Big Ice.
Wow.
Sunday 31 January 2010
Sunday 24 January 2010
Facts
I am not a bad passenger of airlines. I am not concerned by turbulence or the thought that we could at any moment plummet and crash into the sea. Karen however is, and our flights are filled with these concerns and her sometimes panic that we are indeed going down. Obviously I give her all the support she needs, lots of eye contact, an occasional squeeze of the leg and an on-going commentary informing her that everything is OK. However, I am starting to doubt my confidence in flying mainly due to the startling amount of research Karen has done in the field of aeronautical catastrophe. When hit by turbulence or headed for a landing Karen will, between her fear and worry, see it as the perfect moment to bring out some horrible and uncomfortable fact. These have included; "Most crashes happen in the first or last three minutes of a flight!" or "Did you know that Air France plane fell for 3 whole minutes before it hit the water!" I am not sure why these facts have affected me so much, but now, every time we fly they are repeated in my mind, over and over and over. Hopefully I will learn to ignore them or Karen will run out of such facts soon, or both.
P.s. We are in Patagonia, not the desolate wasteland I was expecting, more a kind of South American Aspen. Nice.
Saturday 23 January 2010
Trip to the South
Having experienced the darker sides of Uruguay and passing most of our time eating crackers, going to the cinema or sitting in 70´s throw back hotel rooms, we returned to Buenos Aires on Friday.
Hostel in Palermo Soho presented us with a slight upgrade from ´sweat box with pooey fishy aroma´ to simply ´sweat box´. Caught up with friends, ate empanadas (with no undesirable gut ramifications) and welcomed our return to Argentina.
Caught a flight to El Calafate, Patagonia. The trip turned out to be a 3 hour hell journey... (albeit entirely worth it in comparison to a 30 hour bus ride) we seemed to ride turbulence equivalent to being smacked in the face by a tornado.
Have attached photo of the glaciars we are visiting tomorrow. WOW
Tuesday 19 January 2010
Eurgh-ruguay
Yesterday we set off from Montevideo to the "beautiful beach resort" of La Paloma. 3 hours later we arrive....apart from the fact the taxi driver struggled to know any of the local street names nothing seemed off kilter and we happily checked into Hotel Tuna.
Since the room was being cleaned we threw in our bags without much attention and headed off to the beach.
We fumbled our way around a rocky coastline, in search of a bottle of water - 30mins later we found ourselves at a beach bar. Lying in the sun we soon realised that Uruguay might be closer to the equator than we had ever been since our skin was beginning to shrivel. We resorted to an umbrella hire and two empanadas and all was fine. You would think that a dip in the ocean would be the answer but unfortunately the coast line was littered with jelly fish, too many to count.
At 5 (as everyone was arriving at the beach...which made us realise that sunbathing during the heat of the day is probably not done here - thank god i am not pale) we headed back. On arrival I realsied my maticulous cream application was not so thorough as I spoted red burn striped appearing on my calves. Attractive. To make things much worse a momentous rumble in my stomach confirmed the fact that the beach empanadas were not a good idea.
At Hotel Tuna we realised that given the lack of mozzie net and my ability to attract any local population of insects we were going to have to sleep with the window closed. For any of you that know Tommy this is pretty much classed as his most uncomfortable environment, combined with rattling blinds, 30+ degree heat, a stence of fishy poo and a noisy bed he soon retired to the balcony with a pillow. Predicatably he returned 15mins later.
Luckily at 7am i was woken by another bout of food poisoining...continuing for 2 more hours we felt it was time to say HASTA LEUGO to Hotel Tuna. Fortunately however, the temperature has calmed slightly because we are currently in the midst of a lovely tropical storm. Hooray.
Since the room was being cleaned we threw in our bags without much attention and headed off to the beach.
We fumbled our way around a rocky coastline, in search of a bottle of water - 30mins later we found ourselves at a beach bar. Lying in the sun we soon realised that Uruguay might be closer to the equator than we had ever been since our skin was beginning to shrivel. We resorted to an umbrella hire and two empanadas and all was fine. You would think that a dip in the ocean would be the answer but unfortunately the coast line was littered with jelly fish, too many to count.
At 5 (as everyone was arriving at the beach...which made us realise that sunbathing during the heat of the day is probably not done here - thank god i am not pale) we headed back. On arrival I realsied my maticulous cream application was not so thorough as I spoted red burn striped appearing on my calves. Attractive. To make things much worse a momentous rumble in my stomach confirmed the fact that the beach empanadas were not a good idea.
At Hotel Tuna we realised that given the lack of mozzie net and my ability to attract any local population of insects we were going to have to sleep with the window closed. For any of you that know Tommy this is pretty much classed as his most uncomfortable environment, combined with rattling blinds, 30+ degree heat, a stence of fishy poo and a noisy bed he soon retired to the balcony with a pillow. Predicatably he returned 15mins later.
Luckily at 7am i was woken by another bout of food poisoining...continuing for 2 more hours we felt it was time to say HASTA LEUGO to Hotel Tuna. Fortunately however, the temperature has calmed slightly because we are currently in the midst of a lovely tropical storm. Hooray.
Sunday 17 January 2010
Montevideo
Had expected to be on the beach in La Paloma, Uruguay this evening but missed connecting bus and have had to stay the night in Montevideo instead. Currently sweating heavily in Hotel Palicio whilst K-low is upstairs watching TV. It´s been our first real day of travelling after the somewhat easy start to our travels in Buneos Aires (thanks Giles) . Today spent in a mixture of taxis, boats, buses and bus terminals trying to get places but failing. Hopefully tomorrow will be better . . . had fajitas for dinner, they weren´t big enough, there were too few of them and they didn´t have enough chicken inside. Otherwise they were amazing.
p.s. finished first book, ´Bad Times in Buenos Aires´: if you´re going to Argentina read it, it´s good.
p.s. finished first book, ´Bad Times in Buenos Aires´: if you´re going to Argentina read it, it´s good.
Saturday 16 January 2010
Narcolepsy?
Tuesday: went to see Avatar in 3D . . . a 10pm viewing (a massive worry) . .. stayed awake the entire time . . . woo hoo!
Mausoleums, Moustaches and Thongs
And so week 1 comes to an end.
Giles has taken us to see the sights in Bueons Aires...most note worthy - the graveyard at Recoleta (where Eva Peron´s body resides) and a night at La Bomba de Tiempo; a night dancing like idiots to bongo drumming music.
However, most importantly our first week has been made all the better by what can only be described as a particular wonderful group of friends that Giles has introduced us to.
We have shared nights out, dinners at Zule´s (serving an extended Tuscan platter- yummmm) hanging out at Sandy´s pool in the baking 32 degrees (failing to match other latin american girls ability to wear a thong bikini with ease - keeping the albino bum under raps for now)and patient attempts to help us better our Spanish; they have been pretty much the best.
Margie and Sheyla held a leaving party for Giles last night - a Mexican theme. Perhaps to honour his current sporadic facial hair growth that vaguely resembles a moustache. On arrival we too were given obligatory taches (stick on versions) for the evening. Its nice to know that although we are hundreds of miles away from home, there are other people across the globe that also find humour in faux taches. Chappers would be proud.
Giles has taken us to see the sights in Bueons Aires...most note worthy - the graveyard at Recoleta (where Eva Peron´s body resides) and a night at La Bomba de Tiempo; a night dancing like idiots to bongo drumming music.
However, most importantly our first week has been made all the better by what can only be described as a particular wonderful group of friends that Giles has introduced us to.
We have shared nights out, dinners at Zule´s (serving an extended Tuscan platter- yummmm) hanging out at Sandy´s pool in the baking 32 degrees (failing to match other latin american girls ability to wear a thong bikini with ease - keeping the albino bum under raps for now)and patient attempts to help us better our Spanish; they have been pretty much the best.
Margie and Sheyla held a leaving party for Giles last night - a Mexican theme. Perhaps to honour his current sporadic facial hair growth that vaguely resembles a moustache. On arrival we too were given obligatory taches (stick on versions) for the evening. Its nice to know that although we are hundreds of miles away from home, there are other people across the globe that also find humour in faux taches. Chappers would be proud.
Monday 11 January 2010
Flight Portfolio
Got on the plane to find I was sitting next to a cornish model called Isobel. Not that fit, but very long-limb-sy and long-hairy, she kindly gave us a few tips for life in Buenos Aires, before quickly hinting that her porfolio was only in the locker above and we could have a look if we wanted. . . which we did. As we flicked through Isobel told us about her experiences in the Argentinian fashion industry and how she dreads not being able to make a living if anything were to happen to her body . . . which was the exact moment the person infront of Isobel chose to violently slam their seat into the reclining position, slamming into Isobel´s face on the way. . . gold.
A Journey To Argentina
Mild sense of humour failure at BA check in desk when
a)they didnt have me in the system but did have a ´Rodriguez Manuel Lowe´ and
b)they had me and tommy sitting at opposite ends of the plane
Small tantrum shortly fixed all above problems.
Enjoyable 16hours of turbulence experienced alone whilst Tommy (predictably) slept in a near coma state. One blather with a lanky model and a chicken jalfrezi later we arrive. Woo hoo.
Day 1 - Tommy loses his only credit card. No not from being mugged by a knife wielding Argentine. Just from leaving it in the ATM.
a)they didnt have me in the system but did have a ´Rodriguez Manuel Lowe´ and
b)they had me and tommy sitting at opposite ends of the plane
Small tantrum shortly fixed all above problems.
Enjoyable 16hours of turbulence experienced alone whilst Tommy (predictably) slept in a near coma state. One blather with a lanky model and a chicken jalfrezi later we arrive. Woo hoo.
Day 1 - Tommy loses his only credit card. No not from being mugged by a knife wielding Argentine. Just from leaving it in the ATM.
Thursday 7 January 2010
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