Vicster
Vicky Carliell Joined: August 2nd 2006
Logged in: February 11th 2008
Logged in: February 11th 2008
I've finished the first half and had an amazing time, and am now back in England catching up with friends and getting organised for China. Little bit scared about this second bit - mainly cos I have to teach (eek!) but also cos once I finally come home I've got to actually find a proper job - booo!
Travel Blog Posts
Iguazu Falls
My second weekend off i ventured up to the north-eastern tip of Argentina to visit the Iguazu Falls. They might not technically be the tallest or the most powerful waterfalls in the world (Niagra and Victoria take those honours), but my god they're spectacular. One of my favourite places in Argentina. I'd seen them in photos and stuff, but still the first sight of them in real life completely knocks you for six. The constant roar of the water, and their immense power and size, and surreal jungle-paradise look of them, amazed me everytime I saw them. I spent my weekend at the falls with Isabel and Amber, friends from the Spanish school in Cordoba, and had a fantastic time. We stayed in a little family hostel in the town of Puerto Iguazu, which the guidebooks ... read more
Ibera - a wetlands wildlife wilderness
My first time off after 3 weeks working at the ranch - my god it was a hard slog - Anne and I spent the weekend at Ibera Provincial Reserve. Well technically we were staying at the tiny town of Carlos Pellegrini (population 500 or so) but the town is right next to the reserve. The reserve is very new - only 25 years old i think - so the alligators are all young and not too big (because there were a huge amount of poachers hunting them before) and the place is quite quiet. The other reason for the lack of visitors is that apparently not many Argetineans can afford to come. It came as quite a sad shock when I realised that most Argentineans can't afford to see all the amazing beautiful parts of ... read more
life on the ranch
I´ve finally started my life as a cowgirl! I arrived at the Haras Monday afternoon (the date of this entry, tho I am in fact writing this somewhat later) and after a quick welcome got stuck straight into work... The first few weeks at the ranch weren´t so great. I quickly realised I wouldn´t be learning as much as I´d hoped, both in terms of improving my Spanish (cos i mainly work with the other volunteers, who all speak English), and in terms of all the exciting horse stuff (like horse-whispering, and breeding, and competitions) that they promised me in the advert. And it was a pretty tough routine to get used to...we start work at 6.30am and finish at 7pm (with a long siesta for lunch), and we only get 2 days off every fortnight ... read more
Trekking in Casa Bamba
I´ve spent the last 2 weeks studying Spanish in Cordoba (in between partying, exploring the sierras and stuffing my face in wonderfully cheap restaurants!). It´s been eerily like being back at highschool - i set my alarm for 7 (and get up half an hour later) miss the bus I need to take and arrive at school slightly late for my 9 o´clock start. (Only everyone works to 'Argentinean time' over here, which is like Vicky time only half an hour later!...last friday our lessons started 40mins late cos all the teachers were trying to tune in the telly to watch the basketball!) I have classes till 1, then go for a leisurely lunch with my fellow students, and then more classes in the afternoon. And when I get home I have to do my homework ... read more
La Casa Rosada
The plane touched down in BA thursday morning, 16 hours after leaving the sniffer dogs and scary policemen with big black guns at Heathrow. Trust me to fly on the day people were planning on blowing up all the planes from london! Still I made it to Argentina without incident, nicely full after 3 (surprisingly tasty) British Airways meals. And I'm proud to say my backpack weighed just 14.6kg! Go me and my light packing! The first thing I noticed about Argentina was how similar the landscape looked to Britain, with all the grass and trees we drove through from the airport, I don't know what i was expecting exactly, but I was expecting it to be different somehow! Of coure I started seeing the differences pretty soon after that. Half the cars on the road ... read more
Housing Options leaving do
Four years in Swansea…quite a large chunk of my life! Needless to say leaving it all was quite sad. For a ‘pretty shity city’ i've had some rather excellent times. So goodbye Mary Williams and JCs and Time, and Jitsu and Discovery, and the beach and the park and the bbqs and the housecrawls. (but I’m sure I’ll be back to visit). Anyhoo I celebrated my leaving in the conventional fashion: gathering together my friends, and getting drunk with them all! Friday 30th June was my Housing Options Leaving do. We went for a few drinks and curly fries down Wind St, and a jolly good time was had by all. The next weekend I had a party at my lovely little student house on St Helens Avenue; bbqed meat, kitchen limbo, and shots of disgusting ... read more
This is a trip I’ve been planning for quite some time. I’ve had this vague notion of going travelling since I was in 6th Form, but I didn’t start to think about it properly till I graduated from Uni last summer. Since then the saving and planning has taken far longer than I anticipated, and I’ve changed my mind about where I want to go and what I want to do a million times. But it’s (mostly) decided now, and this is my itinerary as it stands… 16th August 06 - 22nd December 06: Argentina *2 week Spanish course in Cordoba *3 months working on a horse and cattle ranch in Corrientes province (Yeehaw!) *3 weeks travelling round Argentina Home for Christmas Jan 07 - August 07: China *I’ll be teaching English at a language institute, ... read more
