Hola Argentina - The home of wine, steak, tango and football - Lets get started!
Mendoza
After spending the last few weeks exploring Patagonia we departed Santiago Chile for an 8 hour bus ride over the Andes mountain range and across the border to Mendoza Argentina. While we normally take night buses for these kind of long journeys, for this we decided for a daytime bus to catch the scenery as we veered over the mountain range. Although we were lucky enough to have a window seat on the upper deck of the bus to catch the panoramic views, it was hard to stay awake for the entire journey so a few hours of mouth wide open sleep was had.
Mendoza, if you don't know already is one of Latin Americas top wine making regions with famous names like Malbec and Pinot Noir at the forefront. But let's be honest, rather than become Ireland's next top sommeliers, we were there for some guilt free indulgence and indulge we did! Although it's easy to enjoy the city of Mendoza from the bottom of a wine glass, the area also boasts wide leafy streets and surrounding plazas where hoards of people relax in the afternoon sun enjoying their wine fuelled lunches which seem to last for hours. As one wanders through the trendy streets, there is never too far away a homage to General Jose de San Martin who led Argentina , Peru and Chile in revolution against the Spanish, a national hero it seems.
Ok back to the main reason why we were here...the wine of course!
The next morning after a day exploring the city, we got ourselves a set of wheels and cycled out to the region of Maipu where all that Malbec and Pinot Noir was patiently waiting for us. Under the reliably clear blue skies we spent the next few hours visiting some of the regions best bodegas (wineries) and with each tasting, feeling like our social status had been unequivocally elevated. The bodegas we visited included Meui ,Tempus Alba and the real famous one, Trapiche. On a side note, one thing I did realise after drinking all the wine in Maipu was how absurdly over inflated the prices are on wine back home in Ireland but hey, what isn't a rip off back home.
After a few different tastings I thought I was beginning to 'do wine' pretty well. Like when we drunkenly swerved our bikes back to the bike rental shop to be served some of their in house home brewed wine which upon first tasting lacked the same depth and aroma as some of the other wines we had just tried... but really, whose going to turn down free wine! After our final hour of boozing free wine in Maipu we somehow managed to get the bus back to Mendoza where we slept off our hangovers before catching a flight the next day to Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, Argentinas big cosmopolitan capital combines European grandeur with Latin passion. It oozes sex appeal and the passion of the people is completely infectious. Buenos Aires would be where we drank even MORE wine, ate ALL the Asado, gained a few extra pounds and most notably met up with some old Argentinian friends we made in Georgia, one of our first stops on our year long trip. Felix and Tomi are two cousins born and reared in the heart of the city but surprisingly enough have plenty of Irish in their blood and even have their own Irish passports. Tomi kindly offered to let us stay in his stylish city terrace house who he shares with his mother and feisty cat while we explored what the city had to offer (which was a lot!). As new comers to the world of Asado ,one evening on his balcony, Tomi kindly cooked us up a delicious Asado which I forgot to mention above, is a delicious traditional Argentinian barbecue. The carnivores of Argentina really know how to cook up a good smoky storm while they sit back, relax and stuff their stomachs with mouth watering meat and copious amounts of wine.
Tomi and his cousin Felix as mentioned above have plenty of Irish in their blood. They know a whole lot Irish stuff, shamefully I'd even say more than Paul and I combined. From the history of the troubles and to a cúpla focal as Gaeilge. Tomi even boasted a fantastic Cuban/Irish rebel jersey and both have visited the emerald Isle on numerous occasions. Thankfully for us they and their friends also spoke fluent English which was of great relief to us as our Spanish, even after being in South America for about 6 weeks was really not very good with the most we could muster up being 'dónde está el baño?' (where is the bath room?) or 'una cerveza por favor!' (one beer please!). They didn't seem to mind too much as it was chance for them to brush up on some of their English while at the same time trying to teach us some Spanish.
FOOOOD - Ok food in Argentina, is kind of a big deal, like in most countries really but in Argentina it really is a big deal. From maté to asado to red wine to empanadas I swear we spent most of our time here eating and drinking, which was of course perfectly fine by me! 'Maté?' I hear you say...well maté is a traditional South American caffeine rich infused drink which people drink as freely and openly as water. It's an obsession in these parts, just like a cup of Barry's tea back home. I will be honest though, I gave this drink a try on a number of occasions being open to new culinary delights from around the globe but on each occasion, clenched my eyes in slight disgust as for me there was nothing delightful about the leafy grassy taste of the maté. I was more about the wine in these parts so decided from then on to stick to what I know and enjoy and leave the maté to the true Argentinians. From our previous few months of travels, trying to reduce the amount of meat I ate was something I was considering, seeing first hand the implications of climate change......... but then we got to Argentina....and in Argentina meaty asados and empanadas are EVERYWHERE and boy are they mouth watering tasty. The best thing about empanadas is that they are CHEAP and of course when you are backpacking, cheap is always a bonus.
When we took a break from all the eating we spent the rest of our time digesting our food and wine filled bellies by wandering through the streets of Buenos Aires and the endless districts available to explore including San Telmo, Palermo and Recoleta, each offering colourfully creative street artwork many of which portraying the infamous football players to grace the Argentinian football grounds to beautiful green open spaces where people mellow out under the mid-day sun while sipping on copious amounts of Maté.
One of my favourite places to visit in the city was Recoleta Cometary. One would usually consider cemeteries depressingly dark and underground affairs but Recoleta certainly turned that around for us - not least because most of the graves are above the ground. For me this cemetery oozed character, incredible rawness and plenty of hidden sightes of simple beauty where behind the dilapidated graves one knew that fascinating stories were buried. The area is surprisingly like a little mini city with high rise crypts that pay tribute to the wealthy deceased. One of the most famous people buried here is Eva Perón, a much respected and powerful unofficial political figure of the 1940's loved by the lower Argentinian economic classes.
This place was very over the top. Really interesting but as we walked through the narrow paths we found it, at the same time strangely unsettling with many over the top graves in total disrepair as those buried here are presumably now long forgotten despite their once great memorial. Many of the graves glass surrounds and concrete facades have become cracked and broken over the years and now lie in mounds of dust and cobwebs with the coffins resting within arms reach of onlookers. An understandably bleak sight to some, but for me, incredibly fascinating!
Ok, so coming to Argentina, I was really looking forward to learning some Tango. For those that aren't familiar, Tango is a partner dance that originated in the 1880s along the natural border between Uruguay and Argentina. Just like the people of Argentina, this dance form is full of passion, intimacy and sensuality. I have dabbled in some dance in my time, from hip hop to Irish dance so would consider myself to have some sort of ability to follow the rhythm of music but Paul on the other hand, his only experience of dance would be jumping up and down at a rock concert, if you can even call that dance? I was adamant I wanted to give tango a go seen as we were in the motherland but Paul, of course was less eager, however after some gentle coaxing and a lot of guilt tripping...he caved. After a bit of research we found a dance club, which offered the likes of us newbies the chance to learn to dance the tango and witness the locals do it proper at their Friday night Milongas.
Ok, let me be blunt and say that Pauls ability (or inability!) to dance the tango was really non-existent. Rather than move in fluid motion around the large open dance floor while passionately embracing we instead stomped in right angles while whispering 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 trying to remember our foot placement while at the same time trying not to step on each others toes. It really wasn't a pretty sight with us spending up to an hour floundering around in circles on the dance floor! But I do give us an 'A' for effort.
After our pretty pathetic attempt at trying to dance, it was time to enjoy the locals move with grace and elegance during their weekly Milonga. A Milonga is like a night club, but solely dedicated to dancing the Tango where there are no qualms about showing up on your own where you will be sure to find yourself a partner for at least a few dances no matter your age, young or old. It was a beautiful sight to watch as more and more people gathered as the night wore on to effortlessly move in synchronisation around the floor with people of all ages pairing up for a spin. All I could do was look on and wish that we could be as graceful!
March 24 is an important day for Argentinians and is known as Argentina’s Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice. It serves as an official remembrance of the period of state-sponsored terror that occurred during the military dictatorship between the years 1976 and 1983. This dictatorship would be responsible for the murder, torture, and disappearances of thousands over those 7 years. It is a public holiday and every year huge crowds turn out to commemorate and honour the memory of those effected. Felix and Tomi kindly invited us to head into the main city centre area where we could take part and follow these huge crowds as they made their way up to Plaza de Mayo to catch a glimpse of the Madres and Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo.
Madres and Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo otherwise known as Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo are a group of women who have fought over the last number of decades to find the children who were kidnapped during the regime and restore them to their legitimate families. They wear white headscarves as a symbol of courage and the relentless battle for justice. As they made speeches in the middle of Plaza de Mayo we could only get a small glimpse of their headscarfs as the crowds were so big. Everyone listened intently and hung on every word they said. Almost 400 grandchildren have been recovered over the decades by their efforts. It was great to see such passion displayed by the Argentinians and the fact that they refuse to forget their past no matter how tumultuous it was.
Looking up the top things to do in Buenos Aires will always throw up a visit to La Boca neighbourhood. Located in the south of Buenos Aires and famous for its soccer team (more on that later) and colourful houses, we decided to pay a visit. We went early afternoon as almost every guide we read said it is unsafe for tourists after dark (this would be put to the test later) and decided to take a walking tour to learn a bit more on this historical barrio. Our guide explained the importance of the neighbourhood in its location beside a port and how it was so heavily influenced by immigration, especially from Italy. It was a poor area and the men built their houses from material found on the ships and painted them with any leftover paint that could be gotten. What resulted were houses built from wood, sheet metal and corrugated iron painted in wonderfully bright colours. The main area, Caminito was jam packed with tourist 'tat' and gimmicks that we didn't have much time for. We did enjoy the open air tango on the streets and wandering down the quieter side streets which were just as colourful. The other thing this neighbourhood is famed for is football and as luck would have it, there was a game on that evening.
Buenos Aires has the largest concentration of football clubs in the world but the pick of the best are Boca Juniors and River Plate. The two clubs are only 7km away from each other and while watching the Superclásico between the two can be found on many 'Sporting things to do' lists our timing meant a Boca v Banfield was on the cards.
Boca are an incredibly popular football club so finding tickets would prove to be difficult. We had checked online and there was plenty of agencies offering tickets and 'safe' travel to and from the stadium but it was very expensive so, as ever we strove to find a workaround. We had met a fellow football fan in a hostel who said he might be able to hook us up with tickets so we eagerly awaited word from him as we wandered around the Boca neighbourhood. However his contact fell through so we were left wandering the streets as dark approached trying to decide what to do. We definitely stuck out like sore thumbs and it wasn't long before some ticket touts approached. We had heard some horror stories about fake tickets and mugging involving touts so we quite cautious approached, especially since this tout looked very 'rough'. Not a word of English did he have and with our Spanish not the best we tried to get the help of some english speaking Boca fans. They did some translation for us and they said the tout had tickets and wanted us to go to a 'restaurant' nearby to do the deal. They strongly recommended we stay put out in the open and get the tout to bring the tickets to us. However they had to rush off and we were left alone with the tout once more. It was getting close to kick off so we said 'Feck it' let's just go and try to get the tickets. It was really a case of now or never. As we got led away from the hustle and bustle and the streets became darker, we were looking at each other thinking 'What are we doing!?' but after a short while we surprisingly did end up in some form of a restaurant where our tout dropped us off (and got his fee) and we dealt with the 'owner' who had the tickets. He was actually quite pleasant and sold us the tickets (a rip pff by local standards but less than the price of a game over here). He even arranged for his two kids to bring us into the stadium and show us where to go. Moral of the story, sometimes it's better just to go with your gut and ignore the sensible advice and hey, we got ourselves to a world famous Boca game!
Once inside we got a great view of Estadio Alberto J. Armando or La Bombonera stadium as it's more commonly known, 'The Chocolate Box'. The Boca fans are famous for their intensity and we weren't let down inside. From start to finish it was non stop singing, chanting and jumping up and down behind the goal. It was a workout in itself. The goals Boca scored helped keep the place hopping and the final scoreline was 2-0. We left delighted we took a chance on our dodgy ticket tout and grabbed an Uber back to our hostel after an eventful day. Time to plan for our short hop and skip up to Iguazu Falls.
Iguazu
After a quick 90 minute flight on the Argentinian version of Ryanair we landed in Puerto Iguazu for 2 days of exploring the monster that is Iguazu Falls which straddles the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. With over 275 waterfalls in total we decided to visit them from both the Argentinian side as well as from the Brazilian side. Walking along the circuits and boardwalks on the Argentinian side got us right up close and personal to some of the biggest falls. It was amazing to see the sheer force of the water cascade down so close to us. One of the highlights was Garganta del Diablo or Devils Throat. It has been described as an ocean plunging into an abyss, and that’s pretty accurate. We stood on the platform looking down into a vacuum of mist and rainbows bursting outwards. Mother nature at its finest. As we ambled through the walkways we also caught a glimpse of some wildlife, the Toucan bird reminding us of Guinness from home. The next day we jumped on a bus that would take us across the boarder and into Brazil. It was funny adding a Brazilian stamp on our passports even though we would only be there for a few hours. The Brazil side gave us a panoramic view of the waterfalls and we could really see and appreciate their enormous size.
Salta and Jujuy
Who said road trip? We had arrived in the city of Salta to explore its surroundings which we heard made for a memorable driving trip full of different landscapes and scenery. Once we got our rental car sorted we headed North into the neighbouring province of Jujuy and to the towns of Tilcara and Purmamarca. The whole area is famous for its colourful rock formations. A feast for the eyes. We paid a visit to Cerro de los Siete Colores (Hill of Seven Colours). A geography teachers dream whom I'm sure can explain its formation better than I could. It was like an artist had picked up his brush coated the hillsides in these magnificent colours. Purmamarca was a tiny little town quite close that seemed to survive mostly on tourism. Plenty of souvenirs but alas no room in our 40L backpacks. We got our trusty (and cheap) Menu Del Dia (Menu of the day) and checked out the route for the following day.
Day two of our road trip saw us doubling back into the Salta province and head for a town called Cachi via the famous 'Ruta 40' road in our trusty Chevrolet.
What we couldn't get over during the long day journeying in the car was the vast change of scenery. As we left the colourful hills of Jujuy behind we entered into lush green valleys with hairpin bends bringing us up and up and up (well over 3000m) to spectacular panoramic viewpoints. We were stopping the car nearly at every bend to take it all in. Once we went over the pass we were once again hit with a new landscape, like we had been transported to a different country altogether. We were now faced with a desert landscape of cacti and small shrubs. When I think of a cactus I think of those small tiny ones you can get in shops to put on your windowsill at home. Not these ones! We had great fun checking out the different weird shapes and forms we came across and making the odd crude joke about certain ones. After a long day in the car we eventually rolled into the quaint little town of Cachi. The locals here were very relaxed and not much was happening. The odd tourist here and there but a very sleepy little place. We found ourselves a nice place to stay and even some late night entertainment with some local tunes.
Day three saw us set off nice and early from Cachi and make our way towards Cafayate, another town famous for it's vino. Unfortunately the roads were little more than dusty gravel routes which made the first part of our trip slow and frustrating as we didn't want to end up with a flat tyre in such an isolated place. After a gruelling two hours in the car we entered Quebrada de las Flechas or canyon of the arrows. Like something you would imagine on a different planet, we were able to climb up onto the various viewpoints to gaze out on the pointed vista of rock formations with this time, not a cactus in sight.
We drove for another hour and finally arrived in Cafayate where we were eager to put our new wine tasting skills we acquired in Mendoza to the test. After sipping our way through a few more tastings in some picturesque vineyards we made our way back into town where we wanted to try the local ice-cream which, you guessed it, was wine flavoured - delicious. Cafayate was very laid back and not overly touristy which we liked. The next morning we went to a local goats cheese producer to sample some of their wares before hopping back in the car and heading back to Salta to finish off a wonderful road trip.
The final leg of the journey saw us take Route 68 back towards Salta and not long after we had left Cafayate we had entered into Quebrada de Las Conchas. Once more the backdrop had taken a dynamic twist, this time the rocks turning a rusted red colour with valleys and rock formations sprawling at every glance. We actually came across a film shoot who, after a few quick conversation with some of the staff, we learned were filming an advert for a car company. I'm not sure on the plot however as the actors looked like a cross between Robin Hood and Xena Warrior Princess! After dropping our rental car back in Salta we got ready for yet another night bus bringing us closer to our next South American destination.
It was a long sad goodbye to Argentina for now, but this South American country really was a welcome surprise with all the food, wine, amazing scenery and infectious people we could ask for. Our bellies were full and our hearts and minds even more so. It was a bye for now but it was time to get ourselves back into Chile and onwards Bolivia.
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