So, Puerto Madryn is big news not because its a crappy town with the big pier but because of what´s to see and do in Peninsular Valdes. This huge spit of land is home to many lovely plants and animals. The number of tour operators in P. Madryn might well equal the total sum of wildlife, but I shunned them all and as an independent traveller I travlled independently to the main town (if you can call it that) on P.Valdes - Puerto Pyramides.
After casing the joint for the best whale watching deal I started chatting to a very cool Czech guy - Jirka - who was travelling properly independently with only a tent and his wits. He laughed at my "very english humour" and we shared nightmares over living near Basingstoke (he had been a handy man for a retired Colonel near doughnut city to fund his trip). Like a good Douglas Coupland novel he could sum things up (in this case the trials and tribulations of being on the road) with wry accuracy and a good line in humour. He shared with me some fine tips and, after we parted like old friends, I felt like I should buy a tent and a sleeping bag and rough it a bit.. which i still haven´t done, tho he has encourgaed me a few times by e-mail since.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
other stuff on Bs As
So - just quickly then:
- beer - stella is delicacy here - go figure. quilmes, a fairly decent local brew, has pretty much cornered the market here tho...
- going out - it seems that argentines don´t go out for a night out until about 1am and parties aren´t pumping until about 3 or 4. nuts. i´ve tried a couple of times - oh how i´ve tried- but almost always need to pass out at about 3.30...must be my age... btw - have i mentioned that i was accused of having a mid-life crisis by some stuck up little 22yr old madam from england? when i was her age i had a bit more respect for my elders i can tell you. kids today....
so anyway - yes - three weeks in Bs As studying spanish (well kinda... the last week and a haf was a bit sow and i maybe didn´t give it my full attention...which i´m regretting now) and i was mad keen to get out of the city. kinda thankfully the ady running the homeess shelter i´m gonna help at was busy for teh couple of days i was gonna head there, so i changed my plans of boozing in the big city and booked a ticket for puerto madryn... which i´ve already mentioned i think...
anyway - yeah. Puerto madryn was like a flipping ghost town when i arrived at mid afternoon. I checked into my hostel which was,again,like a zombie virus had swept through a week before. i went for a walk along this holidays first beach and then along the town pier (to see my 2nd big flag of the trip - tho madrids big flag can sleep easy for now) when i came back to shore the town was FULL UP and bustling. it was a bit freaky. anyway. it turns out everyone who goes to puerto madryn goes there for day trips and not for the town....
bugger... i´ve run out of time again. i´m now in chile (i´ve been to Ushuaia since my last post) and am in punta arenas and am heading for punta natales to do some 4 day walk round some montains. the place is called torres del paines.... i know that torres is land, but i hope paines doesn´t mean pain..... i´m not sure if i really am the outdoor type...
Btw - i´ve not had a cigarette for 5 days now... which is odd becuse i was smoking like a bloody chimney for the first month and sounded like i´d borrowed pat butchers larynx.
- beer - stella is delicacy here - go figure. quilmes, a fairly decent local brew, has pretty much cornered the market here tho...
- going out - it seems that argentines don´t go out for a night out until about 1am and parties aren´t pumping until about 3 or 4. nuts. i´ve tried a couple of times - oh how i´ve tried- but almost always need to pass out at about 3.30...must be my age... btw - have i mentioned that i was accused of having a mid-life crisis by some stuck up little 22yr old madam from england? when i was her age i had a bit more respect for my elders i can tell you. kids today....
so anyway - yes - three weeks in Bs As studying spanish (well kinda... the last week and a haf was a bit sow and i maybe didn´t give it my full attention...which i´m regretting now) and i was mad keen to get out of the city. kinda thankfully the ady running the homeess shelter i´m gonna help at was busy for teh couple of days i was gonna head there, so i changed my plans of boozing in the big city and booked a ticket for puerto madryn... which i´ve already mentioned i think...
anyway - yeah. Puerto madryn was like a flipping ghost town when i arrived at mid afternoon. I checked into my hostel which was,again,like a zombie virus had swept through a week before. i went for a walk along this holidays first beach and then along the town pier (to see my 2nd big flag of the trip - tho madrids big flag can sleep easy for now) when i came back to shore the town was FULL UP and bustling. it was a bit freaky. anyway. it turns out everyone who goes to puerto madryn goes there for day trips and not for the town....
bugger... i´ve run out of time again. i´m now in chile (i´ve been to Ushuaia since my last post) and am in punta arenas and am heading for punta natales to do some 4 day walk round some montains. the place is called torres del paines.... i know that torres is land, but i hope paines doesn´t mean pain..... i´m not sure if i really am the outdoor type...
Btw - i´ve not had a cigarette for 5 days now... which is odd becuse i was smoking like a bloody chimney for the first month and sounded like i´d borrowed pat butchers larynx.
The greatest sandwich ever
just so you can sleep easy, sndthry. the pre-sealion sandwich was the best i´ve ever had and easily gets in the top three sandwhiches of all time. sure you get jamon y queso the world over, but the bread here was just the right side of stale, you could tell the processed ham had ben steamed of the bones with love and the weight of melted cheese was greater than my mochila / rucksack. i´ve had nightmares for a week.
mmmmm...
mmmmm...
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Bs As
So yes, before i get up-to-date I shall share a quick overview of Buenos Aires.
Folk
Portenos are ace people it turns out. Very friendly, convivial and like a good laugh. But not as much as they like dogs. Of which there are kazillions and, consequently, bazillions of pro dog walkers exercising 10 at once. I saw a fight between the dogs of two rival dog walkers - very funny to see the humans getting dragged down the street as the hounds took flight for a royal rumble. However, no-one likes picking up dog poo very much. My trainers have collected some soveniurs along the way. in Argentina they also love the Mullets and Rat Tails here - no two haircuts are the same. They also like beards so I fitted in fine (NB: in my folly i left my beard trimmers at home so i made my spanish teacher write down very clear instructions that i could read out to Barbers to get my facial folicles trimmed... it worked too...tho its a little bit sculpted like a "Just For Men" advert).
Getting about
The aforementioned subway system is good and cheap (just over 10p to go where you want) and taxis abound (again fairly cheap, but it can be expensive if they give you the ´tour´or pull the old "that´s a fake 50" trick). However, my favourite mode of transport was the Collectivios (buses). They´re brilliant. They have, I kid you not, about 1000 different routes. The buses of each route have they´re own colours with the drivers ties reflect the team strip. Again they cost about 10p and, not that I´ve turned into a Bus Spotter, if i was forced to choose the best route i would have to settle on the 152. Dedo Arriba!
Folk
Portenos are ace people it turns out. Very friendly, convivial and like a good laugh. But not as much as they like dogs. Of which there are kazillions and, consequently, bazillions of pro dog walkers exercising 10 at once. I saw a fight between the dogs of two rival dog walkers - very funny to see the humans getting dragged down the street as the hounds took flight for a royal rumble. However, no-one likes picking up dog poo very much. My trainers have collected some soveniurs along the way. in Argentina they also love the Mullets and Rat Tails here - no two haircuts are the same. They also like beards so I fitted in fine (NB: in my folly i left my beard trimmers at home so i made my spanish teacher write down very clear instructions that i could read out to Barbers to get my facial folicles trimmed... it worked too...tho its a little bit sculpted like a "Just For Men" advert).
Getting about
The aforementioned subway system is good and cheap (just over 10p to go where you want) and taxis abound (again fairly cheap, but it can be expensive if they give you the ´tour´or pull the old "that´s a fake 50" trick). However, my favourite mode of transport was the Collectivios (buses). They´re brilliant. They have, I kid you not, about 1000 different routes. The buses of each route have they´re own colours with the drivers ties reflect the team strip. Again they cost about 10p and, not that I´ve turned into a Bus Spotter, if i was forced to choose the best route i would have to settle on the 152. Dedo Arriba!
One thing that did cross my mind was how screwed this enourmous city would be if / when we all run out of petrol. I think our grey haired friend above might, instead, be waving his middle finger about (with his 152 tie round his head as he loots an electronics shop). Still, at least the stinking fumes would vanish.
Cultural differences / stuff
Men kiss each other goodbye. Thanks to the infinite wit and wisdom of Rob Andrews I understand why (back in the day you´d complement folk or pass on secret messages and stuff). Which is fine...except I wasn´t really expecting, as i said goodbye to a Porteno friend, to have a peck planted on my cheek. That or i´d gone in the wrong kind of bar and had a dose of Rehypnol slipped in my drink and he thought i was out of it.
They love a good protest - nearly everyday there was some group or other having a pop at the government in the main square (no posties that i could spot, tho, mum). The most moving one of all tho is the weekly (Thursdays at 3.30pm) protest by the Madres de Plaza de Mayo. Very moving stuff...
ummm... i´m out of time. I´m in Puerto Madryn at the moment and have to get a quick bite to eat before i do a scuba dive thing with some sealions. Can´t wait - i have a feeling this could be one of the highlights of the trip...
Friday, November 30, 2007
Tango Tango
So, one person I haven`t mentioned yet is Dario. A properly properly sound porteno (a native Bs As). He`s related to a friend of mines brothers wife. James Araci (said friend) kindly put me in touch with him and Dario (and his sister Lisa and their buddies) have been really kind in tipping me off about some cool stuff todo.
One of the said cool things we`ve done is head to see the Orquestra Tipica Fernandez Fierro at their own very cool venue Club Atletico Fernadez Fierro. It was brilliant.
I arrived there a bit early and there were Tango Lessons just starting up so I joined in. Of the thousands of words the instructors were saying, I understood only a few but soon enough my partnre and i were swirling round the room treading on my (very short) partners toes. Tango is mentioned everywhere in Bs As and i thought it was just a tourist gimmick, but apparently people genuinely love it. And i can see why. when done properly it`s amazing to watch.
It transpires that the man leads the way and the woman has to try and guess whats gonna happen next. This was not easy for me (a tall, indecisive, polite englishman) but, my partner, Anna (a fairly short, tho mobile, Argentine) was fairly game and i was soon tripping her up on the cramped dancefloor. Twas great fun.
Anyway - when the lesson (or milonga) was over the show proper began. On stage trooped on a pianist, two dudes on double bass, three chaps on the violins and four fellas playing what looks like an accordian, but isn`t. Anyway, they were wicked. With no percussion they banged out some brilliant tango and salsa tunes. I think they`re very well respected and are sort of making tango cool again with their alternative approaches to stuff and things... i don`t really know. all i know was that it was good. yes.
One of the said cool things we`ve done is head to see the Orquestra Tipica Fernandez Fierro at their own very cool venue Club Atletico Fernadez Fierro. It was brilliant.
I arrived there a bit early and there were Tango Lessons just starting up so I joined in. Of the thousands of words the instructors were saying, I understood only a few but soon enough my partnre and i were swirling round the room treading on my (very short) partners toes. Tango is mentioned everywhere in Bs As and i thought it was just a tourist gimmick, but apparently people genuinely love it. And i can see why. when done properly it`s amazing to watch.
It transpires that the man leads the way and the woman has to try and guess whats gonna happen next. This was not easy for me (a tall, indecisive, polite englishman) but, my partner, Anna (a fairly short, tho mobile, Argentine) was fairly game and i was soon tripping her up on the cramped dancefloor. Twas great fun.
Anyway - when the lesson (or milonga) was over the show proper began. On stage trooped on a pianist, two dudes on double bass, three chaps on the violins and four fellas playing what looks like an accordian, but isn`t. Anyway, they were wicked. With no percussion they banged out some brilliant tango and salsa tunes. I think they`re very well respected and are sort of making tango cool again with their alternative approaches to stuff and things... i don`t really know. all i know was that it was good. yes.
My First Loco In South America
So. Theres this thing that i`m pretty good thats been dubbed a "locochimpo". The root of the name is a long and embarrasing story, but essentially to LOCO is where one royally put ones foot in ones mouth and through lack of thought unwittingly cause offence and / or provides the tinder and the flame to a potentially dangerous situation. (The Brothers Clark and Andy Mac may be able to provide a better description).
On Saturday last week I went to a barrio /district of Bs As called La Boca to meet some New Yorkers I`ve been hanging out with - Kelty and Rob. (In fact i had my first ever thanksgiving dinner in their flat the week before... tho we had steak and chorizo sausage rather than turkey... and some slight american chap managed to eat through half a cow. He had the meat sweats after that, alright).
La Boca is a fairly dodgy neighbourhood and apart from two or three blocks around a very colourful street called Caminto its fairly rough. I heard a story/ travellers myth about a Swedish guy who independently went to see a Boca Juniors game in La Boca and got mugged at gunpoint by some children clad in the blue and yellow of boca juniors. Cute. Its very weird. I`ve never been anywhere where the divide between safe and dangerous is so stark and obvious.
So, naturally, I decided to walk the 10/15 blocks along what i had been told were the "safe streets" from San Telmo to meet them in Caminto. My map reading skills let me down and i took a wrong turn a couple of blocks early. I kept my cool when i noticed my mistake, but still quicked my pace through a couple of quadras and started to sweat when (i thought) folk were giving me some funny looks.
Thankfully, I got there safe and sound, but when i sat and considered what i was wearing i was all the more grateful for still being alive....without thinking i had decided to wear the yellow and blue t-shirt here (this computers playing silly buggers and i can`t seem to paste it in)... it`s obviously no surprise that my beeches / death to boca juniors t-shirt could have caused a few eyebrows to be raised... but, thankfully, no guns.
hola
So - apologies for the break... time really does zip by.
I was a bit worried, before i came away, about how easy i would find it to adjust from a fairly full and busy life to one where i please myself. How would i find not doing much? how would i fill my days?
well...it turns out, its been fairly straitforward and painless (apart from some early starts for school). Time has become a fairly unimportnat concept (apart from for buses and spanish lessons and even then Argentinian time is fairly flexible) and i eat when i`m hungry and sleep when i`m tired (i recommend everyone has a siesta). oh and drink beer when the sun sets.
Today is my last day in Bs As... for the time being. I shall return to this fine city and do it properly. Due to the spanish classes it feels like I`ve not done everything i want to do in this town. However, three weeks into my trip and muy desperate to see a bit more of Argentina and spend some time in somewhere a bit more chilled (Bs As houses a third of the argentinain population).
So, now that schools out, i`m headed out of the city with Don Otto to a town 20hrs away by bus called Puerto Madryn. On route i hope to finally do some reading (i fear i brought too many books) and once there i intend to see a whale or two with my own eyes.
I was a bit worried, before i came away, about how easy i would find it to adjust from a fairly full and busy life to one where i please myself. How would i find not doing much? how would i fill my days?
well...it turns out, its been fairly straitforward and painless (apart from some early starts for school). Time has become a fairly unimportnat concept (apart from for buses and spanish lessons and even then Argentinian time is fairly flexible) and i eat when i`m hungry and sleep when i`m tired (i recommend everyone has a siesta). oh and drink beer when the sun sets.
Today is my last day in Bs As... for the time being. I shall return to this fine city and do it properly. Due to the spanish classes it feels like I`ve not done everything i want to do in this town. However, three weeks into my trip and muy desperate to see a bit more of Argentina and spend some time in somewhere a bit more chilled (Bs As houses a third of the argentinain population).
So, now that schools out, i`m headed out of the city with Don Otto to a town 20hrs away by bus called Puerto Madryn. On route i hope to finally do some reading (i fear i brought too many books) and once there i intend to see a whale or two with my own eyes.
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