Going Down....
Hello to you,
Hope this email finds you well. Lynn and I are doing fine. I have received a couple of emails this week saying that the email I sent last week containing the photos had corrupted. I know alot of you did receive it ok but if all you got was alot of letters and numbers and you would like me to try resending it to you, then please let me know and we can try again. Apologies if you spent ages downloading it and didn't get anything.
My last email stated that we were just about to embark on an 18 hour coach journey. Destination: Buenos Aires. It was a pleasant journey in our sleeper beds. We watched a couple of movies and inbetween had a nice meal served with champagne. Just before lights out the steward came round with some glasses of cognac to make the sleep just a little deeper. So yes, it was a pleasant enough experience!
We arrived in Buenos Aires 12 days ago and but for last weekend when we spent Saturday and Sunday on a farm (more later), we have been here the whole time.
Buenos Aires is just like London but with better weather. It's noisy and smelly but also elegant and cosmopolitan. The buildings are very European. Infact, if I'd been to Paris I'd say it reminded me of there instead, but I haven't! There are wonderful cafes, bars and restaurants everywhere. The underground is so like London's Tube that it's easy to convince yourself that the next stop is Piccadilly. The people here are far more European looking too and there is far more interest in European fashion, music and style. Where Rio was flip-flops and shorts, BA is designer fashion and shades. The best thing about Argentina though (unless you're Argentinian) is that since the economic crisis of 2001 and the devaluation of the peso, everything is incredibly cheap here. The average high-street price for the latest cds is 5 pounds. It's hard but I've managed to limit myself to buying just 3 cds - my already overburdened rucksack just hasn't got the room for all the cds I'd like to buy! Last night Lynn and I had a wonderful meal with as much steak as you can eat (you just ask for more) and chips, rice, pasta, salad, dessert, a good bottle of Argentinan red wine and 2 bottles of water. The price? 39 pesos (for both, not each). There are 5.4 pesos to 1 English pound so work it out and then get booking your next holiday!
Buenos Aires has what is reportedly the widest street in the world. It's 2 sides are separated by 22 lanes of traffic. Our hotel (Hotel Espana) is about 50m from the east side of this street. In our time here we have visited 4 museums (or atleast tried, 2 were closed and 1 we couldn't find so actually that's 1 museum). We have visited countless parks and gardens. We have had a wander round the zoo which despite my initial concerns about dirty cages containing sad, wretched creatures was actually really good. Most of the animals in the zoo are the sort that you can feed without the risk of losing a limb and there are numerous stalls dotted about the place selling animal biscuit things so that you can feed them. We fed camels, llamas, bison, deer, goats, gazelle and the like. A number of the animals, deer, goats, beavers and loads of birds and ducks wander the entire park freely so you have a small entourage at times.
Last weekend, as mentioned earlier, we took a break from the city and visited a nearby farm (2 hours south on the bus). If you'd like to look at the website it's www.casadecampolachina.com.ar The farm is owned by a couple called Marcelo and Cecilia who speak perfect English and they have 4 children, 2 of whom were there too. The other 2 are away at university. They are big rugby fans and their dog is called 'Haka' (sorry, not sure of the spelling) after the NZ rugby team's pre-match dance ritual "because he was born during the rugby world cup and is all-black". The farm, or Estancia as it's called here, has one spare room which is rented out to people for a bit of extra income. The last guests they had before us were a couple from Bristol who stayed for a weekend 2 months ago so it's a good job this isn't their sole income. The farm is in Pampas country (miles and miles of flat grassland) and is home to about 60 cows (Aberdeen Angus), horses, pigs, chickens, ducks and the aforementioned loopy dog. There is a swimming pool in the garden which we had full use of and we also went horseriding on one of the evenings which was good. We learn't a little about farmlife here and watched the animals being fed and watered. Some of the calves were due vaccinations so we watched as Marcelo and a farm employee (and Haka who wasn't particularly helpful) separated about 15 calves from the other 45 cows in only a couple of minutes where before they were one big crazy herd of stampeding animals. It was quite a sight! Most of the time we were relaxing in the enormous garden reading and listening to our MP3 players or dozing in the hammocks.
Tomorrow we leave civilisation and fly to El Calafate in Patagonia. It's a 3 and a quarter hour flight south. From there we can go walking in the Glaciers near to 2 big lakes (I forget their names) and we also hope to go over the border into Chile to go hiking in the Parque Torres Del Paine. I think it's as far south as we will go on this trip but you never know, if the weather's ok we might venture a bit further. We haven't had any cold days yet but I think tomorrow could be our first fleece-wearing day. I just hope it's bright and sunny and not wet and windy.
Until the next time.....
Toodle-pip!
Rich
Hope this email finds you well. Lynn and I are doing fine. I have received a couple of emails this week saying that the email I sent last week containing the photos had corrupted. I know alot of you did receive it ok but if all you got was alot of letters and numbers and you would like me to try resending it to you, then please let me know and we can try again. Apologies if you spent ages downloading it and didn't get anything.
My last email stated that we were just about to embark on an 18 hour coach journey. Destination: Buenos Aires. It was a pleasant journey in our sleeper beds. We watched a couple of movies and inbetween had a nice meal served with champagne. Just before lights out the steward came round with some glasses of cognac to make the sleep just a little deeper. So yes, it was a pleasant enough experience!
We arrived in Buenos Aires 12 days ago and but for last weekend when we spent Saturday and Sunday on a farm (more later), we have been here the whole time.
Buenos Aires is just like London but with better weather. It's noisy and smelly but also elegant and cosmopolitan. The buildings are very European. Infact, if I'd been to Paris I'd say it reminded me of there instead, but I haven't! There are wonderful cafes, bars and restaurants everywhere. The underground is so like London's Tube that it's easy to convince yourself that the next stop is Piccadilly. The people here are far more European looking too and there is far more interest in European fashion, music and style. Where Rio was flip-flops and shorts, BA is designer fashion and shades. The best thing about Argentina though (unless you're Argentinian) is that since the economic crisis of 2001 and the devaluation of the peso, everything is incredibly cheap here. The average high-street price for the latest cds is 5 pounds. It's hard but I've managed to limit myself to buying just 3 cds - my already overburdened rucksack just hasn't got the room for all the cds I'd like to buy! Last night Lynn and I had a wonderful meal with as much steak as you can eat (you just ask for more) and chips, rice, pasta, salad, dessert, a good bottle of Argentinan red wine and 2 bottles of water. The price? 39 pesos (for both, not each). There are 5.4 pesos to 1 English pound so work it out and then get booking your next holiday!
Buenos Aires has what is reportedly the widest street in the world. It's 2 sides are separated by 22 lanes of traffic. Our hotel (Hotel Espana) is about 50m from the east side of this street. In our time here we have visited 4 museums (or atleast tried, 2 were closed and 1 we couldn't find so actually that's 1 museum). We have visited countless parks and gardens. We have had a wander round the zoo which despite my initial concerns about dirty cages containing sad, wretched creatures was actually really good. Most of the animals in the zoo are the sort that you can feed without the risk of losing a limb and there are numerous stalls dotted about the place selling animal biscuit things so that you can feed them. We fed camels, llamas, bison, deer, goats, gazelle and the like. A number of the animals, deer, goats, beavers and loads of birds and ducks wander the entire park freely so you have a small entourage at times.
Last weekend, as mentioned earlier, we took a break from the city and visited a nearby farm (2 hours south on the bus). If you'd like to look at the website it's www.casadecampolachina.com.ar The farm is owned by a couple called Marcelo and Cecilia who speak perfect English and they have 4 children, 2 of whom were there too. The other 2 are away at university. They are big rugby fans and their dog is called 'Haka' (sorry, not sure of the spelling) after the NZ rugby team's pre-match dance ritual "because he was born during the rugby world cup and is all-black". The farm, or Estancia as it's called here, has one spare room which is rented out to people for a bit of extra income. The last guests they had before us were a couple from Bristol who stayed for a weekend 2 months ago so it's a good job this isn't their sole income. The farm is in Pampas country (miles and miles of flat grassland) and is home to about 60 cows (Aberdeen Angus), horses, pigs, chickens, ducks and the aforementioned loopy dog. There is a swimming pool in the garden which we had full use of and we also went horseriding on one of the evenings which was good. We learn't a little about farmlife here and watched the animals being fed and watered. Some of the calves were due vaccinations so we watched as Marcelo and a farm employee (and Haka who wasn't particularly helpful) separated about 15 calves from the other 45 cows in only a couple of minutes where before they were one big crazy herd of stampeding animals. It was quite a sight! Most of the time we were relaxing in the enormous garden reading and listening to our MP3 players or dozing in the hammocks.
Tomorrow we leave civilisation and fly to El Calafate in Patagonia. It's a 3 and a quarter hour flight south. From there we can go walking in the Glaciers near to 2 big lakes (I forget their names) and we also hope to go over the border into Chile to go hiking in the Parque Torres Del Paine. I think it's as far south as we will go on this trip but you never know, if the weather's ok we might venture a bit further. We haven't had any cold days yet but I think tomorrow could be our first fleece-wearing day. I just hope it's bright and sunny and not wet and windy.
Until the next time.....
Toodle-pip!
Rich
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