Our Patagonian adventures and all those mammoth bus rides took their toll on us on our return to Buenos Aires. In a city that seems literally never to sleep, being tired can be a problem. Thus, when we turned up at our booked hostel, which smelled markedly of feet, armpits and sleep, it was with a great deal of effort […]
Buenos Aires is undoubtedly a fantastic city, and Argentina has certainly had a great deal to offer, but for those of us only here short term (less than seven days,) the city in particular offers some confusing and tricky social and dietary arrangements. Timekeeping and a daily schedule is perhaps the most flummoxing for the short-stayers. Residents of Argentina (and […]
For a nineteenth century Welsh immigrant arriving in Puerto Madryn after two months on a boat, the landscape of their new Patagonian home must have been quite a disappointment. The miles and miles of flat and featureless shrubland would surely not have been a patch on the Welsh valleys they left. Nevertheless, a small group did arrive in 1865 and […]
Two things are immediately striking about Patagonia: they have some of the slowest, most careful drivers in South America and the sky seems unusually big. The long and straight bus from El Calafate to the small hiking resort town of El Chalten allowed us to appreciate both as the sun went down. There are numerous trails to try from El […]
Perito Moreno Glacier in Southern Argentina is like nothing I´ve ever seen. Nestled in the snow-capped mountains of Patagonia, near the town of El Calafate, it´s one of only a few glaciers that are actually growing. This means the sounds are almost as impressive as the sights – groaning, creaking, cracking and sometimes sounding as though canons are firing in the […]
Buenos Aires looked spectacular from the moment we stepped out on the deck of the ferry and saw the skyline across the darkness of the River Plate. It didn’t fail to live up to expectations. European in style and architecture, but built on a typically American grid, Buenos Aires was formally introduced to us through a bicycle tour on our […]
There was a painfully recognisable fact in the departures lounge at Salta Airport in Argentina: the number if people on our flight to Puerto Iguazu totalled exactly 18 – the number of passengers needed to fill a plane the same size as that of our nightmare flight to Rurrenabaque in Bolivia last month. Out of the window we could see […]
The further we go,the more extremes we find in South America. Setting off from Uyuni at 6am last Sunday we shivered our way towards Tupiza in freezing temperatures. Typically Bolivian, the bus ran late and the windows were jammed open, necessitating hats, scarfs and hoods. After an hour and a half’s unexplained and unnecessary break in the less than enchanting […]
