We arrived in Buenos Aires on 3.12.2008 and spent the next 4 days exploring the area. Our exploration was made quite slow due to Tracey finding the one thing the lonley planet didn´t say to watch out for. They tell you about the dog poo, the traffic that doesn´t stop and the pollution but they neglect to highlight the crater-like pot holes that invade the footpaths. Needless to say, I found one and was rewarded with a very bruised, sore and twisted ankle. As you could imagine Tim was not impressed and hasn´t allowed me one day of rest since. I am hoping we will find a nice beach soon and I can just sit and rest for a few days to allow my ankle to go back to it´s normal size!

So, I soldiered on and Buenos Aires felt like a really eclectic city; old mixing with new and wealth mixing with poverty. You could really feel the difference as you moved from one area to another. Fortunately, we had sunshine and blue skies the whole time we were there although we were slightly under-prepared and experienced sunburn for the first time in quite a while!

From Buenos Aires we got a train to Tigre, which is a really lovely riverside town that is the weekend getaway for Buenos Aires locals. It had such a relaxed and calm feel to it but we only spent the afternoon before boarding the boat to Carmelo, in Uruguay. This was a truly amazing 2 1/2 hour boat trip along the Delta. To say it was simply a great expanse of water surrounded by trees, swamp and reeds doesn´t do justice to how stunning it was. Nevermind, we have photo´s and video!

Carmelo is a very small town, quiet and friendly but eerily similar to an outback queensland town. We certainly stood out with our backpacks and I am sure that we were the topic of dinner conversation at more than one home that night. This was also our first night of camping, not to bad but motorbikes without mufflers driving by most of the night made sleep sporadic. Again, this was another town full of contrasts. Cars that looked like the first ones ever made travelled the roads and moored by the campsite were boats ranging up to the $2, 000, 000.00 mark.

From Carmelo we went to Colonia del Sacramento which is a small, World Heritage listed town with cobbled streets, colonial architecture and a fantasic position on the Rio de la Plata. The colours in the sunset were amazing; bright pinks, oranges and reds.

Bus trip from Colonia to Montevideo, where we are now - so more about that later.

Hope you are all well

Adios Amigos