20th Oct Argentina

16th October 2010 - Bueno Aires - Argentina


Well the Conroy's are now in Argentina slightly different from where we were staying in Zanzibar. Before we tell you a little about this place we have a few more things to tell you regarding Tanzania. In our last blog we mentioned that we were going to go to Central Tanzania to a place called Morogoro and The Uluguru Mountains. It was a lovely town that had hints of English colonial and German buildings, wide avenues with mango trees set against caramel coloured earth. The roads were dusty but beautiful with the mountains rearing up from the town. We all decided to trek up one of the mountains, luckily it was not too hot and the climb fairly easy. Little homes dotted the landscape where the village people lived and as we climbed higher I was searching to see if I could see the eagle owl which was spotted in 1993 only the 3rd known place where they are found, but no such luck but I did manage to find a feather belonging to one (I know this as we went to a eagle sanctuary in Cape-Town). The landscape was truly breathtaking and so peaceful that the four or so hours passed very easily. We now wish we spent a little more time there but we had already booked our flight to Cape Town. We also had the great experience of being invited to a concert by some local people to see a live Congo dance show back in Zanzibar. It was held in an open air military training centre and it was packed to the brim with men and women in their brightest outfits possible. The band that was playing I can truly say I have never seen anything like it before, the men could move their hips as if they were distorted and the women were equally amazing. They also performed acrobatic routines whilst dancing and singing, very tribal indeed. All the crowd including us got up to dance and as you know when I dance I do like to go low sometimes and stomp but I was put to shame by the Tanzanian people. Craig and I could hardly keep up with the 'going low' routine and as for hip thrusting well i can tell you the African folk really live up to their name!

It was very sad to leave our little bungalow on the beach with our group of friends but we left for Cape Town on 5th October. Cape town is nothing like what we expected surrounded by beautiful mountains the city nestles inside these peaks with many large bays where you can see Whales, Penguins and Sea Lions. As it was mating season for the whales there was a lot of hanky panky going on. We were privileged to see Whales lifting themselves out of the water very close to the seashore and at 'Bettys Bay' there were hundreds of penguins waddling along and surfing on the waves. At the port there was a sea-lion sitting amongst the wonderful yaugts not taking any notice of tourists at all. The town itself is very chic with coffee bars, retro shops, great eateries, a mix between Brighton and Brick Lane London. The buildings and houses were of dutch and victorian influence well restored and beautiful to look at. The city did not have a great deal of African culture except for the odd shops and art galleries. The people all appeared to mix well together and were very polite and happy.

(My turn now) Gale & I couldn't understand the men wearing tabards, standing around parked cars in the streets come rain, wind or sunshine, not really doing too much & getting tips off car drivers. What are they doing? why do they run up-to people to their cars before they are driving off? So we asked a waitress, she replied, these guys put on a tabard & come out to supposedly help drivers in & out of parking places, but most of the time they run up-to cars before they drive off to collect a tip! as we found out when we hired a car for a few days. As Gale said its all so RETRO in Cape Town & so many classic cars, I've never seen so many quality RHD classic cars driving around in one place, even a 60's Citroen estate, I don't think I've ever seen one before. As you can imagine I was like a child in a toy shop. LOOK AT THAT!! WOW LOOK!! I WANT ONE OF THOSE!! After re-framing from sending some cars back to England (believe me I wanted too) we got to visit an eagle santuary where they take in over 400 eagles falcons & other birds of prey a year & some are big eagles, they had one come in as we were there, it had a broken wing & was in shock, its wing spang was around 5ft long. Apparently the large eagles claws have the same power as a human jaw, but there beaks don't have much power, just enough to eat with. We were both moved by this visit, the animal carers were lovely, we got to hold some eagle owls & eagles. There was also a cheetah sanctuary where they bought in injured one's & reabilitated them.

After spending several cold wet & windy days in SA we flew to a cold wet & windy Bueno Aires in Argentina! (if I wanted English weather I would have stayed in the UK) B A was a bit of a disappointment, big city not much to offer, though we did splash out & see a Tango show at the fantastic Art Neuvo theater, with a three course meal. We ended up with really good seats after some confusion & worth every penny, it was like a seen out of a forties movie, all the tables set up in columns, the waiters walking around with white napkins over their arms holding bottles of wine. Everyone dressed up to the nines, then Craig & Gale the two hippys walk in to enjoy the show! The gourmet meal was divine & so was the Argentinian wine, the show was about the history of Argentinian Tango through the years & the dancing was like nothing I have ever seen. The girls were very shapely & the guys very sharp. As you can imagine Gale was in her element, the dancing had the audience gasping with excitement & it was very moving & precise. We also found a part of the city which had cobbled streets & old European architecture building that have had the Art Nuveo & Art Deco items removed & many shops & markets selling these wonderful delights. So of course we did some walking around, the quality of the furiture & other items were to die for, especially a good sized Art Deco radio & a chest of draws with ivory ringed handles & ivory inlay, all in expensive antique shops though.