CORDOBA
Caitlin and I had quite a long journey, a day on the bus crossing boarders from Chile, an over night stop in a town called Nequin and then an over night bus, to get up to Cordoba in the middle of Argentina. Cordoba is said to be Argentina´s second city, it is vibrant, fun and, in most places, gorgeous to look at. Caitlin and I had a relaxed time in the city and spent our short stay shopping, trying to find a few bargins amung the rails. We were often saved by the siesta which would abruptly stop our shopping trips when all the shops close at 2pm and we would take refuge at plaza side cafes for lunch or go back to our hostel to read on the colorful roof top terrace - a sun trap all afternoon.
We also went to visit the huge Iglesia Catedral, crowned by a Romanesque dome this cathedral overlooks the Plaza San Martin. The building is even more impressive inside with ornate Icons that line the walls and stunning, intricate paintings that decorate the high ceiling.
However my highlight, whilst staying in Cordoba, was befriending Connie, the hostels puppy, who provided hours of entertainment but had a tendancy to steal my flip flops and a hunger for smelly socks!
ROSARIO
We also learned that Rosario is the birth place of Che Guevara, the Marxist revolutionist. So we went to visit the plaza that has been dedicated to him and to have our picture taken with his statue.
BUENOS AIRES
Caitlin and I had a few hours on the bus before arriving in Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina. We got a taxi ride into the centre, passing the famously phallic Obelisco monument that punctuates that main road that runs through the city.
By the time we had checked in and met our roommates it was late afternoon, we grabbed a bite to eat before going out with Anna and Karen, 2 girls from ur dorm, to go and see "La Bomba de Tiempo" the drum show. None of us knew what to expect so when we turned up at the open air venue next to an ols warehouse that had been turned into a bar area I thought it was a fantastic setting. The show commenced when the 15 percussionists got on stage and started to rock out. The audience grew bigger and the music really got the crowds moving and grooving. On stage there was always one of the drummers at the front as conductor, shaking their hips as much as the rest of us! What a great way to be introduced to Buenos Aires, one of South America´s most electrifying cities.
The next day Caitlin and I spent most of our time around the cities micro-centre. We found that the city holds many European buildings, which surprised us as we expected a more Latin American feel. The more livelier streets were the pedestrian streets, packed with harried bussiness people, leather salesmen, shady money changer, street sellers and curious tourist like us! To the east of the cetre is Buenos Aires newest part of town, Puerto Madro, the lovely marina. The renovated docklands are lined with pleasant walkways , trendy bars and what look like pretty pricay hotels.Me in one of the plazas at dusk.
We took a siesta in the late afternoon before getting ready to go out again, to see more of the Buenos Aires nightlife. It was a late start to the night as the action in the city doesn´t even get started untill around 2am! We found a bar with Anna and Karen and some more people from our hostel to have drinks and listen to the live music going on before all bundled into a taxi in the early hours of the moring to take us to one of the night clubs downtown. It was a great night, fun filled with lots of dancing and we didn´t end up coming home untill the sun began to rise!
We took a siesta in the late afternoon before getting ready to go out again, to see more of the Buenos Aires nightlife. It was a late start to the night as the action in the city doesn´t even get started untill around 2am! We found a bar with Anna and Karen and some more people from our hostel to have drinks and listen to the live music going on before all bundled into a taxi in the early hours of the moring to take us to one of the night clubs downtown. It was a great night, fun filled with lots of dancing and we didn´t end up coming home untill the sun began to rise!Caitiln and I slept for most of the following day and started to feel like ourselves again by dinner time! We cleaned up and walked a few blocks over to the San Telmo neighbourhood, full of cobbled streets and aging mansions, and found an intimate Argentinian steakhouse to dine in.
I loved my time in Buenos Aires, I could have easily stayed and been occupied and entertained for a lot longer however our time restrictions were telling us to move on. I think Buenos Aires has been my favorite city that I have visited since leaving home in July, maybe one day I will get to come back...
PUERTO IGUAZU
The drive up to Puerto Iguazu was an epic 19 hour over night bus ride. When it was over we were happy to say that it should be our last long distance bus journey of our travels! Arriving in Puerto Iguazu, I thought that it would feel over run by all the tourists with a world class attraction just down the road but iot seemed oabsorb the crowds well and retains a relaxed, small town atmosphere.
Caitin and I got a 2 day pass to the Iguazu National Park. One the first afternoon we got up close to the Garganta del Diablo (Devil´s Throat) where the whole world seems to drop away!
Guarani legend says that the Iguazu Falls origionated when a jealous forest god, enraged by a warrior escaping down river by canoe with a young girl, caused the riverbed to collapse in front of the lovers, producing precipitous falls over which the girl fell and at their bade turned to rock. The warrior survived as a tree loking over his fallen lover.
For the rest of the afternoon, untill the park closed, Caitlin and I were on the upper boardwalk circuit of the park that looks down over several of the falls and the San Martin Island that isolates itself at the bottom of the waterfalls around it.Watch out for the HUGE spiders!
On the second day it poured it down with rain all morning - well I supose the water has to come from somewhere! This time we went down to the lower board walk circuit that looks up at the waterfalls we were on top of the day before. I especially remember the Hermana Waterfall, standing at the base we got drenched by the ´spray´at the bottom. As if we weren´t wet enough already, this was like having a bucket of water been thown at you! Unfortunatly the picture below is not the Hermana Waterfall - it was ntoo wet to get the camera out!
Cute relatives of the racoon: the Coati that own this park!
``People who doubt the theory that negative ions generated by waterfalls make people happier might have to reconcider after visiting the Iguazu Falls. Moods just seem to improve, until eventually people degenerate into giggling, shreiking messes!``
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