Lets keep going North, we are bound to hit the border at some point....

From the end of the world to the centre of the world it might seem. As we departed from Ushuiaia on the 15th, only the grand glaciers lining the horizon, I knew little of what lies ahead. And so when the glaciers and turquoise waters got replaced by the endless sea of Buenos Aires’s buildings, it was a pleasant and slightly confronting realization that I was back in a major city. Buenos Aires is exactly that- a major city. Numerous boutiques line the pavements, with the newest and funkiest designs jumping at you from behind the glass windows. The amount of restaurants could make a hungry person go mad and the smell of steak wafting through the streets from every kitchen door becomes something you become somewhat numb to. We arrived at the national airport, which was very conveniently placed just outside central Buenos Aires and so before I knew it, we were dashing through he busy streets in a taxi, of which the taxi driver is still to receive a formal complaint from me. Little note on the side- taxi drivers are generally known to be slightly on the crazy side in South America BUT Buenos Aires taxi drivers take it to a whole new level and if any one of them happens to, by complete coincidence, get to read this blog then: WHAT the hell are you thinking? Are you deliberately trying to kill someone or are you just plain stupid?? Okay, so now that I ventilated a bit of anger I can continue..:) Anyway, only a few minutes later we arrived at our apartment in Palermo Viejo, a beautiful part of Buenos Aires, where sitting at an outside table in front of a cute café, sipping cafe con crème and reading a novel, is absolutely acceptable ( if not slightly expected). We had 2 full days before we had to head out to our next destination, which was to be Baradero, and so we made full use of them. Rather than rushing my way through all the typical tourist attractions I fully embraced the Buenos Aires life-style for those 2 days: For breakfast we would sit in a beautiful café at the corner of a park in Palermo Soho called Mamaracha. After waking up with a freshly squeezed orange juice and a couple of media lunas, it was off for a brisk walk in the park, maybe a bit of window shopping and generally a well- balanced few hours of relaxation and fun. Light lunches are luckily a concept they do understand in Buenos Aires (unlike anywhere outside of the city) and so a salad was actually an option- for which I was very grateful. Afternoons were spent doing more activities, which demanded little strenuous exercise and so in the early evening, only a quick freshening up was needed before the night part of the day could begin. Bad habit: eating at 10pm. Who has this habit? The entire population of Argentina, and Buenos Aires even more so! I could write long essays on, how steaks are hard to digest when consumed after 9pm, or, how Argentineans have a strange perception of what is a human size portion of meat, or how one basically looses all his/her human rights as to what one wants to consume, due to the fact that there is no option apart from meat BUT that would be pointless so I won’t…but you get the idea!! On the 18th of March it was: no more lazing around and lets get to business – or polo in our case! We spent 8 full days in the surrounding area of Baradero, the beautifully tranquil region north of Buenos Aires. From our picturesque cottage, we could spot Nicaragua in the distance, horses grazing on our outside lawn and purely listened to the angelic sounds of nature. Although it must be said that mosquitoes did become our greatest enemy (just after bloody bums and aching arm muscles), we defeated them night-by-night successfully and so with ridiculous amount of OFF! Sprayed all over ourselves and frantically shutting the door behind us each time we entered the house, not even the blood-sucking mosquitoes could ruin the experience. Our schedule was simple: rise at 8am, munch up on a huge breakfast, spray an entire can of OFF! All over ourselves and head over to the stables. Marcelo, our lovely stable carer, helped us buckle up, saddle the horses and so with little ado by 10am we were already stepping onto the (by the end of the weak very familiar) polo field. We would practice for 3 hours, usually stick n’ ball, to only dismount with cramps along our entire inner thighs ( only the first day to be honest…exaggerating a little here I know) and head into the house for some LUNCH!! We were actually, not kidding, like a bunch of wolves. We ate veggies, and meat by kilos each and so it is only understandable that a siesta was extremely necessary. After a 45min nap and a quick coffee, the horses were being galloped by us, skilled riders, all around the field by 5pm again. In the afternoon we usually practiced games, rules and technique. We would make use of the last sun just barely lighting up the field and would retreat only if absolutely necessary ( in other words, when it was too dark to see the ball on the ground). For 8 days we played a solid 5 hours of polo each day, ate like horses ourselves (although I probably ate more than my horse) and generally fell into bed absolutely shattered each night. Polo was an interesting experience for me. I disliked it a lot at first. I LOVE horses and so the idea of crashing my horse into another horse in order to then attempt hitting a tiny ball with a heavy wooden stick, whilst galloping at full speed and being attacked by another 4 riders on their horses…..no, really not my cup of tea!! But unfortunately, as I was the only girl amongst many guys (my father and brother being rather dangerous as they were new to the game also, and the others being professional so just plain scary as hell) I had to show them what I am made of. It took time, before I managed, but by the end of the week, and after numerous conversations with myself about not being a wimp, I successfully partook and actually kicked their asses. Go girl power!
Down sides: well apart from having bloody bruises all over your bum and not being able to use your wrist because you have been using muscles you didn’t even realize you had….let me think…hmm…oh yes, maybe the fact that my upper thighs acquired the size of a grown male body builder!! Yep, it is official; I left Baradero, with thighs like a sprinter. Its fine, let me calm you down, I have tried my best to reduce my upper thigh muscles (mainly by simply not galloping 5 hours a day) and am slowly getting there. It was definitely a great experience though. But all things, good or bad, have to come to an end and so we headed back to Buenos Aires.
But not for long!!!!
Although, before we did manage to head off again, I managed to meet up with Axel, Charlie and Tom (all former St. Paul’s students) and it was FUN! I am not going to elaborate, simply because you weren’t there, so you wouldn’t understand anyway..haha BUT all I am going to say is 3 words: 69, go there!!
Seriously, transvestites can apparently make for a good night in Buenos Aires…just some food for thought!!
So on the 27th of March it was LET’S GO time again. And so we did. Mendoza was our next destination. We all know that Mendoza is known for its wines, so no surprise there, that we pretty much just visited wineries all day, ate wonderful food, went horse-riding and enjoyed the beautiful hot weather (average aprox. 35 degrees Celsius). For me the true highlight of the trip (and I think that my father- a big wine lover - was slightly disappointed) was the visit to Aconcagua. With almost 7000m, it is the tallest mountain in all of the Americas, and stunningly beautiful. During this visit I only hiked to the bottom of the mountain ( to check out the terrain and conditions) but I am coming back soon and climbing it – its going to be for Ecolibri, my charity, and I have set my heart on it!!! I needed a next challenge ( what after the whole travelling on my own around the world thing) and so climbing a 7000m tall mountain seems about right!! So that’s that…otherwise, the scenery is incredible, striking colours of the mountains, combined with the blasting wind, azur sky and glistening small ponds- truly mesmerizing. From Mendoza on we went- and bussed it to Cordoba. Just a little note on the side- the buses are GREAT!! You just basically fold your chair into a fully horizontal position and sleep like a baby all night…just thought I would slip it in there, for those adventurers, who are planning their own trip to the heart of South America any time soon). So Cordoba…well..not much to say. Kinda’ disappointed. Rained all the time we were there, slightly sketchy. Don’t know. BUT to be fair, it had been hyped up by many, so it had big expectations to fulfil and in all honesty we did find a great eatery and the hotel we were staying in was beautiful (good thing that, as we did have to end up spending a lot of time there).
Forgot to mention some news, which I received just before leaving for Cordoba; received my replies from universities. To my great surprise and joy I had some brilliant offers – top being St. Andrews in Scotland, and Georgetown in Washington D.C. I decided for the latter and so it happens that I shall be enrolling into Georgetown University in August this summer, into the class of 2014!! Very excited about that aspect.
So in Cordoba we rented a car and the next few hundreds of miles were to be crossed by car.
Cordoba - Estancia La Paz (Ascochinga) - Estancia Las Carreras (Tucuman)- Estancia El Manantial des Milegros (Salta).
1000km, 3 days, many stops, incredible scenery!!
Each night we slept at a different Estancia – old typical Argentinean farm – using their horses to go on horse rides early in the morning, walking through rich grounds, milking cows ( yep, I actually milked the cow and then made my own cheese- got it in a bag to prove it). The farms are always very homey and comfortable. I am getting (maybe a bit too much for my own good) very used to drinking my evening cup of tea in front of a flaming fire, with a soft blanket made from lama wool over my lap, and fresh dulche de leche flan to snack on. OMG!!!! I might have already mentioned dulche de leche, but I certainly have to mention it – even twice if necessary. OMG – not much more can be said. It’s basically like caramel but better, richer, sweeter and EVERYWHERE! Haha…its true. Smeared on every cake, served at every breakfast with toast, even put in coffee, this ridiculously sweet “thing” is maybe something I might miss a little. I must admit (and please don’t tell my dad, he might disown me), I will miss the excellent steaks BUT I might miss dulche de leche a bit more. Sshhh…(he would b devastated if he would realize that I am in fact not as obsessed with meat as he is). Although on the note of meat; today we drove from Tucuman to Salta, but on the way we stopped in Cafayate, known to be the most beautiful village in the whole of Argentina. It was soooooo cute! Really glad I saw it, plus they did in fact have some great meat. We stopped for lunch and as my father insisted on ordering himself, sooner than I knew it, I was not only confronted by about 6kg of meat for 5 people ( one being only 4 years old) but the meat also included goat and rabbit. Not judging I kept my mind open and tried it all- wow. I am not going to go into details BUT I am simply going to say: try goat and rabbit. The drive to Salta was amazing!!!!! It’s like driving through the Grand Canyon; Massive, deep red stone formations, pinks, reds, violets, oranges, then slowly as more greenery appears, the mountains’ deep reds start contrasting with the lush greens of the rich flora and the dominating plantains of endless cacti. Yep, one cactus larger than the other, thousands of them…it was wonderful, and as the sun was setting, the mountains were actually flaming up, the colours even richer than in the light of mid-day. So with those burning mountains, prickling 4m-high cacti and yummy rabbit in mind, I now finish this entry. I shall now go and have my ‘traditional’ cup of tea in front of the fire and then off to bed- the beds happen to be very comfy at these farms. Tomorrow morning a morning horse ride awaits and so with no time to waste- that’s all for now!!!