Nos gusta mucha vida en Buenos Aires, comimos carne, bebimos vino tinto y visitamos lugares. Estudiamos espanol (castellano) en las escuela por tres semanas tambien, pero no hablamos bien todavia!
Only joking, we're not really going to write the blog in Spanish - we're not good enough for that ... yet!
Tell us why ...we don't like Monday's? We started school on Boxing Day - an 8.30am start which was a real shock to our systems. As was the five hours of lessons per day, especially as English was not allowed! However, the other kids were nice, didn't steal our lunch money and spoke to us at playtime ...
As we joined a course (unintentionally) half way through, we had to play catch up and cram 40 hours worth of tuition into 15 - talk about hard work! Still, we passed our exam with flying colours and moved up to the next level!
The next 2 weeks were slightly easier and we learnt loads. However, it wasn't all plain sailing and there have been more than a few amusing errors - for example Steve 'putting' his wife out at night
(yo saco mi esposa a la noche)! Although that might have had something to do with Ali having to 'f**k' the bus one day (
Tengo que coger el collectivo - which in Argentina does mean 'to take' but not in quite the same way as intended)!
School's Out!All this brain activity was getting a bit much ... and being the skivers that we are, we caught a ferry to Uruguay for a well earned break! Arriving in Colonia we felt like we'd stepped back in time! A very nice port town with old buildings, cobbled streets and ´Bonnie & Clyde´ style cars dotted around the place, Steve thought he'd died and gone to Nikon heaven!
But alas, city life was beckoning so onwards we went to Montevideo which proved to be a mistake! Crumbling and dirty, Montevideo didn't really have much going for it - it reminded us a lot of Havana but without the vibrant life and people!
Needless to say, we moved swiftly on to Punte del Este. Home to the rich, famous and corrupt, Punte is a lovely beach resort and we wished we could've stayed longer - however it's a little exclusive for us backpackers, with average peak season hotel prices coming in at way over our budget!!! Adding insult to poverty, Steve dropped our camera (again) - and here it was that the camera actually went to Nikon heaven :-(
How the mighty fall...Making the most of our 'week off' and in honour of our first wedding anniversary (has it really been a year?!?!), we also squeezed in a trip to Iguazu to visit the falls.
One of the most magnificent things we've seen on our travels, Iguazu is made up of 275 waterfalls (and 275 million butterflies - actually we made that figure up but there were a lot!) seen (by us!) from both Argentina and Brazil. The biggest, 'El Garganta del Diablo' (The Devil's Throat) has over 1 million litres of water per second falling and getting close to it really does feel like you're about to tumble off a flat earth! The spray is amazing - within seconds you're drenched and that's from quite far away!
Missing the action-packed days of Australia and New Zealand, we couldn't not take the 'Gran Aventura' speedboat trip to the base of the falls (yep, soaked again!), the 4WD trip through the sub-tropical rainforest to go wildlife spotting (they neglected to mention that puma and jaguar are nocturnal!), and the rowing trip down the river watching monkeys swing through trees and Cayman bask in the sunshine!
In the evenings we relaxed in our no expense
spent hotel, where the menu featured ´pig and chips´, follwed by ´pudding with a dollop of dulce´ - the kind of no nonsense menu Steve appreciates!
Honorary Porteños
Whilst in Buenos Aires we've integrated into Porteño (BA locals) life to the best of our abilities.
We spent New Year's Eve at a traditional Asado (BBQ); we've been gauchos, riding horses, eating great steaks and drinking too much wine at an Estancia (ranch); we've ´seen´ a few tango shows (Steve wouldn't join in); we've watched the street performers at the San Telmo and Palermo Ferias; we've chilled with the cafe society; we've eaten a couple of cows at various Parillas in Las Canitas; we've put on our Sunday best and promenaded along Puerto Madero; and we've mingled with the passionate folk of La Boca - football season is over for the summer so we're yet to experience an actual Boca Juniors match (hopefully at the end of Febraury).
Oh, and we've also got addicted to 'Gran Hermano' (
Big Brother Argentina), which unfortunately isn't as controversial as the UK Celebrity version we've heard so much about on the news here!
We've also managed a spot of sight-seeing. Recoleta cemetry - an ornate necropolis where the Argentinean elite rest in splendour (they say it's cheaper to live your whole life in extravagance than to die in La Recoleta); La Casa Rosado - the very pink presidential palace; the Obelisco - a phallic looking structure in a street not designed with pedestrians in mind (16 lanes of traffic!); various amazingly ornate theatres, churches and buildings (including Ali's favourite - the posh shopping centre Galerias Pacifico).
Yep, we're liking it here - not sure how we're going to get back into the backpacking ...
l the trimmings. Well.... almost.. sprouts proved too difficult to find! 
l the trimmings. Well.... almost.. sprouts proved too difficult to find! 
Colourful La Boca. On the balcony stands Eva Peron and local empenada-chomping porteño Diego Maradona, complete in his Boca Juniors kit (no doubt with a sack of pies behind him)!
Teachers´ Pets - with tutors Innes & Sol a la escuela
Lost in time
´Garganta del Diablo´, Iguazu Falls on Argentine/Brazil border
