I now retract my statement that I have a good sense of direction
OK, so it has been a source of much internal pride, that I have a good sense of direction, and don´t tend to get lost. However, today I managed to get myself well and truly lost (except that I ended up where I had intended to go in the first place, but then decided not to go to!) So perhaps my credibility is somewhat saved by the fact that I ended up where I was initially wanting to go???? I´ll stop being cryptic and tell the actual story!
I had decided to head down to La Boca- the neighbourhood in Buenos Aires where the brightly coloured houses and shops are located.. Having read up on it in the ol´ Lonely Planet, I knew that it was the dodgiest barrio in Buenos Aires, and to stick to the "well worn tourist path, during the daytime as well as at night" (quote, unquote). So I checked out the map, and found the route that looked to be via the most major streets, then headed off. Upon arriving at the street I thought would take me there, I found that it was kinda a freeway, and therefore that I couldn´t walk there! So I turned around to head back to San Telmo (where I´m staying), and to find out which buses would get me to La Boca.. Except that somewhere along the way, I turned right instead of left, and I ended up getting a touch lost.. So I thought I´d keep walking the way I THOUGHT was towards "home".... The streets started to get grottier looking, and I saw a big soccer stadium- I thought to myself "that CAN´T be La Boca´s stadium, it must be a different one"... Then I spotted a ´for sale´ sign in a window that had the word ´Boca´ on it, and it was THEN that I realised that it WAS La Boca.. So I kept trapsing along until I finally found the waterfront and realised that I was quite close to ´Caminito´.
Despite what was in the LP and on ´trip advisor´ websites, I had no issue with my walk through the dodgy streets- OK, so I don´t INTEND on doing it again, but the people there were all lovely. It possibly helps that I don´t exactly look like I´d be worth much!
All in all, it was a worthwhile jaunt- got some ´íconic´ snaps of the coloured buildings (which were initially painted in muliticolour because the people who lived there were too poor to buy paint, so they used to ask the ship builders for their left-overs and paint the houses in whatever colours were given to them). There are the usual touristy shops there, but also an artists´ market- some of the paintings were amazing, and I´m thinking of getting one when I come back to Buenos Aires.
Bits ´n Pieces
Right, now I´m about to re-open the debate that I started on the Caribbean cricket trip: Coke Light tastes like Pepsi Max, it DOES NOT taste like Diet Coke! I was RUBBISHED by some of the girls when I brought that up in Barbados, and I am now re-presenting the issue. It tastes nothing like Diet Coke!!!!!!!!! OK!!!!!!! To make sure it´s not just MY opinion, I shall bring some home, and do a taste test with Coke Light, Diet Coke and Pepsi Max. THEN we´ll see who´s right!!!!
I´ve also had my first couple of "strange places to hear Aussie music in" moments for this trip- the first was in what could only be described as Buenos Aires´ version of Target, when I heard Midnight Oil´s "Beds Are Burning" and saw a little Porteño girl dancing away to it.. So strange! The second was when I was heading out for a walk last night, and heard INXS´ "Original Sin" BLARING out of a car with a middle-aged Porteño bloke singing his heart out. Sensational!
Better head off to buy the bus tickets to Montevideo for Friday (not Saturday, as I´d written in the previous post).. I´m splashing out and paying an extra 10 pesos for a bus that has seats that fully recline!..
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Beautiful Buenos Aires
The Departure
Well, it would seem that despite my morbid fear of flying, that I have made it! Prior to leaving, I had my last minute crisis (a hole in the bottom of my backpack), which (once dealt with using my newly acquired sewing skills) actually helped me to calm down! Myself, Mum, Sandi, Robbie and Brittany made the squashy trip to the airport at silly o´clock in the morning, despite the fact that my flight had been delayed 90 mins. And SILLY o´clock is right! Rob had us all in stitches telling sick jokes, and just generally behaving like a sleep deprived fool!
I thought the karma gods were getting me back for laughing at Tash when she was on a flight with a stack of scouts earlier in the month- there was a group of Kiwi school kids loitering in the aiport.... But luckily they were on another flight!
The flight to NZ was no big issue. But then I had to queue for over an hour to check in for the flight to Buenos Aires! There happened to be a bloke by the name of Bruno in the queue who must be a famous Argentine muso of some kind- the teenage girls in the queue giggled their heads off and had their photo taken with him. (He WAS quite hot, I must say!)
Buenos baby
The hostel I had booked to stay at had arranged a minibus to pick me upon my arrival at the airport in Buenos Aires, so I had a bloke holding up a sign with my name on it. I was a tad jealous though- one of the Argentine blokes on my flight had people holding a banner (not just a sign), who also blew whistles and shook maracas when they saw him!
I arrived at the hostel at around 4.30pm local time, and basically crashed! I was VERY glad I had booked a room to myself for the night, and took the opportunity to snooze for a few hours before surfacing for a snack, and then sleeping again! My first actual day was spent fighting jetlag, and basically doing some Evita-themed sightseeing. I was wishing I had someone with me, so that I could belt out a bit of "Don´t Cry For Me Argentina" outside the pink presidential palace. (I decided that to do it on my own would be a tad strange). An early night followed a day of walking (later on, hobbling) around the city.
Today has been spent window-shopping along Avenida Florida. Yes, WINDOW-shopping. Since I´ll be heading home out of Buenos Aires, I figured that I may as well leave the shopping until I get back here! Not sure what the night will hold- my back is playing up (which I imagine is a delayed response to the position I contorted myself into on the plane).. So I don´t think it´s time to hit the town just yet. The Brazilian boys in my room were out until some ungodly hour last night, so I don´t know that they´d be the right ones to go out with tonight, with my crook back!..
Next up is planning where I´m off to on Saturday... Thinking maybe Montevideo???..
Well, it would seem that despite my morbid fear of flying, that I have made it! Prior to leaving, I had my last minute crisis (a hole in the bottom of my backpack), which (once dealt with using my newly acquired sewing skills) actually helped me to calm down! Myself, Mum, Sandi, Robbie and Brittany made the squashy trip to the airport at silly o´clock in the morning, despite the fact that my flight had been delayed 90 mins. And SILLY o´clock is right! Rob had us all in stitches telling sick jokes, and just generally behaving like a sleep deprived fool!
I thought the karma gods were getting me back for laughing at Tash when she was on a flight with a stack of scouts earlier in the month- there was a group of Kiwi school kids loitering in the aiport.... But luckily they were on another flight!
The flight to NZ was no big issue. But then I had to queue for over an hour to check in for the flight to Buenos Aires! There happened to be a bloke by the name of Bruno in the queue who must be a famous Argentine muso of some kind- the teenage girls in the queue giggled their heads off and had their photo taken with him. (He WAS quite hot, I must say!)
Buenos baby
The hostel I had booked to stay at had arranged a minibus to pick me upon my arrival at the airport in Buenos Aires, so I had a bloke holding up a sign with my name on it. I was a tad jealous though- one of the Argentine blokes on my flight had people holding a banner (not just a sign), who also blew whistles and shook maracas when they saw him!
I arrived at the hostel at around 4.30pm local time, and basically crashed! I was VERY glad I had booked a room to myself for the night, and took the opportunity to snooze for a few hours before surfacing for a snack, and then sleeping again! My first actual day was spent fighting jetlag, and basically doing some Evita-themed sightseeing. I was wishing I had someone with me, so that I could belt out a bit of "Don´t Cry For Me Argentina" outside the pink presidential palace. (I decided that to do it on my own would be a tad strange). An early night followed a day of walking (later on, hobbling) around the city.
Today has been spent window-shopping along Avenida Florida. Yes, WINDOW-shopping. Since I´ll be heading home out of Buenos Aires, I figured that I may as well leave the shopping until I get back here! Not sure what the night will hold- my back is playing up (which I imagine is a delayed response to the position I contorted myself into on the plane).. So I don´t think it´s time to hit the town just yet. The Brazilian boys in my room were out until some ungodly hour last night, so I don´t know that they´d be the right ones to go out with tonight, with my crook back!..
Next up is planning where I´m off to on Saturday... Thinking maybe Montevideo???..
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Getting organised!
OK- so for those of you who know me pretty well, you will know that I can be a tad disorganised at times! You might think that when it came to planning a solo trip around South America for 3 months, that I'd make an exception and get my act together. Well, you'd be wrong!
My aim for the trip was to arrange things myself (and for what little I HAVE arranged, I have indeed done it myself!). I'm not really the sort of person who likes to have every day planned out- I revel in the freedom that comes with travel. It's great to be able to change your plans because you find out about an awesome place from a fellow traveller, or to extend your stay somewhere because you love it. And that's how I'm managing to justify my lack of organisation!..
My backpack and I depart for Buenos Aires at 8am Sunday 24th January.. Which is my first mistake for the trip! I decided to book the flights online while I was at work on night shift, and somehow (at 4am) it seemed acceptable to fly out at 8am! Clearly I hadn't taken into account the logistics of getting to the airport from Geelong in time for an international flight check in!
Apart from that slight hitch (and the fact that I have an over-the-top, irrational fear of flying), preparation seems to be going along quite well. One might say TOO well! I seem to have all the necessary stuff ready (and some things I could possibly do without- epilady? hello?), with room to spare!? This, coming from the person who used to over-pack when going from North Fitzroy to Geelong for the weekend! So I'm just waiting for the last minute glitch in the system, (ie- realising I've forgotten something very important), and then I'll be all set!
The plan of attack at this stage is: Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Trinidad, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, then back to Argentina for the trip home.. However, as with a lot of things I do- this may be subject to change!
So why am I blogging this trip? To cut to the chase- partly laziness, partly selfishness! I love to keep family and friends updated on the happenings while I'm away...... But I also love spending time in places other than internet cafes!.. So this seems like a great option!
Here's hoping I can get everything done that needs to be done in the next 24 hours, and psych myself up enough to set foot on a plane solo!!
My aim for the trip was to arrange things myself (and for what little I HAVE arranged, I have indeed done it myself!). I'm not really the sort of person who likes to have every day planned out- I revel in the freedom that comes with travel. It's great to be able to change your plans because you find out about an awesome place from a fellow traveller, or to extend your stay somewhere because you love it. And that's how I'm managing to justify my lack of organisation!..
My backpack and I depart for Buenos Aires at 8am Sunday 24th January.. Which is my first mistake for the trip! I decided to book the flights online while I was at work on night shift, and somehow (at 4am) it seemed acceptable to fly out at 8am! Clearly I hadn't taken into account the logistics of getting to the airport from Geelong in time for an international flight check in!
Apart from that slight hitch (and the fact that I have an over-the-top, irrational fear of flying), preparation seems to be going along quite well. One might say TOO well! I seem to have all the necessary stuff ready (and some things I could possibly do without- epilady? hello?), with room to spare!? This, coming from the person who used to over-pack when going from North Fitzroy to Geelong for the weekend! So I'm just waiting for the last minute glitch in the system, (ie- realising I've forgotten something very important), and then I'll be all set!
The plan of attack at this stage is: Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Trinidad, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, then back to Argentina for the trip home.. However, as with a lot of things I do- this may be subject to change!
So why am I blogging this trip? To cut to the chase- partly laziness, partly selfishness! I love to keep family and friends updated on the happenings while I'm away...... But I also love spending time in places other than internet cafes!.. So this seems like a great option!
Here's hoping I can get everything done that needs to be done in the next 24 hours, and psych myself up enough to set foot on a plane solo!!
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