"Argentina, of courshe !!!! (english version)" Argentina Travelogue by Maillekeul

At last, we are in the place : the deepest or southernmost spot of our trip. Fireland belongs to us and, as if they were welcoming us, the trees (almost all dead ones) are spreading their branches towards our shoulders, our still weakened shoulders, due to an unbelievable arrival... And as our mini-bus is slowly riding to Ushuaia, the snow wraps us up in its immaculate softness, after letting the sun setting like a king, an event we have observed through a reflection in the supposed-to-be "hidden lake" (too big to be hidden, in my opinion), Dire Straits' "Money for nothing" loudly played, thanks to the driver's genius... The day after, we visit the so-called southernmost city of the world (it is not true... check Puerto Williams in Chile on a map !!) and the impressive Museum El Presidio (ex-Siberia of Argentina : a prison at the end of the world, full of not-that-nice guys... fortunately closed in 1947). We begin our adaptation to Argentina (for Stef Reporter, through a pizza, for me, through a "churro", local doghnut) and we also notice the consequences of the Argentinian crisis (the industrial area is almost completely closed). After a nice night, mocking the argentinian accent (lots of "sh"), we decide to spend a day in the Fireland National Park. There, we enjoy the end of the "last road of the world" (basically, the southernmost road of the world), some nice lakes and mountains, a beaver house (even if there were no more beaver inside), and some landscapes that you have most certainly seen a 100 times in pieces of puzzles (you lost 3 months to make the blue sky, because all the pieces have the same colour... remember !!). And what do we do in the most southern part of the world, a place we wanted to be in for years (if not, at least for 4 months) ? Well... we throw stones on the water, observed by an attentive condor. After this nice day, we decide to leave Fireland, riding on the same road still full of wonderful landscapes (and full of sheeps), a land so flat that you can see kilometers ahead (except if some sheeps doted your vision field), as if we were on some desert area of Africa over which some colourful clouds are calmly floating ... It's great and it's only earth and air...

Chilling Glacier

On our way to El Calafate, we meet again a couple of Dutch people (who were in the same hotel in Ushuaia) and we decide to continue the adventure together, just to be more numerous to watch the most incredible spot of the area, the Moreno Glacier, one of the biggest advancing glaciers of the world (that's why so many people come here, even though living in the village itself is a bit expensive). So, with Holland, we wander around El Calafate, we cross some dead dogs (not that easy to determine where was the head, where was the ass...) and we enjoy splendid views over lakes and mountains displaying shamelessly their relief under a pure blue sky. At
night, we decide to share some wine with our orange friends, even forgetting about our waking-up hour the day after (4.30 am) and neglecting that Etienne (some Dutch people just love French names) is gonna drive our rent car on a very bad and very long road in order to make the most of the sunrise over the Moreno Glacier. In the early morning, with a hangover that makes us look like the dead dogs we saw, we take our Gol (here, the Golf acronym always misses the "f", we'll never know what) and we let a tired Etienne wake up behind the wheel of our great car (whose trunk is broken... so great when it's freezing outside).
Unfortunately, there is no music inside the car and as the girls (Sitsge, the pretty Dutch one and Stef Reporter) are asleep, I have to chat with Etienne in order him not to sleep too...But in fact, I was more afraid of drawing his attention on a conversation than letting him concentrate on the road. After one hour and a half on a terribly bad path and after avoiding paying
the entrance fee of the national park (a good saving, though), we arrive to the Glacier, that is indeed impressive: I let you imagine: a sort of a huge ice wave, hundreds of meters large, coming from kilometers ahead and some 56 meters high (the only figure I can remember) that seems to be built between two mountains. It is an advancing glacier : that means that it falls apart and then, the fallen blocks of ice freeze and connect with the main block (clever, no?). We stay in front of the hulk during
one hour, alone of course (too early for the regular tourists), listening to and watching at the ice falling and the sunrise dying the summit of the Glacier (pink, then yellow)... A welcoming sun as it's very cold next to a glacier (what was not so obvious for us, at the beginning)... This was the best way, I think, to
celebrate the 25th birthday of Stef Reporter. Still, a wasting night is waiting for us and also, the day after, 24 hours of bus to go to Puerto Madryn, on the Atlantic coast.

On our way to Puerto Madryn

Tired but happy, we arrive in Puerto Madryn. Happy because it's sunny there and less cold than below, even if the wind recalls us that we are not that high on the map...
First surprise: this city is very expensive, due to the closeness of a peninsula called Valdes, where nice animals wander around : pinguins, sea-lions, and other whales... We say to ourselves that we're gonna go there with bikes (those who already know that I manage driving a bike for less than 10 years are allowed to laugh)...
But the rain and the wind prevent us from visiting the peninsula as we planned to do it, so that we have to renounce, with disappointment. But, second surprise, the whales have come to us. At 800 meters from the beach, we can see the tails of loads
of whales... We will pass hours watching them breathing, for want of of penguins (already seen) and sea-lions (we know them by heart). In Puerto Madryn, we just watch the TV while raining outside ("Keen Eddie" is definitely a good serie) and sometimes leave the hotel to enjoy some western dishes. But fortunately, we soon leave the city, not warm enough for us...

La Boca, one of the (scarce) nice BsAs districts

And again 20 hours of bus riding to... BsAs! The Federal Capital, as it's sometimes enough to say, had been described to us by some of the travelers we had met as a "little Paris" or "the most beautiful city of South America", or again "the city where European people could live". Well, it's not because I want (again) to contradict everybody, but, personnaly, BsAs, it's not my cup of
tea (or of mate, local drink similar to the tea). BsAs is big (the buildings of La Defense in a middle of a town), polluted (worse than Paris) and every nice place has a similarity with the ones you can find ...in Paris! OK, there is the local folklore, tango, the colourful areas, some artisanal shops and cloisters typical from Argentina, but it's still a big city and it's not what we're looking for. For sure, it's better than Quito or Lima, but... Our hotel is well designed with large rooms without furniture (I love that), but our room
is desperately empty and a lot less well-designed... We will hang on there a couple of days, but we are happy to leave as we look forward to tasting again the exotism of the beginning of our travel.

The falls, nature and discovery

With a real enthusiasm, we leave BsAs to Puerto Iguazu, one of the 3 cties surrounding the famous Parque Nacional Iguazu. Why is it so famous? Because, inside, you can find one of the world's few marvels, the "cataratas", some really huge waterfalls. Well, talking about water, we arrive in this city under the rain, after one month of big heat! No luck today... We stay in our hotel (hot and wet), waiting for the weather to change... What will happen 2 days after. Therefore, under a still grey sky, we go watching these unforgettable waterfalls, sooooo impressive...(the feeling of being swallowed by
the "Garganta del Diablo"), so magical (waterfalls in a green forest... You just can't stop telling yourself you're not dreaming). It's simply beautiful, whatever point of view we choose, either if you take a lot of water on the top of you hear, or if you're watching them from a distance, like some white veins
forwarding tonnes and tonnes of water in order to feed the liquid heart of the park, the Iguazu river... And what a fauna! It is wonderful and abundant: crocodiles, tapirs (or sort of), colibris, tucans... A great day we're not about to forget... Time is still running and we leave Iguazu the day after our visit to go to the North West of Argentina... Unfortunately, on this day, the sun has decided to come back. But, finally, we were lucky enough to visit the park without to many tourists around us or children crying because of the heat.

Maillekeul and Stef Reporter at the top of Salta

After such a wonderful time in Iguazu, here we go to our next destination that will definitely reconciliate us with Argentina (if needed): the North West of the country.

Crossing by Corrientes

Our supposed-to-be first stop in this part of the country... Indeed, our real
first stop was Eldorado, a lost but cute town where our bus also seemed to be lost, considering the faces of the driver and the mechanic who passed all their afternoon behind the rear wheel... It's OK, we enjoy the return of the sun and we arrive at 3 in the morning in Corrientes, a bit stoned. Our taxi-driver brings us to a cheap place where my first action was to kill a giant cockroach. This day, under an hesitating sky, we will visit the city, so poor and so full of business in a more little area than the one of BsAs. We will enjoy murals and the boardwalk along the river, before leaving for something else...

Salta

We arrive very early in Salta, city of students and really broad, perched at 1200 meters above sea level (say, nothing) and where the sun takes us by surprise (we couldn't avoid being burned). We discover a very nice downtown, with some typical south american buildings, influenced by the andean culture
(archways, flashy churches, nice parks). The first night, I meet Gerald, a cyber-friend since about 2 years, who has settled down in Salta. Well, in fact, he's a squatter in his friends' home, waiting for moving to somewhere else. In
a very short time, unfortunately, I will learn a lot about him and the everydaylife in South America of an artist looking for expression. The day after, Stef Reporter, always ready, will come with me to the top of a hill (181 steps, I have counted) to enjoy the surroundings of the city.

A monument in Humahuaca

Jujuy

But, we can't stay much longer in Salta, as Bolivia (our next step) is close and we have learned that some people are demonstrating over there and jamming traffic. So, more in the north, San Salvador de Jujuy, where we'll stay only one day, because the town is very small and, in a way, recalls us some small ecuadorian villages, the surroundings are not as good as the ones Bolivia is supposed to offer (we are very credulous, you know...)... But, this does not prevent us from taking a 10 miles an hour bus to go swimming in a thermal bath (Los Reyes) and enjoying the rocky landscapes surrounding our warm pool, all this with a very small attention (5 people)...

Humahuaca, coming back to the Andes

Quickly, quickly, we go to a completely different place. On our way to Bolivia, we stop for 2 days in Humahuaca, andean village (3000 meters), a very tiny one, close to the Quebrada of the same name. What is a "Quebrada", would ask some of
you (I can hear you, in the back...) ? Well, it's simply a chain of mountains, whose colours are as diverse as the sedimented minerals that constitute the rock. So, you will easily notice some white, yellow, pink or red levels on the same mountain, and this is really new for us. Stef Reporter will lead me up to a desert plateau, above the village, in which we'll be the only ones to have fun and shout at each other even we are far from each other of 600 meters...
A very very sweet moment. The first night will also be very sweet, sharing a typical "asado" (barbecue) and local wine with 2 argentinian couples... They will tell us a lot about the last 40 years of their country's history. The day after, we will enjoy again the Quebrada, before leavong for La Quiaca, a city touching Villazon, in Bolivia. It's time to cross the border and the bus makes us regret not to have stayed more time in this part of Argentina, full of relief and strange mountains (sort of semicycle)...

Now, Bolivia is closer than ever, and we just hope that the strikes over there won't slow us down in our quest for "more again"...