And gets propositioned on the way… read on!<\/p>\n
I got to Buenos Aires in pouring rain from sunny London
\nwithout mishap. My hotel was ok, in the historic area of
\nBuenos Aires and cost around £12 a night for bed and
\nbreakfast, and it has a bathroom too, so not bad. This is a
\ngood time to visit Argentina as prices are very low – most
\nmeals are under £5 and a giant bottle of beer just £1! I
\nwanted to visit a tango show last night but was just too
\ntired around midnight, the time it is all supposed to kick
\noff. Plan to take a city tour of Buenos Aires.<\/p>\n
Went to a place called Puerto Madero and it reminded me
\nof all the regeneration that has taken place in Docklands
\nin London. There were very few people and a lot of brand
\nname American eateries, so, I was a little disappointed. I
\nwalked back to town where the real people live, but my poor
\nfeet hurt after that! On the plus side, it could be
\nclassified as training for my forthcoming Patagonia
\ntrekking!<\/p>\n
The local beer is good and it is now sunny, in sharp
\ncontrast to the day I arrived, so prospects are promising.
\nThen headed by bus to El Calafate in Argentina. I am having
\ngreat weather – sunny, dry unusually windless, and hot,
\neven by my standards! I was even down to a plain shirt and
\nwished I had packed my sandals. I did a 8-9 hour trek from
\na place called Refugio Pehoe on the lake of the same name
\n(pronounced correctly as “pewe”. to glacier
\nGrey. It was a very scenic walk compared to the one done
\nthe other day to Torres (or more accurately
\n“torture”. del Paine which is featured on the
\nall of the postcards here. I reckon this one was a bit
\ntougher than the Machu Picchu trek in Peru, although that
\nwas nearly 5 years ago and my age is definitely beginning
\nto show in my knee joints. Maybe it’s just a matter
\nof time before I start considering Saga holidays!<\/p>\n
We met some travellers who had to forego their plans as
\nthere was no accommodation at the next two destinations we
\nare heading to, the only other option being to set up your
\nown tent! Having roughed it for the last two nights I am
\nnot ready for a repeat performance. The alternative was 180
\nUS dollar per night hotel with everything priced in good US
\n$ – the cheapest item on the menu being a coca cola at only
\n$4! Taking of prices, I was shocked at the London prices of
\neverything in the Torres Del Paine National Park. Still, it
\ndidn’t stop me from having 2 bottles of Chilean red
\nlast night at £8 each. The idea was to stun myself into a
\ndeep slumber in the tent and not notice the gale winds and
\nrain.<\/p>\n
One thing I have been disappointed about is not being
\nable to gaze at the night southern sky. Chile has some of
\nthe best skies for star gazing – but it has been too
\ncold or too cloudy or both! I am beginning to feel quite
\nworn out now and looking forward to taking a hot shower and
\nsleeping in a proper bed! Sleeping bags are not for people
\nlike me who toss and turn and sleep in the spread-eagle
\nposition!<\/p>\n
On a bus from Puerto Natales, I met an unemployed doctor
\nfrom Spain. As a result of having a fluent Spanish speaker
\non the team, we were able to find a hotel room very quickly
\nand cheaply, and sorted out our transport – or more
\naccurately dis-sorted! I decided to abandon my very much
\ndesired plans to go on into Chile via Coyhaique and head
\nnorth through to Puerto Montt on the scenic Carretera
\nAustral, now nearly completed, connecting the upper part of
\nChile to the remote Southern part. This is a lasting legacy
\nstarted by General Pinochet. It is said that he wanted it
\nnamed after him but this was met with a fair amount of
\nopposition.<\/p>\n
From Puerto Montt, in Chile, we went to the small but
\npretty and very touristy, town of El Calafate in Argentina.
\nWe visited the Perito Glacier, (a natural wonder that grows
\nby 2m a day) almost immediately after we arrived. It was
\nhot and baking there, but a bus ride one hour later, it was
\nrainy at the glacier. This is Patagonia, so the weather
\nremains ever changing after all! Our Spanish doctor refers
\nto El Calafate as a “tourist trap”. apart from
\nthe Perito Moreno, there are other excursions but all
\npriced in US $ and upward of $200! We could move on to our
\nnext planned destination of Fitzroy, another “must
\nsee” place, but nothing to move on from there til
\nSaturday when we head for the Chilean border once again –
\nand then there is no way of connecting to the Carratera
\nAustral with any certainty!<\/p>\n
So, the three of us decided to leave town and take a
\nplane, considerably cheaper than taking the bus over 4 days
\nto Bariloche – another very touristy place renowned for its
\nSwiss like setting and more importantly for me, chocolates!
\nWe rented a car at Bariloche airport and although not
\nplanned, we managed to tour the whole of the Argentinean
\nlake district in 24 hrs – something that would normally
\ntake at least 3 days! With our Spanish doctor friend, we
\ndid some intense travelling and did not sleep in the same
\nbed twice. When we all split, I missed our new
\nfriend’s animated conversation: drink coffee …
\ndug.. dug… dug…, visit x click, click, click….. and
\nhis favourite phrase: “we have 2
\npossibilities”…. to which I would reply:
\n“what about?” The response would be: “we
\nhave 3 possibilities… you decide”. He had all
\nmakings a 1st Division civil servant or indeed Local Govt
\nofficer, if only he could make decisions! We became good
\nmates and did a list of countries we will travel together
\nin the future – almost all except Britain and USA! A real
\nGlobetrotter in the making, rucksacks and only economy
\nclass for the “authentic experience” – not sure
\nif it meant not hiring cars!<\/p>\n
I did things not “programmed” like hire
\ncars, and which our Spanish doctor friend drove like an
\naspiring Italian Grand Prix driver in a red Fiat Punto
\nreplica. This even gave time to visit the island of Chiloe,
\nS America’s 2nd largest) – did in half a day (instead
\nof whole day) by special negotiation. The place where we
\nstayed In Castro also did the tours, ran the Tourist
\noffice, the taxi company ..the lot!<\/p>\n
Arrived back in Buenos Aires – in broad daylight in This time in BA<\/abbr>, we One of my travel companions muttered something about On serious note: life is pretty tough for most people Not one for taking taxis for the “authentic Discus this article and give feedback in our online forum<\/p>\n And gets propositioned on the way… read on! I got to Buenos Aires in pouring rain from sunny London without mishap. My hotel was ok, in the historic area of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[47],"class_list":["post-1567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-main-article","tag-march-2004"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nsharp contrast to the previous week when (thanks to Taris
\nour Spanish travel companion and now fast friend) we seemed
\nto be getting to our destinations in the middle of the
\nnight with no accommodation fixed! It was a bit of a relief
\nto be in BA<\/abbr> after a 15 hr
\nbus journey (very comfy sleeper – got up fresh as a daisy
\nand wished our air flight had been of the same standard –
\nmeals, night cap fizzy champagne etc. from Neuquen
\n(Arg).<\/p>\n
\nopted to stay in the slightly posher part of town. I
\ndidn’t realise the unexpected benefit until we left a
\nThai restaurant about 1am. We ran into a stunning,
\nvivacious, voluptuous raven-haired beauty who we initially
\nmistook to be a typical friendly Argentine but she made
\nproposals about providing massage and other services by
\ngesticulation as we didn’t understand Spanish, but we
\ngot the drift all right!<\/p>\n
\ngoing to sleep as he was dog tired whereas I tried to
\nexplain that my Redbridge Council zero-budget (Hem is a UK
\ncivil servant!) for entertainment and socio-economic
\nresearch would not allow such indulgences. Only moments
\nearlier I was reflecting on the night time economy as the
\nEnvironmental Executives of BA<\/abbr> municipality, who were furiously
\nflushing the pavements and clearing garbage just yards
\naway. And then to be presented with this provocative
\nproposal – my thoughts of returning home had me
\nthinking of gaps in the Skills Matrix, the reliability of
\nNational workforce data with excluded key sector
\nprofessionals in the all important tourism and culture
\nindustry; was she entitled business start up advice and
\ngrants, etc, etc – enough of work talk.<\/p>\n
\nafter the near-collapse of Argentina’s economy 3 yrs
\nago and a great many try and cope with everyday life by
\ndoing two or three jobs and even reverting to desperate
\nmeans.<\/p>\n
\nexperience”, I found myself taking the underground
\nmetro. It was amazing to find that that TV screens
\nsuspended over the platforms showing all kinds of stuff
\n– one in particular was a Miss Brazil (previous night
\nI am sure it was Miss Argentina) parading on a catwalk
\n– starting with a glasses, full business suit and the
\nmandatory army officer hat – starting to strip of
\neach apparel at a time – Did she take everything off?
\nNo Se, I don’t know. I was on the fast and frequent
\ntrain by the time she got down to her essentials! Visit
\nArgentina – its a great place to enjoy yourself !<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"