Tuesday 16 August 2011
In Rio
After a painful 55 hour bus ride, I am in Rio de Janeiro, currently staying in a very rustic hostel sleeping on an air mattress.
Belem at last!!
Thank the Lord I made it off that boat.
So I found the hostel easily enough. No more room in the dorms though so we got a double for 32 reals. Not a bad price. At first....
We did quite alot in Belem, mainly due to this other traveller who kept on persuading me to leave the fan. So we visited the amazon reserve, and this one was much better than the previous. I got to saw several monkeys, where one of them managed to escape it's
Cage. I saw jaguars, a man-sized owe and rat cat hybrids. Also iguanas, vultures ripping wart mice with bone crunching sounds to boot. Bloody awesome. And on the way to the reserve, we visited a church thats meant to be quite odd. Meh. See one old church, seen them all.
On the next day we visited the old market place. It's just a massive place full of fruit sellers, mini restaurants, juices, herbal remedies for things like diabetes and such. Probably don't work though judging by their colour. I also saw a lot of homeless bums and a clown...
I also went on an incredibly boring walk around town. Yeah, that was great fun, getting lost. But I hot to see mote of Belem, it's parks, colorful buildings that won't stand out in vietnam...yeah...
So I found the hostel easily enough. No more room in the dorms though so we got a double for 32 reals. Not a bad price. At first....
We did quite alot in Belem, mainly due to this other traveller who kept on persuading me to leave the fan. So we visited the amazon reserve, and this one was much better than the previous. I got to saw several monkeys, where one of them managed to escape it's
Cage. I saw jaguars, a man-sized owe and rat cat hybrids. Also iguanas, vultures ripping wart mice with bone crunching sounds to boot. Bloody awesome. And on the way to the reserve, we visited a church thats meant to be quite odd. Meh. See one old church, seen them all.
On the next day we visited the old market place. It's just a massive place full of fruit sellers, mini restaurants, juices, herbal remedies for things like diabetes and such. Probably don't work though judging by their colour. I also saw a lot of homeless bums and a clown...
I also went on an incredibly boring walk around town. Yeah, that was great fun, getting lost. But I hot to see mote of Belem, it's parks, colorful buildings that won't stand out in vietnam...yeah...
Day 4 of hunger
Day 4
I never got a good sleep. More people have got on the boat before the day ended, and it was more uncomfortable than ever. There was this one gringo lying sideways on his hammock, which took up my room.
I didn't do much today. Sean still ain't feeling great unfortuantly, but we did get to see amazon children hook their tiny rowing boats onto our boar, climbed on and started selling shrimp. This occurred several times, with one child falling off the boat. She survived. But it's really amazing what these young children have to do to bring in an income, especially because of their age; being around 5 to 10.
This should be the last day I'm on this damn boat and off the bloody river.
I never got a good sleep. More people have got on the boat before the day ended, and it was more uncomfortable than ever. There was this one gringo lying sideways on his hammock, which took up my room.
I didn't do much today. Sean still ain't feeling great unfortuantly, but we did get to see amazon children hook their tiny rowing boats onto our boar, climbed on and started selling shrimp. This occurred several times, with one child falling off the boat. She survived. But it's really amazing what these young children have to do to bring in an income, especially because of their age; being around 5 to 10.
This should be the last day I'm on this damn boat and off the bloody river.
Day 3 of hunger
Day 3
YES!!! People have left the boat and I have space!!! I am looking forward to a very nice and undisturbed sleep.
I'm still having one meal a day. Sean has some illness. I think his lunch was bad so he caught food poisoning. Thankfully I'm ok.
YES!!! People have left the boat and I have space!!! I am looking forward to a very nice and undisturbed sleep.
I'm still having one meal a day. Sean has some illness. I think his lunch was bad so he caught food poisoning. Thankfully I'm ok.
Day 2 of hunger
Day 2 of my boat ride. Luckily we docked at a minor port, so I was able to pick up a cheap lunch. This means no dinner tonight, but at least my belly is always full up on water.
I'm not doing much here. I try to read my book, play game on my iPhone, listen to music and urinate alot. Thats to be expected however, with this water diet of mine. It's night now, and to my surprise the apace around my hammock is much more compared to last night. Last night my feet were playing footsies with someone in anonet hammock, I had another hammock above me and another right beside me. It was still an easy sleep, just difficult climbing out of the hammock.
I'm not doing much here. I try to read my book, play game on my iPhone, listen to music and urinate alot. Thats to be expected however, with this water diet of mine. It's night now, and to my surprise the apace around my hammock is much more compared to last night. Last night my feet were playing footsies with someone in anonet hammock, I had another hammock above me and another right beside me. It was still an easy sleep, just difficult climbing out of the hammock.
5 day boat ride...crap
I am so annoyed right now. Arriving to the port where we bought our tickets, they have the nerve to tell us to go to the other port! Luckily we had this information booth worker sort things out, resulting in a ride on a pick up truck to our correct port.
But the bad luck didn't stop there. The ticket said the boat would leave at 10. Not the case here. It left 2 hours later, so I bought an expensive lunch to eat. Then when dinner time rolled out, I was told I had to PAY for dinner! My anger at Lonely Planet knows no bounds for their misinformation. Now I must conserve money and have one meal a day or I won't have enough to last the snide boat trip. At least water is free...
But the bad luck didn't stop there. The ticket said the boat would leave at 10. Not the case here. It left 2 hours later, so I bought an expensive lunch to eat. Then when dinner time rolled out, I was told I had to PAY for dinner! My anger at Lonely Planet knows no bounds for their misinformation. Now I must conserve money and have one meal a day or I won't have enough to last the snide boat trip. At least water is free...
Manaus, first look at the amazon
Hi everyone
To start off, boats are stupid. We left the port and after some walking about,'we reaLized that our port was nowhere on the lonely planet map. But using my horrid portuguese skills, I managed to obtain a general direction of where our hostel is. Sean wanted to get a taxi, but after y experience in Porto Velho, I think not.
Manaus has been fairly entertaining. A few urkes here and there but all in all, it was a fairly nice way to see the rainforest without the huge price tag.
I visited a rainforest reserve where they outfitted it for tourism. So entering it, I got to see huge trees, manatees, otters, creepy gigantic bugs and alligators. Well worth the small price of 5 reals. What wasnt worth it was the day before, Sean and I took a 3 hour wAlk to reach it, only to find out it was closed! I blame the deceptive maps. And after visiting the reserve, we got on a wrong bus and ended up in a university campus! But no trouble came of it. It just took us longer to get home.
We also did a few walks around Manaus just to check it out.
We scoped out the pink theatre house and the pink government building...I'm starting to think South America has a pink building fetish, as Buenos Aires also had pink building as the presidents crib.
To start off, boats are stupid. We left the port and after some walking about,'we reaLized that our port was nowhere on the lonely planet map. But using my horrid portuguese skills, I managed to obtain a general direction of where our hostel is. Sean wanted to get a taxi, but after y experience in Porto Velho, I think not.
Manaus has been fairly entertaining. A few urkes here and there but all in all, it was a fairly nice way to see the rainforest without the huge price tag.
I visited a rainforest reserve where they outfitted it for tourism. So entering it, I got to see huge trees, manatees, otters, creepy gigantic bugs and alligators. Well worth the small price of 5 reals. What wasnt worth it was the day before, Sean and I took a 3 hour wAlk to reach it, only to find out it was closed! I blame the deceptive maps. And after visiting the reserve, we got on a wrong bus and ended up in a university campus! But no trouble came of it. It just took us longer to get home.
We also did a few walks around Manaus just to check it out.
We scoped out the pink theatre house and the pink government building...I'm starting to think South America has a pink building fetish, as Buenos Aires also had pink building as the presidents crib.
Wednesday 3 August 2011
The pirates life is not the life for me
Hey everyone.
I'm off the 3 day boat ride now, but I will blog according to the days I was there.
Day 1
Walking to the port is so long. I decided not to get a taxi just to save money. But there was time to get breakfast so the morning was not all bad. An interesting sight did come up however; we saw a door that was half the height of me! I try include the picture.
Arriving at the port, I boarded without any propels, hanged up my hammock and went up deck to sun tan. The food here consist mainly of carbohydrates such as rice and pasta, with meat, beans and sometimes a salad. Great food, and if there's any left over we are allowed to help ourselves, so I'm always full.
Day 2
Done nothing. I found out that above my hammock is a power socket. So just been reading my books via iPhone and listening to music. It has dawned on me that the sunsets look bloody amazing out here.
Day 3
It's starting to get real boring here very fast. Finished reading my books; soldiers son series by Robin Hobb. I highly recommend her. So to pass the time, I tend go stare at the birds that fly by, the sandy beaches along the river and other boats. Still....I'm so bored. Thank technology for games or I would have jumped in the river and attempt to reach land. At least the boat is making good progress despite going upstream.
I'm off the 3 day boat ride now, but I will blog according to the days I was there.
Day 1
Walking to the port is so long. I decided not to get a taxi just to save money. But there was time to get breakfast so the morning was not all bad. An interesting sight did come up however; we saw a door that was half the height of me! I try include the picture.
Arriving at the port, I boarded without any propels, hanged up my hammock and went up deck to sun tan. The food here consist mainly of carbohydrates such as rice and pasta, with meat, beans and sometimes a salad. Great food, and if there's any left over we are allowed to help ourselves, so I'm always full.
Day 2
Done nothing. I found out that above my hammock is a power socket. So just been reading my books via iPhone and listening to music. It has dawned on me that the sunsets look bloody amazing out here.
Day 3
It's starting to get real boring here very fast. Finished reading my books; soldiers son series by Robin Hobb. I highly recommend her. So to pass the time, I tend go stare at the birds that fly by, the sandy beaches along the river and other boats. Still....I'm so bored. Thank technology for games or I would have jumped in the river and attempt to reach land. At least the boat is making good progress despite going upstream.
Tuesday 26 July 2011
Fighting mosquitoes in Porto Velho
Dear Friends and Family.
I wish I was in beautiful England now.
So my bus ride wasn't too bad. For the price I paid, I was pleasantly surprised. It was comfatable and I wad able to sleep. That sleep was disturbed however when we all has to get off the bus to get on a ferry that took us all across a river. So Sean and I arrived to Porto Velho quite exhausted. So we quickly caught a taxi to our hotel and slept most of the day away.
I must say, I was actually surprised to see Porto Velho to be so developed. It had actual pavements instead of dirt tracks!
So far whilst I have been here, Sean and I have explored the town out of neccessity. We had to find a cheap place to eat and if possible, a cheaper place to stay. Really, I sometimes think Lonely Planet has too much of a high standard in choosing a bed and a place to eat. We had some success in finding a cheap place to eat, and in the process we saw a few sights. One being these 3 water towers that seem to have some sort of significance to the town. Another is the park and market next to the river. It's surprisingly a big park which would undoubtedly be a nice place to kick back and take a nap.... If I wasn't plagued by mosquitoes. It seems whenever I lack DEET on my body, they strike, whether it be my leg, toe or butt.
Today I went for a jog with Sean. It was a nice jog. Especially when we got kicked out of the military training grounds when we started to use their equipment. Obviously we knew not that it belonged to the military, or we would have at the very least stole a dumb bell before we walked off. I jest, I don't intend to get shot anytime soon. We also bought our hammocks which will be used when we board our boat to Manaus, which leaves tomorrow 9am. It should take around 4 or 5 days to arrive to the capital of the Amazon. I hope it isn't too hyped up.
I wish I was in beautiful England now.
So my bus ride wasn't too bad. For the price I paid, I was pleasantly surprised. It was comfatable and I wad able to sleep. That sleep was disturbed however when we all has to get off the bus to get on a ferry that took us all across a river. So Sean and I arrived to Porto Velho quite exhausted. So we quickly caught a taxi to our hotel and slept most of the day away.
I must say, I was actually surprised to see Porto Velho to be so developed. It had actual pavements instead of dirt tracks!
So far whilst I have been here, Sean and I have explored the town out of neccessity. We had to find a cheap place to eat and if possible, a cheaper place to stay. Really, I sometimes think Lonely Planet has too much of a high standard in choosing a bed and a place to eat. We had some success in finding a cheap place to eat, and in the process we saw a few sights. One being these 3 water towers that seem to have some sort of significance to the town. Another is the park and market next to the river. It's surprisingly a big park which would undoubtedly be a nice place to kick back and take a nap.... If I wasn't plagued by mosquitoes. It seems whenever I lack DEET on my body, they strike, whether it be my leg, toe or butt.
Today I went for a jog with Sean. It was a nice jog. Especially when we got kicked out of the military training grounds when we started to use their equipment. Obviously we knew not that it belonged to the military, or we would have at the very least stole a dumb bell before we walked off. I jest, I don't intend to get shot anytime soon. We also bought our hammocks which will be used when we board our boat to Manaus, which leaves tomorrow 9am. It should take around 4 or 5 days to arrive to the capital of the Amazon. I hope it isn't too hyped up.
Rio Branco sucks. So does Brazil.
Rio Branco. As expected, to put it in the gentlest terms, it's a shit hole. The place itself was not too bad. Its just the outrages prices they demand of us for accommodation. But the food isn't too expensive for a Brazillian restaurant though.
We stayed in a hotel, which had quite good beds but a broken AC. However, thats not what made me hate this place so much though. I think I just hate Brazil in general. I dislike the language, currency, prices and most of, the language. I simply hate it. It sounds as if it does not belong to a continent that speaks the Spanish language! But I can only assume I hate it so much is because I have no idea what they are saying to me. Plus it sounds like Dutch with all it's clucking, clicking and choking sounds. All the Spanish I have learnt throughout my journey is now useless. A fluent speaker may understand a little bit of portugese, but for me it's like an alien language. That I hate. All in all, I did not do much here. This is only a rest point for my next journey, which is to Porto Velho. So after no success in finding a cheaper alternative to our sleeping arrangements, I booked a ticket out of there and should reach Porto Velho in 10 hours or so.
We stayed in a hotel, which had quite good beds but a broken AC. However, thats not what made me hate this place so much though. I think I just hate Brazil in general. I dislike the language, currency, prices and most of, the language. I simply hate it. It sounds as if it does not belong to a continent that speaks the Spanish language! But I can only assume I hate it so much is because I have no idea what they are saying to me. Plus it sounds like Dutch with all it's clucking, clicking and choking sounds. All the Spanish I have learnt throughout my journey is now useless. A fluent speaker may understand a little bit of portugese, but for me it's like an alien language. That I hate. All in all, I did not do much here. This is only a rest point for my next journey, which is to Porto Velho. So after no success in finding a cheaper alternative to our sleeping arrangements, I booked a ticket out of there and should reach Porto Velho in 10 hours or so.
Experience of Puerto Maldonado
Hi everyone.
Well, first I like to apologize for this late post. Sometimes I'm just too lazy to do this.
Puerto Maldonado wasn't all bad. Sure it was expensive, food, water and accomodation wise. Sure the temperature did not make me any happier about the situation. And yes, the mosquitoes did come back at me with a vengeance seeking my blood due to my long absent from them. But all in all, the place didn't suck as I thought it would. Sean and I found an amazing shop stand that sold these wonderfully chilled drinks called refresco. From what I could tell, it's a mix of blended juices and water, where the juices vary from the black corn, chica to apple.
We also did a few sight seeing excursions. Two locations were interesting. The first being on our arrival to this town. First we tried to enter the plaza de armas, which is the town centre. But to my dismay and annoyance, the place was surrounded by the military, where they actually searched my bag for weapons! I later found out why. Today was the day of the celebratory opening of the bridge that will connect the western river bank to the east. This involved the appearance of a previous popular president of Peru. Unfortunately, this reduced us of having any chance of finding a cheap hostel; so we resorted to one that is apparently "backpacker" prices. Backpacker prices my ass I scoff.
The next sight was the town's obelisk. It's just like any one obelisk I have seen in my travels. Except this was smaller and less impressive.
Our departure from here was almost a failure if not for our precaution. Before departing to the terminal, I visited the ticket office to enquire where our bus would leave. We quickly found out that we had to cross the river by boat in order to reach our bus! Here I was able to really appreciate how useful the bridge will be when it's actually open. In the end we did manage to catch our bus, and off we went to Rio Branco, our first step into Brazil and surely a place where I'm sure will be worse than here.
Well, first I like to apologize for this late post. Sometimes I'm just too lazy to do this.
Puerto Maldonado wasn't all bad. Sure it was expensive, food, water and accomodation wise. Sure the temperature did not make me any happier about the situation. And yes, the mosquitoes did come back at me with a vengeance seeking my blood due to my long absent from them. But all in all, the place didn't suck as I thought it would. Sean and I found an amazing shop stand that sold these wonderfully chilled drinks called refresco. From what I could tell, it's a mix of blended juices and water, where the juices vary from the black corn, chica to apple.
We also did a few sight seeing excursions. Two locations were interesting. The first being on our arrival to this town. First we tried to enter the plaza de armas, which is the town centre. But to my dismay and annoyance, the place was surrounded by the military, where they actually searched my bag for weapons! I later found out why. Today was the day of the celebratory opening of the bridge that will connect the western river bank to the east. This involved the appearance of a previous popular president of Peru. Unfortunately, this reduced us of having any chance of finding a cheap hostel; so we resorted to one that is apparently "backpacker" prices. Backpacker prices my ass I scoff.
The next sight was the town's obelisk. It's just like any one obelisk I have seen in my travels. Except this was smaller and less impressive.
Our departure from here was almost a failure if not for our precaution. Before departing to the terminal, I visited the ticket office to enquire where our bus would leave. We quickly found out that we had to cross the river by boat in order to reach our bus! Here I was able to really appreciate how useful the bridge will be when it's actually open. In the end we did manage to catch our bus, and off we went to Rio Branco, our first step into Brazil and surely a place where I'm sure will be worse than here.
Monday 18 July 2011
Rio Branco....hopefully
Well, Im off to Rio Branco, Brazil soon. If I can get a ticket and bus there that is. So don't worry mum, I try to find an internet to call you.
Saturday 16 July 2011
New place, and I don't like it
Hi everyone. Lets start this blog with, I hate Puerto Maldonado. I hate it hate it hate it.
Now from the beginning. Sean and I took a 10-11 hour bus from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado. The journey sucked like all bus journeys do. I couldn't sleep, and as we slowly went east, the humidity of the environment increased like a slap in the face. It started to become hotter, more uncomftable and I just want to get off this stupid bus. It even rained during the journey! I havn't seen rain for a long time, so I was really thinking...yep, I'm in the jungle now.
Arriving at Puerto Maldonado was no improvement. We found out the Plaza de Armas was closed off for the opening of some stupid bridge where some stupid ex president of Peru will be present. This meant Peruvians from all over came to this small ass town, booked up all the hostels, leaving only the pricey ones for me and Sean. Well we booked one night at the hostel. It was a nice hostel, but I still hated it because hot temperatures make me angry. I literally took a shower 6 times that day just to stay cool and sweat free.
Now its the second day in Puerto Maldonado, Sean and I are in a new, but even more terrible hostel, and I just want to get the Hell out of here ASAP.
Now from the beginning. Sean and I took a 10-11 hour bus from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado. The journey sucked like all bus journeys do. I couldn't sleep, and as we slowly went east, the humidity of the environment increased like a slap in the face. It started to become hotter, more uncomftable and I just want to get off this stupid bus. It even rained during the journey! I havn't seen rain for a long time, so I was really thinking...yep, I'm in the jungle now.
Arriving at Puerto Maldonado was no improvement. We found out the Plaza de Armas was closed off for the opening of some stupid bridge where some stupid ex president of Peru will be present. This meant Peruvians from all over came to this small ass town, booked up all the hostels, leaving only the pricey ones for me and Sean. Well we booked one night at the hostel. It was a nice hostel, but I still hated it because hot temperatures make me angry. I literally took a shower 6 times that day just to stay cool and sweat free.
Now its the second day in Puerto Maldonado, Sean and I are in a new, but even more terrible hostel, and I just want to get the Hell out of here ASAP.
Wednesday 13 July 2011
Its been a good month at work
Hello everyone.
As of today, my 4 week work at The Point as a barman is over. Its been a good month. I've met alot of cool people, worked with some, party with most.
But now I am done. Tomorow I will go to Puerto Maldonado, and work out my route to Porto Velho where I shall embark on my boat trip to the Amazon capital, Manaus.
I don't have much to say really. I worked 5 days a week, drank about half the week and party for like a day a week. But after such along time at Cuzco, I'm ready to leave now and stop working. I reckon I saved quite alot of money doing this, which I'm glad for. But big ups to The Point for employing me and their staff and all the travellors I have met and became friends with.
As of today, my 4 week work at The Point as a barman is over. Its been a good month. I've met alot of cool people, worked with some, party with most.
But now I am done. Tomorow I will go to Puerto Maldonado, and work out my route to Porto Velho where I shall embark on my boat trip to the Amazon capital, Manaus.
I don't have much to say really. I worked 5 days a week, drank about half the week and party for like a day a week. But after such along time at Cuzco, I'm ready to leave now and stop working. I reckon I saved quite alot of money doing this, which I'm glad for. But big ups to The Point for employing me and their staff and all the travellors I have met and became friends with.
Monday 27 June 2011
Still at the Point
Hey everyone.
Im still at the Point hostel, working my shifts. Inka Raymi, the day of the Sun festival in Cusco just passed by.
But to my distress, I actually missed it! I was so positive that it would take place during the night, with all the parades and the sacrificing of the llama! But I was wrong. It took place in the early morning where I was sleeping away the drinks. Oh how annoying.
But the silver lining, I did get to see what went on afterwards. Just aload of market stands standing about, selling tourist stuff and food. So I bought a coconut and one fried dough. So nothing much to blog about really.
Im still at the Point hostel, working my shifts. Inka Raymi, the day of the Sun festival in Cusco just passed by.
But to my distress, I actually missed it! I was so positive that it would take place during the night, with all the parades and the sacrificing of the llama! But I was wrong. It took place in the early morning where I was sleeping away the drinks. Oh how annoying.
But the silver lining, I did get to see what went on afterwards. Just aload of market stands standing about, selling tourist stuff and food. So I bought a coconut and one fried dough. So nothing much to blog about really.
Tuesday 21 June 2011
A day shift at work
Hey everyone.
Working at the Point as a bartender has been great. Unfortuantly I aint seeing much of breakfast and day light, as usually after work, we all hit the huge gringo dance club, Mama Africas. And after a night of dancing and booze, I usually wake up around 12 to 2pm. Meh.
So far, at work, I dressed up as an Incan warlord, a woman, and served in an open bar. I dont like all the staff though, as they can be abit rude at times. For example, during the open bar, I was trying to serve drinks as fast as I can, and they actually said dont serve too much! And even worst, one of them try to tell us bartenders we cant drink for free during an Open bar!!! I obviously argued against this and continued to drink.
Right now Im on a day shift. Fairly simple work. Take food orders, drinks, clean plates, stuff like that. I hope on my day off I can visit some of the churches nearby, because to get in for free I have to go in before 9 am during service.
Working at the Point as a bartender has been great. Unfortuantly I aint seeing much of breakfast and day light, as usually after work, we all hit the huge gringo dance club, Mama Africas. And after a night of dancing and booze, I usually wake up around 12 to 2pm. Meh.
So far, at work, I dressed up as an Incan warlord, a woman, and served in an open bar. I dont like all the staff though, as they can be abit rude at times. For example, during the open bar, I was trying to serve drinks as fast as I can, and they actually said dont serve too much! And even worst, one of them try to tell us bartenders we cant drink for free during an Open bar!!! I obviously argued against this and continued to drink.
Right now Im on a day shift. Fairly simple work. Take food orders, drinks, clean plates, stuff like that. I hope on my day off I can visit some of the churches nearby, because to get in for free I have to go in before 9 am during service.
Saturday 18 June 2011
No Loki but theres Point!!
Hey everyone.
Since my last post, I have been disappointed to find out that Sean and I could not get jobs at Loki, after being tagged along for 2 weeks. But after a quick stop at Wild Rover, we were pointed to another hostel, the Point.
As soon as we asked, we were hired on the spot. This is fantastic news as it will allow me to save large sums of money. The job will be 5 nights a week as a bartender. I will be given free accomodation, one free dinner, 1 or 2 free drinks while on the job and a 30 percent discount on all things.
So far, the work has been great. I can make most simple drinks but require help for the more difficult ones, such as pisco sour and mojitos. But thankfully, there are always veteran bartenders around to give aid. What I dont like though is that I really have to be social. Dancing, talking, yeah all that. The talking is relatively easy, as I am very used to it. The constant dancing....well...thats abit harder espescially with my dancing skills of a obese walrus.
Just recently, we had a costume party where I dressed up as the first Incan warlord. Yup. Really nice. I wore a feathered crown, Fred Flintstone dress and a cape. Unfortuantly, I later lost the hat in the dance club. But at least I didnt pay for it. Meh.
Since my last post, I have been disappointed to find out that Sean and I could not get jobs at Loki, after being tagged along for 2 weeks. But after a quick stop at Wild Rover, we were pointed to another hostel, the Point.
As soon as we asked, we were hired on the spot. This is fantastic news as it will allow me to save large sums of money. The job will be 5 nights a week as a bartender. I will be given free accomodation, one free dinner, 1 or 2 free drinks while on the job and a 30 percent discount on all things.
So far, the work has been great. I can make most simple drinks but require help for the more difficult ones, such as pisco sour and mojitos. But thankfully, there are always veteran bartenders around to give aid. What I dont like though is that I really have to be social. Dancing, talking, yeah all that. The talking is relatively easy, as I am very used to it. The constant dancing....well...thats abit harder espescially with my dancing skills of a obese walrus.
Just recently, we had a costume party where I dressed up as the first Incan warlord. Yup. Really nice. I wore a feathered crown, Fred Flintstone dress and a cape. Unfortuantly, I later lost the hat in the dance club. But at least I didnt pay for it. Meh.
Sunday 12 June 2011
I win!!!
Hi everyone.
Sean and I are in Loki hostel now after a night out. Well, it wasnt really night out for me, as I dont feel very comftable in the dance clubs. But Sean had a fun time though.
With only 5 hours of sleep, we packed our bags and moved to Loki. Now the best bit. I managed to beat him at pool twice, winning 2 soles!!! Its only 50p, but I hardly ever win at pool, so Im quite proud of myself!
Sean and I are in Loki hostel now after a night out. Well, it wasnt really night out for me, as I dont feel very comftable in the dance clubs. But Sean had a fun time though.
With only 5 hours of sleep, we packed our bags and moved to Loki. Now the best bit. I managed to beat him at pool twice, winning 2 soles!!! Its only 50p, but I hardly ever win at pool, so Im quite proud of myself!
Saturday 11 June 2011
Sexy Woman!!!
Hello everyone.
Well since arriving to Cusco, Sean and I left Loki Hostel after we found out there were no jobs avaliable. But we will be back there shortly.
Since moving to our new hostel, Amazing Brew, a nice and cheap hostel with a kitchen, I have entered one museum. The Inka Museum. Obviously it features alot of manly bits and old stuff. Also some very dead mummies. Yep. Old, dusty and bony mummies.
I was also fortunate to be in Cusco for some crazy insane celebration. Cusco flags (heavily resembling the gay pride flag) was hanged everywhere, and throughout the entire day school children danced in cultural costumes, ranging from the lower years to the higher. So the city centre was packed quite abit.
I also climbed the Incan ruins, Saesaywaman, or as I like to call it, Sexy Woman. Its basically one of the Incan fortresses that is still kind of standing. Really, we only see 20 percent of it. I also climbed up to the giant statue of Jesus Christ. And for karma points, I helped a local push his bike cart up a stoney path with Sean. Of course, between the ruins and Jesus Christ, I jumped over ruins and went through pitch black tunnels, once again fighting my fear of falling. Oh the joy.
Well since arriving to Cusco, Sean and I left Loki Hostel after we found out there were no jobs avaliable. But we will be back there shortly.
Since moving to our new hostel, Amazing Brew, a nice and cheap hostel with a kitchen, I have entered one museum. The Inka Museum. Obviously it features alot of manly bits and old stuff. Also some very dead mummies. Yep. Old, dusty and bony mummies.
I was also fortunate to be in Cusco for some crazy insane celebration. Cusco flags (heavily resembling the gay pride flag) was hanged everywhere, and throughout the entire day school children danced in cultural costumes, ranging from the lower years to the higher. So the city centre was packed quite abit.
I also climbed the Incan ruins, Saesaywaman, or as I like to call it, Sexy Woman. Its basically one of the Incan fortresses that is still kind of standing. Really, we only see 20 percent of it. I also climbed up to the giant statue of Jesus Christ. And for karma points, I helped a local push his bike cart up a stoney path with Sean. Of course, between the ruins and Jesus Christ, I jumped over ruins and went through pitch black tunnels, once again fighting my fear of falling. Oh the joy.
Monday 6 June 2011
Machu Pichu Baby!
Sam, Luke, Jess and Jo decided to go to MP (Machu Pichu) one day earlier than I and Sean. Which is no biggie really, because as luck would have it, I ran into Carielle again. This was amazing as I simply adore my abuela (grandma). This resulted in a day of drinking and going out dancing with Claire, Sean and Carielle. All good, all good.
The next day Sean and I embarked for MP with a new group, Paul, Jasper, Marcello and more people I can't really remember.
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Day 1 - The guide was actually late to pick us up, 30 minutes to be exact. This means I could have had 30 more minutes of sleep! Alas, things did not become better. After being picked up, there were still further delays as we waited at a checkpoint to load the bikes and get into a new van, one that can accomodate more people. I also had stomach issues, which prevented me from eating anything. The delay also meant we didn't get to spend time in the first town, Ollytambo (possible incorrect spelling here). The bus ride to the top of the bike route took around 3 hours I reckon. Now, I love to ride bikes, but the fun here was taken out completely because after doning the helmet and pads, we had to ride in formation. Yep. Formation. Slow.
Reaching the bottom of the mountain, I had to ride through dirt and rock paths, which is due to the construction taking place along the path. Reaching the finish line, we all boarded the bus to get stuck in traffic for many hours. Fantastic fun that was. Reaching the hostel in the second town, Santa something, we recieved lunch, dinner, and no shower. This really does get better doesn't it. No it doesn't. I was attacked by a severe headache because of the cold high altitude wind.
Day 2 - Day 2 was a typical hike through the jungle. First we took a pickup truck to the beginning of the path, then we started climbing. Highlights were, eating the local delicacy, cuy. Which is guinea pig. 
I was also painted on my face using a paint berry plant that the Incans used to use. After ascending the mountain, going through treacherous paths where my fear of falling made my progress stupidly slow, we then had to cross rivers using a rope and lift system. I did the pulling while Sean just sat back. After doing this a few more times, I had to trek through river rocks and jump from one to another whilst hugging the wall as to not fall into the river. It was dangerous, but it was extremely exhillarating. At the end, we were rewarded with the natural hot springs. Unfortuantly, I cut my foot deeply here as I fell into the pool. Totally sucks. Sean and I then got a bus to the hostel with the guide, ate dinner and went to sleep. 
Day 4 - Had to wake up at 3 30 am. Had crappy breakfast. Then started a major hike up the mountain, racing against everyone else to the top so we can get tickets to Hyana Pichu, another mountain next to Machu Pichu. It was very hard too, as it was just insanely steep stairs. We managed to reach the top in 40 minutes, where we then waited in a queue.
After the guided tour, Sean and I climbed Hyana Pichu. Going up was the easy part. Going down was just hell for me. My fear forced me to take it extremely slow, but luckily Sean helped me down. But by the time I got down, I was exhausted. The hyper ventilation and lack of water slowed my body. My foot injury still hasn´t gotten better either.
Sunday 5 June 2011
Goodbye Arequipa, I will always love you
Hey everyone.
Its a sad time. My stay in Arequipa will end soon. Its been amazing here. All the friends I made amongst the GVI crew. Brap braps to Sam, Luke, Jo, Carielle, Michael, Claire, Patrick, Kat, Katrien, Ben and so much more.
Its a sad time. My stay in Arequipa will end soon. Its been amazing here. All the friends I made amongst the GVI crew. Brap braps to Sam, Luke, Jo, Carielle, Michael, Claire, Patrick, Kat, Katrien, Ben and so much more.
On my last night in Arequipa, I went to Michael´s cervichi party. Cervichi is a South American dish, but in the peruvian style, its raw fish cooked using the acidic lime juice. The fish is then mixed with large quantities of various hot peppers and herbs. This creates an intense sour and spicy flavour. In a sense, it taste like sour spicy tuna. I also drank a fudge load and took up the hot pepper challenge. Those were the hottest peppers I have ever eaten and I will never do that again. The burning sensation is absolute killer.
Afterwards, we did more drinking. Fun.
To prepare for the bus to Cusco, Sean and I purchased crisp, chicken and chips and water. Unfortuantly, Sean had his food carried off by Luke. I still had my food though. But some annoying child and mother took my bag of grocceries that I have been saving, consisting of cooking oil, spices, spaghetti and etc.
Arriving to Cusco was without trouble, and I got to look foward to spending more time with the GVI crew, Sam, Luke, Jo, Jess and Claire. We all went to Cusco and stayed in the same hostel, Loki. During night, we all drank, slept and our plans for Machu Pichu assembled.
Colca Trekking Mayhem!!! Part 2
Greetings to my adoring fans. Or fans. Or just people.
Here is where the hard part starts. Waking up from the much needed sleep, I obtained 4 chocolate bars and 2 small bottles of fizzy drinks. We started our climb out of the canyon around 8ish am. That was our first mistake. The second mistake was not having any breakfast. The third mistake was not having enough water and food to get us out.
With the Sun blazing on our sweating backs, we climbed for hours. Eventually it became such a hard and exhausting climb, I literally hugged any shaded walls, giving myself a few minutes of rest. Or more. We consumed all the chocolate before it melted, and the worst occured. We both ran out of water. It now became a mission of survival to climb out of that hell hole and get something to drink. I eventually had to start crawling my way up because it was so difficult. We did make it out obviously, after 4 hours I believe. It was by sheer will power we managed to achieve this. Reaching the top, we were greeted by a nice cold stream, where we soaked our heads in the revitilizing water. I also drank some of it, putting my Steripen to test.
Things only got worse however. Reaching the small town, we found out we would have to wait until 9 30pm until we could get a bus out of the bloody place. That left us with 6 hours to kill, where all we wanted was a nice shower and some decent food. But no, life decided to punch us in our groins. At least I managed to solve the mystery of the apaca meat. We ordered steaks at the same restaurant, and I was relieved to find that the steak did not look like the apaca meat at all. So Sean didn´t eat my apaca meat.
Finally reaching Arequipa, life decided to further stamp and stomp on us as we discovered that our hostel no longer had any spare rooms. Even worse, the hostel was lacking staff! We were just lucky that the door to the hostel was actually open, so we quickly collected the rest of our bags and trekked to the famous hostel, Wild Rover. Here we finally got to sleep in fairly decent beds.
Here is where the hard part starts. Waking up from the much needed sleep, I obtained 4 chocolate bars and 2 small bottles of fizzy drinks. We started our climb out of the canyon around 8ish am. That was our first mistake. The second mistake was not having any breakfast. The third mistake was not having enough water and food to get us out.
With the Sun blazing on our sweating backs, we climbed for hours. Eventually it became such a hard and exhausting climb, I literally hugged any shaded walls, giving myself a few minutes of rest. Or more. We consumed all the chocolate before it melted, and the worst occured. We both ran out of water. It now became a mission of survival to climb out of that hell hole and get something to drink. I eventually had to start crawling my way up because it was so difficult. We did make it out obviously, after 4 hours I believe. It was by sheer will power we managed to achieve this. Reaching the top, we were greeted by a nice cold stream, where we soaked our heads in the revitilizing water. I also drank some of it, putting my Steripen to test.
Things only got worse however. Reaching the small town, we found out we would have to wait until 9 30pm until we could get a bus out of the bloody place. That left us with 6 hours to kill, where all we wanted was a nice shower and some decent food. But no, life decided to punch us in our groins. At least I managed to solve the mystery of the apaca meat. We ordered steaks at the same restaurant, and I was relieved to find that the steak did not look like the apaca meat at all. So Sean didn´t eat my apaca meat.
Finally reaching Arequipa, life decided to further stamp and stomp on us as we discovered that our hostel no longer had any spare rooms. Even worse, the hostel was lacking staff! We were just lucky that the door to the hostel was actually open, so we quickly collected the rest of our bags and trekked to the famous hostel, Wild Rover. Here we finally got to sleep in fairly decent beds.
Friday 27 May 2011
Colca Trekking Mayhem!!! Part 1
Hello true believers.Yes its me, the lovable and yet, amazingly awesome, John. I have escaped the clutches of the Colca Canyon after a death defying 5 hour trek today, after an 8 hour trek the day before.
But I shall begin from the start.
Only Sean and I went on the trek. We left our hostel around 12ish, and got on a bus to Cabanaconde at 2pm. We arrived in Cabanaconde by 8pm I believe. Our choices of hostels incuded the VALLEY OF FIRE and Valla. We chose the non death sounding one.
For dinner, I had Apaca steak with chips after whooping Sean in a game of Chess two times. This was followed by a huge debate of whether Sean ate my Apaca or not. We literally could not tell the difference between a beef steak and an apaca steak. This issue was resolved later on however.
We left for trekking at 7am, and by Jeebus did we get lost. It is extremely fortunate we decided not to go to the Cruz del Condor, or we be stuck in the town for much longer than we would have liked.
The start of the trek was fairly easy. Sun scorching, rocky paths filled with mule poop...yep, it was the trekker life. Until the blisters appeared. Then the horror started. Every step was filled with foot numbing pain, severely delaying my progress whilst Sean whizzed ahead, leaving me behind. To suffer. In the canyon....
We eventually reached a river after 3 hours of downhill marching, where we soaked our feet in the freezing cold, most likely, glacial melt water. It was divine and worked wonders for my blisters. Until they started hurting again of course.Throughout the day, we became lost many times as there are no directions at all. I am also positive I came to death several times due to my fear of heights combined with the possibility of falling down to my death. We kept trekking higher and higher, crossing bridges, tiny paths, aqueducts, and passing by villages and trespassing in gardens we wern´t aware off (Due to Sean´s terrible sense of directions). I also had to fight off a few wild evil dogs that tried to kill us. I do recommend the apaca stir fried with vegetables and chips in Cosni something village. Good value, as it was only 10 soles. But do not buy the cold drinks, as it is a rip off.
Now, the perils I experienced was terrible indeed. I had to fight off fire ants, stalking tree branches, mule poop, wild rabid dogs and the possibility of falling to my death. It was not a fun time. But I believe it was easier than Mount Cerro Torco due to the many rest points along the way. 
After reaching the highest point, Malata, we then had to bloody descend the Canyon again. This resulted in more mind numbing pain for me as we descended to the Oasis. I eventually arrived, after Sean took the wrong direction (lol). We quickly paid for our beds, I took a swim in the pool, had dinner and went to sleep. Sunday 22 May 2011
Battered, Bruised and Bleeding
Hey everyone.
Its Sunday, and I am going to spend my time wisely recovering from my injuries that I obtained from the Chachani mountain bike ride.
It was fun, no doubt about it. Just painful. The tankers met up at the Casa for 8am, then we took a 2 - 3 hour van ride to the top of the Chachani volcano. Then we strapped on our geeky helmets, protective pads, sat our asses on our bikes and rode down the mountain.
I tackled sand pits, rocky paths and such. Most of the way it was a down slope ride, which was extremely exilerating. I hated the sand parts though, because whenever I dropped in speed, my bike would sink. If I go too fast, I would drift out of control, resulting in me eating sand and dirt. Unfortuantly, this occured several times. 8 to be exact.
The wounds I suffered are the following:
- Bleeding left elbow
- Majorly bruised right palm
- Muscle fatique along the hips, stomache, upper legs and my balls.
- Yes, my balls
Unfortuantly during the trip, Carielle, one of the tankers, lost her Camera lens cover. This resulted in a further 1 hour of driving around looking for it. It amazes me what the tour guides did to help, but to no luck. I´m sure it can be replaced however.
Getting back to the hostel, I dropped out faster than a falling turtle. That means I slept like a baby.
Its Sunday, and I am going to spend my time wisely recovering from my injuries that I obtained from the Chachani mountain bike ride.
It was fun, no doubt about it. Just painful. The tankers met up at the Casa for 8am, then we took a 2 - 3 hour van ride to the top of the Chachani volcano. Then we strapped on our geeky helmets, protective pads, sat our asses on our bikes and rode down the mountain.
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| I look rough after my tumble |
The wounds I suffered are the following:
- Bleeding left elbow
- Majorly bruised right palm
- Muscle fatique along the hips, stomache, upper legs and my balls.
- Yes, my balls
Unfortuantly during the trip, Carielle, one of the tankers, lost her Camera lens cover. This resulted in a further 1 hour of driving around looking for it. It amazes me what the tour guides did to help, but to no luck. I´m sure it can be replaced however.
Getting back to the hostel, I dropped out faster than a falling turtle. That means I slept like a baby.
Thursday 19 May 2011
Its been so long
Hey fellow believers!
Sorry its been such a long time since my last post. After finding out Sean´s amazing view count, I realized my blog is far inferior to his, therefore I must make it better. So expect to see pictures and the sort.
So what have I done since my arrival in Arequipa?
- I didn't do much until Sean arrived.
Not really surprising is it? I did watch alot of episodes of Spartacus. So violent and features alot of sex scenes, so young and strict minded people, beware. Funny thing, Sean's voice really has changed. Its really gruff now, partly due to his crazy antics in Bolivia.
With Sean´s arrival, I finally left the hostel and computer. I explored more of Arequipa, went into a few museums, visited a church thing and the artisans market.
When the time came, we left the hostel we were at. Surprisingly, I kinda miss the hostel, mainly due to Sean and I dominating the computers. Also, the manager offered a pretty sweet deal for us; write a positive review and we get one night free! No point arguing in that.
Meeting the other members of GVI on a Friday barbecue was very interesting. But it seemed we were the only "tankers" at the time. But we did get to meet the project coordinators and managers and other staff members. Plus the barbecue was pretty decent, as well as the bar we went to.
Black Russian and White Russian for 12 soles. That's less than 3 pounds people!
As the weekend went by, the ranks of the Tankers swelled. Our numbers now include Michael, Carielle, Joanh and Claire. But honestly, Sean and I did most of the work. We moved mountains, destroyed rocks and just dominated nature overall.
Sorry its been such a long time since my last post. After finding out Sean´s amazing view count, I realized my blog is far inferior to his, therefore I must make it better. So expect to see pictures and the sort.
So what have I done since my arrival in Arequipa?
- I didn't do much until Sean arrived.
Not really surprising is it? I did watch alot of episodes of Spartacus. So violent and features alot of sex scenes, so young and strict minded people, beware. Funny thing, Sean's voice really has changed. Its really gruff now, partly due to his crazy antics in Bolivia.
With Sean´s arrival, I finally left the hostel and computer. I explored more of Arequipa, went into a few museums, visited a church thing and the artisans market.
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| Old helmet |
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| Maiden of seven sorrows |
Meeting the other members of GVI on a Friday barbecue was very interesting. But it seemed we were the only "tankers" at the time. But we did get to meet the project coordinators and managers and other staff members. Plus the barbecue was pretty decent, as well as the bar we went to.
Black Russian and White Russian for 12 soles. That's less than 3 pounds people!
As the weekend went by, the ranks of the Tankers swelled. Our numbers now include Michael, Carielle, Joanh and Claire. But honestly, Sean and I did most of the work. We moved mountains, destroyed rocks and just dominated nature overall.
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| Patrick (Project manager), Joanh, Michael, Carielle, Claire, Me, Sean |
First day of work didn´t go too well though. Our taxi driver managed to get lost, therefore we were lost. Luckily Sean had Patrick´s number, so we quickly joined up with Patrick and Carielle. Claire and Michael were sick unfortuantly. But like I said, Sean and I did most of the work.
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| Call for help! |
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| Pic of the site |
Saturday 30 April 2011
Im in Peru
hey all.
After 36 hours of bus riding, vomiting and headaches, I am in Peru. More specifically, Arequipa.
After 36 hours of bus riding, vomiting and headaches, I am in Peru. More specifically, Arequipa.
Wednesday 27 April 2011
Ticket bougbt
hey all. Paola and I went to La Calera, purchased my ticket.
12 15 pm, 30 hour bus ride to Arica. Woopie...
12 15 pm, 30 hour bus ride to Arica. Woopie...
Tuesday 26 April 2011
Buying ticket today
Hey folks.
Im going to buy my ticket today at La Calera. ticket to Arica, then as soon as i get there, buy some food and a ticket to arequipa.
Im going to buy my ticket today at La Calera. ticket to Arica, then as soon as i get there, buy some food and a ticket to arequipa.
Saturday 23 April 2011
Im still alive people
Hey. Just a quick update. Its been great here at Paola´s. I be leaving next week.
Unfortuantly I caught the cold...darn it.
Unfortuantly I caught the cold...darn it.
Monday 11 April 2011
good morning all
Ahh. Its monday today, and what a great weekend.
On Saturday, I was taken out with the family on a family get together, a rememberance for the passing of a great grand mother. The family is so nice and some even spoke english!
Afterwards, we went to a restaurant, where we drank and I ate more than I could handle. Blood sausages, intestines, beef, potatoes, fries, bread, salad, beef and shots. What a great weekend.
On Sunday, I practiced my spanish with the grand father, Juan, who lives on the same plot of land as we talked about swords and his ship.
On Saturday, I was taken out with the family on a family get together, a rememberance for the passing of a great grand mother. The family is so nice and some even spoke english!
Afterwards, we went to a restaurant, where we drank and I ate more than I could handle. Blood sausages, intestines, beef, potatoes, fries, bread, salad, beef and shots. What a great weekend.
On Sunday, I practiced my spanish with the grand father, Juan, who lives on the same plot of land as we talked about swords and his ship.
Saturday 9 April 2011
Its a good life
Hey everyone.
Still in Nogales and enjoying the place, thanks to the family Im staying with. One of the benefits I get from living with this family is my improving Spanish skills. Its hard to believe, but I do believe my language is getting better!
On a downside note, Thomas has accidently deleted all my pictures and videos on my camera. I am incredibly sad at this, but theres no point of me getting angry. First, theres nothing I can do, and second, he did introduce me to his family.
But what pisses me off more is the seemingly lack of attempt to make up for this god damn action.
Still in Nogales and enjoying the place, thanks to the family Im staying with. One of the benefits I get from living with this family is my improving Spanish skills. Its hard to believe, but I do believe my language is getting better!
On a downside note, Thomas has accidently deleted all my pictures and videos on my camera. I am incredibly sad at this, but theres no point of me getting angry. First, theres nothing I can do, and second, he did introduce me to his family.
But what pisses me off more is the seemingly lack of attempt to make up for this god damn action.
Tuesday 5 April 2011
Its sure been long
Hey everyone.
First of all, I ain't going to bother with putting up a date. Its been so long since my last post I rather not. So instead, Im going to summarise what I have been doing since...the last post.
So in Santiago, I went around getting lost whilst exploring the city. This is part of the fun however so don´t feel sorry for me. Additionally, its rather hard to get lost in Santiago...kind of anyway. So I stayed in the hostel for about 7 days if I remember correctly. And oh such a lovely place, with wonderful people. Main shout outs to my room mates, Irish Osin and Gerrard. Extremely amusing fellows and always a delight to talk to.
On a tangent, I predict that the whole of Santiago´s english students will start talking with an Irish accent, because there is literally a horde of Irish teachers coming to Santiago to teach in the private sector. It really does amaze me. I have met over 8 teachers, most being Irish and American. Not a single Brit amongst them unfortuantly.
During my stay at the Hostel, I got to celebrate one of the staff´s birthday, her name being Adria. That meant free booze and free entry to night club. Now night clubs is not my preferred environment, but free is free. We travelled in a huge group, so no trouble here mama.
I eventually left Santiago, going slowly north. I went past many places and stopped in many. One of the highlights is a small dirty place called Nogales, which happens to be my current location. Now this is a highlight, because I met a great person here called Thomas. With our rough communication, I was invited to stay in his house with his mother, Paola, father, Roberto and brother, Eric. I am still with this family now. They are just so generous and amazing. I am still grateful for the hospitality and generousity they are showing me. I try my best to help around of course, but Paola refuses to let me do any work. But I manage to get some by her when she isn´t looking. Its also a great place because I´m learning spanish here as well, as I speak in a combnation of english and spanish with the help of my dictionary.
First of all, I ain't going to bother with putting up a date. Its been so long since my last post I rather not. So instead, Im going to summarise what I have been doing since...the last post.
So in Santiago, I went around getting lost whilst exploring the city. This is part of the fun however so don´t feel sorry for me. Additionally, its rather hard to get lost in Santiago...kind of anyway. So I stayed in the hostel for about 7 days if I remember correctly. And oh such a lovely place, with wonderful people. Main shout outs to my room mates, Irish Osin and Gerrard. Extremely amusing fellows and always a delight to talk to.
On a tangent, I predict that the whole of Santiago´s english students will start talking with an Irish accent, because there is literally a horde of Irish teachers coming to Santiago to teach in the private sector. It really does amaze me. I have met over 8 teachers, most being Irish and American. Not a single Brit amongst them unfortuantly.
During my stay at the Hostel, I got to celebrate one of the staff´s birthday, her name being Adria. That meant free booze and free entry to night club. Now night clubs is not my preferred environment, but free is free. We travelled in a huge group, so no trouble here mama.
I eventually left Santiago, going slowly north. I went past many places and stopped in many. One of the highlights is a small dirty place called Nogales, which happens to be my current location. Now this is a highlight, because I met a great person here called Thomas. With our rough communication, I was invited to stay in his house with his mother, Paola, father, Roberto and brother, Eric. I am still with this family now. They are just so generous and amazing. I am still grateful for the hospitality and generousity they are showing me. I try my best to help around of course, but Paola refuses to let me do any work. But I manage to get some by her when she isn´t looking. Its also a great place because I´m learning spanish here as well, as I speak in a combnation of english and spanish with the help of my dictionary.
Saturday 19 March 2011
New people, New place, New currency, New language...this sucks
18th March
Hey all. Well, so far, lets go with the list of names I have gathered so far, so that I don't forget.
Erika, Hwan, Philip, Philip, Grace and Katie. With that out of the way, Im sure I can start remembering their names.
So all day yesterday, the 17th, all I did was look for the grocery, play Civilization 3 and meet new people. First impressions of Santiago, mornings are bloody cold. But the temperature quickly increases, and with such wide roads, the pollution just floats into the air, obscuring vision. But the architecture of this place is so varied. It has Italian type buildings with arched doorways and decorative walls. It also has modern structures that just rise into the sky, and some weird ones, one that looks like a giant copper turtle.
Hey all. Well, so far, lets go with the list of names I have gathered so far, so that I don't forget.
Erika, Hwan, Philip, Philip, Grace and Katie. With that out of the way, Im sure I can start remembering their names.
So all day yesterday, the 17th, all I did was look for the grocery, play Civilization 3 and meet new people. First impressions of Santiago, mornings are bloody cold. But the temperature quickly increases, and with such wide roads, the pollution just floats into the air, obscuring vision. But the architecture of this place is so varied. It has Italian type buildings with arched doorways and decorative walls. It also has modern structures that just rise into the sky, and some weird ones, one that looks like a giant copper turtle.
Friday 18 March 2011
Hello Santiago
17th March
Hey everyone. John here. Well, who else right? I'm quite tired as I type this, but not too tired. Just that sleepy kind of tired where I will keep on talking and talking and talking. So I arrived in Santiago by 0630. The bus ride was very nice though, they gave us a pillow and a blanket. Also sandwiches, and it was only like a 7 or 8 hour trip!
The border control was easy to do. Get off the bus, get stamped in the Argentinian line, then the Chilean line. Then I go declare my goods. Thankfully they didn't take my more boyish goods. I think they just looked for food, because they had a sniffer dog.
So I managed to catch around 3 or 4 hours of sleep at most. Getting to the terminal, I had to locate an ATM. Fast enough, got some cash and went to the underground. Now it is only then did I realize how huge Santiago is. The map is bloody huge! I'm sure its bigger than Buenos Aires! So I got the underground to Bal something station, then got a taxi. Cheeky bastard, the hostel was only just round the corner! He could have just told me the directions! But oh well, I was quite tired.
Entering the hostel, footstep backpackers, I was greeted without a bed, as check in time is like 1300 here. So I crashed on the couch, just after I met a new person, Erika, an American teacher. So waking up around 9 30 ish, I was given a bed, breakfast, brushed my teeth, washed my face, and now I'm at the computer. Todays plan is to relax, don't go outside until 1700 to buy dinner and go to sleep.
EDIT
I forgot to mention. When I arrived at the terminal initially in Mendoza to catch my bus, I realized i forgot my trainers! So I had to look for another taxi, go back to the hostel, run inside, get my shoes, run out and rush back to the bus terminal. I still made it though, and I am thankful for withdrawing more money than I needewd previously.
Hey everyone. John here. Well, who else right? I'm quite tired as I type this, but not too tired. Just that sleepy kind of tired where I will keep on talking and talking and talking. So I arrived in Santiago by 0630. The bus ride was very nice though, they gave us a pillow and a blanket. Also sandwiches, and it was only like a 7 or 8 hour trip!
The border control was easy to do. Get off the bus, get stamped in the Argentinian line, then the Chilean line. Then I go declare my goods. Thankfully they didn't take my more boyish goods. I think they just looked for food, because they had a sniffer dog.
So I managed to catch around 3 or 4 hours of sleep at most. Getting to the terminal, I had to locate an ATM. Fast enough, got some cash and went to the underground. Now it is only then did I realize how huge Santiago is. The map is bloody huge! I'm sure its bigger than Buenos Aires! So I got the underground to Bal something station, then got a taxi. Cheeky bastard, the hostel was only just round the corner! He could have just told me the directions! But oh well, I was quite tired.
Entering the hostel, footstep backpackers, I was greeted without a bed, as check in time is like 1300 here. So I crashed on the couch, just after I met a new person, Erika, an American teacher. So waking up around 9 30 ish, I was given a bed, breakfast, brushed my teeth, washed my face, and now I'm at the computer. Todays plan is to relax, don't go outside until 1700 to buy dinner and go to sleep.
EDIT
I forgot to mention. When I arrived at the terminal initially in Mendoza to catch my bus, I realized i forgot my trainers! So I had to look for another taxi, go back to the hostel, run inside, get my shoes, run out and rush back to the bus terminal. I still made it though, and I am thankful for withdrawing more money than I needewd previously.
Thursday 17 March 2011
Off to Santiago
16th March.
Hello peeps. Today is my last day in Mendoza, and I will be off to Santiago, Chile, at 2230. Its going to be hard adapting to the new culture and country, and Im going to miss Argentina, but alas, I must move on. Im just hoping the border control isnt a bitch and is efficient, so I can be quickly on my way.
For the time being, Im going to eat my food, read my book, paly guitar hero 3 and call my mama.
Oh, something interesting. Today I was reading my book at a bench, and this dog kept on barking at me. Well, not at me. There was another dog sitting next to me, so he was barking at that dog. Weird day.
Hello peeps. Today is my last day in Mendoza, and I will be off to Santiago, Chile, at 2230. Its going to be hard adapting to the new culture and country, and Im going to miss Argentina, but alas, I must move on. Im just hoping the border control isnt a bitch and is efficient, so I can be quickly on my way.
For the time being, Im going to eat my food, read my book, paly guitar hero 3 and call my mama.
Oh, something interesting. Today I was reading my book at a bench, and this dog kept on barking at me. Well, not at me. There was another dog sitting next to me, so he was barking at that dog. Weird day.
Riding drunk!
14th March
Hello everyone. Whats up. So on this day, I went bicycle riding through the wine road, something that is highly recommended for all who ever stays in Mendoza, as Mendoza is famous for its wineries. So taking the bus to Mr Hugo, the bike provider, with Donna, Hilda and Rory, we settled off on the terrible bumpy rocky cracked road.
Our first stop was the futherest and best winery. Capable of producing 200000 litres of wine, but only 100000 due to the aged vine yards, it makes very high quality wine. After a brief tour of the storage, the yard and everything else, we proceded to the wine tasting. Now, I personally hate wine. Wine sucks. But I refuse to waste a drop. So I got to taste 5 types of wine, the rosette, malbec, the malbec and rosette mixed in favour of the malbec, then in favour of the rosette. Then I tried the Malbec one year old in french oak barrel. Its much stronger than the Malbec 6 months in french oak.
After this winery, we arrived at our next winery. A smaller winery, as it still retains its old buildings from before the earthquake. It mainly produces high quality wine rather huge quantities. Being such a traditional winery, it still posess its cellar, allowing natural storage of wine. Here I got to taste 5 wines I think it was. The same as above, but with an addition of a sweet desert type wine.
After drinking so much wine, I started feeling abit woozy. So staying at the winery, I bought an expensive lunch. To be fair, it is my first time eating out in Argentina. This does not include panchos and such. It was chicken in beer something, with rice and salad as a side. It taste much better than I described it.
After wards, we went to the next winery, but here we didnt have to pay for a tour. I just took some grapes, drank a small amount of wine and off we went. Next stop, the one I was looking foward to the most, the chocolate factory. Now, when I thought of this, I thought it be like Willy Wonka. Nope, its mainly chocolate alcohol. So paying a fee, I got to taste many olive variations, such as olives and chilli peppers, sun dried olives, blah blah. After came the spreads, varying from different fruits and the variations of dulche de leche (its the Argentinian special spread only found in this country). After came the shots of alcohol. So I managed to taste chocolate mint, some grape thing, Absenth, Pineapple and coconut, and thats all I remember. So, Im quite sore after the bike ride and yeah...it was pretty awesome.
Hello everyone. Whats up. So on this day, I went bicycle riding through the wine road, something that is highly recommended for all who ever stays in Mendoza, as Mendoza is famous for its wineries. So taking the bus to Mr Hugo, the bike provider, with Donna, Hilda and Rory, we settled off on the terrible bumpy rocky cracked road.
Our first stop was the futherest and best winery. Capable of producing 200000 litres of wine, but only 100000 due to the aged vine yards, it makes very high quality wine. After a brief tour of the storage, the yard and everything else, we proceded to the wine tasting. Now, I personally hate wine. Wine sucks. But I refuse to waste a drop. So I got to taste 5 types of wine, the rosette, malbec, the malbec and rosette mixed in favour of the malbec, then in favour of the rosette. Then I tried the Malbec one year old in french oak barrel. Its much stronger than the Malbec 6 months in french oak.
After this winery, we arrived at our next winery. A smaller winery, as it still retains its old buildings from before the earthquake. It mainly produces high quality wine rather huge quantities. Being such a traditional winery, it still posess its cellar, allowing natural storage of wine. Here I got to taste 5 wines I think it was. The same as above, but with an addition of a sweet desert type wine.
After drinking so much wine, I started feeling abit woozy. So staying at the winery, I bought an expensive lunch. To be fair, it is my first time eating out in Argentina. This does not include panchos and such. It was chicken in beer something, with rice and salad as a side. It taste much better than I described it.
After wards, we went to the next winery, but here we didnt have to pay for a tour. I just took some grapes, drank a small amount of wine and off we went. Next stop, the one I was looking foward to the most, the chocolate factory. Now, when I thought of this, I thought it be like Willy Wonka. Nope, its mainly chocolate alcohol. So paying a fee, I got to taste many olive variations, such as olives and chilli peppers, sun dried olives, blah blah. After came the spreads, varying from different fruits and the variations of dulche de leche (its the Argentinian special spread only found in this country). After came the shots of alcohol. So I managed to taste chocolate mint, some grape thing, Absenth, Pineapple and coconut, and thats all I remember. So, Im quite sore after the bike ride and yeah...it was pretty awesome.
Sunday 13 March 2011
Lost my phone
AHHHH WHERES MY PHONE! ITS GONE! LOST! I DONT KNOW WHERE IT IS!!
MEMORIIEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
MEMORIIEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Friday 11 March 2011
Hangover
11th March
Hey all. I have a hangover. It sucks. So Im just going to list what I did today.
Washed my clothes
Ate food
Went groccery shopping
Finished a Simon Scarrow Book
Going to play some game as I type this
And looking foward to visitng Maipu, an area where the wineries are located. I plan to rent a bike there and cycle through them. Should be fun.
Ah, I was just talking to Sean and Pratik. It seems if I decided not to visit Mendoza, my life would have been at risk as the tidal wave that hit Japan is supposingly going to visit the Coasts of SA, and Chile is on the coast of South America. So lets give that some thought. Did I escape death because I wanted to ride a horse? Was it some sort of divine intervention? Or was it just pure luck?
I reckon its because I wanted to ride a horse and be like a cowboy.
Hey all. I have a hangover. It sucks. So Im just going to list what I did today.
Washed my clothes
Ate food
Went groccery shopping
Finished a Simon Scarrow Book
Going to play some game as I type this
And looking foward to visitng Maipu, an area where the wineries are located. I plan to rent a bike there and cycle through them. Should be fun.
Ah, I was just talking to Sean and Pratik. It seems if I decided not to visit Mendoza, my life would have been at risk as the tidal wave that hit Japan is supposingly going to visit the Coasts of SA, and Chile is on the coast of South America. So lets give that some thought. Did I escape death because I wanted to ride a horse? Was it some sort of divine intervention? Or was it just pure luck?
I reckon its because I wanted to ride a horse and be like a cowboy.
Horse riding!
10th March
The bus ride sucked. Well, waiting for the bus did. My bus to Mendoza was well late, and that does not bond well with the 25kg of back weight I'm carrying. The sandwiches didn't get eaten as well. On another note, I had a spanish conversation with this girl who sat next to me. I must say, I'm fairly surprised I managed a 5 minute conversation.
So I arrived at some unknown time, but it was day light. I didn't know where my hostel was, so I had to use google maps. Dang the thing is useful. So the hostel itself is very nice. Its called Lagras Hostel. More expensive than what I would like, around 6 quid a night, but the staff is so friendly, roomy kitchen, and just a nice vibe.
So I left the hostel, and went locating this activity provider that was recommended on the Lonely Planet. After reaching the supposingly correct address, it turned out to be a perfume shop. A closed one too. So I gave up and returned to the hostel. But on the way, with luck, I managed to find an activity provider, and after a few enquiries, it turned out to be the one I was looking for! So swiftly joining today's horse riding excursion, I returned to the hostel to prepare for the trip.
At 1610, the van came and picked me up. We went up to the mountain ranch, mounted up and rode up the barren lands. We went up steep sides, went down, just general stuff. It was exciting riding the horse though, I even managed to get her running, because naturally I want to be in front of the line. So I directed the horse to the side and trotted foward. Its hard making her run without the full commands, so I generally hit the rump, gave her two kicks and a few clicks and a woop. Yeah, confusing. But it worked. Afterwards, we had BBQ and wine. Unfortuantly I had too much wine, ended up puking and going back to the hostel with a dizzy head.
The bus ride sucked. Well, waiting for the bus did. My bus to Mendoza was well late, and that does not bond well with the 25kg of back weight I'm carrying. The sandwiches didn't get eaten as well. On another note, I had a spanish conversation with this girl who sat next to me. I must say, I'm fairly surprised I managed a 5 minute conversation.
So I arrived at some unknown time, but it was day light. I didn't know where my hostel was, so I had to use google maps. Dang the thing is useful. So the hostel itself is very nice. Its called Lagras Hostel. More expensive than what I would like, around 6 quid a night, but the staff is so friendly, roomy kitchen, and just a nice vibe.
So I left the hostel, and went locating this activity provider that was recommended on the Lonely Planet. After reaching the supposingly correct address, it turned out to be a perfume shop. A closed one too. So I gave up and returned to the hostel. But on the way, with luck, I managed to find an activity provider, and after a few enquiries, it turned out to be the one I was looking for! So swiftly joining today's horse riding excursion, I returned to the hostel to prepare for the trip.
At 1610, the van came and picked me up. We went up to the mountain ranch, mounted up and rode up the barren lands. We went up steep sides, went down, just general stuff. It was exciting riding the horse though, I even managed to get her running, because naturally I want to be in front of the line. So I directed the horse to the side and trotted foward. Its hard making her run without the full commands, so I generally hit the rump, gave her two kicks and a few clicks and a woop. Yeah, confusing. But it worked. Afterwards, we had BBQ and wine. Unfortuantly I had too much wine, ended up puking and going back to the hostel with a dizzy head.
Off to Mendoza!!
9th March
Hey all. John here, or to everyone who knows me, the most awesome guy ever. So, after the previous painful events, I just relaxed for two days, the 7th and 8th. All I really did was read my book, watch No Ordinary Family and Cougar Town. Nice series by the way, and if I havn't mentioned it before, WATCH COUGAR TOWN. Its incredible. Now its not on the same level as How I Met Your Mother, but its still funny nonetheless and made me laugh a good amount of time.
So today I'm off to Mendoza. To those who are aware of my itenary, you are probably be thinking, shouldn't you be on your way to Santiago? Well yes, thats true. But I want to ride horses. And Mendoza is a good place to ride a horse. So Im going to Mendoza. To ride a horse. Put on my spurs, my leather rimmed hat and my whip. So to prepare for my 20 hour bus ride, I made tuna sandwiches.
Bye all, see you on the 10th.
Hey all. John here, or to everyone who knows me, the most awesome guy ever. So, after the previous painful events, I just relaxed for two days, the 7th and 8th. All I really did was read my book, watch No Ordinary Family and Cougar Town. Nice series by the way, and if I havn't mentioned it before, WATCH COUGAR TOWN. Its incredible. Now its not on the same level as How I Met Your Mother, but its still funny nonetheless and made me laugh a good amount of time.
So today I'm off to Mendoza. To those who are aware of my itenary, you are probably be thinking, shouldn't you be on your way to Santiago? Well yes, thats true. But I want to ride horses. And Mendoza is a good place to ride a horse. So Im going to Mendoza. To ride a horse. Put on my spurs, my leather rimmed hat and my whip. So to prepare for my 20 hour bus ride, I made tuna sandwiches.
Bye all, see you on the 10th.
Monday 7 March 2011
Oh the pain....oh the pain..
6th March
hey all. I have had no sleep at all. Instead of going to sleep for a bit before my bus ride at 0310, i decided to drink! Thats right! Drink! Thats logical isnt it. And the bus ride itself was such a pain. I could not catch any Zzz at all, due to the terrible chairs. Im sure they were designed to destroy neck muscles. So I wasn't so happy that we missed our stop. The bus driver was meant to wake us up, but he must have forgotten, but thankfully, he took us back on his route back to Cordoba, meaning we didn't have to pay another fee.
Arriving at Cerro Uritorco, I could feel the cold chill. But thankfully it we were told it was going to warm up by the taxi office. I felt like shit by the way. I have had barely any sleep, so I'm in a real shit state to climb a mountain. So we took a taxi to the base, where I then purchased 2 chocolate sweets. Thats right, Im going to do this trek with only chocolates and toffees (provided by Lu) to sustain me. Nutritious!!!
The climb itself was fairly easy at the beginning. But the path was very rocky and stoney...not smooth at all. This would eventually cause me great pain later on. But in the first stage, no trouble at all. What made the climb more fun was the alternative paths I took.Whenever there was a shortcut, I would immediately get on all fours and scale the steep path. Its such great fun, until I touch some Aloe Vera or cactus plants.
As we made it higher, the path became harder as the path became more unstable. But still no trouble, just tiresome. Eventually we arrived to Bony's house. This fellow, according to the Cerro Uritorco website, lives on the mountain and knows alot about its mystical nature, such as Elks, UFOs, and tunnels into the next dimension. Unfortuantly, when I broke into the house, it was empty. Unfortuant but it was interesting to see the house nonetheless. After this, I once again took...uh...unconventional methods to climbing the mountain. I didnt get too far,so I had to descent back to the path again...
As I got nearer to the summit, I could no longer walk. My feet were hurting, my legs were dying and I was exausted. exausted!!!!!!! But I eventually made it to the summit and took a nap and ate one of my chocolate sweets as celebration. Strangely enough, the summit is full of stray dogs...
Now descending this mountain was a bitch. I say again, a bitch. I never knew feet could hurt so much. Every time I had to make a drop, I had to mentally brace myself for the incoming pain that will shock my body as I land. It was just so oh so painful. Descending the mountain was so much harder than ascending. Im sure it took me longer too. But as a nice feature, I saw two Condor eagles fly above me. That was pretty sweet as I listened to Evan Blue.
So I reached the base one hour after Lu, then we took the taxi to the bus terminal, got on the coach, got back to Cordoba by 8ish, then I went out dancing at a night club and drinking. HOORAY FOR STUPID BEHAVIOUR!! Initially, I was with 4 people, then i ended up with 2 other guys because the initial group disappeared in another taxi. But a good night nonetheless.
hey all. I have had no sleep at all. Instead of going to sleep for a bit before my bus ride at 0310, i decided to drink! Thats right! Drink! Thats logical isnt it. And the bus ride itself was such a pain. I could not catch any Zzz at all, due to the terrible chairs. Im sure they were designed to destroy neck muscles. So I wasn't so happy that we missed our stop. The bus driver was meant to wake us up, but he must have forgotten, but thankfully, he took us back on his route back to Cordoba, meaning we didn't have to pay another fee.
Arriving at Cerro Uritorco, I could feel the cold chill. But thankfully it we were told it was going to warm up by the taxi office. I felt like shit by the way. I have had barely any sleep, so I'm in a real shit state to climb a mountain. So we took a taxi to the base, where I then purchased 2 chocolate sweets. Thats right, Im going to do this trek with only chocolates and toffees (provided by Lu) to sustain me. Nutritious!!!
The climb itself was fairly easy at the beginning. But the path was very rocky and stoney...not smooth at all. This would eventually cause me great pain later on. But in the first stage, no trouble at all. What made the climb more fun was the alternative paths I took.Whenever there was a shortcut, I would immediately get on all fours and scale the steep path. Its such great fun, until I touch some Aloe Vera or cactus plants.
As we made it higher, the path became harder as the path became more unstable. But still no trouble, just tiresome. Eventually we arrived to Bony's house. This fellow, according to the Cerro Uritorco website, lives on the mountain and knows alot about its mystical nature, such as Elks, UFOs, and tunnels into the next dimension. Unfortuantly, when I broke into the house, it was empty. Unfortuant but it was interesting to see the house nonetheless. After this, I once again took...uh...unconventional methods to climbing the mountain. I didnt get too far,so I had to descent back to the path again...
As I got nearer to the summit, I could no longer walk. My feet were hurting, my legs were dying and I was exausted. exausted!!!!!!! But I eventually made it to the summit and took a nap and ate one of my chocolate sweets as celebration. Strangely enough, the summit is full of stray dogs...
Now descending this mountain was a bitch. I say again, a bitch. I never knew feet could hurt so much. Every time I had to make a drop, I had to mentally brace myself for the incoming pain that will shock my body as I land. It was just so oh so painful. Descending the mountain was so much harder than ascending. Im sure it took me longer too. But as a nice feature, I saw two Condor eagles fly above me. That was pretty sweet as I listened to Evan Blue.
So I reached the base one hour after Lu, then we took the taxi to the bus terminal, got on the coach, got back to Cordoba by 8ish, then I went out dancing at a night club and drinking. HOORAY FOR STUPID BEHAVIOUR!! Initially, I was with 4 people, then i ended up with 2 other guys because the initial group disappeared in another taxi. But a good night nonetheless.
Saturday 5 March 2011
Off to the mystic mountains
5th march
Hey everyone, I need to update this now before I go off to the mystic mountains, called Cerro uricero. something like that.
So the agenda, I shall be leaving Cordoba at 0310, on a bus ride of 3 hours, then me and Luandro, my room mate, will trek up this 4 hour summit. my first trekking experience and the walking boots will finally be put into good use. Finally.
Hey everyone, I need to update this now before I go off to the mystic mountains, called Cerro uricero. something like that.
So the agenda, I shall be leaving Cordoba at 0310, on a bus ride of 3 hours, then me and Luandro, my room mate, will trek up this 4 hour summit. my first trekking experience and the walking boots will finally be put into good use. Finally.
Super BBQ
4th March
Hey all. I did nothing today. Nothing new right? But I did eat a super BBQ dinner today. Ribs, chunks of beef, bread, sausages, blood sausages, the works. But at the end, I had to play tax collector. People own me money and I intend to collect. I met quite alot of people too.My head is still swimming from all the names that I probably don't remember. Afterwards, me, Dave, Nahuela, ?, Tasha, Kate, ?, ?, ?, ? all went out drinking at a bar. I had an Aidios MotherFucker. It was blue. And it was ok....
Hey all. I did nothing today. Nothing new right? But I did eat a super BBQ dinner today. Ribs, chunks of beef, bread, sausages, blood sausages, the works. But at the end, I had to play tax collector. People own me money and I intend to collect. I met quite alot of people too.My head is still swimming from all the names that I probably don't remember. Afterwards, me, Dave, Nahuela, ?, Tasha, Kate, ?, ?, ?, ? all went out drinking at a bar. I had an Aidios MotherFucker. It was blue. And it was ok....
Art Museums
3rd March
Hey people. So lets discuss what I did today. Well theres my challenge to taste all the ice cream flavours this city has to offer. Thats going quite well. And its not too expensive either. Quater KG for 1.15 quid.
So Dave and I went to visit some art museums today. One of them was being renovated until 9th March. Bummer. But the next one we got into. The art is quite interesting, as this museum held alot of variety. I only took a pictures of some paintings because they said NO PICTURES and stuff. Meh.
Hey people. So lets discuss what I did today. Well theres my challenge to taste all the ice cream flavours this city has to offer. Thats going quite well. And its not too expensive either. Quater KG for 1.15 quid.
So Dave and I went to visit some art museums today. One of them was being renovated until 9th March. Bummer. But the next one we got into. The art is quite interesting, as this museum held alot of variety. I only took a pictures of some paintings because they said NO PICTURES and stuff. Meh.
Wednesday 2 March 2011
Checkmate
2nd March
I don't remember what I did on previous days. I know for certain my birthday card and present for David, my little brother, made it to him in timefor his 8th birthday. This makes me kinda sad that I wasnt there to celebrate his birthday with him. I never missed it before. But its something I will try to avoid in the future. But according to the pictures, it seems to turn out pretty alright for him. For those who are wondering, I bought him Need For Speed Hot Pursuit. I considered Bulletstorm but apparently, the main character swears profanity every time he shoots someone. Blood and gore I'm kind of ok with, bad language, never.
So today, I woke up at 2pm Throughout the night, I was watching 10 episodes of Better With You. Initially, I wasn't impressed. But the cast just works so well together, always full of laughs this series is. I also watched one episode of How I Met Your Mother (episode 18 of the latest season). It just wretches my heart that Barney doesn't join Nora (spoilers). It really does. I thought he would change, but the look of pain on his face as he walks away is just....wow....
Anyway, I got free food! These guys who were cooking, names I already forgotten, gave me some rice and chicken. I must buy the powder that they used to flavour the rice and make it yellow. Its simply delicious. So afterwards, I hanged out with this American dude called Dave. Nice guy, just finished the American College, so age around 22 I say. We shared stories, conversation and a couple of beers over a game of chess. Which I won 2-1. Afterwards, I took him to the night markets. But apparently, they don't exist during the week day. Unfortuant. But we will go away during the weekend.
I don't remember what I did on previous days. I know for certain my birthday card and present for David, my little brother, made it to him in timefor his 8th birthday. This makes me kinda sad that I wasnt there to celebrate his birthday with him. I never missed it before. But its something I will try to avoid in the future. But according to the pictures, it seems to turn out pretty alright for him. For those who are wondering, I bought him Need For Speed Hot Pursuit. I considered Bulletstorm but apparently, the main character swears profanity every time he shoots someone. Blood and gore I'm kind of ok with, bad language, never.
So today, I woke up at 2pm Throughout the night, I was watching 10 episodes of Better With You. Initially, I wasn't impressed. But the cast just works so well together, always full of laughs this series is. I also watched one episode of How I Met Your Mother (episode 18 of the latest season). It just wretches my heart that Barney doesn't join Nora (spoilers). It really does. I thought he would change, but the look of pain on his face as he walks away is just....wow....
Anyway, I got free food! These guys who were cooking, names I already forgotten, gave me some rice and chicken. I must buy the powder that they used to flavour the rice and make it yellow. Its simply delicious. So afterwards, I hanged out with this American dude called Dave. Nice guy, just finished the American College, so age around 22 I say. We shared stories, conversation and a couple of beers over a game of chess. Which I won 2-1. Afterwards, I took him to the night markets. But apparently, they don't exist during the week day. Unfortuant. But we will go away during the weekend.
Saturday 26 February 2011
Night markets
26th Febuary
Hey all. First of all, Cordoba is a very youthful place. Young people all over the place. So yeah, its a nice city. I slept most of my day away. I guess the 6 hour bus ride took more out of me than I thought.
So the night markets, yeah. Theres two, both in plazas. The nearest one features illegal copies of movies, underwear and other crap. The further one featured craftsmanship. So the second one was definitely better.
Night time in Cordoba is avery exciting place, with people everywhere going to dance, drink and eat. The streets are completely filled. Yeah...Im going to sigh off. later.
Hey all. First of all, Cordoba is a very youthful place. Young people all over the place. So yeah, its a nice city. I slept most of my day away. I guess the 6 hour bus ride took more out of me than I thought.
So the night markets, yeah. Theres two, both in plazas. The nearest one features illegal copies of movies, underwear and other crap. The further one featured craftsmanship. So the second one was definitely better.
Night time in Cordoba is avery exciting place, with people everywhere going to dance, drink and eat. The streets are completely filled. Yeah...Im going to sigh off. later.
Friday 25 February 2011
In Cordoba
25th Febuary
Dont even bother asking me what i did since I last updated my blog. All I did was a huge load of nothing, besides that one musem I went too. But by jeebus, everytime im outdoors the mosquitoes just flock towards me. As proof, I was chased by some whilst in the museum. the other museum, the cultural one, was unfortantl closed because a football team called NOB was playng that day.
Anywho, Im in Cordoba now after a 6 hour bus ride. Right now Im usng google maps to find the hostel because the maps in the lonely planet is SHIT!
Dont even bother asking me what i did since I last updated my blog. All I did was a huge load of nothing, besides that one musem I went too. But by jeebus, everytime im outdoors the mosquitoes just flock towards me. As proof, I was chased by some whilst in the museum. the other museum, the cultural one, was unfortantl closed because a football team called NOB was playng that day.
Anywho, Im in Cordoba now after a 6 hour bus ride. Right now Im usng google maps to find the hostel because the maps in the lonely planet is SHIT!
Saturday 19 February 2011
Im so tired...can´t...walk...zzzz
18th Febuary
Sup...tired...movie marathon...was...aaaawwwWWWWSOMMEE!!!
Due Date was an amazing start to the marathon. Witty, funny, a mexican border chase scene, OMG it was flipping hilarious! Oh I do love Robert´s acting. Him combined with the naturally funny Zach was an amazing idea. Now I´m no movie critic, as I´m just a normal movie fan, so I don´t understand why this movie hasn´t got higher reviews, but I personally recommend this film to anyone.
Red was a nice action flick. It doesn´t hold a candle light compared to The Expendibles or The A-Team, but it does feature a very interesting cast, starring Bruce Willis of course. Now who doesn´t love Bruce Willis. He was born to be the bad ass action hero who can take out a clean up team armed with M60 machine guns with just his hands and a pistol. Oh and spoilers.
Dinner for Schmucks was an interesting film. It features a plot I never seen before, so it was definitely a breathe of fresh air for me. Starring Steve Carrel and Paul Rudd, where Steve plays a man who is trying to get a promotion, but in order to do that, he must find one heck of an idiot to take with him to his boss´s dinner party, where all guests bring their own idiots and make fun of them. Steve´s acting in this film is like his other films, bloody good. I just love it. Paul plays a very convincing character, the idiot, whos hobby is to rescue dead mice and dress them up and place them into positions, such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Meal. Lovely story line, wonderful characters and funny situations. A good movie for a saturday night.
Get to the Greek is a movie I´m quite mixed about. I was never a huge fan of Brand, but theres something about his laid back attitude in this movie just draws me in. I won´t say much about this movie, so if you´re really interested, give it a go. If not, you won´t miss much by not watching it.
Hot tub time machine was a great movie. Unfortuantly its one of those movies you can only watch one time. If I must compare, it really reminds me of American Pie, with its amusing cast of characters and the messed up situations they get into. Obviously, the movie revolves around a hot tub, which sends them back into 1986, where everything was hip, drug taking and communisim was a real precieved threat. The acting wasn´t the best I´ve seen, but if you like boobs, a warm ending and mainly American Pie, give this film a go.
Now the last movie, Burlesque. The film is about Allie, played by Christina Aguilera, who wants to do something with her life. So she leaves little Ohio, and travels to the bright lights of LA. She wanders into a Burlesque club, and her career starts there. Unfortuantly, Tess, played by Cher, who is the club owner, must fight of the bank from taking her club as she can´t keep up with payments. But that changes when Allie is discovered and a new hope is sparked in the club. Now I admit, I felt very uncomftable at times when watching this movie, because it is obviously a chick flick. But when Christina starts singing and dancing, I just didn´t care. Her singing is outstanding in this film, and so is her dancing, and best of all, her acting. This movie is an amazing debut to her acting career and she should be proud of it. Cher was likewise very amazing, playing a very convincing character. But the movie wouldn´t have been as good without the back up cast. So if you like flashy dancing, amazing singing and fancy Christina, you must definitely watch this film. Or Glee.
Now that the movie reviews are over, this is how my day went. I didn´t go to sleep. I had breakfast, Left this hostel and travelled to my next one. Which is called...something I can´t remember. But its more expensive, but at least its nearer to my next sight seeing destinations, the museums of art and culture. But damn, that movie marathon really took it out on me. When I got to this hostel, my bed wasn´t ready yet, so I accidently fell asleep in the front room while watching TV. To my dismay, when Gustavo, the hostel owner woke me up to take me to my room, there was a little drool on the cushion. Yeah. Ew. So I went to sleep and woke up at around 4 or 5ish. Bought some food at the super market, and started cooking.
Today I decided to cook some fish. So I bought two de-scaled fishes, two potatoes and flour.
I mixed the flour with three eggs, a dab of milk and oil, whisked it with a spoon to form the batter.
Unfortuantly, when I was about to dip the fishes, I found out they still had their bones. So I set out to try take them out. But whenever I took a bone out, the flesh just fell apart. So I gave up, and just dipped them in the batter and fried them. But don´t worry, the bones are edible. I didn´t choke or anything.
I washed, peeled and cut the potatoes into chips. But because I had so much batter left over, I threw them in the batter and fried them. Note, batter fried chips is very nice. Now there may have been a risk of food poisoning, because the batter was first used with the fish. But my reasoning was, if I cook the batter properly, there shouldn´t be anything wrong!
Over the course of time, I ruined two batches of chips. First because I was on Facebook, so the batter burned. I was too lazy to try clear off the burned side, so I just threw it in the bin. Potatoes are very cheap anyway. 50p for both potatoes. The second batch burned because I was playing Foosball. Likewise, I also threw these away. But all in all, I still had too much food, so I put the fish and chips in tumberware, put it in the fridge and now looking foward to eating them tomorrow for dinner.
Sup...tired...movie marathon...was...aaaawwwWWWWSOMMEE!!!
Due Date was an amazing start to the marathon. Witty, funny, a mexican border chase scene, OMG it was flipping hilarious! Oh I do love Robert´s acting. Him combined with the naturally funny Zach was an amazing idea. Now I´m no movie critic, as I´m just a normal movie fan, so I don´t understand why this movie hasn´t got higher reviews, but I personally recommend this film to anyone.
Red was a nice action flick. It doesn´t hold a candle light compared to The Expendibles or The A-Team, but it does feature a very interesting cast, starring Bruce Willis of course. Now who doesn´t love Bruce Willis. He was born to be the bad ass action hero who can take out a clean up team armed with M60 machine guns with just his hands and a pistol. Oh and spoilers.
Dinner for Schmucks was an interesting film. It features a plot I never seen before, so it was definitely a breathe of fresh air for me. Starring Steve Carrel and Paul Rudd, where Steve plays a man who is trying to get a promotion, but in order to do that, he must find one heck of an idiot to take with him to his boss´s dinner party, where all guests bring their own idiots and make fun of them. Steve´s acting in this film is like his other films, bloody good. I just love it. Paul plays a very convincing character, the idiot, whos hobby is to rescue dead mice and dress them up and place them into positions, such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Meal. Lovely story line, wonderful characters and funny situations. A good movie for a saturday night.
Get to the Greek is a movie I´m quite mixed about. I was never a huge fan of Brand, but theres something about his laid back attitude in this movie just draws me in. I won´t say much about this movie, so if you´re really interested, give it a go. If not, you won´t miss much by not watching it.
Hot tub time machine was a great movie. Unfortuantly its one of those movies you can only watch one time. If I must compare, it really reminds me of American Pie, with its amusing cast of characters and the messed up situations they get into. Obviously, the movie revolves around a hot tub, which sends them back into 1986, where everything was hip, drug taking and communisim was a real precieved threat. The acting wasn´t the best I´ve seen, but if you like boobs, a warm ending and mainly American Pie, give this film a go.
Now the last movie, Burlesque. The film is about Allie, played by Christina Aguilera, who wants to do something with her life. So she leaves little Ohio, and travels to the bright lights of LA. She wanders into a Burlesque club, and her career starts there. Unfortuantly, Tess, played by Cher, who is the club owner, must fight of the bank from taking her club as she can´t keep up with payments. But that changes when Allie is discovered and a new hope is sparked in the club. Now I admit, I felt very uncomftable at times when watching this movie, because it is obviously a chick flick. But when Christina starts singing and dancing, I just didn´t care. Her singing is outstanding in this film, and so is her dancing, and best of all, her acting. This movie is an amazing debut to her acting career and she should be proud of it. Cher was likewise very amazing, playing a very convincing character. But the movie wouldn´t have been as good without the back up cast. So if you like flashy dancing, amazing singing and fancy Christina, you must definitely watch this film. Or Glee.
Now that the movie reviews are over, this is how my day went. I didn´t go to sleep. I had breakfast, Left this hostel and travelled to my next one. Which is called...something I can´t remember. But its more expensive, but at least its nearer to my next sight seeing destinations, the museums of art and culture. But damn, that movie marathon really took it out on me. When I got to this hostel, my bed wasn´t ready yet, so I accidently fell asleep in the front room while watching TV. To my dismay, when Gustavo, the hostel owner woke me up to take me to my room, there was a little drool on the cushion. Yeah. Ew. So I went to sleep and woke up at around 4 or 5ish. Bought some food at the super market, and started cooking.
Today I decided to cook some fish. So I bought two de-scaled fishes, two potatoes and flour.
I mixed the flour with three eggs, a dab of milk and oil, whisked it with a spoon to form the batter.
Unfortuantly, when I was about to dip the fishes, I found out they still had their bones. So I set out to try take them out. But whenever I took a bone out, the flesh just fell apart. So I gave up, and just dipped them in the batter and fried them. But don´t worry, the bones are edible. I didn´t choke or anything.
I washed, peeled and cut the potatoes into chips. But because I had so much batter left over, I threw them in the batter and fried them. Note, batter fried chips is very nice. Now there may have been a risk of food poisoning, because the batter was first used with the fish. But my reasoning was, if I cook the batter properly, there shouldn´t be anything wrong!
Over the course of time, I ruined two batches of chips. First because I was on Facebook, so the batter burned. I was too lazy to try clear off the burned side, so I just threw it in the bin. Potatoes are very cheap anyway. 50p for both potatoes. The second batch burned because I was playing Foosball. Likewise, I also threw these away. But all in all, I still had too much food, so I put the fish and chips in tumberware, put it in the fridge and now looking foward to eating them tomorrow for dinner.
Start the Movie Marathon Baby!
17th Febuary
Nothing much today.
But I might as well type something. First of all, I believe I am getting ill. Stuffy and runny nose and sneezing. I either have allergies or the cold. I reckon its the cold. I know I know. THE COLD? In SOUTH AMERICA??? Yeah it is possible, due to the weather resembling England. Hey its hot, oh now its pissing rain, oh now its flipping cold and windy. Bah.
I also have nowhere to go after this hostel, so Im going to have to start booking a place. But, I really want to make the best use of my last time here...Im going to watch a 6 movie marathon! Now Im speaking in future tense because my movie marathon occurs around after midnight, therefore the 18th. So maybe I should put the movies in there...nah I just give you the list now.
Due Date
Burlesque
Hot Tub Time Machine
Get to the Greek
Red
Dinner for Schmucks
Reviews will be in the next update!
Nothing much today.
But I might as well type something. First of all, I believe I am getting ill. Stuffy and runny nose and sneezing. I either have allergies or the cold. I reckon its the cold. I know I know. THE COLD? In SOUTH AMERICA??? Yeah it is possible, due to the weather resembling England. Hey its hot, oh now its pissing rain, oh now its flipping cold and windy. Bah.
I also have nowhere to go after this hostel, so Im going to have to start booking a place. But, I really want to make the best use of my last time here...Im going to watch a 6 movie marathon! Now Im speaking in future tense because my movie marathon occurs around after midnight, therefore the 18th. So maybe I should put the movies in there...nah I just give you the list now.
Due Date
Burlesque
Hot Tub Time Machine
Get to the Greek
Red
Dinner for Schmucks
Reviews will be in the next update!
Wednesday 16 February 2011
Still kicking
14th to 16th Febuary
Bah, why update daily if I do nothing at all?!?!
Still, I really do love fitting back into my old life style. Go sleep whenever, eat whenever, do whatever, and dont have a care in the world. I should really start sightseeing again soon, but I still got 9 days left to do that. So its all good.
Bah, why update daily if I do nothing at all?!?!
Still, I really do love fitting back into my old life style. Go sleep whenever, eat whenever, do whatever, and dont have a care in the world. I should really start sightseeing again soon, but I still got 9 days left to do that. So its all good.
Monday 14 February 2011
Monument time
13th febuary
Im typing my blog using an iPad. Its quite awesome but i still prefer Moisés and keyboard. But by golly bits sexy.
So on to my day. I round out that toda y was Sunday not monda y, therefore the draft marketing was OpenDoc, which is conviniently located right nexo to the monumento of the flag designer of Argentina. Useful huh.
Walking to the monumento didnt reszlly take lona. And on the way i went through tris building test highly reminds me of. Greek temple, with the fire i pn the middle and heavy emphasis on columns. Argh curse you auto spell correcting in spanish!
Ok, Im back on a keyboard now. The monument itself, is similar to a big tower. Actually, it is a big tower. I paid 2 pesos to go on the lift to enjoy nice high camera shots.
After the monument, I went looking at the local craftsmanship. And to my surprised, I came upon two fellows that I met in Foz do Iguacu! Ian and Manuel. Its been ages since I last seen these 2, and Rosario was the last place I thought I ever see them. So we chilled, I bought a bracklet and overpriced water. But the best bit of this day? I found an arcade. Yes. An arcade. Time Crisis 3, Alien, pinball machines, air hockey...and for like 2 pesos a game. Thats like 35p! In England its bloody 1 or 2 quid for a game! I am so going to take advantage of this...
And for dinner, I successfully made stuffed peppers.
So I mixed my mince beef with one egg.
I boiled 2 red peppers with their tops cut off.
I heated the remaining pepper and diced mushrooms in olive oil. I then added cooked rice to this, with half of a beef stock. This mixture I then added to the beef, stuffed it in the red pepper and placed on top cheese.
I greased the pan with olive oil, set the oven to 300 degrees and left it there for 30 minutes.
It tasted ok...I think it needed onions. Or garlic. I also burnt myself terrible in the process. Stupid oven. What kind of oven gets hot on the outside?
Im typing my blog using an iPad. Its quite awesome but i still prefer Moisés and keyboard. But by golly bits sexy.
So on to my day. I round out that toda y was Sunday not monda y, therefore the draft marketing was OpenDoc, which is conviniently located right nexo to the monumento of the flag designer of Argentina. Useful huh.
Walking to the monumento didnt reszlly take lona. And on the way i went through tris building test highly reminds me of. Greek temple, with the fire i pn the middle and heavy emphasis on columns. Argh curse you auto spell correcting in spanish!
Ok, Im back on a keyboard now. The monument itself, is similar to a big tower. Actually, it is a big tower. I paid 2 pesos to go on the lift to enjoy nice high camera shots.
After the monument, I went looking at the local craftsmanship. And to my surprised, I came upon two fellows that I met in Foz do Iguacu! Ian and Manuel. Its been ages since I last seen these 2, and Rosario was the last place I thought I ever see them. So we chilled, I bought a bracklet and overpriced water. But the best bit of this day? I found an arcade. Yes. An arcade. Time Crisis 3, Alien, pinball machines, air hockey...and for like 2 pesos a game. Thats like 35p! In England its bloody 1 or 2 quid for a game! I am so going to take advantage of this...
And for dinner, I successfully made stuffed peppers.
So I mixed my mince beef with one egg.
I boiled 2 red peppers with their tops cut off.
I heated the remaining pepper and diced mushrooms in olive oil. I then added cooked rice to this, with half of a beef stock. This mixture I then added to the beef, stuffed it in the red pepper and placed on top cheese.
I greased the pan with olive oil, set the oven to 300 degrees and left it there for 30 minutes.
It tasted ok...I think it needed onions. Or garlic. I also burnt myself terrible in the process. Stupid oven. What kind of oven gets hot on the outside?
Saturday 12 February 2011
Yes I am that bored
12th Febuary
Yes. I really am that bored. Im actually updating my blog on the 12th...for the 12th. As some may notice, I have been generally updating on, lets say day xth, on day x+1th, or another variable, x+nth, where n is a term that is equal to 1 or higher.
Its raining today in Rosario, so Im just chilling, eating chocolate and reading a book i found in the hostel. I wish there were more english books about though, as most of the hostels I been to mainly contain german books. Oh woopy, lets read frickin GERMAN BOOKS in GERMAN.
I hope its more sunny tomorrow, so I can do some sight seeing. Maybe the art museum...
Yes. I really am that bored. Im actually updating my blog on the 12th...for the 12th. As some may notice, I have been generally updating on, lets say day xth, on day x+1th, or another variable, x+nth, where n is a term that is equal to 1 or higher.
Its raining today in Rosario, so Im just chilling, eating chocolate and reading a book i found in the hostel. I wish there were more english books about though, as most of the hostels I been to mainly contain german books. Oh woopy, lets read frickin GERMAN BOOKS in GERMAN.
I hope its more sunny tomorrow, so I can do some sight seeing. Maybe the art museum...
Friday 11 February 2011
11th Febuary
Hey people. Its my second day in Rosario, and so far its alright. Woke up at 10 30, had breakfast and watched TV. So as for what I did, I took a boat to the beach island with two dudes, Jeff and Andy. Two dudes I met yesterday. An Australian and a Danish.
The beach was alright. Its nothing compared to Copacabana though. And by jeebus there were alot of bugs. Every once in a while I had to kill some while I was trying to take a nap. And another indication of bugs, strands of spider webs flew in the air...yeah...creepy shit right there.
So getting back to the hostel, I took a shower, had dinner and watched TV. Now as I type this, I am in the new hostel, La Casona de Don Jaime. Its quite nice, with friendly staff, and a good kitchen. Shame about there being too much people here. I just want to be by myself and chill right now. Catch up with my reading, do some sight seeing. Well, at least I can tick off the beach from my sight seeing list. I reckon tomorrow I will hit the art museums. Be cultural and stuff.
Hey people. Its my second day in Rosario, and so far its alright. Woke up at 10 30, had breakfast and watched TV. So as for what I did, I took a boat to the beach island with two dudes, Jeff and Andy. Two dudes I met yesterday. An Australian and a Danish.
The beach was alright. Its nothing compared to Copacabana though. And by jeebus there were alot of bugs. Every once in a while I had to kill some while I was trying to take a nap. And another indication of bugs, strands of spider webs flew in the air...yeah...creepy shit right there.
So getting back to the hostel, I took a shower, had dinner and watched TV. Now as I type this, I am in the new hostel, La Casona de Don Jaime. Its quite nice, with friendly staff, and a good kitchen. Shame about there being too much people here. I just want to be by myself and chill right now. Catch up with my reading, do some sight seeing. Well, at least I can tick off the beach from my sight seeing list. I reckon tomorrow I will hit the art museums. Be cultural and stuff.
Thursday 10 February 2011
I have arrived
Well, Im in Rosario now. I have to make new friends, learn the transport system, get a map, and start all over again.
This sucks.
But at least the bus travel was uneventful. And reaching this hostel was fairly easy with a taxi ride. Its quite a nice hostel too, very nicely decorated and very spacious rooms. The people are too party going however, and thats not what I exactly want right now. I rather taste the local food, read a book, listen to my music and see the sights Rosario has to offer.
Well, I gotta get to sleep, as tomorrow I will be leaving this hostel. Lets hope the next one is less lively.
This sucks.
But at least the bus travel was uneventful. And reaching this hostel was fairly easy with a taxi ride. Its quite a nice hostel too, very nicely decorated and very spacious rooms. The people are too party going however, and thats not what I exactly want right now. I rather taste the local food, read a book, listen to my music and see the sights Rosario has to offer.
Well, I gotta get to sleep, as tomorrow I will be leaving this hostel. Lets hope the next one is less lively.
Packed and ready
10th Febuary
Righty ol, I´m all packed and ready to go to Rosario. I got my bus ticket, hostel is packed, had breakfast, said most of my good byes...yep. The pathway is clear. Its going to be hell bringing my bags down to the subway, but lets hope it aint rush hour.
The bus ride will take probably 4 hours. When I get there, I do my next blog update!
Ta ta for now
Righty ol, I´m all packed and ready to go to Rosario. I got my bus ticket, hostel is packed, had breakfast, said most of my good byes...yep. The pathway is clear. Its going to be hell bringing my bags down to the subway, but lets hope it aint rush hour.
The bus ride will take probably 4 hours. When I get there, I do my next blog update!
Ta ta for now
Lets get ready to go!
9th Febuary
OMG OMG OMG my time at Buenos Aires seems to both go too fast and too slow. Well, the other way around. At first it was slow, then it was fast. Which kinda sucks. So, as I type this, I have already made my arrangements to travel to Rosario. I bought my bus ticket yesterday at the bus terminal, and today I have made my sleeping arrangements...first stop...ROSARIO INN. Yes Alex, that was specifically just for you.
So besides arrangement, I just did my normal sha bang. Woke up at 5pm, had dinner, and watched Predator. Arnold is an amazing action hero.
"Kill me! Do it now! Kill me!"
Predator sees trap
:(
FAIL!!!
Other than that, I hanged out with Lucila. Great girl, a lovely friend. Shame I´m leaving tomorrow.
OMG OMG OMG my time at Buenos Aires seems to both go too fast and too slow. Well, the other way around. At first it was slow, then it was fast. Which kinda sucks. So, as I type this, I have already made my arrangements to travel to Rosario. I bought my bus ticket yesterday at the bus terminal, and today I have made my sleeping arrangements...first stop...ROSARIO INN. Yes Alex, that was specifically just for you.
So besides arrangement, I just did my normal sha bang. Woke up at 5pm, had dinner, and watched Predator. Arnold is an amazing action hero.
"Kill me! Do it now! Kill me!"
Predator sees trap
:(
FAIL!!!
Other than that, I hanged out with Lucila. Great girl, a lovely friend. Shame I´m leaving tomorrow.
Wednesday 9 February 2011
Wheres my shorts?
8th Febuary
Hey dudes and dudettes. So today, I didnt really do much. I washed my clothes, ate some food, took a shower. Same old stuff really. But I did meet a bunch of new people today. Jack, Jarrard, James and Adam. All Australian. A great bunch of guys, very nice, generous and easy going. They taught me a few new drinking games, which I can gladly say I am quite good at.
So tonight was Hamanda´s birthday. Just another hostel member. So we all got invited to go to her "party". Ah, but if it was actually a party it be so much more fun. We took two taxis to reach our destination, and to my horror, I have been in this place before. It was with the pub crawl that I came here...and the place sucked. There was only one bartender for all the people, and people were having DINNER! So not a club. No free drinks. Just false promises. I danced a little bit, when they cleard up a floor. But all there was were latin dance music. Boring to me to be honest.
So my shorts. I washed my clothes and hung them up. Unfortuantly, I didnt realize my shorts was missing until I got back from the party at 4am. So I went hunting for it, and finally found it at 7am in a very odd location. It was just luck that I found it really.
Hey dudes and dudettes. So today, I didnt really do much. I washed my clothes, ate some food, took a shower. Same old stuff really. But I did meet a bunch of new people today. Jack, Jarrard, James and Adam. All Australian. A great bunch of guys, very nice, generous and easy going. They taught me a few new drinking games, which I can gladly say I am quite good at.
So tonight was Hamanda´s birthday. Just another hostel member. So we all got invited to go to her "party". Ah, but if it was actually a party it be so much more fun. We took two taxis to reach our destination, and to my horror, I have been in this place before. It was with the pub crawl that I came here...and the place sucked. There was only one bartender for all the people, and people were having DINNER! So not a club. No free drinks. Just false promises. I danced a little bit, when they cleard up a floor. But all there was were latin dance music. Boring to me to be honest.
So my shorts. I washed my clothes and hung them up. Unfortuantly, I didnt realize my shorts was missing until I got back from the party at 4am. So I went hunting for it, and finally found it at 7am in a very odd location. It was just luck that I found it really.
Tuesday 8 February 2011
I cant remember what I did...
6th Febuary to 7th Febuary
Now, all I remember on the 6th is waking late and eating food. On the 7th, I did nothing but eat and sleep.
Now, all I remember on the 6th is waking late and eating food. On the 7th, I did nothing but eat and sleep.
Sunday 6 February 2011
Vintage night!
5th Febuary
How dee doo yall! Today, Lucila took me to the president´s palace. Now, I have actually been to this building before. Its basically a big pink building. Yes, pink. What I didnt do before was go inside, because the day I visited it, it wasnt open. But it was open today. So in we go, taking pictures on a guided free tour by the Royal guards (I prefer British ones), acting like tourists...who played a game of touching the things. A fun game that I highly recommend.
So night time, I was invited to go to a club by Lucila. Ah but if only I got that far. I started this drinking game with two Danish girls, Tanya and Anily. This drinking game then included Lucila, Lu, Man and Fair (The last 3 names are dudes that I gave nick names to).
And I must add, it is the most messed up drinking game I ever played. The concept is that each card in the deck has a rule assigned to it, and you must follow out this rule, which is mainly focused o drinking, therefore a drinking game. So getting to the club by taxi, I fell out of it due to bad footing. Then when entering the club, it did not get any better for me. The alcohol I drank really decided to rebel against me. So being good friends, Lucila and Lu swiftly took me back to the hostel and let me rest. So all in all, it was a good night, but it could have gone soooo much better.
How dee doo yall! Today, Lucila took me to the president´s palace. Now, I have actually been to this building before. Its basically a big pink building. Yes, pink. What I didnt do before was go inside, because the day I visited it, it wasnt open. But it was open today. So in we go, taking pictures on a guided free tour by the Royal guards (I prefer British ones), acting like tourists...who played a game of touching the things. A fun game that I highly recommend.
So night time, I was invited to go to a club by Lucila. Ah but if only I got that far. I started this drinking game with two Danish girls, Tanya and Anily. This drinking game then included Lucila, Lu, Man and Fair (The last 3 names are dudes that I gave nick names to).
And I must add, it is the most messed up drinking game I ever played. The concept is that each card in the deck has a rule assigned to it, and you must follow out this rule, which is mainly focused o drinking, therefore a drinking game. So getting to the club by taxi, I fell out of it due to bad footing. Then when entering the club, it did not get any better for me. The alcohol I drank really decided to rebel against me. So being good friends, Lucila and Lu swiftly took me back to the hostel and let me rest. So all in all, it was a good night, but it could have gone soooo much better.
Saturday 5 February 2011
Exercise regime
4th Febuary
Woooooo its getting hot over here. And the bugs just get more annoying and annoying. Luckily, I´ll be out of BA soon, but seeing how Rosario is more north, Im sure my situation will only turn worse.
So today, I decided to go jogging around Parque Coro something something. Its a nice park, thats shaped like a circle with weight bars stationed at certain spots. Theres alot of people doing the same thing as me too.
Now the disappointing news. Marco isnt leaving for Mar Del Plata. Now I will tell you why this is disappointing. He was going to give me his chicken that he bought. A whole chicken. Yes. Food for a long time. Oh well, I cant get all that I need.
Woooooo its getting hot over here. And the bugs just get more annoying and annoying. Luckily, I´ll be out of BA soon, but seeing how Rosario is more north, Im sure my situation will only turn worse.
So today, I decided to go jogging around Parque Coro something something. Its a nice park, thats shaped like a circle with weight bars stationed at certain spots. Theres alot of people doing the same thing as me too.
Now the disappointing news. Marco isnt leaving for Mar Del Plata. Now I will tell you why this is disappointing. He was going to give me his chicken that he bought. A whole chicken. Yes. Food for a long time. Oh well, I cant get all that I need.
Thursday 3 February 2011
Good bye to one, hello to another
3rd Febuary
Hello minions. Today has been quite a busy day. I helped Rebecca get her last things done, so that was to buy some things. As girls do of course. This did give me a wonderful chance to see this huge ass shopping mall. Inside it was like a scene from those paintings where one staircase is in a forever 3d loop.
So shes off to Mexico.
Today I cooked 3 fried eggs, one sausage, 6 baby tomatoes and 3 pea pods. Now unfortuantly, to my dismay, the eggs and tomatoes I thought was mine...turned out not to be mine. I only found this AFTER i finished eating. I was certain my food was being stolen again!
Now with Marco going off to Mar Del Plata, I´m pretty much free to hang as I wish. So talking to this girl, Lucilla, I have discovered some locations in BA I havnt yet been to. So lets get ready to sight see some more!
Hello minions. Today has been quite a busy day. I helped Rebecca get her last things done, so that was to buy some things. As girls do of course. This did give me a wonderful chance to see this huge ass shopping mall. Inside it was like a scene from those paintings where one staircase is in a forever 3d loop.
So shes off to Mexico.
Today I cooked 3 fried eggs, one sausage, 6 baby tomatoes and 3 pea pods. Now unfortuantly, to my dismay, the eggs and tomatoes I thought was mine...turned out not to be mine. I only found this AFTER i finished eating. I was certain my food was being stolen again!
Now with Marco going off to Mar Del Plata, I´m pretty much free to hang as I wish. So talking to this girl, Lucilla, I have discovered some locations in BA I havnt yet been to. So lets get ready to sight see some more!
Wednesday 2 February 2011
Lets experiment
2nd Febuary
Today I woke up at....2pm. Late right? I didnt even go out too. I went to sleep at 12 30. How odd.
Alas, I did nothing today. I believe its my fault for arranging to stay in Buenos Aires for so long. I pretty much seen all that is to be seen, experienced all that there is to experience (except the food). So what does one do on such a boring day? Experimental cooking.
I got my tanned hands on some flour, eggs, chicken, chilli powder and a potato.
FIRST EXPERIMENT - What happens to grilled battered chicken?
Well, it doesnt turn out too well. Grilling battered chicken burns the batter faster without cooking the chicken itself. Frying is definitely better, as you can fry on a low heat to cook inside the chicken. I tried it with the grill, but the batter is just too sensitive to heat.
SECOND EXPERIMENT - What happens when you grill potatos aftr boiling them
Now as some may know, I grilled potato slices before when I did my first BBQ. It didnt go well. The potato went really dry and crusty looking. So to combat this, I boiled the potato so that it doesnt dry up. I then grilled it. It turns out wonderfully. Inside is still smushy and tasty, with no hard bits, just crunchy on the outside.
THIRD EXPERIMENT - What happens when you make mash potatoes with only butter and no milk?
It doesnt turn out that nice. End of.
So tonight, I took Rebecca out for a drink. Yes. Just one drink. Its her last night here, might as well be a gentleman about it. And as I type this, I think I may go out to a bar and play pool. Pool is fun. Although I fear my sleeping habits is starting to resemble a vampire´s.
Today I woke up at....2pm. Late right? I didnt even go out too. I went to sleep at 12 30. How odd.
Alas, I did nothing today. I believe its my fault for arranging to stay in Buenos Aires for so long. I pretty much seen all that is to be seen, experienced all that there is to experience (except the food). So what does one do on such a boring day? Experimental cooking.
I got my tanned hands on some flour, eggs, chicken, chilli powder and a potato.
FIRST EXPERIMENT - What happens to grilled battered chicken?
Well, it doesnt turn out too well. Grilling battered chicken burns the batter faster without cooking the chicken itself. Frying is definitely better, as you can fry on a low heat to cook inside the chicken. I tried it with the grill, but the batter is just too sensitive to heat.
SECOND EXPERIMENT - What happens when you grill potatos aftr boiling them
Now as some may know, I grilled potato slices before when I did my first BBQ. It didnt go well. The potato went really dry and crusty looking. So to combat this, I boiled the potato so that it doesnt dry up. I then grilled it. It turns out wonderfully. Inside is still smushy and tasty, with no hard bits, just crunchy on the outside.
THIRD EXPERIMENT - What happens when you make mash potatoes with only butter and no milk?
It doesnt turn out that nice. End of.
So tonight, I took Rebecca out for a drink. Yes. Just one drink. Its her last night here, might as well be a gentleman about it. And as I type this, I think I may go out to a bar and play pool. Pool is fun. Although I fear my sleeping habits is starting to resemble a vampire´s.
Sausages and Peppers
1st Febuary
HELLLLOOOOO MINIONS! Its a new month, awaiting new adventures. Too bad my enthusiasm didnt work in the morning. I was meant to go hang out with Rebecca, but unfortuantly I missed her. I woke up, she wasnt there, then I went to the supermarket, saw I wasnt there, then left when I came back. Its like a movie. A stupid movie. Like Scary Movie.
Today I cooked garlic, onion and sausage stuffed peppers. Its different without an Oven, but the meal lasted the whole day. Tasty too.
Rebecca eventually got back, and I escorted her to her new sleeping quaters located in....somewhere far. It did give me an insight into the subway system though. Initially I thought it was crap, but now I know it isnt too bad. Some of the lines do cross over, unfortuantly they all cross over in one area. Thats stupid.
HELLLLOOOOO MINIONS! Its a new month, awaiting new adventures. Too bad my enthusiasm didnt work in the morning. I was meant to go hang out with Rebecca, but unfortuantly I missed her. I woke up, she wasnt there, then I went to the supermarket, saw I wasnt there, then left when I came back. Its like a movie. A stupid movie. Like Scary Movie.
Today I cooked garlic, onion and sausage stuffed peppers. Its different without an Oven, but the meal lasted the whole day. Tasty too.
Rebecca eventually got back, and I escorted her to her new sleeping quaters located in....somewhere far. It did give me an insight into the subway system though. Initially I thought it was crap, but now I know it isnt too bad. Some of the lines do cross over, unfortuantly they all cross over in one area. Thats stupid.
Tuesday 1 February 2011
China town...in Buenos Aires?
31th January
Today me and Marco went apartment hunting. Well...he did. I tagged along. But afterwards we went to Chinatown. Thats right. China town. Who knew it existed right? Although its not much to look at. A huge lacking in red. But going in the supermarkets really made me homesick. There was fish sauce, fried dough, butter rolls, giant sacks of rice...ah...
The best bit of China town was the shops. Why? Because it was a Nerd´s dream store. Samurai sword for 30 pesos, vicious daggers, nunchucks, staffs, ninja stars, knuckle dusters...its like a weapon store for the locals. If there was ever a zombie apocalypse, I think Buenos Aires is a close second to Texas in where I want to be.
Today me and Marco went apartment hunting. Well...he did. I tagged along. But afterwards we went to Chinatown. Thats right. China town. Who knew it existed right? Although its not much to look at. A huge lacking in red. But going in the supermarkets really made me homesick. There was fish sauce, fried dough, butter rolls, giant sacks of rice...ah...
The best bit of China town was the shops. Why? Because it was a Nerd´s dream store. Samurai sword for 30 pesos, vicious daggers, nunchucks, staffs, ninja stars, knuckle dusters...its like a weapon store for the locals. If there was ever a zombie apocalypse, I think Buenos Aires is a close second to Texas in where I want to be.
Parks are fun
30th January
Ok, so today me and Rebecca, a girl I met at around midnight yesterday, went to the park. But because it was a weekend, along the park were a mass of market stands, similar to the one I found in Recoleta and Defensa. It was really hot so I didnt really browse the goods much. I just went to the park, took pictures and played in the water fountain thats shaped lie a jacuzzi. Thinking back, maybe thats why people kept on splashing in it like a land boarded fish. It would have made good video...
So getting back to the hostel, I just stayed in really. Cooked some food. Nothing spectacular. Just burned chips, canned crab, lettuce. So so.
During the night, I went to Church. Dont ask why. The experience was strange. I understood nothing that the dudes in white were saying. There was music, talking, mumbling, praying, and consuming the body of Christ. But no blood of Christ. Strange. Maybe they forgot? Then afterwards I got a beer. Now this really peeved me off. Apparently, if you buy a beer at the supermarket, you have to drink it THERE!!! Unless you want to pay more for the BOTTLE! So due to this stupid reason, I had to chug a big bottle of beer. But at least I only drank one.
Ok, so today me and Rebecca, a girl I met at around midnight yesterday, went to the park. But because it was a weekend, along the park were a mass of market stands, similar to the one I found in Recoleta and Defensa. It was really hot so I didnt really browse the goods much. I just went to the park, took pictures and played in the water fountain thats shaped lie a jacuzzi. Thinking back, maybe thats why people kept on splashing in it like a land boarded fish. It would have made good video...
So getting back to the hostel, I just stayed in really. Cooked some food. Nothing spectacular. Just burned chips, canned crab, lettuce. So so.
During the night, I went to Church. Dont ask why. The experience was strange. I understood nothing that the dudes in white were saying. There was music, talking, mumbling, praying, and consuming the body of Christ. But no blood of Christ. Strange. Maybe they forgot? Then afterwards I got a beer. Now this really peeved me off. Apparently, if you buy a beer at the supermarket, you have to drink it THERE!!! Unless you want to pay more for the BOTTLE! So due to this stupid reason, I had to chug a big bottle of beer. But at least I only drank one.
Saturday 29 January 2011
Oh shiney red glazed apple of sweetness
28th January
Woke up, had breakfast then visited an apartment with Marco. The apartments in BA are quite comfy, but theres alot of bills to keep up with.
I then went to the Alto Palmero. Its apparently the biggest mall in BA. Debatable, as when I went inside, all i saw was 3 floors of shops. Meh. BUT!!! I bought a coffee frappachino from STARBUCKS!!! Good times.
Afterwards, we visited Recoleta. I previously mentioned that I visited the cementary. Well, same place...again. BUT because we visited in the weekend this time, the Recoleta market was there. It is basically aload of craftsman and women set up stands, selling their crafts. Some highlights is a braclet that I liked. Its basic form is a strap of leather, but this leather is decorated with silver (or steel). Patterns such as XOXOXO, squares and circles and others.
Getting back, I BBQ 3 steaks. Oh so yummy.
Woke up, had breakfast then visited an apartment with Marco. The apartments in BA are quite comfy, but theres alot of bills to keep up with.
I then went to the Alto Palmero. Its apparently the biggest mall in BA. Debatable, as when I went inside, all i saw was 3 floors of shops. Meh. BUT!!! I bought a coffee frappachino from STARBUCKS!!! Good times.
Afterwards, we visited Recoleta. I previously mentioned that I visited the cementary. Well, same place...again. BUT because we visited in the weekend this time, the Recoleta market was there. It is basically aload of craftsman and women set up stands, selling their crafts. Some highlights is a braclet that I liked. Its basic form is a strap of leather, but this leather is decorated with silver (or steel). Patterns such as XOXOXO, squares and circles and others.
Getting back, I BBQ 3 steaks. Oh so yummy.
Friday 28 January 2011
Steak and cocktails
27th January
Today I grilled two steaks. One for lunch, one for dinner. I am never doing that again. It just aint healthy.
On to other news, during the day all I did was go to the internet cafe. Watched a few videos. Had some laughs. Ah...youtube, how you entertain me.
I went out tonight for a few drinks. Me and two english dudes, Dave and Keenan, went to the Palmero district. I think my favorite cocktail is the one with the mint leaves. And the legends of the "Caprini" are true. That drink really does pack one hell of a punch, and you just dont know it because of the sugar induced high. After the bar, we went to another bar. Sugar. Yes. It is a gay name. I was wholely convinced that it was going to be a gay bar, and that the Lonely Planet didnt mention it. But luckily, it wasnt. Not that Im against gay dudes. Or chicks. Be liberal. I dont mind. This bar wasnt too bad really, it just uses alot of red lights. I felt like I walked into a "red light" bar. Get it? While I was there, I decided to mingle with the locals. Not too bad really. Spoke to two dudes.
Today I grilled two steaks. One for lunch, one for dinner. I am never doing that again. It just aint healthy.
On to other news, during the day all I did was go to the internet cafe. Watched a few videos. Had some laughs. Ah...youtube, how you entertain me.
I went out tonight for a few drinks. Me and two english dudes, Dave and Keenan, went to the Palmero district. I think my favorite cocktail is the one with the mint leaves. And the legends of the "Caprini" are true. That drink really does pack one hell of a punch, and you just dont know it because of the sugar induced high. After the bar, we went to another bar. Sugar. Yes. It is a gay name. I was wholely convinced that it was going to be a gay bar, and that the Lonely Planet didnt mention it. But luckily, it wasnt. Not that Im against gay dudes. Or chicks. Be liberal. I dont mind. This bar wasnt too bad really, it just uses alot of red lights. I felt like I walked into a "red light" bar. Get it? While I was there, I decided to mingle with the locals. Not too bad really. Spoke to two dudes.
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