Partying in Paraguay - CARNAVAL!!!

After visiting the majestic Iguassu falls we headed on our way over the border to Paraguay. We had heard that Carnaval was quite a big event in a little town called Encarnacion in the very south of Paraguay. On the bus journey over we only saw a few tourists, two Geordies & a Swede!! We got talking to them for the length of the journey and decided to travel together over the next few days as our game plans were quite the same. Nils the Swede had great Spanish as he had been living in Buenos Aires so that was a big help as very few locals had any English and their accents were hard to understand!! We got to the town on the Friday afternoon and bought our tickets for the 2 nights of
Carnival with the assistance of a very friendly taxi driver :o) We spent the day just dandering around the town and then headed back to the hotel to get ready!! I had a shower (which blew up while I was in it!!) and we put on our glad rags!! The atmosphere inside the Sambadrome was mad, people dancing and singing on the stages either side of the parade and lots of fantastic floats all in themes like Moulin Rouge, Las Vegas, random Mexican comedy shows!!! The bright colours and costumes were amazing and the crowd were spraying snow spray everywhere. Our going out gear was ruined within 5mins (lesson learned for Saturday night it was back to shorts and t-shirts and no showers necessary!!). Nobody escaped so we had to get involved, Michaela was definitely enjoying the battle, cans and cans of snow spray were being purchased and the cans of beer weren’t far behind either. Tom and the lads were obviously loving the Samba Goddesses. Even Mrs Argentina made an appearance and the lads voted and decided that she definitely deserved her title!! The Brama girls were also a big hit (the boys mouths were trailing on the stand!!) and there were a few hunky Brama men thrown in too (but one nice naked man for about every 100 women!!)

Paraguay is definitely the poorest country we have seen in South America, lots of very young kids sleeping on the footpaths which was so sad to see. Bolivia was also very poor but it seemed like everyone at least had some kind of house to sleep in but the kids here were sleeping in make shift shelters at the side of the road. In Bolivia it seemed that everyone was able to make a living selling something and the environment felt enterprising whereas in Paraguay I guess there is not so many tourists to sell things to and so the atmosphere felt quite hopeless. We hadn’t really experienced begging anywhere else in South America, trying to sell you things - yes, but just begging for food - not alot. Bit by bit more tourists are making it to Paraguay so hopefully things will improve and 80% of the countries electricity is produced by their hydro-dam so this in itself is a good starting point for development, you would think, but I guess people first have to have enough money to afford a permanent home in order to benefit.

The Legend of the Falls - Iguassu

Brazilian Name: Iguassu or Iguaçu

Argentinian Name: Iguazú

Paraguayan Name: Yguazú

We arrived there in style on a “Super Cama” bus which we had heard was supposed to be the way to travel in Argentina (and way cheaper than the flight) and it was!!! It was an overnight journey and took 18hrs but we had fully reclinable seats, personal TV’s, decent food, lots of wine with dinner and Champagne to send you off to sleep!!! Somedays the backpackers life is not too bad!!!

Fascinating Facts & Figures about the Fabulousy Fantastic Falls (go on say it FASTER!!)

• 275 Waterfalls with one even named after Tom's Mum - Eva!!
• Falling in Argentina and Brazil (Paraguay built a HydroDam so stopped their share of the Falls but supplied 80% of the countries electricity needs)
  
• Up to 82m High and 2.7km Long!!
• 1746 m³/sec flowing over the falls!!
• Mist rises up to 150 m from the Devil's Throat, Iguassu's biggest fall!!
• Boat trip into the Devil's Throat a must if you ever go there...
• Look out for the No88 butterfly and you'll be mobbed by the hungry Coaties (little animal that looks like a Racoon)

 

BA Baby!!!

Buenos Aires, the city of Football, Tango, Protests and Graffiti!!!

For us it was a place of comings and goings as we used it as a base to travel to Iguassu, Uruguay and Paraguay. All together we spent nearly 2 weeks there and there was plenty to do!! But first we said goodbye to the Dragoman gang…

The time had come for us to leave Amber and the crew and we were soooooooooooooooo ready for it!! Of course we were sad to be leaving the guys who we had spent the last 2 ½ months with. We would miss everyone who we had picked up and left off along the way (wee Jenny and Mike especially), our reliable tent - Daniel Craig, flapping dishes after meals to dry them, our truck jobs - backlocker and pub, cook groups and truck border crossings :o) But we were ready to get off the truck, scrap the schedule and take on the rest of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay on our own :o)

Football

Before they all left to head on to Carnival in Rio without us, we all headed to one of the biggest attractions in BA, for locals (Cuscenians??!!) and Gringos alike - the Boca stadium to see Boca Juniors (Maradona’s old team) play!! Al the legend managed to get us all tickets when he arrived up to BA before us and what a match it was!! We started the day off learning a few chants from a die hard fan on the bus on the way out, followed by all you can eat pizza and beer in a pub beside the stadium where there was more chants and singing and we bought our Boca jerseys, then we followed the massive crowd towards the stadium where the fun really began!! Even though the result didn’t go Boca’s way (they lost 4 -1 on the night) you wouldn’t have guessed it from the constant drumming and chanting from the Boca supporters for the whole 90 minutes!! The atmosphere was unreal - there was a band in the stand opposite us and they must have had about 2mins break in the whole match, if a supporter was shouting negative comments at the team all the fans around him would tell him to sshhh as Boca fans believe that you always have to stay positive towards all players no matter how bad the play is. The fans opposite unveiled a huge flag at the beginning of the match which covered one whole terrace of the stadium. Its the fans flag and apparently goes to every match - the Jugador 12 refers to the 12^th player on the Boca team - the fans!! Watching it move back and forth as the fans swayed underneath it was AMAZING!!

I have been at my games in my time and I have never experienced an atmosphere like it - The Boca fans live and breathe football, its running through their veins and its contagious; we were jumping up and down and egging them on when they had any half chance…It will remain in my memory for a long time to come.

Tango
We spent the last night with the Amber crew at a very cool Tango club in BA. You wouldn’t have been able to tell it was a club from the street. There was no signs just a dark doorway leading up a dark stairway into a big dance floor with some seating round the edges! To begin with we just watched the Tango, avoided alcohol as we were soooooo hu

ngover from the previous nights partying in the new hostel and had some dinner!! But after the first lesson was over we decided we should join in so myself and Tom graced the dance floor!! It was pretty basic Tango and id say we kinda got the hang of it but there were soooo many gringos on the dance floor that it was hard not to bump into people and step on toes!! I wouldn’t say we were experts but we would definitely make it to a Strictly Come Dancing Final!!! Then of course seeing Michaela’s obvious talent the hunky male dance teacher took her away from me and danced with her to demonstrate the even more difficult routine!!!! No complaints from Michaela and it was time for my early retirement ;o(

Whilst there we also managed to catch a free Tango show put on by local government to celebrate the Tango festival. The stage was massive and there must have been about 2000 people there, mostly local Argentineans but some had travelled far to see it. There was a live orchestra, singers and obviously the most important people were the professional Tango dancers. Some of the dancers and singers were definitely famous in Argentina as they arrived onto the stage with thunderous applause from the audience!! The old guy sitting beside us was hilarious…he was wearing earphones and obviously listening to the Boca match on the radio - one minute he would be shouting at the radio and the next cheering wildly at the dancers!! A true Argentinean with two equal passions - football and tango!!! The show was amazing and really showed off the best of Argentinean Tango.


Protests
Protests are a daily part of life in the centre of Buenos Aires and they reckon that there are at least 2 or 3 a day!! Many were legitimate marches about various political parties and their agendas however our guide also pointed out that often the people marching didn’t even know what they were protesting about!! Many parties would use local poor people living just outside the city to bump up numbers showing support for their policies!! They would pay for the bus journey and food for the day for these people to come into the city and march and they were more than happy for the day out!!

The Madres de Plaza de Mayo were a small group of mothers and grandmothers who protested every Thursday around a square in the centre of the city urging the government to reveal information that would help them to find their lost children and grandchildren who disappeared during the military coup. They marched around the square wearing white head scarves and holding placards of their lost ones. It was amazing to see such dedication at their age to ensure their children are not forgotten. About 100 have been found since the foundation of the organisation but who knows how many more are still out there. We read a BBC news article just before we left saying that they had won the right to bring two of the military leaders to trial in order to receive justice but more importantly to force them to reveal the information that could lead to them finding their lost children (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12597738)

Graffiti
Everywhere we went around the city there was graffiti to be seen. It certainly beat some of the graffiti we see at home ‘School sucks or I woz here’ etc. and a lot more creative. Some of it was delivering some important messages and others just brightening up a derelict building in a poor neighbourhood of the city. Some of these guys had real talent as you can see from the photos below. In the past the graffiti was seen as a hindrance and an expense to the local councils to get rid of it. Nowadays there is a completely different perception of graffiti. The locals are quite proud of it and a lot of businesses hire some of these artists to create eye catching pieces to encourage customers to come inside their bars and shops.

What impressed me most about Buenos Aires is that no matter what neighbourhood of the city you visited there was always something going on, asado’s (bbqs) being held in parking lots at weekends, dancers and singers performing on the streets, markets selling anything from art, food, junk and even old music records. It was a great city to just pick an outside terrace in a nice café and people watch (you might even bump into someone you know!! Michaela met one of her students who still called her Miss Duffy!!!!). You can see so much of the European influence in this city but it certainly has developed its own character as well. A city that certainly must be visited.

♫ Here we go again ♫…♫ We’re on the road again ♫ …Only 3079km to Buenos Aires!!!!!

Sunrise came early on the last day in Ushuaia as we got up at 6.00am to start the LOOOOOONNNNGGGGGG journey up to Buenos Aires!!! Only 3079km to do over 6 days but the good thing was that most people had decided to take the plane up to get extra time in BA but since we were getting off there we had plenty of time so we took the much cheaper truck option!! So there was plenty of seats to spread out across on the truck with only 7 of us :o)

There wasn’t much planned for this leg of the journey as the aim was just to get up to Buenos Aires as quickly as possible but we managed to stop at a few interesting spots along the way including the border control on the first day going back into Chile where we nearly got fined $250 for having some eggs, garlic, a mouldy melon and some cheese sandwiches from the Dutch girls (typical!!).

We took the ferry across the Magellan Straits and saw some Commerson Dolphins…tried to get a picture but they were way to quick!! Further up we stopped along the coast on a beach which had tons of Sea-Lions on it fighting for women, food and space in the sun (the life of a male no matter what the species). We bush camped in a trucker park - Dan I don’t know how you did it for all those years - gross!! Another few hundred kilometres (its all a bit of a blare!!) we saw a huge version of something that we have seen lots of on the roads in Argentina and finally found out what they were. Along the many roads that we have travelled we have seen lots of little road side shrines with flowers, notes and red tape or flags. They look like the ones at home and so we assumed they were for people who had died in accidents along the road but no. Apparently they mark places were local people show their appreciation and devote prayers to an Argentinean legend. He was called Gauchito Gil and he is a Robin Hood character who stole food from the rich farm owners and gave it to the local poor village people. When the authorities finally caught up with him he was sentenced to be hung and when the day came his hangman was about to drop the box when Gauchito asked him about his son. He told him that his son was seriously ill (which the hangman did not know about) and that if, instead of disposing of his body in a ditch which was tradition for a criminal, he would bury Gauchito Gil’s body in a grave, he would save his sons life. The hangman proceeded with the hanging and then went home to find that his son was indeed very ill and so he went to the local Sheriff to ask him if he could bury Gil’s body. He did and his son made a full recovery. Every January there is a day of celebration for this famous legend and there is a church in his local area which people come to make offerings at…its apparently full of wedding dresses, bikes, money, toys and candles.

We also stopped at a small town called Gaiman, a Welsh colony developed in 1865 when a few Welsh settlers came over looking for freedom to practise their language, faith and work - it was all getting a bit Anglophied in Wales so why not pop over to Argentina I mean its not far!! We popped into a small Welsh Tea House for some Afternoon tea. It was run by a lovely Welsh descendent who clearly loved all things Welsh!! We had tea, cakes and sandwiches on proper china ware (Tom felt right at home!!), there was tea cossies, pictures of Princess Diana, Welsh background music and Daffodils galore!! All in all a splendid afternoon!!

The End of the World…well almost…Ushuaia!!

So after many days of travelling down through the beautiful countries of Argentina and Chile we finally reached the end of the world!! Well technically its not really the end of the world, there are a few small towns south of Ushuaia and obviously if you can afford to get there Antarctica is technically the end of the world OR technically there is no end of the world as it is round and has no beginning and no end!! ANYWAY it is the “Southern Most City in the World” and they are proud of it!!

Mostly Ushuaia is just a stop off town for those lucky enough to be heading to the Antarctica or for large cruise ships full of old, rich Americans cruising around South America. We went to see the Tierra del Fuego national park which is just outside the town but to be honest the scenery on the way down was mind blowing and this was a nice park for a Sunday stroll but nothing compared with the views we had seen in the past few weeks!! We did see our first beaver en-route though (look very closely in the picture on the left!!) and the damage they can do is unbelievable.

They did have a really cool penguin colony on an island in the middle of the famous ‘Beagle Channel’. We took a tour which brought us by mini bus passed some crazy looking trees (shows how strongs the wind get down there in the winter!!!) to the Harberton estancia. This estancia had a very interesting aquatic museum and the marine biologist who was working there was so passionate about it you couldn’t but get excited about it. It had an amazing collection of dolphin, penguin and whale skeletons and she showed us deformities in the bones which the mother and daughter dolphins shared and ones which died of arthritis etc. Her job was finding local dead animals, documenting their cause of death and then clearing the carcass to get the skeleton and she was soooooooooooooooooo excited about it!!! Takes all sorts of people!!

 After that we headed for a short boat trip across the Beagle Channel to Isla Martillo. The penguins hang out here to breed during the summertime (by the way summer in Ushuaia means max temp 15degC!!!!). When we jumped off the boat at the shore the penguins were there to greet us in their 1000’s, they weren’t shy that’s for sure and some seriously posed for the cameras as you will see from the photos. There were 2 types of penguins, the Magellanic and the Gentoo penguins, and the Gentoos were definitely the coolest with their beautiful bright orange beaks and the little fluffy babies were so cute!! I also got a cool pic of a Petrel (I think!!). It was diving towards me and I fell on my ass but somehow still managed to click the button!!

 

When we got back to Ushuaia we chilled out and had some penguin cakes and coffee -yummy!!!

We had done some investigating on doing an Antarctica tour if there were any “Amazing Special Offers” but as an icebreaker boat had crashed the week we were there all the passengers of that boat had filled up the other boats so that trip will have to be left for another time!!!