Saturday 1st May 04 Today we took the bus from Santiago to Argentina's wine growing capital - Mendoza. On the bus journey we passed through the cactus filled hills and beautiful snow-capped peaks of the Chilean side of the Andes, onto the arid landscape of the Argentine side. We arrived at 10p.m. and checked into a hotel for the night. Sunday 2nd May 04 This morning we went in search of an alternative hotel as we were kept awake during the night by the noise of people partying outside until 6am! We found a much nicer and quieter hotel where we're going to spend 2 nights. Everything (bar a few restaurants) are closed today as it's Sunday so we will look around the city tomorrow. Argentina is much cheaper than Chile and we have found plenty to fill our appetites! Mon 3rd May 04 Today we headed to the bus station to book our night journey - 13 hours of it to Buenos Aires the capital. After booking this up we had a stroll around the relaxed Mendoza and headed out to a posh restaurant in the evening. The restaurant would be what you expect in a 4-5* hotel and for 2 courses each, a bottle of wine and beer the bill was under 6 pounds!!!!! The weather has turned freezing today and turned quite miserable. Tuesday 4th May 04 Today we woke and checked out in preparation for our long coach trip to Buenos Aires which leaves Mendoza at 7.00pm and arrives at 8.00am!! We are both REALLY excited!!!!! We spent the day hanging around Mendoza, updating the site, checking mail and trying our hardest to stay out of the bitter cold that has swept in!!! We boarded our luxury bus and after watching 2 films and playing Bingo in Spanish (we were able to practise our numbers!!) - we managed to get a few hours sleep. Wednesday 5th May 04 After checking into a nice hotel we took the opportunity to catch up on some sleep then ventured into the city in the afternoon. There were several demonstrations happening outside various banks where groups of locals were protesting about growing interest rates. They were banging the doors with hammers and spray painting the buildings while the police stood guard - it was madness! We caught up with our friends Anna & Dan over a coffee, after fighting our way through the crowds of people along the main pedestrianised road in the city!! Buenos Aires is a bustling city and has a great atmosphere! Thursday 6th May 04 We spent time today searching for flights to the Iguazu Falls but discovered we could travel by bus for a third of the price - so decisions made! Anna & Dan checked into our hotel and they joined us for dinner and a few drinks at the marina. It's great to have a choice of food to eat - we are starting to feel human again!!! Friday 7th May 04 We checked into a different hotel today which is a little cheaper and of the same quality! Today was a lazy day spent relaxing and wandering around the city. Saturday 8th May 04 Having set the alarm to wake up for the Man Utd v Chelsea game, Dan was disappointed to find it wasn't on! So after a few more hours sleep we walked to the bus station to book our bus to the Iguazu Falls and managed to get a bed in 1st Class which will help the 20 hour journey pass while we are served champagne - such a hard life isn't it?! We then took a local bus to one of Buenos Aires shopping centres to window shop. The evening was spent with Anna & Dan over a few drinks! Sunday 9th May 04 Today we checked into yet another hotel which we found as being cheaper still! We then walked to the San Telmo district of the city where we watched live Tango in the streets which are closed off to traffic every Sunday - it was very impressive! Whilst here we discovered that Boca Juniors were playing Independiente (a local BA team) so we hopped into a taxi to the Boca stadium, only to discover they are playing away (just our luck!!). So after jumping into another taxi and queuing for tickets, we make it into the stadium 10 minutes after kick-off to find 40,000 fans chanting their songs and all waving their flags!!! There was a great atmosphere and no trouble at all where we stood in the Independiente section, which surprised us as Boca Juniors were triumphant with a 4-1 win! After getting back to normality we walked down to the marina to have dinner in a very nice restaurant (we felt too scruffy to be in here!!!) but the food was cheap and Nat had the best steak ever! It's true that the Argentinean's have great steak! Monday 10th May 04 Today was spent locating a bank in order to pay our deposit for the Inca Trail. We finally got this sorted at 5.30pm and rewarded ourselves to an 'eat all you can' buffet at a local restaurant. So we filled ourselves with Chinese food, roast and mash potatoes, salads and pudding - just what we needed!!! Buenos Aires is full of children and teenagers sifting through bags of rubbish on the street and wheeling away trolleys full of cardboard! We think they get money from doing this by recycling it - it's sad to watch as they are out every night doing the same thing and they look extremely grubby. Hopefully this helps them more than begging! Tuesday 11th May 04 Today we had a much needed lie-in and emerged from our hotel room at 12.30pm! We spent the afternoon walking down the pedestrianised streets of Florida and Lavelle, which make up the main shopping area of Buenos Aires. We have discovered that the tickets for the Boca Juniors vs River Plate game that we came here to watch do not go on general sale -as you can imagine we were fairly peeved to find this out! But today we met a guy who says he can get us tickets - so fingers crossed! We met up with Anna & Dan again in the evening and went to an Irish bar which was great. It was strange listening to Western music and drinking Western beer!!! We caught a taxi back to our hotel, but decided the night was not yet over! So, after grabbing a decidedly dodgy hotdog, we found a newsagents still serving beer at 3a.m and sat on the tables outside on the main street! Funnily enough we were the only people doing this!!!! Wednesday 12th May 04 Today was spent recovering from last night in bed! And at 5p.m we caught a taxi to La Boca to watch Boca Juniors vs Sporting Crystal. It was a great game and the atmosphere was brilliant - 60,000 fans all singing together! It was a bit unnevering though when the fans began jumping up and down, as the whole stadium rocked!! Thursday 13th May 04 Today after checking out of the hotel and into yet another we had a lazy morning catching up on washing and website duties for all our avid followers! In the evening we met up with Dan and Anna in the Chopp Bar and then headed out for an eat all you can buffet for $16 which is just over 3 pounds each including wine!! Nat decided to be brave and select a meat off the BBQ grill which to this day we don't know what it was!!! After dinner we headed for a quiet drink in a little Irish bar and then back to the hotel for an awful nights sleep due to a water tank which serves the whole hotel being positioned directly above the bed!! Torture!! Friday 14th May 04 Today we were moved into a different room after calling out the hotel manger at 3.00am to complain about the room. After sorting this little problem out we headed into town to see our led who promised us tickets for the Boca v River game! Our faith in his promises was beginning the wilt! In the evening we went to what was advertised as a tango show, however after the first performance we witnessed an X rated advertisement may have been more appropriate. All in all the show, music was rather insightful into South American culture! Saturday 15th May 04 Today we headed into town and amazing purchased the football tickets off Marcelo paying $150 AR Pesos each when there face value is $10!!! How annoying!!!! As we were definitely going to the game we purchased some Boca paraphernalia to try and blend in with the crowd a little - Dan got a T Shirt and Nat a hat! Sunday 16th May 04 Boca Juniors 0 vs. River Plate 1 What an experience that was! Well after paying a mark up of 150% on the tickets that we some how ended up buying off someone who owned a sport shop in town we have been and survived the game. The tickets thankfully proved to be legit and we were allowed in. After an U21 game between Boca and River to warm things up, the BIG game got underway. River dominated the whole game, despite being the away team which was not in accordance with our pre match plans. Bearing in mind we were packed in like sardines in the Boca end, River Plate turned up and somewhat dampened the Boca Mood!!!! However, sprits remained high and much fun was had. I don't think Argentina ever heard of the Hillsborough disaster. The terraces were so packed that as soon as the half time whistle went people dropped to the floor to get a place to sit. Us being silly "Gringos" were not aware that this was the thing to do and were forced to stand without being able to move through being squashed by others for half time as well!!!! Our feet are killing!! On the pitch, Boca were reduced to 10 men early in the second half after going a goal down in the first. River squirmed lots of chances and should have been at least 3 up before Boca had their 2nd player red carded in a game that had reached its boiling point on both pitch and on the terraces. Finally a River player was also given his marching orders before the referee whimped out of a decision to send the Boca goalie off which was blatantly deserved with 10 minutes remaining! After the game the police presence was immense, and no trouble was seen!! Although we jumped in a cab and took off our Boca colours that we were sporting for the day and headed for safety! Monday 17th may 04 Today we managed to persuade our hotel to let us pay for only half a day on the rate of the room as we had a bus to catch at 7.00 pm in the evening to the Iguazu Falls!!! The day was spent doing little things that needed doing before we left the Big old city of Buenos Aires. It began to feel a little homely after being here for so long!! The bus, after delays, finally set off around 8.00 pm for the beginnings of a 17 hour coach journey! Tuesday 18th May 04 We eventually arrived at 1.00 pm and immediately caught a taxi to a hostel that we had reserved on the internet. However, on arrival we were told that we had no reservation and that the price we were told was now in fact double that!! We left and headed back into town in search of a much needed bed! After a little sleep we headed into the very slow, dusty and small town for a bite to eat. We began chatting to a Scottish couple Ashley and Jim and arrange to meet up with them during our stay at the Falls! After lunch we took a walk to Rio Iguazu which is a large river that separates Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil which was really impressive!!!! Wednesday 19th May 04 We woke up at 8am to catch a local bus to the Iguazu Falls (this is the postcard image you can see!). They are spectacular waterfalls and comprise of 275 different falls converging into one. We began by walking to the different viewpoints of the falls and boarded a boat which took us up close to the waterfalls and needless to say we got soaked to the bone!! After this we took another boat ride over to the San Martin Island in the middle of the falls and after climbing 180 steps we could appreciate the view from the top!!! By this time, our hunger had got the better of us, so we headed to the 5* Sheraton Hotel which overlooks the falls. Here, we enjoyed a 2 course meal, while soaking up the view! In the afternoon, we took the train over to the star of the show - the Garganta Del Diablo (Devil's Throat) - this was truly breathtaking! The boardwalk takes you right to the edge of the biggest part of the falls, where you look over the edge and cannot see the bottom!!!! It's an amazing experience! Thursday 20th May 04 This morning we caught a local bus over to Foz Do Iguazu on the Brazilian side of the waterfalls. After checking into a hotel, we had a wonder into town, which is very small but plenty of food choices!! Spent the afternoon relaxing and plan to go to the falls tomorrow. Friday 21st May 04 Today we awoke to rain, rain and more rain! We waited until the afternoon for the weather to clear but the rain persisted, so we were unable to see the falls from the Brazilian side. In the late afternoon we caught the bus back over the boarder to Puerto De Iguazu. After a nice dinner in a 3* hotel, we caught the 9.45pm night bus to the town of Corrientes (but this time no reclining beds!!) Saturday 22nd May 04 We arrived in Corrientes at 8am after an extremely uncomfortable bus journey with an erratic bus driver! The bus stopped every 30 minutes to let more passengers on and at 3.45am armed army guards boarded the bus to take people off and search their luggage!! We checked into a hotel opposite the bus station (very handy!!) and got a few hours needed sleep! We then took a taxi into the town centre and were relieved that we had booked ourselves onto tonight's 6pm bus to Salta as Corrientes does not have much to offer! It was amusing to people watch though as we saw 5 people on a motorbike (!), a man on a bicycle holding a huge dog in one arm and lots of horse and carts! We headed back to the hotel to rest before tonight's 13 hour bus journey! Sunday 23rd May 04 Last nights bus ride proved to be the worst yet - with the most uncomfortable seats, travelling along unsealed roads for about 4 hours then finally came to a stop in the middle of nowhere at 4.30am, to rip parts out of the engine!!! We finally arrived in Salta and checked into a 3* hotel. We attempted to get some sleep but to no avail, as we discovered there was a games arcade under our balcony and it's loud music was constant! So we wandered into town to grab some breakfast. Salta is a lovely town - clean and fairly modern, with the Andes as it's backdrop! The afternoon was spent updating the website and chilling out into the evening! Monday 24th May 04 Today we checked into a cheaper hotel and walked to the bus station to book ourselves onto tomorrow's 13 After this, we took the cable car up the mountain to see the great views of Salta and the Andes! After returning back to the ground, we loaded more photos onto the website and had another relaxing evening!