Blogs from Argentina, South America

I did bring a journal to write stuff down, and after the 1st day it´s been neglected for 4 months. As a result I´ve forgotten a load of things, so back to the beginning we go. In Brazil, on Ilha Grande, when cooking rice I used washing up detergent instead of oil. Mind, the kitchen was proper filthy so it would have been for the best to eat the rice. And in my previous life I was a chef.. ho hum. In Paraguay, a delightfully odd country, we went to the most amazing museum in Concepcion. The fella who showed us around was really very pleased with the artifacts, which were essentially just a load of old things bunged in a storeroom. A 2 million year old fossil next to a phone from the 1970´s and ... read more

We have finally escaped Mendoza! Tried to leave on friday but the border to Cille was closed due to snow, then o satruday it was the same. So we decided to come up north in Argentina to Salta. We were celebrating finally leaving Mendoza when the bus broke down 20 metres from the bus station! Haha felt like we were being imprisoned there, we changed bus in the end and made it that time. We had 3 final days so kept calling them the last final day. I also put my swimming shorts on the radiator, and they melted in about 5 seconds! so annoying! Had a 22 hour bus ride to Salta, was so long that they had entertainment like bingo, and a 15 year old one a bottle of wine so that was suspect. ... read more

PHOTOS TO FOLLOW.... So we arrived in BA feeling less then perfect... it took us about an hour to get off the bus, get cash and find a taxi. We were both pretty unwell! We arrived at Pax hostel where the Pablo, the receptionist offered us some tea which went down well. We got straight into bed after that (this was at about 12pm) and slept till 8pm. That day was a write off so will move on to day 2! On day 2 we were feeling a bit better, we were still eating small amounts so decided to stay local. We went for a walk to the Plaza de Mayo, the main square near our district San Telmo. We had some lunch (a word of warning- things take aaaaages when you´re eating out). Then we ... read more

Buenos Aires reminded us alot of London and ended up staying our first night in not the nicest hostel but in a very posh district in which we could afford nothing. But did get transport straight from the airport, so cant complain about door to door service. We moved the next day to another district more toward the centre of BA which was decorated with alot of art and grafitti as it was known as the Art Factory. After dumping our stuff we headed out for dinner, but seeing as the language was now portuguese it was rather challenging being able to order something we actually liked, but saying beef and cow bought us a steak which we were more than happy with. After, we went to go and find a market but got lost but ... read more

Hola chicos Stayed in Rosario for two nights and only had a day there as was just meant to be a short stop between places. Was a lovely student city and our hostel people were so nice! Got up on the first morning at like 12.30 and a woman i hadnt even met came up and said hi hector heres your breakfast. I was like errr thanks but who are you? she worked at the hostel and had learnt everyones names from there passport fotos! Thats commitment. Went to che gavaras house, cept was just a sign outside an apartment block so nothing special, ticked it off the list tho! then went to see a "spectacular altar" as the guide book described it, it was ok. then went to the place were the first argentinian flag ... read more

Well, believe it or not I overnight in Beijing for the first night. I arrived yesterday at 9.30 pm and after a long long walk in their impressive and big airport I found the way out of it. The problem was that during the night there are not many taxis. There was a line longer that 2 or 3 blocks to get a 1 hour ride to downtown in Beijing. So the nice information and guest lady told me that the best way to get out there was taking a bus for 16Y and then a taxi for 20Y. It seemed it will be a super simple things. But get was, it was not. Why because the bus live you in the middle of a street, that at that time was already 11.00 pm, and you ... read more

“I’m smart enough to know when to be Yankee, and when to be Canadian, eh!” So said the bleach-blonde bombshell in her seventies; fixing the bat winged, 50’s spectacles with one hand, fixing the wad of foreign notes stashed in her bra with the other... It’s the eccentrics that give the best advice, though you often fail to realise it at the time. It was this pearl that came to mind whilst crossing the Paraguayan border into Argentina recently, as we, two British travellers, passed beneath the banners reading “MALVINAS!”; the islands better known to the English as the Falklands... Though we might miss the odd headline from time to time; despite the fact that we may not know a single song in the UK top ten; regardless of being completely unaware of (further, completely uninterested ... read more