robandem

Our experience of South America and a few things we will miss ...... or not!

Realisations and obsevations
1. Dogs rule South America. Dogs are everywhere! Every street is owned by a dog or two! They chase cars, bark at everything in site including us.
2. Buenos Aires has dog poo everywhere! Two squeezes of the hand meant 'dodge the poop'!
3. Bus drivers are kings of the road. They are faster than any car and they are the best means of transport (the seats were like beds and food and drink served to you!). We became bus nerds checking out each bus!
4. Family comes first. Not work and money. Each night most houses have big family gatherings outside their houses, eating and drinking with family and friends.
5. South Americans enjoy kissing! Everyone kisses upon meeting, even if for the first time. Men too! Rob didn't take part.
6. Every new courner is a photo. It must be the most diverse beautifull country. From beach, lake, mountain, and glacier to cities, streets and plaza's.
7. Vast open spaces We would travel for hours and not see any means of life, human or animal. Huge areas of desolate land.
8. South America is huge! A 24 hour journey just became too easy!
9. Electrical wiring is not exactly the best! Hundreds of low lying wires from one building to the next. La Paz was the worst case. We felt sorry for the electricians.
10. Argentinan Steak! Nothing will beat it.
11. No cultural diversity. For example, Argentina only had argentinians, Peru only peruvians, etc.... We only saw 1 coloured person during our 3 months.

Odd things!
1. Argentina is obsessed with pizza and ice cream! Where did that come from! The ice cream lovely, the pizza disgusting!
2. Everyone in short. Robs head had a battering on many door frames!
3. The number of peruvians wearing black bowler hats! huh
4. Most streets were named after a town or city
5. Never any traffic jams

We will miss
1. STEAK
2. Hot chocolates in La Paz (a whole choc bar in hot milk! - Submarino)
3. Cheap beer and wine
4. Cheapness in general
5. Empanadas - like cornish pasty's but with bread like outside and yummy fillings.
6. The combination of amazing landscapes and beautifull people.

We will not miss
1. Cheese and ham sarnies
2. Dulche Leche - toffee spread with everything and in every cake!
3. Bread - like pastry
4. POO BINS! Sorry if we continue to do this at home!

Classic quotes
"The tide is coming in" - while sat by lake in Bariloche - Em

"I'm not coming any further, my bum is starting to twitch" - Walking high on the mountains surrounding Machu Picchu - Rob. Yes Emily did walk alone to take the pictures!

"We would get a good sun tan if we stayed here!" - while sat inside a cafe on the inside of the glass - Rob (remember he has worked for many years in the light industry!)

"Can I have la quenta por favour!" - Mixture of english and spanish commonly used by Em and Rob when asking for the bill

"I shouldn't have eaten all that...........I feel sick........I fancy something sweet" - Em after most meals eaten!

Goodbye South America, you were amazing....we will be back!!!

We had 6 days left in South America, and they were spent in Santiago the capital of Chile.

We booked ourselves into a rather nice apart hotel with a mini kitchen
so we could cook for ourselves. The room had a great view of the city with the Andes in the background. It really is quite surreal having a large city with the back ground of the mountains, and yet the coast was only 2 hours away.
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The lucky residents have the benefit of great skiing and snowboarding in winter and the coast nearby for summer!

For a few days we checked out the city, exploring the various districts and getting the cable car up to the Cerro San Cristobal, which is a put basically a hill looking over the city with great views, oh and a rather large Virgin Mary statue!

Statue of the Virgin Mary on Cerro San Cristobal in Santiago, Chile

Nice pic here of two virgins!!!!

To be honest whilst we were in Santiago our minds were focused on planning for New Zealand and sending back-up cds and other items back to the UK so there really was not much to write about.

After leaving the humid heat of Mendoza we were off to Chile and the beaches of Pichilemu. The beach with the longest left hand break in south america, or something like that...basically it had really good surf and perfect for a pro´s like Em and myself!!!! After crossing the border and collecting a connecting bus from Santiago, we headed south. We arrived at the small seaside resort of Pichilemu. We had already booked accomadation with Laguna Cabins and for some reason only known to myself (Rob) I had assumed that they were by the sea! We arrived in the dark and although you couldnt see the sea you could hear the rumble and crashing of the waves on the shore, it sounded awsome! Ok so we werent on the sea but we were only 5mins walk away. The cabins were owned and run by a great family with Eduardo the father in charge, they made us feel really welcome throughout our stay.

They offered to give us lifts down to the beach to surf as his two daughters went everyday at 10am and 4pm! The first day we didnt quite make it but checked out the town, which to be honest was like a mini version of Western-Super-Mare with loads of arcades and not much else. But we were here for the beach so we got some supplies and headed back to the cabin. That afternoon we rented bikes and headed along the coast to the beach of Punta de Lobos, where all the surf action takes place! Wow the waves were huge!

The following day we headed for the surf, slightly apprehensive about the size of the waves!! We rented our wetsuits and surfboards and were ready for some action. Now the guy who rented us the gear had warned us that the rip current was very strong, and that conditions were not great for learning...but we headed out anyway. We lasted about 1hr, spending most of our time battling against the current but it was great to get wet and catch a few waves! We went again a couple of days later when conditions were better and caught a few more waves! It really is an amazing place for surf!

The following day we rented a car and headed into the mountains, as Emily and I tend do on our road trips we managed to end up on some very dodgy tracks and this bridge in particular!!

Still our sporty little fiat made it across, thank god they are made of paper!

On our travels we visited a watermill in a town called Rodeo, and were shown around by a really great little kid!

We had never seen a mill work but were quite surprised by how effective it was! It was great to see all the inner workings, it could shurn out serious amounts of flour.


After the short tour we were asked if we wanted to try what was basically a wheat and water drink. As Ems two favourite pass times are drinking and eating bread she jumped at the chance.....it was turned out to be really nice, tasted like sugar puffs!!

After that we drove to various other places along the coast and a nice picnic. That evening the car came in use as Emily not to be out done by Rob by going to a South American hospital, developed some really bad stomach pains which would not go away! So Eduardo (slightly drunk) and his daughter very kindly accompanied us to the local hospital and acted as our translaters! Emily was put on a drip for an hour, and no matter how hard I tried I was not allowed to see her - in Chile it is against the law to be in A&E unless you are the patient! Eduardo imformed us that she had a dose of ´Chilititus´, which quite a few people get when they arrive, something to do with the oil! The next day she was feeling better so all was good.

After a few more days we were ready to head of to our final destination in South America, Santiago!

We wanted to get into the more rural side of Argentina so headed to San Juan, north of Argentina. We were not sure if this was a good decision but it was only 3 hours away so why not?

We arrived in San Juan and immediately spoke to the tourist office to see what the area had to offer. Wow it all sounded fantastic and all only a few more hours on a bus ride away! Great!

We took the advice of the tourist office lady and booked onto a bus to a town called ´Barreal´. Unfortunaltey we had to wait 2 days to get a seat. Yes once again our lack of planning didnt help. San Juan itself was not brilliant but a normal typical large town. During the day the typical siesta starts at about 1. Shops close down and the town becomes like a ghost town. At about 6 pm the town becomes alive again. We can only describe this area like Elephant and Castle!

We were up early the morning of the bus determined not to miss our journey out of San Juan. It was absolutely pouring down, thunder was fantasic and the sky was lit by lighting bolts. The taxi arrived and we slowed ploughed through the rivers formed on the roads to the bus station.

The journey to Barreal took about 6 hours! We had the oldest bus of the lot and a group of young kids going camping without their parents so you can imagine the atmosphere on the bus. I´m sure I was never like that. To top of the journey we had a flat tyre. Off we all got and watched the extremely quick tyre change.

Back on the road again and we thought the journey was never going to end. For 6 hours it was desolate dry land, winding dirt tracks and a speed of about 40mph.

We arrived in Barreal and dropped off by the toursit office. We headed for a hotel that was recommended by the tourist office. Barreal was definatley a typical small Argentinan town. Everything was so spread out, everyone knows everyone, people sitting outside their houses having lunch, horse carts on the roads, many push bikes carrying the supermercado shopping and kids playing in the streets. South America has the most beautifull scenery, I know we keep going on about it, but its true. From Barreal you can see the Andes mountain range.

We arrived at the hotel. It looked lovey, a bit quiet, but this is what we wanted.

No one spoke english, not even a little. We now realised this is why travellers tend not to come off the typical travel path, its very difficult to get around and communicate! The rather weird lady took us to the 60s style room, smelling of funny herbs may i add, and we were set for the night. Where had we come too?? No other travellers were here at the hotel or the town, the hotel appeared to be run by young kids, weird ladies, and to be truthfull ´mingers!´. We tried to book some horse riding (I was still dying to do this in Argentina as in Mendoza the bad tummy and need for the toilet would´nt allow me to go). After a good hour walk to the stabbles they were shut. Great! No horse riding once again. That night a lot of beer was drunk to make the most of our stay!

The next day we were off back to Mendoza to plan our journey to Chile for Rob to do some surfing (at last!)

Mendoza is a lovely city of wide tree lined streets, many plaza´s, night craft markets, friendly Argentians and many restaurants and cafes.

Main Plaza de Armas

Usual spot for a quick 1 pound cocktail before dinner!

Travellers come to Mendoza to experience the wines of the region and the many activities it has to offer from horse riding to rafting.

Rob and I tend not to plan much of our travelling details and take every day as it comes so when arriving in Argentina we were lucky to find accommodation. The trusty lonely planet guide book, or not so as we have discovered, stressed that Jan and Feb were the most busy time and everything is booked up quickly. This was correct but we ignored the advice and continued on anyway.

We came to Mendoza for a bit of activity and night life. It was New Years eve and we had not yet found a decent bar to spend it in. We checked out the 5 star Hyatt Hotel in true backpacker style! Asked the price and the important dress code and walked out tempting by the offer but realisation set in that we didn’t have any clean clothes let alone a dress or suit!

New Years eve turned out fantastic. We had a 3 course meal at one of the nice restaurants. The offer included free wine and champagne so we took full advantage – 3 bottles of champagne later and we were well into the new year spirits.

Em realised that drinking straight from the bottle was far quicker!

The fire works in the street began and Rob and I headed outside to see the new year in. I attempted to sing "Auld Lang Syne" and dance around Rob in excitement however failed miserably with a comment from a US dude saying ´keep trying!´.

New tshirt for christmas. Looking good.

Back inside to finish off our meal and of course more champagne. On the table next to us I noticed that two old Italian dudes had clearly hired two young ladies for the night. Unfortunately one of them decided to take an interest in my feet! In my drunken state I was comfortably sat with my legs on the couch. While I popped off to the toilet Rob got talking to the guy. No problem as he seemed nice enough…………..until Rob went to the loo and left me alone. I heard a voice say “I noticed you feet and how sitting there seductively!!”, I burst into laughter and immediately checked out my feet to see if they were dirty!! “I said “why are they dirty?”. Rob returns and he says to Rob “Your girlfriends feet are gorgeous, I hope you suck them!!!” Arrrrrrrrrrgh, thankgod we were both so drunk and just laughed. We continued to talk to this guy, received an offer to use his soft top in Italy to drive along the coast and an invitation to dinner the next night. Hmmm I don’t think so. The two hired girls at this point were not best amused. Oh well.

During our long stay in Mendoza we took part in a couple of hours of rafting. We have both never done rafting before so we were very excited. A mini bus picked us up and we headed for Mendoza River. The water is so muddy and that day the water level was high due to the volume of water coming of the mountains. We passed by some amazing rapids but were told that these were too huge (grade 4-5) and we would not be riding these. :-(

We arrived at the camp where we prepared for the rafting. Full thick wetsuit and booties, a windproof jacket, life jacket and helmet. We were about to get very wet and muddy. Back onto the bus with the group to go further up stream. We were told the rules of rafting and signals that would help us ride the rapids safety. A lot of time was spent on what to do if someone falls out and how to rescue them!!!! Great, as Rob would put it "my bum was twitching!!".

We hopped onto the boat, took our positions at the back (yes I was too scared to go at the front!) and held on while we started to float down the river.

Front paddle............Back Paddle.............Stop.........Front paddle!!

About 40 minutes later we were told that we had finished. Our adrenalin had just started and that was it :-( What fun.

We will miss Argentina when we leave. The importance of family and friends is so strong. Its normal to kiss all friends and even strangers on meeting. Even men.....not sure Rob was up for this.

Wine and beer is so cheap! A litre bootle of beer 50p, a glass of wine about 1 pound (bottle same price!). There are many wine farms near Mendoza so of course I had to drink it to try it out. Why not. This is a typical wine cellar in some of the nicer restaurants. Not that we eat there much! Honestly. When steak costs about 3 pounds for one bigger than your hand its hard to resist.

As normal we had run out of clean clothes during our stay in Mendoza. I think the last wash we did was before christmas. Rob pants had been turned inside out many times ...... and mine, well, I decided to clean and dry my own rather than carry on wearing them. The room fan was a perfect drying machine!

After the success of drying the pants it was time to start on the clothes. The fan wouldn´t hold the weight so the entire contents of our backpacks were taken down to the cleaners and within 24 hours and 3 pounds lighter we were all clean and ready to go again. The smell of clean clothes is the best!