Robinhoodgirl

Thursday, 11 November 2010

The falls

Posted by mia

Imagine a place full of the greenest of subtropical rainforest imaginable; 100s of butterfly-species surrounding you, colorful birds trying out their voices, caimans sunbathing on the shores of the rivers, various reptiles lurking in the shade and at night the pumas and jaguars come out to hunt. All this surrounded by the grandest waterfalls on earth: Iguazu you took my breath away.

Where I started the morning. In a tiny boat below this fall. No need to say how soaked I got!

Saturday, 6 November 2010

Black and white

Posted by mia

My Patagonian dream journey had the perfect ending before the big city of Buenos Aires: Puerto Madryn. There I walked among one of my absolute favourite animals : the Magellan Penguin and watched Commerson's dolphins in action. Do you think I am slowly starting to worry about going back home?

The cutest bum award goes to...

Travels in heaven

Posted by mia

The most stunning bike ride I know of: The lake district in Patagonia.

This is it!

Posted by mia

Another dream has been fullfilled! At last after a looooong journey we arrived - Patagonia.

And it is true what they say about the weather there: you can have it all in one day: hurricane winds, snow, sleet, rain and scorching sunshine. It all somehow adds to the experience - it shakes you up and makes you feel alive.

We spent the days travelling by foot and bike through the lake district. First stop was San Martin de los Andes; a quaint "alp" village which; wait for it: has decided to specialize in Chocolate, so everywhere you go there is chocolate waiting to be eaten. I was in heaven!

From there we travelled on one of the most beautiful roads in the world "la ruta de los siete lagos" down to the adventure sport capital of Argentina: Bariloche. Believe me, if I had my loved ones there, I would have stayed. Seldom have I been surrounded by such beauty; it really is one of the most perfect towns in the world, I just wished I had more time so that I could have hiked for weeks on end in the national park: Nahuel Huapi, but instead I had only a few days to explore it. We then finished the stay with what I truly believe to be the most stunning bike trip I have ever done and it definetely must be on the top 10 list of bike rides in the world.

What a week!

Posted by mia

We continued southwards, travelling through the stunning Calchaqui valley with its multicolored hills, ravines and lovely little villages which seems to have stood the test of time. And with the hours passing; the nature changed. All of a sudden the barren landscape we had got so used to; was green and lush and the dust was gone.

Waking up in the colonial city of Salta was a huge change to the senses. Suddenly there were modern cars, shops and everywhere was clean; and you know what? It made me sad. I started to miss the mess, the unpredictability and the feeling of being free to do what you want since there is no existing law to follow. Why can there not be something in between?
But the sun was shining so we went out to enjoy the beautiful colored buildings and of course visit the stunning churches. In the afternoon we went to the MAAM museum to learn more about the Inka culture and to see some dead Inka children displayed, quite disturbing...
The next day we went to visit a lovely holiday town where the Argentinians go called San Lorenzo, its only 10 k out of Salta but due to its micro-climate it has all you need for a relaxing weekend in the nature rainforest, canopy walkways and great walking tracks.

Next stop after that was Cordoba which is the second largest city of Argentina. We only stayed for a day as I had had enough of cities ( hm, how on earth will I manage in London?)and we both could not wait to test lots of different Malbec wines in the picturesque area of Mendoza.