Tierra roja

When we entered Paraguay we immediately understood it had nothing in common with its cousin Uruguay. The avarage ear tends to confuse the two countries as they sound alike...Uru or Para, there is always that 'guay' that misleads people to overlap the two. In indigenous language guay means river, and that's as much as the two countries have in common!

We entered Paraguay from Ciudad del Este, at the border with Brazil. Total chaos. The smuggle empire. Sellers everywhere, screaming the name and qualities of their merchandise, prepared to show them and bargain the price despite you being absolutely not interested in buying anything at all. I have no idea how street markets in Bangkok or India look like, but I fear Ciudad del Este is even more chaotic, noisy and smelly! Fish and french perfumes coexist together in the same half square metre! After the enchantment of Iguazu it was almost a shock to re-enter the uncivilized world of humans and we felt like escaping that unberable mess.

Once arrived in Encarnación, in the south, we could see what is the Paraguay behind the mess of Ciudad del Este. Overall a quite atmosphere, surprised staring faces not yet used to tourists, omnipresent sellers on bus, on the streets and anywhere else, and a lot of kids and pregnant women...For the rest the country has some interesting Jesuitic ruines in the south and the wild (for us unexplored) Chaco in the north. All in all, Paraguay can be a terrific experience, though once bought our reserve of mate, we preferred to move on. What I will always remember is the red colour of this country. The intense red of the ground, sprying the air with a reddish sand.

The Iguassu Waterfalls, what a spectacle!

In the indigenous language tupi-guaraní, Iguassu means big water. A simple name for such an amazing natural wonder! It left me so speechless that here I can`t think of any nice adjective from the many available to really describe the impact of the waterfalls...So, I guess that instead, I´ll show what was gifted to my sight!

Enjoy it!

A little piece of home

Dutch lunch at Clivia's, best host ever!

Who would have thought to find a little piece of home in Uruguay! Of all countries in South America, it is the one that spontaneously brought my mind to the flat green Netherlands, to the hills of Tuscany and to the lungomare (seaside) in Cefalù...As usual, I didn’t want to have any expectation of Uruguay beforehand, so to let myself be surprised by whatever came across...this is why to find here a little piece of home made me feel warm and jumpy inside!

Travelling across the Uruguayan countryside feels like taking that typical yellow train from Maastricht to somewhere in the north of the country: a peaceful scene of green flatness and grazing cows, gifted by some lonely windmills and gentle artificial creeks. Certainly, there are no windmills in Uruguay, but instead there are gauchos, isolated rural schools and police stations which are just normal countryside houses. As the landscape changes and gets drier, it starts to look like those gentle hills of Tuscany with some tree every here and there.

Enchanted by this landscape I paradoxically realised that I miss Holanda! But since the country is now covered in snow, I better wait for the spring time, when cows and sheep will be grazing outside more happily! Being in this homy mood, today we felt like cooking something typically Dutch for our host. Of course we ended up preparing stampot and meatballs, which turned out to be delicious and Clivia complimented us happily! Maurice is definitely improving his cooking skills ;)

Squeezed in between its big neighbours, Argentina and Brazil, the world is unaware of the richness of this country and of its contribution to some of those things we think of as ‘South Americans’. In many occasions the neighbours got the credits for things Uruguay created or contributed to, as for the Cumparsita, queen of all tango’s, co-written by an Uruguayan and an Argentinian...Who knows that Uruguay had anything to do with it?! Or what about the birth place of Carlos Gardel? Uruguay is always a suspected ‘partner in crime’. Same case about the paternity of the dulce de leche, made of milk and sugar and here used as much as nutella in Italy or whipped cream in the Netherlands, it cannot miss! Uruguayans will say it's their thing. Argentinians will say the same.

Small Uruguay doesn’t seem to put much effort in defending its merits...maybe it does, but its voice remains unheard and obscured by the counter opinion of its more famous neighbours, or perhaps it is because Uruguayan are such simple genuine people that wouldn’t waste their energy in fighting for these trifles! What a lovely people!

Amanecer

This Uruguayan experience has been so far rich in amazement. This picture has been taken over the Rio Dayman, while the sun was rising...Another hour lost in contemplation! We had an unbearable bumpy trip on a noisy night bus, which arrived at the Termas del Dayman at 6 am, still night and dark. Already humid. Two hours after, the day smiled at us in rich orange colour :)

Time to slow down and take a break. We have been travelling as crazy lately and now we feel it's time to put our bodies in shape before continueing. Luckily, Uruguay is apparently famous for its complex of termas in the north of the country. We'll spend some days at the Termas del Dayman, just 10 Km from the city of Salto. Apparently, the termas exist since they tried in vain to find oil in the Dayman river. I guess we are much better off with the termas :)

Lost in astonishment

Da simmer dabei! Dat is prima! VIVA COLONIA! Wir lieben das Leben, die Liebe und die Lust, Wir glauben an den lieben Gott und ham noch immer Durst

Ahah! Carnival Lovers from northern Europe get immediatly in the mood at the rhythm of this song! To me, it will be double happyness from now on! I'll think of the fun Northern Europen Carnival and also of a Colonia at the other side of the Ocean!

In 1680 some adventurous, little portuguese reached that far away land that today we call Uruguay. After sailing in oceanic waters, he spotted land, he must have litterally exultated 'Monte vid eo!!', I see a mountain...and so decided to settle between the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the River Plate, Rio de la Plata...Today Colonia del Sacramento is the oldest town in Uruguay and its historic quarter a World Heritage site.

The junction between the currents of the ocean and the river creates such an amazing sky, and a spectacle of colours and shapes that the eye keeps contemplating tiredlessly..!

Accounts from Argentina

La Boca, Buenos Aires

When I look back and think of Argentina my mind goes to two different worlds: Patagonia and the rest of the country we have been to. Our days in Bariloche were too good to be true, but the same I cannot say for Mendoza and Buenos Aires. In Mendoza there is absolutely nothing to do but getting tipsy from its worldly known wines (which certainly it is per se a reason to visit Mendoza)! But thing is that in this increadibly hot city, some super soft and fast thievery hand decided to steal our camera...and all our photos and memories of the previous two weeks evaporated in one split second! Very sad and unfair. After leaving Mendoza we went to Cordoba, which to me looked ten times nicer. 

Our stay there was quite short, but we had time to reach Alta Gracia, where the familia Guevara and Ernestito lived for some years and that nowadays hosts the 'casa-museo of Che Guevara'. The house was well maintained and the museum very well made. I liked that by focusing on the childhood of Ernestito the museum shows a generally unknown side of what later became a hero. For the first time I also learned that Che Guevara had two wives and five children. I could see his school report, see how good he was in geography and history and how bad in ortography and calligraphy. I could see his child letters addressed to his aunt in Buenos Aires and read about the travels he made first through Argentina as a student. El Che has been a son and also a father, a thinker, a philosopher, a political leader, a revolutionary, and a man above all. This museum alone was worth the ride from the beautiful south towards the north of the country!

Then we went to Buenos Aires...which we rebaptised Malos Aires. I think I have been wondering for days what all the fuss about this city is about. Despite Argentinians are said to be the Europeans of South America I saw nothing that could ever resemble Europe or Europeans. Most of them are proud of having some European (mainly Italian) blood far in their DNA, but when it comes to behaviour or way of living...sorry bro but that ain't European at all! Moreover, Bs As is a city thought around an ever-present mean of transport, the car, and nothing is left to human dimension. Big avenues of ten lanes (ten one-way lanes!) are something of the USA rather than Europe. What I couldn't stand the most is the remarkable difference between barrios, neighbourhoods. Those from the aristocratic barrio of Palermo barely consider the popular San Telmo to be any safe! In Palermo the richness of its residents is visible in its palaces with their large, glass and shiny premises...surrounded by the nicest parks of the city. Wealth more than poverty has been disturbing to my eyes.

But all in all we left the capital with a nice feeling. The day before we left, we visited the barrio where Italian immigrants (especially from Genova) use to settle, la Boca. There we had a walk through the famous and colourful Caminito, and that persuaded us that also Bs As has colours like the whole South America does...That night we went to an afro-pub which seems to be quite popular in town and we enjoyed a night of drums and salsa. After all, Southamericans do know how to make a fiesta! :)

And so we left for the neighbouring, unknown Uruguay!