The long bus rides seem like normality to us now as we arrive into Iguazu Falls, Argentina at 9am after a 17 hours of traveling time. We only had to walk 5 minutes down the road to our hostel called the Iguazu Falls Inn. It wasn’t what we thought it was going to look like, as we saw pictures of this beautiful resort with nice big swimming pools surrounded by palm trees. We soon realised that we had mistaken this with the other hostel ith a very similar name. This place still looked ok with the odd few cockroaches and small lizards running around.

After settling into, we catch a bus to the Iguazu National Park to see the infamous Iguazu Falls. It cost us 60 Pesos per person for the entrance fee which isn’t too bad. We went for a walk along the upper, verde and Macuco trails. We saw some wildlife such as Coaties, praying mantis and tons of giant ants. We just had about enough time to go see the Devil’s throat where you get to go very close to one of the waterfalls. Here we got pretty soaked from the spray of the water hitting the lower river. It’s an amazing sight and much bigger than the Niagara falls we saw in Canada.

One day at the park was not long enough to see everything, so we went back the following day which was at a cheaper price of 30 pesos as we visited the day before. We took a trek through to the lower trail and then took a short thrilling jet boat ride that took us to the bottom of the waterfalls. We had planned to go to San Martin Island but this was closed due to the high water levels. We ended up going back to the hostel early and chilling out in the swimming pool before we went out to eat at a place called Colors where the owner kindly gave is 10% off our bill.

Now that we have seen the Argentine side of the Iguazu Falls, we wanted to go see the Brazilian side which was supposed to give great overviews of the national park and its falls. Getting there was surprisingly easy, despite having to cross the border. We simply caught a bus from the bus terminal which took us to the Argentine immigration which gave us departure stamps and then went straight past the Brazilian immigration with no checks whatsoever. The bus driver then dropped us in the middle of nowhere, where we then flag down and catch a bus to the park.

We arrived at the park and had to pay an entrance fee of 20.50 Reais which more than expected. When we were in the park, we caught the bus straight to the viewpoints and got to see the Iguazu Falls in its entirety. It was a beautiful view but that’s was all in the park that interested us.

There wasn’t much else apart from a few adventure sports like rafting or jet-boating. I feel the entrance fee is somewhat extortionate for what was available in this park. Needless to say we never spent much time here and headed back to the hostel early where we enjoyed the swimming pool yet again. And because the food at Colors restaurant was so good, we went back again the following night and were happy chappies when we got 10% off our food bill again.

Our two days a Iguazu has been fun. I  much prefer the Argentine side because there was more trails you can complete that take you through the falls where as the Brazilian side merely offers a overview, which is still not to be missed.

o we arrive in Buenos Aires after a long 22 hour drive from Mendoza which turned out to be a luxurious ride with a stewardess at our service. We got some tasty hot meals and a choice between red or white wine to wash it down with and had some movies to keep us entertained.

We get to Buenos Aires at about 7am and check into the party hostel called Milhouse. We didn’t mess about when we got there and booked ourselves on city tour with the hostel which took us around the tango area called Caminito street where Argentine tango was born from the sailors and hookers that hung around that area. The streets were brightly coloured due to the many nationalities that moved into the area and decorating buildings with their national colours.

We got our first taste of Argentine tango with many people dancing outside on the streets. We stopped for a beer and a photo opportunity with some tango dancers.

The tour also took us to the famous Boca Juniors football stadium. It was much smaller than I thought it be. It was a shame that we there was not a game being played here during our stay in Buenos Aires as the atmosphere is renowned to be absolutely electric. The tour lasted quite a few hours and we were dying for a beer to relax for a bit. We ended up going for a Bife de Chorizo steak and a beer with Jane who was an english lass and her daughter who we met on the tour. We pretty much drunk for most of the night and moved on to the new Milhouse bar for a few more.

The following day, after a lay in until about 1pm, we planned to go to the River Plate football stadium to buy some tickets to see a match between River Plate and Argentine Juniors as the hostel was offering this trip for 150 Reails whereas the ticket themselves are only 50 Reails. We pretty much wasted the rest of the afternoon trying to find the place and eventually completed our mission at about 4:30pm. We had just enough time to go visit the Recoleta which is where the fancy tombs of famous families and individuals are laid to rest. Many of the tombs were very big like houses and elaborately decorated.

We also stumbled across one of Argentina’s famous icon, Evita. We soon had enough of the cemetery and headed off for another steak dinner. We ended up getting a mixed grill platter for 4 people which was huge. After the meat fest we had a few drinks at the hostel before we headed off to the Sunset bar which was a huge club just outside of the city centre.The club had 2 main dance floors where one was playing dance infused Argentine music and the other played drum and bass. The only problem with this club was that it was full of kids who seemed like they still went to school. It wasn’t the best of nights and I had wished I went to club 60 the previous night now.

Following our new routine, we get up fairly late again and have just enough time to visit Palermo to have a look at the many boutique-ish markets. Palermo seemed to have a very trendy feel to it. It contained lots of independent shops, some quirky looking cafes and some crazy street performers. After a bustling time at Palermo, we managed to get our selves some tickets with Jane to see a tango show at Tortoni’s Cafe.

We entered this very old but grand building and were taken to downstairs to a small room where the tango show was to take place. Anywhere you sat in that room you seemed to be close to the action on the stage. The show was a fantastic mix of tango dancing, acting and some man who likes to make  melodic and rhythmic beats with some string and rocks.

The live band glued together the whole show with their contemporary tango music. After a fantastic show, we feeling good continued to have a few beers in the hostel. Before we knew it, it as 6am when we made it to bed.

We wake up late again the next day and leave for the River Plate vs Argentine Juniors which wasn’t a great game in the end. The River Plate fans certainly sang their hearts out for their team which was heard constantly throughout the game.

The stadium was about half full but surprisingly there was quite a atmosphere. The game ends with River Plate winning 2-1 over their opponents. After a long walk back to the hostel from the stadium, we make it back in time to enjoy the open mic and jamming session going on in the hostel. As usual this kept us up until the wee hours of the morning.

We had a great time in Buenos Aires and would love to come back again. It’s a huge city where you could easily spend a days just walking around and explore without getting bored. We didn’t think we would go out as much as we did but it was so easy to meet people here. The sad thing about leaving this lovely city is that it will be our last time we’ll be tucking into a nice Argentine Steak.

Arrival in Mendoza only holds very deep and sad memories for us, if you have read the previous posts you will know why. With “the incident” aside Mendoza is a very laid back city with plenty of small parks plaza’s and retail therapy outlets. All these public spaces were immaculately kept and provided much relief over the time we were here, chilling out in the afternoon heat.

The real reason why we were here is that Mendoza is set in the heart of the Argentinean Wine Region producing some of the world greatest wines. So before we headed off to the wineries we thought we would do some tasting sessions of our own, Backpacker Style. So with our connoisseur hats on we visited the finest of wine locations, the supermarket. In true budget style no wine was to be more that 5 pesos. Here was our haul.

I will be the first to admit that these we not the greatest, but you can’t complain when you spend that little really. A short aside from wine is the perfect counterpart to such a drink, steak. While here we ate Prime Argentinean Steak everyday and “half a cow on a plate” pretty much sums up the quantity of meat were talking about here! See exhibit a. They were amazing and a great relief from the ¼ chicken, chips, rice and salad (carb overload) we were used to eating up until this point.

Returning once more to wine the main winery region is just outside Mendoza in a small area called Maipu and this is where we headed to for a day of fermented grape goodness. What’s the best way to live the Argentinean wine valley lifestyle? That’s right, on a bike! After hiring Bicycles from Bike and Wines we set off to the furthest stop on our self guided winery tour. This took about an hour to conquer but the hard work had been done.

During the day we managed to visit a total of XX wineries in each one we sampled some of their favourite wines.  The wineries each had their own little charm, whether it was an astrological theme, vintage cellar or wine museum. Of course visits to wineries would not be complete without the best bit… the tastings. We found the region to be especially good for the cabernet Sauvignon & Malbec grapes, which were very good and also very much out of our price range.

As the day progressed the cycling became more erratic as the alcohol took its grip but no harm was done. In fact the riding was extremely quaint and peaceful wit the hot sun peaking through trees onto the small lanes which lined the vineyard boundaries. A feeling of being in the south of France was dominant throughout the day.

The tour wasn’t all bout wine however. We also popped into a olive oil producer and a chocolate liqueur maker. The latter was superb with creamy chocolate heaven in a glass with alcoholic infusion.  The range of flavours was huge, peppermint, toffee, caramel, hazelnut you name it they had it!

Mendoza for us could be summed up in 3 words Wine, Steak and Relaxation.

We arrived in Salta after our journey by private taxi along a lot of twisting and winding roads where we didn’t see another car or another person for a long long time, stopping along the way for some lunch in a roadside cafe in the middle of nowhere. As we headed into Salta we made our way up a two-way single file road on the edge of a cliff before hitting the city centre. We arrived at our destination Terra Oculta, a lovely hostel with plenty of amenities, including a roof top bar with a very British bartender.

Our first night in Salta we went to Don Jose’s restaurant recommended by the owner of our hostel where we ordered Bife de Chorizo with Chips, a fried egg and some jugs of the house red wine. The steaks were huge slabs of meat that left no room for anything else on the plate and they were cooked to perfection, the wine was cheap, but drinkable and the large side helping of chips helped to soak up some of the beef juice and to dip into the still runny yoke of our eggs. Steaks, done.

The following day we booked up a luxury bus to Mendoza and went sightseeing, including a cable car ride on the teleferico to the top of Cerro San Bernardo and a look at the arts and crafts in the local market. We also found a very nice food stall beside the cable car station which sold delicious empanadas, we stocked up and headed up the teleferico.

Today’s weather gave us a stunning view over Salta but it was still slightly hazy which blurred our vision of the mountain ranges in the distance. At this point we had visited a few mountain top viewpoints in South America, this was the first one to have an open air gym at the top, which Kev and John had to have a go on.

In the evening we went to the supermarket and got ourselves a bag of potatoes and a steak each which would be cooking this evening together with several bottles of beer, that were alot cheaper than the ones sold in the bar on the roof. We cooked and ate our steaks in the kitchen whilst watching Andy Murray beat Roger Federer in the tennis, once full we continued drinking on the rooftop bar with an American we had met during dinner and another friend we had met in Potosi. Later in the evening there was a powercut so all the lights and music went off as did the beer fridges!

Kev to the rescue, he grabbed his iPod and speakers to for the music, the barman came and delivered some candles to the table and we got some more beer so they didn’t get warm in the fridge.

The next day we jumped on our Andesmar bus to Mendoza, but not before stocking up on those delicious empanadas for the journey. We had treated ourselves to Semi-Cama seats, which is not quite first class, however the seats almost recline flat and are wide enough you aren’t fighting for the armrest with the person next to you. Plus we had bus bingo, loads of films and a meal that rivals most airline food.

Bye bye Salta, hello Mendoza. Another glass of wine anyone….