On Sunday 25th  April we took up the opportunity to watch one of the biggest Futebol teams in Argentina: Boca Juniors. Before the match we were taken to a nearby bar and served pizza and beer while being treated to the Boca chants by the locals.  The journey from the bar to the ground was scary because Boca is a rough neighbourhood, there were 2 police checks before we even reached the ground. Once inside the stadium it was very impressive, we were underneath the away supporters and had to watch out for grenades fashioned from whatever they could get into the ground, such as: full plastic bottles and bizarrely, sports bags…

The fans are loving it after a 2-0 win

The atmosphere created by the home support was excellent, we were facing them so we felt the force of their songs, drumming and spinning of giant umbrellas! Boca won the game 2 – nil which was brilliant as we experienced the crowd celebrating the goals. Afterwards we declined going onto the bar for celebratory drinks as I think we were all starting to feel the pace from the previous days.

The following morning we went back to Boca to the only area which is safe (in the daytime) and is a must see site, the wonderfully coloured houses by the port. The story goes that the excess paint from painting the boats was used on the houses which over time has created a brilliant mosaic of colour across a few blocks of shops and houses.

Colourful houses in Boca

After Boca we were on the road again leaving the wonderful Buenos Aires behind and the fantastic Hostel America del Sur, this time on a 17 hour bus journey north to the Argentina border town Iguazu, which is where the worlds most impressive waterfalls are situated. The bus journey was good, the seats reclined almost 180 degrees and we were served 3 meals, one of them hot, and a glass of a champagne!  I think we were spoilt as subsequent coach trips were not as generous but I`ll get to that later.
We arrived at Hostel Inn which is a big chain hostel around 8am, the rooms however were a little rough around the edges but we were only staying one night so it would suffice. We had planned to go on tour to the Argentinean side which gives you access to the footpaths around the largest fall in the set named Devils Throat, however it had been raining a lot (a theme that has been running through our trip thus far) so the walkways which actually traverse the river were flooded. So the only option to us was to view the falls from the Brazilian side, cue 2 hour minibus to Brazil and our third country in a week (Spain, Argentina, Brazil), so we went to Brazil for the day!

Sarah gets wet posing for a photo

I can’t recommend going to see Iguazu falls highly enough, they are fantastic, the footpaths take you within what feels like touching distance. When we got back to the hostel we enquired whether the Argentinean side was now open and also whether the moonlit walk was running and it was! We were very fortunate with our timing as they only run the full moon tour 5 days a month and we were there when the moon was at its fullest.  To do the tour you take a minibus to the Parque and then a little train to the waterfall. I thought that nothing could beat the sights of the falls we had seen earlier but I was wrong, seeing them by moonlight was a magical experience.  Because the rivers were so full the waterfalls were at their strongest and you could feel the force of the water running through the gangways that crossed them which added to the excitement; couple this with the powerful positive ions produced by the force of the falls and the result was near hysteria. After the tour they laid on Mojioto and a fabulous three course meal which was needed after the come down from so much excitement.

Night shot on our moonlit tour of Iguazu Falls

The following morning we weighed up our options and decided not do the Argentinean walk as we wanted our lasting memory of the falls to be by moonlight, I think also money and tiredness may have been a factor. We caught the afternoon bus back to Buenos Aires, another 17 hour trip on the coach, where we headed back to the same hostel to store our bags until our afternoon flight to El Calafate in the south of Argentina. Before getting our flights we went shopping for a netbook (a small cheap laptop) so that we could store our photos and use the free WiFi that seems to be available everywhere. I also brought a cheap tripod and remote switch which is a cable that connects to the camera with a button on it to press the shutter, it’s used for shots were you want to eliminate any camera movement when taking a photo, which is useful when taking shots at night, which I hope to do more of after the excellent photo of  the Iguazu Falls.
The flight to El Calafate was smooth and only 3 hours which seemed a luxury compared to our mammoth bus journeys.  El Calafate is based right next to the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares, which you probably don’t need to speak Spanish to know is the Park of Glaciers, there is one glacier which is the most impressive: Perito Moreno Glacier.  We booked into the sister hostel to the one which we stayed in in Buenoes Aires, it was nice but not quite as modern but the staff were helpful.
We booked a boat tour of the Glaciers as the weather was due to be very wet

Me, You and the Icebergs

and the idea of a 6 hour trek on and around the glacier didn’t appeal.

Iceberg Forest in Parque Nacional Los Glaciares

The boat trip was very good and importantly mostly dry,  it gave us a unique angle of the glaciers and also the icebergs that populate the surrounding lakes. That evening we had a fantastic meal at Puro Vida which was located in El Calafate, I had a country chicken pie, Sarah had a vegetable lasagne and Melissa a mixed salad. What made this meal even more special was that it wasn’t just a slab of minimally seasoned meat or a ham & cheese roll which seems to be the staple diet here.
The following day we decided to move on as the weather wasn’t due to break for another few days but before going we took a taxi back to the park so that we good get another view of the Glaciers.

The alien Perito Moreno Glacier

The taxi driver, Fredrico or Fred was a keen trekker and had an amazing knowledge of this and the surrounding area so it was more like having a personal tour guide than a taxi driver. He drove us to various fantastic view points from which we took some amazing photos.

After this insightful tour we embarked on what was to be our longest coach journey yet, 30 hours, but we were seasoned travellers by now and it seemed to go by without any boredom (largely due to the stunning Patagonian scenery). We were heading to Bariloche which hosts some of the most impressive views in Argentina. Unfortunately we seemed to be out of sync with the weather, sunny when we travel, cloudy or rainy when we stop.

Cycling around Bariloche

The first day was cloudy and a rainy forecast for the following days inspired us to get out and explore, so we took a bus 20KM from town and hired some mountain bikes taking a 27km looping route through some very impressive scenery of lakes and mountains. Needless to say we were all feeling it after this and after enjoying a Tex Mex restaurant we crashed out. The following morning as predicted the weather was very wet and so we reviewed our options and decided that due to the forecast being another two more days of rain we would head to Pucon, Chile

The sunrise at the start of our ascent

where I had heard you could climb an active Volcano and actually see the Magma bubbling out of the earths core! As it was a relatively short 10 hour bus across the border we booked our tickets and the following day tackled it.

Early on the first day in Pucon we set off to

Us at the foot of Volcan Villarrica

make the 2800m climb to the top of Volcan Villarrica. The weather was a bit overcast but this made for a great sunrise

We were a bit upset we didn’t get to see the magma but it was still an amazing experience and the best bit was sliding down the mountain afterwards! We stayed in Pucon for a couple more days after seeing Melissa off, the town was very quiet but it was good to stop and take a breath.  After that we took a bus up from Pucon to Santiago which was another long overnight bus journey, we then caught an connecting bus from Santiago to Mendoza, this was a fantastic drive that goes through the Andes.

2300m up Volcan Villarrica

We took a well deserved break in Mendoza which is Malbec wine country and a really great place to relax as the climate is very similar to California, only 60 days of rain a year!  We’ve done two days of wine tours and as expected today we needed a full de-tox so we went to a day spa which had thermal springs it was fantastic, I have some great photos of us covered in mud ( as part of a treatment).

Mud treatment at a Spa in the Andes

We’re now in Salta planning our trip across the border to Bolivia so we’ll be in touch with more news soon!
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