Travel diary: Argentinean muscle

Driving across the Andes from Chile into Argentina, the temperature plunged and we were in awe of the surrounding snow capped peaks. The bus driver seemed to aim for the far corner of the hairpin bends as we ascended, seemingly only to turn sharply at the very last moment to avoid a terminal plunge over the edge. He was loving the roads, but being up top on the double decker gave us an all too clear view of what was going on.

The winding roads of the Andes

We survived and made our penultimate land boarder crossing into Argentina and onto Mendoza. Driving in across the wine region, it bared no comparison to other wine areas we had previously visited. Very arid, flat and quite desolate. Not a place I would imagine you could grow grapes but we passed row after row of vines – we found out later that they actually flooded the vines every 15 days, which is how they were able to grow – sustainable these days?!

We found a really luxurious place to stay near the park. It was a hostel but the kitchen was big and spotless, so I was looking forward to getting some local produce and get cooking. Butchers selling beef fillet for 35 peso/kg (about 6 quid!) so I now have lots of tried and tested recipes for beef tenderloin! Argentina seems very civilized compared to the rest of South America and there were lots of things that reminded us of home.

After a day looking around town, we met some like minded alcoholics in the hostel and arranged a bike and wine tour of the area – a well tried and tested combination.

Do you have any full suspension bikes?

The Malbec was much nicer than we expected. Trying the young and aged was interesting and we met a nice lady in the Di Tomassi winery that really knew her stuff and she gave us an extra white to try too. They make a lot of olive oil as well as red wine and balsamic vinegar which is of excellent quality.

After a few tastings and some homemade lasagna, we were hooked on Malbec and making our way back rather slower than when we started off.

After Mendoza, we continued east to Cordoba, a big city with a real student feel to it. Lots of bars and snacky places to eat, surrounded by modern sculptures and old colonial architecture.

One day we traveled outside the city to Alta Gracia where Che Guevara grew up, and visited the house he lived in with his family, which has been converted into a small museum. It was fascinating to read about his life, his travels and his ambitions.

We had to try some of the local BBQ food in the city as we had a few recommendations for good restaurants. We ordered a mixed grill, and that is exactly what you get. It should have been called ‘guess the animal organ’ grill, but apart from the lower intestine it all tasted good. Argentina is not for vegetarians.

From Cordoba we initially planned to head to Rosario, but booking accommodation was proving to be a problem; unlike everywhere else we'd been in South America we had just turned up and found accommodation on the spot, Argentina was not like this. We left it too late and so changed out plans and headed south to Buenos Aires and once we arrived there we were glad we made it down that far.

BA is a huge place with the of hustle and bustle of a capital city, segmented into smaller areas all with their own appeal. We arrived in the rain after our bus broke down on the way. This Argentinean bus driver seem to have a short attention span (with us anyway) and no one would tell us what was going on and we nearly left on the replacement bus without our bags – they made it this far; not going to loose them here of all places!

Assume the position

We stayed in the San Telmo area of BA, which was full of restaurants, nice bars and a few artesan shops. One day we even saw live Tango being performed in one of the squares. On Sunday there is a market and it got quite busy.........

Mothers for justice – 20 years of campaigning for information about their missing children

City cemetery, where the high society of BA are laid to rest including Eva Peron (Evita). It was a stunning day and the crypts were quite beautiful. Strange that a cemetery should be such a tourist attraction.

BA was a nice place to be for a few days but pollution like any big city was pretty bad and we were looking forward to heading north to the lush forests and waterfalls of Iguazu in the north, near the Brazil and Paraguay boarder. We had a 19 hour bus journey ahead of us so decided to go in style and book a 'full service’ bus, which had flat beds, hot food and most importantly, wine! We had an aperitif of the local spirit, Fernet, and after our supper they brought round some bubbly, we couldn’t appear rude could we.

After 19 hours we arrived in Iguazu and could instantly feel the temperature difference. It was warm again and you could smell the greenery in the air. The town of Puerto Iguazu was pretty touristy but had a certain laid back charm to it. There is only one reason to come here and that was to see the waterfalls, which did not disappoint.