days Time I will be off to Argentina!

days before I return from my travels!

Diary Entries

Travel- Diary Updates, 12th December - 24th December ´03´

Friday 12th December 2003
Today I flew out to Iguazu in the Noth ofArgentina. It was a very hot day with a 2 hour flight to the falls, landing into the jungle. The bus collected me from the Airport and took me the short distance to the 3* hotel where I got my first close view of the Jungle. It is very thick and dence and very green. The hotel was nice with a swimming pool set in the jungle. In the afternoon I walked the 4km or so into town from the Hotle which I found out was going to be a bad idea. This place is very close to the tropic of Capricorn which means the sun is quite intence, even when it is cloudy. During the 40min walk i managed to drink 2 litres of water. In town I went on search for a place to transfer my photos from my camera onto CD so that I could reuse the chips again. his took quite some time and due to the climate this made me ill. Not feeling so good i then got a bus back to the Hotel where I went to bed.

Saturday 13th December 2003
Today the organised tour I had arranged when in Buenos Aires collected me at 8am for the first trip to the falls. This was to be on the Brazillian side with amazing views of the Argentine side. The weather had changed, it was now a tropical rain storm, and the whole of the day was spent getting very wet. The visability was not at its best but still the falls were amazing. So many of them. After the tour which lasted half a day we ate a Brazillian Buffet in the town which was lovely. Helping yourself to salad and vegetables than the waiters coning round to the takes with big chunks of meat on kabab sticks which they shaved off onto your plate. The exotic food I tried here was Chicken hearts, I had 3 of them and they are quite chewy. Afterwrds had a bit of a snooze on the bus as we travelled back to the hotel. The whole day I was feeling pretty rough and the weather didn´t realy help, it was warm but vey wet! Thankfully the hadfulls of drugs kept me going with out any hicups. Got back to the hotal at 3, was asleep by 3:30 and didnt get up till the 8am tour the next day.

Sunday 14th December 2003
Today woke up feeling really bad, could not move my neck and didn´t make it to beakfast, instead my hunger was sorted by the painkillers I needed to move! Well I was back on my feet and again i was on the bus for 8am. I wasn´t going to miss out as today was to visit the Argentine side and walk amongst the waterfalls. In the morning drove to the 3 fronteers of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. Very nice but it had not stopped raining from yesturday, so it was another wet one. Then we visited the falls, very beautiful and after a long walk along a walkway across the vast river I was standing at the top of the ´Devils Throat´ which is the largest fall and lies on the border of Argentina and Brazil. As we arrived the clouds cleared and it stopped raining which allowed for an amazing view of all the falls, the birds started singing and butterflies flying, very beautiful. The whole day was spent walking around the falls on various walkways. I can tell you there is a lot of walking, but it is a must do if you are visiting argentina. Saw many animals including a Tucan in flight, many colourful butterflies, an Armadillo(?), and a few lizzards. In the afternoon the bus took us to the Worlds largest Dam stretching between Paraguay and Argentina. It is BIG! and is used to generate electricity for both Paraguay and Argentina. After the tour back at the hotel was feeling prety rough so went to bed with out eating again.

Monday 15th December 2003
Ok, today there was nothng organised but for an extra 75 pesos (15 Pounds) I went on a tour of the Crystal mines and the old Missions in this part of Argentina. I chanced it as I was still feeling really bad, but I had to max out what little time I had here. The whole day involved a 500km round trip in a pickup truck which luckly had air conditioning as it was a hot one today. I didnt mind as I had a great oppertunity to see a bit of the country. Saw Tea plantations Ucaliptus trees(?), orange trees, and a lot of jungle. First was to the mine where got to see how they find and mine those purple crystal rock thinks. It was very interesting. Bourght some scrap from the shop as it is quite expensive. The area here is famous for its red soil, and since it had been raining loads we saw a lot of it. The missions that we visited were built as small cities and were inhabited a couple hundred years ago, there is lots to tell but I wont go on. The one we visited was one of 30 or so that were eventually overpowered by forces. The other missions were dismantled by people for construction, but this one had been restored. One attraction was a tree that grown completely around one of the stone pillars that once supported a roof. I could see the rock through a small crack in the tree.
In the evening caught the bus into town and transfered my photos from my camera to CD and after had my first beer as i was feeling a bit better. I was joined by an America guy from Chicago who had just arrived in town and who also runs Marathons. So got to speak a bit of English. While enjoying the beer and the chat, I could see the lightening in the distance, another storm on the way. Then the whole towns electricity went down and we were in darkness, and it was a few minutes before the emergency generators kicked in only at the bar we were at. The poor street performers who entertain cars at trafficlights saw it a perfect oppertunity to play with all their fire sticks and juggling with fire. I chose not to show them my firebreathing!

Tuesday 16th December 2003
Today was flying back to La Plata. I wasn´t due to be picked up till the afternoon so used the morning as time to recover and rest at the hotel. I took a brave move and crossed into Brazil on a bus with only a couple of hours befor my pick up. I had only a few Reals (Brazil money) and could speak no Portugese. Spent a few moments looking round Brazil, took the photo below of the Christmas decorations, and then found a bus back to the hotel and had time to stop off at the duty free. With christmas approaching I decided this would be a perfect time for christmas shopping for the family as I was on my own. I had remembered Silvina really wanting a DVD player, and noticed them to be very cheep here, 110 Dollars, 70 pounds. So I got one. Flew back with no problems to Buenos Aires and then a taxi ride to La Plata, with a little confusion over the address took me on a little D-tour.

Wednesday 17th December 2003
Today was back at the house of Silvi and had a nice lie in. After went to the park with one of Silvis friend who has baby girl about 1 year old. There were a lot of mozzys so ended up going back to Silvis house to drink the mate(argentine tea). Silvinas sister arrived home from 18 hours on the bus from her home in Baraloche, where I hope to visit here later. It was nice to see her again, and she speaks very good English.

Thursday 18th December 2003
Today was the hottest day I had witnessed here in Argentina. I think 30 degrees or so. It is making me feel very tired all the time. Went with the family to Carrefore, the big french Supermarket that sells everyting. The family were inviting all their Japonese friends to a party on the 19th and so we had to buy and prepare the food. In the afternoon went into La Plata to organist the Uruguay Holiday I was treating my 2 friends to on Saturday. After back at the house helped perpare the Kababs with lots of different meats ready for the BBQ tomorrow.

Friday 19th December 2003
Today was another hot day. Silvi spent the day with her boyfriend in La Plata and also sorted out the tickets for Uruguay tomorrow, so me and loreley went to her friends house who had a swimming pool in her garden. In the evening was the Japonese get together with many generations attending. There were about 30 people who visited. The BBQ was beautiful and the kababs very nice. I balenced some stuff, and had a go at walking on the stilts. After the party we went to the dancing in La Plata as one of silvis friends had finished her studies and is now a teacher. We stayed at the dancing for only an hour (till 4am) as we had to catch the bus at 5am to Uruguay.

Saturday 20th December 2003
URUGUAY - All day was spent travelling with the girls to Punta del Este in Uruguay. Starting by catching the bus at 5am in Villa Lisa to Buenos aires where we got on the fast boat to Colonia, changed for a bus to the capital Montevideo to catch a further bus to Punta del Este. We had problems in Colonia as the girl in the travel agents had given only 2 vouchers for the bus transfer when there was 3 of us. We had no Uruguain money and only 15 mins to find some. Not nowing the exchange rate I tried to get 200 pesos out of the wall and every time got rejected. The reason was because there are about 45 U-pesos to the pound which is equivelent to 4 pounds! So ended up paying on the card. In the end got on the bus and all was fine. Total trip lasted 10 hours, alot of which was spent sleeping, so no time wasted there.
Arrived at "3 star" hotel which I wouldn´t have give 1 star too. Small room, no aircon, or fridge. I think it was a special budget room just for us. But not important as we only had a total of one and half days here, so dumped our stuff and headded straight to the beach.

PUNTA DEL ESTE is a place for the rich and famous of Argentina and Uruguay, a lot of the prices are marked n Dollars, not many peole live here because the whole place is made up of Holiday appartments in high rise buildings. The streets are very clean and gardens well maintained. It is expensive but of high quality product. It wasnt at its busiest while we were there, but we saw plenty of expensive cars with blacked out windows, and the taxis were all mercedes. I would compare the prices to that of a trip to theseaside in Europe. For me that is quite reasonable, but my friends could not believe the prices being very expensive and well out of price range. I think Silvis father who is a hairdresser earns only about 50p-80p an hour.

On the beach I hired a Jetski for the 3 of us for 15mins U$S20, It was great fun, Silvi didnt like the speed at which I was going But Loreley loved it. Played in the sand for a bit and made a boat and plane. After went for a walk to the peninsula and a look round town. In the evening went to a restaurant in the centre of town where I ordered a slice of beef covered in bread crumbs, very traditional food here, the portion size in this restaurant were amazing and I was not able to finish my first meal while out here, the beef was bigger than the plate, underwhich were a ton of chips, salad, and potatoe salad. Very nice though. The girls struggled too, none of us could move after.

Sunday 21st December 2003
Today we all woke up a bit later than planned, probably because of that meal yesturday, we had a quick breakfast and headed straight for the beachs. And spent the whole day on them. I used the whole of my factor 25 bottle, applying it constantly. The water was cold which was very refreshing from the baking hot sun, going for a dip about every half hour. We did plenty of sunbathing and did not move from the spot all day. not even to eat, as I think the day was spent digesting last nights feast. I went for a half hour run along the beach, splashing in the water and as the sun was setting had a nice full body massage on the beach for 1 hour costing U$S 20, and was worth every cent even though my back was a little red. I learnt that not many English visit this place, but there are a lot of Americans about.
In the Evening went back to the Hotel got changed and headed to a nice restaurant where I was treating the girls to a holiday meal. The restaurant we ended up at was nice and doubled up as a music bar. The girls ordered their drinks and I asked what beer they had. The waitress said we have this nice beer Exported from Scotland would I like to try, I thourght it may be a little expensive but being in a place where if you have to ask the price you canrt afford it I went ahead. The beer was an Ale they served which I do like but not when it is surved out of a chilled bottle as if it was Lager!! I didn´t have the heart or the Spanish in me to explain!
The Meal we had was amazing, I had spaggetti with fruits of the sea, the girls who didn´t like fish ordered Pizza. It was a great atmosphere and I think the girls enjoyed it. We asked for the Bill which by English standards was reasonable but the girls were amazed at how much it was, coming to an amount 3 time more than back in Argentina. There jaws dropped even more when the waitress mentioned that I have to pay a 10% service charge which is normal back in England. I had read in the guide book that you can expect to be charged for service. Then when I thourght they could drop no further they saw how much I had been charged for the beer! 200 Uaguayan pesos which is about 4 pounds. This could buy 20 litre bottles of beer in Argentina! It was no problem and I was happy to pay, the food was beautiful. After we headed to the Casino for a look. It was in a big posh hotel and quite expensive. minimum U$S 10 Poker, and min U$S 2 inside and U$S 10 outside for Roulette. With little cash to hand we werent tempted but we did see some famous people. 2 Footballers who are twins (Gustavo Barroscheloto and his brother), Gustavo plays for Bocca Juniors in BA who recently became Champions of the world against AC Milan, and who finished Champions in Argentina. In the reception I saw a guitar player who I recognised from the Wall of fame in the hotel, but could not read his signature on the picture. All I know is that he is American and old, and his photo was him playing a classical Guitar. I think a lot of Celebrities use this place as an escape.

Monday 22nd December 2003
Today was spent making the long journey back to La Plata. Bus collected us from the Hotel at 11:15 and took us to the bus station. Due to the Boat breaking down during the storm last night we were no longer going to be travelling from Colonia as befor but instead from the capital Montevideo. With any organisation now out of the window we ended up with a 5 hour stop at in the Captal before Check in. We werent complaining as it gave us the oppertunity to wee the city. went into town centre with the girls who enjoyed looking at all the shops. Had a Mc Donalds and then headded back. The day was hot and nice. The boat trip was 3 hours accross the massive river and in the end arrived 2 hours behind what we were initially told. A nice surprise was Silvis parents ar the port to take us home to La plata. We were a bit worried before as to were to catch the bus, especially at 1am in the morning, silvis parents had been waiting for 2 hours for us.

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