Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Argentina

Buenos Aires (14th - 18th march)
First night we got to milhouse hostel was pretty hammered from the boat trip, went to sunset nightclub that night, really cool place, 3 floors of music, terrace with beds and everything! my limited spanish actually worked with a girl, alot of hard work tho! at the end of the night around 8 in the morning was a foam party, loads of dancing girls on poles aswell, sweet!
Paddys day went to boca neighbourhood with a few ozzy guys, we made a rule every 15 mins we walked had to take a beer break, just about made it in the end! that night went to kilkenney bar, serious queue outside but was good craic inside. Touristy things i guess was a river plate match and going to recoleta cemetery where evita is buried. glad to get out of BA tho after 5 days, way too much partying!! Went to our first parillas, in a place called des nevels in defensa, my god what a steak melt in your mouth and the wine vino tinto bien!

From Buenos Aires, Rosario


Rosario (18th march - 24th)
Was very lucky to get a place here was easter holidays all argies come here to party, and we had nowhere booked! Stayed in a mad place called portal del rio, the hostel wasnt even finished when we stayed there, we were its first customers! Went to a club called Madame one of the nights over 4000 at it and the girls are smoking , i mean smoking! was a swimming pool in the place and everything! Dueing the day went to a private beach called Florida, on the river, def wouldnt swim in the river tho! Other night went to a bar called La luna good choice of music, was with an argentine girl from the hostel, very nice! Learned how to drink and make mate the equivilaent to irish tea, but a bit more involved and also fernet, the main drink in cordoba we go to next, blows the head of you! Also went to a place called la rosa for a few shows, interesting......

From Buenos Aires, Rosario


From Buenos Aires, Rosario


Cordoba (25th march -- 31 march)
stayed in Baluche hostel in centro, did spanish lessons. Really good hostel, staff were really friendly and the backpackers who steyed there bang on. Nightlife is really good, and a hell of a lot of chicas seeing as its a university city, not that its a great thing when my spanish is terrible!

World Rally championship was on aswell, seem them on stage the night before it started. Went quad biking also, got nice and dirty and went ripping through streams! one night in the hostel we had an awesome barbie (I say awesome as americans always say that word or nardo ha!!) all the meat and salad and wine and beer you want for 26 pesos, works out about 6.50 euro, sweet!!

Farmer protest lasting 19 days is a nightmare, very hard to get out of here, was meant to be going to santa fe, but couldnt so went to resistencia for one nite to get out of cordoba and lead the way to iguazu. No meat in supermarkets raging, but lots of quilmes awwwwwrrrittee!!!

Puerto Iguazu (3 - 7 April)
Stayed in hostel inn, renovated casino, serious spot, nice pool, nice rooms and great facilites but the disappointing thing was the backpackers, not much of a party atmosphere, always the last ones to bed...

But still had a great time, topped up on the tan, beat the local playing footie and met two cracking english girls from london, say no more... Went to iguazu falls and never seen anything like it, got drowned under the waterfalls when on the speed boat, and the rapids were cool aswell, but the sight when you get to devils throat is majestic, out of this world, you feel at one with nature....

Met some interesting local girls at the park and met them in the club in town that ngiht, reall good bars, good music, was a really good nite and got nice and merry on fernet and coke!!



Back to buenos aires for three days before getting flight to ushuia, gonna be cold down there so will have to buy a jacket i guess, no more shorts for a while back to irish weather!!



Ushauia (11 - 16th april)
Stayed in Freesytle hostel here, really laid back staff really good facilities and many free beers!! One bad idea coming to a new place on a Friday is the weekend (party time!!) So got nothing done at all, so had to stay here an extra two ngihts to go to the national park! Went to the national park on Monday, Brian and I hit the most difficult route and got to the summit wohoo, spectacular views, had a snow fight at the top!!

The weekend nightlife was fun here, Dublin bar hit some fernet and coke with the locals and then free passes into the club, not much sleep at all. Weird to be down here, its pretty cold and coming from Iguazu where i was chilling at the pool to seeing snow capped mountains and making veggie soup is hilarious!!

El Calafate (27 Apr - 01 May)
Stayed in HI hostel Glacier Libertador, pretty empty as end of season but rooms were nice and pretty reasonable. Came here to see Perito Moreno glacier, rented a car for the day, glacier was pretty magnificent, never seen anything like it before.

Casino in town aswell, lads didnt really have much luck at black jack, must be my bad luck or they should have went in when they were intoxicated like johnny or eddie and not before!! Met some cool venezuelan girls here and had a night out with them, sound na cailini....

Bariloche (2May - 11 May )
My God, what started off as a 37 hour bus ride from El Calafate to Bariloche, got much worse! A volcano erupted in Chile and spilt out ash, so visibility was poor so had to stay a night in a dead end town, that bus journey in total took 48 hours!!

The end of patagonia wohoo.... Kick in the teeth is that we were in between seasons so not many activities to do, but seen Cerro Catedral, nice view of all the lakes, pretty amazing. Went mountain biking another time up a hiking trail, pretty tiresome didnt even make it to then end, way too technial for me and carrying a bike most of the day was not what i had in mind! Bowling was good fun tho, whipped Nialls ass and the funny thing about it was the way the pins were replaced, a kid in the back does it, had to try not to hit him when he was replacing them...

Marco Polo Inn was a good party hostel, also included in the rate was a free dinner every night. Nightlife was alrite for off season, we went to a really cool place on the lakeside for nialls birthday, after heading out with the barman from marco polo and his friends who gave us free spirits all night!

Funniest thing was the vlocano erupted again 500km away in Chile, there was ash on the streets and cars, kinda like a snowy christmas back home....

From Bariloche, Mendoza, Cordoba


Mendoza (12th May - 20 May)
Really nice place for autumn time, there is constant sunshine, I guess thats why its famous for its vineyards! Arriving here we stayed one night in Mendoza international on Calle Espana which was a hell hole so picked up a nice place called Itaka House, did white water rafting one of the days on Rio Andinso, first time doing it so was good fun, rapids werent great but had a good laugh, the lads fell in one of the times, had to be David Hasselhoff trying to save them, reminded me of the banana boat back in spain to keep my balance!!

Wine and bike tour out in Maipu was another day, the wineries were pretty cool, I very much liked the malbec in Bodega Carinae, run by a french family. Cycling and tasting wine at the same time was a bit dangerous...

Stayed in mendoza while the lads went onto Santiago to meet paddy, went out sat nite and had a great laugh, up drinking with lads in hostel til 10 then i went horse riding at one! Horse ridiing was amazing, felt a natural on the horse, which in fact was a rented horse and really fast!! Drinking wine with the family after overlooking the city lights of mendoza below, really beautiful. Met some israeli girls another night and went out with them a great laugh! Restaurant called Florencia is awesome, one of the best steaks around and a great wine list.

From Bariloche, Mendoza, Cordoba


From Bariloche, Mendoza, Cordoba


From Bariloche, Mendoza, Cordoba


Cordoba (21 May - 23 May)
Back here for two nights stayed in Baluch hostel again, really like that place, went on the lash for the champions league final in sport city bar with a load of english lads, nearly had a heart attack when terry missed the penatly, such a great penalty shoot out.. Went out on bar street that night calle Rondeau and ended up in a club called El Sol, really good spot, bumped into the israeli girls again, crazy girls!!

Salta (24th - 27th May)
From talking to an english dude in cordoba he said to stay in a hostel called Terra Oculta, really good hostel, met people from mendoza here and saturday night they have a really good asados, all the meat and wine you want for thirty pesos!! Had to celebrate obviously the munster win earlier that day (just me and paddy in the hostel bar going crazy ha..) so went to bar street and a club called Inside, totally packed and had a great laugh there, gringo hunting again.... Sunday night then went out to another club near the bus terminal called Salon, like a renovated church, really got going around 4 in the morning, went out with paddy and a dude from california, really good night too!! Then my last day got the cable car up to a fantastic view of salta on saint bernados hill. Would have loved to stay here longer to do a road trip of the surrounding area as the scenery is meant to be amazing but maybe next time....

Funniest thing was here that the 25th may festival held here the president herself came to salta and that night when we were in the irish bar goblin, the opposition leader was having a live interview in the bar, and we were watching him at the bar on widescreen tv with a link up with the news team and another dude in rosario, hilarious. we bought him a bottle of guinness after and we ended up going out with the tv crew dudes very random...

Even on our last day was very funny, was walking around the square and seen these PR girls (smoking by the way!) handing out flyers. For the craic decided to take a picture with them and in my broken spanish was going to meet up with them later that night in the irish bar before getting the bus to uyuni, funnily enough they were on time and very friendly!!

From Salta, Argentina


From Salta, Argentina


Conclusion
Overall ive been in argentina for around two and a half months and ive fallen in love with this country, for such a developed country its really cheap. Higlights would have to be steaks and wine of course! Iguazu falls is amazing, patagonia scenery, mendoza for such an amazing looking city, rosari for the hottest chicks and salta for just having a really good time!! Funnniest thing here is the lack of cambio in this country. Beer wise quilmes is the shit! Activities i really liked would have to be horse riding in mendoza well recommended and playing football in puerto iguazu and beating the locals!!

Friday, March 7, 2008

Uruguay

Punta del Este (9 march - 11 march)
Stayed in 1949 hostel, 5 mins from the beach, was off season here but still had some fun with the people in the hostel, won a game of poker aswell, i know how weird, i never have any luck!! Just topping up on the tan before we head to BA this weekend for a serious session! Alot of apartment blocks near the beaches so i expect in high season alot of brasilians and argentinians come here on holidays, bit pricey mind you!!

Montevideo (11 march - 12 march )


Colonia (13 march - 14 march)
Nice town, just chilled here before hitting BA. Cycled to a beach one day, thought i was going to faint! Boat over to BA was hilarios tho, bottle of Jim bean for 15 dollars, on the way over.

Overall Uruguay is a touristy country and very expenise, also lots of mossy bites!! Beers are litre bottles tho!