On Monday we left Buenos Aires and took the ferry to Uruguay, arriving in the town of Colonia Del Sacromento. The jouney took 3 hours although you can take a more expensive fery and get there in 1 hour. But we wanted to enjoy being on the water on a beautiful day and we are grateful for the extra time as we befriended this lovely Argentinian couple Marte and Michael. They are in their 50s, speak English and own a resturant called Captain Cook funnily enough (they offered Jeb a job!). We discussed Argentinian politics, trade and industry, culture, history etc and left ferry after 3 hours feeling so much wiser. I tried my first mate which is a national drink like tea and is everywhere in Argentina and Uruguay. The leaf is called yerba and it is kinda like a green tea but much stronger and you drink it with a metal or wooden straw. The mate cup is traditionally made out of pumpkin, but modern varities are made other materials too. People walk aound eveywhere carrying their thermos under their arm to refill their mate.
So we arrived in Colonia and explored this picturesque port town which was founded by the Portguese in 1680 to smuggle goods across the Rio de la Plata river to Buenos Aires. There are cobblestone streets and old world charm. Its beautifully restored and as a result, quite touristy but not in a bad way. Definitely worth checking out and our timing couldnt have been better as it was the annual Carnavale in Colonia on this Monday night. In South America, eveything starts kicking off really late so even for a Monday in this small town, the festivities beagn about 10.30pm. A parade rolled though the main streets with latino dancing and an afro rhythm beat supplied by a drumming procession of about 20 guys. Leading the procession were dancers of all ages, young girls, beautiful women and old grannies mostly wearing very little and showing their finest backside assets. The parade finished in a street where their was more dancing and bands and beer stalls and meat bbq stalls. Great entertainment for a Monday night, and a chance to experience some authencti street culture.
But not much else to do in Colonia so we took the bus the next day to the capital city Montevideo and spent 2 nights there. Travelling with a expat Brit Aussie guy and a Brit lady, we wandered down to the Mercado del Puetro which is basically a big market of parillas (steakhouses) where you can enjoy the hugest steaks and red wine. So we indulged again.
Whilst in Montevideo we went to the beach for a swim. The water is brown- looking due to the rocks and silt so not quite the beautiful blue waters of Sydeny but lovely soft sand and the water was warmer than Sydney has been of late so very refreshing in this summer heat. Checked out a few bars with people but Montevideo is not a huge city so 2 nights was enough and we headed back to Argentina.
Generally speaking though, i found Uruguay to be really pleasant, very green with lots of pastures and trees, and well kept building of European architecture and clean streets. The people we met were also really friendly and we enjoyed our stay.
Left Montevideo by bus to a sleepy town called Carmelo to get a different ferry back to Argentina and a city called Tigre which is about an hour north of BA. Tigre is on the Rio Del Plata and the lifestyle is centred around the river with rowing and boating. Tigre has money and is weekend getaway destination for portenos (people of Agentina), but its beautiful and leafy and relaxing. I had got the flu a little so it was a nice place to recover. Asking for flu medication in Spanish was a challenge i had to face but it was successful and im feeling much better now! Went to the mate musuem whilst we were there and had a guide who spoke no english but we got the gist of things and have now bought ouselves a mate cup and some yerba!
We went to Tigre because the Argentinian couple we met on the fery to Uruguay have their restuarnt there, so we went for lunch (was a mission and we got lost as not really somewhere western tourists go!) The restarant was on the marina and it was awesome. Marte likes Asian cooking and had told us about her Thai influenced dishes, so we enjoyed one of the best Thai green curies ever, plus an adaption of san choy boy. Was awesome food and we got a special tour of the marina and the very expensive boats moared there. Our new friends would not let us pay, so we were very lucky and left totally satisified to catch the train back to Buenos Aiers.
Which is where we are now. And its Jebs birthday today so we are going to head out tonight i think. Will keep you posted....
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Photos from Buenos Aires and Uruguay
here are some photos from Buenos Aires and the Colonia in Urguguay...can't edit yet so just uploaded all....
http://picasaweb.google.com/nicandjeb/NicolesPhotosSouthAmerica?authkey=VQdAvmcCwFk&feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/nicandjeb/NicolesPhotosSouthAmerica?authkey=VQdAvmcCwFk&feat=directlink
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Buenos Aires
Day 5 in Buenos Aires and we are starting to get the hangs of things over here. The first 3 nights we stayed in the city centre and wandered around checking out the architecture, Recoleta cemetary (where Argentian aristocrats and Evita is buried) and other key sights (will post photos of places later, but can´t download straight from camera to blog or flikr - or can i? If anyone knows, please email me. For now, i will be posting pics in bulk every couple of weeks). So for now, you just get some idle ramble and thoughts about BA from me.
And what better way to start than beer. The local beer is called Quilmes and its good. You can buy it for 4 pesos from the Supermercado (my new favourite word, but even better is the `Disco Supermercado´ which is like a chain of supermarkets over here). To clarify folks, thats about $2 aussie dollars for 650ml. Needless to say, Jeb is happy about that! Another cheap success story has been steak. Massive cuts of meat and its available everywhere. Without understanding a word of the menu on our 2nd night, we were served this fantastic steak and salad meal which costs about $10 each. Bueno! But not all things are so cheap, for example, accomodation is probably double what it said in the guidebook. This is not helped by the global financial crisis and the fall of the aussie dollar. Lots of things are in US dollars for comparison purposes, so we are paying a bit more than expected but all good and this is probably going to be the most expensive city on our travels anyway.
Yesterday we took the subway to an area called Palermo which is a leafy neighbourhood on the city fringe filled with huge parks, and lots of resturants, bars and cafes. A shop sign described it perfectly - bougeouis bohemian. The area is trendy with a fantastic weekend market where i wanted to buy everything i saw. It reminds me of a cross between Surry Hills, Paddington and some northern city suburb. On the other end of Palermo are grand, ornate consulate buildings and wealthy residences where ladies walk their designer dogs but with less pretensiousness than other cities.
My Spanish is improving every day, or at least i am getting more confident. I am also now tutoring Jeb with 2 new words or phrases a day, and he is an a great student. After some very confusing language experiences (especially on the bus...argghh!!), we are practising with each other and looking at the phrasebook frequently so will continue to improve.
Last night it stormed and rained heavily and being a Sunday today, most things are closed (perhaps as it´s the Sabbath in this Catholic dominant country). Feeling vegie deficient already in this land of meat, potato and cheese, we cooked a vegie stirfry last night despite struggling to find any kind of asian sauce or soy to cook it with. Tonight we are back to steak before leaving tommorrow to get the ferry to Uruguay and spend a couple of days there. Hopefully the rain will pass and we will come back to BA for tango, antique markets and a La Boca futball (soccer) game next weekend.
And what better way to start than beer. The local beer is called Quilmes and its good. You can buy it for 4 pesos from the Supermercado (my new favourite word, but even better is the `Disco Supermercado´ which is like a chain of supermarkets over here). To clarify folks, thats about $2 aussie dollars for 650ml. Needless to say, Jeb is happy about that! Another cheap success story has been steak. Massive cuts of meat and its available everywhere. Without understanding a word of the menu on our 2nd night, we were served this fantastic steak and salad meal which costs about $10 each. Bueno! But not all things are so cheap, for example, accomodation is probably double what it said in the guidebook. This is not helped by the global financial crisis and the fall of the aussie dollar. Lots of things are in US dollars for comparison purposes, so we are paying a bit more than expected but all good and this is probably going to be the most expensive city on our travels anyway.
Yesterday we took the subway to an area called Palermo which is a leafy neighbourhood on the city fringe filled with huge parks, and lots of resturants, bars and cafes. A shop sign described it perfectly - bougeouis bohemian. The area is trendy with a fantastic weekend market where i wanted to buy everything i saw. It reminds me of a cross between Surry Hills, Paddington and some northern city suburb. On the other end of Palermo are grand, ornate consulate buildings and wealthy residences where ladies walk their designer dogs but with less pretensiousness than other cities.
My Spanish is improving every day, or at least i am getting more confident. I am also now tutoring Jeb with 2 new words or phrases a day, and he is an a great student. After some very confusing language experiences (especially on the bus...argghh!!), we are practising with each other and looking at the phrasebook frequently so will continue to improve.
Last night it stormed and rained heavily and being a Sunday today, most things are closed (perhaps as it´s the Sabbath in this Catholic dominant country). Feeling vegie deficient already in this land of meat, potato and cheese, we cooked a vegie stirfry last night despite struggling to find any kind of asian sauce or soy to cook it with. Tonight we are back to steak before leaving tommorrow to get the ferry to Uruguay and spend a couple of days there. Hopefully the rain will pass and we will come back to BA for tango, antique markets and a La Boca futball (soccer) game next weekend.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
We arrived!
So after 24 hours+ in transit, we arrived in Buenos Aires last night. My jetlagged fuzzy Spanish kicked in and we managed to drink cervezas, change some money to pesos and finally pass out. Today is a beautiful 30 degrees and we are going exploring. Cant´t work out how to turn caps off on this spanish keyboard so going to go now. ...adios!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
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