The End

and just to prove it's really over ... this is me and Bondi Beach.

Street walkers

Here is a photo of my New York posse: (l-r) Teddy, Paul, Demond.

Last Leg

Currently sitting in LAX awaiting the final leg home. Qantas pleasant so far (JFK>LAX), and a good choice of movies available. I'm relieved. Very very tired largely due to gettin' down wit my homies at a club in Harlem last night. An abundance of alcohol led to some fairly expressive dancing (as I like to do) although I was just coherent enough not to enter the dance-off that happened later in the evening/morning. But I studied the contestants and will be perfecting some new moves in private. Thanks for coming along on this particular journey, I hope it's been vaguely as fun for you as it has for me.

Nueva York

Well, the difficult reality is that tomorrow I have to dispense with my jetset existence and board a final Qantas flight home. I know you all feel sorry for me. While I think of it, you'll no doubt be interested to know that I rate LAN Chile the best airline of this trip, followed by Copa (new planes, efficient and organised). Iberia (Spain) was serviceable as always, if lacking in any glamour, but they don't seem stressed about you turning up for a flight at the last minute which is nice. British Airways is second last on the list at the moment, due to surly staff and stale sandwiches and ignoring my request for a chocolate bar. That may all be because I flew out of Manchester. Coming a very definite last is TAME (Ecuador) who are still flying 727s and I will be happy never to ride in one of them again. While I'm sure there'll be some cultural cringe upon boarding Qantas, all I care about is a functional personal video screen.

So I've had the last few days in New York catching up with my friends Paul and Teddy and Demond which has been great. Culturally, I went and saw Kathleen Turner last night in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which was kind of odd in that some moments were great, and other times it seemed a bit all over the shop. Kathleen has definitely grown into the role in many ways, but I suspect there's a diminishing range of roles in her future, in tandem with the diminishing range of her voice. Soon she'll be competing with James Earl Jones.

My cultural experiences today involved shopping in Soho where there was a relative lack of bargains (damn I wish I bought those Campers I liked in Spain), an overwhelming amount of humidity, but some purchases nonetheless.

More friends

London has been spent basically seeing people, although I did take in the Frida Kahlo exhibit at the Tate which was excellent, and thanks to Colette (pictured here) it was even free. The weather has also been great - a little rain and grey to remind me what it's supposed to be like, but otherwise just lots of warmth and sunshine (even hot at times) and exposed white people.

Friends in London

This is my Australian friend Michael (London resident for 8 years) who once again graciously furnished his inflatable mattress and living room floor for my sojourn in the mother country. We went for a lovely bike ride besides the Thames to Greenwich to observe the arbitrary meridian and contemplate London being the centre of the known world.

Sitges

So Sitges was actually much nicer than I thought it might be - only had a day there but was very relaxing and I could definitely see how you could adopt the local pace for a week or so.

Me and Neil

This is my Australian friend Neil who studied for four months in Barcelona last year and our visits also happened to coincide this time around. If only I could have changed my ticket and followed him to the Greek Islands. Not that he needs any more tanning.

A little smoggy

This is a photo of the city from Montjuic (or thereabouts) and you can just see the Sagrada Familia in the distance. They've done quite a lot of work on it since I was last here.

Barcelona

Well, I forgot to take my camera with me anywhere in Madrid, so there's no photos from there - you'll just have to take my word for it that it was fun. Barcelona meant meeting up with two Australian friends, Pip and Neil. Pip convinced me that the "Turistic" bus would be fun, and it was in a kind of ironic way.

Last day in Barcelona

Well, I´ll get around to posting some more photos in the next couple of days from London. Sad to leave both Madrid and Barcelona - but it´s nice to know they´re very easy to come back to (well, aside from the 24 hours on a plane issue). Heading down to the beach at Sitges today and then tomorrow a week in London - it´s all coming to an end far too soon.

Cuban countryside

The following photo is from a place I stayed called Viñales where there are all these "mogotes" which are limestone formations that are pretty cool. I did some caving too, which was amazing.

Music and politics

This picture is from a folkloric show I saw that was largely drawn from Santerian traditional stories. I've got to say that I enjoyed more of the drum-based Afro-Cuban music that the constant covers of Guantanamera and hits of the Buena Vista Social Club (as appealing as they are). Which brings me to tourism in Cuba. Lonely Planet (or perhaps Time Out) makes reference to the possibly Faustian deal the Cubans have made with tourism. There's definitely problems. The most inherent one is that in creating a double economy (local pesos and tourist money - sometimes confusingly, also pesos) Castro has, in my opinion, placed a rot at the very heart of his communist/socialist (depends which day) ideal. In effect, the Cuban pesos function more as a ration system - they get you what you need to survive, but much more of them wouldn't make that much of a difference. For that you need tourist pesos (since US dollars were taken out of circulation) and so many locals will do whatever it takes to get them. With these you can buy all the "luxuries" that you can't with your "salary". Things like televisions, but also soap, and even just food that doesn't suck. If you consider that the average monthly wage is something like $US15, you can see that anyone who finds a way to nab some tourist cash is going to be pretty tempted to not bother with a regular job, and it seems that many of them do that. Of course, external remittances make a huge contribution to this system. The longer I spent there, the more ridiculous the whole thing seems, and especially the posturing that happens on both sides of the Florida Strait. Castro is still trying to sell what is becoming a complete lie - the economy and society would collapse without all those sending money back into Cuba, and is just, if not more, guilty of ridiculous propaganda to further his argument. Meanwhile Bush feels the need to tighten an embargo that is so wrong in terms of international law, not to mention basic morality and decency. There are so many interesting, frustrating and complex arguments here (ask me in person, and I'll happily get out my soap box) - but this is one of the great parts about experiencing Cuba. I've also realised that democracy has become the emptiest word in the English language.

The Malecon

One of Havana's most famous sights is the sea wall and the road that goes along it. Although I didn't quite get the full water-spraying-over-the-road experience, there's something very compelling about it, especially trying to process just how close the enemy really is.

The little yellow car is a cocotaxi. They have three wheels and have to take corners very slowly.

Old Town

This is a typical view of one of the plazas in Habana Vieja. You can see the restored buildings next to the almost-collapsing ones (but still with people living in them).

One thing that I found very unique to Cuba is that many of the people live in pretty terrible accomodations, but in Cuba that doesn't mean they're "poor" - it's kind of hard to explain, but it means that you could be quite a "successful" person but still live in something that would be probably be condemned by Australian standards.

Gran Teatro

I had planned to see the famous Cuban National Ballet here, but it didn't end up happening. I'm sure it was great.

Cuba photos

Ok, here's some photos and more thoughts about Cuba. First of all, you've got to admit that Cuba's flag is cool.

The value of Tasmania

One of the bad things about Havana is the number (and persistence of) touts, especially in the old town, who want to sell cigars, or possibly themselves. Although, in truth, it wasn´t nearly as bad as I had been led to believe. But since the most popular opener is "Where you from?" I quickly learned that "Tasmania" was a good response, followed by an insistence in broken Spanish or English that I speak only Tasmanian. A lot of them complimented me on my country all the same, and one surmised that it must be near Germany.

How many airports can I visit in one day?

I´m in the middle of the longest haul yet (NYC-SYD is obviously yet to come) which started early this morning in Havana. A quick 2.5 hour hop to Panama (with nice views of the canal) and then another two hours to Quito, where I am at the moment. Given the 3 hours wait here for my next flight I splurged on the airport lounge for the free internet access and free food and drink - once I finish here I´m off to gorge myself, like the true budget traveller I am. Next stop is Guayaquil, which is somehow en route to Madrid. 5 airports in about 24 hours (although I´ve no idea how long to flight to Madrid is - 12 hours or something I guess). Well, I´m off to the buffet ...

Final days in Cuba

Well, I´ll put some thoughts together and post them when I get to Spain on Monday, but thanks for checking in just in case! Just got back to Havana from a couple of days in a place called Viñales which was beautiful and involved caving. Not what one immediately thinks of for Cuba. There´s been quite a lot of rain (thanks to Tropical Storm Arlene - I want that naming job, by the way) but the worst was today whilst in the bus, so I´ve been pretty lucky. Although nobody warned me that rain really stings when you´re riding a moped. Locals laughed at me. Or with me, as I choose to interpret it. Strangely the luggage man at the bus station laughed at me too. I demanded an explanation, but nothing made sense.

Live from Havana

Well, I wasn´t sure what the internet availability was here, but it turns out that you can pay a ridiculous amount of money for it! So I´ll be brief.

Cuba is definitely one of the most ... different ... places I have been in all my travels. It´s just one of those places that seems impossible to even begin to try to describe. It´s a very confusing mix of normality and intractability. That said, it´s also a very mind-opening place. I have lots of thoughts already (have only been here two days) and I probably should edit some of them before commiting them to blog.

Anyway, I´ll probably make another update before this next week is out.

Travelling companions

It´s my last day with travelling companions Jason and Kate and Ed, but Kate and Ed are travelling for a year (mostly South America) and both have blogs, so I´ve added theirs to the links section on the right.

Temporarily up to date

So now hopefully things are back in order, for a little while at least. Enjoy the latest photos and I´ll be back with text entries at least very soon. I´d suggest going down to the "Out of Order" entry - about ten photos below this - and working your way back up to the top; it will make more sense that way.

Above the cloud forest

And this gives you an idea of how high we actually were (the lodge was at about 3200m, this was a lot higher). On a clear day you can see ... well, not forever, but apparently as far as Guayaquil on the coast (which is a long way away).

In the cloud forest

This is Kate and Ed taking some time out to smell the orchids that grow in the cloud forest where we went horseriding. And before you accuse us of picking and destroying local flora, the bunch of flowers that Kate is holding was given to her by an eight-year-old local boy.

The wheel of cheese

Whilst horseriding, we came across (not unexpectedly) this small cheese factory. The Swiss apparently donated their cheesemaking skills to the area at some point in the past, which I suppose was more useful than showing the locals how to conceal billions of dollars.

The Llama of Truth

This was taken at the Black Sheep Inn, the aforementioned vegetarian permaculture resort that we stayed at near the small town of Chugchilán, high in the Andes. Actually the only good thing about this llama was that it didn't spit.

Jonathan & friends

Just another day sunning ourselves on pristine beaches.

Two favourites

Another delightfully prehistoric marine iguana with ever-present sea lion in background.

Blue-footed Booby

There's really not much to say about these highly amusing birds except that their feet are funny, their eyes are funny, their necks are funny and their mating dance is adorable.

In this month´s Cosmopolitan

Yes, ladies, as you can see here, Kate is showing off the latest summer fashion accessory, the marine iguana. These soon-to-be-essential items are as happy tanning with you on a beach as they are in a cafe or a nightclub.

Galapagos namesake

As pointed out by a valued regular reader, my initial series of Galapagos photos neglected to include the Giant Tortoise for which the islands were christened. Here's one. His name is Diego. That's travelling companion Kate looking like she's about to run across the top of him.

The beginning of Ecuador

Our first day in Ecuador was spent walking around the old town of Quito where for some reason we were passed by at least three marching bands.

Mi profesora

This is me and Graciana, my Spanish teacher during my month in Buenos Aires.

Facultad de Medicina

This is a beautiful building that houses the Medical Faculty of one of the universities. It's pretty.

Avenida Libertador, Buenos Aires

This was a couple of blocks from the apartment I rented and is a good example of the wide avenues that cross the city, enabling me to take my teenage Atari Frogger skills into the real world.

Out of order

Ok, so please bear with me over the next few entries which are going to be out of order with what has come before, but yet with a logic all of their own. I could go through the site and update photos to the old entries, but that's not going to happen in these times of limited internet access, nor would you necessarily feel like going back to see what's changed. So let's start again ... by reading upwards of course, thanks to blog logic.

I do not look crusty

I have had two separate emails commenting on the fact that I look like a crusty pirate. Well excuse me if I couldn´t condition my hair straight after swimming with sharks and sea lions. You can all go to hell.

Confounded once again

Well I just spent this morning on my laptop organising some text and photos that I could quickly upload to the blog but the slightly wary and resentful woman running the internet cafe insists that it will take up too much bandwidth to upload. I will try to find a faster one, but it may have to wait until Guayaquil at the end of the week for new photos.

Meanwhile we have had a lazy day here in Baños which started all too early thanks to some irritating roosters next door to the hostel. We´ve moved to a new one today which will enable more sleep. I´m all too aware that Ecuador is fast drawing to a close, and that after Cuba I´ll be on the home stretch - I know, I can feel the sympathy already.

Also, for those who have enquired, the little email symbol next to the posts means that you can email the post to a friend, but the comment feature is disabled for the blog.

Stumbling around Ecuador

You are being neglected, dear blog readers, not out of disrespect, but out of internet inavailability. I´ve just arrived in Baños after a few lovely days hidden away at a vegetarian permaculture hideaway in a place called Chugchilán. Yes, I know, me and permaculture. And the flushless toilet was quite delightful, but something in the food didn´t agree (the lack of meat, I´m assuming). Which did get me out of a day of hiking that left my travelling comrades somewhat destroyed. Apparently the natural wonders were overcome by the extreme hiking conditions which left some in tears, others merely miserable with exhaustion. Still, I had a nice day reading magazines and looking at the still-impressive view from the cabins. However it was a slight shock for all of us to find the usual travel mix of Brits, Euros and Aussies almostly completely replaced with North Americans. College students, no less. Earplugs were often necessary. It did shatter the tranquility at times. [Disclaimer: this slight malignment of North Americans in no way applies to any that I am actually friends with, so don´t bother with the complaint emails.]

There was also a six hour horse ride which was beautiful, if a little challenging by the end of the fifth hour. I´ll attempt to stick a photo up tomorrow.

I realise that I haven´t described Galapagos in much detail, so I might try to put some thoughts together offline and paste them in tomorrow.

Will spend a few days here in Baños hoping the local volcano doesn´t explode whilst enjoying hot springs and then I head to Guayaquil on Thursday to catch my flight to Cuba on Friday.

Finally some photos

I´m just working out how to include photos on this thing, so following are a few from the Galapagos and hopefully I`ll be able to add some from Argentina in the next few days.

If you click on the photos you can see them in a larger size.

One of many new friends.

We never got tired of these guys, and I developed quite a good imitation of the sounds they make.

Someone to watch over us

Frigate birds would accompany the ship for hours while we were sailing.

Our ship, the Sulidae

We were the scourge of the Galapagos.

Albatrosses, or should that be Albatri?

Definitely one of my favourites - and amazing to watch flying.

The man in charge of our ship

This is Max our captain. Max didn´t say much, but captained well.

Volcano walking

Ambling across a lava flow.

Pinnacle rock

A lovely volcanic vista. Sharks on the left bay, Bitey the sea lion on the right.

Our first landing

Amazing red sand.

I´m back, and this time I´m a lot saltier ...

I´m hopeful that tomorrow I´ll actually be able to post some photos on this thing since it will save on a few thousand words. Suffice to say the Galapagos Islands didn´t disappoint in offering an entertaining assortment of fearless creatures (except the crabs - they were the only shy ones). So much so that Jason´s casual warning to Ed of "don´t step on the albatross" was applicable to many other species. While I was quite smitten by the prehistoric iguanas (both marine and land), the millions of sea lions (more affectionately called lobos locally) won a strong place in my heart, especially Bitey, an adolescent who was supremely entertaining at first (although the teeth were unsettling), became vaguely annoying (especially when he chased away a penguin so attention wasn´t diverted from him) like a child who doesn´t know when their audience has tired of their cuteness.

Our ship was the Sulidae, a 110 year old sailing boat which looked like a pirate ship and came complete with pirate flag. It really was lovely, and I´m sure others on other vessels were jealous. One thing I wasn´t quite expecting was how far apart the islands actually are, and how much time it takes to sail between them. Fortunately a lot of the travelling happened at night, which left the days free for exploring, and the nights for trying not to fall out of bed. No vomiting was experienced within our group or on our boat however, which was to be commended.

Our guide was certainly friendly, if a little unable to ascertain when the group wanted to move on to the next site. We did find ourselves stranded at one point on an island with no food, water or radio when the scuba group didn´t return (their fates took second place to our own survival concerns) but apparently Kate has a good photo of me flagging down another boat (I´d recently watched Open Water, and thus had learned the stupidity of watching any nearby boat casually depart). Apparently the dinghy lost the scuba divers (who spent half an hour floating in the middle of nowhere - so they really were having an Open Water experience) for a while.

The crew were an entertaining bunch, with a great cook (in a tiny kitchen) and a bartender/all-rounder who saw himself as the Arthur Fonzarelli of the group. Tune in again for more info on our travel mates, who were an entertaining assortment of stereotypes from Germany, Switzerland, Austria, UK, USA, Canada, Israel and Italy.

Ecuador

Arrived happily in Ecuador and only suffering a few headaches from the altitude. The old town is quite beautiful in parts and it´s been fun meeting up with Jason, Kate and Ed (fellow Australians) although I feel a little guilty speaking English. We´re off tomorrow to the Galapagos Islands which should be thoroughly pleasant. There´s even an active volcano in the islands at the moment - and so I´m wishing I hadn´t watched that show about Krakatoa back home. Definitely feel the change into backpacker mode from sophisticated and urbane Porteño. But am thankful for the safety in numbers and the fact that we´ve stumbled upon the "mature traveller" backpacker location - The Secret Garden. Ie, no drunk twentysomethings, except for the vague German help.

More in a week when I return.

Final BsAs thoughts

Things I´ll miss:
Pastries galore (yes, I´m as big as a house); lots of energetic crazy people; idealists who still believe there´s more than just capitalism; set menu lunches; lots of cute puppies (although, see below for downside); Graciana, Maria, la familia Miró, Marcelo, Oscar, Elsa y otros.

Things I´ll live without:
Dog poo everywhere; smell of dog poo; not being able to look at buildings due to dog poo precautions; overly complicated procedures for most needs or activities; slow old people blocking sidewalks.

My final triumph last night was winning (well, actually it was a tie) a name-that-tune competition at a pub. Although I did get laughed at for saying the "52" part of B52´s Love Shack in English. Thanks also to Blondie and Londonbeat for helping me win a free beer.

Don´t cry for me ...

Well, it´s time to leave Buenos Aires and all too soon. I do have a small balcony from which I will be performing abovementioned song as my parting gesture, as they have locked me out of the Casa Rosada amidst accusations of heresy, or something similar. Maybe treason. Although I think I´d have to be a citizen for that. What is it called when you walk into a country and mock all that it holds dear? Aside from being "freedom-loving" ...

I feel a little like I am being wrenched away against my will - what is up with free round-the-world tickets where you can´t change your dates? Hmph. Still, with one eye on the last month in Buenos Aires, and the other looking towards new adventure in Ecuador ... well, I´m looking a bit like Kirschner I guess ...

I´ll be boating around the Galapagos from the 17th, so you´ll have to waste time on the internet in other ways for a week or so, but I should be able to fit in an update or two from Quito before then.

More theatre

Went to another play last night called "Open House" although the English title was deceptive. Once again didn´t understand that much, but the acting was great - even I could tell that. It´s quite strange to me here that independent theatre tends to run just one night a week in a space, hence you have up to seven productions in one space at a time. Bit of nightmare for set changes - and they still use full sets for many of the productions. But there are definite advantages - much easier for a show to build an audience over a longer period of time - the show last night was almost full and it was a Monday night. It´s really exciting that there´s so much theatre here and it´s so well patronised, due to a combination of cheap prices, a well-educated public (they still have free tertiary education) and good nighttime transport.

After overhearing some North Americans yesterday I realised that there really aren´t many tourists here, considering it´s such a good combination of dynamic and cheap. I recommend it ...

Woops

As I mentioned earlier, one of the frustrating things here is that many things have often difficult-to-deduce codes of practice, such as milonga behaviour, drink-buying procedure, and gelato purchase at the place across the road (you choose your size, pay the man, take a ticket, move to the other counter, request your flavours, get passed on to another assistant, then request your extra "taster" flavour that goes in a special part of the container, determine whether you need a lid, determine whether you need dry ice on top for transport - no, but it´s fun to have - and take your gelato). Unfortunately the other night I confused my gum wrapper with my bar entry ticket, which was worth one drink. It was only when I went to order a drink and pay for it with my gum wrapper that I realised the drink ticket was wrapped around a piece of chewed gum and lying in a corner somewhere. Que lastima.

Out on the town

Went out to a pretty cool club last night called Palacio, however I´m still having a bit of trouble getting used to starting so late. It´s weird to sit at home watching TV until 2am and then decide to go out. I still can´t quite work out how the locals with jobs do it - they do seem to start work later, but not that much later. The music was a bit disappointing (you know how I like having lyrics to sing along to) but they did drop balloons from the 25 metre ceiling. Apparently popping them is some sort of tradition, although it does sound uncomfortably like a massacre. They also have an all-you-can-drink policy (once you´ve paid the entrance - about $A10) which oddly doesn´t get ugly - in Australia it would be nightmare of collapsed bodies and vomit.

Well, I only have a week to go here in Buenos Aires which is a bit sad - but exciting adventures await in other countries. Some technological hiccups have prevented me posting photos thus far - if they´re not resolved, I´ll just have to have a slide night when I get back (for Australian viewers).

Pedestrian Peril

In attempting to unravel the mysteries of Buenos Aires road rules, I have discovered (fortunately without injury) that the key is realising that "Walk" lights are merely suggestions - that in this moment there is slightly less chance of being run down by a taxi. In reality, I think the signs are more a warning to taxi drivers that there may be pedestrians who need to be weaved around, or else nudged out of the way. It´s a delicate game of daring, whereby checking to see if it is safe to cross is an admission of defeat, and yet in playing chicken, the taxi drivers have a distinct advantage. Of course the task is further complicated by the dog excrement which seems to gather at street corners, perhaps itself defeated in attempting to cross the road.

Tango fever

So last night I went to a milonga (tango hall, also a type of tango apparently) with my landlady Elsie(who goes three times a week). I didn´t attempt dancing, although I could have gone earlier for lessons. It´s not really my style though (unless it can be adapted to Dirrrty) but watching was definitely fun. Not so much for the dancing, which can be a bit impenetrable (especially when there´s lots of people on the dancefloor) but for the social experience and all the rules about choosing partners. The trick about watching it all is not to inadvertently ask someone to dance by looking at them (quite easy to do). I had a lot of fun working out who Elsie was interested in and who she was trying to avoid eye contact with. I did accidentally have eye contact with people a few times but avoided a dance commitment by steadfastly refusing to ever look at them again.

A mystery

I´ve noticed that on seemingly every corner here, one can find a paint store. In fact there are large chains of paint stores that compete with bold signage in primary colours. I assumed that this signified a national obsession with remodeling one´s apartment every season, but have not yet found anyone local who can attest to this behaviour. In fact, those I´ve spoken to seem not to have noticed the preponderance of paint stores. I did notice though, on the way to this web cafe, an edgy young couple running across a busy road and into one of these paint stores. I can only imagine that their autumnal refresh consumed more Malbec Maroon than they had anticipated, and they were halfway across a wall.

Testing the limits of my understanding

Went to see a play last night - small independent theatre that wasn't too overloaded with dialogue, but still it was an effort to understand - although the theatre scene here is great - lots of stuff going on - cool small spaces with little bars and stuff, and really cheap too (even for the locals) - makes the ever increasing prices back home seem ridiculous.

Important newsflash

The toenail that I ripped in January has finally come off (fortunately in a relatively painless manner). I now have a very ugly looking half-toenail stump. Don't look at me, I'm hideous.

Weekend report

Although Friday night was lost to another nap that went on too long, my body clock was jolted out of that existence by my Saturday night, but first I spent most of the day on Saturday at a shopping mall, which was not as pointless an experience as it sounds. Actually, it's a very impressive reuse of an enormous old factory of some sort, but the main reason I was there was to catch one of the films playing at the BsAs Independent Film Festival. I saw Soy Cuba (I Am Cuba), a famous piece of Castro propaganda made by this Russian guy which is fascinating for lots of reasons, especially the cinematography. I also went on a mission to buy a new pair of jeans, where I have since realised that my attempts to flirt with the salesperson by commenting on whether my arse looked good in the jeans I was wearing may have gone south. It wasn't until much later that I realised the word I used for arse may have been in fact the more pejorative version. Needless to say, he probably wasn't qualified to make that assessment.

Saturday night I sampled some of the famed BsAs nightlife, and it does run very much to Spanish going-out time. You can't even go to a bar before midnight and clubs before 2am. Anyway, Sitges (appropriate Spanish name) proved to be fun, although all the places have this complex system of minimum drinks instead of door charges, which involves different coloured cards that you have to present upon leaving to prove you bought drinks, and you can't just pay the bartender for a drink, instead you have to buy a coupon first, although conversely you can pay cash to waiters who walk around and come back with your drink. Of course, trying to deduce whether I was doing the right thing took more concentration than I was in the mood to access. Also, I did think it was a fairly mixed venue, until I realised that BsAs seems to have the lock on lipstick lesbians. It was very The L Word. Anyway, I did successfully chat to locals until 6am, as usual a few beers brought out the best in my Spanish.

Sunday I was going to go to the San Telmo area (famous for Sunday antiques market) but it rained a little, and apparently this scares off the vendors. So I settled for mostly sleep and pizza (one of the best I've ever had, by the way). I will get around to posting some photos, but I would have to take some first.

On bargain hunting

On my current reckoning prices here are about half in terms of Australian dollars - last time it was more like 1/3. Still, it makes it nice for the traveller. Rent here is damn expensive - people spend about 2/3 of their salary on it, which is kind of frightening. Clothes are looking pretty attractive - lots of shoes at good prices, but luggage limits are going to restrict me from an Imelda turn. At the moment I'm pacing myself, seeing what's around, before I commit to some serious wardrobe replacement. I have actually found an outlet store district - but let's face it, you mostly get what you pay for (ie, cheap clothes that you wouldn't otherwise buy). I don't want people to think I'm an outlet store person - no, the true bargain hunter finds what the general populace can't. Of course, the dilemma for the foreigner is working out whether what seems like a groovy store is perhaps locally maligned. Kind of like finding clothes you want in Just Jeans. The best bargain so far is the discovery of free wi-fi access at Havanna (which is kind of like Starbucks I guess, but not Starbucks, so that's ok) from which I am typing this post. Just a ten-minute stroll across Parque Las Heras, where hundreds of dogs are engrossed in continual debate. So far in Me vs Sidewalk Accident, it is 0-0, although I can't really see how I can get ahead.

Pictures of the apartment I'm staying in can be found here.

44 hours

It´s quite strange that I haven´t even been here two days yet, but already I have these porteños all worked out. The first important lesson for pedestrians is that traffic lights are merely suggestions to drivers that they might like to stop if it suits them. Or not. Also, like I´ve found in most driving-on-the-right countries, there is not a natural conformation to this idea for pedestrians. It makes Australian pavement walkers seem positively regimented. My third observation is that the porteño men seem to mostly possess a special expression that lies somewhere between pensiveness and confusion - I suspect it is a variation on the expression I like to adopt to suggest that I am concentrating on solving a problem that will have dire ramifications for social cohesion as we know it, thus I am clearly an important person worthy of respect.

Arrival in Buenos Aires

Did I mention how much I like LAN's video entertainment system? Oh yes I did. Well, here I am in Buenos Aires. Cool apartment, cool neighbourhood and people have been very friendly so far. The best part was that the LAN flight attendants on the Santiago leg were addressing me in Spanish - I was so much cooler than the perplexed Canadians across the aisle. I start my private Spanish lessons first thing in the morning. After soaking up a little cafe culture I'm sure. Nothing like coffee to reset my clock.

2/3 there

Enjoying the calm serenity of Santiago airport while I wait for the transfer to Buenos Aires. I can happily report that Spanglish is a very enjoyable movie, as is Finding Neverland, and I can't recommend highly enough the on-demand video entertainment on LAN. I can also report that Auckland airport is a construction zone, and the jackhammering wasn't relaxing. I suspect their financial estimates were based on an optimistic assessment of the continuing demand for ugg boots for the fashion set, a ship which has now of course long sailed.

Mission statement

This time around, I've decided to dispense with the more detailed website of my last trip, and concentrate on more regular journal updates in the vein of The Joan Wilder Diaries. The basic itinerary is a month in Buenos Aires, learning Spanish, visiting cafes and perhaps doing some writing. Then to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, followed by Cuba, Spain, London and New York.



I'm excited about the ability for readers to post feedback here - so feel free to express whatever you need to, whether it be advice, frustration or outright condemnation.

The journey begins April 18, 2005.