Blogs from Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina, South America

Thursday 2 May to Tuesday 7 May Checked back in at The Chill House in Buenos Aries (BA) straight from the ferry. All the previous gang had moved on - heading for pastures new with their travels or back home. So it was time to meet a new gang. On reflection it does feel strange how you develop these friendships with people so quickly, start to get a sense of community with them and then you or they leave. It's quite sad in some ways and you always wonder if you'll get on as well with the next set of people. Weirdly though, it always seems to work out and you find new friends and repeat the process all over. On the night of my return I knew Roberto, who woked at the hostel, was supposed ... read more

Wednesday 24 April to Tuesday 30 April (Buenos Aires) Refreshed after a good sleep, my full Buenos Aires experience begins. After my first day in the city, next stop was Recoleta to see some of the cities major tourist attractions and landmarks. Heading north I passed through parks containing historical monuments and pieces of contemporary public art, before reaching a bridge over one of the main arterial roads. The bridge, covered in political statements and graffiti, led to the Centro Municipal de Exposiciones. Passing this dominating building I entered the Plaza Naciones Unidad to see the Floralis Genérica shining in the sun. Designd by Eduardo Catalano in 2002, this piece of public art is a giant sculptural flower with petals that close up at night (well, at least when it's functional) - a gift from the ... read more

Well here it folks, I have officially fallen further behind on this blog than I have on the little amount of homework I constantly neglectJ I have two really awesome trips to write about, so I figure I can make this entry a daily double and talk about them both! The first happened 2 weekends ago when everyone from my API study abroad group traveled to Buenos Aires for the weekend! The second was this past weekend when a couple friends and I traveled 12 hours south to a touristy city called Pucon. Both trips were very different experiences, and that just made them all the more fun! Our first stop on the Buenos Aires trip was through…Chilean customs and immigration. Our director told us when we first arrived that it is important for us to ... read more

Moving to a new country for a year....and still be on the road the last four months, I know some will not understand me. Leslie and Tiffany have no started a new schoold year, nearly a month ago, and everything is going pretty well. Leslie is improving seriously fast with his castellano, Tiffany, it's something else. And as we have been here for long enough, everybody feel only normal to speak to me only in castellano...don't they say the best is to practise as much as you can? I loved the comments of the Mums at school the first time they saw me after the summer holidays. The question being...so, are you really leaving end of June...or are you staying? Well....somewhere deep inside me, I wouldn't mind to stay..but there is a lot, and enough to ... read more

Road miles to date: 31,254 We hadn't actually planned our arrival in Ushuaia and rode about aimlessly, hoping we would find somewhere to stay. As has become the norm on this trip, a helpful stranger with a liking for bikes appeared in a minibus and told us to follow him. Having learnt that this is usually the way we fall on our feet, we followed him through the city to a hostel. Unfortunately the hostel was full but after a chat with him we spotted another one further up the road that we could park the bike at. A Michael Caine look-alike showed us to our room and then never stopped talking to whoever would listen to him the whole time we stayed were there. Sometimes it has been helpful that our Spanish is limited. The ... read more

The nightbus trip from Cordoba to Buenos Aires exceeded my expectations. Not only did the bus not break down this time but we were presented with possibly the biggest meat, cheese and cracker platters I've ever seen. No red meat for the rest of the year after Argentina I reckon now. When the bus arrived into Buenos Aires I thought it would be sensible to follow the majority who seemed to be getting off. Fortunately a friendly local called Luis told me I was getting off too early and should stay on the bus for the town centre. Turns out he works in museums and was involved in the Che Guevara museum I had visited so he provided some tips on places to see and museums to visit in Buenos Aires which was of great help. ... read more