Placenta shampoo, or 'adventures speaking Spanish'

A rainy day in Bariloche, in the Argentine Lake District. After 3 months of almost non-stop heat and sunlight we have finally hit a pocket of English weather! Joe has struck off up a mountain in his walking boots anyway, but I've been a pathetic girl and stayed in to wash my hair and get the dinner ready. Am finding it hard to adjust to being cold again, what a wuss. This does not bode well for camping next to a glacier.

The last three weeks have been a fun whirlwind, and am still trying to adjust to being without sister and friend on the road. Its been amazing to have some company: Hannah, Victoria, Marc, Gustavo, we miss you all! From the tropical Iguazu waterfalls the party of four headed south through the jungle to some beautiful wetlands and on to Buenos Aires. After a few days penguin-spotting in the Peninsula Valdes, Joe and I are now planning our road trip through Patagonia for Christmas and New Year.

Argentina is wonderfully easy and pleasant to travel around: the food is amazing (tasty steaks and empanadas), the wine is cheap and people are friendly and much more 'European', both in heritage and things like music tastes (lots of Rolling Stones, no more electro-samba!!) Everyone you meet claims some Irish/Italian or similar heritage. I feel my Spanish is also improving, although I did just recently manage to buy some shampoo with extract of placenta and tortoise oil. Oops

Aside from the lovely company, my highlights of the last few weeks have been the amazing Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires, the wildlife at Iguazu and the huge skies of the Peninsula Valdes. The cemetery was incredible - not dissimilar to other 19th century cemeteries like Pere Lachaise, Highbury and dare I say it, Nunhead, but the mausoleums were just out of this world. Lots were like small sunken churches, all marble and imposing columns but with the coffins in the middle of the floor standing amid shafts of sunlight from broken stained glass windows. In some they were stacked into what looked like bunk beds and covered in stained shrouds like doilies on old-fashioned cakes. The place was amazingly atmospheric - the contrast of the hugely extravagant sculptures and architecture of the tombs with the decay of crumbling angels and macabre open coffins covered in cobwebs.

I had expected the waterfalls at Iguazu to be incredible, but what I hadn't expected was all the wildlife, despite the millions of tourists: coatis, armadillo, and so many and varied brightly coloured butterflies. The falls themselves were dotted with swifts flying under the water and nesting in the clumps of greenery. Along the raised walkways you could see kites and herons and big black catfish in the river. And out first taste of Patagonia has left me dying to see the real wilderness down south. The Peninsula Valdes is like a huge wasteland, covered in low scrub and sand and resembling the moon, or some dastardly quarry that's home to a Bond villain. But the beaches are home to sealions, elephant seals and penguins, and the light is so intense, I've never seen anything like it. The blues of the sea look almost unreal. So it is with much pleasure that after a few days trekking here among the lakes we're off exploring down south in the tyre-marks of Che Guavarra.

Anyway, time to get the kettle on and call out the mountain rescue for Joe.

With Hannah and Victoria in Argentina

So, since the last post we have gone from scorchingly hot to brutally windy; I write this in a little lodge on the Peninsula Valdez, northern Patagonia. I caught another cold so am in, whilst the others are out looking for more birds. And I am eyeing the medicinal-looking bottle of red...

Over the past two weeks we have had two guests with us: Hannah K, nee P, is still with us, and therefore I can say that she has been a wonderful travelling companion, especially with her organisational vigour and fluent Spanish. Victoria left us a day ago, and it turns out doesn't read this blog, and I can therefore say that she was an absolute pain in the backside and no fun to be around whatsoever. Of course I am joking, I don't know what I'll do without my heavy-drinking, carnivorous friend. Miss Barr, a vegetarian when in the UK, made such short work of every steak we have come across that I felt a little emasculated. And I no longer have an excuse for that lunchtime beer which means 'holiday!'

We met up with them both at Iguazu falls, one of those 'must-do's on a trip round South America. We visited the Argentine side first, and I must admit I was a little underwhelmed at first, mostly because they were very dry at the time (I upset people by saying it was a bit like Derbyshire). However, after a few hours of getting up close to the falls and seeing dusky swifts and butterflies wheeling around between the spray and the lush, jungly verdure, I was smitten. And the 'Devil's Throat', the biggest, most powerful fall, was quite breathtaking.

I also became quite enamoured of coatis- snuffling, furry things with long, inverted noses which seemed much less adept at climbing trees in their natural habitat than stealing sandwiches, facilitating our God-given right to snigger at French tourists.

And we saw an armadillo, alas being prodded with a stick by an Argentinian.

From the Brazilian side you don't get so close to the waterfalls, but are able to take in the grandeur of the whole set. Unfortunately this makes for a rather fractious atmosphere, with people jostling to get photo ops in front of the views, rather than taking time to admire it. I nearly got into a bit of handbags with a fat pink European (not sure where) with pokey elbows. It was quite funny, though, seeing men ask their wives to bend themselves double over the railings so that their photo would appear to be just them and the falls.

From there we headed a little way south to see the ruins of the18th century missions- where the Jesuits went to the rainforests to bring religion to the natives and save them from the Spanish and Portuguese slave traders. The history, and actions of these men, is frankly pretty astonishing, and I tried to watch the 80s film 'The Mission' again (but, as on previous occasions, fell asleep). It is an absolutely beautiful place- ruins always look beautiful, all overrun with greenery, but these were especially amazing because the buildings are comparatively recent, and in a pinkish-red brick. I could have wandered around the ruins for days.

But no, off to another bl**dy wetland area to look at more bl**dy birds.

Luckily this time it was much more pleasant weather, and the place we stayed was a beautiful farmhouse with lovely bedrooms and swimming pool. It was also the 89th (I know: so?) anniversary of the village, so there was a huge festival with all the locals in traditional gaucho garb for a parade, barbecue, and dancing all night. As we should have expected, the locals were as keen on dancing with the girls as the girls were with them. And apparently Gaucho culture is rather gentlemanly, so each felt they had to approach me before asking the girls to dance. I was pimp-in-prime. I decided to stop attempting communication with my extremely weak Spanish, in favour of nodding vigorously, smiling and happily accepting their offers of a swig from their fernet-and-coke cocktails (delicious, but dangerous, especially when served in communal ice buckets). The girls all got their dances and I got to zigzag home.

I understand some birding was done the next morning.

From there to Cordoba. I don't think I have much to say about Cordoba, except there was a quite moving museum/tribute to victims of torture during the 60s and 70s military regime- shocking treatments in relatively recent history. A regime which ended with the Falklands war... I'll get back to you on that.

So after Cordoba we hit Buenos Aires. I love Buenos Aires, I really do, and I hope we will go back. I need a bit of time to reflect on it before writing, and also need to talk about meat and wine and empanadas, but again they deserve more attention than I can muster at present. The medicinal wine calls, so that's it for now from me. Hes might fill you in on her side of things, when she has finished birding...