Where in the world?

Greetings from Mendoza, wine capital of Argentina. At last count there were 1271 wineries in the area, but we only managed to visit 2, plus an olive oil factory and chocolate/liquer place. Found a great hostel in the centre of town near the main square, although bathrooms here lack something......, somewhere to actually put your clothes so that they don't get wet!!!!

PLAZA INDEPENDENCIA, MENDOZA, ARGENTINA

Met 2 girls from Pitlochry and a girl from New Zealand who were cool and hung out with them for a few days.

THE GIRLS, MENDOZA

Have been pretty tired so some of the 6am back to hostels have been passed on by little old me!!! managed 2am the other day which was plenty! Visited a couple of museums and the remains of the San francisco convent from the 1861 earthquake which killed half of the population. Pretty nice city, with 1million population. The only down side was trying to get a taxi to the bus station and ended up arriving with minutes to spare. Next time I will book!
Headed overnight (again) for salta. Found an absolutely fab hostel - Into Huasi not far from the bus station with another couple from the bus.(ANDY AND jACKIE) Didn't look much but the people who own/run it were the best i've met so far. They couldn't do enough for you and the hostel is fairly small so everyone got on real well. The bathrooms are ok but he guys are gradually doing everything up as they can.

SOME OF THE GANG, INTI HUASI, SALTA

Went off for a investigation of the town and its pretty compact. Nice Plaza with a beautiful church.

CHURCH SALTA

The next day, me, Jackie and Andy headed to the local artesans market for the morning and up the Cerro san Bernardo in the aftrennon. It was a pleasant climb and only took 30 minutes although we shared the path with several hundred spiders.

ARACHNAPHOBES BEWARE! BEC, YOU WOULD HAVE HATED IT!!
Spent some evenings in town watching local rock band and in the hostel just chilling. Pretty good crowd so hope to catch up with them at some point. Would be perfectly happy staying in Salta forever but need to push on . Bolivia here I come!!!!

ELEPHANT SEALS AT PUNTA NORTE

KILLER WHALE FIN FROM A DISTANCE........HONEST!

Apparently they had already breakfasted on seals that morning so no gory seal launching spotted ( thank goodness). WE also spotted loads of Armadillos, actally didn't need to spot tham as they ran between your legs when you weren´t watching! I had been told that they were really hard to spot, yeh, if you have no eyes.!

FURRY ARMADILLO SNOOK UP BEHIND ME!

We drove some more then stopped to see a small colony of Magellanic penguins and took some cool photos. They live in burrows so a lot of them wre snoozing and many were losing their feathers. I tried to take photOs of the 'cute' ones

CLEANING TIME

There is a much larger colony further south approximately 300,00 birds, but funds wouldn't allow 2 trips!! Then off for lunch (hurrah for vegetables!) and to check out the sea-lions, although was a little upset that there were only about 16 as most of them were off fishing. I had an excellent day and met some lovely people then managed to get my pack from the hostel and blag a lift back to Puerto Madryn for the 15 hour overnight bus to (San Carlos de)Bariloche. Oh the joys of long-distance buses, and you all think I'm having fun????

Arrived on the saturday morning, whilst most of the city were just coming home after a good night out!! Say no more. I stayed in Recoleta which is a pretty good area and not too far from all the sights of the big smoke. Within the 1st morning while waiting to check into the hostel I had seen the casa rosada, obelisque and national congress. There are so many beautiful buildings, apparently of french influence and many parks with homeless people who have made camp there. Sunday saw me up bright and early and off to San Telmo. There is a well-known market there , a little like a flea market with local artists and people selling old jewellry etc. Also able to see tango performances in the street, although I feel that they lacked a little of the passion that we associate with the dance. I reckon my gran moves better!!!
Monday saw me going to La Boca with Sivina from Argentina and Lara from Paris. The area is wel-known for its brightly coloured houses and the La Boca juniors football team. By all acounts from others, you can only visit a couple of tourist streets where you can watch tango and be ripped off with expensive food and drinks. A local old lady passed us and told us to watch our bags and there are police on every corner making sure that you don´t stray as it is dangerous both day and night. I wasn´t going to test this theory so we headed back. The next day we visited the cemetery at Recoleta. A perfect representation of keeping up with the Jones`s. Each mausoleum was bigger and grander than the next. the whole place is pretty macabre. Many of the mausoleums are not tended to and the glass of the doors is broken so you could, if you had the urge, actually touch the coffins. I personally found the whole experience weird, probably cos us brits are in the habit of burning or sticking people out of sight when they die. We followed the crowds and found Evitas family mausoleum, It is not as spectacular as many and you could easily pass by without noticing.
Another day another companion, this time Tom from Hollywood. We headed to see a couple of museums including the museo del bellas artes. There are some great pieces there and the added bonus is its free!! Coming from the UK, I found it facscinating that the art museum is not air conditioned so all the Miros, Monets, Rembrandts etc are open to the high humidity. The only room air conditioned was the really old paintings. You can also take flash photos and no-one blinks an eye. I wonder how long the pictures will last like this?
Party on last night in hostel and compared notes with a couple of people from Valencia about the mad girl in dorm. Personally, I thought it was just me who thought she was crazy, although now found that everyone else in the hostel thinks the same!!! Played a drinking game but I wasn´t drinking as have to get taxi at 0400hrs for flight to Chile. I was pretty rubbish at it so glad I wasn´t drinking!!!!!!! Now off to Chile for Tores Del Paine national park so further reports when back to civilisation?!?

At last, the border between Argentia and Brazil. Apart from the usual border controls the only difference was the flags painted on the kerbstones and the lively bus driver who suddenly produced an Argentinian flag and proceeded to wave it furiously at any passing traffic!!!
Into the Argentinian side of the falls and much more natural than the touristy Brazillian side. It must be said that even though Argentina has the lion`s share of the falls and you can pretty close to them, both above and below, Brazil has the better panoramic view.
One day in the park was nowhere near enough and I could have gone back for a second visit but lost my ticket and would have had to pay full price again!! You know me, tight yourkshire bird! Spent the next couple of days in Puerto Igauazu with some girls I met in Brazil and then decided to head for Estero Del Ibera in the northeast. Know one seemed to have heard of it apart from the Argentinians! Most straining bus journey yet (although they have been pretty easy!) 9 hour bus to Corrientes then 3 hr bus to Mercedes and finally 4 hr trip on the rickety road and finally arrived in Colonia Carlos Pelligrini.
Estero Del Ibera is a wetland area in the Northeast of Argentina, apparently covering 13000 square kilometres which I thought was pretty impressive. Managed to do my usual trick of being the only guest in the hostel. I had planned on staying in Mercedes but Graziella at Delicias Del Ibera hostel said I would be better going straight there. Must admit she was great and sorted out accommodation, walks, boat trips and horse riding.
Cut to the chase, It was fantastic. Went out on a launch and saw capybaras, just like a big guinea pig and apparently the largest rodent in the world. Thought that they would run away as soon as they saw us but obviously used to humans so got some great close-ups. I was told that they eat them in Argentina but no Margaret, i didn`t!!
There are around 400 species of birds including storks and egrets, birds of prey and one that looks a little bit like a turkey. We also saw several Caimans on our trip. The horse riding was a little less exciting and managed to do 2 circuits of the town streets. Bit of a let down as thought that we would be riding near the wildlife. Another highlight was seeing some monkeys on a nature walk. My guide swore that the loud noises we were hearing were Capybaras, but they sounded pretty monkey-like to me. Eh voila, a monkey in a tree trying to protect his palm nuts from the marauding humans.