Bariloche and the Argentine Lake District

We have been staying in Argentine lake district around Bariloche. Its a stunningly beautiful area of lakes, forests, mountains and Swiss chalet style buildings. The only thing that stops it from being picture postcard perfect are the annoying horse flies that live up in the mountains and aren't in anyway detered by our 100% deet repellent.

After spending a night in Bariloche we went straight off on a three day trek from Lago Gutierrez to Villa Catedral. The first day we walked along the lake and up through the forest with our rucksacks. Steve moaned his way through the first day but cheered up on the second when we left the forest behind and arrived at Refugio Frey, next to a beautiful lake in the mountains. The third day was a pretty steep climb with some breathtaking views but also some frightening scrambles over rocks and snow. Eventually we arrived very tired at the Catedral ski resort to find lots of kids playing on sledges in dirty snow, a cafe selling snacks and cold drinks and a ski lift to take us down to Villa Catedral.

Exhuasted we spent a couple of days recovering in Colonia Suiza, a small village on Lago Nahual Huapi, founded by two Swiss brothers and complete with a tiny Swiss style chapel. We also went on a boat trip across the lake to visit the Parque Nacional Los Arrayanes which was created to protect Arrayan trees, which are very weird looking orange and white native trees.

We then decided to go on another hike, this time up from Colonia Suiza to Laguna Negra in the mountains, where we camped for the night. Although the lake was very beautiful it was a little bit of an anticlimax after the dramatic scenery of the area around Refugio Frey. Also there were so many horse flies that we spent most of our time there swiping each other to keep the terrible little pests at bay!

We are now back in Bariloche. The plan is to do yet another hike, around Mount Tronador, and some kayaking before we fly down to El Calafate early next week.

Puerto Madryn and Trelew

We have just spent a week in northern Patagonia exploring the area around Puerto Madryn and Trelew which is famous for its wildlife.

We met up with some friends Mo and Pete, who we last saw at their wedding in August just before they set off on their own round the world trip. Despite making the arrangements it was pretty mad to have them knocking on our hotel door in Trelew, even stranger to discover that Pete had grown an enormous Brian Blessed style beard.

Trelew is a small town that was founded by Welsh people who emigrated to Patagonia in the 19th century to get away from the English. There is a Welsh village called Gaiman near to Trelew where we went to have afternoon tea and cakes. The cakes were gorgeous but Gaiman didn't feel much like a Welsh village. It´s a small, windswept, little place laid out in a grid and surrounded by the flat, desolate Patagonian plains. We did however have a taxi driver called David Hughes, which isn't a typical Argentine name!

From Trelew we also went to visit Punta Tombo, a nature reserve with around two hundred thousand Magellanic Penguins. Everywhere I looked there were penguins, in fact it was hardly possible to move without tripping over them. The fluffy, juvenile penguins hang around their nests, which are usually either in bushes or burrows in the ground. The adult penguins take it in turns to go to and from the sea to catch fish which they regurgitate into the months of the baby penguins, who fight like mad with their siblings to see who can get the most! You can see the adult penguins waddling down the hill slowly, then diving in under the surf and speeding off like underwater bullets.

One of the things that surprised me was how friendly and inquisitive the penguins at Punta Tombo are. Some of them walk right up to you to get a good look, others hang out in the car park or in the middle of the road. Sadly there were a few tourists at Punta Tombo who seemed unable to understand that they were visiting wild animals. One family brought in a dog, not even on a lead, which terrified the penguins until it was removed. Another man, who unfortunately didn´t get bitten, was trying to stroke the penguins. I think because of this it would probably be better if visitors to Punta Tombo were kept away from the actual nests on a raised walkway. That way curious penguins would have still have the option of coming to visit the tourists, while the others were left in relative peace.

Our next stop was Puerto Madryn, a pleasant seaside town, where lots of Argentines go for their summer holidays. We went on a windy walk down the coast to visit the EcoCentro where there are interesting exhibitions on marine life in Patagonia. The EcoCentro also has a viewing tower with sofas and books on wild life where you can contemplate the ocean and in the autumn see whales in the bay.

From Puerto Madryn we visited the Reserva Faunistica Penisula Valdes on a day trip. There we saw Southern Elephant Seals, Southern Sea Lions, Rheas, more Magellanic Penguins and some crazy looking hairy Armadillos running round a car park.

The most spectacular thing we saw were the hundreds of Southern Sea Lions at Punta Norte at the top of the peninsular. There are constant fights between the huge males over who is going to get the most female sea lions for his harem, nearly squashing the cubs in the process. Apparently Killer Whales (Orcas) are often seen at Punta Norte particularly in late February and early March. There had been a sighting of a group just two days before we visited but unfortunately we weren´t lucky enough to see any.

We have now said goodbye to Mo and Pete, who are back off to England via Buenos Aires and Rio, and we are heading off to Bariloche in the Argentine lake district.

Raining in Buenos Aires

My first thought when I arrived in Buenos Aires was that I no longer stuck out quite so much as a foreigner because so many Argentines are of European descent.

Unfortunately, I pretty quickly realised that the women here in Buenos Aires are very well dressed. My hiking boots, quick drying t-shirt and kakhi trousers that are supposed to cleverly convert into shorts, make me as obviously a tourist as if I were in a small Bolivian village!

Buenos Aires is not really comparable to European cities like Paris, Rome or London in terms of the sites to see or the beauty of the architecture. There is a pretty area called San Telmo with cobbled streets and antique shops and a tree lined residential area with lots of parks called Palermo. However much of central Buenos Aires is made up of quite ordinary streets and boulevards laid out in a grid, with plenty of traffic and not too many squares or green spaces.

The most fun thing about Buenos Aires are all the cafes, bars, restaurants and shows. There is a cafe on every corner and some of the restaurants look pretty much like trendy places in Notting Hill Gate, Islington or Hoxton in London. The big difference is that you can have dinner with wine here for $10. Argentine wine is really good too!

Before getting to Argentina we had met lots of hungry backpackers in Bolivia raving about Argentine steak and how amazing it is. I dont eat meat, but Steve´s impression is that the steak here is very nice but not actually any different to a good steak in the UK or anywhere else. Maybe it all depends how into steak you are...

We have also been to see some tango. Both the dancing and the music were really good. The traditional cafe we were watching it in felt like it probably hadnt changed much since the 1930s. Surprisingly Steve, who usually hates this type of thing and wanted to leave the one ballet we have been to in the interval, enjoyed it as well. Tonight is our last night in Buenos Aires so I think that we will probably go again.

Our next move is a 20 hour bus ride (this country is huge!) down to Puerto Madryn in northern Patagonia to see some penguins.

Adios a Mexico

We spent our last few days in Mexico staying in Merida in the Yucatan Peninsular. The most interesting thing we saw was a Mayan site called Chichen Itza which is a couple of hours drive from Merida.

I got quite bad vertigo climbing up the Pyramid of Kukulkán in Chichen Itza. The stone steps go directly upwards without any landings. This seemed ok on the way up, but after avoiding the issue for a while by chatting to other tourists, I ended up by coming back down on my bum.

There is also a large ball court in Chichen Itza where the Mayans used to play their favourite sport. There are faint pictures around the court that show ball game players being decapitated. The information sign says that the winning team in the ball game would gain the honor of being sacrificed to the gods. Personally, human nature being what it is, I bet it was the losing team that got sacrificed. Otherwise it would have been a pretty boring game, with all the players trying really hard not to score!

On the 6th January we got up early to get our flight to Mexico City from where my Dad had a connecting flight to London. Unfortunately it turned out that I had actually booked the flight from Merida to Mexico City for the 1st June and the date printed on my eticket receipt was in American date format (where they put the month first). Fortunately there was still some space left on the plane so it all worked out ok.

Palenque

We spent a couple of days relaxing in San Cristobal de las Casas before moving on to Palenque. Palenque is a small, modern town surrounded by the Mexican jungle.

This area of Mexico is called Chiapas and has quite a different feel from the rest of the country. There are a lot more indigeneous people and quite a few of the women wear traditional dress. Strangely this includes a furry skirt, which seems ok for San Cristobal but not so useful in Palenque which is hot and humid.

Chiapas is also home to the Zapatistas, a left wing guerilla movement that wants more rights for indigeneous people. They briefly took over San Cristobal in the 1990s before being removed by the Mexican army.

The Zapatistas have now renounced violence and their leader Sub Commandante Marcos has just started a tour of Mexico, due in Palenque the day after we left, according to our bus driver. We spotted a truck full of Zapatistas while taking a taxi ride in San Cristobal. The black balaclavas that they wear dont make them look very friendly!

The main thing to see in Palenque are the ruins just outside of town. Lots of pyramids again but this time many have existing buildings on top. The big difference though, from the other ruins that we have seen in Mexico, is the beautiful setting. The surrounding forest and waterfalls make it a beautiful and relaxing place to be.

On New Years day we went to the Misol-Ha waterfall and then Agua Azul, a stretch or waterfalls and river about an hour from Palanque. Its a brilliant place for swimming and I stayed in for ages. You have to be careful not to go near the rapids though, crosses on the bank mark the places where unfortunate people took their last dip.

We have now reached Merida on the Yucatan penisular which is going to be our last stop in Mexico.