Buenos Aires!

I'm back in South America! And it was an eventful flight over...

Funds are now pretty tight, resulting in me booking a ridiculous flight from Mexico to Buenos Aires:
First leg- Mexico city to Sao Paulo (Brazil)
      --- waiting time 16hrs 10mins ---
Second leg- Sao Paulo to Asuncion (Paraguay)
      --- waiting time 5hrs 15mins ---
Third leg- Asuncion to Buenos Aires

Total flight time was supposed to be 35hrs. To say I was not looking forward to it is a bit of an understatement... Well, I was in luck! I sat next to an air hostess on the Mexico-Sao Paulo leg and mentioned it to her. When we arrived in Sao Paulo she took me to their check-in desk and rebooked me on the next flight to Buenos Aires, saving me a whole day!

But it's never that easy. While I arrived promptly in Buenos Aires ahead of schedule, my bag did not. It did the whole trip to Paraguay before joining me two days later. It was nice to get some new underwear after three days.

This city is nothing like anywhere I've been in South America. It really feels like I'm in the middle of Europe. The architecture is more Art Nouveau or Gothic than Colonial, and there are big music and cinema scenes. This is also the first place in South America that has had an awesome variety of food!

First up was a trip to the Sunday markets. The huge San Telmo market stretches a few kilometers along Calle Defensa, with stalls selling everything from paintings, to food, to antiques. There is even the odd tango show!

I also passed Plaza de Mayo with its huge pink government building. Every day I have been in Buenos Aires there has been some kind of protest. The standard method of protest in this country seems to be to shoot small fireworks at various government buildings. The police don't seem to care when this happens...

The next day I met up with Jonathan and Justin, who I met a few months ago in Colombia and happened to be in BA the same time as me. We went to see the posh Palermo neighbourhood and happened to wander into a horse-racing track. Bets were made. Hopes were crushed.

I spent an afternoon wandering around La Boca, home to the famous Boca Juniors. There is also the colourful Caminito area, where artists sell their paintings and sculptures, and couples dance tango for the hordes of tourists walking by.

I'd been waiting for some good Argentinian steak for a long time and was rewarded for my patients with a visit to La Cabrera, a great parilla (steak restaurant). Not only was the steak amazing, but it was cheap. Between four of us, we polished off almost 2kg of meat!

A popular thing to do here is visit the Recoleta cemetery. I was surprised that a cemetery could be a tourist attraction but went to check it out anyway. The cemetery is nothing like anything I've seen before. It is the resting place of the rich and important of Buenos Aires, housing various military commanders, politicians and Evita, Argentina's first female president. The tombs house all the members of the same family and are all huge. Some of them are so big that they could be churches in their own right.

Other than that I drank lots of mate, a traditional Argentinian drink similar to herbal tea, and took in the famous nightlife. A night out here starts at around 2am, and if you return home before daybreak then you haven't had a good one. I dunno how people manage this when they are working a full time job!

The best night out was at La Bomba del Tiempo, a live concert involving only percussion instruments. These guys were amazing - I was blown away by the range of sound that can be made using only drums.

I am just about to get on a bus down South to the Lake district town of Bariloche. Time for some detox, hiking and nature. A 22 hour bus ride stands in my way... If only I had money left to fly places. I'll leave you with a shot of the pink government building at night, when it's at its pinkest.

San Juan and Mexico City

After all the partying in Oaxaca it was time to chill out. This was done in the hippy town of San Juan, where everyone is constantly off their head on magic mushrooms!

The place is set in the middle of the mountains and there is some spectacular scenery to be seen.

I did a bit of hiking, saw some great sunsets and found a four leaf clover!

I also found a place to fly my kite. The flight lasted about 50 seconds before the string snapped and it was lost forever. Well, it was good while it lasted!

Then it was off to Mexico city. First on the agenda was a visit to the Anthropology museum, which several people had recommended to me. I wondered if I was seeing things after San Juan - it has a huge mushroom-esque fountain outside.

This museum is one big place. After a while it became apparent that my heart wasn't really in it. I got bored after two hours - there is only so much you can read about the evolution of pre-Colombian tribes. They have some cool stuff in there though.

One highlight was in the park outside. There were some indigenous people performing the traditional rope swing dance. This involves climbing up a huge pole, securing yourself to the end of a rope and swinging around the pole until the rope extends down to the ground. Looked like fun!

The next day I went to see the famous pyramids of Teotihuacan. These pyramids were built around 100BC by the Teotihuacan people and later used by the Aztecs. I couldn't believe the sheer size of these bad boys. The amount of work that must have gone into building each one is mind blowing.

I also realised that a pitfall of having a shaved head is that it gets sun burnt. To combat this, I bought a cool Mexican sombrero. Well, the woman who sold it told me it was cool...

This sightseeing stuff was all well and good but the main event was yet to come. Lucha Libre, otherwise known as Mexican Wrestling. Anyone who thinks WWE is too fake should watch some lucha libre. It is borderline comedy! I think I would be able to act out a wrestling match in a more convincing way! They put on a good show though and everyone got into the spirit...

Other than that, I cruised around the city centre and took in the sights. I got lost in the Government building, ate lots of enchiladas and marveled at the size of the main square.

So, that's the end of my time in Central America. I'm off to Argentina now. Cheers Mexico, it's been a blast!

Another pyramid shot.

Temple of the Sun. This is where people were sacrificed. Apparently this was an honor.

A mural in the Anthropology museum. This one is Mayan.

Intricate designs on the side of the Temple of the Moon.

This building looks familiar...

The spring in the middle of the government building. This was the last picture I took before I accidentally wandered into a secure area and was escorted out. Oops.

Main square. Hordes of people on stilts try to get money out of tourists here.

San Cristobal & Day of the Dead

I stepped off the bus in San Cristobal and had this odd feeling. After a while I realised I was cold. I thought back to the last time this had happened and realised it was when I climbed Volcan Chimborazo in Ecuador, all the way back in May!

I have to say, it was quite refreshing to be somewhere with a cool climate after sweating my way through Central America, and San Cristobal is a truly beautiful colonial city. In fact, I'd say it's the nicest colonial city I've seen on the whole trip, not an easy title to claim.

I'd just happened to arrive in for the last two days of cultural week, when the town showcases local art, music and crafts. Every evening in the main square there was local music, everything from indigenous woodwind to an 86 piece orchestra, and during the day the main square was covered in paintings.

There is also a cool cafe/music culture. There are lots of tiny cafe/restaurants (I ate in one that only had two tables) which host buskers that roam around the town popping in for a song or two. They also make great enchiladas (the restaurants, not the buskers). I love a good enchilada. I also love insects trapped in fossilised tree sap (that might be a lie), so I checked out the amber museum - it was surprisingly good!

Next up was the town of Oaxaca (pronounced wah-ak-ah, yes, I'm not lying). I'd found myself in Mexico for Day of the Dead, and Oaxaca is reportedly one of the best places to experience it. The holiday is all about remembering loved ones who have passed away, through celebration rather than grieving. Oh, and everyone dresses up and paints their faces.

The holiday lasts for three days, from 31st October, to 2nd November. The family gathers together and goes to clean the graves of loved ones. They then decorate the grave with offerings, including sugar skulls, flores de muerto (flowers of the dead, orange marigolds) and pan de muerto (bread of the dead, a sugary white bread). They also leave possessions of the deceased and food/drinks that the person in question liked to eat/drink during their lifetime.

Relatives and friends will camp out at the graves all night reminiscing about good times with the deceased, sometimes in the form of poems or songs. There is also a lot of drinking involved, the local Mezcal being the beverage of choice. The great thing about it is the everyone is happy.

As usual I'd not made any plans so I ended up in the only hostel with rooms available. This was a proper backpackers hostel. Negatives - two bathrooms for 30 people, terrible beds, run down and dirty. Positives - cheap, good location, great people. It also had a borderline alcoholic owner who passed around lots of bottles of hard liquor every night. Facepaint was also provided.

Some outfits were scarier than others...

The owner and his friends were really good to us. Not only did they supply copious amounts of free alcohol but they showed us what the holiday was really about. On the 31st we went to the main Oaxacan cemetery to walk around the graves and meet the families. Getting there was a challenge - there were 28 of us and one pickup truck. Everyone knew each other a lot better after that journey... I felt a bit strange walking around a graveyard to sightsee, but everyone we met was really happy that we'd come to visit, and spent ages telling us stories about the people they were there to remember.

The next day I discovered that there are some great cliffs around Oaxaca, what a result! Hangover-climbing was in order. No one covered themselves in glory. Good times though.

The other nights we joined the locals in the bars of Oaxaca and did some serious partying. I have to say, the Mexican people I've met so far have been some of the friendliest of this trip. They also have more swear-words than any other Latin American nation and it seems to be a national pastime to pass this important knowledge onto as many gringos as possible. I'm at least 78% ruder (in Spanish) than I was before I crossed over into this country. Seriously though, I'm going to have to come and travel Mexico properly some day soon.

Right, after all this partying I'm off for some serious downtime in the mountains. Hasta luego!

I ate a cricket in Oaxaca. I can't recommend it.

San Cristobal had some seriously impressive churches.

Another thing they do for day of the dead is create these huge coloured-sand pictures.

Here is a work in progress.