No Time This Time

A friend just mailed me to say he'd be leaving Buenos Aires on the 5^th Dec and ask if I'd be back by then. I was planning to be, but before going back to BsAs I also want to spend a few more days around Salta, here in Cafayate and then Cachi and maybe San Antonio and Jujuy, and I wanted to stop off in Corrientes and the country side to the south before reaching Iguazu and then visit Kai in Brazil and then go back down to Buenos Aires. Looks like something will have to give. Maybe I'll visit Kai another time.

Before leaving Salta I had the biggest steak known to mankind. I am ashamed to admit that I didn't finish it. It wasn't just big though, it was bloody good too.

Another thing I saw in Salta before I left was a kind of gay pride march. I say "a kind of" because it seemed a bit more like introducing the general populace to the concept. Which was helped by the attendance of two scantily clad well endowed women at the front of the float. I assume they were women, although they were followed by a group of transvestites, and you can never tell :)

Something I experienced before leaving Salta was sunburn through a cloudy sky, kind of like the worst of both worlds, but then I've been told that I mustn't complain about the weather, which is scorchingly hot today.

I received some pictures of me abseiling a little while ago, they are the last three here.

My wounds from football have just about cleared up, although I still have thorns in my hand from where I slipped on to a cactus.

Together, Alone

I just managed to change my flight, to 23^rd Feb, I'll get an address for Christmas presents soon. I find talking on bad quality phone lines one of the most stressful things, I have no idea why, by the sound of it the Indian guy on the other end felt the same way, and he has to do it for about 12 hours a day. At least he doesn't have a load of Israelis sitting next to him shouting and smoking. When will Salta catch up with Cordoba, Mendoza and BsAs and ban smoking? God I'm starting to sound like Kai :)

I spent the last two days walking up hills with some people from the hostel. The first hill was a pretty tame affair, and a little bleak looking. We walked up and got the cable car down, how's that for martyrdom? We were rewarded at the top by a surprisingly nice water feature. Then yesterday we walked up a significantly more substantial hill with better views, which never look quite as spectacular on a computer screen. Can't imagine why.

You're So Vein

Last night I watched a guy walk past my hostel holding a small mirror out in front of him so that he could see over his shoulder while walking down the road. It really doesn't seem *that* bad here. A few prostitutes hang out about a block up the same road, I wondered what they were running from when a giant police bus turned up.

I have created a map of my travels here so that you can always see exactly where I am, you might catch me if I'm outside (Clare)! :)

Ridiculous

The other day I asked for tea with milk and was given a cup of hot creamy milk and a tea bag. Surely my Spanish can't be that bad?!

My body is a-mass of mosquito bites. I squeeze the ones on my face thinking they're spots and map out the constellations of the northern hemisphere on my body.

Actually my Spanish can't be that bad, I was half way through a sentence this morning when I decided it might be too complex, but carried on regardless and was understood, I think. But it is up and down still, and it really depends on who I'm talking to. I had real trouble understanding Victoria's three female friends, and they had real trouble understanding me, but when two of their male friends arrived we were chatting away like nobody's business. One of Victoria's female friends actually seemed a bit offended, I guess it was just some natural male simpatico, or maybe we were just communicating in grunts.

Fuck it's hot.

From The Sublime To The Ridiculous

After leaving BsAs we spent two weeks in hostels featured in the Lonely Planet, speaking English. Now that Kai has left and Victoria has arrived I've gone from speaking virtually no Spanish to speaking no English, in fact I think I've spoken more Spanish in the last two days than I have in the last two weeks.

This was compounded by Victoria taking me to meet some old friends of hers and their families, where the subject of the Falklands (or "las Islas Malvinas (Arg)" as they appear on every Argentine map) came up. The father of one of the families is a veteran and his daughter works in the veteran's association and his son has the islands tattooed on his arm in the Argentine colours. They couldn't believe how little the English know on the subject. I had to explain that it really wasn't that important to us, we've done far worse things. The lonely planet actually says that the war, or rather Argentina's losing of the war, played a major part in the down-fall of the military dictatorship, although the families we were with disagreed.

I really think that all the Mail readers in hysteria over girls binge drinking in the UK should come to visit Cordoba. Here the girls buy three litre plastic top hats called baldes, into which bar staff seem to just pour whatever is in front of them, starting with beer, through vodka, cider, melon spirit and God knows what else, finished up with granadin. All this costs about £5, including a £1 deposit on the hat. I saw various variations, one including a whole bottle of Champaign and another with 4 cans of the Argentine equivalent of Red Bull, Speed.

Thanks For All The Fish

Kai joked the other day that it is compulsory for Argentinean motorcyclists to wear helmets - either on their arm or on the top of their head. Yesterday I passed some police stopping motorcyclists not wearing helmets and putting their bikes on the back of a big truck.

We played football a couple of days ago. An Argentinean ask me if I wanted to play, and as ever I replied "por que no?" But I thought we were just going for A Kick-About In The Park, I didn't realise they were hiring a dirt pitch and were going to be totally serious about it. I think the good English guy on our side was more than a little disappointed in us, he was quite good, but two of the Argentines were ridiculously good.

So Kai and I have finally parted company, he's gone off to Salta, accompanied by our new friend Johanna, and I am staying in Cordoba for a while where Victoria will be meeting me tomorrow. Then...? I don't know, I think I might go north to Salta, east to Iguazu and then come back south to Buenos Aires. Kai - you missed the most amazing chorizo last night!

Lies and Damn Lies

Last night someone told us that the ratio of men to women in Cordoba is 9:1, which would explain some things, but he spoilt it by then saying that the ratio in Argentina as a whole is 7:1, which I just cannot believe. I have no idea where I could look this up.

Superman

The video of Kai playing Superman is finally up. Check it out, and make sure you have sound so that you can hear Kai screaming like a little girl :)

Call The Cops

There's some confusion as to what the age of consent is in Argentina. A friend's ex, who's Argentinean, and so should know, told him that it's 21, while wikipedia says it's 13 and the BBC says it's 15. My friend´s ex is under 21, so maybe she was just trying to make it more exciting :)

Fick Political Correctness

I was going to mention this in my last post, but for fear of offending friends with Chilean girlfriends, their girlfriends, my girlfriend and feminist mothers everywhere I my changed my mind. But as I've heard so many people, including girls, say it, I will too: Argentinean girls are H.O.T. Chilean girls are N.O.T. It's nice to be back.