Argentina express
Although Argentina wasn´t in the first plan of our journey around the world, we discovered quite a lot of it. It is a major country with so much to offer, so diverse and waiting for you to visit it.
The capital
We really enjoyed our stay in
Buenos Ares, almost as it we were home. The people were friendly, the spring began to wake up nature and football cheering could be heard.
If you´re there, don´t miss the old cemetery and pay a visit to Argentina’s legend Evita Peron, go for a delicious 100% Argentinian steak to San Telmo district, stroll around colourful Boca and go to a football game to one of the two important stadiums, La Bombonera or Riverplate, as football in Argentina is equal to religion.
Waterfalls
One of the “must do´s” in Argentina are definitely the
Iguazu falls. Massive water amounts fall down huge cliffs and make you wet, even if you stand far away. You can visit the falls from the Brazilian or Argentinian side, but we prefer the Argentinian. From different levels and observation platforms, you can see the falls from numerous angles and even a boat ride right to the falls is possible.
Glaciers in the south
We flew south to see the magnificent
Perito Moreno. What a natural wonder! The best way to see it is to stay in El Calafate, a small village full of wooden houses and everything a tourist can wish for. From there take a tour to the Glaciares National park and enjoy. They also offer a boat tour, but we wouldn´t recommend it, if you´re on a tight budget, because you don´t see the glacier much better than from the observation deck and the boat is very crowded so you have to “fight” for a good photo spot.
Skiing or hiking
Bariloche is the right place if you like one (or both) from the above. We were unfortunately too late for skiing, but we went hiking. An easy hike is
Cerro Campanario, just 17,5 km from the centre. Public busses run hourly and the hike isn´t too hard, just about 40 minutes through the woods. Once up, you can enjoy a marvellous view over the nearby lakes and mountains.
Wine, wine, wine
Argentina is famous for wine. And all wine we had here were delicious. Really. If you are in
Mendoza, go for a wine tasting (and have a few instead of us). We visited on the weekend and on Sundays everything is closed, even wine tastings. Imagine our disappointed faces when we found out. Well, next time.
Another country?
When we reached
Salta it felt like we´ve left Argentina. Another atmosphere, lower prices, different people. And finally some warm weather. We hiked San Bernardo hill (reachable also by cable car) from where you get a great view over the city. The highlight of the town is Museo de Arqueología de Alta Montaña, where children mummies are on display. They were offered to gods and because of the ice and snow, they´re perfectly preserved. Impressive.
Reaching Chile over the Andes
We left Salta by bus and our destination was
San Pedro de Atacama, Chilean dessert famous for stargazing. When we left Salta, we had no idea, the journey would be so interesting, almost like a sightseeing tour. If you can, take this bus, but be careful –sometimes the road is closed due to bad weather.
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