pidge's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member pidge on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/pidge en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:17:28 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com Smells like a toilet, tastes like heaven — Melaka, Malaysia http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1099911540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1099911540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1099911540/tpod.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:17:28 -0400 The Pidge and Brunaldo are on their big adventure around the world.
Melaka, Malaysia

Melaka is a nice change from KL. It's a big enough place but the centre is nice and chilled out. We're staying in the Travellers' Lodge guest house where Brian has become the resident babysitter. Every time I leave him alone for a few minutes he ends up minding all the Malay kids that live there.

On our first night here we went for a few drinks to the Discovery Cafe where we discovered the worst band in the world. We couldn't even recognise some Bob Marley songs they were playing. You name it and Gaffa and Uncle Benni can kill it. It was still lashing rain at 2 in the morning but we had to risk drowning in an effort to escape the band.

The next night we went to a satay restaurant where you get loads of raw meat and vegetable kebabs for about 10 cent each and cook them in a boiling pot of satay sauce in the middle of your table. Very nice. There we got talking to Angie, the owner of the restaurant, and Murali, the local tourism expert and self-proclaimed mate of the Prime Minister. He also happened to be best mates with the owner of the Discovery Cafe so off we all went for some more beer and bad music. Two nights in a row! Gaffa and Uncle Benni must think we're their biggest fans.

At some stage during the night Angie and Murali found out that we hadn't tasted Durian fruit yet. This big, green, spiky fruit smells like a toilet and tastes like heaven according to the locals. So it was agreed that they would pick us up the next day at noon to go eat some Durian fruit.

Unlike most drunken plans this one came to fruition (sorry!). At noon the four of us set off in search of Durian. Two hours later we're still cruising the out-skirts of Melaka looking for fruit stalls selling Durian. I suspect most of them had it but Angie and Murali were just having a laugh. At one stage they decided if we couldn't find it soon we'd get some imported ones in the local Tesco. Thankfully before we got there we found a women with a stall selling Durian. The King of Fruits tasted like custard, not heaven. And it didn't smell too awful.

When not listening to bad musicians or hunting down out of season fruit we've been cycling in the countryside whilst getting devoured by mozzies. Our poor Muslin guide cycled 40 kilometres yesterday whilst fasting for Ramadan which meant he couldn't even have a sip of water. After the trip was over and the sun went down (5.57pm) the three of us went to an Indian bazaar for some food and non-alcoholic drink. I think we may have eaten more than the guide who hadn't eaten since day-break.
]]> The End — Dublin, Ireland http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1166891400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1166891400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1166891400/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2006 10:26:15 -0500 The Pidge and Brunaldo are on their big adventure around the world.
Dublin, Ireland

Despite not having written any travelogues Brian would like to have the last word. All the long distant bus trips in Argentina have provided him with the time to practice his blackjack skills and compile a few lists. So here goes:

TOP 10 FOOD

1. Argentine Steaks
The best beef in the world. So nice, so juicy, so massive! Ed summed it up best - he was in Argentina for 7 nights and had 6 steaks (and a whopper on the other day by all accounts!). Bife de Chorizo is a slab of sirloin the size of the plate and definitely our favourite. But don't miss out on the Bife de Lomo, Asado and various other BBQed bits of cow.

2. Steamboat, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Makes the top 10 for the experience as much as the food. A huge bot of boiling stock on the table and trays of noodles, veg and meat to cook in it. Dinner lasted about 4 hours.

3. Thai Green and Red Curries
One for when United are playing and one for when Ireland are playing.

4. Aussie Seafood BBQ
Cooked on the BBQ in Port Douglas - shrimps, tuna, etc. Bruno and Bella's barrimundi was bleedin brilliant.

5. Sausage Sizzles, New Zealand
A great New Zealand fundraiser. Not a Saturday afternoon shopping went by at the local version of Woodies DIY without the scouts (or underwater hockey team - true!) having a sausage sizzle. One dollar for a BBQed sausage on a slice of bread. Beats a crappy daffodil for your coat any day.

6. Bruno's Fajitas, Sydney
In here as a staple for any visitors to us in Woolloomooloo. Would surely have been a hit with Chef Ramsey if I'd got on to Hell's Kitchen.

7. Raw Fisha and Sea Urchins, Bay of Islands, NZ
Taste was fairly average to be honest and I don't know how the Japs do it but we did catch the stuff ourselves!

8. Evil Jungle Curry, Thailand
We were warned off it twice by the waiter which only made us more determined. Even the chef came out to see if we could eat it. Managed to hold it down.

9. Simon's Pasta Bake, NZ
Included for sentimental reasons. We were honoured to sample the famed "third dinner date" - lucky us! On a harsher note, could have done with some meat or veg!

10. Josie/Sinead/Fearghal's Special, OZ
Pasta and beans...............and nothing else! Solely for when the times were hard travelling up the east coast of OZ. The low point of the whole trip. If this were a Top 1,000 list, this 'dish' would still be last!

Ciara: I have to admit I agree with Bruno on most of the above. I just can't figure out why none of my dishes made the list!

Top 5 Sports (and Australian Rules)

1. Football: River Plate V Gymnasia, La Monumental, Buenos Aires (venue for the 1978 World Cup Final). Number one for the fans and the fire brigade!

2. Rugby Union: All Blacks V South Africa, House of Pain, Dunedin. Saw the All Blacks win the match of the year. Pity about the arrogant tosser supporters!

3. Thai Boxing: Bangkok. The boxing was great but watching the frantic locals (including the police) gambling was better!

4. Test Cricket: Australia V Pakistan, Sydeny Cricket Ground. The seats should rotate 180 degrees because once the locals have downed a few schooners of beer all the action happens in the stands with singing, beach ball throwing and beer cup stacking competitions. The huge screen will show a reply if something happens out on the pitch.

5. Rugby League: Roosters V Broncos, Aussie Stadium, Sydney. Great cheerleaders!

Good but not on the list: some good Super 12 NSW Warratahs Games.

N.B. Last on any list is the Aussie Rules. Sydney Swans V Someone else. Crap sport! Best thing about it is the referees prancing about like Bangkok lady-boys.

And so the end is here. 14 months, 7 countries and 4 hair cuts later and what have I got to show for it? An extra stone of me is the obvious answer. There's over four thousand photos to be developed and a backpack full of scruffy clothes all fit for the bin. Bruno's bag never arrived in Gatwich airport so he doesn't even have any scruffy clothes. It's time to hang up the flip-flops/thongs/jandles and return to a life-style that involves having clean feet for the majority of the time. It's good to be back.
]]> The End is Near — Buenos Aires, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1166804940/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1166804940/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1166804940/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2006 10:14:06 -0500 The Pidge and Brunaldo are on their big adventure around the world.
Buenos Aires, Argentina

There's been a lot of Maradona look-a-like spotting over the last few weeks. So far we've come across female Maradona, young Maradona, drunk Maradona and my personal favorite: fat baby Maradona. The outright winner was the stable guy in Mendoza who looked so like him it was scary. The real version has been all over the news since we got here. When his old team Boca Juniors won the league he was in the dressing room celebrating as if he's scored the winning goal, a few nights later he won Personality of the Year at an awards ceremony and the next night he was arrested. Legend!

The food continues to be excellent. And we've been milling the steaks in the knowledge that we won't be able to afford steak for a long time once we go home. The best and funniest dinner so far was our last night out with Maria in the San Telmo area. It was a scruffy little Parrilla full of locals. The guy at the door handing out leaflets looked like the local homeless bum but he could've just as easily been the owner. Inside the tables were so close together everyone's elbows were touching. Being the antique quarter the walls were covered in dusty paintings and rusting mirrors. The problem of air-conditioning was solved by and open garage-style door in the side wall. The waiters all drank wine in between serving tables. The TV was on showing football. At one stage the BBQ chef walked through the restaurant with half an uncooked cow on his slightly dirty shoulder. I looked over at him a few minutes later and he was smoking away as he cooked. The chef, not the cow. Needless to say the food was delicious. As it was Maria's last night we all ordered loads of wine, coffee, desserts, etc and the bill only came to 25 euros. In total.

On our last few days we've shopped, visited the gorgeous Tigre Delta and done some detective work. My granddad lived here for a few years when he was young so off we went to find the college and church where he was studied to become a priest (luckily for me and my family he failed his priest exams or something to that effect and came back to Ireland). After about 25 "Ola Senor, donde es eglise de San Gabrial?" we eventually found it. After a quick prayer of thanks that he hadn't become a priest it was back into the centre of Buenos Aires for lots of last minute shopping. There's a bit of a problem in downtown Buenos Aires at the moment with panpipe buskers playing Celine Dion's greatest hits but that can be avoided by not walking down certain parts of Avenida Florida or popping into the nearest gelateria for another icecream. It's also one of those cities where you can dig up a piece of pavement and make a nice pile of rubble. I didn't get around to digging up any pavements myself but did spend a lot of time tripping over piles of rubble.

Everywhere we've gone in Argentina there's been protests of some sort. Our lack of Spanish making it difficult to discover exactly what sort. I've decided to enter into the spirit of things and hold my own protest this Wednesday afternoon in Plaza de Mayo. I'll be protesting about the widespread lack of locks in Argentine toilets. With regards to cleanliness I've no complaints but four weeks of worrying about people walking in on me whilst using the facilities has taken its toll.

After a hard days shopping and protesting there's lots of ways to chill out. I'm very partial to sitting down in a nice cafe and having a submarino: a glass of boiling hot milk into which you drop a submarine-shaped piece of dark chocolate. Or if you fancy something with a kick a jug of Clerico de Vino is perfect - a sort of white wine sangria. Over a jug of Clerico the other night in San Telmo I was wondering why there were no streets or momuments named after Columbus. Every other European punter who can over on a package holiday in the 17th Century seemed to have a city named after them. But I've just found out that his name was actually Crisobel Colon and there is lots of stuff named after him. So my next jug of Clerico will be spent wondering why they changed his name.


We've gate crashed a couple of school Christmas concerts in the last few days but it's not feeling very festive in the heat. Christmas in the southern hemisphere sucks. That's what I keep telling myself as I pack my rucksack for the last time and try not to cry.
]]> Weekend in Uruguay — Sacramento de Colonia, Uruguay http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1134750360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1134750360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1134750360/tpod.html Sat, 04 Feb 2006 09:46:43 -0500 The Pidge and Brunaldo are on their big adventure around the world.
Sacramento de Colonia, Uruguay

Some people would consider visiting seven museums in one day a tad excessive. And on a normal day I'd agree with them. But in Colonia we broke our all time record for museum visiting. And it was great.

Admittedly towards the end we were more excited about getting our museum pass stamped by all seven museums than the clothing worn by 18th Century Portuguese colonists. And it should be pointed out that all the museums were in spitting distance of each other. We had also spent the last two days doing very important things in Uruguay like lying on nice bits of grass reading and topping up my tan (Bruno refuses to emerge from the shade).

Colonia is just a couple of hours ferry ride away from Buenos Aires and makes a welcome change from the madness of the big city. The little town is a UNESCO World Hertitage site. And is very good for lazing around sunbathing. Once you've got the seven tiny museums out of the way there's nothing to do except wander around the pretty cobbled streets and then have a snooze by the sea.

It was a risk leaving behind the great food of Argentina for a weekend but we needn't have worried. We found a lovely little local bar with cheap food. And to Brian's delight the owner turned out to be Diego Foran's dad's best friend. Earlier in the day we had tried to think of famous people from Uruguay - and the ex Manchester United player was all we could come up with. So to bump into his dad's friend that evening was pretty nice. The locals in the bar seemed just as happy to meet us and we ended up in a drunken round of whiskey buying. We had come to Uruguay knowing nothing about the people or place. But the locals were quick to point out that they were just like the Irish:
- small country that loves football
- neither of us have qualified for the world cup
- we like to drink
- we should keep on drinking to forget about not qualifying for the world cup

The next night a waiter was delighted when we ordered a litre of wine to go with our dinner. To everyone else in the restaurant he declared loudly how great the Irish were drinking so much. The other diners just smiled politely while Brian and I drowned our embarrassment.
]]> Down and out in Mendoza — Mendoza, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1134675780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1134675780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1134675780/tpod.html Wed, 11 Jan 2006 16:12:20 -0500 The Pidge and Brunaldo are on their big adventure around the world.
Mendoza, Argentina

I wouldn´t go so far as to recommend getting your bag stolen but if it´s going to happen then Mendoza is a good place to be robbed.

There I was sitting in an internet cafe updating my travelogue of all things. I must have been concentrating quite intensely. Probably trying to remember how to spell "Ígauzu" or something to that effect. When I finally finished surfing, my bag, which had been on the floor at my feet, was gone. It had either magically disappeared or someone had taken it.

Assuming the latter I got a bit of a shock at first but overall I wasn´t too upset for the following reasons:

1. The bag itself was a nice but very cheap cotton green number I´d picked up in Buenos Aires. Over the past couple of weeks it had become so dirty I was contemplating throwing it out.

2. The main valuable in my bag was my Swiss army knife. I really liked it but to be perfectly honest I only used the tweezers attachment to pluck my eyebrows.

3. I´ve been travelling for almost 14 months now and have only 10 days left. So unsurprisingly enough there was absolutely no money in my wallet.

4. Having to cancel my credit card at such a late stage will probably ensure I can´t do anything I might regret in my final week on the road.

All things considered I´m feeling a bit sorry for the person who robbed my bag. I´ve had a bad cold for the past while and the bag was full of used tissues (I should point out that I try not to collect used tissues. I just hadn´t made it to a bin yet that day). As Mr. T would say, "I pity the fool".

My fellow surfers in the internet cafe were outraged on my behalf. One nice business man composed a statement in Spanish for me to give to the police. He even offered to drive me to the police station. But in the end I decided it probably wasn´t worth the hassle.

Besides petty thieves Mendoza has a lot to offer tourists. There´s lots of beautiful squares and a wonderfully high number of ice cream establishments. We visited a few local vineyards, saw Aconcagua in the Andes - the biggest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayas and spent a day riding through the desert on horseback. I´m really liking my Argentine horse-riding. You hold the reins with one hand leaving the other free to do important things like smoking or looking cool with one hand resting on your hip.

Our guide for the trip into the Andes was great. He was really friendly, funny and passionate about the area. We didn´t understand much of what he said but it didn´t matter. At one stage we all got out of the minibus expecting admire the view and take some pictures. But instead our funny guide ran across the road, picked up a huge rock, ran back over the road and hurled the rock down to the river below. Pointless but great fun. So we all joined in. There may have been some cultural significance in there somewhere but if so we missed it. Not to worry!
]]> The Luxury Bus Diaries — San Antonio de Areco, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1134169020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1134169020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1134169020/tpod.html Sun, 18 Dec 2005 14:42:52 -0500 The Pidge and Brunaldo are on their big adventure around the world.
San Antonio de Areco, Argentina

With Maria joining us for two weeks I thought we´d take it easy and not travel about too much. But we´ve ended up doing a shocking 3,500km in less than two weeks (Sydney to Cairns is about 3,000km and took us two months!). Argentina is massive.

I probably shouldn´t abmit this but the reports I´d heard of wine on long distance bus journeys were one of the main reasons I came to Argentina. So I was more than a little dismayed when we didn´t get anything stronger than coke - the fizzy kind - on a first few journeys. I was even more upset for Maria who I´d enticed out to Argentina with a text message that said "Why don´t u come to Argentina too? There´s free wine on the buses".

But our last long distance journey with Maria (Posados to Buenos Aires) has made up for all prior disappointments. It was like travelling from A to B in your own bed - only better! Not only did we get breakfast in bed, we also got whiskey, dinner, wine, sweets and champagne. CIE eat your heart out!

Our continued efforts to get to gribs with Spanish are interesting. Saying "si", nodding and smiling works in most situations. However you can get a bit bored with that. To jazz things up a little we´ve started to repeat stuff back at people.

Waiter: Would you like anything else?
Us: Would you like anything else?
AWKWARD SILENCE
Us: (nodding and smiling) si, si

First impressions are important when you´re travelling about from place to place. So we were pretty chuffed when the first person we saw in San Antonio de Areco was a real life gaucho walking down the street. You could be picky and wonder where is his horse but we were satisfied with his cowboy boots, leather belt, massive cowboy hat and surly expression. A few minutes later we found a lovely guesthouse to stay in complete with a hummingbird in the garden. San Antonio de Areco is gaucho central in Argentina. It´s a beautiful quiet town full of bicycles with no locks, cars that should have been scrapped several decades ago and gorgeous little bars where it´s very easy to drink a few bottles of Malbec whilst nibbling on a platter of cheese, olives and ham. And there´s lots of real life gauchos.

Mr Guesthouse was a friendly fellow. He even kept talking to us when it became obvious we didn´t have a clue what he was saying. By day three we were all best mates and making some progress on the communication front. Somehow we managed to tell him how much we´d paid to hang out on a local Estancia (historic ranch) the day before. Before we could blink we was running around the entire guesthouse shouting "quarente cinco dollars!!!!" at the top of his voice. He obviously thought we were the biggest muppets ever for paying that much. But we were still mates and his gave us all a big hug and kiss when we were leaving.

In our humble opinion $45 to hang out at an amazing ranch for the day with unlimited horse-riding, drinks and half a cow each for lunch was a bargain. Maria and I both agreed that young Pablo, who´s family owned the ranch, was the best catch we´d seen in ages. Although our favorite was Mr Gaucho himself who seemed to control all the horses and the field of cows by just whistling. And he had the best work uniform I´ve ever seen.

Buses may be good but horses are a close second.
]]> Mucho Agua — Iguazu Falls, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1133736900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1133736900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1133736900/tpod.html Thu, 15 Dec 2005 15:35:56 -0500 The Pidge and Brunaldo are on their big adventure around the world.
Iguazu Falls, Argentina

Fleeing the boredom of Rosario we decided to head a thousand kilometers up the road to Igauzu Falls on the border with Brazil. But the bus could only get us to a town called Corrientes where we had a few hours to kill.

In our two hours in Corrientes we managed to break our own personal best for number of misunderstood conversations in Spanish. When I say misunderstood I mean completely over our heads and confusing to the friendly local who can´t figure out why we don´t speak Spanish. We had the local museum curator convinced we could understand for well over 10 minutes. Then she asked a question to which ¨Irlanda¨ definitely wasn´t the required response. But she was really nice about it and I think we were invited back for a guided tour the following day.

I stopped in the street to look at some restoration work of an old theatre. Two seconds later another friendly local is explaining all about it to me. In this instance nodding sagely and saying ´si´seemed to suffice. Then we got a taxi back to the bus station. The taxi driver was so nice we ended up giving him all our New Zealand bank notes because we felt bad about not being able to reply to him. He was pretty impressed they were water proof and tried to give us loads of pesos in exchange. Speaking Spanish would save us a lot of money.

When we finally got to Puerto Igauzu we were pretty smelly and utterly delighted to see a pool awaiting is at the hostel. Maria, despite only being a relative newcomer to the backpacking lark, is embracing the general scankiness without complaint. A swim, shower, BBQ and several cuba libras later we were in flying form. So much so that we had to spend the next day at the pool. In our defense we weren´t the only ones overdoing the cuba libras ("put it on the room tab" are evil words). One Irish guy fell out of his top bunk and broke loads of ribs. He needed quite a few days by the pool afterwards.

Up bright and early the next day we headed over to Brazil, as you do, to check out the falls. We spend the morning mountain biking, bird and alligator watching, kayaking and swimming in the National Park with our guide Vincent. Vincent was Brazilian but sounded German - "every year we have 12,678 cubic centimeters of rain except in 1978 when we had 13,456 cubic centimeters". He was a stickler for the details but a nice guy.

Our first view of Igauzu Falls was that afternoon heading up the Igauzu River in a speedboat full of speedo-clad South American conservationists. I wouldn´t have planned it quite like that but I´d highly recommend that approach. The conservationists were complete nutters (the world is not in safe hands) and made the speedboat captain go under on of the biggest waterfalls four times.

Despite the prevalence of speedos on the Brazilian side, the view of the falls is utterly amazing. Why hadn´t I heard of Igauzu Falls before coming to South America? It´s 2kms of the most amazing, thundering waterfalls. Huge eagles fly overhead, swifts fly though the waterfalls to their nests and hundreds of huge butterflies flutter about the place. You couldn´t dream it up. We´ve met a few people who seen Niagara and Victoria Falls and they all agree that Igauzu Falls are by far the best. Not that it´s a competition or anything.

Despite our bus that evening almost colliding head-on with another much bigger bus we made it back the next day to the Argentine side. And once again spent the entire day marvelling at the falls. The pictures we got are great but can´t capture the immensity of the falls.

After touristy Igauzu we decided to escape the crowds of speedo-clad oldies and visit the Jesuit Missions Ruins in San Ignacio a few hours away by bus. The bus journey was nothing exciting although we did pass through one little town in which everyone was gathered in the town square to watch a powerpoint presentation. The little farming village looked exactly as it probably did 50 years ago and there they all were about to watch a powerpoint presentation on a huge outdoor screen.

We arrived in to San Ignacio (dumped on the side of the highway to be precise) on Saturday night and the town was rocking. Everyone had just been to Saturday night mass and now they were all going for some food in the one place in town that was open. Luckily for us we were staying there.

A few hundred years ago (I´m not a stickler for details) some Spanish Jesuits came over here and set up a happy community with all the locals. Catholic Communism is probably the best way to describe it. They all lived together as equals and worked for their families and the community. Then some evil idiots came along (some evil idiots always come along sooner or later I reckon) and wrecked the place which soon got overgrown by the forest. Despite the happy Saturday night festivities San Ignacio doesn´t seem to have recovered from the destruction and pillage. It´s a really interesting place but we were the only tourists and Maria claims she saw some tumbleweed roll down the main street. After checking out the ruins and funny museum with a tin foil waterfall and multicoloured papier-mache animals we jumped (quite literally) on a bus and started the long journey back to Buenos Aires.
]]> Please don´t go! — Rosario, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1134333420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1134333420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1134333420/tpod.html Thu, 15 Dec 2005 15:10:13 -0500 The Pidge and Brunaldo are on their big adventure around the world.
Rosario, Argentina

The Lonely Planet claims Rosario is possibly the best city in Argentina. The Guide de Routard (we´re giving the french guide book a try thanks to Maria´s cultured influence) doesn´t mention the place. For once the French are right.

Our first warning was the American girl who stopped to talk to us in the street when she heard us speaking English. She´d been studying in Rosario for the past few months and really loved the place. So we asked her what should we do while we were there. She couldn´t think of a single suggestion. We then went to the tourist office to ask what activities there were to do. The tourist office woman was very nice and told us that everything was very good. But couldn´t tell us what exactly was very good.

After checking out the extremely large Argentine flag and monument we had a look at the large and dirty looking Rio Parana. Then we tried to visit some museums. But they were all closed. We took a taxi out to the beaches along the river and they were all empty. Determined to give Rosario one last chance we went on a city bike tour. Brian´s chain fell off and Maria´s pedal fell off.

Cutting our losses our next purchase was bus tickets out of there.
]]> Lomo y futbol — Buenos Aires, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1133187660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1133187660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1133187660/tpod.html Sun, 11 Dec 2005 15:36:55 -0500 The Pidge and Brunaldo are on their big adventure around the world.
Buenos Aires, Argentina

It´s early in the morning here in Buenos Aires but I´m too excited about Maria´s imminent arrival to sleep. Hopefully she has an easier time getting to the hostel than we did. Brian and I obviously like a challenge, arriving into a new country with no money. It took us a while to locate an ATM at the airport but we eventually armed ourselves with pesos and set forth into the heat.

Our hostel is a bit odd. It seems to be run by about eight very inefficient teenage girls. But there´s cake and great coffee for breakfast every morning so I can´t complain. Once we dropped our heavy bags and had the first shower of the day (BA is a three shower a day kind of place) we headed into the Plaza de Mayo.

These people love to protest. Walking along the three blocks into the Plaza we saw four different protests. The President´s office, the pink building from which everyone makes speeches, is permanently surrounded by an ugly, black barrier to keep the protesters back. In the center of the Plaza de Mayo we saw the Mothers of the Disappeared. These woman have been protesting here about the disappearance of their children during the dirty wars every Thursday for almost 30 years. And they show no signs of stopping. The day we were there they were launching a new radio station dedicated to their cause.

So far we´re getting by with our pocito de castellano. Saying ´si´to every question and smiling is working out ok.

****

Maria eventually got here in one piece so the real sightseeing began. First stop the San Telmo bars. It´s so nice to be drinking cold beer on the street outside bars in November. Determined to make the most of it we probably drank too much beer. The taxi driver on the way home was very nice and just laughed as we shouted the names of Argentine footballers at him.

The highlight of Buenos Aires has to be the football match between River Plate and Gimnasia. I was a bit apprehensive as we approached the stadium. The gunshots were ringing through the air. I was starting to wish I´d left the camera back at the hostel when we discovered a shooting range beside the stadium. Phew! From the moment the match started both sets of fans went mad and spent the entire 90 minutes singing at each other. And proper singing too. None of that foul language chanting that Brian likes to do when Manchester United are doing well. Although I´m not sure what the Spanish for shit, tits and wanker is. I´ll assume it was all good natured. It was roasting hot - BA is in the middle of a heatwave. Everyone has been turning their air con up to full blast with subsequent power shortages hitting the city. So hoses blasted water at the fans to keep them cool. Their flags got soggy but they kept on singing. Their team lost 3-1 but you´d never have guessed from the sound of them.

After a few near misses we eventually met up with Harry Quinn who also happens to be in town. Having a Spanish speaker with us for a night was great. Fellow Northies Oli and The Chief were with him. The Chief has been travelling around South America for the last 6 months. He seems to have visited every sight associated with Che Guevara. He is a rising star in Sinn Fein. I didn´t ask too many questions. (So what did you think of Columbia, Chief?)
]]> Champagne and eye masks — Pacific Ocean, New Zealand http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1132875000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1132875000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/pidge/the-big-break/1132875000/tpod.html Fri, 09 Dec 2005 10:09:26 -0500 The Pidge and Brunaldo are on their big adventure around the world.
Pacific Ocean, New Zealand

It´s not the destination but the journey that´s important. Whoever said that wasn´t on a Bus Eireann service from Dublin to Galway on a Friday afternoon. But as I sit here in first class on the Aerolineas Argentinas flight from Auckland to Buenos Aires I´m inclined to agree.

We had no idea what awaited us as we boarded the plane. But when we realised seats number 10C and 10D were in Club Condor Class we couldn´t stop ourselves from cheering. Once we´d calmed down a little and settled into our sofa seats the flight attendant came along to give us champagne. I had planned on not drinking on what would be my longest flight so far (11 hours) but champagne is hard to refuse.

For two happy campers who´d lived in a tent for a few months the sudden change to first class travel was a bit of a shock. Our entire duty free shopping consisted of a Spanish phrase book. Now we had little goodie bags, fancy food, newspapers from three different countries and eight different wines to choose from.

Stretching out my legs the seat in front was still a good 30 cm away. Some Kiwi students were upgraded too so we all took turns taking pictures of each other to the bemusement of the regular first class travellers. This is the life!

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The day after our flight to Buenos Aires Aerolineas Argentinas went on strike for 9 days. The strike has since finished. Fingers crossed they don´t go on strike again or Christmas could be spent in the airport.
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