Argentina Weblog

Photographer and writer Bizzie Frost and her husband are about to set off on a month long trip through Argentina. She is going to be blogging for Disability Now throughout her journey. Here is her first installment.

By Bizzie Frost

Part 1 – Planning!

In May 2007, our daughter set off for Buenos Aires for a year, following a dream that had taken hold when she was 15: she had been on a one month Spanish language exchange and had fallen in love with the country.  Neither my husband nor I have ever visited South America and this was our golden opportunity.  We promised ourselves and our daughter that we would visit her in Argentina during her stay there.

We eventually set our departure date for Monday 11th February, our 30th wedding anniversary.  We live in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and as we have a family wedding to attend in Kenya on 13th March, we have made our travel plans via Africa.  Our route will take us on Saudi Arabian Airlines to South Africa, then a return trip from there to Buenos Aires on Malaysian, then on to Nairobi on Kenya Airways, and finally from Nairobi to Jeddah on Saudia again. 

As we have an unavoidable two night stop in South Africa, we have decided to spend those nights in Stellenbosch, in the heart of the wine growing district just outside Cape Town.  This means an extra flight from Johannesburg-Cape Town and, on the internet, an internal airline called 1Time Airlines came up with the cheapest fare.  I don’t normally read the small print, but in the “Terms & Conditions” was a section on “Special Needs Travellers”: if you didn’t complete their form ahead of time you might not be accepted on the flight.  The airline is only permitted two special needs passengers per flight, and they are not allowed to accept them on night flights!  I hastily requested a form, and completed it with details of my disability: “Incomplete spinal cord injury at T8 & T9 with Brown- Sequard syndrome.  Can walk short distances with a walking stick; can climb stairs into aircraft without assistance; can move around the aircraft cabin without assistance.  Travel with my own wheelchair.”  Travellers be warned: the fare from Jo’Burg to Cape Town is quite cheap, but the return fare is about three times as much from Cape Town to Jo’Burg!

I have also spent hours browsing the internet for accommodation in Stellenbosch.  We know from a previous visit that accommodation standards in South Africa are very high; I finally booked two nights in the Hazelwood House B & B, as well as renting a car from the airport for two nights so that we could visit a few vineyards.

Meanwhile, my daughter, Chania, and I both have copies of the Rough Guide to Argentina and have put in a lot of homework on planning our route in Argentina.  Our son, Dusko, will also be there for the first week and we all want to visit the 80,000 hectare ranch in Patagonia where Chania has been working for the past three months – Bahia Bustamante (www.bahiabustamante.com).

Accommodation in Buenos Aires ranges from cheap but clean hostels to the usual five Star hotels.  Again, using the net I found the Borges Design Hostel (named after the famous Argentian writer Jorge Luis Borges) which offered Bed & Breakfast for US$50 double room with ensuite, and US$12 for B&B with bed in a dormitory of 6 beds.  They also offered to meet us at the Airport for US$30.

Chania has heard from guests at the ranch that a good vehicle to hire is a Ford EcoSport – the roads in Patagonia are mainly unpaved and the EcoSport has higher clearance than a saloon car, but the full 4 x 4 option is apparently not necessary.  We have booked through a Buenos Aires company called RentaCar in Buenos Aires – the rate is slightly higher than two other companies, but the contact, Sebastian, writes fluent English and is very helpful.  We figured if we have problems while on the road, this helpful attitude could be very useful.  Chania threw in the suggestion of diverting through Chile on one leg of the trip, but according to Sebastian and also RentaCar-Tango, you cannot take a hired car across the border.  They also confirmed that they don’t have automatic cars for hire, and definitely none with hand controls.  However, if you look at www.rent-a-sol.com.ar they have Toyota Corona and Honda Civic automatics.

Only a week to go before we leave and I am excited and nervous at the same time.  It will be a challenging trip with two long flights, a six hour time change, and long journeys on some rough roads.  I have drawn a basic map to show readers our proposed route around Argentina.