Perito Moreno Glacier, Patagonia

Southern Patagonia… a cold and windy place, at least it is at this time of year.  Although the weather seems changeable, at the moment as it was yesterday afternoon the sun is shining through the hole in the ozone and out of the wind it can seem a little warm.  Today we faced wind burn, sun burn, snow and rain, but we did go and visit the Moreno Glacier close to El Calafate.  Without all these conditions I doubt the glacier would actually exist, so it is just as well took with us our usual all weather proof gear and prepared to get cold!

The actual glacier is amazing!  It has a real blue hue to it, and is not at all as white as snow.  These blue tint is apparently the minerals from the rocks and it is what also makes the Lake Argentina, which the glacier flows into, so turquoise when the sun shines on it.  Also of note is the size of the glacier, at the lakes edge it is about 60m tall, but it actually covers a area greater than Buenos Aires, measuring 257 square kilometers.

We first got to see the glacier from a boat trip going up the northern edge of the glacier, which was good fun.  You get really close, but at that point the glacier seems quite static and although you get some good pictures there was not that much going on.  But later when we wandered along the balconies overlooking the glacier you really did get a fanatastic show.

Within minutes of arriving you could hearing creeking and cracking noises, and suddenly great chunks of ice and snow would fall off the edge of the glacier and into lake.  The sounds of the chunks hitting the water was loud enough too.  Then they’d be a large wave ripple out from where the ice hit the water.  We waited for ages for more to occur, and occasionally they did – apparently on some days nothing breaks off the glacier at all, so we were really pleased to have seem some action.

There’s loads of info on the glacier and we both thought it was really cool, so if you’re interested in that kind of stuff… here’s a link! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perito_Moreno_Glacier

Dogs from Argentina

As a dog lover, I would like to tell you about some of the funny things I`ve noticed about dogs in Argentina.

... barking mad!

In Buenos Aires there are various dog parks.  It`s so funny.  In the morning people drop their dogs off at creche and go off to work.  So you can see areas of the park cordoned off for loads of dogs running around.  One person watches them all.  At one point he called over all the dogs and they all lay and sat around him.  It looked like he was reading them a story!!

In El Calafate there are a lot of stray dogs, but they look healthy and happy.  Last night one of them followed Dave and I back to our hotel.  It wouldn´t leave us and was very cute.  When we came inside you could see it waiting by the glass door for ages.  It`s really cold here, so when the receptionist wasn`t looking I ran over to it and let it into the porch to keep warm!  Hehehe probably the naughtiest thing I have ever done .  I feel brave!

Oooh and I saw a Westie in Buenos Aires.  I was so happy, haven`t seen one for a while!

Buenos Aires, Argentina

We have been in Buenos Aires (with a bit of Uruguay thrown in) for the last few days. It`s a very nice city and seems quite European compared to all the other places we have been in South America.

There are loads of designer shops, but unfortunately our rucksacks (and funds!) are not sufficient enough for us to purchase a great deal!! It`s still fun to have a look around though. It seems to be permanently sunny here at approx 25 degrees, which is perfect for sitting outside cafes with a nice cup of tea (yes, I have finally found tea and they even put milk in it!!). It`s not too hot for walking everywhere which is nice. We did go on the tube a couple of times, which was very amusing. I must post the photo on here for you!

We have also been to see Evita`s grave. Sounds depressing, but it`s in this huge graveyard with the most intricate grave stones imaginable. There are a few art museums that you can pop into for free, which is cool. We are not particularly arty, but like to think that we know what the artists are thinking about. The area by the port is very nice. It reminds us of the London Docklands, with loads of nice restaurants along the river.

We went tangoing last night which was great fun! First of all we were given a lesson. I thought I would be better than Dave, but he seemed to pick it up remarkably quickly (begs the question of secret lessons??!!). We are going to try and remember it so we can show you at home! Then we had a really good dinner with some nice American people and watched the professionals do the tango. They were so good. Made me miss strictly come dancing a little bit I must say!

We were very surprised to hear that it is snowing in England in October – craziness! You`ll be pleased to know that we also head to the cold tomorrow in Patagonia (El Calafate).

Iguassu Falls, Brazil and Argentina

We have enjoyed spending the last 4 days at Iguassu Falls on the Brazil/Argentina border.  We spent 2 days on the Brazilian side and 2 on the Argentinian.  It`s absolutely boiling hot with 100% humidity, but can´t complain about some good sunny weather!!  It`s funny because every evening there seems to be a massive thunder storm, and the whole town almost gets washed away.  We realised after being caught out twice!  Before and after the storm it`s really nice to sit outside and eat in the warm.

The Brazilian side of the falls was beautiful and gave us an overview of the whole place.  There are great views and you can get up close to one of the huge falls.  However, the Argentinian side is more spectacular.  The photos don´t do it justice but we have tried to show how great it is.  I heard a rumour that it`s 8 times bigger than Niagra Falls, which says it all really.  They’re has been so much rain recently that the falls are really flowing at the moment, which adds to the spectacular show.

Also on the Brazilian side we went to a bird sanctuary, which was interesting for a bit… saw lots of birds strangely enough!

On the Argentinian side (today) we decided to set off on a 7km trail through the jungle.  It was all well and good except for feeling like we were in an oven and being eaten alive by mosquitos.  Poor Dave has several huge mountain bites!!!  You should have SEEN the ants – I have never seen such big insects! They would deck English ants.  (Seriously the ants were as big as worms and the flying insects as big as birds) Excuse my complaining, the trail was actually quite nice, we just underestimated the number of bugs we would find!!  Unfortunately we didn’t see any jaguars which Dave was disappointed about, but we did see this big guinea pig, loads of butterflies (of so many sizes and colours it was like conffetti), some reptile lizard things and odd fish… oh and those massive ants.

After the trail we got a speed boat through the falls.  It was fantastic!!  We got absolutely drenched, but in true British style were very prepared with various water proofs.  The Americans were giving us strange looks when we put them on beforehand in the intense heat, but then they got soaked and we laughed!!!  After we got to look down “The Devils Throat”, which is basically where loads of waterfalls come together and you look straight down it, but all you can see is white mist, birds diving in and out of the mist and some rainbows!

Off to Buenos Aires tomorrow!