Argentina - Boozing in Buenos Aires & Boarding in Bariloche

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I arrived in Buenos Aires and went to stay in a place called the Milhouse Hostel .. which is pretty central. It's a pretty big hostel and a bit of a party place. Not much sightseeing going on if you stay there .. and they also had a big screen for all the World Cup matches ... so my 4 days in Buenos Aires consisted of sitting in front of the screen watching lots of football .. and drinking lots of beer. I did manage to get out for a few nice meals and even to a club one night. I met up with a lad from Liverpool Ben .. who I had met in La Paz .. and then we discovered that we had a lot of mutual friends .. we were both in Sydney at the same time 10 years ago and went round with the same people. Mad .. again it's a small world!

After 4 nights in Buenos Aires and far too much booze and far too little sleep .. it was time to head on to Bariloche. In Barilcohe I am staying at a hostel called 41 Below. It's a nice place with really friendly staff. I have been here in Bariloche for 3 weeks now .. and am loving it. There are quite a few people at the hostel who are staying for a while, so feels like home there at the moment. We all cook big dinners for each other some nights .. and there are some nice people staying there.

Last night a few of us went round to Felipe's house .. a guy who works at the hostel .. for an asado .. it like a barbecue .. but they cook the meat really slowly for a couple of hours .. oh my god .. it was amazing .. I could hardly move afterwards I had eaten so much steak. This was my first Argentinian asado ... and hopefully not my last! The meat over here is incredible .. and cheap. Restaurants are good and cheap too .. in fact life is good over here.

Watching the world cup in Argetina being English has been a different experience! I watched a lot of the matches in a bar up the mountain .. and some matches I was the only English fan watching it there. All the Argies were always cheering for the other team .. and if England scored I would cheer .. and the whole place turns round and looks at you! For the quarter final match I decided to stay in town and watch it in a pub .. so I could watch it with other English fans shouting "the referee's an argie.....". Watching the Argentina matches over here was great .. when they beat Mexico the celebrations in the streets were like they had won the World Cup. Crowds of people running round the streets with flags .. cars beeping their horns for about 3 hours after the match .. and when the match was on there wasn't a single car on the street .. everyone is watching it! Shame they got put out by the germans .. it would have been mental here had they gone further.

I am in Bariloche primarily to snowboard .. and so far the season has been a bit of a shocker!!! Typical! But I'm having fun anyway even if the snow isn't great. The first few days were great .. the snow was fresh and the sun was shining .. and I was boarding well ... but then the weather went shite .. the snow went icy .. and I started to board like a beginner!! Well not quiet that bad .. but it was pretty crap for a few days! Anyway my boarding is now getting better .. and some days the snow is better but sometimes not. Over the weekend we had some snow .. and I had a great day on Saturday up there. unfortunately today it is pissing it down .. so a lot of the snow might get washed away. And still only half the mountain has snow .. the bottom half is bare as it's been too warm.

I have another 9 days left on my months pass here .. so going to stay in Bariloche till then. Then I am thinking of hiring a car for a week so I can check out another couple of places to snowboard .. probably drive to San Martin for a few days and down to La Hoya near Esquel. Then have a couple more days in Bariloche before heading back to Buenos Aires. After 3 nights in BA I have the nightmare trip back to Asia .. Buenos Aires, Santiago, LA, then HK .. a mere 36 hours of travel. Back to HK for 1 night, then onto Bali for a friends wedding. My trip is eventually coming to an end. Can't say I'm happy about that .. really loving South America and would really like to stay here .. but I have signed a contract with the company in HK .. and I suppose it will be time to work after having 15 months off. I am planning to come back to South America in a couple of years .. and then I will spend 6 months in Brazil and 6 months in Argentina .. before deciding where I want to live and what to do.

This will probably be one of the last if not my last blog entry for the trip ... I have 7 weeks left before I start my new job. I have 3 more weeks in Argentina, then 10 days in Bali, 5 days in Japan and a few days in HK to start looking for an apartment before I start work. I have had an amazing time. The highlights have been Cuba, Brazil & Argentina. But also really liked Mexico & Costa Rica. I definitely want to spend more time in South America .. it's an amazing place. And eventually my Spanish is getting better .. bit bloody late .. but better late than never. I have managed a couple of nights out in the last week where I have spoken in Spanish almost all night .. although it's always easier after a few bevvies. I will try and get some photos up onto the blog soon .. but these machines are so damn slow it's a bit like hardwork. Anyway I'm going to sign off for now. Look forward to seeing any of you who are reading this in HK .. I'll be back very soon. Ciao xxx

16th July

Finally we got some snow .. it snowed all tuesday & wednesday last week .. so on Thursday we had the best day of the season so far. Lots of fresh powder and a beautiful sunny day .. perfecto. Friday was pretty decent too. Days like that and I seriously wonder what I am doing going back to the pollution of Hong Kong!

28th July

I am now back in Buenos Aires. I left Bariloche this morning and was really sad to leave. I have had a great time down there. I have spent nearly 6 weeks down there. This week 6 of us hired 2 cars and drove down to a place called Esquel which is about 4 hours south of Bariloche. there is a skifield there called La Hoya. We rented a cabaña and went boarding up there. It was really different to Cerro catedral (the skifield near Bariloche) .. La Hoya was much smaller, less people, much cheaper .. and much better snow. We had a blast. Really really amazing few days with lots of fresh powder snow.

When we got back to Bariloche it had snowed a lot there aswell .. so we had a couple of days back up at Catedral. It was the first time all season so far that you could ride down to the base ... bloody typical that they have got snow now just as I am leaving.

My time in barilcohe has been some of the best times of my trip. It was nice as there were quite a few of us who were all staying there a while ... and the hostel really became a home away from home.

Today I met up with a Kiwi girl .. Nic .. who I met in Bariloche. We've been out for lunch, a bit of shoppping and hairdos. I'm in Buenos aires for the next 3 days .. and am planning lots of eating, drinking and shopping. On Monday I start my trip back to Asia .. arriving back in HK for a night on Wednesday before heading off to Bali for a couple of weeks.

Anyway this is defo my last entry of South America. It's been amazing .. I don't want to leave ... but that's life hey. I will definitely be back in this part of the world soon. xxx

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