Backpacker Travelling? Whatever!!?!
Just have to add to Steve´s description of Iguacu falls that we did the moonlight walk to the falls as we were lucky enough to be there during the 5 days of the month covering the full moon period - highly recommend it. The falls were even more dramatic at night - not something we could capture on camera but a memory to last a lifetime!
So to Buenos Aires. I have to retract my earlier comment re us not being big city people. I thought the only city in South America that could potentially take over La Paz as my favourite on this continent would be Cartagena in Colombia, which unfortunately we haven´t got time to visit on this trip, but Buenos Aires has surprised me and is definitely going to be a close contender!
Our day yesterday consisted of our 5 hours of Spanish school, (which we´re doing all week - and then will just about be able to call ourselves beginners!) followed by a lunch of gorgeous smoked salmon and cream pasta with easily the best wine I´ve ever tasted, and the best cappucino, sitting opposite the one and only perfect man (although that is not down to BA but my miraculous good fortune of course!) walking in the 30 degree sunshine back to our lovely home for a week, via a watch shop with the friendliest salesman ever (who also gave us a free informal Spanish lesson!) and finally a Argentinian tango lesson which is such a cool dance and we had a fab teacher (not as good as our salsa teacher Gary or Lindy teachers Ian and Sheila of course!!) - I´m going to run out of superlatives, so suffice to say if I don´t get a healthy dose of cockroaches and amoebic dysentry soon I will continue to feel a complete "backpacking" fraud!
We spent a day in Colonia in Uruguay on Sunday which is also a beautiful place - we think the Lonely Planet sums this region up well - "... people think ´real´backpacking is all about varying degrees of discomfort - maybe they should avoid Uruguay. It´s hard to feel hardcore when your hotel is spotless, the buses are roomy, the streets are immaculate, you´re eating homemade pasta and sipping espresso coffee and nobody is hassling you to buy a half-plucked chicken."
It is a good job we are already carrying all our trekking/climbing gear as the shops in Buenos Aires are fantastic - anyone into designer stuff should come with lots of room in their suitcase as there are some beautiful shopping centres, with predominantly designer shops and significantly cheaper but still genuine gear! Even the way the Argentians speak is lovely - a softer accent than other parts of South America. This place has gone onto our potential places to live list and is right near the top of the come back to list! It is a good job we have a plan to vaguely stick to, or we would probably stay here for months and not see anything else! We´re inclined to agree with Mr. Lloyd Webber´s "beautiful town, I love you" lyrics - a sensation that may be slightly affected by the amount of Argentinian wine consumed!
Note to self - question for Spanish teacher tomorrow: is there a Spanish equivalent for "wax lyrical"?!
Mandi
So to Buenos Aires. I have to retract my earlier comment re us not being big city people. I thought the only city in South America that could potentially take over La Paz as my favourite on this continent would be Cartagena in Colombia, which unfortunately we haven´t got time to visit on this trip, but Buenos Aires has surprised me and is definitely going to be a close contender!
Our day yesterday consisted of our 5 hours of Spanish school, (which we´re doing all week - and then will just about be able to call ourselves beginners!) followed by a lunch of gorgeous smoked salmon and cream pasta with easily the best wine I´ve ever tasted, and the best cappucino, sitting opposite the one and only perfect man (although that is not down to BA but my miraculous good fortune of course!) walking in the 30 degree sunshine back to our lovely home for a week, via a watch shop with the friendliest salesman ever (who also gave us a free informal Spanish lesson!) and finally a Argentinian tango lesson which is such a cool dance and we had a fab teacher (not as good as our salsa teacher Gary or Lindy teachers Ian and Sheila of course!!) - I´m going to run out of superlatives, so suffice to say if I don´t get a healthy dose of cockroaches and amoebic dysentry soon I will continue to feel a complete "backpacking" fraud!
We spent a day in Colonia in Uruguay on Sunday which is also a beautiful place - we think the Lonely Planet sums this region up well - "... people think ´real´backpacking is all about varying degrees of discomfort - maybe they should avoid Uruguay. It´s hard to feel hardcore when your hotel is spotless, the buses are roomy, the streets are immaculate, you´re eating homemade pasta and sipping espresso coffee and nobody is hassling you to buy a half-plucked chicken."
It is a good job we are already carrying all our trekking/climbing gear as the shops in Buenos Aires are fantastic - anyone into designer stuff should come with lots of room in their suitcase as there are some beautiful shopping centres, with predominantly designer shops and significantly cheaper but still genuine gear! Even the way the Argentians speak is lovely - a softer accent than other parts of South America. This place has gone onto our potential places to live list and is right near the top of the come back to list! It is a good job we have a plan to vaguely stick to, or we would probably stay here for months and not see anything else! We´re inclined to agree with Mr. Lloyd Webber´s "beautiful town, I love you" lyrics - a sensation that may be slightly affected by the amount of Argentinian wine consumed!
Note to self - question for Spanish teacher tomorrow: is there a Spanish equivalent for "wax lyrical"?!
Mandi
Labels: "around the world", argentina, buenos aires, colonia, travel, trip, uruguay
posted by MandiB at
10:14
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