Tangoing in Buenos Aires

Before saying goodbye to Argentina for more adventuring in the tropical north, we simply had to sample some of Buenos Aires famed atmosphere, if even for a few days.

With wide boulevards, green parks and grand architecture, it was easy to see why some regard the city as the Latino Paris of South America, however the Argentinians impassioned pride for football, recent independence, reverence for their dead nobility and lifestyle in the sun made for a very individual atmosphere all its own.

Buenos Aires, or specifically the many immigrants who shaped the city culture to what it is today gave the world the Tango; a fitting signature dance given its series of dramatic swings, erotic dips and prolonged eye contact. This fusion of raw unadulterated desire, motion and music demands the passion for perfection, which can also be seen in how the locals live, work, dine and fiesta late into the nights.

It also features the most popular dead woman of Argentina, Eva Perón (ie.Evita to theater-goers) who rests eternally at the Cemetery of La Recoleta, the hallowed burial ground of Argentine nobility. Despite dying in 1952, many local mourners still bring a steady supply of flowers to her tomb, which is possibly the most visited tourist attraction in the city also. Although she shares her grave with a host of other notables, including past presidents, she is the one "they all" come to see.

Buenos Aires does not begin and end with Evita and the tango either. Plazade Mayo is named for the date of the beginning of Argentina’s independence, yet today is more famous as a place for political protest. Mothers of los desaparecidos (“the disappeared ones”) who vanished without a trace during the military dictatorship of the late 70s and early 80s, hold a demonstration every week to ask, seemingly in vein, for information about the fate of their loved ones.

In awe of the Iguazu Falls

In what could arguably be the worlds most dramatic series of waterfalls, the majestic Iguazu Falls straddle the border between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay at the south eastern tip of the immense Amazonian jungle.

The statistics are staggering with 275 falls plunging over a multi-level, semi-circular volcanic rock precipice 80m high and 3km wide, pushing out up to 450,000 cubic feet per second in the rainy season, which despite decent weather was exactly what initially greeted us when first arriving (ie. a serious tropical downpour for the first full day).

The falls can be seen from both the Argentinian and Brazilian sides, which we managed to visit despite a hairy crossing into Brazil without a VISA ;) Although Brazil offered the best overall panoramic views, revealing a raging water level so high it had not been seen in 2 yrs, Argentina offered the more "up close and personal" jungle experience, complete with trails offering almost guaranteed sightings of toucans, parrots, bandicoot-looking ´coatis´ and hundreds of strikingly coloured butterflies.

The thunderous rush of water tumbling from the Rio Iguazu could be heard well before seeing the falls themselves, with a fine spray of rain falling upon us in waves with the breeze. Once closer this huge volume of rising mist turned almost horizontal, making "money shot" snapping a serious challenge with our fragile digital SLR cameras; but as you can see we scored a few.

With such abundance of bio-diversity living under the jungle canopy (ie. over 450 species of birds and a host of mammals including five species of giant cat) and co-co-existing with such raw destructive power, its easy to see why the Iguazu Falls National Park earned a ´UNESCO World Heritage Site´ title in 1984.

Cycling in sunny Mendoza

With the cold winter seemingly tracking us northwards, our arrival to the sun-kissed Argentine city of Mendoza marked a welcome change to the wild colds of Patagonia. I was pleasantly surprised at how broad and tree-lined the streets were in town centre, despite an over-saturated number of cars, buses, smoking pedestrians and sidewalk litter.

Mendoza´s famous red Malbec wine region is older than its relatives in California’s Napa Valley and less commercialized than its cousins in France with many local wineries offer taste-testing tours to visitors. Despite being more expert at downing "liquados" (ie. milkshakes) than your average "vino", Nicole and I took to touring the vineyards and olive oil plantations via hired mountain bikes; a backpacker favourite which made for easy photography along the way.

Of course, I hadn´t done anything so stupid as mixing alcohol with bike-riding since my brave trip to/from the Heineken museum in Amsterdam in ´05, but at least this time there weren´t countless water canals and tram-tracks to watch out for :)

Much more is on offer for visitors due to the city´s close geographical location to the wild Diamante, Atuel and Rio Mendoza rivers with possibly the best white-water rafting in Argentina, however it´s close proximity to the Andes and more specifically Cerro Aconcagua, "Roof of the Americas" at 6982m is the big drawcard for adventure enthusiasts around the world; although only the most hardened mountaineers set out to conquer the highest peak outside Asia over a 4 week long slog into -30 degree weather.

High winds made contemplating the 5 day ´Aconcagua Base Camp´ trek un-walkable, so we made our way to see the mountain and it´s surrounding desolate scape of peaks via tourist bus, which gave plenty of informative details and photograph opportunities of the area.

Dino-hunting in Neuquen

Due to long histories of favourable climatic and geological conditions, North America and Asia were previously considered the primary sources of dinosaur information, however recent discoveries of literally ´epic proportions´ in the Argentinian province of Neuquen since turned the paleontological industry upside down, making Patagonia arguably the richest place for finding preserved fossils in the world today.

The existence of the Andes range, due to a forced collision of tectonic plates ´lifting´ South America up from the Atlantic and simultaneously pushing the heavier Pacific Ocean down, has lead to even the smallest, most primitive ocean life dating hundreds of millions of years being found high on mountain slopes. The flatter, desert Patagonian steppe to the west however has revealed much larger animals including many species of dinosaur from the early Jurassic and later Cretaceous periods with Argentina laying claim to the largest species ever discovered; carnivore Gigantosaurus at a monstrous 15m in length and herbivore Argentinosaurus at a massive 40.

The small dusty town of El Chocon, site of the excavated ¨Gigantosaurus Carolinii¨ by a local auto-mechanic/dino-enthusiast, was our next destination of interest and despite a total lack of developed tourism and poor Spanish skills we learnt that excavation work had since uncovered more ground breaking discoveries, including 105 million year-old, well preserved dinosaur footprints beside the Exequiel Ramos Mexia Lake, just 3 kms out of town.

Luckily after many days of bad weather in the Northern Lake District around famed Volcan Lanin and the town of ´St Martin de Los Andes´ we were met by flawless blue sky and light gusty winds across the desert landscape of El Chocon, and the area proved an interesting resting point for our next big destination; the sun-kissed wine country of Mendoza.

Entering the Lake District

Each new region we discover in South America seems to rival the previous in terms of scenic beauty, and the Chilean/Argentinian Lake District is definitely no exception. Compariable in size to all of England, it includes 63 huge lakes and pristine pasteurised landscapes with backdrops of countless snowy peaks, scree slope ridges and volcanoes (some active) which offer year round climbing, trekking, fly fishing, horse riding and skiing options for visitors.

Known as the Switzerland of South America, the pastured lie of the land here made stark contrast to the wild rainforest wilderness seen in the fjord regions of Central Chile; supposedly a direct result of German and Austrian migrants who arrived in the late 1800s with their sheep, cows and chocolate/patisserie shop obsessions.

Shortly after World War II many high-profile Nazis fled to this area of Argentina, bringing their riches with them in exchange for protection. Despite Israeli special forces hot on the heels of such war criminals with some success, many locals insist that Adolf Hitler himself, fled from Germany to spend his remaining years in hiding around San Carlos de Bariloche, to die at a ripe old age.

Before reaching Bariloche however, Nicole and I first arrived at the pretty lakeside town of Puerto Varas with a plan to meet up with my parents, who had coincidentally arrived in Chile only days prior whilst on-route from their own travels. Whilst there we chased lamas, discovered Australian eucalyptus trees and emus were imported here, caught a few photos of a poor Puma in captivity and spent an afternoon ascending Volcan Orsorno; complete with patisserie shop break and ski-lift half way up the darn thing!

Once arrived, despite some miserable wet weather Bariloche redeemed itself with 2 glorious sunny days which we took to full advantage with some short walks, a bouncy 4x4 jeep tour of lake Nahuel Huapi and a chair-lift to the top of Cerro Campanario; a scenic lookout point with YET ANOTHER patisserie shop at the top ;)