Uruguay, who would've thought.

We never planned to go to Uruguay, it was kind of a bonus track on our panamericangladiators greatest hits album. Indeed we had never really heard anything about Uruguay other than it was down there near Argentina/Brazil and presumably Paraguay.

We visited the beautiful colonial town of Colonia del Sacremento, an hours ferry ride west of Buenos Aires across the Rio Plato. We stayed in a hostel, which we are not used to. We were treated to an all you can eat asado, and bottomless jugs of wine, so it wasn't all bad. We even managed a little sightseeing between rain squalls.

We also had a rain soaked peak at Montevideo, the nation's capital. Torrey made a conscious tactical decision to leave his rain jacket in Argentina, and paid for it dearly. We think Montevideo was beautiful, but couldn't see much for the weather.

Finally, we spent two nights in Piriapolis at a fantastic apartment. We had huge views of the coast and a marina. We had a very nice day in the sun, before the perfect storm struck on our last night. We had rolling thunder and lightning for eight straight hours.

Olavarria

We visited Juan's parents Remo and Maby, and Juan's little brother Valentine, in Olavarria. We had a great weekend, eating asado, drinking mate, drinking wine, playing football, eating asado, playing Monopoly Deal, and eating asado.

We also met Bruno, Juan's cousin and a former exchange student of Ken and Debbie (who you may remember from our Canadaian blog post almost a year ago). Bruno and Juan stayed with Torrey's folks last year in NZ. Bruno showed us around his hometown of Sierras Bayas. 

With Juan and his parents

With heavy hearts, we had to say goodbye to the Gladiator. We have been trying to sell it for weeks now before we fly home to NZ, without much luck. Argentina has incredibly tough vehicle importation laws, which means that it is nearly impossible for an Argentinian to legally keep it in the country. So our target market was tourists, who would take it on a similar trip as ours, but it is the middle of winter here, and any smart tourist (with enough money to buy a sweet van) is not going to be starting a trip at this time of year. We finally found a good home for it, and a buyer who wasn't too interested in doing things by the book. We will miss the van and all the adventures we have had over the last year. It has served us very well, and we hope it will keep running strong for its new owner. It was pretty hard to say goodbye to such a wonderful traveling buddy.

Kellie closing the deal wearing her trademark bargaining slippers

Buenos Aires bumper edition blog post

We are but a few weeks out from the end of our trip now. We arrived in Buenos Aires to finally meet good family friend Juan. He lives with his brother Joaquin in a nice flat overlooking a pretty park in Recoleta, one of the nicest neighborhoods in BA. Our goal for the next week or two is to find someone to buy the van. We love the van and don't want to sell it, and this means that our trip is coming to an end, but it needs to be done so we don't have to sell it to a garage for spare parts. We ended up having a lot of time to look around BA while we got busy selling.

Recoleta is home to one of Buenos Aires' most famous points of interest, the enormous Recoleta Cemetery. This is the final resting place for many famous Argentinians: presidents, prominent businessmen, and even Argentina's most famous lady, Eva Peron.

The city center has many other points of interest. We visited the main plaza, home of the Casa Rosada or "Pink House". This is the presidential palace, where the President works but does not sleep apparently (except after occaisional big nights out clubbing presumably). There is a balcony over looking the plaza where Evita used to address her throngs of admirers. 

We took a one hour boat trip into the delta of the River Plate to visit Juan's friends Pablo and Andres. We stayed a night at their new bed and breakfast venture, which will be opening soon. They took excellent care of us, feeding us lots of asado and wine, and teaching us new card games.

We also celebrated Kellie's 29th birthday. Torrey had an extra special day planned involving banana pancakes, flowers, a theme park, a large pyrotechnics display, pisco sours, a small party and a cake (which he only remembered at 11.56pm). Kellie was taught the traditional Argentinian way to eat a birthday cake, which is to put three fingers inside it first and make three wishes.

Thanks for reading...here is a bonus tango video!

Argentinians are wonderful... and weird

For some reason, the region of Cordoba has a collection of very weird towns.

In the town of Nono, there is a very weird museum called "Museo Rocsen". If you are interested in any or all of the following: geodes, fetuses in jars, taxidermy, old stamps, cameras, printing equipment, shrunken heads, horse drawn carts, religious art, old soda cans, medieval weaponry, ancient agricultural equipment, lampshades, and disassembled engines...Rocsen could well be your happy place.

The museum building itself is impressive- the front facade is a pantheon of life-size statues dedicated to people with ideas that changed history. Aristotle, Hippocrates, Jesus? Sure, no brainers. It was intesting to see the likes of Chief Seattle, Rachel Carson, and JS Bach included with these giants of history. I suppose if you own a museum you can put whoever you like up there!

Alta Gracia is a town south of Cordoba, famous for being the place where Ernesto Guevara lived between the ages of 5 and 16. The house where he lived for a portion of this time is now a museum. We weren't expecting much, but it turned out to be very worthwhile. There are interesting exhibits on the stages of his childhood and adolescence (including replicas of the bicycle and motorcycle that he took around Central and South America), a small theater that shows interviews with people he grew up with, and even a bit of dirt and rocks from the room in Bolivia where he was killed.

A bit further south, we checked out the town Villa General Belgrano (named after the creator of the Argentinian flag), a small German-style village that was founded by two Germans in 1930 and later inhabited by German seaman whose boat sunk off the Argentinian coast. You can buy German-language newspapers, drink German-style beer, and eat German food. It was pretty weird, but a nice little town to have a wander.

Jesuits and the Falkland Islands

Two unconnected subjects as far as I know, but we both find them interesting topics and couldn't figure out where else to blog about them.

The region of Cordoba is full of old Jesuit missions. If you are from a secular country like New Zealand, you may not have heard of these guys. Here is a quick recap from google on who they are:

The Society of Jesus is a male religious congregation of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits. The society is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry around the world. Jesuits work in education (founding schools, colleges, universities and seminaries), intellectual research, and cultural pursuits. Jesuits also give retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes, and promote social justice and ecumenical dialogue

The Jesuits set up missions all over South America, spreading their religion and doing what they saw as necessary to help out local indigenous communities. They also made an effort to learn local languages and customs, and encourage locals to hang on to them in the face of colonisation. The Spanish eventually had enough of the Jesuits, as they were helping the poor too much, and had too much power among the masses. The Spanish authorities put an end to their activities, forcing them to abandon their missions. 

We visited one mission in the town of Jesus Maria. It is a beautiful building and grounds. There is a stash of wine making equipment out back as well, it turns out the Jesuits were prolific wine makers, using profits to fund their activities. 

Another topic that comes up often in Argentina is the politics surrounding the Falkland or Malvinas Islands. Again, if you are like us you may not know too much about this topic, so here is google again:

The Falklands War (Guerra de las Malvinas), was a ten-week war between Argentina and the United Kingdom over two British overseas territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It began on Friday, 2 April 1982, when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands in an attempt to establish the sovereignty it had long claimed over them. On 5 April, the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with the Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982, returning the islands to British control. In total, 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel, and three Falkland Islanders died during the hostilities.

The conflict was a major episode in the protracted confrontation over the territories' sovereignty. Argentina asserted (and maintains to this day) that the islands are Argentinian territory, and the Argentine government thus characterised its military action as the reclamation of its own territory. The British government regarded the action as an invasion of a territory that had been a Crown colony since 1841. Falkland Islanders, who have inhabited the islands since the early 19th century, are predominantly descendants of British settlers, and favour British sovereignty.

In Argentina, it is hard to ignore the issue with graffiti, art work, road signs and currency remembering the conflict, and often declaring the Falklands/Malvinas are Argentinian. We have also been trapped in a number of conversations with Argentinians who want to know what we think about the conflict, and who should own them. Short answer? We don't really have an opinion either way.

The long drive across Argentina

El Parque Nacional Sierra de las Quijadas was a very pleasant surprise. On the long drive from Mendoza to Cordoba, we spent a night at the park. We were not expecting such spectacular scenery or such an abundance of critters. The park has all kinds of landforms in different shades of red, orange and yellow. We saw foxes and massive hares all over the place, and we even saw an armadillo. We spent the night camping in the park and were treated to a fantastic sunset and very clear skies for stargazing. Anyway, our camp spot was pretty much decided for us after the number of malbec "sundowners" Torrey drank.

Every few kilometres on Argentina's roads there is some shrine or another for motorists to stop and ask for something of a popular saint. Most of these are unofficial saints, i.e. not recognized by the Catholic church.

The most common shrine is one dedicated to "Gauchito Gil". These are usually located in algarrobo trees, with red flags and ribbons hanging off the branches and small red housings for candles and assorted Gauchito Gil paraphernalia.

Gauchito Gil is a legendary folk hero dating back to the 1800s. He was a "Gaucho", or cowboy, who fought in a war against Paraguay, but refused to take part in a subsequent civil war. He became an outlaw, hunted by the authorities as a deserter. He basically became an Argentinian Robin Hood, until his capture by a local policeman. He was tortured, and hung by his feet in an algarrobo tree.

When the head policeman was about to kill him, Gauchito Gil said to him: "You can kill me, but you will arrive home tonight at the same time as a letter of my pardon. The letter also says your son is dying of a strange illness. If you pray and beg me to save your child, I promise you that he will live. If not, he will die". The head policeman, ignoring his words, killed Gauchito Gil by slitting his throat.

When the head policeman came back to his village, he returned to find that his son was very ill and at the brink of dying. Frightened, the policeman prayed to Gauchito Gil for his son to be saved. The next day, his son was found to be inexplicably cured, and legend has it that Gauchito Gil had healed his murderer's son. Very grateful, the policeman gave Gil's body a proper burial and built a tiny shrine for the Gauchito in his honor.

A few roadside shrines dedicated to Gauchito Gil

Another common roadside shrine is dedicated to "Difunta Correa". These shrines are characterised by huge mounds of bottles filled with water. 

According to popular legend, Deolinda Correa was a woman whose husband was forcibly recruited around the year 1840, during the Argentine civil wars. Becoming sick, he was then abandoned by his fellow troops. In an attempt to reach her sick husband, Deolinda took her baby and followed the tracks of the troops through the desert of San Juan Province. When her supplies ran out, she died. Her body was found days later by gauchos who were driving cattle through, and to their astonishment found the baby still alive, feeding from the deceased woman's "miraculously" ever-full breast. Her followers believe that the survival of her baby was her first miracle, and that she continues to perform miracles for those who ask.

A few shrines of water bottles as offerings to Difunta (deceased) Correa

Who is the fifth biggest wine producer in the world, you ask?

....well it is Argentina according to google. We are both big fans of Argentinian malbecs. It was therefore with great pleasure that we embarked on a self-guided tour of the Maipu section of the Cuyo wine region.

We stopped by Trapiche, one of the bigger names in Argentinian wines, and the country's largest exporter. It was the slickest tour by far, with videos and demonstrative machinery. One in ten bottles exported from Argentina is from Trapiche, so that's why there is always a good selection at Chaffers New World in Wellington.

We also visited Mevi and Carinae. Both were more boutique than Trapiche, but had similar selections of malbecs and torrontes, of course. Mevi had a really nice deck to catch the sun, and reasonable food options. Perfect spot to end a wine tour. We will have to return next time with a crew and rent bikes.

We finished the day at a craft beer brewery, because why not? A group of tourists were there having finished up a bike tour of the vineyards. The police came and told them to clear out as the sun started to get low, as apparently Maipu gets a little bit stabby after dark.

We stayed at a nearby campground that got pretty cold at night. We had to spend a while scraping the ice off the windscreen before we could get going in the morning. There was even ice inside the windshield.

The biggest mountain in the Andes

We have spent the last week in Mendoza. Second biggest city in Argentina and heart of the country's wine industry. We spent a few days trying to change money through various semi-legal avenues. We also got another mysterious noise fixed in the Gladiator. She is now running like a dream again.

We caught up with our mate Kalem from Wellington. He is also driving the Americas with his partner in crime Elise. Although they have been on roughly the same path as us over the last year, this is the first we have seen them on the road.

Dinner in Mendoza with Kalem and Elise (left), and new friends Seba and Ellie (right)

We visited the Andes west of Mendoza, and stayed in the pretty mountain town of Uspallata. It's where Seven Years in Tibet was filmed, a Brad Pitt epic that neither of us have seen (it's probably a pretty average film anyway but we may watch it now that we have been there).

We stayed there for a few days in order to check out Aconcagua, the biggest mountain in the Western and Southern Hemispheres (6962m or 22,837ft high). It is situated right off the main border crossing between Argentina and Chile, and pretty close to Santiago as the crow flies. Unfortunately it was white-out conditions when we visited and we couldn't see the mountain. We did see the Puente del Inca, an unusual natural land bridge over thermal springs with lots of minerals, hence the yellow and orange colors. It was absolutely freezing there (literally- it was snowing), so we didn't stay long.

Speaking of Chile and Argentina, we caught the final of the "Copa Americas" while in Uspallata. It's a four yearly soccer/football competition between nearly all south american countries with a few central/northern american countries usually invited. Argentina and Chile made the final, a big deal down here as the two countries are big rivals (like New Zealand and Australia, except more intense due to past/present political conflicts). Chile beat Argentina in a penalty shoot out. This was their first competition win, beating a decent Argentinian outfit led by superstar Lionel Messi. The Argentinians watching the game with us at the pub were pretty bummed, though I'm sure that in Chile it was celebratory pandemonium.