Summer Holidays

So went to the south for a week with friend Clare. Made the 20 hour bus journey to San Martin de los Andes which was not as bad as anticipated...was served food and drinks and slept enough. Can't really complain, there is genocide in the world. We stayed at a little hostel in the town and just spent our time walking, napping and eating. We hired bikes one day, not warned of the extreme steep hills (it was a mountain!!) so this resulted in me pushing the bike for a considerable distance, however the views were amazing, I got to work on my tan and the downhill was easy so overall good times! We then took a four hour bus journey to Bariloche, this journey was interesting...it was on an 'unconstructed road' along the lakes so great views however the lack of air-conditioning, the uneven road and the 'no windows open' due to the dust made it a little tiring. Love the culture tho, there were campsites along the lake and people hitch-hiking everywhere, our driver picked up 4 guys and for a small fee let them stand to the next stop.

Bariloche is a bigger town and I didn't like at first however I did grow to like it. Again, there was a lot of walking, mountains, napping, eating and a bit of swimming. I also went for a few runs along the lake which was awesome, seeing the expanse of water and surrounding mountains, I was reminded of how awesome God's creation is and how blessed I am to be in such a beautiful country. I was reminded of some of my hols in England, laughing a lot about similar times shared with Kate and Luce and with Em, Hel and Billy - I miss friends in England so much! On that note, I am defo coming home for a few weeks in July so will be looking forward to seeing you all...if any of you have some spare time, cash and wanna see Argentina, come on over!

January Jollies...

So 2010...nothing huge and exciting yet but has been fairly good so far. I am continuing on my quest to learn a foreign language and have resumed Spanish lessons, I continue to enjoy my 'listening phase' although am braving it a bit more on the streets! Highlights of my life have now become about being able to answer someone in Spanish, actually knowing what they are asking and not just guessing and going for the 80% safe 'si' answer! Clare returned early Jan so I now have another friend to fill my time with. I am slowly crossing off some of my 'summer time things' I wanted to do so am seeing more of the city and seeing more coffee shops! Went to Plaza de Mayo to the 'Las Madres de la Plaze de Mayo' (the mothers...), a group of women march for 15 minutes outside the government building in protest to the 'DIRTY WAR' where tens of thousands of Argentines disappeared.

I have also taken up another sport, I know it is shocking, not only am I running regularly (more accurately, jogging) I am now cycling four times a week. Now, do not even begin to picture me on a mountain bike, fashioning lycra, high vis wear and a helmet...oh no, cycling for me is on a old school town style bicycle , everyday wear and flip flops. Fear not tho, I am still working hard enough in the heat of the day for it to be classed as exercise...i think.

I also had an unfortunate accident in the street the other day...whilst running. I may add I was running along a main road for safety reasons. I was happily running to 'Halo' (Live lounge version) when I failed to notice a pavement tile that was sticking up (there are no health and safety concerns here). Consequently, I flew forwards landing on my front, scraping my knees, hands and elbow. I took a moment to realise what happened, muttered a quick 'ouch, that really hurt', then noticing that a lady had stopped her car and was ready to help, I promptly smiled and continued running. Injuries were minor although I do now have huge bruises and scabs to add to the multiple and evergrowing mosquito bites that are consuming all my skin surface area...I am truly a beautiful sight.

Am heading to Bariloche and San Martin (Lake district) with Clare bear tomorro so will blog again next week.