Holy week in Salta - Churches and Processions

If you enjoy religious architecture, then Salta is the place for you. Located 1400 clicks north of Buenos Aires in its Namesake province, Salta is a Colonial Jewell tucked in the Northern Andes.

It is one of Argentina's nicest colonial cities very worth wile visiting, and again, if you want to see the full religious splendour you should go there during Holly week, where all the churches are fully lit and the cities patron s images go out on procession.

The trip to Carmelo, Uruguay - The Beaches

Well one of the ideas of going over to Uruguay from Buenos Aries is that you can access riverside beaches in one or two hours (depending on which route you take).

Most of the beaches from Carmelo to Colonia are nice and clean and not crowded most of the time.
Another plus is taking your bike along and being able to hit the road and stop at the different  beach resorts along the way.

Exploring Patagonia - Ruta 40 - Bariloche: Where Fondue lives

As I previously mentioned, Bariloche is the place to come, to enjoy Central European delicacies. One of them being Fondue, something that we all tried at home  with different degrees of success.

Now short of going to Switzerland, Bariloche is the place that I had the best Cheese Fondue, of course if you are European this may not attract you as much, cuz you ca go to Switzerland in a jiffy and have the real stuff.
Now for North and South Americans this might be a chance to enjoy some real Fondue right here in our continent.

If in Bariloche I reccoment "La Marmite" right on Mitre 329 ( Main pedestrian street). The prices and the sevice is quite good, besides being on the premises of one of the oldest swiss chalets built in the city.

In Passing snapshot - The Bike shop

Everyone loves vintage stuff, now in Uruguay all the retro and vintage stuff is original, no one renovated this bike shop, so as to look retro, all the furniture and even the goods are originally old, and are kept without any shame or pretencion.
Uruguay is packed with places like this bicycle shop in Carmelo, and make excellent pic material.

Exploring Patagonia - Ruta 40 - San Carlos de Bariloche

Finally we re-entered the tourist circuit, actually we stopped by Bariloche cuz its on the way, but nevertheless it is a very nice place to visit. Located 1500 clicks from Buenos Aires, in the province of Rio Negro.

San Carlos de Bariloche sits right on the shores of the Naguel Huapy lake, which is one of the several great Patagonian lakes tucked beneath the Andes.
The city was founded in mid 19th century after they did the infamous "Campaña del Desierto" which slaughtered most of the natives in the area.

The city was promptly inhabited by central European immigrants which imparted a Swiss like ambiance to the city with beautiful chalets and great chocolate.

The trip to Carmelo, Uruguay - Visiting Carmelo

Carmelo, which is part of the Colonia Department is quite a picturesque place, very calm and easy going as most Uruguayan cities.

It is actually the closest point across the Parana River to Argentina. It certainly is an excellent place to do a Day trip, many people used to come here when u couldn't buy dollars in Argentina, cuz here they even come out of the ATMs.

It has a handful of tourist attractions, but it also has some nice riverside beaches that are great an not that frequented, even in the summer.

Exploring Patagonia - Ruta 40 - Rio Negro - El Bolson

Now getting into the trothen path, where all the tourist go, we arrived at the city of "El Bolson"in the province of Rio Negro

El Bolson was renowned in the 70´s to be a Hippie hang put, due to its remoteness and great weather, but nowadays the hippies of old are no where to be found. What you do have are great panoramas like the Epuyen Lake, and even around the small city there are picturesque places to visit, like "Cabeza del Indio".

Another attraction are the many Berries grown in the area, you mus´nt miss out on the giant cherries, raspberries and Boysenberries.

In passing snapshot - Happy aerobics

Jolly aerobic people at the "Parque tres de Febrero" in Palermo, Buenos Aires

The trip to Carmelo, Uruguay - The crossing

You probably heard that it is very easy to hop over to Uruguay from Buenos Aires, and it really is, going from Puerto Madero to Colonia or Montevideo.

There is however another route that brings you to a smaller city in Uruguay that is Called Carmelo.
For that you have to go to the city of Tigre in the Buenos Aires province. You can make it there by car or train in around 45 Min's.

From Tigre you can take "La Cacciola" ferry, which I mentioned in another post, and do a two and a half hour boat trip on the Parana River Delta, which lands you in Carmelo, roughly 90 clicks from the more famous Colonia.

The boats are quite stable and comfy, and they will even take your bike at no extra cost.
You can buy the tickets in Tigre or on line, and they will set u back 75 U$ back and forth, depending on the time of the year.

Exploring Patagonia - Ruta 40 - In the middle of nowhere - Los Tamariscos

If you continue north on the 40 you´ll find another stop in the middle of Nowhere in the Chubut province."Los Tamariscos" named after a small shrub, is a variety store or Patagonian bar, founded in 1938 by the Bohme family of German pioneers.

Tended by the family members since its origins, there you can buy food, tools, clothes or just have a meal or a drink.
The complex also houses a Museum of items related to the first settlers and a Hotel.