Intrepid trip to South America

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• Locations: Uruguay, Argentina
• Holiday Type: Family holidays

• by: Gillian
• on: Thu 09 Feb 2012

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Our group consisted of 10 people from round the globe including Australia, England, New Zealand and Canada.

Our tour leader was Argentinean, a great guide who made our holiday stress free. Our accommodation was basic but clean in all the places we stayed. We started our trip in Rio. It was such a colourful party atmosphere on the Copacabana Beach, great fun just people watching. We took a tour to Christ the Redeemer Statue, which is awesome to see.

From Rio we travelled by ferry to Ilha Grande, a tropical island. Hot and humid, we did a trek through the jungle area, where the noises from the insects were incredible. Some sounded like the dentists drill!! We managed to see monkeys, tarantulas, parrots and huge butterflies finishing up at the most beautiful beaches. From IIlha Grande we travelled to Paraty a preserved Portuguese colonial town dotted with many tropical islands, I loved this town it was so pretty and loved watching the locals at work, it was so colourful, all the houses are painted in lovely colours of blue, yellow, pink, white, the boats and even the locals barrows were also painted.

From Paraty we went on to Iguazu Falls, this was my highlight of the whole trip, nothing prepares you for the amazing falls in all their glory. We took in both the Brazil and Argentina side of the falls taking a helicopter and speed boat trip in which the driver made sure we got extremely close to the falls and very wet.

From there we travelled to Uruguay to a working Ranch in the middle of nowhere in a clapped out truck. I helped feed the orphaned lambs. My partner tried his hand at horse riding for the first time in his life and was incredibly confident. Watching the Gauchos bring in the cattle was a thrill. The Ranch only had electricity for three hours in the evening and the rest of the time we used candles and torches but it was all part of the adventure. The food was incredibly good and homemade; we had hammocks tied to trees to lie in to digest our food and beer. Toilets had to be flushed with water collected from a well in the garden – surrounded by skunks and snakes, all doors had to be shut behind you, thankfully we never came across any & were told they were not poisonous!!

From the ranch we travelled to pretty Colonia del Sacramento, a UNESCO world heritage listed town filled with old colonial buildings and cobbled streets - we watched a fantastic sunset on the top of the lighthouse, a magic moment. On from there to Colonia to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. We enjoyed looking around the markets and listening to the local street entertainment.

From Montevideo, we finished off in Buenos Aires with a live tango show and farewell dinner. Buenos Aires is a huge city, fast and furious as the national capital and largest city of Argentina. It was a fantastic trip, and we came away with great memories and new friends.

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