The first night we ate (rather burnt) pizza and had an explore round the town. The town seems rather sleepy during the day with a few touristy shops selling trinkety things and 'South American' stuff; however in the evenings it seems to come to life more.
The difference between Brazil and Argentina is quite apparent, life still seems to be slow.. a lot less urgency than Europe, however just crossing the border from Brazil to Argentina you can really feel the Spanishy Latin influence. The shapes of people's faces are different too - this is something we noticed as we travelled down through Brazil, the diversity of people groups changes on the area. In this part of Argentina you can see more of the Indian face shapes as opposed to the more European almost Italian faces we were seeing in places like Sao Paulo.
The next day we decided to take it easy after all our travelling and take time to just explore. We had a (kind of) lie in, which was much welcomed by me. Getting up here was quite a shock, seemingly just by crossing the border it was freezing cold. I went to breakfast in almost all the layers I had in my bag, it was the first time I wore trousers with leggings, a scarf and a fleece! You can see your breath here in the mornings, I know it's winter but wasn't expecting that. The days have been clear though, so after the initial shock of waking up it heats up nicely in the day as the winter sun comes up; feels like perfect ski weather.... slightly wishing I had more money to be able to ski in Chile - would be a pretty amazing way to see the Andes!
On our lazy day we walked through the town and worked out where all the shops and restraunts were. After our cold morning shock we went looking for warmer clothes, I managed to find myself a very cosy Alpaca jumper and some llama leg warmers which are very welcomed! Also I bought myself a Mate pot and Bombilla straw to drink some Mate tea with. We tried some in the evening and it was quite a shock. It smells like tobacco, grass and vague dried vegetables. They pack it into tiny pots and then add water bit by bit as they drink it. The taste is course and bitter and kind of how I imagine drinking damp grass would be. A girl we had been staying with said - and I quote - "It tastes like drinking arse", so stubbornly I was determined to be positive about it. It does taste like that kind of, however it is sort of nice and you adjust; like when you first try coffee as a child. Apparently you can drink it with sugar and lemon.. but it's a 'common' thing to do, however I think it would improve the taste.
In the evening we decided to eat out and try some of the cuisine. Everyone here eats a big meal mid afternoon about 3pm for lunch, however we can't seem to get into that as we want lunch at 1 and then want dinner around 7 which throws us out of sync with everyone. We went to a nice looking place near where we're staying and it was very cosy. I put my fears aside and ordered steak, 'Sirloin steak with dijon mustard and white wine sauce, with mandioc mash and leak tart' and Liz opted for a much safer gnocchi. The food arrived and the portions were huge (yes even for you Joe it was a big steak!), but it was incredible. We ordered a small bottle of Argentinian red wine which was gorgeous and started on our meal. The food was amazing, I amazed myself by enjoying, and finishing, my steak. I don't think I'll attempt it again in England though. We then finished with a lovely mousse, brownie and red berry pudding. The prices in Argentina throw us a lot because of the exchange rate the numbers seem huge, however our whole meal with drinks and pudding cost 30GBP between the two of us!
Today we woke up earlier and got our ticket which we had booked for the falls and headed into town. We went to the bakery and got ourselves lunch and then piled onto the bus. It's high season in Argentina at the moment, which is the opposite to Brazil. The park - again - was very crowded but we had a nice walk in the sun around the park and along the waterfalls down to the river. We had booked a boat ride and as we walked down the steps we saw lots of dripping wet people walking back up and had to mentally prepare ourselves. We were given life jackets and went onto a big speed boat with seats, we gripped onto the chairs, pulled up our hoods and were off. The boat sped round, cutting tight corners into the water sending us all lurching one side and the other. The boat then sped through the water in front of the waterfalls and the moment we stopped ploughing forwards you can see the amazing strength of the backcurrents, it was quite scary. We went through lots of rainbows which was beautiful. The boat then drove up, perilously close to the rocks and turning sharply drenching everyone on board. The best (and wettest) moment was when the boat went right up and under the spray directly below the falls. You cannot see anything because of the amount of water and the noise is amazing, but it is really scary. The most funny moment was hearing Liz beside me shriek louder than I thought possible, and upon asking her what was wrong... "WET PANTS!", we got absolutely drenched... wearing a rain coat was slightly riduculous, you just get wet regardless.
After we got off the boat and luckily the sun was still out so we sat and dried off in the sun and ate our lunch. We got back mid afternoon and did a little shop. Our dinner tonight has been soup - the most vegetables we've had all week! We had carrot, onion and butternut squash soup which was lovely. Might head out to try a hostel favourite: Argentinian drink - Ferneta, in one of the lively local bars.
One more day in Argentina, then a 22 hour bus ride to Rio where we're meeting a previous friends from the hostel for the day before our flights early on the morning of the 31st. Separating to Lima and Manaus which is going to be bizarre, but very excited about Peru!
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