(Update from July 32st, 2010)
Just a quick email update as we sit in an internet cafe in Porto Alegre in Brazil waiting for our connecting bus. The trip has gone swimmingly so far... we managed to see a LOT of Argentina in the 2.5 weeks we were there... spent about 5 days wandering about Buenos Aires watching the street performers and tango dancers, then jumped on a bus to Patagonia. First stop: Puerto Madryn, where we did a boat trip which was amazing. Cruising past beaches with elephant seals and sea lions lazing all over them with whales a-plenty in the water, and even a couple of penguins (despite the fact that apparently it´s too early for them!). Got up close and personal with some elephant seals too... they have such expressive, cute faces, but are very smelly.
Then, a gruelling 2 day bus trip and ferry ride down to Ushuaia, at the very tip of Sth America. They call it The End of the World as it´s the planet´s most Southerly city. Bitterly cold, but beautiful weather and so much snow. We went walking on a glacier and to the Tierre Del Fuego national park which was spectacular. Huge lakes nestled among the snowy Andes mountains, some so still they were reflecting the mountains and sky in perfect detail, and some frozen absolutely solid!
Then, back up to Buenos Aires and we caught the ferry to Colonia Del Sacremento in Uruguay. It is very pretty, though quite touristy. It used to be an old smuggling town so it´s filled with narrow, winding cobblestoned streets lined with trees (albeit with no leaves on them) and lots of little art galleries and museums. We also visited Montevideo which was a great city but has an air of sadness about it. It was obviously once very grand and impressive, and all the immense architecture has just fallen into disrepair. Many of the most decorative buildings have nets strung up around them because chunks of the buildings keep falling off. However the people who live there don´t seem at all bothered by it... they have lots of lively little markets and it was much cheaper than Argentina.
After yet another overnight bus trip, we´re now in Porto Alegre in Brazil. It´s great to be somewhere warm again, but a shock going from Spanish to Portugeuse; we have been doing a lot of pointing and arm waving and jumping up and down to try and get our message across to the people. We´re only here for a couple of hours before jumping on another bus to Florianopolis, which is where we´ll meet up with Angelique and Vini. They have a car so we are going to spend the weekend in Florianopolis with them then drive back to Sao Paulo in their car. We plan to spend some time staying with them doing various short trips around the region, then head to Rio. Incredibly, Vini knows someone who´s involved with coordinating the costumes and dancing for the annual Carnivale, so even though we won´t be in Rio for the right time for Carnivale this friend is going to let us come and watch all the dancers rehearse in their costumes. Carnivale isn´t for a long time yet so it will still be in its early stages but I´m sure it will be fabulous none the less.
Not too many plans after Brazil, other than to head to Bolivia at some stage and take it from there.
Just a quick email update as we sit in an internet cafe in Porto Alegre in Brazil waiting for our connecting bus. The trip has gone swimmingly so far... we managed to see a LOT of Argentina in the 2.5 weeks we were there... spent about 5 days wandering about Buenos Aires watching the street performers and tango dancers, then jumped on a bus to Patagonia. First stop: Puerto Madryn, where we did a boat trip which was amazing. Cruising past beaches with elephant seals and sea lions lazing all over them with whales a-plenty in the water, and even a couple of penguins (despite the fact that apparently it´s too early for them!). Got up close and personal with some elephant seals too... they have such expressive, cute faces, but are very smelly.
Then, a gruelling 2 day bus trip and ferry ride down to Ushuaia, at the very tip of Sth America. They call it The End of the World as it´s the planet´s most Southerly city. Bitterly cold, but beautiful weather and so much snow. We went walking on a glacier and to the Tierre Del Fuego national park which was spectacular. Huge lakes nestled among the snowy Andes mountains, some so still they were reflecting the mountains and sky in perfect detail, and some frozen absolutely solid!
Then, back up to Buenos Aires and we caught the ferry to Colonia Del Sacremento in Uruguay. It is very pretty, though quite touristy. It used to be an old smuggling town so it´s filled with narrow, winding cobblestoned streets lined with trees (albeit with no leaves on them) and lots of little art galleries and museums. We also visited Montevideo which was a great city but has an air of sadness about it. It was obviously once very grand and impressive, and all the immense architecture has just fallen into disrepair. Many of the most decorative buildings have nets strung up around them because chunks of the buildings keep falling off. However the people who live there don´t seem at all bothered by it... they have lots of lively little markets and it was much cheaper than Argentina.
After yet another overnight bus trip, we´re now in Porto Alegre in Brazil. It´s great to be somewhere warm again, but a shock going from Spanish to Portugeuse; we have been doing a lot of pointing and arm waving and jumping up and down to try and get our message across to the people. We´re only here for a couple of hours before jumping on another bus to Florianopolis, which is where we´ll meet up with Angelique and Vini. They have a car so we are going to spend the weekend in Florianopolis with them then drive back to Sao Paulo in their car. We plan to spend some time staying with them doing various short trips around the region, then head to Rio. Incredibly, Vini knows someone who´s involved with coordinating the costumes and dancing for the annual Carnivale, so even though we won´t be in Rio for the right time for Carnivale this friend is going to let us come and watch all the dancers rehearse in their costumes. Carnivale isn´t for a long time yet so it will still be in its early stages but I´m sure it will be fabulous none the less.
Not too many plans after Brazil, other than to head to Bolivia at some stage and take it from there.
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