Top Things We Love About Buenos Aires

In no particular order:



Tango in the Streets, Freddo's Chocolate & Banana Split flavored Ice Cream, Empanadas de Carne, Midnight Cravings for Parilla and Flan at El Desnivel.....



Mothers at the Square on Thursdays, Quilmes Beer, Modern Art Museums, Red Red Wine, Cooking in our closet sized kitchen in our apartment in Recoletta....



Daydreaming in the park, Murals in Palermo, Shopping at Abasto, the search for chillies at every grocer, prime steak and wine for $7, Watching "paseaperros" (professional dog walkers)with 15 dogs...



Tango Shows at Cafe Tortoni, The unique "zh" Argentinan accent, crisp 100 peso notes, the colors of La Boca, the natural high each morning from being in Bs As...



Disovering the city's secrets each day, Street Performers, Eating dinner at Midnight, Mate Straws, Sunrise on the Docks...



Sitting in the Park, San Telmo on Sundays, Live Music, Opera Bay, Cortados & Cafecitos in Old Cafes, The Bombonera Stadium, Life of the ever-fashionable Portenos, nearby Rosario....



Falling orange autumn maple leaves, The peace of strolling through the Recoletta cemetary, Puma stores, oil paintings and antiques, Watching futbol crazy fans, Parties that last till 8am...

Stuck In the Middle

21st/22nd March: Our 5:55pm flight from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires (our only flight in South America so far..) seemed simple enough. We would be in BA at 10:30 and made plans with the Belgian couple (Pieter & Karen), 2 pairs of Dutch couples (Pat & Esther and Tim & Alice), a Frenchman (David) and an Argentinean (Javier) to meet at midnight for parilla (grilled meats) and drinks. But whilst we are stuck in the middle of nowhere 700km from BA at 1am due to technical difficulties in the plane which resulted in having to land at the nearest airport (coincidentally on the same flight as Javier who got on at El Calafate), the rest of the group are probably wondering where we are.

The plane had a few celebrities on board… an actress and model decked out in their LV and Prada with fancy cellphones and full of DRAMA! People on the plane were speculating about what was wrong with the plane, some thought we were gonna die, others thought that the excuse of “bad weather conditions” was a conspiracy and actually one of the engines was shot (they were half right!) and the old lady next to Javier was on the very first flight of her life and was pale and speechless. It was fun to hear all the gossip (kindly translated by Javier) and all the drama and worry.

We got off the plane and into one of the most basic airports ever. No duty free shops, bars or 24-hr McDonalds. Thankfully, they opened the little cafeteria (capacity: 30 people) which is where we are now. Last we heard (again from our trusty CNN correspondent) they’ll be sending a plane from BA, which will arrive around 4am… or so they say!

So the long awaited Buenos Aires will have to wait. Which should make it all the more sweet.

Only 1000km from Antartica

As Patagonia left a cold summer behind and transited into a freezing autumn, we were heading more and more south towards the southernmost town in the world. Two Singaporeans thought that their polyester sweaters, jeans and hats would shield them from the icy winds of Ushuaia.

Getting to the tail end of South America was hard. After crossing from Argentina's border (exit immigration), into Chile (entry imigration), across a channel on one of those vehicle carrying boats (highlight - tens of dolphins leading us across!), out of Chile (exit immigration), into Argentina again (entry immigration)all this in the FREEEEZZZIINNGGG cold, we were finally in Ushuaia after traveling for hours on end.

Thankfully, we survived with all our un-frostbitten toes in tact and the rush of being as far down as a civilization could exist. Luck was on our side though, as we did have sunshine for 3 out of the 5 days we were there - which according to the locals, was extremely rare. On the day we scaled an Ushuaian mountain to get a view of the Martial Glacier, we had sunshine, rain, rainbows, wind, hail and snowfall all in the span of 2 hours! CRAZY!

Special thanks to Pieter & Karen for giving us much more than just photographs.


We made it to Ushuaia (and have special stamps on our passports to prove it!)




Famous lighthouse on the Beagle Channel, View of Ushuaia, Karen smiling at the fact that we're closer to Antartica than to Buenos Aires, Autumn arrives, Woody Woodpeckers in Tierra del Fuego National Park.



WIld Seals & Sealions along the Beagle Channel

View from the boat - Freshly fallen snow on the mountains of Ushuaia

One of the many many rainbows we saw

More Ushuaia Views



Our Belgian friend Pieter, deep in thought....

Part One - Tierra del Fuego
Unfortunately, we have no pictures of us here - just have to take our word for it for now (except on our MM camera – see previous post) but the trek was amazing. The first part was a 3 hour trail along the coast… beautiful scenery of snow capped mountains, woodpeckers going crazy banging their heads against the trees and lovely autumn colored leaves. The second trail was 1 hour and as Jem put it, it felt like we died and went to heaven… little mounds of bright green “carpet grass” and bunny rabbits hopping free everywhere. Exactly where I used to imagine "Brer Rabbit" living. The sun was shining and the lake glistening. It really was paradise.


Us on the Beagle Channel & Tierra del Fuego

Part Two - Glacier Martial
Difficulty: Hard!
The exciting part about this besides seeing the glacier up on the mountain, was that it was Jem’s first experience with snow!!! The hike was quite grueling (and tough on the knees) but well worth it. Snowball fights, little snowflakes, little hail, little sun, and Jem went sledding in his jeans which was heaps of fun but fairly uncomfortable once over. Wet jeans and undies in the whipping cold winds high up in the mountains ain’t that comfy! But all in all, helluva lotta fun.


Martial Glacier looming over Ushuaia.


Goofing around in the snow


Jem's birthday message to me - He was almost a casualty of frostbitten fingers!


Resting our knees & lunching after the grueling climb down from the glacier.


View from the Top

Patagonia Begins - Penguins, Dolphins & Glaciers

*Note: Our camera had a nervous breakdown, so thank you Saki, David & EsPat. We’ve been taking pictures the old fashion way… on film and on one of those mickey mouse disposable cameras.*

We left Bariloche on a journey to the mystifying region commonly known as Patagonia. I feel hopelessly inadequate to describe the magnificence of this region. From thousands of wild penguins living their lives all around you as you walk through their colony, to the unique and rare black and white dolphins leading your boat across a bay, sealions and seals showing off their “tricks” and playing a fool as you navigate through the beagle channel and not to mention the tones of guanacos, birds and other animals… and that’s just the wildlife…






Wild penguins at Punto Tumbo - the second largest penguin colony in the world.. the first being Antartica (which we're only 1000km away from right now in Ushuaia!)



Black & White dolphin watching near Puerto Madryn. It's amazing how different it is to watch them when they're in the ocean - wild & free, not bribed to entertain in a "lagoon."

The highlight (if we HAD to choose just one…) would be the Perito Moreno glacier in El Calafate. Having never seen a glacier, we had no idea what to expect. The first glimpse was breathtaking, the upclose view of the glacier with huge chunks just falling off was unbelievable, and actually scaling the glacier with our spiked crampons was the most unbelievably breathtaking and magical 2 hours we’ve ever spent. I wish I could describe the excitement of watching a huge block of sheer ice start cracking and falling 50meters into the water below… and then just a second later (due to delayed sound) hearing a thundering effect of what just happened. It’s like one of those defect movies where the voice doesn’t sync with the lips. It’s surreal. The icy cold chill from the massive river of ice radiates through your skin while the blazing sun tries to give you some sort of balance in temperature.





Trekking on and through the glacier made us feel like one of those Mount Everest climbers… only cooler.


One of the many blue streams/pools of water we drank from on Perito Moreno Glacier. The water is purer and better than EVIAN!


At the end of our hike, as we turned the corner, there was whisky on the rocks (fresh from the glacier!) waiting for us. Salud!

Next Stop: End of the World