Archive for January, 2008
01-26-2008
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01-25-2008
a few more photos! (and even more to follow soon)
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01-25-2008
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01-25-2008
A long overdue hello from South America!
Hello everyone,
It has been aaaaaaageeeees since my last post, so I now have lots of exciting things to tell you about.
During the few days before Christmas, Alice and I travelled down through Patagonia to the very bottom of Argentina, stopping off at a few interesting places along the way. After filling ourselves with chocolate from Bariloche(yum) we took a bus down a road called ‘Route 40′. This bus journey was very long and the road was very bumpy.
We stopped at a tiny little village called El Chalten and after a good night’s sleep, trekked for 10 HOURS (I was exhausted) to view a beautiful mountain called Fitz Roy. I even paddled in the glacial lake at the top (it was so cold, I thought my feet were going to drop off). After El Chalten, we stopped off in a town called El Calafate and from there, we got up really early the next day to visit the Perito Moreno Glaciar.
It is quite complicated to try and explain what a glaciar is but I’ll try! It is a very large, moving mass of ice formed through the gradual build up of snow in high cold regions. A glaciar is so powerful that it can shape the surrounding landscape and it sounds like rumbling thunder when pieces crack and move.
The Perito Moreno glaciar is one of the most impressive things that I’ve ever seen.
We made friends with a boy from England called Jay and he decided to travel down to Ushuaia and spend Christmas with us.
Christmas was good fun but it did feel really strange not being with my family. I was a wee bit sad but Santa managed to find us and he gave me a cute cuddly penguin and a hula hoop (I’m rubbish) which made me happy. Our hostel played Christmas music and we even had a tree in our room with decorations on. Everyone in the hostel helped cook a big dinner and it was a lovely day.
Alice and I really liked Ushuaia and we ended up staying there for two weeks! We spent our time playing board games (I’m really good at chess again!), running along the waterfront and drinking a special drink from Argentina called ‘Mate’. Mate is made from Yierba which comes from a plant similar to Holly. The Yierba is poured into a special cup and water is added(usually hot). It is drunk through a special straw/spoon thingy called a Bombilla and tastes like really strong green tea.
Anyway, Alice and I love drinking Mate and now have our own equipment so we can have it whenever we want. I’m going to bring some home with me in my suitcase as it’s quite difficult to find in Scotland!
We went on a boat to visit the penguin colony on our final day in Ushuaia and saw hundreds of penguins swimming, sleeping, waddling and protecting their eggs. Our boat stopped and we were able to walk around the colony. We were very lucky and managed to see baby ones too.
To get back to Buenos Aires after New Year, we had to travel on a bus for 54 hours. I was glad to arrive and finally have a shower and some sunshine! We had a lovely few days shopping for clothes, eating good food and we even met up with some friends from home who were on holiday.
It was so so hot that we decided to head to Uruguay with Jay and have a little ‘holiday’ at the seaside. We spent a week in a tiny town by the sea called La Paloma. We also visited the capital, Montevideo and my favourite place….Cabo Polonia. Cabo Polonia is a tiny village set right on the shore and in order to reach it, you either have to ride on a horse or get in an enormous monster truck to transport you across the sand dunes. Alice and I opted for the truck because we were carrying a gigantic picnic, bucket and spade, bat and ball and all of our other beach things. When we were there, we walked to the lighthouse and saw sea lions on the rocks. Some of them were fighting and some of them were lazing in the sun.
I would really like to go back to Uruguay and I now think that it’s my second favourite country, after Bolivia.
Now, I am back in Buenos Aires for a week before I fly to Brazil! I feel a bit sad today because Alice got on a bus back up to Bolivia. When I get back from Brazil in three weeks time, I’ll meet up with her again in Bolivia too. I am going to have some Spanish lessons as well as some Salsa lessons this week to keep me busy. I’m also trying to learn a little bit of Portuguese. I wonder if anyone from old 2/7 can still remember how to count to 10?
I’m going to be visiting Recife during Carnaval and I’m really excited (and a bit nervous). I have a photo of my old class to show everyone at the centre and I’m sure they’ll be very pleased when they see how much money Ellie F and everyone from the class managed to raise for them too.
Thankyou to everyone who writes comments to me. They make me smile. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and holiday. I hear Scotland had(or has?) snow!
I hope you’ve all enjoyed your haggis, neeps and tatties tonight!
lots of love, Miss B xx
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