THE people and their culture are what usually attract me to a country but our decision to visit Argentina was a result of our learning Spanish with an Argentinian teacher.
The only other Latin American country we had visited before was Guatemala and so with three months to go before the high holidays and our holiday, I began to read whatever I could get hold of about South America in general and Argentina in particular. We had just over three weeks to see this enormous country and it was obvious that it would be necessary to fly as much as possible in order to save time and to prevent spending days on the intercitybuses, a “pleasure”, I decided, my delicate bottom could do without.
Our flight with El Al to Madrid and from there to Buenos Aires with Aerolineas Argentinas went smoothly once we got underway. However, until the day before we left, the Argentinian airline changed the flight details every few hours making me unsure about how our itinerary would hold up in Argentina, as all our internal flights were with them as well. Briefly, they are the worst airline I have ever flown with, unless bad service, bad or no in-flight food and a three hour delay on every departure are what turn you on.
We spent the first three days in Buenos Aires visiting, amongst other things, the opulent cemetery were Evita is buried. Our hotel was situated 100 meters away from Florida street, the pedestrian shopping mall, where jugglers, buskers, tango dancers and a changing stream of various other entertainers kept us constantly amused. We wandered around the neighborhoods taking every opportunity to sit in a sidewalk café or a small square and watch the people, while drinking coffee and eating enormous ices of cake or nibbling on alfajores, cookies filled with dulce de leche. The problem was not to get too full, as lunch and supper were pleasures I didn’t want to miss. The food is so cheap that one feels guilty not eating at every opportunity.
Add to this some of the best meat, cakes, chocolate and ice cream in the world and it is no surprise that we each put on two kilograms in spite of hours of walking each day. The evenings start very late and most restaurants only open at 8 pm for supper. A visit to a Milonga (a dance hall), a tango show, the famous opera house and an exclusive restaurant kept us busy in the evenings.
Our next stop was Iguazu waterfalls, which straddles the border between Argentina and Brazil. We spent the first day seeing this mighty natural wonder from the Argentinian side and on the second day we crossed over into Brazil and enjoyed the views from there. I had heard about Iguazu before and had imagined it looked like the other great waterfalls I had seen. It doesn’t. We spent the two days ooing and ahing and taking pictures from every angle and viewpoint in the hope of being able to reconstruct for our family and friends what we had seen. Suffice to say Iguazu is a sight not to be missed and once seen, never to be forgotten. The hundredsof waterfalls, the jungle of green trees, the butterflies and birds all combine to make my ideal “relaxing picture” when doing yoga meditation.
Iguazu Falls
From here we flew to Rio de Janeiro for four days, the city that is surely the most beautiful city in the world. And yes, I have seen Cape Town, San Francisco and Sydney. We loved everything we did here, from the wonderful music, the super friendly people, the delicious food and the stunning views from atop the Corcovada, where the giant statue of Jesus shares this view with all the other tourists. Choose between Copacabana or Ipanema beach and don’t miss lunch at Porcao, situated across from Sugar Loaf Mountain. The restaurant seats hundreds of people and is packed full during lunch, thus making it necessary, while waiting for your table, to have a drink in the bar. This hardship is softened by a buffet, which is offered for free, and which would not disgrace any five star hotel dining room for dinner. Inside the restaurant itself there is another enormous buffet table offering everything from sushi to carpaccio, but beware, as one really comes here for the meat.
Thirty odd kinds of grilled meats are brought to your table by a constant stream of waiters who all insist that you try a piece of their especially tasty cut. Eat as much as you want or rather as much as you can, as the waiters don’t ease off even when you put up your red “stop” button. The downside of Rio is that one has to be constantly aware of the threat of being robbed. One must be constantly aware of suspicious looking youngsters, not wear any jewellery nor show off your new Nikon camera. We were fortunate that all went well. From Rio to Bariloche, the chocolate capital of Argentina. Young Israelisspend weeks there while backpacking in South America and one can understand why.
We rented a car and spent three days driving through the Seven Lakes route between Bariloche and San Martin,visiting luxurious resort towns of wooden chalets and shops, sitting next to isolated lakes with the snow capped mountains reflected in the black blue water; walking in the mountains to see isolated waterfalls and giant birds of prey circling overhead. Choconac is a little coffee shop on the top of Campaniero where we took shelter from the cold wind and where a dream drink made by mixing delicious hot chocolate with a shot of Cognac served to warm our cockles.
The lake district around Bariloche
El Calafate was our next stop. Here we took two days to visit the various glaciers including the world famous Perito Moreno glacier where giant blocks of ice sheer off the glacier and topple into the lake. The glacier where it meets the lake is a two hundred meter deep river of ice, 60 to 80 meters of which is above the level of the water and the rest under the water. A noise like the firing of a cannon is the glaciers way of telling the tourists that a giant piece of ice has broken off and everyone looks frantically around trying to spot the falling chunk before it hits the water.
From the newest town in Argentina, El Chalten, which is a four hour bus ride from Calafate, we went hiking into the mountains to see the great Fitz Roy peak. The weather was bad and so we weren’t able to see the mountain but it was a day not to be forgotten. The black leafless trees and stubble covered ground gradually turned white as within a half an hour of our starting out, it began to snow. It snowed for six hours and by the time we came down back to our hotel, the snow had covered everything with a thick white coat, thereby giving us cause to worry that we would lose the path. For Israelis who hardly ever have the opportunity to experience a snow storm, it was a wonderful, beautiful, gentle day which we shall remember always.
The last leg of our trip was to the Valdez peninsula where we hoped to see various sea animals. Here we rented a car for two days in order to have more time to enjoy the various activities. We spent the first day whale watching. At this time of the year the whales comeinto a small bay and from the beach they can be seen jumping out of the water and sending streams of water high into the air. We went on a small boat so as to get closer to them and spent one and half hours within touching distance of these gigantic gentle animals.
I could feel the adrenalin running through my body as an adult whale did a headstand next to the boat, keeping her tail in the air for a few seconds before going under the water. Then she and her calf came right up to the side of the boat, then under it and out on the otherside. The next day we went to see a colony of penguins and a beach covered with hundreds of sea elephants which are in fact giant seals, the males of which reach a weight of four thousand kilograms.
It was mating season and watching these ungainly “elephants” trying to get onto a dainty one thousand kilo female was to say the least entertaining. Each male mates with about 40 females, and on returning to Buenos Aires I asked the street magician if he could turn me into a sea elephant, but alas... Argentina is nature at its best and at prices that neither Europe nor North America even remembers. Add to this friendly people, excellent tourist facilities and the food, and one has the recipe for a great holiday destination.
Brian Braude has travelled extensively, particularly in Asia, and would be happy to sit with anyone needing advice about a prospective trip. A donation to any of the Esra funds would be appreciated in return for this service. If you would like Brian’s help call 052 474 5762 or 09 745 7622.
Argentina
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