6 border crossings, 3 new countries and a whole lot of memories

COUNTRY: Argentina
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching & Care Work
WRITTEN BY: Clem Rocks

We have officially hit the two-month mark on our trip, leaving us with the scary realisation that we only have one month left in Buenos Aires. It has been our craziest few weeks yet, with six border crossings, three new countries to add to the passport and a whole lot of memories to last.

We spent the last week in the Misiones region of Northern Argentina on a trip organised by our Antipodeans partners. The trip included two days of volunteering before heading further north to do some sightseeing at Iguazu Falls and the Jesuit town of San Ignacio.

It's hard to compare the volunteering in the slums and our work in the Peruti Village - both equally rewarding but incredibly different. We spent the weekend working with an Indigenous community whose lives to us seemed very basic - the work we did was not so much simply playing with the children but cooking nutritious meals, lice treatment, collecting clean water from the creek and donating clothes and basic sanitary items to the community. We were also given a tour of the village by the local children, who were keen to lead us through overgrown jungle, over rocks and up very steep hills to the river where the kids and some of the group cooled down and got to relax before facing the 8km walk back to the school.

After our exhausting yet rewarding weekend in Montecarlo we were keen to head to Puerto Iguazu for some sightseeing. Our first day was spent crossing borders on a local bus bound for Ciudad de Este, Paraguay - it was definitely an authentic South American experience sitting on the floor of an overcrowded bus surrounded by boxes of illegal goods being smuggled out of Argentina! Torrential rain and long bus waits mixed with our tiredness made our day… interesting- to put it nicely. We all likened Paraguay to Southeast Asia, with many of us asking the question "what is Paraguay?" To be honest, even after a day there I'm still confused.

Overnight the sun cleared in time for our day at the incredible Iguazu Falls. Going to one of the Seven Wonders of the World was on everyone's bucket list and as always, our photos do not do the beautiful place justice. We experienced the falls in all their glory on a boat ride that took us right underneath and explored the parklands all day before heading home to relax by the pool.

Our final two days in Misiones were spent in the town of San Ignacio, where we experienced a local Asado, visited the Jesuit ruins and lay in the sun in the wonderful 35 degree heat. Although our week in Iguazu had a few hiccups - thousands of mozzie bites, standing in front of a bus to prevent it from leaving with our luggage, lunch being stolen by possum-like creatures, a scary border crossing, headlice and some definite cases of heatstroke, the Misiones trip was once in a lifetime. Throughout our travels, we have definitely learnt that even though on paper many of our plans didn't work out, sometimes that's just the way it is. All in all, I absolutely loved our Northern Argentina trip.

Speaking of border crossings, a few weekends ago we took a trip to Colonia Del Sacramento in Uruguay, a small coastal town two hours from Buenos Aires by ferry. It had been raining all morning so our trip initially felt a little glum but the sun came out just in time for us to see the most amazing sunset over the water (see picture right at the top).

Back in Buenos Aires life is going swimmingly. Our volunteering is as fun as ever and we now know most of the children in the villas by name. Last week we finally ventured to La Boca - the famous colourful streets, home to the worshipped soccer team Boca Juniors. We also attended Mundo Lingo - a bilingual speed dating-esque event to practice our Spanish- somewhat successfully too! Some of the group also went to see the All Blacks beat Argentina (before Argentina beat the Aussies, so we hear).

Plans are being made to take a trip to Patagonia to see every corner of this beautiful country and we are filling up our weekends with as much sightseeing as possible. As summer looms and the days get warmer the city is beginning to liven up as we make the most of our final month here. We are two months in and I continue to fall in love with Buenos Aires more and more each day.