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.

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.

Left right left right left right

26th January

I decided to visit Palmero today. Didn´t feel like it though, because the bug bites kept me up most of the night. But nevertheless, this is why Im here.

It took me around 40-1 hour to reach the first sight seeing location. The Botanical gardens. Although they should rename it to the homeless cat garden. At first, I thought the cats belonged to someone. That was until I saw my 5th cat. and the 8th. and the 10th. But more on the garden. It has some interesting plants, but I rarely noticed them. I just admired the statues that was dotted around the garden. I took pictures of them.

On my way to the next garden, I came across this enormous monument. Decorated with images of what looks like Greek heroes. And dying naked women...hm...weird. Oh and a giant angel...

The next garden was the Japanese garden. I love this place. Little bridges crossing over the water features, white birds pearched on the small waterfalls and giant koi fish swimming under the bridges. Even the rocks look awesome in this environment. I took pictures of here too.

Onward baby!

25th January

Today I shall depart this hostel to my next location. The new hostel is located on Corrientes, a big road, about 40 minutes from Palmero, a city district.
This means I will be seeing some new stuff. So what did I do today...well I packed up my gear. And I read my book until 5 ish. I then left to go to the new hostel, which took about a hour and a half.

The first night here SUCKED. Bitten 3 times by bugs. I hate it here. Nice kitchen. Nice dining area. But I hate it!!! But what can I do? I want to visit Palmero without having to go to a party hostel...

Nothing eventful really

23rd and 24th of January

I might as well group these two days together. I literally did nothing again. I read some great books though. I finished this wonderful book by David Gemmel, Stormrider. I highly recommend any fantasy reader to read his works. I also started on a new book, Tom Clancy, Rainbow Six.

I also got called from my family. That was pretty awesome. But I need to check my and David´s Xbox Live status.

A lesson in BBQ

So today, I did nothing. Again. Now that isnt a bad thing. Its nice to do nothing. Its more fun to do nothing. Especially when you get to stay indoors, out of the super hot sunlight. CURSE YOU OZONE LAYER


I did put on a BBQ today though. My idea. So, this being the first one I will have had prepared my own food (my mum marinates and all), I entrusted the all mighty internet to guide my hands to cooking.

So what I did first was create my marinating sauce. I chopped and squashed 9 cloves of garlic, mixed it with red wine, two table spoons of olive oil, black peppers and chilli powder.

I then threw in four pieces of meat, for four hours in the refrigerator.

Near BBQ time, I sliced 3 bananas in half, sliced a potato in wedges. NOW TO THE GRILL.

The meat didnt turn out too good. It had flavour, but  the piece I bought was full of these tendons, making eating real chewy. Next time I buy more expensive meat. The bananas were delish though. Potatoes were mixed.

I did so little

21st January

Today I did nothing. I did take a jog around however. Boedo isnt the most touristy place. Alot of the buildings are quite run down the further along I go along the road. There is alot of dogs though, and on my run I saw puppies in cages. They were for sale. And....yeah nothing else. I just talked to people, ate, slept, read my book. Just chilling here, waiting for the weekend.

My shoulders kill and my right butt hurts

20th January

What did I do today...well...I rested. I cooked. Then I left Milhouse. But in my all mighty wisdom, I decided to walk to my next hostel.

By glory it hurt. The journey took me 5 hours, and with over 27KG on my shoulders, it burned like the Sun that was blazing me. But I got there. All good.
This new hostel isnt all too bad. It isnt a party hostel, but thats not what Im looking for. I just want to chill, eat, watch TV, go out and explore, and sleep. Not too much to do really.

Its gone...FOREVER

19th January

Today something terrible happened. Someone stole my food!!!!! From the refrigerator!!! I tagged my food bag too...
Well, they didn't steal everything. They took my half red pepper, all my mushrooms and my rice bag. MY RICE BAG. But karma works in a nice way, because then my room mate came in and gave me a pot of pasta. Awesome. Then at dinner, another person I met gave me some of his food, this italian dish with an extremely sour sauce. 

So today I cooked:
. microwaved pasta cooked in tomatoes and herbs
. boiled hot dog sausages
. boiled roots and carrots
. one boiled egg

For dinner I cooked:
. Microwaved pasta
. Boiled hot dog sausages
. Boiled roots and carrots
. Italian food

You gotta love budget eating.

Tonight I went to the other Milhouse hostel, which is about 5 minutes from this hostel. They were hosting a party. It was loads of fun. Its surprising how well I dance after two cocktails and one beer. I busted out loads of classic moves, like the peace side, the wavy leg thing and the Elvis pelvic thrust. I went with two room mates by the way, Carlos and Jeff. Two Americans.

Carlos is a great guy. For some reason, its really easy to talk to him. I guess because he is charismatic. Or he actually responds to my jokes. I met alot more people at the party too. But more importantly, my previous drinking buddy, Francisco. Brazillian, funny and great when drunk.

I left at 2pm, because I didnt want to go to the after party. So all in all, a great night.

Lets play a new game, get lost and find your way

18th January

I woke up quite early today. The breakfast put on by the hostel isnt too bad. Lots of bread, watermelon, ugly looking apples and oranges, orange diluted juice, cereal and tea. At least it aint just crossaints  (Stupid previous hostel. A crossaint does not warrent a decent breakfast).
Unfortuantly, I have no idea what to do. So in a desperate attempt to entertain myself, I left the hostel and walked to the plaza. To my horror, I already been here previously. Theres the same pink government building. Theres the same field with barbed fence put up to deter the passive protestors. Same old stuff. But at this point, I have a pretty good grasp on using the map and finding my way about. So I decided to walk south...alot.

I walked through alot of shady parts, parts that isnt probably tourist orientated. Lucky it was daylight. I did see some things on the way. I found the San something market place,    an anqitue market and alot of boutiques.   Other than that, nothing much to say really. I got back to the hostel and made dinner. Now this is worth a read.

ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED
        Make mash potatoes

Yes. I made mash potatoes. It was slightly lumpy, but it was edible. And tasty.
So here was my dish:
. Stir fried mushrooms, roots and carrots
. Grilled steak
. 4 baby tomatoes
. One mashed potato with a hint of milk

But Im starting to think, eating all these fried dishes isnt too healthy. So Im going to try boil mushrooms and stuff tomorow.

At 2030, the hostel put on free tango lessons. I obviously joined in. Unfortuantly, my dance partner only stayed around for the initial 8 basic steps. She was actually quite bad. This didnt deter my enjoyment though, because soon I got to dance with the dance instructor.  But I didnt get to join in for the sandwich and the decorations. This is when the male sandwiches the females foot with both his feet, then he retreats with his left.
The female then sandwiches his foot, and begins using her leg as the decoration. And you know whats the best bit? The male hardly does anything. He is just the frame and leading. Thats awesome.

             

What to do

17th January

I can easily say...I did nothing. I woke up at 1630, cooked dinner and went back to sleep. Oh, maybe I should talk about what I cooked.

I tried making mash potatoes, steak, rice  and pea pods. The steak, rice, and pea pods went fine. The trouble came with the mash potatoes. Now, Sean told me all I have to do is boil a potato, mash it and add milk. It didnt work. It just turned to hard clumps of potato floating in milk. I was not going to eat this. So I decided to throw it in with the steak thats being fried. What a dumb mistake. The potato didnt even fry. It just burned and got stuck to the pan. The smell of fat and oil just clung to my t-shirt. And cleaning the pan was a bitch. Thats the only way to describe it. I never thought it would take so much effort.

Bah.

Milhouse here I come!!!

16th January.

Today is the day. The day I leave this hostel. So packing up my things, I had to acquire a map. Pretty useful thing, a map is. Anywho, I decided to walk to my next hostel. Unfortuantly it was pouring rain, but due to my amazing abilities of preparation, I quickly dug out my rain coat, and plastic bags and continued along my way.

Arriving at Milhouse, I can only think of how crappy its location is. The previous hostel was surrounded by lovely european architecture. Here is like an overgrown alley way. But inside is very different. Full of people playing pool, drinking, socialising, watching footie. No wonder this place is recommended by alot of travellers. Its really colourful too.

I met a few new people during the day. But the main event came at night. Now before I continue, Milhouse is famous for its parties. Tonight was no exception. They arranged the furniture to face one point, the "stage". So at around whenever during the night, musicians showed up and played popular music throughout the night, such as Soul Sister, Sweet Child Of Mine and etc. At the end, a really hot girl got up and started singing I will survive. 

After this, me and alot of Brazillians and one french dude called Stefan, went drinking some more. Being me, I didnt drink alot. But the company was very nice, because apparently, Brazillians have an unlimited supply of drunk drinking songs. This probably didnt go too well with the locals. A fun night nonetheless, and I myself had a very sweet time.

Nothing much to do

15th January

I woke up quite late today. I really enjoy  being able to sleep most of the day away. I dont do that often. usually a quarter away.

But Sam dragged me to Florida Street, to do interviews with people. I just looked at the local goods, and watched alot of street tango shows. Sleep time.

Prepare for the dead

14th January

Yawn. Its tiring waking up from drinking. I don't drink much, mind you. Just slightly. Its a good way to meet the fellow travelers in my hostel. So today, me and Sam visited the famous cemetary in Recoleta. Its famous due to its size, extravagent graves and its fortress like design. The entire gravesite is protected by a wall, with only one entrance through a giant archway.

So the graves were very nice to look at. Massive angels arching over the graves, big statues, lovely craftsmanship. For those back at home, I took a video and a few pictures. The place is a maze though, and you can easily lose your bearing, which happened to me. I also managed to find the famous grave of Evita, a political figure in Argentina. Famous for something...

After the grave, I explored the area bit more. I looked at some local goods, like jewerlly, brain teasers and some local talent. This led me into another church. This one isnt a big as the one in Central BA, but it held an exhibit displaying many religious items from the 18th century. Some being gold and silver ware, the bones of two saints, and the robes of cardinals/bishops. I also made a new friend here, a girl called Danielle. She works there.

I then visited a comtempory art museum right next door. Now this place is big. Good art, shit art, it has it all. I took pictures of the ones I liked.

During the night, Sam surggested we go on this organised Pub crawl. What a big mistake. 80 pesos down the drain. It was ran by big headed Americans who kept shouting Salute and all that crap. 3 bars and a night club. I will never drink here gain. Why is everything so expensive? I didnt really enjoy the dance club either. Our two friends left quite early, I dont know why. So me and Sam found new dance partners. I think I was quite good, but I didnt really enjoy the scene at all. At least I know for certain now that the dance club scene is not my scene.

13th Jan morning

Well, today I went to visit La Boca. Its a small area of BA near the port. I won't tell its history here.

I went with two girls, maia and Cylese. They were quite ok, but they didnt bring any money so our activities were limited. So when they decided to go home, I stayed behind. And I am glad I did.

La Boca is an extremely colourful town, materials made from timber and tin. Tango and craftsmanship is plenty here, with many artists on the roads show casing their art. I looked at the local art, which was quite good. Some not so much because I don't like the style. I also visited a few museums. They were utter crap, but I might as well explore the art history abit right?

The most fun I had however was from talking to the local people and watching the tango dances put on by the cafe to intice tourists to drink and eat. The locals are very friendly, and i couldnt step 20 metres without talking to someone. It certainly helps when they know english. The cafes are definitely worth going to. A whole street is dedicated to cafes, and all put on their own shows. Food is abit pricey but I bought a drink nonetheless. Banana milkshake.

No event

Its midnight. Well, 13th January 0020. I spent yesterday doing nothing. Just read books. I think the drinking made me not want to do anything.

I got burned by oil today while cooking. The oil burned my hand, foot and eye. I am a terrible cook. Or, the utensils here are just shit. I try flip the sausage, and the oil just spills on me. I am only here now due to my amazing reaction abilities.


I might go to a tango show. Yawn. Sleep time.

BA isnt so bad afterall 11th Jan

Initially, I thought this place was going to be absolute crud. The people seem unfriendly, the transport system confusing and the heat annoying. But after going sight seeing today, my opinion may be changing.

Today I went to see the obelisk, the catholic cathedral and several other landsites and museums. Interesting. But on the way back to the hostel, more so. Florida street is amazing. There are painters and artists displaying their art on the streets, offering portraits, goods of all colours being sold on bright floors and the best of all, street tango performances. I wish I could tango. I could learn, but why would I do that? Thats just time consuming.

Lets see what new sights appear tomorow for me.

BA

Well, Im in BA. The coach ride was fairly easy to deal with. But I do have one constant complaint. Is it so hard to control the AC in the coach? Must it always be so cold during the night? Many times I came close to tearing down the curtains and using them as blanket instead. I resisted of course, being the good man I am and adopted a position that would retain as much warmth as possible.

I crossed my arms.

Another complaint. If putting on a movie using Spanish audio, why is it a necessity to also turn on SPANISH SUBTITLES AS WELL. Keep it as english morons. It makes it easier to watch the flipping movie. Due to this rediculous decision, I could not watch Miami Vice.

Arriving to BA was not a fun time. Getting off the coach, I was greeted with a news stand that sold all sorts of books. Its a rediculous decision to place hentai and porno books besides cook books and tv magazines. But thats not what pissed me off. I couldn't find the way to the hostel. I got on two buses. The first one I got off because I could not stand standing up with all my bags on me. The honest rule of giving up a seat to an elderly really beat me up this time round. The second time I got on a bus, I got off the wrong stop. Terrible. So I walked around for many many blocks, eventually finding the hostel.

Visited Iguacu Falls Argentinian style

Hello minions. I am starting to hate this place more and more. I have more than 6 bug bites, all itchy as itchy. So itchy I have resorted to bandaging the location to prevent me from scratching it constantly. I also washed my clothes. But there aint a bucket here or a location to wash clothes. So naturally, I used a sink. Its hard though, because the sink aint got a plug.

Anywho, I visited the Iguacu Falls. Alot of walking around. But there was alot of waterfalls to see, all in different locations of the park. I also had my apple stolen. Basically, my water and apple was in a plastic bag ontop of a table. This animal put its paws on the table leg and stared at the apple. I just sat there thinking, "what are you going to do now". Then it just jumped! It ripped the bag apart with its claws and teeth as I pulled the bag away. It won. It ate my apple. And destroyed my bag. Bugger.

I found out today that my bank cards were locked. So it makes sense now, as to why I couldnt access my money at the ATM or pay for the frappe at the park. But when I tried to unlock the first card, my second card got blocked just because I was using it to pay for my call! I got it solved in the end though. So all good.

I helped cook dinner today. Chopped vegetables. Bought ingredients. Had pasta with tomato sauce, tuna, carrots, tomatoes and onions. I´m just going to go sleep now. I got a trip to Buenos Aires at 1620. Its going to be 20 hours. So I wont be posted tomorrow. Bye dudes.

Terrible Heat and terrible prices

Well, Im in Puerto Iguacu now. It is abit worrying that I´m progressing way too fast according to my itenary but screw it. I want out of these small ass little towns and go to a proper city with proper banks, lots of ATMs and less god damn bugs. By Glory, the bugs are really fucking with me! I HATE THEM HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE!!!!!!!!!

In other news, I´m so tired today. Getting from Brasil to Argentina was a pain in the ass, because I had to keep getting on and off the bus at the borders to get my passport stamped. It be so nice if both border controls was right next to each other, like 5 metres. Is that so hard? The heat did not help with anything at all too. On the plus side, I can 80% say that I can not get sun burned. While i was at the bird park yesterday (again), I did not put on sun screen. I thought I was getting sun burned because my skin turned red. But I guess not, because it disappeared when I got back to the hostel. These spots on my face is a pain though. What age will I be rid of them!?!?! I´m not playing games indoor all day, I´m not chugging alot of beer and I aint endulging in fatty fried snacks! Must be the meat.

I will visit the Iguacu falls from the Argentinian side tomorow. This means I have to extend my stay from 2 nights to 3 nights. Unless I get back early, get on the 1700 bus to Buenos Aires and be rid of this small town. This will take some more planning, once again...

I also think I lost 40 quid somewhere. Bummer.

Getting tired

I'm rapidly getting tired of SA. I just want to be back in the UK, where everything is organised and proper, not run down and bug ridden like here. I sure do miss my family right now. Life is much easier in the UK, because everything is WELL ORGANISED.

Over here, I am getting really tired of keeping to my itenary. Much harder than I first assumed. I wonder where should I go today. I could visit the bird park again. That was fun. Or I could visit the Buddhist temple and the Ipiatu dam.
Its just a dam though. I've never been much into feats of modern construction. I just notice them. Hm. I do want to visit the Buddhist temple though...ah well, off to the temple then to the bird park. Actually, just the temple and back to the hostel. Play the gaystation 3 or something. Bah. Stupid PS3

Parque Iguacu!!!!!!

WOOOOO so fun. The waterfall was amazingggggggg! There were so many butterflies floating around me and stuff. yeah I freaked out because its an insect and all, but I still loved the experience. I got loads of pictures, which im sure my family will love.

I went today with Martin and Gemma, the people I mentioned before. Good time. What I must highly praise however was the bird park. There were birds of all colours and size. It was amazing. In some sections of the park, I was actually in the bird cage itself. So I was in touching distance of the birds. I didnt touch them of course, because I dont want any disease and etc.


Tomorrow I will probably visit the Iguacu falls from the Argentinian side. I will make sure to take a boat.

Reached Foz

Bloody heck, it was a flipping long ass trip. 22 hours? No. God damn 32 hours!!! The coach broke down more than 3 times, requiring us to wait for 2 more coaches.
Total, 3 COACHES!

Now, the coaches were quite decent itself. AC, reclinable chairs, comfy. Road is shit though. Bumpy de bumpidy.

But I did meet 3 new people however. Martin, Gemma and Joshua. Im in the same hostel as Gemme and Joshua, thank jeebus. Because I was free styling it, as in I didnt book no hotel.

I must share some of my sights while I was on the coach ride. I saw a gigantic billboard advertising a sex shop. It sure is liberal around here. I also saw alot of dead cars. There were like locations dedicated to trashed cars. Other than that, I can't remember much else.

Moving on

Well my minions, this will be my last post until I reach Argentina. I'll be on a rediculously long bus ride of 22 hours to Foz do Iguacu. But I will only be there for one day, until I enter Argentina. I post again then.

Navigating the bus station was easier than I thought. Sure noone spoke english, but my portugese was good enough to get me a ticket for tomorow. Its around 90 quid I would say.

Unfortuantly, getting to the bus station wasnt so easy. I actually missed my stop while on the bus, so I had to do a full circle to get back to it. Kinda scary too, because first the bus ride started out interesting with all the water, trees and stuff. Then it just turned ghetto. Like, serious movie New York ghetto, with a heavy dose of grafitti.

Im alive though. But I do need to work out.

Washing clothes is hard

its 1/1/11. Funky isnt it.

I just finished washing my own clothes. But strange story first. While I was buying, hopefully the right thing, comfort clothes washing liquid, the till lady kept indicating my head. I said I didnt speak portugese. I think its Nao faroo portugese.
Eventually, I bowed my head, and she touched my hair. Yes, we asians have awesome hair.

Anywho, back to clothes. I washed my own clothes. By hand. I watched my mama do it. It is very tiring. I believe I have much more respect for her now, because before I only washed shoes. Not clothes. Well, not a bundle of clothes.
I also learnt something too. Never wash white and black clothes together. Now dont get me wrong, I already knew this. But I thought it only applied to the washing machine. But if you do it by hand, the fluff from the black clothes will stick to the white clothes. Makes it look well ugly. Luckily I have graff tape. It might work in removing the fluff, or it might just be too powerful and pull apart the white material.

Its the count down to New years!

Lets see. I woke up late of course due to drinking. But no worries my dear drinking buddies, I have had no puking incidents. I decided to go to the beach today with Lawbier. It was very fun, especially with all the eye candy around. I mean, people..

Anywho, I actually went swimming. Woo hoo! One to self respect and Zero to body conscious! The tide here is very rough, as it can ascend up to a good 5 and more meters. Makes heavy swimming. Shame the water is just so salty. By the end of my swimming session, I was choking on salt, not water.
When I got back to the shore, I found an empty chair. And being the good citizen that I am, I decided to claim the chair as my own, so it doesn't get lonely because its other chair friends were far away. I also took a little nap on the beach too.

When I got back to the hostel, I rested then asked out the girls next door to dinner. Unfortuantly it was only a quick bite, as we had to rush back to the hostel to meet up with their friends who were coming to Rio for the new year.

At around 2230, we went to the beach. These girls suck at organisation. If it was me and my friends, I would be rocking, or samba-ing, on the beach with 1000s of people around me, all looking at one of the 3 or 4 music stages. But noooo. too crowded they say. Lame.
We did get a good position to watch the fireworks. Lasted 15 minutes. Unfortuantly, we didn't go back to the stage, once again due to shit decision making. This led to 4 hours of walking, doing fuck all. Yes I swore on a blog where my mentor will read it. I am very annoyed and pissed off. But I shall not let this put me down, because I did catch some pretty awesome video footage of the fireworks.

I got back to the hostel at 4 something. Sleepy time. Oh yeah, I drank again. All the Aussies went drinking on the beach. Some people stayed in. I didnt of course.