A Mission to Paraguay

We reluctantly left the stunning waterfalls at Iguazú to head south through Argentina's Misiones province. We wanted to stop at a small town called San Ignacio on the way to Paraguay as it has the ruins of an old Jesuit mission there. The Jesuits were very active in this part of the world, with 30 missions in Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. A few of them are now listed as world heritage sites so, obviously, we had to go.

The entrance to the church in San Ignacio in Argentina

The Jesuits started building missions in the Guaraní area in 1610, and continued up until they were expelled from South America by the Spanish empire in 1767. Their aim was to convert the native people to Christianity, but without imposing other European values on them. This was a significant difference from all of the other evangelising schemes of the time. We visited similar Jesuit missions in the east of Bolivia and on the island of Chiloé in Chile, although each location has distinct architecture. The churches in Bolivia and Chile are active to this day, but all that is left here are impressive red sandstone ruins.

The ruins in Trinidad in Paraguay

After we'd visited the ruin in San Ignacio, we went to withdraw some money before departing to Paraguay. This proved more difficult than we'd anticipated, however. The only two ATMs in town were empty of money, because it was a Sunday. No problem - we went on Monday morning instead. Where we found a looong queue of everybody else wanting money that couldn't get any at the weekend. Only one ATM was working now. When we got to the front of the line, the ATM ran out of money. Luckily, the hostel we stayed in let us pay in pounds, which we'd managed to not spend until now. This actually worked out okay for us - the ATMs in Argentina, after the fiasco of the Dolar Blue rate, now charge an 87 Peso (~£5) fee every time you use them, with a maximum withdrawal of 2000 Pesos (~£100). That's if you can find one that works and has money, of course.

Sunset over the Paraná River from Encarnación, Paraguay

We eventually escaped the fiscal peril of Argentina into Paraguay, where transactions are measured in thousands of Guaranis - there are 8000 Guaranis to £1. From the city of Encarnación, which is blessed with wonderful sunsets over the Paraná river, we went to visit the Paraguayan Jesuit ruins. These are very similar to the Argentine ones, but are bigger and better preserved. More importantly, they have a separate World Heritage Site listing, so we had to go there too.

Ornate Jesuit doorway in Trinidad, Paraguay

We're going to spend a bit more time in Paraguay, visiting a nature reserve and the capital Asunción. After that, we're returning to Argentina to explore the north of the country.

A Very Smelly City

We departed Curaçao late in the evening, after a great few days there. As we mentioned previously, one of our main reasons for visiting was to use it as a stop off point between Colombia and Guyana, thus avoiding Venezuela. We found there was a cheap daily flight from Curaçao to Georgetown, the Guyanese capital, with InselAir.

Georgetown, viewed from the air

What we didn't realise when we booked this flight, was how notoriously bad InselAir is. As it is one of the only carriers offering short hops around the Caribbean and the north coast of South America, it has a bit of a monopoly. It seems this means it can run its flights whenever it wants, and the scheduled times mostly bore no resemblance to the actual departures!  Our flight was meant to leave at 9:30 pm, the last of the evening from Curaçao. It actually went at 11:10 pm, from a different departure gate. The time and departure was announced suddenly - up till then we'd heard nothing about it. We were quite fortunate it seems, as three other InselAir flights scheduled to leave before ours had not even arrived when we were boarding. Art, our host in Curaçao, told us the InselAir flights are always like this!

St George's Cathedral, in Georgetown

Anyway, we eventually arrived safely in Georgetown at 1am. We had been a little worried that our taxi pick up would not be there, or the driver would be an axe-murderer (safety is quite an issue in Georgetown, especially late at night). However, all went smoothly. Other than the fact that the airport is not in fact in Georgetown but out in the jungle nearly an hour's drive away... hence it was full of moths. BIG ones. Like, the biggest moths I've ever seen, all at once. It was a complete nightmare for me, and when we got in the taxi and there was one inside, I nearly had a heart attack! Luckily, once in the city, moth sizes / numbers became a lot more manageable.

Interior of St George's Cathedral

Guyana is probably the least well known and the least travelled country in all of South America. This little nation, with a population of only 750,000 people, used to be a British colony and only became independent in 1966. The British influence is evident in several respects: the official language is English (it's the only country on the continent that speaks English as its first language), they drive on the left hand side of the road, they are passionate about cricket, and they are fond of tea (in teapots). Oh, and the local beer, Banks Beer, first brewed while Guyana was still a British colony, is probably the best national lager we've had in South America. The country is also very multicultural - another legacy of the British, who brought slaves over from Africa and indentured labourers from India. The largest ethnic groups today are East Indian and African. It is the poorest country in South America, behind Bolivia and Paraguay, and the local currency is the Guyanese dollar, of which there are about 300 to a pound. It's quite entertaining when you hear that your dinner will be 1000 dollars! Given that it is so poor, it seems strange how expensive it is - just a few days here will severely dent a backpacker's budget, we found out.

The City Hall in Georgetown

When we arrived in Georgetown itself, the first thing that hit us was the smell... not in a good way! The city has open sewers, is very dirty, and all water channels / rivers are literally black. Everywhere stinks of poo. However, we got used to this fairly quickly! Georgetown also has a reputation for being unsafe, as I mentioned - there is a high incidence of petty crime and certain areas are definite no-go zones for tourists. We were a little nervous at first to just walk around on our own, but our host said it would be fine, so we spent a lot of time just strolling round the city absorbing the atmosphere. We had no problems at all; in fact. on the contrary, people were mostly pretty friendly and curious to see white faces. While Georgetown has quite a gritty feel to it, we enjoyed it, as it is just so completely different to anywhere else in South America. It was great seeing Asian shops everywhere, hearing English spoken (albeit in a Caribbean accent we often couldn't understand!), watching cricket with locals, and hearing Indian-influenced styles of music.

The 1763 Monument, in Revolution Square

We explored the city over 2 days. There aren't many attractions, but the huge wooden cathedral, St George's, was quite impressive. It is apparently the largest wooden church in the world - the locals are quite proud of this! We also visited the City Hall, another colonial wooden structure, decaying somewhat but still very nice; the National Library; and the National Museum. The museum's main exhibition was about Guyana's big festival here, Mashramani, which takes place in February every year to commemorate the anniversary of the country becoming a republic. The photos and costumes on display, and the excitement of local people when discussing this, suggested this country does have one thing in common with the rest of the continent - it loves its carnival! Another day, we walked over to Revolution Square, where there is an interesting African themed memorial to a slave revolt that took place here in 1763. Passing the Botanical Gardens and Zoo en route here we randomly saw two beautiful macaws flying right overhead, reminding us just how close to the jungle Georgetown really is.

Old fashioned adverts lining Georgetown's sea wall...

They even had a Marmite advert!

We had planned to go straight from Georgetown over the border to Suriname. Suriname is the only country for which we need a visa - well, a 'tourist card' for us as UK citizens. The process of applying for this was a little complicated. First we had to go to the Surinamese embassy, which was cunningly concealed in a posh residential area of Georgetown. We spent a while walking around looking for it, and eventually located it with the help of some locals. The security guard at the embassy asked us, did we have a photocopy of our passport photo pages? Forewarned about this, we said yes. Did we have a photocopy of our Guyana entry stamp page? Erm, no. Did we have 35 US dollars each? Erm no, but we had $25, which was what it had cost last week. The lady packed us off to change some more Guyanese dollars into USD, and get the other photocopy. We later found out the charge for the tourist card had gone up only 2 days ago - doh!

Aerial view of the jungle near Kaieteur Falls

When we returned to the embassy with all we needed, the security lady finally let us into the office itself. The lady at the desk there told us we'd need to leave our passports and come and pick them up again that afternoon. We couldn't do that, we said, as we had a tour booked that afternoon. We asked if we could come back the following morning instead (Friday). Well, the office MIGHT be closed, she said, as there MIGHT be a national holiday. Could she find out, we asked. No, no-one knew, apparently. There were some local elections happening and the embassy staff didn't yet know if they'd be working or not! We grew steadily more frustrated as we knew the embassy would definitely be shut at the weekend. Eventually we pestered her enough that she managed to get our tourist cards issued straight away! Not sure why you normally have to wait until the afternoon...

At Kaieteur Falls

The reason we couldn't go back to the embassy that afternoon was that we had booked ourselves on a trip to Kaieteur Falls, perhaps Guyana's most spectacular natural attraction. The majority of the country is pristine jungle (well, with the odd gold mine), and the Kaieteur waterfall is deep in the interior, hidden in the rainforest. The only option for getting there, other than a 5 day hike, is a short flight in a small 12 seater plane. It was an expensive tour, but 100% worth it! We flew for an hour over a sea of trees, seeing nothing but this huge expanse of green for miles and miles, interrupted only by the muddy brown rivers snaking their way across the country. As we neared our landing point, the pilot made a big turn, and we had our first sight of the Kaieteur Falls. Wow!

The beautiful Kaieteur Falls

We landed at an airstrip literally in the middle of the jungle, and had 2 hours on a guided walk that took us to three different viewpoints of the falls. It has to be one of the most spectacular in the world, not just for its size (the highest single drop waterfall in the world) but for its stunning setting. The waterfall drops from a rocky outcrop, and all around is rainforest. The power of the water was incredible, even though our guide told us it was currently only about 60% full due to the recent dry weather. In the mist around the falls we could see rainbows. I'm so glad we made it here, as it was really something special. We didn't want to leave, and wished the other tourists who accompanied us on the flight would stop taking photos occasionally so we could just gaze in peace for longer!

Rainbows in the mist

While there is doubtless plenty more to see and do in Guyana, chiefly jungle-based adventures, we are trying to push on through these three little countries at the top of the continent. The prices here are high, and we still have a lot more to squeeze in before we return home in June. So for now, it's goodbye Guyana, as we head on to Suriname (a gruelling 12 hour bus-boat-bus-bus journey, more on that next entry!)

View down the valley from the bottom of the falls

In and Around Puerto Madryn

Our next destination after Sierra de la Ventana was to be Puerto Madryn, home to the UNESCO-listed Península Valdés. The bus route was going to be tricky - we could either stay in Bahía Blanca or Viedma, or both - and we were running low on ready cash.

Sunset over the square in Bahía Blanca

We decided to go for Bahía Blanca - it sounded a bit more interesting than Viedma, was a shorter bus journey, and is a larger city so more chance of finding somewhere to exchange money at a good rate. The incredibly helpful lady in the Sierra de la Ventana tourism office helped us find a cheap room and a list of backup options. On arrival, the cheap room was on a dark, dark street, with unsavoury characters hanging around outside. We went for one of the backup options.

Having survived the night in spite of the 32° heat and the overpowering stench of gas ('no, no, there's no gas here'), we spent the day taking in the sights of Bahía Blanca. It's a pleasant city, with a large tree-filled square and several pedestrianised shopping streets. There isn't a huge amount to do for tourists so we whiled away our time away in several cafes - we did manage to exchange money at a decent rate with the staff in one of these. Our bus to Puerto Madryn was due to leave at 23:40, but was delayed for an hour while the drivers decided what to do with all of the luggage. It was already crammed full of bags, despite there being no one on it, so there was no room for the luggage of the 30 people waiting to get on. We don't know what they did with the first set in the end, or where it had come from.

Drinking maté

After a couple of days exploring the coastal town of Puerto Madryn, we decided that the best way to visit Península Valdés would be on a tour. We were picked up by our friendly and knowledgeable guide, Hugo, and driven in a minibus around the mostly gravel roads of the peninsula. He shared his maté with us, a bitter herby tea that is an institution here and in surrounding countries. It is traditionally drunk from special maté cups with metal filter straws and passed round between friends.

Elephant seals

Burrowing owl

Although it is the wrong season for right whales, and the sea was too rough for seeing orcas, we were still spoilt by the abundance of wildlife across the peninsula. Amongst other things, the highlights were the noisy sea lion colony (they sound a lot like sheep), elephant seals, Magellanic penguins, burrowing owls, guanacos (undomesticated llamas) and hairy armadillos. What a great start to our time in Patagonia!

Penguins!

Sea lions

First Impressions

Well, here we are in Buenos Aires, Argentina!  After a very long flight the first challenge was getting through Argentine passport control and customs. The queue for the former was pretty impressive, making a lot of Southeast Asian immigration queues pale in comparison. The next challenge was finding transport from the airport into the city - we had been well informed previously about which minibus we needed to take, but said minibus proved elusive. So elusive that we gave up in the end and got a shared taxi.

We had pre-booked an AirBnB in Buenos Aires and this proved to be an excellent choice. We turned out to be staying in an extremely grand, former palace of a house. It is owned by a British lady, who employs some people here to look after  and run it. It is very much a work in progress, with various rooms in various states of restoration. The rooms on the first floor, where we were, are accessed via the sweeping original staircase, and all the doors are covered in mirrors. Mosaic floors, stained glass windows, high ceilings ... we had it all. Highly recommended! It also had a garden with hammock and resident dog, cat and chickens (and avocado tree) - great.

In front of the grand staircase

Our AirBnB recommended us a place to change money. We went along the touristy street, up a flight of stairs to a level at about 0.5 between ground and 1. Then down to the end of a corridor to a completely blacked out office, where we were quietly ushered in when we knocked on the door. Not many words were exchanged, but currency definitely was.

The money exchange office

For the past few days we have been exploring the city and getting a feel for life here. It is an interesting place. Very mixed, with horrific breezeblock apartments alongside very grand, former colonial mansions and palaces like the one in which we were staying. It has a ramshackle feel to it and a lot of the downtown areas seem like they are in a recession - the pavements are cracked and crumbling, most of the roads seem to be being dug up (there are bulldozers and roadworks in every other street) and we are constantly being dripped on by air conditioning units. Despite this we like it - it is quite a loveable state of disrepair. Other neighbourhoods of the city are quite different - the Recoleta area, which we visited today, is full of posh mansions and hotels, art galleries, boutiques and foreign embassies. More a la Mayfair! Like many other cities, there is definitely a pronounced rich and poor divide.

Highlights of our recent sightseeing include the Casa Rosada (literally, the pink house), where the presidential offices are; the famous Recoleta cemetery, where we saw Evita's tomb; an art gallery with Rodin statues and plenty of impressionist paintings; and a tour through underground tunnels of BA, where old tributaries used to run. The tour guide for the latter was very informative as much about present day life as the past - we learnt a lot about Argentinian politics, e.g. this year is an election year and the mayor of BA is standing against the president.

La Casa Rosada

The food is, shall we say, somewhat meat heavy! They do meat very well but vegetables are hard to come by. I tried to be healthier the other day ordering a mixed vegetable grill rather than meat. It came swimming in oil... think maybe best to stick with what they're best at! The empanadas are veeery tasty.

Enough for now - see you next time! We're going to try and update the blog every Tues and Fri, internet depending.