Bife De Lomo

02/03/11 You can´t do Argentina without tasting this, and we were recommended a little place in San Telmo.  Fillet steak, mixed salad and chips.  It was insane!  Hands down best steak that ever melted in a mouth.  Wow.

New Shoes

02/03/11 If you're going to get Tango shoes, what a place to buy them! We found a street of Tango Shoe shops, with everyone coming in after work to get the right pair for the next Milonga. I tried to act like a pro...

Goldie Old Schools! Classic T-bar. Made in Buenos Aires. And if you're going to get them, might as well go all out and get the sheenyshiny ones!

However, if you wear spangly Tango shoes to a Milonga and allow your boyfriend to leave you unattended at a table, a gent is definitely going to ask you to dance. Not so bad, until my dancing doesnt match up to the shoes!!!! Scary Mary. These locals know what they're doing. I was winging it! Great heels though...

Milonga

01/03/11 Buenos Aires is home to the Argentinian Tango and the Milongas are where the locals go to dance.  We went to both La Catedral and Maldita Milonga and they were amazing.  Dark and atmospheric, intense live music and passionate dancers.  Beautiful.  It felt like a real, authentic insight into an underground Tango scene.  Of course we gave it a go too, and it´s so hard. But they make it looks so effortless!

La Catedral.  You feel cool just sitting in here :)

We joined in our first Tango lesson :)

Angel Pulice & Ruth de Vicenzo.  A lush traditional band click here to check them out! (Grace wants to sing, John wants a guitar).

Ruth de Vicenzo.
Pretty classic.

Maldita Milonga was also a classic place.  If you stay at these places until about 3 am you really get to see the locals.  In Buenos Aires, clubs have flyers saying ´´free before 3am´´!  Most locals were probably heading out just as we were crawling home.

Orquesta Tipica El Afronte. Including 3 dramatic accordians, moody bass, a violent pianist and lamenting front singer. Intense!

Bomba Del Tiempo

28/02/11  We caught a live music show - a fast and furious drum orchestra in a big outdoor courtyard.  Very cool.  We followed the band for an after show performance in a club round the corner too. Boom boom boom, rap a tap tap :)

Buenos Aires

26/02/11 Its fun to be back in another happening city.  It´s also really hot and sunny here :)

It´s great to find people you know!  Thanks Dougal and Katie, Leah and Maia for having us over for an Asado.  Incredible meat, beautifully prepared and well acompanied with wine :)  Really nice to meet everyone else too and get some expert knowledge on BA, Argentina and South America.  Thanks!

We visited some of the major ´hoods, each with there own vibe.  La Boca is colourful and home to the Football legends, Palermo was boutique chic and cafes, and we loved San Telmo, with classic bars, Tango in the square and music in the cobbled streets.

Pebré

We´ve been carrying a bottle of this with us recently. Chilean hot and spicy goodness for aboslutely anything :) The homemade stuff is the shiz.

Vamos A Norte

23/02/11  Its all North from here! Well pretty much.  And the start of some mega bus journeys until we hit Bolivia.  From Punta Arenas up to Buenos Aires, we stopped over in Puerto Madryn for one night to break up the journey.  After weeks of nature livin´we opted for chilling in the hostel and...baking?!

Coconut, sunflower seed and choc chip cookies. Work in Progress. (more sugar next time).

Burritos!  And lots of them.  We made the tortillas too.  Breakfast lunch and dinner for the bus up to BA :)

We also made an amazing veg curry, mainly using ingredients people had left behind in the hostel.  Can´t wait to have our own kitchen with cupboard of food again.

Cabo Froward

17/02/11 To the end of the world and back! Ok, well nearly, more like the most southern point of the South American continent! Right down the Magellan Straits. Where only boats and explorers go! Click here to see it on the map.

Our journey took 5 days, with the first and last including hitch hiking between Puntas Arenas amd the end of the road. On the way we got beginners luck with 3 rides all the way. Including a van man, a pick up, and a 4x4 (sharing the back with a German Shephard) for off road fun. On our final day we had to walk an extra 20km (not so lucky) with no cars for 3 hours until we found a tow truck! Phew. Rescued.

The walking was over pebbled beaches and slippery rocks, with some inland detours through bogs and steep forests.

View from above. More grey, green and blues :)

We had the beaches and campsites all to ourselves :)  Apart from dolphins, seals, foxes and a flip flop chewing, guy rope slicing beast in the middle of the night!

There were a couple of rivers to cross on the way (and the way back) that were only passible at low tide!  Some up to ankles, some to waist - or more depending if you´re a Grace or a John ;) Looks fine from the picture, but the water is ice! And just before this we were huddled under our fly sheet shivering and waiting for low tide after walking in the freezing wind and rain all day!  Altogether very thankful for the sun :)

Cruz Del Froward.  We made it!

View from camp 3.  There´s something epic about these ships passing through the straits.  Its nice to think that the coast will have barely changed since the first explorers and all that exciting history.

We can only go North now.  Por el Sol!

Cooking on the beach on our last evening.  Lush.

Los Penguinos

15/02/10 Today we met some very nice Magellanic Penguins :)

There are around 120,000 photogenic, 2ft waddlers on Isla Magdalena, all in evening wear.  They welcomed us into their little kingdom...

Would make a very cute tent pet :)

Doin´ the dance! ;)

Punta Arenas

14/02/11 This is as far south as we go! Windy: we were warned to watch out when walking around corners in town!  Staying in another sweet little Hostel called Independenica.  Cozy :)

We´ve stayed with lots of these gas or wood burners.  Always hot, always hot water, always a toaster, dryer and just all round cozy makers :)  John misses his steamer and can´t stand going back to the sub standard, university style, cheese grater ones.

Cat!  There´s also a ´gourda´ meaning fat, but for a cat it means long haired. She makes a great draft excluder.  In our Puerto Nateles Hostel there was another moggy called Pom Pom!

Parque Nacional Torres Del Paine

10/02/11  This is the famous one in Chile and Patagonia.  Another ramble with breathtaking scenerey :)  It´s not a wilderness experience (which has put off a few critics we´ve met) as the trails are well groomed and the routes well populated, but if you ask us, you can´t deny how awesome it is!  We hiked the W trail, saw all the classic miradors and packed in some long hours to complete it in just 4 days (we strong) as there´s a trek further south we want to fit in before our bus out of here.

Los Cuernos on our way in.

We knew there was a glaciar at the end of Lago Grey, but this was BIG!

The view of Glaciar Grey from our first campsite.

Evening sun :)

View from kitchen sink.

Lakes from Valle de Frances.

Put the bags down for a bit.

Chocolate top mountains.

We climbed up to the Torres with a torch at dawn.  Rain turned to fresh snow on the tops.

We managed a timer with John sitting comfortably, but this one´s just a bit better :)

We saw lots of sweeet animals:

These Guanacos (like Lama)
A Megellanic Woodpecker
Grey Fox
Condors
Flamingos
and Ñandus (like Ostriches)