Hola Chicos !!!

First we want to say: some of you already sent us e-mails about your lives. We just want to say that we really appreciate all the stories you send us. It is really nice to read about life continuing at home, please keep us informed as well !!

We made it to Ushuaia, but don´t ask how !! What a trip! Our plane was supposed to leave from the domestic airport of Buenos Aires at 9:00 hours. So we thought 2 hours before on a domestic flight would be enough. We arrived at 7:00 hours. One big heap of people, literally. There was no way of telling who was in which queue. And all queues were at least 100 meters long. We waited for 2 hours to be able to check in! And for the atentive reader: yes, we checked in on the moment the plane was supposed to leave. I, Joost, really are not made for this kind of stress (poor Suzan), mainly because our spanish is not good enough to find out if the plane would wait or not. But we made it in time, so the plane was 1 hour delayed.

After a 3 hour flight we found out there was no luggage for anyone on the plane ! Luckily the temperature in Ushuaia is around 15°C, but all our warm clothing is in our backpacks as well as toothbrushes, clean underware, etc.

The luggage can arrive tonight at 20:30 or 21:30 hours. But it can also not.... They are going to call us when the luggage arrives and drop it off at our appartment. Fingers crossed! More about Ushuaia and our luggage in the next story. Now back to Buenos Aires.

The hostel we picked was in a great neighbourhood, Recoleta. Lots of shops, restaurants, everyting was a bit fancier. Except our hostel. After the beautiful appartement, this was a huge set back. The room was cramped, no aircon, and a fan that was not faster than a turtle on it´s fastest speed, noizy, but most of all the communal kitchen was horrible! I can´t describe all that was wrong. After applying a new mindset, that is what travelling is all about, hey , we overcame our fears for even more stomac problems and cooked the first and only meal in this kitchen. The kitchen in our appartment in Ushuaia doesn´t have the necessary tools as well. Two pans (no frying pan), no can opener, etc.

Anyway, after checking in in our hostel in Recoleta, we went to see the neighbourhood, Belgrano. This was a bit like Recoleta, but less hip. We also discovered a china town here, were all Argentinian tourists probably came for the weekend. Crazy! And two blocks back was the calm and chique Belgrano.

After a warm night in the hostel we went to the neighbourhood La Boca. Lonely Planet advises not to wander off too far into the neighbourhood, because it is unsafe, even during the day. La Boca is an old harbour neigbourhood were all immigrants hoped to find work in de harbour. There is no business any more in this harbour, but the immigrants are still there. It´s rough, we did wander off into the neigbourhood and found out more about the real La Boca than most tourists do. The most tourists just go to one really crazy touriststreet, which is horrible!

We also saw La Bombonera, the home stadium of Maradonna, where he grew up. The man is still a kind of God, he is visible everywhere.

We thought about eating meat from the street BBQ´s, but because our stomachs were not yet OK, we skipped this. Behind the old colonial house facades, you´ll find little cardboard houses.

It´s sad to see that this neigbourhood is really struggling to find a new future.

After La Boca we went to the new waterfront neighbourhood, Puerto Madero. Which looks a bit like Java-eiland in Amsterdam. But also there is a great ecological park, where we gladly spent the rest of the afternoon away from the city´s noise and polluted air. We even thought we saw a big snake here, but then I said to an already really scared Suzan 'It´s no snake. He has shoulders'. There are supposed to be a lot of river turtles here, so that´s what it was, but we only saw its head at first.

On our way back into the city we discovered there was a nice tango show that night. So we bought tickets. We did not have time to change, so I, Joost, went in casual shorts and a t-shirt I spilled saladdressing on earlier during diner. I really looked like a tourist and I really felt uncomfortable!. But the show was very nice, with all different costumes, singing and a real tango orchestra. It was a great way to end 9 days in BA. A long time, so it was time to go. We deceided not to go to Montevideo, Urugay, the last two days, because of the big hustle. By skipping Montevideo, we missed carnaval! Boohoo, but it was a wise and good choice.

Buenos Aires, we will come back to find out even more about the multi faces of the great city. We really enjoyed! Now it´s time for nature, fresh air and hiking !

Hasta luego, amigos!!

P.S. I tryed to link a few video´s in the blog, but somehow the embedded youtube code is not working. So here are the direct links. Two videos I had to rotate, but I did not succeed on these stupid computers here, so please rotate your head :-)

Los Madres de la Plaza de Mayo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68kgsa9fzs8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-5DWBFdBuQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOEzEE34hpk

Milonga:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcrAfRsKNro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laS6iXxFSmg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNRqnLoDVLY

Tango show in the milonga club:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt_7KHlN6Zg