Quito to Rio 101

Finally made it back home in one piece yesterday at 10.30AM, after a 32-hour journey. Yippee!!

Was getting worried when our flight from Rio to Sao Paulo had to turn back to Rio due to “bad weather” after flying over Sao Paulo for about half an hour trying to land. Luckily we didn’t stay for too long in Rio (had to stay on the plane for about half an hour while they refueled the plane) before flying back to Sao Paulo again. Still didn’t get off the plane then. Flew straight to Santiago after they picked up more passengers.

We weren’t really late for our connecting flight to Auckland. Managed to board the plane about 20 minutes after boarding time, and didn’t have to wait around in Santiago for 2 hours.

It was definitely up there on the list of my “worst flights ever”. There was a screaming baby right across the aisle from me, 2 little kids who wouldn’t stop making noise and kicking our seats behind us, and another screaming kid on the other side. Oh, and Johnno got a middle seat! I swear to God I almost strangled them. Could hardly sleep, it was so uncomfortable I couldn’t move.

Despite all that, we managed to make it to Auckland alive. And tired. Had a little nap at the airport, and we were ecstatic to find out that we’d been upgraded to business class because the plane was full. Woohoo!! Talk about travel karma! Too bad it was only a 4 hour flight, but we made the most of it. It was great being able to experience the lifestyle of the rich and famous.. with seats that almost fully recline into a bed, and like 10 different buttons to adjust the seat, and the different quality of service (they took your order individually for breakfast!), fine cutlery and dining set with table cloths etc.. I slept like a baby too for most of the flight.

Got to Sydney at around 7 in the morning, and got through customs in record time. Johnno got into a bit of trouble at the immigration cuz he didn’t have his Yellow Fever certificate with him, but fortunately they eventually let him go.

Finally left Sydney at 10, and got home at last!!!!

Been unpacking, sleeping etc since I got home. So good to finally sleep on my bed again. Will post a summary and upload the rest of the photos when I get a chance.

One last quick entry before we head off to the airport.

Spent the arvo at Rio Sul mall, doing some last-minute shopping. 

Ended up spending last night hanging out at our old hostel with Yegane. It was nice actually. Felt like we were back home again.

Met up with her at the hostel and went for dinner at this burger restaurant I[d been wanting to go to at the mall. Then we just went back and hung out, watching the carnival on TV. Last night was supposed to be the final (parade of the winning schools).

So… not long now! A long journey ahead.. Flying out of Rio at 2PM to Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo to Santiago. Leaving Santiago to Auckland at 11PM. Auckland to Sydney. Sydney to Brissy. Be home by Tuesday morning. Woohoo!

Hope they have good movies on.

Went to watch Borat with Yegane a couple of nights ago. So funny, but so wrong. Was planning to have an early night, but changed my mind when Yegane asked me if I wanted to come out with her and Bree for a walk to get some food. That was after 11. Johnno came along with us.

Stopped at a juice bar nearby, then we ended up at a Japanese restaurant in the neighbourhood. Got back to the hostel after 1.

Yesterday we checked out from our hostel and moved to Copacabana. It was kinda sad seeing all the empty beds and how quiet the hostel was, as almost everyone left on the same day.

Was not happy with our new hostel. The reception was completely packed when we got there it was a bit of a madhouse. Then we found out that there was no aircon in our room, despite their ad of having aircon in EVERY room. When I asked them about it, they said there´s aircon in all the DORM rooms. Well doh. At least it wasn´t too hot last night with the ceiling fan on.

Spent the arvo walking along the beach taking photos of fat chicks in g-string (Johnno´s idea of course), and went Havaianna shopping for a bit. Spent most of the afternoon amusing myself watching Grey´s Anatomy videos on youtube. Was soo bored.

We were supposed to meet up with Yegane and Bree last night, but we missed them. They sent another email changing the meeting spot and I didn´t get to read it until after. Was so bummed about that. Walked to Leme after dinner at Macca´s hoping we might run into them somewhere, but nope. And there was nothing going on there anyway. Spent the night at an internet cafe (nerds) and got back to the hostel around 11.30. Went straight to bed.

Hoping to catch up with Yegane sometime today before she flies out tonight. She still hasn´t quite sorted everything out yet, so still waiting for her email. This is officially our last day in Rio! Flying out tomorrow afternoon. Yay!!

That´s where we´re moving to tomorrow anyway.

Things to do in Rio:

1. Join and/or watch the carnival
2. Catch up with Jo, Nadine and AM
3. Check out the street party (kind of..)
4. Go up the Sugar Loaf
5. Go hang-gliding
6. Try some açai
7. Meet up with Stevo
8. Check out Copacabana Beach
9. Check out Ipanema Beach
10. Watch a football match in Maracana Stadium
11. Go up Corcovado (the Statue of the Christ)
12. Havaiannas shopping

So I´ve pretty much done everything I wanted to do in Rio now. Can happily go home. Three more sleeps to go before flying home!!!

Rio is a beautiful city (at least from a distance), with gorgeous landscape. Soaring hills and small mountains (e.g. Sugar Loaf) right next to beautiful beaches with white sand (albeit dirty and packed with people if you look closer). Plus there´s the novelty of having a huge statue of the Christ looking over the whole city from the highest point.

I´m not sure how much I like Rio though. I´m not loving it as much as I did Buenos Aires. When you look closer, the city is like any other big city… run-down buildings covered in graffiti everywhere, etc. And we feel on edge the whole time because of the dodgy reputation of the city, which is not unjustified considering how many mugging and robbery stories we´ve heard almost everyday since we came here (a friend of us got robbed upon rock-point yesterday - yes, a big black man held up a huge rock and asked her for her camera and money).

The weather hasn´t helped either. It´s been 35+ degrees everyday here, and I can´t stand the heat!! You know how much I hate summer, and this is exactly why!

Some other things I´ve noticed in Rio:

People have extremely high body-confidence here. I´ve been seeing obese women in tiny bikinis and g-strings everywhere, and fat speedo-wearing men bearing their guts proudly along the beaches. I mean, good on them, but seriously… I´ve seen a lot of things I didn´t really want or ever need to see here.

People love making out in public. Everywhere. On our first night here, there was a couple sucking faces right in front of me while I was trying to eat my burger. Kinda killed my appetite. But since then we´ve seen similar scenes everywhere in the city. And not romantic. Gross is a more appropriate word.

It´s hard not being able to speak a word of Portuguese. We were told that if you understand Spanish you´ll get by. Wrong. They sound completely different, even though some words are similar. Portuguese sounds more like German. Mixed with French sometimes. The only Portuguese word I know is ´´obrigada´´ (thank you), and I learned that from the subtitle of The OC!! Oh, and I also know sim and nao from the alerts in Windows. Still, I´m so used to saying gracias, I still keep saying it instead of obrigada here. Terrible.

Despite all that, I´ve been having a great time here though. Apart from the heat.

The day after I wrote my last entry, I spent the morning sleeping in (so far I´ve only managed to make it to breakfast ONCE), then went to the mall for lunch, and went to see ´´The Queen´´ (quite interesting, btw). Went hang-gliding with Jo, Laura and Johnno in the arvo. It was awesome!

We went for a ride on the back of this big pick-up truck which took us to a beach (note: must look up the name) which was actually nicer and a lot quieter than Copacabana or Ipanema, but there were hang-gliders and paragliders everywhere.

It was a busy day and we had to wait for ages for our turn. I actually went first, and the others had to wait even longer. We didn´t leave until it was completely dark.

I went for a ride on this cool little black buggy about 10 mins up the hill. It was a pretty scary drive, considering how fast the driver went and there was only 1 lane for two-way traffic on a steep uphill road. We nearly hit the back of a car with our hang glider at the parking lot. After we got off, we had to walk a bit further up the hill to the launching pad. There were 3 people ahead of me but it didn´t take long before it was my turn. The view from up there was quite stunning, and there were a lot of people who where just there to watch and enjoy the view.

I was a little nervous, but as soon as we took off from the cliff and started flying, it was totally awesome. The whole time I thought to myself, this must be what it feels like to be a bird. I mean, I was flying. Not the paragliding crap. It was v.v. cool. The view of the city was gorgeous. The ocean on one side, green hills on the other, skyscrapers in the distance. Totally worth it. The flight went for about 15 minutes, and I started to feel light headed so I was actually happy to land on the beach.

After I landed, I had to wait for Laura, Jo and then Johnno, who went on the ´´almost illegal´´ last flight of the day. He said it was pretty cool though, with the city lights all lit-up, and the sun almost completely disappeared. I managed to scoff 2 corn on the cobs and tried a tub of açai while waiting.

They dropped us back to our hostel afterwards, and since it was late, I didn´t really feel like coming to Ipanema with Jo and Laura. We said goodbye (for the last time!) at the metro station, and went for dinner at the mall (again).

Yesterday I met up with Stevo (finally!! after like 18 months or so) at the Botafogo metro station, and we caught a metro together to Copacabana where I was supposed to meet up with Ang to give her her mobile. It was great catching up with Stevo again.. he had grown a beard and I could hardly recognise him at first.

Ang couldn´t join us for lunch as she was in a rush to organise stuff for the next day, so we only met up briefly, then Stevo and I went for lunch at Maccas (seriously, I´ve been having WAY too much Maccas since I got here). We went for a walk in search of Havaiannas afterwards, and walked along to beach in Copacabana all the way to Ipanema. It was stinking hot, and after checking out both beaches, I concurred with most people that Ipanema beach is nicer. Well, it´s cleaner anyway. At least.

I bought a pair of Brazil Havaiannas (which turned out to be over-priced), but we couldn´t really find any cheap ones anywhere. Caught a bus back to Botafogo, and went for a short walk to the supermarket, then we said goodbye just around the corner from our hostel as Stevo had to head back to say goodbye to his hostel mates.

Saw Yegane at the hostel (she moved to our hostel yesterday), and we decided to go to the football match. The hostel organised it for R$70, but Stevo told me we could do it ourselves for way cheaper, so we decided to catch a metro and bought tickets when we got there. Another girl at the hostel, Bree, joined us.

We went for dinner at the Japanese place at the mall first and were running late to get to the famous Maracana stadium, but we made it after all. There were LOADS of people there and we managed to buy tickets for R$30 each.

The game was awesome. Flamengo (Brazillian team) kicked Maracaibo (Venezuelan team)´s ass, and the atmosphere was just unreal. According to the sign, there were about 35000 present. It was definitely an experience, I´m so glad we went.

When we caught a metro back, we had to squeeze in with everyone else for the very last metro from Estacio to Botafogo, and all the trains were completely packed. I went to the same carriage as Yegane, and Johnno went with Bree. It was crazy. Full of Flamengo suporters chanting their team´s song in this very tight space I couldn´t move, or hold on to anything. We got home around 1.

This morning we woke up early (i.e. 9.30). Well actually I woke up earlier at 8 to check for Stevo´s message, and he asked if I wanted to meet up at 10 (he´s leaving this arvo), but Johnno wasn´t happy about going to Corcovado in the arvo, so I didn´t.

Yegane, Johnno and I caught a cab to Corcovado for R$80 return. Bargain. So proud of my Spanish. I mean, first off, we´re on even in a Spanish-speaking country anymore. And there I was trying to haggle with the cab driver in my Spanglish. He asked for 100, but the reception had told me it had only cost him 80. So I went, ´´My amigo got it for ochenta´´. Brilliant. Not.

I was happy to *finally* make it to the Statue.. it was one of the things I had wanted to check out while I´m here. I mean, it´s the icon of Rio, really. You see it in movies and stuff, and it was cool to finally see it up close. The view from up there was amazing too.. and we were lucky we went on a clear, almost cloudless day. Apparently it often gets very cloudy up there, but today was a perfect day.

Got back to the hostel just after 12, and Johnno wasn´t feeling well (dodgy beer at the footy game last night?) so he went back to sleep. I went for lunch at the mall with Yegane, then went on a bit of adventure trying to find Hard Rock Cafe. Caught a bus to the Downtown shopping mall (no, it´s not really located downtown), but had no idea where to get off. The hostel girl said it was after the tunnel, but there were quite a few tunnels on the way. I asked a local, and he kindly pointed out to me where to get off. It was FAR. Way further from the beach we went hang-gliding in. Took me over half an hour get there.

Afterwards, I had no idea where to catch the bus back from. Asked another local girl, and at first she told me the bus stop is on the same side of the road, but I thought that didn´t make sense. After waiting for a while for a bus going back to Botafogo and there was none, she finally told me I had to go across the road. Couldn´t really see a bus stop from where I was standing, and I had to walk a bit further up where I could finally see a bus shelter.

No buses to Botafogo still. A lot that went to Copacabana. Finally, when I saw a bus-metro connection to the metro in Copacabana, I decided to get on, and just catch a metro from there back to the hostel. Plus the bus was nice and airconditioned. So glad I did it, as after I got off the bus I decided to go for a little walk in search of Havaiannas again, and I found a Havaianna heaven!!

It was only a couple of blocks from the bus stop, and they had thousands of Havaiannas there. I mean, any kind you want, they have it. Almost anyway. And they´re cheaper than everywhere else. I spent a while there and walked out with 5 pairs of thongs (3 for presents, 2 for myself). Wanted to buy more, but then I thought, do I *really* need that many pairs of thongs?? I might buy a pair of high-heeled ones though… Hmm.

Picked up my laundry this arvo. Going to watch Borat with Yegane in half an hour.

So that´s my Rio story so far. Been there, done that. Ready to move on!

Yay! We´ll be home in a week´s time. Not that I´m counting or anything…

Anyway. We met up with Jo and her friend Laura in Ipanema yesterday. It was so good to see her again after a month or so. We just stayed at this bar/restaurant near the beach, with a mad street party going right outside. A lot of gays too… I can now say I´ve seen a guy nibbling another guy´s ear on the street. And don´t even get me started on the fat men in speedos. Eww.

We didn´t stay out late last night. Called it a night at about 9.30 or so, and because all the streets were blocked, and there was no metro station nearby, we had to walk along the beach towards Copacabana. It was pretty cool actually. Shitloads of people partying along the beach.

Once we got out of the mad zone and the traffic started changing direction, we caught a cab back to our hostel. Had an earlyish night, although I had to wait for AGES to use the internet to call home. Some people seriously have no consideration towards others. There were only 2 PC´s, and like 4 of us waiting, and they just sat there for HOURS doing God-knows-what. When I saw one of them watching videos on youtube, that was it for me. I told her I needed to use it to call home, and she told me she was uploading photos and might take a while.

We slept in (again) this morning, and woke up just in time to make our way to Copa.. Copacabana to meet up with Jo and Laura for lunch. We met at the very posh lobby of Marriott and went to an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant nearby. I was stuffed. So much food. Oh, and we met up with Nadine there.
Copacabana beach, by the way, wasn´t the greatest. Well I didn´t really get to see the water. Way too many people on the beach we couldn´t even catch a glimpse. I´m gonna have to check it out properly one of these days.

After lunch, we went with Jo and Laura back to our hostel to book for a hang-gliding ride tomorrow (yay!), and then we made our way to the Sugar Loaf. Cost R$35 to get on the cable car, but the view from up there was awesome.

Caught a cab back to the usual shopping mall afterwards to get some passionfruit sundaes.. yumm. Having BBQ at the hostel tonight. Not sure I can handle any more meat after lunch today though.

We finally made it to our last stop, Rio de Janeiro, in one piece. Were pretty annoyed when we had to wait around for our transfer to pick up other passengers from the international terminal. The guy didn´t come back after like 25 minutes, so we thought, stuff it, can´t be arsed waiting around anymore and got on a cab instead.

Traffic was pretty bad that night, and we actually drove past the Sambadrome and got a glimpse of the opening night of the Carnival! It was madness… and there were people in costumes walking around on the street.

Our hostel is actually quite nice (nicer than I´d expected for what we paid), and we were lucky to get a 6-bed dorm instead of 9 or 12. Went to Maccas at the nearby shopping mall for a late supper and went to bed earlyish. Didn´t get to meet up with Nadine or Jo cuz we didn´t get in until late.

Slept in the next day, and was busy organising stuff with the other girls for the carnival. Jo cancelled last minute, but luckily Yegane decided to join us and replaced her spot. Didn´t really do any sightseeing.. spent the arvo at the mall and watched The Pursuit of Happyness. Wanted to save our energy for the carnival. Plus it was too hot outside.

Met up with Nadine, AM and Yegane at the hostel around 7ish, and we did a little rehearsal for the carnival. It was quite amusing, trying to learn a Portuguese song (as if!) in half an hour, and Omri, the hostel guy, also taught us some Samba moves.

Our costumes were massive. Big blue skirt with leopard prints, and a big shoulder thing and a leopard head. You should see Johnno in his skirt. Hilarious.

At around 9 we left the hostel and caught a metro to Sambadrome. It was unreal… 20 or so people carrying massive costumes walking around in the metro station and packing the entire wagon. But we weren´t the only ones. There were people with different costumes everywhere, it was just… weird.

We had to walk along the street and hung around there for a while as our school wasn´t on until 1AM. It was definitely an experience, hanging around on the street seeing all this people in their funky costumes, and massive fancy floats everywhere. The street vendors were making a killing selling drinks and stuff. A lady set up a toilet business (i.e. a black garbage bin liner covering a corner of the bridge) for girls as there were no toilets anywhere. I went. It was… umm, interesting.

After midnight we started putting on our costumes, and soon after we started lining up in rows of 7´s, getting ready to make an entrance to the Sambadrome. My collar bones were hurting from the costume, and it was freakin hot, but hey it was cool.

We made our way to the Sambadrome to be greeted by like a million people in the crowd, with bright lights and loud thumping music, and cameras.. it was so unreal. And I didn´t remember any of the Samba moves so I just did whatever I felt like (after a while I was just pretty much walking… too tired and hurt from the costume), and I´m pretty sure everyone was the same. It took us around 30 minutes to get to the end, and by then I couldn´t wait to get out of my costume. It was absolutely crazy. When we started planning this trip last year we´d had no idea that we would actually be IN the carnival, dancing on the Sambadrome in costumes!! Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Afterwards we made our way back to Section 1 to actually watch the carnival. It was after 3 by the time we got there and we stayed until 4.45. Didn´t make it home until around 5.30. There were people everywhere, and the streets were completely littered.

Slept in until after 1 today, and haven´t done much since. Went to the mall again for lunch, and came here. Might meet up with Jo for dinner later. Will do some sightseeing soonish.. hopefully.

So… we spent 2 days on the Brazilian side of Iguazu, and it was STINKING HOT. Apparently on our first afternoon it was 42 degrees at 5PM, and when we got out for dinner at 9 it was still 31 degrees. I was one cranky girl there.

The Brazilian side of the falls was beautiful. You get panoramic view of the falls, and it was quite different from the Argentinian side, although I still think the boat ride under the waterfall was the highlight of the whole visit.

We had booked our hostel there for one night but the hostel had stuffed up the reservation and the hostel was full, so they ended up sending us to this house a couple of blocks down the road and we ended up having the whole house to ourselves! Private room (I got the big double bed and Johnno got the crappy smelling-like-old-people small bed. Ha!) with aircon, our own bathroom, and living room with cable TV! Plus we got to stay in our room for as long as we wanted today, and we just chilled in our airconditioned room until we had to leave for the airport. Pretty good deal I say!

The only annoying bit was when the security fence´s alarm went off the next morning, and we didn´t even realise it was from our house so we had to put up with this really loud deafening noise for hours before Johnno went out and realised it had come from our fence. Doh.

Also, we ran into the girl we´d met in El Calafate, Yegane, at the sushi restaurant we went to for dinner. She told us she was gonna catch the 23hour bus to Rio the next day, but we saw her again at the airport the next day! Turned out that she decided to pay $350 for the flight instead, cuz she couldn´t make her 12 o´clock bus.

We arrived in Rio around 8PM a couple of nights ago but it´s another entry…

We arrived in Iguazu yesterday and it’s stinking hot in here!!! A lot worse than BA, especially since the last couple of days in BA were unusually cool. We had to wear our jumpers on our last night out!

Anyway, second last night in BA… caught a fast ferry back from Colonia and almost got seasick. Thankfully it only lasted for an hour or so, and once I got off, I caught a cab to an all-you-can-eat parrilla recommended by the hostel at Puerto Madero. Didn’t have enough change for the cab (I had 100-peso note and 4.5 pesos in small change, and the meter was on 5.7). The cabbie didn’t have change for 100 pesos so he let me go with 4.5, although he didn’t look very happy about it. Oh well.

Stuffed my face with so much meat that night I couldn’t even finish my dessert! Was gonna walk and catch a Subte home but it was too cold and windy I decided to cab it again. Spent the rest of the night enjoying the luxury of my private room with cable TV.

The next morning I had to move back to the dorm room. Met my new roommate, an Austrian girl called Brigitte. We went for a walk to San Telmo together to check out the Sunday market. San Telmo was very busy on Sunday.. we saw some interesting stuff at the market (flattened old beer and Coke bottles, handbags made from old Pepsi cans…) and a couple doing tango on the street. The restaurant we went to was very packed but the food was pretty cheap.

We walked back to the hostel afterwards and I just hung out there for a while, waiting for Lucy and Johnno. They came at 5.45 with their new friend, Chris, and we went for a coffee nearby. Decided to go for sushi and a movie in Puerto Madero, so I came back to pick up my jumper and asked Brigitte if she wanted to come. And then there were 4.

It was a nice long walk by the water to the cinema at Puerto Madero. We bought tickets for “Blood Diamond” and caught a cab 15 blocks down the road to the Sushi Club. Had excellent meals with beautiful view, and walked back to the cinema just in time for the movie. Took some pretty photos of the waterfront along the way.

“Blood Diamond” was fantastic. The best movie I’ve seen lately. It made us think that Bolivia wasn’t so bad after all, compared to some places in Africa.. *grins*

Said goodbye to Lucy and Chris afterwards (sobs!), and Brigitte and I made our way back to the hostel, trying to find a cab. It took us AGES to find a free cab… it was pretty scary really, walking on a very quiet road at night. And there were police officers everywhere which made you think how dodgy the place must’ve been.

Eventually we made it safe and sound back at the hostel, and I went to bed just before 2.

We flew to Iguazu the next day (yesterday). Johnno came to my hostel to pick me up and we caught a cab to the airport.

It’s been soooo hot here I’m so glad we have aircon in our rooms. Yep, got two single rooms and I’m so happy to be able to spread my stuff all over the place. The hostel is decent enough, and it’s got a pool. I spent most of the afternoon in my cool airconditioned room sleeping though.

This morning we caught a bus to Cataratas (the National Park) and did a tour. The first bit was booorrrinng as, a truck ride across the jungle, with pretty much nothing to see. The next bit was more exciting.. we rode on a speedboat near the waterfalls, and got to take some pretty cool photos. But the most exciting part was the last part when we rode INTO the waterfall and got absolutely drenched. I’d known we were gonna get wet, but had not expected to get totally soaked. It was really cool though. Definitely the highlight of the tour.

We went for a walk around for a bit afterwards, and had buffet lunch at the Sheraton. The misleading Lonely Planet had quoted US$10 but apparently now it cost 79 pesos (almost AU$40!). But oh well.. we had a million-dollar view and the desserts were beautiful.

After stuffing our faces with food, we caught a train to the Devil’s Throat (the biggest waterfall). It was absolutely massive. I was in awe. It’s almost worth paying the 30 pesos entrance fee to the National Park just for that. We got sprayed again, but nowhere as bad this time.

The sun was so hot today, we decided to make our way home right after. Johnno went to the internet cafe, and I went straight back to my (airconditioned!!) room. Sent my clothes to laundry, and went for a dip in the pool for a bit. Hung out in my room until the sun set before coming here.

Since we’ve spent so much money on lunch today, it will be a doing-nothing day tomorrow. The day after tomorrow we’re crossing the border to Brazil to check out the Brazillian side of the waterfall, and spend the night there before flying to Rio the next day.

Less than 2 weeks to go now. Yay!!!!

I’m in Colonia, Uruguay on a day trip at the moment and I thought I’d post an entry from here.

First things first. Tango Backpackers officially is the worst hostel I’ve ever stayed at. I booked the ferry tickets to here from them. They charged me 5 pesos commision, and then they told me the tickets would be there at midday yesterday and that I’d have to come back to pick it up.

So I went all the way to Palermo yesterday arvo JUST FOR THAT, and when I got there they told me the tickets weren’t there, and that I’d have to pick them up at the port tomorrow morning before boarding. I was like, no fucking way. Pissed me off SO much. I called the Buquebus office, and they told me I needed a reference number to pick up my tickets, but none of the staff at the freakin hostel knew what the number was, because the chick who had booked the tickets for me wasn’t there.

They ended up spending a long time on the phone with the company (I made them; I wasn’t leaving until they sorted it out) and in the end they told me if I showed them my passport when I picked them up, it should be fine. Because of their freakin inefficiency, it was way after 6.15 when I got out of there, and the Buquebus office told me to come before 7 tonight.

I had planned to catch a Subte and walk, but I figured I wouldn’t have enough time for that, so I had to catch a cab and spent shitloads of money on cab fare which I shouldn’t have had to pay in the first place if the tickets had been there as they’d promised.

Anyway, I sorted it all out in the end (after spending 20 pesos and getting stuck in traffic in BA’s peak hour), and went window shopping at Galerias Pacifico afterwards to cool myself down. When I got back to the hostel I met my roommate, an Aussie girl called Ange, and she told me she’s going to Colonia tomorrow on the same ferry. I was happy cuz it meant we’d be able to share a cab and I’d have someone to talk to on the way.

Then I found out that she’d booked from our current hostel and they didn’t charge any commission, and they had the tickets delivered to them!! So anyone who’s planning to come to BA, DO NOT STAY AT TANGO BACKPACKERS!! There are much better hostels elsewhere. I’d recommend staying at my current hostel, Estoril, but make sure you book way in advance during high season cuz it gets very busy.

Anyway.. moving on to better things..

Had an early night last night.. stayed in bed reading an old Cosmo someone left at the hostel (they have a huge selection of English magazines), and this morning Ange and I caught a cab to the port together.

The ferry ride was nice. It was a HUGE ferry, nothing like what I’d expected, and I managed to snag two couches and put them together and slept almost the whole way (or tried to anyway, with all those kids running around and screaming).

When we got here, I made my own way to the Old Town since Ange had to wait for her luggage and was meeting her Uruguayan friend, Andres. I had a bathroom emergency so I dashed into the first restaurant I saw and had lunch there (after using their bathroom).

Walked to the main square and climbed the lighthouse afterwards, and was delighted when I ran into Ange and Andres there! Andres had a car with him, so he drove us around to other parts of town and to the old Bullring place, so it was pretty cool. I got to see parts of the city that I’d never have seen otherwise.

Ange and Andres had to drive on to Montevideo early to attend a wedding tonight, so they dropped me back off at the Old Town and I’ve just been hanging around here for a while. It’s a very laid-back and cute little town with cobblestone streets, but there’s really not much going on here. It’s very very quiet.. I’d expected it to be touristy, and it is kinda touristy, but still not many tourists here at all. When we drove to the newer part of town, we noticed that hardly any shop was open (on a Saturday!) and there was hardly anyone on the street. I’m so glad I didn’t decide to spend the night here, cuz I’d be bored out of my mind!!

I’ve got about an hour and a half to burn before having to head back to the port, so I’m just gonna surf the net a bit more since I’ve pretty much seen all of the Old Town (although I couldn’t be arsed going to any of the museums).

Am thinking of having dinner at the steak place recommended by the hostel at Puerto Madero (just by the harbour) tonight. Been a while since I had a decent steak. Two more nights in BA and we’re off to Iguazu!

Johnno’s Spanish lesson #2:

[reciting our hostel’s address to the cab driver last night]: “Thames two two uno two” (note: pronounce “two” in Spanish accent)

LOL… ahhh endless source of amusement…

So anyway, yesterday I went shopping around the Palermo Soho neighbourhood and Alta Palermo shopping mall. Bought some nice tops (I love the clothes here!) and a skirt. My overnight bag is officially full and now I have another extra shopping bag. Not good. But oh well.

Picked up my passport at the Brazilian Consulate in the city in the afternoon, then went for a walk and bought a pair of new cheaparse sunnies (lost my old ones somewhere), then caught a Subte back to the hostel. Yep, first experience on a Subte in BA. It was kinda hot and stuffy, and not as clean or new as in Santiago. Cheap though.. 70 cents each trip. I’ll be taking more public transport I think.

Last night we went to Complejo Tango for a tango lesson, dinner and a show. It was fun, trying to learn to tango in 1 hour. I’m thinking of taking up lessons when I get back home. Johnno was surprisingly enjoying himself too. The dinner afterwards was ok, but the show was very entertaining. Good night, good night. I was very amused when I found out when the guy “bathroom guy” turned out to be one of the singers. When he came out I was like, hey that’s the guy who showed me where the bathroom was!

A bit of drama on the way back. The transfer that had been arranged for us took us to the wrong hostel. It was also called Tango Backpackers, but on the other side of town. The driver had just driven off without asking us where to go, and he wasn’t happy when we told him it wasn’t the right address when we got there.

He then had to drive us to our hostel again, and he was gonna make us pay the fare. We were like, no way, that wasn’t our fault. It was the company’s fault and we had paid for transfer as part of the cost, and we weren’t gonna pay anything more. After a long argument, we called the reception at our hostel out, and they ended up paying the 15 pesos for us.

I had an earlyish night last night because I had to check out this morning and move to another hostel. Was pissed off when 3 people in my room came back at like 4 or 5 in the morning and started making lots of noise. I mean, they were having a conversation as if no one else was sleeping in the room!

Couldn’t wait to get out of the dodgy hostel this morning. My new hostel in the city is soooo nice, it’s such a contrast. It’s more like the rest of the hostels we’ve stayed at in Bariloche and Patagonia. The room is very nice and clean, with ensuite bathroom, and unlike in Milhouse, aircon is free! And the staff are all very nice and helpful, unlike the surly Tango Backpackers staff. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t decided to stay here from the beginning.

I caught a bus to La Boca this afternoon, as part of my sightseeing plan. What a cute area! All the houses are colourful, and it’s like stepping into a completely different town. It’s very touristy though.. most of the buildings are souvenir shops or restaurants. I didn’t stay there for too long.. all the shops sell the same stuff and after like half an hour I got bored and caught a bus back to the city.

Going back to Palermo this arvo to pick up my ferry tickets to Colonia tomorrow. They weren’t ready when I checked out this morning. Yep, going to Colonia tomorrow on a day trip, and planning to check out the Sunday market in San Telmo and the cemetery in Recoleta the next day. Or maybe I’ll stop by at Recoleta this arvo on the way to Palermo, we’ll see.

May be meeting up with Johnno later to go to another shopping mall in the city. Better go now and get stuff done.