So, as meado says, we made it to BA... something always in our plan, but, as you may remember we had planned to go to Paraguay and to see that Dam i mentioned when we were in Posadas... We did not make it to either. Instead we did a bit more wandering, booked bus journeys and lazed by the pool. We have since found out the only thing to do in, and why everyone goes to Posadas, is to see some ruins. Where's that tourist office again?!?!
BA it was.. we had an idea to make our travels flow a little more organically, explore a few more places etc etc.., based loosely on a theory by a a guy we met, a seasoned traveler for twenty or so years he knows his stuff. Not once booked a hostel in this time, this was the way to go. He did plan where he wanted to go, he had bench marks- something we feel we have (though just not as solid as his perhaps) but booking hostels was for losers, and we did not want to be three of them. Lets try his thinking we thought.
It was the night before BA.. we decided to wing it, not plan our hostels as much as we had and do it the night before we arrived in BA, tho being British we couldn't bring our selves to completly wing it ... an email was sent and a confirmation received. While this was less official than online booking it was slight planning, a good medium between the previous and just turning up. We were not planning... but were planning.. surely this would work our fine!?
We arrived in BA, got to 'our hostel', got welcomed in... and told they did not have room, no payment had been received so the room was gone, despite confirmation. I guess three are more tricky to fit in than one lone wolf! Many phone calls later, yet more wandering,and we got accepted into a hostel and went out to celebrate...
3 days passed, we were full of beef and wine, and we did it again, booked another hostel and got the same result. This time we went back to good old tried and tested hostelworld.com way. Proper planning. Confirmation received and then double confirmation received ...we relaxed. One problem- we had booked for 27th march 2010 not 27th Feb 2010. Only we could do this!
We are now back in the hostel we started in, after guess what.. more bloody wandering.
The good news?? I found some sunglasses that suit me (ish).. so much so i was called '80s boy' by a tour guide- i think thats is a complement.
jonny xx
Saturday 27 February 2010
Friday 26 February 2010
Just off to the Windmill for a beer, back in ten...
A quick beer in Buenos Aires, it appears, is similar to a quick beer at the windmill. There is a high chance you arent coming back until tomorrow!
We have arrived in the party capital! We dumped our bags in our hostel on Tuesday and headed our for some Chopp - draught beer, a real rarity so far. So we pounced at the chance of a quick lager before getting some dinner at the supermarket. On our way out of the bar, we bumped into a table of Aussies, Canadians and Brits and got chatting. Beers follows beers and soon we were eating stakes and then moving on to more bars ending in the wee hours of the morning. Made some great friends though!
As well as teaching the locals how to drink, we have also been devouring kilo after kilo of meat. Some of the best and biggest steaks I have ever eaten for around five pounds. Well, why not at that price!
Did a great City tour yesterday and saw the great parts of town, with some history, a few awkward Malvinas memorials and lots of cosmetically enhanced women. If you have health insurance here every two years you are entitled to a free cosmetic procedure! Tomorrow we will do another tour and visit the Boca - an old part of town where the people were so poor back in the day, they used the left over paint from ships to paint their houses. The result is an incredibly colourful street with all the houses contrasting bright shades.
More to come, we plan to stay for a few more days before heading to Patagonia way down south but there is plenty more to happen here so until then... Salut!
Steve x x
We have arrived in the party capital! We dumped our bags in our hostel on Tuesday and headed our for some Chopp - draught beer, a real rarity so far. So we pounced at the chance of a quick lager before getting some dinner at the supermarket. On our way out of the bar, we bumped into a table of Aussies, Canadians and Brits and got chatting. Beers follows beers and soon we were eating stakes and then moving on to more bars ending in the wee hours of the morning. Made some great friends though!
As well as teaching the locals how to drink, we have also been devouring kilo after kilo of meat. Some of the best and biggest steaks I have ever eaten for around five pounds. Well, why not at that price!
Did a great City tour yesterday and saw the great parts of town, with some history, a few awkward Malvinas memorials and lots of cosmetically enhanced women. If you have health insurance here every two years you are entitled to a free cosmetic procedure! Tomorrow we will do another tour and visit the Boca - an old part of town where the people were so poor back in the day, they used the left over paint from ships to paint their houses. The result is an incredibly colourful street with all the houses contrasting bright shades.
More to come, we plan to stay for a few more days before heading to Patagonia way down south but there is plenty more to happen here so until then... Salut!
Steve x x
Wednesday 17 February 2010
We like to wander...
Hola, time for another load of drivel, boasting and moaning for your eyes to look over!
As i write this, its 8.30 pm and the boys and i are chilling by the pool trying to organise the next leg of our journey... an impossible task despite our enormous understanding of spanish, our hatred for haveing to plan things is getting in th way ( like writing this instead).
We are now in Posadas, south of iguazu by about 5/6 hours and a whole lot less touristy (excellent!!) than our previous stops. A much smaller town than seen so far, yet still large enough for it to have everything, including a massive dam( which we will explore tomorrow).. oh and Paraguay (home of cheap electrical items and other general cheap tatt) is literally a quick bus journey over the river, something we also plan to do tomorrow. However we have not planned it.
If we get there pics will be up soon..... well, in about 2015, as argi internet is not the best.
The hostel is great, really chilled out with a central courtyard with pool smack bang in the middle. lonely planet is missing a trick not recommending this beauty. sadly the bar with views over the river to Paraguay is still being constructed, so off to the river front tonight to sample some of their drinking and eating culture.though i hope mainly the drinking side.
So what have we done here?? Wandering around seems to have become a past time for us, asking for directions from locals, then ignoring them and using our own judgment means that we can enjoy this past time even more. it really is fun, u should try it. Banks and shopping malls have been visited by us more than the local tourist office.. i think we are going wrong somewhere.
On one of our wanders today we went (eventually) to a Paraguay market to see some local arts and crafts from th other side of the river, a bit of culture and a hint of what we will see tomorrow. sadly all we saw was cheap electrical goods, cheap sunglasses and what look like stolen watches. now that is culture! i did learn one thing, sunglasses dont suit me, and i prob should not laugh at stalls holders wares.
i hope this has been fun for u, it has for me. there is so much more but i think this is long enough, and it is now 9 pm ,30 mins after i started, postcards never took this long to write.
jonny
xxxx
As i write this, its 8.30 pm and the boys and i are chilling by the pool trying to organise the next leg of our journey... an impossible task despite our enormous understanding of spanish, our hatred for haveing to plan things is getting in th way ( like writing this instead).
We are now in Posadas, south of iguazu by about 5/6 hours and a whole lot less touristy (excellent!!) than our previous stops. A much smaller town than seen so far, yet still large enough for it to have everything, including a massive dam( which we will explore tomorrow).. oh and Paraguay (home of cheap electrical items and other general cheap tatt) is literally a quick bus journey over the river, something we also plan to do tomorrow. However we have not planned it.
If we get there pics will be up soon..... well, in about 2015, as argi internet is not the best.
The hostel is great, really chilled out with a central courtyard with pool smack bang in the middle. lonely planet is missing a trick not recommending this beauty. sadly the bar with views over the river to Paraguay is still being constructed, so off to the river front tonight to sample some of their drinking and eating culture.though i hope mainly the drinking side.
So what have we done here?? Wandering around seems to have become a past time for us, asking for directions from locals, then ignoring them and using our own judgment means that we can enjoy this past time even more. it really is fun, u should try it. Banks and shopping malls have been visited by us more than the local tourist office.. i think we are going wrong somewhere.
On one of our wanders today we went (eventually) to a Paraguay market to see some local arts and crafts from th other side of the river, a bit of culture and a hint of what we will see tomorrow. sadly all we saw was cheap electrical goods, cheap sunglasses and what look like stolen watches. now that is culture! i did learn one thing, sunglasses dont suit me, and i prob should not laugh at stalls holders wares.
i hope this has been fun for u, it has for me. there is so much more but i think this is long enough, and it is now 9 pm ,30 mins after i started, postcards never took this long to write.
jonny
xxxx
Saturday 13 February 2010
Hola from Argentina!!
We have arrived! And we can speak the language! Muy Bien!
Now, we are at Puerto de Iguzu, with over 120 waterfalls it is comparable to Niagra (according to the Yanks). The journey here began in Buzios at 8am on Thursday and finished at 6pm on Friday. You do the maths.
We have just settled into our new hostel which is very big, massive pool and comfy rooms. Luxury. We will chill out today but the following days hold in store a local carnival and boat trips into the falls.
On tuesday we took a boat trip around Boozious (as we have renamed it) to see many beaches, go diving off the boat, drink as many free Caipirinhas as we could, eat as much "all you can eat" as we could, and upset the tour photographer by not buying her DVD of the trip.
Untill next time!
Steve x x
Now, we are at Puerto de Iguzu, with over 120 waterfalls it is comparable to Niagra (according to the Yanks). The journey here began in Buzios at 8am on Thursday and finished at 6pm on Friday. You do the maths.
We have just settled into our new hostel which is very big, massive pool and comfy rooms. Luxury. We will chill out today but the following days hold in store a local carnival and boat trips into the falls.
On tuesday we took a boat trip around Boozious (as we have renamed it) to see many beaches, go diving off the boat, drink as many free Caipirinhas as we could, eat as much "all you can eat" as we could, and upset the tour photographer by not buying her DVD of the trip.
Untill next time!
Steve x x
Monday 8 February 2010
A taste of paradise!
just a little sneak of a photo i took today in buzios. More to come when i can sort out some computer probs!
This place is paradise, and we have two more days of it!
jonny x
Friday 5 February 2010
Rio De Janeiro!
We have arrived!
Rio is VAST! And pretty hot as well. The last few days we have been getting into the feel of things with numerous trips to Copacabana. On tuesday night we visited samba rehearsals ahead of the Carnivale. We didnt quite understand what was going on to be honest. Everyone lined up and started dancing in formation to a song similar to the Macarenha. The song was about 30 seconds long but went on for an hour! When we tried to join in we stuck out like sore thumbs and a local street seller quietly told us to stand down. Silly white boys.
The locals call us ^Gringos^. We havent worked out yet whether its a term of endearment or just racial hatred.
Yesterday we visited Corcovado and Christo de Redentor- The Christ the Redeemer statue. The views were amazing and I cant wait to get the photos online. After this we went out in Lapa for our first night out. Different. Live samba in a tiny club and free, FREE Caipirinha for the first two hours. Needless to say we took full advantage.
Today we have to move for a few days to Santa Theresa, so untill then... Bye
Steve x x
Rio is VAST! And pretty hot as well. The last few days we have been getting into the feel of things with numerous trips to Copacabana. On tuesday night we visited samba rehearsals ahead of the Carnivale. We didnt quite understand what was going on to be honest. Everyone lined up and started dancing in formation to a song similar to the Macarenha. The song was about 30 seconds long but went on for an hour! When we tried to join in we stuck out like sore thumbs and a local street seller quietly told us to stand down. Silly white boys.
The locals call us ^Gringos^. We havent worked out yet whether its a term of endearment or just racial hatred.
Yesterday we visited Corcovado and Christo de Redentor- The Christ the Redeemer statue. The views were amazing and I cant wait to get the photos online. After this we went out in Lapa for our first night out. Different. Live samba in a tiny club and free, FREE Caipirinha for the first two hours. Needless to say we took full advantage.
Today we have to move for a few days to Santa Theresa, so untill then... Bye
Steve x x
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