Hey hey there,
Well we met up with Beth and Ron, and had an absolutely delicious last supper. The food was so nice, by far the best meal on this trip! The restaurant was great, and the Uruguayan waiter, George, was so helpful and kind. Lovely evening. We managed to stagger back home afterwards - luckily the walk did us good, although it was slightly unnerving seeing the staff at the hostel after a tipsy evening the night before...
Beth and Ron flew out on Saturday (we did try and make them stay), and we ended up heading down to Rosario instead. Quick detour past the hospital - I still have problems with my ears! and 1 cold bus ride later - only 4 hours - we arrived in Rosario. Ate out and had gorgeous food for very little money - beautiful pasta with a glass of wine for only 4 quid, before heading back to the hostel and befriending the people there over a few drinks.
Yesterday the weather was awful, so we went shopping and to the cinema. I needed to replace a bra that the laundry in Buenos Aires had burnt - literally - so did that and then settled down to ´Revolution Road´. Perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon! Again, few more drinks last night, but the sun is shining at the moment so we are going to head off and do something worthwhile today. Head back to BA at some point tomorrow.
Anyway, hope everyone is well, and will update again soon.
Lots of love from us all,
Alice xxx
Monday 23 February 2009
Friday 20 February 2009
Buenos Aires, still...
Hey hey there,
Been having a great time in BA with the girlies, and Beth and Ron. Hayley and J have been leading me astray again (well I haven´t really been complaining,) so have had some fantastic nights here.
Sunday we visited the main cemetery in the city, and also saw the crafts fair outside. The cemetery was amazing - so different to anything else that we´ve seen. It was full of very tall crypts of families, pretty much all of them are in disrepair and falling apart, plus covered in creepy cobwebs and dust. So different to the cemetery in La Paz, where every Sunday the families are around the boxes, replacing the flowers and making sure that everything is in order. It was strange in that you could see the coffins in this cemetery (BA) - they were stacked up on top of each other, and you could also see the little children´s coffins which was sad. Saw Evita´s crypt - the only crypt full of flowers as well. Was very strange walking around the cemetery, and it certainly had a weird smell of death around the place. Saw Beth and Ron that evening for a delicious Chinese meal. Fantastic to catch up with them again, and they very kindly treated us. Went back to the hostel and ended up seeing Mike, our friend we worked with in Bolivia, and all his Canadian friends, so ended up chatting until the small hours of the morning... oops!
We saw a Tango show on Monday night. First of all we had to try and tango ourselves, (very embarrassing and difficult, but ended up being great fun), before we had a gorgeous 3 course meal, which was very appreciated by us 3, and then watched a stunning professional tango show. The food was delicious, and we had lots of wine included in the price - such a shame! - but the show was so good. Very sexy, fast and impressive. Lovely to ´do´ a bit of culture!
Unfortunately we ended up going out after the show, with the result that Hayley and J went to sleep for a couple of hours, but I actually did not make it to bed. Stupid move, as we were leaving to visit Uruguay for the day with Beth and Ron! Luckily managed to sober up on the ferry - they loved laughing at a tipsy Alice - and we had a lovely day meandering around Colonia de Sacramento, eating and sleeping in the park. The place was beautiful, and very peaceful, but unfortunately a little too touristy at times. However it was a lovely day out, and certainly worth seeing.
Wednesday we decided to be cultural again, and visited the MALBA art gallery - Museo de Arte Latinamericano Buenos Aires as it was free that day. The gallery was good - not too big, and we saw some great pieces. Even saw a Frida Kahlo - it´s great to see her work after being in her house in Mexico City at the start of the trip. We also went to see the Evita museum, which was great, apart from the fact that we know virtually nothing about her, which is annoying. So definitely need to read up on her when I get back to the UK! Definitely worth seeing though, and we were feeling very virtuous after visiting the gallery and museum. Met up with Beth and Ron, and had a gorgeous Indian meal. Cannot really say how much I enjoy eating these huge meals, the food is beautiful and it is so nice to not feel hungry! Again, Ron was very generous and treated us, so we took Beth and him to the cinema. It is fantastic here, you can go and see a film at 1am if you want to, - everything is open late. Saw the Tom Cruise film about Hitler - brilliant, and great for perving over him! So we were all happy... It´s very strange at the hostel, because we can hear pornographic noises when we are in the bathroom. Took us a while to figure out who was making the noises, until someone told the others that there is a sex cinema next door to our hostel. It is certainly very entertaining when we go to have a shower and all we can hear is porn!
Yesterday we ventured into another area of town, La Boca, which is beautiful. Not really quite sure whether it was quite as vibrant and colourful originally, or whether it has been overdone for the tourists, (even the window decorations are staged!) But it was lovely to see and the colours were beautiful - such fun photographing it. Went to see the Museo de Bellas Artes, again great gallery, but it was baking hot and so we ended up heading back to the hostel. Had a 3 hour siesta, absolutely brilliant, and then had an entertaining evening drinking in the hostel. Seem to have made quite a few more friends last night! Certainly more people were chatting to us this morning... oops! I blame Hayley...
So we are slowly recovering (J has homeopathic medicine for hangovers!) and are doing errands today, before we head out to meet Beth and Ron later on. They fly home tomorrow, - perhaps we could kidnap them?! BA has been great this week, it is a very European city, but it seems to have lost some of its own identity, however we have had a great time doing day trips, seeing galleries, meandering around and eating delicious meals. Certainly true that it is people who can make or break a place!
We are organising the next stage of our trip down southern Argentina. We have invited ourselves along on a road trip with Iain and Mike, the 2 guys we worked with in La Paz, to hire a car and drive down to Ushuaia with them - the most southern city in the world - you can get a boat to Antarctica from there. Just trying to work out logistics and time frames to see if this is possible. Hopefully it is, as it would be amazing to have our own transport (and cheaper than buses too)...
So love to all back home, - have just put some more photos in the Argentina folder, and will write again soon.
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
Been having a great time in BA with the girlies, and Beth and Ron. Hayley and J have been leading me astray again (well I haven´t really been complaining,) so have had some fantastic nights here.
Sunday we visited the main cemetery in the city, and also saw the crafts fair outside. The cemetery was amazing - so different to anything else that we´ve seen. It was full of very tall crypts of families, pretty much all of them are in disrepair and falling apart, plus covered in creepy cobwebs and dust. So different to the cemetery in La Paz, where every Sunday the families are around the boxes, replacing the flowers and making sure that everything is in order. It was strange in that you could see the coffins in this cemetery (BA) - they were stacked up on top of each other, and you could also see the little children´s coffins which was sad. Saw Evita´s crypt - the only crypt full of flowers as well. Was very strange walking around the cemetery, and it certainly had a weird smell of death around the place. Saw Beth and Ron that evening for a delicious Chinese meal. Fantastic to catch up with them again, and they very kindly treated us. Went back to the hostel and ended up seeing Mike, our friend we worked with in Bolivia, and all his Canadian friends, so ended up chatting until the small hours of the morning... oops!
We saw a Tango show on Monday night. First of all we had to try and tango ourselves, (very embarrassing and difficult, but ended up being great fun), before we had a gorgeous 3 course meal, which was very appreciated by us 3, and then watched a stunning professional tango show. The food was delicious, and we had lots of wine included in the price - such a shame! - but the show was so good. Very sexy, fast and impressive. Lovely to ´do´ a bit of culture!
Unfortunately we ended up going out after the show, with the result that Hayley and J went to sleep for a couple of hours, but I actually did not make it to bed. Stupid move, as we were leaving to visit Uruguay for the day with Beth and Ron! Luckily managed to sober up on the ferry - they loved laughing at a tipsy Alice - and we had a lovely day meandering around Colonia de Sacramento, eating and sleeping in the park. The place was beautiful, and very peaceful, but unfortunately a little too touristy at times. However it was a lovely day out, and certainly worth seeing.
Wednesday we decided to be cultural again, and visited the MALBA art gallery - Museo de Arte Latinamericano Buenos Aires as it was free that day. The gallery was good - not too big, and we saw some great pieces. Even saw a Frida Kahlo - it´s great to see her work after being in her house in Mexico City at the start of the trip. We also went to see the Evita museum, which was great, apart from the fact that we know virtually nothing about her, which is annoying. So definitely need to read up on her when I get back to the UK! Definitely worth seeing though, and we were feeling very virtuous after visiting the gallery and museum. Met up with Beth and Ron, and had a gorgeous Indian meal. Cannot really say how much I enjoy eating these huge meals, the food is beautiful and it is so nice to not feel hungry! Again, Ron was very generous and treated us, so we took Beth and him to the cinema. It is fantastic here, you can go and see a film at 1am if you want to, - everything is open late. Saw the Tom Cruise film about Hitler - brilliant, and great for perving over him! So we were all happy... It´s very strange at the hostel, because we can hear pornographic noises when we are in the bathroom. Took us a while to figure out who was making the noises, until someone told the others that there is a sex cinema next door to our hostel. It is certainly very entertaining when we go to have a shower and all we can hear is porn!
Yesterday we ventured into another area of town, La Boca, which is beautiful. Not really quite sure whether it was quite as vibrant and colourful originally, or whether it has been overdone for the tourists, (even the window decorations are staged!) But it was lovely to see and the colours were beautiful - such fun photographing it. Went to see the Museo de Bellas Artes, again great gallery, but it was baking hot and so we ended up heading back to the hostel. Had a 3 hour siesta, absolutely brilliant, and then had an entertaining evening drinking in the hostel. Seem to have made quite a few more friends last night! Certainly more people were chatting to us this morning... oops! I blame Hayley...
So we are slowly recovering (J has homeopathic medicine for hangovers!) and are doing errands today, before we head out to meet Beth and Ron later on. They fly home tomorrow, - perhaps we could kidnap them?! BA has been great this week, it is a very European city, but it seems to have lost some of its own identity, however we have had a great time doing day trips, seeing galleries, meandering around and eating delicious meals. Certainly true that it is people who can make or break a place!
We are organising the next stage of our trip down southern Argentina. We have invited ourselves along on a road trip with Iain and Mike, the 2 guys we worked with in La Paz, to hire a car and drive down to Ushuaia with them - the most southern city in the world - you can get a boat to Antarctica from there. Just trying to work out logistics and time frames to see if this is possible. Hopefully it is, as it would be amazing to have our own transport (and cheaper than buses too)...
So love to all back home, - have just put some more photos in the Argentina folder, and will write again soon.
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
Monday 16 February 2009
In Buenos Aires, with J, Hayley, Beth and Ron, finally!
Hey hey there,
Just a quickie to let you know that the bus ride went smoothly enough (after I nearly missed the bus as the traffic on the way to the bus station was terrible!) Arrived in BA yesterday, and had a great time wandering around, seeing the cemetery. Was very strange seeing so many coffins in full view, and they smelt slightly horrible too! Ended up going for a coffee with Simon, and English guy we first met in Panama.
Supper out - very kindly treated by Beth and Ron to a delicious Chinese last night. Just what the doctor ordered after my 40 hour bus journey to BA! Ended up drinking until past 4am with people in our hostel that we had met in Bolivia. A very good night but feeling slightly jaded now!
Have just spent hourrrrrs uploading photos of Brazil and more photos in the Argentina folder too, so feel free to have a gander if you so desire. Off to see a tango show and have supper this evening, life is difficult in BA!
Loads of love from us all,
Alice ###
Just a quickie to let you know that the bus ride went smoothly enough (after I nearly missed the bus as the traffic on the way to the bus station was terrible!) Arrived in BA yesterday, and had a great time wandering around, seeing the cemetery. Was very strange seeing so many coffins in full view, and they smelt slightly horrible too! Ended up going for a coffee with Simon, and English guy we first met in Panama.
Supper out - very kindly treated by Beth and Ron to a delicious Chinese last night. Just what the doctor ordered after my 40 hour bus journey to BA! Ended up drinking until past 4am with people in our hostel that we had met in Bolivia. A very good night but feeling slightly jaded now!
Have just spent hourrrrrs uploading photos of Brazil and more photos in the Argentina folder too, so feel free to have a gander if you so desire. Off to see a tango show and have supper this evening, life is difficult in BA!
Loads of love from us all,
Alice ###
Thursday 12 February 2009
Having a moment with Jesus, and Alan Carr... (Alice)
Hey hey there,
Think I last wrote on Monday, so thought would drop another line before leaving to Buenos Aires. As I said, I really enjoyed the favella tour, and ended up having a relaxing night on Monday.
Tuesday decided that as it was so hot, I needed another day on the beach. Walked down to Praia Vermelha (next to Copacabana beach) with Paul, and it was gorgeous. The sand was like brown sugar (just a little less brown), and the little bay was beautiful. Reminded me of somewhere in Italy, a big change from the miles and miles of beach in Copacabana and Ipanema. The bay was really quiet, and even though we were not meant to swim as the currents were too strong, we swam anyway (mistakenly ignoring the no swimming signs!) We both survived, I am happy to say, and had a great day on the beach. Even managed to get a huge chunk of cheese on a stick, grilled by a man carrying around a lit stove and a coolbox of cheese and hotdogs. Slightly strange tasting, but brilliant anyway. Such a hard life... This hostel is a quiet hostel, and it´s actually really nice to just relax in the evenings - am saving myself (and my money) for a bit of craziness in Buenos Aires!
Decided to see Christ the Redeemer statue yesterday, as the sun was shining and the statue was clear (we can see it from our hostel). Went with a group of people, including an English couple and a weird guy from the hostel. Met a lovely Spanish guy working and living in London (banker), on the bus so he tagged along for the ride.
We first of all went to another viewpoint by taxi, and saw stunning views of the city. Words cannot really describe just how pretty it was. We could see for miles, seeing the maracana football stadium, the beaches, the marina, the airport, the random mountains that spring up in parts of the city, and of course Sugarloaf Mountain. Absolutely beautiful, and the whole place just looked so blue - the hazy sky and the bright blue ocean. We could see the road that our hostel was on, and the local beach that we go to.
Headed up to the statue, and it was incredible. It isn´t actually that high, only 30m, but you can see it from all over the city. Apparently it used to face a different direction, but then slums started to build below it, so they turned it around. We could see a 360 view of the city, including the Copacabana and Ipenema beaches. There were helicopters flying past with rich tourists seeing the city in luxury (so jealous!) and ended up bumping into Jessie, a Canadian that I had met in Puerto Iguazu. Also, very strangely, ended up seeing a very sweaty Alan Carr up the there too (well, we were all sweaty, it was 40 degrees and humid)... suppose everyone has to have a holiday, but was just a surreal experience! The statue was the most important thing that I wanted to see in Rio, and I was so glad that the sun came out yesterday, and that the sky was clear. The statue more than lived up to my expectations, - I was grinning for quite a while!
Decided to head to the botannical gardens with the others, and again saw some weird and wonderful plants, animals and flowers. Not really used to doing things like that, but loved it anyway, although by this time I was feeling very dehydrated, and like I had been stewed for a few hours! Some lovely photos of orchids, before I called it a day. Was going to go to the maracana football stadium last night, but unfortunately there were no more tickets. So ended up doing a challenge for a free night in the hostel... and failed. Oops!
So have been wandering around the city today, sightseeing and generally mooching about. Unfortunately the centro isn´t very pretty, and neither are the churches, so came back after a while. Think will try and see some music tonight, certainly up for a drink (or more) in my last night in Rio. This place is crazy, so colourful and vibrant, really looking forward to coming back again when I have a bit more money, and catching Carneval at some point.
So tomorrow I plan to head to the bohemian, artsy part of the city, before getting a 38 bus to BA. Luckily it is not too long, and I think it is cama, so the chairs are bigger. But will probably have to shower before I jump into bed with either Hayley or J, when I arrive at 7am in BA!
Anyway, hope that the snow etc isn´t being too difficult for you all, - don´t want to hear any excuses about not going to work! Will write again when I meet with the others in BA (and Beth and Ron of course).
Lots of love, Alice xxxxxx
Think I last wrote on Monday, so thought would drop another line before leaving to Buenos Aires. As I said, I really enjoyed the favella tour, and ended up having a relaxing night on Monday.
Tuesday decided that as it was so hot, I needed another day on the beach. Walked down to Praia Vermelha (next to Copacabana beach) with Paul, and it was gorgeous. The sand was like brown sugar (just a little less brown), and the little bay was beautiful. Reminded me of somewhere in Italy, a big change from the miles and miles of beach in Copacabana and Ipanema. The bay was really quiet, and even though we were not meant to swim as the currents were too strong, we swam anyway (mistakenly ignoring the no swimming signs!) We both survived, I am happy to say, and had a great day on the beach. Even managed to get a huge chunk of cheese on a stick, grilled by a man carrying around a lit stove and a coolbox of cheese and hotdogs. Slightly strange tasting, but brilliant anyway. Such a hard life... This hostel is a quiet hostel, and it´s actually really nice to just relax in the evenings - am saving myself (and my money) for a bit of craziness in Buenos Aires!
Decided to see Christ the Redeemer statue yesterday, as the sun was shining and the statue was clear (we can see it from our hostel). Went with a group of people, including an English couple and a weird guy from the hostel. Met a lovely Spanish guy working and living in London (banker), on the bus so he tagged along for the ride.
We first of all went to another viewpoint by taxi, and saw stunning views of the city. Words cannot really describe just how pretty it was. We could see for miles, seeing the maracana football stadium, the beaches, the marina, the airport, the random mountains that spring up in parts of the city, and of course Sugarloaf Mountain. Absolutely beautiful, and the whole place just looked so blue - the hazy sky and the bright blue ocean. We could see the road that our hostel was on, and the local beach that we go to.
Headed up to the statue, and it was incredible. It isn´t actually that high, only 30m, but you can see it from all over the city. Apparently it used to face a different direction, but then slums started to build below it, so they turned it around. We could see a 360 view of the city, including the Copacabana and Ipenema beaches. There were helicopters flying past with rich tourists seeing the city in luxury (so jealous!) and ended up bumping into Jessie, a Canadian that I had met in Puerto Iguazu. Also, very strangely, ended up seeing a very sweaty Alan Carr up the there too (well, we were all sweaty, it was 40 degrees and humid)... suppose everyone has to have a holiday, but was just a surreal experience! The statue was the most important thing that I wanted to see in Rio, and I was so glad that the sun came out yesterday, and that the sky was clear. The statue more than lived up to my expectations, - I was grinning for quite a while!
Decided to head to the botannical gardens with the others, and again saw some weird and wonderful plants, animals and flowers. Not really used to doing things like that, but loved it anyway, although by this time I was feeling very dehydrated, and like I had been stewed for a few hours! Some lovely photos of orchids, before I called it a day. Was going to go to the maracana football stadium last night, but unfortunately there were no more tickets. So ended up doing a challenge for a free night in the hostel... and failed. Oops!
So have been wandering around the city today, sightseeing and generally mooching about. Unfortunately the centro isn´t very pretty, and neither are the churches, so came back after a while. Think will try and see some music tonight, certainly up for a drink (or more) in my last night in Rio. This place is crazy, so colourful and vibrant, really looking forward to coming back again when I have a bit more money, and catching Carneval at some point.
So tomorrow I plan to head to the bohemian, artsy part of the city, before getting a 38 bus to BA. Luckily it is not too long, and I think it is cama, so the chairs are bigger. But will probably have to shower before I jump into bed with either Hayley or J, when I arrive at 7am in BA!
Anyway, hope that the snow etc isn´t being too difficult for you all, - don´t want to hear any excuses about not going to work! Will write again when I meet with the others in BA (and Beth and Ron of course).
Lots of love, Alice xxxxxx
Iguazu Falls (Hayley and J)
Hey there, hope you are all well in snowy England.
We arrived in Peurto Iguazu on Sat 7th Feb after a 22hr bus journey from Cordoba. We enjoyed our last couple of days in Cordoba, although one of them was spent severly hungover!!!! On Wed 4th we jumped on a local bus to Playas de Oro (golden beaches) which run along a river about an hour from Cordoba. Didnt really know what to expect but had a recommendation from Helgi (icelandic buddy) so thought we´would check it out. Was beautiful, but really busy. Seemed like the whole city had headed there. Eventually we found somewhere to sit and enjoyed soaking up the rays for a few hours.....so hot! J burnt her boobs and tummy, which are only just recovering now! When we got back to the hostel we were enjoying a quiet beerm untill our crazy argentine roomies decided to drag us out. We went to a club with about 5 other people from the hostel. There was lots of vodka and even more dancing, and we eventually got in at 9am, just in time for breakfast. We then decided to do our laundry, still alittle on the tipsy side! Spent day mostly in bed except for trip to the mall to eat cake! Had a quick Prison Break session and then early to bed. Caught our bus the next day....our first Cama experience!
Bus was lush, but 22hrs was long, and the films were rubbish! On arrival we made our way to Hostel Inn, which is the same place as where Alice stayed. Is huge, with an enormous swimming pool and 24hr bar. Hung out by the pool for rest of day... ..lots of swimming was required as so hot! We bumped in to Cat and Rob again in the town and they recommeded visiting the tres frontiers, which is were river iguazu and river parana meet and make the boarders of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. From the Argentinian side we were able to see both Brazil and Paraguay. We also saw a tree with what look like runner beans growing in it. Bizarre! We spent sunday evening with some crazy Irish boys who spent most of the night singing Boyzone and Westlife songs, very funny. Eventaully made it ot bed about 6am and then up at 8am to visit the national park and waterfalls. Dragged the irish boys along with us, and had a fantastic day walking round the park checking out the falls. We all took a boat ride which went right under one of the falls, so we got absolutley soaked, but was amazing to be right under this massive waterfall. We were just drying off and about to head home, when we got stuck in a storm and had to run through torrential rain to get the bus.....so got soaked again!!! We didnt really mind tho as is so humid that the rain is actually a relief. Just glad we managed to get all our photos taken before hand!!!!
Rest of time here, has been spent by the pool or at the bar, and has been more like a holiday than the rest of our travels. Has been lovely to relax and soak up some sun but definatley ready to head on to BA now. The mosquitos here are driving us crazy! We are very excited to be meeting back up with Alice and to be seeing my mummy and Ron. We are also meeting up with some friends from La Paz so is going to be a very busy week. Have lovely Cama suite bus booked, where you get free booze....yay! Was on promotion, so was same price as semi cama. The seats are like beds.....very exciting!
Missing you all. love H and J xx
We arrived in Peurto Iguazu on Sat 7th Feb after a 22hr bus journey from Cordoba. We enjoyed our last couple of days in Cordoba, although one of them was spent severly hungover!!!! On Wed 4th we jumped on a local bus to Playas de Oro (golden beaches) which run along a river about an hour from Cordoba. Didnt really know what to expect but had a recommendation from Helgi (icelandic buddy) so thought we´would check it out. Was beautiful, but really busy. Seemed like the whole city had headed there. Eventually we found somewhere to sit and enjoyed soaking up the rays for a few hours.....so hot! J burnt her boobs and tummy, which are only just recovering now! When we got back to the hostel we were enjoying a quiet beerm untill our crazy argentine roomies decided to drag us out. We went to a club with about 5 other people from the hostel. There was lots of vodka and even more dancing, and we eventually got in at 9am, just in time for breakfast. We then decided to do our laundry, still alittle on the tipsy side! Spent day mostly in bed except for trip to the mall to eat cake! Had a quick Prison Break session and then early to bed. Caught our bus the next day....our first Cama experience!
Bus was lush, but 22hrs was long, and the films were rubbish! On arrival we made our way to Hostel Inn, which is the same place as where Alice stayed. Is huge, with an enormous swimming pool and 24hr bar. Hung out by the pool for rest of day... ..lots of swimming was required as so hot! We bumped in to Cat and Rob again in the town and they recommeded visiting the tres frontiers, which is were river iguazu and river parana meet and make the boarders of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. From the Argentinian side we were able to see both Brazil and Paraguay. We also saw a tree with what look like runner beans growing in it. Bizarre! We spent sunday evening with some crazy Irish boys who spent most of the night singing Boyzone and Westlife songs, very funny. Eventaully made it ot bed about 6am and then up at 8am to visit the national park and waterfalls. Dragged the irish boys along with us, and had a fantastic day walking round the park checking out the falls. We all took a boat ride which went right under one of the falls, so we got absolutley soaked, but was amazing to be right under this massive waterfall. We were just drying off and about to head home, when we got stuck in a storm and had to run through torrential rain to get the bus.....so got soaked again!!! We didnt really mind tho as is so humid that the rain is actually a relief. Just glad we managed to get all our photos taken before hand!!!!
Rest of time here, has been spent by the pool or at the bar, and has been more like a holiday than the rest of our travels. Has been lovely to relax and soak up some sun but definatley ready to head on to BA now. The mosquitos here are driving us crazy! We are very excited to be meeting back up with Alice and to be seeing my mummy and Ron. We are also meeting up with some friends from La Paz so is going to be a very busy week. Have lovely Cama suite bus booked, where you get free booze....yay! Was on promotion, so was same price as semi cama. The seats are like beds.....very exciting!
Missing you all. love H and J xx
Monday 9 February 2009
Rio... in 38 degree heat... still melting into a puddle! (Alice)
Hey there,
Well yesterday spent a lovely quiet day relaxing and getting over the hangover! Don´t know what went wrong with the caipirinhas... oh well. Just chilled out at the hostel - most things were shut on Sunday so it was a brilliant excuse to recharge batteries and basically do nothing.
Was meant to walk up to see Jesus Christ the Redeemer statue (wanted to see it - well wanted to come to Rio to see it - ever since watching the DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliette - remember the opening scene?!) However my friend Paul was a lazy bastard and didn´t wake up, and it was cloudy anyway, so decided to give it a miss. Too many people with guns around the area for me to walk up it (for 3 hours) by myself. Oh well. Will do another day.
So decided to go on a favella tour - pretty much the only way to see the favellas safely. It was brilliant to go inside Rocinha, the biggest one in South America. Only 300,000 people! There are 800 favellas in Rio state, and 40% of people live in a favella. Unemployment is 10% - brilliant mentality of everyone who is able, should work. The theft crime is very low in the favellas - much community attitude, and people don´t steal off others who have nothing. So they go to the rich beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema instead to steal off the gringo tourists! The favellas are preparing for Carneval at the moment (the winning team gets 2,000,000 Rs - about 700,000 pounds) and can make about 10 million Rs with shows around the world. So they practise from 1am on Sunday mornings until 7am, when it gets hotter and people have to work... The favella was crazy - but far better than I imagined. Some of the streets were very narrow - motorbike taxis abound here. And they don´t pay for their electricity - instead they get their electrical friend to rig up a free line for them, but when it goes wrong it is impossible to fix, so they put another line in instead... with the result that the electricity pylons look like the cat has been at the wool... pictures to follow! Open sewers are a problem and cause many diseased such as bronchitis, pneumonia, TB, asthma and so on. It was very smelly! But the people were welcoming (only because we were with a guide and so weren´t any reason to be suspicious). Such an interesting experience, and really glad that I had a fantastic guide for it.
Ran errands this afternoon, and have just been out for supper with an English guy I travelled to Rio with - Paul. Very tired as not slept properly at all since being here due to the heat, but luckily now they have given us an air conditioned room for the same amount of money which is much better. Looking forward to that! Still getting used to the place. Most important is where to go and where is not safe to go. We cannot walk to some beaches because gangs will wait at the exit of the tunnel to rob us, so have to be careful! But as long as we take sensible precautions, and don´t take out anything that we are not scared to lose, it is generally fine. Absolutely loving the raw energy here...!
Anyways, bed time calls. Another beach tomorrow - it is a hard life!
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
Well yesterday spent a lovely quiet day relaxing and getting over the hangover! Don´t know what went wrong with the caipirinhas... oh well. Just chilled out at the hostel - most things were shut on Sunday so it was a brilliant excuse to recharge batteries and basically do nothing.
Was meant to walk up to see Jesus Christ the Redeemer statue (wanted to see it - well wanted to come to Rio to see it - ever since watching the DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliette - remember the opening scene?!) However my friend Paul was a lazy bastard and didn´t wake up, and it was cloudy anyway, so decided to give it a miss. Too many people with guns around the area for me to walk up it (for 3 hours) by myself. Oh well. Will do another day.
So decided to go on a favella tour - pretty much the only way to see the favellas safely. It was brilliant to go inside Rocinha, the biggest one in South America. Only 300,000 people! There are 800 favellas in Rio state, and 40% of people live in a favella. Unemployment is 10% - brilliant mentality of everyone who is able, should work. The theft crime is very low in the favellas - much community attitude, and people don´t steal off others who have nothing. So they go to the rich beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema instead to steal off the gringo tourists! The favellas are preparing for Carneval at the moment (the winning team gets 2,000,000 Rs - about 700,000 pounds) and can make about 10 million Rs with shows around the world. So they practise from 1am on Sunday mornings until 7am, when it gets hotter and people have to work... The favella was crazy - but far better than I imagined. Some of the streets were very narrow - motorbike taxis abound here. And they don´t pay for their electricity - instead they get their electrical friend to rig up a free line for them, but when it goes wrong it is impossible to fix, so they put another line in instead... with the result that the electricity pylons look like the cat has been at the wool... pictures to follow! Open sewers are a problem and cause many diseased such as bronchitis, pneumonia, TB, asthma and so on. It was very smelly! But the people were welcoming (only because we were with a guide and so weren´t any reason to be suspicious). Such an interesting experience, and really glad that I had a fantastic guide for it.
Ran errands this afternoon, and have just been out for supper with an English guy I travelled to Rio with - Paul. Very tired as not slept properly at all since being here due to the heat, but luckily now they have given us an air conditioned room for the same amount of money which is much better. Looking forward to that! Still getting used to the place. Most important is where to go and where is not safe to go. We cannot walk to some beaches because gangs will wait at the exit of the tunnel to rob us, so have to be careful! But as long as we take sensible precautions, and don´t take out anything that we are not scared to lose, it is generally fine. Absolutely loving the raw energy here...!
Anyways, bed time calls. Another beach tomorrow - it is a hard life!
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
Sunday 8 February 2009
Rio de Janeiro!!! (Alice)
Hello all,
Well I finally made it to Rio de Janeiro, and had a reasonable journey up from Sao Paolo. Travelled with a lovely English guy called Paul, and we ended up staying in the same hostel which was cool. The bus journey was absolutely fine, and I knew from the moment we got on the bus to the hostel that I was going to love this place.
Rio is absolutely MENTAL. It is sooooooooo colourful, crazy, full of drum beats and salsa music, plus many other types of music I have no idea about! It is my favourite city in South America, and the people here are so friendly. We went to the Ipanema beach (next to Copacabana beach) yesterday - myself, Paul, the Norwegian girl Ana who I´d met in Sao Paolo - she followed us up - and a kind Columbian guy who looked after us all, called Sergio. The beach was so crowded, like nothing I´ve ever seen. We walked along and tried to get in the water ASAP - it´s 38 degrees, humid and very very very hot! Spent a few hours melting into a puddle on the beach (even with the umbrella, it was unbearable out of the water for too long).
We ended up drinking caipirinhas in the hostel last night, and then headed out to a street party at about midnight. We went to the area called Lapa, which has a 3 century old aquaduct. Underneath the arches there were many many musicians playing live music, with the random older guy hitting a flattened beer can with a stick. Little kids were hanging around selling us stuff, and we met the cutest girl ever. She loved hitting the boys and they loved teaching her new tricks. She gave me one of her bracelets, - she was so dark and had the most beautiful smile. Such happiness and contentedness. Really strange seeing black people here again, not seen many since central America.
But the music played on and on, and everyone was dancing in the streets. Outdoor food vendors were cooking food and the resulting smoke from the fires just added to the atmosphere. Little stalls sold caipirinha cocktails, and everyone concentrated on having a good time. I had the fright of my life when someone grabbed me by the arms - only to find out that it was Cath who I´d worked with in La Paz. Lovely to see her again, such a surprise! We´re going to meet her for a cocktail at some point.
We got home relatively early at 5am, and have just spent the day chilling out. It is very difficult to sleep here in the heat, and I have sought refuge today in an air conditioned internet cafe. Slept during the day (when the hostel is quieter), and today we plan on going to the football stadium here - can´t remember the name - which is the biggest in the world, (210,000 people), to watch a football match. Should be an experience! Not sure what we plan on doing tomorrow, but I´m sure I´ll love whatever it is!
Anyway, hope that everyone´s ok and not suffering too much with the snow. Will write again soon!
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
Well I finally made it to Rio de Janeiro, and had a reasonable journey up from Sao Paolo. Travelled with a lovely English guy called Paul, and we ended up staying in the same hostel which was cool. The bus journey was absolutely fine, and I knew from the moment we got on the bus to the hostel that I was going to love this place.
Rio is absolutely MENTAL. It is sooooooooo colourful, crazy, full of drum beats and salsa music, plus many other types of music I have no idea about! It is my favourite city in South America, and the people here are so friendly. We went to the Ipanema beach (next to Copacabana beach) yesterday - myself, Paul, the Norwegian girl Ana who I´d met in Sao Paolo - she followed us up - and a kind Columbian guy who looked after us all, called Sergio. The beach was so crowded, like nothing I´ve ever seen. We walked along and tried to get in the water ASAP - it´s 38 degrees, humid and very very very hot! Spent a few hours melting into a puddle on the beach (even with the umbrella, it was unbearable out of the water for too long).
We ended up drinking caipirinhas in the hostel last night, and then headed out to a street party at about midnight. We went to the area called Lapa, which has a 3 century old aquaduct. Underneath the arches there were many many musicians playing live music, with the random older guy hitting a flattened beer can with a stick. Little kids were hanging around selling us stuff, and we met the cutest girl ever. She loved hitting the boys and they loved teaching her new tricks. She gave me one of her bracelets, - she was so dark and had the most beautiful smile. Such happiness and contentedness. Really strange seeing black people here again, not seen many since central America.
But the music played on and on, and everyone was dancing in the streets. Outdoor food vendors were cooking food and the resulting smoke from the fires just added to the atmosphere. Little stalls sold caipirinha cocktails, and everyone concentrated on having a good time. I had the fright of my life when someone grabbed me by the arms - only to find out that it was Cath who I´d worked with in La Paz. Lovely to see her again, such a surprise! We´re going to meet her for a cocktail at some point.
We got home relatively early at 5am, and have just spent the day chilling out. It is very difficult to sleep here in the heat, and I have sought refuge today in an air conditioned internet cafe. Slept during the day (when the hostel is quieter), and today we plan on going to the football stadium here - can´t remember the name - which is the biggest in the world, (210,000 people), to watch a football match. Should be an experience! Not sure what we plan on doing tomorrow, but I´m sure I´ll love whatever it is!
Anyway, hope that everyone´s ok and not suffering too much with the snow. Will write again soon!
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
Thursday 5 February 2009
Sao Paolo - Rio de Janeiro tomorrow! (Alice)
Hey hey hey,
Hope that everyone hasn't frozen to death or become trapped in their houses due to the snow and lack of public transport! Quite entertaining reading all the news from this side of the world when it's nearly 40 degrees celsius... seriously though, hope everyone is ok.
I have had a brilliant time in Sao Paolo - surprisingly good - met a lovely Norwegian girl called Ana, and have spent all yesterday and today doing things around the city with her. It's quite tiring travelling around the city, because the distances are so far (17 million people live here or more), have to take the very clean and fast and efficient metro, however it does get slightly exhausting!
Tried to visit the Torre Tower to climb up to the 33rd floor for a view over the city yesterday, but couldn't find it so ended up going to the Pinocateca art museum instead. Saw brilliant exhibitions of Josef and Anni Albers, and a weird woman who went into the Amazon about 15 times to paint the flowers there and campaign against the forest's destruction. Saw some weird and not very inspirational Brazilian art, which was a shame. This had taken us hours and hours to do, and as it was pouring with rain, we decided to head back to the tower to see the city. Unfortunately it was closed so we headed back to the hostel. We had been wandering around the city and got picked up by 2 men in the cathedral (while a service was going on, very wrong I know!) and they wanted to buy us drinks. They recommended a coffee place to Ana and me - Ana is a barista - so we ditched them and went by ourselves in the evening. When we got there though and looked at the prices, we wished we'd telephoned them and arranged to meet them there!
Had a great time people watching, and then decided to grab some food. Unfortunately, it was raining again - when it rains it is cold, but when the sun comes out it is boiling! and unlike Argentina where people eat until about 1am, here the restaurants and shops seem to close by 9 or 9.30pm. We met the 3 Italian pilots on our hunt for food, and being good men they joined in too. We all got absolutely soaked, but the result was that they cooked us beautiful steaks in the hostel, we made the salad, and we had a very entertaining and boozy night last night... For some reason I cannot resist pilots!
Today we saw the Museo Arte Contemporareano (MAC - spelling something like that!) and the Museo de Arte Moderna (MAM). Took us about 90 minutes to get there with buses, traffic and getting lost, but we saw some fantastic exhibitions. Very impressed with MAM especially, both Ana and I loved looking around one of the exhibitions in particular. We headed back to the Torre Tower, and got in - the sun even came out. We looked for bikinis for a long time, but not found anything suitable yet, ie skimpy in the right places. When dodging the rain we stumbled across 2 more photography exhibitions, and 2 more public art exhibitions, plus lots of sculptures, so feeling kind of virtuous today!
Absolutely love Sao Paolo and feeling very cultural, albeit exhausted. My back is hurting like nothing else! I am leaving tomorrow morning early (not too early though), to Rio de Janeiro, and will stay in the Alpha hostel there (you can find it on www.hostelworld.com) until the 12th February, when I will take a 2 day bus to meet Hayley and J. So only one more hostel where I need to make friends before meeting the other two, and of course Beth and Ron will be there by that point which is great. Ron - I've been practising eating steaks for when you come over - they are absolutely beautiful. They are brilliant for both lunch and supper every day - haven't got tired of them yet!
So happily exhausted now, have made some lovely friends in this hostel (unfortunately though the pilots left this morning), and am very excited about seeing Rio, although I will miss this place and will be sad to say goodbye. The neighbourhood is very safe, friendly and has everything nearby. Plus the men here are extremely attractive!
On that note, will love you and leave you, but lots of love to all. Next update - Rio!
Love Alice xxxxxxx
Hope that everyone hasn't frozen to death or become trapped in their houses due to the snow and lack of public transport! Quite entertaining reading all the news from this side of the world when it's nearly 40 degrees celsius... seriously though, hope everyone is ok.
I have had a brilliant time in Sao Paolo - surprisingly good - met a lovely Norwegian girl called Ana, and have spent all yesterday and today doing things around the city with her. It's quite tiring travelling around the city, because the distances are so far (17 million people live here or more), have to take the very clean and fast and efficient metro, however it does get slightly exhausting!
Tried to visit the Torre Tower to climb up to the 33rd floor for a view over the city yesterday, but couldn't find it so ended up going to the Pinocateca art museum instead. Saw brilliant exhibitions of Josef and Anni Albers, and a weird woman who went into the Amazon about 15 times to paint the flowers there and campaign against the forest's destruction. Saw some weird and not very inspirational Brazilian art, which was a shame. This had taken us hours and hours to do, and as it was pouring with rain, we decided to head back to the tower to see the city. Unfortunately it was closed so we headed back to the hostel. We had been wandering around the city and got picked up by 2 men in the cathedral (while a service was going on, very wrong I know!) and they wanted to buy us drinks. They recommended a coffee place to Ana and me - Ana is a barista - so we ditched them and went by ourselves in the evening. When we got there though and looked at the prices, we wished we'd telephoned them and arranged to meet them there!
Had a great time people watching, and then decided to grab some food. Unfortunately, it was raining again - when it rains it is cold, but when the sun comes out it is boiling! and unlike Argentina where people eat until about 1am, here the restaurants and shops seem to close by 9 or 9.30pm. We met the 3 Italian pilots on our hunt for food, and being good men they joined in too. We all got absolutely soaked, but the result was that they cooked us beautiful steaks in the hostel, we made the salad, and we had a very entertaining and boozy night last night... For some reason I cannot resist pilots!
Today we saw the Museo Arte Contemporareano (MAC - spelling something like that!) and the Museo de Arte Moderna (MAM). Took us about 90 minutes to get there with buses, traffic and getting lost, but we saw some fantastic exhibitions. Very impressed with MAM especially, both Ana and I loved looking around one of the exhibitions in particular. We headed back to the Torre Tower, and got in - the sun even came out. We looked for bikinis for a long time, but not found anything suitable yet, ie skimpy in the right places. When dodging the rain we stumbled across 2 more photography exhibitions, and 2 more public art exhibitions, plus lots of sculptures, so feeling kind of virtuous today!
Absolutely love Sao Paolo and feeling very cultural, albeit exhausted. My back is hurting like nothing else! I am leaving tomorrow morning early (not too early though), to Rio de Janeiro, and will stay in the Alpha hostel there (you can find it on www.hostelworld.com) until the 12th February, when I will take a 2 day bus to meet Hayley and J. So only one more hostel where I need to make friends before meeting the other two, and of course Beth and Ron will be there by that point which is great. Ron - I've been practising eating steaks for when you come over - they are absolutely beautiful. They are brilliant for both lunch and supper every day - haven't got tired of them yet!
So happily exhausted now, have made some lovely friends in this hostel (unfortunately though the pilots left this morning), and am very excited about seeing Rio, although I will miss this place and will be sad to say goodbye. The neighbourhood is very safe, friendly and has everything nearby. Plus the men here are extremely attractive!
On that note, will love you and leave you, but lots of love to all. Next update - Rio!
Love Alice xxxxxxx
Tuesday 3 February 2009
Mendoza to Cordoba
We Are now in cordoba, having stopped off for a couple of days in Mendoza. We were sad to leave La Serena as had become quite attached to our new family, and i think they were sad to see us go. Was such a nice hostel! We caught our bus to mendoza at 11.40pm, which actually was alot more comfortable than it looked. We didnt reached the argentinian boarder untill about 8am, which was super efficient and we didnt even have to take our bags of the bus. brilliant!!! all a nice change from the mayhem of Bolivia.
Arrived in Mendoza at about 11am, stepped off the bus and got hit by the heat. Never a bad thing in my book, but then we had to stand in a que for 40 mins for the ATM as we had no argentinian pesos for a taxi etc. Not loving the heat quite as much by the time we managed to get in a taxi. We also only had 100 peso bills and EVERYONE expects to be tipped here, so i think we may have angered the guy who opens the taxi doors for you. oh well!!! Got dropped off at one hostel which turned out to be full, so then had to walk with all our stuff, getting sweatier by the second....eventually managed to find space at Itaka Hostel, after a very nice man at a previous hostel had rung ahead and reserved beds for us. Hostel was nice, internet, breakfast, pool etc, but our room was in a kinda out house, with 14 beds and only one fan! Not the best nights sleep ever, and i had a snoring man next to men. great!!! Still had a nice afternoon wandering around the city and found a huge park where we sat, in the shade for the rest of the afternoon. We then spent the evening sat in an irish `pub drinking massive measures of vodka with SPEED. (argentinina equivilant of red bull we think). Went back to hostel for free cocktails and were in bed by midnight. Still havnt made a full night out since leaving La Paz, will have to make up for in Cordoba! Was wierd as everything was just getting going at midnight, people were just sitting down to eat their dinner, and we were off to bed!
Spent saturday in the park again. Is so beautiful. We are planning a picnic there with alice when we return. Plan is to visit Mendoza with alice before we fly to NZ from Chile! We therefore didnt want to do too many of the sights without al, so enjoyed reading our books and lying in the sun. We did have a strange man on a bike sit by us trying to look up our skirts, rude! We moved and he eventually got the message, phew!! I think we need to memorise the spanish for "bugger off" "no thankyou" doesnt seem to work very well!!!
We had a slight panic at about 7pm as i read that BA was an hour ahead of chile and we hadnt actually checked the time in Mendoza since we had arrived. We need to leave for our bus by 8.15pm and, if on BA time, it was already 8pm and we were still in the park. opsª rushed back to hostel but turns out Mendoza is same as chile so no panic. made our bus in plenty of time. During the night we drove through a thunder storm and arrived in Cordoba in the pouring rain.....not impressed.
We are staying in Cordoba Backpackers, which alice recommend, and it only rained for the morning of sunday. last 2 days have been beautiful. We spent sunday afternoon eating cake in tha mall and pop corn in the cinema. very naughty. Since then we have been uber healthy and productive. Today we went to Alta Garcia to visit the Che museum. Was great to get out of the city and the museum was really informative, although as alice said, slightly bias. We have even got up to date with our journals, well i have. Jay is still in the salt flats i think. Tomorrow we are heading to the playas de oro which was recommeded to us by our icelandic friend Helgi. golden beached on the shore of a river apparently. Oh also last night we bumped into Kat and Rob who were the english couple on our salt flats tour. they were in the hostel bar. also bumped into english couple who we met in La Paz so have had nice time chatting to them.
Have booked bus to falls for friday and our staying in same hostel as Alice over the weekend. We may even pop into Brazil whilst we are there. extra stamp for the passport.
Well i think that is it. enjoying free beer tonight, and are goign to cook ourselves some jackets with tuna and sweetcorn. yummy. hope all is well in England and you are all enjoying the snow. am sure you are if it means skiving school or work.........always a bonus. We cant wait to see you mummy and ron in BA. so excited. Missing and loving alice muchly, glad you are loving brazil. becareful. love to allxxxxxxxxx
Arrived in Mendoza at about 11am, stepped off the bus and got hit by the heat. Never a bad thing in my book, but then we had to stand in a que for 40 mins for the ATM as we had no argentinian pesos for a taxi etc. Not loving the heat quite as much by the time we managed to get in a taxi. We also only had 100 peso bills and EVERYONE expects to be tipped here, so i think we may have angered the guy who opens the taxi doors for you. oh well!!! Got dropped off at one hostel which turned out to be full, so then had to walk with all our stuff, getting sweatier by the second....eventually managed to find space at Itaka Hostel, after a very nice man at a previous hostel had rung ahead and reserved beds for us. Hostel was nice, internet, breakfast, pool etc, but our room was in a kinda out house, with 14 beds and only one fan! Not the best nights sleep ever, and i had a snoring man next to men. great!!! Still had a nice afternoon wandering around the city and found a huge park where we sat, in the shade for the rest of the afternoon. We then spent the evening sat in an irish `pub drinking massive measures of vodka with SPEED. (argentinina equivilant of red bull we think). Went back to hostel for free cocktails and were in bed by midnight. Still havnt made a full night out since leaving La Paz, will have to make up for in Cordoba! Was wierd as everything was just getting going at midnight, people were just sitting down to eat their dinner, and we were off to bed!
Spent saturday in the park again. Is so beautiful. We are planning a picnic there with alice when we return. Plan is to visit Mendoza with alice before we fly to NZ from Chile! We therefore didnt want to do too many of the sights without al, so enjoyed reading our books and lying in the sun. We did have a strange man on a bike sit by us trying to look up our skirts, rude! We moved and he eventually got the message, phew!! I think we need to memorise the spanish for "bugger off" "no thankyou" doesnt seem to work very well!!!
We had a slight panic at about 7pm as i read that BA was an hour ahead of chile and we hadnt actually checked the time in Mendoza since we had arrived. We need to leave for our bus by 8.15pm and, if on BA time, it was already 8pm and we were still in the park. opsª rushed back to hostel but turns out Mendoza is same as chile so no panic. made our bus in plenty of time. During the night we drove through a thunder storm and arrived in Cordoba in the pouring rain.....not impressed.
We are staying in Cordoba Backpackers, which alice recommend, and it only rained for the morning of sunday. last 2 days have been beautiful. We spent sunday afternoon eating cake in tha mall and pop corn in the cinema. very naughty. Since then we have been uber healthy and productive. Today we went to Alta Garcia to visit the Che museum. Was great to get out of the city and the museum was really informative, although as alice said, slightly bias. We have even got up to date with our journals, well i have. Jay is still in the salt flats i think. Tomorrow we are heading to the playas de oro which was recommeded to us by our icelandic friend Helgi. golden beached on the shore of a river apparently. Oh also last night we bumped into Kat and Rob who were the english couple on our salt flats tour. they were in the hostel bar. also bumped into english couple who we met in La Paz so have had nice time chatting to them.
Have booked bus to falls for friday and our staying in same hostel as Alice over the weekend. We may even pop into Brazil whilst we are there. extra stamp for the passport.
Well i think that is it. enjoying free beer tonight, and are goign to cook ourselves some jackets with tuna and sweetcorn. yummy. hope all is well in England and you are all enjoying the snow. am sure you are if it means skiving school or work.........always a bonus. We cant wait to see you mummy and ron in BA. so excited. Missing and loving alice muchly, glad you are loving brazil. becareful. love to allxxxxxxxxx
Puerto Iguazu, Argentina and now Sao Paolo, BRAZIL!
Hello all, (new pictures on Picasa).
Arrived after a wonderful bus to Puerto Iguazu. Not had a ´cama´bus before - only 3 seat across (lots of room), and we stopped off at midnight to have steak and chips which were included in the price of the ticket! Think I booked a cama bus by accident, but the bus price was cheaper on that route than journeys of half the length elsewhere in Argentina, so I didn´t feel too bad. The 22 hour journey went surprisingly quickly, and I managed to get a bus to the Hostel Inn pretty easily too.
The Hostel Inn was massive - over 200 beds, and it´s an ex-casino so everything is spread out. The pool was lovely and the building great, - I was staying in a little house outside of the main building - but because it was so spread out, it was very difficult to meet anyone! Most people were lounging by the pool during the day, and it was only in the evening that people began to mix more. So spent the daytime on the first day catching up on my journal etc, which was actually a pretty good plan.
Met some lovely people that night at the bar (for once I wasn´t drinking, only because I couldn´t afford it!) Ended up going to the waterfalls the following day (Sunday I think) with a Canadian guy called Jessie, and it was absolutely beautiful. Put some photos up on picasa again - words just can´t do justice - neither can photos, but they do come nearer. So I´ll let you gander at the pictures. It was soooooo hot - about 38 degrees, and a lot of walking involved. So happily jumped into the river for a quick swim.
Quiet night back at the hostel as was drained by the sun, and then lazed around the pool the following morning until I had to leave (very early) for my bus.
Puerto Iguazu and Fox Iguazu are next door to each other (only a river divides them), but the former is in Argentina, and the latter in Brazil. I was getting a 15 hour bus to Sao Paolo in Brazil, so the bus went from Fox Iguazu. (Bearing in mind that it was very very hot), I had to get a bus into Puerto Iguazu, bus number 2 was to the Brazilian border, bus number 3 was into Fox Iguazu, and bus number 4 was to the international bus terminal just outside of Fox Iguazu. Needless to say, I wasn´t looking my best when I got to the bus, nor smelling my best! Luckily I had a 2 hour wait as the journey had been quicker than I presumed, so I was able to have some food etc before getting onto the bus.
The journey here to Sao Paolo was absolutely fine, until we got to the city. Taxis are extortionate here (well most things are really), so I decided to brave the metro (2 different trains, no where to sit), and a walk of about 20 minutes to the hostel. My back is still hurting!
But the hostel is amazing - the loveliest I´ve stayed in. The staff welcomed me like a long lost friend, and were so helpful, telling me where things were before I´d even asked. And I was able to check in early, which made all the difference. The whole house is decorated really nicely and creatively, and people there are mainly travelling by themselves, so are very easy to talk to. (Much harder to start talking to groups of people). Definitely feels like ´home´ - just what I wanted after the anonymity of Hostel Inn.
Managed to see the Museum of Art of Sao Paolo this afternoon (Tuesdays entrance is free), but became absolutely shattered so decided could do internet instead. Unfortunately have to take the metro everywhere here, so it´s quite tiring. Only wish that the city had a little fewer than 20 million people living here, as getting around would be easier! But it´s a fantastic place and am loving being here.
There are so many things to see and so many art galleries to visit (good one too - very rare in central America, Peru and Bolivia), so have decided to stay here until the 6th January, when I will go to Rio de Janeiro.
Hope everyone´s ok in the UK and not trapped under too much snow...
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
Arrived after a wonderful bus to Puerto Iguazu. Not had a ´cama´bus before - only 3 seat across (lots of room), and we stopped off at midnight to have steak and chips which were included in the price of the ticket! Think I booked a cama bus by accident, but the bus price was cheaper on that route than journeys of half the length elsewhere in Argentina, so I didn´t feel too bad. The 22 hour journey went surprisingly quickly, and I managed to get a bus to the Hostel Inn pretty easily too.
The Hostel Inn was massive - over 200 beds, and it´s an ex-casino so everything is spread out. The pool was lovely and the building great, - I was staying in a little house outside of the main building - but because it was so spread out, it was very difficult to meet anyone! Most people were lounging by the pool during the day, and it was only in the evening that people began to mix more. So spent the daytime on the first day catching up on my journal etc, which was actually a pretty good plan.
Met some lovely people that night at the bar (for once I wasn´t drinking, only because I couldn´t afford it!) Ended up going to the waterfalls the following day (Sunday I think) with a Canadian guy called Jessie, and it was absolutely beautiful. Put some photos up on picasa again - words just can´t do justice - neither can photos, but they do come nearer. So I´ll let you gander at the pictures. It was soooooo hot - about 38 degrees, and a lot of walking involved. So happily jumped into the river for a quick swim.
Quiet night back at the hostel as was drained by the sun, and then lazed around the pool the following morning until I had to leave (very early) for my bus.
Puerto Iguazu and Fox Iguazu are next door to each other (only a river divides them), but the former is in Argentina, and the latter in Brazil. I was getting a 15 hour bus to Sao Paolo in Brazil, so the bus went from Fox Iguazu. (Bearing in mind that it was very very hot), I had to get a bus into Puerto Iguazu, bus number 2 was to the Brazilian border, bus number 3 was into Fox Iguazu, and bus number 4 was to the international bus terminal just outside of Fox Iguazu. Needless to say, I wasn´t looking my best when I got to the bus, nor smelling my best! Luckily I had a 2 hour wait as the journey had been quicker than I presumed, so I was able to have some food etc before getting onto the bus.
The journey here to Sao Paolo was absolutely fine, until we got to the city. Taxis are extortionate here (well most things are really), so I decided to brave the metro (2 different trains, no where to sit), and a walk of about 20 minutes to the hostel. My back is still hurting!
But the hostel is amazing - the loveliest I´ve stayed in. The staff welcomed me like a long lost friend, and were so helpful, telling me where things were before I´d even asked. And I was able to check in early, which made all the difference. The whole house is decorated really nicely and creatively, and people there are mainly travelling by themselves, so are very easy to talk to. (Much harder to start talking to groups of people). Definitely feels like ´home´ - just what I wanted after the anonymity of Hostel Inn.
Managed to see the Museum of Art of Sao Paolo this afternoon (Tuesdays entrance is free), but became absolutely shattered so decided could do internet instead. Unfortunately have to take the metro everywhere here, so it´s quite tiring. Only wish that the city had a little fewer than 20 million people living here, as getting around would be easier! But it´s a fantastic place and am loving being here.
There are so many things to see and so many art galleries to visit (good one too - very rare in central America, Peru and Bolivia), so have decided to stay here until the 6th January, when I will go to Rio de Janeiro.
Hope everyone´s ok in the UK and not trapped under too much snow...
Lots of love,
Alice xxx
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