Valpo to Santiago and Beyond

So I woke up in the morning with a mission to see everything I could in Valpo before my bus left at 7:30. I decided first to change over my Argentine pesos, and then head out to see the university district, and find a beach to plunk my butt down on. I managed to find the money exchange place this time without troubles. I got a good enough rate and now had a pocket full of Chilean pesos. Next stop, grub. On my way to finding a restaurant I stumbled upon this cool little street market. I bought a few things here because they were pretty cool. I ended up finding a little cafe right across from the street market and went for some lunch. Speaking Spanish to the waitress was fun. I ended up ordering a 1L cervesa and a hamburgesa con tomate. Total $3. With a good buzz on I headed out to explore the city. I started off in the old part of the city and wandered up and down some of the curvy streets. I came across this plaza where the old congress buildings used to be. Got some great fotos here. This is the area where the Chilean Armada schools and headquarters are. After seeing some of the downtown area I headed towards the university mountain. I caught one of the ascensors up the hill and started my way down the street. I walked past quite a few of the universities and I found the soccer stadium. The practice fields beside the stadium are dirt and it was fun to watch some of the locals playing soccer in the dirt fields. From here I made my way to the beach. The beach that was marked on the map looked all nice and sandy. In reality it was all rocky and no good for swimming. I walked the seawalk back towards the city in search of a nice sandy beach. I found a cool rocky beach and went down to it to test the water. The water was freezing, but a beautiful turqoise color. When the waves would splash on the rocks it would drag them back out so sea making a really cool noise. Very calming place. I stayed for a little bit and then pressed on. About a half hour down the road, right close to the city I came across a sandy beach. I got out my towel and plunked myself down. It was then I started to notice that there were a few girls sitting around with no tops on. Ah heaven. After warming up in the sun I decided to test out the water. I was a little aprehensive to leave my pack with my camera on the beach, but I kept an eye on it and walked down to the water. I got in to my knees and it was so cold! I decided I was this far, i’d already swam in the Atlantic ocean on this trip, I had to do the Pacific. With this motivation I dove in. I think I had a quick heart attack as my body adjusted, but I quickly got out and went back to the beach. I layed in the sun for a bit longer admiring my surroundings and then headed back to the hostel. At the hostel I said my farewells and walked to the bus station for my 7:30 bus to Santiago. The bus to Santiago was pretty uneventful. I did notice throughout the highway that there are these little shrines made up all over the side of the highway. At first I thought it might be where people died in traffic accidents, but I think now it might be more of a good luck thing instead. The jury is still out on this. If anyone has any ideas then post me a comment. I arrived in Santiago at around 9pm.

I didn’t even realize I was in Santiago. I couldn’t see any tall buildings, no cramped streets. Not what I was expecting. The lady sitting next to me helped me out alot to find the subway and get around. She was a teacher in Miami for 2 years so she had a grasp on English as well. Quickly I was on the subway heading in the right direction. Thank you so much! I found the hostel pretty quickly. Actually Palo (guy from hostel) was showing someone else where there was a cool chilean party, and saw me walk by with my stuff. As soon as I was about to walk past the hostel he was like.. bro right here. I got all set up and everything was well. I met up with Cameron and Caroline again here, and we sat around and had some beers and chatted with Palo.

The next day Cam, Caroline and I headed out to explore the city. We wanted to find our way to the top of the hill so we could see the city. We got the subway towards the hill. The subway system here in Santiago is fantastic. Most modern and comfortable subway system I have ever seen. Very fast, efficient and cheap as well. For less than $1 you can take the subway system wherever you need to go. Also while on the topic, Santiago is a very modern city. The streets and buildings are all very modern and in really great shape. All the streets are lined with trees and most people drive nice new cars. We found a hill thats part of a park. We walked all around the park to check everything out. Lots of great foto ops here. From here we could see the bigger hill from which you can see the whole city. We headed off in that direction. When we got there we found out that the ascensor was still under maintenance. We decided to walk all the way to the top. It was straining and hot but after a half hour or so we made it all the way there. At the top the view was simply amazing. The entire city is framed by the andes mountains in the distance. They were a bit hard to see because of the smog, but I could get the picture. Also at the top was a catedral with beautiful murals carved into the stone, and at the very top was a giant statue of the virgin mary. We took some fotos and caught our breath. For the ride down we took the gondola. The gondola ride was really fun with good opportunities to see all around the city. After that we started walking back towards the subway station and some lunch. We found this little lunch cafe and stopped for a bite to eat. I got a hot dog, italian style. It was a hot dog served with mashed avocado, cut up tomatoes and some mayonaise on top. It was really good and super filling, all for about $3. Not a bad deal. After lunch Cam and Caroline decided to do some shopping. I headed back to the hostel to relax, pack up my stuff and get ready to head to the airport for my long trip back to Canada

I’m excited to head home to see everyone, but at the same time I am really going to miss South America. I’ve really had the time of my life here and learned and experienced so many things. The culture, people, art, history, architecture and landscapes are breathtaking. I’ve met some lifelong friends on this trip and I feel much more enlightened. My Spanish has improved quite a lot, and I am more confident to use it. When I return home I will continue to learn whatever I can until speaking and understanding is much more 2nd nature. This experience most definitely made me a better person and was absolutely incredible. I am pretty sure I will be back again soon.  Caio sudamerica, mucho gusto para todos.

The Andes and Valparaiso

Hey.. I’m writing about today!  This is amazing!  Well the bus trip started off just fine.  I snapped lots of pictures as we made our way through the Andes.  Along the way we kept stopping to pick up the Military Policia and move them to new posts along the way.  At one point one of the guys sat next to me.  I chatted with him a little bit, but couldn’t do well enough with my Spanish.  It was funny because sitting on the somewhat cramped bus I could feel his gun sitting right against my hip.  Kinda funny, but I never really thought too much about it.  As we got closer to the Chilian border the mountains became even more majestic.  At one point we went through a tunnel that actually went right through a mountain.  It was really cool.  Shortly after we were at the Chilean border.  I went through all the border stuff, managed to not get my stuff searched, saw Amy and Kristen from Mendoza as thier bus to Santiago stopped too, and then headed back on our way.  The roads on the Chilean side were really cool.  Narrow and steep switchbacks that went down about 10 times to drop enough altitude.  Our bus driver was crazy too and was passing everyone.  He did really well and probably made up some time.  The chilian countryside was georgous.  Mountains everywhere with farms and fields.  Really nice.  At one point we came to a construction zone and traffic was backed up.  After further investigation little pickup had rolled over on the overpass and lost his load of carrots.  We were there for about half an hour as a backhoe flipped the trip and all the highway workers helped the guy load all his carrots back up again.  Another couple hours on the bus and I had arrived In Valparaiso.  The coastline was completely stunning, and the blue waters were beautiful.  The city is incredible.  Its a whole bunch of hills and the city is built up on them.  There are little ascensors (gondola elevator things) to take you from one street to another because everything is so steep.  After some searching I managed to find my way to the hostel.  I had to bargain with the lady at the ascensor to take an american dollar instead of Chilean pesos because I didn’t have any yet.  When I got to the hostel the guy here gave me some pesos to get me through the night.  I went for a walk around the city and took a bunch of pictures.  I decided to give empanadas another chance as well because they were pretty cheap.  After that i pretty much called it a night.  We’ll see what kind of trouble I can get into tomorrow and Wednesday.

Oh Mendoza I Love You

What do I really have to write.. the title says it all.  Well i’ll try my best.

Why The Suite Is Worth $10 More

When I got my ticket for the bus I wasn’t sure what class of seats to pick.  There is Semi-cama which is a reclining chair, there is Cama which is a chair that reclines really far and has a fold up foot rest, and then there is Suite which I found out folds down flat like a bed, and you get your own row with a curtain, choice of 4 movies and dinner and breakfast.  Well I had a 12 hour overnight bus ride so I figured since Suite is only $28 pesos more than Cama.. why the heck not.  I made the right choice.  I had a nice comfortable seat, read for a while, ate some dinner then went to sleep on a fully reclined bed.  Honestly it wasn’t the greatest sleep of my life or anything, but fact is I slept for 8 hours on a bus, woke up to an amazing sunrise and felt pretty good all in all.  At around 7am I had arrived in Mendoza.  I picked up my bags, found my scribble map I jotted down on some scrap paper a few days earlier and made tracks for Hostel Lao.  Within the first 5 blocks I had gotten off course.  The first thing I had to do was cross under a highway.. well I did only to realize the bus depot is bordered by 2 highways.  I found a street on my scribble map and started in the right direction.  Within about 15 minutes i’d found the hostel.

Hostel Lao (Paradise)

When I first checked into the hostel everything was so quiet because it was early in the morning.  Romina was working that morning, and she only spoke Spanish so I really had to pay attention and try my best Spanish back.  I got all checked in, but had to wait until later for a room because I was so early.  I went outside and sat in one of the hammocks and read my book for a few hours.  So a little bit about Hostel Lao.  First off there is a huge back yard with a pool, trees and 5 hammocks strung around.  The living area is huge and and its got a great kitchen, eating area and everything.  The patio, deck around the pool and all that is totally the best too.  At the hostel there are 2 resident dogs as well.  The first one is Astor.  He is a big german shephard who loves to play fetch, and the other one is Bambina.  She is a black grehoundish type dog that loves attention, sleeps really funny and has a tendancy to steal things from the dorms.  Both very friendly and super nice dogs.

Well anyways so after sitting and reading for a while I think I fell asleep in the hammock.  It gets really hot in Mendoza so I guess I just had a little siesta.  When I got up I went to check on my room, which I now had one.  I met one of my roomates.  Kevin is his name.  He’s a fellow canadian from Kingston, Ontario.  We decided since we both just arrived that we’d go out and explore the city a bit.  We went to Plaza Independencia, had some lunch, realized it was too hot to do anything and went back to the hostel.  For the rest of the evening we sat around and had some beers with other people from the hostel.  This is when I met Kevin the canadian from Toronto.  I thought something was kinda funny and maybe I forgot the other guys name, but both were Kevin’s from ontario travelling independantly.  I think this night is when I met Amanda from the UK as well, and Bob the resident traveller, and Neil the Scot.  Well anyways we sat around, had some mate, talked about our travels and just had a great relaxing night.

Bikes and Wines

The night previous while indulging in Mate, Kevin, Amanda and I decided we’d figure out the wine tour where you ride bikes to the different wineries and taste wine all day.  Amanda was meeting a couple of her friends she’d met around as well so we’d all go as a group.  We figured out the bus, and figured out where we were going.  The bus driver ended up letting us off at the wrong place, but after a short walk we figured it out.  We went to Mr Hugos bike rentals, got our new rides, some pictures and we were on our way to the first of 6 destinations.  Riding around in the countryside was really beautiful, and it was even more fun because none of us had ridden bikes in a little while.  The first stop was the wine museum.  Here we got to see the old way to make wine, the new way and then got a free tasting.  The wine was good, but I was sure we’d find better.  We rode on.  The next stop was a chocolate and liquors place.  It was really amazing all the things they made here.  If I could have filled a backpack with all thier stuff and sent it home I would have.  We ended up buying a bottle of chocolate con avellana (choclate with hazelnuts) so we could pour it over ice cream that night.  We rode on.  It was getting to be around 3pm by now and the temperate was about 34 degrees.  I stopped at a corner store and bought a 1L bottle of beer.  A while down the road we found a grove of olive trees and stopped to put on more sunscreen and have the beer.  It was funny because we were half way though the beer and a policia on a motorcycle shows up.. I quickly hid the beer and was ready to speak our way out in Spanish when all he said was we should keep moving because the area is peligroso (dangerous).  I told him we would so we polished off the beer quickly and were back on our way.  I have to admit I was a little buzzed by now so riding bikes in the sun was really fun.  The next stop was a nice winery with a little patio for lunch.  We ordered lunch, did our tasting, ate our lunch, I bought a bottle of the reserve Malbec and then moved on to our next stop.  A little ways down the road we stopped for a “do we really want to continue” pow wow.  Kevin decided to head home, but the rest of us continued on to the olive oil factory.  This tour was interesting because they explained the different processes, what the different types of oil are and why, and then we got to finish it off with a taste of some great little snacks with the olive oil.  Really amazing stuff.  I wish I could have bought a bottle but we all make sacrifices.  Along our trip we kept trying to decide if we were going to go to the river or not.  It was within riding distance, but by the oil place we had already done 15km, so we decided to head back.  Everyone had told us the river was dangerous and the water was low anyways.  I would have loved to go swimming, but we never got that far.  On our way back we hit one last winery. This one gave us 4 full glasses of wine.  They made really great wines as well so I bought a bottle of the Syrah.  We left the last wine place and headed back to the bike shop.  Here Mr Hugo told us to relax and opened a couple more bottles of wine for us.  We ended up meeting a few other people who did the bike trip as well and had a nice relax for an hour or so.  By the time we got back to the hostel we had missed Chef Bob’s asado (BBQ).  We went up to the store to go get our own stuff.  We ate, swam hung around and met more people and had a great ole night.  One of the trip highlights this day for sure.

The Day Of Siestas

Today was really hot again.  I couldn’t decide what to do so I went with a group up to the San Martin Park.  The park is huge.  We sat around the lake, had some lunch and then walked back to the hostel. By about mid day it was already too hot to do anything.  Pretty much everyone took a siesta around the hostel, played some games, swam in the pool and relaxed.  I finally got the motivation at 7:30 or so to go get some cash, book my bus and book my morning paragliding adventure.  Unfortunatly my bus left at 9:30 so I never could go paragliding.  By the time I arrived back, chef Bob had made up some amazing curry, and Nicky had got some more ice cream so we could finish off the chocolate liquor.  We all sat around, ate good food and chatted the night away.  Everyone I met at this hostel was so amazing.  There were people from all around.  Americans, Dutch, English, Scottish, Kiwis, Canadians, Bob.  Tdot Kevin met a nice girl at the bar the night before so she was around for a bit.  They took off later on to go on a proper date.  Way to go Kev.  Maybe you will learn Spanish after all   Really great times.  In the morning, I got up, packed everything, said my goodbyes, which was actually pretty tough for only knowing people for a few days, and headed for my bus.  Well Mendoza, and Hostel Lao, I will be back again someday for sure.

Life Back In The Big BA

Well again it has been a while since my last post. After some really long days it is hard to sit down and recap it all. Not the recap part, just the sitting still and writing. Well here goes.

Friday – Adventures, Salsa and a New Home

We started the morning in Colonia and caught the buquebus back across. Grant and Daniel were back off to La Plata to see how Hector made it through the week with only a Spanish-English dictionary and copious amounts of justiculation. We wished them farewell and then Ashleigh and I went to catch a taxi to the hostel. We got into a taxi and started to speak with the nice old man in Spanish. Between Ash and I we spoke some really great Spanish to the taxi driver only to have him reply in English. Well turns out he had done some extensive travelling throughout the Americas and if I remember correctly had even travellend to Canada. We talked pretty much the entire way to the hostel, and he dropped us off right in front of the Garden Hostel. For some reason he thought it was some kind of childrens daycare or something so triple checked that we were sure it was the right place. He was a nice old man.

We got all set up in the new hostel and our new friend Jaun helped us through getting to know the area and everything. The hostel was really beautiful with a huge upstairs community area and a large outdoor terrace. It was small as well with only 24 beds which was very nice because you can build good friend ships with other travellers. I really loved this hostel and if I go back to BA again i’ll be there for sure. We were also lucky enough to arrive on the Tango lessons night. Ok I guess I better try so I signed up.

So for adventure today Ash and I decided we would head down together to check out San Telmo. San Telmo is an older area to the south of Centro with old buildings, cobblestone streets, and an amazing plaza with restaurants, markets and tango galore. There is also a huge antique market in San Telmo as well which we wandered through. Saturdays and Sundays are the busy market days so we were early for the craze, but we saw lots of cool things nonetheless. We stopped in Plaza Dorrego to rest and watch a live Tango show. Tango sure is a passion here thats all I can really say. Hopefully pictures to follow. One thing that stands out in my mind is the huge church a block away from the plaza. It towers so far into the sky and has many beautiful sculptures all over. A big plaque on the front in memory of all the people in San Telmo that died from yellow feaver many years passed. This is when all the ricos (rich people) moved from San Telmo to Recoleta and Palermo. During our travels around San Telmo we found ourselves on the border with La Boca. We decided to try to find the other hostel we were looking at in the lonely planet book because it was near here. On a side street we found it. I knocked on the door and we went to take a look. It was a really nice hostel as well. Smaller in size with friendly people and staff. We found out too that they had hostel sponsered activities like Tango and Salsa lessons for hostel residents. Maybe we would come back here.

Next we decided to venture right into the heart of La Boca to find La Bombonera and Camioneta st. La Boca is a blue collar barrio in BA. This is where the docks used to be at the boca (mouth) of the river. Well the river ended up drying up and the barrio turned into one of the hardship places to live in BA. To this day La Boca is a very dangerous place, and many tourists have lost backpacks and gotten thier asses kicked walking through here. Yay sounds like an adventure! At the same time there are some really great landmarks in La Boca as I mentioned above. Well we crossed the border into La Boca. Neither of us had really anything of value on us so we weren’t particularly worried. The streets within a couple blocks started to look much poorer and more foreboding, yet we pressed on. We found this great little park and as we started walking further we saw the Inglo Russo Church. It was a great building with spires that look like churches in Russia. Here is where we developed the prarie dog tactic. One of us would stand watch while the other flicked a few quick pictures. Again we pressed on towards the heart of La Boca. After some interesting side streets and some really cool parts of town we came across this really long field and at the end was La Bombonera. This is the name of the HUGE soccer stadium used by the Boca Jr’s soccer team. The pride of La Boca. The place is immense. We got closer and closer and the place just grew and grew. It is painted in the boca colors of yellow and blue. Simply amazing. After employing the prarie dog a few more times to snap some photos we pressed on for Camioneta St. A few blocks later after walking next to some traintracks and we had found it. Camioneta st is famous in BA because of the colorful houses constructed from corrugated sheetmetal and brick with a beautiful cobblestone street. See back in the day the dockworkers would take the leftover paint from painting the ships and in their evermost creative spirit they would paint thier houses all the colors of the rainbow. The street is touristy for sure, but definitely a sight to see. I ended up buying some nicknacks here and we talked to a few people who were some of the nicest local people I met in BA. It was getting later and the tourists and markets were clearing out so we figured we better beeline it back to the border. We walked back out, nicknacks in hand without any trouble on the way. We survived La Boca. To be honest I didn’t find it dangerous. Everywhere we went there were children playing or it was just plain quiet, but even the porteños (local Argentinians) don’t often venture into La Boca because it is where all the gangs, drugs and riffraff can be found.

Well back at the hostel we had a bit of a break before tango lessons. I sat with anticipation. Hmm.. the teacher must be late. tick tick.. an hour later and we started to figure maybe Tango wasn’t on. This is when we decided to head down to the other hostel we found and join in on the nights salsa lessons. We got there, they guy buzzed us in and told us the lessons were upstairs. They didn’t even ask if we were staying at the hostel. In the common area we found 2 girls sitting around. One was the teacher and the other girl was hoping she wasn’t going to be the only student. The lesson was really fun, albeit very warm and stuffy in the room. We learned some salsa steps, how to loosen up and also some fun columbian dance where pretty much I had all the women! Go me. After the lesson Ash and I hung around to see how much we owed… you know.. we weren’t staying there. Our teacher was like, “oh no don’t worry its provided by the hostel” We thanked her very much, forgot to mention we didn’t live there and left with a free salsa lesson. After that we headed back to our new home.

Saturday – Parks, Graves and New Friends

Saturday morning I think was the first time I actually made it up for breakfast. Breakfast usually runs until 11am, so sometimes i’m hard pressed to try to get out of bed, have a quick shower and make it there in time. This became my morning reputation. People were astonished to see me awake and chipper. I don’t know why I actually got up early, but it was a good start to the day. In the morning Ashleigh wanted to go sign up for some Spanish lessons, and then we were going to explore the city further. I decided to go with her up to the school to check it out. We walked all the way up to the school only for Ashleigh to realize she didn’t have the address. After some searching she stopped at a locotorio (telephone and internet store) and checked her email. We found the place and she signed up for Spanish. I thought about it, but I can’t be bothered to go to school on vacation

After that we got on the subte and headed out to Palermo to go to the botanical gardens. The plants, trees and sculptures at the gardens were all beautiful. It was nice and relaxing. We walked around the gardens and parks of Palermo for a few hours. The parks in Palermo are beautiful. We stopped at the japonese gardens and checked them out as well, and then decided to go for some lunch. In amongst the streets of Palermo we found this cool little pizza joint with a wood fired pizza oven. We had some empanadas and pizza that were really really great. After lunch we tried to find our way out of Palermo and back out of town. After some walking towards the subte on the map we realized we were going the complete wrong way. Accidently we ended up in Recoleta at the Cemetary. We went in and spent a couple hours taking it all in a bit deeper than last time. Only pictures can really explain it all. By the time we left there we were exhausted so we found a bus that eventually got us back to the hostel. I spent the evening relaxing at the hostel and resting my poor tired feet. This is when I met Ashley and Nicole. They were planning on going to the Boca Jr’s futbol game the next day so I joined them and we hatched our plan. I’d meet up with Ashley the next morning to procure our tickets.

Sunday – Match Made Somewhere Between Heaven And Hell

Today was the day of the big game. I got up sort of early again, had a bite to eat.. yeah thats right breakfast twice in a row. Beginning of a new week for ole Tyler. Oh and the cold shower. This was the second day in a row of the cold shower. I figured when I had the shower the day before and it was cold it is because by the time I got in there i’m sure the rest of the city had showered. Today though I know I was in there early enough, but still cold. Hmm this will take some investigation. Shortly after I was all ready, Ashley showed up so we could head down to pick up tickets for the game. The only way to get tickets is to go to the stadium in La Boca and buy them from the ticket office. They went on sale at 10am so we figured we’d try to make it for then. We got on the bus and headed down to La Boca. The bus pulled up across the street from this huge park with the stadium on the other side. Across the park we could see this seething crowd of people stretching for blocks. We started our trek across the field hoping to all prayer that wasn’t the line we were about to wait in.

Once across the field, doom set in. There were thousands of people stretching back about 4 city blocks around the stadium. Ashley and I walked to the back of the line and she said “well tell me your life story” We sat in line and chatted. Ashley is from the central US, but it slips me now exactly from which state. She has been travelling now for 4 years. Her stories were really amazing of all the places she has travelled. Some very inspiring stuff for sure. The next 2 city blocks, and 2 hours went by pretty fast because we had so much to talk about. I started to realize I should have put on sunscreen, and we both were feeling thirsty and a bit tired of waiting in line. All of a sudden this bell rang and people started flooding out of the line. We were confused because people ahead of us were just walking away. Well I figured it pretty quick that the game had sold out, and everyone was heading to the ticket scalpers that had been standing all around the field across from the line. We made a quick decision to buy some scalpped tickets ourselves because the game would be too good to miss. This is when we actually had to start to understand what we were doing because we didn’t know the layout of the stadium, ticket prices or anything. After some asking around we were finding that the average price was 100 pesos for a ticket. We realized quickly that the real ticket price is $24 pesos so we better get ready to bargain. Here we met up with a nice guy from the UK who arrived even after we did for the line. We decided to pool our resources and our western culture buying power. We started asking around more aiming for $60 pesos each ticket, and finding out where we were going to be sitting. All the scalpers were selling tickets for the end zone area where all the real hard core boca fans sit. This was going to be exciting at the least. After a bit more waiting it was evident that the scalpers were not selling out of tickets any time soon so we started to take our time. We finally bargained this guy down to $50 pesos cada boleta when we realized that the tickets weren’t even for this game, but a game in 2007. Wiley bastards, we started to look at tickets really closely after this. I looked over and spotted these 2 guys that looked like tourists. I went over and told them our pooling plan. They needed 4 tickets as well so we doubled our buying power. They were a couple of younger German guys, and one could speak Spanish really well. With the group of us and our Spanish savy german friend we managed to finally get real tickets for $70 pesos cada boleta (each ticket) which wasn’t too bad. About $25 CAD per. By now it was 2pm, and we agreed to meet our buying group back at 4pm for the game at 5:30. Ashley and I caught the bus back to near my hostel. While we were waiting at the bus stop this really extremely drunk chick came up and started asking for money. Couldn’t understand a damn thing she was saying, because she was speaking very drunk Spanish, but I humoured her for a few minutes until she went away. Geez I felt drunk after talking for 2 minutes.

I had an hour or so to eat some food and get ready to head for the game. I was feeling so excited. Ashley showed back up and we met up with Nicole a short time later. Well it was 4:30 by now, but no matter. Nicole had a friend named Alex that was coming along too, but he needed to find a ticket when we got there. On our way to the stadium once in La Boca, Alex managed to buy a ticket easily for $70 pesos and we were all ready to go. A couple blocks away, over the noise of the traffic we could hear this thundering noise. As we got closer we realized it was people cheering in the stadium. I think this is when my smile started that would last until the end of the game. We got closer and closer, cheering got louder and louder and the stadium started towering overhead. The stadium had the highest security i’ve ever seen. Hundreds of police officers in full riot control gear. We had to pass through and be searched by 3 different police officers, as well as have 8 different people check our ticket before we could get in. Where the hell were we going. Still the thunder of the crowd got louder. It sounded like you’d expect the coliseum in Rome must have sounded like with a gladiator contest. Finally we were past the last checkpoint and in the stadium. We could only yell at each other or point in order to communicate. By now I was so excited I was having trouble containing myself. We walked up to the 2nd tier and down the rampway to the open stadium. It was completely packed! with a heaving surge of people chanting jumping and cheering. The game was on. We found a place where we could see the game and tried to take in the atmospehere. It was simply incredible. A sea of fans dressed in boca colors, chanting along to all these historical boca songs. We tried to understand the Spanish, but it was full of slang. The game itself was really great. Boca didn’t play all that well, but the experience was amazing. When boca got scored on the singing got louder as if to motivate the team. When boca scored it was all out pandemonium with people jumping and singing at the top of thier lungs. The singing and complete controled chaos continued for the entire game. In the end Valez beat Boca by 1 goal. At game over we had to sit and wait for 30 minutes for the opposing team and fans to get out of town. Bombonera (boca stadium) has 3 tiers. The bottom 2 tiers are all boca fans. The top tier in the nosebleeds are for the opposing team. You can’t mix the fans here. During the game the opposing fans throw all kinds of stuff on the boca fans below, and even do so much as pee on them. We made sure we had the concrete roof above us so we didn’t have to worry. The rivalry between the fans is crazy. By the end of the game with emotions running high it would start a riot to let the fans loose at each other. This is why they lock in the boca fans so the other fans can safely leave. By the end of the game we all headed back to the hostel to shower and have some beers and recap in amazement to the other hostel mates. What an incredible experience.

Monday – Palermo Sightseeing and Hippy Drummers

In the morning Ashleigh and I decided to go out to Palermo Soho and Palermo Hollywood. These are the districts in Palermo with all the posh restaurants, trendy shops and rich people. We walked around and took it all in. Everything was beautiful, the restaurants were great and I liked it, but I didn’t really find it particularly amazing because its like a richer restaurant, shopping district of Vancouver. We stayed around for the morning, ate a typical 2 hour lunch in this cool little square and headed back to the hostel. Tonight we were meeting up with a bunch of people from the hostel to head to La Bomba drum circle at Konex so we relaxed and got ready to head out. It was Alex, Nicole, Ashleigh and I who ended up going. Konex is this cultural center where a group puts on a drum circle show every Monday. The music, atmosphere and show was really great. They are very talented and we all danced around for hours. Also at this place you could get beer. The cups were ginormous. Turns out each beer was a full 1 liter. Alex and I had a few while the girls got out of the crowd so they could dance. We didn’t see them again until the end of the show. After the show we walked a few blocks and stopped for a bite at this little empanada joint. We ate, drank more beer and then headed back to the hostel. At the hostel there were a bunch of people sitting out the outdoor patio having some beers. Yup more beer and stories. Went to bed a little drunk at around 3am. Good times.

Tuesday – Farewell to Grant and Daniel, Hello Food Poisoning

Well I woke up early in the morning with incredible stomach pains. I wasn’t sure if it was the beer from the night before, but my head and everything else felt fine. I bet it was those dodgy empanadas from the night before. I felt really crappy and my stomach hurt like crazy so I went back to sleep and slept until noon. By then I woke up and felt a bit better, but still not even near 100%. Ashleigh got back to the hostel after school and we went to go say goodbye to Grant and Daniel. We headed down to their amazing hotel. This place was the lap of luxury. We waited around there for Hector, Liliana and Marina to show up. It was so nice to see my Argentine family again. We all went out for lunch and did some shopping. I talked with Marina and Liliana for a bit in Spanish, but for the most part I just worked on surviving today. In the late afternoon we walked Liliana and Marina to the bus back to La Plata and said our emotional goodbyes. Liliana bought us some really nice mugs and we watched as the bus pulled away. We were all sad to say goodbye. Ash and I then walked Grant and Daniel to the subte and said goodbye to them as well. We’ll see them back in Canada soon enough. After this we went back to the hostel and I went to bed nice and early to work off the food poisoning.

Wednesday – Museums and Tango

In the morning I went down to retiro bus station, booked my bus ticket to Mendoza, figured out phones to call home from the bus depot and then headed out to the malba museum in Palermo. Ashleigh met up with me after school and we checked out the museum. The art was pretty incredible. I’m not very informed when it comes to art but some of the stuff would probably be pretty astonishing for anyone. After Malba we walked around the super rich district nearby and checked out all the beautiful houses and embassy buildings. We found the Canadian embassy here too. There were police on every corner in this area. Next we started on our way back to the hostel. On our way we passed the Belle Arts Museum. This is the museum that has all the Picasso’s and Monet’s and stuff like that. It was a beautiful museum. I spent a couple hours walking around, quickly lost Ashleigh and didn’t see her again until the end. We went back to the hostel, made some food and relaxed for a bit before the Tango show. On Sunday Ashleigh had went to this tango show in the park and got a free pass to lessons and a show. Nicole met us and we all headed out. I was a bit nervous to learn Tango, but after getting into it, it was really fun. I danced with this nice girl from Holland who was very easy to dance with. It was her first time as well, but we both did very well. After the lesson a full on milonga set up. Chairs all around the dance floor where everyone socalizes and then dances tango. Neither Nicole or I could go up because we weren’t good enough, but Ashleigh got asked to dance and did a few songs. She is a really good Tango dancer. I was impressed. After a little while a live band came on and some VERY good tango dancers put on a show. They were amazing. We stayed around for a while, and then headed home. I really had a great time, and I learned to dance Tango. How suave am I! Thanks Ash for getting my highly reluctant butt out there. I had a great time.

Thursday – Shopping and Leaving

Today I got up and decided to do some shopping before leaving BA. The great people at the hostel pointed me to a big shopping mall out on one of the subte lines. When I got there I was amazed because it was just like any other shopping mall, except the building was phenominal. I bought a few shirts and a boca jersey and headed back to the hostel. I went back out again to check out the markets, but I really wasn’t in to doing much more shopping. I got back to the hostel and relaxed for a little bit before heading for the bus. I’m sitting there reading and Nicole runs upstairs totally out of breath. She ran all the way home to say goodbye thinking I might have already left. A bit later Ashleigh showed up to say goodbye as well. She decided to move to a more centrally located hostel in a safer part of the city since I wasn’t going to be around if we went out at night. They both walked me down to the subte and we said our goodbyes.  They both watched me as I walked down into the subte station.  I’m gonna miss them both. Especially after travelling around with Ash for the last couple weeks. Thanks again for showing me so much Ashleigh.  You really are a great friend.  I made it to the bus station with time to spare, figured out my bus, boarded it and headed for Mendoza. Goodbye Buenos Aires. We had a great time together and i’ll miss ya.

Adventures in Uruguay

Leaving Buenos Aires

Well its been a busy week.  So i’ll pick up where I remember.  On Monday morning we all met up and headed for the Buquebus to Uruguay.  The gang was Grant, Daniel, Ashleigh and myself.  Uruguay is about an hour (fast boat) ride north of Buenos Aires.  To get there you have to go through both Argentine and Uruguian customs at the Buquebus terminal.  They sit at a desk together and check all your outgoing and incoming paperwork.  Listen up Canada and America.  We boarded the ship and all was well.  An hour later we were getting off the boat in Colonia, Uruguay.  A quick walk past the people checking bags and we were officially through.  Next we went to pick up our rent a car.  Thats right, we figured we’d do the trip in style.  All of us strapped into our new Chevy Astra and we were off.  We made a quick decision to head north as far as we could get and then make our way back down the coast.  Despite the humming and hawing, everyone was supporting my mission to Punta del Diablo.  First off, people drive much less crazy in Uruguay.  The countryside is beautiful and the highways are very modern and well kept.  About 2 hours later and we were in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.

Montevideo

We decided to stop here and take a look around.  We also went on the hunt for a bank so we could all get some money and head for lunch.  After some searching we found a bank machine we could use.  I went first.  A few minutes later I called in Daniel to translate.  After a bit of mucking around for both of us we managed to get some money out.  I grabbed $1600 pesos.  I figured I might have broke the bank with such an astonishing amount.  Turns out it was only $70 CAD.  The only smart one of us really ended up being Ashleigh who took out $3000 and ended up being the bank for the entire trip.  After procuring our Uruguaian gold we went in search of lunch.  We found this little cafe on a sidestreet.  New menu, new intrigue.  This is the first place we spotted a rare dish.  A plate of fries with meat and other wonderful things stacked on top.  Ironicly we all ended up ordering hamburgesas.  The burgers and local beer blanco went down soo smoothly.  One of the better burgers in a while.  After lunch we headed back to the car to make tracks for whatever lay ahead.  Another couple hours later we came across the turn off for Punta del Este.  A quick show of hands and we were off again.

Punta del Este

Punta del Este is an huge very exclusive beach resort city.  We could start to see it on the horizon along with white sand as far as the eye could see.  What a beautiful place.  We all started to wonder what movie stars we might see, or for myself about all the beautiful women.  We drove in to town to a huge surprise.  Nobody was there.  The buildings and resorts were all closed and the city was pretty much dark.  It was really erie actually.  A city with no people.  We drove all around the main road at one point without seeing another car.  Everything was desolate.  With 30 degree plus weather we were all baffled.  How could such a beautiful place be so barren and quiet.  What a mystery.  Well it turns out that Punta del Este might be too exclusive for its own good.  Nobody wants to go there first, and nobody wants to be the last one there, so for about 2 weeks every year the place is an absolute hot bed of movie stars and people from all over.  Then everyone packs up and the city closes again.  We were about 2 months too soon from our stardom debut.  We decided to get the hell outta dodge.

In Between Somewhere and Nowhere

A little while later we found ourselves at dusk lost on some country road with fields full of fireflies.  Never have seen fireflies before, but they are amazing.  A field full of them glows like flashing christmas lights.  We kept on driving into the night.  We came to this funny town called Moldondo.  We tried our best to figure out some of the highway interchange signs, but I think they were all painted by Andy Worhol.  Our translating peanut got out and asked for directions.  Go back the way you came they told us.  After a bit of backtracking we were back on a beaten path.  Unfortunatly we turned down the wrong side of a major freeway and quickly turned into the median right next to a couple police cars.  We were all wondering what they would do next.. .. .. Apparently Uruguayan police don’t really care much.  We found the proper way and headed off back into the night.  I think it was nearing about 11pm when we decided to head for the nearest town called La Paloma for some eats and sleeps.  We drove into this little beach town and again.. no life to be seen.  We started wondering if anyone actually lives in Uruguay.  We checked our handy scouts guidebook (Lonely Planet) to see where we should go for the night.  We ended up all agreeing on the Hotel Viola because the book described it as bright and airy and ended up being open.  We checked in and were happy to see a group of brits sitting in the lounge.  I remember somebody saying.. well at least we will all die together if the hotel keeper decides to cut us all up for next weeks supper.  Remember that whole bright and airy thing.. No idea what the Lonely Planet book was talking about, but we called this place home for a night.  We all grabbed a room together so we could maintain the protection of the herd and then headed down for some dinner.  I had ñoquis (gnocchi) with a cheeze sauce.  It was freakin amazing!  Score 2 for food in Uruguay.  Total so far for hotel and dinner with a beer, under $15 CAD.  We all headed for bed.  My pillow smelled musty, and the bed was hard, but all in all everything wasn’t too bad.  We all went to sleep.

Morning in La Paloma

Before bed we figured we’d leave the window open a crack because it was incredibly hot in the room.  Unfortunately we let in a swarm of mosquitos.  Anything skin that was exposed looked like it had suffered a mild case of chicken pox.  Bring on the yellow fever.  Well since i’m still here typing this means I didn’t get yellow fever.  The hotel didn’t seem to bad in the daylight.  The town itself was pretty too.  We checked out the lighthouse and beaches and then headed off for our next town of Cabo Polonio.

Cabo Polonio

We pull off at the exit for Cabo Polonio at around 10am.  Basically the exit was into somebodys driveway.  We were confused.  A guy came out of the house so we asked him how to get to Cabo Polonio.  He told us it can only be reached by 4×4 truck or caballo (horse).  We opted for 4×4 because the trip was quicker and some of us were not horse friendly.  The half hour drive through the sand dunes and across the beach to Cabo was a lifetime experience.  Daniel and I sat high on this perch on the back of the truck.  Bumpy ride, but we could see everything.  The town is a little gathering of buildings on the point.  A stretch of powerlines and a few sandy tracks lead to it and that is all.  We got dropped off in “downtown” and were told the truck would return at 6pm to pick us up.  We walked down a couple sandy streets and to the beach.  We found a restaurant right on the beach.  When I say right on, I mean so close that when a wave breaks you feel the spray.  This was probably the most amazing place i’ve ever eaten lunch.  For lunch I decided on chivito.  No idea, but what the hell.  Remember that dish with french fries and everything I talked about earlier, well this is chivito.  Basically it is a pile of french fries with a thin slice of beef then ham, bacon, onion, green pepper and a fried egg covered in cheese!  Simply amazing along side a Pilsen beer.  Score 3 for food in Uruguay.  After lunch we explored the town further.  We found the soccer field, all the mockup stores, lighthouse with hundreds of sealions and just soaked up the sun.  I won’t try to describe the town too far in words because I can’t do any justice to what it is really like.  I will add pictures later and it will really make sense.   We caught our 6 pm 4×4 out of town and headed to our next destination of Punta del Diablo.

Punta del Diablo

Punta del Diablo (Devils Point) is about 45 minutes north of Cabo Polonio.  We got there a little before the sun started to go down and checked into the Diablo Tranquilo hostel.  The hostel was beautiful and run by a friendly american couple.  The town itself sits on 2 beautiful sandy beaches with a rocky point in the middle.  The town probalby has about 500 to 750 people and is fairly remote, but nothing like Cabo.  We walked around town a little bit, took some pictures on the beach and then headed to the Diablo Tranquilo bar for dinner.  The food here was good, but not quite up to the cactus club like atmosphere of the bar.  The building itself was excellent though.  3 stories with a rooftop patio.  Beautufiully colored with nice intimate lighting and a huge outdoor deck seconds from the beach.  We had dinner and then headed back to the hostel to go to sleep.  The next morning we got up and explored the town further.  It was pretty quiet here, but definitely more lively than Punta del Este.  We went for a walk down the beach and then stopped and layed in the sun for a while.  It was hot! I got up and ran into the waves.  The water was mild with a touch of cold, but it felt so soothing.  Ash and Daniel told me I am crazy, and then came in to join me.  It was a nice swim despite the GIANT waves.  Next we headed back to the Diablo Tranquilo bar for some lunch.  Again it was good, but something was missing.  The rest of the day we just puttered around seeing town, playing some scrabble in Spanish and just taking it easy.  By bedtime we found out that a group of guys were joining us in the 10 person dormroom.  The 4 of us went to bed early and woke up a few times when the partying guys all dragged themselves in.  Oh well.  Next morning we were back on the road for the long haul back to Colonia.  About 2 hours into the driving we stopped for some gas and a snack.  From here I took over the driving.  I drove from near Punta del Este all the way back to Colonia.  This involved going through Montevideo which was kinda crazy.  Another city with lines on the road for decoration.  I tried going down a one way street the wrong way, but everyone was on me really quick.  Grant isn’t the only one.  From Montevideo to Colonia everyone in the car slept while I dove.  It was nice and quiet, and the countryside was beautiful.

Colonia del Sacramento

We decided to change our Buquebus tickets to the next day and stay in Colonia.  Colonia is a very historical town full old buildings, cobble stone streets and is the most picturesque town I have ever seen.  We wandered around for hours and took pictures of everything.  Again these will really do the town more justice than I can ever do in writing.  At sundown we stopped for some dinner at this outdoor patio right in the middle of a cobble stone street.  I had a huge steak with bacon and ham covered in cheese with a tomato sauce over it!  It was SO SO SO Good!  After dinner we walked around, took some more pictures and bought some stuff.  We called it another early night and headed to bed.  At 9am we caught the first boat out of Colonia and were on our way back to Buenos Aires.  Caio Uruguay.  Te amo.

La Plata Family Parrilla

On Sunday we were invited to a big family bbq (parrilla) out in La Plata.  To start out we had to catch the bus to get there.  The family told us that the bus was easy, just go to a booth at Julio de 9 y Avenida de Cordoba.  We got there only to find the booth for the Plaza bus was closed.  Everything was closed.  Aparently we all forgot that nothing is open on Sundays in Argentina.  After some asking around we found that we had to walk back down the street.  We found the stop but still had to get tickets.  After some more Spanish discussions we found out that this old guy standing on the sidewalk was selling the tickets for the bus.  We got our tickets, got on the next bus and were off to La Plata.

When we got to La Plata we were greeted at the bus stop by Hector and Alberto.  It was amazing how they had managed to communicate.  A little bit of English, some Spanish, a pinch of Italian and a lot of hand waving.  We made another crazy drive across La Plata with Alberto pointing out a bunch of interesting landmarks along the way.

When we arrived at the house we were greeted by a whole bunch of new faces.  More of the family from around La Plata had arrived for the feast.  So one thing I found out right away is that it is a customary greeting to give a kiss on the cheek to say hello.  Men, women, children.  It doesn’t matter.  After a round of greeting kisses we all got around to talking and sipping mate.  This part was really interesting.  Alberto had learned a bit of English, but everyone else spoke Espanol solamente.  Daniel and the peanut got a lot of exercise in translating.  When he was busy I did my best along with a little help from the dictionary.  Sitting around and chatting was such an amazing experience.  Sitting under the grape arbour on a hot day with a cool breeze having some beers.  Shortly calls of “tengo hambre” were beginning from around the table.  Lunch would hopefully be along soon.  I went over to the parrillada to see the status of our asado (ribs) and chorizo. Everything looked amazing.  We all sat down for lunch.  It was a traditional Latin American lunch.  3 different salads, asado, chorizo, bread and wine.  Everything was absolutely amazing.  I felt really privlidged to be invited to such a lunch.  After lunch a couple carloads of us headed down to the store for some helado (ice cream).  We got a bunch of different flavours and sat an enjoyed them back at the house.  After lunch was over a bunch of us bailed back into the cars to head down to the cathedral.  The cathedral is absolutely magnificent.  It took 106 years to build and is the heart of La Plata.  We walked around in awe at the size and marvel of the cathedral.  After that we went to the futbol stadium and walked around the huge park.  We stayed in La Plata as long as we could before all packing up and heading back to Buenos Aires to get ready for our early morning trip out to Uruguay.

Days 2, 3 and 4

Well its been a busy past few days. I have seen, experienced and learned so much already.  So day 2 was the day to get bearings.  The first thing we did was to go for one of those corny bus tours around the norte de la cuidad.  This way we could get a good idea of some of the barrios in the city. We visited a couple of the rico districtos en Buenos Aires.  The first we stopped at is called Recoleta.  This is the place where all the rich go to live, shop and die.  I add in die because one of the first places we stopped by was the Cemerario de Recoleta.  There is no way to do justice to describe this place in words. The architecture of the monuments to the dead are simply astonishing. Huge marble works of art 3 stories high. I will have to post some pictures to really do it justice.  I only got a half hour or so to really take it in so I will have to go back and explore more.  After this we got back on the tour bus and headed for Palermo.  Palermo is kind of the chic trendy and hip area of the city.  Not necessarily rich, but everything is pretty quaint.  The buildings and architecture here are incredible.  So many cafes and amazing looking apartments.  Again here we only had a half hour at most before we had to leave so I will have to go back and see more.  After this we went to a cafe for some lunch.  This time we did better with the menu and actually got a salad with lettuce and other things instead of just a tomato.  I finally got my first taste of a good frothy local beer.  Here one of the major brands is called Quilmes.  It is SO! good. I’ve been having a love affair with Quilmes ever since.  After we ate we did some wandering around the city.  First time I found myself in a sketchy area.  I went down this little side street because it was curvy and kinda cool.  Found myself surrounded by poor people sleeping on mattresses and playing soccer with a stuffed bag thing.. I wasn’t really worried, but it smelled really bad of pee and it could have been kinda bad.  I walked through with conviction though and all was well.

In the evening I went back over to Grants place to see what was going on.  This is when the now becoming infamous toilet experiment happened.  I’ll try to load the video here, but if not you can see it on Grant’s facebook videos.  All I can say here is.. the rumours are true.  So up came another test in ordering in spanish and finding the surprise food after.  In the past I had relied on Daniel… but after the tomato incident I figured i’d try to order on my own.  I picked something off the menu that seemed like it was in a familiar section.  Milanesa de lomo con demi glace y pimienta.  Wasn’t sure exactly, but I figured it couldn’t be too bad.  Dinner arrived for everyone else first.  They got steaks and good stuff like that.  My dinner never arrived.  The panic attack started to set in.. Visions of them frying up the rats specially for me started to dance through my mind.  What the hell is lomo anyways?  Well a few minutes later my dinner arrived.  It was fantastic!  Milanesa de lomo turns out to be pork tenderloin and it was in an amazing demi glaze sauce with fresh peppercorns.  Score 1 for Tyler!  My dinner was very good and I ate every last bite.  After dinner we checked out a cool tango show on the corner of avenida de florida and then headed home.  Day 2 was pretty good.

Day 3 started out kinda late.  I slept in until around 11:30   I needed it though.  Ash met me and we headed over to meet with the group.  Shortly after we met them we were on our way out to La Plata to meet Grant and Hectors relatives.  I got a ride with a friend of the family.  In case I never mentioned before, driving in BsAs is nutbar!  I’m starting to think they paint lines on the road as a marker to make sure you are straddling as you drive.  We were all over the lanes all the time.  This is normal though.  Another car ride and I didn’t die so score 2 for Tyler.  La Plata is a beautiful city south of BsAs.  The family is on the outskirts of town. They are all so friendly and welcomed me with open arms.  Right away Hector’s aunt gave me a big kiss on each cheek and tried to give me a more Spanish name.  They don’t speak English so it was interesting watching daniel exercise the nut to translate for Hector and back to the family.  I could understand most things and then reply the best I could.  We all sat outside on the patio under the grape arbour and had snacks and drinks for hours.  The patio and yard at the house is so beautiful.  It was cozy to sit under the grape arbour with the light wind and have a traditional italian meal.  Once it started getting dark Ash and I got on a bus back to BsAs.  I really like La Plata and love my borrowed Spanish family

Today it wasn’t quite as hot because it was windy and a bit overcast.  Only 27 today I think   Went for a walk today around San Telmo.  It is the old tango district  with all the cobble stone streets and antique markets.  Found so many restaurants that I will be visiting again soon too.  Stopped for a tango show in a square.  Tango is a beautiful dance.  People are exceptionally talented here.  After San Telmo, walked up avenida de mayo towards plaza congresso.  Here there is a giant white houseesq building for congress and government.  Stopped to take lots of pictures, but they are all still on the camera.  After this kept walking further west into the barrios.  Found one of the local barrios where all the regular middle class people eat and shop.  Looked kinda like a west end neighbourhood.. well sorta.   The walk continued.  Although this time back towards home.  By the time i got home I had been walking for about 5 hours.  I sat down to read my Lonely Planet book to trace my adventure on the map and woke up at 6:30.  I must have been tired or something.  After my nap I headed out for some pizza and then off to a show.  It was a tango music show.  The band was a keyboardist, a bass guitarist and a guy on the sax.  They ripped it up!  Ha well in a tango jazz kinda way.  The venue was a little underground caberet.  Had a glass of red wine and let the music take me away.  It was fantastic.  They were very very good, and played with such charisma and character.  The show was probably an hour or more long.. Cost.. $15 pesos or about $5 CAD.  Pretty amazing.  Well thats about all up to now. Still having the time of my life down here.  I’ll add some more pictures as soon as I meet up with Grant and the computer again.  Caio.

8 Inches of Meat and a $9 Tomato

Well what more can I say about this.  Argentina is a country known for its meat.  Here they have a word for it.  Parrilla is the South American way to say BBQ.  So last night we went out to La Estancia.  It is a Parrilla restaraunt.  We ordered the 3 person Parrilla and a tomato salad.  Well first thing to show up was a tomato cut in half on a plate.  We were all puzzled.  Turns out this was the $9 tomato salad.  Oh forgot to mention but it had a nice drizzle of olive oil on it.  What an ensalate.  Next to show up was the Parrilla.  It was this giant mountain of meat.  Chicken, Pork, Beef and the evil animal (goat) as Daniel put it.  We started working away at the mountain of meat.  Everything was so amazing.  Some of the best meat i’ve ever had.  We all left so full.  After dinner I went back to my hostel and slept like a baby.  Yay meat.

Day 1: Primero Dia en Buenos Aires

So we got in, cleaned up a little bit (brushed our teeth) and heading out to explore.  The city is georgous.  We are staying within a few minutes of el obelisco and avienda de Julio nueve.  This is probably the busiest part of the city.  We stopped at a really cool cafe for some lunch.  We all had beers and wine.  Turns out it was only 9:30 am but it was 12:00 somewhere.  Our clocks are all pretty screwed up.  We are 6 hours ahead here and we’ve all been awake for 2 days straight.

After lunch we met up with Hectors cousin.  She is very nice.  I can understand her Spanish too which is a huge win for me.  She took us for a little tour around downtown.  First was the suicidal cab ride.  Again they all drive so crazy here.  We walked along the harbour and waterfront. There were tons of people out for their lunch.  Lots of very good looking people here.  After the waterfront we headed up towards the capital building.  There were lots of districto federal policia with the riot squad preparing for today’s riots.  Apparently every Wednesday there are protests in the square.  Grant and I walked around the barrier for a good photo op of the front of the capital buildings.  No crazy people or riots yet though so we were ok.
The architecture here is incredible.  So many beautiful buildings.  I took lots of pictures.  Well had a shower and relaxing a bit before heading out tonight.  I’ll post again soon.

And Hooters

Day 1: The Journey

We made it.  Sitting here in Buenos Aires now.  As for the trip here, well Salt Lake City.  Snow. Cold. Lots of very large people.  Turns out I was on a different flight from Salt Lake City to Atlanta from the rest of the group.  I got to enjoy the hospitality of the SLC airport even more than everyone else.

On to Atlanta.  It was about 3 hours to Atlanta.  Sat next to a couple of people who only spoke French.  No parle vous francais.  Got in some good reading time though.  Landed in Atlanta just before dark and caught a really beautiful sunset.  Atlanta airport is now officially the coolest airport I have been to.  It is huge and has a subway train to service the different concourses of the airport.  I went for a walk along the international concourse to see all the interesting people on their way to far away places.  I walked past a terminal of young american soldiers off to Iraq. It was pretty surreal actually, especially with the election in progress. Craziest part is they are all just a bunch of 18 year old kids.

Well moving on.  Got on the plane headed for Buenos Aires.  The long haul.  at about the 8th hour got to catch a really cool lightning storm somewhere over the amazon.  I’ve never seen lightning from above the clouds.  Really amazing.  Shortly after sunrise were were here.  Landed in Buenos Aires.

The airport and customs were a breeze.  Got outside and had a bus waiting for us.  The temp was 34 degrees and the wind was blowing. SO nice.  Driving here is absolutely crazy.  The highways are 5 lanes a side minimum and people are loco.  We drove through some pretty dumpy areas and made it to downtown right in front of the Hotel.  We survived.