Oye rico, por que no te vas a tomar por el culo!

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Hola Amigos,

Well, we´ve just arrived in Bariloche - which is in southern Argentina near Patagonia - after a 21 hour bus ride = gross!! Actually, the bus wasn´t too bad, despite the lack of scenery, given that we had recliner seats, movies and three meals, even if the meals were based around tuna, tuna and more tuna (it took us a while to realise it was Good Friday). We also did have some classic music on the bus, featuring: I just called to say I love you, Stevie Wonder; Lady in Red, Chris De Burgh; Careless Whisper, George Michael; I want to know what love is, Foreigner and If you don´t know me by now, Michael Bolton, amongst other things - thank you DJ Busdriver-Argentina.

Definitely all worth it, though, to be in the chocolate capital of Argentina just in time for Easter - and a pretty good location too! Nice town, situated on a big lake, with picturesque, snow-capped mountains as a backdrop. We´ve got a bit of bike-riding and kayaking planned for the next couple of days.

But, anyway, back to Buenos Aires where we kicked off. We got in on Monday morning (having left Australia at the same time on Monday morning - we´re 13 hours behind) and were all completely buggered, so promptly decided we should have a nap. Needless to say, not a lot got done on Monday, except for a brief look around town, which included sites such as the Plaza de Mayo, Casa Rosa (the Argentinian equivalent of the White House) and dinner at Puerto Madero, which is pretty similar to Southbank.

Tuesday was a bit more of an energetic day, beginning with an early breakfast - being the good eaters we are, we´ve made sure we´re first to breakfast every morning so that we can get the best pastries (although after only a few days, we´re a bit sick of how sweet Argentinian food is. I think I´ve felt sick after every meel so far!). The highlight of the day was a trip to the Cemeterio de la Recoleta, which contains the remains of anyone who was anyone in Argentina. It´s actually more like a small town than a cemetery - some very impressive graves around! We did manage to walk straight past the main grave we went to see - Eva Peron´s - thinking that the people crowding around the tomb were grieving family members, so we very compassionately, but very stupidly, crept past and went off looking for her grave for the next half an hour, only to come back to where we started!

Other highlights of Buenos Aires include:

- Beers on the rooftop of our hostel. 1L of Quilmes, the Argentinian beer, costs less than $4 Australian.
- Great weather, high 20s everyday.
- walking about 100kms in three days.
- Trying to negotiate the mad traffic of the city.
- And a night out at a tango show in San Telmo.

The morning after our tango show saw poor Susie too hungover to venture out for the day, so Miss Tuck and I headed over to San Telmo and had a walk through the cobbled streets which are lined with beautiful old buildings. We even had a visit to the National History Museum, which lasted all of ten minutes, after we realised there were no English translations. After San Telmo, we walked over to La Boca which is home to the La Boca Juniors football team (it was soccer madness when we walked past, because the team happened to be training at the time), and the coloured houses for which Argentina is known (which make for good photos, but were far too touristy!).

Anyway, that´s about all - that turned into a bit of an essay. We´ve got a few days here in Bariloche, then off to Mendoza. Best head off to practice my Spanish - think we can say about ten words between us, which is making for some interesting interactions.

Hope all is well and everyone who´s on holidays is having a good one. Happy Easter!
Love,

B.

PS. In regards to the titles for this blog - that´s just in case someone won´t leave us alone: the Lonely Planet phrasebook is very useful in this regard. This one means: Listen, why don´t you go and get f**ked!

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Photos

Unity Bears
In a square in the city - there was a bear for every country to represent unity.

Ladies doing yoga-stretching in a park
Tucks is acting as a decoy so I could get that shot...notice their handbags hanging up on the wall.

Comments

[Jesus Sandles]

sounds ACE BB! I went to that cemetery too and also walked respectfully past the "grieving family" of Eva Peron! And, in the end actually left without seeing it! It's a trap. Have some ace kyaking chocolate eating times! BB

[Katherine Howell]

Oye rico
Oye rico (I hope that that is the 'listen' bit of the phrase)! At least the moon was out on your bus trip. I hope you danced by the light of the moon to Careless Whisper. Happy Easter, tuna face.

[Em]

What a shame...
Oi there Brig, Was just thinking what a massive shame that Argentinian DJ Bust-ta-Drive didnt play you're all time fave - Take the pressure down! Johnny FarFar would be well disappointed, as no doubt you and Tux were! Glad you're having a great time... and studying up on the Spanish... cos handy Em may still not have learnt much (if any ;)whoopsie! Depends on flights, I fly into Lima on 29th April, if I can get flight will go straight to Cuzco will be there there on 30th (and hopefully intime for the Amazon trek), otherwise, I'll be taking a bus (yeeha!) to Pisco, Nazca etc and see you there a few days later probably! Either way, hope easter was great (eating all that fish!) and I'll see you in about 2weeks!! Whooo hooo. Love the yoga decoy too! Great work ladies! Emxxx

[Claire Pownell]

i dont know any witty spanish
personally my favourite photo is weenie in her unics shorts- I would like some sort of Unics parapahnelia in every photo from now on please. And Tucky- Missy wanted to let you know that she isnt talking to you because we just picked her up from her Easter holiday at the cattery- not impressed! miss you hoochies

[Benny]

My bad
Soz for not adding a comment, was unaware of the rules I will endeavour to be more concientious. Looks awesome, the girl looks so hot in that pic with her beer. Knew I was on a winner with her. :) So jealous the pic's are awesome. Hope your having fun. :)