Argentina

After a four hour flight from Lima we arrived in Buenos Aires airport excited about the next step on our journey. Argentina is a country that we’d both been particularly excited about visiting from the very start. Unfortunately Argentina didn’t start well. Firstly we struggled to convince the cash machines in the airport to give us any Pesos. The first three cash machines that we tried wouldn’t give us any money at all, and Tara was only able to get any money out of the third one when she reduced the amount that she asked for. We later discovered that Argentinian cash machines won’t ever dispense more that 300 Pesos at a time. All the other travellers that we met had the same problem, and we’re still not sure if its a ploy by Argentine banks to reap some additional transaction fees or just a measure implemented to prevent their currency from crashing....again. Anyway, armed with some cash we bought ourselves bus tickets and set off for the city centre. Unfortunately our bus only made it as far as the car park entrance, and we then sat there for an hour. We’ve no idea why we sat there because despite all the passengers on the bus growing more and more irate, the bus driver didn’t think to inform us of the cause of the delay. We probably wouldn’t have understood his Spanish anyway, but it would’ve been nice if he’d told everyone else. We eventually managed to escape the car park and proceeded without incident into central Buenos Aires. We checked into our hostel (the plush Milhouse hostel, which we highly recommend), and then set off in search of some food. It was here that Argentina started to show its class. We settled on a Charcuterie (BBQ meat restaurant) near the main pedestrian shopping street, and gorged ourselves on the best steak that either of us have ever eaten. Not only were they the best steaks that we’ve ever eaten, but they were also the biggest steaks that either of us have ever eaten. It gets better though. The steaks were also complimented by some excellent red wine, and the final bill was equivalent to what we’d spend in McDonalds in London. From that moment we knew that we were going to enjoy ourselves in Argentina.



We spent our first four nights in Buenos Aires and explored most of the key sites the city has to offer. We visited Eva Peron’s grave (one of the more morbid sites on the standard Buenos Aires tourist trail) in Recoleta cemetery on our first morning and then made our way over to the colourful houses in La Boca where we watched a tango show and ate lunch. Gaz then convinced Tara to visit the Boca Juniors football stadium, where we had our own personal English-speaking guide who made us feel like minor celebrities. From the La Boca we headed back into the Microcentre (the business district), and took advantage of the weak Peso and did some shopping. One of the main department stores had a sale on, and we stocked up on Havaiana flip-flops at the bargain price of ₤2 per pair. In an attempt to save some money we decided to eat dinner in the food court of the Galerias Pacifico shopping centre. This was somewhat different from the standard McDonalds & Burger King offerings available in Lakeside or Bluewater though. In Argentina, you have the option of eating large good quality slabs of steak for very little money, so naturally Gaz indulged himself...again.



On our second day in Buenos Aires we hopped on a bus and made our way to San Antonio de Areco in search of some gaucho culture. The gauchos are the Argentine version of cowboys and San Antonio de Areco is generally considered to be their heartland. From what we could see though, the gaucho culture is just another excuse to eat lots and lots of meat. We went on a horse ride when we first arrived, and once again we demonstrated our equestrian ineptitude. Whilst the Argentinians galloped around us, we couldn’t convince our horses do anything more than walk very slowly. In fact Gaz’s horse didn’t even walk very far. After a few meters his horse located a nice patch of grass and spent the next ten minutes munching on that. Following the horse riding we were treated to some traditional gaucho singing and dancing, before eventually settling down to the main event....dinner! We’d never seen so many different cuts of beef in all our lives. Once again we gorged ourselves on steak (and red wine), and after a severe case of the meat sweats we joined in with some of the gaucho dancing. After dinner, the gauchos showed us how to ride a horse properly (Gaz was taking notes) and we were then taken to a gaucho contemporary art gallery, in which all the works where inspired by the humble cow. Then it was time to get back on the bus and make our way back to Buenos Aires.



On our final day in Buenos Aires we went on a walking tour of the city, and went to the Evita museum (which was closed but their cafe was open so we drank beer and ate cake instead). We then visited Tierra Santa, which is the world’s only religious theme park. This was one of the more obscure attractions that we’ve visited so far on our travels, and definitely the most kitsch. Every half an hour a 20foot Jesus resurrects out of the top of a plastic mountain. The park includes many mocked up religious scenes and has memorials for Pope John Paul and Ghandi. The theme park also put on a dance show for us which we’d expected to have a religious theme, but the thrusting and grooving dance moves of the belly dancers we’re definitely not suitable for children. After a visit to the park’s wailing wall and one final resurrection, we felt that we’d seen enough so we set off back to our hostel to prepare ourselves for our bus journey to Rosario.





Rosario was a pretty city, but the main attractions in this town are the river islands and the beaches. Unfortunately we were visiting in low season so the island ferries weren’t running, and the beaches were deserted. The highlight of the city for us was the monument to their national flag, which was very impressive but was tainted somewhat by the Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands) memorial that adjoins it. Gaz felt that an Argentine Malvinas memorial was akin to a German World War II memorial (they started it!), but managed to maintain his dignity (for a change) and not offend any of the locals.



From Rosario we travelled to Mendoza, the heart of Argentina’s wine country and we checked into Hostel Lao. This was one of the best hostels that we’ve stayed in during our trip. The excellent communal areas and free flowing red wine meant that we quickly made lots of new friends. Two Argentinians in the hostel took it upon themselves to cook an Asado (traditional Argentine BBQ) for the whole hostel on our first night. They’d bought an entire cow to cook so once again we feasted on steak (as well as glands, intestines and other offal). We hired bicycles whilst in Mendoza and toured the local wineries, where for a few pesos they would provide us with some generous wine tasting sessions. We also visited the impressive Parque General San Martin, modern art museum, the Serpentaria (snake zoo) and Aquarium (which had a huge turtle in a very small tank), but the cheap wine was definitely the highlight.




Having drunk our fill of red wine in Mendoza, we caught an overnight bus to Cordoba. This was a journey that Gaz had been dreading, but turned out to be one of the most comfortable trips that we’ve made in the last 6 months. Argentinean buses are the antithesis of English National Express buses. A trip on a long distance bus in Argentina is at least as comfortable (if not more so) than a trans-Atlantic business class flight. Cordoba was another beautiful city, the hightlight of which was the stunning Manzana Jesuitica (Jesuit Block). We also visited the Che Guevara museum in the town of Alta Garcia (where Che grew up), and ate some excellent pasta (Gaz’s first meal in Argentina which didn’t involve steak) in La Mamma restaurant with some Aussie friends (Anton & Tess) that we’d met in our hostel.



Our final stop in Argentina was Puerto Iguazu, home to the magnificent Iguazu waterfalls. We arrived from Mendoza at about midday, and had intended to go to the falls that day. Unfortunately, Gaz was distracted by the offer of yet more succulent steak and red wine, and by the time we’d finished our lunch the falls had closed for the day. So we got up early the next morning and caught a bus to the falls to try and see as much as possible. This proved to be a good move because for the first two hours we had the falls pretty much to ourselves. The falls themselves are truly magnificent, but after walking along the catwalks at the top and bottom of the falls we felt that we weren’t getting close enough so we signed up for a boat ride by the falls. We got an inkling that this may not be a nice sedate ride when the boat captain handed us two dry bags for our personal possessions and told us to remove our shoes. So we wrapped ourselves up as best we could in our rain ponchos and set off for a close-up of the falls. We got soaked! If hadn’t been for the ponchos then I reckon we’d probably still be drying off now. It was great fun though, and well worth the extra expense. After the boat ride we set off to see Garganta del Diabolo (Devil’s Throat), which we were told is the most impressive of the many individual falls that make up Iguazu falls. It was better than either of us could have ever imagined. It makes Niagara falls look like a dripping tap. After taking literally hundreds of photos we made our way back to the town of Puerto Iguazu, and met up with our Tess & Anton (our Aussie friends that we’d met in Cordoba) for our final Argentinean steaks. We were heading to Brazil the next morning, but that didn’t stop us from drinking into the wee small hours.







Argentina is a strong contender for the title of “favourite country we’ve visited”. The infrastructure in Argentina is far superior to any of the other countries that we’ve visited in South America which makes it much easier to travel around. Furthermore, your time on the road is much more enjoyable because the buses in Argentina are really comfortable. The food in Argentina is excellent as well, unless you’re a vegetarian that is. In Argentina any meal that doesn’t include beef is considered vegetarian, so don’t be surprised if your veggie pizza turns up with lumps of chicken on it. We were told that Lima was the gastronomic capital of South America, but we found that food was far superior in Buenos Aires, Mendoza and Cordoba than anything we’d had in Peru. Thanks to the devaluation of the peso in 2001/2002, Argentina is an exceptionally cheap place to visit as well. Its not as cheap as Bolivia or Peru, but its still great value and far better quality. We’d both really like to return to Argentina and explore it some more. Parts of the south were inaccessible when we visited due to the snow & ice, and I don’t think we saw Rosario in its best light, so we’ll try and make sure our next trip occurs during the southern hemisphere's summer.