Cry For Me Argentina, CRY!!

Big wet sloppy blog balls! :)

Blogging is back in fashion, and this computer aint crashin'

Coming to the end of our Argentine experience now, and I havent written a peep about it. But dont worry, all thats about to change, right about.....now.....

First stop - Buenos Aires. "BA" if your a traveling G. We got there via a ferry from Colonia, Uruguay. Had some crazy Boca Junior fans chanting on the ferry all the way there. A lot of the old people dealt with it pretty well. If that was England, there would of been 5000 dirty looks, 2000 kissed teeth, and 8000 letters of compaint to the travel company. But thats just how we roll. A lot of people hyped up BA to us, and said it was supposed to be an amazing city, and it was. As you might of heard, I shed blood and tears to withdraw money in Uruguay, but I did manage to get my hands on $600USD from a cash point. For some reason they are short of dollars in Argentina and they really really want them, and are offering ridiculous exchange rates for them. We spoke to a few people in our hostel, and also the guy behind the reception desk. They were saying banks offer about 5.5 per dollar, but the exchange houses were offering about 7.4 - BUT, if we were REALLY daring we could go to the streets and get even more. So we rolled down there, and the first girl on this certain street was muttering "cambio cambio cambio". I asked how much she was offering and she said 7.8 - I said "deal". She walked down the road to meet her little friend, who had rolls of $100ARS notes in a bag. The guy at our hostel warned us a lot of people have been ripped off, and the best way to check if the notes are real are the "100" marks in the top corner. They change from blue to green when you turn the note in the sun. I counted each and every note ($4600ARS), slowly in the street corner. Cat got a bit flustered and panicky, and the exchange girl was getting aggy, but I made sure. At the end of it all, we walked away happy with a £186 profit, and spent it all :D

That very night we treated ourselves to a meal at Siga La Vaca. £20 each for all you can eat grilled meat, steak etc, salad, veg, pastas, potatoes, EVERYTHING - Bottle of wine or soft drink each, free water, and one dessert each. Needless to say - shit hit the fan. Everyone in the restaurant was composed, slow, polite, graceful. I just ate EVERYTHING and ANYTHING. I walked 45mins back to our hostel feeling drunk on food.... Cat walked 45mins back drunk on food AND wine :p

Every evening walk in BA is nice. Its a very romantic city. All the parliment buildings etc are lit up at night in bright colours. People go out late, and its a very cultured place. I could go on and on about BA. The photos will probably explain more. Pictures do say a thousand words after all. We spent St Patricks day there, and for some reason there was a lot of kilts and bagpipes - think they got a bit confused :-s We didnt spend much money that night. Cat fell asleep in the club and I drank a litre of Fernet to myself and took pictures of me pulling faces next to her. Fernet is basically the same as Unicum if anyones tried that before. Its rank. We DID however treat ourselves to a tango show the following night. The show came with a free tango lesson. We learnt steps and went round practicing with different partners.... I can honestly say, Cat was the worst tango dancer I had that night -_- During the show we had a BEAUTIFUL steak meal, and both me and Cat got pulled up to dance with the performers infront of everyone...... Best.

Mendoza was our 2nd stop. If you dont know what Mendoza is, its a town made famous for tourists to visit and drink LOADS of wine. The best way to do it, is to hire a bike, and cycle around wineries for tours and tastings. Cat was excited about this even before we left England. She was a bit concerned I didnt wanna do it, or I wouldnt be too bothered, as I dont drink wine much.... But the challenge was accepted, and the wine, was a GAME CHANGER! I can actually drink wine now and enjoy it :p Drank a lot that day. Probably quicker and more than evreyone else. We met up with a couple we bumped into in Buenos Aires and it was a really good day. We finished on Absinthe shots and flavored liqours. All goooooood. Oh, and theres a town with all the wineries called Maipu and Manpu - pronounced "my poo" and "man poo" .......... We didnt go into Maipu or Manpu :-l

Apart from that in Mendoza we went out one night. Learnt that wine with a dash of redbull is a great new cheap drink - Game changer... We also went to a big zoo in Mendozas massive park. Enjoyed it at first. But it was actually really badly run. A lot of the animals were in small pens in bad conditions. There was an escaped baboon, no zoo keepers, and a lot of the animals were hungry and thirsty. There was a polar bear there that was absolutely mental. I wanted to kill it to put it out its misery. At one point we actually walked up to an elephant, pulled leaves of a tree and fed him. Someone had to do it. I fed a gorilla an orange too. I know you aint supposed to feed zoo animals, but in them conditions, you might aswell make their taste buds happy atleast.

I wanted to head more south after Mendoza. I actually wanted to go more towards Patagonia, to the ice caps, end of the world etc, but time and money was running thin... Damn Rio. Bariloche was the next obvious stop down. I didnt know much about it before we got there, but it didnt disappoint!! Was probably the most natually beautiful town we´ve been to so far. I always wanted to go somewhere like Norway or Switzerland, with the snowy mountains, trees and lakes, and thats what we got.... Except, not so much snow this time of year. There was a big European infulence there. The locals even looked German or Swiss. They ate posh chocolate and fondue in their cabins and all sorts. We stayed in a nice wooden cabin for a hostel and did walks every day with a Brazilian girl we met in Mendoza :)

We´re in a small town called San Martin now. Very similar to Bariloche. Next stop will be across the boarder to Chile! Theres a lot of things I wanted to do thats been sacrificed. Think one day I´ll visit Argentina again. Do Patagonia properly, the Patagonian Express train, Peninsula area, maybe the Galapagos and Easter Islands... Ill save that for retirement :)

Sorry for making you read so much blog fans. Thanks to all my loyal followers. Love you.

Keep em tight - the way I like it.

One x

Brazil and Uruguay bank tours

BLOG FAAAAAANNSSSSS!!

Loosen your shorts, and SIT BACK! Because another blog update is herrreeee!

Currently in BA, Argentina. But we havent spoken since FINALLY leaving Brazil and also visiting Uruguay. So lets begin....

After FINALLY leaving Rio, we spent a few nights in Sao Paulo. It was yet another city where everyone warned us to be careful etc. I dunno whats wrong with some people. One girl said its the "most dangerous city in south america". Well, I knew that was bullshit straight away. Especially compared to places like Caracas. They also said "theres nothing there, dont bother going, its ugly". When we first got there I could kinda see what they meant. We got off the bus station and straight into the train station to get the tube to our hostel. First impressions was it just looked like a bigger version of Northwick Park hospital. So imagine that. And it was BUSY! Sao Paulo in rush hour is no joke. Our hostel was kind of in the middle of no where, so we had to get the tube back and forth every day. We visited the Estadio Municipal, which is the Corinthians stadium and football museum. A lot of the guys working there liked to remind me about Corinthians beating Chelsea 1-0 in the world club cup, which was nice of them. Apart from that we just wondered around the city, and looked at graffiti (which is rated as some of the best in the world). One place which was a squat, was turned into some sort of hangout for youngsters in media, art, design etc to study and work. I dont really know what they do, but we asked to get shown around and it was pretty cool.

Got pretty bad diarrhea on the last day. We were getting a night bus to Florinapolis that night and i was pretty nervous :) Luckily it wasnt too bad. Got it out my system before we left. But I did have some troubles in the night bus toilet.... For some reason when I went to take a wee, my wee sprayed back at me :-s As you all know, when you start its hard to stop. I dont know if it had something to do with the coach moving fast, but i doubt it. I was in this tiny cubical, with my wee spraying all over the walls, mirror, on my hands, tshirt, face! I was thinking "Is this toilet TAKING THE PISS!?". Then I realized - No, It was giving it back.... -_-

Anyway, Florinapolis turned out to be our last stop in Brazil. It was recommended by a few people, and we could see why. We got a hostel RIGHT on the beach. Only problem was we had pretty shitty weather whilst we were there. The beaches were nice, and really quiet (maybe because of the weather). We had a walk on the beach on our first day, and there was one or two joggers, and stray dogs playing in the waves. Was nice. The guy who ran the hostel was a bit of a stoner. Theres pros and cons to having a stoner for a hostel owner. The cons were we never trusted much of anything he said. We didnt get our laundry back until about 40mins before we had to get the bus out of there on the last day. When we asked where the hell our laundry was, he was just like "She was slower because of the rain. Its crazy weather!" With a smile like its some cool phenomenon and we hadnt just spent about 100quid on bus tickets leaving in an hours time. On the plus side he handed out a lot of weed. I got hulk smashed and watched Avatar on a tiny tv. Its cool when your high. But I couldnt keep still because I thought there was an ice cream bowl by my foot, and I was nervous I would knock it over.... Funny thing was - I hadnt had ice cream all day.... :-l

We got pretty good weather on our last day in Florinapolis, then we got a 24hr bus to Montevideo, Uruguay. 24hrs in nothing to us nowadays. Uruguay was a really nice country from what we saw of it. Weather was a lot more bearable than Brazils. I had no perceptions on what Uruguay would be like to be honest. Its biggest downfall was the BANKS! Agh!! We withdrew money fine on the first day, but on the second day, NOTHING! We walked from our hostel about 5 miles down the coast to the city center as it was nice. But when we got there we spent ALL DAY trying EVERY BANK in the bloody city to get money. It eventually got dark and we had no money. So had to walk all the way back to the hostel because we couldnt afford a bus, and we managed to get a few coins together to buy biscuits for dinner. We got back and tried Cats card from our room, still failed. An American guy lent us some money to get a bus to the station where we first withdrew from, fail. FML! Luckily we brought my Natwest Justin Case, and withdrew some money on that, with a shit exchange rate and charge, but oh well, we had money. We got a McDonalds at midnight to celebrate and the next day we moved on.

My legs are henchhhh!

Colonia Del Sacramento was our 2nd and final stop of our short Uruguay visit. Was a REALLY nice place. Cobbled streets, old churches, light houses, all that stuff. Visited an abandoned bull ring one day. Broke into it, and it was really cool. Everyone there drank maté tea. Its weird stuff. Its just some leaves in a pot that they pour hot water into and sip. But you have to carry the pot and the flask around all day like a dick, so i dont get it :-s We had problems withdrawing money there too. I used my Natwest again a few times and withdrew US dollars. I heard you can sell dollars in Argentina for CRAZY good exchange rates, so we didnt care about the charges and exchange rates at that point, we just took the risk. Ill explain how that went in my next episode ;)

Overall it was a really good stay. Photos will be up soon.

For now ill leave it there.

Keep your shorts tight, and your mind right.

If I dont see you through the week, Ill see you through the windooowwww xxx

Blog Philosophies

As a KRS-One song once said:
"So you´re a philosopher?"
"Yes - I think very deeeeply."

Morning blog addicts -
People say travel broadens the mind, changes you, lets you "find yourself."
These are just some thoughts / observations ive had since being away....

I´ll prob write it in bullet point style, to keep it remotely ginteresting.
hmmm where to start?...



As I said - people say "traveling can change you" etc.
Is this true for me?
Hell no! Im Robbie G!! HA3! Haha nah, I dont think traveling can change me much. Im too stubborn. I wont let it. Or maybe the type of traveling im doing is not extreme enough to change my whole outlook on life...YET. Or maybe I dont really know who I am, so how can I change something I dont know really excists... o-0 If anything traveling might give me time to think about the way I want to live my life when I get back to England. I´ve made a lot of notes on things I want to do when I return. Im actually considering doing a silence meditation course when back. Its a 10 day thing where you dont speak or communicate in any way AT ALL... Not to drastically change my life or anything, but to....challenge me or something....I dont know :-s

When we climbed the Inca Trail not so long ago, I came down wanting to push myself more physically and train for something else too. I´ve never ran a marathon, or climbed a really challenging mountain or anything like that really. I think i´ve come to the realization that im not going to be a rich businessman, or an actor, or footballer, or rich or famous. So I think achievements like this will leave a legacy behind. Something to boast about and tell future little Gurneys :p Something more than "I worked hard like a honest man, and died an honest man!"



Other travelers:
Most people ive met whilst traveling ive actually really liked. MOST of them. I know im naturally pessimistic when it comes to meeting new people, (which is my problem) but most people who travel are not ignorant arse holes. Or they wouldnt be out here in the first place. You get some pretentious idiots. Mainly fake hippies who probably lock themselves in cupboards and fart repeatedly so they can smell how pure and clean they all are. Dicks lol.

Im not interested in making new friends much. More focused on the ones I still have at home. I have a bit of a "hang on to what you have" mentality at the moment. I liked my life in England before I left. Ironic :-s

I dont like socializing in big crowds much either. Its a lot of effort. People have to fight to be heard, and im not that eager. Or that bothered to listen to the people who have won the battle for attention to be honest. I float off into my own world. I think im a naturally lonely or independant person 0:)

Cat (as you know) is a very open person who offers herself to people quickly. She is more bothered about other people, what they think about her. A large part of her traveling experience is about the people she meets. But everyone gets something different out of traveling I guess. I look within myself more...reflect :p
It didnt take long for the whole "Where are you from?" "Where are you going" talk to get old. Some people are like "Oh, you´re from London!" And they think they have you figured out lol.

But a lot of travelers seem to of had a more interesting life than yours too. Or more educated, or cultured or something. And their whole story of why theyre here, where theyve been, their childhood etc. And Im just like, "Yeh, I got kicked out the house most days. Played football and kerby on the streets, then came home."
Makes you realize who you really are and where you belong I guess. Where you came from and how you grew up might be common in your neighbourhood, but its worlds apart to some other peoples.



I asked Cat the other day:
"Do you think, if we had a lot more money, our travels would be a lot diferent? And if so, a lot better?"
She was just like "Yeah! We could do all this and that, and not care etc." I tried to get all deep about it. Like, when we saw hand-gliders coming down the moutains in Rio, we looked up and was like "WOW!" and smiled. But the hand-gliders at the top are probably smiling just as much and going "WOW!" too. Just for a lot more money...But she wasnt having any of it saying "We could do all these experiences and go home having done it all..." I tried to argue its not good to have everything at your finger tips....
ANYWAY, after having bank problems in Uruguay, where we couldnt withdraw any money. I realized my thoughts were bullshit lol. Some days we´ve been so broke, we´ve shared 50p biscuits for dinner, or gone to a restaurant just to get out, but could only afford a cup of tea, and then walk past other people eating delicious stakes and they smell so gooood. And walking past modern hotels, to get to our raggity dorm rooms to share bunk beds with our pet cockroaches :p I used to think, "HA! Look at these suckers paying 5 times what we do, and theyre staying just down the road and seeing the same sights as we do." Now, I have a slightly different view lol. But thats the travelers life!!



Hmmm - Am I home sick at all?
Not really. I missed friends and family quite quickly. Times gone fast though. Its crazy, the concept of time has gone all wrong. Seems like AGES AGO we were in Rio. But its only just over a week ago! When you travel on coach (some night buses), and go somewhere new for a day, then move on again, different weathers, different cultures, countries, landscapes, languages, etc.... It seems like 4 days ago could be last month! But at the same time, being at home doesnt seem that long ago. I guess facebook, messaging, talking to everyone just makes home seem so much closer.
On the coaches we get to see parents saying bye to their kids, before they go off somewhere else to work or go school or something. Reminds me of emotionally saying goodbye to all our friends indivisually, then our parents. I look out the windows of the coaches with my ipod in, and have a moment :p
I dont get home sick really though. We take it day by day, coz thinking of the amount of time we might be away for is craaazzyyy. I just think of being at work, scraping ice off my car, traffic, insurance rapings, and sitting in my bedroom in the dark - flicking through photos of me being here. Its been a pretty epic trip already, so looking back on it all, from home, and digesting it properly, will be madnesssss!!


OooooKay blog fans.
Think I´ll keep it there for now.


I´ll blog about the rest of our Brazil trip, and Uruguay trip soon.
Its very ginteresting...


Might even have more future "blog philosophies" if theres demand ;)




Keep your shorts tight - like mine and Cats daily budget
And keep it hood....


PEACE!!

....And then there was two

From Lima, Peru.....

And then there was two....

Good afternoon blog sluts :)

I'm back writing this, wrapped in a pink towl, that smells like a dog, in a Sao Paulo hostel corridor. Sex. The last time I wrote, there was 4 of us living it up in Buzious, and now Cat and I are on our own again, plodding along down the Brazilian coast. Buzious was really nice. I would recommend it to parents world wide :p It was described as a party area for people with money. But it wernt very lively at all. It had 2 big clubs that only opened when they felt like it. But it was a really pretty area. We sat round the pool alot, watched football, drank caiprinhas, ate crepes. We surfed once, i was crap, end of story...

Well the tour is well and truely over now. It ended a long time ago, but some people stayed in Rio for longer, some went to different countries, and now it seems like everyone is home...except for us. The tour was great. Would DEF recommend anyone doing it. I could list all the highlights, but you'll prob get suicidal with bordom. ANYWAY, whilst in Buzious we knew going back down to Rio was our only logical stop. On top of that, we knew we were able to meet up with Chris and Riaz, Sarah had a bday coming up, we wanted to go waterpark, and Rio is simply amazing. So, we decided we'll stay for longer than first planned. We originally stayed in a average 6 bed dorm in a ok hostel in Copacabana. But we were researching hostels for us to move to for when Chris and Riaz fly back from Santiago so we can stay together. Then we got the bright idea to get an apartment :D

It was pretty damn awesome. To have your own space to put ur stuff, unpack, own tv, kitchen, fridge etc was like luxury. Then we had a big window that overlooked most of the buildings of copacabana, and to the left we could see the beach :)

We had time in Rio to go out a couple times again, get drunk (especially on Sarahs bday), eat and get fat, beach, shop, waterpark, cinema, everything. Said our emotional goodbyes to Sarah and Nicola. They've been calling us "mum & dad" since it's been the 4 of us. Worst nicknames ever by the way... I remember a friend asked me a while back if I would ever live in any of the places I've visited so far. And I said no. But now I really think I could live in Rio if I spoke Portuguese better.

not too much else to say right now. We're gonna start booking night buses to save cost on accommodations lol. Looking forward to moving on I guess. Definitely will revisit Rio again one day.

Sorry if this blog isn't written too well. I'm using the Itouch on a corridor like I said. Some 48 year old woman is hogging the laptop downstairs. I think anyone over 40 should be banned from communal laptops :)

On that note, keep your shorts tighter than Brazilian speedos

Help thy neighbour

And tell your granma about my blogs

immmmmm ghost!! :o