All done in Argentina

areet!

In El Calefate we headed to see the Perito Moreno Glacier which was encroyable. lovely blue and grey thing creaking and groaning away at us while we arsed about and took too many photos.

After that we were done in El Calefate so we decided we’d strike toward Puerto Madryn. Whale season was out.. but we went on the hunch that maybe we would see some killer whales (because its mating season for them).. but thats always highly unlikely – which we found out when we got there! either way we had to make our way back up the coast so we had to stop somewhere. nowt else to report from puerto madryn. nice enough seaside town.. got boozed up with some local lads who robbed our spuds clean out of my satchel after sharing a big ass bottle o’ beer with them! Later that night i lost a credit card so we got the hell out of there asap. Next stop was gonna be Buenos Aires to see a bit more and to visit Jay again but we ended up deciding on trying out Cordoba.. great town but i have to say i missed the jokes with Jay!

Cordoba was sweet.. nice warm weather after the chilly south. We had a great lively hostel so we had some good banter with the heads there.. sher doesnt it make all the diference! Ate our best argentinian steak there to which was essential to get in – as there had been a farmers strike down south apparently, so the selection wasnt tip top.

Went out pony riding there too.. a definite highlight. havent been on a horse since i were a lad, and we didnt dare break out of a trot. gammy. so i was well excited to give it a go again. twas quite random tho.. we had to get a bus out of cordoba to another hostel – the owner of which sent us down to the town we had arrived in to have lunch. Apparently he would have had a BBQ for us, only no one told him we were coming.. hmmm. prolly better off as there were only the two of us and himself so that would have been a fairy dull barbie. “ahem, could you pass the ribs please? -thank you.” so off we went a ridin for the afternoon.. with some young hill dwelling girl and her “Papi”.. zero communication for the duration but sher wasnt it for the view and the ponies we were there, and not for the chit chat. Stunning views and really good horses.. claires was a bit lazy she said, but she just needed a kick. We rode in the hills and through little country roads (with loads of dogs). Once i got used to it myself and the small one were racing the the paved roads like a couple of wild tinkers! Claire had her share of action an all.. the dogs took a fancy to her horse and had a great ol time nipping his ankles which was a hilarious sight. “Hup! Hup! Hup!” was claires reaction which was the highlight of the day for me…

So after Cordoba came the saga of Puerto Iguazu. Too many days – too many waterfalls, and again, too many photos! Had to wait here for about 10 days for my bank cards to arrive form home. I tried to time it so that id be at the hostel for their arrival, but there was no need. better to have them waiting for you when you get there! but enough about that.. Went to Parque Nationale Iguazu to see to falls.. they were really incredible in fairness. had three great days seeing them in full. twice on the argentinian side and once on the brazilian side. first day ways the obviously the best.. we dis a couple of the trails and paid for the boat ride under one of the falls. well worth it.. and well worth bringing extra clothes. after a good dunking we were let off to dry and enjoy the sun for a bit on a kind of beach thats on a small island in the Rio Iguazu. (between the argentinian side and the brazilian side). Headed back to the hostel and got drunk with Tatiana from Sao Paulo and the buddy from Landan. Turns out she knew Jackie O Dwyer, Aaron Burke and Fiachra and co from home. had a great night wit them and closed out the bar in the hostel so next day was a lazy day. the next trip to the falls was different.. it rained heavilly so we say a whole new side to the falls. way stronger and browner.. pretty cool. next up we crossed the border to brazil.. specifically: Foz doi Iguassu, Brasil. saw that side.. not as cool, or as many trails to walk or falls to see but you get to see em all from one side. (if the weathers clear says I! )

So that wraps up Argentina. great time.. great outdoor buzz and lots of beautiful places to see. ill remember it for Maté, Empanadas, great buses, great people, style, hiking and Steven Segal movies. they love him there.. thats all for now.

Brazil next!

My Red Hot Car

well,

tis been a while now since the last post.. you know how it is. busy out and waiting for hostel internet is a balls!

so here goes with the last week and a bit of news: after buenos aires we flaked down to bariloche on a 20 hour bus bang. sounds hairy but twas a far cry better than the flight over! we went mountain biking in Parque Nationale Nahuel Huapi. twas a great afternoon of activity and we were lucky enough to be joined by two very sound israelis who we ended up renting a red hot car with and hitting the road for three days. we were at a loss as to what to do after bariloche… we fancied renting a car alright but it would have been too expensive with just the two of us. so when Shalev our israeli friend walked into our hostel and sugested a 500k road trip we were sorted! the next day we were on the road by 2. 20 euros each for the 48 hours – tuesday at noon till friday at noon. (and 20 more to fill the tank!)

the weather was a bit gammy on the first day but we drove some amazingly bad roads through some amazingly nice scenery. the idea was to see a bit more of the lake district than bariloche had to offer.. and we did it in our trusty VW Gol. your standard Golf wouldnt have a patch on it! beast of a machine so it was! stopped in San Martin de Los Andes, cooked up a mangle and played electro to the hostel folk. back on the road the following day and when we realised we were getting too close to bariloche too soon we cut back into the sticks for some more off road scenic fun. you see sweet feck all on the highway but as soon as you hit the dirt roads yer good to go.. spent the day driving and pulling up wherever we liked to mess about. had a mangle by a lake and found a horse skull which we flogged. after dilly dallying with the horse remains we had some night driving through the daft roads and we finally made it to Villa la Angostura. we celebrated Shalevs birthday over a few boozes and got to know the new hostel folk. Met two more cool heads.. this time from sweden – Rickard and Makayla. rickard had the wildest head ive ever seen and he turned out to be one of the funniest men ive ever met. they ended up following us back to bariloche the following morning for some banter.. next day we went to el bolson – the hippie town to look for some local crafts. found the market with the crusties and bought waffles. grand place for a day trip..

by then we were done with bariloche and so we made the big trip down to el chalten against much advice.. we were warned that it’d be too cold but sher we didnt come to patagonia for sunshine and lolipops! anyway we got very lucky with the weather and tho it was a bit cold, the sun was out and not a drop of rain in the sky. the extra bonus was that it had been stormy and snowing for the last few days and so while we hiked up to Cerro Fitz Roy in the sunshine the ground beneath us was coverd with snow! that was a long ol’ day of walking and we were pretty bate after it so we treated ourselves to a big fat argentinian steak in the hostel which we shared cos were thrifty backpackers now. got out of there this morning and hit down to el calafate.. we shall be checking out the perito moreno glacier tomorrow i expect, but not hiking on it just looking. to see what its like to have loads o cash to burn check enos photos..! he got to hike on it. hwa hwa!

anyway thats all for the next while.. moving north next to go whale watching in Puerto Madryn and then teddy hunting a little later on…

peace fools,
crossan

some pics..

more later.. off for a few boozes!

just in..

well,

landed in BA safely after the hairor 24hour journey. i was sick as a parrot with a migrane due to alitalia´s below par plane / service and air hosts. yes im blaming them. they kept ignoring my ringing them and they gave me caffine laced asprin for my exploding headache at 4 in the morning. sound! claire got boozed up on red wine and laughed her way through forrest gump while i cryed myself to sleep.  all is well now tho.. BA is quite a city. met jay in the gecko hostel on our first evening and got boozed up over a table quiz with a bunch of other irish visitors. good jokes.. the following day we explored the city as you do.. walked for 6 hours and conked in the hostel after that. similar day today.. snuck into la Bompenera and nabbed a few snaps. that´d be the home ground of the famous Boca Juniors for the uninitiated.. must try to hit one of those games on a saturday next time were in BsAs.   we´ll miss the next one as we´re off to Bariloche on saturday. moving south for some treking/biking/fishing.  any of the above will do. we´re looking for ward to getting our nature on! thats all for now.. bang us a comment if you feel like it – we miss you all!

peace,

crosstown y cocopop

Farewell Fancy Mess

well,

like my blog? sorry it doesnt have a fun wall. tough shit.. i’ll try and keep it fun tho. i shall attempt to keep it updated with super fun stories from the south. write a comment and say hello or leave an email address for my address book so i have more nerdy things to do in internet cafe’s.

made it out of kerry alive yesterday and spent all day today spending more money on the essentials. had to buy a money belt cos claire wont let me use my fanny pack.

here are the easter photos and videos for anyone who’s interested. its 351Megs tho so it might take a while to download.. here

edit: photos up on picasa now..

later,

crossan