kia ora from iguazu! (may 10, 2007)

HOLA!! Como estan¿ (I cant find the right-way-up question mark on this computer!). How´s everyone coping with the setting in of winter¿ Well, those of you inthe Southern Hemisphere! Things here in the north of Argentina are getting colder, but still very much bearable :)

I think my last email left off in Bariloche. From there we bussed our way to Santiago (back in Chile) and the thing I´ll always remember about that place is the thick layer of smog. It was incredible, I´ve never seen anything like it and I´ve been to Tokyo and Beijing!! We caught a cable car (much like Wellington´s one) to the top of a big hill in the middle of the city which is supposed to be the best view-point... we thought we´d go up there for a big laugh. We bought a postcard of what we were supposed to see on perhaps a windier day: the city sparkling in the sunshine and the towering Andes hugging it on all sides. We spent the rest of our 2 days in Santiago checking out the MANY street markets, sipping banana liquados in street-sidecafes, and we also paid a visit to the Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino (art of the native people)... it was quite fascinating.

Before leaving Chile we decided to spend a couple of days on the coast at Valparaiso and Viña del Mar. Valparaiso is such a rad little city. It often reminded me of Wellington. It´s a port city (complete with big grey frigates) and is surrounded in hills. The hills are literally carpeted with colourful houses, very cluttered, but very pretty. The streets are also a lot like Welly - narrowly winding and twisting up and down the hillsides... except there are a lot more cobblestones in Valparaiso. And they have these funny little cable car things up the hills... consisting of one shaky box about 100 years old that rattles up the rails... we crossed our fingers and went up a hill in one. We tried the local dish - Chorrillana... a huge pile of greasy chips with egg, onion and fried pork plopped on top. Of course it tasted great! And the actual restaurant was so much fun too. Chorrillana was the only dish served there, and by the looks of all the plates coming out, there weren´t any variations of it either! Sure made ordering easy! :) We went to Viña del Mar (10 mins away) on our last day for the beach. We even wore our bikinis under our clothes in anticipation of the swimming and tanning. Typically though, the sky clouded over and the temperature dropped by the time we actually made it there (delayed of course by our seemingly compulsory need to get lost and take the wrong bus miles away from our actual destination).

From there we were on the bus again back into Argentina, to Mendoza: wine country :). Mendoza produces at least 70% of Argentina´s fine wine and so a wine tour really is a must. We decided to do ours by bicycle :). It was gorgeous cycling the dirt streets with vineyards racing by. We only visited 2 because we did it on a Sunday and only found out when we got to the bike rental place that only 2 were open on Sunday! Ah well, two was definately enough. We sampled much Malbec (my favourite) and were having a wonderful time until Ranga came flying off her bike on the way back. She insists it wasnt the wine, but the curb :) and thank God she´s OK. We had to make a quick trip to the hospital that night and she got 3 stitches in her chin. But even that wasnt too unpleasant with barely a wait and not a cost! It could have been a lot worse we suppose. She was a very brave girl.

While in Mendoza we also went out to the Andes to see the highest mountain in the Americas (and in the western hemisphere): Aconcagua. At 6,959 metres high it´s definately the highest I´ve ever seen... almost twice the height of Mt Fuji! While out there we also visited Puente del Inca... a natural rock bridge famous historically and also for all the sulphur! Inca used to live there and cross it, and there are ruins from an old thermal bath building (only about 100 years old I think) just below it. I just couldn´t stop staring at the colours from the sulphur... the yellows, oranges, browns and creams look like they´ve been painted down the rock, its so beautiful, like a giant mural in the middle of the mountains!! The mountains out there on the Arg side of the Andes are so beautiful... they have hues of pink, purple and red strewn across them. Hopefully my photos will do them even slight justice.

From Mendoza we travelled further North-east to San Augustin. That´s really getting into desert country. Driving there through desert and past the occassional mud brick huts and chickens was a new experience. What a lifestyle, I reckon I would like to live it for a week or two, just to know what it´s really like. No more than a week or two though! San Augustin is pretty small itself, dirt roads, a central plaza and some shops. We stayed for one night before joining an excursion out to the National Park (I can´t remember the name, its a long complex one) where Valle de la Luna is (Valley of the Moon). Its in a big canyon and filled with the most amazing rock formations and pillars... many like the hoodoos I saw and loved in Canada, but on a much bigger scale! While there we even saw some wildlife.... a little desert fox!!! It was gorgeous and quite shy, but hesitated a while to check us out. We also visited another National Park close by that day: Talampaya, and that was maybe even more incredible. The desert soil there is really quite red, and the cliffs (canyon walls I suppose) are sharp red walls stretching into the sky. Standing at the base of them makes you feel so damn small. We had a beautiful blue sky that day which was a perfect stunning contrast with the red rock. The tour group left me and Ranga there at Talampaya because we planned to catch a bus from there to LA Rioja, 3 hours away. We were told it was easy and that the 8pm bus always stopped outside the main park entrance. So at 7.30 we marched our way out to the park entrance with all our luggage under the most AMAZINGLY sparkling desert night sky and stared up into space while waiting for the bus. We were left standing there (in the middle of the desert) slightly confused when a bus whizzed past us without even slowing down a few minutes past 8. Didn´t it see us standing ON the road right in its headlights, waving a white plasticbag¿¿¿ Obviously not. We had to be in La Rioja by 5am to catch our pre-booked bus to Iguazu, and that was the last bus that night to La Rioja. SHIT. Our only other option was to catch a taxi. $290 pesos and 3 hours later we arrived in La Rioja. Believe me, it was the cheaper option as if we missed the bus to Iguazu we would have to pay our fares again, and they were slightly more expensive than the taxi ride!!

And now, after a 30 HOUR (THIRTY HOUR) bus ride, we have safely arrived in Puerto Iguazu!! Where the BIG waterfalls are!!! :) The bus trip wasn´t that bad I suppose, it was a double decker and we got the front seats up the top so had a pretty awesome view (of the desert) ;) but unfortunately I´ve picked up a bugger of a cold somewhere between Mendoza and here, and that did not help the comfort levels. Never mind. We slept horizontally today, and ate, and will get up bright and early tomorrow morning to go check out the Iguazu Falls!! YEAH!! Tomorrow night, after checking out the Argentinian side we plan to cross over into Brazil. We´ll see the Falls from there too, before jumping on yet another long-haul bus to Rio de Janiero. Brazil is a bit daunting I guess, but we´ll be extra careful and will hopefully get lots of nice weather so we can just lie around on the beaches all day, recuperating from Argentina and Chile.

Its dinner and an early night for us tonight, so buenas noches!! Take care and keep me updated on all the goss :)

Love d xxx