Sunday 9 March 2008

BA and heading south

In a cramped bumpy bus/truck, we all travelled from Montevideo down to the port 3 hours away and took a 4 hour ferry to Buenos Aires in Argentina where we were staying for 4 days. There is so much to do here and once again so little time. Tango shows in the middle of streets, dogs and dog poop everywhere, the hustle and bustle like all other cities, querky suburbs like La Boca with colourful painted houses (pic), cheap healthy food in all the restaurants, helpful friendly people and areas you do not enter after dark. Tango and football are the two most popular things in north Argentina. I did a lot of walking around the main areas to see as well as having a tango lesson, dancing with professional tango dancers (pic) and seeing a tango show, eating the local cuisines as well as resting after hours of overland travel and getting ready for more as we head south to Patagonia.

"Get your kicks on Route..." 3
Route 3 is the long highway that goes from Buenos Aires all the way south to Ushuaia (the southernest city in the world). Travelling on our full Kumuka bus/truck we travelled countless hours over a week to get to the end of the world, stopping off at some filthy campsites and bush camps (and a few good ones as well). This trip is a story in itself where travelling 12 hour days puts me to sleep as well as wakes me up with all the bumps and crazy Argentinian drivers overtaking on blind corners. Chess, listening to music and eating icecreams at every trucker stop was my usual daily routine and probably will continue to be until the end of the trip. We stopped for 2 nights in Puerto Madryn where we did a day trip on a bus and boat and saw sea lions, different bird species, penguins and awesome views of the bay area which was fantasic. As we are camping for the next few weeks, we have cooking and cleaning duties as there are 24 of us. Cooking food for 24 people can turn out to be an absolute disater and the rice i tried to make one night did turn out that way... oops. The views out the window are very picturesque heading into Pategonia however they havn´t changed much in the week heading south. Flat, grass, shrubs, sky and clouds, thats it. No trees, no mountains, no water... yet.

I cant wait to hit Pategonia and start doing some fun activities. Glaciers, volcanos, mountains, wildlife, multiple day treks and differnt towns to explore. (i can finally work off the icecreams!)