Emmas around the world adventure!

Chile!!

emmaneal — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 07:50:00 GMT

I have realised that I have been quite slack with the whole blogging thing....and haven't written nearly as much as I thought I would. I am going to try and write a little bit more frequently, so everyone knows what we have been up to over this side of the world.

Currently we are in a place called La Serena, in Chile. It is basically a huge beach where all the Chileans flock to in Feb for their vacation...so the beach is full of families and kids. There is also however, a fun nightlife and lots of clubs come alive from about 11pm onwards, which overlook the beach and play good music. We are staying at a really cool family run hostel called 'Marias Casa' (meaning Marias house in spanish)...which is full of tusacan style villas and huge garden, with a big plum tree and lots of outside tables and chairs to enjoy the sunshine! I have really enjoyed being here and we have met some great people too. The family who runs the hosel are rally lovely and one of their friends took us out last night to a club. He had a mini van, and about 12 of us squished into the van...and drove to the club, whch was fun!

Before La Serena, we were in Pichilemu, which is further South of Chile and has great surf. Andrew finally got to put his board to use....and even I got in the water and had my first ever surf lesson. Again, a great place and we met some really great people and shared a very fun game of Kings! We stayed in a place called Pichilemu Surf Hostel and I would defintiely recommend it to anybody. Its basically like being in a shared beach house with lots of randoms that soon become your friends. Amazing 360 views of everything around you and overlooks the whole beach.

Before Pichilemu we spent time in the Port town of Valparaiso and also Vina Del Mar. Before that we were in Santiago, which is actually a beautiful city. So clean and easy to get around.

Before Santiago, we were right down South...in Patagonia. We spent quite a bit of time in a place called Puerta Natalas, where we did a five day trek from. This trek was called the W trek and it was probably one of the hardest things I have ever done.,,,mentally and physically. We trekked about 90km in 5 days and camped each night. On our first day we camped right next to a glacier, very high up. It was pretty amazing. Although admittedly, I was happy when it was over....and was very eager to get into the sunshine further North.

Oh...did I mention our thirty hour bus ride from El Bolson (Argentina) to El Calafate????! Hideous! We booked our tickets very last minute and realised we were on the worst bus known to man. Seats hardly went back....no food......terrible air conditioning and heating system and a toilet which you could smell through the air con ducts. YUCK. Never again!

So....next stop from here, bus back to Santiago then head straight down to Ritoque (another beach town!) After that we fly to Salvador, Brazil, for Carnavale. We are meeting out friends Alyssa and Ed there, and are staying in a small apartment for a couple of days. Am looking forward to carnavale....should be quite the fiesta!

Anyway, I leave you now as I have to have my 5pm siesta! :)

Until next time!

Bariloche......!

emmaneal — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 07:45:00 GMT

For the past week and a half, we have been staying at a hostel in Bariloche, which is in Patagonia, Southern Argentina. We arrived in Bariloche from Mendoza to be pleasantly surprised that it was FREEEEEZING with artic winds and bitter cold temperatures. Em, Kate and myself got off the bus in our singlets and shorts....and suddenly realised we needed to go shopping.

Anyway, after a couple of hours shopping....and a new wooly jumper later, we were ready to experience everything Bariloche had to offer! A beautiful lake with amazing views of snow peaked mountains, white water rafting through icey cold water straight from the Andes as well as drinking too many sprites and vodkas while playing pool with fiercely competitive English men!

An amazing few days were had!

And then it was time to say goodbye to our close knit family, Mama Kate, Daddy Hocks and Immature sister Em.

Lets just say that was an emotional day, and Mugs and I spent couple of hours feeling disillusioned and a little bit scared!

We woke up the next morning, however, feeling refreshed and revived. We decided it was time to tackle our spanish the best way possible....and do some lessons. We enrolled in a tiny little spanish school and were lucky enough to receive private lessons with an amazing teacher Adrianna, ten minutes from our hostel. Each morning we were picked up at 8.50 am for our lesson to commence at 9. We spent four intense fours learning spanish....verbs, nouns, tenses.....I honestly wanted to die. Adrianna however, was a lovely person and was very patient. One day she asked us if we wanted to attend a tango or salsa class. We decided to go to a salsa class... and Alice, my zumba TOTALLY paid off! It was so much fun and I was surprised I could keep up with the steps. It was so funny though, because none of the class spoke a word of english so a lot of gestures and sign language went on. Mugs was great considering he has two left feet! It was a great night and a great way of practicing the language as well as meeting some locals.

Today we finished spanish classes and tomorrow we are catching a bus to El Bolson...a little hippy town, approx 3 hours from here. It´s going to get colder and so I am hoping I have enough clothes to last me!

My spanish is still VERY rusty but I am now recognising words and phrases and able to ask for very simple requests. Mugs is pretty good! This afternoon we went out for lunch to a parilla (argentinian grill restraurant) and he was able to converse pretty well with the waiter, which makes things so much easier. He was also able to order our bus tickets in spanish! I´m a bit jealous.

Anyway, that´s all for now!

ADIOS!!

My first week overseas

emmaneal — Thu, 6 Jan 2011 07:30:00 GMT

Hi everyone!

So...I'm one week down! I'm sure everyone is surprised I haven't already boarded a plane Melbourne bound. To be quite honest, so am I! But my plan is to take one day at a time and see how I go.

So.... a rough outline of week one!

Monday: After a fourteen hour plane ride, arrived at Buenos Aires airport. Andrew picked me from up from the airport. My first impressions of BA were HOT, humidity, crammed together, dirty and a little bit like Asia. We took several buses to our hostel (Millhouse hostel) and I immediatly regretted learning NO spanish and was quite surprised that Andrew had picked up quite a bit! We spent the afternoon eating out and then I had a very big siesta. That night we met up with some friends and made our way to a famous restaurant were we endowered the LARGEST and juiciest steak you could imagine. Dad, you would have loved it! Dinner was not until 12:30pm- just the standard dinner time in BA...and I struggled not to fall asleep at the table!

Tuesday: Having a 5am start, meant I didn't get much sleep! We checked out of the hostel got cabs to the Ferry station...for our trip to Uruguay. Going through customs was a little bit scary...the man spoke to me in Spanish, and when I looked at him with a blank look he got quite cross and spoke to me really sarcastically and aggresively. It gave me quite a shock and so I have really been trying to learn the language, although it is really hard and I just want to speak French instead!

Anyway, arrived in Urguguay finally and it is AMAZING. I'm serious. It is where all the rich Argentinians and Brazillians flock to over New Years...and they all own these stunning beach houses...that look like something out of a magazine. It really reminded me of Greece or Italy or even England, some of the places were so cottage like with beatiful manicured gardens. Jo, you actually would have loved it. And there were all these gorgeous antique shops and intertior shops with some really cool stuff.

Wednesday: My friend Kate arrives! So exciting! We have bbq at the hostel with MEAT galore. We go out that night to Punta Del Este....the main town. We dont get there until after 1am and it is incredible that theightlife really doesnt start until after 2am. People are still having dinner then?! Weird.

Thursday: Emily arrives! We hit the beach, the weather is beautiful everyday.

Friday: New Years Eve. We go out for dinner to this lovely restaurant (big group of 12/13) and have a three course meal followed by unlimited drinks, and then go to a nightclub! We get home at 9am! Lots of fun!

Saturday: Sleep until 3pm. Early dinner. bed!

Sunday: Last day in Uruguay. Go the a beach called 'bikini beach' and meet lots of people. At about 7pm, a big dance party begins which is really fun until a boy kicks my finger when going for a ball, and I'm pretty sure it's broken! Anyway, its getting better gradually...think its just a sprain!? I hope?!

Monday and Tuesday: After two hours sleep, leave Uruguay and get on a 2 hour bus/three hourferry/ 17 hour bus to Iguazu falls in Argentina.

wednesday: We went to Iguazu falls, biggest falls in the world. Beauiful. Go on a boathich goes straight under them.

And here I am!

So far, I am having a ball. Missing everyone one lots and will keep in touch as much as I can!

xoxoxoxox

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

emmaneal — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 03:54:00 GMT

So, the day has finally arrived. In approximatly 7 hours I will be sitting on a plane, on my way to Buenos Aires for the trip of a lifetime! Corny huh? Well, the past few months have been completely corny. My emotions have been out of control...I feel like I'm on some sort of soap opera. Saying goodbye yesterday, I really was a blubbering mess. I just felt really sad to say goodbye to the people in my life I love so much. It's not as if I am going away with an urgency to leave my life behind. In fact, my life in Melbourne couldn't get much better. I love my family, friends, my lifestyle, my job. Picking up my bags and leaving everything behind, temporarily, has been one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. My desire to travel has not come from a dissatisfaction in my life. I just want to see the world while I can. So, it's currently 4:30am. It's my first night away from home in a big hotel suite in Sydney. I must try and get a bit more sleep before the big plane ride tomorrow. I'm so excited to see Andrew and as the time gets closer the sadness of saying goodbye seems to subside a little! Like they say,and in keeping with the corny theme.... Bon voyage! See you in South America!!