so far so brilliant
Hello there, my turn to blog and blag.
Arrived in Ushaia on Friday, bit of a shock to see the signs everywhere declaring the end of the world. I was slightly concerned, thinking how do they know? and speeding back in time to when Ballybofey made nuclear bomb shelters cum nightclubs. Eoin was able to reassure me that we were in the Antarctic and actually, we were at the end of the world. Phew.
Have had a brilliant few days, seeing penguins, seals, sea lions (one the size of a house), rugby, glaciers and rugby. Mad weather on sea and land. On our boat trip we cunningly stayed upstairs being blasted by waves and wind while our compadres puked downstairs. The trip up the local peak was slightly scary. Eoin and I spent quite a bit of time hugging the side of the mountain and up to our bums in snow...well my bum, Eoin´s ankles! Speaking of bums they´ve had a carnival here all weekend where all the different barrios come out and strut their stuff. Men dressed top to bottom in silky suits, ladies and girleens in sequenced bikins with g string bottoms! In 1 degrees!!!! In fairness all the dancing seemed to lead to toned bums for all sizes, and their were some sizeable behinds!
Contrary to popular belief we haven´t picked up too many waifs, strays and odd people (apart from ourselves). We´ve had a little rugby posse for the matches, although the French guys mysteriously disappeared after Saturdays game.
Only 1 argument..... about food predictably. In the interests of marital bliss I did try a prawn but got exhausted by the effort of chewing!!!!
Off we go to Chile and Torres del Paine and Fitzroy (Huge parks with lots of mountains and lakes).
Hope you´re all merry and well
Lots of love
Ushuaia
Well, in an internet cafe checking out the start of the game on sunday.
There´s and Irish Pub here too apparently - they get everywhere.
So sunday may be a bit of a blur....
GO the Irish.
We made it to Buenos Aires via Milan with too much incident. (should people be reading the Da Vinci Code or the Cosa Nostra on an Italian plane?)
Buenos Aires is a perculiar mix of modern, old, shiny-glass and shanty town. However It had a really good vibe and everyone was friendly and we had a great introduction to Argentina.
We walked around town center on the first day and Aideen got sunstroke (23 degrees when we landed at 8.00 in the morning and got hotter from there) so we didn´t leave the hotel in the evening (don´t worry loads of sleep and water and shes a happy camper now). However meant I missed out on first steak - no real fun doing it yourself.( and not half as much fun as eating a whole cow in front of a veggie - see below)
Made up for it the next day when we went to Evita´s tomb. Before we went in we went to a restaurant and I had a 500g T bone steak.... Huge.
And we ate our meal with one of the Jets from the film west side story...
Walked it off in Recoleta itself. 100s of tombs. and loads of cats. and exposed coffins - an odd place.
Took Aideen to an amazing Tango place last night and obviously I didn´t enjoy any of it. Dancing Pah! However, when one of the Men Dancers came out Aideen exclaimed "Freddie Mercury lives". Another looked like a tall Ricky Gervaise (according to Aideen) or to those who know - the baddy out of Blake Seven so neither of us could take him seriously.
Anyway we´re now at Ushuaia - mountains, sea and wind. And a diet change for me! Seems they basically cook whole lambs here or lots of fresh seafood. I assume the Pasta will be the same as before ...
Adios
~Thank you all -
Amazing.
that's all there is to say.
We both had an amazing day, to see so many people from so many different times in our life in london, Thank you so much.
We both were so priiledged to have so many great people there and sorry if I got a bit drunk - that's the perry from borough market. [Just don't! unless, as Lewis who told us to try it said, you can sleep it off afterwards].
As I write this with the snow coming down outside the window and in fear of the london transport system crashing to it's knees with the 2 inches of snow and our flight being cancelled for a second day, I can't wait to get to the southern hemisphere and summer....
see you all in the flesh at the birthdays, weddings and rugby tours in 2 months.
Thanks
Getting Closer
OK getting a lot closer...
Travellers Cheques arrived on Saturday.... lots of steak vouchers in there I can tell you!
Waterproof Jacket and Boots for the trecking bought on sunday - why are some outdoor salesmen so crap? - the Ellis Brigham people in Covert Garden really couldn't be bothered at all. The North Face people had sold the jacket I had seen 3 weeks ago and black jackets are flying off the shelf so had none in stock and were in the middle of restocking for spring/ summer (when I assume it never rains) so they had a different range...grrr
Luckily a man in Snow and Rock was very friendly and helpful and thus he walked away with over £500 of our earth money.
Insurance is done too .... apparently Annual insurance is only good for a 45 day holiday... therefore our existing annual cover wasn't enough but you can't just pay for an extra 15 days ... no siree. So, out of principle, went to a different and substantially cheaper company and Mr Elephant wins that too
But we are closer and closer to the big day!
E
Welcome!
Hello there!
this is the place where I plan to adding any stories, comments or just plain old boring travelogues from our forthcoming trip to Argentina.
Will try and update as and when we get to an internet connection.
Hopefully be seeing you here many time over the next few months
