Ilha Grande

I know, consecutive blogging, but I've gotta do it. So I arrived at Ilha Grande without a hostel reservation since the dude in Paraty couldn't figure out how to call them :) But thankfully, as usual, a rep from the Hostelling International was out there waiting for some other guests and so he led me thru the maze to get back to the Holandes Hostel. It was a very green hostel, with lots of plants, trees and kind of a jungley feel. I liked it! I checked in and walked into my dorm (the odd thing was guys dorm was full but girls pretty empty - i was liking my odds ;) to find a cool English chick in there by herself, so I said, "Oh my goodness, are you traveling by yourself too??!!" She said, "no, my boyfriend is in the guys dorm." Ouch...but regardless, she was really nice. The ferry to Ilha Grande was cool, and you come in seeing the little town front with all it's color and personality.

First night I rolled back into the beach front to grab some dinner. There were only a few places so I settled at one bar/restaurant next to a table of 3 cute guys :) TOo bad they didn't speak English...but along came the roomie and her boyfriend, who ended up joining me, though they had already eaten dinner. We moved inside b/c it started to rain...A-gain...but still enjoyed ourselves. The GAP group from Paraty ended up being there and all the Indian girls were dolled up and looking cute and being all loud in the bar. Kind of a buzzkill again, haha. I had a great dinner of fish, rice and beans and salad. No joke, had so much leftover rice and beans I ate it the next two nights (with some fresh chicken breast I bought at the local market and cooked up with nothing more than olive oil, salt and garlic - and lime the next night)! Yummers. So after dinner we went back to the hostel and called it a night. Next day I woke up and had the BEST breakfast - this lady made homemade cake and switched it up each day. One day just plain vanilla cake (eaten with this amaaazing pumpkin/spice/coconut spread), one day carrot cake with chocolate frosting (which was a change up from the American cream cheese frosting, and although not as good, still fan-tiddly-tasttic), chocolate cake...bad bad bad but oh so good good good! I met this couple - guy from Canada, girl from Sao Paulo, but living with him in Toronto - super nice and became my buddiees for the next couple days, including a guy from Sao Paulo and Stewart, an Irish lad who was hilarious.

So like I did in Paraty, I set out by myself in the morning for the long haul hike on Trail 10 and 11 to Lopes Mendes - one of Brazil's most beautiful beaches. The apparent 2.5 hour hike (one way) took yours truly just under 2 hours ;) I was feeling quite proud of myself when I got there. The cool thing is that there are a number of beautiful beaches along the way, so you get a bit of a break from the hard core up and down to wander thru the sand (which isn't exactly easy on the legs either!). Bottom pic is one of those other beaches and me mid-hike. Ya, and there were again 2 people hiking kind of same pace as me (2 older French guys) so i felt safe. By the time we got to Lopes Mendes there were about 8 of us within 10 minutes of each other. The sun even made an appearance every now and then, but I was less prepared and only brought bathing suit bottoms, so i had to swim in a sports bra but hey, coulda been worse! Even had a go at surfing on a tiny little board with pretty much no waves, but I was proud nonetheless for trying :) Stayed on the beach and "tanned" a bit, and said hi to the Argentinian family that was staying in my hostel - a husband and wife and their 14 year old son. It was soo nice having them around the hostel cuz I could speak Spanish again! Freakin hostel manager barely spoke English, and mostly just Portuguese, so I was over that. So I became like an adopted daughter to the couple by the end of the weekend - the dad called me "California." haha. Anyway, I digress. Back to the beach. Had a great afternoon, then had to motivate to make the ~2hr hike back to reality. Man was that tough. Legs hurting and I was strugglin, even knowing what was ahead of me...but alas I made it back.

That night i cooked up that chicken and ate my leftovers, and had a fantastic evening not even leaving the hostel, just playing cards, listening to American soul music (the likes of James Brown but Jive Records instead of Motown) with my Canadian, Brazilian and Irish friends (thanks to my speakers and Canadian John's ipod). We played gin, spoons, and by the time we were done the old women sitting in the common area with us hated us b/c of how loud we were being. Um, excuuuse me, but is this not a youth hostel, and is this not a FRIDAY NIGHT??!! We were ticked. They had no reason to get snippy, but even when we went over to the hut where the canadians were staying, they complained to the hostel manager. WHATEVER! I felt like such a bada$$ though being part of the outcast crew ;) Haha. We hung out a while longer, then called it a night.

Saturday I was planning on doing nothing but catching up on emails and blogging since the weather sucked, but when I caught a glimmer of sun after my cake/fruit/coffee breakfast, I beelined for the tourist offices to book a boat tour! Yeah!! Such hope after seeing weather forecast of rain for days and days and days! It was a tough call to make - the green lagoon or the blue lagoon?! I was having visions of Brook Shields and whatever hot guy that was with her in that movie, but was crushed to know the Green Lagoon was much better than the blue one, so I opted for that. As I walked out on the dock, i was hoping to be on one of the big, fun, party-like boats with all the young people. Instead, I was on this little fishing boat looking one with lots of couples (including lesbians and what looked like a gay couple as well), my favorite Argentinian dad and son, and a guy that looked like the Brazilian version of Paul, my brother in law. So whooppeee for me all by myself!! Geeeez...even worse, it turned out that that little glimpse of sun I saw earlier that day, and that we had right when we took off was the only sun that shone all day! Some luck!! We all still managed to have a blast though, and before the end of the day, I was be-fris with the lesbians, the two young guys who ended up not being gay (and yes, I actually ended up asking one of them if the other guy was his boyfriend...you should have seen the expression on his face! haha, but i had my reasons - when 2 young good looking guys are wearing speedos, i mean, there is no other explanation, right? wrong. This is Brazil Kaitlin, you forgot...).

Not only did we get to see the Green Lagoon, which really was green, but we stopped at this grotto (ya, the only "grotto" i was familiar with? 2 words - Playboy Mansion. I was a little hesitant to see what this one had in store) which was kind of an adventure in and of itself. We had to crawl down this ladder into a black hole, crab crawl down into this cave-like place pretty much on our backs with the rock barely touching our nose, and then you jump into the water at the bottom with waves crashing up, but no way out except back up the rocks - hence if the tide came up you were screwed down there...our boat driver got photos of us underwater. Super cool. But too bad I didn't want to pay for those photos. The lesbians were having a field day though! They loved that camera...anyway, somehow I ended up having a tough time coming back up - was it b/c I was tall or just cave-challenged, i don't know, but it looked like I had pooped my pants once I was in daylight again. Oh everyone had fun laughing at me :) We also stopped at a place on the water to eat lunch (hot guy pictured here above). I was happy I'd packed my usual ham and cheese sandwich (which is taken from breakfast - genius - just wrap it up in a napkin and voila! there's your lunch for free!) b/c the restaurant was super expensive. But I sat with the 2 young non-gay guys who actually were with the Brazilian navy. Studs. I asked why they needed and Navy and they didn't really have a good answer ;) Haha.

Got back after the long day, at my usual chicken/rice/beans dinner while the crew did a little bbq and we just chilled again, went down to the beach and listened to music, then Irish Stu and I made it over to the one bar where it started getting packed with locals (including my boat driver) and tourists alike. We just sat in the back having a good time, laughing and enjoying the island life. We actually thought we might make it up to the one "club" on the island that night, but it started to rain, so we quickly changed that plan. Well, we thought we'd wait out the rain but it just didn't stop, so Stewey and I went to Plan B. We took his jacket, put it over our heads, and puddle jumped all the way back to our hostel, which was not particularly close (see photo of Stewart holding up his cans of beer that we had to find on the beach where he hid them, with jacket on head). Needless to say we were soaked by the time we got back. Stewey had saved this key lime pie which he had bought from one of the amazing dessert carts they have in the street, and we were so excited to forget about how rain-soaked we were by diving into that heavenly slice :)

So that pretty much wraps up my Ilha Grande experience. I was sad to leave my new friends, but Stew and I thought we might see each other in Rio, so that was going to be fun. Plus he lives in greater London, so instant friend for my coming year! I was planning on meeting up with Grainnie and Rhona again in Rio Sunday night, so I booked myself in the same hostel as them in Ipanema, and after the ferry back to Angra, and the bus to Rio (which broke down on the way, and we had to wait for another bus to come get us, in which I ran into 2 girls I had roomed with the night before!), I jumped in a cab with those 2 Dutch girls to our hostel and off I went to one of the BEST cities in the world...RIO!!

Picking back up

So I'll never get this done if I don't just do it now! Does it still count as a blog if I'm in the comfort of my own (well, my dad's) home? YES! At least I can do this - the photo album may take over 5 years to complete, as some of my European travels are still outstanding from 6 years ago, but that's another story :)

SO i rolled into Paraty, which i had heard much about from the Duponts as well as other folks who said to make sure and stop there (aside from Patrick who said to skip it - no thanks to him, the place was fabulous!). It is a little colonial town full of old churches, cobblestone streets, lots of ice cream shops and cute restaurants. Yeah, well those cobblestone streets were of no help to me when I arrived in my suede Argentinian loafers that didn't appreciate the rain and bumpy road underneath! Before I got there I was laughing on the bus as I read Caroline's email saying Sao Paulo had gotten terrible weather after I left...thinking I had escaped the rain (thank God!). But alas halfway thru my busride I cringed as I saw the clouds rolling in :( Didn't stop me from enjoying the place though!

I got approached by 2 different hostel guys as I jumped off the bus, and went with the one that I had heard better things about (yes, I did my research on hostelworld.com!). Too bad the Historic Centre Hostel could only take me for 1 night, and I didn't have the energy to go all the way back to the other one that was on the opposite side of the bus station. Plus i felt like I was walking thru a maze getting to HCH, so I decided to stay put. I had read about the "bad mattresses" at the other hostel, Casa do Rio, but how could they be any worse than the one I had to sleep on that night?! I felt the wood underneath my back, end of story. Only consolation was I had my own dorm room (and therefore my own bathroom).

I decided to join the bbq the hostel put on that night - wasn't the cheapest but I didn't know anyone yet and I wanted to do something! It was at a small bar the hostel owner owned just down the road...so I got there and hung out with a couple British guys and a German girl who bless her heart didn't speak much English. THe bbq was okay - I enjoyed the potatoes and the beef but the sausage wanted to make me gag :) There was this enormous group of Indian-descent English people there that had been on my bus. They seemed very nice but young...apparently they were on a GAP Tour (I had never heard of this before - and no, not gap as in gap year, but it's a tour company that organizes trips for 3 months at a time or so for rich kids). Anyway, their 2 big tables kind of put a buzzkill on my dinner since I couldn't just join up with them! After half a caipirinha and getting yelled at by the drunk hostel owner's son, I was over it, so I walked around the town, enjoyed self serve ice cream that cost about $6 (ha! I swear it wasn't that big!) and ended up in a restaurant/bar listening to this awesome guitarist singer who was playing typical bossa nova tunes (such as Girl from Ipanema). Guy was really good too! After that I retired to the HCH again for a good nights rest...well, as good as it could be on those mattresses...

My 2nd day in Paraty, with the weather still kind of crappy (but no more rain thank goodness), I had been advised of some pretty cool hikes you could take to get to some secluded beaches. This other American girl told me about one that took her all day, so I thought that sounded like a good idea, and a way to get exercise! So I followed her instructions and went to the bus station to jump on the bus to the end of that line at Praia do Sono. Didn't know it was an hour busride to THEN start the 1 hour hike to the beach! I was kind of skeched out on the bus and wanted to be lo-pro so I just sunk down in my seat and pulled my hat low over my face. haha. I got to the stop and thank GOODNESS one of the houses rented out their bathroom cuz I was dyin. Had my newly found "fanny pack" on which was actually the top part of my ginormous backpack which just snapped off. Excep the fanny "pack" was probably 3x the size of a regular one, but nonetheless still much smaller than my day pack which was HUGE! So i was happy with the lighter load. So i did the 1 hour trek to the beach, which was gorgeous - sun or not. See photos. There was another couple ahead of me, which made me happy in case I slipped and fell and had one of those "I've fallen and I can't get up" moments. I walked about half way down the beach, which had only a few people on it, plus some locals working the little shacks/homes selling sodas or renting little boats. The gross part though were the dead birds on the sand! Eeeeww. I tried to avoid them, but there were quite a few scattered. So I posted up and laid down in my clothes since it wasn't hot enough for a suit. Took a nappy poo and just enjoyed the rest. Even saw some little crabs that would pop up from holes in the sand and scurry across to the next one. THey were cute - from a distance of course. I didn't want to have to make it literally "pound sand" by getting near me!!

After my little nap I decided to follow this pack of people that came thru and kept walking then disappeared off the other edge of the beach. Hmm, new adventure ahead? yeah! So i followed, knowing I wanted to get back in daylight therefore needed to leave that beach by 3:30 or so. I think it was about 2:30. So i kept on hiking up and over this other hill to find yet another gorgeous beach, Praia do Antiguas. Green water, rocks, and lots of 'sploring to do! And I realized that's where the couple had gone off too. Oops, sorry to ruin your romantic moment! Anyway, again I was happy they were there as I went rock climbling over the water. No slips though, and safely made it back to Praia do Sono and all the way back to the bus by 5pm. Yeah! I was like self-motivating too...the hike wasn't so bad, but b/c of the humidity, I was literally soaking wet with sweat as I got on the bus. GROSS! I usually am not like that so it was kind of embarassing, but hey, it happens and I'm sure they didn't care! Oh, best part about riding the buses is seeing all the old and young Brazilian dudes all get on and off and just their faces, weathered but so kind. And even better is their feet - all of them wear Havaianas! Haha, wish I would've busted out my camera to take a picture. Even I, biggest feet hater in the world, enjoyed looking at them ;)

So b/c I toiled all day hiking, I wanted to treat myself to a really "expensive" dinner in town. So many places to choose from, but I had walked by one the night before which had articles and reviews from New York Times and the likes, so I thought that sounded good. Of course I go back that night ot find it, and it's closed! What?! It was a Wednesday, so random! So I found another one that looked good, again with live bossa nova music. This lady wasn't nearly as good as the guy from the night before, and in fact I may have been able to sing better than her (which isn't saying much!) but it still provided a wonderful atmosphere for my healthy shrimp, vegetable and mango steamed dinner with salad before. And I had my book - best companion ever ;) OH, when I first returned from my looong day, I walked into HCH looking like I was ready to pass out, but knowing that, ugh, i had to switch hostels b/c HCH was booked! Oh I was so distraught! But the hostel owner's son (yes, the drunk one from the night before), looked at me and laughed and said, "Sit down, take a rest first!". Which I did but then made my way to look for this other hostel they told me about, and after 10- minutes of wandering and asking tourist offices where it was, etc, and carrying a total of probably 60 lbs b/t my backpack and daypack, i wa OVER IT! I said, fine, I'll walk allllll the way to that other hostel, Casa do Rio!! Arrgh. But i was happy I did, cuz it was tolly cute, and I had a couple cool girls in my room that i was maybe going to meet up with later. Well, after my dinner I was exhausted and ready to just chill. So i walked around a bit more, than came home, checked email and tried to book my Ilha Grande hostel, and went to bed!

Next day, the sun came out, yeahh! Of course it was a day I was traveling, shocker, but I took advantage of the few hours I had to walk around town and really get a tasted for it. Mistakingly, I wore a short sleeve shirt and a knee length skirt, but I didn't have many tank tops! It was soooo hot, I was again sweating profusely. But I got to walk out to the local beach, see the pretty churches, and watch the fisherman at work. Great great town. Actually tried to find any decent tank top - even to the point of buying a cheesy one with a sandal and "Paraty" on it (you know the stores we all hate) but seriously everything was either tiny size or super expensive! SO lame...so i had to go back to the bus station and i was so annoyed when the guy wouldn't sell me a ticket for a 1pm bus at like 12:15pm (I wanted to reserve my seat!). He said, no, come back 10 minutes before, and I said, no, I want you to sell me a ticket NOW! Ya, well he won and i bought one right on the bus since they wouldn't have it any other way. THankfully I made it safely 2 hrs later to Angra dos Reis which is the town where you catch the ferry to Ilha Grande! Woo hoo i was making my way up the coast!

Me all over Rio: Photo Montage :)

Yep, me on top of Piedra Bonita, at the favelas, on top of Cristo Rendentor, Sugarloaf Mountain (Pao de Azucar) and sunset there (spectacular spectacular!)

i HEART Brazil

No, seriously, i am a big big fan of that country - Braziiiiiwwww. That's kind of how they pronounce it there, and I heard lots of that while watching the Olympics from teh Brazilian tele (side note, sad not watching Olympics from your own country, bc they're not quite as thrilled about how the US is doing as i am. sad day). Anyway, I nearly cried while flying out of rio yesterday, which by the way is one of the most beautiful flights you can take ever! And basically that's why i've been ignoring my blog - 8 days in Rio will keep you busy...or not busy really, but you know, laying on the beach in my mind is better than spending any time in an internet cafe, esp at like $4/hr! Soo expensive inBrazil. And ya, the weather was close to 90 the last few days I was there. soo nice for a change!

Back to Sao Paulo though before I get carried away on Rio (which goes down as one of my fave cities for sure). Saturday I woke up and kindly was escorted to teh cute town of Embu, just outside the main central part of the city; apparently Embu existed before Sao Paulo did! Mr. Dupont drove me out there and we walked around the colorful town looking at all the handycrafts of baskets, stone jewelry, little painted chickens, shoes, and native Brazilian instruments. I also toured a super old church, very quaint. It was his first time inside there too! It was a gorgeous day, and he had me try some sugar cane juice to quench my thirst - one with lime, one without. I was a bit scared looking at the contraption that created teh juice, but it proved worth it. Super good, though reallly sweet. But a fave. After some nice browsing there, including a little shop where an 80 year old lady hand paints a bunch of china (which I sadly couldn't buy bc it would be broken in an instant), Daniel and I returned back to the casa to enjoy a fabulosa lunch prepared by Carolina, again stuffing me with quiche, chicken milanesa and lots of veggies and fruit. Oh and i think we even had wine again, go figure. Patrick joined us as well. Saturday afternoon Carolina gave me the grand city tour all via car. We went into the centro, which she said would take hours if it was during the week in traffic, and drove thru los Jardines (the nice houses), the Japanese area, the ARab area and market, the Teatro Municipal and the cathedral, plus the founding spot of Sao Paulo where an old monastery is. I got out there to check out the church, and got a little scared by some hooligan kids who were staring me down.

On that note, Carolina pretty much gave me the basics on how to protect yourself in Sao Paulo - first of all by defensive driving, which all family members passed with flying colors. Also, never take out your car keys while standing just outside your car. Always get them before, then peel out asap so no one can getcha. She kept telling me though that i was kind of s.o.l. as far as being discreet in the city since I am both a) ginormously tall and b) blonde. Oh well, whatareyagonnado? Also, don't stop at red lights at night - dad, reminds me of that joke you always told about the guy who did same and said, "my brother might be coming" hAHA! No, but honestly, it's legal in Brazil to not have to stop at them at night. Makes you feel real safe, eh? Always keep your eyes open when stopped anywhere, walk in the middle of the street vs the sides, if possible, and keep your windows up in sketchy areas.

So Saturday night we all met up at this posh hotel for a drink. The place had AMAZING views of the city, and a great cocktail menu, so Carolina and i took advantage of that after we did a presto chango in the bathroom there (i was so low profile carrying my laundry sack full of a change of clothes for the both of us ;). The boys met us there and after a drink we headed to a dinner spot in another posh area, on the main shopping street. Place was called Garcon and we had this typical fish stew stuff with palm oil. The name begets me right now...it was quite good actually, though super filling. Of course had dessert, coffee, and caipirinhas to make it a complete brazilian meal. Patrick had a night out with his friends planned afterward, which he so kindly invited me to join, so we drove over to a nearby restaurant where I proceeded to smile and look around a lot while everyone spoke Portuguese. No actually some people did speak English and they and Patrick went out of there way to make me feel welcome :) We stayed there a little longer than I'd like, but managed to narrow our next stop to either a club or a house party. Since Saturday isn't the clubbing night in Brazil (thursday and friday are),we settled on teh house party where we somehow managed to get on the guest list. Now, i thought Southern Cali girls were beautiful but wow, this party had some of the most beautiful women i've ever seen - only difference was that they were brunette versus blonde! All dressed to the nines, including the men, which i was happyt o see. great style and lots of money flying around that place, not to mention open caiparinhi bar (big huge jars of fruit, you choose which ones you want to mix in to the vodka or sake or cachasa combo to make the best caipi ever!!) Also had people serving snacks during the night, which i sadly declined bc i had just eaten a huuge meal. But it was a great party, a true inside look into the Sao Paulo life, and a chance to meet some hip Brazilians. One girl, Julia, was so sweet and she lived in La Jolla for 10 months years ago. small world! i dragged Patrick out of there at 330am and we made our way home.

Sunday was a nice day where the Duponts invited me to their country club located on a manmade lake outside the city. Patrick and I joined his parents for lunch - a buffet with lots of meat, salad, typical brazilian stuff. The 'rents played golf while Patrick and I toured around the club - equestrian club, tennis club, golf club and lots of other stuff. We visited the papagayos (parrots) and mccaws, but the rain started up again so we retreated to teh clubhouse for reading and hot chocolate. One of my highlights was actually taking a run (the first in ages) with Patrick in the rain. It started raining just after we started, and my glasses were fogging up, but it was such a pretty view running around, and running in the rain is just plain magical! yet about 25 minutes into it i nearly threw up after running up a long hill. Wow, great to be so in shape ;) Anyway, nice day.

Are you bored yet? I'm not! Reliving it is great :) Sunday night was a dinner party at the Duponts, and the most extravagent pizza dinner i've ever been a part of. They had a young woman over, Alison, and an older couple, all sao paulo residents but English by birth. We had a fabulous meal with cheese appetizers, delivery pizza in the middle of the table, plus veggies, great wine and more desserts than i could count. Favorite being "brigaderos"- kind of like see's candies or bon bons. Coconut one is fabulous! Also this white cheese/soft fruit jelly combo. And how could i forget the Chilimoya fruit! Yums. Can you tell i have enjoyed eating on my trip? ;) So ya, everyone except Patrick and I had to work the next day and the dinner didn't end til like midnight. Yikes! They are used to it...

I originally planned to leave Monday but Carolina made sure I stayed another day adn with their fantastic hospitality, how could i say no! Monday she drove me into the city again and we went to the Mercado Central to look at all the booths full of fruit, fish, nuts, meat, juice, and anything else you would think to ingest. AFter that we walked around the bustling city street market, and that was exciting! I was keeping my hand over my bag as best as possible too. You have to stay alert out there! I didn't buy anything, again using no room in my bag as a valid excuse. But it was fun! We stopped in at a very hole in teh wall, typical Brazilian food place right in the midst of the action, adn she ordered me a yummy plate of pork, fried banana, rice and beans. Ohh yum. She got fried fish with french fries, also typical. We walked around a bit more, hit a nice mall on the way back (although I was exhausted and ready to pass out!), had a juice to recharge, then made it home for dinner. We ate a lovely meal of chicken stew at home before heading back out to the British Embassy to meet friends from the night before, plus strangers, Patrick and his friends, at SCOTTISH DANCING NIGHT! I first thought I was going to a show to watch the dancing but little did I know I would be actively a part of it! They would teach a dance then expect you to follow suit in yoru own little groups. it was soo fun. Of course I was a natural, as I have Scottish Bowie blood running thru my veins ;) dad, i would die to see you try and do this! Maybe you already have? Daniel was quite a Fred Estaire...afterward Patrick, Alison, and P's two friends and I grabbed a beer then called it a night. i almost thought P and I were going to get mugged walking back to the car but thankfully we made it out okay.

Next morning I was off to the bus station, driven by Sweet Caroline's driver from their work . What a treat! I managed to get the last seat on the bus, and left a beautiful sunny day behind to arrive into rainy Paraty where a storm had made it''s way. Boooooooo.

Okay, Paraty, Ilha Grande and more of Rio left for another night...buen noiche!

Photos of Buenos Aires, Rosario and Uruguay

These pertain to the blog below, but finally uploaded my photos!

~First one shows Monumento de la Bandera from Rosario

~2nd photo is your typical dorm accomodations in a youth hostel, this one being in Rosario and inhabited by gap year British boys

~3rd photo is the famous Obelisco in BA

~4th is me with 2 of my favorite Irish girls, Rhona and Grainnie, enjoying our fabulous steak meal in Montevideo at the Mercado del Puerto

~5th is me on some artsy thing in Colonia (by the way Matt Morgan, I never found that bunker or "smugglers den" as you called it...shoot!)

Catch Up...Brazil - I have arrived!

So it´s been a good 10 days now and I have much to catch up on, aside from the fact that i need to wait for some 110 photos to download. I´m a bit behind! So i was last leaving Uruguay, heading to Buenos Aires for my last night there, which let me tell ya, I really went all out and got the finest hotel room I could find (see photo). But hey, at least it was located on the main pedestrian shopping street. I was only there for about 8 hours anyway, and happy to at least find a room! I didn~t shower there though - thought it´d be safer and more hygenic :) so after my 5am wake up call to catch the metro to the shuttle to the airport, I made it to Saõ Paulo (wow, just figured out how to do that little squiggly and I´m really excited!). Before I launch into that, I just realized I haven´t talked much about BA, even though I spent a good 10 days total there! Yes, as I mentioned, I did see tango, a drum show, and met up with my Irish friend Alison, and then friends from Chile - John and the troupe of English teachers with him, including Naomi, Miles, Brian and Abdul. So I did a LOT of walking in BA, plus lots of metro riding - it´s a great system there and soo cheap! One of my days I swore I was going to save money and eat a Zone bar for lunch, but as I was walking I stumbled across the CUTEST little cafe with about 6 tables, and the best looking desserts I´ve ever seen! Go figure...quiche and then a slice of heaven pie for dessert? Sinful...haha! What else did I do...oh, the pic below of me with the colorful buildings is the "Caminito" in one of the barrios. Cool place, but it was raining that day. On the day I got back from Rosario I HAD to see the Sunday Antiques market in the San Telmo district, which I did. Great booths set up, freestyle tango, and lots of good people watching. I finally caved and had the nuts they cook up on the street in this big bowl. i was a bit scared to try (mainly bc one vendor was picking his nose, another smoking a cig, all while stirring up the nut/sugar concoction) - but they were tasty and I didn´t die of food poisoning! Another day as I was walking around Palermo to get to the US embassy I randomly decided to go into the Feria del Campo (country fair) but first asked these young girls on the street if it was worth it, and they said it was spectacular! So i was surprised to find a showroom of enormous farm equipment, cars, and samples of food, wine, dulce de leche. Then I sat in one of the show rings and watched these amazing gauchos perform the coolest things on horses. I noticed them outside and honestly the look of them is what convinced me to pay the fare to go inside ;) They can mount a horse just by grabbing its mane! one of their tricks shown in photo above. This fair had the classiest porteños i had seen yet too - beautiful little blue eyed Argentinians kids in their riding gear with doting parents. Apparently their farmers aren~t so much struggling in the cash department! I had a walk around, and ended up being swayed into buying these great suede moccasin slipper things for super cheap ($40 - i thought it was a great deal!) and this berét type Argentinian hat. I look so cool in it, wait til you see me ;)

I was able to meet up again with my friend Ian, who I was in Iguazu with, and we went to a Muse concert on a Wednesday night, which i repaid him with by taking him to the finest steak dinner ever! It falls under the "splurge" category in the Lonely Planet, but seriously we had a fantastic meal, with a bottle of wine, for like $50 total. I wish I took a picture of it - steak came out (we just ordered one, but it was probably like 20 ounces of meat!) along with about 15 accompanyments, all soo yummy. Totally worth it, and Ian and I stuffed ourselves silly! After the concert we both went our separate ways cuz we were pooped - I walked along Avenida Florida again back to the Ostinatto Hostel where I was staying in San Telmo. The night before the "teachers group" and I attempted to go out but only made it so far as a bar in San Telmo, then took cabs to Palermo, but all the clubs were closed on a Tuesday night?? Weird...so we sat in a bar til 5am. My theory on this? We all could have easily gone home at 2am, but bc we were in BA, we decided it´d be a good idea to drink one beer and sit there for like 2 hours, just getting more delirious by the minute. Sometimes I´m thankful for the U.S.A.´s "early" bar closing hours! Plus I ordered an empanada and it took an hour to arrive...i was ticked! And i had to push them a bit to comp it for me!! But all in all, Buenos Aires was a great city with very beautiful people (the rumor is true!), great food, fun nightlife *though i technically never went "clubbing here, shame!* I think I got a good taste of it the first day on my bike tour, and spent most time in the best areas. I would for sure go back!

Brazil

Against my dad´s will, I decided to take the longer, cheaper route to the Morumbi area where I was to stay with my dad´s old roommate from 35 years ago in Scotland. Never lose those connections people! Mr. and Mrs. Dupont were kind enough to allow me to crash in their daughter´s bedroom for 4 nights, and wanted me to stay longer but I had to pull myself away to see more of this beautiful country of BRAZILLLLL. An added plus? Patrick, their 33 year old son was in town too, so that just added to the possibilities of what I would see of the city with 22 million people (thereabouts i think).

The first thing Carolina (Mrs. Dupont) said to me as I entered their 18th floor condo was basically, "Give me your laundry, go get a hot shower, let´s go get lunch and I´ve booked us manicure and pedicure appointments." Whattt?? Music to my ears - I was in HEAVEN. No pedi for 2 months and I was in serrrious need ;) So she gave me the royal treatment, and we had a "weigh by plate" lunch with lots of Brailian goodies - fresh chicken milanesa, rice and beans, salad, some shredded veggie thing that I still can~t remember the name of, etc etc. Once I was all cleaned up and buffed out Daniel cooked a wonderful French egg omelet, brought out some fantastic red wine, and then Carolina made some stir fry we picked up from the store, I helped with salad, and then some quiche. Of course some French cheese for dessert. Daniel is still a very proud Frenchman! But seriously they stuffed me every meal, it was great! Speaking of the grocery store, I think there were more types of fruit here than in Colombia (although C brags at having the most). Carolina probably brought home about 10 different things for me to try. Guayaba, Maracuchá and my favorite, Chilimoya or Fruta de Conghi. Great for dessert!

i´m far too pooped to continue, but all my photos are now up on the Flickr site, with descriptions! I just arrived to Rio today (after fantastic trips to Paraty and Ilha Grande, which I will write about as soon as I get more time...). Having a blast and can´t believe I only have 11 more days!

~Other photos - Saõ Paulo city from the bridge...me and Patrick...on the beach in Ilha Grande...Mercado Central fruit stand

The Past Week: Planes, Trains and Automobiles...

Well actually, none of the above. More like Boats, Subways and Police Stations :) Mom, dad, don´t worry, the latter of the 3 was just bc i acted as the translator to my friend who was robbed in Montevideo - literally as we were entering the door to our hostel! And by a pack of 13 year old boys, such PUNKS. They are lucky it wasn´t me whose purse they tried to snatch cuz i would´ve gone medieval on their arses...anyway, it added a bit of excitement to our night nonetheless. Oh wait, but it was only 7PM when this happened! Ya, Montevideo, Uruguay gets immediately sketchy upon sunset. And we were like a block off of a main plaza. Thankfully the police recovered my friend´s wallet later that night, complete with her atm card, though lacking the cash of course :( So needless to say we didn´t leave the hostel Tuesday night! But the hostel staff was really nice and did what they could. Although that memory of Montevideo, my first stop in Uruguay after a quick 3 hour Buquebus (fast ferry thingy) from Buenos Aires, was not so fond, we (me and the 2 Irish lassies who i had met in Rosario - Rhona and Grainie - such irish names!) were able to take advantage of the sunshine earlier that day at the Mercardo del Puerto, enjoying the free "medio y medio" (uruguayan specialty of half champagne, half white wine) and Provolone appetizer that lured us to one of the great parillas, steakhouses. AFter we´d had our fill of entrecot steak, puré de papas (mash) and veggies (a rarity!), we walked around the town a bit. I think the bandit kids first spotted us then...grr...the girls clued me in on a place to get a cheap massage, which i did the following morning. THe one site i had been told to see, Teatro Solis, was not offering tours when i stopped by Wednesday. They wouldn´t even let me poke my head in to see it - i even tried name-dropping a guy I have met in my travels who used to work there, but that still did´t work!! I was ticked, but oh well. I was pretty ready to get outta there anyway, after the robbery and everything.

So yesterday afternoon I caught a bus to Colonia, just over the water from BA, and an even shorter ferry ride. A quick note about that...so this wasn´t a typical "cama" bus that i´ve come to get used to here in South America, replete with gross yet acceptable bathroom with a fold down toilet seat. No, this was for sure a "semi-cama" bus, pretty full, and if you think it´s hard to go to the bathroom on a plane, think again my friends! Try peeing whilst bouncing up and down, swerving back and forth, holding the toilet seat down with your knee while trying to cover it with toilet paper. It´s really fun, really. In the midst of my cursing and frustration, I looked in the mirror behind the toilet and just started laughing at myself. It´s nice that i can find some sort of amusement out of these small annoyances :)

So I knew th town of Colonia del Sacramento would be small and quaint, and indeed it is. As i walked into the hostel, i told a guy i was goig out for a walk and he said, "don´t go too far, you won´t have anything to see tomorrow. NO, seriously." Haha. He was kind of right, but i still managed to have a nice walk around today. Unfort. the weather is quite crappy, misty/foggy, so i can´t enjoy the waterfront as much as summertime probably is. Last night the hostel had an asado, and i enjoyed the sausage, but the beef was mediocre. I am becoming quite the critic of beef around these parts, esp since I have it at least once a day. Trying to cut back, and seriously i am going on an only white meat diet when I get back - i exactly 3 weeks i might add! all going by so quickly...anyway, Colonia was nice, relaxing, and i finished a great book this afternoon - Pilate´s Wife (about Pontius PIlate´s wife - a bit blasphemous at the end, but all in all a great story :).

So over the weekend I was in Rosario, a quick 4 hour busride from BA. I met up with a friend of CHarles´, named Ross, who hyas been living there 1.5 years. He was very courteous, and I felt a lady once again, not some washed up backpacker as I´ve come to see in the mirror. ha! We walked down the main street and found a great restaurant to enjoy dinner at. Unfort i had eaten a huge veggie buffet lunch in BA, so wasn´t able to take advantage of the many choice offerings for dinner. SHux. We grabbed a drikn at the newest club but called it an early night. The next morning he had to leave super early for work, so i clamored over to my hostel to try and check in, but since it was like 7:45am, they were´t quite ready for me yet. Th nice guy up front did let me go upstairs to the cafe adjoining to rest on the pillows and bean bags tehy had up there. I did do that and even though I felt homeless laying down up there and trying to catch some more shut eye, I was thankful for the chance to rest a bit more before setting out on my day.

Rosario is a pretty big city, and has TONS of shopping! I bought 2 new pairs of skinny jeans for like $33 each, i mean, talk about a deal! I stopped at a cafe for breakfast, looking like a hobo since all my stuff was locked up at the hostel whcih i still couldn´t check into. I didn´t mind the stares though, i was used to it ;) I will say that Rosario has some FANTASTIC coffee. I had it a few times in teh few days i was there too...so i did my share of walking around, checked out th Monument de la Bandera, and met some new friends - mostly all Irish (aside from the 2 chicas previously mentioned, i also met Owen, from Cork). Owen and i kind of did the same touristy thing on saturday, had lunch, and convinced one of the girls to go out with us that night to one of the biggest clubs in th country/South America - MDM (pronounced "madame"). It holds 6,000 people, but friday is th bigger night adn since th night before we didn´t make it out of our hostel bar just chatting, we went Saturday. It indeed was big, and filled up more an dmore after our arrival at 2am. I couldn´t last past 4am, but i will give you a funny image. So there were multiple floors of dancing, etc, and we were at one point on th e "rock n roll" floor. why they called it that i wasn´t sure. By this point Rhona and I had lost Owen to the sea of people, and decided to dance. So as they blared "GLORIAAAA" I was soon the only person so excited to hear one of my favorite 80s songs that i was bounching up and down dancing. No one else seemed as thrilled as i was - maybe bc Rhona and I were the only white people there, who knows...before I left, some guy walked up and called me "divina" and tried to sweep me off my feet, but I said, nice try buddy, and made me way to a taxi! Those Argentine men, so sneaky ;()

Okay, running off to the p0rt to catch my boat. I´ll post photos tonight or soon. I fly to Sao Paulo in the morning, whoopeee!

IGUAZU FALLS!

Well, this place is unbelievable...seriously. ON a whim I decided to go with my new friend Ian up to Iguazu since i had to get my Brazilian visa stamped within the next week or so. So after my overnight terrible bus from Bariloche to Buenos Aires (which played probably the most ghetto video i´ve ever seen - it was likely a 1974 "C" list film from some latinamerican country full of terrible singing and even worse attire...and then they played the same horrid latinamerican music videos over and over and over!), I spent a day in BA, just taking it easy, meeting up with my friend Will from the Inca Trail, and then met a couple more of his buddies, Tim and Ian. 3 of us did a bike tour in the morning, and as I´d decided the night before to head to Iguazu, i did that night on another overnight bus. But this time I was flying back, no more buses!

So i got to Iguazu a bit later than i thought since there was an accident on the road. But arrived at the Hostel Inn which is one of the best hostels in Argentina! Just outside of Puerto de Iguazu, it had a huge pool, big open common areas, and little bungalows where my dorm was. I also ran into friends there from other areas on the "gringo trail" down here. Anyway, some guy i was sitting with at breakfast the next morning was also headed to the Argentinian side of the falls that day so Nick from New Zealand and I shared the day together there, exploring on our own rather than going with the tour from the hostel (more economical for us! look at me saving money ;) Anyway, I will let the pics speak for themselves. Took lots of them as it was impossible not to. You almost felt as if you were in a dream it was so surreal. i still can´t believe i was there! That night i was exhausted from a full day of walking and getting in a boat and driving straight into the falls! CRazy fun. We went into Garganta del Diablo ("devils throat") and the other parts. I think Iguazu, although not hte highest falls, is one of the widest in the world. Just breathtaking!

Got to experience something somewhat unique that night. Because it was full moon, I got to go on the full moon tour of the falls, a totally different experience, and also quite mind blowing. the pics didn´t turn out too well so I´m keeping them in my mind :) Next day I made it thru 2.5 hours on various buses and border crossings to get to the Brazilian side of the falls. Worth it, bc that was a different view and more amazing stuff! Saturday night our hostel had a big asado and mini show with Brazilian type dancers with large backsides. They have no shame about g-strings here people...even if they are "well endowed" back there. The guys were somewhat dumbfounded, ha!

So now i´m back in BA and have already done a tango dinner show with Irish Alison and her friend Sean, and last night went to this amazing drum show in some back warehouse. Just improve group making some crazy jams. Hippies, gringos and locals filled this place, freestyle dancing, whatever. It was great . I´ve met up with some friends that I met in south Chile, so we had a big group last night, some from my hostel too. Woo hoo! Should be a great rest of the week, assuming the rain stays away (yesterday it did but I still wnet and did some sightseeing!).

Cheers, and many blessings.

Bye bye Bariloche...

So I´ve been in Bariloche, Argentina the past 3 nights, and it is quite the beautiful place. It is nestled right in the Patagonia (though not too far south), and is on a lake in between loads of mountains. Pretty touristy place, full of lots of Brazileños and porteños (people from Buenos Aires), plus all of us backpackers from around the world. There are chocolate shops EVERYWHERE and omg they are so good. My fave is Mumushka :) This place is also well known for having the largest ski resort in the southern hemisphere, Cerro Catedral, though sadly i can´t say i visited it! There hasn´t been new snow since last week, and therefore I am not repeating my oh-so-fabulous experience of Los Penitentes again with bad snow and equipment that didn´t fit!

So what have I done? Well, the first night my 4 other friends from Pucón and I walked around the streets taking it all in, and had a nice dinner at a local spot. My steak was so so, yet another not great ARgentinian steak experience. When is it going to happen - that perfect bite?! Hoping in BA...anyway, it´s odd, they don´t sell alcohol in stores after 11pm here, which i guess is good, but then it forces you to go to a bar and pay almost as much for a pint of beer as i did for dinner! Which by the way was 17 pesos (the pint), or about $5.75. Pretty expensive for beer, but cheap for dinner and wine!

The 2nd day a girl I met from the UK, Madeline (who reminds me of Marissa! Happy birthday Mariss!!), and I went to Cerro Otto, and hiked to the top rather than taking the cable cars. Well, that was basically straight up for over an hour, so it was rough, and i was trekking thru snow in a t-shirt b-c i was so hot! Gorgeous views on top though, and worth it. Lucky for us, as we started our descent, we were picked up by 3 cute porteños who gave us a lift back to the centro. Nice! I walked around town a bit more, and bought a bottle of wine for the upcoming wine fiesta at my fantastic Hostel 1004 (which is so named for the apartment number on the 10th floor). That was a blast, and enjoyed a bit too much wine with some of my new and old friends. That then led to a night at South Bar with 3 Irish girls, 2 Scots, and loads of cute ARgentinians...

Yesterday i had a rude awakening at 8am for my all day visit to El Tronador, a huge mountain and glacier about 2 hours away. I sat in the bus almost all day with Alli and Elle, two British girls who were very sweet. We got out and walked around and had lunch, etc etc, and took in the sights. Last night I was ready for bed by 8pm, but made myself stay awake to figure out my situation with Buenos Aires. I am now taking a bus versus my Airpass flight since I didn´t book anything in time! It´s winter break and everyone apparently is traveling b-t here and there...so 19 hours from the time I leave i will be in the capital city! Oh boy! Overnight bus, sweet...but I have a "cama" seat so it´s not that bad :)

Alright, gotta go get the bus, Ill catch up more from BA! Enjoy the beautiful photos...having issues with flickr so the latest aren´t on there yet!

Valdivia and PUcon

After my restful stay at Happy House in Santiago, I made my way south to Valdivia, in Chile´s Lake District (by the way the rest of my happenings in Mendoza are posted below, also new). Valdivia is a pretty cool university town, though I wasn´t so sure after arriving on a Sunday evening, in the dark. I flew there, took a transfer to town, and landed at Airesbuenos Hostal, which really wasn´t my favorite place. A bunch of students live there full time, so it just wasn´t as well kept as I like. But alas, I had already been denied at one place and i didn´t have time to find another, so i stayed the night there. Well God has his funny ways of working, so although I was disappointed at the lodging situation, I was SO excited when I was walking out of my room only to notice a Bible next to one of the bunks. First sign of a Christian i´ve seen since i left Colombia. So i wrote a little note saying how encouraged I was to see it, and that i hoped to meet this person later that night...more on that later.

I rolled out sola into town, which was practically dead, but found a great place, Entrelagos, for dinner. IT´s famous for its chocolate and hot chocolate but i didn´t muster the appetite after my dinner, so i just took their word for it. Ended up meeting an American girl studying there, who two nights later met me for a beer at the Kuntsmann cerveceria. Nice! SO, went back to my hostal and read a bit downstairs. THe chilean students weren´t all that friendly or talkative ith me, and by that point i knew i was changing hostels the next day. BUT, along came john, the guy with the bible, and we chatted for a while. It was great to encourage and be encouraged. He had been needing a pick me up as well, so that was just totally the Lord working in His ways. Anyway, we hope to meet up in Buenos Aires. He is teaching English in Patagonia region, and is on vaca.

The next day I found a good hostel, adn the lady who ran is was super nice. she even drove me back to Airesbuenos to pick up my bags and take me back to her place. Awesome! Every Valdivian i met was like that - helpful, really nice, and didn´t expect anything in returnm even when offered. Soo i tooted around Valdivia a bit that day and what a change from the day before! There were tons of people walking around, and teh city was very much bustling with activity, even in teh drizzle and clouds. After i had had enough of being cold outside, i stumbled into Cafe Hausmann where i had honestly some of the BEST cake i´ve ever had - called Kuchen (the town was colonized by Germans). It was walnut goodness on top over yellow cake with a layer of cream in between. omg, w.y.p. So worth the calories! And while in the cafe, i recognized the only two other people staying in my hostel, two French girls. They were super nice as well, and we decided to meet up later that evening in the hostel to go grab dinner. Also in the cafe was another American girl eating with her Chilean friend from school. Totally reminded me of being in Spain studying, and made me quite nostalgic actually :( Oh to be young again! haha.

so Frenchies and I hung out next to the heater for a few hours in our hostel, then went out for a nice steak dinner at a nice restaurant recommended by hostel owner lady. It was kind of expensive for my budget, but a nice meal. still not the "perfect steak". The next day the 3 of us met up and lucky for us, the sun even made its appearance. We ventured to Niebla, abouta 20 minute busride away, where you go to the port and catch a ferry to two other islands, Corral and Isla Macera, both which had these really cool ruins b-c they were used as strongholds to protect Valdivia back in the 1600 and 1700s. Anyway, absolutely gorgeous and not what i was expecting! check out my photos...we ate lunch on Corral at this tiny little spot, and i nearly threw up when one of the girls found a worm in her fish. We had each ordered a different white fish and shared with each other. Thank the Lord that none of us got sick, but i was pretty close, even before i saw the worm. That said, it was good food! But disgusting after the fact. And we basically had to fight with the waitress to tell her we weren´t paying full price for the wormy fish. She finally conceded at half price! So we decided to head to the third island after walking around Corral, but were hesitant bc they said the last ferry was at 5 and we went over at 430. Ya, well, we think they forgot us, and before we went into panic mode after the sun went down, we decided to go with the local fisherman who offered to take us on his little boat back to Niebla. Thank God for him! And he wouldn´t accept our pay...

SO i got off and went ot the beer factory and the girls went back to the hostel. Good times and met my friend Teresa there for some deep discussion about life, family, and Christianity :) Took the bus yesterday morning here to Pucón and am enjoying my time here! Got in adn was flagged down by Claudio, who owns a hostel next to the bus station and arranged a tour for the afternoon from 2 to 8 where me and 6 others went around and saw views of the beautiful mountains, volcanos, Ojos del Caburgua (waterfalls that come right out of the earth bc the water travels underground for 5km!), and finally ended at a hot springs, Termas Los Pozones. soo nice! 5 pools all different temps. It was so fun getting in a bathing suit too ;) Then we all came back and Claudio cooked dinner for us while we drank way too much wine (basically i didn´t have any water to drink so just kept drinking wine...oops!)- We all had so much fun though, and when I all of a sudden decided to stagger back to my hostel by myself to go to be d(they were all staying at Claudio´s hostel and I was in a different one), they all sent a "search party" out to try and find me! haha. Claudio knew I was gone but they all thouight it´d be fun to go knock on the door of my hostel and ask for me at 1 in the morning. Tehehe.

So we planned to go to the park this morning for a hike, but hte rain has been going ALL DAY since late in the night last night. I have accomplished nothing today aside from this blog and my adventurous trek to the supermarket. I decided agianst zip-lining in the rain bc i wanted to not die. The main thing here is to climb the volcano, but with this weather you can´t do much at all. Shame, cuz i´m leaving tomorrow for Bariloche. It´s supposed to rain for like 4 more days too. Poo.

Okay, people need the computer, but here are some photo highlights!

catching up on a rainy day! Rest of Mendoza...

OMG do i have so much to catch up on! i last wrote (well, really wrote) when I had arrived into the centro in Mendoza. I actually spent another 4 days there, i was having such a good time. yes, that totalled 8 days in Mendoza when I planned for only 4 or so. Haha, thanks to Lindsay and Emil, Alison and Kate (my new friends I met in the hostel), and the mendocino boys, i couldn´t possibly leave! After walking around the city a bit and my wine tour, i had dinner that night with the most fabulous group of people at the opening of their friend´s restaurant, Karma. Indian food argentina style...food was only okay, but we drank loads of wine, therefore the pictures we took at the end were hilarious. I am now best friends with all of them of course, even though I think the youngest of the group was 37, and the oldest late 60s. Love it. came back to my hostel to run into my friend i met earlier that day and we proceeded to have a soda outside and some conversation, which led to me arguing with him about politics, being a Christian, 9-11, etc. So that ended quickly and i went to bed at 3am...with plans to get up an hour and a half later to go snowboarding. Well we all know that didn´t happen, but i did wake up at 6:30 thinking the bus that left half an hour before that i was suipposed to be on. I was kind of mad at myself though for taking the time to rent equipment, walk to the bus station and all that, when i just messed it up! Thankfully, "TIA" (this is Argentina) and i was able to do everything the next day! The onesy WOULD make its appearance! But before i go into Los Penitentes, that night me and the girls met up with our new argentinian friends, Oscar ("flaco" which means skinny) and Diego, who was a hottie. We had a couple beers then i made sure to go to bed early (soo responsible!).

Los Penitentes was a freakin bust. THe snow was absolute crap, the mountain was a piece, and the staff was kind of laqsidasical (ok no idea how to spell that one). Anyway, the one redeeming thing was that I met a very nice girl, Clare, from Australia. Funny story - so we´re sitting on the bus, trying to sleep, when more and more people keep coming on at each stop. I was already worried that i was using yesterday´s ticket, but figured i was in the clear bc i didn´t see any seat numbers on it. Oh but wait, in walks this 300 lb woman who taps me and says that i am in her seat. What? how could that be possible i ask?? SO being the stubborn gringa that i am, and fearing for Clare´s life sitting next to her, I asked to see her ticket...indeed she had seat 15 reserved! At this point (not even an hour into our 4 hour busride) i am thinking, mierda, i´m going to have to stand the rest of the time! Lucky for me, this nice military guy signalled that the seat next to him was open, so I abandoned Clare to the big Argentinian lady. And I thought I had the bad end of the stick having to move seats...hardly...even better, a guy on our bus caught on film the sight of little tiny Clare sitting next to this lady, which he showed us on our way back. We were roaring with laughter, it was hilarious.

My goal for the day on the mtn was to conquer the T-bar chair lift, which was honestly harder than any black diamond i have ever skied! For whatever reason, i could not seem to get going on that thing...and fell about 10 times before giving up. It was just not designed for a snowboarder. I did make it over the first hill only to fall on my arse and be dragged a while until i could release the thing from under my one leg (mind you this is to get to the TOP of the mtn, not the bunny slopes - why in the world would they put a t-bar there anyway?! and this was no normal t bar either...terrible). It was and is still the most UNcomfortable thing i´ve experienced...should´ve taken a picture of it...SO, to relieve my pain and angst, Clare and I had lunch, where i proceeded to gain some confidence by drinking a liter of beer, dark beer. Mmm. Oh, and it worked bc i managed to endure the horrendous flight up the mtn on T bar after that! Yessss. Not that the top was any better than the chunk, crusty bottom. But slightly. I at least took my pride back after the Argentians laughed at me for falling so many times...anyway, the day ended at 4pm and we took our bus back to Mendoza, this time much quicker bc no stops.

sooo, that night i got to experience my 2nd asado, with Flaco, cousin Seba, and other friend Leo, who was a cutie. They brought us to Seba´s house around 10, the girls starving, and then didn´t feed us til midnight! We were exhausted. Theyy don´t really know the concept of appetizers either, or even of offering to grab us something when they went to the store for more beer (or letting us know they were leaving!)...real cool guys, real cool. But again, worth the wait, it was fabulous meat. and finally a good steak from Argentina. Flaco was entertaining us with his impressions of Mick Jagger and some great dance moves, evidenced by that particular photo where he looks like a lunatic. Anyway, fun night. Are you getting tired of reading this yet? Well, if you´ve even made it this far, kudos to you. BUt fyi, this blog is probably more for ME than for YOU, since i´ve not been journaling much at all! shame on me...

so the next day, Alison and I went for a wine/bike tour, which probably wasn´t the best idea after me still being sore from riding the T bar - i mean, what could be a better idea than sitting on a hard bike seat? Ya, well, i tried my best not to think about it, which was hard for the first leg when i hadn´t had any wine yet! anyway, i was more scared about riding/falling off a mountain bike than i was about the bruises that would be added to my groin area. anyway, it turned out to be a super fun day, and we met two other clansmen (from Ireland) who joined us, Shevanne and Neil. We were chagrined to find out though that we had been duped - we thought all the wine tastings were included in the tour, but they weren´t!! so that sucked, but we still went to three bodegas and the olive oil factory (again for me, but this time i didn´t even get to hear the tour in English, we just sampled). Ended up hanging at the 3rd bodega a while, getting a bottle and soaking up the sun. then we made the last stop for some bad chocolate (how can chocolate be bad! it was - just lacked flavor. booo). We didn´t technically have lunch so we were all looking forward to a good dinner.

Alison and i met up with Kate the Aussie again, and went to a nice steak place, where they totally butchered Kate´s order. She sent it back (hesitantly) and of course was then given an even worse piece of meat. She was not a happy camper, and actually complained about it the whole time! haha Alison and i were happy with our meat (but i still wasn´t of the opinion that this was the best steak in teh world...maybe when i go to Buenos Aires? hope so). Then Flaco and another new friend (who was a TOTAL catch and whose name i forget) met us at the restaurant to share wine, then head to the boliches, the discotechs. We didn´t like the first one so ended up at some ¨rustic¨ place where there was a GREAT PInk Floyd coverband - and not in some cheesy Spanish accent coverband singing. Plain good. They later cleared out the tables and started the dance music! i was a happy camper. Danced the night away til 7am, though i probably had to force out a 3rd amd 4th wind at times. Hung out with more of Flacos friends, and Kate and hot guy got together. Darn ;). Anyway, i knew better than to try and sleep for a couple hours before my bus, so i just packed up and headed to the station, had to pay extra for an earlier bus, but i wasn´t about to hang out in the sketchy bus station! So after 8 days I finally left Mendoza, one of my fave places! Some of my pics are below, but of course, check flikr.

Photo Montage

So I won´t have time to blog at the moment, gotta get outta Santiago to catch my flight to Valdivia, in Chile´s Lake district. I have been taking it easy past day b-c of my last night out in Mendoza resulting in zero sleep. it´ll happen when you go out til 7am...but being my first all nighter, i am recovering just fine. Slept 3 hours on the bus from Mendoza to Santiago, and am staing in the fabulous Happy House Hostel here. Very serene! Enjoy photos from wine tours, more asados with our new Mendocino friends (and we seriously ate at midnight and were STARVING! the boys said, "these girls eat well". You´re darn right we do when you don´t feed us til midnight!). As usual, check out all my photos at flickr link on left.

MENDOZA

My birthday! In the car, roadtripping w/ my sweet beanie


i know, i've been so attentive to the blog lately, aren't you proud? Welll, this city they call Mendoza is fabulosa! Thanks to my amazing hosts, Lindsay Davidson and her Hungarian beau Emil, I have had a fantastic time so far...and I keep pushing back the day I want to leave! I arrived Friday night after a long 8 hour bus ride thru the Andes. Beautiful sights, but cramped quarters...met some nice Brits along the way, and got to watch 21 Blackjack - in English! Made me pine for Vegas...but alas, I am in a better place in many ways. Arrived to the bus station and Linds and Emil picked me up and off we went to grab a handcrafted brew at Antares Brewery in the centro de Mendoza. Stayed there for a couple then came back to their barrio, Chakras (sounds kinda cool - it is!) for dinner. Unfort Lindsay and I were disappointed in the beef we ordered for dinner, but nonetheless it wasn't terrible.

Saturday was a doozy - the entire centro was closed off b/c of some taxi driver strike, which then led to a bus shut down or something. Go figure - the taxi drivers wanted more protection b/c one had just gotten attacked - 5tth time in 2 weeks. yikes-o! So we didn't make it to the centro, but almost as exciting, we made it to "Jumbo" the enormous supermercado where Lindsay and I proceeded to shop for loads of groceries and wine! After that, we enjoyed the beautiful sunny day by putting a table outside of their vodka distillery (checkout Primo vodka if you can find it!) and ate a lunch consisting of fresh bread, ham, various cheeses. Yummmm. They gave me a tour of their small distillery - it's amazing what 2 people can do! They bottled 15,000 all by themselves! After that we came back to their apartment and enjoyed a lazy afternoon, followed by a raging dinner party that night. About 10 people, my age and up, drinking way too much red wine to still be good for you, and enjoying more red meat, salad, fennel and our very own mashed potatoes w/ bacon, cheddar and chives I believe. I helped Lindsay throw it all together, and the bacon was my idea ;) It was a hit! Anyway, after I tried about 5 types of red wine ,all mixed together in my mind by that point (between Temparanillo, Syrah, Merlot, etc), we called it a night...

So yesterday was faboo as well. Lindsay and emil's friends, Karren and Randy, met us at the house and we all went for a hike, along with their daughter Isabella (12), super trooper. We drove about half an hour to arrive at the rocky mountains (not quite as picturesque as our Rockies though). We trekked uphill for about 45 mintues before half the group decided to stop. Being the hard core hiker than I am, and 2 weeks after machu Picchu, I couldn't let the men think us women were weak or feeble, hence I joined Randy (pretty much a mountain goat by the speed he climbs!) and Emil (who although dressed in his Ralph Lauren gaucho pants, flat leather boots and vest looked like he came straight out of an African safari or Conde Nast traveler magazine - oh, and lit a cigar on our way down, even better) a novice hiker. It was a bit more difficult to the top, but a pretty view looking over the Cordilleras and with views of the Andes and a large reservoir with aqua colored water. The way down though was the most exciting. We met up with the girls and took a new way down, and almost thought we had to turn around when we stumbled upon steep cliffs, more than once. We knew we were toast when we saw the metal loop that only rappelers were supposed to hook into! Luckily we searched around for an alternative way down, which we eventually found. all in all a fun hike, full of adventure, and topped off with an Andes beer, which Coors Lite could put ot shame - but after hiking 3 hours tasted no less than the Champagne of Beers itself!

After the hike was over, around 3:30pm, we returned to the apartment to hot showers and Emil's over-the-top "asado" - the Argentinian bbq. No sauce, no fancy accoutrements, just really really good meat (that we picked up from the butcher shop earlier that day) seasoned with just lemon and lots of salt. We had all pork ("cerdo") including costilla (ribs), chorizo (sausage, as you all know), and the best piece of meat - punto de espalda (the shoulder). Oh, and I tried my first "black pudding" - as I will have to get used to moving to England. Not bad actually ,though I didn't ask what type of meat it actually was, as I didn't want to know...just a cute little black sausage looking thingy. I also helped with the tomato/green onion salad, and we had mashed taters again. Mmm mmm goodness. That was the huge meal of hte day, and along with wine and some Primo vodka, made for a very relaxing Sunday :) I am literally being spoiled here!

today I finally ventured into the city (by myself), and enjoyed walking around town, checking out the day tours available, and enjoying the sunny weather (again!). I managed to squeeze into a wine tour that took us to 2 decent wineries, 1 olive oil factory, and a church that had a retrato of the Virgen de las Costillera (she watches over the vineyards). I met a really sweet Mexican girl and her sister and boyfriend who I may go snowboarding with on wednesday. nice! Speaking of which, I rented some sweet equipment today including a onesy ski jumper (the likes of which probably made its debut in the States cerca 1994), some hypercolor guantes (gloves) and some sweet goggles (they tried to sell me on the old school 80s Oakleys but I had to decline and pay the extra 10 pesos for the goggles to save my dignity, not that I look that hot in those either...). i am really looking forward to getting in the snow! I had such a disappointing ski season with only 2 trips this year, so I'm ready!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the latest update...I'm thinking of leaving Mendoza on thursday for hte long busride back to Santiago ;( I could stay here much longer though, but I must press on!

Cheers,
Kaitlin

PS. As I've mentioned many times before, check the Flickr link the left for my updated photos - and hey, i spent lots of time labeling the latest ones, so take a look and read the captions! I'll try to post some more from the hike and Mendoza soon...