4 months since the last time…. life in Argentina, post Bogotà….

It seems I am getting worse and worse at writing this, which I guess is only natural as the novelty wears off…. Not just that, but the serious lack of decent-speed computers here really makes it hard to muster up the motivation to write regularly. Having said that, even my diary has suffered, so I guess it is mostly the novelty factor….

Anyways, I am living in Buenos Aires, land of the revolution and constant struggle. I have been here since about the 13th or 14th of July, and it has been the hardest, most trying period of my travel so far, without a shadow of a doubt.

First things first however…Let`s take a trip back 4 long months to my leaving Bogotà……

Well, the ticket I had to Leticia is still in my backpack. You see, I forgot my PIN number on my bankcard(that`s right, after having used the card for more than a year, somehow my brain decided that the info was no longer necesary and discarded it.) So, I ended up missing my flight and it seemed that there was no hope for me at all….I was still in Sue, in limbo, my visa was expired, I had already had my leaving party and I really felt like there was nothing to do but stay in Bogotà. Then, I was chatting to a friend(remember Ali, the guy I went with to Carnival in Feb?) and he suggested going to Florianopolis, in Brazil. With what, was my (obvious) reply. He then offered to buy me a ticket to Brazil! No strings, and said I didn`t even need to pay him back! I obviously will as soon as I am home and working, but what an amazing guy! He truly sorted me out of a jam when I really needed it and I will never forget that amazing show of generosity and selflessness, particularly as he is now back in the UK working his ass off to pay his debts! More than a couple of beers are owed to that guy when I get home!

So, I had a total new change of plan, flights booked via Sao Paolo, Brazil to go to the paradise of the south of Brazil. I had been looking at Steve`s(the Kiwi dude who came with me and Ali to Carnival) photos from Flori and the place is truly paraiso… white sand, sun, caipirinhas, and not really much to do apart from sunbathe and enjoy existing. You can understand how excited I was!   

The only trouble was, having been in Colombia for so long(ie on the Equator) I had totally forgotten that there are seasons in other countries! Seriously! So, instead of turning up to a hot, lazy-days paradise in summer I ended up in a cold, rainy nothing-to-do empty beach town! Still had fun but it was not quite the experience I had dreamed off! That said as well, Brazil is super expensive, by Latin American standards, and so when I come back here it will be from home, with pounds that will stretch heaps further than my Colombian pesos were!

One thing I would liek to mention here is that when I was sitting to eat the (extraordinary) breakfast in the hostal, a hummingbird flew in through the window, and hovered in front of me, totally still for what seemed like 10 seconds but can`t have been anything more than 2 or 3. It was a surreal and beautiful epoerience and I don`t want to leave it out of this blog!

After a few days I decided to head south to Argentina. I had a couple of friends in Buenos Aires(albethey complaining their asses off that it was too expensive and cold and blah blah blah) so I decided to pass through Iguazú Falls and then head south.

Iguazù Falls is the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life! Really! It is breathtaking. I only went to the Argentine side because at that point the language barrier of Portugese, the cost of Brazil and the weather were all getting too much for me to bear. The place is astounding. There are waterfalls for miles, culminating in a place called `The Devil`s Throat`which, to put things in perspective, stands at a height of 80 metres and the surrounding subtropical forest includes over 2000 species of animals and birds, some of them endangered.

I stayed in a hostal in Iguazu for 2 nights, met some ace Dutch guys who were as keen on the beer as I was and then decided that, although beautiful, the place is just not big enough to entertain me for very long! On my last day there I visited the 3 point frontier, the river join between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. I made a promise to the Paraguay frontier that I will visit, if not in the near future, then certainly in the distant.

The bus I caught to get to Buenos Aires from Iguazù was INCREDIBLE! After several expensive, disappointing buses in Brazil and a lifetime of disappointing, but cheap buses through Colombia Ecuador and Peru, this bus journey was such a delight! Firstly, the seat I was given was LONG ENOUGH TO ACCOMMODATE MY LEGS! I know people of the shorter persuasion will not appreciate this, but when you are required to stay on a bus for 17 or 18 hours+ and the seat you have doesn`t allow you to stretch out properly, it is agony! Next up, the music comes on and is electro, banging out of the speakers like a beauty! Then, as I am writing in my journal, an Argentine boy I had kissed the day before came to find me to kiss me and tell me he would see me in Buenos Aires. So romantic! haha Bienvenidos a Argentina! Land of drama, romance, hardship and passion! To top everything off with the bus, they provided wine, decent(vegetarian) food for dinner and a couple of cool films. Nice nice, nice!

The next morning I awoke with anticipation, as I couldn`t wait to see what my new home was going to look like. I had already decided that as I really had no more money, I would have to work and live here for 6 months or so to try and save the fare home, or at the very least, to sustain myself so I could return to England in the summer. I can`t face the cold! Everything on first impression(and when compared to the other `cities`I have been to) is huge in BsAs. HUGE! Marketing billboards, slogans, skyscrapers and so much traffic. And it stretches for miles, Gran Bs As is the same size as Uruguay!

I got a taxi from the bus terminal to my hostal(my friend Rob from Bogotà worked in this hostal for a few months and hooked me up with the job- I make breakfast in return for a free room) and on arrival everything seems cool. They tell me that I will have to pay a couple of days because the girl who was doing breakfast before hasn`t left yet and I can start in a couple of days. Here it all began……..