Want some Mate?

Hey my beloved friends around the world,

We r back with a new entry about Argentinia - here we go:
After leaving Rio with many great impression in our mind we arrived in Buenos Aires on February 6th and stayed in this lovely city for 5 nights.
Buenos Aires is a very multifaceted city which looks like a mixture of Paris, Vienna and London with huge streets comparable to the US. Paris because BsAs grows starlike from the famous obelisk on the Plaza de la República. Vienna because some houses have similar architecture, especially the balconies and the coffee is very good. London because u see lots of doubledecker busses.

Obelisk of Buenos Aires.

We stayed in the best party hostel we've ever been - at Milhouse. There u have party and breakfast included literally every day. When I think back to the hostel in Santa Teresa in Costa Rica (Las Casas Blancas)...it was millions of miles better.
U guys probably know already our style to travel, so u may have recognized that we always walk through a city. We did that in BsAs, too. It has many nice spots to offer. E. g. at placa de Mayo u can see the national goverment house which is completely pink. me and MIKE called it the "Zuckerlpalast" (sorry for the German).

Zuckerlpalast

Go down to Puerte Modero where u will find a great area for dining, nice cafés and a bridge that looks like a tango dancing couple.

Puerte Modero

Tango-bridge

If u go further East u reach the natural resort: two large lagunes full of different birds and bugs.  West of the lagunes u experience a nice skyline and east the Rio de la Plata, which is very polluted and dirty. By the way, picnicking is very romantic there but watch out for the moscitos.

West view of the natural resort.

East view of the natural resort.

In Ricoleta district, u see the city from an scary side of view because there u find a large cemetery full of mausoleums. Lot's of rich people from BsAs are burried there. One example is Evita Peron, second wife of ex-president Juan Peron. She achieved for instance the right for woman to vote in Argentinia.
A funny story about another couple is told in form of two statues above one famous mausoleum. The wife is turning her back on her husband which indicates her hate and frustration against him. He treated her not well during lifetimes. However, she was just interested in his money and hence she accepted that situation. So she agreed to be burried next to him after he died because it was the expected behaviour of a real lady at that time but facing away from him.

Morsauleum telling the story of an unhappy couple.

Staying in the district Ricoleta, u have to see Floralis Generica, a huge metal flower which opens in the morning when detecting the first sun beams and closes in the evening every day. Unfortunately we just saw it during the day.

Floralis Generica.

Enough about sightseeing? Please, just let me show u the last great area we visited: La Boca.

U may have heard that in BsAs the people r dancing tango on the street and indeed; in La Boca this is the case. However, it is very very touristy. It is famous for its colourful buildings! U can also visit the Boca Juniors stadium. Actually, La Boca is the poorest area in BsAs, so if you approach the side streets away from the candy houses, u'll step on many broken glasses.

"Glasscherbengegend" in La Boca

Boca Juniors stadium - once the home of the great Diego Maradona (La mano de deus).

What I finally found again in BsAs are Starbucks cafés! I am sorry but I love my capuccino with soy milk. So everytime I ordered one the shop assistant asked me for my ?nombre?
I sayed always Jiny...
They wrote on my cup: Jimy, Gini, Shini, Gimy...
It was hilarious...

Our hostel offered beside everyday events and tours also cheap entrys to clubs. We went to club KIKA with two girls from the Netherlands/England one day and I have to say the music was weard and I felt unsave. It was way too packed and hence we left the club quite early.

me and the girls in club KIKA.

Enough about BsAs? We too, therefore we left it on Saturday and took the bus to Mendoza, the wine region of Argentinia...again 17h in the bus; but compared to Costa Rica we drove more than 1000km and not just 100km;). We stayed in the hostel Empedrado: very nice rooms, great breakfast, a little pool and free self made wine.
We decided to stay 3 nights in Mendoza for hiking and enjoying the nature. First we did horseback riding in the badlands outside of Mendoza. Before we jumped on our horses, we enjoyed a mate together which our guide, Alechandro, prepared for us. It is a special tea in Argentinia u have to drink with a metal straw. It tastes like a very strong black tea with a spicy intense ending flavour. Then we experienced the sunset on our horses. Mine was the slowest and MIKE had the crazy one. In the end we had a great Argentinian BBQ.

Mate cup

I liked Mate but damnon the pic I make a face like my grandmother.

MIKE did not like Mate that much...

Me horse riding.

Sexiest cowboy on earth.

 Pampaking and his crew - maybe I start liking horses;)

 

The cowboy crew @ BBQ table

On this horse trip we get to know nice people. I say hello to Mimi, Pamela and Mika!

The next day we went hiking in Vellecitos up to 3500 m. The highest summit there is about 6000m. Unfortunately we couldn't get a guide for the Aconcagua, with almost 7000m the highest mountain outside Asia. But actually also of those summits in los Andes look the same: no vegetation, stony and high. Mimi joyned us on that trip.

Nice ha?

me and MIKE on one summit at 3500m in the middle of clowds.

Lunch time with our tour guide Mathias.

Some rest before the descent

Paradise for lady bugs: moss and little yellow flowers. There were thousands of lady bugs!

Next day we headed to Santiago de Chile taking the bus over the Andes. Although another 8 hours in the bus, this time the hours went by quickly due the incredible view which made it finally worth to go by bus instead taking a quick flight.

With these pics I say good bye for this time and stay tuned for our next report from Chile.

 Kisses

jiny & Mike