todos juntos

Photos: Peru

gemma_j — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:38:00 GMT

Highlights from Peru

gemma_j — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:19:00 GMT

So it turns out writing blogs whilst having the time of your life is extremely difficult. I could barely find time to breathe let alone write down my adventures! So, now I am bored back in the UK here goes...

3 weeks wasn't enough time to get a proper feel for Peru, so my opinions on it are very limited. We arrived in Cusco at 5am and booked in to "Niños Hotel". This was a really cool place whose purpose was to help the children of Cusco. A portion of the money we paid (it was a lot) went to helping the kids. It was extremely luxurious compared to what had been used to in Bolivia and I was delighted at the hot, running water and amazing breakfasts. We found a trek to Machu Picchu after a lot of research. Cusco is strange city. On one hand it is beautiful, rich and is a really interesting city. On the other, it is full of rich tourists, people hounding you (with massages, tours, meals and jewellery to name a few) and it was really expensive. It is a classic example of how tourism can spoil a place. It is real shame and I felt guilty about adding to it. At the same time, Peru has suffered a lot due to corruption, external debt and much more, but it is now considered an emerging market and perhaps, in a way, money they receive from tourism might be helping. I really have no idea though!

We spent two days in total looking around Cusco. The second night we stayed in cool hostel with a parrot.

The inca ruins, that were all over the city, were amazing. The Incas were the best stonemasons in history. Some of the buildings they made were so perfect that you can't even fit a blade of grass in between the bricks. The most architecturally interesting structure in the city of Cusco has to be the Qorikancha. The Qorikancha (also called Intiwasa or Sun Temple) was said to have been built by Manco Capac; but certainly it was built before 1438 when it was enlarged by Pachacuti, who also built Machu Picchu. In the sixteenth century, the Spanish destroyed the Qorikancha and built the Santo Domingo Convent and Church on the ruins, but the smooth basalt foundations, typical of Inca architecture, are still in existence.

Here is the 12 sided stone:

Our 5 day "Salkantay" trek began at 4am. We got a bus to a town 2 hours outside of Cusco and then we didn't see another bus for 5 days! We walked a total of 80km at altitudes of above 3000m, reaching a high of 4600m (15,000 feet). Every day I felt like I wasn't going to be able to walk the next, but every day I managed to get there without need of a horse. Some days we walked for 10 hours and I felt like my legs were going to fall off. We saw lots of amazing scenery and it was well worth the 3-4am starts.

The last day brought us to Aguas Calientes (yes it means hot water!). Here we had a hot shower and a Pisco Sour before getting up at 3am the next morning to start the ascent to Machu Picchu. Nothing prepared me physically or mentally for climbing the stairs to Machu Picchu. It took over an hour and a half to get to the lost city of the Incas. The stairs were varying in size, but all were equally grueling to climb at 4am on one cheese roll. I could not believe that the Incas were shorter than me! Mind you, they were probably also a 100 times fitter! The sweat was absolutely pouring off me at the top and I wished so hard that I had brought some clean clothes to change in to. We arrived at 6am just in time to get tickets to climb Huayna Picchu. Walking in to Machu Picchu whilst the fog was still drifting over the mountains was thrilling.

We had a guided tour for the first hour from a lady who seemed to know nothing about anything. She said that there were an average of 2,000 people visiting Machu Picchu per day and consequently 20,000 per year!!! I think her maths is a little off. In 2003, 400,000 people visited and this number has been increasing. Perhaps her maths can be forgiven, but she also said that the Incas did not have slaves and their average life expectancy of the Incas was 130-140 years old! I am a little skeptical.

Slowly the place started filling up with tourists and we were let loose to explore. I was so tired and had a really bad headache, but was determined to climb yet more stairs to Huayna Picchu (the big mountain in all the pictures of the city). This wasn’t as bad as I thought; the last 5 days had obviously prepared me well. The summit was amazing. There were even more structures and we were able to get a really good view of Machu Picchu. Some people say that the shape of Machu Picchu is like a Condor. I fail to see the similarity!

After that, we were so exhausted and decided to skip the Inca bridge and the Sun Temple. We also got the bus back down to Aguas Calientes! Our train/bus to Cusco didn’t leave until 7pm so we found a pizza restaurant, watched Spain win the World Cup and wandered around until the train left. We had to spend one more day in Cusco so we could rest a bit, so I took the opportunity to buy some souvenirs and Chris decided to get another tattoo.

The night bus got us in to Arequipa at 6am. We found a hostel and worked out how to get to Colca Canyon, the Andean Condor hangout. It turned out it was going to be a long and difficult journey and we didn’t have much time. We also found out that the chances of seeing a Condor are fairly slim. Since we had seen some near Salkantay mountain we decided to save our time and energy for the roads that lay ahead. The bus to Huacachina, our next stop, was another night bus so we decided to spend the day in Arequipa and leave that same night! The hostel owners must have thought we were crazy. Oh well, it was worth the money for the shower and the convenience of leaving our luggage somewhere safe. We walked around a lot, ate crepes and Chris went to a museum. Arequipa is a beautiful city! The surrounding landscapes I am told are also very beautiful, but unfortunately we were on a very tight itinerary.

We arrived in the oasis town of Huacachina by means of a taxi from Ica, the nearby city where our bus arrived. It is gorgeous! Our hostel was modest, but also had an outdoor swimming pool. The staff were extremely lovely and when we couldn’t make breakfast and when our hot water didn’t work, they gave us most of our money back. We went to a nearby outdoor restaurant for breakfast. They had 24 day old puppies “perritos”! They were the cutest things I have ever seen. I spent most of the afternoon playing with them. Their mother apparently doesn’t like them very much. I couldn’t have been happier than when I was with them. The owner asked if I wanted to take one back to Scotland; I wish!!

In the afternoon we went on a sand-buggy/sand-boarding sunset tour. Sand buggies are insane. The foreign office website warns Brits of their dangers, as there are many crashes where people die. The drivers are crazy and take a lot of risks. We decided to give it a bash! It was a terrifying and exhilarating ride through gorgeous sand dunes.

When we reached a huge hill, we all got off, waxed our boards and slid down the warm, silky smooth slopes. Chris couldn’t go because of his tattoo, which was a shame. We sand-boarded for an hour or so and I tried using my feet. Apart from a few falls and ‘sand-in-face’ moments, I did alright. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! The sun set over the dunes and we got back in our buggy ready for the terrifying journey home.

The next day we had a ridiculously early start for a boat trip to the Ballestas Islands to do some bird watching. On the islands there are pelicans, penguins, cormorants, Peruvian boobies, and Inca terns. There are also sea lions, turtles, dolphins, and whales. It was really cool.

The area within the Reserve played an important role in the Peruvian economy during the mid-nineteenth century. Vast quantities of 'guano' (birds' droppings) produced by the seabirds was exported to Europe for use as fertilizer. For many decades this industry was Peru's most important source of revenue. They still extract guano every few years from the islands, so needless to say it was a bit smelly. In the afternoon I went back to play with the puppies for a little while longer and then we went in a pedal boat.

The next day we travelled to Lima and then onwards to Huaraz, the popular base for exploring the Cordillera Blanca.

This range is the highest mountain range in the world outside of the Himalayas. We booked a mountaineering expedition leaving the next morning to climb Vallunaraju mountain in two days using ropes, ice axes and crampons. There were another 3 people in our group, a German woman and a French couple. The first day was fairly easy. We took a bus to the National Park and then climbed for 3 hours to base camp.

By the time we got there, it was snowing heavily. We lay huddled in our tents for a couple of hours trying to stay warm, had dinner at 7pm and went to bed at 8pm. We were to wake up at 12.30am, but we woke up at 11.30pm and couldn’t get back to sleep. It turned out we didn’t leave till 2am and we were told that the other 3 weren’t coming! They had chickened out. I really didn’t blame them, I felt like doing the exact same. I was exhausted and cold. We were above 17,000 feet and every time I took a step I was out of breath. The snow was so deep and my ice axe was doing little to stop me from sliding. I took one step forward and slid two steps back. It was dark, cold and so difficult. After a couple of hours I did the unthinkable and gave up!

Unfortunately because we only had one guide with us my decision also affected Chris, who was tired but probably could have made it to the summit. I felt so guilty, but at the same time couldn’t face taking more steps forward when I knew that the way back was so long and hard. I was in pain, but I regret my decision to give up. I am almost certain it wouldn’t have killed me (which is what I thought at the time!) and it would have been worth it to see the view from 18, 700 feet. I think I need a little more practice and acclimatization before I tackle anything like that again. The others back at camp were impressed that we even made it out of bed, as it was more than they could manage!

The rest of the afternoon Chris and I played cards (shithead is my new favourite card game), drank beer and then met up with the others to have dinner. Later that evening we took a night bus back to Lima.

My last day in Peru we walked around a bit, and then went to the cinema. Chris came with me to the airport to put me on my flight to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! His flight left the next day.

Peru is so diverse and it was crazy that one day we were in the desert and the next day in the snowy mountains. The Peruvian people were very friendly. I wish I could have got to know them a lot better. The only bad things I found about Peru were the amount of tourists everywhere, it was expensive and I didn’t enjoy the food as much as in Bolivia. This is probably just my opinion and I am sure that everyone else will probably think the opposite. With regards to food, I didn’t even try Ceviche (raw fish) or Cuy (roasted guinea pig), the national dishes of Peru so I shouldn’t really comment. Anyone who has tried them let me know what they thought. I was too scared!

I will definitely go back to Peru in the future, if not only just to climb the mountain that defeated me!

Bariloche, Patagonia

gemma_j — Mon, 31 May 2010 04:52:00 GMT

I awoke on the bus to the sound of the conductor giving out our morning coffee and alfajores. I glanced out of the window and had to rub my eyes; in front of me was the most magnificent scenery I'd seen so far. Absolutely gorgeous!! I listened to my ipod and gaped out of the window for the rest of the journey, perfect crystal blue lakes and striking mountains whizzed past us. San Carlos de Bariloche, usually known as Bariloche, is a "city" situated in the foothills of the Andes, surrounded by lakes and mountains. I arrived at the bus station that was a few kilometres out of town, made my way into the centre on another bus and looked for the hostel that would be my home for one night. I had a pretty terrible night's sleep, but I left my stuff at the hostel, wrote an itinerary for the next few days and so after preparing a picnic I headed to Cerro Campenario, a nearby hill with the most stunning views imaginable! It was a half hour walk up, but there were people who took the cable car, the lazy so and so's. There was a restaurant up the top and a view point. I read my book, ate my lunch and admired the views. I had sent out a Couchsurfing message to ask if some people wanted to hike with me during my stay here, as there were so many hikes and they would be pretty boring to do alone. A German guy got back to me and we arranged a CS pub meeting that evening in a gorgeous pub with artisan beer (yummy!) to discuss hikes and rock climbing. Lots of people came that evening including 4 girls I met in the hostel, 2 girls from Bariloche, the German guy and my CS host for tomorrow, Iñaki. I chatted to everyone and it was a really nice evening. Iñaki seemed really cool, but also a bit crazy! I decided it was a good crazy. He gave me the keys to his house so that I could let myself in the next morning when he was at work, so I was obviously not too crazy for him either! The girls from my room at the hostel were really cool too. Deirdre from Ireland, two dutch girls travelling together and another dutch girl called Roos that Deirdre had met further south in El Calafate and that had just arrived in Bariloche. Deirdre was leaving the next day, but we exchanged details because we are headed in the same direction so we figured we could mayve meet each other a bit later down the line. Roos and I decided to do the Circuito Chico, a cool circuit by bike to see lots of wonderful sights, the day after tomorrow. The German guy Flo said he hadn't found anyone to rock climb with or even had some rope so the rock climbing idea was basically out of the window.

In the morning I chatted to a couple of english girls about Bolivia and then set off to find Iñaki's house. It happened to be at the top of a huge hill and his street was so crazy: It was winding and extremely steep!!! He was at work, his apartment seemed nice and the couch was more like a bed with cushions and seemed comfortable enough. I set off to Llao Llao, a peninsula with really nice walks I was told. I wandered around the hotel Llao Llao grounds for a while looking for the walks, but couldn't find them anywhere. I was thinking of giving up when I saw the two 19 year old dutch girls from the hostel! They were also looking for the walk so I went with them. We found it after a while, Municipal Parque Llao Llao, and decided to do it together. It was really beautiful and the girls were really nice. They spoke perfect english and were very mature for their age, it was really fun. We walked through a forest to get to a beach and then a viewpoint. It was just such a magical place. Afterwards I went back to Iñaki's and we had a nice chat. We went to a cool bar and drank Fernet. I love his sense of humour, he is really witty! On the way home we were followed by about 10 stray dogs! It was kind of creepy, but they were very friendly.

The next day I got up really early to meet Roos so we could rent the bikes to do the circuit. She was there at the bus stop at 9am on the dot like she had said she would two days before. We got to the place just in time to get the early morning discount. We were given a map and some very attractive helmets (ha!) and sent on our way. It was absolutely freezing, it is getting into winter and the morning's are really cold. We soon thawed and it was just so much fun! It was extremely hilly and the uphills were a bit much for us, we had to walk on many occasions. The downhills were great though! I felt like I was flying through the lakes and the mountains with the wind in my hair. We stopped off at many scenic view points along the way, including beaches where Argentines go for their lazy summer days to have asados and enjoy the sunshine. We had lunch in the very underwhelming Colonia Suiza, a Swiss colonial "town". The restaurant we had lunch was really nice though and the hot chocolate we had was well deserved by that point! All in all we cycled over 40km and had many laughs and photo opportunities along the way. When we got back I thought I was going to collapse with exhaustion. Iñaki was asking me lots of questions and giving me beer and wine. I ended up falling asleep around midnight, I just couldn't keep my eyes open any longer! The next day he was going to Buenos Aires to get a visa and visit his parents for 4 days. He said I was welcome to stay but I didn't want to be there on my own, it would get pretty lonely so I found myself another hostel. This one was at the top of a big hill too, unfortunatley not the same one! It had spectacular views of the Nahuel Huapi lake. It was cheaper than the one I stayed in on the first night AND it came with a HUGE breakfast (that I would also steal rolls and jam from for my lunch every day!) and a FREE dinner!! That day I just looked for couches and was pretty lazy. After my yummy free dinner, chatting to a cool Aussie woman (she was in her 40s) and a CRAZY (bad crazy) Belgian woman, I went with Roos to a cocktail bar and got a free cocktail through her hostel. We waited ages for it, but my Margarita was worth it. Whilst we were chatting, a guy came up to me and said "Are you Gemma?". I was flabbergasted, I am in Argentina and someone comes up to ask if I am Gemma! It turned out he was a couchsurfer and had seen my post about climbing and recognised me from my picture! I love Couchsurfing! Roos was leaving the next night so that was the last time I would probably see her. She was cool!

The next day I went on an organised tour to the BLACK GLACIER,(!!!! OOOHHH!!!!) Ventisquero Negro, situated at the foot of Cerro Tronador (translation: Thunderer, named by locals in reference of the sound of falling seracs.) We were on a bus with lots of people from the hostel. I chatted mainly to a Scottish girl (Elizabeth) Amelia (the Aussie woman) and an English girl (Hannah). It was fun, but I wished we could have gotten a bit closer to the glacier. We also saw a cool waterfall and got to go a bit up Tronador to see the white glacier at the top. They were really easy hikes and it would have been good to have more of a challenge, but a tour is the only real way to see the black glacier so there wasn't really any choice unfortunately. It was a really great though and I am glad I got to see something so unique! At free dinner that night I chatted lots to Hannah and Elizabeth for ages, it was really nice.

The next day I went with Amelia to Refugio Frey, a mountain in Cerro Catedral, the world-famous ski resort. It was extremely off season so it was completely dead! We ended up walking up the wrong way and not being able to make it all the way to the lake at the top. I walked most of it by myself because she was faster than me, so much for having youth on my side! Paolo Nutini's album helped me! Near the top she waited for me and we did the last bit together because there was snow on the ground, it was freezing and windy! When we lost the path we just gave up and came back down. It was a really nice day all the same. I think from the cold near the top of the moutain, I was feeling really rundown and the next day I felt a cold coming on. The next morning I was getting a bus to Mendoza - wine country! I was woken up by the crazy old (50) Beligian woman. She was shaking me and shouting "Hola!" I turned over from my top bunk and looked at her thinking what is this woman on?! She started to accuse me of stealing her "thing for her mouth and teeth". I thought she was talking about her toothbrush. I told her I didn't have it and refused to check my things like she was demanding I did. She had turned the light on even though it was 7.30am! I got my eyemask from under my pillow and told her not politely to leave me alone. My earplugs fell onto the floor, but there was no way I was going to get them when she was having a hissy fit so I left them and ignored her threats to tell reception that I have stolen the thing for her mouth! An hour later I got up and went to the toilet. In the bin was a bottle of mouthwash, the cryptic thing she was talking about and accusing me of stealing! I told the really kind Marco at reception and he said not to worry, she is annoyed at me because I am younger than her, apparently! This theory of course, I just think she is a wacko! She stole my earplugs as revenge, how weird?! I got on the bus with 2 other english girls from the hostel and set off to Mendoza at 1pm! The girls were nice, but we didn't really click or talk that much. In the bus, they showed the "Italian job" in spanish and then later on, "You've got mail" in english with spanish subtitles. It was good to follow the spanish on the screen with the english audio. Apart from that, it was a very boring bus journey, but tomorrow I would wake up in Mendoza! :)

Puerto Madryn, Patagonia

gemma_j — Sun, 16 May 2010 02:18:00 GMT

Well I was extremely behind on my posts, so here is the next installment already!

I am now in Bariloche, so I need to tell you all about my few days in Puerto Madryn. :) I arrived there at 3.30pm, one and a half hours later than I was supposed to. People here are so laid back that they are always late and buses are no exception! My host, Alexa, told me that she would be there to pick me up, but she wasn't there when I arrived. I found an internet place in the bus station, sent her message and wrote down her phone number to call her. Just when I was logging off she appeared in the doorway! She had come for me before, but the bus company told her I would be late so she came back later. She is 38, a Marine Biologist, teacher and also has been working for an NGO. She was quite quiet, but very nice. When we got back to her house, her two dogs were extremely excited and jumped around for half an hour, they were so cute! We walked them along the beach, which is a couple of blocks from her house and met up with another couchsurfer called Henning, from Germany. He was travelling around Patagonia for a few weeks as a break from a volunteer program that he was doing in another part of Argentina looking after old people! Alexa organised a couchsurfing meeting in the evening with three other hosts and Henning. We had pizza and beer and chatted a lot. They spoke mostly in Spanish and Alexa would translate for me when I didn't understand something. Everyone talks so fast here, so even though I pick up vaguely what they are talking about, the rest is a bit blurry! It was a good night and the pizza was delicious. Alexa and I chatted for a bit when we got back. She is nice, but a fairly closed and quiet person - compared to me anyway! ;)

In the morning she took me, Henning, Andrea (Henning's host) and a woman called Beatriz to Punta Loma to see some sealions. There were just females and babies because they have just finished breeding and the females come to Puerto Madryn to raise the babies for a few months before they can look after themselves. They were all just chilling on the beach and yawning a lot! It was absolutely gorgeous weather and the beach and ocean were amazing. The ocean was a beautiful turquoise colour. We then had lunch on the beach and then went to Punta Flecha to see if we could track down some whales! Unfortunately I came here at the worst possible time: the penguins have gone and the whales haven't arrived! This also meant that Puerto Madryn was a ghost town, very strange! When I looked out to the ocean, it reminded me of California but I guess there are a lot of beaches that look like that! I'm just lucky to have seen two :)

There were only 4 whales that have been spotted in the area, because they are not due till next month so the chances of seeing them were slim. We sat there and ate facturas (yummy pastries) and drank mate (Argentinian tea) on the beach. It was really nice, but no whales :( boo. It was a long day so we were all pretty exhausted by the end of it. Alexa and I went home, she cooked dinner and I just sent out some couch requests for my next destination! The next couple of days were a bit random. I spent the morning trying to sort out things online and by the time I got into town to have a gander, everything was closed for siesta. I couldn't believe it! Buenos Aires has no such thing so I didn't realise what happens in the afternoon in the south... everyone takes a few hours off in the afternoons and everything closes down! This coupled with the fact that it is also low season, so there weren't many people anyway, just meant that it was incredibly boring! Puerto Madryn also has a lack of proper roads, so it is mainly just dust tracks with little houses. There were hundreds of dogs too, some pets, some stray. It was crazy, I've never seen so many dogs! I'm almost certain that during the whale season Puerto Madryn is incredibly lively, but I certainly didn't get that impression! I met up with Henning in the early evening and we bought some meat for an asado. Asado is just like a BBQ, but with it's cooked with a south american technique. We got lots of beer, wine, salad, crisps and other goodies and got the BBQ fired up at Alexa's house. Andrea joined us later, so it was the four of us. It was a really nice evening and the meat was delicious :) The next day I booked my bus to Bariloche in the lake district (not the one in Britain :P), it left later on that night at 9.30pm. Alexa drove me back to the bus station and before I knew it, I was on the road again! :) I missed out the glacier at the very tip of Patagonia due to lack of funds, but after my PhD I am coming back and doing Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, all of Central America and the glacier so I'll just have to wait till then! :) I'll write another post soon telling you all about Bariloche. It is absolutely amazing here!! Next stop: Mendoza... the wine country!

Hope you all are doing well back home! Keep in touch!

Bye for now!
Gemma

My last two weeks in Buenos Aires!

gemma_j — Tue, 11 May 2010 04:38:00 GMT

Hi everyone! Thank you for reading these things and for all the comments. Glad you like them! :)

Well I've had a very busy few weeks. I am currently in Puerto Madryn, Patagonia and figuring out my next move! I'm having a great time out here. I'll catch you up on what's been happening since the last time I wrote.

I had my last week of Spanish classes over a week ago now! It went really well. We had an exam on the Friday... I got 97.5%! Don't ask me how, I still can't have a conversation properly. A lot more practice is called for I think! I was going to leave Buenos Aires that weekend, but I was having such a great time I decided to stay for another week! I didn't leave until last Friday. I could have stayed even longer if I had enough time and money!

My second day at Agustins (Dino) place was great! I cooked dinner and then we drank, chatted and listened to music till 4am. The next day was very similar but we also went to the pub to meet his friends and then stayed up till 5am chatting! I am really not used to eating dinner at 11pm and going to bed at 5am, it's so weird! On Wednesday Maria, my first couch host, invited me to a dinner party at her house with her and and her friends. It was so lovely. They have all known each other since they were kids and they just interacted so well with each other, it was so great to see! They talked in Spanish to each and English to me. I could kind of guess some things they were saying and they translated the rest when I looked really confused! They just seemed to be finishing off each others sentences and giving each other advice and just being really supportive and great towards each other. I stayed at her place overnight and went straight to Spanish the next day and back to Dino's at night. I spent Thursday evening studying for my exam with Alex. We didn't do very much so I was so surprised on Friday when I got 97.5%! On Friday night, Dino had some friends over. Alex came from the hostel and we chatted and listened to music till 3am. Then we went to a party organised by some couchsurfers in an awesome house that was huge and looked like a nightclub! They had a band and lots of crazy art on the wall. It was some sort of art project and they were raising money for it. It was really great! Maria joined us and we stayed till almost 7am! On Saturday, I spent the afternoon in the bus station with Dino trying to figure out where I should go after BA and how much it was going to cost. At night Alex and I continued our search for the worlds best steak and I think I found it! It was at a buffet restaurant called "Siga la Vaca" (Follow the Cow!). It had a huge grill with millions of different kinds of meat. I had two steaks and lots of salad, wine, chips and an amazing dessert, all for 13 pounds! Alex managed 3 steaks, but didn't eat as many chips or rice as me. It was absolutely delicious! We didn't leave the restaurant till after 1am so we just headed home, boring I know. ;)

On Sunday I went for a wander by myself and I stumbled across a rock band playing in the street. They were brilliant so I stayed there banging my head for a little while. I continued to "La Mazana de las Luces", the enlightment block (essentially just a square!) where the most intelligent people in Argentina thought up and organised the Argentine war of independence. I made Dino dinner and got him some Fernet (an Argentine drink that you will either love or hate but are guaranteed to hate it first time!). We chatted until 5am again and I also taught him some Scottish dancing! Hilarious.

On Monday I met a couchsurfing girl for coffee. Her name was Josefina and she was only 20. She told me lots about Argentine politics and her views on it. I have subsequently spoken with others who have a completely different opinion. I will do more research and maybe present my own opinion at some point! Dino had a date in the evening, so I went to stay with Maria's best friend to give him some space ;) She lives in Recoleta with her 97 year old grandmother. Her grandmother is amazing! She doesn't look 97 at all and is walking around making tea and breakfast and reading.. it's crazy! Apparently one of the secrets is to always stay postive and in good humour. I think a lot old people in Britain act old because that's how they think they should act. This lady never complains about anything! Maria was with us too and we spent the night chatting, it was really lovely just hanging out just the girls! I went to a place called "Once" in the morning where there are cheap clothes shops, but it turns out that cheap also equals bad! I finally found a top and then headed home! In the evening me, Alex, a girl who works in the hostel called Silvie and an Israeli guy went to the officially worst club in the world; it was so awful!! We survived till 4am and then called it a night. Alex has since met people who loved it, I guess we're just not the type who likes dressing up as prostitutes, paying a huge amount for alcohol, getting extremely hammered and dancing to really bad music. On my last night in BA however, Dino cooked me a delicious meal and then Alex, Mimi and I went to a Colombian party. Mimi is Colombian so she was teaching Alex and I how to dance; it was a great night!

I had to do a few boring things on my last day in BA and then at night Dino walked me to the bus station and I got on bus headed for Puerto Madryn in Patagonia. I left at 8pm and didn't get to my destination until 3.30pm the next day. The bus was great though. It was really big and I slept ok on it! I cried a bit because I really and truely love Buenos Aires!! I want to stay there for so much longer, I want to learn more Spanish, go to more parties and learn how to tango. Anyway, it was time to move on to more exciting adventures in South America. Well I'm tired now from cycling for 6 hours today, but more on my Patagonia adventures in my next post, coming soon! Sorry for my delay in this one; I guess I'm just having too much fun! :)

¡Chau chau chicos!

Hasta luego, Gemma

Couchsurfing, Uruguay and more!

gemma_j — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 23:25:00 GMT

Hello all! I'm writing this from my new couch, my second couch ever! I'll start from where I left off last time... So I have had Spanish classes for 2 weeks now. This week will be my last week in BA. The classes are going really well; I have learned some verbs and a bit of vocabulary. Spanish is hard, but also lots of fun! I stayed in the hostel for my first week of classes, chatted lots with the staff and the other people. I met lots of cool, fun and interesting people. It was a good experience and I got to practice my Spanish a bit!

I went to a transvestite, gay and lesbian disco the Friday before last with 5 of my friends, it was great! I danced the night away to rock music and a live tranny band. I spent Saturday recovering and on Sunday, Alex and I went to Uruguay for the day to a little town called Colonia. We got the 45 minute ferry early in the morning. It was a gorgeous day and the town was just so beautiful! It was so nice wandering around the quiet, cobbled streets. It was a pleasant change to the hustle and bustle of the city that never sleeps. We got impressive views from the top of the lighthouse, ate ice cream and went to the most rubbish museums you can imagine. The museums were so rubbish that it was actually hilarious. You paid 2 pound to go to all 5 museums and they got progressively worse! One contained lots of plates; next one lots of small, round, grey rocks; then what looked liked a 60s hotel room; one with horse's saddles and the last consisted of one pathetic ceramic on the wall! I couldn't believe it, I felt cheated! Needless to say they were not the highlight of the trip, but I had a really lovely day.

The second week of Spanish we switched teachers and gained a lot more students. The new teacher has been really brilliant and I look forward to going to class every day. It reminds me of being at primary school again and I really like having homework to do and going over it at the beginning of class. I think I'm meant to be an eternal student!

Last Tuesday I couchsurfed for the first time! I stayed with Maria, the girl I met for coffee the week before, in a nice area of the city called Caballito. She had a small, cute flat with a very comfortable mattress for me to sleep on. It was so weird to begin with, being in strangers flat with a key and then being left to make myself at home. I quickly got used to it and it was nice to have a house to stay in. I did really like the hostel, but you can't beat a nice flat with all the luxuries like privacy and space! We had lots of nice chats and it was really lovely.

On Thursday evening Maria and I arranged a "Language Exchange" at a bar in the centre of town. It didn't go according to plan, because we didn't get as many people as we were expecting and we ended up talking English for most of it! It was a great night though. On Friday I went along with Maria to Samba class. Samba is awesome and extremely crazy! I will need to have some Tango lessons here at some point, otherwise it's a crime I'm told!

On Saturday I went to Palermo, which is a nice area of town with big parks and monuments. It is where a lot of the richer people live. I went to the botanic gardens, the Evita museum and the Japanese gardens. It was a lovely relaxing day! I came back to hear that Maria has a family emergency and had to go to Cordoba on Sunday so I basically had to leave the couch a week early (she was going to host me for a whole two weeks originally!). So I spent Saturday evening looking for an "emergency couch". A guy called Augustin got back to me almost straight away saying I could stay with him. I didn't want to stay with guys, but he had millions of positive references and looked really fun and nice. I went out to meet some couchsurfers that I'd never met before in San Telmo on Saturday night. I got there by bus and had to walk down some streets that were pretty shady, but I was ok and ended up having an amazing night! When I first got to the shisha bar, it was only Andrej there, a German guy who was walking around the globe for 2 years who then decided to stay in BA to study for a couple of years before finishing his walking, which he estimates will take another 10 years. It such a cool story! Then two really cool girls from Canada came along. I told Juanito and Alex (from my hostel) that I would meet them on a corner not far from where I was with the couchsurfers so Andrej and the Canadian girls came with me to meet them. We then all went to a club with British indie music! It was a great night and I had lots of interesting chats with cool people.

On Sunday, I had to leave Maria's so I found out where Augustin lived and set about finding my way there. It turned out his flat is actually right next door to the hostel I was staying in for 2 weeks!! So random!! It is a nice little flat and Augustin is really easy going and cool. We chatted for a long time all evening, had a few drinks and I attempted to do my Spanish homework. That brings me up to today! I'm off to class soon so I'd better finish my homework in time! I don't know how long I will stay here, but if it doesn't work out I can always go next door to the hostel! I need to start planning my onward travels this week as the plan is to leave BA on Sunday and head south to Patagonia to the glaciers! Then up to Bolivia and Peru to meet Chris (yay!). I'm so glad I get to talk to him (or you, if you are reading this Chris!) every day. It makes things much easier... thank you Skype!

I've changed my flights now so I'll be home more than a month early... 23rd July, so see you all then! I start my PhD on the 4th October so I'll probably look for a job for a wee while when I get back!

more from BA!

gemma_j — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 22:34:00 GMT

So I don't think my steak the other night was as good as they can be here. I will continue my search for "the best steak in the world", which is apparently here somewhere! I did have a great night though. I had lots of wine and beer and danced like a chica loca all night long to some classic dance hits from the 80s and 90s. It was brilliant!

I went shopping with Alex on Saturday. The quest to find an outfit to tango in proved much more difficult than I anticipated. I think Alex and I were in a really weird part of town... the clothes were awful in every single shop! We spent the entire day and I didn't find a single outfit. I was confused why Argentinians look normal, yet these shops were selling clothes that were maybe fashionable 10 years ago, and even back then they would have been classed as hideous I'm sure! We got a bit lost and due to bad communication, I ended up not meeting up with a couchsurfing girl I was due to meet that night. Just as well though; I was hungover and knackered. Early bed!

Sunday was a beautiful day. I wandered around the reknowned Sunday San Telmo market that sold lots of cool things such as antiques, art and bits and bobs. It was huge, bustling and packed full of lots of interesting characters. On my way back I chilled in the sunshine in Plaza de Mayo and ate what felt like my hundredth empanada (like a meat pasty). I just can't seem to find that many appetising things to eat and I can't read the labels yet so it's hard to know what I'm buying! Luckily empanada's are delicious. That evening I met Maria, an argentinian couchsurfer!!! She is awesome! I had a great time. We had a coffee in a trendy part of town called Palermo. Well I didn't drink coffee, I had a Submarino which is a hot milk served with a chocolate bar that you submerge into the hot milk. It melts making a scrummy hot chocolate. We went shopping in really cool places and had a great time chatting. One place we went was a bar that on weekends becomes a clothes market! So I tried clothes on in the loo and people were sitting around drinking, weird! She gave me lots of hints on what food to buy too, so hopefully I'll find something that isn't an empanada now! I'll be seeing her again soon and will hopefully stay with her next week, yay. I have had lots of couchsurfing messages from men asking to meet up. I think a few are treating CS as a dating service, but a couple seem genuinely nice people just wanting to meet up to help me find my way around, learn english or one to talk about physics(!), so I'll consider meeting them either with Alex or Maria in a public place (of course! Can't be too careful).

Today I wandered around looking for a shiny new notebook to write my notes for my spanish course (yay!) in and headed to Recoletta Cemetery, where the rich and famous of Argentina are buried, including Evita. It was a fascinating and sad place. The tomb were huge and so grand. There were big statues on the outside of most. They were like little houses with doors and then inside was stuff like pictureframes and vases then a cage on the floor under which the body is held, some had stairs! One door was open and it had stairs down to the coffin. It was really spooky! I peered down, but I was too scared to look inside properly. I don't think you were supposed to, it must have been a mistake that the door was open. They were doing construction work and maybe they were cleaning the insides of the tombs or something. I certainly didn't want to take my chances, the place was creepy enough!

My spanish class was at 1:30pm, so I headed there straight from the cemetery. Alex, the girl from my hostel, was in my class - the absolute beginners class! There was only another two people, a guy from Denmark and a guy from Oz. My teacher, Alejandro, is really great. He is clear and kinda funny. It was a really good afternoon; I learnt a lot. He told me my pronouncation was perfecto, I was muy contento! :) It's going to be a lot of work, but I have plenty of opportunities to practice so hopefully it won't take too long for me to get a working knowledge. Watch this space. A couple of Slovenians at the hostel gave me some of their yummy food tonight. It is not as cheap here as the guide book says; I was glad for the free meal! The guidebook is 3 years out of date and the prices have gone up a crazy amount, so bare that in mind if you come here. I'm certainly gonna be struggling. So much so that I am thinking of coming home early by a month - I'll keep everyone updated! Hope all is well in sunny Britain, or wherever you are. I feel much safer here now... all the stories of bad stuff happening have been to really stupid people or people that aren't aware of their surroundings at all times. Thankfully I don't fit into either of those categories, so for those of you that are worrying about me, don´t worry too much :) Until next time... love from gorgeous Buenos Aires. Oh, I've decided that instead of a really awesome story, think of my blogs as a really long postcard!

Adventures of a wee lass in a very big Buenos Aires...

gemma_j — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 02:42:00 GMT

Well, I´ve finally got round to writing something. This is my first blog story ever and I´ve not really read many from other people, so if this is incoherent then many apologies! I´m using this mainly so that you guys back home can keep tabs on my whereabouts and also for me to have a record of what I did so I don´t forget. It will be by no means a literary masterpiece!

I´ll start from the beginning. Tuesday 6th April 2010. After a tearful farewell, I boarded a flight to Buenos Aires (BA), via Sao Paulo in Brazil. The journey was 11:30 hours long. I managed to sleep for almost 7 of those hours along 3 seats, so I landed in Brazil feeling pretty ok! I had a 7 hour wait in the airport, which was not fun. On the plane to BA, I sat beside a lovely freelance journalist from Sao Paulo who live in BA. She gave me lots of advice, we had a nice chat and she even gave me her number so that we could meet up this weekend. She was giving me advice mainly to do with safety, which was a little disconcerting to hear that from a resident of the city. We landed and I got some money changed. The bus number that I was told to catch was wrong, but after struggling for a bit I finally found the bus I was due to get on. It was pretty crowded so I was standing near the front. I was petrified as being the only white person, I got a lot of stares. Just when I thought the bus was rammed, the driver continued to let more and more people on until it was like the Picadilly line during rush hour. To top that, the bus took 2 and a half hours, an hour longer than the guidebook stated. The bus slowly got quieter and I started to wonder when we were reaching the centre of town. I asked a girl sitting on her own. She came to sit next to me and was so friendly. She explained to me how far away we were and where I should get off. She spoke excellent English and we had a great conversation about cultural differences. She told me she really admires what I am doing, said I was really brave and I should be careful with my belongings and to stay alert at all times. Again, this worried me hearing something like that from a local. The longer I am here, the more I realise that they just assuming the worst. For example, there are some tourists who go around with their bag open, wearing ostentatious jewellery, looking lost and being very loud. The locals expect you to act in such a way, so they prepare you for that. I have followed all the advice they give, and other travellers I have met have had no problems. From what I have heard, this is a relatively safe city. Argentina has the same warning level as Britain! The threat of terrorism and pickpocketing is almost identical. So anyway, it was dark when I finally got off the bus and then I got lost. I finally made it to hostel extremely flustered - my imagination is my worst enemy! They were really wonderful and friendly. After some food, a shower and a good nights sleep I was fine again!

Yesterday was a pretty non-eventful day. I met some cool people including a girl called Alex from England on her last leg of an around the world trip by herself. She had lots of stories to tell. I searched around for a spanish school to start taking lessons. I went along today to check it out and it seems great. I also took with me Alex and two other people in my hostel that fancy learning. We all start Monday; I´m going to do a 3 week course. I have been trying really to find couch hosts to stay with in this city, but they are hard to come by! I´ll keep trying. My hostel is great and extremely cheap (4 pound a night) so I´ll be ok here for a little while at least. Tonight, I´m going out for steak with Alex and two American guys, then maybe to a birthday party with a potential couch host. I´ll keep you posted! Weather is beautiful. Adios, buenas tardes!