La Boca

Went off to see La Boca on Tuesday morning, this is the poorer part of Buenos Aires just next to the river mouth however there is one interesting bit called the "Caminito" which has a bit of history to it.

Boca is home to the working class argentinians, its next to the docks and is relatively rough in comparison to the northern neighbourhoods. The argentinians here managed to repel an english invation in the 19th century by mounting an attack on the soldiers that were disembarking from the english vessels. Argentinians dont like the English very much, due to this and more recent Faulklands war and because England tends to side with Chile in international issues which they see as meddling.

I read on my guide that the reason why the houses are painted so coloufully in this part of Boca is because the residents asked of the passing boats that they hand over any spare cans of paint, which in turn they used to paint their houses. I also saw a couple of tango dancers performing in the street for passers-by and I took a picture of them, it struck me that the girl who was dancing Tango so well was Japanese (although she looked more chinese).

Tomando Mate

Yea, I know that pic kinda looks like I´ve been caught under slightly suspicious sort of circumstances, but just in case you´re wondering: no, its not. I´m just drinking Argentinian green tea out of a funny cup with a metal straw. Honest. Thats what everyone does here.. The cup is called a "mate" and the straw is a "bombilla", and the green stuff you put inside is the "yerba mate".

Yerba Mate (say: mah-teh) is a very bitter green tea, high in anti-oxidants and a key ingredient of weight-loss pills and holistic medicines. In argentinian culture drinking mate is a thing that is shared, a bit like sitting down for a beer with a couple friends, only that you dont need to go down the pub to do it. You can sit down and sip away at home or do take-away with a hot water thermos and go sit down in the park and watch the world go by.

Just this evening a couple hours ago I was at a park in barrio Belgrano watching an open-air tango with two argentinian sisters: Carolina and Monica all sharing some mate. I´m a wimp and I drink it with sugar but you´re not supposed to.

Bailando Salsa

Been going to these two dance venues quite a few nights last week. "Azucar" and "La Viruta", both only around 1 pound to get in and go to anywhere up to 5 hours of classes each day of the week except mondays. There is Salsa, Tango, Rock and Milonga (a faster version of Tango).

Needless to say I´m knackered, was rather, its now tuesday and I´ve been able to rest the last couple days. Had lots of fun and met quite a few people... most just turn up there with a friend of two but no dancing partner, you keep changing those all the time. Specially in the beginners class.

Going to see some real salsa and tango in action is quite refreshing, I mean Opera Bay is an amazing world-class venue, but why the hell do I want to listen to drum´n bass, house, or R&B - no matter how good the DJ - when I can get any of those back home??

Las Noches de Buenos Aires

I´ve been living mostly in the evening and night-time the last few days. Buenos Aires is way too hot during the day (35º) to spend a lot of time out and about so my days start around 2-5pm.. I eat some food after I wake up, chat to people staying at the hostal and wait for the weather to cool down before I head off..

Lets see, of the 3 places I´ve stayed at so far the one with the best nighlife options is the Milhouse, mostly because it fits 400 souls, is almost always booked and there are so many young people in it at any one time that there is always someone who wants to go out, someone that knows a good spot, and several others like me that are happy to tag along.

The night scene in BA is good. Very good. Music and atmosphere to cater for just about every taste and everything at incredibly low prices. Someone said today that Buenos Aires has become the number 1 world travel destination - I think this might be a bit ambitious but I wouldnt be too surprised if its getting close.

Lets see now: Last Thursday was fairly quiet, just a massive dinner and drinks for a whole bunch of people at the Milhouse. Friday I met with a group of Brazilians (pic with red background) in the Recoleta YHA and had another massive dinner and went out to Club 69, one of those places that do good gigs fairly consistently and that you have to go to when you first visit Buenos Aires. Saturday I went out with a bunch of people from the Milhouse to Opera Bay and danced til sunrise over spanking modern Puerto Madero (which reminds me a bit of the docklands area in London), while I was there I met some cool Argentinian girls (pic) and some other various people. Took a few shots of the view from the club.

Then Sunday I had an early night in, just 2am after drinking beers with the guys at the hostel. On Sunday there was this canadian guy, Robert, who competes in fencing and he was telling me about the sport, which in reality is a martial art that originated in Europe and I decided I´d see if I can take up fencing when I go back to my normal life. Sounds like the kind of thing that would be good for me to do.

Couple days later: Sam (whose arm you can see in that pic) at the Tango Backpackers made an interesting comment, why do fencing when you can do yoga?... Duh!!! Way more women take up yoga classes! Momentary brain freeze I think - some might say its not like me.. whats happened to Esteban?? Hes been replaced with mild-mannered Steven, wheres he gone?? Puto gato por liebre - nos han dado trucho!

Tango

Just been listening to some wicked tracks of Tango-Electronica fusion. Amazing sounds, I really liked the Paris-originated Gotan Project, and Bajo Fondo Tango Club some similar work made here in Argentina.

But what is Tango anyway? Tango goes way past a music genre in the context of Buenos Aires, Tango is musical expression born out of the desperate loneliness and harsh lifestyle for the scores of European immigrants that arrived here in the late 1800s. Tango is a mood. A mood felt by passionate men uprooted and lost in the dirty urban life of dockland Buenos Aires. Its deep sadness and melancholy, its danger and sex, pain, sorrow, betrayal and helplessness. Its tragic beauty at its best.

"Tango que me hiciste mal y sin embargo te quiero": Tango you did wrong to me but still I love you...

- Anyone who´s had their heart broken knows the feeling. That is the essence of Tango.

After many years of being side-lined as an oldies dance, Tango is now making a comeback in contemporary Argentina. More and more young people are going to the Milongas (tango ballrooms) to dance and enjoy themselves. And although Tango is more part of the soul of an older generation, young argentinians also display an extraodinary ability for sadness and melancholy.

Money Matters

Money makes the world go around.. the world go around...

So this must be costing a lot hey? Well I guess it all depends where you come from and what you are accustomed to..

While I travel I´m budgetting about 30 pounds a day, not including plane tickets. Which is fine for Australia and New Zealand but its a hell of a lot of money to be spending in South America, so I just haven´t been spending very much since I arrived here. I stay mostly in hostels, which cost very little - if you can put up with the noise and the shared bathrooms then I definately recommend it - its a great way to meet other travellers and swap valuable information about where to go and what to avoid, or to have people to hang out with if you feel like company. I eat out most days (a chicken schnitzel is around 2 pounds in Argentina, a beer is 50p) and I make the occasional home cooked meal, I don´t really do much shopping because it would make my pack heavier to carry around with me, and I go out maybe 2-3 times a week but I hardly ever drink a lot and I avoid the places where very fashionable people hang out - "normal" people are a lot more interesting to talk to.. 30 pounds is more than enough for all that.

I´ve heard tales of people blowing around 10 grand in Ibiza over a couple weeks of heavy partying.. that sort of thing seems silly when you can party in a place like Buenos Aires and have an amazing nite for around 15-20 squidlets, drinks included.

Fernet con Coca

Last thursday I met with Alejandro, an Argentinian friend from that Bar hopping nite in Auckland.. We went out for an asado (mixed grill with various types of meat) with some friends of his and then he said he´d introduce me to Fernet Con Coca, a more important though less well known Argentinian tradition than drinking yerba mate (pronounced: mah-teh, a type of green tea)..

At first I thought that Fernet was a brand of whiskey but it turns out that is a kind of bourbon made from mixing different herbs and spices. Its drunk with coke by filling up a container and sharing it amongst friends. I think that night I was up til about 3am talking with Alejandro and his friends from barrio Palermo, mostly listening about his trip to Australia and New Zealand and watching photos of the things he´d done on the trip spiced up with tales of success with the female gender. :)

Argentinian men are very friendly. In spain when you meet someone you only kiss them if they are a woman or your immediate family but here when anybody meets, be it even two males, they always kiss on the cheek, just once, not twice like in Spain. Even when you are being introduced its better to be over friendly, with a hug and a pat on the back, than reserved as the later can make you seem like a cold person.

Buenos Aires

Hi Guys,

I'm in Buenos Aires. Capital of Argentina and home to Tango and Maradona's legendary soccer team Bocas Junior.. Its hard not to fall in love with this city. From the point I asked a man at the airport 'Como se coge el bus' which prompted instant laughter, its been one happy surprise after another.

This city is as European as you get outside of Europe, with 97% of population claiming direct European descent (mostly descendents of Spanish and Italian migrants in the 1800s) there is a distinctly cosmopolitan feel to the city. This could very well be Madrid, or Paris or Rome. The tall majestic buildings that line the Avenidas with their high ceilings and domed or tiled roofs are fine examples of french, spanish and italian architecture. There is some but relatively little disrepair, certainly a lot less than I expected after visiting other cities such as Sao Paulo or even Santiago. This city is vibrant, full of well-dressed Argentinians going about their business or sipping their 'cafe cortados' and 'media lunas' (croissants) at the cafes and restaurants along the streets. Its the middle of summer and the only people I see wearing shorts are the tourists and backpackers that are coming to this city in droves because of the low prices that make it such a special place to visit right now.

The food is absolutely amazing. As a Spaniard accustomed to good spanish food and who also loves italian cuisine I have to say that picking up a menu in a restaurant is like christmas has come every day. Not only the Parridas (Grilled Steak) that make Argentian beef famous are sensational. There is every type of less well known regional spanish cuisines represented (basque, catalonian, valencian and asturian to name a few), as well as all the italian favourites: pizza, raviolli, fettucine, lasagne, caneloni, milanese steak etc etc.. Or if you are into obscure dishes such as lamb kidneys, sweet-meats or calamari cooked in their own ink then they have those too.

The people are lovely as well. They are proud, yes. But so friendly as well that they wear their pride very endearingly. Ask an Argentinian man how they commit suicide and they'll say 'jumping off their own ego', laughing as they do it. Argentinan language is incredibly cute, so easy and fascinating to listent to.. It doesnt take long for the locals to work out I am from Spain when I speak to them, and as soon as they know they are very welcoming.

Anyway. I'm off, will write a bit more sometime later..

Pink Eye

Had a bit of a problem with my contacts when I was in Santiago.. thats the thing with this monthly lenses, my eye has become so used to having discomfort that I no longer feel when I´m doing damage to myself. Woke up one morning with a bit of pain and a really dry eye and then looked in the mirror to find that some dust must have got below the lenses and was causing me a mild case of "Pink Eye".

So I´ve gone without lenses for a few days, Im now wearing my glasses instead until the redness goes away.

Santiago

I´m in South America now.

Just arrived in Santiago de Chile yesterday, after flying accross the Pacific and along the Andes range. I left at 5pm on Saturday and arrived lunchtime on Saturday, the same day but 4 hours earlier - thats what happens when you cross the date line coming in from Asia..

Its summer here and pretty nice and hot.. very laid back indeed. Everyone seems like they don´t really have much of a care, and we are talking about one of the main cities on this continent. A man came up at the park this morning and asked me if I could buy a book from him, he was about 50 and looked like he could be a school teacher, he said he didn´t have enough money to buy food because the politicians were squandering all of it.. I said I was sorry I couldn´t help but that I wished things improved .. There is such a big difference between Asia and South America, in China for example you see people down on their luck but they hardly ever blame the government.. or if they do they would never tell someone from the outside as they don´t want to shame their country.

Also met a chap on the plane his name is Joep (we´re having a couple beers on photo here on the bottom) and he is Dutch.. He is off to climb Aconcagua a 6000m peak on the Andes range, bit of a hobby for him.. He shipped all this equipment from Schipol airport to the Cargo terminal in Santiago and it arrived on time for him to pick it up at the airport on Saturday. I went to help him out with the translation and it was a good experience because it helped me see the lack of organization in this place. Took about 1hr and 4 people to find where the parcel was. Then over there they told us we needed to go to the agents. After walking for a while in sweltering heat, we found the agent´s office was closed, nobody knew how to get hold of them. The parcel was sitting in the warehouse but we needed a special document to get it out and only the agent could provide it - "Mañana!", everyone kept telling us. Met again today and he´d called the agent - who was around but they said to go tomorrow because the customs officials aren´t around till "Mañana!"... surprise surprise.. hopefully one day he´ll be able to get his climbing equipment and head off.

Pool vs the Locals

And a couple beers and some pool to kick back and finish off my last night in Auckland. It was the Latin team (Me and Alejandro the argentinian guy on the photo) versus the local Kiwis. No need to say that we kicked butt, 4-0 playing doubles. And we didn´t need ´la mano de Dios´ (Hand of God) to help us either.

Devonport

On Friday I had a bit of spare time in the afternoon so I decided to catch the ferry across to the suburb of Devonport on the other side of the water.. It was a really nice place, a small residential neigbourhood with people sitting outside nice pubs, restaurants and cafes not doing much.

From there I climbed to the top of the Mount Victoria which has the remains of an old pa - indigenous maori fortification - and overlooks all of Waitehama Harbour, on one side the view looks out over Rangitoto Island which has an active volcano (see left) that erupted around 600 years ago, on the other side the view looks out over the rest of Auckland and the harbour bridge


On the right here is a photo of the stunning views from the top of Mount Victoria looking towards the center of Auckland, with the CBD on the left and the Habour Bridge which I would be bungee jumping from the next day...


And on the way back I stopped to have some dinner at one of the small cafes on the side walk.. It was time to fill my stomack with something other than sushi so I ate a really good seafood pasta (yummy - see on the left) while drinking coffee and writing stuff on my notepad.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee! (splat!)

And a bit more hopping tomorrow.. This time I'm going bungee jumping morning of the Saturday at 9am from the Harbour Bridge... I'm thinking that about now is the only time I'm likely to do something like that, so might as well. BTW: Was told to bring a spare set of clothes just in case (I get dunked in the water). Tell you about it later. And if this is my last entry then I hope you all remember me well.. (snif!) :P

----- Day later: Just updating this post with the image of me jumping.. if it looks a bit funny its because its a photo of a photo. The adrenalin rush is pretty good. YEEE!! Scary but it all happens so fast and then you´re dangling above the water.. hehe. Next time I´ll dress up in a Superman outfit complete with tights, underpants worn on the outside and a red cape. =)

Bar Hopping

Feeling a bit rough today... Two cute girls came up to me on the stairs at the hostal and asked me if I wanted to go on a bar-hopping tour of Auckland that nite for about $40 so predictably enough, I said yes 'of course'. What else could I say? There is only one answer you can give in times like that - I reminded myself that I'm a guy and its ok to think with my second brain.

Iotta (top right) from NYC and Iffa from Dublin had only been around New Zealand for about a month and this was their second bar-hopping nite in Auckland.. Met some cool people there. Including two argentinians: Alenjandro and a guy that reminds me of my cousin Xabi (left), Leon - a crazy brazilian guy from Rio, two cute german chicks and for some reason, lots and lots of Danish girls. There was a big purple bus and lots of drunk travellers getting carried from bar to bar.. All in all, it was a good evening.. The kind of thing I normally avoid when I go travelling somewhere because it seems like fabricated entertainment for the city backpacker, but for some reason made sense to do it on my first evening in Auckland when I didn't know a single person.

Auckland

To be honest.. I think this place is a bit disapointing.. I was imagining Auckland to be a spitting image of New Zealand, clean and green and jaw-dropping but the main commercial city in NZ has more of an icky feel to it, this place is just a city - nothing special to it - its just a place you find yourself when you are either going somewhere or on your way back from somewhere. So much for high expectations.

Maybe it just feels that way because its summer and the place is overrun with adrenalin-seeking backpackers and its hot and muggy and nowhere as beautiful as Sydney.

I'm heading off tonight to what seems to be a big nite.. Guess I will regret it tomorrow morning.

Leaving Australia

I was thinking about this on the plane... Just how many times have I left Australia since I first arrived when I was 14 years old? 8? 12 maybe? Not really sure I haven't been counting.

Manly

Had a really nice evening hanging out in Manly but I can't really be bothered writing much about it. Maybe I'm just too tired from running around all day...

I missed the boat coming back and then met a couple peruvians at the pub in Manly wharf - Ernesto and Diego - while I was having a beer waiting for the next ferry.. And the return journey was simply stunning, watching sunset over Sydney harbour from the ferry is a truly amazing experience. Pity my camera only had enough battery left for 1 photo. And that was pointing in the direction of Manly, not the sunset.

Where in the world is the South America handbook?

What a mission! It took 6 bookshops until I found somewhere that stocks the LP handbook for south america. Apparently its sold out everywhere... does that mean Santiago and Buenos Aires are going to be full of Aussies? Anyway happy ending: the travel bookshop had a copy.. Thats what happens to me for trying to cut corners to reduce the weight of my luggage, I end up spending 5 hours trekking through the Sydney CBD looking for a book.

Beers in Sydney Harbour

Met up with Conrad, friend of mine I used to go to school with and who is now in Sydney working as a developer with Thoughtworks (Emerson, you might know some of the people that he works with)..

Had a couple drinks sitting by the stunning opera house and chatted about life the universe and everything.. It was good to catch up with him. We talked about the Friends' 10 year reunion and the people we'd seen there and about our work and many other things. Apparently he reckons I should be doing a bit of dancing again.. No better way to meet girls, and more important, to realise that there is plenty out there, in fact so much its worth being single out of conscious choice. So we had a bit of sushi for dinner and another beer and then it was time to scoot because he had a flight to catch to Beijing the day after. Which was just as well as I was pretty tired from a big nite out the day before in Byron Bay.

Sydney

Hello!! Just arrived in Sydney by plane from Ballina near Byron Bay. Passed a pretty cool surf town on the way to the airport (Lennox Heads) which is probably worth a look next time. Not much time now, I just checked into the hostal and off to see a friend now - bye!!

On Pain

UUGHH! Pain..

Not good... Couple drinks at Cheeky Monkeys with the guys from the hostal last night turned out to be a pretty big nite. Oh no, ?? was that really me dancing on the table last night with the two british girls ?? to Justin Timberlake ?? I don't do that sort of thing. It could at least have been some other music.. Dios mio que verguenza!

I guess maybe I just dreamt it. No photos or evidence of the occasion thank god. But hold on, here is one taken a bit before... It was the canadian guys that thought it'd be fun to buy 10 jugs of beer. At least the hostal was just across the road.

On the plus side.. I gave surfing a try again yesterday and managed not to break the board. Almost stood up too. Hehe.

Byron

Just arrived in Byron Bay... Place is alright but not as chilled as I thought it would be..

Off tomorrow so not much time to hang around here.. Anyway its almost impossible to find accomodation, this is a very small town and it gets chockers during the summer..

I guess most people who come here are after the surf and partying. There is quite a surfer/hippie atmosphere in this town which I guess peaks to party central around new years... and its full of interesting shops and things to do.

I'm staying in one of the local hostals. Its across the road from a bar called the Cheeky Monkey and has quite a laid back atmosphere, plus they loan surfboards for free... I'll try and have another go and hopefully not bust it this time round!!

I'm off to check out the babes on the beach. C ya!