Last post from Argentina and some random pics

Well the title says it all really doesn't it...

The past few months here has been highlighted by playing cricket and carving tikis, so here's some pics of both...

CRICKET:

The two captains holding the treasured "Argentine Ashes" - yearly cricket match held between the ANZAC expats and the Pommie expats.

The mighty Barbarians in yellow racking up another huge score. Note the horse at deep 3rd man. Yes sometimes teams are short and you have to rope in anyone you can...

Our beautiful home ground with pavilion in the background. Set in the heart of Buenos Aires this is a true richboy sports club established over 100 years ago by English immigrants. Rugby and tennis are the main sports, cricket still gets funny looks from everyone. Our team (the Barbarians) were not true members of the club as you have to be very rich and on a long waiting list to get even close. Nice to see how the other half lives though.


Typical post match function with beers and even the occasional penguin butler...

TIKIS:

Argentinian tiki #1 - based on a Tangaroa from the Cook Islands. All these were carved with a few chisels and a grinder on the tiny balcony of our downtown apartment.


#2 based on Hawaiian tiki god Ku.



#3 finished today, based on a Marquesan Island tiki:

Easter at the beach in Uruguay

Almost the whole summer had gone by and I hadn't swam in the ocean, walked along a beach or ridden a wave. Something had to be done, and quickly as the winter temps set in pretty quickly around these parts. I needed to renew my tourist visa as well, so it was the perfect opportunity to visit the beaches of Uruguay over Easter and kill two birds with one stone.

By the time Easter came around Marcela and I were both in need of a vacation away from the big city, so our choice of La Pedrera - a quiet little beachside village on Uruguay's far coast - was perfect. Unfortunately most of Uruguay's other more popular areas are usually full of holidaying Argentines over Easter so most of the ferry tickets were already sold out weeks in advance. (Uruguay is just a short 2hr ferry trip across the Rio Plata from Buenos Aires for those that don't know). Lucky there was some seats left on the slow boat that left from outside of Buenos Aires and landed in rural Uruguay. It would add a few more hours to our trip but we had already booked accommodation so there was no choice.

I was lucky enough to borrow an 8ft longboard from a friend here, after previously talking with him about how much I missed the salt water and surfing. So it was off on a local bus, a train, the slow boat across to Carmelo then 2 more buses (all with the big surfboard!) to finally get to La Pedrera about 13 hrs later. I was praying that the surf god would be generous to me after all the effort I was going to taking this board on all these crowded public transportations... Lucky he was - the first and last days there were some nice beachbreaks just 5min walk from where we were staying.

La Pedrera is unlike any other beach side town I've been to. Small, quiet, relaxed, and thankfully devoid of ugly hotels, highrises, or shopping strips, its mainly dirt roads and modest houses were a refreshing change from Argentina's Mar del Plata and Queensland's coasts. Maybe this is what somewhere like Kingscliff or Coolum was like 50 or 60 years ago? Who knows. It was a strange mix of surf beach, rural town and hippy escape. Only 200 residents live year round (winter is cold and ugly apparently) but in summer it heaves with thousands of visitors on annual vacation, mainly from Uruguay and Argentina. The owner of the house we rented said I was the first Australian he had met! If tourists from other countries do visit Uruguay, they rarely venture further than Colonia (historical old city on the river), Montevideo (capital), and Punta del Este (famous beach resort town for the rich and famous) - La Pedrera is another 2 hrs past Punta.

Quiet side street with a Pizza joint. Closer view of the ramshackle, rustic pizza place below (closed during the day):


Yes that's a sheep under a palm tree on the side of the road!

No, this isn't a bathroom, it's where we stayed! Simple little house on a leafy block just 5min walk to the beach and around the corner from the main street. Probably not going to win any architecture awards in the near future. The owner said it's possible to buy a block of land like this for $US10-15,000, within a few blocks of the beach! Very tempting....

Some Photos from Bariloche

I headed down to Bariloche in January for Brendan's 30th birthday and to get a bit of a taste of the outdoor summer life that Patagonia is famous for. This time it was a lot different to when I went to meet him in September when he first arrived. Then it was a ski resort town and pretty damn cold and grey. Now in the height of summer it was sunny and warm and there was plenty of exciting stuff to do to keep us occupied.

Swimming in the river in the background was a real highlight. Fast flowing currents, crystal clear water and trout swimming in some areas.

This lake was just a half hour ride on the mountain bikes from Brendan's place. The water was pretty cold but swimming surrounded by snow-capped mountains is pretty cool for us Qlders.

Getting the fire pit ready for some choripans (seasoned sausages on bread)

After climbing to the top of a lookout for dinner (photo taken about 10pm)

Brendan and Sofi.

Brendand the rugged mountain man on his 30th b'day.

A gift from Sofi was a round at the local 9 hole golf course. Unfortunately 4 of the 9 holes were shut (?) and there was only half a set of ladies clubs for us to use, but it was a fierce competition anyway.

This was a pretty amazing tee off - pretty skinny fairway though!

Iguazu Falls - straight out of a Phantom comic

Apologies in advance - there's a lot of photos in this post. And there are thousands more on the internet of Iguazu Falls. But as good as my photos are (!!), even the professionals' photos, they just will never be the same as seeing this place in person. I was blown away by the beauty, peacefulness, raw power and (dare I say it) serenity of this natural wonder. Yes all those different adjectives were apt in describing this special place on the border of north-east Argentina and southern Brazil.


It was hot and steamy while we were there, but it was totally fitting for the tropical jungle setting and it would have been almost disappointing if otherwise. I felt like this is what Lee Falk was picturing when he created the Bengali jungle, the home of the Phantom. An intense tropical jungle paradise full of exotic flora and fauna, and a huge powerful series of waterfalls to endlessly gaze at.


Most people that have visited other famous falls such as Niagara or southern Africa's Victoria falls comment that these are by far the most spectacular. Unlike the others, Iguazu is split into about 275 discrete falls across a wide area, which affords better access and walkways with spectacular panoramic views. The walkway at the garganta del diablo (devil's throat) was literally hovering over the precipice while millions of cubic metres of water gushed by all around you. Luckily both the Argentine and Brazilian governments have not ruined this place with over-development (but I wondered if they would be interested in my idea of an extreme tourist attraction there - waterfall bungee jumping?).

I came up with the idea of the freefall-over-the-edge-then-saved-by-bungee-rope (copyright) adventure business because it was so damn hot there and you're constantly looking at/surrounded by/walking over beautiful, clear and clean water - but there's nowhere to swim! I was dying to just jump off the walkway and float down the river for a while, and was kind of curious to also know what the feeling would be like to actually fall off the edge of the waterfall... am I crazy? Surely with the thousands of tourists who flock there each day there would be a few likeminded adventurists who would pay big money for that adrenalin kick? I sure would.


Anyway, aside from that stroke of genius business idea, I was intrigued by the advertisements of the boat trips that claimed to go "under" the waterfalls. I loved the sound of that, but when I watched one boat, it turned around when it got to here:

... but the salesman was assuring us that it went under the fall in the background of the above picture, and that we would "certainly get wet". Hmmm, I was doubtful for sure but went ahead and joined the Danish friends in our group who had already paid up.

Well, I was "certainly wet" - from head to toe and every orifice in between was absolutely saturated. We went in, around, up and down the lower part of the river, and then under some smallish waterfalls before the big climax of driving the oversized rubber ducky directly into the maelstrom of whitewater under the big waterfall. The above pic shows another boat doing the same thing that we did (you can hardly see the boat through the mist and whitewater). And although I obeyed their orders of putting cameras into the waterproof bags supplied (sceptically too I might add), somehow my camera still got wet and to this day the screen still does not work. Ah well, I got wet and that was what I wanted!!


The group for the 4 day, 1400km road trip from Corrientes to Iguazu was myself and Marcela, Marcela's parents, Marcela's host family from Denmark who were here for a 2 week vacation, and a friend of Marcela's mum. L to R: Tim, Henrik, Bjorn, Marcela, Ruth, Quique and Silvia (Marcela's parents).


There was some pretty interesting wildlife in the jungle beside the walkways too:

An armadillo...

... some funny little critters called coati ...

... a huge goanna type reptile...


... your standard snake - nothing new for Australians I suppose...

... even an alligator! (What it is doing right next to massive waterfalls I don't know)...

...and wild dogs! No wait, I'm kidding - this is Gina, Marcela's family pet with her 1 day old puppy.... awww.

PS: I have the whole idea of the freefall water bungee in my head if anyone is interested. Logistics, structures, merchandise everything...

Christmas in Northern Argentina

Christmas celebrations here are on the night of the 24th, and just as in Australia, is spent with family, presents, lots of food and drinks, and the continual effort to seek refuge from the oppressive heat and humidity. But after midnight it is totally different as all the "youngies" leave the family house and head out to massive parties or nightclubs to celebrate with friends. From midnight to 5 or 6am (maybe later) the streets, pubs, clubs etc are buzzing with the sounds of frenetic youth partying - kind of like New Years back home. Pretty crazy. Then there is the firecrackers and fireworks that can start to be heard in the afternoon of the 24th (the first one scared the sh@t outta me as I happened to be plugging in the christmas lights at the time!), then it gradually increases to Baghdad-like warfare in the streets for the entire night.


We had a big dinner with Marcela's family and also some visitors from Denmark (Marcela's host family from when she went on exchange there as a 17 year old were visiting for 2 weeks). Unfortunately the goat stayed in the freezer to be saved for another occasion, but we cooked a whole lamb instead (it was slow cooked in the local bakers oven in the afternoon then finished off on the open flame brick bbq by Marcela's old man). After dinner, drinks, presents and then a few parties we got home about 5am and just spent the 25th recovering and relaxing in the local pool - the perfect recovery and refuge from the northern Argentine heat.

The key to a successful asado (bbq) is totally dependent on the fire - you have to have steady, even heat for the many hours it takes to slow cook the meat. To achieve this, the fire is started in the afternoon to warm the coals up. When the coals are white-hot they are ready to be evenly placed under the grill, but the fire is kept going on the side in order to prepare more coals for later.

Quique tests the warmness above the grill (which is expertly placed on some broken bricks).

Many hours later and Quique is still labouring away over the grill. The lamb in the foreground was already started in the oven of the bakery, and is about to be finished off on the grill.

This is one of the more interesting firework type things for the Christmas/New Year celebrations - its a mini hot air balloon made of very thin paper. When successfully lit at the bottom it can fly away to great heights - and to the great amusement of the many (drunk) people who send them on their way.

This is a popular drink in the hot climes of Northern Argentina - its called tereré and is the cold equivalent of the most popular hot drink here - maté (a herbal tea drunk through a metal straw in a communal cup that gets passed around amongst friends). Tereré has the same communal cup of herbs as maté (but is usually just in a glass and not a specific maté gourd), but has ice cubes and is filled with cold fruit juice instead of scalding hot water for maté. Very nice and refreshing.