Buenos Aires

An early start in El Chalten saw us on a 3hr bus journey back to El Calafate and then a flight from El Calafate, taking off over the Patagonian hills to arrive in Buenos Aires late afternoon. After a bit of an issue with attempting to get money out at an ATM we were on our way to our Hostel in Palermo District. Palermo district is renowned for being a very pleasant area of the city so were had high hopes for our hostel…..

Those high hopes ended up being short lived! The Hostel itself was in a great location but unfortunately the quality was not on par with the location! We sucked it up and decided as it was only three nights, we would make do. If you are ever in Buenos Aires as a traveller, whatever you do, do not say at the Palermo Soho Hostel – Trip Adviser rating of 1.1 was well deserved!!

Dinner was spent in a typical Argentinean way at one of the local Parillas where we ate meat, meat and more meat! It was an amazing meal and after being suitably fed and watered (wine for good measure too), we called it a night.

The following day we decided to walk pretty much the length of Santa Fe Avenue (an all day walk!) taking us to the docks area to check out how we go about heading over to Uruguay for the day. A discussion with a non-English speaking ticket agent in our broken Spanish turned out to be a success! A bit more sight-seeing around the area and we decided we would take a chance on the underground to get back to the area we were staying. What an experience that was! Hundreds of people, no air, packed trains – I don’t think I will ever complain about the crowds on the HK underground again! I guess it was partly our own fault for braving it in rush hour…. … a beer and pizza made it all ok in the end!

An early start and we were on our way for our trip across the river to Colonia Del Sacramento, Uruguay. Quite possibly one of the easiest border crossings we have experienced. It goes something like this - finished with the Argentinean border check and move one person along at the desk to then have our passports stamped by the Uruguayan border control – that was it! Why can’t all border controls be that easy…? Colonia Del Sacramento was definitely worth a visit. A very picturesque town with a large café and outdoor eating culture. Our kind of town!! Graeme was particularly impressed to see that the Uruguayan national dish was none other than a Steak Sandwich! Best. National Dish. Ever. Sampling of the local beer was also a must. A wonder around town ended our Uruguay visit, and then back through another very easy border check, back on the ferry to Buenos Aires for a big night out with friends that we had met in Antarctica.

After a big (!) night catching up with Mark and Lucy and another amazing dinner, the following day we headed to the airport to catch a flight to Iguazu Falls nursing a bit of a sore head.