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Our last monstor bus journey was to El Calafate – 29 hours down south. Normally you would get a hot meal at least on a bus journey this length but nothing this time! We were given a lunch at 11.30am and then that was it til we arrived at 1.30pm the next day. Luckily we were prepared with ham/cheese/tomato/crisps rolls – the food of kings!

We checked into Che Legarto hostel and booked to do our tour of the glacier the next day.

As you can see from the photos, El Perito Moreno glacier did not disappoint. First we did a short hike over the glacier (the crampons were back in action) before going on a boat trip to a viewing point to look at it from a distance. The glacier itself is very active, moving 1m to 2m daily in the middle section and 20cm at the edges.

The next morning myself and Claire left at 8am to go by bus to El Chalten. This pretty village is the base for many hikers to start their treks to the Fitz Roy and Cero Torre mountains. We stuck to an easy hike for the day, staying well away from the treacherous peaks (many people have died trying to get to the top) but still got to enjoy the impressive scenery.

I left Pucon early the next morning to get to Bariloche via Puerta Varas. I stayed one night there, a nice town, not too much to report except for the cool dog in the hostel – 8 month old Bodge was the biggest dog I’ve ever seen!

The next afternoon I reached Bariloche and checked into 41 Below. That afternoon I met Carmel and Kev and we walked up Cerro Campanario – beautiful views at the top of the surrounding lakes. Being back in Argentina, we were also back in steak and red wine country and we had a delicious meal in El Boliche de Alberto.

The next afternoon I rented a bike and set off to do the Circuito Chico around the lakes. I was not alone for long though as a group of Israelis soon adopted me and I ended up spending the day with them. Contrary to my previous opinions, they were very friendly and good company and a beer at the Cerveceria on the way home ended an enjoyable day.

Bariloche is the place for outdoor activities and the next day all six of us headed off rafting. The water was freezing but surprisingly none of us fell in. We all jumped in towards the end for a swim, which was bracing but a delicious BBQ afterwards warmed us up.

The other thing Bariloche is famous for is its chocolate. Chocolate shops line the main streets, most giving free tasters when you walk in. Ofcourse, we had to sample a few, along with the ice cream and the hot chocolate…so good!

After  20 hours on a bus, we arrived in Salta – a smaller pretty city in northern Argentina. By smaller, we mean 1.5million. As usual we started with a siesta when we arrived, then went into explore the town. But everything was shut – siesta here goes on every day from 2 to 6, our kind of place!

The next day,we took the cable car to see the whole city and surrounds, then visited the contemporary art museum and had a look at the archelogical museum.

Next day, we went on a great trip up further north, to visit Pumamarca and some other little towns, and saw the seven coloured mountains. The landscape here is very dry and sparse and the earth contains different minerals which give it the different colours. Some good weather for a change helped to make it a great day.

We had yet more steak this week – Leah was here for two nights before flying home, so we had to have a departure dinner for her. El Establo was the favourite restaurant of the week – really friendly staff and great food. There was also a couple of nights out. Thursday, we went to a great place – Club Araos. When we arrived there was a skate board competition going on followed by some break dancers. Afterwards came the regular DJ and they played some good RnB all night so we did plenty of dancing.

And then came the highlight of the trip – A Jesus theme park. We went to Tierra Santa on Saturday, having heard about the giant mechanical Jesus that resurrects from behind a mountain we were quite curious. The whole place was quite bizarre – loads of tacky installations for everything in the bible – a last supper room, a stations of the cross, a nativity scene and even a wailing wall. All of them involved lifesize plastic models that had moving mouths and limbs – all very bizarre! And so we come to the end of the first part of the trip. Onwards to Salta!

So Monday morning arrived too quickly and it was back to class for more Spanish fun. We all improved over the second week, however it is still really hard to understand the locals when they are speaking in full flow.  Monday afternoon we did a bus tour – good way to see where all the sites are around the city but it was pretty cold and the audio tape was out of synch so it was a case of  “look left” and there was nothing there.

Later in the week we went to MALBA (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buonos Aires) which was really good – loads of cool art work, starting from 1900s and the building itself was really impressive.

Afterwards we went to the Evita Museum – very interesting to learn a bit more about her…

She had some nice outfits aswell…