Viva Argentina

From reading the last blog, it appears that we have been in Argentina for almost three weeks now and had no idea that so much time had passed by! We have explored the greater part of Northwest Argentina, Iguazu Falls and currently, Buenos Aires.

We ended up taking Ieuan and Kerry up on the offer to share a rental car for six days. We had the chance to explore the Southern and Northern Circuits that surround Salta on the roads less traveled. The towns along the way in the Southern Circuit were picturesque and the scenery was beautiful! We spent the first three days exploring the small town of Cachi, winetasting in Cafayate, and hiking Rio Colorado.

Wine Tasting - Cafayate, Argentina

Throughout the first three days, we were subjected to extremely bumpy and twisting roads. They were so intense that when we rented the car the saleswoman gave us an estimate of how many curves we would be encountering. We had no idea the extent of the curves, which turned out to be many blind corners and some very slow going!

Road from Cachi to Cafayate, Argentina

Hiking Rio Colorado was a highlight of the Southern Circuit and took approximately three hours. We met a tour guide at the bottom of the trail, negotiated a price and then headed into the mountains. The trails started out gradually until we reached a spot where our guide reached down into some chalk-like substance and motioned that it was ¨for climbing¨. Little did we know, he decided to take us the hard way a.k.a rock climbing because we were ¨young and could do it¨. Looking back, it was a great experience but I don´t think that any of us have ever clung onto a rockwall like that before in our lives! Mark would like to get back into rock climbing when we get home and I´d like to try it out with him, with more appropriate gear next time!

Rio Colorado Hike

After our first three days out, we spent the night in Salta to get ready for the Northern Circuit. The circuit was, again, filled with some crazy, bumpy roads but the ¨Road to the Clouds¨ was great and we really enjoyed the town of Tilcara where we spent two nights playing cards, eating dinner, and drinking wine. Even our day adventure out to Iruya, a small town tucked away in the mountains, was well worth the drive!

Last night out - Tilcara, Argentina

We returned to Salta a bit exhausted, but thankful for the six day trip with Ieuan and Kerry! It´s a trip that we will not forget - thank you both for making it so great!

Our adventure out to Iguazu Falls lasted four days and was worth every penny of the pricey bus ride! We stayed at the Guembe Hostel near the bus station and loved exploring the rainforest town. Our first two days we experienced torrential downpour, the kind of downpour that only seems to happen in the rainforest! We made it out to the falls on our second day and spent the day hiking and viewing the amazing waterfalls. We even saw some crazy rainforest creatures including monkeys and giant bugs!

The falls were better than we expected and made us feel like we were Jurassic Park. The intensity can only be felt when experienced, but we tried to capture it with our camera as well.

Iguazu Falls, Argentina

Garganta del Diablo

We spent the remainder of the time in Puerto Iguazu checking out the shops, laying by the pool, and eating our first Chinese food since we left home. We were both so excited to find some different flavors and jumped on the opportunity to eat some Yakisoba. It was delicious! 

From Puerto Iguazu, we took an overnight bus to Buenos Aires where we have been now for over one week. We stayed in the San Telmo neighborhood for one night before moving to the Palermo neighborhood where a lot of the restaurants and shops are. We´ve checked out the impressive Recoleta Cemetery, Puerto Madero, and many of the parks. Today we will be going to our first Polo match, which we are both looking forward to experiencing! We plan on checking out the San Telmo Sunday market tomorrow before heading to Mendoza on Monday. And for all of the foodies out there, we have had some delicious Parilla during our stay here as well!

Our tent has been bought and our plans are coming together for Patagonia. We have rented a cabin for two weeks in Bariloche, Argentina where we will be enjoying the holidays in our cozy 250 sq. ft cabin! We are planning on a lot of hiking, camping and adventure in the upcoming months down south.

Happy Holidays to all of our families and friends back home!