CC, Spy camp and Visa week

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As always my busy schedule has prevented me from updating my blog, apologies. So here is a summary of my latest two weeks. I moved to Carlos Casares (CC) two weeks ago, a small town about four hours away from Buenos Aires. The town is very small and there is almost nothing to see or do, which is a bit of a let down. I was staying with a nice family though, who lived in a swanky, super-modern pad designed by the Dad (who is an architect) which was ideal. The institute is very different to my last placement. my students here range from 6 years olds to adults in their 50s which is a bit odd. Also it is perfectly normal for half the class not to come, or to have only one student present. I am able to run my own classes though which I quite enjoy, as I can choose what we do every time. It does however mean I have to spend much more time planning lessons which is quite dull. I was only in Casares for 4 days and then I left for another camp. This time I was the coordinator, meaning I was in charge of everything and created the itinerary of activities. It was a small camp with only 23 kids and 3 other councillors working so everything went swimmingly. I won't talk you through all the activities we did, but some highlights were the casino night in which the kids donned formal wear and played card games and roulette, and the gadget designing, in which the kids created a gadget and pitched the ides to Doctor Doom (me) who was very unpredictable and did not speak English, frequently asking his translator to ask the kids to do something embarrassing. After the camp I had a nine hour, overnight bus journey back to Buenos Aires. I was only there for a couple of hours then I boarded a ferry to Uruguay with my friend Josie. We arrived without any problems and travelled by bus to the capital, Montevideo. The first thing to point out about Uruguay is that everything is so expensive compared to Argentina. I exchanged some money and spend half of it in the first half an hour on the taxi to the hostel and the hostel itself. It soon became clear we would have no money to eat out, so after a mediocre hotdog from a street vendor we went to bed feeling quite hungry. We woke up on the Tuesday early in order to ensure we took full advantage of the breakfast at the hostel (knowing lunch was not in the budget). After breakfasting we headed out for a full day exploring Montevideo. For a capital city it is actually quite small, so in one day we managed see the majority of the main tourist areas. We went to the old town and admired the architecture and chilled in one of the many squares and then walked along the waterfront (La Rambla). Knowing dining out was off the cards, we pooled our money and hit the supermarket. We managed to get rice, tomato sauce, an assortment of vegetables and tuna, and so we just threw everything together and made a sort of risotto, which luckily was quite nice and filled us up. The next day we stayed predominantly in the hostel, waiting until the afternoon to get the bus back to the coastal town in order to get the ferry back to Argentina. We did however find a random museum about the history of the gauchos (cowboys) and also the history of the economy of Uruguay. We eventually got the bus (after a minor setback in which they refused Josie entry into Argentina unless she could show proof she had paid the repository fee, resulting in a rather stressing 15 minutes running to the nearest computer to print it out), and arrived in time to board the ferry to Buenos Aires. We arrived in Buenos Aires at around 9pm, and went to the hostel we had booked. Ellie was waiting for us in the hostel and we went for a nice dinner at Don Julio, where I got the biggest steak of my life and it was phenomenal, especially after our near starvation in Uruguay! The following morning we had to wake up early, and Josie, Ellie and I headed to the airport. Not long afterwards we were on a flight to Puerto Iguazu, in the very north of Argentina. We arrived and the weather was perfect, a nice 27 Celsius and clear blue skies. In addition, we were basically in a jungle which was really cool. We got a shuttle bus from the airport to our hostel in town, which was called Mango Chill. The guy at reception was super cool, and suggested we take advantage of the beautiful weather and go to Brazil!! We hadn't really planned to cross over to Brazil, but he said the Brazilian side of the Iguazu waterfalls (the thing we had come to see) was really nice. So before we knew it we were in a taxi to Brazil, and within 45 minutes we were there and arrived at the entrance to the waterfalls. we felt like such tourists in Brazil, unable to speak Portuguese or use our Spanish and so reverting to English like proper gringos. The guy at the hostel was right and the falls were incredible. The views were spectacular and there were clouds of butterflies everywhere it was amazing. The highlight was the big waterfall at the end known as the Devil's Throat which was overwhelmingly huge and a really incredible sight. We even ran across a bridge basically through the waterfall and all got drenched, which was awesome! After a few hours exploring the Brazilian side we got back in the taxi and returned to Argentina. It's amazing to think I was in Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil all within 24 hours! So surreal!!

We had a nice meal out in the town and then had lots of drinks at the hostel with the other guests there who were all really friendly. The next day we had breakfast and headed off to see what the Argentine side of the waterfalls had to offer. Of course, it did not disappoint and we were treated to some more breath-taking views of the Iguazu waterfalls. We even saw monkeys which was great, as well as lizards and coati which roam the paths freely. We ate our packed lunch we brought with us and then decided to do the jungle hike to the sport where you can swim in a smaller waterfall. It was a 3.5 km walk along a path, with jungle on both sides. We were all so jumpy as there was no one else around, so any stick that touched our legs was obviously a poisonous snake and any rustling in the jungle was clearly a jaguar about to pounce on us. Jokes aside, Ellie did get stung by some massive, blue jungle hornet thing which resulted in large red swelling appearing on her leg and she said it was really painful. After that we power walked to the fall to avoid a further attack from jungle critters. We arrived there and it was pretty, and we waddled into the pool, but only up to our knees as it was really cold and the sun was retreating, making the prospect of being able to dry and warm ourselves up afterwards minimal. After trekking back to the start we called it a day and went back to the hostel. We had asado (BBQ) at the hostel with everyone else and after some vino and chatting we headed to bed feeling pretty knackered. We had to get up to catch an early bus back to the airport, and then w flew back to Buenos Aires. After checking into our hostel we went to Recoleta to see the famous cemetery and find the grave of Evita. Dave, another co-worker, met us there and we explored the cemetery. it was a bit creepy walking down aisles of mausoleums where you can peek through the window and see entire families in their coffins, but it was interesting all the same. We found Evita's grave, who is the icon of Argentina so that was interesting to see. After that we headed back to the hostel, and after getting changed we met up with some other co-workers of dinner. It was really nice to catch up as I hadn't seen some of them in almost two months. We even found an Indian restaurant, so I actually ate food packed with spices and with an exotic flavour, something which is very rare in Argentina! Afterwards we headed to shot bar and sampled some crazy shots, ranging from some you had to swirl around your mouth for ages before the barman would let you swallow it to ones which he set of fire and we had to drink really fast with a straw. After many drinks and a number of bars we got to bed at around 5:30am. Unfortunately we had to check out of the hostel before 10, so we were all hung-over and tired. We lazed around the hostel for a while and then we headed out in the torrential rain to get something to eat. The weather in BA was terrible, a far cry from the glorious sun and heat of Iguazu. After eating I left for the bus station and caught the bus back to Carlos Casares. After around 6 hours travelling (during which I tried to catch up on sleep but was grossly inhibited by a screeching toddler) I was back in the ghost town. I went straight to the house of my new family. There house is quite small and simple but they have been nice and welcoming. The teenage daughter is away this week so at the moment it is just me, her parents and the grandmother (who lives in the house). The Dad works from 7am to 11pm so I don't see him much, and the Mum works long hours too so most of the time it's just me and Granny! She is really sweet though, always forcing biscuits on to me and cooking up delicious, traditional meals. The only downside is that we have to eat dinner at around quarter past eleven at night after the Dad returns from work, which is very late for a Brit! I am trying my hardest not to nod off at the dinner table, because at that time I would prefer to be in bed! I have been back working in the institute yesterday and today, which has been going fairly well. The students on the whole are interested and keen to take part in the activities I plan which is encouraging. The lack of organisation on the whole is frustrating, but I have learnt this is just the Argentinean way. That's enough from me for now, wish me luck in the my new rural town life, hopefully I will find something to do here.

Ciao for now,

D x

PS. Sorry for the overload of photos, but it was a pretty exciting week. So actually I'm not sorry. The photos are great.

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