Deep Breaths!!

And so it begins... the journey home... my flight was leaving at 1315 so I was up and ready for the off by 10am. And just to really carry on the mixed up hours my body clock was now getting used to, it wasn't after a night of unbroken rest either... at around half 6 that morning I'd been woken by the reception staff at the Millhouse (this time a personal visit rather than a muffled tanoy message that would wake the whole hostel) to tell me I had a visitor!!

I was slightly alarmed at who would be visiting me at all, let alone this early.. most of the people I knew in Buenos Aires were either at the same hostel or would be fast asleep at this hour (or on their way to their beds anyway!) Turned out there was nothing to be alarmed about.. it was Marco, come to say goodbye. Thanks to our several million failed attempts at catching up since Creamfields, this was the last chance so he'd come to find me bless him! I have to apologise to him here too.. given that I'd only had a few hours sleep and had been woken suddenly I don't think he really got much sense out of me that morning... curled up on the sofa's in Millhouse it was hard not to just fall back to sleep again.. but it was nice to see him before I left and a welcome end to my trip. It was good to know I'd made friends that would make that effort for me which only served to make me even more emotional about it all coming to an end! Marco... I hope you had fun for the rest of your time in that fantastic city and be sure to look me up should you make it to my side of the planet.

With time running out I sent Marco on his way so i could finish my packing, then all that was left was to wait apprehensively for my taxi to the airport.. with only Kate, Maya and Emily left to say goodbye to. I have to say it all felt very unreal.. I was leaving somewhere but it wasn't like I hadn't moved on from a million places in the past year, so that part was pretty normal to me by now... it was the unfamiliar feeling that I wasn't leaving to get on a bus/plane/train/tuk tuk and find myself at the end of another journey checking into another dorm and making new friends once more... this time there would be no finding a hostel, sitting around on my backpack waiting for a bus to said hostel, hoping it would be decent and wondering what was in store this time around... no, this time there would be someone to greet me at the other end, a car waiting to take me home and no lengthy walks with 21kgs on my back.. it scared me stupid!!

Anyway... my taxi arrived and I said my goodbyes... it wasn't too bad as I knew Kate would be back in the UK the following day too and we had plans to meet up in the next few weeks so that made it easier to say goodbye to my partner in crime from my last few weeks as a backpacker! I will however take the opportunity to say here though.. Kate, you were a fab partner in crime to share my last few weeks with and I'm glad we came across each other in that oasis that is Iguazu, keeping those cheeky boys in line and winding 'Sargeant' Garv up with all our gossiping!! I hope all is well back in Oz and you'll be close enough again soon to meet up and cause some more mischief with!

There was one goodbye that was harder though.. Emily... firstly.. apologies for waking you up chica but I couldn't leave without saying bye! and secondly - you're a little gem Em, I've had a ball with you - from the random encounter on a balcony in Isla del Sol to all those comedy nights in La Paz, you kept me sane, listened to me rant, made me laugh, kept me out til all hours (when I had flights to catch.. I blame you entirely for Halloween.. haha!) and were generally a fab girl to travel with. Thank you for being such a star, I'm so coming to Sheffield for a night out on this side of the world and you're so coming to London for another one lady!!

Anyway... I'm already well into this entry and I've not even boarded the plane!!! Oh well, why break a habit of a lifetime, waffling is clearly my forte!!

Goodbyes said and hostel left, I watched the streets of Buenos Aires whizz by me through the cab window.. I wasn't ready to leave this place and my resolve to return got stronger with every passing mile.. It wasn't that I wasn't excited about going home, a part of me couldn't wait to see my family and friends, flick my brother to annoy him, hug my mum, meet Lolli; mum's new kitten, starting nicking my sister's clothes again.. it's just the other part of me didn't want to leave all this behind. I was just beginning to feel at home in South America and have a little confidence in my limited Spanish, not to mention not wanting to stop being carefree and able to wander wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted.

But enough of that.. the time had come and so be it.. my flight was transitting through Sao Paulo so the first part of it was only a few hours duration, we only touched down to re-fuel and pick up more passengers so I didn't get to venture onto Brazilian soil again but I did find myself with a spare seat in the middle of my row... and somehow, with very little communication the guy on the aisle seat and I came to an arrangement whereby I had the spare seat and he got the spare floor space.. suited me fine, legs curled up on the seat, blanket over me, in-flight entertainment.. Go! I'd even remembered to request a vegetarian meal, possibly the only time throughout my entire trip.. and yep, stil veggie.. I know there was some speculation as to whether I'd last as one throughout SA, Argentina specifically! My only disappointment flight wise was that my row companion was not in the least bit interested in being friendly/chatty... I was feeling somewhat choked up about going home and also perhaps a little proud that I'd managed to survive a year around the world on my own.. I think I just wanted to share that with someone.. or at least just have a chat.. instead I contented myself with movies, books and my 'Must Do' list for the future.. I was determined not to let go of all those 'post-holiday' resolutions you have when you return from a trip. I get them after a 2 week holiday in the sun, you can imagine the length of it after a year away!! (btw.. the pic on the right above is taking off from Sao Paulo and on the left here.. somewhere above the clouds during sunset between SP and London!)

Anyway.. after all of the above and a vague (and unsuccessful) attempt at sleeping some of the journey away.. all of a sudden the lights of London lit up the ground beneath me.. the London Eye, Parliment, London Bridge.. all those sights I'd seen a million times, familiar yet so surreal.. I was actually here (as you can see in the somewhat blurred photo here) The pic below was taken in flight somewhere en route.. the last pic of me before returning to English ground once more! There was no escaping the fact that I'd be touching down on home soil in a few short moments. I really was coming home! Oh my God! I didn't want to get off the plane!

In truth, I was very slow in doing so.. stupid as it may sound, the minute I walked off that plane and out through departures it really was over.. my dream since the day my cousin came home from her trip, me aged 14, listening in awe to tales of the Taj Mahal, the golden beaches of Australia's east coast, Thailand and it's colourful vibrance... each story making me want to explore more of the world. I'd actually done it. Ok, a few years later than it perhaps should've been, but better late than never!

So.. here it was.. the moment I'd been dreading and dying for all at the same time... even writing this now gives me goosebumps thinking about it and I'll admit now to what I did before walking through the arrivals door; I just stood there, for a good few minutes, not quite able to bring myself to put one foot in front of the other.. knowing my Mum and Lottie were on the other side looking to see if it was me walking through every time the automatic doors opened in front of them. This entry isn't titled 'Deep Breaths' for nothing - I actually did have to take a few before I could actually complete the last few steps of my trip...

All that said, as sad as I was for this to all be ending, if you really think about it... I don't think it'll ever quite be over... as the Thai's say... Same Same but Different! In so many ways I'm the same girl that left Heathrow scared out of her mind a year and a day ago while in so many other ways i'll never be quite the same again... which, I for one, am more than happy about.. bring on the adventures... xxx

Last Day in a Dorm!

I couldn't quite believe it was actually here... my last day! Tomorrow I'd be on my way home! An exciting, yet daunting, thought and even though I've known that it would come, it never really seemed real! It's a year ago today that I left home. Waved goodbye to a tearful mum, sister and brother (the latter not so much on the tearful side.. he is a boy after all!) and got on that plane to Bangkok.. had a random toothless man befriend me before I'd even touched down and went on to have one hell of a year.. but we'll come to all that later... I have a last day to make the most of and milk for all I possibly can... bring it on...

... The plan for the day... visit La Boca... see where the afternoon took us... and take in a Tango Show!! So, bright and early... well, ok, at a reasonable hour that was still in the AM, Kate and I, along with Emily and a friend of hers, headed to La Boca to soak up the sun and vibrant colours and atmosphere the area is famous for... as you can see from the pics.. i think the colours speak for themselves! We spent a lovely few hours wandering around the streets, taking in the artwork lining the avenues, indulging in souvenir buying (we'll gloss over the cheeky purchase of a lush leather bag for myself!), taking piccie's and bumping into, Kate's friend Clint and the American lads we'd bumped into at Recoleta Cemetery... small world eh! Once we'd exhausted the vibrancy of La Boca we all hopped back on the bus towards the hostel... Em and her friend went back to Millhouse while Kate and I decided to stop half way back and make our way to the hostel via the shops.. now there's a surprise eh!?! Although.. our shopping trip was slightly different to our last outings... in that we only made it into one shop... now it might sound a bit half arsed to some of you dedicated shoppers out there but rest assured we made the most of that one shop.... we were in there for 2 hours! Ridiculous given it was actually just a small independent shop, not much bigger than your average living room but packed full of lush things we easily whiled away the time without realising quite how much had passed.... emerging 2 hours later to find our wallets not all that much lighter considering the amount of stuff we'd managed to convince ourselves it would be rude not to buy!!

We did however emerge to find that Buenos Aires was in the grip of a big fat thunder storm though.. not what I requested for my final day... what's that all about!! It was raining beyond belief and so we decided we'd do a mad dash back to the hostel... given our summer attire was soaked through already there seemed little point in getting a taxi or bus or anything! We did end up doing a little detour on the way home though.... half way down Avenida Florida we came across a beauty salon... we'd had a bit of a mission in mind for later but given we'd come across this one now we decided to bring it forward... now, squeamish boys.... avert you're eyes... we were off for a bit of bikini wax action!! Ouch!

Kate has possibly the lowest pain threshold I have ever come across, bless her... even worse than all those men that claim they can handle anything! But she had promised her man that she'd have a little surprise for him on her return home and as this was her last day too it was now or never! I agreed to accompany her knowing how scared she was about it but before the main event she needed a little Dutch courage.... in the form of a good old glass of wine.. or 2!! Well, who was I to complain! We found a little pizza place that served wine too so headed on it and gorged on yum pizza and a couple of cheeky glasses.. then, with the edges blurred, Kate was ready for action...

We headed into the beauty salon and for me what followed rivaled my waxing experience in Cusco.. I mean 2 women 'beavering' away at my bikini line was disturbing enough but at least they spoke a little English... this time, there may only have been one woman but trying to explain what you want in Spanish when all you can really say is 'Un cervesa por favor' is an interesting task.... somehow we managed to fudge our way through it though, with hand signals and broken Spanish, and i survived the ordeal.... I came out to find Kate waiting for me... assuming she'd got through it quicker given she speaks Spanish, it didn't occur to me anything was awry.... until she sheepishly confessed that she hadn't gone through with it..... oh she'd gone in and attempted it but after a lot of palava and some serious, and I mean serious, screaming the house down.. the beauty therapist decided it was time to call it quits... she said she'd never come across anyone that was in that much pain from waxing and she was too worried to carry on! I mean, I knew she had a low pain threshold but for the therapist to refuse to carry on..., man, Kate... fair play for trying.. Dan should be proud!

After the waxing hurdle we headed back to the hostel to get changed in preparation for the tango show... there was lots of us booked to go but by the time we got back to the hostel most of them had gone on ahead already. Unfortunately Kate's pain threshold isn't the only thing that's low... her alcohol tolerance is too... and thanks to the few cheeky glasses of wine for dutch courage earlier... she was now ready for bed... we (Clint and I) did our best to persuade her otherwise, it was her last night too after all, but she was having none of it and by the time we gave up we had missed the start of the show and couldn't get in. I'll be honest, I wasn't overjoyed, I'd wanted to see the show and I'd wanted to spend my last night with Kate out too but fair play if that's what she wanted. In the end, as we'd missed everyone else, Clint and I just headed out for some food to a pub nearby and set the world to rights over a few cheeky drinks. Later on I was feeling guilty for not having managed to catch up with Marco since Creamfields, despite several million attempts of doing so, I didn't want to leave without saying bye at least so Clint and I decided to head to San Telmo in the hope that we'd be able to track him down at his hostel on the way.... once again it didn't quite go as planned, Marco had been expecting to find me at the Tango show but obviously we weren't there so I was hoping to find him back at his hostel but he'd not made it back yet.. but thankfully, Clint being a star, helped me out by using his Spanish to leave a message for him to come find me before I left the next day.
With as much effort made as possible, Clint and I headed to another bar for a nightcap, by this time it was already pretty late and with half a mind to having to get up for my flight the next morning I called it quits after that one and headed back to the hostel. Despite it not being quite the evening I had imagined, it was fun and Clint did a damn good job at entertaining me on my last night! I still couldn't believe that that was it.... trip over... it was only a matter of making it home safely now... and with hugely mixed emotions... I lay my head on my dorm bed pillow for the last time... as top bunks go, it wasn't a bad one to end my dorm days on... and in an en-suite dorm too... which reminds me.. have I told you about the Porn showers??!

Tango Time... The Dead.. and more Shopping!!

Given that I'd actually slept at night for once, I was able to get up and enjoy the day... Kate and I had decided to head to Recoleta.. to visit one of Buenos Aires' main tourist attractions... the cemetery.... It was a beautiful day and we'd decided to walk.. inevitably this meant a leisurely stroll to Recoleta.. via, guess what?, a few more shops!!! Oops! Well, it would've been rude not to really!! Once again though I seemed to find all sorts of great things for other people and not buy anything for myself... my family are getting far too lucky on the present front!! The pic above is me by one of the lovely fountains that are dotted up and down Avenida 9 de Julio - the main road through the city, this was just at the beginning of our 'shopping walk' to Recoleta, you can see from the pic what a gorgeous day it was... i can still feel the warmth when i look at it!

By the time we reached Recoleta it was lunchtime so we decided to stop and sit in the sun over lunch before heading into the cemetery. We picked a pub with a nice outside area - the cheapest we could find. Given this area is such a tourist trap, all the businesses outside cash in on it, naturally, by charging ridiculous prices (for Argentina anyway!) As i sat there, soaking up the sun in my skirt and flips, it didn't seem at all possible that in a mere few days I'd be home and wearing such attire as this would be relegated to wishful thinking!! But I'm here still so enough of that... let's enjoy it!

After lunch we headed into La Recoleta Cemetery for a wander... and it's not just your average cemetery either... It's easy to see why so many people visit this place, for startes it's the final resting place for an array of Argentina's most influential and important people including presidents, scientists, writers, politicians and heavyweight boxers not to mention our own Duchess of York's mother and most famously.... Eva Peron; Argentina's First Lady!

Secondly, as you can see from the pic's, it's certainly a little more 'grand' than you're usual CofE graveyard... the cemetery is laid out in sections, just like city blocks with tree-lined avenues branching off into sidewalks filled with opulent marble mausoleums decorated with statues. There are actual names for some of the 'streets' and even little guided buggies roaming round for those tourists that need assistance getting around (we didn't think our shopping bags counted as qualifying us for 'needing assistance' so had to use our little legs instead!) Some of the mausoleums are well kept while others have sadly fallen into disrepair. In some you can see the family coffin's inside and in others they are encased or down stairwells out of view. Each mausoleum bears the family name engraved on the facade with plaques for each family member entombed there added to the front.. the pic below is no doubt the most photographed mausoleum in the place. Interestingly I learnt, thanks to some friendly American lads, one of which has been living in Buenos Aires for a while, that Eva Peron is in fact not buried with her husband. Apparently it is normal practice to be buried with your birth family regardless of whether you are married (with or without children) your husband is then buried with his birth family also! I find this a tad strange and have never heard of it before but fair play, if that's the Argentine way!

We spent a while leisurely wandering around, checking the place out, soaking up the sun - seemed slightly strange to be having a nice afternoon mooching around looking at people's graves but it is a pretty impressive sight and I'm definetly glad I went. Especially with my fascination with Evita - and the realisation that I no longer had time to get to the Evita Museum in Palermo... that's now on the list for my next visit! After whiling away the time at the cemetery we made our way back to the hostel in the same fashion we'd arrived there in.. via the shops!! Well, we're female.. what can I say!!

It had been a lovely day and was to be topped off with something i'd been wanting to do since I arrived in Argentina...... Dance!!!! Yay.. the time had final come to sample a bit of the classic local culture and learn to Tango! The hostel were hosting Tango lessons.. having only just got back in time I headed straight in to the bar to find it had just started; Sarah - a lovely Kiwi girl that we'd met a few times was doing it too and I took the plunge and joined in.

At first I was the odd one out but initially that was ok - we were learning the steps on our own before 'coupling up' - by the time it came to partnering up with someone, some poor guy (who you see in the pic's with me) had been roped in to dance with me! Unfortunately, as sweet as he was.. he wasn't the smoothest of movers shall we say, and didn't really envoke the 'on-screen chemistry' we were told to display when 'freestyling' as the girl traditionally does when tango-ing... it's a very passionate, sexy dance apparently and one is supposed to reflect that in the passion shown between you and your partner!! Not sure I quite managed to act my little heart out on that front (and in fairness, he didn't appear that impassioned by me either) but I think it's safe to say that in my haste to get there on time, not changing my skirt proved enough of a distraction to cover up for me feeling slightly less than natural running my leg seductively up and down his!! You'll notice that everyone else in the picture had been sensible enough to wear trousers or shorts (or at least a long skirt) for the occasion.. not me... no, stupid head here decided she didn't have time to change out of her short denim skirt... D'uh!! ;0) I believe it was quite entertaining for Em, who had the pleasure of being my photographer for the occasion! trust me, there are other pics no-one should ever see!! and btw.. Paul, you realise had you still been there I'd have roped you into partnering me.. lucky escape boy!! haha!

Anyway, after we were all tango-ed out, a few of us decided to head into Palermo for dinner. Kate had decided not to join us which was a shame but there was still a few wanting too so after freshening up and yet again, trying to get in touch with Marco but constantly missing him (I was now becoming quite well known with the hostel staff thanks to the amount of notes left for me on the board and phone calls I kept missing.. despite numerous notes and missed phonecalls since Creamfields we still hadn't quite managed to meet again yet!) we headed to the subway but somehow ended up being 'flashpackers' and hopping in a cab!

The guys that we were out with were meeting some friends in Palermo, hence that being the destination of choice, so we started the night and a 'not-so-classy' pool hall where quite entertainingly Sarah and I played doubles with Craig and Matt (and Alan.. alternating partners obviously!) although Craig and I were a duo throughout and much to my amusement, although i was clearly rubbish, I insisted it was me carrying us through and he was to address me only as 'Chica Bonita' all night - that's Beautiful Girl in English btw - (and for all those laughing right now, it's ok.. i was laughing too!) Marco had taught me the expression that day so it amused me to use my new words (and yes, you would be right in assuming a few alcoholic beverages might have been involved by now!) Craig very good naturedly entered into the spirit of things though, inbetween him repeatedly saying the only other spanish word he knew; Si!!! Anyway, after we'd had our fill of beating the others at pool, we headed out for food... the boys were insistent on the closest place possible but Sarah and I had other ideas, after our evening of Tango we wanted to carry on the theme and decided San Telmo was the place to pursue this.. where Tango shows on the street are a regular occurence. It took us a while but eventually our feminine charms (or annoying whinging, whatever!) took their toll on the boys and we bundled them in another cab and headed over to San Telmo. I did have a slight ulterior motive for wanting to head over there too... i was feeling terrible that I'd not caught up with Marco yet and that's where his hostel was so thought i'd go calling too. It unfortunately didn't quite work out like that - I couldn't rouse anyone at his hostel so had no way of contacting him! boo! - and as we were so late getting there all the tango shows had finished.. oops! The boys weren't massively impressed! But we found somewhere to eat and settled down with pasta and several bottles of wine!!

Unsurprisingly, despite my best intentions of an early night I didn't make it to bed until 4am - which actually, thinking about it, is quite early for Buenos Aires! - it had been a fab day and a fun evening. I still find it mad that you can feel so comfortable being around people you've only just met. Everyone was great fun that evening and I do love the way travelling just opens you up to meeting so many different people and seeing so many different cultures! Unfortunately I never managed to get Sarah's email address before leaving so haven't been able to keep in touch but she was a fab chick and Sarah, should you ever come across this blog, please do drop me a comment! Whatever you got up to after I left, I hope you had fun Chica Bonita! That goes for the lad's too! xx

The Final Fling: Dancing the night away!

So, I managed to make it up at a reasonable hour thanks to actually getting some sleep while it was still night time and headed to San Telmo.. an area of the city only about 5 blocks from the hostel.. it is one of the places that you should go see if you're ever in Buenos Aires, with a lovely little square where you'll find tango shows put on continually that you can watch from the cute restaurants lining the square.

Today though.. I wasn't there to sightsee... my friend Marco (the Peruvian guy I met in Rurrenbarque in Bolivia) was staying in a hostel there and had very sweetly bought me a ticket for Creamfields...Argentina's version of the classic UK dance festival... for those of you that don't know what I'm on about! With a line up including the likes of Underworld, Sasha, Hernan Cattaneo, Layo and Bushwacka, Tiga, Erick Morillo and many more taking to the stage to entertain us for the day (and until the early ours of the following day... this is Buenos Aires after all!) it was set to be a pretty impressive event. Now.... am sure most of you are thinking.. why on earth would Flee want to go to such a festival..? Eelectronic dance isn't exactly her thing.. and you'd be right... but i figured... when in Rome!! Why not.... it's Latin America's biggest electronic dance music festival and I knew lots of people that were going... it would be fun... and a cool thing to go to in my last week as a footloose and fancy free backpacker!

So... I wandered the streets of San Telmo a while, looking for Marco's hostel.. then when found, had an interesting time trying to get into the place and find him... given he's Peruvian he doesn't need to worry about being in a place with English speaking staff so my limited Spanish meant it was quite an achievment to actually make it up to the hostel and be shown to the right room! I even resorted to showing them a picture of Marco that i thankfully still had on my camera! Anyway.... Marco found (I woke the poor boy up too) we sat and chatted for a while.. it was lovely to see him again and catch up. He'd had a nightmare time getting to Buenos Aires from Bolivia involving all sorts of 'entry fee's' at the border and being mugged outside his hostel... he'd been due to arrive a few days earlier but only managed to get there Saturday morning.. the morning of the festival... and being a DJ himself.. this was what he'd been living for for the past few months.. so when I heard him say, i'm not sure I'm going to go... I knew he'd had a nightmare few days and was feeling low! I did my best to cheer him up and convinced him that there was no way in the world he should miss Creamfields... luckily it didn't take much for him to come round.. i know he'd have been disappointed had he not gone!

Anyway... once he was awake we headed of to Palermo.. another area of the city... the plush area.. where Ed and some other friends of Marco's were living at the time. They were the one's that had bought our tickets so we were off to pick them up... which at the same time gave me a chance to see another part of Buenos Aires.. Palermo's really pretty, you can instantly tell it's one of the more sought after areas to live in and the guy's flat was lovely... they were only there a few weeks but had decided to rent a flat between them rather than stay in a hostel.. can't say i blame them! Turned out as well that Ed and the other guys in the flat were also friends of Emily's.... small world!!

With tickets safely in hand and arrangments in place for meeting up at the festival later on, Marco and I headed back into town... I had to go back to the hostel to meet Paul and his mates and hopefully catch Emily before she left for Creamfields too. Marco went back to his to catch up on some sleep in preparation for the next 24 hours. I'd arranged to meet Marco later on at the festival as he was planning on going with the others earlier than I was. Unfortunately all didn't go quite according to plan... unsurprising when you're in a place along with 60,000 other people.. but I still feel bad about it! I missed Em, she'd already left when I made it back to Millhouse but I waited for the boys as they were wanting to come with... in the end it was only Paul that decided to come... so, before we went up there we headed for a quick meal and drinks.. to line our stomachs... turned out not to be quite as quick as planned. We only went to this italian place around the corner from the hostel and ordered a pizza deal that came with a drink each... Paul's was a beer.. mine a Vodka tonic... pretty simple you would think right? But our waiter decided to basically fill an entire glass (and not a small one!) with vodka for me and then quite literally just added the briefest of splashes of tonic to it.... now, I know I've had a bit of practice at this whole drinking lark lately but..... i do need a bit of dilution at least!!!

So, the quick meal turned into a rather lengthy one.... well, there was no point wasting good vodka, I just got another glass and some more tonic.... not just a hat-stand me!! ;0) and Paul kept me company with a few extra beers... so, by the time we made it to Creamfields we were a tad later than planned and I'd missed the allocated meeting time with Marco... I did go to where we were meant to meet him in case he was still there but no, he'd gone. I didn't worry too much as he was with lots of others and i figured he'd be so into the festival that he'd prob forgotten all about it...it wasn't until a few days later that I found out he'd lost everyone when he came to find me and hadn't managed to find them again until he was off to the after party the next morning... Marco.. I'm sorry... I didn't mean that to happen and I hope you've forgiven me now! The festival is set in a huge open field in Puerto Madero... down by the river... not somewhere I'd previously seen, except a glimpse of in my hasty dash to Qantas a few days earlier, the area was massive and with all the people in it there was no way I'd have been able to spot him, although i did try!

Paul and I had managed to find some of his friends though.... then lost them again almost immediately.... we told them to stay put while we hit the bar and that was the last we saw of them... and of anyone else we knew... with the exception of a brief encounter with a very drunken, amusing Al (one of the irish boys) and some disturbingly young Argentinian girls who took a little shine to our Paul... which i obviously found highly amusing!!

Anyway... with the assistance of beer (Paul) and Vodka Speed (me) - I mean Speed the drink (random version of redbull) not the substance btw - Paul and I continued on to have a very entertaining night... in truth... I don't remember an awful lot of the festival itself.... I remember thinking it was wicked, I remember Underworld and I remember one other set that was particularly good but in keeping with my appalling musical knowledge I couldn't tell you who it was (Paul... shed any light on this one??) Sorry to those out there that would be interested in knowing more about the actual fesitval... all that vodka took its toll I'm afraid! but all in all, the night was great fun... Paul and I had our usual banter going on, several o'clocks to adhere to (beer o'clock being just one of them), got chatting to all sorts of random people.. Paul was even drunk enough not to object (too much) at getting me food from one of the tents we'd found ourselves perched in with a couple of random's at about 5am... and in our defence... i think we did pretty damn well to last til pretty much the end when we were possibly the only 2 people there not off our heads on pills!

We finally left about 6am I think and decided to walk home along the river front.... the pic below, of said riverfront, is the only pic that is actually mine... I didn't take my camera with me cos I was worried about losing/breaking it (not that i needed to which i'm kicking myself for now) so i took a disposable.. and a rubbish one at that but the only one i could find... unfortunatley it really was rubbish and none of the others came out... boo! So.. the one of Paul and I taken just before we left and the one here of the river are mine but i have to admit that all the others i pinched off some random's blog... just to show you all what it was like... how good am I to you!! ;0)Anyway... the walk home was actually really nice... it took a while but it also took in a lot of the city, along the river, past churches and the Presidential Palace and it was a lovely way to wind down from the festival. We made it back to the hostel about 7am and parked ourselves in the courtyard for a bit.. soon being joined by several others that had also been to Creamfields.. Al had somehow found his way back to Millhouse.. despite it not being where he was staying.. Em surfaced from her room, having given up and gone to bed a few hours previously and Paul and I were just laughing... we felt surprisingly normal next to so many people not making any sense at all (although maybe they were laughing just as much as us!)

Anyway... i think we eventually made it to our beds around 9am after whiling away a few hours in the courtyard with toilet humour and daft antics.... sleep was a welcome thought but it had been an awesome night, despite not really being into dance music, and I'm really glad I went. Unbeknown to me at the time, it was to be my final fling... my last full on, all-night out in Buenos Aires and of my trip.... not a bad way to end all the night's out I've had this year! Once again Buenos Aires was living up to it's reputation! xx

Football Fun and Shopping Madness!

So, most of Sunday was slept away.. given I didn't start sleeping til the morning had come anyway this won't be a surprise to any of you!! I did have to get up early afternoon though... we had a date.. with a football match! The La Boca Juniors were taking on Quilmes in a big local derby at the home of La Boca Juniors; La Bombonera... The Chocolate Box! Despite my body clock being totally out of whack and everything in me wanting to carry on sleeping, I was ridiculously excited about going to the match. I've always been told it's a 'must do' when in Buenos Aires and was so pleased that my timing was right being there when they were playing at home...I was also looking forward to watching my first football match where I wouldn't be wrapped in several million layers in futile attempts to keep warm... oh no, it was denim skirt, flips and a breezy summer top for me!! woohoo! In fact, if anything, I was a little too hot... sunscreen was slapped on and we did fear we'd burn... a welcome difference from all those cold English matches I've found myself at over the years!

Anyway... thanks to a La Boca match being such a Lonely Planet/Backpacker 'must do', as well as the fact they're a top of the league team that is, tickets sell out sharpish.. especially when it's a massive local derby such as this. Our ideal was to get tickets from the ground, cheaper and much more fun than going in an organised group but alas, it wasn't to be... other than a few they'd release early on match day, they were all sold out when Paul, Tim and Jamie went down to get some for us all. So we had to resort to buying them from the hostel... costing us stupid amounts more than it would've but at least we'd get to go.

We set off about 2pm ish despite the match not kicking off until 6pm! The main match that is, there was another match before it.. i'm assuming it was the seconds team although can't really remember. Either way we were quite happy to sit in the sun and soak up the atmosphere! Prior to making our way into the stadium however, once off the bus along with the 20 or so other people, we whiled away a bit of spare time at a roadside hot dog/burger stand.. me feeling a tad hungover, Kate feeling far too spritely for my state.. and were instructed by our guide on where to meet for the bus back to the hostel after the match, if we got lost. After sitting in the sun trying to conquer the hangover with a good old bottle ofr Sprite, I needed a quick trip to the ladies at the service station opposite before heading into the stadium.. unfortunately there was a queue and unbeknown to me, whilst queueing - and peeing - the guide decided it was time to head into the stadium and refused to wait... when I came out, everyone but Kate and a couple of others who'd had to answer the call of nature then as well were the only one's left! Oops!

Anyway, the 5 of us; myself, Kate, Sarah (a lovely Kiwi girl from the hostel), Lorraine (another lovely girl, english - who i recognised from somewhere, and vice versa, but neither of us could figure out where!) and a guy who's name i can't remember (sorry dude!), headed into the Chocolate Box figuring we'd find everyone else once in there! That wasn't quite what happened.. although we didn't realise the reason for it until after the match... we'd managed to wander into the wrong stand... the one for all the locals and the one with the Away fans on the top tier - above us!! Everyone else from our group was on the top tier of the opposite stand! During the first match (not the main event) all was well, there were a few other gringo's in the stand around us and all the locals were pretty friendly. In truth we were actually quite pleased at that point, we kind of wanted to be with the local fans rather than surrounded by 10 million other backpackers - thought it would be a better experience! What we didn't consider at that point, was the wrath of the Away fans during the main match.. when the Boca Juniors were 1-0 up!!

Seriously, I've no idea what possessed the 'powers that be' to place opposing supporters on tiers under/above each other.. it's a reciepe for disaster.. obviously! The first sign of trouble was about half way through the first half.... in the form of some 'classy' away fan deciding it was appropriate to pee over the side onto the home fans.... thankfully this was far enough to our right not to hit us! After that it all got a bit mental, people started chucking drinks on us, throwing things (and not small, harmless things either..things you wouldn't want to have hit you!) and gobbing on us... I, unfortunately, wasn't as lucky as the other 4 in our group, and found myself with some Quilmes fan's spit dripping down my right arm.. not a pleasant experience I can assure you.. but at least it wasn't one of the numerous heavy objects being hurled over the edge that i was hit with!

The match itself was wicked though, and to be fair, all the supporters of Boca Juniors couldn't have been friendlier.. the little boy in the pic above was there with his father and they were so cute together.. the atmosphere was totally alive and it was a great experience regardless of the stupid behaviour of the Quilmes fans! A few minutes before the final whistle, Kate and I decided we'd watch the end from the side, close to the exit (yes, I'll admit we were getting a little concerned about what would happen when everyone came out and both teams fans came face to face) we needed have worried though, in fairness to the Argentine authorities, we were greeted with a wall of policemen (not a bad thing to find yourself faced with I can assure you girlies!! ;0) alot of others had had the same idea, however, no one was allowed out until the match was over and then it was fiercely regulated in order to avoid any trouble occuring! Although i could have done without some skanky person spitting on me, taking in a Boca Juniors match definetly is a 'must do' if you make it to Buenos Aires and while I know I'll get told off for not remembering the score, Boca Juniors won so it was all good in the end!!

We had an interesting time finding our bus back to the hostel but eventually we were all safely on board and got back to Millhouse about 10pm.. just in time for dinner... Kate, Sarah, Lorraine and I went for food at a lovely little place called Harmony just around the corner and had a good girlie chat... if i remember correctly, the main topic of coversation that evening was the lovely subject of bowel movements... oh, to be a backpacker!!!! We were all pretty shattered as the weekend drew to a close and headed back to the hostel where our beds were tempting us with thoughts of cosiness and sleep... I think all the other 3 managed to fulfill that temptation pretty sharpish.. me on the other hand... I'm far too easily led!!!! Which is actually far more innocent than it sounds.. honest!!) When on my way to bed, having left a note saying 'goodnight and see ya' to Paul, Tim and Jamie, on the notice board as they were off to Uruguay early the next morning.. I had the misfortune of bumping into Paul which, unbeknown to me at that point, was the kiss of death for any thoughts i might have had about sleeping that night.... somehow we ended up sat in the bar, chatting the night away... literally... I managed to make it to bed at 6am... which for me at least meant I got to sleep for a few hours... Paul on the other hand had to get up at 7am to catch the boat to Uruguay!! Unlucky dude.. but if you will keep me talking!! I'm going to be nice to you now Paul... careful... don't want that ego of yours getting any bigger than it already is (is that possible anyway??!) I was actually sad to see the boys go, it'd been fun hanging out with Paul and it would've been good to have them around for the last few days of my trip but ah well.. there was sleep to be had... that was all i cared about a second after saying bye to my young friend and besides, now you're back in London to Paul, I'll probably never be able to get rid of you.. god help me!! ;0)

Anyway.... with the incessant talking in my ear ceased... i managed a few hours sleep then forced myself up..... Kate and I had important plans for the day.... Shopping!!!! What else?! We headed down to Avenida Cordoba - one of Buneos Aires main shopping streets, full of plush leather stores and fancy shopping malls.. and set about our business... although not before we'd grabbed ourselves some lunch at a lovely roadside restaurant in the sun (as you can see in the pic here) along with a cheeky Triple Oreo biscuit... for those of you that haven't sampled the delights of those - well, you can't get them over here - but if ever you come across one, trust me... try one! After that we got the serious business of shopping underway, there were presents to buy - after my big Bolivian shopping spree I only had a few more Christmas pressies to buy and then there was things for me... well, if you can't treat yourself??! Besides, I figured that as soon as I got home I'd have to watch the pennies so I may as well shop while i still could!!

All didn't go quite according to plan though.. half way through said shopping trip, Kate discovered her wallet was no longer in her bag! Yes, that's right, the poor chica had been pickpocketed... boo! We spent the next hour or so sorting things out, cancelling cards and retracing steps just in case but it was gone and then we opted for more retail therapy.. I helped Kate out so she didn't need to worry about not having money for the rest of her trip and soon we'd calmed down and the retail therapy had worked it's magic! It was a shame it had happened but I guess these things can happen anyway... why people do it I'll never understand but at least we were ok - there are worse things that could happen and hey, we were in Buenos Aires. Man, I love it here!

The pics here btw are of an outdoor exhibition around the city. Each heart was designed by different local artists with various theme's running throughout... all set our in the sunshine, they looked fab and really do just enhance the vibrance and colourful vibe this city gives off!

After an exhausting but fab day shopping, that night we went for an 'all-you'can-eat' buffet with Kate's friend Clint and Emily... which was lovely and about all I had the energy for that night..... it was with utter exhaustion but total contentment that I fell into bed as soon as we got back to the hostel.... to sleep.... actually at night for once... a novel, and very welcome, experience!! xx

The Party Capital lives up to its name!!

We actually spent Thursday morning in Rosario, buses are pretty frequent, it's only a 4 hour journey from there to Buenos Aires, so we hadn't booked and decided that we'd take it easy, as long as we were in Buenos Aires by later afternoon/early evening... we'd booked into Millhouse... a hostel recommended to me by several people and where my friend Emily (of Isla del Sol, Cusco and La Paz appearance) would also be staying. Millhouse is well known in the backpacker world as the party hostel (with Lime House apparently being where you go to recover... i however found Millhouse far calmer than Lime House and much nicer in terms of the actual accommodation.. not that Lime House wasn't decent mind!) The pic below is the courtyard at Millhouse, many a morning was spent here at the end of a whole night out...

We arrived as planned about 6pm after a very comfy, dry and warm bus journey having lucked out with the front seats.... i actually really enjoyed that bus journey, just watching the world go by, taking in the Argentine scenery and having a bit of quality 'bus-thinking' time (Bec and Aideen I'm sure you'll appreciate that thought!! ;0) You know that feeling you get when you have the day off work, the sun's shining and warm on your skin, you're relaxing with your mates or doing something fun and mischieveous and you realise you're just plain happy... and you can't help just quietly smiling to yourself? Well, sorry to sound cheesy but that was me... I just found myself smiling... thinking about all of the things i've done, friends i've made, people back home that I'd be seeing again soon, how far I'd come in just one year... and i don't just mean geographically... and how lucky I've been to be able to do everything I've done. Basically... Life was Sweet... I was having a Ball.... and i had nothing but the fact that it was nearly over to complain about (and that's just me being greedy!!) Sorry for going off on one but it's a great feeling and I didn't want to forget it..... I hope I always remember that feeling, it's a shame you can't bottle it for those times when things are tough and you lose sight that life is there to be enjoyed.... anyway.... i had one week left, i fully intended to make the most of it!!

Thanks to our leisurely morning and comfy bus ride, we were well rested when we arrived and decided a night out was in order... I was still feeling a little delicate from the day before but hey, sometimes you have to just power through right and Buenos Aires is well known as being the party capital of South America so it seemed only right! After checking in and sprucing ourselves up a little, we found Emily and the 3 of us headed out for a lush Thai meal at a restaurant the staff at the hostel had recommended. It was a bit pricier than was really allowed on our budgets but well worth it.... and as you can see from the pic above we even splashed out on a cheeky strawberry daquari each!!! Ummm... and Yummm!! ;0) (that's Em in the middle and Kate on the left btw).

After the meal we headed back to the hostel as they were having a bit of a party there before everyone headed off to a club.... on the way back to the hostel, as it was quite late and we'd realised we'd be playing catch up, we decided to act like 15 yr olds again and buy some wine to crack open and swig from the bottle (classy!) while we walked then sneak it into the hostel and finish it off in our room (oops.... just realised, only joking mum.. I never did any such thing when I was 15, honest!! ;0) Once in the bar and safely on to the G&T's (while Kate was downing some dodgy looking liquer... and enjoying it too judging by the grin on her face in the pic here!!) we met up with the Irsih lads from Rosario along with a few new peeps too... namely Paul, Jamie and Tim.. 3 english lads travelling together.. one of which was to become a good friend... Paul (shown with me in the pic below).... who I bonded with over our love of photography and his rather awesome Canon A1 and 3 different lenses... having constantly missed my SLR throughout my trip I was very jealous of Paul's camera and with the promise of letting me 'touch it' (the camera people, the camera.. get your minds out of the gutter!!) how could I not be his friend!! (see... told you it was just your camera I liked you for Paul... heehee.. ;0)

Anyway... nightlife in Buenos Aires doesn't really get going til midnight so it wasn't til around then that we headed out to a club called Lost... it ended up just being about 10 of us... a lot of the others went to another club... the one we went to was ok.... ridiculously packed and hot mind but the evening was fun although did become somewhat random from there on in.. Paul and I headed off to check out the VIP area (which our tickets allowed us into... we weren't trying to sneak our way in!!) and in the interim we lost Kate who I later found out had left cos she couldn't find us and had a dubious experience with a taxi driver... luckily all was ok but I wasn't best pleased that I'd not been there with her and she'd gone home on her own! Anyway... a bit later... Emily... who is usually my partner in drinking and the one influencing me to stay out til dawn (ok, ok... we might be as bad as each other.. maybe!) flaked out and went home too... it wasn't til the next day that she told me she'd felt really odd and thought her drink had been spiked.. Em can usually handle her alcohol so I don't doubt this was true!! Thankfully she was ok too. I, on the other hand, did what Buenos Aires expects of you nocturnally and stayed out all night with Paul, Jamie and Tim all making grand efforts to keep up with me.. wasn't the other way round honest!!

Anyway... to give you an idea of how late we really did stay up... Paul and I managed to have not made it to our respective beds when they started serving breakfast at the hostel.... oops... there goes a whole nights sleep and most of a day's sightseeing!! Was a fun night for me though and I'd made a new friend... with a great camera... brilliant... I did have a nasty hangover though!! and will probably get a nasty abusive email when Paul see's that I've put this comical drunken picture of him on here... I have another one too Paul... and I'm not afraid to use it.. you might want to remember that...!! ;0) I'm also pretty sure you don't have any daft drunk ones of me so i think i'm safe!!! haha! Anyway, I'd been there less than 24 hours and South America had already lived up to its Party Capital reputation.... I knew I loved this place!! (Pic on the right above is Em and Jamie btw and below.. me and Em)

The following day.. Friday Nov 10th had been earmarked first and foremost to sort out my flight home.... at the moment I was still booked on to a flight out of Rio 5 days later.... i had no intention of losing 2 days of the so few i had left in order to hot foot it to Rio in time for my flight home..... so my plan was to change my flight to a Buenos Aires - Heathrow in 6 days time. Don't get me wrong... i wanted nothing more than to have time to complete my planned route of heading up through Uruguay along Brazil's Southern coast to Rio but i didn't have that time unfortunately so rather than rush through Uruguay and Brazil and not see any of it properly, let alone also not seeing Buenos Aires properly, I decided the best thing to do was sack off Brazil and Uruguay and visit them with enough time to enjoy them properly another time. It was a shame but at least this way i got to apprecaite Buenos Aires and Argentina more.

Now, I can say this now, cos it's done and dusted and I'm safely home but the idea regarding my flight change was a little bit risky on my part...my ticket expired on Thursday November 16th... which was the day I wanted to depart from Buenos Aires on... that all may sound fine but in reality.. while my ticket expired on that date it also meant that i had to be in transit by or before midnight on the 15th November and arrive into London no later than midnight on the 16th November... problem was none of the airlines included in my one world ticket flew on the 15th from Buenos Aires to London and I didn't want to leave any earlier... so, i'd decided to take my chances and give changing it to the 16th a shot.. just keeping my fingers crossed that it would work and they wouldn't check the technicalites of my ticket! The outcome of that little plan didn't materialise until a few days later... instead Friday shaped up to be a bit of a nightmare....

Having not made it to my bed until about 9am that morning, I slept til 3pm then got straight on the phone to the Qantas office where I spoke to the guy who'd been dealing with me for the last week or so..... I'd been having troubles getting them to confirm anything as they were waiting for the go ahead from London... i was obviously concerned that London would check more closely the expiry of my ticket and just wanted to get it all confirmed... that and the fact that if I didn't get it sorted today I'd have to wait til Monday.. which was potentially, if I didn't pull this off, only one day before I'd have to find myself a flight to Rio in order to make it there in time to catch my flight home!!

Eventually, with a bit of cheekiness and flirting... (sometimes its great being female!) i managed to get him to agree to issue my tickets if I came down to the office straight away and paid the amendment fee.. realising that the time was now just gone 4pm and I had less than an hour before they closed I was about to hotfoot it out on to the street and hail a cab when I bumped into a couple I'd met in La Paz randomly and despite my claims that I really had to get going, they kept me talking for a valuable 10-15 minutes... lovely as they were it just wasn't the right time... once I'd escaped the events that followed were comical......

I hailed a cab and gave the driver the address, half way there though I realised that in my haste.. i didn't have my original ticket with me... without which they wouldn't be able to re-issue my revised one..... pants! Unfortunately my limited spanish didn't stretch to 'I've forgotten something, can you take me back to my hostel and wait for me while I get it!' Although i did make several attempts at saying this, much I am sure to the taxi driver's amusement!!! In the end I had to just stop him, get out and run back to the hostel then flag another cab as quickly as i could...

Running in flip flops is not the easiest but I eventually managed to get to the hostel and was back in another cab as quickly as i could... by this time it was about 4.40pm... I had 20 minutes... what I hadn't banked on was the huge volume of traffic in the CBD of Buenos Aires.... we crawled along and I got more and more agitated in the back on the cab.... at the time I definetely wasn't laughing but in hindsight it's all quite comical really... the driver soon clocked on to the fact that i was getting a bit impatient and in my broken Spanish (along with his limited English) I miraculously managed to explain to him what the deal was... at every traffic light we got caught at I'd tap my feet and drum my fingers on the seat anxciously, while constantly repeating 'Vamos, Vamos' to the poor guy the minute the lights changed..... to his credit, he did his best for me... all the while laughing at my little outbursts.. which I found quite comical myself.. i think he just about kept me sane... and at 5 to 5pm he dropped me off on the street parallel to where i wanted to be... he said it would be quicker for me to run through than him drive around cos of the traffic... thanks to me being in such a hurry the man got a nice hefty tip too... there was no time to wait for my change!! Unfortunately for me..... the numbers of the buildings on the street i was looking for, weren't massively visible.. and we're talking high rise office buildings, not the obvious Qantas shop front that you'd hope for.... so, after running up and down the street (and it was a long street) I finally found where i wanted to be - not far from where the taxi man had dropped this crazy lady off - but I was 10 minutes too late... they were closed and I had no ticket!!! Hungover and feeling very dejected I started my wander back to the hostel..... I decided that I wasn't going to waste the entire day, I may as well take in some of the city, at least it wouldn't have been a total washout then! It was a gorgeous day, really warm and sunny so after grabbing myself an 'I feel hungover and sorry for myself' treat; a big Oreo 3x biscuit.... (a very tasty chocolate covered massive Oreo stacked up 3 times over that we'd discovered on our walk back to the hostel from the Thai restaurant the other night)... I leisurely wandered up Avenida Cordoba.. one of the city's main shopping streets with some very plush shops showcasing some of the leather goods that Argentina is famous for (Mum you'd have loved it!) and enjoyed window shopping and taking in all the amazing arcitechure that is all around you in Buenos Aires... by the time I reached the hostel I had calmed down a little and figured there was now nothing i could do until Monday so I may as well enjoy the weekend and worry about it all when Monday came... besides, it was nearly evening again.. there was fun to be had!

I ended up having 2 dinners that night... an early dinner that night with Kate... well, when i say early... that's normal time for the rest of us but early for Argentina.... just at a restaurant around the corner from the hostel. Then Kate went off to meet her friend Clint that she'd met in Bolivia I believe, who was now living in Buenos Aires for a bit, and I chilled out at the hostel for a while with Paul, Tim and Jamie... they were headed off for some dinner at the usual Buenos Aires time.. .about 10/11pm and asked me along with them... thanks to my body clock now being firmly on Buenos Aires time (it didn't take that long to settle in eh.. but then I have always been a bit of a noctural creature!) I wasn't in the least bit tired so I agreed to go with them... we ended up walking for miles and eating at a somewhat nicer establishment than the slightly dubious one Kate and I had stumbled into earlier. I had no intention of actually eating, I'd just gone along to be sociable and have a drink with them... but my body was crying out for some healthy food..... Argentina is no doubt the country I've found it hardest to be vegetarian in.. everywhere else has been pretty easy but with Argentina being famous for its steak it's hardly surprising that I was struggling a little... so I'd been living on pasta and pizza alot, not to mention all the alcohol I'd abused my body with the night before.... so when I came across Salmon with an array of vegetables and a shed load of steamed broccoli i couldn't resist... I have just read that back and realised how ridiculous it sounds to tell everyone that i simply couldn't resist broccoli.... Mum's probably fainted in shock as she read that bit!!

Anyway... the salmon and broccoli was very tasty.. as was the red wine we indulged in too (well.... it would be rude not to.. we are in Argentina after all!) After the meal the boys were off to meet a friend of theirs and I decided to leave them to it and head home to bed for an early night...... 2am....!!!! That is early in Argentina... I had sights to be seen the next day.. and a little festival some of you may have heard of .... Creamfields... to attend.. so sleep seemed like a good option. Although it felt pretty safe to me, the boys insisted I got a cab back as they didn't want me walking home alone that late so I did as i was told like a good girl and hopped in a cab... I have to say a little Thank you at this point... to Paul.... I had left the hostel without any money on me so bless him, he'd paid for everything for me... meal, wine and cab.... I was very grateful to him and if I'm honest... can't actually remember if I ever paid him back... so Paul... thank you and apologies if i never gave you the money back... I'm sure you'll take great delight on telling me so in your own 'special' way when you stop gallivanting around Brazil and make it back home!

The day had been a strange and stressful one but the evening was fun and by the time I finally and very gratefully rested my head on my pillow that night, everything was calm again and I was looking forward to the weekend! So far.. I'd been here just a day and a bit... and the party capital of South America had already proved itself worthy... not just of it's reputation.. but also of my initial impression of it... this place is great... my love at first sight just gets more justified with every extra hour I spend here! Sometimes things just feel right! xx

oh yeah.... btw.... obviously I don't have pics to go along with my ridiculous antics of trying to get to Qantas on time so the pics shown in this post (that aren't obviously me with whoever) are just random shots of Buenos Aires that I've taken.. they show you a little of what the city and arcitechure are like... it doesn't convey the real beauty or vibe of it all but it gives you a little idea i hope. x