Hola mis amigos!

After all the complaints we have been getting, we thought it was about time we wrote another blog entry! Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of last week were rather uneventful as we just went to our teaching placements and cooked dinner for ourselves. The orphanage session went a lot better as we took in some beads and made jewellery with them which they all seemed to enjoy. We did go out for a couple of drinks at a trendy bar down the road on Wednesday night, with a guy from the hostel. We also had two more spanish lessons and our spanish is now improving slightly and we have been busy doing our homework as well! On Thursday evening we got the night bus to Mendoza. The bus station was a bit crazy as it was a bank holiday and it seemed that everyone had also planned to go away for the weekend. It took about 14 hours to get there as we were delayed by 2 hours, which meant Sarah and Vic spent an 'enjoyable' three hours waiting for us in Mendoza bus station! We, however were very comfortable on our bus as we had fully reclining, large leather seats and were supplied with dinner and breakfast! We spent the afternoon wandering around the centre of Mendoza and sampled some traditionnal Argentinian food which was called Locro (meat and veg stew thing) and Humita (pured sweetcorn!). They were quite tasty! As it was such a sunny day we sat outside and ate icecream in the afternoon which was quite a novelty after the weather we have been experiencing in Buenos Aires recently! In the evening we went out to a bar and had some champagne (Jen has now successfully converted everyone into Champagne lovers too!) and then had dinner in a restaurant near the hostel.

On Saturday we arranged to do a winery tour in the afternoon. We visited two different wineries and an olive oil factory. We were actually given quite a informative tour of the wineries, unlike in New Zealand where it was all about sampling the different wines, and got to taste a few wines as well. In the evening, we went to a night market which was in Plaza Independcia where there was also a lot of entertainers due to the bank holiday weekend. Afterwards we ended up in a rather large restaurant which was a Tenedor Libre which is an all-you-can-eat restaurant serving every kind of food imaginable. We were also treated to a rather interesting show, which consisted of a rather large woman wearing a spangly top singing Spanish songs and then an equally bad male singer with a mullet!

On Sunday we arranged to go horsetrekking in the Andes which involved getting up early and driving up the mountains for two hours. We arrived at a small family house where we were given bread and tea for breakfast. We had had lovely sunny weather on Friday and Saturday, however our luck ran out on Sunday as it was bitterly cold and very cloudy. We were not prepared for this sort of weather and so the family had to lend us big coats and gloves for the four hour trek. We were given a brief lesson on how to ride horses up and down mountains and then we were told to jump on the horses. This was a tad scary as three of us had not riden for years and Sarah had never even been on a horse before! We set off across the fields and started to ascend the Andes. The mountains were really very beautiful despite it being very cloudy. However, after about 2 hours of trekking up the mountain, Jen started to suffer from altitude sickness so we stopped for a bit but in the end she had to go back down the mountain with one of the guides and his daughter whilst Becki, Vic and Sarah continued up. They carried on for another hour but decided it was far too cold to go up to the top as it had started to snow! They came back down a different route which was really very steep and the horses were slipping a bit but the guide kept assuring them that it was easy for the horses. They had a break to take pictures of the amazing views and had a drink of mate to warm them up. Mate is an Argentinian drink which is a cross between coffee, tea and green tea and tastes very strange. Everyone drinks it out of a tiny wooden cup through a metal straw!

They got back to the base two hours after Jen had left them on the mountain, and they were so cold they could not feel their feet so they sat in front of the fire, which is where Jen had spent the last 2 hours. We then had a meal with the guides which consisted of barbequed steak, salad, bread and wine - it was delicious. It was nice to visit a Argentinian home and the family that ran the excursion were very welcoming. It was really interesting to see where they lived and how refreshingly simple their way of life was. We didnt get back to the hostel until 7pm so we just spent the evening watching telly.

Monday was even colder and we actually woke up to find snow on the rooftops! So we decided to spend the day doing indoor activities, ie shopping and bowling! We went to a rather nice shopping centre and took advantage of the good exchange rate and purchased some clothes (Becki and Jen) and some perfume (Vic). We spent the afternoon bowling and drinking beer - Sarah won by the way! We then caught the night bus back to Buenos Aires, which was marginally better than our outward journey as we got to play bingo and watch Mission Impossible in English.

This week has been quite hectic as we have been teaching every day and also going out in the evenings with Sarah and Vic. On Tuesday night we went to a restaurant near the hostel called Mirandas (as recommended by the Wallpaper book - thanks Nick!) and had a delicious meal. We finished off in a bar drinking champagne cocktails (what else?!) Wednesday night we splashed out and went to watch a tango show at a place called Cafe Tortoni, which is a rather famous venue in the city centre. The show was really amazing with brilliant dancing, good music and singing and some crazy drumming/tapdancing guys. We had nibbles throughout the show, as well as a few bottles of champagne! Afterwards we came back to Palermo and found a bar where we ate and drank until the early hours of the morning.

Sarah and Vic left on Thursday morning, which was quite sad, and they are now safely back in Blighty. We both had busy days teaching English and having Spanish lessons and in the evening we went out for a meal at a restuarant calledCasa Blanca as it was two of the volunteers last night (Charlotte and Boo). We spent the rest of the night enjoying ourselves in an Irish bar called Shamrock. Unsurprisingly, we met a group of Irish guys who are over here to watch the rugby. There was a club downstairs so we also had a bit of a dance and before we knew it was 5am so we decided to venture home! We have spent the whole day sleeping and doing nothing in particular, which has been a nice change after such a busy two weeks! Charlotte and Boo have just left so the hostel is quite quiet and it is now just the two of us in our room. However, a new girl called Emma will be moving in tomorrow. We are off  to visit Uruguay for the day tomorrow as it´s only a couple of hours by ferry from BA.

Hope you are all well,

Lots of Love

Jen and Becki xx xx xx xx