Argentina - or: the Autobus Diaries

After the big laze on the Cooks another deadline was closing in on us: Stevie’s departure from Lima on the 11th of March. This meant 4 countries to see in less than 4 weeks. The batteries were still well recharged but the energy draining quickly after 5h of flight from Rarotonga to Auckland, 12h of stopover at the airport and another 11h of flight to Buenos Aires.

‘Buenos Aires’ (like ‘La Paz’) is one of these cities whose name promises something it can’t keep. BA is a rather polluted and moreover noise city with a fair share of hustlers. Still, there are some nice spots and sights, but the European flair the city boasts with isn’t quite what I was looking for in South American cities. (In contrast, the first cash machine I tried to use, which didn’t give out my solicited 300 pesos, fit my image of SA perfectly.)
But considering that all the people we met who have been to BA for a long time not only liked, but idolized it, particularly the night life, I am maybe doing the city wrong. But we stayed in our hostel 2 of our 3 nights in BA, where we spent the evening with some nice Chilean girls, which we had some hard time communicating with, as they spoke Spanish exclusively and my Spanish still needed (and still does) a lot of brushing up on. But the last evening, while I was going to bed early thinking that I´d have to die from a meat poisoning after we had allmost an entire cow including all its intestines for dinner, Stevies Spanish skillz proved to be airtight when he responded to the girls, asking where I was, with: "comer mucho carne"...


The cementerio de Ricoleta, with Evita´s grave. Lots of mauseleoums for BA´s haute volee...


La Boca, the colorful artist and Tango district of BA


Darum-tum-tu-tum


He still got it


We even met Diego Maradona, financing his addiction by taking pictures with tourists...


Unexpectedly I survived the meat intoxication, and we could take the next bus to Puerto Iguazu. With a duration of 17 hours it should be one of our shorter bus rides in South America. And: the most comfortable one. Argentinian buses definitely meet their reputation, they come up with steward(ess), dinner, whiskey on the rocks and - most surprisingly - enough leg space!


Towards (North)West - towards the setting sun

Puerto Iguazu is a small pueblo, but its share of the the Iguazu waterfalls is outstanding, compared to the Paraguayan or Brazilian side (even though Brazil is said to have the better views). So after one day at the Argentinian side we felt like we´ve seen it all and left our all-inclusive-club-ish hostal (Hostal Inn) to Salta in Northwest Argentina.


Somewhere over the rainbow


Standing at the uvula of the devil´s throat


I can´t see anything because of the spray, but I´m so wet and excited...


Only a part of the falls


Iguanas...


...and Alligators


Another 24 bus-hours and at least as many police checkpoints later, we arrived at the snug but fairly unexciting Salta, where we checked off the main sightseeing attractions, met a Death Metal music (Buenos Aires) and a Folklore music (Salta) fan, grabbed our last chance to bay a Mate and spent the rest of the time with what we like best in our holidays: Blogging...


Exploring Salta Austrian style


Salta at night


Good air at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157615721296347/
E-Wa-Zoo at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157615942549715/
Salta mortale at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157616184187054/

The Cooks - Atiu

The third and last island we were hopping on at the Cooks was Atiu - if you don´t count the nerve-racking stopover after a failed landing attempt on Mitiaru in heavy tropic rain.



If you ask yourself if we didn´t get tired of all these Cook islands with their boring white beaches and coconut trees, I´ll have to disappoint you. Atiu has some features that distinguishes it clearly from the other islands we´ve been on. There is no lagoon or wide reefs, but rather a platform of petrified Corals, which have been raised in a tectonic movement millions of years ago. These Corals form a rather edgy ground, which is penetraded by a whole system of caves with some unique species, and which is the fertile soil for all kinds of fruits, above all the Coffee, which Atiu is famous for. On a flat hill in the middle lies a small village with more churches than food shops, and more dogs than people.
At the time were on Atiu, there were said to be two other tourists on the island, which we never met. :) But allegedly BBC was shooting its Survivor- (or Shipwreck-, whatever) show at one of the 28 beaches of Atiu during our stay, so there probably have been some millionaires trying to survive on the island without their blackberries and limousines - but they were isolated by guards and we never got to see them.


Stevie basking in the cool water of the Anataketake caves, where the fascinating Kopeka bird is nesting, who navigates both by eye-vision if there is light and by clicking noises in the dark.


The Southern Coast of Atiu. One beach next to each other, seamed by a wide reef.


The Sinkhole near the Coral Garden. Can get pretty rough when the waves are high. I could barely hold on the the edges when I tried to snorkel into it.


Atiu´s lush interior. Fruits like Mango on end!


To put it in a coconut shell: Atiu was a complete waste of time! 5 days of lazing around on the porch (at a pace of 1 book/day), strolling down the dirt roads when we felt like it and listening to the sporadic broadcasts of the Cook Island radio stations´ pacific sounds - How I love wasting my time!!!


Our little mansion, which we had alone for ourselves almost the whole time.

Things got even more wasted when we were visiting the local Tumunu´s, the bush beer drinking sessions and Atiuan equivalent of an Irish Pub. During these gatherings you sit in a circle around some sort of barkeeper who constantly keeps giving out the sweet (and strong) bush beer made of malt, sugar and seasonal fruits, in small coconut cups out of a big canister. At Tumunus there is a lot of singing and sometimes food involved, but also a strict set of rules when someone is allowed to raise his or her voice.
I hope Stevie will provide you with some photos of the Tumunus (and the Sunday Mass) soon.

Get wasted at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157615495105730/

The Cooks - Aitutaki

Visiting the Cooks without doing at least a quick side trip to Aitutaki would be like going to Paris without seeing the Eiffel Tower. The 500-inhabitant-island sports the most beautiful, vast and blue lagoon, with green turtles, corals and reef fish being the gems in the crown of the Cooks. It is surrounded by very small motus (little islands), which you can go to by boat.

On One Foot Island for example, there is a small post office where you can have your passport stamped with a big, smeary, black foot (this can´t be legal, can it?)...which we of course did ;)




One foot island



The lagoon cruise, a MUST on Aitutaki!



Stevie having his leg hair removed by the hords of fish



The one dollar for the Cambodian straw hat still served valuably


But to Aitutaki, you better come prepared (if you dont live in a resort): Vegetables and bread are sometimes not easy to obtain, altough fruits can be picked in abundance, even in town. (That´s were two streets cross.) If you don´t eat freshly caught fish (or moray, in our case - see the food post), the stores are even more expensive then on Rarotonga as everything has to be flown in, first to Raro then to Aitutaki.



Enjoying the beach of the 5-star resort for a while, before we were being...dislodged...



A giant clam, probably dragged into the lagoon for the tourists.



Public transport on Aitutaki - hitchhiking



Nice on the outside, nice on the inside



The island show. The dancers were not as, let´s say professional, as on Rarotonga


The Cook´s choice at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157615495037196/

Aitutaki!!!

Ein kleiner Vorgeschmack auf die Cook Islands:

(aber nicht vergessen: auch fruehere Eintraege werden ueberarbeitet!)

Willkommen auf Aituaki: der riesige Flughafen!

...sollte ja nicht so schwer zu finden sein...

Ein erster Vorgeschmack auf die Insel!

Am Strand der 5 Sterne Anlage ;-)

Noch Fragen???!

Wird Stephan von unseren Gastgebern bekehrt?

Hier gings zum Schnorcheln - man kann die vielen Fische schon vom Trockenen sehen.

Stephan in seinem Paradies!

Eine neue Insel entsteht...


Moto

Postkarte?!

Einer der vielen nichtmenschlichen Einwohner von One Foot Island.

In Aitutaki duerfen auch die Kleinen mittanzen!

Ein etwas aelterer, stilbewusster Insulaner nimmt den selben Flug wie wir.

Leider muessen wi Aitutaki schon wieder Richtung Atiu verlassen...

The Cooks - Rarotonga

We left Auckland Thursday night and arrived on Rarotonga, the Cook islands main island, Thursday morning. The different way of life on the Cook islands strikes you immediately after leaving the plane, like the wave of humid heat. You get decorated with Ei´s, the fragrant orchid-garlands and a wrinkly islander is playing a tune on his ukulele.





Rarotonga from above. As you can see, almost the whole island is surrounded by a reef, which allows for swimming or snorkeling only on the spots where lagoons are being formed. Altough outside of the ledge the sea is pretty rough and every second day Scubadiving trips are cancelled because of this, I finally managed to go diving once, including a sickening boat ride in the warm rain while being shaken by the huge waves. In the end, the reef was pretty much the same as any reef in Egypt and I didn´t get to see sharks, rays or turtles that roam the sea around Rarotonga frequently, but I got to stroke Tom, the 20 year-old Triggerfish :)



Some of our lovely house reef pets (Moray and Stonefish)

There are probably three things, which generally describe island life on Rarotonga best:
1.) There are two bus lines, one is called "clockwise", and the other "anticlockwise".
2.) The average Cook islander is made of 70% beer, 30% fish n´chips, held together by less then 1% of hawaii shirt or pareu.
3.) There are four bars in Avarua: The Staircase, The Whatever Bar, Banana Court and Rehab. To be visited every Thursday to Saturday, preferably in aforementioned order...


What looks like the changing rooms of the Simmeringer Hallenbad is the Parliament of the Cook Islands




Our headquarters, the Rarotonga Backpackers



The weekly island shows at the Staircase Restaurant/Bar. Funny and entertaining.



Just a beach. ;)



Sunset á la Cook


Kia Orana at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157615313743005/