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Before grammar people (as I normally am) get on my back I dont know how to make apostrophes so everything will look a bit wrong. Im currently in a weird travelling hiatus. In Asia it was three nights somewhere, hop on a bus, two somewhere else, more travelling. Ive been in BA for nearly ten days now, learning Spanish. Its been amazing not to have to pack my bloody rucksack every two days and I actually hung up an item of clothing (!).
The flight was, again, empty, so once again I was pampered by Qantas, who I now love, for twelve hours as I watched amazing films- I really never thought Id actually enjoy flying. The downside was the jet lag. I pretty much didnt have a body clock when I arrived- I took off at 10am on the 24th, in an hour it grew dark (we flew south and then back up to save time), stayed "night time"- during which I couldnt sleep, until 2 hours before we landed- at 10.20am on the 24th. Once I went to bed I had been up for 28 hours, I then slept for 16! This simply prepared me for the completely different routine here: Everything is so late, no one eats until about 10pm and you dont go to a bar until 1 or so, they close at 6 and somehow everyone is at work at 9am. Unfathomable.
Buenos Aires is so much fun. Im about 3 tube stops or ten minutes walk from their version of Trafalgar Square so Im right in the thick of it. Compared to Bangkok or Saigon the traffic is an absolute piece of cake and I can even drink the water. About half the population is descended from Italian immigrants so theres amazing Italian food (except for pizza, which is weird and horrible) and of course, Steak. There are incredible restaurants and bars so Ive been living the high life, compared to my usual travellers squalour. Ive become so self-indulgent with ice-cream as they have this absolutely unbelievable shop called Freddo.
The language school (ECELA) is really good and my Spanish is coming on really fast, I sometimes speak a sort of mangled French, which doesnt get me anywhere, but every day Im improving. It makes me feel good as Ive come to realise that almost everyone else in the world can speak another language and we (English speakers) are the exception. All the maps of Argentina include the Falkland Islands, which are marked as Argentina, but Ive resisted the temptation to point out this discrepency with reality- I dont think It would make me many friends.... The people are mostly really nice and fun, although I had lunch with some Americans the other day, who were fussier than children and were highly embarrassing, theyre on a Univeristy trip and how their leader hasnt throttled them is quite beyond my understanding. The rest of the people are cool and were having a party on Friday at my flat because a few of us are leaving. When I arrived there were massives celebrations for the 200th anniversary of Argentine independence, so even more partying than normal in this city of fiestas.
Ive done some sight-seeing type stuff, like this famous cemetery, which was really strange, but mostly just hanging out with people and "living" in the city, shopping, eating, drinking and the rest of it.
Ive liked being more settled and the challenge of the language-learning (the first time Ive actaully had to excerise my brain in about 3 months) but Im looking forward to getting back into a more traveller-y lifestyle. Im heading to Iguazu Falls on Sunday (after much ticket-buying confusion, I though the word which means "bank note" meant "ticket"), which is both taller and wider than Niagara and am doing a day trip to Uruguay on Saturday, to add to my growing collection of stamps (I refrain from the word "stamp collection") and then to the North of Argentina, thence to Bolivia.
Hope you are all well, off to buy some ma-hoo-ssive steaks for dinner tonight.
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richard Hinam
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hola Gus buenos dias en buenos aires. great language, Spanish, i hope you are enjoying engaging brain! See you in the summer, rich