BUENOS AIRES----AND HOME TO AUSTRALIA----FOR A BIT

Its a pretty nice city after another marathon bus trip of 20 hours from the NE corner of the country and only 12 million people!!! Argentina is a very big country and more European in its outlook and people. Probably due to all the post war migration it has a big mix of ethnic types that have 'married' together into a very vibrant people.
That said, I was over it after a few days and ready to go home. So 6 nights here was a bit long but I know the city pretty well as a result. They love the nightlife and I went on a terrific Tango dinner, show and lesson combo(haha!) one night and on another to a sold out Beatles Tribute Band show by a group called the Beats. Other nights were spent dining out in a nice mix of restaurants and the steaks are as good as they claim.
 A lot of pedestrian only streets make for great shopping and there are heaps of parks and greenery. I did a city bus tour which took us around to all the sights. There are an amazing number of statues around the city and a pretty nice 'posh area'. My favorite area though was the Boca region that had the Boca Juniors stadium and the Caminto tourist area, full of Tango restaurants, colourful housing and galleries for art and other stuff to tempt tourists. There was plenty of art for sale on the streets as well.
I left for home at 3.15 am on the 19th July and arrived at Sydney at 11am on the 20th
I will be travelling to Hawaii in November and probably a few months in Asia next year so will do these blogs again and catch up with any of you when I can.
Cheers Ron

BUENOS AIRES----City Tour

the Phallic symbol of the city

The opening flower donated by the Government

the only statue to the memory of Eva Peron

Boca Juniors stadium and tourist shops

two shots of the colourful vibrant Caminto tourist area

BUENOS AIRES----Sabor A Tango Dinner show and Tango Lesson

IGUAZU FALLS

A PIECE OF THE PUZZLE FOR WHY WE TRAVEL 24 HOURS IN A BUS

IGUAZU FALLS

VIEWS FROM THE UPPER AND LOWER GALLERIES

IGUAZU FALLS

There are only about a thousand superlatives to adequately describe how amazing(there's one!) this place is. But you better catch it when its not raining. Some people only come for the day and I felt sorry for them as they went around in their groups with plastic ponchos flapping and kids crying. It was a long weekend while I was there so the place was full of local people and tour bus groups. Friday was a few showers but Saturday was clear and warm and that was when I took my photos. I went back on the Sunday and it started to bucket down from about 11am. So the crowds thinned fast but I enjoyed seeing the Falls again, in a different mood, from yesterdays perfection. It was more sinister and the ferry was operating out to St Martin island, so I just accepted I was wet as a shag and went out for a great experience of the raw power of the various falls you can get so close to out there.

IGUAZU FALLS

SALTA ARGENTINA---The Turning Point July 7th 2010

This is a very pleasant city after the altitude of Chile and Bolivia but it's all starting to go in one ear and out the other. All the cities start to look the same after 8 months and the motivation is waning. I have a BIGGIE in front of me with the Iguazu Falls and I've decided that I'll have a great finish (for the time being!) if I do the Falls then finish in Buenos Aires.
Salta is only at 2400 metres, so it was warmer and plenty of oxygen is nice, after all the stuff at high altitude in the previous 2 months. The centre was your usual nice square with lots of outdoor dining. A good cathedral and some museums and galleries really did deserve a better effort by me. As it was, I did manage to rouse myself to go up on the gondola ride to the mirador which had a great view over the city and enjoyed the contemporary art gallery.
The point where I definitely decided to go home came when I was watching the live coverage of the last State of Origin football match on my laptop in a sad little hotel room by myself. Hearing all those Aussie voices made me think that I'd just like to be back with "my tribe" again. So I rang home on Skype and went out and bought a ticket from Buenos Aires to Sydney. I had to get a bus for 24 hours to get from Salta to Iguazu but that didn't faze me after getting that ticket to home.

SALTA ARGENTINA---contemporary art museum

SALTA ARGENTINA

San Pedro Chile to Salta Argentina

I did this scenically beautiful bus trip with great company of Steve,who does a lot of his trips hiking. So we swapped a lot of tales from our travels and watched the changes from the high altitudes of Chile and the NW corner of Argentina down to the much lower city of Salta at 2400 metres. It took 12 hours and we arrived at 10 pm and took a lift to a hostel from hell. Steve got up three times during the night to tell off noisy younger people and was so pissed off, that when he left the next day he would only pay half the rate! Love the ballsy people from 'down under'

San Pedro Chile to Salta Argentina

The main pass down from the altiplano and the

very interesting Kiwi --Steve 

San Pedro De Atacama---Chile

El TATIO HOT POOLS

San PEDRO

                                        De ATACAMA

Uyuni Salt Flats Tour

This qualifies as one of the highlights of my trip. Uyuni itself is a small town on the flats surrounded  by plastic covered scrub that deals with salt harvesting and tourism. But when you go out onto the flats and high country your senses are taken over by the amazing variety of scenes. My photos give some examples but I could have included another 20 without diminishing the quality.
The fantastic tour ended for me on the 2nd night when I got crook  and the last day started late and I held them up a few times having to 'go both ends' again. When we reached the hot pools our tour guide took me and 2 other Aussies to the Chilian border while the others bathed away!! So missed a few things at the end but I would have to say---DO this one if you ever go to South America!!!

Uyuni Salt Flats Tour---sick and on way to Chile

I was really crook

got out to pose at the geysers

we left the others at the hot springs and ran to the Chile border