Home stay in Buenos Aires

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Hi all,

I am am behind an entry from Iguazu which was amazing but will fill you in on that later.

Following the advice of someone I met in Sao Paulo I decided to do a home stay in BA. I had been so frustrated at not being able to speak any of the local language in Brazil that I have decided to completely throw myself into things now I am in the Spanish speaking part.

In true all or nothing style I have signed up for some intensive tuition at a local language school. I am only doing 2 weeks but will study for 4 hours per day in a group and then 2 hours of one on one tuition (6 hours a day in total is pretty full on and I hope my head doesn't explode). Added to that the fact that I am also staying with a local family instead of a hostel I am hoping to at least be able to pick up some basics!

I arrived in BA on Friday and went straight to a hostel that I had not actually booked but assumed they would have one bed available. It turns out that it is a public holiday weekend here and Madonna is also in town so they were fully booked and I had to then trundle across to the otherside of BA with my back pack (which has broken by the way - I can't believe it!) to this big hostel which was quite souless.

I had already made enquiries about a home stay so decided to bring it forward a bit and move in with my new family on the Saturday. I was a bit nervous at first but this is definitely the best thing I could have done. The family are really amazing and have made me feel so welcome. They have 2 children - a girl of 19 and a boy of 22. They are all really great and I have already heard so many stories about life here that I would never have heard otherwise.

I was offered a glass of wine as soon as I got here and then when Eric - the son came home he taught me a really cool card game called Truco that is all about bluffing and facial expressions and is played all over Argentina. It is very addictive and we ended up sitting in the garden playing all night until the sun came up! This is Argentina afterall and people do not even go to dinner until about 11pm! I find it all a bit hard to get my head around. The daughter Bai went to a wedding last night and the ceromony was not even until 9pm!!!

The family are speaking English to me for this weekend but said as of Monday it will all be spanish - I am already learning bits - mainly the card game words and how to say I am going to the toilet but it is really really great to be around people who are speaking it all the time.

Well that is all for now. Thanks for your emails - keep them coming!

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Photos

Getting Soaked at Devils Throat
I will never get around to putting on Iguazu Blog but here are some pictures. This is from the Brazilian side. I was very glad I had been carrying around this poncho I bought for Jane´s Wedding!!

Iguazu from above
Hmm, I treated myself to a helicopter ride in true backpacker style (not!). It was only $200 and I justified it as it was my first ever ride and why not do it above Iguazu??

Rainbows under my feet
I know this is not a very good shot but it was amazing in person. I was walking over a bridge and there were 2 rainbows underneath me!!