The video link (once loaded, internet here is rather slow so will wait for a better connection) is our new Aussie/Kiwi mate Simon putting on a show at the Irish Pub we went to for Junior's Birthday. We all had a great night helping the young fella welcome in the early hours of his 29th year.
The end of our Argentinean stay saw a little bit of sightseeing and a bit of relaxing before an early flight to Santiago. We visited the Recoleta cemetary and viewed the resting place of Evita, and most of the wealthy families in Buenos Aires, including a few past presidents and statesmen. An amazing place to visit, eerie whilst at the same time very aesthetically beautiful.
Our visit to Chile comprised of 2 parts; 4 days before and 2 days after Argentina. Neither visit saw a great deal of sightseeing when compared with some of the places we have visited. The first 4 days we spent organising our flights from here to Argentina, Brazil, Spain and London and then working out what we would do based on our new itinerary. During our first visit we met up with Rena, an old school friend of Nat's who is now studying in Santiago, whom we eventually stayed with for the last 2 nights before we flew off to Argentina. We managed to navigate the subway system and find our way around as the hostel we originally stayed at was on the other side of town. We thought that being run by Aussies (the hostel La Casa Roja) would be a welcoming change, however it was not as friendly as expected and therefore we moved on after our first night to the hostel around the corner also for only 1 night before we moved to Rena's place.
For our second visit Nat was able to find the Andes Hostel, once again in a different neighbourhood, but as soon as we were greeted at the door we had a different feel about this place. The people working there were friendly and the place was clean and in our 4 bed dorm we met Simon. Simon is originally from Kiwi land but has lived in Cairns for the last 2 years and the 3 of us hit it off instantly. His personality reminded us both of Brendan Bowes back home and he even looked a little similar!! We still chuckle whenever we hear him say the letter "i" but other than that he is a cool guy with lots of magic and card tricks that kept everyone on our night out entertained and more and more amazed at how he did it as the night went on (I'm sure our increasing levels of amazement had nothing to do with alcohol consumption!). Nat has now found her passion in life and is going to become a magician when she grows up, she even worked out how he did one of the tricks!! The next day we were treated to a Chilean style BBQ at a couple of people’s house we met that night. It was held on the balcony of their penthouse apartment, was freezing but we were smart and stood by the BBQ the whole day/night talking crap and taking in the sights. The hospitality and food were great…it’s funny how close you can become to people after a night on the piss! We were feeling pretty tired and had an early night, we only had to walk a few blocks back to our hostel it was perfect!
We now head for Rio de Janeiro and (hopefully) lots of sun and warm weather for the first time in a few months. Can't wait to sit on the beach and enjoy some traditional Brazilian cuisines (supposedly spicy and/or flavoured with chilly).
