In Search of Iguassu

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Hola chicos! (thats hello guys for those of you that don't speak spanish!)

I've had a busy few days so lots to tell you all about! When I left you last I said we were going out in Sydney for a pub crawl in rave gear...well the selection of rave equipment in Sydney wasn't the best so we did what we could and went as rave chavs instead! Anyway it was a great night...although a bit messy! (see pics!)

Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest but Kate got me up and persuaded me to come shopping in Bondi with her. It was actually worth it cos otherwise I would have just wasted the whole day. We didn't make it to the beach cos the weather was miserable but we went to the huge shopping centre there where I had the best fruit salad I have EVER tasted!!!

In the evening we went up Sydney tower for a goodbye meal with the group. The view you got of Sydney was amazing and I'd definately recommend it to anyone visiting Sydney! The food was ok...it was a buffet but it meant I got to try everything...even Kangaroo (sorry Skippy!). The kangaroo was ok...nothing special tasted just like gamey beef...was good to try though!

On Monday Jess and I joined the new group to go jet boating on Sydney harbour as we missed it with our group cos we arrived late. The weather was really nice and sunny so it meant that we weren't too cold when we got soaking!!! The jet boating was brilliant though...tons of fun plus you got a really good view of Sydney, the harbour and all the surrounding areas.

In the evening Kate, James (one of the guys from the group) and Neil (a random bloke we met in the hostel that night) went into Sydney as we hadn't had a proper night out there on our own. After a while walking and taxi-ing trying to find a bar that looked remotely busy we ended up in Kings Cross at a bar/club. We had a bit of a dance then I spotted the tv with a nintendo wii so the rest of the night was spent beating random guys at wii bowling!

Tuesday was my last full day in Sydney and we didn't really do much...just hung out in Coogee. I really like Coogee as a suburb...its right on the beach and its just got a nice town feel about it...not too hectic! Most of the group that was left in the hostel went out Tuesday night to the Gaff but because I was flying the next day Idecided to give it a miss!

I had the longest Wednesday EVER! I flew out from Sydney at 10.30am and after a 13 hour flight, arrived in Buenos Aires at 10.50am on Wednesday! I got to my hostel in the city and took a nap for about 4 hours...you'd think that after all this traveling that I'd learn not to sleep when I've got jet lag because then I'm wide awake at 2am but obviously I'm not that smart!!! In the evening I went with a girl in my hostel, Katrina for some dinner. Katrina is from Singapore and a semi professional salsa dancer and had come to Buenos Aires to learn Tango...how cool is that?!?!

My first full day in Buenos Aires was really really good. I'd read on the internet about free walking tours in the city so after getting a little bit lost, Katrina and I finally found the place and our guide Gaston (or Garson). There were about 12 people in our group including an Aussie girl called Lisa and a Japanese lad called Tacuya. We all hit it off instantly and had a brilliant time on the tour. Gaston was an amazing guide and told us so much about the city and its history that I felt like a Portenos (someone who comes from Buenos Aires!) He also told us loads of things to do (and not to do!). We went to the place he recommended for lunch then we went to Cafe Tortoni for a coffee...well Tacuya was the only one who had a coffee...the rest of us had something called a submarino which is a glass of hot milk with a chocolate bar on the side that you drop in and stir til the chocolate melts! I think its a little bit of heaven in a cup!!!

We enjoyed the morning walking tour so much that we decided to do the afternoon one too which goes to a different part of the city. This was equally as good so I'm going to make a bold statement and say that if you're ever in Buenos Aires and you can only do one thing....DO ONE OR BOTH OF THESE TOURS!!!

In the evening we went to a restaurant that Sol, our afternoon guide suggested. We all ordered steak and it was definately the best steak I've EVER tasted!

On Friday Lisa took us to La Boca. She'd been there before but loved it and I can see why. The buildings are all painted in bright colours and the main street (Caminito) is full of restaurants with people dancing Tango outside. Its pretty commercial but its a must if you're in BA. We walked around for a bit then had a few beers outside watching the Tango. After a while they asked us to have a go so Lisa and me made fools of ourselves by dancing Tango with these two guys! It was good fun though and something to tick off the list...Tango in Argentina...DONE! lol! After lunch we headed back into the city for a nap then we got ready to go out for the night. We were planning on trying to see a Tango show but Kat had a friend of a friend who lived in BA and offered to take us out to eat then for some drinks. South America is different from the rest of the world and they eat dinner at about 11pm then go out to bars and clubs at around 1 or 2am! Alex (Kat's friend) took us out into a nice suburb of BA for dinner where I had the most amazing homemade pasta then he took us to different places around the city for drinks. We finally got back to the hostel at 5.30am, which is pretty early for BA I think.

I had to check out of my hostel by 10am on Saturday so I headed over to the hotel where I was meeting my organised group. My room-mate Synthia was already there so me and Kat took her around town and showed off our knowledge gained from the city tour! We had a group meeting in the evening where we met the rest of the group. Everyone seemed pretty cool and we all went out for dinner together in the evening. Most of the group decided to go out drinking but as I had a late on the night before, I decided to have an early night!

On Sunday I met up with Kat again and Synthia, her and myself went to the market in San Telmo. It wasn{t as good as I expected it to be but I got a nice bracelet so was happy enough! In the afternoon I joined up with a couple of lads from our group (Bryan and Al) and we went on an organised trip toi watch Boca Juniors play Gymnasia....it was absolutely crazy there and I can understand why people say that its a must if you visit Argentina...all you G4s people would have a heart attack if you saw some of the stuff that was going on in the stands! We had the away fans above us and one of their banners dropped down so the boca fans just set it on fire in the stand!! They also decided to all set off fireworks in the stands about 10 minutes into the second half...it was crazy...awesome though! We got back at about 11pm and were super tired so we just went to bed.

On Monday we left quite early and got the ferry to Colonia in Uruguay. The journey took about 3 hours but it flew by as we were playing cards. When we got to Colonia and settled in, Cristian (our tour leader) took us to rent out buggys (like go carts...see photo!) and took us around the town...we were driving these things on the road with the cars it was crazy but super fun! He then left us to do our own thing and explore the town so Al and I decided to take ours off road!!! It was a great thing to do and we had so much fun! We went out for a nice meal in the evening then got a pretty early night as we were getting the bus to Montevideo quite early in the morning.

The bus took 3 hours and was a good journey...the scenery was a bit boring but the bus was nice (nothing like the storys I've heard from other people with goats on the seats and chickens running up and down the isle!) Montevideo itself is nothing impressive...just a big city so in the afternoon we found a bowling alley and played pool with a couple of beers...we told the rest of the guys about it at dinner and went back in the evening for a game of bowling! For dinner I shared a mixed bbq with Synthia and forget the steak in BA, this was the most amazing thing I've ever eaten!!! It was a huge plate of ribs, steak, sweetbread, and chorizo that we shared between us and it was all super tasty!!! It sucks that the food is so good here because I'm putting back on all the weight that I lost in Africa!! Oh well...I'm on holiday and you don't get to come to South America very often!

Well that brings me to today! This afternoon we're doing a city tour of Montevideo so I'll let you know if theres any more to it!

Hope everyone is ok! Miss you all loads

Jane xxx

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