The Lake District - Argentinian style

... except like it´s not like being in the Lake District in England, it´s more like being in the Swiss Alps. But with lakes.

Here are things about San Martin De Los Andes-

• it has the best hostel we have stayed in. It´s like being in a hotel!
• all the buildings are like little swiss chalets and ski lodges
• it´s very mellow. Lots of little parks with kids playing or people fishing in the little river that runs through it
• there is a labrador that likes to sleep on the picnic table outside our window
• we could have done a guided walk to the top of a volcano... or do what we did, a 3 hour make it up as you go walk up the mountain to a great view (see photo of Lake and Kara) and then on to a teeny tiny village (5 houses, 1 school, 2 llamas) to have our picnic lunch by a small waterfall and its stream
• we could have paid 15 quid each to go on a bus trip of the 7 lakes tomorrow... or pay 3.50 each to get the local bus to the next town, which follows the same route. But they won´t stop for us to take photos though.
• Loads of cute gift shops with artesan crafts (Martin calls this tat... Kara calls it art)
• they have very nice, if expensive, hot chocolate...
• ... and internet with Skype so we could call our parents (and Ros).

Things about fell running by Martin

• It hurts when you run up mountain bike trails for 3km
• it hurts even more when you slip on rocks coming back down...
• For anyone thinking of taking up this sport in the mountains, I´d recommend at least blue belt standard breakfalling... or the ability to look where you are going
• Great fun though, especially when you go faster than the horse riders doing the same route...
• ... but not so much fun for the group of middle aged women who watched me fall over and roll for a bit before I stood up again, failed to remember the Spanish for "I´m okay!" so just waved at them like a moron.
• Finally, mothers should be aware that I am fine.

Things about chatting to your mates and shopping while your husband goes fell running by Kara

• it´s much more civilised if a little more expensive

Interactive blog!!

Nicky has sent us our first question!! "What have you eaten that I wouldn´t?"

• Cow´s tongue
• Cheese and jelly for desert. Together.
• Steak with sweet, cold apple sauce
• Biscuits for breakfast (bus company favourite)
• Goat
• Pork, egg, pepper and gurkin sandwich (this was a "we don´t know what this is so let´s order it and see what comes out" lunch)
• Shot glass full of pureed beetroot

Right, off for Round 2 of the Scrabble Tournament. Martin leads 1-0.

Other places we´ve been

The Lake, on today´s walk

Visiting the caves

Malargue with the Andes at the end of the road

Penitentes, where Martin snowboarded

Images of Payunia-first one shows our "bus stop"

The Middle of Nowhere

Stuff we've done

• got a weekly bus out to a bus stop that the driver initially refused to take us to and would only stop at when he had confirmed with us that someone would be there to meet us, as the bus back was 5 days later...
• ... luckily a friendly Argentinian lady knew where we had to go and made the (nice it has to be said) driver stop at exactly the end of the dirt track we needed to go up.
• Waved goodbye to all the locals on this bus, who had been staring at us curiously for the 2.5 hour journey. At one point, the bus stopped in a remote village, where about 10 people were waiting, who got on JUST TO SAY HELLO to the other passengers, then got off again.
• we were met off the bus
• Went for 3 hour trek in a land of red rocks that turn into black volcanic rocks. Climbed a hill, and the entire view revealed nothing as far as the horizon except land, volcanoes, more land and the Andes. Awesome.
• Spent two nights at this place (www.kinie.com.ar) under 5 blankets as we were there out of season
• They had to get up each morning and start the wood burning stove for us to have hot water for our shower and light the fire in the breakfast room each day. Oh, and the only electricity source was solar power and the generator for evening tv watching.
• We've eaten goat. Lots of goat: goat and chips, goat and pasta in sauce, goat in vegetable sauce, goat soup, pate a la goat, goat steaks.
• Did all day horse trek in the volcanic park. 5 hours in the saddle. Very sore.
• Saw a condor.
• Saw an armadillo type creature. Very cute. Held it by its tail and stroked it. Photo to follow.
• Before that we went to some caves. It's not like Wookey Hole. You're given a hard hat with a head torch. Then you're squeezing into crevices. With just your torch to guide you.
• Spent 2 and a half hours racing (well probably 30mph) across the national park to get back to Malargue for our bus in an ancient Land Rover. We really do mean LandRover. We reckon it was built when the company first started... the reason we were racing was that it had to be repaired before we left the middle of nowhere...
• ... but the driver was very sweet and did offer us each a set of ear plugs for the journey...
• ... it also had air con ie he pulled out the tea towel that was stuffing up the hole between the roof and the windscreen. But we did make our bus.
• Have been killing time in some town that is DEAD.
• Caused a moderate amount of amusement in local pizza place today by confusing the waitress with a woman in a photo on the wall, who Martin claims is blatantly a glamour model.... we now know what Spanish is for "With my boobs, not likely!"
• Went to internet place with computers that claimed to have no internet....

Stuff we're doing next

• Overnight bus from San Rafael (here) to Neuquen, arrive 6.10 Sunday morning, hang around til 9, then bus to San Martin De Los Andes, in Argentina's Lake District.

Making the blog more interactive

We love writing the blog and we want to be caring, sharing blog writers. To make it more varied, we thought you might want to send us questions about our trip (via email please) and we'll then reply to them on the blog.

Techincal note: this is because currently the blog is a piece of one way, push communication, but Kara wants to make it interactive two way. Martin doesn't care as long as he's not more than 48hours away from his next steak.

On the end of me armies!

We´re in the Andes!

Sorry, terrible joke. I´ve just completed another phase of my plan to deplete Argentina´s cattle stocks by eating all their steak. So my brain is a little fuzzy at the moment.

So, the Andes. Very big. Lots of snow still. Miles and miles of nothing but rock, shrub and large birds of prey. We spent a day in the ski resort of Penitentes (means penitance, a very apt name for a place where you spend most of the time falling off your snowboard onto very hard ice). This was good because you can either a) go snowboarding (yay), or b) put your feet up in the sun and watch husband repeatedly fall over on the ice like a dutiful and attentive wife. I think we got about the last decent day´s boarding in the resort, so very please with that.

We are now in the town of Malargue, attempting to book some trekking and accomodation in the local national park. Very small and sleepy town (approximately 2 dogs to every person), with beautiful views of snow capped peaks everywhere. Apparently we are relatively close to the site of the plane crash that the film Alive was based on. Bizarrely this is now a tourist destination (though closed right now due to excess snow). One has to wander what the lunch options are.

I´m now going to spend the afternoon attempting to digest in time to go for a run before the sun goes down (and it gets very chilly).

With luck Kara will write the next blog post, so it will contain a little more in the way of actual information.

Stuff we've learnt about Argentina

• All the cities are on a grid system
• And have the same street names (in every city!!)
• The Argentines are courteous and helpful. Even the taxi driver who charged us over double was friendly.
• It´s a lovely, safe country to travel around.
• Learning Spanish is hard. Understanding Spanish when people speak very quickly is harder. Understanding people speaking Spanish in a local accent and missing out consonants, with words from the local Guarani language chucked in, is impossible.
• Argentina is a VERY big country
• But one with a very good bus network
• It's definitely not Clifton. You can't buy pesto here.
• It´s very hard to get a cup of tea with proper milk.
• But easy to get good coffee.
• Frankly, eating steak in any other country is pointless from now on.
• When a child in Argentina is discovered to be vegetarian, the man demands to know which foreigner his wife slept with
• The Falkland Islands. Whew. Marked on all maps as Argentinian. Memorials to the war in every town. Signs everywhere saying "Las Malvinas son Argentinas". They really are upset about it.
• Cities stop when a football match is on (Argentina v Paraguay)
• You can make friends easily here if you make jokes about Chile.
• Cycling through the middle of a city is about confidence. If you stop, they won't wait for you. If you go, they might.
• Except buses. They just go.
• There are a lot of Pizza places here (due to Italian immigrants).
• Martin feels like a soft city boy compared to the gauchos (ranch workers) out here. They are tanned, can spend days at a time in the saddle, and carry very big knives.
• Despite it being at least 25 degrees outside today, everyone was in jeans and jumpers. Except us.
• The buses show quality films like the French film Asterix, with Spanish subtitles. It was quite good when watched like that.
• And lots of Eddie Murphy films.
• There are loads of film channels on TV, luckily most of them US films with subtitles.
• This is helping us have cheap nights in.
• There are entire sections in the supermarkets dedicated to tomatoes - tinned, in cartons, with herbs, with veg, with garlic... and yet we haven't eaten anything in a tomato sauce. Very suspicious.
• Rivers here are wide. They make the Thames look a bit pathetic (and yes we know it had a whale in it the other day. Still not impressive).

Overall feeling:

Really like Argentina, loads to see and do. Met very helpful people. We don´t understand why more British people don't come here. It´s great.

Photos

Today (Tues) in Rosario. Hired bikes, paddled in Parana River.

These next photos were taken on Sunday.

Relaxing in hammock after lunch

After a ride, Alicia, the ranch owner, met us at a lovely spot with lunch laid out.

Kara playing polo!!!

Fernando (a legend - top top man) teaching us how to hold a polo mallet

Martin and Sibele relaxing

The little foal was my horse´s daughter and followed us for 2 hours

We herded cattle!!

One of the Estancia´s gauchos

First day at the Estancia

The Parana River at Corrientes

Brazilian side of Iguazu. Lots of rain.

They really are impressive

Butterflies are everywhere at Iguazu

Great big reptile. I was a girl. I screamed when I turned round and saw it.

Rhinocerous beetle.

Getting close to the waterfalls at Iguazu

Great big ant

Coatie

La Garganta del Diablo, Iguazu



We told you it was big... this is just ONE small part of it...

Estancia La Rosita

We played polo today!!!

We arrived at the Estancia (ranch) La Rosita on Thursday evening, got on a horse (gulp!) straightaway, then yesterday we learnt how to canter. After a night hack (dark - dogs howling, couln´t see - loads of fun!!), we were offered the chance to play polo this morning - so we did!!!

Yes, we were on the horses, moving, and hitting balls, holding the reins in our left hand, the polo mallet in hte other, bashing our horses into each other, sometimes hitting the ball... GREAT FUN!!!

Those of you that are horse fans - get out here. The family who own it and run it are wonderful. Really attentive hosts, making sure we are enjoying ourselves, teaching us with infinite patience, feeding us amazing food...

It´s a working ranch. Yesterday we rounded up cattle. There´s 1400 cows here and over 100 horses. Will rave more about it later! Time for our massive lunch before we ride again then time for 3 course dinner... We came for two nights, have stayed for 3, and wish we could make it a week....

http://www.estancialarosita.com/

Dinner in Puerto Iguazu

We're not in Kansas now...

About Waterfalls...
Nothing can prepare you for Iguaza waterfalls... they are a series of waterfalls, with the biggest being La Garganta del Diablo "Throat of the Devil". It's massive. Imagine a great big cliff face - Avon Gorge, White cliffs of Dover - where water is just rushing off it from all sides, thundering to the bottom. Except you can{t see the bottom because the spray bounces up as all the water thunders the 174 metres off the edge. Even better, this isn't a flat face - it{s curved, so it does look like a massive throat.

To get to see this giant, you walk out on walkways across a swirling river that's hurtling towards this edge. If you're lucky, when you walk out, you see an egret (black bird, long beak, similar size to a swan) wrestling with an eel that has wrapped itself round the bird's neck. The bird wins and swallows the eel while it's still wriggling.

That's just one part of the National Park (which is very well organised with signposted paths, walkways, toliets, cafes etc). There are loads of waterfalls. One set of walkways take you above them, the other lets you see them from the bottom. Fantastic. But it gets better...

Yeah, we did the jungle truck ride and then the speed boat ride up the river, across the rapids and... up close and personal with some of the waterfalls. AMAZING!!! And very very wet. We went into the waterfall twice.

Other cool stuff about the Parc Iguazu:
- there's loads of these little racoon like creatures called coatis. Long noses, that they try to stick into your bag. There was loads of baby ones too.
- MASSIVE ANT. One inch long. Evil looking thing.
- birds - loads and very pretty.

About Puerto Iguazu
This is the town we're staying in, at a residencial (very cheap B&B style accommodation).

Town is nice, quite sleepy but the maps LIE. Either that or they move the buildings every time you turn your back....(Film geeks - just like Dark City but with more daylight).

Last night we met Nadim and Kefei, academics who had been on a conference in BA. We can't seem to escape you geo-physics-what not types! (Ros and Kit you know we mean you!). We{re going to attempt to upload a photo of us all at dinner eating, yes, you guessed it, meat.

About backpacking
Yeah, kind of remembering how to do this. Kind of hard having to stick to a budget, but we're managing so far. Even harder is accepting that not every meal is meant to be delicious and enjoyable...and we might be about to book an expensive stay on a polo ranch... but hey, it includes meals and polo lessons!!! First we will learn how to ride the horses though....

Weather report
Hot and wet. All right if you're with a lady but no damned good in the jungle*. Too be fair, it's not that humid, we just like that quote, but it is very hot.

*delicate readers (you know who you are...)- this is a film quote not a personal opinion....

Mañana (Tomorrow)
Day trip to Brazil (as you do) to see the falls from that side, then go have some lunch Brazilian style, and hopefully buy some Havianas flip flops. Oh, and figure how to get out of Puerto Iguazu down to a town that is probably about 15 hours away. We think. We don't even know if there is a direct bus to it yet. Hey ho.

Martin and Kara.

More of Buenos Aires

Kara here. Martin is where he should be - cooking our dinner in the kitchen!

We're in a hostel now, so our back packer stripes are being earnt! It's a friendly, clean place in a great part of Buenos Aires called San Telmo. Kind of like the Gloucester Road area of Bristol. Loads of cafes, interesting shops, loads of artists and great buildings that are a bit run down. Really enjoyed chilling out today, drinking tea in cafes (alas, no milk, I keep getting given lemon instead) and chatting.

We also went to the National History Museum - all displays in Spanish so a chance to learn the word for strike (golpe) and socialism (socialismo - not that hard really).

We saw the Russian Orthodox church - awesome, a touch of Russia in the middle of BA, and a very narrow house. Unfortunately "we" (it was Martin really but he claims "we stand as a team we die as a team so it was both of us") left the camera in our room, so no photos of this great barrio (neighbourhood).

Yesterday evening luck (suerte) was on our side. When taxi drivers drop you off they say "suerte". Last night, after ours dropped us off in the area we wanted to eat in, we went to a very popular restaurant. Which was fully booked. Even though we got there early (8.30). But the waiter said "go next door, have a beer, and maybe someone will cancel". So we did (black beer - very nice). He then knocked on the window to get our name. 20 minutes later, the maitre d´ walked into the bar and said "Are you Stanford? Your table is ready". Loads of luck! There were queues for this place!!

Vegetarians turn away now. We had an awesome piece of rump steak, served on a platter, with a wicked looking knife. You cut slices off yourself. The meat was great, the accompaniments awesome. In small ramekins (see Ben, I do listen to you when you talk about cooking), there were: mashed potato with mustard; mashed pumpkin; sweetcorn with some sauce; pepper corn sauce; pears; apple sauce and some more we couldn{t identify but also great. Really lovely meal.

Tomorrow we have the 20 hour bus ride to Iguazu...in the extra large seats. Think of us. It's a hard life!

Weather report: torrential rain this morning but then cleared up. Cloudy then spitting. Quite chilly. But hey. We're on a year out. Who cares?!

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Stuff we have done:

• Been to Recoleta Cemetery. Saw loads of great mausoleums and amazing statues. Lots of cats. Found Evita´s tomb.
• Been to Plaza Mayo. Saw protest for justice for Veterans of La Guerra Malvinas (Falklands War). Kept VERY quiet as we walked past.
• Seen the parliament building (El Congreso).
• Walked... a lot... no really
• Crossed the 14 lane road that runs through the middle of the city (crossed it 3 times so far). It´s slightly intimidating.
• Eaten LUSH pizza.
• Overcame jet lag by sleeping for 12 hours.
• Managed to find out way to the main bus station via the Subway.
• Booked bus tickets to get to Iguazu Falls.

Stuff we´ve found out:

• Zebra crossings here mean "We won´t stop for you but we won´t kill you if you´re already walking on them"
• An Empanada is a little cornish pasty. One fills a small hole, two are better.
• Argentinian pedestrians like to play "Stop in the middle of the pavement suddenly without warning". Just like British pensioners.
• Cake for breakfast is so wrong but so nice.
• We´re rubbish backpackers. We booked extra wide seats on the bus to Iguazu as "They´re only 6 quid more..."
• ... but we are moving out of our lovely hotel tomorrow to go to a youth hostel...
• When they say Buenos Aires is a sub tropical city, what they actually mean is "Grey skies, wet, windy, cold, but palm trees..."
• Warmer today. Took our fleeces off for a bit. Still windy. Saw the sun. (Duncan - this is for you! x)
• Cemeteries can be fun.
• There seems to be some suspicion that we´re not married and merely trying to claim cheaper room rates... we don´t know why this is...

Final thoughts...

• Buenos Aires has a very European feel. With the weather we had yesterday it felt like home.
• It also feels quite safe.
• It is also very cosmopolitan. Martin doesn´t look freakishly out of place at all.

Martin and Kara

Last few days in the UK...

It's been a real luxury to be able to bimble around spending time with friends and family, not having to squeeze it into evenings and weekends only.

Our leaving do was great - over 50 of you came to say goodbye / check we left / have a drink. It was great to see you all and catch up with some of you during the daytime too.

We've seen enough of the M3, M25 and M4 to last a while - the M3 particularly when we sat on it for 2 hours on our way to Jo and Andy's! Jo's banoffi pie and the enthusiastic welcome of Toby, Will and Libby made up for it though!

We spent time with the cute nephews and our lovely god daughters. We made it to Gosport to catch up with my nan (still going strong at almost 92), see my most wise and venerated uncle (Peter wasn't around so Brian had to do - ha ha ha), and even see some of my cousins. We've seen both sets of parents (sometimes even at the same time!), and managed to sneak in a family game of Monopoly at my parents' house (Michael won - rematch due when we get back!).

Jo and Paul indulged my desire to go to Hampton Court - although once Paul and Martin heard there was jousting on, that kind of sold them on it - and we even squeezed in a curry with Louise and Graham!

So, how does it feel? It's been harder to sort stuff out here in the UK than we imagined. Utility companies are rubbish at giving you money back... and don't even start me on the TV Licence people... plus the concept of "we're going away for a year so have no fixed address" seems to not fit most computer models.... It's been hard to pack light - yes, I DO need my jeans and some jewellery!- and we still have good intentions that haven't been fufilled. Sorry to people we've not been able to email or speak to personally. It's scary - especially as the first thing we have to do is get on a plane - gulp - I hate flying.... - but I bet the next time I update the blog (I've accepted it'll be me doing it mostly. Sigh!) it'll be a different story....

The world will be a bit different when we return... 6 of you will have babies (I still reckon it'll be 7 so I'm waiting to hear), at least Ben and Juliette will have moved house, maybe more of you will have moved, and Justine and Fatos will be married... and Martin and I will be broke but with THOUSANDS of photos to show you all!!!

Kara

PS I know the photos and captions are poorly laid out. Did the best I could.

Family, friends and history...

Cute nephews and their dad.

Real jousting at Hampton Court Palace (yes, Tudors, again)

Jo and Paul our lovely friends.

Just like Christmas...

Dad, Nan, and I with the Isle of Wight in the background

Dad and Brian (most venerated and wise uncle)

King Arthur's Round Table, Winchester

Last time on my road... sob...

Bansky Exhibition - this one struck a chord with both of us...

Nicky having to prove she loves both the cat and the dog...

She gives us a home, feeds us, talks to cats and checks our teeth... what a friend!

Cute nephew.

Good friends Emma & Phil, at our leaving do


Adventure child and Gordon...



The Puttick Family... da da da da click click...