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Hola!
Appologies for the lack of blog, once again! Well I think I last left you guys in New Zealand. We flew out of the big city that is Auckland nearly one month ago now . Our last few days were spent trying to sell our beloved car. Apparently though, most backpakers are richer than us and want a car that is newer than our 1984 Mitsibushi Mirage! We evenb tried to give it away at our hostel but nobody wanted it! The morning before our flight out, a lovely man saw the car for it´s true worth and bought it from us for $400 NZ, despite the fact the window would not open!
The flight was long and my video didn´t work so I had to watch the one next to me!! I think we had some good films but one of them, Pams Labyrnth, scared me ever so slightly!! It was quite disturbing. At long last the plane touched down and our worst fears came true....our Spanish was rubbish!!! Day 2 in the big city of Santiago in Chile we had a bit more confidence with the language but my bag was stolen complete with passport, purse and camera - our room had no door lock so I thought I was being sensible taking the three most important objects I have with me!! DOH!! As you can guess the next day was spent at the Embassy, the police station and the International Police station....try describing two large ugly men in Spanish. Rhiannon did quite a good job with her impressions!!
Not liking the city much we headed to the tiny town of Pucon which sits below an active volcano. The weather was poor but we had a lovely hostel and spent the days eating and relaxing!! We met some really nice back-packers who joined us in not doing much. The weather finally picked up so we decided to climb the volcano. Stupidly, we heard the weather was going to be good and so booked onto a tour before actually seeing the volcano. Sure enough, the next morning the clouds lifted and there was our snow covered, very steep volcano. Equipped with crampons and ice axes we climbed. It was the hardest climb I have ever done but it was worth every bit of energy. The views were amazing and I now actually know how to use an ice axe!! All the way up I was preying for the volcano to be really active so we could see some of the lava.....the only problem was that my wish came too true and the volcano started spewing out horrible gases that stung our eyes and throats so much that as soon as we reached the top, we had to turn round and come straight back down. I am totally sure than beneath those toxic clouds, there was some very active bubbling lava!!!
Our other big adventure in Pucon was a very bumpy bike ride to a waterfall. Rhiannons brakes broke just as we reached a huge big hill....I being so super talented managed to fix them for her....and it got so cold that by the time we got back to the town, our hands were so numb we couldn´t undo our helmets....no matter how hard we tried. The man who owned the shop waited very patiently for us two giggly, shivering, gringo girls to finally undo our helmets!! We decided to treat ourselves by eating out that night and ordered the menu of the day. We got given bread and sald with dips then chicken and rice with salty vegetables and some hot milk to top it off. All for the bargin price of approximately 2 pounds. Bargin!!
From there we took an epic bus journey to Barliloche in Argentina. Everyone we had met had raved about how amazing Bariloche was...it was lovely but the weather turned just as we arrived so we decided to keep heading South into deepest darkest Patigonia. We did however, stay long enough to sample some of the posh chocolate Bariloche is famous for!
Patagonia really is a wide open expanse. Due to the crazy roads and the small inconvienience that is the Andes mountain range, our bus had to cross back into Chile, board a boat and then cross back into Argentina to reach our destination of El Calafate. It did however stop at an amzing empanada - the local meat or ham and cheese pie type snacks that we have been living off of!- shop which had real life beavers living in them...I never knew how big beavers really well. Their tails were really stumpy too!! From El Calafate we visited the Moreno Glacier. We took a boat out on the lake below it and were lucky enough to see an iceberg break in half and roll over. We also witnesses a HUGE chunk of ice fall off the front face of the glacier and fall into the lake below. Fantastic!! The next day we witnessed the first snow in Patagonia....we are officially no longer following summer!!
Next stop was Ushuia which is the southern-most city in the world. It is also VERY VERY close to Antarctica. Unfortunatly our pennies didn´t quite stretch to a trip there and we had just missed the penguin season but it was still a lovely place.
After that we headed North...and kept heading North, all the way to the capital city of Buenos Aires. We soaked up the city culture...this time keeping a tight hold of mine and Rhiannons passport!! We went to see a local famous tango band and sung the national anthem with a famous Argentinian actress on their independence day. We stolled the antique markets and ate the most amazing chocolate brownie cake I have ever had - it almost rivalled Louises home made brownies. We visited the local zoo where we qued for 45 minutes to take a boat ride which turned out to only be around the lake we had been queueing along!!!
After that we took a boat across the border to Uruguay which is where we are now. We spent last night in Colonia where we climbed a beautiful wee lighthouse and toured round the museums and the old town ruins in the cold....yip we are definately in winter now, not even my thermal top and all 3 of my jumpers could keep me warm!! Toady we travelled to the capital Montevideo and looked around the local art galleries and museums. We managed to atract the attention of a very strange man who silently followed us all around one of the museums. Rhiannon laughed when I first pointed out he was following but soon agreed. We did a sneaky extra lap of the floor we were on before swiftly exiting the building. The poor man was none the wiser and we had peace to look around the rest of the town. Our last stop of the day was to the tomb of the most important Uruguayan hero...who I have promptly forgotten the name or....It was amazing!! Under the bustling central plaza we went underground to a black glass room with very eerie lighting and his golden urn in the middle. On either side stood two statues of guards with very elgant guns and very shiny shoes. They didn´t move the whole time we were in there but I was sure one of them moved his eyes. My suspisions were confirmed when just after leaving the tomb, I couldn´t resist sneaking back to the door to check if the men were real. Sure enough one of them lifted his hand and waved...I nearly screamed!
Today is thw 29th and traditionally on the 29th of every month, the Uruguyans eat Gnocci for dinner. The story goes as follows, pay slips came in at the end of each month and so by the 29th everybody was poor and so could only afford to eat Gnocci. The irony of the story is that despite the special offer in the Supermarket, Rhiannon and I had already spent most of our days allowance and couldn´t afford some gnocci!! We had to have eggs and bread instead!!
One last thing to say in this epic blog.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE BRO....hope you got my text, the network is funny here and I keep loosing it!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
PS sorry for the lack of photos but you know....no camera and all! Check out Rhiannon Jonathans blog for some pictures!!
PPS Super Panchos are the name for the very fancy hot dogs that we lived off of in Buenos Aires. For the bargin price of 25p you get a giant hotdog complete with mustard, lemon mayonnaise, ketchup and crisps sprinkled on top. Avaliable from every street vendor in almost every street!!!
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RUTHIE
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