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Buenos Aires
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It wasn’t until Buenos Aires that I was able to take a bit of a break and enjoy living in a city for a while. I even rented an apartment (through a great agent, Andrea) and stayed in a part of town called Palermo Hollywood. Hard to believe but that’s actually the real name. I spent almost five weeks in Buenos Aires, immersing myself in the culture and trying to speak as much Spanish as possible. I took Spanish lessons every day, read the local newspaper, and met up with people at cafes and restaurants. Aside from trying to communicate with the locals, this was certainly the part of the trip where I was able to avoid the normal difficulties of traveling.
It wasn’t until Buenos Aires that I was able to take a bit of a break and enjoy living in a city for a while. I even rented an apartment (through a great agent, Andrea) and stayed in a part of town called Palermo Hollywood. Hard to believe but that’s actually the real name. I spent almost five weeks in Buenos Aires, immersing myself in the culture and trying to speak as much Spanish as possible. I took Spanish lessons every day, read the local newspaper, and met up with people at cafes and restaurants. Aside from trying to communicate with the locals, this was certainly the part of the trip where I was able to avoid the normal difficulties of traveling. 
Buenos Aires was massive and there was a ton to do – visit museums, theaters, tango shows (the Tango dancer to the right pulled me onto the stage with her), historic centers, cemeteries with famous dead people. I visited the old immigrant neighborhoods of La Boca and San Telmo that have weekend antique markets and where street artists perform. I also spent a ton of time in parks spread throughout the city. If there’s any city that has an overabundance of parks it’s Buenos Aires. Also not to be missed was the heart of the city called, Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada (Government Palace), where politicians preached to the masses, including Eva Peron. Madonna also filmed here when she stared in the movie, Evita.One last note about Buenos Aires. If you like steak with a good wine, this is the place to get it.
Bariloche
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By end of January I found myself getting a little antsy and decided to travel by bus through Argentina and wing the rest of my trip. With that I took off to a Lake district called Bariloche, which I had heard was the most beautiful network of lakes in Argentina. After seeing it I’d say it may be one of the most beautiful I’ve seen in the world. 
I arrived on January 28th with no real plan, found a hostel downtown and began meeting fellow travelers. I soon learned that almost every outdoor activity known to mankind existed in Bariloche – rafting (that's my friend Devin and I on the right), kayaking, hiking, laying on the beach (ok not a sport), mountain biking, climbing, the list goes on. I ended up staying in this utopian city for ten days. 
Most of the people I spent time with in Bariloche were from Spanish speaking countries – Argentina, Chile, Colombia -- and a good portion from Buenos Aires. In fact, I probably met more people from Buenos Aires traveling around Argentina (and in particular Bariloche) than I did while I was staying in Buenos Aires. Of course, most of the conversations were in S
panish, so it was a great opportunity to practice every day. Fortunately, everyone was incredibly patient with me. I usually spent my time listening, nodding, and pretending to know what everyone was talking about. I figured there were only so many times I could say…”can you say that one more time?” That said it was a great experience and one of the most relaxing times I had on my whole trip. Many of us still keep up with each other over email. In the top picture from left to right, meet Nicolas, Lula, and Devin, and in the picture to the right meet Pia, Claudia and Nicolas. And also the addition of our Colombian friend, Mauricio, in the bottom, right picture.
After the land of Utopia, I took an eighteen hour bus ride (you get used to them after a while) to the city of Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina and also home to the largest mountain in the Western Hemisphere, Mt. Aconcagua. Although I checked out some wineries there, my main purpose was to get a glimpse of the mountain. There was no way in the world I was ready to climb the whole thing but a few days of hiking around it was a must.
Once I got to Mendoza, I immediately signed up for a three day hike that would work its way up to about 14.2k ft. Aconcagua stands at 6,962 meters (22,841 ft), so there was a whole lot more to go to get to the top. After my trip to Kilimanjaro a year before, I had pretty much vowed never to go past 19.5k ft again.
The week before, Aconcagua apparently experienced the worst weather of the summer -- huge snow storms covered the entire mountain. Fortunately, when we arrived, there were clear skies, and I was able to get some great photos of the mountain up close. Well…from 9k ft below the peak but…who’s counting.
The three day hike around the mountain was just what I needed, and with that I was ready to head to the next city.
Salta
Once I got to Mendoza, I immediately signed up for a three day hike that would work its way up to about 14.2k ft. Aconcagua stands at 6,962 meters (22,841 ft), so there was a whole lot more to go to get to the top. After my trip to Kilimanjaro a year before, I had pretty much vowed never to go past 19.5k ft again.The week before, Aconcagua apparently experienced the worst weather of the summer -- huge snow storms covered the entire mountain. Fortunately, when we arrived, there were clear skies, and I was able to get some great photos of the mountain up close. Well…from 9k ft below the peak but…who’s counting.
The three day hike around the mountain was just what I needed, and with that I was ready to head to the next city.
Salta
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My next stop was Salta, home to the Argentinian desert and many of the remaining indigenous populations. Salta was a relatively new city in Argentina and was founded in 1852 with the intention of being an outpost between Lima and Buenos Aires. It’s also now a huge tourist destination and a jumping off point to check out the surrounding desert regions. Getting to Salta was my next twenty hour bus ride.
Fortunately, when you’re on a twenty hour bus ride, there are often people to talk to. On the bus from Mendoza to Salta, I ended up meeting a guy from Israel, Avishay, who was touring around South America for a few months and a girl from the U.S., Ricki, who was working as a mountain guide in Chile. After endless hours of talking, we decided that we’d rent a car once we were in Salta and take a four day trip to the surrounding desert regions.
The next day we did just that and took off on the road to Cafayate which is to the south of Salta. The landscapes were incredibly diverse – lush forests, mountains that were thousands of meters high, deserts with huge cacti (and huge cactuses), incredibly unique rock formations along the way, and lots of dust. I was almost glad we were driving on a dirt road so we could just take our time and observe the landscape. Of course, after hours and hours....and then a few more hours of driving this is what generally happens:We eventually arrived in Cafayate, pitched our tent and worked our way to the local fiesta in town. The people in town were really nice. At first, as they smiled towards m
y general direction, I thought they were potentially looking at a friends of theirs in the distance. But as it turns out they were saying hello to us and were just extremely welcoming. We paid a bit to get into their festival and danced the night away. Or really danced an hour or two away and then went to bed.
The next day we drove further south to the town of Quilmes. The Quilmes tribe, as we learned, survived contact with the Incas from AD 1480 onwards but didn't last the siege of the Spaniards who, in 1667, deported the last 2000 inhabitants to Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, it was another tragic story about the fate of the native populations and one that was important for us to keep learning about.
Ironically, the name of the national beer in Argentina is called Quilmes.
We spent the day checking out the ruins of Quilmes and learning a little more history of the area, and then we worked our way back to Salta to drop off Ricki and say our goodbyes. At the hostel we picked up two new travelers, Jose and Maria, and the four of us continued on our jou
rney to the north of Salta to see some unforgettable landscapes.
y general direction, I thought they were potentially looking at a friends of theirs in the distance. But as it turns out they were saying hello to us and were just extremely welcoming. We paid a bit to get into their festival and danced the night away. Or really danced an hour or two away and then went to bed.The next day we drove further south to the town of Quilmes. The Quilmes tribe, as we learned, survived contact with the Incas from AD 1480 onwards but didn't last the siege of the Spaniards who, in 1667, deported the last 2000 inhabitants to Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, it was another tragic story about the fate of the native populations and one that was important for us to keep learning about.
Ironically, the name of the national beer in Argentina is called Quilmes.
We spent the day checking out the ruins of Quilmes and learning a little more history of the area, and then we worked our way back to Salta to drop off Ricki and say our goodbyes. At the hostel we picked up two new travelers, Jose and Maria, and the four of us continued on our jou
rney to the north of Salta to see some unforgettable landscapes.The first stop was at the town of Purmamarca, home of the Cerro de los Siete Colores, or Hill of Seven Colors. And there were literally seven distinct colors in that mountain, which, fortunately, I have proof of in the picture to the right. We spent a good two hours there just touring around and taking pictures of the mountains. I didn’t know mountains could be that colorful.
Afterwards we continued driving and worked our way to Salinas Grandes, the salt flats of Argentina. The cool thing about salt flats, other than the geography, is that you can create some pretty interesting effects with your camera. Along with the photo of myself to the left, I also have a bunch more in my photo gallery of Argentina.
Afterwards we continued driving and worked our way to Salinas Grandes, the salt flats of Argentina. The cool thing about salt flats, other than the geography, is that you can create some pretty interesting effects with your camera. Along with the photo of myself to the left, I also have a bunch more in my photo gallery of Argentina. After being completely enamored by the area, we decided it was time to find a place to stay. The sun was setting, and we needed to find some shelter from the impending storm that was coming our way. We were originally going to camp right out in the middle of the salt flats but the lightening storm in the distance was too dangerous, so we decided to head towards the nearest town.
Fortunately, for us we found a hostel right smack in the middle
of the salt flats and decided to stay there for the night instead of driving 30 to 40 more miles into the storm. The rooms were $3/night. "Ok...twist my arm. We'll take it."We unpacked, got settled into our rooms and worked our way back outside to check out the storm. After a few minutes I saw the most incredible sunset of my life. One part of the sky looked like the horizon had just
exploded and there was a massive yellow and orange glow in between the clouds above and the salt flats below. The other side of the sky was pitch black, due to the oncoming storm, and we could see bolts of lightning about every ten seconds. If there was ever an apocalypse, I think this is what it would look like. It was unreal.We sat there for an hour in silence watching the sky change colors and the lightening show grow by the minute. Fortunately, it never got close enough that we had to get inside, but it certainly came close.
The next day we visited a few more sites along the way back to Salta and spent the night in Salta eating (the usual) and endulging ourselves in a massive Argentinian BBQ.
The deserts around Salta ended up being some of the most incredible landscapes of my trip.
Iguazu Falls
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I headed back to Buenos Aires and took an hour flight directly to Iguazu Falls. It was quite literally the most impressive waterfalls I had ever seen in my life. And it’s not just one waterfall but a huge network of them spread out over the national park.Probably the most impressive of all of them was the one called Garganta del Diablo, or Devil’s Throat. It’s a U-shaped 150-meter-wide and 700-meter-long (490ft by 2300 feet) cliff of water which marks the border between Argentina and Brazil. The sheer power of it will blow you away. Here's a quick video:
I spent the rest of the day hiking around and watching the remaining network of waterfalls that were spread throughout the park. It was just incredible. I also took a boat that took us right under one of the waterfalls.
I spent a day and a half in Iquazu, which was plenty of time to take it all in, and then took a quick flight back to Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires (Visit #3)
Upon returning from Iguazu, I ended up staying in a couple of different hostels in Buenos Aires over about two and a half weeks. Again I visited friends I had made in Buenos Aires in January as well as ones I had met during my travels throughout Argentina. They were such a great group of people – my great friend, Pia, who's smiling at everyone in the picture to the left, Lula, Devin, Nicolas, Lorena and my friend Ignacio. They really made Buenos Aires a fun and very special time during my travels. My third time in Buenos Aires, I didn't have a huge agenda other than to speak as much Spanish as possible, visit friends and see a few last remaining sites in the area, and survive the
incredible summer heat. For a few days the weather actually changed dramatically, and there were huge terrential rains. One day, in fact, it rained so much that there was actually a massive flood in Buenos Aires, with cars starting to float down the street. It was the first time in Buenos Aires had that much rain in such a short amount of time, and the drainage system was unable to handle the onslought. Here's a picture of what it looked like as the waters started to rise and overtake the cars on the street. We actually weren't able to leave our hostel for a few hours. Eventually, everything turned back to normal. Just a little final drama to round out my trip.
incredible summer heat. For a few days the weather actually changed dramatically, and there were huge terrential rains. One day, in fact, it rained so much that there was actually a massive flood in Buenos Aires, with cars starting to float down the street. It was the first time in Buenos Aires had that much rain in such a short amount of time, and the drainage system was unable to handle the onslought. Here's a picture of what it looked like as the waters started to rise and overtake the cars on the street. We actually weren't able to leave our hostel for a few hours. Eventually, everything turned back to normal. Just a little final drama to round out my trip.----------------------
When it was all said and done, I had spent about two and a half months in Argentina. It was the most geographically diverse country I had visited along the way with stunning scenery everywhere I went. If you like the outdoors, there's not many other countries in the world that can provide the diversity of landscape like in Argentina. If you're interested, go for it!
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