Jason Harley's Corner of the Web

If there was one word that would describe Bariloche then it would be ´Postcard? The place is a beautiful ski resort with a hint of Swiss architecture. The town is set on Lake Nahuel Hupapi and while we only had a brief spell of snow while we were there ?it has a distinct Christmas Card appeal about it. The 2 biggest shops in the town are chocolate shops and if it exists, these places make it in 26 different types of chocolate and 117 different sizes. On the Sunday we walked to Cerro Otto and got the cable car up to the summit for spectacular views. At the summit there is a revolving restaurant and while it was tempting to blame the dizziness on the speed of revolution and altitude sickness (it was probably the beer we had sitting there watching the world spin by).

On the Monday, a 20 minute bus journey takes us to the Llao Llao Hotel, the most famous hotel in Argentina and a 20km walk round the lakes and through the mountains just takes your breath away with the scenery (plus the fact that it was a National Holiday so we couldn’t find the bus back turning our 2hour planned walk into a 5hour one!). Tuesday brought an equally amazing trip to the Tronador Volcano and the Black Glacier with a boat journey along Lago Mascardi. The Patagonian region has been stunning in every sense.

Steak your claim

The pasty like empanadas of Chile have been replaced by far more filling anti vegetarian option. Basically if it has legs and moves then it’s on a plate. Steak is cheap and plentiful but the local specialty is Wild Boar which is rich and tasty ?well recommended. The supermarkets and butchers are so cheap compared with England and the restaurants offer such value that is hardly worth considering any other option. A 3 course meal for 2 in the best restaurant, with wine and coffee comes in at about 7.50 each. It’s strange to see European travelers mixing it with the Argentinean rich and famous in the local restaurants.

Bariloche to Esquel to Puerto Madryn 6th May 2004 to 10th May 2004

A 6am start as we get a bus leaving Bariloche to Esquel, the plan was to catch the Old Patagonian Express Train on a 4 hour journey through the country side but it wasn’t running on Wednesday so we spent the day in the sleepy town with a pioneer feel about it. It is an off shoot of a Welsh colony but feels more like a mid American cowboy town. The overnight bus from Esquel to Trelew (another Welsh settlement from the last century) we arrived at 6am but decide rather than stay in Trelew to get the first bus to Puerto Madryn and book in at our first proper hostel El Gualicho Hostal.

Virgin Trains has a lot to learn

This far south Chile and Argentina, there are no trains so everything relies on coaches which not only deliver people but the post and special deliveries. Some of the towns we have been going through are so remote that it feels everyone comes to the coach station to see what has been brought. The coaches themselves are fantastic, punctual, modern and most with semi cama (bed) seats, allowing you a half decent sleep or snooze overnight, depending on your fellow travelers and their snoring. For a few Pesos more we have booked a full cama to the capital on Tuesday 11th May - the jouney will take 18 hours so having a half decent sleep will be invaluable.

Wales and Whales

Puerto Madryn is the wildlife capital of Patagonia. The town of 60,000 people is based around Aluminium production, fish processing and Whale watching, but I will cover the other Wales first

In 1865 a colony from Wales left Liverpool to set up home in the plains of Patagonia, it thrived and today in small villages around Puerto Madryn, like Gaiman which we visited on Saturday, the cultures mix with a hard to believe result. The streets are names Jones, Evans and Hughes, the people look Welsh, everyone has a Welsh Flag on their house and they serve Welsh Teas, fit for the Ritz, complete with Scones and Cakes. We sampled our huge Welsh Tea in Mrs Jones House, with the lace table clothes and Welsh Choir music in the background. It is estimates that 200 people in the area still speak Welsh and this 5th Generation is stuggling to keep the culture alive as it intergrates with the Argintinian way of life, but they still have a Welsh accent and are thrilled that people from Liverpool, where the boat of their ancestors sailed from, come and visit them.

Now the other Whales, the area is the breeding and birthing ground of the Right Southern Hemisphere Whale, and the first ones have arrived back in the area this week. While the tourists do not come Whale Watching until later next month we have had an early opportunity to see the early arrivers. On a trip to the protected Valdes Penisular we saw, grey foxes, armadillos, Ostrich type birds, the Patagonian hare, elephant seals, sealions and an indiginous antelope. But the highlight was standing on a cliff 100 meters from Whales (20m in length) jumping out the water (breaching), breathing and calling to each other - Amazing! The next day we orgnaised our own boat to try and be along side them in the water, but our luck from the previous day ran out with Whales although we had a playful hour with a school of 200 Dusky Dolphins and got onto a beach with a group of sealions and their pups less than 5meters away.

Patagonia is fantastic, and well worth a visit. Find some more information at The Eco Centro Website. We now head north to Buenos Aires and city life...

Buenos Aires 11th May 2004 to 16th May 2004

A 18hour bus journey was inexplicably broken up by a game of bingo organized by the conductor and after watching 2 halves of films on DVD the cama seats did their job and we woke up in the capital of Argentina.

The bus terminal is huge ?at least twice the size of Luton Airport with over 250 desks to book tickets and 100 gates for buses spread over 2 levels. We said our farewells to friends we had met and traveled with from Puerto Madryn and got the Hotel Marbella.

The hotel is 3 star but the prices make it no more expensive than a double room in a hostel but has the advantage of security in the capital city of a country where 10 million people are in poverty.

The city is packed with cars and protests. The main street has 18 lanes of traffic so is challenge to cross in one piece while the news channels and English paper, Buenos Aires Herald, talks of strikes and protests by workers every day. We arrived in the middle of a mass protest about unemployment benefit and gas prices increases. The police had closed off many roads but the politicians claimed that the protestors wanted to make victims of themselves, if the police attacked. No violence on this occasion but with daily protests the future looks less predictable.

Boca Juniors- I’m a fan

This weekend is the ´SuperClassico?game between arch local rivals Boca Juniors and River Plate. We had organized tickets for Sunday despite the warnings of danger for tourists but the local police have decided that no tickets can now be sold outside the membership of the clubs so we can’t go.

However, Boca Juniors were playing in the Copa America on Wednesday night so I chased around town getting tickets while Zoe slept off the overnight bus journey. We got tickets for the Bombadera (Boca´s Stadium) for $66 pesos (10 pound) each. We were advised to get to the ground 2 hours before so we made our way in plenty of time and it all seemed surprisingly safe.

The match was against the Peruvian team, Sporting Cristal and Bocca had a 3:2 advantage form the first leg. The atmosphere was electric, with non-stop singing and jumping by everyone. Boca won the game 2:1.

The away support was limited but about 200 River Plate fans turned up to shout abuse at the Boca fans and support the team from Peru. It was only at the end of the game that you could see how the passion may run over when the 50,000 home fans (including us) were kept in the stadium so police could remove the River Plate fans. I suppose if they did it the other way round (which they do in Europe) you’d have 49,998 Boca fans waiting outside to ´greet?their rivals.

The Mothers March

In the 1970´s, the political environment that if you spoke against the government, you disappeared (a bit like modern day Britain). Over 30,000 young men and women went missing without trace and every Thursday, their mother meet in the Plaza de Mayo, to march outside the government house to protest for Justice. The have pictures of their sons and daughters, some as young as 16 or 17, and walk slowly round in mourning, without the answers they longingly want. It’s a very moving experience as some of the mothers are into their late 70´s their numbers are dwindling.

Evita, Tango and San Telmo

The cemetery where Evita (Eva Peron) is buried is a city within a city with all the rich and famous families from Argentina´s best days, having temples the size of small houses arranged in roads. Obviously Evita´s temple attracts the tourists but it holds the feeling of walking through a town of history and wealth.

Cafe Tortoni www.cafetortoni.com.ar - one of the most famous Tango venues in Argentina, was the venue for our night on the tiles and we´d managed to strike gold as this was way off the backpackers agenda and well on the agenda of local Argentineans. Booking early meant we had front row seats and the 4 piece band, singer and dancers was spectacular for the duration of the show.

Sunday we visited the area of Buenos Aires known as San Telmo, which is the equivalent of Covent Garden in London, with craft stalls and street entertainers. Tango in the street did not quite come up to the standard of the night before but it was a nice place to spend Sunday afternoon browsing through all the things we cannot fit in our backpacks.

Cafayate 17th May 2004 to 18th May 2004

A 20 hour bus journey from Buenos Aires to Tucuman and then 4 hours onto Cafayate, staying at Hostel del Valle (www.nortevirtual.com) . High on a plain set between mountains the area has a micro-climate meaning that it is always warm and sunny, ideal for growing wine. Thus it hosts several world famous vineyards. We decided to go for the Etchart Bodega, and toured the vineyard with our guide who explained they make 600,000 bottles of wine a year. The most famous is the Torrontes, which is only grown in this area of Argentina. After a tasting of all the types we visited the shop and at 75p a bottle had the difficult choice of deciding how much we could physically carry. You can get it in England so try some soon!! Etchart Bodega.

Salta 19th May 2004 to 22nd May 2004

The plan was to get to Salta to do the Train to the Clouds (www.trennubes.com.ar) in a Michael Palin, Round the world in 80 Days style. One of the classic train journeys in the world it rises 4200 meters above sea level. We had arrived a few days early to see Salta but as Zoe came down with flu we spent most of the first few days either in Hostel del Cerro (www.hosteldelcerro.8k.com) or at the chemists. However on the Friday we made it to the station for a 6.35am start. Once a commuter service it now runs as a tourist attraction, but none of the romance has gone.

We rose to 4000 meters, over 8 hours with fantastic scenery and entertainment from our guides on the train. About 10km from the highest point when the train stopped and they announced that the breaks had failed. While this wasn´t a huge problem on the way up, it would cause possible danger on the steep decent. So we had to get off the train and wait 3 hours for buses to come and get us. However, word spread to the local village that the train full of tourists money would not make it to them and if the dollar won´t travel to them, they travel to you. About 20 cars, vans and bikes turned up to sell their goods. Zoe bought a shawl, which should be useful in the heat of Brazil!. The buses eventually turned up but the altitude had already taken it´s effect on me. Dizzy headaches and a feeling of fullness, we all suffered on the way down on the bus - bit worrying as we get to La Paz, Bolivia, which is 8000 meters above sea level in a few weeks so we are planning a day of sleep when we get there - best cure apparently.

Because the train hadn´t reached it´s final height, we got our money back when we returned and as the altitude sickness went away we celebrated our first month of traveling with a roasted baby goat (sorry!!) and Spanish potatoes.

Iguazu Falls 24th May 2004

We met Greg and Julia (friends from work) at the hostal, and settled in for a few beers and to share travel stories. The hostal was called the Road Runner which was apt as if it had been on a road we would have ran but the smell of damp and the leaky roof were soon forgotten. There were 55cms of rain over the 24 hour period we were in Iguazu.

On Monday we went to the Argentinian side of Iguazu Falls - AMAZING - one of natures most fantastic sites- the sheer power of the major waterfalls backed up with the beauty of individual falls. The whole place was totally breathtaking. To top off the day we all got a speed boat ride under the falls - totally drenched but heart stopping stuff!

Unable to dry out properly, we set out for more beers and planned to move to Brazil in the morning to see the other side of the falls. Greg and Julia now move south into Argentina and Chile while we move to the sunny climate of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.