tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84207342011-12-14T16:57:04.662+13:00Jan - Aug 2005: Teaching English in Buenos Aires.<br> Aug - Dec 2005: Travels around South America.<br> Dec '05 - Jul 2006: Setting up a business in Argentina.<br> Aug 2006 - Mar 2007: Living in Bariloche<br> I started this blog as a way of keeping in touch with my friends back home.<br> As for the name, well, I hate backpacks and I think you could travel around most of the world with a suitcaseonwheels instead.mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.comBlogger911100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-57479004462710325622007-10-06T22:08:00.000+13:002007-10-06T22:47:07.382+13:00

This is a blog from my time living in Argentina from January 2005 until April 2007. I started out teaching English, travelled around most of Argentina and Bolivia (with bits of other countries), became pretty much fluent in Spanish and eventually started my own business in Bariloche, Argentina - which was a bureaucratic nightmare, and at the end of the day it wasn't worth doing.I am now back in

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-8463963297379598072007-05-10T15:45:00.000+12:002007-05-16T17:03:52.286+12:00

For our final Saturday night in Buenos Aires my girlfriend and I arranged our despedida (farewell party).We'd arranged to meet at 11pm in our San Telmo pension (hotel room) and to our amazement, by 11:15pm just about everyone had turned up and we were waiting for Ruth to put her makeup on! From there we headed to Gibraltar, where we met up with others for a couple of beers.The start of the night

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-39428957932433417832007-04-26T22:25:00.000+12:002007-05-11T15:56:43.426+12:00

So my van finally sold, for less than what I was hoping, but for only $500 pesos less than what I'd bought it for a year before. As I said earlier, because of inflation it had actually increased in value! With the van sold I was able to buy our tickets to NZ.My last month in BA has been lazy. The weather's been crazy - lots of rain and flooding, but also plenty of sunny days, yet it's been

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-91153167160650759372007-04-26T21:56:00.000+12:002007-05-11T15:55:20.818+12:00

I've stayed in a lot of places since I've been here, from pensiones to hotel rooms to apartments, but always at the low end of the market. In this post I'm going to post my observations on the accommodation I've encountered here.In Buenos Aires, the city is mostly apartments or duplexes. Houses with lawns aren't common - but they do exist in other towns and outside the capital. Many apartments

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-74987226023192196912007-03-28T08:43:00.000+12:002007-03-28T10:08:58.046+12:00

Our last day in San Bernardo, a Sunday, was an eye opener, as it was the last day of the high season and thus the first day of the low season. Opening hours of the shops were cut back to normal, many businesses had already been moth-balled and boarded up, and almost all the apartments around town had the shutters down, deserted by their owners or tenants until next summer. It already started to

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-38100782877270196302007-03-05T07:04:00.000+13:002007-03-05T07:53:16.649+13:00

Yep, as well as some of the highest mountains, largest glaciers, and flattest plains in the world, Argentina also has beaches. While not as beautiful or warm as those further north in Brazil, the Argentine beach scene remains little-known to the outside world but well known amongst Argentines.All of the beach towns lie along the Atlantic coast south of Buenos Aires. Beach-wise, they're all pretty

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-39937431490412222132007-02-21T07:31:00.000+13:002007-02-21T14:26:17.979+13:00

With my days in Bariloche numbered, there's still a lot of things around here I haven't done and want to do - a decent overnight trek/hike/tramp being one of them. The first problem I had was choosing which trek to do, as Bariloche and nearby El Bolson have an abundance of treks and refugios (huts) to stay in. I decided that above all, I wanted to see glaciers and snow, so I decided that I wanted

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-19077360190467048022007-02-19T07:17:00.000+13:002007-02-21T07:31:14.508+13:00

The highest and largest mountain in Patagonia's Lake District is Mount Tronador, at around 3400m. The first time I went there was in Dec 2005 with a couple of Spaniards in a hired car. The highlight of that trip was when I dared one of the guys to go iceberg-hopping Polar Bear style, and to our surprise he ignored the warning signs and did it. You can read more from that trip in this blog post.A

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1170283645758415222007-02-01T10:19:00.000+13:002007-02-19T08:08:25.325+13:00

It's been about six weeks since my last post - so what have I been up to? The weather here has been great most of the time, so we've spent a few days at the Bariloche's beaches. Most of the beaches are covered in pebbles, and the water is absolutely freezing, but it's still nice to soak up some rays and sprint in and out of the water.First day at the beach on a small and empty Playa SerenaThe

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1166291823887226892006-12-17T04:29:00.000+13:002007-01-17T11:15:41.083+13:00

Summer's upon us here which means Tshirts and shorts most days. The last few weeks have been great. I spent a lot of time helping the Kiwi couple I mentioned a couple of posts ago (Hamish and Lisa) with a used car deal at a car yard. I was the interpreter as they don't speak Spanish and the car dealer didn't speak English. The deal got really complicated and eventually took a couple of weeks to

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1164576664599115352006-11-27T10:23:00.000+13:002006-12-15T04:10:35.673+13:00

Things were going great last week. I worked 5 days in a row, mostly airport transfers in my van but a couple of half day trips (Circuito Chico) and a full day trip to Villa La Angostura, just across the lake from Bariloche. The weather was great, sunny and clear, and I really enjoyed it. Listening to the guide I worked with I learnt a lot about the area (and helped him with his English). It felt

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1163451899693632532006-11-14T10:02:00.000+13:002006-11-25T09:32:38.606+13:00

With my list of tariffs delivered to the agencies I spent the last few weeks waiting for the phone to ring. But October was pretty quiet here. Sure, there were tourists and many of the big agencies in town kept working. The smaller agencies struggled. Those drivers who've been here years and have established themselves kept working, even if it was 4 days a week instead of 6. But me, the new guy

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1160430596358388022006-10-10T10:28:00.000+13:002006-12-04T12:51:27.836+13:00

It's been almost a month since my last post, so let's sum up what I've been doing.The downtown apartment in the Bariloche Center we were in was only a temporary arrangement, until December. Although the Bariloche Center is by far the biggest eyesore in town, if you're living in it you don't have to look at it, rather you're looking out from it. How about this shot - go the moon! Notice it giving

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1157915769963078902006-09-11T06:54:00.000+12:002006-12-05T19:00:05.486+13:00

As expected, my last post generated a few comments - positive feedback too, great!Reader's comment:My friend -Looks like you're getting angrier by the post with your adopted country. I think things will get better in time though...hopefully before the boiling point is reached.Hi Adam... it wasn't my intention for my last post to have an angry tone. Sure, I called their comedy series' ridiculous

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1157408739823417482006-09-05T08:44:00.000+12:002007-05-16T17:00:47.597+12:00

Myth number 27 about Argentina:Argentina has the most beautiful girls in the world.Actually, I don't think that even counts as a myth. I'd never heard that before I came here, and I don't think many Argentinians would claim it was true. I think maybe a mechanic or waiter told me that "fact" after I'd been here a month, and it stuck with me. Update: Or maybe I heard it through the mainstream

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1156606383719303592006-08-27T03:00:00.000+12:002006-11-27T21:05:31.933+13:00

The inhabitants of the largest city in any country often seem to get a bad rap throughout the rest of that country. Often those who live in the largest city have more disposable income, more expensive cars and houses, and more entertainment options (international concerts, theatres etc), which gives them a superiority complex over their small town cousins. They may also have more hectic

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1155673668482185662006-08-16T07:57:00.000+12:002006-09-11T15:23:49.176+12:00

Well it's been three weeks since my last post, and since then I've been pretty busy, but unfortunately not in a good way. I'd love to be able to write saying things are going great here but so far they haven't been.Firstly, my girlfriend hates it here. Being from the north of Argentina she's not made for the cold, and locals tell me this winter's been harsher than normal, with more snow (and rain

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1153783974451026412006-07-25T09:35:00.000+12:002006-08-14T09:51:01.553+12:00

After seven months of shuffling papers, my business is finally ready to go. I'll let you in on it:When travelling in the South of Argentina at the end of last year, I'd noticed a great shortage in the number of buses, such that in more than one place I had a three day wait to get an onward bus. Not only that, but in some places there wasn't a direct bus linking two tourist hot spots. To me that

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1152405337752203802006-07-09T12:17:00.000+12:002006-07-23T13:15:06.613+12:00

Argentine fútbol song #5:Volveremos, volveremosVolveremos otra vezVolveremos a ser campeonesComo en el ochenta y seisWe're gonna be we're gonna beWe're gonna be once againWe're gonna be championsJust like in '86Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. As all of you would know by now, Argentina lost in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Bummer. Guys shook their heads in dismay. My girlfriend cried after

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1151616303219811872006-06-30T08:49:00.000+12:002006-07-01T06:19:06.163+12:00

On Saturday I awoke to the sound of rain dripping. Somewhat rarely for BA, where it usually only rains 10 minutes or so at a time, the rain stayed all day and by early afternoon I was wondering if it would be worth heading across town to Velez Sarsfield stadium to watch the All Blacks play that afternoon. Firstly, because it wasn't really THE All Blacks playing but, what seemed on paper to be a

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1150855408622649412006-06-21T13:33:00.000+12:002006-06-30T05:15:34.526+12:00

Argentine futbol song #2:Vamos vamos ArgentinaVamos vamos a ganarQue esta barra quilomberaNo te deja no te deja de alentarGo go ArgentinaWe're going to winThis damn group of fansWon't quit supporting you(OK, that's my crap translation)Thanks to you all for the support I received in both comments and emails on my last post. As one reader put to me, I'll try to keep it real.News wise here -

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1149879288899694582006-06-10T06:50:00.000+12:002007-02-03T05:05:02.416+13:00

It's funny this old blogging game. Over the past year and a half I've received many emails from readers out there, all of them in praise of the blog, and many have asked me a question or two about their upcoming trip to Buenos Aires. I've always responded courteously and have always taken the time to answer any questions as fully as I can, which often meant a long email reply, and usually a bit

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1149633306101674842006-06-07T10:00:00.000+12:002006-06-08T01:17:08.936+12:00

Well, here I am back in Buenos f'n Aires. I really enjoyed my time back in NZ and was a little reluctant to return to Argentina to be honest. I'd gotten so accustomed to the difficulties and irregularities of life here, that I'd forgotten how easy life can be back home, especially when you have a decent salary. Stu and Sarah's wedding went great, good weather, great venue, food drink speeches

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1145154561085382632006-04-16T14:18:00.000+12:002006-04-17T16:46:14.796+12:00

Things have been going surprisingly well for me since I've returned to the land of the long white cloud. Firstly, a good friend of mine Trent gave me a week long IT (Information Technology, i.e. computers) contract which I could do from anywhere I had an internet connection, i.e. my parent's place. That gave me a chance to catch up with my family for a week, as well as catching up on Mum's home

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1142998629499236052006-03-22T15:02:00.000+12:002007-01-07T01:52:11.853+13:00

I realize some of my posts have been a bit negative toward Argentina, but it really is a beautiful country. Using this blog to vent my frustrations helps me deal with it, as I generally don't complain too much about they system to my Argentine friends (apart from when they ask me).The nature: the desert rock formations of Cafayate, the cactuses and hills of Jujuy, the imposing Andes, the lakes

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1142906662397632532006-03-21T13:28:00.000+12:002006-03-21T16:14:49.340+12:00

Last Friday I finally submitted all the papers necessary to start my business. It took me 3 months to get everything organised, which was longer than even I expected. I was always pessimestic regarding the amount of time it would take as I knew how bureaucratic Argentina is, but 3 months was way too long.As such, I've run out of money. And now they tell me I'll have to wait 30 working days for my

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1141866312497866172006-03-09T12:48:00.000+13:002006-03-10T09:58:37.360+13:00

Well, it's three weeks since my last entry and I'm still in BA sorting out the papers for my business. Little progress has been made since the last entry which is really annoying. I haven't said too much about what I'm gonna be doing, just that it's something to do with tourism. I will say it's in the south of Argentina though - and now that we're in March I've unfortunately missed the

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1139856508296680642006-02-14T07:28:00.000+13:002006-02-14T07:48:28.663+13:00

Still here in Buenos Aires, preparing papers for my business. Every day it's one thing taken off the todo list, but it seems like something new gets added every day too. For two months I've been doing this, hopefully only about another 2 or 3 weeks left. I've been saying that to myself (and my girlfriend) for a while now.Buenos Aires translated means "Good Airs". Which is kind of ironic for me

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1138142368662910042006-01-25T10:43:00.000+13:002006-07-20T20:43:58.246+12:00

I'm still here in BA, spending every day going from government department to government department, taking numbers, waiting half an hour, all this on the way to starting my own business. No one said this would be easy either.Without a doubt January is the busiest gringo month here in BA. I've never seen so many Teva sandals and daypacks wandering the streets in the last year I've been here. The

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1136828649047780152006-01-10T06:01:00.001+13:002009-07-18T14:26:41.801+12:00

Today is January 9 2006 which means it was exactly one year ago I flew out of Auckland (almost missed my flight because my sister's boyfriend's car broke down on the way) and landed in Buenos Aires.One year! Hooray!! And nearly 5000 visits to this blog. About once a week I get a random email from someone asking me something about my blog. At first the questions seemed to be along the lines of "

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1136331566066213152006-01-04T11:25:00.001+13:002008-12-18T08:44:22.815+13:00

Summer in BA is stinking hot. And humid. Without air conditioning lately we've been sleeping on the floor of my girlfriend's room as the tiles are slightly cooler than a mattress - albeit a bit more uncomfortable. Maybe I should at least buy a desk fan - it's just that hopefully we're only here a bit longer before heading South to Ushuaia again, where we definitely won't need a fan.Random pic:

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1135284921433376012005-12-23T09:06:00.000+13:002007-02-20T08:12:46.796+13:00

From Ushuaia I first flew to El Calafate, where I had a two day wait for my next flight to Bariloche. Because December is the high season, I couldn't get a direct flight from Ushuaia to Bariloche as they were all already booked. So I opted to take the two flights, paid two sets of departure taxes and 4 taxi fares to and from the airports (grrr). Ushuaia's at the very bottom of the map where it

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1134759119024870422005-12-17T07:40:00.000+13:002005-12-17T10:48:03.196+13:00

My next destination from Punto Arenas in Chile's far south was Ushuaia, in Argentina's far south, in fact the southern-most city in the world. Unfortunately, there's only 2 buses a day to Ushuaia and they were already booked in advance, so I had to wait 3 days in Punto Arenas.Traveller's note: Although it should be a short journey from Punto Arenas to Ushuaia across the Strait of Magellen, it's

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1133825110255241492005-12-06T10:21:00.000+13:002005-12-06T12:28:03.393+13:00

From El Calafate I headed north 5 hours to nearby El Chalten, Argentina's youngest town, which was founded in 1985 to scare Chile out of the area.Map of Southern Patagonia - brown is Argentina territoryThe border between Argentina and Chile in Southern Patagonia wasn't firmly established until the mid 80s, and squabbling had been taking place over it for years. Which is probably why Chile

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1133201505380196122005-11-29T07:35:00.000+13:002005-11-29T08:02:59.646+13:00

Puerto Madryn sits at 42 degrees south which is about the same as Hobart, Tasmania, or, a little bit north of Christchurch, NZ. From Puerto Madryn I caught a night bus another I think 12 hours south to Rio Gallegos. Rio Gallegos is at 51 degrees south, which makes it a lot further south than anywhere in Australia or NZ (Invercargill's at 46 degrees south - source).I'd planned to go to Ushuaia in

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1132857500218832792005-11-25T09:40:00.000+13:002005-11-29T06:32:04.400+13:00

Many travellers I meet tell me they love Buenos Aires and would like to live there, and I can see why - theatre, culture, nightlife, a European feel, those are all things that drew me there way back in January, and it is a great city to visit. But to live there? - I don't think I ever enjoyed it. To begin with, I was trying to live off my English teaching wages which was a meagre $1100 pesos a

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1131730086445895952005-11-12T06:27:00.000+13:002005-11-12T07:49:32.226+13:00

I arrived back in Copacabana from Machu Picchu, and bumped into the same bunch of Irish travellers I'd first met in Potosí, and then again in La Paz. A couple of us decided to take a tour of Isla del Sol (Sun Island) the next day.Isla del Sol sits in the middle of Lake Titcaca, and the Incas believed it to be the birthplace of the Inca Adam & Eve, who they called Manco Kapac & Mama Ockllo. The

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1131129937956339102005-11-05T06:33:00.000+13:002005-11-05T13:51:41.793+13:00

From La Paz I headed to the town of Copacabana, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, which straddles the border between Bolivia and Peru. Maybe not "the hottest spot North of Havana", as sung by Barry Manilow - I think he was referring to the more famous Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They say that the Copacabana in Rio was named after this Copacabana.Crosses atop the hill overlooking

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1129765720578452372005-10-20T12:36:00.000+13:002005-11-05T06:32:42.213+13:00

Map stolen from www.lonelyplanet.comSometimes when you're on the road you arrive in a place with expectations and a to-do list. Other times you just turn up and wait for things to happen. La Paz I was excited about because it's the biggest city in Bolivia (pop. 1.5 mil), the highest capital in the world (at about 3600m, although the debate's still out whether it's the capital or Sucre is), and

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1129160599112093252005-10-16T11:16:00.000+13:002005-10-16T12:08:35.873+13:00

The Spanish of Bolivians is a bit different from that of Argentinians, especially that of Buenos Aires. For one thing, there's the double-l pronunciation. Calle, which means street in Spanish, is pronounced kind of like ka-jsheh in Buenos Aires, but like kal-yeh in Bolivia (and most places Spanish is spoken). So calle or llaves or llamado (street, keys, a call) is often not understood. The same

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1128978661973467692005-10-11T10:03:00.000+13:002006-04-23T15:35:26.936+12:00

From Potosi I shared a taxi 3 hours to Sucre. The taxi was only a bit more expensive than the bus, but I'd missed the bus by an hour cos I'd been told the wrong departure time.Sucre is the official capital of Bolivia, but La Paz is where the Government sits which makes it the Capital in most people's books (including the Bolivians). And what a beautiful city it is. The downtown area has preserved

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1128549142781286862005-10-07T10:52:00.000+13:002005-10-11T10:14:27.243+13:00

From Uyuni I headed 5 hours west to Potosí. Potosí's history is extremely interesting to me. A llama herder named Diego Huallpa discovered silver in Cerro Rico (Rich Hill) in 1544, when he lit a fire for warmth, which glowed strangely.Cerro Rico, overlooking PotosíSoon after the city was founded and mining commenced, using black slaves brought in from Africa, or imprisoned Indians. By the 17th

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1128109769595787922005-10-01T13:47:00.000+12:002005-10-01T14:46:43.133+12:00

Here I am in Uyuni, 5 days after our tour ended, still waiting for my keys. It's back another era here with the communication, as I said in the last post the only way to communicate with the town I left them in is by CB Radio. So it's my CB Radio operator attempting to communicate with the only radio in the town of Quetena Chico. The method is that she goes on one of the 5 open frequencies and

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1127876216359758452005-09-30T06:56:00.000+12:002005-11-05T06:13:29.023+13:00

Map stolen from lonelyplanet.com After the horse-riding and the river visiting in Tupiza we managed to get our Lakes and Salt Flat tour organised. The standard trip is 4 days, from Uyuni, to the Salar de Uyuni (the world's largest salt flat at 12,000 square km), South to Laguna Colorada (Coloured Lake) and Laguna Verde (Green Lake), then back to Uyuni. For many this is a highlight of their trip

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1127766823616950432005-09-27T09:18:00.000+12:002005-10-01T07:52:30.473+12:00

From Salta I headed north into Jujúy (pronounced hu-huoy), the final province before Bolivia.Town hall in JujúyMy girlfriend returned to Buenos Aires for work so I was now travelling solo. I was looking forward to going to Jujúy for a while because Trent, one of my best friends from NZ, did a high school student exchange in Jujúy in like 1994. So I was hoping to meet some of his old school

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1127011263545487092005-09-26T08:10:00.000+12:002005-11-05T06:12:26.533+13:00

From Cordoba we headed north first to Tucuman, and then on to Salta.Map stolen from lonelyplanet.comFrom Salta a famous attraction is the Tren a las Nubes (Train to the Clouds) which is an expensive tourist trap. However, it hasn't been running since July since the train is out of order, so we couldn't do it anyway.What about the cellphone on that guyI was looking forward to Salta but I found it

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1126910907685205892005-09-18T03:45:00.000+12:002005-09-17T15:49:39.933+12:00

From Mendoza my girlfriend convinced me to return to Buenos Aires for a few days, which turned into about ten days. During that time I convinced her to go travelling with me, so finally we set off for Rio Tercero in the province of Cordoba, where one of her friends named Mirian now lives. Quick background info: Mirian was once picked up by a guy in the street who later turned out to be married.

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1125437995768304982005-08-31T12:01:00.000+12:002005-08-31T12:25:38.150+12:00

If you look to the right of this page, I've recently added a box for Email Notifications. If you like, you can add yourself to the list. Then I'll send you an email whenever I add a new entry.One thing I forgot to mention in my last Santiago entry - karaoke! Thad and I went to a karaoke restaurant in Santiago with a couple of girls Thad had met clubbing. As I said, the place was a karaoke

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1124752851864558592005-08-23T13:50:00.000+12:002005-08-31T09:43:48.876+12:00

The next day we did a bit of sightseeing with Leo, the Santiago native, being our guide. First stop was some hill with a giant virgin statue on top, from which we could view Santiago's smog. The Virgen San Cristobal overlooks the city and makes a useful landmark. To climb the hill we took a finicular, which had me singing "finiculee finicular finiculee finiculaaaar... da da da da da finiculee

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1124144203617997772005-08-16T12:14:00.000+12:002005-08-23T11:21:10.993+12:00

While the road on the Argentine side of the border was more or less a slow, straight ascent, the descent of the Andes on the Chilean side was a rapid and twisting road with around 20 hairpin bends.A bright yellow sulphur depositOnce we'd quickly gotten the Andes behind us Chile opened up into a green wonderland which reminded me a lot of the North Island of New Zealand. I've never seen grass as

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1123887597384068072005-08-13T11:54:00.000+12:002005-11-05T06:17:11.583+13:00

With a tear in my eye I left Buenos Aires last Thursday, heading to Santiago, Chile, via Mendoza, Argentina.Map stolen from lonelyplanet.comWe finally got away at about 2pm because of problems with paperwork on the car. It took ages to get out of BA but we were soon crossing the pampas as the night set in. Like many Argentine cars, the Peugeot had both petrol and natural gas (propane) to run on.

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1123025089111878512005-08-03T11:30:00.000+12:002005-08-08T04:20:47.640+12:00

I'm finally getting ready to leave BA. On one hand I'm really excited to leave as I'm finally going travelling, which is one of the reasons I came to South America. On the other I'm sad to leave behind my girlfriend who I've been with for over 4 months now, and the friends I've made here. The plan with my girl is that I'll return in January to see her again, and we'll see where we are then. She

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1121827141205988412005-07-20T14:15:00.000+12:002005-07-29T06:31:23.960+12:00

OK, here's a story told to me by one of my students last week, which I meant to write about in my last post but forgot to.Random pic: BA's central Cathedral2 weekends ago my student, Diego, was going to a birthday party at a friend's house with his wife. They arrived at the address, and after parking their car in the street they got held up by a group of 3 men, wearing bullet-proof vests and

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1121558739774476432005-07-17T10:42:00.000+12:002005-11-05T06:18:23.910+13:00

Last weekend got off to a good start with a really bad fight over nothing with my girlfriend on Friday night. It was the last straw for me, I kicked her out of my room and discarded all her belongings too. Rather than come crawling back for foregiveness as I expected her too, she came back with force, telling me she wasn't going to leave until she wanted to. I was dozing off and just wanted to

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1120618828240033812005-07-06T13:23:00.000+12:002005-07-17T10:42:02.416+12:00

Last week was my birthday, the big 28, hooray. The day itself was the usual birthday away from home downer, as 3 of my last 4 birthdays have been, but I did receive phone calls from family and some friends back home. My girlfriend was working so I was alone most of the day too, which sucked. So I spent the evening cheering myself up by reading birthday emails from my other friends who were too

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1119747031752079732005-06-26T12:01:00.000+12:002005-07-17T10:41:47.810+12:00

Woohoo, this blog has recently hit 1000 visits. Thanks for stopping by. Hmmm, 1000 visits in six months = about 5 visits a day. Not exactly blazing hot. My post on teaching English in BA was recently published on www.baexpats.com.Random pic: My $12 peso hotel room for the last 3 monthsLast weekend was a long weekend here, so me and my girlfriend got off to a good start by breaking up, again. What

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1118714827318882592005-06-14T13:03:00.000+12:002005-07-17T10:41:27.436+12:00

Life goes on here... Operation Beefcake, that is, my weight-gain diet is coming along OK, I've put on 3kg (of muscle) in the first 2 weeks which is a little more than I'd planned on so I'm happy. However I'm already getting sick of going to the gym 4 times a week and eating meat or chicken 3 or 4 times a day.On Wednesday I was the envy of all my Argentine friends as I went to another futbol game,

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1117411961759904072005-06-03T13:04:00.000+12:002005-07-17T10:41:08.116+12:00

For the past two and a half months I've been going out with an Argentine girl. She doesn't speak any English, which has been great for my Spanish. Especially for my listening skills. Before, I could speak a bit but not understand much unless it was said at a learner's pace. After a couple of weeks with her I could understand most of what was directed at me. Now, thanks to many evenings sitting

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1117054005517795312005-05-26T07:47:00.001+12:002009-05-17T11:17:28.133+12:00

Today is May 25, Independence Day which means another public holiday, which means I don't work which means I don't get paid. Such is the life of a contracting language teacher.On Sunday Juan and I finally went sky-diving. Almost every time I see Juan, he says to me "Hey man, so are we gonna do this sky-diving shit?" and we always put it off for another weekend. But a friend of mine from Australia

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1115763922872243932005-05-11T10:15:00.000+12:002005-07-17T10:39:55.663+12:00

One crap thing about being 'on the road' is I miss out on what's happening with the music scene back home. The music scene here is pretty good, much better than in Asia, at least here they receive most mainstream music from the Northern Hemisphere, except for Hip-Hop, which I guess is too irrelevant if you don't speak the language.Anyway, I big thanks to my friend Dean for posting me a CD full of

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1115686670436024632005-05-10T13:15:00.000+12:002005-05-26T10:09:20.643+12:00

On Friday night I met up with Juan and Pablo, another friend, and we drove across town to go to a tribute gig to Joaquin Sabina. Joaquin Sabina is a Spanish singer/songwriter who I'm told sings a lot about women and drinking - my Spanish isn't good enough to understand songs yet. Anyway, the band we were going to see was a covers band of him. The bar was packed full with a partizan crowd -

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1114983120765745832005-05-02T09:03:00.000+12:002005-05-02T09:33:49.443+12:00

It's easy to forget I'm living in what is a large and sometimes dangerous city. Old ladies walk their dogs until midnight, and their is often a cop standing on many street corners. The cops here are always sporting guns and usually bullet-proof vests too, which at first is an interesting site. While I usually feel safe in the street, a couple of organised robberies I've heard of only from word of

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1114980086861413622005-05-02T08:19:00.000+12:002005-05-02T09:43:33.470+12:00

The other night I got dragged along to see Marionetas del Pene, which is a local franchising of the Australian Puppetry of the Penis show. When I was in Australia, these guys were all over the media, and received respectable reviews for their show. So at first I was interested to see the local version. But then I thought about it, and realised I didn't really want to pay $20 pesos (NZ$10) to see

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1114964488027163782005-05-02T03:43:00.000+12:002005-05-02T08:56:22.490+12:00

The other night I was walking along in the pouring rain huddled under my tiny Kathmandu traveller's umbrella, when I heard the sound of a car window breaking across the road from me. The breaker of the window was some tall lanky guy, and he stepped away from the car and watched as his smaller companion reached in through the broken window and tried to remove something from the car - probably the

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1114176285144080072005-04-23T10:02:00.000+12:002006-10-16T09:15:09.533+13:00

NB. This post is for people who wish to be English teachers in Buenos Aires.There seems to be a lot of work for native speaking English teachers in Buenos Aires. The easiest work to find is in-company business English classes, through a number of English institutes. Bridge-Linguatec, Brooklyn Bridge, Anglo American Business, MB Language Center, Sol Vasquez and English Training Systems are some of

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1113446372407816122005-04-14T14:09:00.000+12:002005-04-16T09:51:30.246+12:00

Sorry for not updating this page lately, but I've been pretty busy working, and well life hasn't been too exciting as I've settled in to the working man Mon-Fri routine, whereby I don't do much all week except work and anticipate the weekend, which is much the same as the life of a non-traveller.I was hoping to be writing about the concert put on by Placebo, one of my favourite bands, whom put on

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1112410918213287512005-04-02T14:58:00.000+12:002005-04-03T03:55:19.986+12:00

The routine of work is beginning to settle on me. I worked ten hours last week, and have four new classes next week. To save money I stopped taking Spanish lessons, and now my former Spanish teacher is taking a few English lessons with me, so I have a private student too, for now. My Mondays to Fridays are usually work-related but I usually have busy weekends, well Friday and Saturday nights

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1111545407479385212005-03-23T13:53:00.000+12:002005-03-23T14:47:22.646+12:00

I've finally gotten some work through Brooklyn Bridge. My first gig was last Thursday, on-site at a pharmaceutical company located on the outskirts on the city, which meant a half hour train ride, but it took me half an hour to get to the train station. So it's like a 2 hour round trip for a 1.5 hour lesson... add in the 4 hours preparation time and you have a lot of work for $22.50 pesos ($NZ11)

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1111378049905546042005-03-21T16:00:00.000+12:002005-03-24T10:23:05.986+12:00

Last Sunday I went and checked out La Boca, which is one of the oldest neighbourhoods of the city. Near the port, it's famous for the Boca Juniors football team, for which Maradona played, Tango, and technicolour houses. It's also still famously dangerous outside of the few tourist streets.Me in front of some of La Boca's technicolour housesWe strolled around checking out the artists and their

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1110734439475629052005-03-14T06:18:00.000+13:002006-10-23T11:19:46.620+13:00

On Thursday I moved into another guesthouse that a Scottish friend Duncan found. How he found it I don't know, as it's not listed in any of the guidebooks or well known at all. It's pretty much across the road from Etty's House where I stayed for 2 weeks in January. There's no signage or anything so it's not obvious its a guesthouse. So I'm back in the Congreso neighbourhoood, which I don't

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1110318261555824762005-03-09T10:40:00.000+13:002006-10-23T11:14:36.890+13:00

I'm still at the hostel, but now it's gotten old. Some interesting characters have passed through though, from the young American first-time author (book available here on amazon.com) with her long-haired stockmarket-playing boyfriend who was playing Wall Street from the roof of our hostel, to the young South-African alcoholic who since staying at the hostel was back on the sauce, to the two

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1109886279510949592005-03-04T10:50:00.000+13:002005-03-09T10:50:58.120+13:00

The 7th annual Buenos Aires Tango Festival is on right now for the next week so I've been getting into it a little, well I've had a couple of free lessons anyway. Buenos Aires is the home of tango, but it's kind of for the oldies these days. No, plenty of young people are into it but the average young local you'd meet here has never done it in their life. It's pretty hard dance, but I'd like to

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1109285744373632652005-02-24T22:39:00.000+13:002005-03-04T10:12:47.753+13:00

So, I moved into a room in Valentin's nice apartment on Saturday, and then on Sunday he tells me I have to move out because his landlady suspects he's running a hostel and he's not supposed to be renting out my room. Goddammit, so now I'm back in a real hostel, this time Tango Backpackers in Palermo which is cheap and cheerful but I'm in a dorm when I'd much prefer my own room. This flatting game

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1109285784139202232005-02-24T22:11:00.000+13:002005-02-25T12:11:29.020+13:00

Although all the nightclubs within BA are still closed down pending safety inspections following the Dec 30 fire, clubs outside the BA city jurisdiction (12 km radius) are still open. It just means a longer taxi ride to get there.Outside Sunset So on Saturday night we went to Sunset, way out in the Olivos suburb. The night was pretty crap though, we got there at 3am as per standard and our group

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1108750768211806892005-02-18T17:20:00.000+13:002005-02-25T12:51:25.060+13:00

I arrived back in BA on Tuesday morning and this week has been all business - apartment hunting and job hunting. I've been flat out so I'm looking forward to doing nothing this weekend.I found a room in an apartment in Palermo Viejo, which is one of the nicer neigbourhoods in BA, and I move in Saturday, hooray. There's two other guys, Valentin, an Argentine, and an English guy I haven't met

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1108749518607649902005-02-15T17:09:00.000+13:002005-02-19T07:07:39.696+13:00

Iguazú Falls is at the border of Brazil and Argentina and is 275 waterfalls across 3km and supposedly 80m high. To see the falls properly you have to see them from both the Argentina side and the Brazil side, so they say.Bus travel in Argentina (and Brazil) is divided into 4 classes - standard, semi-cama, cama and cama suite (cama means bed). Semi-cama is like an economy seat on a plane, cama is

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1108697606731660732005-02-12T02:30:00.000+13:002005-02-18T16:33:26.743+13:00

We spent the next few days chillin' at the beach, trying to meet girls and trying to find a party. Most nights the guys would end up on our balcony drinking caipiñaras until sunrise, I'd usually be the first to crash but also the first to get up.Not surprisingly, the island is full of tourists, but surprisingly there are very few gringos. Most of the tourists are Brazilians from other parts of

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1108694231790486892005-02-10T01:37:00.000+13:002005-02-18T15:47:44.343+13:00

OK, for those that don't know, Carnaval is an annual 2 week long party in Brazil, characterised by hundreds or thousands of dancing girls and guys in crazy costumes and float parades. But the general idea is to get drunk and watch from the street and dance along with the music. It's supposedly one of the best parties on the planet. The best Carnavals are in Rio de Janiero and Salvador, but we

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1107724306314433042005-02-06T21:11:00.000+13:002005-11-05T06:29:05.120+13:00

Map stolen from www.lonelyplanet.comWe made it to Brazil after going out all night Friday to celebrate the end of our course (no sleep), and catching the bus at 7.30 Sat morning still in the clothes from the previous night, 27 hours on the bus, arrived at 10am this morning (Sunday). Managed to get a few hours sleep on the bus and a couple on the beach here this afternoon. There's six of us so

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1107532331988851812005-02-04T16:00:00.000+13:002005-02-05T04:54:33.590+13:00

The last few days have been busy... on Tuesday a group from my university invited me to go to Brazil with them for a week. Here's an email I wrote to a friend yesterday Sounds good but today's really not good for me. I have to finish off a speech I'm writing for Spanish school now, apply for the visa for Brazil and buy the bus ticket this morning, do my homework, have lunch, have a private

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1107308990341753122005-02-02T13:46:00.000+13:002005-02-18T14:41:15.666+13:00

Just had another great weekend. Juan and I had been planning an escape to the beach for the past couple of weeks, and now it had finally come to fruition. A few of our friends (pretty much everyone in the asado pic in my 7th blog entry) had said they wanted to come along but couldn't make up their minds - because of work, or parties, or girls. So in the end it was just Juan and me in Juan's

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1106579499094967412005-01-24T15:10:00.000+13:002005-02-18T14:39:21.980+13:00

Just had a great weekend here, but the last 3 nights have been all-nighters followed by sleeping through the day - the vampire life.Friday night I was out with some Argentine friends until 6.30am, Saturday night was a rooftop party at Joe's apartment, a guy from my Spanish course until 5am, and then last night was another asado (BBQ) at Juan's house until about 5am.Molly Me Shireen Joe at Joe's

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1106429315950125982005-01-22T20:43:00.000+13:002005-02-18T14:38:16.850+13:00

Kissing is big here. Men kiss other men hello and goodbye. Men kiss women hello and goodbye. I'm not sure what women do with each other. It's always a kiss on the cheek, only on one side, not like the European (and Sydney) double-cheek kiss. I don't think lips are supposed to make contact with skin, it's only a cheek to cheek thing. I've embraced the kissing culture now, at least with my friends.

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1106275561394526192005-01-21T01:36:00.000+13:002005-02-18T14:37:28.716+13:00

Last night Juan made an unexpected but welcome visit so me and one of his friends went and played some pool and drank a few beers for a few hours.I got back to my hostel at about 12:30am, early by the standards here, and had a smoke with the 2 European guys living here. I'm pretty sure we weren't noisy, in fact we were very quiet, but Etty soon came down in her nightgown and reminded us that it

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1106098075389493542005-01-19T00:26:00.000+13:002005-02-18T14:36:19.020+13:00

Today I moved to a new hostel - La Casa de Etty (Etty's House). It's more of a boarding house than a hostel, she has 3 rooms with 6 beds. It's cheap, but the reason I took it is there's a few South American guys staying there (Ecuadorian, Columbian, Argentine) so hopefully I'll get to practice my Spanish more.Well, that was the plan, but I only met everyone living there after my Spanish class

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1105896872439195532005-01-16T20:29:00.000+13:002005-02-18T14:35:36.100+13:00

I went to my first BA party last night. As I said before, the club scene here has been temporarily shut down because of the December 30 nightclub fire which killed 200 people. Last night there was a free party in a park next to the planetarium in the Palermo district.A bunch of us left our hostel at about 1 or 2am (we hadn't gotten back from dinner until midnight anyway) and caught a couple of

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1105895960814124432005-01-16T16:30:00.000+13:002005-02-18T14:34:42.183+13:00

Yesterday I started looking for a flat or a room in a flat. Although the flatting culture isn't that engrained here in South America. I think people tend to live with their parents until they get married, as in other Latin countries. But there are some flats around, as I saw a few notices on the noticeboard at my university. And not surprisingly we have to pay inflated gringo rates, but it's

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1105662145458390962005-01-13T23:25:00.000+13:002005-02-18T14:34:04.396+13:00

I finally got to have a bit of a look around BA today. Previously I've been struggling to make it out of bed before 1pm, but today I obeyed my alarm and got up at 10am so I could wander around the city a bit before my Spanish class at 3.San Telmo's my neighbourhood for now, it's kind of a touristy artsy area, lots of restaurants and cafes, and narrow cobblestone streets. From San Telmo I walked

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1105460683508031932005-01-11T22:30:00.000+13:002005-02-18T14:32:48.036+13:00

I went to bed last night at around midnight as I wanted to get up early for my 9.30 Spanish class. However I couldn't get to sleep until about 5.30am, meaning I slept until around lunchtime. Some would say those are normal times for sleeping around here anyway, and it would be if I was going out partying, but I actually had stuff to do this morning.This afternoon was my first Spanish class at the

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1105402879461921102005-01-10T23:20:00.000+13:002005-02-18T14:32:05.653+13:00

Evidently now is a bad time to be in Buenos Aires. For one, it's peak summer and unlike Sydney there's no beach to escape the heat to. Most of the locals have escaped to the beaches in the South and the very rich are off to the resorts in nearby Punta del Este, Uruguay.BA is well known as a mega party town, we're talking clubs with 3000 or 4000 people, that don't even start until 5am. However,

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8420734.post-1105401428281785492005-01-10T10:55:00.000+13:002005-02-18T14:31:20.460+13:00

Arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday. My flight wasn't too notable, apart from I nearly missed it. I got a ride from Mount Maunganui to Auckland (2.5 hours) with my sister's boyfriend Mark, but his car broke down an hour into the journey. So Dad had to come pick me up from the side of the road. I was the very last passenger to check in.I had trouble sleeping on the plane so I snuck in to business

mattyboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10929937237720909344noreply@blogger.com0