So, we've established that I made it back home safely from Argentina... but did you really think that this small little post was all I was going to share about my trip to the other side of the world?! Uhm... No! It was my first travel experience outside of Europe and I loved it! I might have been a little homesick from time to time, but it was totally worth it! I will try not to over share all of my pictures (I have a lot of them) and briefly summarise where I've been. We only did the north of Argentina because the country is so big that we would have needed three other weeks to see the south as well (and I don't get that much time of from work). So, a quick summary of my three week trip in Argentina:
Buenos Aires
The trip started and ended in Argentina's capital: Buenos Aires. I have to say, I always imagined Buenos Aires to be more... southern. Instead, I was kind of disappointed because everything about the city was so western. I felt like I was on a city trip somewhere in Europe. Not the best start to my vacation but nonetheless, Buenos Aires is a beautiful, booming city with lots of things to do. For example, from time to time, you can catch a tango show on a random square in the city (okay, that part wasn't really 'west-Europy').
We also had an empañada cooking class, a salsa class (that was haaaaaard!), a bike trip throughout the city where we almost got hit by a bus (by the way; Buenos Aires is NOT a biking city) and on our last evening out, we even went to see a live tango show in the most beautiful (hidden) building. Too bad we weren't allowed to take pictures!
Cordoba
Next, we took a night bus to Cordoba. We didn't see much of the city as we mostly went to the nearby mountains for a hike. We, of course, went to the Condor valley and we even saw some condors in real life. But I'm more of city girl so not the highlight of my trip either. Plus, we had to stay in the most disgusting hostel ever. Sleeping with cockroaches in the room: not a good night's sleep, I'll tell ya!
Salta
I think it was after a week or so that we arrived in Salta and I have to say, up until this point I wasn't impressed with Argentina. Buenos Aires was pretty but not what I had expected, Cordoba might be a beautiful city but I wouldn't know because I didn't see much of it and hiking... well, it's just not my thing. Plus, it was a lot colder than I had expected it to be (I mean, when you say Argentina you imagine hot temperatures, right?). So, I was getting more and more homesick wondering why I ever wanted to come to South America... but then, after a 17 hour bus drive or so, we arrived in Salta. And it was love at first sight. THIS is why I wanted to come to South America. Oh my, the weather was sunny, it was warm and the city exotic with palm trees and everything! Salta is without a doubt my favorite city of Argentina (that I saw so far). We stayed here for 4 days and had little excursions as well. We went rafting, bungee jumping (well, others did) and we spent a day in a finca which was one of my favourite parts of the trip! Horseback riding, throwing a lasso around trying to catch horses (which I did!) and having the most amazing meal in the middle of such a beautiful scenery. If I could, I would go back immediately!
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| Salta by night |
Quebrada de Humahuaca
From Salta we went into the Andes, to the Quebrada de Humahuaca. We stayed in Purmamarca with the cutest little old lady in 'Mama Coca'. I'll never forgot that place! We travelled further to Tilcara, where we went hiking with lamas (mine was called Nur and although we had a rough start at first, we fell in love). Along the way we stopped at numerous places to check out the beautiful sceneries. We saw the 'cerro de los siete colores' (mountain with seven colors) and even better, the 'cerro de los quatorze colores' (mountain with fourteen colors) and we also went to the salinas (dried up salt lakes).
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| that's Nur! |
Corrientes
Another 20 hour bus drive later, we arrived from the freezing mountains (man, it was sooo cold!) to the hot and tropical Corrientes. We went from 10°C to about 40°C so it's was quite an adjustment at first. To cool off, we went to the beach and took a boat trip on the Rio Paraña.
Iguazú
And than our last stop before heading back to Buenos Aires and for me, personally, the highlight of my trip: Iguazú falls. I recently saw a list of the Lonely Planet which featured the 'must see places in the world' and if I'm not mistaken Iguazú was in the top 10. I can only agree with that place because it was so incredibly beautiful! I gazed, stared, wondered where all that water came from and seriously, how many falls are there? It just keeps on going and going! We took a boat trip to where we nearly were UNDER the falls and the force that comes with it is just incredible. I could write a whole blog post about the beauty of these falls but I think I've made my point. In case that I didn't, just look at it:
Have you ever travelled abroad? What's your favorite destination?
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