CRAIG: We have free internet here at our hostel in Bariloche, but only for 15mins each, so we´re going to tag team this blog entry until we´re all up to date.

Okay, so last y´all heard we were about to catch the ferry back to Argentina from Colonia in Uruguay. We arrived back in Buenos Aires at 8am, took our packs to the baggage storage at the bus station and successfully killed the 14 hours till our bus left for Cordoba that night. We went to La Boca, which was vibrant in terms of atmosphere and the paints used on building facades. Around lunch time all the restaurants started putting on Tango displays, which was cool. As happened in Uruguay, it was sunny and warm for us that day, so we enjoyed an al fresco Quilmes (Argintina´s biggest beer... almost always in 1L bottles) and did a spot of people (and dog) watching. We also saw Boca Juniors´ home stadium, and I bought a knock off Lionel Messi Argentina football jersey... All in all a successful morning.

In the afternoon we checked out the RecoletaCemetery, where lots of famous Argenitinians are buried, including Eva Peron (Evita). Hers was one of the more understated affairs (would be hard to find without the line of people taking photos). A pretty cool cemetery which compares well with Pere LaChaise in Paris and the Necropolis in Glasgow.

We then headed back into the centre of downtown BsAs, strolling down Calle Florida until it was time for dinner and then the bus.

It was about 10 hours overnight to Cordoba and it passed in a flash (even without a movie this time).

In Cordoba we wound up staying in a cheap hotel near the bus station for a variety of reasons (one being laziness, another being the price of the hotel compared to hostels closer to the centre), and it transpired this was a good decision as we had to make no less that seven visits to the bus station in our 3 days in Cordoba. The city itself is large and has some nice pedestrian streets lined shaded by trees, but it didn´t take a lot of time to feel like we´d "done" the town itself.

On our first full day we caught a local bus for 2 hours out to what we were told would be the entrance to the Quebrada de los CondoritosNational Park. Unfortunately, we were told wrong and the entrance was at an unmarked driveway 5kms back up the road. But it was another sunny day (*knocking on wood* I can´t remember the last time it rained...) and we didn´t mind too much.

Okay, Marisa´s turn:

MARISA:Well after 5kms, which felt more like 6 to me, we found the a dirt road that turned off the main road and assumed it was the national park entrance. There were no signs so we probably would have missed the stop anyway! Up the dirt road a little we found a sign that said the entrance would be 1.5kms away, so at this point we thought 'Hurrah! we found it, and we´re nearly there!` Thankfully the signage inside the national park was good. We figured we´d only be able to get to the first condor lookout point on the south side of the canyon in the time we had left before dark. No worries though coz the lookout point was a few hours away through some interesting rocky plains and hills and things, and from our vantage point we could see loads of condors. Well, about 4 at the same time circling around the valley. Was very cool :) But soon it was time for us to hurry back to catch the bus so we wouldn´t get too hungry waiting for dinner. Well what an adventure that part turned out to be! We made it out to the road with ample time to catch the bus, and found around 10 other fellow walkers waiting for the bus. After watching the first couple of buses go passed us (not the company we were waiting for), we found out that two guys had been waiting to catch a bus back to Cordoba for 3 hours already. That meant that 2 buses from our company had gone passed them already, so we were starting to get a little nervous. A group of 5 americans had had enough of waiting and decided to walk down the road to see if they can find somewhere else to catch the bus. Then a bus finally pulled in and we all celebrated, but too soon i´m afraid as the bus only picked up the two people who had pre-bought tickets. The rest of us thought WTF, where were we supposed to buy a bus ticket in the middle of nowhere???? Anyways we waited another hour or so and then as the sun set, Craig and I decided to head down the road too. We knew there was a restauranty thing about another few kms away so we thought we´d try find it. The walk was interesting in the dark. Luckily cars were coming passed pretty often to light the way, and I had a wee torch (with low batteries) to light the bushes if we heard a puma. After some time we found the restaurant which was just shutting and the first thing one waitress says to me is ´tranquilo`, a bus will stop here soon. And the other waitress said they saw a puma last night so she wouldn´t go wandering in the dark!. Well, nice one lady but what´s better, sit on the roadside in the dark, or walk along the roadside in the dark? No difference. Anyways a bus finally picked us up at 8:20pm. A good 3hrs later than the bus we had intended to catch. And a whooping 6hrs later than the bus those guys had intended to catch! And unfortunately it was full so we all had to stand the extra 2hrs home. Ah well, it was an experience and we still really enjoyed the national park.

Ok so i´d better get off the computer now, someone is waiting for it and i´ve been ages! Not so fast at typing these days :(

Craig will be back next so get excited......

CRAIG: The next day we went to Alta Gracia, an old Jesuit settlement (now a middle-sized town) about an hour from Cordoba. In addition to the old Jesuit missionary buildings, Alta Gracia is home to a Che Guevara museum in a house he lived in as a child.

From Cordoba we took another overnight bus to Mendoza. This was our first "cama" experience (until now it´s all been "semi-cama" -- literally "half bed" -- from Iguazu down), but it was only a few pesos more this time. The seats were a little wider (2 and 1 seats across, rather than 2 and 2 either side of the aisle) but didn´t recline any more. But we got mini pillows, blankets, and meals ("dinner" at 10:30pm after boarding at 10). Really is a great way to travel (beats airlines hands down).

Mendoza is all about wine. On our first full day we did a wine tour which went to 2 wineries, an olive oil factory (with olive grove) and a family run chocolate/liquors factory. We paid 45 pesos each, which included transport in a minivan everywhere and mini tours at all the places (with tastings of course). We were thinking of doing a bike tour the next day to see more wineries, but learnt that the bikes cost 30 pesos and each winery charges between 15 and 25 pesos iper tour if you rock up by yourself, so it could get quite costly. We ended up taking the bus and walking to Trapiche Winery, which is a biggie (we now see their wines in all the supermarkets... also available in the UK, dunno about NZ), and had a nice long tour with some good wines at the end.

Okay, that´s the end of another 15mins...

MARISA: … and pretty much the end of our stay in Mendoza. After Trapiche Bodega we caught another overnight bus to San Carlos de Bariloche. The bus ride was again in great comfort. Not a cama this time, but still included meals and movies. We also played bingo and Craig won! He won a Mate cup and straw, the kind that everyone carries around here. So a kinda cool prize (for travellers), even if it does have the bus company logo on it.

The last few hours of the bus ride had spectacular scenery of lakes, rivers, mountains etc, and we finally arrived in Bariloche at 1:30pm. We quickly found an amazing hostel, with a fabulous view and facilities. The kitchen was awesome! Very well equiped and large enough to accommodate all of us.

CRAIG:Bariloche has been amazing.A real highlight of the last few months… but as we have to go catch the bus to Puerto Madryn (and it´s been 11 days since our last blog post) we´ll go ahead and post this now and fill in the details later.

And hopefully we´ll find time to post photos from La Boca onwards soon!