From B.A. to Mendoza and back

grapes

it´s getting hot in here!


Cordoba


2600 km in 7 days
The good thing is, the roads are quite empty over here but the main roads rarely have 2 lanes, so overtaking is quite difficult. Motorways only exist part of the way. Argentinian drivers are a complete nightmare: they don´t seem to know what an indicator is and they just sverve out in front of you without any warning. It is all very chaotic and red light do not seem to mean anything to some drivers.

So we rented a car from Avis and set off from B.A. to Mendoza. On the way we visited cities like Rosario, Cordoba, San Luis and Mendoza.

Cordoba has got a nice flair to it, we saw people dancing tango in the main square which I think is amazing.

Mendoza however is my favourite town and is the capital of the main wine producing region in Argentina. 50% of the wine is exported to Europe and U.S. and the Argentinian wines are becoming better and better. We visited 2 wineries in Mendoza, one small family-run winery called Cabrini and the other the big and famous one, Norton. Both offered a tasting and a tour of their premises. The Malbec grape is the most well-known and popular grape here in Argentina and we had a chance to sample some of them.

Drove back from Mendoza to B.A. in 2 days (1000km), which was very tiring indeed. But we made it all in one piece, somehow!

Ushuaia - Fin del Mundo

It´s official!




spot the penguins!


Windy!




some europeans!


After very long and tiring bus rides via Rio Gallegos we arrived in Ushuaia, the official southernmost city in the world. (When you don´t count Chile´s Puerto Williams, which is only a village, not a city). It is the gateway to the Antarctica and they offer tours by boat, but it is very expensive and takes at least 10 days to get there and back, so I decided I had to skip that!

It is very windy at the end of the world and quite cold, even in summer. The scenery is beautiful as the town lies on the doorstep of "Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego" where you can do lovely hikes and walks. We did one day excursion to an Island with Penguin colonies -an unforgettable experience!

We met some nice people on the bus down with whom we shared the traditional Argentinian drink "mate" (more about that later!). A good way to start conversations or meet new people. They were from Spain, UK and France and we´re hoping to stay in touch with them.

We ended up staying 1 week in Ushuaia, since flights were full and so were the buses. Luckily the shopping opportunities there were quite good as well! :-)
Now managed to fly out to Buenos Aires. We have hired a car and want to visit Rosario, Cordoba and Mendoza (lots of yummy wine!), then back to B.A. Keep you posted...

Prost Neujahr - na ja, fast nicht!

Zu Silvester waren John und ich immer noch in Bariloche. Wir dachten uns, dass dort bestimmt viel los ist und man gut ins neue Jahr reinfeiern kann. Na ja, es hat sich rausgestellt, dass dem nicht so war und die meisten Restaurants zwar mittags aufhatten, aber abends zu machen. Die wenigen die auf hatten, nahmen Reservierungen an und hatten teure Menus. Wir dachten, wir werden schon was finden, aber es war schwieriger als gedacht, denn die Restaurants entschieden sich, von 23.30 bis 1 Uhr zuzumachen und niemanden mehr reinzulassen. Also wanderten wir die Strassen von Bariloche um noch irgendwo einen Happen zu Essen zu bekommen und auf das Neue Jahr anzustossen. Es war schon spaet, ungefahr 10 Minuten vor 12 und die Panik setzte ein, da wir das neue Jahr nicht unbedingt auf der Strasse einleiten wollten.
Dann in letzter Minute fanden wir ein kleines Familienlokal, die uns ein Glaesschen Sekt umsonst servierten und dann bestellten wir noch die einzige Option auf der Karte, eine Kalte Platte von Patagonischen Kaese- und Wurstspezialitaeten. Die waren alle wirklich sehr nett und haben mit uns angestossen.
Nach 1 Uhr sind wir noch ins Irish Pub gegangen und haben dort noch ein bisschen gefeiert, mit ein paar Leuten auf die wir unterwegs immer wieder mal treffen, und die auch zur gleichen Zeit in der Stadt waren.
Es war auf jeden Fall ein sehr ungewoehnliches Silvester, aber naechstes Jahr feiere ich wieder mit Freunden und Familie, denn irgenwie ist das doch schoener!

Perito Moreno Glacier, Patagonia

The Perito Moreno Glacier lies 80 km from the town El Calafate and is one of nature´s wonders or as we say in German "Naturspektakel"!
It is 250km² of eternal icemass and is 60m high. It is not even the biggest of this region, the Upsala glacier is even bigger, but less easy to access.
Perito Moreno is now stable in size, but is moving all the time and hence decreases and grows every year about the same amount. Big chunks of ice are falling off every few minutes to every tourist´s delight and causing huge waves of icewater. It is incredible how much this glacier draws you in, I wanted to look at it all day. Took also a boat tour in order to see it upfront and from the same level. The boats cannot go that close (only up to 300m) since it is dangerous if chunks are falling off. Definitely a wonderful experience I can recommend to anyone!

If you want to know more about it, check out this website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perito_Moreno_Glacier

Say no more!