Animal Magic

We spent quite a few days in and around Puerto Madryn, on the east coast of Argentina in Patagonia.  It´s an amazing place for having such a high degree of animal watching opportunities in proximity.  For this reason, it definitely gets a Silver Llama award.  The town itself was also really nice.

Here we are all dressed up about to go on a whale watching trip, to see Southern Right Whales.  Which indeed we did, as illustrated below.

We actually saw quiet a few whales, including a mother and baby, but they were quite hard to capture properly on camera, and this is about as good as it gets.  But it was a most enjoyable trip.






I think one of my favourite animals of all was the Armadillo, which I´ve never seen before.  They scurry around in a rather charming manner before burying themselves away in a network of tunnels.  I was really quite fascinated by them.

On the same trip we also went to see Elephant Seals -if you look closely on this photo on the left, you can see them in the background.  They spend hours just lying on the beach, looking very much as if they are dead.  A trip the next day enabled us to see them at much closer quarters, we were walking on the beach right by them.  They did mostly still appear comotose, but occasionally there was some activity, as captured in the photo on the right.  It was amazing being so close to them, the grown males are absolutely ginormous.

The final trip we went on was to Punto Tombo,to see the penguins.  I absolutely loved this, there were penguins everywhere, nesting, and waddling to and from the sea on their five-day fishing trips to feed their mates.  The males and females take it in turns to sit on the eggs and go fishing, very equitable.

Cordoba and around

After Mendoza, we had a brief stop in Cordoba, a lovely University city with an old colonial centre.  There were some great bars and restaurants and we had a most splendid time.  There was also a really cool market in the student district, which Lonely Planet describes as the best in Argentina.  Not sure about that, but even Chris liked it, so it has to be good. (But I think he liked the bar overlooking the market even more, he´s actually smiling in the photo below).

 

We also popped briefly to a little place called Mina Clavaro, a few hours away from Cordoba, and it was a bit of an unexpected gem.  It´s at the confluence of two rivers, and has never-ending amounts of swimming holes and places to chill out on the river banks, as well as some lovely walking.  We decided Mina Clavaro deserved a silver llama award, but it´s getting harder to award them, and Chris thinks the whole system needs a review.  I´d hate to have to downgrade anywhere, and I suspect some disagreements are looming.

 

Comida y Bebida

This post was originally just going to be about Mendoza, after it was suggested I detail a gourmet food experience in a specially dedicated post.  However, there´s been so much good food and drink on this trip, I thought I´d go for a thematic post, on what is after all, one of my favourite subjects, especially when on holiday.

So Mendoza was our next stop after the waterfalls, and one of our days out was to Maipu, which Lonely Planet indeed describes as a "gourmet experience".  Here you can see Christopher tucking into a selection of olive oil, balsamic vinegars, olives, marmalade and such delights as olive pate with garlic.  There was also a fine selection of liquors and chocolates. 

Our method of transport around the various establishments was bicycle, and as Chris pointed out, by noon I had already consumed 4 liquors and 2 glasses of wine! Luckily no incidents occured and we both wobbled around Maipu for the rest of the day, sampling various vinyards and also a micro brewery for lunch (where we also had tasty empanadas, not just a variety of beers.....). 

I may have mentioned elsewhere that empanadas have featured quite highly on this trip - rather tasty, filling and bargainous even in the most expensive of restaurants, they have become an absolute staple of our diet, but contribute little to that (even more elusive than when at home) 5-a-day!

So, to get back on track, Mendoza is the most famous wine region in Argentina, and Malbec is the most famous of all the wines.  However, there are many others produced in Mendoza, and we thought it our duty to sample a good selection, from a variety of different vinyards.  A firm favourite of the vinyards, which has dominated our supermarket choice ever since, is anything from Trapiche, which I am lead to believe is available in England, so will be looking out for that on return.  And as for grapes, being a white wine drinker, Torrontes (as previously sampled in Cafayate), remains my top choice.

Also whilst in Mendoza, we went on a trip to some natural thermal baths, which were really cool and provided a most enjoyable way to spend the day.  Best of all though was the extremely extensive buffet lunch, which was so big, I couldn´t fit it all on one photo, so only a fraction is featured here.  As with tradition for a lunch in Argentina, it was a big asado (barbecue) with a very largeselection of meats, accompanied by a delightful spread of salads and other accompaniments. 

Other culinary highlights have been a really cool fish restaurant in Puerto Madryn (a wildlife related post is forthcoming from this delightful coastal town) where I had the most delicious scallops au gratin.  I tucked in with rather greedy gusto initially, so this photo is half way through

 

and just last night we sampled a rather large proportion of a lamb, cooked Patagonia style.  This photo is of course primarily for the benefit of Mr and Mrs Norton, as the restaurant seemed to particularly favour a wine named after said husband and wife, but it does also feature the lamb being cooked over an open fire. It was utterly delicious, and if I knew lamb could always taste like this I might tuck into it a bit more often at home.

A post about food and drink in Argentina wouldn´t be complete without a mention of ice cream.  I´ve taken it upon myself to sample a thorough selection throughout the trip so far.  Although many pleasing scoops and flavours have been had, a real treat ocurred only just today in Bariloche, from a parlour called Jauja (just in case anyone plans on a visit to Patagonia, be sure not to miss it).  Lonely Planet suggests it is often claimed to be the best in Argenina.  I don´t think my sampling, no matter how thorough, has yet been sufficient to back up that claim, but it was indeed most tasty, and I suspect Heather and Simone would have found it particularly pleasing.

Still to come, hopefully, is one particular treat I am most looking forward to, and that is in Puerto Montt in Chile, which is supposed to have very good crab.  I know not everyone shares my love of this delicacy, but Rach, I will be sure to report back in a few days time!

Waterfall-tastic

I had quite high expectations of Igaucu falls, as everyone I know who has seen them has rated them so highly.  Luckily they lived up to expectations and beyond.  They are not really on the way to anywhere, certainly not in Argentina, but they are totally worth all the effort of getting there.  Without hesitation they have been awarded a golden llama award.  We spent two different days at the falls, on both sides of the border (Argentina and Brazil that is).  Both sides are spectacular, and quite different to each other.  Both involved getting soaking wet due to the phenomenal amount of spray, and in Argentina we went on a couple of boat trips, one getting v. close up to the falls.

It´s quite hard to describe in words what they are really like.  The main point is that Iguacu is not "just a waterfall".  It is a series of a large number of waterfalls, covering a vast area, and such a huge force of water, it´s quite hard to comprehend.  The photos don´t really do it justice.  But here´s a few anyway to give a taster.

We also saw quite a bit of wildlife which was a bonus, including monkeys, turtles, coaties (racoon-like critters) and giant lizards (well quite big anyway).

This is the view of part of the falls from Brazil - I found it quite cool popping to Brazil for the day!

 

And we also stayed in a rather excellent youth hostel  - since when did they have swimming pools?  So all in all a very pleasing part of the trip.

And, now I´ve finally got access to computers where I can upload photos, the previous couple of posts are illustrated, if anyone would care to take a look.