Argentina

Here we are in Argentina, the country of Diego Maradona and Evita! We were quite excited to be there, especially to see Pablo and to meet Sylvina, his girlfriend. But before going to see them, we went through a few cities.

Mendoza

We enjoyed our time in Mendoza:

because it's a nice and charming city

but also for its vineyards and therefore its wine ;-)

...which we HAD to taste... hihihi

Of course, we also tasted their culinary specialities:

tapenade and olive oil on toasts as an appetizer, followed by dark and white chocolate and liquors at 75%, it literally burns your throat!...

To digest all this, we cycled on the road of the wines zigzagging between trucks...

It's a shame that this road is not for bicycles only...

We enjoyed the proximity to the termal baths of the Cacheuta valley.

Even if it doesn't show here, we were not the only ones unfortunately...

There was a bunch of kids running all over the place...

Cordoba

We did not like the city that much... Maybe we were tired of cities and we were more looking for nature at that moment. We spent two days to Adrien and his son's place. They welcomed us very warmly and kindly, and they gave us many advices to visit places around Cordoba more rural.

We tried our Spanish skills with our hosts... We were not very good but far better than some of our friends from Ireland who were looking for "accomodationo" :D (They'll know who they are!)

Cordoba our CS hosts

We went to an art museum...

...but some people should get a manual to explain them what they should look at:

Following advices from our hosts, we went to Alta Gracia to visit the house where Ernesto Che Guevara lived which is now a museum.

The Che lived there for 10 years when he was young because he had asthma. This little town is recommended for people suffering of asthma so that they can breathe more easily (thanks to the air purity or the altitude).

We had to shorten our stay because it was pouring rain...

We also spent a day in La Cumbrecita and Villa General Belgrano.

We had the nice surprise of finding a beautiful waterfall, to hike in the woods

and to have a lot of fun as you can see on the pictures :D

This place was exactly what we were looking for, there was nature, nice hikes to do and tranquility! It's just too bad we didn't have the time to stay longer over there, we would have loved to spend more time acting like Tyroleans :D

We can't resist sharing our favorite Tyrolean singer, Takeo Ischi:

Buenos Aires

We loved Buenos Aires for multiple reasons:

for its beautiful architecture and its charming old buildings

for its culture present all around the city

 for its lively street ambiance

People were dancing tango in a public square in San Telmo area.

There were not all pro, but we didn't dare trying in the middle of all those tango aficionados...

The area we enjoyed the most was the one where we stayed: La Boca.

It was a popular area and supposedly one of the unsafest place of Buenos Aires. Since our arrival in South America, people keep on warning us about the danger in different areas. Maybe we've been lucky, but everywhere we went, we never felt in danger... Local people warned us all the time but from who? They were the only ones in the streets! Distrust towards each others is everywhere apparently...

A tango show in La Boca, AMAAAZING!

Not doubt that we can't do the same...

We keep good memories of our stay with our AIRBNB host. It's quite similar to couch surfing except that you pay for the accomodation but the idea is the same: to meet and to exchange with local people.

Our host's brother, Agustin, and his wife Christina cooked us some home made empanadas.

Federico, our host, is the one wearing a white shirt.

Rosario

We had decided to go to Rosario not for the city, even if it was nice, relax, charming and not touristic (exactly what we're looking for in a city), but in order to finally see Pablo! Pablo is one of Aurore's friends met in Ireland, in Dublin, when she was working for O'Briens. She had been making sandwiches and coffee with Pablo :) She was so happy to see him again after 7 years!!!

The very first night, Pablo had already organized a BBQ along the river. The place was very nice. There were some public tables and BBQ grill everywhere and people could come for the night for a small contribution. Great ambiance!

Bream, pacu, Pablo, Aurore, Sylvina, Lissandro, Mercedes....

A recipe to spend a good time! :-P

Aurore continued her "crepe-challenge" in Argentina and opened her first crepe tossing school.

She's proud of her Argentinian and French students ;)

After the crepes, it was radio time. Pablo and his friend Lissandro host a radio show every Thursday night at 11pm on FMAZ radio. It's about Brazilian music. It was the first time for us and we loved participating to the live radio show :)

Pablo on the left and Lissandro on air!

A small intervention from Etienne, a little shy... hehehe

The next day, Pablo (who took some days off to stay with us!) offered us a boat tour on the river. We spent and hour and a half on a speed boat, it was a great time ;) The visit was very interesting and the scenery was beautiful:

 
On the 7th December, for those who know Aurore quite well, it's her birthday! 28 years old!!! Etienne and Pablo had organized a birthday party, what a night! :D

BON ANNIVERSAIRE Aurore!!!!!!!!

The next day, we went to Pablo's parents country house for the weekend where we met with his parents and his brother David. We keep good memories of this very relaxing weekend, we had a lot of very interesting conversations and a lot of fun.

We're happy to introduce you to the "Tchin-Tchin" family :-)))

The best "asado" we've ever had!

Gigantic beef ribs, tender and juicy, a real delight "scrunch scrunch" ;-P

After that, a big nap was needed :)

Puerto Iguazu

(Iguazu cataracts from the Argentinian side)

We went on a raod trip with Pablo and Sylvina to see the waterfalls of Iguazu. Fourteen hours on the road, a strong heat and a bumpy road... It was challenging!

On the way, we stopped to have a look at San Ignacio Mini Jesuit mission. To sum up, this site was built by Jesuits to evangelise the indigenes in the area.

Woaw, an anthill!!! Etienne couldn't be happier! :)

A mate break on the way... (it's the national drink made with yerba mate)

ET loved it, Aurore didn't...

Eventually, we arrived at our destination and what a breathtaking scenery!

The cataracts are really impressive, it's a pity that they made it so touristic... It's like Disneyland: music all the time, there's even a small train... It removes some charm and some magic from the site...

It's still worth it, see by yourself:

Heavenly

To end our stay in Argentina, here's a mix of our favorite pictures,

we're so generous! ;-)

Foz do Iguacu

(Iguazu cataracts from the Brazilian side)

We crossed the Brazilian border to see the cataracts from Brazil.

What a good decision! There's a great view and it's more peaceful!

It was cloudy that day but at least it was cooler and we were nearly alone there ;)

A nice Colgate smile :D

After visiting the catarcts, Pablo and Sylvina had to go back to Rosario... So we spent a few days relaxing by the swimming pool at our hostel ;)

Thank you so much, muchas gracias to you both Pablo and Sylvina for welcoming us, for your time and your good advices! We're looking forward to seeing you in France!!!