Hola Chicos!

Estoy en America del Sur.......

Vale.....

That's about the extent of my Spanish! Actually, it's coming along but would take me a million years to write this in English let alone in Spanish so won't bother!

Don't worry - after the moaning I had last time I will keep this short, besides, now I'm somewhere I've never ever been before I will be far too busy to write blogs for you lot......, (besides, as some of you know but others don't, this blog is also my journal for me to keep and look back on so I'm not gonna apologise for war and peace style epic posts!).

So, we're, (yes "we", as in Jess and I - met up in Buenos Aires about a week ago and so far we've not killed each other!), currently in Puerto Iguazu having just spent the most amazing few days exploring the incredible waterfalls, (can you call them waterfalls - they are a little more biblical than that.......). Unfortunately that will have to be another post since there is soooo much to say! In the meantime, what's been going on up to this point?

Firstly, how is everyone? I hear Forest lost their first game in about 19 to Derby of all teams. Still, look at where we are in the League Gary..... And we're back to winning ways now. I also understand the 6 Nations has started and Champions League is back under way. No idea what is going on so anything you can tell me would be very much appreciated! I also hear the weather is improving, (there might of even been sun recently?!). Anyways, I hope Brighton, Hove, (obviously pronounced ´Obe´ in Spanish), London, Bristol, Nottingham, Reading, Cambridge, Northampton, Hereford, Liverpool etc etc are all well and good and you are all keeping fit and healthy. Still missing everybody heaps but not too much, can you believe I am over a third of my through!

Now, I said I will keep this short so I will. After a slight Tuaca headache following my last night in NZ in Auckland, I landed in Santiago 5 hours before I left...... This became the longest day of my life after 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, a dinner and finally getting to bed at around 2 in the morning Chilean time, (can't remember exactly as the evening got a little fuzzy after too many Pisco Sours......), I had been up for around 34 hours, most of that was Saturday 23rd January 2010!

What can I say about Santiago? Well, I stayed longer than I had planned. Most of that was to do with being in a cool area, (Bellavista), in a cool Hostel, (Bellavista Hostel), with some cool people. It may also have alot to do with Pisco Sour, hangovers and lack of motivation to book onward travel. I did spend some time exploring but I will be returning to both Chile and Santiago so I will write a little more then. I will say that it was a cool place, could of been in a Spanish City in Europe but Bellavista was very cool, the people are amazing and I know very little Spanish! Although I hear they speak incredibly fast in Santiago and use alot of slang so not to be too disheartened!

Next stop was Mendoza on my way to BA to meet up with Jess. The 9 hour bus journey, (6 hours driving, 3 hours at border), was simply epic. Winding our way over the Andes, through tunnels and up zig-zagging roads up to heights of 3500m with absolutely huge peaks still towering above us. My poor camera got battered and yet it still couldn't fit it all in or capture it. I've tried to spare you the millions of photos...... I can't say much else really, it was just stunning finishing off steaming down this valley on the wrong side of the road with drops on one side into the river, (so muddy it looked like chocolate milk), and towering mountains the other. We finally hit the flat and the vineyards started! Beautiful.

Mendoza was cool. Very pretty little town with wide streets, lovely Plazas with live music, street performers and stalls selling all sorts of local crafts and products etc. The main thing about Mendoza though was the stunning backdrop of huge mountains in the distance. Every view had some huge peak in the background - amazing. I met a Swiss girl, (Nicole) and an English girl, (Sara) on my first night and we decided to do Mr Hugo's wine tour the next day. This consisted of turning up at My Hugo's house, being given wine, a map and a bike and cycling around several vineyards tasting the wine. We managed 3 in 4 hours getting stuck at the last one, (Tempus Alba), drinking bottles of wine rather than tasting, and eating cheese, olives, sundried toms etc, (yes, flashpacking again!)...... We politely turned down the owner´s, Christan, offer of going back to his place, (the Argentinos are soooo friendly), and cycled back to Mr Hugo with a Police escort, (only to ensure our safe passage you understand!).

Back at Mr Hugo's we were offered more wine and ended up drinking with him and the other groups who had done the tour that day until around 10pm. We got the local bus back to the Hostel thanks to Mr Hugo coming on the bus and buying our tickets for us! Nicole and I then decided it would be a good idea to get a bottle of rum and drink with everyone in the Hostel until the early hours. Consequently the next day was a write off - we just about made it to the Park.

That evening a few of us from the Hostel decided to have a steak dinner and go for a few quiet drinks....... I waved Nicole and Sara off at 10am having not gone to bed - I bumped into the very cool Mendocinans who I had shared the bus from Santiago with and they ended up taking us out as one of the locals........ This consisted of not going to a bar until about 2am, leaving there around 4am, going to a 'street' bar until 7am, (basically a kiosk on the corner of 2 roads with some tables and chairs outside and around 100 Mendocinans drinking), and ending up in an after hours club which fortunately had run out of beer by this point! We then went for breakfast! Very cool night and I was invited out that evening with Diego, Gorbo and Manuel but after sleeping most of the day and still feeling shocking I decided to have a quiet one to prepare for my 2 day trek in the Andes. Unfortunately, I might as well of gone out with the rest of my dorm since they all 'fell' back one by one between the hours of 4am and 6am, waking me up in the process.

The trek was amazing. It was so good to get out of the immense heat of Mendoza and into the mountains. The ones we could see from Mendoza turned out to be the foothills, and as we drove further into the Andes, higher peaks came into view. Incredible. I had wanted to head to Plaza Francia which is a 5 day trek to one of the base camps for Aconcagua, (at over 6500m it's the highest peak in South America - takes between 10 and 15 days to do it which unfortunately was not in my timescales). However, when I enquired upon my arrival in Mendoza they explained they needed a minimum number of people and I had to wait until they had this. Consequently, here I was with my guide and 3 other Argentinos from BA, doing Artenales and Vallecitos, (3400 and 3600 metres respectively). The first day was more for aclimitization but was pretty incredible - beautiful streams flowing down gulleys and valleys, lots of amazing cliff and rock formations, plenty of cows, (vacas), including one who had just given birth, the calf still couldn't stand and was being licked clean, and rather pleasantly the mum still had the placenta showing...... We also saw a couple of huge Condors gliding over us which was incredible. The night was spent in a Refugio which is basically like a mountain chalet. I spent the evening practising my Spanish with the 3 guys from BA and exchanging tongue twisters, (seriously - the Spanish ones are ridiculously hard) before heading outside to see the Andes bathed in the full moon - and I needed my fleece, at last having carried it all this way! The second day blew away the first. My new guide, Janina, was half my size but carried a backpack the same size as her and has scaled most of the peaks around the area. The scenary was breathtaking and again my camera struggled. More cows, condors and this time horses, all with the backdrop of 6000m peaks covered in snow and glaciers. Just amazing.

(This is not so short after all is it.....?)

I was glad I had done something other than drink in Mendoza and getting on my bus for the 14 hour overnight journey to BA I was feeling pretty happy and very excited about the rest of my trip. And let me tell you for those who don't know - bus travel in Agrentina is quite an experience. I had decided to pay the extra 7 pounds for First Class. I had a fully reclining seat, two full on meals, a DVD player, red wine, champagne, (!), snacks and we even played bingo! It was miles better than most flights I have ever been on!

So, this brought me to BA and I had one more night on my own before the first of my travel companions was to join me. I was pretty excited but also a little apprehensive about how I'd manage travelling with somebody else after being solo for such a long time, (and loving it!). Only time would tell!

I spent the evening with Danielle - a girl from New York who I met on the bus and who's last night it was before flying home. We went for a few drinks, caught a Tango show and dodged the odd shower or two - BA had decided it was going to have some thunderstorms for a few days!

Right, this was all about a week ago now - Jess and I met up on the Wednesday and decided to head up to Puerto Iguazu to do the falls whilst BA was enduring apocolyptic storms, (email yesterday from a friend in BA who lost her flip flops in the street come river!). Although it's been bloody hot up here, (seriously, I didn't think it could hotter than Melbourne until I got to Mendoza, then I didn't think it could be hotter than that until I got here!), we're glad of our decision after hearing about the weather in BA. We're now waiting for our luxurious bus back to BA, (18 hours but it was so much fun and so comfortable on the way up that we're actually looking forward to the journey back - more games, route planning, snacks, booze and of course it will be air conditioned!). I will sign off at this point since Iguazu Falls will be another post in a few days, followed by our adventures in BA where we will be until the weekend before flying to Patagonia and the welcome respite of some cool weather and amazing wilderness and trekking.

So far South America has been everything I was expecting and much much more. It's simple incredible here and the people I have met have been so kind and so friendly. I may even be able to speak a little Spanish by the time I return but who knows!

I seriously hope you are all well and staying safe.

To those in Blighty, see you all soon.

To Sue and Jono, thanks again for your wonderful hospitality in Auckland. I hope it's not another 8 years this time!

To Marion, Santiago was cool: Jess and I can't wait to get there in a few weeks - hope the travels are going well.

To Dom: good work on the job front!

To Kate, Emma and Andy, I'll still be standing when you arrive, rest assured - really looking forward to it, hope you guys are too!

Keep in touch and apologies if this has been another epic but you know me, I'm not exactly succinct and besides, there is soooooo much to say!

Hasta Luego chicos!

Matt.