Argentina

Well I must say I have enjoyed my 16 days here in Buenos Aires, it's a great
city, and I recommend it!

I must say Argentinean women are very attractive on a whole, never have I
seen so many hot women just walking down the street, and everyone I speak to
here at the hostel tends to agree with me, I think it will be a hard country
to match for beauty, but I will do my best to find an equal match. Brazil
could be quite promising.

Last night went to a Parilla (big bbq grill place) and had an insane amount
of meat. Some of it was great, and some of it not so hot, it was quite
salty, but myself and Rueben (the guy who I will be going on the tour into
Bolivia with), packed away a good amount.

Tonight will be pretty tame, have to pack. I have solved my lack of space
problem. My backpack had a detachable day pack, so I purchased a new
backpack that I will use for carry on, and just reattach my old pack, and
that should give me enough room for the shoes, and various other articles of
clothing I have picked up here.

I am not sure how updates will be while I am in Rio for Carnival, or while I
am on the tour, but I will try to update the site as much as possible, but
don't be alarmed if there are no updates for a while.

Posted by Jason Willock

Sunday I went to my first Football game, River Plate was hosting Lanus in
the season opener. It was quite the interesting experience, they separate
the Lanus Fans in one section of the stadium, and they leave first after the
game. There is no beer sold, just pop, popsicles, and hamburgers, couldn't
even get water, which I was in dire need of, sitting in the 30degree heat,
slightly hung over. The game it's self was a little sloppy, you could tell
it was a season opener. But at 46 minute of the second half, River Plate scored,
and the crowd erupted. The fans are so passionate about there football club,
singing various team songs through out the entire game.

The police presence at the game was massive, I guess there has been history
of violence at matches here, as lots of the staff of the stadium wore
T-Shirts reading "No More Violence". All was calm during this game, and I
must say watching a game live is much more enjoyable than on the television.

Saturday I went out to Opera Bay again, I quite like that club, I was
dancing away for a while, then went outside on the patio to talk to this
girl, and to my surprise the sun was rising, and it was already 7:30, and
the bar was still going strong, I had totally lost track of time.

The next couple days I will take it easy, and rest up for the party action
in Rio. And perhaps take in a Tango Show.

I will upload a couple small videos of the crowd at the football game later
today.

River Plate VS Lanus - Goal Scored

Posted by Jason Willock

Well I got confirmation that I am booked for the tour from Rio into Bolivia,
so I am pretty excited about that, I will include a link at the end of this
message so you can see what I am going to be doing.

Thursday I went to Recoleta, a trendy part of town, that has the Cemetery
and an old church from 1752, so I first went to the church, which had some
art in the upper level, and then checked out the Cemetery, it was ok, some
nice mausoleums, but nothing really to old. It was massive I could have
spent hours in there if I wanted to see it all, but 45mins was plenty. Then
I went to a fairly large Art Musuem, which was quite nice, lots of varried
works, some quite old from the 1500's and an original Van Gogh, so that was
interesting, got my fair share of 'culture'.

Had an awesome lunch of chicken and green onions, and of course papa fritas,
(potatos, this time in little balls like tater tots), Argentina loves there
potatos.

In the evening a group of us went out for dinner and a few drinks, eating
dinner at midnight still hasn't sunk in yet, but it was a good dinner with
some nice wine, I'm starting to aquire a taste for wine, we were back in the
hostel by 3:00 which is early in Argentinian standards.

I think I will take it easy today, and do a little shopping for a few things
required for my trek, as I will likely head out on the town tonight.

Rio de Janeiro - La Paz Tour

Posted by Jason Willock

Well Tuesday night I managed to gather up six other people to go to Marini's
Buffet with me, it wasn't quite what I expected, it wasn't a huge buffet,
but rather a fair size buffet, and then cooking stations, where you could
get meat, fish, pasta, desserts, custom made for you. The beef was so tender
and good, and the White Salmon was amazing, the food was definatley very
good. I highly recommend it to anyone who makes there way here.
Afterwards a few of us went out to a pub, and then to a packed little drum &
bass club, I was too full to do any dancing, and wasn't really wanting to
drink, so I took off early.

Yesterday I phoned home, Skype makes it so cheap to talk to mom, 10 minute
conversation for 25cents, then I went to the post office to mail off a
picture I got when I went on the city tour, then I wandered around the Port
area of the city, where there are trendy shops, and some nice parks. So I
decided to work on my tan and layed out eating some freshly roasted peanuts,
and then at night I just hung around the hostel playing pool, and meeting
some of the new guests.

I am still awaiting to hear if I can get into the tour into Bolivia, I
really hope I can. Sunday I am going to be going to a football match, River
Plate vs Lanus, it's the start of the new season, so it should be fun. Not
sure what I will get up to today, I think I will check out a big cementary,
and near there apparently there is a big Totem Pole, that was donated by the
Canadian Government.

Just under a week until I am in Rio for Carnival, I am starting to get
pretty excited about that!

I hear it's pretty cold back home, so I won't complain about the heat,
actually the last two nights have been cooler, which makes it so much easier
to sleep!

Posted by Jason Willock

Just a quick little update today, not a whole lot to report, Sunday was a
pretty chill day, watched the SuperBowl, not many people here were overly
interested in it, so it wasn't as exciting as watching it with other people
who are into it. Oddly enough after the Superbowl on ESPN there was a domino
tournament, never would I thought I would have seen that on TV, they had it
set up similar to poker, where you could see everyones hands, all the
players were from Dominican Republic, so I guess it must be a big thing over
there. Not a really overly exciting game to watch.

Monday I went for a tour of some of the parks here in the city, it's quite
nice having huge parks right in the heart of the city, It poured rain for a
good 30 minutes, so I got drenched as I ran for cover, but since the rain
was warm, it wasn't too bad, it was actually a welcome reliefe to the heat
of the last few days. After the rain I went to a Japanese Garden, which was
quite lovely, then since I was really close to the big buffet restaurant I
went to go take a look at it, it looks quite nice, white table clothes, and
a dress code, so I think I will head there tonight.

I was talking to a guy from New Zealand who is also going to Rio for
Carnival, and then right after he is going on a 20 day tour of Brazil and
into Bolivia, which was something I was thinking of doing, so I have
signed up for the tour online, which has 'limited' space, so they are going
to get back to me to see if I can get in, I hope I can, as that would save
me having to figure out the logistics, and I would see stuff that I wouldn't
likely see on my own.

Today I pick up my passport, I hope that it all goes smoothly, and my new
room is on the top floor of the building, quite nice and quiet, and has a
fan, which makes it a little more bareable in the room with the window
closed, but it still gets pretty warm, nothing like waking up in the morning
and taking a swig of water, and it being on the hot side of warm.

Should have some pictures up later today.

Posted by Jason Willock

I have been terrorized by mosquitoes, if I keep my window open at night I get
eaten alive, and the bites really swell, unlike back home where I am pretty
unaffected by mosquito bites. If I keep my window closed it gets so hot in
my room. I am changing rooms tomorrow to a single bed as opposed to the
double I originally had to book for lack of availability, so I am hoping the
new room is one that has a fan in it, as sleeping in a 30 degree room is not
overly enjoyable. I try to have a few cold showers those help, even though
the with just the cold water on the water is still luke warm!

Last night I went out to a club called Opera Bay, very cool looking club,
again huge, 3 rooms one of which was playing really good rap music, all
current new stuff, it was great. It is kind of amusing as the latin girls
really have problems dancing to rap music, but they still look good trying!
By 5:30 I was done, 4 nights of clubbing in a row had taken it's toll, so
for the next few days I will be avoiding alcohol. I haven't been hungover yet
as I am not really drinking that much, just enough to get a bit tipsy.

Went to the club with 2 guys from London who have just started there trip,
they are going to be riding BMW touring Motorcycles from to the tip of South
America, and then all there way up to Alaska, that would be an amazing trip,
as they will get to see so much amazing scenery.

Thankfully today is a little overcast, so hopefully it doesn't get so hot,
yesterday was insanely hot, hitting 40 degrees downtown, I don't plan to do
much today, watch the superbowl, and figure out where in the city I will
want to go tomorrow.

Oh ya, yesterday I was talking to a girl who works here about the big
buffet, and she said that is indeed really good, but that there was another
smaller one just down the street from us, and is much cheaper, so I checked
it out, it was indeed quite good, huge indoor BBQ with Beef, Pork, Chicken,
it was great, and with a pop it was just under $8cdn, so I think I will be
eating there again, but I am still looking forward to the big buffet which
isn't that expensive at $12us. I also ran in to the 3 guys from Victoria
that I had met in Vina Del Mar, Chile, I didn't recognize them at first, but
I finally clued in to where I knew them from.

Soap Party @ Club Sunset Part 1
Soap Party @ Club Sunset - Part 2

Posted by Jason Willock

Thursday and Friday nights I went out clubbing, the night life here is quite
amazing, Thursday we went to a club called Club69 it was a fair sized club,
we got there at 2:00 and it was quite full, by 3:00 it was really jumping,
stayed there till about 5:30 or so. The music was electronic, wasn't bad but
a little repetitive at times. Clubs here you go to a cashier at the bar,
and place your order, get a ticket, then make your way to the bartender to
get your drink, there was only one cashier at the main bar so it was quite
an ordeal to get your drink, not a very effecient system.

Friday night I went with a couple from Australia to the Sunset Club. This
place was quite large, three rooms, Latin Music, and two electronic rooms, one of
which was outdoors, we got there about 2:30 and it was only half full,
however by 3:30 it was packed and in full swing. Drinks were fairly cheap,
and it was much quicker to get your ticket, and drink, 15pesos ($6cdn) for a
Vodka Red Bull, and nearly 3 ounces of Vodka. In the outside part of the bar
a huge foam party started, it was quite amazing, certainly no shortage of
eye candy. We left just as the sun was rising at 6am and the club was still
going strong. I woke up at about 10:30 way to early, the last couple days I
have had big naps around 6:00 which really help. I don't have a lot of
energy to do stuff during the day though, but since I am here for a long time
I can go see the the city next week.

I must say I am finding the people of B.A. way more friendly then the people
in Santiago, everyone here is eager to help you with your Spanish, and speak
slower, and will help you pronounce the words properly. In Santiago most
people seemed to speed up and got annoyed when I was trying to pronounce
things.

Not much on the agenda today, I may check out this all you can eat
buffet called Marini that according to Wikitravel.org "the best buffet I
have been to in the entire world. It's better than the Zagat's rated
Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas." I certainly will be going there, just not sure
when. As I want to have a big appetite ready for that place!

Oh and I am going to attempt to use Youtube for some of the club videos I
have taken, as they are pretty big files, and YouTube is more capable of
handling the video content, so once I get those uploaded I will post the
links.

Here is the first video from Club69, I will get the ones from Sunset up soon, 13k/s upload speed is killing me!

Video Of Club69 - Buenos Aires

Posted by Jason Willock

It's hard to believe that I have been on the road for four weeks already.
Time seems to just be zipping by, I guess that means I must be having fun.

Last night was the first true party night I have had, me and a couple guys
from Poland went out on the town, we first went to this nightclub that was
recommended to us by this girl from Texas, however it was closed, so our
Taxi driver took us to another club he said was open, but first drove us
around a circle where all the prostitutes hang out, it was quite
interesting, they didn't wear much in the way of clothes, and not all of
them were uh females, it was very bizarre. So we got to this smaller
Brazilian nightclub, the music was great, and lots of great dancers. We ran
into a group of Australian girls from our Hostel there, and we partied until
5:30, then as we were leaving the polish guys saw a waiter they had in a
different part of the city today, and he invited us to a little pub for a
beer, and he gave us lots of tips on what to see in the city, he was a
really nice guy, and even bought our beer for us. It's great to meet nice
people that aren't trying to scam you.

My Spanish teacher actually showed up on Tuesday, I was just in the wrong
place, and it was my fault for not asking around, but I have now had to
private lessons, and that has helped with my progress a bit, I just have to
practice speaking more, I just get frustrated not being able to have full
conversations, I just want the quick fix, but alas there is none. Only thing
about these lessons is I have homework! But I only have one more, so I just
have to suck it up, 3 hour classes really hurt my brain, been such a long
time since I have been in school.

Today I went and got my Brazilian Visa sorted out, I handed over my passport
which was scary, and hopefully should have it back on Tuesday with
everything ready to rock and roll, it was a lot easier of a process than I
had thought it was going to be.

Buenos Aires seems like quite a nice city, it's a little scary in places
after dark, with lots of people sleeping on the streets, On Tuesday night me
and a couple guys went out to get something to eat around midnight, and on
the way back to the hostel some teenaged kids started harassing us for
money, we told them no, and then one of them tried to snatch a chain from
the Brazilian guy, but fortunately he didn't get it, but did break the
chain. And an older Canadian guy had a fanny pack stolen that contained his
passport. It's not violent crime just grab and run type stuff, so you just
have to keep aware of your surroundings and where all your stuff is. When I
go out and about, I try to take as little with me as possible, and when I do
take my backpack with me, I just make sure I always have it secured, and
everything zipped up. So far I haven't at all felt at all threatened, more
annoyed at times by all the people trying to hand you flyers, and girls
inviting you into strip joints. The flyers are for everything from
restaurants, Spanish lessons to boob jobs, and fertility clinics. Quite
bizarre.

Tonight going to go out for a nice steak, got to compare it to Alberta Beef,
and then possibly will go head out with the Polish guys again, since they
leave on Friday, it's pretty easy to blow your budget when alcohol is
involved, even though the drinks are cheap and strong, they do add up. But
got to experience the night life of B.A.

Posted by Jason Willock

Well Monday night was quite fun, just hung around the hostel, met quite a
few people, mostly Canadians, Australians and Brazilians, the Brazilian
girls are VERY friendly, communication was a bit of a problem as they didn't
speak much English, but there was a couple of gay Brazilian guys who were
translating for us so it was good, it has gotten me more excited for Brazil,
as everyone from there seems very friendly. Portuguese is a unique sounding
language, not sure if I like it yet. Became buddies with the most important
person in the hostel, the bartender. He was organizing a pool tournament, so
of course I had to enter, 8 people signed up, and it came down to me and an
Australian guy, and I just skimmed by, but took home the grand prize, a
bottle of wine. I said I would share it with the Brazilian girls tonight.
Since they were cheering me on.

This hostel is a beehive of activity lots of people coming and going, so I
have decided I will stay here until the 14th when I go to Brazil, apparently
the Brazilian Consulate is a 20 minute walk from here, so I will start the
process to get my visa tomorrow.

Was supposed to start my Spanish lessons today, but the teacher has yet to
show up, which is fine, as apparently it's pretty basic lessons, I think my
problem is I haven't really be practicing speaking it enough, I know the
words but I just haven't got the vocabulary to come out of my mouth yet, as
this other Aussie guy said, it's all about re-wiring the pathways in the
brain, he has been studying Spanish in various schools across S. America for
3 months, and still can't carry on a full conversation. But I was
practicing a bit with a few people last night, it's so much nicer being
around a bunch of people again, the last place in Mendoza was so boring. The
place you stay totally makes the experience of the city.

I am doing a city tour this afternoon, so I should have some decent pictures
to upload I am hoping.

This morning I was quite hungry and wanted something quick so I could get
back to the hostel in time for my apparent Spanish lessons, I found a McCafe
a couple blocks away. (McDonalds has Cafe's, and stand alone Ice Cream
places all over the place), so I had a very tasty egg/ham/cheese sandwich
and a premium coffee, (they were out of orange juice), I think it has been
about 10 years since I last tried a coffee, and I must say I actually didn't
mind it, it's nothing something I could drink lots of, but I think I will
try some of the more fancy type coffee's and see how I like those. I
honestly never thought I would be saying something like that.

Now I think I will go look for some clothes, as I am really starting to get
tired of the four shirts I have, I am going to ditch the sweatshirt I
brought, as I don't think I will be needing anything heavy for quite
sometime, as the Brazilian guy from Rio I was talking to said they come to
B.A. to enjoy the cooler weather (which consists of highs of 30 and lows of
20, and humidity in the 60% range), so if this is cooler, I can't imagine
what it's like there.

Posted by Jason Willock

Well I have arrived to the big city of B.A. It's quite massive, I did a
couple hour stroll from where my hostel is located (Right downtown), and it
is what I imagine walking through New York would be like, it was just a zoo
of people. I think I am going to enjoy my time here, the hostel looks quite
nice, a pool table, and fairly speedy wireless internet in the bar area, and
it is quite large, so I imagine I will meet lots of people here.

I have paid for 7 nights, which included 12 hours of Spanish lessons, so
that should come in handy, as it seems they speak a slightly different
dialect here, it's mixed in with Portuguese, for example Pollo (Chicken) is
normally pronounced Po-Y-o, the ll = a "y" sound, but here it is Po-Sh-o,
apparently the ll = a "sh" sound, and there are a few other differences, but
I have already found just from having lunch that more people here speak
English.

My 7 nights stay also include a city tour, which will come in handy, as I am
sure it will take me a couple days to get used to this city, and figure out
the subway system. Which apparently is very good.

I went out shopping for a couple new shirts as I really only have one 'going
out on the town' shirt, and I need to find some cheap dress shoes, I have
decided my backpack was too small, I should have went for the slightly
larger model, oh well I will make do. Today I had problems finding anything
other than T-Shirts, Soccer Shirts, and Polo Shirts with vertical stripes,
and judging by what I see people wearing, that is the fashion trends here.
I'll have to search around, and hopefully find something that doesn't remind
me of the early 90's

The chicks however look very fashionable, other than the huge sunglasses
which are everywhere, I really hope that fad dies really soon. I can just
imagine the tan lines those must leave!

I haven't fully decided if I will stay here right until Feb 14th when my
flight for Rio departs, or maybe take a few day tour in to Uruguay which is
a 1 hour ferry ride. There is a concierge here, which is handy, she has been
busy every time I have gone to her desk, but I will be sure to talk to her,
as I would like to see a Soccer match as well, apparently there is a group
tour on Sunday going there, but that is Super Bowl Sunday, so I will have to
see about that.

Time for a nap as getting up at 6am today was quite the shock to the system!

Posted by Jason Willock

Well last night I didn't end up going out, I just wasn't in party mood, so I
just chilled at the hostel and had a couple beers with some more Germans
that have arrived, and watched the women's Tennis, man Sharapova got her
butt kicked! The we watched The Good Shepherd which I had on a memory card,
they were no subtitles so I don't think the couple of people in the room
that didn't speak any english really got the drift of it, as they kept
nattering away, so the german chick with the remote just kept turning up the
volume. By the time I went to bed it was pouring rain again, it's nice that
it rains at night, cools things down, and cleans the streets up a bit.
Although I am getting quite a few lovely mosquito bits all over, need to
keep the windows open to keep cool, and I haven't yet seen a window with a
screen on it in South America.

Saturday morning, I woke up ready to check out the museum at the park, so I
checked my guidebook to see when it was open, and on Saturdays it said it
opened at 3:00. Perfect, I would go get some lunch, and make the trek over
to the museum which I figured would take about an hour. So off to the main
plaza to find some place for lunch, walked by this big gathering of people,
a bunch of chicks in cowboy hats, and rather country style of dresses, from
what I could make out it was some provincial wine beauty pageant. Wasn't
able to get in a position to take any photos, but the little outfits they
were wearing were far from flattering, so I quickly lost interest in
standing in that crowd. Found a nice little place for a nice hamburger and
fries. (So far the fries in S. America have been top notch!)

I was all ready to make my journey to the Museum of Natural Science, which
apparently had a well preserved Andean Mummy, it was about a 1.5 walk from
where I was, and the clouds and all burnt off, and it was nice and hot
again. Once I came to the entrance of the park my legs all of a sudden got
tired, it's like they were saying no bloody way we are doing that again! So
I stopped and rested with some water for a bit, then made the rest of the
trek to the Museum, following all the nice signs. I see this building across
from a big man made lake with a lovely park, and say finally I am here! As
I get closer I see that all the windows in the building are smashed, and
that it is covered in graffiti, so I am like this can't be the place, so I
look for the entrance, and sure enough there is a big sign saying that this
is indeed the Museum. So yet again I have been defeated by the curse of the
Museums, makes me wonder how accurate my 2007 Guide book is, as this place
hasn't been open in years. I took a photo of it. Hopefully I have better
luck in Buenos Aries and all the attractions there. I better as I am getting
excited about my stay in B.A.

Other than that not a whole lot to report, I will see if I am up for trying
to go out again tonight, I kind of want to save my money and energy for B.A.
as the hostel is right downtown in the heart of all the action, and has it's
own bar inside of it http://www.hostelsuites.com/ is there website.

A few little things I have noticed about Argentina that I will share, Coke
is more expensive and less common than Pepsi (Chile was the opposite),
Rattails are very common hair styles here (Get me a pair of scissors!)
Olives instead of Avocado. There is a lot less honking, and certainly a lot
fewer car alarms than Chile, I think because a lot of the cars are much
older. Certainly not as many dogs on the streets. I am interested to see
how B.A. compares with Santiago, population of greater B.A. is 12 million
opposed to the 5.5 million in Santiago

Posted by Jason Willock

Well who knew Mendoza was Ice Cream Crazy, today I had a huge waffle ice
cream cone with 3 scoops of 3 different flavors for a mere $2, I had nearly
50 flavors to choose from, and apparently on the other side of the city
there is a ice cream store that has a 125 flavors, it was hard enough
choosing 3 from the list of 50, I had Chocolate, Cookies & Cream, and
Durzano (Nectarine), and they were all very good. I figured I needed some
fat stuff as my shorts and pants are seeming to be getting a little baggy, I
think all this walking is getting rid of the gut, plus I try to do some
exercises every morning.

On the note of walking, last night I strolled down to where the Americans
from a couple days told me where all the nightlife was, which was a good 30
minute walk from where I am staying, it was several streets with mostly
restaurants and ice cream shops, and the odd pub, so after walking around
for a little more than an hour, I decided I needed a beverage, and found and
Irish Pub, that had a huge Stella Artois beer sign, and all there tables and
chairs were labeled as Stella, not overly Irish, but there drink special was
Bacardi Dark Rum, so I was sold. There food special was Mexican Pizza, and
the menu had no Irish food other than Guinness on it, so I went with that, I
wasn't overly hungry. So hung out there for a couple hours, it wasn't overly
busy, chatted with the waiter for a while, he was just learning english, but
spoke it very well. I asked him where the 'nightclubs' were, and he goes you
mean places with naked ladies? Strip Joints are called NightClubs, I told
him I was looking for a Disco, so he talked with the other staff, and got a
couple places for me, none of which were anywhere near this part of town, it
was now 12:30, I had a bit of a buzz, and I was getting sleepy, so I decided
to stroll back to the hostel, and it started to drizzle, which was nice as
it helped cool things down a bit.

I woke up after a good sleep, and decided to check out this big national
park that is on the other end of the city, my map showed it had a Soccer
Stadium, a Jardin Zoologico (with a picture of a Monkey, so I figured it was
a zoo), along with a few other sights. So off I went, about 40 minutes of
walking, I had reached the outside of the park, huge trees, and big wide
roads, with bike paths filled with people running. It was about 11:40 and it
was quickly getting hotter by the minute, so off I went towards the zoo,
walking under the shade of the big trees, it was quite nice. Get to the
soccer stadium, it looked like it was last used maybe 10 years ago, I was a
little skeptical about the zoo, but I saw lots of people running and walking
in the direction of the zoo, so on I marched, the paths were now only shaded
by younger trees, and it was easily 30 above, so it was getting a tad warm,
30 more minutes of walking down this perfectly straight path with crazy
people running by, who runs in this heat I thought. Finally I had reached
the zoo, or so the sign had told me I had, there wasn't anything really
there, except for more trees, and there wasn't a soul in sight, by this time
it was nearly 2:00 and I hadn't had any water since around 11:00 so I was a
tad parched, and there wasn't any place in sight to get water. I didn't
really want to take the long hike back, but I didn't have much choice, so
off I went. I found a tennis club that I missed the first time around, they
had water for sale, I was happy. After a nice rest there, I was ready to
march on, finally I had made it back to the entrance of the park, I had
originally planned on going to a Museum about 15 minutes away from where I
was, but I was beat, I am not having much luck with museums, but I will go
to it tomorrow. I thought about taking a cab back to the hostel, but
couldn't find one, so I trudged along, and that is when I found the happy
ice cream store! So I got to see some nice trees, the odd bird, and
occasional cool flower and cactus. Ate some awesome ice cream, got some
exercise, and a little sun, all in all a decent enough day.

Finally made it back to the hostel around 4:30, so nearly 5 hours of
walking, had a shower, and a nap, now I am going to locate some food, and
maybe check out this disco called Iskra, which is about 5 blocks from the
hostel. There are some new faces around here at the hostel, I'm going to see
if any of them speak english, and see if anyone is up for going out.

Posted by Jason Willock

Well last night a huge thunderstorm came rolling in around 6:30, just as I was coming back from the supermarket. So I ended up just chilling at the hostel watching the clouds, and the lightning it was quite a big storm, much like a good old Calgary thunderstorm, except it was still 25 above! Some girls from Germany were also watching the storm, so I chatted with them for a bit, there english wasn't overly great, but they could speak spanish, so they were talking with the owners of the hostel who can't speak much english either, but we managed to have a decent of enough conversation. I think I convinced them to go to Brazil for Carnival, I saw them on the computers this morning looking for hostels in Rio, there isn't a whole lot available, I am sure glad I booked mine a couple months ago!

I am writing this from a big park/plaza in Mendoza, I found a wireless connection that I can upload pictures a little faster with, it would have taken about 30hours at the hostels connection, as opposed to the 20mins here to upload the remainder of the pictures from Chile, I still have to set up the website to organize my photos by Country then City, as opposed to just Country. So those I will start to upload tomorrow I figure.

I booked a plane ticket to fly from here to Buenos Aries, $150 for a 1.5hour flight as opposed to $75 for a 16hour bus ride. Seemed like a no brainer to me, so I leave Mendoza on Monday, I have booked a room in a pretty huge hostel in B.A. I reckon it will be a good place to meet a lot of people, as these smaller Bed & Breakfasts are nice to relax and get a good sleep, but hard to meet alot of people. I did run into some americans yesterday at lunch, they were telling me how great the night life is here, so maybe I will figure out where the nightlife happens and check that out this weekend.

As for today, I will see if I can find a better vineyard tour, the couple places I looked at were $50us for a 6hour tour, now if I was a big fan of wine that would probably appeal more to me, but for $50us I could buy some really really nice bottles of wine, and have a whole bunch as opposed to a sip, and I reckon I will be able to see a lot more impressive vineyards in Europe, as I don't think Argentina is world renowned for there wines. Perhaps I will look into doing a river rafting tour, but right now I think I will just go find a nice place to have a tasty lunch, and enjoy the relaxing pace of Mendoza.

Posted by Jason Willock

Well I have made it to my second country, and to the city of Mendoza, Argentina. It was about an 8 hour bus ride from Santiago including the nearly 2 hours at the border waiting for our turn, I went in a little mini bus (basically a mini van), it was a decent enough ride, a little hot at times, but the drive through the Andes was quite amazing, I think it would be even more so breathtaking in the spring, as it is nearing fall now, and it is very desert like.

You could tell as soon as we got to the Argentinean side the roads were not as well paved, and not even paved in all places, unlike Chile, where everything is paved, and kept in tip top shape, but that said, we still made it safe. The city of Mendoza was pretty much entirely destroyed by a earthquake in 1861, so the city is pretty modern, low buildings, and wide avenues with lots of trees, it is really quite a lovely little city surrounded by vineyards. It is hot, last night it cooled off to about 21 at 2am, and by 10:30 it was 30 above already, and today is very overcast, but at least there is a breeze to keep you somewhat cool.. My hostel is more like a bed and breakfast, fairly nice, have my own room with bathroom, shower toilet, and bidet are all in the same little room, which is just fine for me, but I don't think sharing that with your loved one would be great for a long period of time. Not sure how much it is costing me, as they said they are going to give me a deal because I am staying for 5 nights, so hopefully it will be around $25 a night.

So being in a new country, they of course have different voltage requirements, and sure enough my universal adapter didn't work, so I checked the fuse, and it was blown, so today was a quest to find a new adapter, and maybe some fuses. Turns out a few blocks from where I am staying is the electrical block of the city, so in no time I got 5 fuses, and a new Argentinean adapter, for 4pesos about $2.50 so I was quite thrilled with that.

Internet is quite slow at the hostel, so uploading pictures may be difficult since I have to do it in the computer room, and there are very few internet cafes, which is a stark difference from Chile where they was one on every block, even in the small town of Pucon. Other differences I have already noticed, there is a huge pregnant population, and lots of mothers with young children, must be a population boom going on. There are lots of shoe shine people, they even walk through street side cafes, and shine your shoes while you sip a latte, and vendors try to sell you everything from Knives to lotto tickets while your eating, I'm not really keen on that. I can also notice a larger European influence on fashion, and there are tons of high end clothing stores, along with lots of street vendors selling everything from Fila Socks, Lacoste shirts to bootlegged DVD's and MP3 CD's.

So far I quite like the city, I wondered around last night for a few hours, (I only wanted to go for one hour, but I got lost, I forgot to bring my map), and since there are no tall buildings here it is hard to get a sense of direction, walked through some rather shady parts of town with hookers on the corners, so I found a police office who pointed me in the right direction, I wasn't too far off.

Seems the city shuts down from about 1:30 - 6:00, so I am going to take it easy this afternoon, and study some Spanish, I had a huge steak sandwich for lunch with a big bottle of beer, so I could probably use a nap, the 30 degree heat will take some time to get used to, then tonight I will perhaps arrange a tour of a vineyard, there is a bike tour that is apparently nice, but the though of biking in 35 degree heat doesn't excite me, I did that with Kimberley in Ixtapa Mexico, and well it sucked, so if I can find a nice air conditioned bus, I would be down for that.

Hopefully I will get some pictures uploaded soon, I don't have a lot, but I did take some of the Andes.

Posted by Jason Willock