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I just got a massive shot of excitement as I went to select my current location for the top of this entry and, having automatically selected Australasia, realised I am now in fact in Tango Land - South America!!! I don't actually believe I am doing this most of the time...perhaps I'll wake up and find myself back in Normandy Park and this dream will all be over!
So Faye and I made it through the gruelling 30 something hours of travel from Christchurch to Santiago with almost no hitches, and even some sit ups at the gate to kill both time and the fat that is collecting around our middles - only reason to hate travelling is the fact that you put on so much weight! Once in Santiago we weren't feeling completely comfortable, as it was our first time on this continent and we had no idea what to expect. We made our way straight to a taxi, careful to select one with an id card displayed, and were transported with open mouths and heads hanging out of the window to our five star residence for that evening :-) looking back, I know that Santiago was a great destination to start off in, as it is very westernised in comparison to the rest of SA, but enough of a culture shock that we had a taste of what was to come...although nothing could really prepare us for La Paz, which was a complete shock! We ended up having to fly there (rather than take two 28 hour buses!), and being taxi driven towards the city was one of the scariest things I have ever done...La Paz is unlike any capital city I had ever imagined. Little knotted old ladies wander the streets with colourful rugs bearing their wares on their backs, cobbles jut out of the uneven pavements and there are people...everywhere...! Faye and I were pretty intrigued for the first day of our stay there, but I think we had hit the wrong part of town - the next day we wandered around the tourist areas and felt reassured! It was an amazing place to be and I'm so glad we went, as it was our first dose of proper SA culture. Em now claims people have found it good for clubbing; I didn't see any buildings that weren't delapidated, so clearly must have missed a section of this place!
A 7 hour bus journey took us to Cochabamba where we were to meet Em and Marie-Anne, our current travelling buddies. They had been working in a burns unit in the city for 3 months so knew their way around very well, and we had two wild nights out before catching a football game (tear gas incident) and heading to Santa Cruz. Only a day's stop there, and then we were on the road again to Paraguay...globe trotters, eh?! This was the most fascinating bus journey ever: the smelly, Amish-like starers who put their baby on the floor, the sniffer dog assessing our bags, the lack of fingers on other passengers, the concentration camp atmosphere at passport control in the middle of the night...if ever I need inspiration for a story, I may just recount that one night and it will be enough! But never fear, we made it to our destination with no major issues and spent a comfortable night in a very plush hostel (everything out here is so cheap that we can afford a little luxury now and then!). The next day saw us crossing over Brazil and reaching our ultimate destination (finally): Puerto Iguazu for our trip to the falls!
The falls deserve a paragraph all to themselves, really, as they were absolutely INCREDIBLE: one of the highlights of my entire trip so far! The shere scale and power of them is indescribable (as is my lack of ability to spell, sorry - is that right?) and we were soaked coming within 50 feet of them! At least, we thought that we were soaked - as it turns out, we had no real right to define that word until our boat trip later in the day, when we actually went INTO the falls!! I had a wet smile plastered to my face the whole time, and the adrenalin rush was wonderful (have been missing my adrenalin kicks since NZ lol)! I will put up pictures as soon as possible, but unfortunately they won't do them justice; I guess you'll just have to trust me!
Moving on from the falls (cataracas a castellano!) we hopped on a cama bus (thank god - cama means bed and certain members of our group had been unwilling to go on one before because of the money issue, but we decided this time that we would swing the extra 3 pounds for a comfy night!) and made it to Buenos Aires, the tango capital of the world! What a place this is!!! The nightlife is, as all the guidebooks and other travellers claimed, awesome - I went to sleep at 8:15am this morning, having got in about an hour earlier and determined with Maz and Em that we would stay up and claim our free hostel breakfast served from 8am! Tonight we're headed out again, so I think I'm gonna need a power nap before then...! We have also been being rather cultural, with visits to the fantastic cathedral and La Boca, the colourful neighbourhood (that's not a metaphor - it is actually colourful!) where tango really thrives. Tomorrow is our Steak Night, which is going to be very exciting, not least because all we've been eating are carbs and bread is starting to drive me insane - gimme protein!! Last night we made it to a tango show, which was honestly one of the most wonderful nights of my life; I was totally taken in by the sweaty pull of the dancers as they spun and whipped their legs about each other, painting the music in the air with their fluid movements and tense positions...and there were some wicked drummers as well who flung balls against the ground in the wackiest rhythms! Man, if only I had that much control of my body!
Anyway, I think that's pretty much brought you up to scratch! Sorry for the hideous length of this entry - congratulations if you made it this far...! I hope to be able to lob some pics onto the net soon-ish, so some absolute beauties of the girls and I looking sticky and bored of our clothes after almost 4 months in them should be coming your way in the near future! Much love to everyone; I hope exam and work stresses are not too stressful, and that I come home to some happy and relaxed people ready to make this a truly awesome summer...but let's not get ahead of ourselves. There is still so much excitement to be had before then...so until next time, adios amigos!!
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Fantastico!