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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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?

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...

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.