Puerto Madryn - Penguin Tour

Unfortunately, we have not been able to update our blog for some time, because of technical problems :) Let's try it now.

Last week we have been in Puerto Madryn - Argentina, for the Whales watching.
We took a bus from Bariloche to Puerto Madryn. Initially, there was a problem with the gears and we had to go back for them to fix it. Finally, we could continue the trip, but with a delay of 1,5 hours (which meant the total journey took 15 hours!). This bus was not like other buses that you might have seen in our blog, but it was still ok. Anyway, we are getting used to the bus system here and long distances.
We arrived to Puerto Madryn the day after and went straight to the "Hi Patagonia" hostel which we loved. One of the best hostels in Argentina we've been so far.
The first day, we just relaxed in town and had a nice "Assado" bbq in the hostel.
Second day, we have done a tour, to watch the Penguins and also Dolphins. The tour was fine, even though pricey. But, watching the penguins was very nice. This is the time when the penguins are encubating, so we could see them all around and in their nests. Some of them where still arriving and looking for their "home". It is quite interesting that penguins are monogamous and every year when they arrive from Brazil, they look for the same place/nest. First, the male arrives to prepare the nest and the female arrives later. Quite interesting.
After watching the penguins, we went to have a boat tour to watch Dolphins. Very nice also. Dolphins are very sweet and really fast. The boat would get a high speed and the dolphins would get the same speed and would go under the boat in the front. So, it was quite a show :). The boat capitain invited me to translate some things that he would say in Spanish to English. That's was also interesting even though it was a bit dificult sometimes. But then, i have got the best spot to watch the dolphins.

San Carlos de Bariloche

Saturday we arrived to Bariloche (as the people call it) We found a gorgeous hostel called 1004, they are situated on the 10th floor and for this reason the views are amazing. Lake and mountains... It is just like Austria or Switzerland.



Bariloche is famous for their chocolate, they are so good and they have so many different ones... hundreds... We have been to Mamuschka which we think is the best, they also have a little coffee shop inside where you can warm up with warm coffee, tea and chocolate :-)
The weather hasn't been that good since we are here, it's windy and rainy which makes it very cold! But even though we have done some sightseeing, Sunday we went up Cerro Otto, a 7 km walk uphill. Which gave some nice views of the lake and mountains. On monday we went to Cerro Campanario, by chairlift (this part Stefien didn't like too much because of the hight :-)) But when we arrived up there it was wonderful... almost 360º views of the lake and mountains. We were almost blown away....

Last sunday the actual ski season finished but this morning it was snowing, not too much but there was snow!

Tomorrow we will be continuing our trip to Puerto Madryn to watch the whales...niiicccceeee...

Mi querido Buenos Aires - Part II

“La Boca”, with the nice colorful houses. We walked all the way from Puerto Madero until “La Boca”. There were some rough bits during the walk when approaching la Boca, but everything went fine :) La Boca is a beautiful neighbourhood with its colorful houses, a lot of activities going one. We had fun there.

We have been also in “Casa Rosada” considered one of the most emblematic buildings in Buenos Aires.
In the last evening in Buenos Aires, we went for a nice dinner and Tango Show. The dinner was not that great, but the Tango Show was great. They have recreated different years of the Tango in Buenos Aires. It was impressive and beautiful - take a look at the trailer:

Mi querido Buenos Aires - Part I

Buenos Aires has been a great surprise for us. It's a beatifull city, with great places to see, great cafes and restaurants, great people,..., and as we already heard before, it is the most european city of South America and that is very true. "Puedo decir, me quede enamorado de Buenos Aires. Preciosa..." :)

We arrive here last saturday and met our friends that we have met in Rio de Janeiro. It was great to see them again. They have arrived first here, so we had the weekend to catch up :)

They have signed us up, to watch live in the River Plate's stadium, the soccer match between Argentina 2 VS 1 Uruguai. First thing we have done was to walk to Florida street, a shopping pedestrian street. And of course, i have bought an Argentinian football t-shirt - I always liked theire colors anyway :)

In the evening, after the match, the 6 of us went for dinner in Palermo in a very nice and trendy restaurant.

Yesterday, Stefien and myself had a great dinner at "La Cabrera", for the best steak in Buenos Aires. Huge quantities of food and great wine. Gorgeous place located in the trendy Palermo.

Today, we have visited "Recoleta" which is a very nice neighbourhood. We have visited the cemitery where Evita Peron is. I don't like cemiteries, but this one is amazing.

We are having a great time in Buenos Aires, and still have untill the end of the week to enjoy.

Bye bye now...

Traveling in South America

Initially, just to think about the idea of traveling 15 hours in a row by bus wasn't that pleasant :)

Now, after experiencing it, we have a different opinion.

Buses in South America offer top service, to travel long distances between places. Night trips is an excellent option. Beyond saving time, we also save in lodging.

There are different options and bus types. The best we had so far was in Argentina and the bus had 180 degrees bed.

The service included coffee, a cold meal and a hot meal for dinner, another coffee and at the end glass of champagne... :) In the morning of the day after, we have got a nice breakfast.

During the trip, we have seen 3 DVDs from 15:00h untill around 23:00h.

Sleeping was really comfortable. We did not feel the time passing. Great stuff...

Iguaçu Falls :)

We arrived from Porto Alegre (13 hours bus trip) to Foz do Iguaçu - Brazil, at 8am. We then took a taxi to the Bambu Hostel (nice atmosphere) and booked a tour to the Iguaçu Falls in the Argentinian side.
We left at around 9:30am in direction to Puerto Iguazu. Once we arrived there, we took a nice and amazing tour to see the falls from the bottom. The tour started with a truck which took us through the jungle and after that, we all went in a boat. The boat ride was fantastic ;) We were told to use a life jacket and they also gave us a waterproof bag to put our belongings so that they would not get wet. It was driving really fast and we took really nice photos. The best was still to come. The boat got close to the falls and we got completely soaked. We almost could not look to the falls, because of all the water spray coming to our faces. Really nice ;)
After the boat ride, we went for lunch and then, we took a train to the biggest fall - The devils throat - A Garganta do Diabo. This one was spectacular. We were also lucky with the nice weather and with the big amount of water that was coming through the "Parana" river. There were also nice rainbows - as you can see on the photos.

At the end of our tour, we went to the Tres Fronteiras or Three Boarders. There, you can see the Brazilian, Argentinian and Paraguaian boarders with the corresponding flags.
This was until now one of the nicest highligths of our trip. Really great.





Look at this nice video:

Porto Alegre....

Our actual plan was to go on monday (6th of Oct) to Florianapolis, but when we arrived there the weather wasn't that great so we continued our trip to Porto Alegre, which meant we spent all monday in the bus (4 hours Curitiba-Floripa and 6,5 hours Floripa-Porto Alegre)
We were so lucky that Andre's parents were also available on monday already and that we could stay there.... They ordered a pizza on monday evening and after that we went to rest.
Tuesday morning, after a good nice sleep, they took us for a sightseeing tour of the city by car. The tour was wonderful and we saw a lot, for lunch we went to an amazing place with a great buffet!

In the evening we went to a Churrasceira 35 where they had live music and dance and a lot of food and meat!!!! Also Andre`s sister Michelle joined us. Thanks to Mr. Cardoso and Miss Marcia, Andre's parents for taking us there and also to Andre for his suggestion ;)

On Wednesday morning Michelle took us to the centre, and we saw the "Mercado Publico",

Cathedral, "Gasometro" and Rua da Praia (which means road of the beach, but there is actual no beach :-)) For lunch we went to a small place in a very nice area of Porto Alegre, and as a dessert we ate "Torta de Sorvete" which is delicious :-) In the evening after a nice "lanche" we went by taxi to the Rodoviaria to take our bus to Iguaçu, a 13 hour trip. More about that in the next post :-)

Gostariamos de agradecer a amabilidade dos Pais do André, Sr. Cardoso e Sra. Marcia, que nos acolheram na sua casa, e nos trataram com muito carinho. Adorámos estar com vocês :)

Carambeí!!

Last weekend we have been in Carambeí, visiting friends, It is a small town with a lot of dutch colonisation. Like windmills, and even stroopwafels are sold.

Hans took us for a walk around town, and after lunch we went to visit the "Casa da Memoria" which shows the colonisation. In the evening there was a Hollywood Party, we were dressed up as Tourists :-) but Hans and Sas had a better outfit. (see picture)

During the weekend, it was raining quit a lot so we stayed in and spent

our time chatting and eating wonderful cakes (thanks for that Sas :-)) On sunday evening we left for Curitiba to continue our trip....

Obrigada Hans, Pim, Rik e Sas para nos acolher na vossa casa!!!!!!!

Curitiba and Ilha do Mel

Last monday, we arrived to Curitiba from Rio de Janeiro, after a 12 hours bus ride. Initially, we were a bit concerned if the trip would be to heavy, but at the end it was surprisingly quick.

Curitiba, is a nice city and very well organized. It is known as one of Brazil's urban success cities.

Monday during the day, we relaxed. In the evening, a friend of ours took us to have a "Rodizio de Pizza" in a nice restaurant. The waiters would pass by the table with different slices and flavours of pizza. If you wanted a slice you just had to shout. They had savoury and sweet pizzas and you were allowed to eat as mush as you want.

On Tuesday, we did a bus tour in Curitiba. Very interesting spots. We got off at a few stops: "Universidade Livre do Meio Ambiente", "Opera de Arame" and "Parque Tanguá".

Wednesday ealy in the morning, we left the hotel in Curitiba and took the train to Morretes. This train goes through the Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica) and is the most scenic train ride in Brazil.

Unfortunately, the weather did not help. It was rainy and foggy. From Morretes, we took a Van to Pontal do Sul and then a boat to cross to Ilha do Mel. Ilha do Mel is a very nice island with beautiful beaches and "pousadas". It was pooring rain :(

However, on thursday it was a very pleasant day with loads of sun. We walked to the lighthouse "farol" and on the beach.

Around 2pm we took a bus back to Curitiba to continue our journey to Carambeí - more about it on the next post :)