Luna De Mel

Hello, we hope you are keeping well, we're having fun here in South America.

Before I tell you what has been happening so far, thank you for your messages of concern regarding the earthquake in Chile. We are well, some way away from where that was and when we do travel through Chile, it will be a very long way from the affected area.

We arrived safely, after an uneventful flight we got to Buenos Aires on time, despite a delayed departure. After checking in at our hotel, we then went for a walk around. We had plans to visit the little craft market in the square in San Telmo, however in the ten years since I was here last, the market has expanded to be over a mile long, taking over most of the length of one of the roads. There previously were not as many tourists as were evident at the market. It was nice to see some of the things on sale and Melanie bought a small amethyst necklace, which the very friendly vendor made as we were chatting with him.

That evening, we went to see my friend Mauro, whom I hadn't seen for 10 years. It was great to see him again and for him to meet Mel and vice versa. He made us a full Argentine parillada, which involves various parts of a cow cooked slowly. During which time, we had time to chat and drink nice local wine. When it came to eating, it was quite an intense crash course for Mel, who as a recently reformed vegetarian had an impressive range of meat to deal with. She of course performed admirably.

There was a national holiday the following day, to remember the end of the military dictatorships. That meant many political groups were gathered and marching around the square in front of the Casa Rosada (presidential palace). They were rather noisy, singing different chants to the tune of 'Bad Moon Rising' by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Not sure whether there was any underlying symbolism to that.

After watching that for a short time, we headed to Parque San Martin and from there on to Recoleta, which is an expensive, trendy part of town, where we browsed another craft market. Then we visited the famous cemetery. The mausoleums there are impressive architecture in themselves, with the great and wealthy of Argentina buried there. No expense is spared on some of them and despite possibly only having a metre-wide frontage, they might have a chapel, different levels and elaborate glass and artwork.

When we headed back to the town centre, the political groups were in full flow and voice, the majority of them appearing to be between 20 and 40. Unfortunately, the days afterwards, there was a lot of graffiti left by them over walls, shop fronts and monuments.

Next day, we went to visit the port area of La Boca, famous for its brightly painted houses and football team (Boca Juniors). After seeing a couple of streets there, there isn't much more to do in what is otherwise not a very nice area.

From Buenos Aires, we took a ferry for an hour across the River Plate to Colonia in Uruguay. There we took a bus to Montevideo, the country's capital. There were more craft markets and some excellent steak at the port market. We also found a lovely old bar, which it transpired had been taken over just fifteen days earlier by a father and son, despite the fittings being originals from the 1920s and 30s. Montevideo is not the most beautiful city, however it has a nice vibe and the people are invariably friendly.

We went back to Colonia, which has a quaint Portuguese-influenced old town and pleasant views across the Rio Plata. We had a wander around. In various parts, the old derelict cars have been turned into features for restaurants; some even have tables put inside so one can have a coffee in an original Model-T – possibly the wrong choice of beverage. When I visited previously, the restaurants weren't there, though the cars were in the same places, though slightly more decrepit at the time.

After a night in Colonia, we got the ferry back to Buenos Aires and moved into a small apartment we rented for a few days, in a more affluent part of the city. The next couple of days, we mostly just ambled around, getting a better feel for the city. On our final night in Buenos Aires, we went to Lollapalooza, a music festival that was debuting in Argentina. We saw and enjoyed Phoenix, New Order, Nine Inch Nails and Arcade Fire. The people were invariably friendly and one gave me a beer, as he had been given some and decided he should share. When it came to getting home, a guy called Pablo helped us get the right bus and paid for us.

Next morning, we left Buenos Aires in a car we hired. The driving here is less orderly; the lines on the roads are mostly to give a sense of movement and aren't for anything as mundane as keeping people confined to lanes. After a little time we were out of the city and on the long straight roads that are a feature of intercity driving in Argentina. We headed to Rosario (Argentina's third largest city) and had a look around to see whether we wanted to spend some time there. We didn't even feel like stopping at the traffic lights, so we carried on to Cordoba (Argentina's second largest city). We had a room booked, so went to see that. It smelled of gas and a plumber had apparently recently had a look at the boiler there, fiddled with it and left. This did not inspire confidence in either the safety of the room or the quality of local plumbers. So, we decided to stick with the age-old proverb: 'never stay where there are incompetent plumbers'.

With that decision made, we headed on further to the small and unremarkable town of Villa Carlos Paz, where we found a nice, friendly, economical hotel and had a nice night. From Villa Carlos Paz, we took the mountain road, which as it was cloudy, meant that for the first part of the journey, we could only see about a hundred metres ahead for much of the way. After we passed over the summit, the views improved and we stopped at a couple of viewpoints to appreciate the scenery. In the valley at the bottom, we stopped for lunch in a village called Nono (Yesyes, we did) and then were back on the long straight road to Mendoza, this time through vineyards and olive groves.

Mendoza is a nice, leafy city with an attractive park in the centre and the Andes as a backdrop. That would be the case if it wasn't as overcast as it was when we arrived. Thankfully, when we drove out the following day in search of an open vineyard (a search that proved fruitless), the skies were clearer and we could see some of the foothills at least. After returning to Mendoza, we enjoyed a nice walk in the lovely Parque San Martin, from where we could see the silhouette of the mountains in the distance.

We left Mendoza for the Chilean border, which is next to Mount Aconcagua, the highest peak west of Pakistan. The scenery as we passed through Potrerillos got increasingly more dramatic. We climbed steadily higher and by the time we reached the border, we were at more than 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) above sea level. The mountains around the border are lovely. It was interesting to see that the snow was dramatically less than when I previously crossed the border there at a similar time of year, ten years ago. On this occasion, there was only snow near the peaks, whereas ten years ago I was able to walk in the snow, just a few steps away from the immigration building. After passing through the necessary formalities, we began the rapid descent on the Chilean side of the border. There are 25 numbered hairpin bends as one gets down the mountainside. We were immediately struck by the different appearance on the two sides of the Andes. On the Argentine side, it is much lusher, whereas on the Chilean side it is much dustier and the mountainsides are mostly covered in cacti and succulents.

We had a room booked at a little place not too far from the border, however after seeing the dusty little village where it was, we changed our minds and found a place to stay in another, slightly larger and equally dusty town called Los Andes, nearby. We found a simple place for dinner where the entertainment was provided by a blind singer who sonically and physically reminded us of the late great Israel Kamakawiwo'ole — though of course a Latino version. There were only a few of us in the place and the waiter told the singer he had two Brits in the audience. Each song or medley he decided to explain to us its significance. At the table adjoining ours, a couple of very friendly guys were also chatting with us. So, we had a really lovely evening.

We left Los Andes and headed south to wine country. The drive was more stressful than we expected, as the roads around Santiago were confusing and the drivers were reckless and aggressive. We were pleased as we got past that area and the yellow haze of pollution that envelopes Santiago, on to the road south, where we got to the nice little town of Santa Cruz, which is surrounded by vineyards.

Now we are going to check out some of those vineyards. We will be in touch again soon.