Hello from south america!!

well we arrived in buenos aires after a long flight from n.z. arriving only a few hours after we left having crossed the date line so gained a day! bonus!! our first day in b.a. we headed out on a walking tour round la boca a very cool old part of the city, the old port area where tango started and where al the buildings are painted loads of different colours- very cool. after a stop for lunch where we had the first of our s. american bbqs with incredible meat!! we then went into the world famous la boca stadium with the fences all the way around the pitch because of the ´passionate` argentinian fans- ive never seen so much barbed wire in a stadium, it was pretty insane! we then headed back to the main part of town and to our hostel for a tango lesson- great fun!! i dont have much natural rythem, but iwas getting there with the steps, i was pretty impressed with myself but by the next day i think i had forgotten all of them, there will be no wowing u all with my amazing tango skills when im home im afraid! :) after a reat night out to an awesome drum and bass night we headed out into the very posh part of b.a. which was full of even more beautiful buildings. b.a. is a cool city, it has a very european vibe, with amazing arcitecture and big wide tree lined streets-love it!! we headed also to the grave of evita, which is in this incredibly austentatious grave yard filled with massive houselike graves containing generations of families, it was a very strange place. evitas by comparison was very understated!! that night we had the best steak ever with a lovely glass of red wine- we were in heaven! i love b.a. it is a very cool city with amazing buildings great nightlife, and probably best of all-amazing food!!

ilha grande is stunning! it is an island that is a national park, an hours catamaran ride off shore. there are a total of 2 streets on the island and the rest is completely deserted. our first day there we hiked for 2 1/2 hours over to the otherside of the island to the most stunning beach!(in retrospect flipflops were not the best choice of footwear-oops!!) there was white sand and awesome surf!! it was perfect! we had beach olympics, which i think i comprehentively lost! haha ah well. then we headed back for another s.american bbq- incredible fish this time- i love it!! from there we headed back to the mainland and down a little further to the old colonial town of paraty where we now are. it is a small picturesq little town, which a lovely pier with boats painted all the colours of the sun, its quite a funky little place!

so this is the beginning of our south american adventure, i will tell u more of what happens soon, but we r still having fun, we r with a great group and in an incredible place- all is well!! :D

i will be in touch soon, in the mean time tell me all ur news!!

much love x x x x