Blogs from Argentina, South America - page 1064

when i came to southamerica, I didn´t even know all the rules to futbol(thats soccer to us gringos) and frankly just didnt find it that exciting. that changes after you experience first hand the energy of a latin american futbol game. the matches here are really more like controlled riots where, incidentally, some soccer happens! ºº aside on violence here: public violence is just part of the culture here in latin america, and is very shocking at first - i recently saw a guy running for student government at my university get beat to a pulp by another party ON TV OVER UNIVERSITY POLITICS. there was also a full-on riot at one of the soccer games after a bad call, which the fans of the two teams decided to pick up where they left off at ... read more

The bus ride was fairly standard and boring. It started at 8pm and ended at 2:30pm the following day. I thought I had the two seats to myself, but a guy got on at the next stop and had the seat next to mine. Fortunately he didn´t talk to me until the next morning, and then only briefly. I couldn´t understand anything he said - I know it was Spanish, but could make out about 3 words. Akward. They served us dinner which was remarkably like airline food - meat and cheese appetizer, crackers, bread, a little hot dish and flan for dessert with orange soda. Then they showed a Steven Seagal movie - why?- and turned the lights out so I couldn´t read. Slept on and off all night and woke up when breakfast - ... read more

Spent the last few days in Mendoza, a town somewhere in Central Argentina. This small town is famous for its wineries (bodegas) and it produces 70% of the wine in Argentina. It also provides pretty much options for outdoor activities like water-rafting, trekking, mountain biking, skiing (but in winter only) etc. Like the relaxing feel of this town. Shops are closed in the afternoon from 1 to 5pm for siesta and everything seems to come to a standstill in the afternoon. By evening, the shops are reopen, and people can hang out till pretty late at night. Yes, it´s safe to go out at night here, so no worries. I must give credit mention to Hostel Alamo, where we stayed for the last few days. The hostel was refurbished from a house, so it seems as ... read more

Bariloche is a bustling town in the Argentinian lake district and a great place for adventure sports and partying, we´ve had a great time here doing both. We joined Ben and Subhani again and started the week by celebrating our engagement with a bottle or two of champagne and some spicy food (a rarity in Argentina) in a Mexican restaurant. Most evenings seemed to follow a similar pattern and after clubbing until 5 in the morning on the last night (St. Partricks day, quite strange drinking local beer dyed green and Guiness in an Irish bar with a bagpipe player in an Argentinian town), we were pretty knackered. Daytime was also busy, we started with mountain biking, which was great until the pedel fell off my (Angus´s) bike, we kept going with the help of an ... read more

uhh... I went out with Irish people for their holiday last night. It was pretty fun, I got sufficiently drunk... and I got a free t-shirt... holla. I really love this city. I often lament about how I love small towns like Davis. Davis is great because you don´t ever have to drive, and you know everybody. I always thought that cities sucked because the only city I know is Los Angeles. But Los Angeles isn´t a city, its a haphazardly constructed heavily-populated expanse of land that dissolves into the ocean. Buenos Aires has reminded me that REAL city life is awesome. So in answer to your question mister president, ¨Yes I can move to a major metropolitan area and live comfortably, however I have made the decision to return back to the small town I ... read more