Hola. ¿Como estas? Only kidding, I'm not really fluent in Spanish...yet. As it turns out a week long Spanish course is not quite long enough to become a native speaker. In fact, instead of feeling more confident with my Spanish, the course just opened my eyes to exactly how little I know. The lessons in Bariloche were actually quite tough as we spent 4 hours a day in a small room while a woman spoke only Spanish to us. I wasn't massively impressed with her teaching style but couldn't tell her as I didn't know enough spanish, a vicious circle. Thankfully, after a stressful morning of learning we were able to go back to the nicest hostel we have stayed in since beginning our trip, Hostel Milcuatro. it was so nice, and the town of Bariloche so beautiful, that we ended up staying here for 12 days. A routine of lessons in the morning and then homework time down a fantastic chocolate/ice-cream shop (Rapa-Nui) in the afternoon was soon followed religiously. We spent the evenings either strolling round the town in the sunshine, doing our best to get as many free samples of chocolate as we could from the plethora of chocolaterias that were on offer, or eating and drinking with new friends we had made in the hostel. Even when the weather turned cold, windy and rainy our spirits weren't dampened as Annie, one of the 4 staff at the hostel, baked banana bread and made everyone tea and coffee on a grey Sunday afternoon. Marvellous. We made some good friends at this hostel, the staff included, and it was a sad day when we finally decided we should move on (it would have been very easy to stay there for the next 5 months). On our penultimate day we were presented with a beautiful box of chocolates from Gen's favourite shop by the hostel staff, who seemed as sad as us at our departure. It was a lovely moment and one of the nicest things that has happened to us on our trip (rivalling the kindest showed to us in New Zealand by Alex and Craig).
From Bariloche we took a 14 hour bus ride across to the east coast of Argentina to a town called Puerto Madryn. This town had been one of our main aims from when we first started looking into things to do in Argentina, mainly due to Gen's burning desire to see some penguins! After having spoken to Kyle, a young peace corps volunteer, about the town I too shared Gen's excitement. We followed Kyle's advice and booked our tour to Punto Tombo with one of the local companies, making it a bit cheaper, and set off at 0800 down the coast to a very deserted beach. Here we were able to enjoy the sun while sitting literally metres away from a family of enormous elephant seals. These massive beasts pretty much ignored us as they lay in the sun, lifting themselves only to yawn, belch or fart - magnificent though they were, they really did stink! When some of the younger ones did decide to head back to sea it was impressive to see them glide around in the water with ease after seeing them act so awkward on the shore. A further hours drive down the coast brought us to the penguin colony at Punto Tumbo. By the time we arrived here, about 3 in the afternoon, we were pretty tired mainly due to the fact that none of the 15 people on our tour, guides included, spoke any English and so we were forced to put into practice what we had learnt. It's surprising how quickly you tire when you have to concentrate hard on everything that is being said. Our fatigue soon passed as we entered the national park (for 3 times the price of the locals!) and saw the penguins. Not only are they hilarious, but there were so many of them. Due to the time of year there were apparently about half a million of them waddling around. Even though you had to stick to the paths laid out, the penguins could do whatever they wanted and they regularly walk right passed you (we were informed before we started that penguins have right of way!). It was a great end to a very enjoyable day. Fortunately we were now well versed in 'Argentinian time' so were well prepared to be dropped back at our hostel at about 9, when before we started the tour they promised a 6pm return! We spent that evening furthering our spanish skills while joining some more Argentinians for Asado (BBQ). Good times.
From Puerto Madryn it was a mere 18 hour bus ride to the Capital city of Argentina, Buenos Aires. The journey was better than it sounds, the seats were almost fully reclining, we watched films in English and were served food and wine! The first thing that hit us when alighting the bus in the biggest, and apparently most dangerous, bus station we have been in so far was the humidity of the city. We had been warned that it would be hot and sticky but little could have prepared us for 38 degree heat with over 80% humidity. I have had drier showers! We had high hopes for our hostel in BsAs as we stayed in their excellent sister hostel in El Calafate. However, even though the rooms were clean and had much needed aircon, the staff at America Del Sur were awful. On our first day they recommended a walk we could do while waiting for our room to be ready, and now after having spent 5 days in this amazing city I am shocked that they suggested such a dull place to go in a city with endless exciting possibilities round every corner. Still, we had plenty of time to soak up BsAs over the course of the next week. We went to the longest street Market I have ever seen, stretching for about 14 blocks across San Telmos streets. We took advantage of the free city walking tours run by a very funny Porteño (BsAs local) called Gaston. He took us through some of the highlights of the city while explaining to us Argentinas brief but very distraught history. We went to a huge drum show called La Bomba de Tiempo which runs every Monday night and dazzles people for 2 straight hours with incredible music. We took our first Tango lesson at La Catedral Del Tango and then sat back and drank some excellent wine while the locals showed us how it was done. We took the local buses to the strange 'safe' area of La Boca (the poorest and most dangerous area of the city) and to the even stanger graveyard at Recoletta (more like a city for the dead, jam packed with expensive tombs and tourists!). I also sampled plenty of the famous Argentinian steak and was never let down. We could have stayed in this city for weeks and not got bored, but budget wise it was slowly but surely draining us and so we had to say our goodbyes. As we still haven't got a definite route planned for this continent there is a very good possibility that we will return to BsAs so all is not lost of this city for us just yet.
It was a mere 1 hour ferry ride from here before we found ourselves in our 5th country in 5 months. In fact, it was 5 months to the day that we had left the UK. We were staying for a few nights in the very quaint and pretty town of Colonia in Uruguay. The difference couldn't have been greater. There are 13 million people in Buenos Aires alone and there are only 3.5 million in the whole of Uruguay. Colonia was chilled out, friendly, safe and even though it was still over 30 degrees the humidity was much lower making it far more bearable. We had a very relaxing few days here and I even managed to sample my first Uruguayan Asado at the hostel which could rival the Argentineans any day of the week. From Colonia we bussed it to Montevideo, the Capital city. As expected it was a fairly small city but was always bustling with people. I can't say I fell in love with the city (this may have been due to the fact that our hostel, Willy Fog, permanently stunk of blocked drains) but there wasn't a great deal to do there either. We did sample the famous drink Medio y Medio which was half sparkling wine and half White wine, but mostly it was gross! Still, after a couple of glasses of that a some BBQ cooked black pudding I was well and truly ready for a nap! We were fortunate enough to get our second upgrade of our trip at this stinky hostel and were moved from a 12 man dorm to an 8 man dorm at no extra cost! Initially I can't say I was that bothered as I have found that at that size of room the extra 4 people really doesn't make that much difference. However we soon found out that no one else was checking in and we had the entire dorm to ourselves for the night. It wasn't quite like having your own private room as we were never sure if anyone would unexpectedly turn up late so we couldn't get too comfy, but it was still a pleasant surprise. 3 nights in Montevideo was more than enough and so we have taken ourselves a little further along the coast to a seaside town called Piriapolis, popular with holidaying Uruguayans. Here we have actually managed to secure our own private room for 3 nights in a very strange hostel overrun with small children. But the weather is hot and sunny, the beach is 100m away, the sea is clean and they have quiet time between 3 and 4pm so everyone can get a nap in! I have even started to learn the art of Asado, and am determined to build one in our garden one day (the Australians could learn a thing or two from this continent!). All in all our time in Uruguay has been very relaxed and we have found that the locals speak a lot slower than the Argentineans and so we are able to understand them a lot better, although saying anything back to them is an entirely different kettle of fish. We will be heading off to the quiet and sandy surf town of Punta Del Diablo soon so I can rekindle by career as a pro surfer...
After a small start of year stutter it is good to see the quins back on winning ways. The prem is in the bag.