Sunday 9th to Saturday 15th July 2006 The usual barest minimum of sleep on the long overnight bus from Montevideo sees us arrive at about 8 in the morning. The weather in Cordoba is very nearly warm. Cordoba is another nice old spanish colonial town with the token grid pattern, nice church cum cathedral and several good looking squares. We check into a hostel, have a little walk around the old town district and get a red tour bus to see the sights. One nice church has a steeple missing to "Signify that we are not perfect human beings" The world cup footy final is on so we head back to our hostel to watch it. Unfortunately we miss the goals and any affection we have for France is quickly lost due to the particularly annoying and arrogant Frenchman sitting beside us. He also tries to defend Zidane actions when he is sent off for headbutting an opponent in the chest. Dinner is a pretty good Pizza with a very dodgy salad. The next day we spend more of the morning walking around town and visit the oldest University in Argentina. The tour is in Spanish so we feign understanding and just enjoying having a good nosey around. We also take a look into an old Jesuit Crypt which has been nicely done up into a art gallery, still it's a bit freaky. As we book our bus to Rosario for the following day the guy behind the counter is keen to emphasise what a great bus it is that we are taking. Try to picture the scene, a big guy behind a plate of glass speaking in Spanish really fast making what can only be described as a w***er" sign with his right hand. Whilst Stu's first impressions were either to laugh at this guy or take serious offence it became clear that this was a gesture meaning "fantastic" or as the young used to say "wicked" We suppress our laughter and take our tickets safe in the knowledge that our bus is w***ingly good'. In the afternoon we get a bus to Rosario (7hrs) and arrive in darkness in another unfamiliar city, one wonders how we have the apetite to keep going sometimes. We book into a simple yet basic hotel and also buy our tickets for the overnight bus to Posadas, way up in the North east of the country. We then have one of the nicest meals both for taste and ambience in Argentina so far. Starter is Prawn cocktail, followed by a great veal escalope and flan to finish it all off. Stu tucks into the bottle of wine provided with the meal and it's all for about 40 pesos (7 quid). The following day we go for another wander around taking in the ubiquitous grid layout of the city. This one is slightly different as it has the Rio Parana running through it so we stop for lunch overlooking the river with jungle like scenery on the far side. We visit the place where Mr Belgrano (name sound familiar?) dreamt up the Argentinian flag and visit the monument to him and the flag. From the top of the huge tower we can see what looks like a map of the Falkland islands or sorry that should be the "Islas Malvinas". We take a little walk around the monument to all those that died trying to liberate the islands from their fierce English aggressors and it's quite sad to see how many people died. The monument leaves us in no doubt how strongly the Argies feel that the Islands are theirs and that we should hand them back immediately. Dinner is a salty Paella and throught the meal we continually go against the recommendations of the very pleasant waiter. Nevermind. The following day we have a walk around the park in the southern end of town. The park is nice enough but is doesn't really remind us of the green grass of home and it's a bit bonkers really as there are all these roads running through it. Lunch is a salad (for the first time in ages) then we update the internet and play scrabble whilst eating the biggest chocolate cake ever (which is naturally covered in Dulce de Leche as well). The Argentinians really must have really bad teeth problems. Amy thrashes Stu as scrabble by 40 points. The 13hr overnight bus to Posadas is not the most comfortable but we do get red and sparkling wine on the way. Once more we arrive in a new town at some stupid time in the morning (can't they make South America any smaller?)and we witness a beautiful sun rise. We catch another bus (cause we really like them!!) straight away to San Ignacio Mini which is on the way to Puerto Iguassu and is the site of some lovely old Jesuit ruins. We get the last room and have a bit of a kip as we are so tired. We learn all about the Jesuit cities set up by the Spanish to convert the local indians to christianity in order to make colonisation all the easier. It's a really nice day and the shorts (and knobbly knees) are out for the first time in ages. We have a bit of a lazy afternoon and Stu finally whips Amy at scrabble by amassing a monster 340 points. Hooooorrrraaaaa! The next day we check out of our hotel and wait for about an hour for the bus to Puerto Iguassu. For some reason the Argentinians seem to love queuing up at the bank and we can't understand why. This is especially annoying as Stu needed to get some money out of the only cashpoint in town. Nearly four hours later and we are in Puerto Iguassu, the journey is through most sub-tropical rainforest and the soil is particularly red. Stu is on a roll at scrabble and wins by 1 point. Did I ever say what a great game scrabble is by the way??? Keep the messages coming and lots of love, Stu & Amy.