We had a hard time deciding whether or not to stay in Gualeguaychu over the weekend. They do a carnival there every Saturday in January and a lot of people come into town for it. But then in the end we decided it would end up being too many days to kill waiting for it and figured that Buenos Aires would probably have something going on as well.
And we got couch surfing lined up again (it is seriously the best thing ever when you're travelling - or we have just been lucky so far). Now were staying with an American guy named Tom who works down here. So far we've only put our backpacks down and had Chinese take out, but he seems really nice and his apartment is sweet and really pretty big and central.
He has to work tomorrow so we're taking an early night tonight and then tomorrow me and Dylan will head out and explore the city while he's working. We really need to get busy on the getting gifts business... we've been putting it off since we didn't want to carry a bunch of extra stuff, but weird as it feels, now this trip is actually coming to an end. A week from now I'll be home. So strange.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Gualeguachù
Due to lack of fundings and lack of time, we decided against Urugay and took Mario's advice to go to Gualeguachù instead. This is where the locals vacation, beaches, restaurans, bars and hotels...but not very many foreigners. It's nice here though, and a good place to spend a few slow days before we head to Buenos Aires.
It's early still, the siesta is just about to begin, but my birthday has so far presented me with an hour back massage (thank you Dylan) and a spam e-mail that read "how many grand children do you have?" that made me feel kinda old...but seriously, I'm 28, not 68.
Today we're planning on looking for a different beach than the one we layed on yesterday and then tonight we're going out for dinner. Should be a good day.
It's early still, the siesta is just about to begin, but my birthday has so far presented me with an hour back massage (thank you Dylan) and a spam e-mail that read "how many grand children do you have?" that made me feel kinda old...but seriously, I'm 28, not 68.
Today we're planning on looking for a different beach than the one we layed on yesterday and then tonight we're going out for dinner. Should be a good day.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Recognizing Dylan everywhere
It happens quite often that Dylan is told he looks like Matthew Macounaghey. Whether or not this is in fact true I will not get into here...let's just say that Dylan definitly likes these comments and I kind of take it upon myself not to let it get to his curly head.
So a few days ago when once again a new acquaintance started saying "has anyone ever told you you look like that actor..." a wide smile spread over my dearest's face. But when the man finished his sentance with "Jim Carrey!" the smile was all mine. I don't think Dylan looks anything like Jim Carrey, but it was funny.
The craziest thing happened Saturday night here in Rosario though. We had just gotten into town and our current couch surf-host Mario took us out. We were sitting at a table by the street when a guy walks up to Dylan and says "I know you, man! You're from Umeå..." Now, unless you are from Umeå or have been there, you're highly ublikely to know the town exists, especially if you're from Rosario, Argentina so we were definitly surprised and Dylan didn't recognize the guy at all at first. But it turned out they had been in the same beginning Swedish class at SFI back in 2005. The guy had had a Swedish girlfriend and lived in Sweden for 4 years before they broke up. It's a small, small world.
So a few days ago when once again a new acquaintance started saying "has anyone ever told you you look like that actor..." a wide smile spread over my dearest's face. But when the man finished his sentance with "Jim Carrey!" the smile was all mine. I don't think Dylan looks anything like Jim Carrey, but it was funny.
The craziest thing happened Saturday night here in Rosario though. We had just gotten into town and our current couch surf-host Mario took us out. We were sitting at a table by the street when a guy walks up to Dylan and says "I know you, man! You're from Umeå..." Now, unless you are from Umeå or have been there, you're highly ublikely to know the town exists, especially if you're from Rosario, Argentina so we were definitly surprised and Dylan didn't recognize the guy at all at first. But it turned out they had been in the same beginning Swedish class at SFI back in 2005. The guy had had a Swedish girlfriend and lived in Sweden for 4 years before they broke up. It's a small, small world.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Living in an oven with cockroaches
Here's an interesting piece of information I was unaware of untill I went to the bathroom this morning; small cockroaches eat the big ones when they are dead, or when they're playing dead since I strongly belive cockroaches are impossible to kill. Even with their guts squirted out on the floor and their head flushed down the toiletts, those f**ers always seem to get back on their nasty little feet and walk away.
Yeah, the place we're staying at, Patricia our couchsurfing host's house, has cockroaches. Lots of them. And the house is hotter than a pizza oven, I swear if I had covered myself in cheese before going to bed last night I would have woken up au gratìn.
But she's nice, it's free and cockroaches don't kill you. She has Swedish heritage on both her mother and father's side, but doesn't speak much more Swedish than "god natt" and "hejsan." But her English is good, so it doesn't matter.
She has had a lot of people couchsurf her place and tonight two girls from Brazil are supposed to stay there aswell. Me and Dylan are cooking dinner, that's her rule, that on the last night you stay at her house you have to cook, which is fair. She wants us to cook something native.... but I don't think that's going to happen. There is little raindeer in the stores here, I don't think palt or kroppkakor would fly and like Dylan said "American cousine is just whatever food you can think of made fattier and shittier" so I think we're going with a Greek potatoe sallad.
Today we went to a public swimming pool since Córdoba is still sweltering hot. Before entering we were checked for athlete's foot and head lice by a man with plastic gloves. He then stamped our tickets and said we would be considered clean for 15 days. Interesting.
Yeah, the place we're staying at, Patricia our couchsurfing host's house, has cockroaches. Lots of them. And the house is hotter than a pizza oven, I swear if I had covered myself in cheese before going to bed last night I would have woken up au gratìn.
But she's nice, it's free and cockroaches don't kill you. She has Swedish heritage on both her mother and father's side, but doesn't speak much more Swedish than "god natt" and "hejsan." But her English is good, so it doesn't matter.
She has had a lot of people couchsurf her place and tonight two girls from Brazil are supposed to stay there aswell. Me and Dylan are cooking dinner, that's her rule, that on the last night you stay at her house you have to cook, which is fair. She wants us to cook something native.... but I don't think that's going to happen. There is little raindeer in the stores here, I don't think palt or kroppkakor would fly and like Dylan said "American cousine is just whatever food you can think of made fattier and shittier" so I think we're going with a Greek potatoe sallad.
Today we went to a public swimming pool since Córdoba is still sweltering hot. Before entering we were checked for athlete's foot and head lice by a man with plastic gloves. He then stamped our tickets and said we would be considered clean for 15 days. Interesting.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
sun burns and a dusty puppy
We had two really sunny days here in Carlos Paz. Tuesday we went out to the river again, but to a less crowded and more family friendly beach. We didn't stay out that long, I didn't think... but we both got really sun burned. So yesterday Dylan just stayed in the whole day while I went out there again and just layed in the shade in between cooling off in the water.
Now we're heading back to Còrdoba because we got couchsurfing lined up there for two days. It's with a lady called Patricia Andersson. She's only been writing to us in Spanish so far, but had Swedish listed as a language she's fluent in on her profile page....so we'll see how communcation will go. Either way I'm glad this couchsurfing thing has actually kicked off. Saturday and for two or three nights on we're staying with a guy in Rosario.
Yesterday when I was walking back to our hotel I saw the dirtiest and cutest little street dog-puppy. He was supposed to be white, you could tell, but he was all dusty and gray and standing outside a closed store, just yelping. I just paused to look at him for a seccond, thinking he'd probably get run over before too long.... Then I walked the four blocks back and entered our hotel through the back door in the garden. I was just going to tell Dylan about the puppy when we heard this shrieking sound outside the door. He had followed me home! And then we tried to get rid of him but he kept comming back, and the hotel manager came and tried to get rid of him....and had to try for a long time. I so wanted to adopt that little guy, or at least take him to a shelter or something, but it doesn't work like that here.....
We're still enjoying Argentina and would definitly like to come back here with more money. It's cheap, but not Asia cheap. And since I lost my card, we're on a pretty strict budget. (We both agreed Aloe Vera was necessary though and splurged on that the other day)
Couchsurfing will help with the fundings of course, but more than that I think it will be really fun and a good way to meet locals. Locals who may speak Swedish.
We got some news from immigration too, or the state department, since that's who we're dealing with now. I still don't know exactly what they mean though, or what will happen now....but when I do, I'll let you know.
Now we're heading back to Còrdoba because we got couchsurfing lined up there for two days. It's with a lady called Patricia Andersson. She's only been writing to us in Spanish so far, but had Swedish listed as a language she's fluent in on her profile page....so we'll see how communcation will go. Either way I'm glad this couchsurfing thing has actually kicked off. Saturday and for two or three nights on we're staying with a guy in Rosario.
Yesterday when I was walking back to our hotel I saw the dirtiest and cutest little street dog-puppy. He was supposed to be white, you could tell, but he was all dusty and gray and standing outside a closed store, just yelping. I just paused to look at him for a seccond, thinking he'd probably get run over before too long.... Then I walked the four blocks back and entered our hotel through the back door in the garden. I was just going to tell Dylan about the puppy when we heard this shrieking sound outside the door. He had followed me home! And then we tried to get rid of him but he kept comming back, and the hotel manager came and tried to get rid of him....and had to try for a long time. I so wanted to adopt that little guy, or at least take him to a shelter or something, but it doesn't work like that here.....
We're still enjoying Argentina and would definitly like to come back here with more money. It's cheap, but not Asia cheap. And since I lost my card, we're on a pretty strict budget. (We both agreed Aloe Vera was necessary though and splurged on that the other day)
Couchsurfing will help with the fundings of course, but more than that I think it will be really fun and a good way to meet locals. Locals who may speak Swedish.
We got some news from immigration too, or the state department, since that's who we're dealing with now. I still don't know exactly what they mean though, or what will happen now....but when I do, I'll let you know.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Rainy day
Serves me right, complain about the heat and the sun enough...and you'll get rain. It's comming down hard today so we're still huddling inside the hostel, hoping it will stop soon so we can go out and explore the city. Yesterday we went to the beach, or what they call a beach. I'd call it a small stream with lots of people (and very little swim wear) in it. It was like MTV spring break, what you see on TV with people in itsy bitsy thong bikinis, drinking drinks out of melons and pineaples, singing, dancing and shaking their stuff. We felt slightly out of place...our butt cheaks all hidden, but the water did cool us off, which was the most important thing, I guess.
Going out there though, we passed a much smaller town, Carlos Paz. It's close to the water, has tons of restaurants and hotels and is just a cute little beach town, so we booked a hotel out there for two nights starting tomorrow. We had already payed for two nights here in Còrdoba, otherwise we would have left already. This hostel is allright, but the whole hostel thing is out of control in South America. Everywhere we go, the hostels are more expensive than the small, local hotels which are not in the guidebook or online. So from now on, we're going with the small hotels. That or couch surfing, which hasn't happened yet, but we may have a lead now.
Going out there though, we passed a much smaller town, Carlos Paz. It's close to the water, has tons of restaurants and hotels and is just a cute little beach town, so we booked a hotel out there for two nights starting tomorrow. We had already payed for two nights here in Còrdoba, otherwise we would have left already. This hostel is allright, but the whole hostel thing is out of control in South America. Everywhere we go, the hostels are more expensive than the small, local hotels which are not in the guidebook or online. So from now on, we're going with the small hotels. That or couch surfing, which hasn't happened yet, but we may have a lead now.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
hot in Còrdoba
The night bus here to Còrdoba was the best one we've been on so far. Clean, spacious and not even a whole hour late. Nice! Still hope it was the last one cause I can't sleep on busses.
We started our day here with a nap and now that we had breakfast/lunch we are just waiting for the lady at the hostel's front desk to get off her shift and then we are going to try and go with her and her friends out to the river. It's hot as hell here. Mendoza was really hot too, but much shadier and with less boiling asphalt.
Other than that we've had some more bad news from immigration so unless a minor miracle happens here pretty freaking soon, I'm looking at spending a lot more time in Sweden that we planned on and that I would like. It really, really sucks.
Good news, don't want to end on a bad note, my cousin won a whole lot of money on TV yesterday, my dad is turning 62 today and my sister's 4th is a girl! Yay for all of those.
We started our day here with a nap and now that we had breakfast/lunch we are just waiting for the lady at the hostel's front desk to get off her shift and then we are going to try and go with her and her friends out to the river. It's hot as hell here. Mendoza was really hot too, but much shadier and with less boiling asphalt.
Other than that we've had some more bad news from immigration so unless a minor miracle happens here pretty freaking soon, I'm looking at spending a lot more time in Sweden that we planned on and that I would like. It really, really sucks.
Good news, don't want to end on a bad note, my cousin won a whole lot of money on TV yesterday, my dad is turning 62 today and my sister's 4th is a girl! Yay for all of those.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Mendoza, Argentina
Happy to report the sun is shining on this part of the border too. Mendoza is a town of maybe 800 000 people, right smack in the middle of Argentinian wine country.
Yesterday we woke up in a dorm room with 12 other people. The night had been spent squeezed together on the top bunk because the place was overbooked. Since we had come in at 10 pm the night before there wasn't really any other options than just to tough it out, and we thought that it maybe wouldn't be so bad. But in the room were also 5 Canadian guys on a party tour, they snored and puked all night and and when I woke up I was just like "I'm too old for this, we have to move" and Dylan was not hard to convince. Now we're staying at a small place with very little water pressure, toilets that sound like rocket ships taking off when you flush them and beds that make you feel like you're sleeping on a family pack of cotton balls. But it's cheap, clean and quiet.
After moving yesterday, we went wine tasting by bike out in the country side. It was really great. We went to five different wineries, a museum and a small place that made chocolates and liquores. We had lunch (wine, cheese, home made bread and caramelized onions and tomatoes) on a patio overlooking endless fields of grapes. And at the last place, we ran into a group of Swedish people, finally! We ended up talking to them untill the place closed and then later last night we met up with them for dinner. Dylan finally got to try the famous Argentinian steaks, and he was not disappointed.
Today we're checking out the rest of the city. Tomorrow there's a big market we're going to and then we might head out of here tomorrow night. Night busses....hate them, but oh well.
Yesterday we woke up in a dorm room with 12 other people. The night had been spent squeezed together on the top bunk because the place was overbooked. Since we had come in at 10 pm the night before there wasn't really any other options than just to tough it out, and we thought that it maybe wouldn't be so bad. But in the room were also 5 Canadian guys on a party tour, they snored and puked all night and and when I woke up I was just like "I'm too old for this, we have to move" and Dylan was not hard to convince. Now we're staying at a small place with very little water pressure, toilets that sound like rocket ships taking off when you flush them and beds that make you feel like you're sleeping on a family pack of cotton balls. But it's cheap, clean and quiet.
After moving yesterday, we went wine tasting by bike out in the country side. It was really great. We went to five different wineries, a museum and a small place that made chocolates and liquores. We had lunch (wine, cheese, home made bread and caramelized onions and tomatoes) on a patio overlooking endless fields of grapes. And at the last place, we ran into a group of Swedish people, finally! We ended up talking to them untill the place closed and then later last night we met up with them for dinner. Dylan finally got to try the famous Argentinian steaks, and he was not disappointed.
Today we're checking out the rest of the city. Tomorrow there's a big market we're going to and then we might head out of here tomorrow night. Night busses....hate them, but oh well.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
leaving, right on time
If yesterday was all about flip flops and tank tops, today is about blisters and burning red shoulders. Tomorrow will be spent on a bus to Mendoza though, so there will be no walking or being in the sun.
When we bought the tickets today, the buss station man looked real hard at our passports and then whipped out a calender and started counting the days we have been in Chile. We have just figured that since we entered October 16th we had to be out by January 16th... but no, it's 90 days, give or take nothing. So he counted and turns out, tomorrow is 90 days on the day, phew. I don't know what happens if you overstay, but I don't think I really care to find out either. What's wierd is that the guy selling tickets cared so much, normally it's at the border they start looking into that stuff....
Poncho, the owner of this home stay/hostel we're staying at is certainly a character. He speaks only enough English to make himself half way understood and alwats talks at a million miles an hour. But he is extremly helpful, let us borrow a cell phone for free today, makes us breakfast whenever we get up and I would definitly recommend anyone staying there.
www.myspace.com/nativochile
When we bought the tickets today, the buss station man looked real hard at our passports and then whipped out a calender and started counting the days we have been in Chile. We have just figured that since we entered October 16th we had to be out by January 16th... but no, it's 90 days, give or take nothing. So he counted and turns out, tomorrow is 90 days on the day, phew. I don't know what happens if you overstay, but I don't think I really care to find out either. What's wierd is that the guy selling tickets cared so much, normally it's at the border they start looking into that stuff....
Poncho, the owner of this home stay/hostel we're staying at is certainly a character. He speaks only enough English to make himself half way understood and alwats talks at a million miles an hour. But he is extremly helpful, let us borrow a cell phone for free today, makes us breakfast whenever we get up and I would definitly recommend anyone staying there.
www.myspace.com/nativochile
Monday, January 11, 2010
Santiago round 2
We got up at 5 this morning to fly out of a rainy Punta Arenas, heading north for some summer sun. We have to be out of Chile Jan 16th and we'll probably just stay a day or two here in Santiago. We're trying to get a hold of Juri, but that's as easy as always... so I don't know if we'll get to see him at all.
When we got off the airport bus downtown Santiago, this rasta dude came up to us to promote his hostel, and since we (again) couldn't get a hold of Juri, that's where we ended up staying. It's more a home stay than a hostel really, the place stinks of insense and even though our hosts insists it gets cleaned every day....I doubt it. But then, we have our own room and it's cheap.
I feel like we're bad tourists though, neither one of us is that excited about being back on the back packing trail, in a way I wish we could just go straight home instead of hiking around for another three weeks.... But, since things are the way they are, I'm going to try and make the best of it and enjoy Argentina. Tango and steaks for everybody!
It's actually summer up here, cooler now at night but I'd guess we had around 25 degrees or so during the day. I had to break out the sun glasses and flip flops for the first time in months. Nice.
When we got off the airport bus downtown Santiago, this rasta dude came up to us to promote his hostel, and since we (again) couldn't get a hold of Juri, that's where we ended up staying. It's more a home stay than a hostel really, the place stinks of insense and even though our hosts insists it gets cleaned every day....I doubt it. But then, we have our own room and it's cheap.
I feel like we're bad tourists though, neither one of us is that excited about being back on the back packing trail, in a way I wish we could just go straight home instead of hiking around for another three weeks.... But, since things are the way they are, I'm going to try and make the best of it and enjoy Argentina. Tango and steaks for everybody!
It's actually summer up here, cooler now at night but I'd guess we had around 25 degrees or so during the day. I had to break out the sun glasses and flip flops for the first time in months. Nice.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
last supper
Me and Dylan just made deviled eggs for the going away BBQ tonight. We're leaving monday, so is Randy and Juri is leaving tomorrow so this is the last time for everyone to get together. It's 5:30 pm right now, I would guess the early guests will arrive around 8 and dinner will probably kick off at like midnight.... I don't see why parties here always have to start so late, it's not like we're busy right now...everyone is just waiting for it to get late enough. But it's a cultural thing, I guess. The square Scandinavian in me also has a really hard time with the inability Southamericans have when it comes to planning stuff. Making plans for tomorrow is as hard for a Chilean as it is for a Swede to not have any plans for tomorrow.
No news on my wallet, I don't expect to get it back much though. It sucks but fortunatly (tur i oturen, hur säger man det på engelska?) I lost very little money and only my driver's license and bank card and not my passport. That would have been close to a dissaster.
This morning I went to the gym for the last time. I was going to try to say good bye and thank you explain that I was leaving Punta Arenas now and not comming back... The whole time I was working out I was working out my brains as well, how I would say it in Spanish. By the time I was ready to go home I pretty much had it figured out too, but then I totally chickened out and just snuck out the door without even looking back. So much for my Spanish skills, they're not what I wish they were.
No news on my wallet, I don't expect to get it back much though. It sucks but fortunatly (tur i oturen, hur säger man det på engelska?) I lost very little money and only my driver's license and bank card and not my passport. That would have been close to a dissaster.
This morning I went to the gym for the last time. I was going to try to say good bye and thank you explain that I was leaving Punta Arenas now and not comming back... The whole time I was working out I was working out my brains as well, how I would say it in Spanish. By the time I was ready to go home I pretty much had it figured out too, but then I totally chickened out and just snuck out the door without even looking back. So much for my Spanish skills, they're not what I wish they were.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
money lost and money won
I was going to update this yesterday while at the office but somehow I forgot. I don't think I was working that hard, I mean I know wasn't... but with two new Canadian interns, the main language of the office has switched from Spanish to English so now I can actually take part in conversations, which is a nice change from just trying to guess what they're about. Tomorrow will be my last day there though, I'm just trying to finish this one aricle and then that will be that.
My wallet and my jacket were stolen last night. So that sucks. We were at a birthday party at a club downtown and I had left my jacket in a corner. The wallet was in my purse but I left it open a little too long I guess. I'll go back there later today to see if they've found them, but I doubt that will lead to anything. I'm getting pretty used to having my shit stolen now, which is not a good thing of course.
On a happier note my dear sister is knocked up again and my cousin just won one 1,2 million on a lottery ticket. Good for them.
My wallet and my jacket were stolen last night. So that sucks. We were at a birthday party at a club downtown and I had left my jacket in a corner. The wallet was in my purse but I left it open a little too long I guess. I'll go back there later today to see if they've found them, but I doubt that will lead to anything. I'm getting pretty used to having my shit stolen now, which is not a good thing of course.
On a happier note my dear sister is knocked up again and my cousin just won one 1,2 million on a lottery ticket. Good for them.
Monday, January 4, 2010
yay, tickets!
We got tickets out of here. We fly to Santiago Monday next week, found a pretty good deal and figured that with all the money we'd spend on busses and hostels to get to Buenos Aires it'd be no more expensive to do it this way.
One week left in Patagonia. We'll have to do some packing and say some good byes but then we're off, nice. It's about time.
One week left in Patagonia. We'll have to do some packing and say some good byes but then we're off, nice. It's about time.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
back from hiking
We ended up cutting our hiking trip a day short and came back to Pta. Arenas last night. Having good gear when hiking I suppose can be the difference between being miserable and somewhat comfortable, but it doesn't change the weather. We had decent gear and could have done another day of rain and wind, but since we couldn't see any of the famous views for all the clouds and fog we decided to just go back rather than paying another night's worth of camping and rent for the gear. It's still been a good trip though. Pretty expensive for a national park (although, being Swedish I can never get used to paying an entrance fee to nature) but a lot cleaner and better managed than the park in Peru.
New Year's Eve we celebrated at the Refugio Las Torres where Randy (working as a guide) was staying with his group. A fairly small but happy crowd of mainly Germans and Chileans, dancing in their hiking pants, what more could one ask for? Last year I missed the count down since I was working at the restaurant and was in the kitchen dropping off dishes at midnight. This year I counted down with the rest of party, except for Dylan who was in the bathroom.
So now I hope we are looking at no more than a week before we're out of here. Hopefully going up north to be able to enjoy some summer before flying back home. I mean it's summer here, but I have yet to see one person wearing shorts. On a really hot day you can take your jacket off and if you're standing out of the wind be comfortable. But that's a hot day.
New Year's Eve we celebrated at the Refugio Las Torres where Randy (working as a guide) was staying with his group. A fairly small but happy crowd of mainly Germans and Chileans, dancing in their hiking pants, what more could one ask for? Last year I missed the count down since I was working at the restaurant and was in the kitchen dropping off dishes at midnight. This year I counted down with the rest of party, except for Dylan who was in the bathroom.
So now I hope we are looking at no more than a week before we're out of here. Hopefully going up north to be able to enjoy some summer before flying back home. I mean it's summer here, but I have yet to see one person wearing shorts. On a really hot day you can take your jacket off and if you're standing out of the wind be comfortable. But that's a hot day.
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