Don't Cry For Me Argentina

Well here we are, we've arrived to the final chapter. Six months ago I would have said this date was a long way away. Little did I know how fast it would go. People had told me it would go fast, almost as many times as I'd told myself but you never really take it seriously. I've pretty much taken the philosophy of fitting as much in as I can and making sure I get all the definite to-do's done.

I've got my suitcase packed almost as full as the remaining 48 hours of my time in Mendoza. I have said good-bye to all the people I won't get a chance to see again. I've organised my last two weeks so that I spend a couple of days after my end of school trip hanging out with my brother at another beach then taking a bus to Buenos Aires to catch my plane on the 8th.

These last few weeks were pretty much as I expected, hanging out with friends and going to the pools. I've done all my shopping and tried not to waste too much money. I have done some cool things though. One day last week I went white-water rafting with two other exchange students from the US. I was expecting a pretty lame little float down a hill for some reason. I was wrong. It was awesome, especially when one of the girls fell in and instead of helping her I just kept paddling. A solid hour and a half on the water with action all the way. We got back to the base which is about two hours out of Mendoza with a delicious asado waiting for us. We spent the rest of the day hanging out on the side of the river. I had wanted to go rafting for a long time and that day has just made me want to go more. I'll definitely be organising a white water rafting trip for when I get back. Anyone interested? Grandma?

I want to do a quick over run of some of the awesome memories I'm taking back with me. Definite highlights include the month spent travelling with my family then going North with my Kiwi companions. Days like the Rugby Sevens tournament and the 'baptism' ceremony at my school. I went to a Pumas game, local soccer game and even got to see Argentina vs. Chile in soccer which was a must do. I went to several concerts with my brother and with friends. Weekends away with the rugby boys and being hosted by another family during a basketball tournament a few hours south of Mendoza. I'm taking back with me a suitcase full of souvenirs and gifts but more importantly a year full of amazing memories and experiences that I'll have with me forever.

A lot of things have happened this year in my life that have nothing to do with Argentina. First of all my Grandpa died in my first few months which made being away from family that much harder. But it's also been a great year for my list of cousins. My Auntie Emma had a little girl Sabine earlier this year and the whole family has moved to England for a few years. Stink timing on their part. Also my Auntie Kea adopted a gorgeous little boy named Amanaki who I'll be meeting in a few weeks.

This blog has actually taken me a while to write. It's now about two hours before I leave and I've had all my goodbye's. I spent this morning with Lilly and her family. We just chatted and ate leftovers from the Christmas dinner. I actually found it really hard saying good-bye to her. She's been one of my best friends during this year and I feel quite privileged to have had such a close relationship with such an amazing person. I'm going to miss her the most out of everyone I think.

I'm finding it to say good-bye to all the people I had such close relationships with. In the last 24 hours the feeling I got on the morning of the 16th of February 2007, knowing in a matter of hours I would be leaving NZ, has resurfaced and is constantly reminding me of my limited time left here in Argentina. I want to thank everyone that has followed this blog and sent me emails of support. I hope you all enjoyed reading the blog as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'll wrap it up by saying I can't wait to see you all when I get back and that everyone's invited to an asado at my house. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Thanks again, love to all
Harry

P.S. I've left out my end of year trip with my class over New Years which was probably the best week of the whole year so that I'll have something to talk about when I get back.

Watch Out for the Homemade Red Wine

How's it everyone,
It's midday Saturday and I'm sitting outside in the sun writing what is most likely the second to last blog of this journey. The truth is it has been indescribable. Although I've done my best to keep you guys up to date with all the major events and kept you wanting more, there's so much I've left out because no blog could ever do this year justice. But I'll do all the soppy stuff in the last blog and use this one to make you all just a little bit more envious.

In the last blog I mentioned that I was going to an AFS camp for a few days. It was pretty much what I expected. A lot of people joined together against their will when they would rather be enjoying their last few weeks with their friends. But the AFS volunteers were really cool and it was fun hanging out in the pool which is where we spent most of our time. The theme of the weekend was to reflect on the year and think ahead about what it's going to be like once we get back to our home countries. At various points in the weekend we would split into groups and the volunteers, who were mostly all returned AFSers, tried to explain that it can be just as hard settling back in to your home country as it was arriving in your new country and that it does take a while to readjust. It was pretty interesting.

I made friends with this girl from America who is also in Mendoza and even goes to my school. Before that weekend I didn't really know her but had just kind of seen her round and said hello. Neither of us had been too keen to hang out with other foreigners. We ended up getting to know each other quite well and it turns out she lives about 10 minutes drive from where I lived in America. Isn't that a coincidence? So we spent the whole bus ride to the camp, most of the camp and the bus ride back to Mendoza chatting. It was quite funny talking about Argentines and how we both found the same things weird and had had similar experiences. On the last night they had hired a band to come and play. The band was from Argentina but sang in English and did heaps of covers of Beatles songs and other classics like Stand By Me for example. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. I was quite surprised when the first song they played was Don't Dream It's Over. I didn't realise it was such a well known song. Afterwards I was expecting a bit of Dave Dobbyn but it never came. All in all it was an alright weekend.

The week I got back to Mendoza was the first week of the holidays and so started the party season. Each school puts on a big party for the kids that are leaving. They go all out. It's the equivalent of the ball in NZ and prom in the states. That Tuesday I went to one and it was awesome. It starts at about 1 in the morning and you don't usually get home until about 7 in the morning. These parties are said to be the best in Mendoza. The next night there was the same type of party but of a much smaller school in my dad's event hall. A friend from rugby and I were security and ticket sales. It was fun because as soon as the people stopped arriving we went upstairs to my good friends the chefs and pigged-out. That was another late night.

The next day I went with the rugby boys to a city on the East Coast called Mar Del Plata or in English 'Sea Of Silver.' It was a 17 hour bus ride which was an experience in itself. Along with all of our team came the kids from the division below which meant they were all about 15. As is rugby tradition here they all got off the bus with ridiculous haircuts and big red slap marks across their backs. As is not tradition but seems to happen anyways was them getting carried away and cutting everyone else's hair. They looked for the tiniest excuse. They cut my hair because I'm leaving in one month, luckily I saved my eyebrows, others weren’t so lucky.

Anyways we eventually got to the hotel. On Saturday we played a game and were losing in the second half until I scored a beauty of a try. By far the most important of my 6 month, 6 try career. We ended up winning by two tries. Afterwards they invited me to play with the division above us who were playing against a division above them. I got put in for the last 20 minutes. It was pretty intense. They were all 19 and 20 with a lot more strength. We played really well and ended up losing by 10 points. It was a pretty great day, I was still pretty stoked about my try. What a great way to finish my rugby career in Argentina. That night we went clubbing. We got back to the hotel and without sleeping went straight to the beach. We spent all Sunday at the beach where I was reminded how much I love it and how I'd missed everything about it this past year. I got quite badly sunburnt along with the rest of the boys which made the trip back to Mendoza much calmer. But that didn't stop a few of the younger guys from losing their eyebrows. In 3 weeks I head back to Mar Del Plata for my End of School trip.

Last Thursday night was my school ball. I can honestly say it was one of if not the best parties I've ever been to. I'll start from the beginning. My class all met up outside of school. All the girls were looking more gorgeous than ever and I was in my flash suit that I brought from New Zealand and my Hush Puppies. We climbed onto the back of this truck and jumped, shouted and chanted our way to the party hall. Each 3rd year class goes together in their own means of transport, usually its someone’s uncles truck or sometimes they rent a fire truck. We arrived to the party hall and all the parents were waiting outside. We spent about an hour waiting outside taking photos and eating all the delicious entrées. I discovered a liking for red wine and took full advantage of the open bar. At about 11.30 we entered the hall. I walked in with two stunning classmates. Beforehand we practiced a little routine which basically just involved me twirling them round then them kissing me on the cheek. It turned out perfectly. Then we sat down and had a pretty satisfying dinner but I was keen for the party to start. At about 1.30 the tables were cleared and pushed to the sides and back of the hall along with the parents. The hundreds of kids from other schools flowed into the hall and the party got under way. It seemed like everyone from Mendoza was there. I spent the night dancing, talking to random girls that recognised me as the NZ guy and also spent a while talking with some of the parents of my classmates. I even danced the Waltz, without actually knowing how, with the mother of one of my friends. The party winded down at about 6.30 and we all caught a taxi into town to have breakfast. We spent a while chatting about the party then headed home. At 9 o’clock I was crashed out at home.

Ok I was just finishing writing this blog when Bubu called me and asked me if I wanted to go to an asado out in the country and experience a classic Argentine pastime. I’d been hoping to get the chance to go to one of these get togethers. I was really keen, so Bubu’s older brother raced round and picked me up then we went and got Bubu and headed out to the area of Mendoza where all the vineyards and farms are. It was scorching hot. We drove along this really long dusty driveway in the middle of nowhere. Eventually we arrived at this gorgeous country house. It had lots of space and there were vineyards as far as the eye could see in every direction. I could just imagine my grandmas and other women in my family being in heaven in this house. Bubu’s brother introduced me to all the guys. Most of them were old fellas, friends of Bubu’s Dad. Bubu and I were the youngest by about 50 years but these guys were really cool. We sat down and had this incredible chicken dish. I’m pretty sure I ate a whole chicken. There were also potatoes and salad. I washed it all down with some homemade red wine which was more like red whisky. It was incredibly strong. This group of about 15 guys get together every so often to eat and play the guitar. They are all fanatics of a type of Folklore music from Mendoza called Tonada. We spent the afternoon eating ridiculous amounts, talking, singing and getting quite drunk of this potent wine under the shade of grape vines growing above us. Quite the scene.

At one point Bubu and I jumped into the pool of water that’s used to irrigate the vineyards. The water was gorgeously fresh as it comes straight from under the ground. It’s drinkable if you get it from the hose that feeds into the pool. I wouldn’t drink the pool water after a few old guys, Bubu, me and several frogs had all been swimming around in it though. We had a really great time and I really enjoyed listening to all the songs. Every now and then they would dedicate one to me and when they finished I’d have to pay them by giving them a glass of wine. The wine was so strong it stained your teeth. We all finished with really purple mouths. I felt really lucky to have been given this opportunity because it’s quite a special thing for these guys and they were quite emotional and obviously felt really strongly about this tradition. It was an experience a lot of Argentian kids wouldn’t be familiar with let alone an exchange student. That day will definitely stay with me as another fond memory of Argentina.

So that’s what I’ve been up to. Apart from that I’ve been emailing regularly with my Dad in NZ trying to get myself sorted out for UNI next year. Looks like I’ll be doing a Bachelor of Arts but not sure at what University yet. For my last three weeks in Mendoza I actually don’t have much planned. I’ve got some presents and souvenirs to buy and I‘d quite like to get some cooking lessons in from Lilly. I’ll basically just be going to the gym and hanging out with my friends. We’ll probably get to the pool a few times as well. Hope everyone’s well. Until next time, Chau.

I wish I was sitting exams........

Hi all,
I've had another few weeks of awesome experiences since my last blog. Never ceases to amaze me how they keep coming. I'm not complaining though.

The weather is changing rapidly and I'm having trouble sleeping at night because of the heat. I have an air-conditioner in my room but I can't find the remote so I can't turn it on. The upside is every couple of nights we have this huge thunderstorm which makes the NZ ones look like little showers. Last night we had one with heaps of hail the size of marbles and incredible wind. My favourite part is the smell right before the storm hits and the sound of the thunder.

The rugby field where I have training is an open desert area between the city and the mountains. The other day I was arriving to training and it was obvious that it was about to pour down. We started to train anyways hoping it would just be a shower. At one point I stopped to look at the mountains and couldn't see them. The air was perfectly clear for about 500 metres then suddenly a white wall. It looked computer animated but as it came towards us we began to hear it. Everyone grabbed their bags and ran for shelter, except me. Just before the rain and hail came there were incredible winds It was awesome. I loved it until the wind carried this cactus and it smashed into me leaving my legs full of prickles. Pretty unlucky but it was well worth staying outside.
.
Rugby, rugby, rugby. Deciding to play rugby in Argentina was one of the best decisions I have made while being here. I love it more with every game. Apart from travelling it's one of the highlights of the year. A couple of weeks ago I scored another two tries in one game albeit the other team were significantly weaker. I was still pretty happy with myself. That happiness was crushed the following weekend when we lost at home for the first time in three years. The loss was a double-blow because it ruined our chances of finishing first in our league which was hard for a lot of the guys.

Last week I read in the newspaper that a team from Australia was touring South America and were coming here to play against a team compiled of the best players in Mendoza. A few mates from rugby and I decided to go and watch the game. Turns out it was the Australian Armed Forces rugby team with players from the Army, Navy and Air Force. It was a brutal game which just added to the awesomeness of it. My mates and I sat behind the Australian reserves and I started chatting to them. They were pretty cool up until they lost then they turned into real wankers especially when I asked for a giveaway for the boys. Bloody Aussies.

Last Saturday was the annual Rugby Sevens Tournament for my age group. We put a team together mostly consisting of the backs as they're more suited for Sevens games. Being the try-scoring lock that I am developing into I was chosen to play in the 'A' team which was a surprise. We played 7 games in one day. Anyone who's played a game of Sevens or has even watched a game knows that it's extremely fast paced and tiring. We won our first four games. I scored a nice little try in the fourth which was a added bonus. By the fifth game fatigue started to kick in and the legs stopped following orders as well. We one the that game by one try and made it into the semis. I don't know whether it was the fact that we were playing the team that beat us in the finals last year or the motivational speech from the coach or the fact that we had lost that heart wrencher the weekend before but we managed to thrash the other team in the semis 45-7. At this point the muscles started cramping up and fatigue was at an all time high especially as the scorching sun had been relentlessly draining energy all day. The final was against the team that won the season in the 15 man code so there was motivation. We were on a roll and ended up thoroughly beating them in a gruelling 20 minute match. As the final whistle blew our supporters ran on to the field and with the last ounce of energy we did a lap of the field, shouting and jumping. They presented us with the cup and we all took turns kissing it. It was one of the best moments of the whole year and a day I'll never forget. I don't think I had ever been so physically tired in my life, I slept all the next day. So that's the rugby part of my life but I do other stuff too.

Skip back in time a bit. As I said in my last blog, I left Liam, Basil and Yvonne in Buenos Aires and came back to Mendoza while they went to Uruguay. On their way from Buenos Aires to Chile they stopped in Mendoza a few nights. The plan was that my family here would meet them and we would all go out to lunch. We all met up one afternoon thinking we'd go and find some restaurant to eat at when my dad said that he had organised for us to go and eat in his party salon. He organised for a few of the staff to come and work. We ate an asado and spent a few hours chatting. Liam, my brother who speaks English and I were translators for the parents. It was a big success. No doubt my parents in NZ will want to know about my Argy parents from Basil and Yvonne's perspectives. I met up with them for a few more lovely dinners before they left for a few days in the mountains before flying out from Chile.

A couple of Sundays ago I had a really relaxing day with my mate Bubu and his family. Bubu's brother picked me up and we went and bought heaps of meat for the asado. We also stopped at a gift store and he bought me a pair of Gaucho pants which are really cool. Bubu and his brothers are like my Argentine culture advisors and are always telling me special Argentine customs, typical foods and classic Argentine clothing items. We arrived at Bubu's house to see Bubu's brothers 25 day old baby girl. It had been a long time since I'd seen a baby so small. I spent the afternoon with Bubu, his mum who is really lovely, Bubu's two older brother's, their wives and two young daughters. We watched movies, ate and played with the little kids. If there is one person I think will make it to New Zealand one day it's Bubu. I'm pretty sure he'll make the trip some time in the next few years. Really awesome family and will definitely spend some more time with them before I go.

I haven't talked about school in a while. Last week was the official last week of classes and now everyone's sitting exams., well except me of course. Haha. On Friday the school organised a party to say good-bye to all the students who were leaving. It was fun, there was dancing, music, food and people throwing water bombs. At one point in the night a few guys called me up to the stage and we danced in front of the whole school. (A friend filmed it but she only caught the last little segment and missed the best part and it also doesn't have sound) It was really funny and all the girls went crazy. Don't be fooled, I haven't learnt to dance really well I've just learnt to not care that I dance really badly. Everyone was on a really good buzz until they showed a slideshow of photos of all the kids that were leaving and everyone got all emotional. I feel pretty used to those big good-byes I've had quite a lot of practice in my life.

So now that school has finished I'm on holiday from my year-off. It's a great place to be. Tonight I'm heading off on a 13 hour bus ride to meet up with the rest of the AFS students in Argentina that are leaving in January. Its called the End-Of-Stay trip. It's just a few days hanging out doing activities. No doubt there will be a talent show. After I get back from this AFS trip I am in Mendoza a few days then I head off on another trip. I'll tell you al about it when I get back. Happy 6th Birthday to my cuzzy Manu for the 17th. Smell ya later. Harry

Plane ticket to Argentina - $2000
Learning Spanish - 6 months
AFS trip - $150

knowing everyone is stressing out about exams while your sitting in hot pools halfway around the world - PRICELESS

Riding The Travel Wave

Hey,
Ready for another update? Probably not because I've been so good keeping you updated recently. I'm pretty keen to get all the blogs about my trips out of the way and this will be the last. At least until next month.

One of my best mates since I was a little kid, Liam, has also been on an exchange programme in Argentina this year. We had always talked about meeting up and travelling together but for one reason or another it hadn't worked out. The opportunity came when his parents from New Zealand, who I also know really well, decided to take advantage of the fact that their son was in Argentina, and they came and visited. I squeezed my way into their travel plans hoping to ride their wave and be able to check a few things off my "Argentina to see/do" list. We had an awesome eight days making our way through the famous Iguazu waterfalls in the north down to the really cool, funky Buenos Aires.

So I get off the 26 hour bus ride from Mendoza to Corrientes to see Liam, Basil, Yvonne and Liam's host dad Jorge waiting for me. We spent a few minutes checking who was taller out of Liam and I. It's still pretty even. We then went back to this holiday house that was owned by a family friend of Liam's host family where I met his two host brothers, host sister and host mum. They were all really cool and we spent a couple of hours chatting and hanging out. The next day Liam and I got up and went for a swim in the river out the back of the house. The river was called the Parana river. I didn't sop to think whether it might be named after the fish that live in it. But nothing happened so sweet as. We got some pretty funny looks from the locals, the water was supposedly too cold for swimming but was warm by NZ standards. Afterwards we went into town and walked around, most things were closed because it was a public holiday but we went to a really nice cafe and ordered without really knowing what we were going to get. It's always a bit of a gamble whether a ham and cheese sandwich means two slices of fake white bread without crusts and really processed ham and cheese or a fresh croissant with big slices of ham and melted cheese. Win some, you lose some.

We then made our way down to the riverside which was, like many Argentine rivers and lakes, surrounded by rubbish without a rubbish bin in sight. There were a few people fishing and one of them caught a fish, saw us watching him, put his cigarette in the fish's mouth and held it up for all of us to see, much to the amusement of all his mates. We met up with the host family at a restaurant and had lunch to say our good-byes to Liam's host family before we took a bus to our next stop off. Argentines are generally very unpunctual people, the only thing that consistently stays to a schedule are the buses. This makes for very hectic departures, all just adds to the fun and excitement of it.

We arrived to this little town called San Ignacio at about 10 pm. It's known for being the home of a famous Argentine writer named Horacio Quiroga but more importantly the site of the Jesuit Missions. W e dropped our bags off at the hotel and went in search of something to eat. We found this typical little family restaurant and got our selves a table outside under a makeshift roof, which we found out worked really well, because it started to piss down. We ordered the typical meals, mainly a slab of meat and a salad but had a really enjoyable few hours chatting and laughing while the rain poured down on the street. In a short break in the rain we dashed back to the hotel and crashed for the night.

We spent a large part of the next day wondering around The missions which were really interesting but Basil, Liam and I were itching to get to the slightly more exciting waterfalls waiting just a few hours away. Us boys made a last minute attempt to see Horacio Quiroga's house which turned out to be a lot further away than all the signs and information people (who you'd think would be right about that kind of stuff) had told us. Anyways we got there and had to turn around again and run back to the bus stop to catch the bus to Puerto Iguazu.

After a long, hot bus ride we found our hotel and settled in. It was a cool little hotel, nice and big. Great place to set up base for the next few days. We got up early the next morning and caught a bus to the much-awaited waterfalls. Certainly lived up to expectations. We passed the day walking around seeing these larger than life cascades from all the different angles. We managed to fit all the different pathways in but the definite highlight for me was this boat trip we went on. About 20 of us climbed into this speed boat and the driver took us around the waterfalls doing cool little spins and turns. He even took us directly under one of the waterfalls which I was so not expecting. What a buzz. There was a man taking video with a special water-proof camera and because we were right at the front most of the video is of us. We ended up buying the DVD which has a bout 20 minutes of us on the boat and an hour of some guy that hardly speaks English talking about the waterfalls. It's pretty cool though. After an action packed day we went to this restaurant where in an attempt to convince us to eat there the waiter said that if we didn't like the food we didn't have to pay. Turned out to be really nice but again the same standard dishes.
The waterfalls mark the border between Argentina and Brazil. There is a lot of debate about which side is better. We decided to see both sides so on the second day we took a bus to the city of Foz Do Iguazu in Brazil. We just winged it by going to Brazil. After a strange sort experience at the customs station we got off the beaten tourist track and ended up going to the city instead of the Brazilian side of the waterfalls in search of an ATM. I loved Brazil straight away, but it made me realise how quickly I'd forgotten how hard it is not being able to speak the language. Eventually we got money out of an ATM and asked some random policeman how we get to falls. He ended up accompanying us to the bus stop, then he even got on the bus to make sure we were alright. Good luck getting that in Argentina. The Brazilian side was amazing as well. There were a lot more little animals running around an lots of signs in Portuguese, Spanish and something that resembled English. Another really cool day hanging around these awesome natural wonders and we headed back to the hotel.

That night we stumbled upon this really funky little restaurant and as soon as we entered we got really good vibes from the place. We sat down and Liam and I shared a pizza and this delicious stir fry which was a really nice change. As the night went on the stereo kept spitting out these great covers of famous rock and reggae songs. Bob Marley and Rolling Stones covers done in a jazz style by this woman with an amazing voice who in my imagination is really gorgeous. After dinner I asked the waiter if we could buy the CD and at first they said no so I offered to go back to the hotel and bring my laptop so I could copy the CD instead. They were still reluctant for some reason but eventually they came round to the idea. So Liam and I raced back to the hotel and brought the laptop back just in time for desert. Turned out to be a great success, we got the gorgeous lady music, had a chat with the waiters and before leaving singed our names in chalk on the walls.

Yvonne and Basil had brought with them a bag of NZ memorabilia from my Dad to give away as presents. Along with the presents he also sent 8 episodes of Outrageous Fortune that he'd been taping. We got back to the hotel and Liam and I decided to watch an episode of Outrageous Fortune which I was dying to see after everyone had been telling me how juicy this season is. We stayed up until 4 watching episode after episode as we couldn't stop. It was addictive and I kept waiting for the episode where Aurora would somehow come back from the dead. It was pretty tragic. What a great show.

The next day we had a lazy morning and at midday we caught a plane to Buenos Aires. Most people I had talked to had given me a bad impression of BA, dirty, dangerous but most of all just too many people. I LOVED IT. What an awesome big city. Full of culture and action. We dropped our bags at the hotel and without any destination in mind Liam and I set off walking. We had been walking for a while when we realised that the Pumas were playing against France. So we quickly found a bar and ordered a drink. There were quite a few people in the bar and as the game got more and more intense the bar grew noisier and noisier. Liam and I were by far the noisiest and rowdiest. Wasn't that a great game? Maybe it was the setting and the excitement of being in BA but I really enjoyed it. Especially when Chabal got the shit knocked out of him. Personally, that was my favourite part. We left the bar exhausted from all that cheering and made our way back to the hotel with a few stop offs at music and book stores.

Later on we went to a place called San Telmo which is a funky little neighbourhood full of lots of little stores with stoned hippies selling hand-made necklaces. We ate a pretty average meal but the cool vibes of the place made it not such a big deal. By the end of the night I was getting quite tired of constantly being hassled by beggars asking for euros and dollars every five seconds. It's pretty relentless a lot of the time. It was a cool little place all the same.

We spent the next day looking around shopping malls, each one of us bought some cool clothes and came away pretty pleased. I bought some pretty flash shoes and a pair of good jeans which I was in need of. Liam bought a really cool leather jacket and had a hard time finding shoes his size. It was funny seeing the reactions on the faces of the hundreds of shop keepers when he asked for size 47 shoes. It was kind of like "no sorry, we don't stock that size but try the circus." But eventually he did find some that looked really good and they weren't even big shiny Ronald McDonald red ones.

That night we did one of the must-dos of Buenos Aires and went to a live Tango show. It was much better than I expected. We sat down and had a good meal and watched these men swirl these gorgeous women around and do cool twisty things with their legs. I was pretty impressed. I could easily watch a lot more shows and I still don't think my eyes would be able to keep up with their legs.

We went back to the hotel and watched a few more outrageous episodes of Outrageous Fortune and crashed. The next day was Mothers Day and we went from market to market wandering around looking for hidden treasures. With the help of Yvonne and her trusty Lonely Planet guide book we found this really big market where we spent hours looking and wondering if you can get this is New Zealand and if so for how much. My best buy was a shot glass that had written on it, Buenos Fucking Aires. I don't know why but I thought it was real cool and it only cost like 4 pesos or something. After we'd finished with the market and Yvonne got conned into paying 30 pesos for a glass of cordial, (not to worry, happens to the best of us) we made our way over to the rich people cemetery which had heaps of dead people. Some were famous, but mostly it just rich people that wanted to be dead next to famous people. I think that makes sense.

After the dead people we took a taxi back to the hotel, squeezed a quick episode of OF in and headed to the big bus station where I had taken that first bus to Mendoza nine months before. As I sat on the bus I thought about the holiday I'd just been on and what a cool month I'd had. I still feel like there's so much left in Buenos Aires to explore and will definitely be going back there one day. But it was a fantastic few days at the end of an unforgettable trip. A trip full of exciting adventures, great food, Outrageous Fortune but most importantly the company, Liam, Basil and Yvonne. We had lots of interesting conversations and it was great hanging out with some Kiwis especially ones that I feel so close to. I had an awesome time with you guys, I cant thank you enough. Unforgettable. Until next time.
Harry

Second Stop San Martin De Los Andes

Hey,
I have a spare moment and I'm still quite far behind on the blog front so I'll tell you about San Martin De Los Andes and if I have time, about my trip to the north.

We left Bariloche on a Saturday at about midday. It was a 3 hour car ride through this really beautiful terrain but I was quite preoccupied by the All Blacks game that I was missing. The All Blacks game against a little country called France. You might know or have heard of the game I'm talking about. We arrived at the hotel just in time for the replay and I had taken every precaution not to hear the result of the game. I spent the next 80 minutes slouching further and further into my chair. I was pretty messed up after the game and the next few days had a dark cloud over them. Our hotel was in this little town surrounded by stunning scenery of mountains and lakes. The hotel was awesome, it had an indoor and an outdoor pool, ping-pong, foosbal but most importantly a huge barbecue which helped ease away the pain of the World Cup loss.

We spent the next few days hanging out around the town visiting places. We made friends with another family their and often had big shared meals with them. It was a very relaxing holiday which made a good change to the intense one we had just had. The hotel organised activities and one day pretty much every who was staying there all drove to this picnic area by the side of the lake and ate asado and played 'tejo.' Tejo is an Argentine game which involves throwing a disc and having two teams throw other discs and the winner is the person who throws the disc the closest to the original. It's simple but entertaining. My dad and I won both games. We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking mate and talking with the other families from the hotel.

Every Tuesday they have a big Asado for all the hotel guests. There were about 40 of us. After we had all eaten huge quantities of meat and maybe a quarter of a tomato we divided into two teams for a very competitive Karaoke match. It was karaoke with a twist. Each team has a captain and when a song is played the team has to signal to the captain as soon as they recognise the song and the captain shakes this little shaker thing. If they get the song title and artist right they have to go to the front and sing the song as best as they can to double their points. I was elected captain of my team even though I was least likely to know any of the songs because they were all in Spanish. My team won in the end but not after a highly competitive display of poor singing abilities by both teams.

Over the four days we also had some pretty competitive tournaments of ping pong, foosball and a game which we sought of invented as we went along. It was like rugby in a pool but you have to throw the ball into the goal. As you can tell, Argentines are highly competitive people, every little thing will be turned into a competition. I really like it.

So apart from being gutted about the All Blacks loss, I had this awesome week relaxing, drinking mate, eating nice food and just hanging out in the sun. On Thursday at midday we started the 13 hour drive back to Mendoza. We arrived later than expected on Friday morning but I got up for school at 7 anyways because I wanted to say Hi and Bye to all my friends at school before I went to the North the next day. But that is another blog. I was on a really good buzz knowing that I was only halfway through this awesome month of travelling and that I still had another two weeks to go. Doesn't get any better than this!!!

More pics

October-Travel Month, First Stop Bariloche

How's it going everyone?
Right now I'm 17 hours into a 26 hour bus ride from Mendoza to a town called Corrientes in the North where I'm going to meet up with Liam and his family. Surprisingly the trip's not all that bad. The long distance buses here are really well made and comfortable which makes the long journeys in Argentina bearable and even pleasant. I'm constantly astonished in my travels in Argentina by the incomprehensible amount of open space, seemingly never ending then all of a sudden you find a town in the middle of nowhere. The last time I was on a bus like this was between Buenos Aires and Mendoza on my third day in Argentina. Almost exactly 8 months ago. Feels like a long time, especially with all the things I've done since then.

I said that this blog was going to be about the holiday I just got back from with my family in Bariloche. Instead of blabbing on about how great it was I'll give you details. My family and I left Mendoza on a Friday afternoon and drove south until about 1am when we stopped in a town called Neuquen. We stayed the night in a hotel and got back on the road in the morning after a quick look around the city. Wasn't much too look at and we were pretty keen to get to Bariloche. With a few stop offs along the way to take pictures of the incredible scenery we eventually arrived at our hotel which would be our base for the next week. It was on the main street about 3 blocks away from a huge lake called the Nahuel Huapi. (which at one point I actually jumped into, just to add to my repertoire of cold places I've jumped into) Bariloche is a town of just under 100000 but its population swells a lot with the ski season and its also the number one destination for the end of High School trips. Its full of young people and has a reputation for a nightlife unlike any other.

The week we spent in Bariloche was action packed. We went skiing for two days which was a great experience. I never really liked skiing, I never built up confidence with it and it frustrated me that I had to learn from scratch every time I went. This time though I really enjoyed it. Something had changed and it wasn't nearly as difficult as I remembered. My family were all reasonably capable skiers especially my brothers. They all went straight to the difficult tracks. I didn't really like the idea of skiing alone so I followed them to the top of the mountain. Haha. And of course I fell as soon as I got up for the first 100 metres. I got to the point where I could stay standing up until I had to turn. My brother got tired of waiting so he just told me to go straight down the mountain and see what happens. I took his advice. Now that I think about it, it was probably dangerous because of my inability to stop. I probably pissed quite few people off but I did get to the bottom and in the end faster than a lot of people. The thing about going that fast and not knowing how to stop is the falls are really dramatic. By the end of the day I was skiing well enough that I could manage to get down the difficult tracks without falling. I was pretty proud of myself until I caught the chairlift to the top with this 6 year old girl and watched as she raced off down the mountain. What ever, I bet she skis everyday. I felt like shouting out to her, "Yea well I'm taller!!!"

The rest of the days when we didn't go skiing we would drive around and visit certain places around Bariloche. One day we went to a town called El Bolson and visited its famous market. I bought some things that I'll never use and came away satisfied. We walked up this hill to see a rock where from the side you can see the profile of a face (pic). It's called "the head of the Indian." I don't know what makes it an Indian face, looks like every other one to me. One day we went to a town on the other side of the lake called Villa La Angostura. We did a short little walk up a hill and discovered some amazing views that stretched out as far as the eye could see. It was absolutely breathtaking and the photos can't really do it justice. We climbed down and sat by the side of the lake and ate chicken and mayonnaise sandwiches. I thought that was a New Zealand food. Turns out its delicious in Argentina too. There was a touristy couple there eating lunch as well so I went over and introduced myself. He was a bloody Aussie! Travelling around Argentina with his Venezuelan girlfriend. I thought to myself, Shit, this guys got it right, even if he is an Aussie. We had a quick chat about who's rugby team was better, (little did we know what was going to happen a week later) then went our separate ways.

The days were great and we did everything from visit a Swiss colony and eat a thing quite similar to a Hangi to visit the most expensive hotel and pretend we were going to stay there so we could look around. I was taking photos the whole trip, with my readers in mind, and ended up with over 150 photos. The daytime drives doubled as a great opportunity to get over the night before. My 19 year old brother and I had an awesome time going to all the bars and clubs and a few unsuccessful goes at the casino which was a first for me but I was just happy to get in. Some nights we would do all three things. There's nothing like walking out of the club at 7.30-8.00 in the morning and seeing the sun rising up over the mountains and the lake. All in all I felt like we really made the most of the week, we did all the best things but at the end of the week we were exhausted.

A continual highlight of the trip was the food, which as you all know is an important part of my general happiness. We ate at all the highly recommended spots where we ate the best Asados, pastas and things called Melanesas. Melanesas are thin slabs of meat with a crumbed coating. Delicious. Bariloche is also a town famous for its top quality chocolate so we ate a fair bit of it and it was as good as they say.

I've decided that's enough writing so I'll leave the second half of the trip to the south for the next blog in a few days. The second part of the trip was 5 days in a smaller town called San Martin De Los Andes and a very different type of holiday. I'll let the pics do the rest of the talking for Bariloche. 7 hours left on this bus. Bring 'em on. Take care everyone. Harry.

P.S. In one week I will have travelled from Bariloche to Corrientes. Go get a map and check how far that is.