The beginning of Patagonia

Well, here we are in Puerto Madryn - our first stop on the way down south, and our first place in Patagonia. And what a place! First of all, we were expecting Puerto Madryn to be somewhat similar to Puerto Iguazu - i.e. a town with little going on that serves only as a gateway to a larger tourist attraction (in this case Peninsula Valdes, where whales rule the sea!). But we were pleasantly surprised to find it a charming and fun town!

We arrived from Buenos Aires - that is, myself, Alan, Bones and Mac arrived (Ed and Welly took the full sleeper bus, so got here a bit later) - at about 9 in the morning, after 22 hours on a bus from Buenos Aires. Perhaps now is the time to explain what buses are like in Argentina, and maybe dispell some illusions you might have! Buses in Argentina - even the semi-beds - are like the business class section of a good airline. For example, for 30 euro (which is what the 22 hour bus cost down here), our seats tilted to a 30 degree angle - as near to lying down as you can go! You are also given a lovely fleece blanket and pillow, and a lady brings you a little sandwich when you first sit down, and brings whatever drink you like - coffee, tea, soft drinks. Then, a little later, they put on the movie, and as you are watching it, they bring a hot meal - the other night we got a little tuna salad, some bread, a chicken and potatoe dish, and some flan for dessert. We got two movies, then they turned all the lights off at about 11, and we all had a lovely sleep. They woke us up at 7.30 the next morning with some light breakfast - croissants and coffee or tea.

Not too shabby! It`s probably a bit of shock to some of you who think that I`ve been holding on to the side of buses racing through dusty roads, hanging on for dear life! But rest assured, Argentina is renowned for it`s bus service, so I`ll be hitting some fantastically basic travelling routines in Bolivia and Peru. You might see me hanging on to the side of a bus yet!

Anyway, we arrived quite early, and while Bones decided to have a snooze as his leg was hurting him (lazy bugger!), myself and Alan and Mac decided to have some physical exercise! The lovely lady in our hostel had told us about a place 17km away where a sealion colony was, so we rented bicycles and set off in the sunshine thinking "how hard can the cycle be?". It turned out that the paved road ended after about five minutes, and after that it was gravel and sand roads all the way out there. In the blistering heat. With no shade. With less-than-brilliant bikes. Eek! It was great fun, though - all along beside the sea! I thought I`d die of the heat, and my legs were giving way under me, but after an hour and a half of cycling, we found the headland where the sealions were. And wow was it worth it! They were swimming in the water, and playing with each other, and the noise of them was unreal - calling out to each other on the sand! There were hundreds of them! We stood and watched them as the tide came further in, and they were forced to all begin swimming as their little patch of beach was getting smaller and smaller. They looked so playful and lovely! So we had our little lunch at the headland, and began the cycle back. On our way along a long stretch of the road, we saw two other cyclists stopped at the side of the road. As I passed, they said that there was a whale out from the shore. We stopped our bikes, and just as we looked out to sea, we saw a huge tail flip out of the water! Wow! We watched for ages as the whale turned and flipped at the surface, shooting water into the air through it`s blowhole, and flipping its tail into the air. Amazing! We cycled on and found an abandoned sandpit that people had turned into a dirtbike playground of hills and ramps, and we tested our bikes out on that for a bit. We returned to the hostel sweating, sunburnt, but bloody happy!!

That sunshine turned out to be misleading! The next day we got up at 6.30 to join our tour at 7.15 for Peninsula Valdes. We headed out to the peninsula in time to be the first boat out in the water for whale watching. We looked great in our giant yellow waterproofs and orange lifejackets! The boat speeded out along the coast, and within minutes we were out in open water. We had been talking amongst ourselves, and all had assumed that when we saw a whale, it would be far in the distance, and that we would be lucky to even see a whale - this being just the end of whale season in this area. However, we were to be pleasantly wrong! Our first whale surfaced within ten feet of the boat, and the captain cut his engines and we all stood in silence watching this huge 30-foot long mammal breaking the water, rolling around so much waves hit the side of our boat, slapping his tail in the air, and actually spraying us with water from his blowhole! It was the most amazing thing I`ve ever seen. I actually stopped taking photos, because nothing can explain or show the actual beauty of just being there, and watching this ancient creature sunning himself in the water next to you. After he dove for the final time, and didn`t resurface, I looked over the edge of the boat into the dark water, imagining how many of these huge beasts might be swimming beneath us.

I didn´t have to wonder for long! We say four whales in total that morning, each as amazing as the last - and even a calf swimming alongside his mother in the water, playfully splashing. It was the most beautiful thing I`ve ever seen!

After our boat trip, we went further up the island to see elephant seals. What a weird experience! They looked like giant slugs, just lying on the beach as though they`d never move again. How were these even the same species as they playful and energetica sealions we had seen the day before? WERE they even the same species? We headed further up the island to see a small penguin colony, where we could look at them down on the beach, waddling around. It was bitterly cold out there! But no ice just yet - we`ll have to head further south for that!

It was a long day, but really satisfying! We felt like we were actually doing something finally!

Yesterday we took the trip to Punto Tombo, where 500,000 penguins live in a colony. Wow! Again, it was very cold - and extremely windy (it is 200km south of where we are now), but no ice. The penguins lived in little holes they had dug in the sand. You stick to a pathway running through their habitat, but the penguins have ignored the human presence, and waddle across in front of you at any given opportunity - we lost track of the amount of times you`d have to jump out of the way to let one by! They were just beautiful, and we even got to see some little chicks! At the end of the pathway is a cliffside, where you can watch them on the beach and see them swimming - for a creature so graceless on land they move like lightening in the water! Really fabulous! On the way back from the penguins we stopped at a Welsh town. In the 1800´s Welsh settlers came over to Argentina, asking the government for permission to settle here and have freedom of language and culture, as the English were oppressing them at home and forcing them to speak their language. The Argentinian government welcomed them, as they needed to populate the sparse region of Patagonia - so it was a win-win situation! There are Welsh descendents all over Patagonia, but this particular town we stopped in - Gaiman - still has Welsh speaking inhabitants. The Welsh flag flies, and there are Welsh names on streets and buildings, as well as Welsh tea-houses. Very strange - but it was lovely. And they showed us the first house built in the town - from 1840 - and you might as well have planted us down in the west of Ireland! A proper little Celtic house in the middle of Argentina!

The weather is getting colder, and we`re heading right into it today. We`re heading to El Calafate now, to see the glaciers - so Alan is bugging me to get off the computer, as we need to buy a fleece for the cold! My next entry will be with cold fingers and running nose.....ha ha!

Little bit drunken thoughts for tonight....

Went to see an exhibition today and yesterday in the Pacifico shopping centre in Florida street. Big opulant centre, full of Yves Sant Laurant shops and Lacoste, etc., and at the top of it, a huge amount of space devoted to art. The first section had paintings which were almost photographic they were so detailed and exact, and the second room had some amazing sculptures - a huge wire brain hung suspended from the ceiling, slowly rotating, whilst lights projected different shadows of the object onto a white wall. On the opposite wall, a huge green set of lungs with hundreds of pink balloons representing the expanding and retracting section of the lung - filling and deflating with air, giving the impression of actual breathing. Amazing to watch, and somewhat hypnotic!!

The next room housed the section we had sought out - the World Press Photography exhibition. Wow! The photos touched me in a way I had forgotten I could be - even in my few weeks of travel. You become somewhat desensithised to the women begging at street corners, or the ten year old juggler pathetically stuffed into a clown suit four sizes too small for her in order to garner more change from the subway travellers, or the old man washing his socks in the fountain outside the botanical gardens, or the old woman shouting abuse at you for walking through her ´house´ on the edge of the street. These photos brought all the emotion back to me with a bang! I can´t ignore all that´s done in the world - all that´s done in the name of money, and greed, and selfishness, and just out and out cruelty. Photos of Palestine, and children lying dead in the streets. Of Lebanon, refugee camps filled with the displaced. Of American soldiers interogating people in their own home. Of boxing rings under the road underpass in Sao Paulo. Of slums and death and disease and sorrow.

In particular, as usual, I was affected by the photos of Africa. Children and adults strapped down in psychiatric hospitals, with the pain of war tearing at you straight from their eyes through the camera lens; Amputees playing football on dusty ground; Young girls selling themselves, or being sold by parents, as toys for passing men; Refugee camps filled with naked children, with distended bellies, and eyes calling to you from deep. And then the revelation - there is a mobile trailer that goes through African countries, showing films, and using this mass attraction to the magic of the movies to screen short teaching films on AIDS awareness and safe sex. And that one photo that makes me think again.....of a group of children, cross-legged on the floor of the trailer, eyes filled with happiness and joy, staring entranced at the silver screen. Tomorrow might bring more hunger, next month war, but for that moment in time, the camera has caught them as what they are and should be - children.

I think I would be a fool to ignore all the signs that point me more and more towards teaching, and helping, children in some way. If I don´t do something about it, I´ll regret it forever. I can´t sit back again and again watching the world get worse and just feel any chance of changing it slip away. I want to be part of the difference, and I want to do it soon.

So ends my drunken thoughts for tonight.......

Buenos Buenos Buenos

Again with the Buenos Aires, eh? But yes, it´s definitely my favourite city so far!! We´re having so much fun here, and there´s just so much to do, that you could spend months just floating!

El Sol didn´t have enough room for our two errant buddies who flew down from Rio to meet us, so we had to move hostel (but then the muppets didn´t book themselves in here anyway). Another good reason was to see another part of town, and also to get some Spanish classes - which other hostels advertise. However, we were very sad to say goodbye to El Sol! We had a lot of fun there, and Paul, the owner, is one of the nicest blokes ever! Laurie, an American girl who stays in the hostel, is going to come down to Patagonia with us, so we´ll see her Sunday when we head off to our next stop. She´s a really nice girl! One of those cool Americans you meet now and again on the travelling trek who have endless capacities for sarcasm and wit - quite a find! Some other Americans we met....who also stayed in El Sol...were of the dimmer and moderately ignorant variety! One girl had already angered Daragh on our last stay in El Sol a month ago by explaining that she studied political science, but then going on to say how colonialism has helped countries like Argentina, and American interest in foreign soil is ALWAYS a good thing. She compounded things further on this trip by just being incredibely vacuous! We hit an American bar with the lot of them the other night - Laurie, Nouveau (her full name is Nouveau Sky...some wicked hippie parents, eh? And she´s from Seattle, so she´s a cool chick, to say the least!), Danny born-in-Ireland-raised-in-England who is inexplicably going OUT with the dim American, and the dim American herself. Her brother Charles (we call him Chuck) didn´t come out....but he is a male version of her, complete with the most unbelievable drawl you have ever heard! Man oh man, what a night! I got stuck with the odd couple for a while, and Alan joined us. Sample line of conversation?
D.A.G.: (Dim American Girl) So what´s your second name?
Me: Mine´s Griffin, and his is Price - they´re both Welsh names, actually.
Danny: Price? Cool name
Me: Yeah, he wants to call his kid ´half´
Danny: Ha ha ha ha ha
D.A.G.: *blank look* So what kind of drinks do you like? I don´t really like wine!

Yeah, it was a good night! Met some random English bloke who was very enamoured with the selling-beer-in-giant-jugs phenomenon, as were we, and he kept shouting ´mouth shot´ before tipping your head back and pouring it down your throat! Either drink it, or have it poured on you...so we got a wee bit tipsy!! He gave me girly-glugs, though....I didn´t have to skull it like the boyos! Daragh did his usual on the way home, and got slightly lost, heard a party from some apartment, pressed all the buttons on the buzzer downstairs saying ´Amigo? Fiesta? Ariba?´to anyone who answered....bear in mind it was five in the morning....before attempting to climb a tree to see if he could climb the balcony in. Fun times! Me and Alan were home before him, and our six bed dorm had an additional bed in it for one night only. Christian´s friend from Denmark (more on Christian later!) was asleep in it when Daragh burst through the door, fell on top of him, rolled off, and promptly went to sleep face down on the floor. I was listening to my headphones, so didn´t hear that it was Daragh. Luckily, I got up to use the loo a few minutes later and found a freaked-out looking Dane gazing in bewilderment at the pile of unconciousness on the floor. "I don´t know who this is!" he said to me. "Ah, that´s Daragh", I realised. I tried waking him...."Why am I so cold?" he asked. Because you´re on the floor, mon cheri! As I got him up and into his (lamentably) top bunk, I realised that he´d tripped over Bones´s bag of malaria pills etc. and strewn them on the floor.....the Dane must´ve thought he was off his head on pills, or something!!

Anyway, Christian. What to say about Christian!? Well, if there is a more pompous, arrogant man in the world, I have yet to meet him! On our first night back in El Sol, we took him to dinner with us, as we are kindly people, and he was in our dorm. What a mistake! He spent the whole night directing the conversation towards his main areas of expertise and interest.....language and literature. And polo. His views on the canon of literature were making my toes curl. Vainly I tried to hold back in some last vestiges of decorum - he is nominally our dinner guest, you should allow him his views, etc. - until I could hold back no more! Sample comments from our esteemed Dane? "Dostoyevsky is my favourite author, because I feel that I am leading a similar life to him", "I wish to learn Spanish so that I can read Don Quixote in it´s native tongue", "Women authors are of no interest because they only speak of minor social situations, not of the grander scale that male novelists explore"...........ah, you can see why it was that I suddenly exploded!! Women authors? NOT speaking of the grander social scale? What buffoonery is this!! So, it was a tense dinner, with him throwing ignorant mysogonistic comment after comment.....and when we returned to the hostel, what do I see in his intellectual book pile? Madame Bovary! Ah, so he reads novels about women´s narrow social view, but only if they are written BY men! What an asshole! The next night he talked about how we were lucky to be colonised by the English, as it is a fine language to have forced upon us. The next night he talked about polo. The next night he moved rooms. We rejoiced!!

On Saturday we got up at 9 in the morning and went down to the Riverplate stadium to queue for tickets to the cup semi-final that was being played. We queued for ages, but got front row seats in the middle stand at the half-way line. Excellent! We went to the match last night, and it started at 9, so it was quite late. It was a good enough game - the equivalent of a 1st division cup match in England, so the standards of football were pretty low. However, we went for the spectacle, and we weren`t disappointed! The popular stand is behind the goals, and is standing-room-only space for hardcore fans! They were pumping before the game even started. And just before the whistle, a snake of people - maybe 200 in all - marched into the popular stand (we could see it clearly from our seats) carrying flags etc. We think they were probably a firm, as they seemed the most hardcore of hardcore - the already full popular stand parted like the red sea to give them prime position. Then, as the whistle blew, flares went off in the stands, torn newspaper poured onto the pitch, the stadium heaved with the sounds of chanting! Most chants included ´puta´ - bitch. The only chant I learned was "Vamos vamos vamos Riverplate, vamos vamos vamos Riverplate, Vaaaaammmmooooossssss Riiiiiivvveeeeeerrrrpplllllaaaattteeee" (let´s go Riverplate). Anyway, it ended nil all, went to penalties, and the other team won...to complete silence in the stadium! Very weird to see a team running all over and jumping around, and nobody saying a word! Not even a sportsmanlike clap!

We left pretty quickly, as we didn´t want to get caught up in the popular stand emptying out, and it´s a pretty quiet part of town, so not much in the way of streetlights. We lost the other lads on the way down, so me and Alan walked for about 45 minutes (it was after 12 when the match let out, so the subway was closed), before jumping on a random bus for 15 minutes, then walking for another 40 minutes. Long way home!! We have tickets to the Argentina v Bolivia world cup qualifier in Riverplate again on Saturday. We´re going with Alan, and Peruvian mano from El Sol, so that should be good fun! We´re in cheaper seats for that, so higher up...but more in with the mayhem. I´m gonna start ripping up newspapers now to throw down, and perhaps bring a few rolls of toilet paper..........just to fit in, you understand!

We´re taking Spanish classes in our new hostel at the moment. The Clan is an alright hostel. Not so great if you want to sleep, as it is a total PARTY place....eek! Luckily I have my books on tape, so I just tap into Jane Auston (thank you Orlagh and Helen!!) and I´m out like a light! Back to communal areas for the women, though - how I hate showering in the presence of others!! I will, of course, be taking the minimal amount while here! No shock to the system there....

We´re heading for Puerto Madryn on Sunday, so from then on it´s whale watching, penguin watching and bloody good nature walks! Another nice 22 hour bus journey.....we might splash out and get the sleeper seats (fully reclinable) for the expensive price of 50 euro!! What a life...

Better get back to my ´oh so fun´ hostel (just a touch of sarcasm there), and do my Spanish homework. She´s quite the taskmaster, I must say!

My cousin is doing a lot better, and is working towards speaking now that he is off the ventilator. A bit of a miracle there, and could I just say, that it couldn´t happen to a nicer man. The lengths he has gone to in his life to please other people, and now he is getting some happiness and luck of his own. God is good, as they say over here!

From Montevideo back to Buenos Aires

Well, we only stayed a few days in Montevideo, but it really was a fantastic city! So European, and filled with windy cobbled streets and beautiful art gallerys - the best of which was the gallery devoted to their adopted child, José Gurvich (see above for a little example). He was born in Lithuania, but emigrated to Montevideo, with his parents obviously, at the age of five in 1932. His painting and sculptures were incredible, and all looked strangely familiar. Anyway, Tuesdays were free into the gallery, so we were able to stroll around to our hearts content looking at his beautiful pictures for the low-low price of nothing.

We took the opportunity, whilst in Mondevideo, of taking two hours of Spanish classes, for a tenner, which turned out to be fantastic. Our teacher was a bit loopey - but in a very good way - and we learned a lot, so we´ve decided to continue with the lessons here in Buenos Aires. Daragh´s big into learning, so he´s been researching a few places, and the lads are actually sitting down to study every night now too! It´s pretty great!

Anyway, Montevideo......not much more to say on the subject except that it was gorgeous, and had some fabulous tourist attractions. Not least the biggest market I´ve ever seen! It´s held every Sunday, and takes up about a mile squared of streets. Near the top, it´s all fresh veg, and fish, and meats, and clothes, and handmade stuff, but as you delve into the back parts, you get weirder and crazier stalls - people selling antique (read ´old´) knives and axes, alongside super nintendo games! And the craziest old dolls and clothes you´ve ever seen! We didn´t know where to look half the time, but it was hilarious! You also got some good old tapes and records - none of this new-fangled CD nonsense! Also, there were guys set up doing the three-cups-and-a-ball routine...you know, flashing the cups around with the ball inside, and you´ve to guess where it it? There were guys n gals in the crowd obviously in on the whole thing, and they kept winning - just to keep the punters coming! Ha!

We stopped off the in the city hall on the way back, where there was a photographic exhibition going on detailing some social history of Montevideo, which was very intersting. A large man who worked in the centre came over to ask me and Alan did we need any help - we didn´t have much Spanish, and he had barely any English, but he managed to find out our names and that we were from Ireland. As he left, he leaned in conspiratorally to us and said "I believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is my saviour", and with a smile that looked like he was letting us in on a secret, just walked away. Strange!

Went out to a great Irish bar, that was very delighted to have actual IRISH people visiting, and made great sport out of us! They had a guy on guitar singing songs, and he set up beside our table, and got us to sing the words of all his songs - mostly U2. Great fun!!

Near where our hostel was, in the old part of town - on the same square as the Gurvich gallery, actually - another type of market set up every day, filled with the most gorgeous old jewellery and silverware. It was as if the colonial houses of the city had been emptied out onto these stalls, with women´s vanity items (silver brushes and mirrors) that looked like they were from the 18th century, and pearls, and brooches that had such character and intricate detail. And all for a pittance! Given the state of Uruguay - i.e. the economy crashing from a state of wealth - these market stalls could well be the riches handed down from generation to generation, until the present generation fell on hard times. Myself and Alan got talking to a stall owner, and it turned out he had visited Ireland when he was in London in the 50´s, and thought that Dublin was a great city. "Terrible ferry crossing though", he said. I assured him that it was still the same!

We took the 11.30pm bus out of the city. The bus station is better than Dublin Airport (I know, I know - doesn´t take much!), so even though we had to get down there an hour before our bus left, we had plenty of things to do in the various shops to keep us occupied. Also had to get rid of our pesos! After the expensive Reai in Brazil, where everything was practically divided by 2 (I think it´s about 1 reai for 0.60 euro), it was weird to be in Uruguay, where it was 30 pesos for 1 euro. Therefore you paid hundreds of pesos for things! Hard to get used to having 1000 peso notes in your wallet........

The bus was supposed to deal with our border crossing, as it happens at 5 in the morning, but there must have been something wrong, because at 5 we were all woken up and ushered off the bus while the armed border guards got on and searched the bus. Then we had to line up and have our hand luggage searched, and then all our big bags were onloaded from the bus, and we had to go get our bag and bring it to the border police. I was obviously quite dozy, having just been woken up, so when I went over to the border guard with my bag and hoisted it up onto the table, I said "Hola" whilst giving a big yawn. The guard laughed at me and asked me where I was from, and when I said Ireland, asked if I´d enjoyed Uruguay. I said yes - naturally - and gave another yawn. He laughed again, and when I unlocked my bag, gave only the most perfunctuary of searches - didn´t even dislodge any items - before sending me on my way. Definitely the most pleasant encounter with an armed border guard I´ve had! When I think to the behaviour of the poxy Americans coming back from New York with my bag of Jelly Beans?? Bloody hell!!

Anyway, we arrived back in Buenos Aires early in the morning, and headed up to El Sol again. They all remembered us, and were glad to have us back - how nice! Paul, the American/Chilean owner, is great craic, and last night he showed us his hand-made acoustic bass. Very cool! He got some guy here in Buenos Aires to make it for him. He also had a guitar, and taught Alan how to play some Jackson Five and a bit of Neil Young, so we had a nice night hanging out!!

So, since I´m back in the land of cheap beer and steak, I am off to have a bit of both right now! I am far happier now also, as my cousin Patrick has made a bit of an improvement, and is starting to respond to talking. Even though Mam is back on her chemo tomorrow, which is always hard to think about, but she´s a tough cookie, that woman, so I´m sure she´ll be in her usual won´t-sit-still form this weekend.

Buenos Noches, Amigos!

Uruguay Wa-hey

Well, we´ve finally left the backpackers hostel in Barra Lagoa. God - we went there for three days, and ended up staying 12! Testament to the wonderful people who worked there, I think, and also it´s fabulous location!

Things I´ll miss about Brazil? Christopher´s outrageously enthusiastic lust for life (tempered slightly by the moderate annoyance caused by his constant happiness); Senór Chocolate! The man who came around every night at 9.15 with the most fabulous hand-made (by his wife) chocolates you have ever tasted - chocolate, coconut, strawberry (with real chunks of strawberry), coffee - gorgeous! I ate four on my last night!; Having a double room with Alan! Definitely high on the list! You don´t realise how much you value your privacy until you are forced to undress night-in-night-out with five lads breathing down your neck; Waking up to the sound of the waves across the beach; Keef, the crazy dutch man who could play harmonica like no other; The great common area, where there was unlimited beer and craic to be had.

Things I won´t miss about Brazil? The enforced ´fun´of the hostel - you know, when people put Hawaii flower things around your head, and TELL you to laugh...not my idea of a good night! I´d rather have fun organically - you know, when the fun just HAPPENS by itself - than to have it forced upon me; Being there long enough to see three turnovers of people - do Ozzies have to be the loudest people in ever room? The girls especially - God, just relax! You don´t always have to have EVERYONE looking at you!; Not being able to just have a quiet night in, because somebody´s always berating you for not going out; The locals in Barra Lagoa - never have I seen a tourist spot so loathing of tourists! Seriously!; The crime element of Brazil - getting checked with a metal detector before entering a pub? Crazy!!; The high prices of things - be happy to return to a world where I can eat out occasionally!; The language - I´ve enough to deal with learning Spanish without throwing Portoguese on top of me, thank you very much.

Anyway, had to take two buses to Montevideo, and the border crossing happened in the middle of the night, but our lovely bus driver had collected all our passports and relevent forms and processed everything while we slept. What a service!! Montevideo is gorgeous! Yes, it helps that we left Brazil in tropical storms and torrential rain, and it is now in the mid-30´s with beautiful blue skies, but it is still a gorgeous city! Again, like Buenos Aires, very European - the lost Colonial riches still haunting the facades of buildings, giving a gravity to the vista belied slightly by the McDonalds shoved into the bottom floors!

The drive here passed a few Brazilian towns away from the coast, where lean-to´s and garbage dumps served as people´s homes. What a country! So wealthy and expensive, and yet such a multitude of people falling below - and WELL below - the poverty line. It´s a sad parallel to see, especially when you are a traveller getting through the land on comparative riches - watching barefooted children running through red-mud ´streets´in between shacks of varying states, and as night drew in, seeing that there was no electricity in a lot of ´houses´ - though the odd satellite dish could be seen attached to the delapitated side of a galvenised house. Much like the down-and-outs in Dublin who can afford Lacoste tracksuits and Sky television, but can´t feed their children, you can see that the same luxury-hunting infects this country too - and, again, it´s the innocents who suffer (children, as always).

Montevideo has it´s share of poverty, and you are beseiged by beggars asking for money, spotting, of course, your tourist status. I don´t know how to react in most circumstances. Saying no to a woman old enough to be my grandmother, or to a man bent-over with alcohol, or to a mother and child is so hard. The children running alone are tough too - ragged jumpers and bare feet. I have taken to carrying small packets of crackers or bread with me - handing those instead of money. But there is not so much here in Montevideo as you would imagine - despite the fall in economy, they are still a proud people, who hang on to their luxuries guardedly. I think I will find poorer countries - like Peru and Bolivia - so much harder. Matthew, a young chap from Derry (only 18 and travelling alone!!) we met in Barra Lagoa, is tagging along with us now. His sister is living in Buenos Aires at the moment, but before that she was working in Bolivia with street children. He says she found it extremely hard - caring for children that show up beaten the next day or, worse still, found days later with their throat´s slit for the want of 10euro that they owe the various parasites who prey on the poverty and neglect of the countries children. It is something I have always wanted to do, a thought that was cemented more with my trip to Peru last year, and is steadily getting stronger as I see the children of South America proper. I just wonder if I would be able for the emotionalism of it all!

On a more personal note, my cousin Patrick is very ill in hospital at the moment. I feel very far away and homesick thinking of him suffering at home while I am still so far away. Patrick has been a fixture in my life since as long as I can remember. He has never missed my birthday, or a Christmas - indeed, for myself and my brother and sisters, he has given us constant attention and love. And, it has been beautiful to see my brother and sisters children drawn to him as much as we were as children, recognising his boundless capacity for patience and interest in the most minute of children´s worlds. I wish that I could be there with him, and with the rest of our family, at this time, and I can only send my constant prayers and thoughts to him in hospital, and hope that he pulls through this awful time. All my love, Patrick, and I hope with all my heart that you will be at home waiting to see all my photos when I get back in June.

Still here...Brazil is addictive!

Well, we're still here in Barra Lagoa.....still in the Backpackers hostel. It's a deadly place, I have to say! Obviously everything is pricier here in Brazil, but we've cooked for ourselves a good bit, which is taking the sting out of the tail. The hostel's great fun, and we've met some really nice people. This American guy, Glenn, is our main man here in the hostel. He's 34, and a huge Red Sox fan, so we've been watching the World Series with him and Christopher, a fellow Yank who works at the hostel. It's funny, because Glenn is very 'dude' himself, in that he's a big surfer and bit of a beach bum (he's been living footloose and fancy free for many years now, and is currently a resident of Costa Rica), but Christopher and him are polar opposites - Christopher is like the ultimate California guy, and Glenn is probably one generation away from the toughest guys in Boston - which is saying a lot! They're probably come from fairly different social spheres, and you can kinda see it in their mannerisms! I like to think of it in terms of Glenn being me, and Christopher being a southside girl - with the inherent class issues that brings. But, basically, Christopher is harmless, and he's been really good to us - taken us out hiking across the hills over to another beach, Mole, with some vicious waves. So it's between him and Glenn, really - I like them both a lot, so I'll keep out of it!!

Actually, some Ozzie guys came that day to Mole too, along with me, Mac, Bones and Al, and so it was a 'dude' fest, but the beach was great fun. The waves were actually a bit too big - as I discovered when I hit the sea for some swimming.....talk about getting caught in the washing machine! It was fairly rough!! But great fun, all the same! Christopher also took us across loads of rocks yesterday, and we found a beautiful little cove with big rocks all around, so the water was pretty deep directly below you. Chrisphopher and Welly jumped off a big rock into the water, and I climbed up, because I've always wanted to do that - and a cliff dive is one thing I'd really love too! But it looked so high when I got up there!! Alan got up too, and he jumped off, feet first, but I really wanted to try diving, so I plucked up some courage (knees shaking!), and dove off. Not the most graceful thing ever! Smacked into the water!! But I did it, and that's the main thing! We hiked across more rocks, and got some great views across the water to the other side of the island. Great day!

Me and Alan got up before brekkie yesterday and went boogie boarding together - very romantic - then after brekkie, we all went for a swim. It was a great day! Then we headed for pizza with two sound Dutch blokes, and a strange Swiss girl. Nice. We watched the world series last night after our day out in the sunshine, and there was a massive lightening storm, with really heaving rain. Very dramatic! The Red Sox won the series, so Glenn and Christopher were well chuffed! It didn't finish until 2.30 in the morning, though, so I'm wrecked today!!

We went out a couple of nights ago to a club, which was good fun, but very pricey. They give you a card on the way in, so you don't pay for drinks while in the club, they mark your card, and you pay your amount on the way out. This is quite dangerous because you end up drinking more than you can afford, if you're not careful! Luckily, there was a cheesy 80's rock band playing, so I was too busy dancing to drink too much!!

The hostel has an honesty system, whereby no money exchanges hands until you leave. There's a big blackboard in the common room, with everyone's name and room number on it, and if you take a beer from the fridge, or a soft drink or water, or packets of Doritos, or homemade brownies and choco sambos, then you just mark the code next to your name, and it's all totted up at the end of the night, and added onto your daily bill. Very nice atmosphere here, indeed!!

Anyway, that's all the news for now! We're basically just chilling out here fairly aggressively! I'd like to leave soonish, though - I loved Argentina, and I also loved how little money I spent there, so I'm itching to get back there, and also get down into Patagonia and do some actual hiking! Don't want to vegetate too long....

Also, the big news is that our friend EJ, who's spending a year in Canada, is coming down to meet us for three weeks for Christmas! What a nice pressie, eh?!?!

I'm missing home a lot - but I guess that's normal! Gonna miss being there with all the kids for Halloween - I haven't missed a trick-or-treat with them in years. I'm informed that some of the costumes on show range from Spiderman (Ben), to ghostly spirit (Cambo), to dalmation (Rose, of course)!! Can't wait to see the photos.......!!

Brazilia Brillia (best I could do!)

Well, we got to Brazil. Eventually.

Basically, woke up the morning we were due to leave Iguazu with a slight twinge in my belly. Hmmm, I thought. Maybe something to worry about? Not yet....

Had to pack up all our stuff, and say goodbye to a lovely German/Italian bloke called Dario, whom we had dinner with the night before and shared our cultures, and suchlike. Got all our gear, and had a bit of sit down. My stomach gave another little shout at me. I tried to ignore it. Big mistake. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I was the first to succumb to 'travellers tum'!! We had eaten a salad at the restaurant the night before. It was a nice looking place, and I decided to ignore one of my strict travel rules (I had made a few before leaving, in order to be on the safe side - for example, no eating fruit or veg raw unless I washed and prepared it fresh myself; no drinking the water ANYWHERE; no petting dogs or monkeys; no eating from street vendors; etc., etc., you get the picture). Anyway, I broke the rule, and payed for it dearly. Our taxi was due to arrive at 3.30 to take us over the border - we had worked this out with a scamming bitch (sorry to use that word, but she was one!!) at the tourist office in the Puerto Iguazu bus station, as we had to buy our ticket to Florinopolis from this side of the border. She had given us a receipt as to how much the taxi would cost. By the time the taxi arrived, I had finally said goodbye to the hostel toilet (only so that I could seek another one!), and was doubled over with cramps and pain. The two taxis arrived and started telling us that the cost was 100 pesos instead of 80, as the scamming bitch had told us. They refused to take us for less, but finally agreed to 90. I was nearly crying with pain at this stage, and all I wanted to do was get on something settled - like a bus - and lie down. The car was air conditioned, which helped, but we had to get through the Brazilian immigration, which was not. I had to stand in queue for ages in the blistering sunshine, before finally getting the passport stamped with my 90-day pass, and moving into Brazil. I could barely whisper 'Obrigado' to the official before climbing back into the car and leaning over with my head between my legs.

At the bus station in Foz Iguazu, we had another hour and a half to wait for the bus. If you are of a sickly dispositon, then skip this next bit, because it gets kinda gross! For my Mam's sake (she likes to know when I'm sick!), and for the accuracy of a travel diary, I'll include this next bit.... Sitting doubled over leaning on my bag, with sweat pouring off me - not altogether due to the roasting hot day - I suddenly had the urge to look for a loo. As I walked off, I started to feel that all was not right with my stomach. The usual cramps were there, but my throat seemed to be constricting also! I spotted the sign for the toilets - I could feel the spasms in my stomach getting worse...I could......just......make it.....I ran up to the entrance. It was a bloody pay toilet, and I had no Real yet, just my useless Argentinian cash. Oh God! I ran from the toilets towards the open door, as I got halfway there, I began to retch. My instinctive politeness over-rode my physical situation, and I managed to hold it in until I literally got through the door - and right into the taxi rank. Sorry guys! I got sick once there, then stumbled across the parking lot to a grassy area, fell on my hands and knees, and continued to puke for at least five more minutes in the sunshine. And yes, for those who doubted it, I can confirm that it was indeed the salad that had made me ill! I sat out there for a while, in the sunshine, feeling a good deal better. Some people came up to see was I OK, which was very nice of them, I have to say!

Got back inside, able to talk at least! Got onto our bus ready to settle into a 17-hour bus journey to the coast. The bus set off. We'd got cheapish seats, so it wasn't massively comfy, but it was OK. My stomach was still in spasms, but things got immeasurabely worse when the air conditioning broke on the bus, and he drove on, while we gasped for air inside. Eventually he realised that we couldn't continue like that (inhumane, I tell you!!), so he pulled over, and we sat in the 40-degree heat and waited an hour and a half for it to be fixed. So, we continued on our way. Overenthused, perhaps, by the fixing of the air conditioning, he left it on full blast all night, so sleep was nigh-on impossible, what with the constant stomach issues, and the freezing cold air!!

Arrived safe and sound in Florinopolis, though, and made our way out to Barra Lagoa on the Atlantic side of Isla de Santa Catarina, just off the coast of Florinopolis. Our hostel is pretty cool. Right on the beach, and with free boogie boards and surf boards, it's full to the brim with Aussie DDDUUUUDDDDEEESSS and totally BODACIOUS Americans. A bit too rich-kid-surfer-dude-frat-boy for my liking, but they're harmless enough, and good craic!

We got straight in for a swim in the surprisingly cool water, which was pretty refreshing! Had dinner out, then went to our rooms. Alan and I plumbed for a double room this time, leaving the other lads in the dorm. I'm enjoying this little break from the boys club - but I'll be happy to get back to them again also!! Little feckers!!

That night, there was a huge lightening storm over the ocean, and it pounded rain. Pretty spectacular! The next day was bright and sunny, though, so we grabbed surf boards - or, in my case, a boogie board - and hit the beach. We stayed there all day surfing and swimming, then went back to the hostel where they were cooking dinner for everyone - delicious traditional cooking, with plenty of kidney beans and fish (Mam'll be glad to know!). That night, we realised that I had gotten a bit burnt, but that Alan had got COMPLETELY burned!! He was in so much pain! Luckily, I had brought both Aloe Vera gel, and Aloe Vera cream. We stayed out of the sun today - though I did sneak out for a swim during the day! The water was much warmer, and so refreshing!

Heading back now for a poker tournament in the hostel. We're gonna go hunting an apartment tomorrow, because we want to stay on this island for another couple of weeks, and can't afford to stay in a hostel all that time.

Small problems to have, though! Brazil is much more expensive, so we have to try keep within budget. Doing OK so far, but have to keep cooking our own food to keep on top of things. That's fine, though! The sun is shining, the waves are big, the water is warm, and the sand is white. What more could I ask for from life right now?

I'd like to say something in Porteguese, but I've no idea of anything in this language. It's like a mix between German, Japanese, and Spanish! Not gonna try learn it - we'll be back in Spanish-speaking country soon enough!!

Until next time........

Iguazu Falls - the edge of the earth! Best day so far!!

Well, the second night´s mattress on the floor situation was like a five star hotel after sleeping on that uncomfortable roof! We shared our hallway with a French girl, who told us that some French guys were supposed to sleep on that mattress. We begged to differ! If we had have arrived back another half hour later, though, it would have been gone!! And it was past midnight when we got in! Anyway, next morning we went to the supermarket and got brekkie and stuff to make lunch with, coz our bus wasn´t until 7.30pm. Relaxed with Vicktor in the hostel all day, watching movies and eating, then made sambos for the bus journey and went to the station. The bus was good fun. Sleeper service meant the seats reclined all the way back. Except mine, which was broken, and meant that every hour I would wake up with the seat having returned to it´s fully upright position! But I got some sleep, and that´s all that matters......!

Arrived in Puerto Iguazu at about 4.30 the next day. Good weather, so we were chuffed! Malarial area, so the pills are on board and the deet is out! Our hostel, El Guembe, is bloody beautiful - though frankly, after the night on the roof, a bed is an improvement! But it´s lovely, and the staff are great. Clean, airy, and wonderfully cool - and it has a ping-pong table (it´s becoming a requirement for our trip!). We took it easy, as we were all pretty wrecked after the long journey - just a few cerveza´s (beer) and some ping-pong tournaments....in bed before 1. We got up at 8.00 the next morning and went to the bus station to begin our day in Iguazu National Park. The bus is four pesos each way - just less than a euro - and it takes twenty minutes to get up to the park entrance. There, you see a list of special pricing. Locals are free, as are children under 12, elderly and disabled people. Then there´s a special low price for people from Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. Next on the ladder are foreigners - we pay 40 pesos! Less than a tenner! This gets you into the WHOLE park - all the waterfalls, free train to take you all over the place, and free boat service to the island caught between the two sections of falls. Unbelievable! And your second day is half price with your ticket! Great!

So, we talked with a wonderfully instructive park guide, who also gave us a voucher for a restaurant - more on that later! - and he advised us that the main baby, Gargantua de Diablo (the Devil´s Throat), is best viewed after 4pm, as the sun is behind you then. So, we took his advice, and strolled down the Lower areas. First up, the Upper Trail, which takes you across about ten waterfalls - some mere feet wide, and some the width of a bus, and all of them uniformly amazing and powerful and awe-inspiring! Check my photos on Bebo for a good view of what we saw first! And these weren´t even the most powerful and biggest part of the trek!! Anyway, from the upper platforms you were above the falls, with water rushing underneath you and huge drops beneath down to the pounded rocks below. Spray billowed in your face at every turn, reminding you that this water was rushing past you at breakneck speed. I´m a fan of waterfalls anyway, but this would have made the most hardened trekker pause for breath!

On the lower trek you go low enough to look upwards at the falls above you, and then take cliff-steps down to the river below, where a free boat takes you to Isla San Martin - an island nestled between the Falls on one side, and the Gargantua de Diablo on the other side. The boat drops you to the sandy beach, and the ever-present roaring of the waterfalls on either side is the only thing that reminds you NOT to take a swim in the blistering sunshine!! Climb more steps to the top of Isla San Martin, and climb across the top to the other side, and you are treated to a sideways view of the biggest of the ´small´falls - here you are REALLY sprayed with vapour as the water rushes by you! Gazing down into the torrents below, it was hard to keep the smile from your face!

After a trip to an all-you-can-eat buffet down at the restaurant recommended by our happy guide (where we made absolute pigs of ourselves - they had a salad counter, a pasta and veg and spuds counter, a veggie counter, a barbeque area (parillo), and a huge dessert counter, with slices of fresh pineapple, melon, papaya, banana, apple, etc. plus cakes and puddings, and EVERYTHING!........and all for 30 pesos (about 8euro)) Wow!

So, happy out, we decided to take the train up the mountain to the Gargantua! After a long ride, squished in with some chubby Americans, we got to the platforms. You have to walk across a series of platforms across the rivers which make up the waterfalls - it was so wide it looked like a huge lake! Bit unnerving looking down and seeing nothing but water below you. Especially when you saw some sunken platforms destroyed by floods in previous times! Eek! And then you got closer, and the water became faster below you! You were sometimes engulfed in the odd foliage break - where islands of forest stood - and were constantly reminded of how wild things were by the signs for snakes, etc. Then you heard it.....a distant roar. At first, it sounds like the other falls, but soon it becomes louder, and you start to get a little nervous. Then you look up ahead, and it was if a hole has opened up in the ´lake´of water around you. If I had to describe it as anything, I would say that it looked like the edge of the earth! The platforms allowed you to look directly down into the abtly named ´Devils Throat´, at the churning waters, the mist, the pounding rapids. My God! What a sight! It was terrifying, mesmerising, and utterly beautiful! My legs were shaking - it was like looking into the abyss! We stayed there for a while, gazing into the falls - feeling happy and excited!

Today, we headed back up again (after buying our tickets for Florinopolis for tomorrow), and paid our half-price in. This time, we headed straight for the boat centre, as we were taking a speed boat into the waterfalls mist. It wasn´t as warm today - but I got burnt yesterday (sorry Mam!), so I was kinda glad of a break from the sun! I wore my bikini under my skirt and top, and wore my crocs, as we thought we might get a bit wet on the boat ride. The lads all wore board-shorts (quick drying swimming shorts), so we felt prepared! Got down there, paid our 50 pesos (about 11 euro), and they gave us each a waterproof bag for our gear. I took off my top, and sat in my bikini top and denim skirt - my crocs are waterproof anyway. The lads all got out of their t-shirts, and put their shoes in the waterproof bag. We set off on the speedboat. First, they asked us who wanted the DVD of the trip - we said yes, so the guy took some shots of us all. Then, the boat went off to the left of Isla San Martin. Cool, we thought. We knew that the boats didn´t got into the Gargantua de Diablo, of course, but we thought we´d get a pretty good view of it! As we rounded the island, the waters became choppy, and there were pretty big heaves in the water - very exciting. We noticed lots of lovely waterfalls along the side of the island as well. And we appeared to be getting closer to one of the bigger looking ones. Then the boat when in practically underneath it!! Water PUMMELLED us!!! Couldn´t get a breath, there was so much water pumping on top of us! Then the boat came out the other side. We were all laughing hysterically!! It sped around the island, and brought us up to the biggest of the other falls. Again, we looked at the pounding water, and mist spraying everywhere, and the boat suddenly plunged into what looked like a washing machine, there was so much turmoil!! Unbelievable! We were just screaming in excitment, and we couldn´t stop laughing. Then he pulled out again, and sped back under the water a second time! We were just pounded with water!! We couldn´t stop laughing, and we were all completely dripping wet! But happy!!

We headed up to the all-you-can-eat again, and sat in wet clothes for a while! There´s a different part of the trail, which goes into the jungle, and it´s a bit dodgy, because of pumas and cougars around there, but it ends in a waterfall that you can swim in the bottom of, so we decided to hike it. It took about an hour of trekking to get there, but it was exciting! Didn´t see a big cat, but saw plenty of tapirs and possums and all sorts - and even some monkeys!!! Brilliant!

Got to the end of it, and trekked down through the trees to the bottom of a 70 foot waterfall. The pool wasn´t great looking, and the day was colder, so the lads decided that they didn´t really want to swim. But I wasn´t letting the opportunity pass me by! I got into my bikini (left my crocs on - could be rocks), and tested the water depth with a stick, then jumped in. Pretty cold! Then I climbed up the rocks under the waterfalls, and stood under it. Like being pelted with stones! But in a good way......!! Most refreshing thing I´ve ever done! Then the lads decided that, actually, they WOULD rather like it! So we swam, miles from anyone, with no disturbance from people - except for a few other hikers, who laughed at as, but didn´t get in. Brilliant! Then we hiked back and returned to the hostel!

The DVD is being dropped in soon, so I´m gonna head back to collect that, and we can watch it on Welly´s laptop! I´d say we all look pretty ´uncool´in it - screaming and laughing as we probably were!! But it´ll be brilliant to see it!

Heading over to Foz Iguazu tomorrow, on the Brazilian side, and do our immigration stuff, then getting the 18 hour bus to Florinopolis overnight, then getting out of the city to Isla de Santa Catarina on the coast, where we´ve a hostel booked for the first three nights, after which we´re finding a hut on the beach to spend a few weeks soaking up the sun.

Bring on Brazil!!

Arrive en Cordoba!!

Well, here we are in Cordoba. Nice.

Arrived last night after a 6 hour bus journey - not as comfortable as the other ones - to our hostel in a dark and dodgy part of town. To be told that, unfortunately, due to a Women´s Convention being held in the town, it being the Argentine bank holiday (Columbus Day), and Oktoberfest happening in the vicinity, not only was there no room in THIS hostel, but no room in CORDOBA!! Talk about feeling Mary and Joseph´s pain........(is that blasphemous??)

So, we felt slightly panicked at the thought of either a night on the streets (which, in this part of town, looked none too appealing), or heading back to the bus station to wait it out till morning and try change our tickets to Iguazu for Sunday rather than Monday. But, luckily, the hippie spirit lives on in Argentina more than anywhere else in the world! Viktor, our wonderful hostel owner, told us we could sleep on the roof! Yes, the roof.

So, we dragged ourselves inside with backpacks on backs, then proceeded to follow him up a very rickity step-ladder (let me remind you that my bag is very bloody heavy!!) onto the flat room four floors up. There, we discovered some French fellow travellers who had also found no room at the preverbial inn. We stood around for a while, wondering how much colder the night would get and if it would rain, when Viktor arrived back up to the roof with a tent! Albeit a small, old and fairly un-waterproof tent - but a tent nonetheless! So, we ´pitched´it - as close as you could get to ´pitching´on a flat concrete roof! It was a three man tent, but they must have been midgets who designed it....

Next thing, Viktor arrives back up with a load of sleeping bags - but we said we already had some, so it was cool. Then Viktor and the Frenchies set up a barbeque on corner of the roof - basically a pile of coals with an old bed-springs thingy over it. Some wine and beer was brought up, and for 15 pesos we were given all the cherizo we could eat, with bread and salads galore, and all the wine we could drink (which, in Bones and McMunn´s case, turned out to be a lot!). We met some great lads from France, a few Cordobians, and even some Canadians - what a party! Great fun. Then came the sleeping....myself and Alan hit the sack (roof?) at about 1, but Bones and McMunn tripped the light fandango at some Cordobian nightclubs with the Frenchies. We were comfortably enough ensconsed - apart from the cold, stoney, uneven ground beneath us - when McMunn returned, full of vino, and talking Spanish to us.....wooo. McMunn decided to sleep outside with his sleeping bag wrapped around his head. Nice. Bones arrived back a couple of hours later, and squashed himself in beside us, draping his hands ever so gently around Alan. And so we slept, cozy as......well....COZY! This morning, Viktor woke us with news of tea, coffee and bread downstairs for us!! What a gent!!

When we got down, the heaters were on, cozy little set up, and we chatted over breakfast, learning even more ´everyday´Spanish for our troubles! Then Viktor showed us a matress and bed in the utility room, where myself and Alan will spend tonight, so the two lads will be more comfortable in the tent......McMunn might even sleep INSIDE tonight!! And still he won´t take a penny from us for the sleeping arrangements......!

Nothing but respect and admiration for the people of Argentina! We´ve met with nothing but hospitality and friendship in this country.....and even had the adventure of sleeping on a roof for the night.

We´re calling it ´urban camping´. We think it´ll catch on........

Still in Rosario...

Well, the best laid plans of mice and men, eh?! We're still in Rosario, in this shitty hostel. Yeah, it's good fun, and it's all very relaxed, blah blah blah, but that still doesn't remove the fact that I have to walk down stairs, through the main hallway, through a sitting room that - no matter what time of night or day - is full of drinking/whatever people, through the kitchen, and into a room with no locks on ANY doors (even the ENTRANCE door) to use the toilet. Also, the showers are in there, with a little plastic sheet all that's saving you from the outside world. Nope, not my cuppa! So, as a result of this situation, I have only had one shower - yesterday - and will wait until tomorrow, when we get to a hopefully better hostel in Cordoba, before I have another one!!

We were meant to leave for Cordoba today, but procrastination meant that all the hostels were booked up, so we had to haul ass to the bus station today and exhange our tickets for tomorrow, then come back and convince Baldy (the guy who runs this place) to let us stay another night. Thankfully, he has been won over by our Irish charm and ability to drink, so he's happy to do it. Of course, I include myself in that little ditty, but I'm a bit of a get-to-be-early girl, so I have actually only spent one night in their company. Most of them are alright....he seems to have all his friends here EVERY night...but there's a couple of lads that give me the willies. But, I don't like heading back to the room alone, because it's ages away from everywhere else in the hostel (it's the only upstairs room), and the door has no locks. The room can be accessed from two roof terraces - one of which can be accessed from the back garden. So, basically, the lack of security and locks on doors is what's making me crazy here. I can live with the fleas in the bed, and the unclean sheets, and even the lack of showering (who knew I could cope with such deprivation?), but feeling like I can't go to sleep alone in the room is a definite shaker!!

Anyway, Oktoberfest - the big beer festival in Germany - has it's twin in a town just below Cordoba, so we'll have some fun there before heading out to Iguazu on Monday. We met an Irish couple - Rob and Fiona - here the last few nights, and they went to Cordoba today, so we'll see them there tomorrow night for a few bevvies. Also, an Aussie guy travelling alone has tagged along with them, and has made himself our 'brother', so we're meeting him too. He's a cool guy - Chris (we call him Chris Meth), but a little bit hyper-hippie. Good laugh, though!

McMunn and Bones are really flying the flag downstairs! The lads love them - McMunn thinks he's fluent in Spanish when he gets drunk, so they think he's a legend! Him and Bones are exchanging words with them, and learning all the 'street' lingo en espanol! Also, McMunn swapped a tshirt....all in the name of international relations!!

Cordoba next. Glad to leave Cool Raul hostel in Rosario - hope the next place has locks on the door (we can dream, eh?!?).....

Apologies from Sud de la MONDE

Just noticed how bad my spelling is in the previous post!

Looks like my ´superfast´typing is working against me in a hostel that has keys that stick and weird vartiations on my at-home keys! Sorry about that!

The hostel we´re in now, Cool Raul, is alright. The lads are staying on for another couple of nights to sample a local nightclub - six floors, 4000 people. Me and Alan are being the sedate middle-aged couple, and heading out to Iguazu, where we´ll meet them. Do some hiking around the national park, lie by the pool at the hostel, and generally wait for the boys to join us. Might even go look at the waterfall (we hear there´s one close by)

The six bed situation is getting SLIGHTLY monotonous, too, so it might be quite nice to get dressed ABOVE the covers in the morning for a couple of days!!

P.S. Apologies for the bad spelling in this one too....I swear, I´m not losing grasp of my skills!!

P.P.S. Safe travels to Orlagh, who´s off on a dream holiday with her hubby to tour New England in the fall (while I sit in the summer on the other side of the same continent). Hope you have a great time, Orlagh!! A well deserved break.........Hope Helen doesn´t get too lonely in the now empty office (sob sob - bet my chair looks bleak these days!!)

Until next time, Adios amigos! (i amigas)

Hola Chicas - Rosario Boya!

Well, I´ve landed safely in the beautiful (actually don´t know if it´s beautiful yet...) town of Rosario. We had a bit of a rush to get the bus this morning in Buenos Aires. Saw the dodgy part of Buenos Aires down by the bus station (just chatting to some Irish people here in the hostel in Rosario, and they got robbed there before they left, so we had a lucky get-outta-there methinks). But the bus journey - despite the bus being an hour late - was surprisingly luxurious, and they even gave us a little packed lunch. Boya, indeed!

After the four-hour journey, we´re settled here in our stinky little hostel, with no locks on the doors, but everyone is really ´relaxed´, so apparatly this is supposed to be OK (I´ll be the judge of that, eh?)

Finding it hard to adjust to the VERY relaxed and easy-going (read ´slow-paced) pace of life in South America. Sometimes I´d give anything for a bit of get-out-of-my-way attitude. But I´m sure I´ll stop caring so much about time fairly soon - what with the concept of ´time´being fairly arbitray over here!

Anyway, we´re all together in another six-bed dorm, but this one is WAY more squashed, and I can feel the mossies descending already. So things could get sticky later......

Signing off, South America style - hasta luego, chicas!

Hola from Buenos Aires

Well, here I am in Buenos Aires. It's a gorgeous city, and the most European city we'll come across apparantly. We're heading out to Rosario next week, where Che Guevara was born. I guess things'll get a little more South American and less European the further we get from big cities. Which is a good thing - we didn't come here to be like home!

Our flight over was interesting...from Frankfurt myself and Alan were stuck in two seats with a baby either side of us. Fortunately, for the 12 hour journey, they were very good. Unfortunately, because they stuck little cot things onto the wall, we couldn't get out of our seats. So I went 10 hours without a wee! Not pleasant....

The other two low points were that the movie was 'Evan Almighty', which was almighty crap!! And also, there was an unscheduled stop at Sao Paulo airport on the way! Eeek! The shortest runway in the world, in what was the biggest plane any of us have ever been in! But it went Ok, and during the 1-hour stop over we moved up to business class and played around in their multi-functional chairs - experimenting with the lying down experience! Unfortunately, the flight was full, so we got kicked out when the rest of the passengers arrived!

The immigration procedure consisted of some guy commenting that I looked better now than in my passport photo, and he then stamped my passport for a 90 day stay. Happy days!! We found the bus service into town pretty easily, so it was good enough. The hostel is a fun place, and it's run by people who arrived here on in July on holidays, and the man who runs it asked them to stay on and run it for him. It's all very informal! We headed out to a famous cemetary this morning, where Eva Peron is buried, which was amazing looking. Huge streets of mausoleums (is that how you spell it?), with the most amazing statues and decorations. If you looked in the window of the 'houses', you could see coffins stacked one on top of the other, or else down in 'cellars', reached by winding stairs. Very weird! Yet strangely respectful....

Anyway, this is the trip so far. We're heading out to the country shortly to make our way up to Iguazu falls, and then back down the coast to Tierra del Fuego, so that should be exciting. I'm depressed by the level of my Spanish (bad), but I'm gonna work hard. My aim is to have excellent Spanish by the end of this eight months!

It's a goal! You've got to have a goal in life....

Deathproof (but not critic proof)

Well, I attended the screening of QT's new movie (Deathproof), expecting fun, frolics and mayhem. What I got was a bunch of sycophantic people dying to tell QT how brilliant they thought he was, and loath to question any of his 'wise' decisions. I enjoyed the Q & A, don't get me wrong, and I was as enthusiastic as the next person about having QT sat with us watching his latest movie.

BUT...

I was not happy with the amount of questions that began with the phrases "loved the movie", or "love your work". The questions themselves were also moronic - one woman actually had the STUPIDITY to ask 'was all the quick edits and mistakes deliberate, and were you going for a kind of 'grindhouse' look with the movie'. What a fucking idiot!

Sorry for the bad language - it's my first time to curse in the blog, but seriously! Come on!!

I got to ask a question - stuttering somewhat, but basically I asked if we were likely to see the Grindhouse double-feature with Rodriquez's 'Planet Terror' in cinemas, or was he not gonna bother and just wait for DVD. He avoided answering that question - oh he talked alright, but he never really answered. Ah well.

So, here's my review for Film Ireland - my last for the website (my last printed review is in this issue, and is for the fantastic Irish flick 'Kings')......

Deathproof

Coming to our screens as a single movie, as opposed to a ‘Grindhouse’ double feature with Rodriquez’ Planet Terror, Deathproof packs little of its directors legendary punch. Thanks to small turnouts in the US, we on this side of the Atlantic have to suffer through additional chat and superfluous lap dancing instead of a thrilling double whammy of old-style movie making.

The sting of Deathproof lacking its partner in ‘Grindhouse’ crime is that the movie was never meant to be a serious movie, per se. It should have been an homage, along with Planet Terror, to those badly-done, violent movies of old – keeping tongue firmly in cheek at the bad editing, and revelling in the blood-splattering gore. Instead, Tarantino has stretched his own movie to feature length with badly written dialogue and redundant exposition. Without any of the quotability of Tarantino’s other films, it veers haphazardly from insipid conversations to all out action. The all-too-infrequent adrenaline rushing car chases are fine pieces of moviemaking, but the preamble of mindless chat over-softens the punch.

Seeing Deathproof at the premiere after being riled by the director into a state of high-excitement will differ somewhat from the standard experience. Unfortunately for the general movie-going populace, having Quentin Tarantino run up and down the aisle shouting is what lifted Deathproof from mediocre to entertaining. Without his infectious glee, it is a sub-standard piece of fluff. Self-indulgent to the point of boredom, it comes across more as a vanity project than as any kind of experiment in filmmaking.

Some parts are unashamedly entertaining, and the final car chase, in particular, blows recent CGI attempts out of the water. The stuntwoman-come-actress, Zoë Bell, plays a stormer in the tricks department, but the movie smacks suspiciously of being written purely to give Zoë a chance to show her talents. Exciting though her scenes are, it cannot really make up for the many uninteresting preludes.

Kurt Russell makes good B-movie cheesy impact as the grizzled Stuntman Mike, getting his kicks from road-rage – and the car chases really are fantastically thrilling. Despite these small oases of fun, the unusual ‘Grindhouse’ double-feature element is what really sold the movie to audiences this side of the pond. The overriding disappointment is, of course, that the directors didn’t fight harder for the ‘Grindhouse’ format to stay intact.

Deathproof lacks that edge we’ve come to expect from Tarantino – and all the ‘quirky’ edits and flashes of black and white in the world can’t make up for what is, essentially, a quick fix of a movie. Fun enough to watch, but it won’t leave a lasting flavour.

Inconsistent to the last, one cannot help but wonder how much better it would have been to see the actual ‘Grindhouse’ experience – with Deathproof and Planet Terror filling a bill together. Alone, it stands, a disappointing piece of a filmmaking from a man we know could do better.

From role models to morons

Pictured above is my Mam. Over the past two years she's had to deal with a hystorectomy, during which the doctors discovered advanced Ovarian cancer. She had chemotherapy for months, which drained her energy and made her ill, and was finally given a small 'all-clear' - not an eternal one, but a break in the illness. She changed her whole lifestyle - food, exercise, lifestyle choices - according to research she did on healing cancer. She has worked hard to overcome the disease in a pro-active way. This summer, she suffered a setback. Barely two years after the first occurance of cancer, she was told that it had come back. A recurrance at this stage is not good news. But my Mam battled it, as she battles everything, and though she has to have radium treatment for a few weeks, they are confident that she will again go into remission - and hopefully stay in remission for another couple of years.

My Mam also failed her Leaving Certificate, in her past. When I was young, she worked three jobs to keep us going - waitressing, office work, cleaning...whatever she and my Dad could do to keep four kids up and running. Over those tough years she kept up her reading and writing - the joys of these hobbies hadn't been killed with the terrible school system of her time, and her love of learning kept her going. She wrote short stories - many of which were published in magazines, and one of which she won a Cecil Day Lewis short story prize for. She became interested in returning to her education for her own fulfillment. Open University offered the flexibility of distance learning - meaning she could continue to work full-time, as she needed to. Over the course of six years (rather than working straight through, she took breaks) she studied and gained her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and History. During that time she worked as a secretary in a secondary school in Naas. Last year, despite coping with cancer, she enrolled and was accepted into the Higher Dimploma in Education course in Maynooth University. It was a hard year, but she got through. This summer, barely a week after getting her fantastic results on the H-Dip, she got the bad news on her cancer.

But this week, she attended her graduation ceremony, and I was lucky enough to be there with her. In the next few weeks she will not only continue her battle with the disease, but begin work as a secondary school teacher in the very school she began her time as a secretary in.

THIS is a role model.

_______________________________________________

Over the years, stupid celebrities come and go. But for the past while it seems that the media actively celebrates stupidity. Pushes girls and women into the spotlight who lack the intelligence, cop-on or self-respect to act with decency, decorum or any class of humility.

We have watched Brittany yanked back into the limelight this week, only to be vilified and downtrodden again. Do we take joy in this? But even worse than the contemptable behaviour of big-wigs and music execs pushing obviously unstable and exploited females into the glare of media, is the increasingly moronic behaviour of so called 'smart' girls in popular culture. Take, for instance, Avril Lavigne. Now, I don't like her music. I think it's trite, boring and mind-numbingly unintelligent. BUT, that doesn't matter - I don't need to like her music. But what I do care about is her comments in public. Apparently, some girls look up to her - and it's a sad state of affairs when young girls not only sing along to her mindless lyrics, but listen to her comments in magazine interviews.

Here are the Ten Commandments of Avril Lavigne, as given to 'Q' magazine (http://www.q4music.com/) recently.

"DEAL WITH IT
Selling 24 million albums hasn't really affected me, but it has changed things. I can't walk into a room full of people any more without everybody turning their heads, and I can only eat in certain restaurants where I know I won't get hassled. But that's OK. I was born to do this, and so I've learned how to cope.

DEVELOP AN IMAGE
Someone like Kelly Clarkson is beautiful and has a pretty voice, but with me you get a much stronger image. I'm tough, I have a look that girls want to copy, and I sound a particular way. It's good if you're not easily ignored. And I'm not.

DON'T GET MAD, GET EVEN
I was 17 when my first album (Let Go, 2002) came out, and all of a sudden I had to spend my days doing interviews. Listen, when you are 17 you don't know how to hold a conversation with an adult, and you pretty much don’t want to. But I learned to channel that annoyance into my music.

PARTY HARD. BUT NOT TOO HARD
When I go to a party, I am the party! I'm the girl doing shots, jumping on tables, screaming and getting wasted. Am I advocating drugs? No! When I say get wasted, that doesn't mean go crazy. Drink in moderation. Be responsible, yeah?

PRACTISE GOOD KARMA
I am a very giving person. When the hurricane thing happened (in New Orleans, August 2005) I went to my closet, filled six boxes of stuff and said to my assistant, "take it to Katrina!" I also like to give stuff to people who are my "workers", especially if they don't make much money.

BE GRATEFUL
It's important to be thankful, even if you're poor. I mean, come on, we all have clean water — well, ok, not people in the developing world. It's important to remember where we came from and just how lucky we are to be here.

ADVOCATE SPIRITUALITY
I'm not particularly religious, but I am spiritual. What kind? Feng shui, mostly, and energy. I'm good at picking up people's energy, like I'm receptive or something.

FINDING MR RIGHT
I got married last year (to Deryck Whibley of Sum 41) simply because I was lucky enough to find the right guy. Did I tame him (Whibley once confessed to a fondness for mushrooms and ecstasy)? Hey, we were both party animals once, so we've tamed each other.

EXTEND YOURSELF
I want to get into movies next, a lead role in a super cool indie flick. I've been looking at scripts for the past two years now and most of them have been shit, but I know I could be real good at it. I have an agent now, and everything.

LOVE YOURSELF
People love me and people hate me, but I'm comfortable in my own skin and that's what counts. And anyway, if you do hate me, you're the loser, not me."

This is NOT a role model.

Last full month in Ireland (for a while)

Feels weird – knowing that this is the last full month I’ll spend in Ireland until summer of next year. You forget how much you actually LOVE your country and your life until you think you might have to leave it…

Some of the things I’m gonna miss the most when I’m away:

1. My family (especially the beautiful nieces & nephews)
2. My new puppy (pictured above)
3. Friends
4. Toast and Ray’s boiled eggs for brekkie
5. Cereal at 9 at night while watching crappy telly
6. Lying on a couch watching telly
7. Trips to the cinema
8. Walking around the Wicklow Hills (although the Andes might be a nice replacement)
9. Reading in the sunshine
10. Sitting in front of the fire watching DVD’s
11. The toll bridge (just kidding)

Luckily, the ‘thing’ I would miss the most is actually coming with me – Alan!

Electric Picnic was brilliant! I didn’t get to see absolutely everyone I had planned on seeing, but the main ones were fantastic. Beastie Boys rocked the Kasbo, and the Chemical Brothers did their usual fandango. The main joy was having a quieter camsite this year, mwah mwah...

Bjork was my stand-out ladeee, of course, and I’m bloody delighted to have seen her! I'm glad not to have to face into another day of port-a-loos, though...those things are NASTY.

Here’s Kelly ruining a perfectly good romantic photo at Bjork...he's just jealous (of me, I'd say - look at my gorgeous boyfriend, for God's sake!!)

My finger is on the button!

Well, I'm off to Electric Picnic (we'll be together, together in electric dreams!)...my my, how the excitement builds!

Obviously there's all that cinema milarky below, but I might stop by a few bands! Top of my list is Bjork, closely followed by Chemical Brothers and Beastie Boys. Then, in no particular order, Modest Mouse, Manic Street Preachers (for old time's sake!), Jarvis Cocker (please play some Pulp, skinny man!), The Go Team, Primal Scream, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Undertones (just for THAT song), Unkle, Duke Special (on Jon's nudge) and Kila.

Then there's the comedy tent! I'll try catch some of Des Bishops set, and Tommy Tiernan, and Jason Byrne.......and whatever else takes my fancy!

I'll also pay a visit to some of the worthy groups popping in - those campaigning for climate change, the Amnesty tent, and those amazing people at War Child. Can't have a festival without a conscience, can we!

Countdown is over - preparation begins!! Woo and, indeed, Hoo!

Another Zombie nightmare...

Why am I so afraid of Zombies?

They freak me out so much, I even give them a capital 'Z' when talking about them! It just terrifies me, the thought that it could really happen.

And I know what you're gonna say - that it could never happen...but that's what they all say, until the re-animated corpse of your next-door-neighbour sinks his putrid teeth into your neck and starts to chew.

I have the same recurring nightmare - I wake up, and everything seems kinda normal, I go about a few of my normal morning tasks, when out of the corner of my eye I see something unusual. This is where the nightmare can vary....sometimes it's a slow moving shuffle Zombie (like from the original Dawn of the Dead), and sometimes it's a speak-freak bastard (like from 28 Days Later). And then it's just all-out panic, as I try to get to my family, and escape from the oncoming surge of Zombie hordes sweeping across the fields/streets (depending on where I am in the dream).

BUT - I always wake up before anything happens to me. What does this mean?

What does any of it mean?

Is it a completely irrational fear? It doesn't FEEL like a stupid fear (even though I know it must be). I am genuinely afraid of Zombies.

Genuinely afraid! And I had another dream about them last night, which means that all day today I feel like a dark cloud is over me - because I'll spend the whole day worrying about Zombies.

Hen night - t'was alright!

Hen night turned out to be loadsa fun!! Had a great laugh with Grainne, and sent her on her merry way with a final fun night out with the girls!! Full photos are on the beeeb page.

The only downside was the nightclub....what a kip!! And bunch of knackers outside pushing girls around...but how and ever, my ire had just begun! The poxy taxi driver who brought us in and out wanted €20 per head for the trip. €140 for a 36km round-trip!

I, of course, told him that I'd be happy to give him the money, if he'd give me a receipt and his license number so that I could contact the Taxi Regulator on Monday and check on his pricing. He, of course, conveniently couldn't give me a receipt, but said he'd post one out. HA! Then he got really mad at me for 'accusing him of overpricing' (which I was) and wouldn't take any money off me! Ah well - not my problem if his quilty conscience is eating him up inside...and I got to keep his thieving hands off MY moolah!

So I checked the taxi regulator website this morning, and the return journey (which would be the most expensive, as it's a late pick-up) should have been €32.50, and the journey out couldn't have been more than €30. That means that the entire trip should have cost a maximum of €65!

What a bastard!!

So I'm filling in my complaint form now for the Taxi Regulator. Scammer, eh?!? Thinking he could take advantage because (1) we're a bunch of drunk girls who don't know a €20 from a €5 note (he didn't reckon on the fact that no matter how drunk I am, I'm poor enough to REMEMBER how little's in my wallet, and how hard I worked for that measly sum), and, (2) we live in the country, so he's the only bloody taxi guy around and we have to pay whatever he asks, because we've no other option but to use him??!!

Not on my watch, baby!!!

Hen night my shite.....

Have to organise and keep jollies for my bezzie mate Grainne's hen night tonight. As bridesmaid, I'll have to be fun and shiz-n-giggles for the whole night!! *Sigh....* What an almighty effort!

Love her, though, so guess it's all just part of frienship. Oh, she'll pay if I ever tie the knot, though!

On the upside, it's now only 40 days until we set sail on a South American adventure, so everything in life is gooooOOOOOOoood!

Plus, Alan still loves me despite me being a pain in the ass a lot of the time, so that's always a secret worthy of celebration!!