistent at least...

We were then heading in the direction of several apparently beautifully coloured lakes to spot flamingoes and admire yet more stunning montainous backdrops. We could tell that there was a bit of anxiety among the drivers about the health of our jeep, and so we weren't especially surprised when it made a very odd noise, Abel shouted out "Dios mio" (My God) and we came to an abrupt halt. It was around 9.30am. The cheery Swiss guy and friends from the other jeep also had to get out whilst their driver took ours to the nearest town to phone for a replacement jeep. They said they'd be back within 3 hours which to be fair they were, and this meant that the other group carried on, smirking at us as they left. However, the promise that it would take another hour and half for a replacement to arrive was at best an underestimate.

It was at this point that we really bonded as a group, and the reaction of 'Eduardo' in particular was very entertaining. Lots of other jeeps passed us and stopped to offer help, to which he continually requested beer! Sadly we didn't get any but Emily did entertain us by playing her travel size guitar, we played cards, wandered up a nearby hill and read lots of sections of the Lonely Planet South America guide, irrespective of whether we were planning to visit the country in question! Fortunately we had broken down in a very lovely place, but after 6 and a half hours the attraction had worn rather thin.

We were finally on our way again in the replacement jeep at around 4pm. The boss of the company was absolutely certain that we would be able to see everything that was on our itinerary. We pretty much did albeit a bit more quickly that would usually be the case, including beautiful lakes and hundreds of flamingoes. As it begain to get dark, however, our anxiety levels rose - bear in mind that the road is not really a road at all, so very rough and rocky, and there are certainly no street lights! We were however treated to an illuminated view of the arbol de piedra (rock tree) courtesy of our replacement driver Felipe´s headlights. We also saw the most amazing views of the full moon, an incredible sight which we would have missed if we hadn't been driving so late in the day. Finally we arrived at our destination around 8pm and after dinner close to 10pm we were more than ready for some sleep.

After our first night of sharing a freezing cold dorm we were up at 5am the next day to head off again. In summary we saw geysers, bathed in hot springs, saw more lakes, more stunnng countryside and really did have the feeling that there was something more beautiful around every corner. Again the photos say it all. There is no doubt that if so much natural beauty was found in one area in another country, the tourism trade would be stronger but the fact that it is still relatively untouched is a big part of the attraction. Unfortunately due to the delays the night before we didn't get to see the apparently beautiful Laguna Colorada which is a rusty red colour, but we had seen so much that we didn't feel like we had missed out on much at all.

After another fun evening (despite eating the world' most overcooked spaghetti!) we were off again early the next day to head towards Tupiza on the final leg of the journey. This was by far the worst day, mainly because the roads were so steep and the driving so scary. There were also no notable sights and we were not happy that we had been lied to about going to see the place where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were killed. We felt that we had been very patient and good humoured through the problems of the trip, and although we were more than happy to go with the flow we really didn't appreciate being lied to.

We were back with Abel at this point - jeep number 3 - and really there should be a law against 24 year old guys driving too fast around steep mountains! We climbed up and then descended from just over 5000m - at the highest point when he stopped for us to admire the view I honestly thought that we were heading off the side of the cliff. This wasn't helped by the fact that about 10 munites earlier I had overhead Abel tell the cook that there were problems with the brakes - sometimes I really wish I didn't understand Spanish! We were very relieved to reach Tupiza 2 nerve wracking hours later and after making our concerns very clear we all booked into a lovely and very cheap hotel - our first shower in 5 days was very welcome!

Dishonesty from guides seems to be a common complaint in Bolivia, which is really unfortunate as it is wonderful place. It has without a doubt been fascinating to spend a bit of time here and they really do have claim to some of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. We have now had a relaxing stopover in the small town of Tupiza. We were due to go horseriding but refused because the guide was extremely rude to us when we asked for the helmets we'd been promised - we felt we had enough of living life too close to the edge for a few days at least! We are now about to head to the border with Argentina and are certainly leaving Bolivia with many happy memories.

Day 2






Day 3









Day 4

From Oruro to Uyuni and Salar

It really is difficult to know where to start in summarising the past week, so I am going to split it into 2 bits and rely on photographs to do a lot of the talking. What I will say first and foremost is that if you ever get the chance to come to South West Bolivia do it - it is one of the most stunning, fascinating and varied landscapes you are ever likely to see. Oh, and make sure that a guy called Abel isn't your jeep driver. More about that later, for now back to the start...

Last time we posted we were just about to board the train for the 6 hours trip from Oruro to Uyuni; it really was the stunning journey we had expected. Almost as soon as we left the station we very going through the middle of what seemed like a lake, complete with flamingoes and cows walking through the water - very bizarre sensation but a beautiful sight. We passed through many small towns and villages on the way, and also endless plains with stunning mountains and hills as the continuous backdrop. As you can see the views at sunset were stunning and it was a bit disappointing that the last 2 hours of the trip were in darkness.




When we arrived in Uyuni at 10.30pm we were greeted by lots of people trying to sell us beds for the night and tours of the Salar de Uyuni otherwise known as the salt flats. The place we ended up staying at was basic but fine, pretty much the same description as I'd use for the town itself, and we were tired so decided to wait until the next day to decide on which tour group to go with. We spent a quiet Wednesday in Uyuni, which has no remarkable attractions but it is the main starting point for tours so always attracts tourists. We were able to sort out a 4 day trip very easily, and chose to go with the company that would drop us in the town of Tupìza, 3 hours north of the border with Argentina. The other options would be to head into Chile or back to Uyuni, neither of which fitted with our plans.


On Thursday morning we found out that we were sharing Abel's jeep with a Dutch couple - Kira and Eduardo as he calls himself as his Dutch name Ewout is too hard for people to pronounce! - and an American girl called Rebecca. We had a brief stop at the very odd home for dead trains and then went on to the salt flats. I am not going to try too hard to explain the landscape, apart from it looked like ice but in fact was 12000 sqare km of salt which was once a sea. Totally incredible sight especially when all you could see all around you was pure white. The whole scene did very odd things to your perception of distance the silly photos show, and it is even possible to stay in the middle of it all in salt hotels.




After playing around like small children for a while, we were in really good spirits as we reached our lunch stop. Unfortunately the group in the other jeep from our company were not so positive and there was a bit of an argument going on. A Swiss guy who continually proved himself to be unpleasant over the next few days was being extremely confrontational as he didn't think that the tour corresponded with the contract he had signed. We´re still not quite sure what he thought he was missing. The end result was that another American girl called Emily transferred to our jeep as he was giving her a really hard time for not translating all his complaints. We just thought that he was missing the point and were happy to welcome the very positive Emily into our group. Our team as we called ourselves from then on was complete!

After lunch we headed on to see some more of the salt flats, including an island filled with cacti, another surreal but beautiful sight as you can see from the photo. We then left the salt flats and headed to our first stop for the night, admiring the light doing spectaular things to the mountains as the evening drew closer. All in all it was a magical day followed by lots of good chats and laughter through the evening. We were all very pleased that we had been thrown together yet got on so well, and went to bed looking forward to more adventures the following day. We weren't going to be disappointed...