Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Nochebuena

The problem with free internet in the hostel is that there is always a long line for it and even when there isnt it feels like there is. So I have run out into the sun to update good and proper. I am in Punta del Este in Uruguay and the sun has really come out today. I was in Montevideo for three nights and really liked the city, like a smaller Buenos Aires, but I have to admit to being 'homesick' for the place where I had been for the previous three weeks.

Since leaving Brazil I really havent travelled at all, just finally left BA to come to Uruguay on Saturday morning but even that was hard. Hard mostly because I went out the night before with a few people from the hostel, including a Colombian guy who couldnt really speak English. But me and him were the only ones that wanted to go to a nightclub. Which we did. But not for long. Got home about three hours before I had to get up and even managed to brush my teeth and take my contact lenses out:)

But when I woke up the next day I couldnt speak English anymore! Hahaha! The taxi driver that took me to the port in BA told me that my Spanish was very good but I explained that at that point I just couldnt rustle up any English- though I will admit that I didnt use the Spanish for 'rustle up'. I got onto the ferry and .... well walked around and then sleeeeeeeeeeeppppppppppttt. I hope that I didnt snore as much as the guy just across the aisle from me who slept for the entire trip. I just slept for half of it. As the duty free opened a couple of guys started entertaining the crowds with guitar and song which was fun.

Standing on the deck of the ferry, I could look behond me and see Buenos Aires and ahead of me I could see Uruguay! It was just like the cross channel ferry:) We arrived into Colonia and I got on a bus going to Montevideo and a nun sat down next to me and offered me a sweet. And suddenly I was in Uruguay, along with the 3.5 million residents, about half of whom live in Montevideo.

Now Uruguay was never on my agenda but it is so close to BA that it seemed almost rude not to go and the guys in the hostel in BA recommended Punta del Este for Xmas. So after three days in Montevideo I set off here. And took one of my shortest bus journeys so far, just two hours, but yesterday the normally beachy loveliness was marred by the clouds.

In Montevideo I saw lots of souvenirs for Uruguay, apparently lots of Brazilians and Argentinians like to come here to spend their cold hard cash and someone told me that they tried to get a bus from Porto Alegre in Brazil to Montevideo a few days before but the buses were all sold out. Weirdly I have seen lots of souvenirs with a map of South America turned on its head. Now I understand this humour with Australia and New Zealand as this rotation puts them at the top of the map but with Uruguay it is still about half way down South America, never mind which way up the map is.

So today is Christmas Eve and tomorrow is Christmas Day. And I have made the slight error of booking into a hostel that doesnt have a bar! Eeek! But at least it is quiet. So today I have to make sure that I have enough food to get me through tomorrow- at least there is Cabdurys chocolate here though I have yet to see a chocolate orange:( And I have a feeling that Papa Noel doesnt know where I am! So for the first time ever I wont be opening presents tomorrow. In fact, so sure am I of not receiving anything that I havent even brough any socks with me to wear let alone hang on my bedpost.

But there is a beach and there is some sun and I can have turkey some other time.

So to you all, feliz navidad!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Feliz Navidad

I have been in Uruguay for a couple of days now and I am having Buenos Aires withdrawal! Not the actual place but the hostel. I spent three nights in Montevideo and I feel like a bit of a granny because I had to complain about an Argentinian rugby team running naked and wild all night all over the hostel. Of course last night was very nice, of course because I was leaving the hostel today.

Uruguay seems cool enough- the last on my great tour of gaucho culture, which started in Rio Grande de Sul in Brazil. People drink mate in Argentina but here they drink it like they did in Porto Alegre, which is to say constantly. The streets are full of people clutching their mate gourds in their hands, with a thermos nestling in the crook of their elbows ready for top ups.

Montevideo was nice, chilled out and I had a nice time there. Today I arrived into Punta del Este and seem to have made the mistake of booking myself into a hostel with NO BAR! And it is Christmas Eve tomorrow and I have paid until 26th. Silly me!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

The Tooth that broke the Helen's back

At first I was afraid, I was petrified, thought that I could never live without my rotting teeth in my head but then... I met a gorgeous dentist and started to feel better about dental work. I met him in his official position, unfortunately, but better than nothing. Tomorow ends a weeklong dental marathon, the last of my six appointments this week, the 9th so far and I have one more before new year to get the stitches out. The novelty of telling people in the hostel that I am going for dental treatment has long since worn off and out of patient solidarity I haven't even asked the girl with her arm in a sling how she ended up like that.

But Buenos Aires hasn't been all teeth pulling, gorgeous dentists and non-stop pain. Today I was the first to arrive in the dental surgery and got a hello kiss from the dental assistant and the dentist- I love latin society! I don't know if they are just thrilled that my last credit card payment has gone through or if they have become genuinely fond of the girl that cried in the chair on the first day but also likes the time in the waiting room to practise her Spanish- reading the magazines. Though today I was shocked to read that Gael Garcia Bernal is going to be a daddy soon- and not, as planned, to our gorgeous children. Huff.

In other news, part of the reason that I haven't updated this much is because, believe it or not, I have been so busy here in the hostel. It is not the cheapest hostel but it gets the highest rating on hostelworld.com and the atmosphere is great and pretty much all fo the staff know me by name now, and occassionally forget to put the beers I have pinched from the bar on my tab.

The first week I met some great people here from all over the world, including Belgium- these I charmed with my delightful childhood stories of Meli Land (though they saw that it has recently been taken over by eveil forces, a fact I was first made aware of when I last met some folk from Belgium and told them the same stories. Also, even Belgians find it hard to win the 'Name 3 Famous Belgians Game' though admittedly because I discounted anyone that I hadn't heard of. However, we did get an Israeli to sing Dana International´s Eurovision hit so not all is lost).

Weirdly met two people from Felixtowe, though I don't know either of them as they are four years younger than me and the caste system in the Stowe is very rigid. And while recounting this story another girl introduced herself as the best mate of a mate of mine from back home, a mate I met in Oz nearly ten years ago- t'is a small world and no mistake!

Last week I went to Spanish school, but this week it was closed so I didn't. I met some lovely people there and we all went out last week. Fearful of not practising Spanish and being frightfully bored this week, I lined up some language exchanges only to meet an Aussie girl on Friday night who I then spent most of my non-dental time with until the early hours of this morning.

Today I have been mostly being operated on in dental way and then subsequently complaining about it. Tomorrow I am back at the dentist and then on Saturday I leave Buenos Aires, you heard it right, I am leaving- until 29th December anyway! I am going to Uruguay for Christmas- based on the recommendation of some Colombian friends and the guys in the hostel here. I am a bit scared, I haven't moved out of this hostel since leaving Brazil- the non-stop movement after 8 weeks in Brazil seems to have awaken some kind of traveller apathy in me here in Argentina. Ideally I would like to stay here and work, I love this city, but unfortunately even the Argentines are scarpering to the nearest beach for the summer- lazy sods! So I will move on.

Funds being vastly depleted after this dental work, I think that I will move quicker than planned, too bad but it is not the end of the world. And if anyone knows of any jobs going in Colombia, or Ecuador or......

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Root Canal in Buenos Aires

Crikey this is an easy city to love! Head over heels on my first day- posting my CV on my third day but it is the wrong season, being the start of the summer hols and all.

Started my Spanish class and my dental treatment this week. I still havent decided which is the most painful!

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Don`t Cry For Me, I`m not Evita

About two weeks ago I met a couple of Canadian girls on a bus going to Florianopolis. Actually I had heard them complaining for hours so chose not to reveal my gringa status until the last minute. They were nice but whiney. However, we shared a cab to the hostel together so all was good. In our several hour stopover somewhere we got talking about plans for South American travel and when I said that I was going to Argentina the girls went all misty-eyed, similar to the way that I do when people say they are going to Colombia, and one of them gave me a 50 peso note.

Handy. That is around ten quid so not bad.

Yesterday I left Brazil (sob, sob) and arrived in Buenos Aires after minor delays in Brazil (caused by me screaming, shouting and holding onto various parts of the airport refusing to leave- or not, given my poor command of Mickey Mouse even after all these weeks, I have no idea what the delay was) and unbelievably my luggage reached the baggage carousel at exactly the same moment that I did. My luck continued and before I had even had time to make my first Argentinian trip to the loo, I was on a bus heading to my hostel. The bus fare was 45 pesos.

Handy again.

I left my stuff in the hostel and set off in search of an ATM to fill my purse with pesos. Easily found but not so easily negotiated with. First there was a long queue which dispursed when a guy came out of the bank and shouted something. Everyone walked away and I heard `about half àn hour` for the resolution of the problem.

The next few banks I saw had out of order signs on their machines.. not looking good. About half an hour later I joined a queue of eager Argentines and took my turn at the machine.

It took visa, great. It knew my name, spooky. It refused to give me money, droga!!!!

I tangoed from cajero to cajero but nothing. I tried all three of my cards but nada came out of the machine for me, just a blank refusal to furnish me with the necessary funds.

Arse.

However, I just tried again and was greeted with the glorious ticking sound of a machine counting the bills loudly to let everyone else in the bank know that you are withdrawing a rather large sum of money so if they fancied a bit of pickpocketing then you would make a good potential target.

I dont care- I can eat today:)

And so off into the sun- the cool cold Argentinian sun.

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