Oct 30, 2009 - Iguazu Falls and Northern Argentina

We arrived in Puerto Iguazu, the town on the Argentinean side of the world-famous Iguazu Falls, a little shell-shocked from the 37 hour bus trip that we’d just survived. It wasn’t long, however, before we employed the services of a full-day taxi to drive us across the border into Paraguay to the city of Cuidad del Este. The city is renowned as being one of the biggest black markets in the world and so it was with little surprise that Robbie picked up an “authentic” Acer laptop for himself and our taxi driver didn't flinch when crossing the...

Oct 23, 2009 - Mendoza

With another overnight bus we made our way down Argentina from Salta to Mendoza, which is in the heart of Argentinian wine country (apparently 70% of Argentinian wine is made in the region), so we hired bikes and did a wine tour! We were recommended to hire our bikes from Mr Hugo's bikes, who turned out to be a bit of a celebrity in the area, as every traveller we met spoke of Mr Hugo! He certainly lived up to his reputation and was a very warm and friendly character who was very generous with the wine once you have returned from a day of...

Oct 15, 2009 - Travels over the Andes

Over Columbus day weekend, our entire group planned a trip to Mendoza, Argentina, a city just over the border. We left late Friday night and arrived at about 5 am in Argentina. I was exhausted because I couldnt sleep on the bus! The bus took us right over the Andes, but since it was dark out, we couldnt see anythig unfortunately. About 2 hours into the ride we had to go through Argentinian customs. It took about an hour to get our documents and bags checked. When we arrived in Mendoza, it was still dark out. We waited a while in the bus...

Sep 7, 2009 - 15 hours on the bus

Die nächsten paar Tage werden Lisa und ich getrennt verbringen. Sie wollte nach Patagonien und ich nach Mendoza, also haben wir uns kurzerhand getrennt (nein, es gab keinen Streit ;), werden uns aber am Freitag wieder in BA treffen. Nachdem Pablo mich an den Bahnhof gebracht hatte, bin ich mit dem Zug an den Bus Terminal gefahren, wo ich Shane und Miles getroffen habe. Wir sind im selben Bus gefahren, leider saßen sie unten und ich oben. Es gibt hier verschiedene Arten von Bussen, z.B. economico, semi-cama, cama. Ich hatte cama (Bett), da...

Apr 3, 2009 - More JFK...

Slept late, had leftover pizza for breakfast. Decided we needed a late checkout of 4pm, as our flight leaves at like 8:30. Thought I’d better man up (or break down) and go to the pharmacy about my stomach issues. I should have gone in Argentina where one can get what we would consider prescription drugs without actually seeing a doc, but I was put off by the thought of having to describe my issues in Spanish. So off to Walgreens in a taxi. Turns out our taxi driver (it was actually a town car the hotel called for me) was quite chatty. He...

Apr 2, 2009 - Arrival at JFK

Lan Chile gets my stamp of approval airline wise. They encouraged Kadu and I to get on our flight early, helped with the bags, and let Kadu into the cockpit for a small chat with the pilots. We flew from Mendoza over the Andes to Santiago and changes planes. Then we were on to Lima, Peru, where we let some people off, picked up others, and refueled. I hoped against hope that someone new would not get on and sit next to us- but alas, the flight was full. Kadu slept a little; me not so much. AS I was desperately trying to doze I heard Kadu...

Mar 31, 2009 - Impressions

No photos today, just repacking since we are leaving tomorrow and I want to be organized. I can't believe I thought Monday was the first. If it hadn't been for my friends here, I honestly would have gone to the airport and expected to get on a flight. I haven't worn a watch since I moved to St. John, so now I sort of think it's against my religion. I guess I feel like if I really need to know someone will tell me what time it is. Since I'm not working, this has sort of rolled into not knowing what day of the week it is or the date. In St....

Mar 30, 2009 - Slept all day

To be honest, I'm catching up on my journal in a batch- and I can't remember what we did this day. Hmmm. I'm sure we slept in, and I'm sure we took a nap. I'm sure I didn't take any photos. I'm going to post more photos from rafting today, I guess. Apparently I was too lazy to journal.. I had to upgrade my journal package, as I mentioned- which did not happen until after this day. That's probably why I was unenthusiastic. Check me tomorrow. I promise to do better.

Mar 29, 2009 - Rafting, finally!

Holy Smokes, I'm tired. Sooo tired. It was even difficult to rouse Kadu, which I'm not sure has ever happened before. We waited for our ride on the corner, and took off about 7:15 am. On all of our tours, we've had good luck with being some of the first picked up, which means we have been able to sit in the front of the van or bus. It means you have a longer drive because you have to pick everyone else up- but I get car sick super easy, so at least I'm not puking my guts out. We drove straight south down the highway for a while, and somehow...

Mar 28, 2009 - packing

So I spent the day packing and getting ready to leave...tomorrow we have a big day rafting- 7 am to 9pm. Finished laundry, decided what to take and what to leave, etc. We leave Monday- want to make sure my ducks are in a row. Patricio picked us up for a late night dinner with his family and Cecelia's. His uncle manages this place that they rent out for parties...it has a bbq grill, little pond, ducks, dogs, pigs- a regular petting zoo. There is also a large field for soccer, and another party building behind the first one. You could have...

Mar 27, 2009 - Getting ready

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Mar 26, 2009 - Shopping Day

It was mostly window shopping...but we did wander quite a bit. Kadu didn't seem to mind, because it was mostly window shopping so we were constantly moving. We got him a soccer outfit (check out the pics)- and I looked for the guy who I bought a $10 necklace from in the park a few days back. He promised to make me some earrings...but no luck- maybe he'll be there today. Now that we're leaving in a couple of days I thought it would be prudent to check out the tourist information center. To be honest, it's located inside the Secretary of...