worldswerver

So I arrived yesterday (Nov. 2) at about 11am after a really long bus ride next to a fat, smelly woman. I had located a hostel near the bus station in my guidebook and walked to it... no vacancy. So I walked to the only other one nearby and it was actually a hotel and too expensive for me. So naturally I thought, Ill find an internet cafe and figure out where to go. My guidebook listed a few internet cafes so I walked to each one and found they were all closed. Perplexed, I finally noticed that ALL stores were closed and then it hit me. Today is a national holiday for day of the dead.... crap. So I figured hey ill just walk eastward because thats where the best beaches are and im bound to find something. So backpack and all I set off on my grand adventure. After walking for 45 minutes or so, a van that works for a tourist agency stops and a brazillian guys asks if he can help. I go ya im walking to lagoa de concepcao. He laughs and says no your not and I was like why. It turns out its about 16 kilometers or 10 miles east.... uhhh. Luckily Dino was really nice and gave me a ride to the bus station and asked one of the guys there to help me find the right bus. The second guy, Carl, also spoke some english and I had a whole troupe of Brazillians helping me get to the right spot. These Brazillians are ridiculously nice I think.

I finally made it to Lagoa and still wasnt quite sure where to find my hostel. Its a small area though so I just started walking and found the only internet cafe open in the whole city Im sure. The only reason it was open is because the guy running it is Hungarian and he needed to do some work. So I found a nice hostel that was just up the street and checked in there. I spent most of the day uploading pictures (on facebook, ill upload them here next), updating the blog, and doing some reading. I had dinner at subway to keep up with my tradition of trying meatball sandwiches in other countries (See Greece 2.5 years ago). And walked around, this area is really nice and reminds me of a small san diego. The bay is nice, although there isnt any beach right at this point. I came back to the hostel and in my room met an argentinean guy, brazillian girl, and a colombian guy. The colombian guy speaks perfect english, spanish, and portegeuse its amazing and acted as translator part of the time. We played some pool and then went out for a drink with an older argentinean guy staying here. Then, I was up until 3am finishing uploading photos to facebook, ive finally caught up on the 500 pictures I was behind.

Today I woke up and had breakfast. Then I went to the laundromat to do hopefully my last load of laundry down here haha. Its about 10am right now. My plan for the day is to go to this nice beach which is about 30 minutes away by bus and hang out and swim and read for the day. I have to make a decision whether to stay another night and leave tomorrow afternoon or leave tonight. I think I will stay another night since I havent heard from my friend in Porto Alegre about meeting up yet.

So that is it, Im finally caught back up. I have just 15 days left including today. I cant believe ive been gone 2 months already and Im starting to have mixed feelings about going home. Im a little anxious (probably because my bank account is running out) and I know ill wish I was traveling when I get home.

Ill try to upload all the photos to the google photo album today and ill put an update if I do it.

Hope everyone is well see you soon.

Ryan

So a quick finish to Mendoza, the bike tour was pretty awesome. In a 10 kilometer stretch (6 miles) you rent a bike and go on a self-guided tour to different wineries, restaurants, stores, and other goodies. We visited 2 different vineyards and got to taste some pretty good wine. We also had lunch at a "restaurant" that was basically the backyard of these 2 guys house, but the food was decent.

Anyways, we then caught a night bus to Buenos Aires. It took about 13.5 hours and cost around 70 usd for a full cama seat. We tried checking into the hostel where my friends Alex and Chris were at but it was booked up. So we ended up at a place a few blocks away called ostinatto hostel. It was probably the nicest hostel I have ever stayed at. It was in an old buiding but very modern and clean inside. After getting settled we met with my friends with lunch. Its crazy that they went down the east coast of South America and I have gone down the West and we meet at the southern tip at the same time. Its really good fortune. After lunch, we walked around for a bit and saw the presidential palace and national congress buildings. They were both beautiful, the architecture in Buenos Aires is really amazing. It has a very european feeling and reminded me a lot of parts of Spain. They even have a massive obelisk in the middle of one of their freeways which looks amazing at night. We finished the day off by walking through the main market and shopping area which was a cool scene. You can buy a lot of really nice stuff for cheap, especially leather since cattle is Argentina´s main export.

On October 24, we had breakfast at this place called Las Violetas which is the restaurant/pastry shop. It was an incredible experience. The building itself is victorian with pillars and guilded gold decoration. The food was incredible and the desserts were to die for. We got a massive platter of sandwiches and deserts for around 20-25 us dollars. Then, we went with my friends Alex and Chris to an Argentinean soccer match that was organized by their hostel. In all about 50 of us went to a Boca Jr game, which is Argentineans best and most popular team. It was an incredible sporting experience. I have never seen such passionate and dedicated fans. They stand, dance, chant, and sing for the entire match. If you are clastrophobic, dont go because you get squished on all sides by people. It can be a bit nerveracking, for example at the end of the game for some reason people started running and pushing and when you are in a crowd that can spell bad news really fast. But nothing happened and it was cool to see my first professional game. For dinner, the 4 of us went to Puerto Maderos, which is a port in BA and known for having good restaurants and we ate some amazing steak at a restaurant down there.

Unfortunately my traveling friend for the last 5.5 weeks had a family emergency and had to cut her trip short, so she was to fly out the night of October 25. So we went to La Boca with my friends, which is a poor part of the city, but is famous for its bright colorful houses and streets. Then, we went back to the shopping area for some last minute gifts (not for me obviously). Afterwards, we walked through Palerma Chico which is a really nice, upscale part of town and visited the house of J.L. Borges (a famous poet) and a couple shops. We then went back to the hostel to pack up and head to the airport. We made it to the airport to discover their had been a mistake in the time and the flight wasnt until noon the next day (the stupid airline company sent the wrong time in the email) so we had to head back into BA. After we got back we had dinner with Alex and Chris and then headed back to our hostel.

This is where I had my first fun experience of the trip. I went to bed around 1am and woke up at 1:30am sick as a dog. I proceeded to sprint to the bathroom and get sick. I then woke up every 45 minutes the entire night throwing up in the bathroom. Its one of the worst nights Ive ever had. I was laying in the fetal position and couldnt sleep at all. I felt so sick I couldnt even leave the room to go to the airport in the morning so I had to say goodbye at the hostel door unfortunately. I was paralyzed until 11am when I had to check out and managed to get my bearings together to pay, take a cab to millhouse avenue (where my friends were staying) and check in. I havent had food poisoning before but oh man its something I never want to experience again. The whole day my stomach felt like I had gone thru 12 rounds with Mike Tyson and had been ruptured. I didnt eat anything the entire day, but took a 4 hour nap which made me feel 100 times better. We hung out in the hostel for the night, having a few drinks and chatting, I ended up staying up quite late, but by this point I felt a lot better.

Here we are today, we woke up, checked out, and went to the famous cementary in the Recoleta district. This cementary is like a city within a city as it is completed walled off and is filled with towering sculptures and masoleums. The famous Evita Peron is buried here along with countless of other famous and rich Argentineans. Today was the national census day here, which is a public holiday and the city was dead. There was no open stores, restaurants and the streets were deserted. Even Mcdonalds was closed!! We were walking around starving (I hadnt eaten in roughly 36 hours) and made our way back to the hostel for some steak sandwiches. Oh before the cementary we walked to the bus station (Alex and Chris are taking a night bus to Mendoza) and then the boat terminal for me to get my ferry ticket. After hanging out in the hostel for a few hours relaxing, I said my goodbyes to my friends and took a taxi to the boat terminal. The boat cost around 50 us dollars and takes an hour to get from Buenos Aires to a little port town in Uruguay called Colonia Del Sacramento. It took me about 20 minutes to walk from the port to my hostel, its a really small town.

Tomorrow ill explore the city (supposedly it only takes a few hours) then catch the 2 hour bus to the capital, Montevideo. I changed some money at the bus terminal, but I need to pull out some Uruguayan pesos. The exchange rate is roughly 1 us dollar to 21 uruguayan pesos. Im quite glad to leave Argentina today, I absolutely loved my 2 weeks there and really enjoyed Buenos Aires, but today the former president died, who was the husband of the current president. So tomorrow its going to be a madhouse with people mourning and potentially rioting. Ive been traveling about 7 weeks and have around 3 to go. Hope everyone is well at home, will hopefully get some new photos up soon.

Ryan