TravelStream™ news feed for member tboxtracy on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/tboxtracy en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:32:40 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1232116260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1232116260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1232116260/tpod.html Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:32:40 -0500 Bangkok - Laos - Vietnam - Thailand - Austrailia - New Zealand - S America

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Mendoza, Argentina

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

Well back here again. Back to Hostel Arrabal there is something comforting about being back somewhere you already know. I am staying here for a couple of nights before starting my journey out of Argentina and into Boliviar. I met up with Melanie who I met at spanish school in Santiago (Chile) which was cool for an icecream. I hope to meet up with Tumay too before i go to Mendoza on the bus on Thursday night. Yes another 20 hour bus ride.
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Puerto Iguazu, Litoral, Argentina

Another long bus journey up to Iguazu. 18 odd hours but I´m getting used to these journey now. I left Buenos Aires at 18.50 and arrived in iguazu at about 1pmish. Well I thought ba was hot but this plce his hotter and more humid. I checked into my hostel which was opposite the bus station, good choice not far to walk!! I was knackered from the bus so had a walk around, it´s not a massive place and treated myself to a nice steak lunch with a beer!! That really was all I did the first day as I was staying another night. I book a six bed mixed dorm but fortunately it only had girls in it....no smelly snoring boys...nice!! Our room consisted of a canadian, an american, a Czech and a turkish girl, quite a good mix. I spent the evening chatting to Tumay (turk) and Janna (czech). I had an early night as this type of heat makes me so tired and I had an early start (7.40am) to go and see the falls.

I had booked a transfer fromthe hostel to the the National Park. Another couple of women from hostel who were travelling together were going too. The three of us ended up going around the park and the falls together. I thnk they were both of a similar age to me. There was Frances (french canadian) and Sabine (Austrian), they had met in Peru. The falls were magnificant I don´t know how to describe them (pics on facebook). There was so much energy there from all the water flowing, it is just an amazing place. The falls are made up from 275 waterfalls. The largest is the Devils Throat. As part of the ticket we bought for the park we had a boat )ç(raft) ride down the river for 30mins which was really tranquil and we got to see a few birds. We then had a speedboat ride which tkes you right up close to the Devil Throat and we got absolutely drenched, even with my rain jacket on. We were wet through to our underwear and stupid me had my money and passport in my pocket....it all got very wet!!

The park apparently contains all sort of wildlife including Tapiers and Jaguars but we only saw a big lizard (part of the comodo family I think) and some raccoon like animals which steal food from the picnic areas.

It was a long day as we didn´t get picked up to go back to the hostel til 4pm. I was knackered from being in the heat. The three of us met up later for dinner which was really nice.

i spent the next day with Tumay and Janna waiting for our respective buses back to Buenos Aires.

The bus ride was long this time it felt like we stopped in every town we passed to pick people up. It rained all night and we went through numerous thunder storms and it didn´t feel like the bus slowed at all to take in consideration the weather condition, hence I didn´t sleep too well.
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Buenos Aires, Argentina

Well after 20 hours on the bus I was back in Bs As. God it was hot here. it got up to 32 and was so humid. My plan was to get back to my old hostel and spend all day on the net doing this and uploading my pics which is pretty much all I did.

Sigram a norwegian girl that was here before is here so that was good. The hostel is pretty dead at the moment.

I went out to dinner with Sigram and Tom, spanish brit, who is on a medical thing here.

Today - 9th -I´m just chillin at the hostel because I am off on another bus journey up to the border with Brazil to see the famous Iguazu falls (275 waterfalls) for the next few days. I´m really lucky because being british I can go over to the brazilian side of the falls for free. Americans have to pay $100 visa and the canadians and Aussies have to pay too!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1231209840/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1231209840/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1231209840/tpod.html Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:54:57 -0500 Bangkok - Laos - Vietnam - Thailand - Austrailia - New Zealand - S America

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Bariloche, Argentina

We finally arrived in Bariloche about 9.30 ish pm. We took a cab into town. Kat and Tom were here before going rafting do they knew their way around the place. We tried to get into the previous hostel and it was full. We tried about 6 or 7 others all full. Not the bestsituation to be in. We finally found one which had a private room with four beds and it was nice and clean and beggars couldn´t be choosers. It was more expensive than any of us would notmally pay but hey!!

We headed into town for dinner about 11.30pm, ots a good job the argentines eat late. They took me to their favourite steak restaurant where they were meeting their Israeli friend. Well for 40 pesos (8 quid) you get two massive steaks cooked to perfection. Expensive for here but well worth it. mmm mmm

I only had the next full day in Bariloche before heading back on a 20 hour journey back to Ba As. We wandered around a bit. THe place looks like somewhere in the alps with loads of wooden chalets. It is on a big lake with snow capped mountains in the background. It looked a lot like New Zealand, the landscape. We headed back to the same stak place again for dinner. I was traeating myself before heading back to BA.

My bus left for BA at noon. Just before then I took a look at my ticket that I had bought on the net and realised that maybe I should have exchanged the voucher i had for the real ticket in town!! arghhh!!! So I went over to the ticker booth in the bus station and had to wait an age, it was now 11.50am. A very friendly man behind the counter understood my problem that i had to explain in very poor spanish. He kindly spoke to the bus driver and conductor and put mr on the bus....thankyou!!! Not a mistake to be repeated though.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1230854640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1230854640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1230854640/tpod.html Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:44:03 -0500 Bangkok - Laos - Vietnam - Thailand - Austrailia - New Zealand - S America

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Futaleufu, Chile

Well getting to Futa was a mission in itself. Apparently Josh the rafting guy was supposed to organise a taxi to pick Trisha and I up from Esquel at 5pm. Well it didn´t materialise but two very white gringos did. They had managed to find us from the bus station. They were the couple we were rafting with, Tom (21) and Kat (24) from the big white, Alaska. They were told that we were all going together and that they had to call some number however being New Years day all the public phone shops were closed, thank god formy mobile.

It turned out that the number we had to call was Natalia the girl who had picked me up at the bus station and who we had spent the previous evening with at the dance party. She and her mum came to pick us up but they didn´t know that they were supposed to take us to the border and they couldn´t get hold of Josh either!! So they took us anyway. They helped us get through both border crossings but couldn´t take us any further. They rang a friend in Futa to see if they could find Josh and if not then the friend would pick us up at the border. As you can imagine we were not happy bunnies especially as we were all paying $900 each for the 3 day trip. At least there were four of us is all I can say. Well we didm´t know how long we had to wait and I wasn´t walking 10kms with my 18kg pack!! Fortunately for us a pick up arrived ar the checkpoint going to Futa and the very kind border guard arranged for us to get a lift with him in the back of his truck. As we neared Futa we saw Josh go past to pick us up!!
We finally arrived hot, sweaty, dirty and very hungary. Josh finally turned up and didn´t understand the confusion....a complete space cadet!! He did buy us some beer and god did we need it and took us to a restautant which looked like it was in someones house. We had a good meal which is all we cared about. Tom and Kat camped behind the rafting office and Trisha and I stayed in a house which rented rooms out.

2nd Jan 09 - Rafting begins - photos on facebook
Well the Futaleufu river is supposed to be the best river in South America to raft with grade III, IV and V rapods. Grade V is the highest grade you can raft commercially.

The day started with the worst bit choosing your wet suit! Not the most flattering piece of clothing you will ever wear especially when you are a chubber like me!! Once we were all suied and booted we were taken to the lodge which was going to be our home for the next few days. Its a log cabin on the side of the river, such a cool place, great views and a little beach. From here we were going to do out first day of rafting, aboit 4 hours.

We were joined by a chilean couple and our guide, Santiago (Santi, 24yt old Peruvian) so there were 7 of us in total in the raft. Santi started us off in the water going through the instructions he would be yelling to us whilst we were rafring and how to use the paddles. He sat at the back of the raft with two large oars which enable him to steer and paddle the raft. In NZ the guide just paddled like us and didn´t sit at the back with oars so this was very different for me. He then got us to get in the water so we could practice rescuing each other. Not too much fun for someone to haul my heavy ass out of the water!!

We then went to out first rapids class III. Well this was great fun, big water and loads of waves crashing into our faces. Once we finished this part of the river the chileans left us as we were moving onto out first clase IV and V rapids. Patricia, Santi´s german girlfriend joined us for this. I was bricking it I can tell you but we managed them just fine. Whilst rafting we have two dafetly kayaks with us and a safety cat, they are there to rescue us if we get dumped out of the raft. This was not part of my plan if I could help it.

We met the other kayakers for lunch on the side of the river. We were all starving from all the paddling we had done and from all the adrenaline we had running around our bodies. Lunch was sandwiches and biscuits, just what the doctor ordered. We then paddled for a bit down the flat river to where we were met by the minibus to take us back to the lodge.

Andrew, one of the kayakers and Santi made us dinner. We had beef and wine, what more could we ask for!!

Santi thrn had to make the decision of whether we were going to run the Inferno the next day. This depended on gow he thought we had done during the day and if he had confidence in us as this is class IV with a lot of consequences as it is in a canyon and other than the safety guys you can´t be rescued and there are a lot of boulders in the water. They didn´t run this section of the river at all with clients last season and hadn´t run this yet this season. Well he decided we should do it!!!

The next day was going to be a long day, about 8 hours on the water. We set off mid morning and the first part was nice and calm with a few small rapids to get us in the mood. We then stopped to check out the first part of the camyon. I stayed in the boat I´d rather not see what we were up against and just do it. We watched another raft go through before us and they struggled a bit and then it was our turn. Well what an adrenalin rush, big water. big holes to avoid and rocks. I nearly came out of the raft, I was lucky that Trisha was opposite me and managed to keep me in the raft. I really didn´t want to swim. We made it through and even the kayak guys were happy with the line we took. The kayaking guys that Josh has working for him are so cool. Even if they are not running safety for us they still came with us, so we had plenty of them should any of us swim. The next big rapid we came across, the decision was taken that due to safety we wouldn´t be able to raft it. So the kayakers went through and we had to a bit of rock climbing to get round to a safe part of the river. Now this petrifies me because I always without fail slip on rocks especially in slippery wetsuit boots and what did I do as soon as i got out of the raft?? I slipped on the very first rock and went in the water...thanks to Tom who grabbed me out with cat like reflexes. Well we finally made it around the rocks with me still looking pertrified and shaking. The eaft was floated round to us by rope and it was time to get back in. We rafted another big rapid before getting to two more which were unraftable. The first one only two kayakers, Julian and Miguel, were brave or stupid enough to go through the other carried their´s around. The raft and the safety cat were pulled around on ropes. The second all the kayakers did and it looked real scary as it tossed them aound and Yugi was kept under the water for what looked and age. We then did the last big rapid which was pretty amazing. This was expedition rafting at its best according to Andrew.

We were all so knackered by the end of that day that we slept really well.

The last day we were running, Terminator and Teminators son , class V and repeating what we did on the first day, so class III, IV and Vs.

We started off with some smaller rapids and almost the very first one Santi some how managed to end up in the water?? Not a good start to the day. When we got to just before Terminator we all got out to scout it, I wish I had been left in the raft because it was scary enough to see the dafety cat and kayaks going through it. Santi explained the line he wanted us to take, like that made any sense to me!!

We went for it and a couple of times I thought at least one of us was going to be out and swimming but we did it just perfectly. All the kayakers were cheering and clapping it was a great feeling.

We stopped for lunch before heading to the section that we did on the first day. We enjoyed the smaller rapids more than we did on the first day because we has more of an idea of what were doing. It was so much fun doing the grade IIIs with big waves. When we hit the very last class V rapodi, casa de piedra (house of rock) unbeknown to us, Santi had a little plan. He got us to back paddle toward a large whole in the water which seemed a little strange and then before we knew it the raft was coming up and four of us were in the water!! Only Trisha managed to stay on the raft. His actual intention was to flip the raft so everyone was in the water!! Bastard!! Well I was pleased with myself as I am actually pretty scared of water and I thought I was going to majorly panic but to my amazement I didn´t and I didn´t loose my paddle either!. Miguel picked me up on the front of his kakyak and took me back top the raft. Then we went back to the lodge.

Waiting back at the lodge was a whole lamb waiting for us to be cooked over an outside fire and loads of cold beers. We had deserved it. What an absolutely awesome experience!!

The next day Josh took is to the Argentinian border where the four of us, me, Trisha, Kat and Tom caught a bus back to Esquel. Then it was another bus to Bariloche for me, Kat and Tom. Our bus was supposed to leave at 2pm but didn´t go until 3.50pm!! And then just as we all had fallen asleep on the bus (4-5hr ride) the bus broke down and we all had to get on the 4pm bus which was following us down the road!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1262274420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1262274420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1262274420/tpod.html Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:24:25 -0500 Bangkok - Laos - Vietnam - Thailand - Austrailia - New Zealand - S America

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Esquel, Argentina

Well it took about 8 hours to get here. Only semi cama this time as it was the only thing available as definetly not as comfy as the cama, got not a lot of sleep. Got in not knowing what was going on really as Trisha was coming down from Santiago and had made all the arrangements. I was met off the bus by a girl holding my name up. It turned out that Natalia (17ysold) was there to let me know that I couldn´t get into the room that Trisha and I had till 10am so I would have to wait at the bus station til then!! She did take my bags though. Thank god for a book and my ipod. Didn´t realise though then that they had internet and I could have used my time to do this!!

Finally 10am arrived and she came back to pick me up with her mum, thank god I was getting a little worried as the details were a little sketchy. We got to the cabana!! not a hostel room to my surprise to find it still not ready so I went off with Natalia and her mum as they were off shopping. Once we got back Trisha had arrived wiht Josh the owner of the rafting company. He dropped us off in town and we had some lunch and a chat before heading to the supermarket to get something for dinner and some wine!! It took us two hours to get back to where we were staying. We headed in the completely wrong direction. I didn´t realise this place was so big!!

The plan for the evening was to meet up with the rafting guys but we didn´t know how to get hold of them or where they were staying but Trisha did have one of their mobile numbers. We tried it several times but could only leave a message. It looked like we were spending the night in!!

Natalia rang my mobile later (which I can´t configure properly as the help desk only speaks spanish!! arghhh) and invited us to a new years dance party so at least we were going out.

Eventually Nat one of the guys turned up at our place just before midnight. We picked up the rest of the guys, Andrew US, Yugi Japan (but speaks with a kiwi accent), Dan NZ and Pepe (Julian) crazy frenchman. We just made it to the Irish bar before 12. Andrew had bought a bottle of champagne (sparkling wine) which he popped at midnight. We all headed off to a dance party about 2 which was completely empty in a big warehouse but by 3am it was packed. We stayed until 5ish and then i had had enough of the music and we headed back.


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1261925700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1261925700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1261925700/tpod.html Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:24:03 -0500 Bangkok - Laos - Vietnam - Thailand - Austrailia - New Zealand - S America

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Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Well it took a 18 hour bus ride to get here. The bus station is crazy and a bit scary. It is absolutely hugh will about 50 or so platforms. So many people too, this is the way most argentines get around the country.

The buses are nothing like I´ve been on before. So good. You have three classes, semi cama, cama and full. Semi is a seat that goes back about 140 degrees and includes food and drink, cama is a wider chair, more leg room, a proper leg rest, pillow and blanket and reclines 160 degrees. Its big enough for you to sleep on your side and comes with food and drink and finally full, this is the same as above but lies completely flat!! I went cama as its cheaper. I left at 6pm and was given dinner, cold starter, hot main (beef and mash) with wine and creme caramel for afters and a cold breakfast. The love sweet stuff for breakfast, a cake thing with caramel in the middle and a wafer bar covered in choc too. The best bus ride I´ve ever done even better than most flights I´ve had. Good movies too.

I got into P.Madryn about 10ish and headed for my hostel that a guy from spanish school recommended. It was a small hostel but really friendly. It was great because as soon as I got in I heard 4 yes 4 english accents...I hadn´t spoken to an english person for weeks!! It kinda makes you feel warm and safe. I booked to go and see the penguins the next day.

THe people working and staying at the hostel were really nice, they got to know your name and a group of us went out for dinner and drinks together. I met a guy from Canada, Marty, who has been here for 3 weeks as it is so laid back and spends most of his days sat on the beach catching a few rays....it´s too cold for him in Niagra.

There were only three of us going to the penguins so we had a guide and a car...better than a bus full of tourists. We headed to Rawson first to go on a boat to see some dolphins. We saw a few but not so many and I´ve seen dolphins many times now I just wanted to see penguins. The journey down to Punto Tom is quite a way away, we did about 400kms round trip. There is a colony of penguins down here of just short of a million birds. THey live in a kinda of desert where temperatures reach 40 degrees c!! They make there nest in burrows and return each year to the same one. You can walk by them and they don´t pay any attention to you. THe only rule is that you give way to them when they are coming or going from their nests. They currently have young with them. I would have loads of pics to show you but sods law my battery ran out after only 4 pics!! I´m going to try and get some from some friends to post on facebook. I really can´t believe penguins live in the sun, its completely mad. THey stand there all panting like dogs as they don´t have sweat glands. It was an amazing sight to see them stood on the beach having a chat and swimming about in the water. A sight I will never forget.

I left the next day to head for Esquel where I was meeting Trisha for New Years Eve and the rafting guys before heading across to Chile to go rafting.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1227983400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1227983400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tboxtracy/2/1227983400/tpod.html Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:54:06 -0500 Bangkok - Laos - Vietnam - Thailand - Austrailia - New Zealand - S America

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

Another day another country another city!!

When I landed it was absolutely pissing it down, it was thundering and there was lightning. Not a good start, I might as well been in England. My hostel was only 30mins in a cab which wsn´t too bad and in San Telmo aquite a nice part of BA. The hostel was pretty small and I was really surprised that you had to buzz in to get in through the door and then buss again to get through an internal door. I was like...is it safe around here!! I hate hostels sometimes as they can be so clickey (wrong spelling I know). So I was lying on my bed reading my lonely planet minding my own business when a girl came in and said "oh you´re new so you haven´t stolen my pizza!" and then walked back out..I was like what the !!! However a bit later on the same girl (Judith) came in and asked if I wanted to go to dinner with her and a friend...how nice maybe I was wrong about hostels!! We just went round the corner for a quick bite of good food and wine. Later on that night Judith´s friend Jacob asked if I fancied going for a drink with him and his irish friend Pete. Well it would have been rude not to. Judith didn´t come as she was feeling a bit ill. Well I didn´t expect to leave to go out at midnight!! and it was still pising down with rain and guess who went out in slippy flip flops...yep you guessed it me..and I slipped over and hit the pavement real hard. We tried to get into an expat bar but it was full so we ended up going to an Irish bar instead where most people spoke english and they even had an english band playing!! You could have thought we were anywhere in the UK rather than in BA. We finally got home at 5am....apparently this city is party central.

THe next day I was feelin sore from falling over and had the start of a very nice bruise on my arse. Judith and I decided to go to the pictures and watch something in english, she´s dutch!! We saw Body of Lies in a cinema in Recolata (a real fancy part of BA) and then had a walk around the local craft fair. She had heard of a really good pizz place nearby so we went in search of it. Well it wasn´t that nearby and took us ages to find after asking (well Judith asked) multi differeny people. One woman said she wouldn´t recommend it as she thought it was dingy. We eventually found it and it wasn´t dingy at all just really local. We were the only tourists in the place and they treated us so well. The pizza was pretty good and the house red wine was good at under 2 quid for half a litre. We ended up staying there longer than we expected as the wine went down really well and the atmosphere was really good. The local team, Boca juniors (the team Maradona played for) were playing and it was like being in a pub watching the match with everyone cheering etc. Good evening had by all. Judith was leaving the next day which was a real shame as she was so nice.

Monday was my first day in a new spanish school. I planned to study here for 2 weeks as they close for Xmas early. I managed to negotiate myself around the SubTe (metro) to get myself to school just about. Its pretty similar to Santiago with only five lines but much older and dirtier, more like the tube. My class was pretty big with 8 of us in it a bit different to Santiago. I got talking to an australian girl, Emily which was good. The level the put me in was the same as I had just done so I was just going over stuff I had already learned but that was ok because it gave me more practice with speaking as I hate speaking the language. I just sound really bad even if I get the right words. That night in the hostel I went to a gig where the band only play drums, El Tiempo de bomber, it was really good, a bit lñike there version of a rave. Cheap beer, 3 quid for a litre..yes a litre of Stella. There was a group of us from the hostel which made it fun. We then headed to a local bar afterwards for some food, pool and more beer. And no I didn´t make it to school the next day.

I arranged to move hostels on Wednesady to the same one as Emily as it was closer to school and sounded cooler. School was only a 15 min walk now rather than 30mins on the SubTe. The hostel is much nicer (I´m still there), newer, cleaner and the people are friendly. For the rest of the week it was really school, cooking cheap steak (under a quid for really good beef) and watching dvds.

Friday - five of us from school went out for lunch together and we chose a small cafe/restaurant which was full of locals so we proabably all stood out as Gringos. Some guy came over to one of us, Andrew and started to shake his hand and saying help me you speak english, which we all denied so he said fine and left. we all thought how strange and that he was a bit dodgy. Well about 15 seconds later Andrew is like FUCK my bag has gone so he runs out down the street. Fortunately someone has seen what was happening and shouted and pointed to Andrew that the guy and some girl had got in a taxi. Andrew jumped part of the way in to the taxi and the couple got out the other door so he got his bag back. The guy however ran straight into a policeman and someother person got the girl. Next thing we know there are three police cars on the corner and the couple are hancuffed. Andrew was lucky cos his laptop, camera and wallet were in the bag. We all couldn´t believe that five of us plus the woman taking our order hadn´t noticed what was going on.

Later that night we all pretty much went out to a club called living. Some of us bought a bottle of Vodka to drink (2.50 for a litre..this was an expensive one!!). We eventually headed out at 2.40am...normally I would be coming home at this time. We all caught the bus, they go 24hr a day and are cheap, about 20p. The club was small but real nice and I pretty much danced the morning away. I had finally had enough so me and a Columbian guy, Gustavo, caught the bus back. Within a few minutes the others were back because the club had closed...it was 6.30am. Suffice to say the hostel was a very quiet place on the Saturday.

Sunday, Emily, I and a Seagram (norwegian) went to Palermo to go to a craft market. It was quite a way on the SubTe from us. We then walked to Recoleta, a posh aread of the city. Emily and I walked around the cemetary there which is really fancy with tombs and mausolems. This is where Eva Peron (Evita) is buried. Seagram went back to the hostel as she had a bus to catch later that day. We then got a really good icecream, the best I have ever tasted before heading back to the hostel passed the fancy hotels and shops. This area looks very much like some of the streets in Paris with Gucci shops etc.

No school on Monday as was a religous holiday and I was thoroughly lazy. Didn´t do much of anything other than watch some dvds.

Tuesday back to school and still learning the same stuff as before. All good practice I suppose. Emily and I attended a conversation class in the afternoon with other students. However, their spanish was much better than ours and we didn´t understand too much. However, we did get to try Mate which is a herbal drink that Argentinians, Uruguayans and Paraguyans drink all the time. It was ok a bit like chinese herbal teas, a taste you get used to I supposed. We lost some of the people we had got to know at the hostel that day which was not good but a new group of people had arrived to make friends with. I got talking to two irish girls, Katy and Netty and two american girls, Shauna and Katy. Later on I went out for a drink with the americans and an australian guy. Not a good idea again to get in at 2am on a school night oh well...whilts in BA behave like a Porteño.

Wednesday more school and more people arrive at the hostel. I spent the afternoon wandering around the city. I needed to buy some headache ppills, too much drinking!! and a spanish dictionary. I walked for what seems like hours. The hostel has a different feel to it than before but just as good as nearly everyone got together last night for a chat before they headed out..not me I needed to sleep, most of them don´t have school the next day. The Irish girls were going skydiving the next day. I´m completely jealous, if I had the money I would do it again.

Thursday - more school and we have a test tomorrow as we are finishing. It´s been good this week as there has only been 4 of us in class, the rest have left. We have a test tomorrow to revise for, bringing together evgrything we have learned over the last two weeks. After school I went to the Plaza de Mayo as every Thursday s"the mother of the disappeared" protest. They are mother of people who disappeared during the dirty ware about 30yrs ago. These people were tortured and probably murdered. It was a similar situation as in Chile. They bang drums and wave banners about. Apparently the Argentenian goverment as investigating the claims now and are going to try the people concerned.

I have got very lazy in doing this so here is a summary of my last 10 or so days in Bs As:

Well I got 95% in my spanish test so....woowoo but I still don´t speak any more spanish, just read, hear and write better!!

I moved from the hostel into a private room in an apartment that a Cecilia from spanish school owns. There was one other student there, Trisha, from Hawaii and a David from Panama. Trisha and I tried to book bus tickets to go up to Iguazu Falls (275 waterfalls on the border with Brazil) for Xmas but all the buses were full so we stayed in Bs As for Xmas. David has limited english so it made Trisha and I speak more spanish. Always a bonus

Trisha loves to Salsa and I didn´nt know how to do it but David does so we went to a couple of clubs. It was really good seeing people who are good doing it. I watched most of the time as I can´t dance sober and each time we went we were completely sober...whats that all about?? I did get an impromptu 15min lesson from David in the apartment so I now know the basics, well sort of.

Boca (the most famous team in Argentina) won the football league after a three way play off. David introduced me and Trisha to a couple of his arg friends, Ariel and Gabrielle who are big Boca fans on the 23rd. This was the evening they won and about midnight we made our way to the Obelisk to see the Boca fans celebrating. No pics though as they told us not to take anything other than 20 pesos (4 quid) as it was likely that pickpockets would be about :o( There was a sea of light blue and white (team colours) around the obelisk, the police closed the road. There must have been thousand of people therte all ages. It was a great atmosphere.

Trisha was having a few problems with her boyfriend who was supposed to be flying into Santiago to go rafting for three days so I agreed to go with her instead. The futaleufu is supposed to be the best white water river to raft in South America. $900 for three days but hey..chaging plans is what travelling is all about.

Xmas was quite quiet. They celebrate here on Xmas Eve having a big family dinner and the kids opening their presents at midnight. Fireworks were being let off until the early hours of the morning. Trisha and I stayed in eating bread, good cheese and drinking really good cheap red wine (less than 2 pound a bottle!!) and watched a DVD. Everyone else were out with family or friends.

Xmas lunch was burger king, yes you read that right!! on our way to David´s friend´s apartment. Sergio lives in a really cool apartment with a pool on the roof. We all drank good wine and had home made pasta and sauce oh and of course obligatory red wine. Sergio is second generation italian so the food was good.

Trisha left for Santiago on boxing day which left me and David in the apartment. He left to go back to Panama the next day and I left to go down south to Puerto Madryn to see the penguins. I missed the whale season.
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Santiago, Chile

The flight over was good but I didn´t manage to sleep that much. I left NZ at 5.30pm and arrived in Santiago at 12.30 pm the same day. It was a 11.5hr flight. First lot of jetlag for me.

I had arranged to be taken from the airport to the family I was staying with. I hoped this would make it easier for me but it was still a pain. It dawned on me that not a lot of people speak english here and it filled me with a sense of panic. I arrived at my families house eventually to be greeted by the mum, Jeanette, who doesn´t speak any english and her husband Sergio who speaks some. They have 4 boys, Sergio 14, Martin 10, Joachim 4 and Lucas 1. Sergio jnr apeak really good english which is a god send as I spend most of my time looking like a rabbit caught in headlights!! There is an american guys at the house too Todd, he´s about my age. He is typically american, their the greatest etc and he can´t have a conversation with it turning political and he´s a church goer (doesn´t mention this much though). He´s shown me how to get to school which is good as it´s a 30 min walk and I´d had never found it on my own.

The school is good and I am learning with 3 others who don´t know any spanish. I know some and I know most of what we are doing I just can´t speak the damn stuff. I can read and write some basics. The speaking is very frustrating for me as I always get it wrong but it´s right in my head if you know what i mean.

I wish I had opted to stay in a Hostel rather than a home stay as I am pretty isolated where I am. I spend all my time in my room reading and napping. I´m starting to get cabin fever. Todd stays in his room too but he has his laptop so spends all his time on that, I wish I had mine now. He moves out on Saturday to his own apartment as he has got a job over here so god knows what i´ll do with him gone. I´m thinking of maybe changing to a hostel for the last few days so i get some interaction with other travellers. I need to somehow sort my sleep pattern out as I nap when I get in til 10 then I´m awake till 2 and then can´t get up!!

Yesterday (thursday) was a better day. We had a practicle afternoon lesson so we learned how to buy friut from a market stall. Cathy my afternoon teacher took us to see her friend Emilio. He speaks a little english so he made us feel very relaxed and talked thru the spanish names of the fruit and made us laugh a lot. I also managed to travel on their underground system on my own without getting lost and took myself to the supermarket to but some stuff. I only get breakfast (bread and jam) at the house so I have to feed myself in the evening. I got through that and found my way home!!! Yay!!! I go to lunch with Todd and his friend Joeren (dutch) and they translate for me most days which is good.

Looking forward to seeing the city at the weekend. The metro system here is really easy I´ve found as it only has 5 lines. It is really quick, clean and new, not like the tube, however it gets as packed as the tube does. People are very polite and automatically give up their seats for the elderly and pregnant women. You definitely wouldn´t see this on the tube. I found my way into the centre of the city pretty easily armed with my Lonely Planet. I go round the recommended museums and churches which is really interesting and get a bite to eat at a mall, I needed the loo and this was the cleanest place to go. I walked around the city centre for about fours hours and then treated mydelf to an icecream...it´s very good here but apparently it is even better in Buenos Aires. The family went out this evening so I had the whole house to myself. Todd moved out to his apartment today. I got to watch english speaking TV with spanish subtitles...best way to learn swear words!! Sunday I took myself back to the city to see the museums which are free on a Sunday...count the pennies and all that!! Went to one which had loads of pre-columbian artefacts, inca etc, was so interesting. I´m glad I made the effort to go around it.

Was back to school for the following week. Felt a little more confident as I had ventures out all weekend on my own and could understand more of what the homestay mum was saying to me even if I couldn´t reply back. Found my way to school all on my won too..not that hard after all. I met a couple of newbies one from Northampton, Pete and an australian, Geoff who were complete beginners which mad me feel better as they speak even less spanish that I do. I also got talking to Melanie and candian girl who speaks pretty good spanish. The three of us got on really well and went to lunch. So a good start to the week. Apparently after Tuesday I have my spanish class all on my own so it was private lessons for group prices!! Still spending time in my room after school except for when I am helping Sergio with his english, I must stop telling him bad words!!

Geoff is renting a studio apartment for the three weeks he´s here and it has a pool so he kindly invited the three of us, me, Pete and Melanie to go back there after school which we did for the rest of the week. The roof provides a really good view of the city and mountains if you can see them throught the smog!

Wednesday after we left Geoff´s we headed for a drink and had a couple of pitchers of beers (Geoff and I) for the princely sum of 2 quid per pitcher. Its pretty cheap here and it´s supposed to be the most expensive place in South America. We had arranged to meet some people and one of my teachers, Mauricio, at a Kareoke Club later on. We got there about 10.30 and were given a free drink, their local speciality "Pisco Sour" which tastes abit like tequila with lemon juice (its a longer drink that tequila). Mauricio and his wife got up to sing but the rest of us weren´t brave enough even after several piscolas (pisco and cokes). We headed out about 3am. It´s not a good idea to drink Pisco on a school night...it gives you a really bad hangover, well it did me. I don´t think I learned anything at school that day! But it didn´t stop me from hitting the pool in the afternoon.

Friday was my last day at school and even though I pretty much hated being in Santiago the first week I was actually sad to be leaving. I liked my teachers and the school, made new friends, got to know my way the city better and was starting to go out and enjoy myself. Oh well that´s just how it rolls. We headed to Geoffs at the end of school as usual, sunbathed for a bit and went and got some beer and wine. Melanie and I both planned to leave early enough to catch the last metro but ended up staying til really late. Pete and I shared a taxi at 2am. Probably wasn´t a good idea as I was leaving the next day at 10am to fly to Buenos Aires.

I was really sad to say goodbye to the family in the end. Sergio had english school so he said goodbye before he left. I had just started to feel at home here and it was sad to go.
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