Bye bye Buenos Aires, sob

We spent the last few days of our excellent adventure in Buenos Aires. The weather wasn't great, but as we were coming to the end of our trip we decided to treat ourselves to an apartment which turned out to be a very wise move, and kinda made up for the rain and grey skies.

Our place was super central (and on one of the widest roads in the world - see view in photo below) and meant we could cook for all our new friends every night! So that's exactly what we did. We ate a lot, drank a lot, and on our last night we went out on the town and experienced BA's crazy nightlife. Nothing kicks off there until 2am, so you really have to have some energy in reserve so you don't fall asleep in whichever bar you visit before the dancing begins. The place we found was packed full of locals who all seemed to know every dance move to every latino pop tune that came on... It was slightly freaky but strangely mesmerising at the same time.

After that it was time for an emotional farewell, and a couple of hours sleep before nearly missing our flight due to Adrian setting the alarm for 8pm instead of am... Silly boy.

Bueno Buenos Aires

We said farewell to our friends and left Iguazú for Buenos Aires last weekend. Yet another overnight bus journey and we arrived in BA in time for lunch. Got off to a bad start by getting totally ripped off by our taxi driver, but never mind...

We spent the weekend exploring the city on foot. We had a room in the lively Recoleta district with some pretty amazing restaurants and cafes nearby and actually very few tourists. On Sunday morning we went on a guided walk with a very entertaining guide who took us to lots of historical nooks and crannies of the city. We visited the cemetery (more of a small town than a cemetery!) where Eva Peron is buried, visited San Telmo for the weekly antiques market, and then caught a train out to the suburbs to Martinez to visit my grandfather´s cousin, Elaine.

That night we returned to San Telmo to watch the locals come together to tango in the square, with a troupe of drummers passing by in the background. Party central!

The fellowship of Iguazú

Iguazú Falls

After three nights in Salta chilling out and eating good food, Adrian and I decided to follow Giles, Alexis and Tatiana to Iguazú Falls, on the border of Brazil and Paragay, as from there it´s very easy to get to Buenos Aires.

We boarded what is surely our hundredth bus for another overnight journey and arrived in Puerto Iguazú to pouring rain and deafening thunder. It wasn´t a great start. The falls may be wet, but we wanted to actually be able to see them....

Luckily for us, when we got up the next day the sun was shining brightly and we had the warmest weather we´d seen since Peru.

Upon first setting eyes on Iguazu falls, the then American First Lady exclaimed `Poor Niagra!` for it is one of the largest waterfalls in the world (dwarfing the US`s tiny effort). Only Victoria Falls in Africa trumps Iguazú to the number one spot. The falls are in the middle of dense rainforest, inhabited by curious racoon things, monkeys, vultures, guinea pigs, iguanas and millions of brightly coloured butterflies.

We decided to see the falls by boat. After boarding the vessel, we sped off at super high speed straight into the belly of the beast. We sat terrified by the noise of the water crashing around us from great heights and then as our boat got closer we got completely soaked by the splashing water - a truly exhilarating experience.

Adios Bolivia, hola Argentina

We arrived back in Uyuni unwashed after our stay in the desert, and after a hearty meal (much needed) we boarded a train to the border with Alexis, Tatiana (both from Oz) and Giles (London - all pictured below) who we met while on the Salt Flats.

After an overnight journey we arrived on the border and had the longest border crossing any of us had ever experienced - the queues for immigration each side were so long they virtually crossed over into the opposite country.

Once safely in Argentina we had two more buses before we arrived feeling pretty revolting in Salta. We were in desperate need of a shower, only to discover that EVERY hostel in Salta was fully booked due to a festival that weekend for Jewish new year (Salta has a large Jewish community).

After the lovely kind man in our friends´ hostel had exhausted every option, we decided that if ever we deserved a night in a fancy hotel, it was now. Armed with the credit card, we booked ourselves into the only room left at the beautiful Papyrus Hotel - the delux suite. Hurrah! It was perched on a hill overlooking the whole city (see view below). Our suite had a bed the size of a small house and a very very nice bathroom. We were extremely happy with our rash but necessary decision, and got the best night´s sleep of our lives.