Sara Travel Blog

Nigeria

2008-11-22T06:31:00.000-08:00

I looked up a few books stores to try and find a guide book about this country – and nothing. I must admit though I didn’t check out if there was a section in the Africa books. However country books were mainly for South Africa and Kenya.

Coming from Sydney from my brothers wedding weekend it was my seventh long haul flight in around 6 weeks – I was tired but am getting use to airports and long haul flights and I found myself mouthing the emergency exit demonstration. The flight was not very nice – we seemed to go through a storm – it was pretty spectacular until we hit a huge air pockets and it turned into a carnival ride when people sneak on food and drinks.

Dubai had one thing that every airport I think should have – banana chairs – or permanently reclined chairs. Brilliant idea. I don’t know if I can go back to normal waiting to board chairs – it is going to be tough. Getting onto the flight to Lagos – two things were apparent, the Nigerians travel in numbers and love duty free…The cabins were overflowed with duty free bags, and I was confused as to who knew which bag was whose.

Landing in a new country I find exciting – always. There is always something different to find out about. However I always dread the customs part, there is always some type of lining up waiting for at least half an hour or more, and depending on what country you’re entering in an orderly fashion. The orderly fashion in Lagos was a vague line and push your way to the front, and coming off a 27 hour trip I wasn’t one for patience. Without blowing my own horn I made fantastic time, unfortunately there may have been a few sore feet and body parts when I discovered that swinging my laptop bag around and moving forward speed up the process of getting to the front. One thing to mention we were given a briefing about entering the country and what to do to get through customs without making a bribe payment. One thing I took from the brief was to have good humour, appear pleasant, answer questions politely and if asked for something to wish them happiness and prosperity. I though oh no I’m not happy I do not exude good humour or happiness and the air around me given the sore feet and body parts and sneers was a good representation of that. However there was no question of asking for gifts, which I think had a large effect more on my body odour and attractiveness after having not slept very much in the 27 hour journey.

My security team meet me at baggage, I waited half an hour took my bag and went forth into Nigeria. I felt a little like a diplomat being driven off in a huge van with tinted windows and another truck following me with armed guards. In with me were two bodyguards…and away we went. I turned one of the bodyguards into my personal tour guide for the duration of the trip, asking the usual curiosities when you first step off into a new place. One thing I’ve learnt is common among people – people are proud of their countries and love talking about them.

Lagos is a very interesting place. From the air the first thing you notice is loads of yellow vans. I found out these are used as taxis and hold an impressive number of people given they are filled and some hang out of windows and have doors open to fit a couple more people where they stand on the rim and hold onto the roof as the van fangs down a roadway. There are not many made roads, the large one are main arteries going from airport to towns and sections of the mainland onto various islands of the coast which is where I ended in Ikoyi.

There are the normal slums you see outside of most airports. Going over the bridge into Ikoyi there are shacks that are built over the water – I would assume similar to types in Asia. Loads of people on the roads hanging out, or walking somewhere, selling something from bottles to cards to tyres, food, water handiwork. The people here are very elegant looking. They walk tall and straight. They carry items on their heads without effort. They are beautiful looking people with eyes that look like they a million thoughts behind them.

There have been a few things that have amused me which are to assist in our security.

We have what I’ve nicknamed a barge car. It is a smaller second car that follows us. It is a security concern to be stationed for too long, given robbery is quiet rife a stationed car with a bunch of ex pats is a huge target. So this second car will barge through traffic if it gets too thick and makes a pathway for us. I still get a little confused as to how this doesn’t annoy the local people off to a high degree. The traffic is chaotic but has its orderly fashion. To give you an example we want to turn left (rules are American side driving) so we need to cross over traffic. Our barge car will edge into oncoming traffic and then just stop there so we have a clear path to cross.

The use of insect repellent is required especially at nights when the mosquitoes are out. Malaria is quiet active here, so I look at it like my new perfume. I apply it in the morning and top it up at nights. I have found another use for it as well, to use it like you would smelling salts. It has come in handy at keeping me awake purely from the smell when I hit my walls from jet lag!

I found out during my security briefing when arriving on my first day that Ecuador has the same security risks as a country as Nigeria. I was a bit confused – Ecuador has its own guidebook in stores.

Cape Town

2008-11-22T05:55:00.000-08:00

I ventured into my first town in the southern countries of Africa. Cape Town what a wonderful place. A little fact that reclaimed land (that being they pumped sand from the ocean to create land) makes up most of city section of Cape Town.

I travelled on my own here for a work project. The first night I went into the Waterfront which was pretty touristic but had some lovely restaurants. I was on my own, and so they put me in the best seat of the house over looking the waster, and one of the waiters would come and keep me company - how lovely.

We had one of the operations guys down from Gabon who had spent many a night in Cape Town being the remotes business center so to speak. He knew the owner of the Manor I stayed in, and from the second or third night, we started off listening to the owners stories, being a well travelled man born in Canada, raised in Brasil, working in Russia in the likes of oil industries, hedge funds and then throwing the good life and an expesive divorce on a Russian girl he fell in love with. Quiet a cute couple, but the guy tended to like the sound of his own voice, and you were never sure how factual his stories actually were....anyway we did help him out with choosing chef for a function by taste testing the food, as well as helping him out on the vino - nice.

Cape Town is beautiful, the Townships (slums) were different from any city I have been to. People tended to be more proud of the space that they lived in, and they were cleaner, but also I noticed there was running water and electricity which must have made the clean up easier. The government had been putting some investment into these areas. However as most developing cities the slums are always just after the airport and are the first and last thing you see.

I took some time out from work during the couple of weeks I was there, and did a hike from Cape Point to Cape of Good Hope. I was lucky that the whale season was still very active, and I saw a number of whales just off the coast, they are mesmerising. I also was intrigued by the Baboons. They are not very happy looking, and most of the time tend to be rumaging through someones garbage or kitchen for food.

London

2008-02-26T05:34:00.000-08:00

This is a city that has always fansinated me so much I tend to live here - well a lot really this decade. But it really knows how to push my buttons. The last couple of months have been pretty entertaining. My favorite bands Kings of Leon, Smahing Pumpkins, Catpower, Portishead and The Shins are just a few that I have seen in the last couple of months - and I still have booking for more - Portishead being one. Can it get better than that.

I have come to terms that I indeed have a love hate relationship with this city.

The bad -

1. No matter where you are you will always have someone in front of you and someone behind you. If you stand still you will get bumped at least by every third person that passes you (Im a numbers person if you havent guessed)

2. Peak hour travel you will always hear - can you move down a bit - even if there is a dwarf with his face squished against the far window in the inner depths of the train - there is an inch of space somewhere that can obviously fit in an oversized person. Of course being politely english there is always an apology.

3. Guaranteed pictures of Britnay, Paris, Macca's ex wife or the latest z lister that stumbled out of a reality tv show. Someone tell me why I want to see them on Monday morning? please?

The good and the ugly -

1. The art work in London and how much I missed it - you get all sorts from art, dance, music, readings, public and private art.

2. Meeting people from all walks of life - from new Australian friends to people in exile from the Middle East as they no longer believe in the religion that dominates a large portion of their country, being able to practice my Spanish in a small restaurant, and they dont think Im showing off - well I at least think that. uh emm.

3. No matter how old you are you're never too old to act like - that. Can you believe I am still allowed out - into a bar with people that are all ages, and we have things in common when our feets tend to start tapping away together..

4. summer. there is an air of people starting to become happy..shaking off winter as I know it.

5. I can go to say hmm africa, europe or the middle east and it will take me no longer than 4 hours fly time.

Oh my what style you have

2007-07-20T17:30:00.000-07:00

The Argentinians are known for their style sometimes like Alexis (obviously group picture far left) , and sometimes it is only their eccentricities that take over any style that will leave you with you scratching your head.

The pictures of the daytrip was my introduction to the Argentinian country. To get you into the mood of the day, I was still getting over my events of Peru or somethings that had decided to attach for my trip back to Argentina so running around in the paddocks in this case wasn't for me. However I usually do like to go country. The place we visited was the family farm of Nadie (the girl second of the right in the picture above) in an area of the town called Rojas. I was packed off into a car with porteños drinking mate for around 3 hours. I have a taste for mate these days but it really makes you want to go to the bathroom - a lot, and the bathrooms were few and far in between for such a diuretic. My holding in muscles got a work out. In Peru I became somewhat of a vetran of holding on for long bus journeys. To date the personal record was held from Cusco to Lima, a 19 hour bus journey only going once when we stopped off nowhere but a concrete shed makeshift baños for all which smelt of vomit and urine. People were actually brushing their teeth eek an awful flashback and an odd tangent from my story. So lets get back to Argentina.

The intention of the trip was for the guys to do some filming of a multimedia background for a dance production (coming to England!!!). It is always interesting to me to watch filiming. In particular how someone has an eye for the perfect shot or will see some detail that I know my eye would not pick up. The farm was similar to those around the world. It had loads of big toys that you would expect to find in most working farms and the odd carcass of an animal that was being prepared for lunch hanging on the vernada. This place was very interesting. For me probably would have been better to avert my eyes from the veranda. But I still managed to hold for the fantastic food and more importantly the lemon pie and red wine - is there a bad red wine in Argentina?

An important lesson learnt on this trip was the common ground shared between the Antipodeans and Latinos of a good song which must be played over and over. Inclusive of air musicians and loud singing.

The country is beautiful and made me a little nostalgic given it was very much like Australian landscape. I was in slight envy given that these guys were working. What a great job. At one point though the sound guy had to run behind the car while they were taking film of the landscape of the farm, and unfortunately got slightly entangled in the wire to the camera, professionally he untangled himself and still managed to keep up with the speed of the car. bueno. After our long day, well my long day of peeping around big toys and beautiful landscapes, we stopped off into town for a beer and made our way back into Buenos Aires.

Machu Picchu and Cusco II

2007-07-11T07:51:00.001-07:00

There is a very good reason why Machu Picchu was awarded one of the new 7 wonders of the world. Many people I know have been to MP either via the Inca Trail or the train and walk up to the site. It is spectacular. We spent the night before in Auga Calientes a small village at the base of the mountain, and then made our way up early the following morning. You cannot spend less than a full day in MP, there is so much to see and do. I also realised that I have an issue with heights and the trip up to the sun dial left me a little shaky. This place feels like you are on top on the world, it is so steep, and when you have a narrow path to walk on and a sheer drop it is not for the faint hearted. I am a bit of a wuss. But pushing through it was worth making it to the sundial, which is the Inca trailians have a first glimpse of the lost city. We both then spent the day rummaging around the ruins. Bueno.

If I am completely honest Cusco is awful. The town and surrounding areas are very beautiful but it is a false tourist bubble. Tourists by in large dominate this town and you get hassled to buy trinkets every second step you take. One smart person wore a tshirt that read "No Gracias". I was very embarrased to be a traveller when you see a lot of people in the main square very drunk or on drugs. The local "healing drink" San Pedro was advertised and from one traveller I met was in fact a hallucinagenic. Why!! The locals lie to you including at one point where a small shop said it had bread when in fact they would have had to go to another shop nearby to purchase it and then sell it back to us at a higher price. Having to pay gringo prices does become part of travelling in parts of South America. Cusco has in fact a three tier pricing system, prices for gringos, prices for people from Lima and then the price for the locals in Cusco. With a high rate of poverty locals should have the right to pay less, but when the locals here also discriminate against themselves I am a little less inclined to pay a higher rate. If you have been to Cusco did you ever wonder why you do not see a local at one of the bars in the central area or be allowed to roam around in the stores that tourists do. By no means it is not that they dont want to associate with us, it is because they are not allowed into these places.

The air is not the best, so I happened to get ill with a respiratory infection. Cusco sits at around 3300m so not being well and having dealing with higher altitudes I decided rather than spend more than my two days in bed to see a doctor. Our hotel had advertised that they have medical services. This service as we found out was to try and call a doctor, when they couldnt get through they said sorry they are no longer operating and walked away without any further information to help out.

We seemed to be met with frustration everywhere. Then we happened upon South American Explorers to get some information for travelling further. A lady called Janice was helping out a friend on an early Saturday morning, an English lass who had been in Peru for two years. She was lovely and also owned a local restaurant which soon became our local. Young Fanny was celebrating her birthday so after a couple of days in Agua Calientes and MP we made our way back to Cusco had some cake and a drink at Janices Cuban Bar. I think without meeting Janice our trip to Cusco would have been completely awful!!

After our return to Cusco we decided to see how we were going to go on, possibly through Puno and into Bolivia or down through Tacna into the Atacama Desert in Chile. We took ourselves to the local bus station. No buses were running south due to protests and Bolivia was in fact shut down due to problems in La Paz and the border areas. Stories came in about large protests where buses had rocks thrown at them, stopped and robbed, and deaths of people in the protests were left upon the sides of the roads. An awful situation. At one point I had had enough, I was at a counter, my hands going numb as I was getting accustomed to high altitude again (MP is in fact lower than Cusco), and being told we could not get out, how i wanted to leave Peru right then and there. In hindsight we were very lucky to be in Cusco and not on the bus the night before to Puno where no doubt we would have been caught up in some of the problems or being stuck in Bolivia for the 'indefinite period' until the protests stop. They were protesting against water contamination, why and how they become violent is a sad situation. We did see some of the buses come back into the terminal none of which were left untouched, graffiti, dents or windows smashed with the rocks.

So our next avenue was to get a bus back to Lima. We could not get down to either southern border for a week, so with time being tight we looked at bus companies to Lima. Our usual company was booked out. We headed back to the SAE clubhouse to try and get some more information on the protests. On the way there we were told by a taxi driver that the bus company we usually used had just been in a bad accident where 24 people had been killed and that we should not use them. He told us about another company, a little dubious about this person more likely getting a commission if we booked with this bus company we tried to do some more research. We had also found out that the accident was on the Panamerican which is the same highway i had my accident in Ecuador, and could see that it would not necessarily be the fault of the bus driver given most people driving on this road are pretty bonkers!!So four hours later we looked at some companies decided on one and we finally had our tickets back to Lima.

The road from Cusco to Lima is not a great road. It resembled a rollercoaster ride with loads of unmade sections. One of the drivers thought he was a in the formula one, so these combined leads to a few panic attacks over the 19 hour journey and an unheard request to slow down on the curves when the bus felt like the top half may snap off. I had serious thoughts about whether I was really made for backpacking in South America after this.

So the plush ladies we are after landing in Lima we had a manicure and took a flight back from Lima to Argentina. Back in my beloved Buenos Aires. What a wonderful surprise to land when it started to snow, it was magic. It had not snowed here in nearly 90 years, frio si!! pero muy hermosa.

Machu Picchu and Cusco I

2007-07-11T07:40:00.000-07:00

Arequipa II

2007-07-11T06:22:00.000-07:00

After much deliberation of our choice of route we decided to head from Lima to Arequipa. I must say here that South American Explorers have been a great resource on my travels, with the exception of one lady at the Lima office who decided that information about how her grandmothers knitted socks did not keep her warm on the bus from Lima to Cusco was more important than border crossings at Bolivia..

We caught a bus for 14 hours to Arequipa. The first photo uploaded on the first Arequipa section is a picture of what we drove through, which is pretty barron, and is an extension of the Atacama desert.

We met a couple of friends that Fanny had travelled with previously and we decided to head on a two day trip with them to Colca Canyon, one of the world deepest caynons. I will say that I was surprised at how developed Peru was but it started here at how annoying it can be to get a straight answer or in fact be given the right information from the Peruvians. We were suppose to be going on a trip and do some hiking with our friends. We were put onto a seperate trip and hiking involved a two day car trip with ony 1 and 1/2 at the most outside of the car when we reached the watch point for condors...so not exactly a walking trek but I did get a suberb picture of how touristy this place is, just look at the photo of the people taking photos of birds...and this was one of the smaller groups there.

Pan pipe music, who was the person to think of blowing into a tube covering songs by Celine Deion. On the way to Colca Caynon you pass a point at 4900m, yes I hit altitudes again. However when at lunch with a headache from altitudes the locals think it is a great idea to play piercing pan pipe music. Some how the two dont go together, and boo to the people who make payment to these guys and encourage this.

We reached our hostel and where at high altitudes the tempatures are freezing. No heaters and warm water for a shower. We were looking to the hairdryer as a makeshift heater. Anyone who thinks that taking a hairdryer on holiday as a luxury item can think again.

Arequipa

2007-07-11T06:07:00.001-07:00

Lima

2007-07-11T05:54:00.001-07:00

I dont know anyone who spent some time in Lima and have heard the odd comment about how awful the city is. I thought how bad can it be!

We flew in and caught a taxi to our hostel. On the way we thought we were actually in Vegas. The area between the airport and the Miraflores district was surrounded with casinos and chain restaurants. The following day we found more wonders such as valet parking at starbucks. I couldnt resist getting a photo. The plazas are very clean but there is the ever strong security presence. The city itself it quiet polluted and is usually covered in clouds 10 months of the year. However we were quiet lucky to have experienced a little sun while we spent lunch in a massive mall designed for convience food and crap clothing stores.

People were quiet friendly but I will agree is a city to pass through unless you are into craps, the game that is.

Cotopaxi and other strange events

2007-06-14T16:39:00.000-07:00

The first picture is of Cuicachi, a crater of an active volcano. The lake is freezing so you wouldnt want to swim in it. Also of interest is there are no fish due to the chemicals that come from the volcano.

The others are of Cotopaxi one of the highest active volcanos snow capped!! The actual hike itself was probably one of the hardest things I have done.We made a slow drive up to 4500m. From there there is a steep incline to 4800m to a refuge, for a short break and then made a further hike to 5000m. All in all we were walking (or in my case falling) for around two and half hours. The altitude had an effect on my balance, so the higher I went the more time I was on my bottom, to the amusement of my fellow trekkers.

I was really impressed with Cotopaxi it is very beautiful volcano. Hiking at the angles we did is hard normally but combining that with an altitude of 5000m enough to make you breathless and weak at the knees and high winds with a freeze factor to have the tip of your nose numb.

The daytrip back from Cotopaxi also was my first hand experience with the way local police can make money from an accident. We were heading back on the Panamerican and a car (the culprit car) decided to drive straight in front of us. I was in the lucky passenger seat and I can now fully appreciate how things can move in slow motion....or it may have been the fact that we did slow down quiet a bit as it actually felt like being in a dogem car. We bounced off his car and onto the other side of the road. Our luck held out as there were no cars coming the other way, and the gap in traffic was big enough for the cars to stop and go around us!!

Was all very surreal and not scary at all. We all walked out from the car and it was pulled to the side of the road. There were another two cars in our group who were behind us and stopped to help out. Our main guide who I will call "hottie" as I cant recall his name due to obvious reasons dropped us off to a nearby hostel and returned to the accident site to help with the police. Our driver stayed by his car wreck until the police arrived. ...now the story begins. Hottie returned to find the culprit car gone. He spoke to our driver who said they pushed it off into a nearby forest. The police said they could only see our car. After discussions and gathering of evidence by hottie and our driver to apparently rival CSI forensic team they tracked down where the car was. The police then said yes they agree the car was in the accident but the person standing next to the car was not the driver, and they were free to go. Apparently the police had been paid off. So hottie and driver returned to the road, when not only did they have to pay another $US20-$US30 to allow the car to leave the scene they also found that the radio was stolen while being looked after by another policeman.

I wonder how much it would have cost if someone was hurt in our group and we needed to get an accurate report say for insurance reasons. Hmm my guess is a lot, given we were 10 gringos in the car. In talking to a few people after this event other stories emerged with people being robbed and police not really caring about it, and having no interest in making a report. Now corruption I know occurs in all sorts of circles, but not in situations like this, is kind of on par with ambulance chasing but getting in before the ambulance so to speak. Can you point the finger at the individual person, police or do you blame a society for making the matter the way it is. I was quiet sad to think this could be my way of leaving Ecuador. And then hottie invited a few of us to his place for dinner bless him and cooked up some local food with a few beers with thoughts of a bad luck of a day but hey check out these photos of other trips and festivals this is a pretty cool country even though some parts of it are a bit crap - go hottie.

Ecuador Coast - Atacamas and Sua

2007-05-31T14:48:00.001-07:00

Baños

2007-05-31T14:40:00.000-07:00

As you can probably make out this is a very scenic place. One photo I couldnt get was of the smoking volcano that sits behind the city. The top of the volcano was covered in clouds while we were there. A couple that left later than us took a photo of it, and you could see a plume of smoke. The last eruption this one including lava was in 2002. The last I heard they had to start evacuating people again a few weeks after we arrived there due to seismologists predicting another eruption.

I went on this trip with 5 Swiss who I met at school. They was great lovers of the outdoors but also appeared to have the passion to run up mountains so to speak. We decided on a bike trip to Puyo the largest jungle town of the Oriente and 61km from Banos. Most people make it to the large waterfall which was 25km away and where I could not go any further. The 25km was spectacular cycling usually sharing the roads with buses and cars, and then veering off when a tunnel appears. This is where you see some interesting sites including a bridge which includes the Ecuadorian version of bungee jumping. A person gets strapped to a rope thrown of the bridge you dont bounce but you swing like a pendulum under the bridge. When we got here a girl was standing on top of the bridge all strapped up gripping on for dear life to the two locals who arranged the jumps. A few times she appeared to want to get down, at one point I though she was going to get down when one of the guys holding onto her pushed her over and she shrieked like a pig at the Saquisili markets, and then started to laugh, was highly amusing for all of us that watched on. We made out way to points where you catch a flying fox basket over a river, where we went for a hike. The gears on my bike seemed to decide on their own what they wanted to be in when I went uphill. So the cycling became hard. I decided at the 25km to stop along with one of the girls.

So as you do in Ecuador we got ourselves back to the road put our hand out to flag down a vehicle, which in our case was the bus. There are no bus stops, buses stop anywhere, and if you dont get picked up on a bus a truck or utility van will usually pick you up and you ride in the back with other locals or travellers. We made our way to Puyo which was weird. The largest town of the jungle you have exotic visions however this was a concrete jungle which seemed to be full of internet cafes and telephone booths. A little disappointing. However a short stroll out of one side of the town you came accross a little village which you imagine to see in a jungle town, together with the football field which seems the norm for anywhere in sth america.

Now the bus ride back was interesting. People who are not local will get charged 4 times the normal rate, that is the way it is everywhere in Ecuador including getting into national parks. So we waited on the bus and we waited with vendors coming on board selling everythng you can imagine. The bus was around 1/2 late as it wasnt full, it left not quiet full, so we did a couple of laps of the town while a person yelled out Banos Banos, just in case someone may at the last moment want to go to Banos. We collected one or two people and then made our way hurrah. But wait the driver got hungry so we stopped off at a tiny little vendor and waited another 1/2 hour while the driver had something to eat. We made our way then picking up people on the road and got to Banos, 61km and nearly 3 hours later. The bus system is not like I was use to!!

Alas we made our stop at Baños and met up with the others in our group who had made it almost the way to Puyo and then hitched a ride back. they made it back to Baños an hour before we got back.

The following day i did a hike up into some scenic mountain area, where a snarling dog stopped me completing a 6 km walk. Apparently the dog is well known amongst others who have done this trail, and if the owner is out some have made a small donation to him and you can pass. Unfortunately i walked slowly backwards and settled for a 3km stroll. The locals I passed were all very lovely saying hello and some entering into a small conversation with my Spanish levels. I recommend a trip to Baños for those that travel to Ecuador.

Journey to the centre of the world part 2

2007-05-31T14:32:00.000-07:00

These are some more photos around Saquisili and one of Quito city itself.

Cuy or guniee pig are well known food in Ecuador and Peru, but they are also used for cleansing rituals. They are considered to be a sensitive animal so when a person wants to ensure that a child does not have bad spirits surrounding them they have a ritual with a cuy. The Ecuadorians are usually superstitious as well as being religious.

The photo of Quito was taken at hotel Quito which became a regular little haunt to have mojitos, which was our own cleansing ritual.

Journey to the centre of the world part 1

2007-05-31T14:21:00.000-07:00

Guide books detail what it is like landing in Quito, however no matter how may books you read it never quite prepares you for when you land in the middle of the city which sits in a valley surrounded by volcanos, and the runway actually passes peoples backyards. I had hoped for a day landing, can you imagine kids playing in backgrounds, waving - lovely (more likely holding their ears con ojos rojo (red eyes) from the fuel coming out of the plane). Instead I had a night landing which in itself was spectacular.

First impressions of Quito. It smells a mixture of popcorn and diesel fumes. A little tease as you smell the sweet aroma you almost go to take a deep breath when your throat starts to sting from a nearby blue bus spewing out fumes.

There are two main parts that most visitors will see which is Centro Historico (Old Town) and New Town (New Town). Old town is very colonial and very beautiful, the photos of the buildings are in Old town. New Town you may as well be anywhere, apartment blocks, shops, large pavements and huge shopping malls. One shop advertised an up and coming marathon in Quito which read 42,125km, I thought that is some marathon if it is in the 42,000 - ever the naive person I am, it actually reading 42km with a comma being a point.

One thing that Ecuador does do is section the gringos into a part of New Town called the Mariscal Sucre or affectionaltely known to the locals as gringolandia. Pretty much dedicated to the traveller, though the resources I later heard can be quiet frustrating. The house I stayed in was a mansion, and I did get lost a couple of times, thank goodness the bathroom was next to my room. And the security was very tight. You had four doors to unlock pass through and then lock again, all repaeated again on the way out. I almost jumped for joy at the sight of a spa...yes not just any bath. But the though in staying in such a beautiful home, it put my thoughts to the large divide in the classes. Sixty percent of the population was living below the poverty line, and there was no shortage of mansion homes in the area I was staying in.

My first trip into Old town started off differently. You know when you make a wrong turn, it is common amongst travellers especially me. This time there wasnt a slight gut feeling, but I appeared to have every eye on me. Given the tourist attraction in that part was a car park they had a pretty good reason to wonder why I was there. I stood a good head and shoulders above most and the sun reflected from my skin, I think i caught somebody putting sunglasses on as I passed by them. If I had felt like an alien before hand this took it up a notch. So I thought whoops and then walked back and made out I hadnt in fact come too far.

Old Town is pretty impressive. The buildings are impressive, and like most Sth American cities I have now been to a strong European feel and you could as well be in Toledo in Spain or Florence in Italy. The people are what made Quito different. I have read somewhere that they have cleaned up the crime in Old Town and what is very noticeable is the presence of police including mini or white or black combat vehicles, was all a bit weird, guys on walkie talkies which drew a slight giggle when I pictured Trigger Happy TV skit yelling Hola into the phones. The indigenous people roam the streets and you notice they wear particular outfits, like puffy dresses, felt hats, and long white shirts with designs on them, children strapped to backs or goods purchased that day.

I took a few photos discreetly of the buildings and made my way to the convent and chapel of San Fransisco which was an interesting place. The chapel was a bit old and was being repaired, again with peligro signs everywhere, scaffolding and braces, but people were freely raoming about or taking prayer ( I was told if a person was hurt somehow then it was considered to be their fortune). So I made my way through the bottom of the chapel with floor boards sagging and creaking beneath my feet. A had a guide tour through the musuem section of the convent by a student. She studied art at the convent, and you well know that important artists were commissioned to produce works of religious factors in history and is considered still so today to be important in Quito. Well I hope not to put people off but I was slightly pale after going through this place, with gruesome statues of stigmatas, different versions of the jesus on the cross. The top part of the chapel was decidely sturdy to my surprise after the bottom, and the artwork was indeed impressive showing 8 planets, not the nine we are taught today (well that is another argument for the atronomers). It may be a convent but they do have fun. I was shown a particaular structure where two people stand at opposite ends of this little square block and whisper to each other, and can hear each other...though I was not told of the tales that were in secret! Also if a student was late they were placed in an object that was used to create scriptures on a turntable type structure, the late student was placed in the inside and spun around.

Altitude sickness. Well it wasnt what I expected. I had been at a level of around 4000m once before for about 15 mintues, and I was slightly short of breath. Quito sits at 2820 M (9252 feet). There was no breathless feeling, but the first few days I had trouble holding the all important morning cup of tea, suddenly having a nose bleed, or having an urgent need to sit down after running 50m to catch a bus. Daily naps or siestas were a must I seemed to be quiet tired all of the time. It in fact took me a week to adjust not the one or two days.

Now the picture of the lady sitting on the chickens was taken by Monica and was our class excursion of the week to Saquisili. It was a local town which becomes a market on each Thursday around one hour out of Quito. We caught two buses and onto a back of a utility van for the remainder. Was to become a mode of transport used a few times. The markets are held each Thursday and the local people who live in the mountains come into town and buy and sell goods. This time only the smell of maize, corn and popcorn was wafting in the air, together with a person half my size carrying a 50kg bag of potatoes, babies sleeping next to butcher shops, it is a family affair. As mentioned previously the ladies used shawls for carrying children or goods that they purchased that day, instead of the materialistic use of being drapped around the neck and shoulders. The locals have style in these pragmatics with all types of prints including burberry!!

On our way back from Saquisili we only had to take one bus, and another story about bus trips later it was undertaken in true Ecuadorian style whereby you have vendors boarding the buses to sell bits and pieces including food, pens and juices, direct marketing at its best. The juicer I was in fact so impressed by that I purchased a couple. They are quiet small little devices and the girl could have probably sold anything to anybody, she was a great marketer. These devices you push into a fruit and after a couple of twists juice is extracted through a little funnel at the top of the object. Now the fruit in Ecuador is amazing and I miss it dearly so this was an ingenious idea and I was sold

My Spanish school is fantastic without a shadow of doubt the best over the three countries I have studied. I loved our weekly excursions. One excursion took us to the Equator which was loads of fun. I could have spent hours there. A large monument was constructed on what they thought was the actual equator until nine years ago when they decided to check out using up to date technology if it actually was. Can you imagine the look on peoples faces when they had it wrong. So now about 200m from the monument they have constructed an outside musuem with all sorts of experiements to show you the different things that occur on the equator, on the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere. You have the well known direction of water when it is drained from say a sink. We were shown with a sink on a trolley that on the equator it went straight down, and when moved to either hemisphere it will change direction. Some people are skeptical that it is a trick and that you need to be further from the equator than we were.

The egg was the experiment to show that gravity is at the least on the equator. I was happy to know I weighed two pounds lighter, but to balance an egg would be a great challenge for me. So taking up the challenge with shaky hands I did indeed manage to balance the egg after countless attempts, but given that you are balancing an egg on a nail head, I wonder if doing this simple trick on the equator was anymore the diffcult challenge than elsewhere.

Whatever peoples thoughts the equator was fun. It is a novelty jumping between hemipsheres, and each side I felt a little closer to both of my homes, one being Australia, and the other England.

Mas palabras del caminante

2007-05-08T18:13:00.000-07:00

Well my laundry money took me on a two hour bus ride towards Valparaiso down a large highway filled with billboards for finance, large petrol stations and food stops. Which felt strange knowing that I am in South America.

I landed in Valparaiso which as you can see is a very beautiful city which reminded me a lot of Italy, with some differences. The town itself is home to naval ships which are the life-sized version of my battleship game still collecting dust somewhere.

Tourists are shuffled off to one section of this town which is indeed beautiful in its own right. Brightly coloured houses and murials next to dilapidated buildings and run down roads not used. Outside of this are much more run down areas, quiet poor and in one part I felt a definite air that I did not belong there, hence did not venture forth.

I stayed at a place called Hostal Sonrisa which was awesome and where I had my first conversation in English in a little over a week (yep big stretch) with a Dutch girl. We swapped stories about learning Spanish. Most people learning languages will start off by translating back to their first language – well so I thought. This was a lesson for me how influential the language of English is. It is common when learning Spanish here to speak in English when required ie to make sure a concept is understood. This girl purchased a Spanish dictionary for classes in Buenos Aires, and she could only find a Spanish to English dictionary. She spoke fluent English so this was not a problem for her. So I asked when she was learning a new concept would she relate this to English or Dutch, and she replied both. Due to the dictionary to look up a new word would be in English but she would think of most concepts in both Dutch and English.

For example I want to say “I am hungry”. So you would use the verb "to be". However in Spanish you use the verb "to have" which is “Tengo hambre” (I have hunger). When the girl learnt this concept she first said “Yo estoy hambre” (I am hungry). Her teacher told her no you use I have not I am. What was weird is that in Dutch you use the verb "to have" but at the time she related back to English instead of Dutch….confusing yes!!! I found it quiet profound but this is common for learners of Spanish where English is their second language.

Important note try not to say "Tengo hombre" - which is I have men, pronounciation can make a big difference.

So after this interesting conversation I spent my second day in Valparaiso strolling around cobbled stone roads, taking in the views of the ocean, coloured filled houses and art stores. I also wondered how many people finish reading a book in a café. Of course being in holiday mode reading a book on a sun drenched patio is fabo, but I think that it is also a tool for people watching without looking like the obvious pervert. After this thought I jumped on my bus back to Santiago.

Santiago is not so lonely this week. The course is a lot harder and I am learning not only present tense, but two versions of past tense, different things to do with verbs, definitives, irregulars and new vocab. Por ejemplo “derecho” which has the dual meaning of straight ahead and politics, in particular right wing. It is a complicated business.

I have found a way to break the ice with the Chileans. The accent is probably the most difficult to understand in Spanish. Making note of this together with that you are learning is bound to get a laugh or smile from a local and the times I have tested it, it usually results in a brief conversation and they start to speak a lot slower!

Two things of note in Santiago this week are firstly a lot of people carrying musical instruments, which of course means they must be ok people. Secondly the trains appear to be the place to breastfeed. There are babies everywhere and a rush hour could resemble a human milking factory. Fantastic.

Another touristy thing I did this week which I recommend should you find yourself in Santiago is Pueblito de Los Dominicos which is an arts market in the middle of almost nowhere. People on the bus there did look at me like an alien but I am getting use to that now. At the market one guy made figurines of people and objects from matches. Sounds odd but looked pretty cool. I got talking to another guy who explained a typical Chilean game of 21. Two cups and a dice and the rules of the game are similar to the card game with one difference being that you gamble your clothes not money - Im going to use the word pervert again. I loved this stall called Patsali which was full of very unusual scultures which were all recycled and ecological artwork. I would have purcahsed in a big way given that I only have a small backpack was enough to deter me, so I settled for a baggy green cap as you can see above!!

On a personal note thanks for all of the comments, in particular the postings by Maria. You may have noticed I have done a fair bit of emailing this week, part for reverting to my English given it is still my comfort zone. As it is second and sometimes not spoken language in this great continent it is nice I can still comunicate with someone out there. This week I have thought that I am more than half way through my trip and news of what is going on with my friends and family is more important than the news that Prince William is now single.

In particular congratulations to my brother Mark and Vinh who got engaged last month, for a few of you new loves, Rokeby moving to Ireland - save me some guinness please MTL, Scottie still hurting himself on his trips away (Do you still get insurance chico?), books out in stores Alexis well done! and new additions to families where I will urge to see if a trend can be started for a human milking factory, band together ladies.

Besos

Sara

Mullets and Rich Laundry...yes I am in Chile

2007-05-04T18:04:00.000-07:00

A very important word to learn in Spanish which is also very important to the locals in South America “Cubanas” or better known as The Mullet. Do not think of the general cubana population of Australia or England that have yet to get out of the 80`s but more to the "belleza" of the football field. My observations of this master hair piece is that it can look somewhat funky being closer to a cropped mowhawk with an extra bit at the back. Though in the world of curly hair it has become affectionetely known as the woody woodpecker, thanks to Dolly and her detailed description of a bit of gaff of hair popped on top of someones head like a woody woodpecker. The Santiago version is usually, blunt fringe short side and what is supposedly for partying at the back is a mass of long straight hair that would struggle to get an invite to a bingo night.

I have been a week in Santiago. On the positive note I am doing well in classes and have learnt past tense (important for conversation outside who I am where I am from and what I think of the town I am visiting). Fuiste is one of my new favorites which is said when somebody wants to know where you have been. It sounds dangerously close to fisty which will no doubt get a giggle out of people who know of my funny find in Polyester Bookstore in Melbourne on fisting - three stages in three pages.

My bottom lip trembles slightly as I am a bit lonely. The locals are not as friendly as I had thought they would be and I find I could well be in London not knowing a soul. It also has the freeze factor being close to winter. Thank goodness I timed my trip to Ecuador next week.

It is expensive here and the denominations are very high which gets complicated when pronouncing the numbers in Spanish for us learners. But the odd things are really expensive. To wash your clothes here I need to go to a Lavanderia where they wash and dry my clothes. For my half kilo of clothes it cost $4300 pesos, so around US$9, 5 quid or OZ$13. To put that into perspective locally for approximently $6000 pesos (the price of a normal wash load) I can get a bus ticket to Valparaiso, 2 hours away. I can also have lunch together with two pints of lager and an hour on the internet at my nearby local. Who knows why the laudry is so expensive i was expecting them to at least fold my clothes in a special way.

On the scale of countries in South America Chile is very expensive. I have only been in Santiago a week so at the moment my palms are facing up together with a shrug as to why come here and why pay through the nose for it. It is very polluted, which apparently normal this time of year, but not for summer. The only interesting thing I could find to take a photo of is the one I have attached here of Bellavista. Normally it would be the Andes but you cant see them through the haze. There must be more to it than this. So I took my laundry money and invested in a ticket to Valparaiso where I will have a look for a couple of days.

Hasta Luego BA and random airport tales

2007-04-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

No matter how many times I go to an airport knowing I have to pay airport tax, I always forget until I reach passport control. One day they may wave me through, but not to my surpise I usually get disgruntled faces, eyes rolling to thoughts of bloody new traveller. Maybe I will keep it up, it certainly kills some time and is a bit of a change to the same automatic mode of the thoroughfare of people. I´m quiet bored of airports in fact, steril halls with carpets that scream to be given a new cleaner, sweat smells covereds with perfumes stores, far too much light. When something different happens it usually has an impact.

I will go back a little one time sitting at the Sydney airport waiting for a flight back to Melbourne with some collegues after a long week with a hard client. Somber faces were in abundance, then suddenly there was a bit of comotion. They was a gaggle of burly guys heading in our direction, dressed in black, no necks and arms the size of trunks. After my week my curiosity levels were only a slight eye flutter in their direction, until they came next to us. What took my attention was what they were surrounding. Three prisioners together with leg and arm shackles looking slightly not with it. And the moment I took this in they boardered our flight. So my next move was to check for cameras having watched too much Trigger Happy TV and Conair type films surely this was a joke. But no in fact the budget for travel of felons needed a boost so why not purge on a couple of trips to ensure a higher budget for the folloing year. This was completely funny but slightly scary at the same time, certainly a different airport story from the same old, so how did my ears equalise this time.

Well my flight to Chile also took a slight interesting change. I again forgot to pay my airport taxes, pushed my way again through to the tax booth. May I add that I dont understand why airport taxes are not asked for in the local currency, especially at six in the morning, please for the love of my sanity. I know that airports in South America like to deal in $US but in general it dosent make anything easier.

Anyway back to my story. I made my way through to the gate I had about 40 minutes to spare, so I sat down close to my gate. This guy sat opposite with a laptop looking around in general music playing, I thought being a bit of a showoff. So I started writing down some useless information about airport taxes when he asked me if I was a writer in Spanish. I replied no and he then started asking more questions in general. So I continued this Boogle Spanish conversation. He was Brazillian so was also an avid Spanish Boogler. We found a common ground which was music, in particular local music which he was happy to play me on his computer. It was pop some ok most not my cup of tea. He asked me for some suggestions in music so I gave him a couple of golden oldies like Slayer, Ramstein and the Deftones. Given he was pretty much into pop this new lease in music would no doubt tickle his fancy!!! So he moved to a seat next to me and literally only after 10 minutes did he manage to sweep away some imaginary hair from my face, tell me he writes music and poems and I got the feeling of a lunge kiss coming on while he turned up Chasing Cars by Snow patrol. Thank goodness for hand luggage not only was I getting more red as time went on I politely said my flight is boarding good luck and made a dash for what looked like a line at the nearest gate which was not really mine.

Soon after I joined my line for my flight but was actually glad for this slight distraction, my heart is a little sad to leave my new friends, but I will be back in a few months.

Palermo perros and poodles

2007-04-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

Palermo was my last pad in BA with the fabulous Glo. It is such a lovely area, and can also be quiet posh in an odd way. There are places to be seen, shops with shoes, bags and clothes to make any women weak at the knees.

But it is also hommage to the dog walkers. Por exemplo the foto izquierda (Photo to the left hurrah I didnt reach for water). Now collection of poochy poo would normally happen but as a means to an end for the average dog walker, they would spend all day bent over and be left with a rather hefty bag and no doubt a constant gag! I actually feel a slight pang of anxiety for the small pooches that was tied next to the larger pooches. Ouch.

Now what is highly amusing is the connection between the two. Highly fashionable shoes dont necessarily mix with the abundance of poochy poo. And there is a definite lack of shoe shiners in this area. Persons more common to the area have a hard eye on the footpath and where they are going. Though unfortunately I have seen numerous beauty salons in this area. Someone has obviously though this could be business for the rising people poshing it in this area.

A complete useless piece of information is that I have never seen a poodle amongst a pack of common pooches. Por Que? (Why?) I have seen he poodles out, but somehow they are too snoby for this area and will not mix with other perros.

Thanks to Glo for her photographic contribution.

Boogle

2007-04-23T09:33:00.000-07:00

Hola

Well as you can see I found an internet cafe to upload some photos. Pretty impressive they are, but a shoadow on the real thing.

Northern Argentina was a great way to practice the little Spanish I have learnt as nobody really spoke English. It is amazing at how many different combinations of sentences you can form from limited vocab.

After the Paraguay incident we left Corrientes to go to Salta. I was excited about this having heard some stories about this place in Buenos Aires. We did Jujuy day trip from Salta, which included the seven coloured mountains, the grand salt plains and cloud valley. The freckles multiplied beyond a simple join the dot when i was on the salt plains...yep i forgot the all important sunscreen. Given the locals who worked on there were wearing balaclavas was a good indication to get my screen out of my bag. The trip also included going passed the largest cactus I have ever seen. It was 7 meters and is around 700 years old, so around the same time Christopher Columbus set foot on the continent.

We came across some friendly llamas in colourful neck ties. This somehow twigged that if you ask what a persons name is you ask tu llama, and also the name for fire is llama. One word in Spanish has many different meanings which as you can imagine to a learner can be a help and a hinderance.

After Salta we slowly did day by day trips through various little towns and cities namely Tucuman and La Rioja and landed in San Juan for a couple of days. San Juan is where we set off for Valle de la Luna or Moon Valley. We had met some Argentians in Salta who recommended Moon Valley. It was closer to La Rioja but trying to arrange a trip without our own vehicle proved to be challenging.

Moon Valley was literally like walking on the moon. The colours and limited vegetation are pretty mind boggling and the formations of the rocks can sometimes be amusing. There was a spinx, a pyramid, plenty of male appendages, fish, lizards and one sleeping dragon.

San Juan was our destination we resorted to nicknaming Lonley Planet, The Liar Planet as every recommendation dosent really turn out to be what it suggest, and sometimes dosent even exist, tourist offices shut, hotels shut, boring bars and no recommendation of places that are worth the trip. In San Juan we went to a hotel it recommended which ended up being run by cockroaches. We were lucky to stumble on a cute little place that had little apartments out the back of a large house. We shared the place with a person who had a strong resembelance to Phillip Larkin the poet and a rather annoying french guy. The book also recommended a vegetarian place which was worth flying to Argentina for, but could more likely be flying to the toilet for. Another recommendation was a very "cool bar" that happened to be occupied only by ourselves and a curious little mouse. Thank goodness we had a combination of luck to stumble across places and friendly Latinos. So in San Juan I put the Lonley planet on a shoestring where it was dutifully binned.

After Moon Valley we made out way to Mendoza and met with some more friends namely Fanny and Margot and took our hired bikes around the vineyards on a blue sky day, all very idyllic. The futbol fans would be interested that Mendoza was where we stopped off to watch the La Boca and River game. The bars were full but we were lucky enough to get a hot tip about a bar called Moes and something about knocking. So we rounded a corner where the street was desserted not a sound in sight. We found the bar with Moes face from the simpsons on the front, gave our special knock on the massive black guard and low and behold the door was opened by a burly guy who gave us the once over when we stammered out futbol and let us in to a crowd of passionate supporters for both sides. There was no bar per se but a wall of fridges. You passed your beer and money across the span of people to the makeshift bar which was a store front and a few minutes later your beer and change were returned. Fabo indeed. I couldnt imagine the same happening at a Man u Chelsea game at the pub.

The buses were still pretty interesting. leaky airconditioning was a constant hassle, the best was the bus to Mendoza from San Juan (3 hours) where the airconditioning was the equivalent of giving you glass of water every now and then. The lovely steward moved us.

After two and a half weeks of semi cama buses overwhelming scenery, mixed bag accomodation we booked ourselves onto a posh bus which was the equivalent of business class flight on wheels. We left Fanny and Margot and Gloria and I headed back to BA. How I missed BA.

We pretty much headed straight to Green Bamboo after a couple of strawberry Daqs at Acabar and mulched straight back into shopping, lunching and dining, this city is pretty cool Im a little bit in love with it.

Chau
Sara

Moon Valley and Mendoza

2007-04-23T09:26:00.000-07:00

Grand Salt Plains and a Big Cactus

2007-04-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

Salta and Jujuy

2007-04-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

Were we suppose to be going through Paraguay

2007-04-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hola,

I am currently on tour with the girls Gloria and Dolly. We first made our way to Iguazu on Monday. We had quiet a posh bus trip with bubbles included. Yes ladies of leisure together with our socks and flip flops. Just on the outskirts of Iguazu you can see that some investment has started to step up. Saw mills and timber yards are very common here. You will be going through forest, then suddenly pass small towns where a concrete block with two young lovers sitting outside hand and hand with a sign above them saying "barpool" which I presume is the local entertainment. There was quiet a funny sight when we went under a walk overpass. When I took a double look it appeared to have wheels at the bottom. I could imagine locals wheeling it up and down the road depending on where they wanted to cross. The outskirts of Iguazu are a mixture of steel and glass building to little communites of wooden huts.

Iguazu falls has to be undoubtedly one of the most amazing places Ive seen, there are butterflies everywhere and the falls are spectacular. Is really awesome until one too many butterflies try to flutter in your mouth. One of the girls and I went for a litle speedboat trip under the falls. Yes the Fanny pack points were on the rise that day, super touristy but well worth it. On the note of fanny packs...some porteños actually wear fanny packs, so I will prob get a fanny pack point for not noticing the fanny pack as a potential local style.

Well the accomodation at Iguazu was probably one of the worst places Ive stayed, I am a lush these days, but not very clean rooms and music blaring until 5am was enough for the girls and I to jump on the next bus anywhere out of town. So we swung the finger over the map and landed on Corrientes as it was on the way to Salta one of our planned stops. The bus trip was an experience an a half. At some point we must have gone through Paraguay At the border points military police boardered to check passports, rummage through on board luggage and then also search under the bus taking half an hour each. So between that disruption of sleep and my leg falling asleep from cramped spaces, I was boardering a scream get me off this bus. Given that I couldnt say that in Spanish (and my dictionary left in BA) was all that was holding it in.

So we land in Corrientes. A sweet little town where people have openly come up to me and point to my eyes...Ojos azul (Blue eyes). It has lovely river where a good portion of time was sitting on a veranda of a restaurant having some nibbles and a little white wine. Nice!!

So tonight we yet again catch a bus, this time to Salta which Im looking forward to very much.
beso
Sara

Is there a reason why strictly ballroom is not a reality tv show in Argentina

2007-03-24T09:48:00.000-07:00

I dont watch very much television these days but somehow you are still aware of what reality tv shows are on even if they are in a foreign language, including Gran Hermano (Big Brother) and a celebrity circus show which no kidding is hosted by a lady that has had a really bad plastic surgery job done on her face.

One show that is clearly absent is Strictly Come Dancing. Is there a bad thing to say about the way latinos dance..really!! Even the token nasty judge. Pretty hard to find a criticism is my theory why the show couldnt work here.

I went to see a BA "West End" show called Tangueria on Wednesday night just gone. Highly recommended. Watching tango here is quiet spellbinding and I must say exceeded all of my expectations. Well given my previous expectation was contestants on the aforementioned show appearing like they are trying to perform a bird mating ritual more than one of the worlds most sensual dances. So to the person who has invested in binoculars to check on his neighbours ballroom dance moves...throw them away and buy yourself a ticket to BA!!

My savvy points are on the rise. One I have passed my first exam, and I have even advanced to having small discussions with taxi drivers and a small applause please, can even say my street name properly. Two my holiday romance continues, Porteños are very different but are a lot of fun.

Most of my friends here have extended there stay, and I look to do the same. I should be checking into that on Monday. Im excited about seeing more of this contient, but at the moment, while I can Im going to stay where Im having fun...now that is what a holiday is all about.

besos
Sara

Blank looks and fanny packs

2007-03-08T15:52:00.000-08:00

It is quiet amazing how much of a language you pick up when you surround yourself with it. I´m understanding more each day, however my pronounciation is appauling and now with some confidence to speak outside classes I´m getting a lot of blank looks. In my mind I say it perfectly before it then comes out in gibberish when my mouth somehow rebels against some new sounds. I need a glass of water before asking for a phone card as card is tarjeta (or pronounced tarheeta...with h using back of throat slightly!)

I have noticed that more travellers want to be travellers in disguise of being a local. Important obviously yes to look either savvy or a local to distract attention of scams, but the downside is you then become a target of being asked for directions, which is a slight issue when left is "izquierda", yep I´m reaching for the water again.

Savvy travellers are indeed the new cool travellers to different destinations, which is no wonder given the current packaged holiday which includes being shoved into a packed line of sunbeds near a pool or beach with other fellow countrymen listening to skin literally sizzle. Unfortunately these type of travellers can be seen in particular attire consisting of tennis headwear of some sort, oversized white tshirt strapped in with a fanny pack together with sandels with the option of socks. My hand is ever so reaching for the skys to look like a current savvy. This shouldn´t be too hard given the lonley plant will give you a pretty good description of what to wear depending on the current latest place to visit.

Being a Sav so to speak is all about knowing what you are doing or at least looking like. So I decided to test my BA savviness out...well this is what happened one night in a local bar in San Telmo district in BA...very funky area.I accidently pashed an English guy from my old hostel who I actually thought was gay until he kissed me ( fanny pack 1 - savvy 0), then i spent the rest of the night trying to get away from him. I wanted to dance with a local, watching the boys dance here is amazing. I made an excuse to go to the bathroom and in a matter of ten little steps I met the most beautiful looking Argentinian and he was willing to teach me some salsa (fanny pack 1 - savvy 1). Then on the way back looking for some mates I met another beautiful Argentine and managed to get a date this week (fanny pack1 - savvy 2) - whit whew all is looking good so far.

The language class is going ok. I´ve actually found learning the local language a must, unless I´m going to become accustomed to pointing and playing sharades when buying food or tasting something different and unique without the concern of the dish becoming a lucky dip surprise, and the all important talking to locals.

Now I did say that I get a lot of blank looks but Argentinians are very patient and quiet encouraging. I´ve had an encounter of befriending a toothless barman who was encouraging of my practice of small talk and my local store worker has become a resource of a daily language spot of a new word in the mornings on way to school. I have noted that these people are in fact going to be my best teachers.

Oh something of useful information, the Spanish language basically has no words that start with W. Ones that are usually dervive from English words, like whiskey. And wrist (la muñeca) also means doll. My teacher expalined this by drawing a barbie doll, including ken and then seperately a wrist. Now it took a few giggles and raised eyebrows before I understood that he was getting accross that muñeca has dual meanings and not pervert act of barbie. I then returned the favour of explaining cricket with yet another lovely drawing which basically went misunderstood. I put it down to Futbol being quiet popular here.

Anyway the pictures are at the famous La Boca and a couple of us out in San Telmo.

besos

Sara

Foreign and Culture shocking

2007-03-01T02:51:00.001-08:00

Ive landed in a foreign continent not knowing a soul, knowing very little of the language and am very jetlagged. So inevitably culture shock was bound to kick in plumpeting my ability to cope to thoughts about jumping on the next plane back to London. So what any girl in this situation does - slap myself in the face and go shopping. I took off early this morning and purchased a simcard which was an event of me saying no entiendo {I dont understand} on more than one occassion and it turning into plenty of sign language and definite confused looks by both parties.

I also purchased a pocket book called "El Principito" which I will soon learn to read, thinking it is the story of the little prince, but was more sold on the book given it had quiet a lot of pictures.

Santiago was smaller than I had imagined but pretty spectacular with the Andes in the background. It has very polluted air and there was a weird alcohol smell coming from my bathroom possibly the toilet {now dont imagine I had my head in the toilet having a whiff - wasnt the case at all}. Slums were a common factor around the city. Now in Australia I remember we had the nuisance guys trying to wash windows standing in the middle of the road. Santiago has people selling empty bottles of coke to bike wheels though they did not force themselves on any windscreens with hands out.

Buenos Aires is a big city, very pretty and has a buzz about it. It reminds me of a hybrid of Italy and Spain though it quiet a lot greener with its own slum town on the outskirts. People are very friendly and quiet proud of this city, Im quiet looking forward to the next five weeks checking this place out more and having a go at the Tango with one of these beautiful looking Argentinian men.

Hasta Luego

Lost In Space

2007-02-26T10:24:00.000-08:00

That goes to vaguely describe how I feel at the moment after my arrival in Chile. I feel so weird today, as I have been in two places at the same time...an examle was at midnght on 26th Feb I was in Syd chatting away to my brother, then also at midnight on 26 Feb I was in the air over the Pacific on my way here....yes yes different time zones, but is quiet surreal.

This is going to be quiet a short one as it will likely turn into something in a langage of gibberish for not sleeping for I dont know how long as I am now confused with times.

Was great to catch up with all those in Sydney I had an awesome time snorkelling at Clovelly where a gropper swam a foot from where I first put my snorkell down to have a look (that being a fish and not a pervert human), then Sparky and I went kayaking at The Spit!! on Friday. Dinner at Phamish, and a famous Lager dinner. Thanks to the girls Jo and Lou for the Tropfest night, and those that made the effort to catch up.

Well must go for a nap. Camera back working so I posted a couple of photos some of the band practice with Sparky and a couple of Lou and Jo on my old St in Sydney and pictures of Darlo Bar and how it has become socially responsible.

Take care
Sx

A Title by The Whitlams

2007-02-13T15:39:00.000-08:00

Melbourne. It took a short time to see the things I love about this city but I have finally landed in an amused state. Individuality really stands out in this city, though it is small it has a lot of diversity.

Those that have travelled on the number 86 or ventured into the smith street supermarket will know what I'm talking about..in particular on my tram ride one morning in an hour I saw polished women to men who became women, but still didn't appear to like the idea of shaving legs. Funky looking guys, to men who have a bowl haircut and wear Hawaiian shirts - which quiet frankly just looks like they want to hurt someone. Chic boho to what I'm going to call boo hoo when it doesn't quiet look right and are obviously still in transition from the eastern suburbs.

I have successfully ended my last few days here with my close friend, Kylie's wedding. The hens party was a success due to a rather entertaining guy doing puppetry tricks that was once a man's best kept secret after discovering locks on the bathroom/bedroom doors - or wherever there happened to be a mirror! It was a huge hit with the bride and the girls.

After the pre nuptial jitters it all took off without a hitch and was a great night. Kylie looked beautiful and did nothing but enjoyed herself in true Kylie style, the girl who was my teacher in wrong fullness.

I seem to put out a few questions and here is another one - what is it about being a maid of honour or bridesmaid and being single that tends to be a point of conquering for the guys of the evening? I will say the flattery is lovely but didn't last long when one persistent guy resorted to waking me up at 4 in the morning to have one last drink hoping I would have changed my mind and he would be handed the grand prize so to speak. Hmm after a full day of hair make up dressing self dressing bride then standing in a church without air conditioning in a 38 degree day would logically think that waking me up was quiet a bold move. But applause for trying. Who said that the maids don't make a speech. Well I found out that sometimes they do at the point of a microphone being trust in my direction, but years of hanging out with Kylie I was well prepared for anything goes attitude! And I'm quiet glad that I did.

Cricket is in the Australian blood. There was a funny celebrity game today where Shane Warne was raising money. I have to mention that I was in stitches with the play of Peter Hellier aka Straunie and well deserved man of the match together with his g-string and 'pearler' of a mullet.

I travel up to Sydney in a couple of days. I never thought I would be one to say this - but please be a little cooler there.

Sara

The Land Downunder

2007-02-10T16:55:00.000-08:00

Well I've been back in Australia for 4 weeks pretty much visiting friends eating sleeping and being burped - I'm revisiting the child era and pretty much acting like one as well. I've had a tantrum when I couldn't go into the water at the beach due to fear of sharks roaming in too close to the shallows...well I did get shin deep and the experience left me with a couple of new freckles. Bring on the full submerge with the highest fashion statement in face wear of this season when I embark on a voyage to Sydney's Clovelly in a snorkel. Whit whew.

Melbourne is my hometown but I feel somewhat of a stranger. Is it common to come back after a few years and find small flaws that are really annoying or have I ignored them for years. Why are tram tickets the same price as a travel card in London, but yet fails to match the same wage rate? Did people always yell out advertisements? Who did the town planning and why have they taken out more parks in central Melbourne - Is that why vehicle number plates have been changed to being 'on the move' instead of 'the garden state'?? Well we are on water restrictions here so maybe it doesn't look so much of a garden state.

I have extended my vocab to include moo cow and quackquack the duck and have been quiet amused with the confusion as to why an insect "guts comes out of its bum" when you stand on them. The dawn of visiting children and babies. I feel like I have been thrusted into a baby boom. Yes I am in my thirties and this tends to be normal at my age but I have found myself asking what the bloody hell happened to my 20's - is amnesia a side effect of life in your 20's?

I have two weeks left in lovely Australia before my journey to Argentina. I tell you that I'm actually looking forward to studying and excited about who I'm going to meet on my travels after I finish. And I'm also scared and somewhat freaked about doing this on my own...though I always do that before I leave.

Some part of me wants to stay in Oz and take a rest from travels, but I also didn't want to go to Morocco when I thought that I was going to be faced with scorpions in the Sahara and ended up having the time of my life (obviously less scorpions). If I didn't go then I wouldn't have been the same awesome experience I had there.....so I'm going to stop being stupid, stop writing in this blog during the day as it is sunny outside, in fact a day to even out these lovely singlet top marks on my shoulders and lay down on the dried up grass, and take a deep breath knowing that I could still be breathing in someones arm pit on a packed train into Waterloo.

Phillip Island

2007-01-31T02:58:00.000-08:00

Another day another bottle of bubbles, more great food and views of the ocean. Here is my Mum and Pete. We were taken by the scenery which this photo does not really do any justice, and then remembered to take a photo just before it got dark. A migration of Shearwater (Mutton) birds are currently on the island and just after the ocean photo was taken the sky was full of them during their feeding or stretching the wings time!!

Leaving Party

2007-01-30T02:28:00.000-08:00

Hey,

I've posted up a couple of photos from the party. The story from the little book from that night was somewhat amusing. Highlights were giant gingers, top flash, Johnny Barrell and a dream that I became a man - you guys are disturbed.

Well it has been two weeks into my Australian leg, and the struth and ripper colloquialisms are back in full force. I’m becoming accustomed to a lifestyle of celebrity status...though quiet understandably will last no longer than my due 15 minutes.

I'm currently on Phillip Island (South of Melbourne off the Victoria coast) eating fresh crayfish, drinking bubbly while watching the sunset over the ocean from the back veranda. Life is pretty good. There have been sighting of white pointers, and a few evacuations from the beaches...so is a pretty good excuse for not testing out if I can still stand on a board.

Australia Day was great fun. I caught up with my mate Dan who was covering the Australian Open – and it was great to see that he also thought that Roddick is actually Stifler. I ventured off to a BBQ and the Park in Nth Fitzroy in the afternoon for a game of volleyball slurping on a Coopers with Leif, Luke, Jeremy and the gay airline steward from Full Frontal. I met lots of new people who were lovely.

Boo Hoo I broke my camera. So I don't have any cool pics to post up yet.

I've had a pretty awesome time being here so far, has been great catching up with friends, meeting new children and seeing others grow up, discovering a gallery that I thought had shut for good reopen around the corner where I was recognised by a guy I haven't seen for 20 years, thanks to soap and water for my nanna free face.

I still have three weeks to go, which involves a hen's night, a wedding travelling into NSW country, testing out more old haunts in and around Melbourne. St Kilda was conquered in my first week - go the vineyard and their dodgy couches!!

Sara xx