Uruguay Part I - Colonia - Montevideo

Jan 20th – Jan 22nd
Colonia and Montevideo:

On Wednesday we took a boat, Buquebus, for three hours from BA to Colonia in Uruguay. Thousands of Argentinians cross over the river to reach Punta Del Este and its surroundings for vacation. It is said that beaches in Uruguay are much better than the Argentinian ones. We could have gone further directly but we were told that Colonia was a nice place to visit, and indeed, it was wonderful, a small city full of charm and very calm. We visited the place on Wednesday and in the late afternoon watched the rehearsal of the carnival dance and drums of one of the group taking part of the defile. It looked like Brazil; we are very impatient to see the “real” carnival.
Colonia is a very typical city in which one can walk around for hours, from one street to the other, from one handicrafts shop to the other. It is very relaxing, even more after 7 days in BA.

Today, Thursday, we left by bus to Montevideo. We cannot visit the country without going to the capital. We had a great time visiting the city the whole afternoon. Tomorrow, we are off to the beach of Pedreda, further north. It is supposed to be very nice.
It is now time for us to enjoy the sun, the beach and the ocean.

Argentina Part III - Buenos Aires

Jan 12th – Jan 19th
Buenos Aires:

How to resume our stay in Buenos Aires (BA)? That’s a hard one because it’s been great: family and city wise, special thanks to Nicolas Copello (Maria’s cousin) for being the best host. Buenos Aires is another city Maria and I could live in easily!
We arrived in BA after a night in a first class bus. You will probably think that we are chique travelers now, but we need this kind of bus treats! Nevertheless, the road was awful because there was a huge storm in the North of Argentina. I was even rained on and had to change seats!
We found a hostel in the center of the city and then walked around the whole day. We discovered the center (the Florida Avenue and surroundings) and came back after a nice dinner in an Italian restaurant. Our first day has been pretty slow because of our bad night in the bus. We liked very much what we saw and were very excited for the next few days. We called all Maria’s relatives and arranged our schedule in order to see them all.

On our second day, we met Nicolas for a coffee in El Patio, near the Casa Rosada – Presidential office. This place used to be his old university and is in front of the national bank of Argentina, center of all debates at this beginning of year. We met again at night at his place as he kindly invited us to sleep over during our stay in BA. He lives with his family in a very nice apartment in the Recoleta neighborhood, and has a little turtle that we had to feed while he was out of town. We loved it! What a relief to be in a house far from the hostel noise and dirt. We stayed over until our departure to Uruguay. The first few days, we visited the different parts of Buenos Aires. We loved this city, there is so much to do, it is always sunny and hot and the people are nice!

Friday night, we met the brother of a friend, Frederic, who has been living in BA for about a year and a half and his Belgian flat mate William for a very nice barbecue on their terrace. We ate the best meat of the trip and discussed all night long.
Our life in BA was pretty much visiting the city, all the neighborhoods and seeing relatives of Maria and friends of her parents: Mechus, Gloria, Alex, Sofia, Clara, Santiago and all their families. On Saturday we went to San Isidro to meet with Clara (person who introduced Maria’s parents), Maria’s godfather Santiago and his family, Alex (son of Maria’s godmother) and his wife. We really enjoyed this afternoon talking about everything and the dinner we had with Alex’s friends.
On Sunday, we walked through the big fair in San Telmo. This is so much fun and full of people. We wished we were not backpacker’s so that we could bring some souvenirs home. After that we relaxed walking along the deck of Puerto Madera and went to visit the casa Rosada, exceptionally opened. On Monday, we walked around to places we hadn’t gone to and had a boat ride in the Tigre River overlooking beautiful houses. I also took the occasion to have a haircut later on in the afternoon. It had been a long time, since Cuba!

On our last day in BA, we wanted to visit the Andy Warhol exhibition but it was closed. Who closes on a Tuesday? Since it was near the Japanese gardens, we had a walk surrounded by bonsais and Japanese trees. I loved it, it reminded me of my two bonsais which are waiting for me in Brussels! At night we went to Mechus’ house for a good empanadas dinner with Nico and Santiago, we had so much fun and loved it, thank you Mechus!
Neither of us wanted to leave BA, we had one of our best week’s yet. The amazing food, streets, parks, and family will be greatly missed.

Argentina Part II - Tafi Del Valle - Mendoza

Jan 5th – Jan 11th
Tafi Del valle - Mendoza:

After Cafayate, there is another village that is not to be missed on the Route 40, Tafi Del Valle. We convinced Steven and Allard to join us there. It is only a few hours of bus from Cafayate, through a wonderful route that continues to Tucuman and then Patagonia. We arrived in the prettiest bus terminal so far in our trip; it looked like a Swiss chalet. From that moment on, we knew that it was going to be a nice place to stay. Indeed, it is magic, surrounded by very green mountains and full of charm.

We found a hostel in the center for the night and after we went to eat our first Argentinian cabrito (goat) that everybody talks about. To be honest, it is not as good as steak (bife de chorizo). The next morning, we walked around this very small place and looked for some activities to do. It was so hot out there that we had no strength to move, especially after the bad night we had. The boys were leaving that same night to Tucuman but we decided to treat ourselves to a nice room in one of the oldest farms of the village. We spent the whole afternoon relaxing in the garden with the lamas and looking at the mountains enjoying our picnic.

Sorry but we do not have pictures of Tafi, the photographer was on vacation!

Maria and I had a very good night, finally! We took a bus the next afternoon to Tucuman and from there decided to leave that same day to Mendoza, where we were meeting Steven, Allard being on the road to Iguaçu.

Two hours of bus to Tucuman and then 13 hours to Mendoza is a long way from Tafi Del Valle to Mendoza. This is the reason why we decided to travel overnight in first class, this means on a 180 degree bed! It was so pleasant to finally be able to sleep comfortably in a bus!
We loved Mendoza from the first minute we arrived. It looks like a city in South of France: warm, lively, big avenues with huge trees and lots of parks. We stayed there for 4 nights and we came to the conclusion that we could possibly live there.

Our first day, we met with Steven and walked around the shops and parks organizing our next day journey through the vineyards. The next day, we took the local bus to Maipu, neighborhood of Mendoza, with Steven and an Ozzie couple (Louise and Daniel) we met in Cafayate. The purpose was to reach Mr. Hugo, a bike renter, and ride across Maipu. What a nice day we had, from bodegas to olive factory … We tasted a lot of different wines and rode the whole day to come back to Mr. Hugo’s shop and enjoy a last glass of wine with all the people we met, a German, an English, another Ozzie couple (Amy and Andrew). We all went back to the city and ate in the park.

The day after, Maria and I rested well and walked a bit more through the city. The goal of the day was to decide if we were going to Bariloche or straight to Buenos Aires. We decided to go to BA and leave Bariloche and the South of the country for our next expedition because it would add to much bus to our trip, in total +/- 50 hours more! That same day we also subscribed to an excursion the day after. We went by bus through the landscape of Mendoza, the ski resorts, the Puente Del Inca, the Christ that separates Chile and Argentina, the Aconcagua mountain (highest of the continent 6850 meters) and other wonderful sceneries. To tell you how beautiful it is, this is where the movie 7 years in Tibet was filmed. For more details, please see the pictures.

On Monday, our last day in Mendoza, we met Picky and Lino, cousins of Gerardo from his mother’s side of the family, for lunch at their beautiful house. Picky prepared a traditional Argentinian lunch; milanesas, pure de papa and empanadas, so good! We talked for hours and swam in the quietness of the Lujan de Cuyo neighborhood. In the evening she dropped us off at the bus station. It is time to explore the big city of Buenos Aires!

Argentina Part I - Salta - Cafayate

Jan 2nd – Jan 4th
Salta- Cafayate:

Crossing the border to Argentina was beautiful, the scenery simply magnificent. We had a ten hour ride from San Pedro de Atacama, but it went by relatively quickly. We were very happy nonetheless to arrive in Salta and finally feel like we’d landed in a real city. We were all dying to have an Argentinean steak, so that night we chose a restaurant on the main square, 9 de Julio, and had delicious meat.

Unfortunately, the next morning we found out that the train to visit the skies, as they call it, left at 7am and only on Saturday’s, so we missed out on that, but the trip to Salta took us close to those mountains. It was raining a lot, however it didn’t stop us from walking around the city and researching the price for renting a car. It was absurd! So we’ll have to keep to our good old travel companion, the bus, which at least take’s the scenic road of Route 40 to Mendoza.
It’s great to be in Argentina, and Aubry is loving it so far. The food and wine are amazing, and the people very kind.
We really enjoyed Salta, known as Salta, La Linda. We took the telefaric up to the Cerro, and really liked the view.
From Salta we took another bus to Cafayate, along with Allard and Steven. It was also a very picturesque small town on the wine route. We found a backpackers hotel with a great deal and then ventured out to meet the city. We quite liked it. The next day, as it was very sunny and warm, we all decided to go to the nearby waterfall, which ended up being an extreme walk, climbing rocks and all for over 2 hours! The waterfall was nice, but not as spectacular as the one’s we saw in Cuba, Guatemala and Costa Rica.

Chile Part I - San Pedro De Atacama

December 30th – Jan 1st
San Pedro de Atacama:

Arriving in San Pedro de Atacama was like instantly feeling that we were in a new country, as the border was much more serious and modern, and the climate very distinct as well.
We were with our friends from the Salar de Uyuni excursion and took quite a while to find an accommodation in the town as it was full of tourists who had come to spend New Year’s. Once in our hotel, we all decided to go have a nice lunch, as we had woken up that morning at 4am. We found a restaurant owned by a French cook, Michel, who prepared us a delicious meal. Later on we all rested and walked around the small village, which was adorable and very clean even though in the middle of the desert! At that point my stomach started working up and I could feel like it wouldn’t be maybe the best end of year, hihihi.
That next day, Aubry and the group went sandboarding, and I had to stay behind as was still very weak and ill with the stomach flu. It was a good opportunity to catch up on sleep. They liked their mini trip to the Valle de La Luna, except it was very hot and tiring to climb the dune each time. Their driver was also a character, as he drank beer the whole time. Luckily they didn’t have an accident or get lost!
On the last day of the year I was doing a bit better, so we both spent the day together remembering all the amazing things we had shared in 2009 and making plans for the year to come. That night we were going to eat again at the French restaurant with everyone and party together. It was nice to have friends to spend that evening with, however my flu struck again, and after midnight I had to go back to the hotel. Aubry stayed another hour with them and joined me shortly after. That next morning, we had our bus to catch to Salta, and I was so worried I’d be sick again. It was also time to say goodbye to Marion, Martijn and Clemence, as only Allard and Steven would be joining our travel plans. I must say we were both excited with the idea of finally reaching Argentina!