Advertisement
Published: March 9th 2005
Edit Blog Post
Hi Everyone
Bet you thought you'd got rid of us eh? Well, no such luck, we've just been having far too good a time in Buenos Aires to bother with Internet cafes. (Interesting internet point: there are a very low number of home internet connections in South America, and most people have to go to public places to use the net, hence there are internet cafes everywhere).
So, after a cultural explosion (well two days of culture constitutes an explosion in our book) we chilled out for the rest of our time in Argentina's capital. We spent a few days shopping and bought more than we could comfortably fit into our rucksacks. However, being pretty ingenious by now, we also bought extra bags!! We spent time wandering around the city's parks, which are really beautiful. We spent a day wandering around the port, which was really nice and quite different to the rest of the city. And we ate Thai food, Chinese food and quite a few burgers.
We caught a River Plate match, who are the other big team in Buenos Aires. Whilst we didn't see Maradona, the stadium was better than Boca (it was built for
the 1978 World Cup which was held in Argentina and was where the final was played) and the team were better too. Between the four of us our allegiances are now divided between the two teams.
We also went out a bit during our last few days in Buenos Aires. On Tuesday, the Swedes last night (they couldn't hack the pace), we all went for a Thai meal, along with some Irish girls from the hostel. We all ended up in an Irish bar dancing to 80s music until the early hours. On Friday we went drinking in a few bars close to the hostel and got adopted by some locals who decided to take us clubbing. They refused to travel by taxi though, so Joff and Jamie (who insisted on taxi travel) arrived about half an hour before everyone else, despite having gone back to the hostel for about an hour. Andy and Steve have pledged not to travel by bus in Argentina again.
Because most of the clubs still hadn't opened, a lot of the club promoters were organising big parties at various venues around the city. We went to one about 25km out of the
city on Saturday night, which was pretty random but good fun. It was an open air party, and was a bit like a summer wedding reception. The whole thing ended when the sun came up at about 7:30am, which was very cool if not a little concerning.
So, after all that we needed a rest, and so caught a bus on Monday down to Patagonia, a region in Southern Argentina. Comparing Buenos Aires to Patagonia would be like comparing London and The Lake District. It's massively different. Patagonia is apparently one of the least densely populated regions on the planet and looking around on the bus ride here that isn't surpirsing. For miles and miles all we could see was vast expanses of nothingness, intercepted by the one straight road that our bus was travelling on. I imagine it's similar to the mid-west of America, though we didn't get the chance to stop and talk to any locals.
We arrived in Puerto Madryn at about 1pm yesterday. It's a pretty little seaside town which is popular with Argentinian holidaymakers, although we're in the off season at present. The town is so popular as it's right next to Peninsula
Valdes, a spot famed for its proximity to local wildlife. At different times of the year it's possible to see whales, penguins, seals and sealions. At this time of year we won't be able to see most of the whales, though we're told that we may see the odd Killer Whale coming on shore to gobble up a seal pup.
We've hired a car for tomorrow and plan to do our best David Attenborough impersonations. Well, me and Joff will be Attenborough, whilst designated drivers Steve and Jamie will be doing their Michael Schumacher impression on the deserted coastal roads.
It's still fairly warm here, but we're off further South on Friday and it's quite chilly there apparently. We're off to see one of the world's biggest glaciars and are hoping to take off a few chunks of ice for our next big drinks night!
Still no photos I'm afraid, but there should be soon.
AC
Advertisement
Tot: 0.079s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 10; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0407s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
anonymous
non-member comment
party pacemakers
you boyz are setting a good party pace that is tough to keep up with on home soil.... especially when your working 35 hours a week!!!! but rest assured the joodge and drinking disciples are going through 'the wall' in a bid to keep pace... we are like the marathon runners that play the parrot in the jetstream and on the shoulder of the pack for 3/4 of the race only to step out and dip at the line by necking a bottle of absinth... - that damn jooodge..