Argentina part V and last

Last thing I wrote was about the Peninsula Valdez. We drove there in the morning, and first of all went to get a room in the only town on it. So we got a room and headed to the dirt roads that we "love" so much in Argentina. We drove all day on the peninsula and saw all kinds of animals, like sea lions and sea elephants, penguins and other birds, sheep, an armadillo (which ran to us and tried eating our food!) capybaras running away from us on the road to the field, big guanacos also- crossing our way running so elegantly and more. We finished our round on the half island and went to the town where we slept. We had really good sea food for dinner, and a nice walk in sundown on the beach. It was really quiet and calm.
The next day we drove back to Puerto Madryn and tried to take advantage of the day. I must say that I don't really remember what we did that day :-) I guess that we just relaxed. I remember meeting a nice Argentine girl in the hostel, who was traveling alone. We had a chat over lunch.
From there we took a flight back to Buenos Aires, for a few last days in Argentina, in which we ate a lot of really good steak (got really good tips from a friend who lived there a couple of years ago), I especially recommend the restaurant La Cabrera, which makes steaks to almost gourmet food (their side dishes that come with the meal are amazing and the meat itself was the best we had in Argentina). We also shopped and bought some nice stuff for both of us (I could stay there and shop till I drop, but you know... my bank account is not unlimited... sadly!) There are such nice and original things in Buenos Aires. They really have nice taste in clothes, very individual but still stylish and up to date. It is really fun walking through the nice stores in Palermo, and browsing through the Argentine designers shops.
We enjoyed our last days there a lot, just a shame that on the last day our hostel experienced an exploded water pipe, which resulted in no water for more then 24 hours. we were sent to take a shower in their other branch 10 min walk away. But never mind. We felt as if it's a sign for us to leave, to make us a bit less sad that we have to go back home, from lovely summer to winter...

Argentina is a great place to go visit. It's different landscapes, it's amazingly nice people, it's really nice food, it's great shopping and huge variety of things to do that can fit just about any tourist... It's really a dream... Highly recommended!!!

I'll see how I put pictures, whether I just add some to the posts I wrote or give a link to an album.

That's it about Argentina, I still want to write a post of thoughts about it at some point, but not right now.

Argentina part IV

So... where was I? I think we were on that Peninsula for a hike. Walking to the end of it was really nice. It´s 13km, that took us a bit less than 3 hours. We had a nice picnic in a nice quiet little place, and then headed back. On the way back, after about 2km of walking I realized that my hiking boots give me really bad blisters... the way back took about the same as the way there, although most was down hill. I got really bad blisters, that Rob had to pop open so I could even walk on my feet. But the next day we mostly drove, only walked a bit to see a cool glacier (black one), and so my feet heeled a bit.
We drove to a town called El Bolson, a small town in Patagonia, that is known for being a hippy town, but to me looked more touristic than cool. non the less it was really nice there. We did a short hike the next day, in the woods. After a while the scenerey all looks the same, and although it´s still really beautiful, we were really ready for a change. Luckily we were going back to Bariloche (were I wrote the last post), and took a night bus to Puerto Madryn, a small town on the Atlantic. It´s nice to be next to the beach :-)
Tomorrow we´ll be driving around the Peninsula Valdez, where we´re supposed to be able to see all kinds of animals. But I´ll tell you about it afterwards!

till then I´ll be enjoying the sun and the warm weather!!!

Argentina part III

Where was I? I can´t remember when was the last time I posted, or rather, I can´t remember where I was the last time I posted something. Was I in Cordoba? Oh, yeah, we just arrived to Mendoza from Cordoba. So I can tell you a bit about Mendoza and the Andes, and then about what we´ve done in the last week.

Mendoza is a tricky city. It´s not the nicest one, but around it there´s a lot to do. We got there on new year´s eve, and in the evening we tried to find a nice restaurant to have dinner in, but since the Argentines, just like the Spanish, eat dinner on that evening with their families and then, after midnight, go out and party all night, there was maybe one restaurant open where we could eat. So we ate and then wondered the very empty streets of town, and then sat in one of the Plazas and watched the fireworks. It was nice, and we were already tired, so we didn´t stay in town to party, and just went back to our B&B (which was really not the best one in town).

On the first day of this year we got up late and then we went white water rafting. It was really great!!! This time, since we did that in Austria as well, I was really not nervus or afraid of falling into the water, although there were a lot more rapids than when we were in Austria, coz I knew what I have to do to get along. It was really fun! The river is really fast and brown from the soil there, and the mountains around it are all brown and dry, since it´s in the middle of the desert.

The next day we did a little trip with a group to the wineries around Mendoza, and we met two nice guys to spend the day with. The wine was nice, and we also visited an olive oil factory.

The last day in Mendoza we took another trip with a group and went towards the mountains, to see some known spots, and above all to see the Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas. It was a great day and a great trip, really worth it. The views were amazing, we went up to 3100 meters above see level, and altough in the middle of the desert, on the Chilian border in summer- it was really chilly.

After that we took a night bus to Bariloche, in Patagonia. The view change a lot on the way. At night, from the bus we saw an amazing thunder storm from far, and millions of stars.
Bariloche is a really nice town, with lots of good chocolate and ice cream and local beer. We spent the night in a really nice hostel on the lake, and the next day took our own car and drove around it all over the national park Nahuel Huapi. The amount of water around here is unbelievable, and the views are simply divine. So much green, and so much just nature.

On the next day, after driving around the whole park almost, we went for a hike on a peninsula, that took us the whole day. It was really nice walking in the woods on a half island.

I gotta go, so I´ll continue another time, promise!!!

Have a nice weekend!