Montevideo!

We are leaving Montevideo today, even though we just came! Well, we´ve seen plenty of it by now after two days of walking through its streets, plazas and beaches. Yesterday we visited the center and the plaza de armas. The town is a strange mix of beautiful and extremely ugly buildings, making it dificult to take good pictures, there`s always something that gets in the way! The city also has a huge harbour providing a bit of change to the long and (mostly) white beaches!
Today we have walked along the beach, looking at the palmtrees, the ocean (having a strange grey-brownish colour) and lots of freighter ships going up and down de Rio de la plata.
Soon we´ll be heading back to Buenos Aires where we still have lots to see! Tiem is getting short and there is still plenty of continent left beore Ushuaia!
(pictures will be up as soon as possible!)

Colonia, Uruguay

Yesterday night, we realized we were really exhausted (too much to go out, even...), so we decided to go rest a little while on the Uruguayan side of Rio del Plata. Colonia is a very nice city, only 3 hours from Bs As by boat, which makes it a major tourist attraction for Argentines. Indeed, now is off season, so it is super nice, and there is not much people.
Unfortunately, Gustav is feeling sick today, but let's hope he'll feel better when we go to Montevideo tomorrow. Do not worry, we are going back to Bs As's nightlife this weekend. And after that, we'll be heading south, there is still more than 3000kms to go!

Lighthouse (lack of inspiration...)

Buenos Aires, part 1

And we're back!!! We met on Friday night in Buenos Aires. So far, so good, the city is great. Gustav enjoyed his time in Santiago, and I in Rosario (I was even willing to stay longer there...). on Saturday we took a long walk in the city. The streets were deserted in the middle of the afternoon because David Coulthard was driving his F1 on the main avenue (which is said to be the largest in the world...). 100 000 p went there (we did not...).
*Happy Birthday Gregoire.*

the deserted subway... (note that everything is wood, and that the doors open manually)

The presidential palace

Flag :-)

Rosario

I ll be staying an extra day in Rosario after all... The partying here is craaaazyyyy (and there is no wind => no windsurf). I'll meet Gustav tomorrow in Buenos Aires. More news when I get there!

Cataratas de Iguacu - part 2!

So, now we have seen both sides of the fall, Brazil and Argentina though we still cannot choose wich was the best, and probably we never will! Both sides were amazing!

Panoramic view of falls on the Argentinian side.

"Devils throat" (and us)

I dont know how to write "oohhh" and "ahhh" in portuguese, so you´ll have to imagine!
(and no, I wont translate it, my portuguese is quite bad!)

Well, what can I say, you probably realized by now that you have to come here and see for yourselves!! It´s just marvelous!!!



"Two sisters waterfall"

Itaipu dam

Today we visited the 2nd biggest dam, which is also one of the 7 engineering wonders. It is a neutral area between Brazil and Paraguay.

Each of the 20 forced ducts leads to a 700MW generator (these white thingies...). Each one has a permanent debit corresponding to half the Iguacu falls... The guide claimed that his dam will remain the most powerful of all because the flow rate of the river Yang Tse (Yannick, please correct me if Im wrong...).

The reservoir is fairly small, (190x7 kms), but because of the important flowrate, it can be filled in 90 days, or 14 in rainy season...
Artist view of the reservoir...

One of the three spill channel... In the rainy season, the three are open, which corresponds - to use your favorite unit - 40 times the average Iguacu falls flowrate.

Tomorrow we'll be on the argentine side.

PS : Yesterday, I forgot to mention something funny : entering the park, Gustav started taking a couple of useless pictures. Once on the boat's engine started - or maybe 5 minutes after, I dont want to be rude - Gustav's camera ran out of battery... Indeed, we saw the falls for the very first time way after that...

Cataratas do Iguaçu - part 1

There has been a change in plans, we went to the Iguaçu falls first... Iguaçu because we are on the BRAZILIAN side. The other side is not the other side of the postcard, which is usually meant for writing. The other side is ARGENTINA (just like the other side of the Itaipu dam is Paraguay... You follow?). The grass is always greener on the other side... Although it looked pretty green here.

The best way to see the falls is to see it from all the angles. That is exactly what this 400Hp boat is trying to do (ok, it's small, but you get the picture), getting everybody wet. We start with this : it's the close angle....

And a low angle, from the speedboat...

These two pictures were taken before getting wet.

We got very much closer to the falls, but my camera was in a plastic bag. The boat pilot basically drove us under the falls, so everything was really wet (I guess I valued more the camera than the possible picture...).

After having enjoyed such a close look, we took some distance (still in the fall spirit though - my underwear/shorts remained wet all afternoon).

Here are some of the views you can seefrom the trail...

Oooooh...
Aaaaah...
One more?
After all that, we went back to the Youth hostel take a swim in the pool :-).
You cannot believe how hard it was to write the article... I am reaaaally hungry, we just heard that there is a meat 'a volo' buffet two blocks from here. (It's already 9pm, and we did not have a real lunch - and it's less than 5 euros). Hopefully, the internet in Brazil is nowhere close to what we experienced in the neighboring country...

Foz do Iguazu, Brazil!

So we decided to get here one day early as we were already done with Asunción. So far its been great, the weather is nice, it seems realtively cheap and best of all, they speak portugese wich is really funny!!
Tomorrow we will visit the Itaipu dam, the worlds second largest. Monday and tuesday we will see both sides of the Iguazu waterfalls (Brazil and Argentina). So hopefully we will soon have some nice pictures for you!

happy birthday

To the bear :-)

Asuncion

Soo... we are now in Asuncion, where we should stay a couple days. (until this weekend, probably, guess why...). That was the easiest border crossing so far...

I really tried... but the picture upload wont work. Maybe tomorrow...

Even with the 20 points malus given to Yannick (Helene is in not in Malta, Sophie is...), I think he is first this time... Now I have to go to the postoffice...

Salta

added oct9:
At last.... It was long, but Gustav managed to upload these three pictures (it's not much, but it took a lot of energy...).And hum... There was ont thing we forgot to take for this bike ride... Sunblock. Hopefully, we did not burn (not too badly anyway).

This pass is famous for the color of the surrounding mountains, ranging from green to flashy red, orange, etc etc....
Cafayate is also famous for its wine... Indeed we did make several stops in vineyards on the way back. We even bought a bottle of their nicest wine (that I have to say, was quite nice).

Due to technical problems (no usb, and a slow connection), we wont be able to publish this post now... :-(
We went yesterday to Cafayate, about 3 hours from Salta.
This afternoonm we'll be getting on the night bus to Clorinda, which is on the border of Paraguay. We should be in Asuncion tomorrow morning... And with some luck with a better conection!