Brazil! And I can't speak Portuguese..

So far, travelling as an independent overlander with H, we visited Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. These countries are all Spanish speaking, so, as I am rather fluent in Spanish and H is multilingual, we haven't had much bother. 

But now we are in Brazil and neither of us speaks Portuguese, although speaking Spanish helps. We been here a week and we are getting by, but I'd like to get by a bit better. 

So, I've signed up for some private Portuguese lessons, starting today. For this I am fairly excited. H isn't going to join me, he believes it is unnecessary and he'll get by without it. 

Of course, he will get by better than me without lessons. His native tongue is Dutch, and he also speaks the other 2 official languages of his country: French and German, and he speaks English and quite a bit of Spanish. This all helps. In Spanish, I am better schooled than him, so I speak more and have better grammar, but I take much longer than him to adjust to a dialect or an individuals way of talking. In a nutshell, he will understand more Spanish than me with new acquaintances, but not if I've had time to 'get' their accent. The same is likely to be the case in Brazilian portuguese. He'll just pick it up, (and mostly just keep talking to them in Spanish). 

Actually, travelling in South America as an overlander I've been surprised to find just how many overlanders don't speak Spanish, many couldn't even claim they had beginner level Spanish. And, many of them didn't speak English either; they'd get by using their native tongue, typically German or French. 

So, for me it's back to school. I don't have much time for it, just this week, because the Brazil visa is rather time restrictive, but at least I'll have something to work on. And H? He's doing mechanics on the car. 

Photo upload: Uruguay beaches

Uruguay has plenty of great beaches, and pretty rural countryside too.  Here's some pictures from the 2 places we passed nights at: La Pedrera and Punta del Diablo.

Photo Upload: Old cars on the streets of Uruguay

Uruguay has old cars, trucks and motorbikes everywhere. Many going still, but others sitting decaying in a street or paddock. Occasionally,  one is put to a more creative use,  like a cafe dining spot, as seen here.

Photo upload: Fray bentos meat processing

I mentioned our visit here in a post, but I think it's worth uploading some pictures.  The museum is definately worth a visit if you are ever in Fray Bentos (Uruguay).
Also,  note the massive pink hibiscus flower in my hair,  it's real!

Passing through Uruguay

For me, this was my second time in Uruguay, and the first time for H. It's a country I really do like. 

Touristically, it's not considered to have any super attractions, but I like it for the people. The countryside is also very pretty. 

On day one we visited the old meat processing plant in Fray Bentos. If you know Fray Bentos pies (in a can) and Oxo cubes... Well, once upon a time they were made here. 

The old factory has been nicely preserved and they believe that this year it will qualify for world heritage status with UNESCO. In its heyday (which was at about the time of the major world wars) it employed 4000 people in a shift.  

From there we went to Colonia de Sacramento, which is a fairly major tourist attraction. It's a sweet old town with plenty of ruins and cobblestoned streets to look at. 

Next we went to find a guy on a farm who will let you leave your vehicle there for $1 (USD) per day. As Uruguay allows vehicles to stay one year, it's popular to park there while you go home. The guy has the largest pencil collection in the world and a considerable collection of keyrings, open to public display in his private museum. 

After that we did a few nights on the side of the Uruguay river, which was too big to see the other side of, and then a couple of nights on the beach in coastal towns. Uruguay has a very nice coast, better as you go further North. 

And then to Chuy. As an Australian I need a visa to enter Brazil. The Brazilian Consulate in Chuy is friendly, helpful, and they issued my visa within a day (although, they said, at 10am, 'it will take a minimum of 48 hours, come back at 2.30pm'). 

And now, we are in Brazil!!!

Such a pretty scene, believe me.

I'm sitting having my morning cup of tea (made in the camper) at first light. I haven't brought my camera, so you'll just have to believe me when I tell you how pretty it is. 

The scene is mostly shades of soft pink. I'm looking at the water of the Uruguay river, almost where it all becomes sea, so the water stretches so far in front that I can't see Argentina. 

The water closest to me has reeds and to my right there is a daisy-like yellow flower growing in the water, and another plant with small white flowers. Next the water is reflecting pink, beyond that a soft blue. The sky is cloudy on the horizon and reflecting pink again, and above me the sky is a soft blue. 

Halfway through the scene there is a manmade breakwater of rocks (to guide the yachts into the marina, which is to my left), and at the end of the breakwater there is a bright red steel framed lighthouse which adds such contrast to the scene that it makes it all the more better. 

Large fish keep breaching the surface of the water, in the way that whales and dolphins gently do the same. And a soft yellow breasted bird has just come singing beside me (as I write this!). 

All in all, aside from the mosquitoes, it's a most pretty and tranquil scene. It's called Juan Lacaze. 

Eating river fish in Rosario

Read any tourist information on Rosario and it says to try the river fish. So, we left our camper at the Municipal Campground of Granadero Baigorria (a northern suburb) and took the bus to the city to go sightseeing and eat fish. Really there wasn't a lot to interest us for sightseeing, and we failed to find a restaurant with river fish and ended up watching a movie at a cinema (this made me happy). 

On doing some research I did find out about a recommended restaurant for a river fish dinner, which happened to be closer to our campsite than to the city. 

So, we took the bus back to the campsite and prepared ourselves for a late night. H and I are usually quite early to bed, but Argentines think 10pm is a good hour to have dinner. So, we joined them. 

The fish were good. The preserved specimens on display were 2 and 3 feet long. I had a particularly ugly (but equally delicious) fish called Surubi, and H had Boga. 

The restaurant, Escauriza, was big and popular. 

The next day we drove across the big river Parana towards Uruguay. I found the countryside to be interesting swamp and farmland, and the drive quite spectacular. 

Another day later, we arrived in Uruguay. 

A lot of miles with little to see.

After Peninsula Valdes our destination was Uruguay and there wasn't a lot we wanted to visit in between. So we did a lot of driving. We did stop at Las Grutas (a fun seaside resort place) overnight, and did 2 nights in Sierra de la Ventana (a hill hiking place), but aside from those stops there was just a lot of looking out the window at farm land until we got to Rosario. 

I actually quite like seeing the farm land and what is being produced, but it gives little reason to stop. We saw mostly Soya bean crops (Argentina is, I believe, the 3rd largest producer in the world), corn and cattle. 

Sierra de la Ventana was a 'fix things and laundry stop' as the campsite, belonging to the church, was lovely and trouble free. I intended to hike on the day we left but the fog was too thick to bother. Still, the town itself was lovely. 

Many people reading this and knowing the geography might ask 'but why wouldn't you have gone through Buenos Aires?' . City sightseeing is fine for regular travellers, but it's right painful in a motorhome. Even in Rosario we found a campsite in an outer suburb and took the bus into town to sightsee. Plus, we've both been to Buenos Aires and although I'd love to see a friend there again, I wouldn't drive in or ask H to. 

Back to Peninsula Valdes

We were last on Peninsula Valdes in October.  We stayed about a week, and had a great time spotting lots of Southern Right Whales right off the beach,  along with a lot of other animals.

Now it's not whale season anymore,  so why did we go back? Because it's considered to be the best time to see Orcas (in English,  Killer Whales.... but since they aren't whales, it's a terrible name), hopefully (!) snatching baby seals from the beach (gruesome, but nature can be).

In October I got lucky and saw Orcas, quite unexpectedly,  from the coast.  This time H also got lucky,  and we both saw an Orca... Although the photos are very disappointing, and they were just swimming,  not snatching baby seals.

We also had a much improved experience of Orca spotting by the chance meeting of a young man from New Zealand who is quite fanatical about Orcas, studying them, and visiting Peninsula Valdes for the second year in a row. He told us where he was going to look for Orcas that first day,  and so we went there too, and by doing so saw the Orca. We tried again in the prime spot for possible baby seal snatchings on both of the following 2 days,  but had no luck. 

Sean (the young man from NZ) taught us a lot though, and he was also able to identify the 2 orcas I captured in my photo last year.  (Sean, if you read this,  sorry we didn't get to say goodbye,  I really thought we'd run into you in town.)

As you can see from the following photos,  the other wildlife was much more cooperative.  I especially liked how the armadillo appeared under the information sign,  it helped me check the facts.  The funny rabbit thing is a mara, or at least I think that's the name.  And the pengiuns...lots of them!  Last year while we were on Valdes they were laying eggs, now the chicks seemed about as big as the adults and shedding the last of the baby feathers.

We also returned twice more to the fisherman's village and bought more seafood,  they had remembered me as the woman who eats kangaroo in her country (we'd had this discussion when I'd asked if people ate Guanacos).

If we ever go past Peninsula Valdes again,  I definately want to return again.

The Old Patagonian Express: La Trochita

From Esquel there's an old train, run just for tourists a couple of times a week. La Trochita, or, in English, the Old Patagonian Express, runs on tracks just 75mm wide. It was a fun experience to ride it up to the Indian village of Nahuel Pan, although we were dissappointed that the museum at the top was closed.

Inside the little train it was rather cramped.  H was too big to be comfortable in the seats,  but we found there was much more room in the cafeteria carriage and so we drank coffee going both up and down.

Back in Argentina, we're getting hitched!

We finished what we had wanted to see in the Southern Patagonia Chile. Sure, there's lots more we could do, but where do you stop? (I know, never!)

We decided to skip going back to Coyhaique for the parcel we'd had sent to the post office, it was just cheap parts and we can get them later... And we crossed the border at Futalufu back into Argentina. 

We first visited the welsh community of Trevelin, and a lovely working flour mill based on original plans from a very long time ago. Then we went to Esquel. 

Esquel is a sizeable town, I'd read a population estimate of 30,000 and another of 40,000, so it's big enough for all the services. Most importantly, we thought we could buy flight tickets there from a local travel agent. 

Why? Well buying them locally supports local small town business and by utilising the exchange rates of the 'dolar blue', we figured we'd save some money (basically, the dolar blue is where you can sell USD for about 30-35% more pesos than the official exchange rate because Argentines want USD but their governments puts a lot of restrictions on them buying them... So they buy them unofficially and pay more.)

But, our plan didn't work. The Argentine government puts a surcharge of 35% on Argentine residents purchases of international air tickets and anything else they buy overseas or online from overseas (banks add on the tax to savings accounts withdrawals from foreign ATMs and credit card statements where purchases have been made overseas). There's a lot more to it, but I'm not the one to explain it. 

As foreigners trying to buy return tickets from Brazil to Australia, we definitely aren't subject to paying this tax, however the travel agents had no way of putting through the transaction without it. We tried 2 without success. 

In the end, we bought the tickets online, directly from Delta. They were 35% cheaper.... And we didn't need to go through the whole thing of converting dollars to pesos. 

The reason why we are going to Australia? We're going to get married! When H asked me, I was totally shocked and surprised, but I eventually said I would. 

This doesn't mean we are 'settling down' .... Nope, it means we are keeping on travelling, together.