Street Corners 1 Calle 6 / Avenida 51 La Plata (Argentina) 15 November 2009 16:20 I had spent the afternoon exploring the plazas and churches of La Plata, the state capital of Buenos Aires province. I was now beside a bench in the Plaza San Martin. In front of me were the main government offices, housed in an ornate whitewashed building decorated with sme occasional reddish brown brickwork. The construction was fairly recent, but its formal aspects of pillars and roofing were drawn from the European Renaissance while the elaborate and more unusual features around the windows were dist [View Full Entry]

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Street Corners 2 Lestra / Juarez Chascomus (Argentina) 16 November 2009 15:21 I sat at the base of a tree in the wide leafy boulevard which led down to the laguna in Chascomus. A hundred kilometres or so south of Buenos Aires, and set on the edge of the pampas, this town developed with the rise of the beef industry and the gaucho culture which came with it. Still an agricultural cente, the town now shows evidence of newer farming methods: tractor repair workshops, machine part dealerships, various allotments and small-holdings. Looking down at me from the centre of the road, [View Full Entry]

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We crossed the river Plate on a fast cat - a surprisingly large body of water - took about an hour and a half, with free wifi...! Have to confess that I wrote one of the earlier blogs from there! Buenos Aires was really not what I expected... it started when we got off the boat and had our luggage x-rayed.... wrong way around, I feel! Then it was a cab ride to the hotel - moderately tame, and it being a sunday I teamed up with Rick and Simon and Shal to wander over to the San Telmo antiques market. [View Full Entry]

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Quedan solo 4 días para partir con Mer y Pachi para NZ. Tenemos muchos nervios por lo que esta por venir, pero estamos super entusiasmadas por vivir todo eso ya! La despedida la hicimos el sabado todas juntas, a pesar de la lluvia tuvimos gran convocatoria para la fiesta...se ve que nos van a extrañar. [View Full Entry]

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Days 149 - 168: Buenos Aires (Arg), El Calafate (Arg), Torres Del Paine National Park (Arg), El Chalten (Arg), Buenos Aires (Arg), New York (USA) Executive Summary Status: At the end of an amazing trip! Current location: New York, New York Notable incidents: Stayed in the best hostel of the trip, camped in the frozen tundra of Torres Del Paine National Park, lost our food to a Puma, had my watch stolen, saw a different side of Buenos Aires, watched the “best derby in the world” and nearly missed my flight home! Ful [View Full Entry]

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1.20 am awake listening to astor piazzola remixes, the reinventor of tango. For once I am inside at this hour and not discovering the deeper meaning of malbec. My days comprise mainly of lounging around the city as if I was an architect enthusiast lamenting over which european influence was most present, but no, head firmly on the street activity ,and yes, debating which girl has the most beautiful face/figure is the cultural activity of everyday. I won't indulge any further on this matter but a footnote should include that it is a relentless and compelling task. The most interesting [View Full Entry]

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... back again in Buenos Aires. Ueber die Stadt gibt es nicht mehr viel zu sagen. Wir sind nochmal nach Buenos Aires gefahren, weil es in der Umgebung die schoensten und urigsten Estancias gibt und wir eigentlich vorhatten eine davon zu besuchen. Nun ja, das Geld hat uns im Stich gelassen und wir mussten unsere Plaene aendern. Stattdessen haben wir ein paar ruhige Tage dort verbracht und nachgeholt was wir zuvor versaeumt hatten. Am Sonntag waren wir auf dem Feria de San Telmo, einem entzueckenden Flohmarkt. Es gab Strassentang [View Full Entry]

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Hi All...Jess here. Last you heard, we were leaving for Iguazu Falls (AR side). This is one of the sights I have been looking forward to the most and it did not disappoint! The day was hot and sunny...perfect for visiting such an awe inspiring, body drenching site. The sheer power and magnitude of water was humbling and no pictures could ever do it justice. After strolling the catwalks of the upper and lower falls, we climbed in a speed boat with 15 other exuberant Argentines to view the falls from a different angle. We were pummeled by the smaller falls [View Full Entry]

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It was only four and a half months ago, and I am back to where I started. Being back in Buenos Aires seemed like a breath of fresh air compared to some of the places I have visited and certainly after that bus journey from La Paz. After that journey from La Paz, the only thing which was keeping me sane was the thought of drinking some nice wine and eating some of the world best steak. As it so happened, I wasn’t the only person that was having a bad journey. My friend, Sarah who was coming across from London [View Full Entry]

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Next Derick and I moved onto a Couchsurfers place out in Flores, a suburb just out of the city. We met our host Bent from Mexico and his French girlfriend, Cecile, on arrival and looked around the place. It was a bit shabby with outside-looking bricks on the inside and two Estonians were surfing there already so we had the floor. They had a great rooftop though and Parilla (BBQ machine) up top. We ended up hanging out with the large array of people which included Tolga from Turkey, Mel from San Fransisco (here to dance Tango) and Alfonso from Meixco. [View Full Entry]

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