Salta – Argentina

A Lost Taxi Driver, Consolation Empanadas, and Horses

View over Salta from Cerro San Bernardo.

Salta was something of a flying visit for us. We were keen to press on to San Pedro de Atacama quite quickly, so allowed ourselves only a few of days to explore.

On our first day proper in Salta we looked around the town. It’s beautiful in places, with some fantastic architecture. We also took the cable car up to Cerro San Bernardo, enjoying panoramic views of the city amidst some slightly dated artificial water features. We then descended on foot.

Mendoza – Argentina

Wine, Olive Oil, and a Pointless Chairlift.

Kim likes wine.

We had decided to visit Mendoza for one main reason. Wine.

The city is in the centre of Argentina’s wine producing region and we had heard great things about various wine tours. The owner of our hostel, being a friendly and helpful woman offered to arrange a day-trip for us and also recommended we sign up to a tour that would take us up high up into the nearby Andes. We agreed to both, and so the next day we were collected and driven out into the Argentinian countryside.

Los Antiguos – Argentina

A Broken Down Bus, A Frustrating Timetable, Another Broken Down Bus

A view over Los Antiguos.

After the failure to board the Navimag ferry our plan was to reach Los Antigous, cross to Chile from there and make our way to Chiloe via the Chilean lake district. To achieve this we would first have to tackle the (in)famous ruta 40; a “road” which runs along the western side of Argentina.

The journey began well enough. The overnight bus left on time, our seats were moderately comfortable, and we had had the foresight to prepare our own sandwiches so we weren’t at the mercy of whatever ham and cheese creation the bus company had dreamt up.

El Calafate (2) – Argentina

Ice, an Ice Bar, and Several Iced Drinks

Us in the Ice Bar beneath the Glacier Museum.

On our return to Puerto Natales our next destination was to be the Island of Chiloe in Chile. However, we singularly failed to extract the discount we wanted from the operators of the Navimag ferry which would have taken us to within a few hours of our intended destination, so decided to retrace our steps up the western border of Argentina and attempt to cross into Chile at Los Antigous. The first leg of this journey took us back to El Calafate.

El Chalten – Argentina

Lofty Mountains, Long Hikes, Local Beer.

View of Mt. Fitz Roy.

Nestled between mountains on the flat floodplain of a meandering glacial river El Chalten is the perfect jumping off point for treks in the Los Glaciares National Park. In fact, given it’s remote location there really is little else to do but explore the mountains.

Arriving mid-afternoon, we chose the shortest of the trails for our first taste of the world class hiking to be found in the area; a 45 minute climb to the Mirador de los Cóndores which offers panoramic views of both the town and the nearby Lago Viedma.

El Calafate – Argentina

Ice, Wind, and Fire.

The Perito Moreno Glacier

Being a thoroughly romantic kind of guy I decided that I would pull out all the stops for valentines day this year, and treat Kim to a long day and night sitting on a southbound bus paid for from our joint account. The fairy-tale journey was made complete when the bus broke down in the middle of nowhere at 4 in the morning and we were unceremoniously transferred onto another passing bus which, luckily for us, was heading to the same destination.

Puerto Madryn – Argentina

Sealions, Elephant Seals, Armadillos!

A young elephant seal at Punta Ninfas. “It’s salt officer, honest.”

After beating a hasty retreat from the relentlessly dull Esquel, we stepped off a bus in Puerto Madryn on the Atlantic coast. As well as boasting a decent, and seemingly endless, sandy beach it is also the sea life capital of Argentina, and probably the whole of South America.

The largest, and most famous, national park in the area is Peninsula Valdes. It’s fame stems from the fact that, in addition to an impressive array of wildlife both marine and land dwelling, it is the only place in world where Orcas beach themselves to catch sea lions. Unfortunately for us, but fortunately for the sea lions, this is a very rare occurrence, and happens for only a few days each year. There was, however, still more than enough wildlife to be seen.

El Bolson & Esquel – Argentina

Hammocks, Craft Markets, and Very Angry Bees

Garden of the La Casona de Odile Hostel, El Bolson (Not my photo)

After Bariloche our contining travels southward took us to the cities of El Bolson and Esquel, and despite only being seperated by a few hours of winding mountain road they were utterly different places.

We visited the slightly more northerly El Bolson first, and after a short taxi ride from the bus terminal we arived at La Casona de Odile, our hostel for the next 3 nights. Set in a spacious, lush garden dotted with hammocks and hanging chairs, and backing onto a babbling mountain stream, the surroundings were rather idylic; a large proportion of our time in El Bolson was spent rocking gently in a hammock, kindle in hand.

Bariloche – Argentina

Trees, Lakes, and Mountains

Lago Mascardi, with Cerro Tronador in the distance.

Stepping from the bus at the Bariloche terminal, somewhat dazed by our two day southward haul, I was immediately struck by how wonderful the place was. It had serene, mirror-like, lakes, soaring, craggy mountains, and giant, awe inspiring trees; but I did not notice these things until later, the reason Bariloche was so immediately, refreshingly, wonderful can be summed up in two(ish) words, twenty-seven degrees. After the pressure-cooker heat of Iguaçu, with its sauna-like humidity and unrelenting, vicious, sunshine, Barloche’s twenty-seven degrees and accompanying cool mountain breeze was like a glass of iced water on a hot summers day. Here was somewhere we could stay, hike, and quite literally chill-out.

Puerto Iguazu – Argentina

Cataratas, Caiperinhas, and Coatis.

View of Iguazu Falls from the Argentinian side.

Our journey to Puerto Iguazu at the very top of Argentina entailed undertaking our first overnight bus journey. While not the definition of luxury, this isn’t quite as bad as it might sound given that Argentinian buses are actually rather comfortable; our seats reclined about 60° and had a built in foot rest that turned the seat into a slightly inclined bed. The food provided is similar to airline food, and is basically guaranteed to include bread, cheese and ham in at least two forms; they also provide a glass of half-decent wine (or two) with dinner. As we settled down for the night we were treated to the sight of hundreds of glowworms luminescing in the fields beyond the road.