My solo journey through South America continues ….. starting in Peru, through Bolivia and Chili and now into Argentina. The previous post is here: The South American journey continues into Chile

April 11, 2023 Crossing the border by bus from Chile into Argentina was tedious. That and the terrible road for several km on the Argentina side made us very late for our pick up in San Martin. This meant most of our 7 lakes tour was done in the dark. So. Basically we just drove to Bariloche.

April 12.

Today we were picked up and taken to an estancia just outside of Bariloche where we were all assigned a horse to ride. I wasn’t too sure about this. Horses scare me. The gauchos were really nice and assured us we’d do no more than a walk. Maybe kind of boring for he experienced but just right for me. One man gave me a hand up and did it so expertly I had no trouble getting on Fernando, a sweet, white horse that just stood there patiently. He’s obviously used to folks who know nothing about riding. The saddle was more like a pile of blankets with a metal handle in front to hold and was very comfortable. I was shown how to hold the reins and we set off. Basically I just sat on Fernando for the next 2 hours. He knew exactly what to do. The ride was relaxing and the scenery gorgeous. The gauchos and their dogs kept the horses in line. I swear the dogs counted and occasionally “coaxed” a horse back in line. We seriously had to do nothing.
Upon dismount I expected to feel a lot more pain than I did. I was stiff for a bit but normal in no time.

Next we were served an amazing barbecue with all you can eat steak, lamb and sausage with salad, bread and their special red wine; Malbec. I quite like it. They serve everything with a spice mix called chimi churra. That stuff is delicious!

BARILOCHE

Wednesday
Again we were given really expensive tour options so Davindar and I decided to just explore on our own. I found a booth selling tickets to the cable car that included the bus. Perfect. Too bad the weather wasn’t very cooperative. We enjoyed a good cup of coffee in the revolving restaurant but the top layer of mountains were covered in cloud that refused to lift. So we went and walked around a bit before heading back down.
Back in town we went for a good walk along the lake and the sun finally came out. Bariloche is a pretty town but nothing like I imagined Patagonia would be like. It’s not a small town. There appear to be no emissions standards so, like everywhere else in South America, the air is not at all fresh. 😦 I might have enjoyed it more had I more time here to enjoy some hiking. As it is I kind of feel cheated. Like I didn’t really get to “see” Patagonia. I’ll have to come back and go further South.

Friday.

Buenos Aires and a Tango Show!

We caught an early flight to Buenos Aires. After checking in to the Carsson Hotel we went for some lunch in a cafe in a church and then set off to get hop on hop off bus tickets. I don’t think anyone signed up for the optional tours as they’re just too expensive. Some things are best left to the last minute as my ticket for the tango show was half what I would have pain in advance. This has a lot to do with currency issues. The official exchange rate is quite a bit lower than the blue rate which you don’t get unless you are IN Argentina. I had read about it ahead of time so brought USD to exchange.. You can even use Visa and MC now. You get charged the official rate but a few days later will get a refund. I didn’t quite trust it so used cash as much as possible. Then I booked a plane ticket to Iguazu. On my card it showed up as $164. Not bad but not the blue rate for 26.900 pesos. 5 days later I got a $66 refund. So it works!

Davindar, Bridgette and I rode the hop on / hop off bus for the full 3 hours to see where we’d want to go. With 30 minutes to spare we got back to the hotel to prepare for the Tango experience. That was MUCH better than I thought it would be and I highly recommend it. I was enthralled by the piano player and the dancers were amazing. The dinner was wonderful. I had steak because ….. it’s Argentina. Sooo good.

Recoleta

Recoleta cemetary is a must see in BA so we walked there, explored a while, found Eva Peron’s grave which was not nearly as elaborate as many others and even witnessed a funeral.
Then we found the bus again. That’s not easy. The hop on, hop off is great but we spent way too much time trying to find the stops. There was supposed to be an app. There’s not and the map is totally inaccurate.

BOCA

Next stop was Boca. The Boca Juniors were playing that night so the place was HOPPING. They say Argentinians are passionate. They’re not kidding. Everyone was wearing jerseys and other paraphernalia. There were random cheering sections everywhere. Tickets are $200 USD!
I said good bye to the group and checked into the Che Juan hostel.

San Telmo

Sunday. I met Davindar and we headed to San Telmo for a free walking tour we’d booked. It was really good and we learned a lot. We wandered the market and saw someone eating a charcuterie board that looked really good. After asking them where it was on the menu, we ordered one too

Again we tried to find the bus stop. We had til 4 pm before our tickets expired. It was 10 minutes past before we finally located one but the lady let us on, reminding us that if we got off we couldn’t get back on. At least that’s what I think she said. We didn’t care. It was raining and we’d been walking all day.

“Dinner” was cake and tea at the Pacifico mall where there’s also an art gallery. the mall itself is gorgeous.

Monday, April 17th

There are many things I love about hostels. While sharing a room isn’t always great, I always come equipped with ear plugs. 😉 In Che Juan I needed them as my room was close to reception which is open 24 hours a day so….conversations all the time.
There’s a well equipped kitchen with free access to coffee and drinking water. That’s huge for me as it saves money as well as reducing plastic waste.
It’s also nice to have common rooms so you can connect with people, many of whom are also travelling alone. I met folks from Brazil and even a man from Hamilton. He was doing his best to spend as little time in Canada as he could. Interesting..

Palermo

Today I had no plans. I just started walking towards Recoleta as there was more I wanted to see there and then on to Palermo. There I was in plenty of time for a walking tour I’d had my eye on. I had a piece of pizza and pop in a local cafe and then went to Serrano plaza to join the Graffiti walking tour. If you’re interesting book it here: https://www.buenosairesfreewalks.com/graffiti-tour-buenos-aires/

It was really interesting! In BA graffiti is fine as long as you have the property owner’s permission.

Then the walk back. I had thought of taking an uber as it was a good hour walk and it was 5 pm. It was still light out and the weather was great so I walked. I met Davindar at her hotel and we went to a local steakhouse she had found. It was excellent! They never asked how we wanted it cooked. Apparently nice and pink on the inside is how you’re supposed to eat it. While there a homeless man came in obviously looking for food. A waiter shook his head but didn’t make him leave. Some girls gave him their rolls so we called him over and each gave him a piece of steak. We had more than we could eat. He ended up with quite a bit of food but I’m assuming he had some friends who could use it too. While wandering BA I’d see several examples of people being kind to their homeless. We could learn something from that.

Tuesday. Time to go really on my own. Though I’ve done this many times there is comfort in being with a group. It’s good for me to have to make my own arrangements. At first it’s daunting but I’ve done it lots and know I’ll get used to it AND enjoy it.

There’s so much to see in Argentina that I couldn’t make up my mind before I got here. My procrastination paid off as a last minute flight to Iguazu was quite a bit cheaper. Booking from within Argentina you can do so with pesos and your credit card will give you the blue rate. So. Rather than the $200+ it would have cost to book from Canada, it was 27,000 pesos. $164 was charged to my card and several days later I got $66 back. It’s confusing. The whole currency thing is confusing.

My trip to Iguazu is on the next post. Spoiler alert. It’s even MORE amazing that they say!