Waterfalls make people happy.

The Iguazu Falls were incredible. I havent really seen many waterfalls before and the scale of this thing was insane.

Both the Brazillian and Argentinian side are 100% worth doing. You can do Brazil in a half day but Argentina really needs a full day especially because the boat ride under the falls is an absolute must. You get drenched.

DRENCHED

Like Ive just had the wettest shower of my life wet. But its incredible. Especially if you get an umbrella hat like Bruce Almighty.

Yep, they actually exist. And yep Trusar bought one... amazing.

So we did a jungle ride where we didnt really see much, and then a small row bat ride where we got to see crocs and monkeys and then this ridiculous boat ride. Of everything the boat ride is a must as is visitig both sides of the falls.

Aparently waterfalls are scientifically proven to make people happy. Agreed. Everyone should visit one daily.

The overdose gets cultural.

So the last post was just generally about the food that we've been devouring in BA. I was hoping to lose weight on this trip, but now I'm realising that it may not be the case!

We've been armed well with our trusted Milhouse map, tour guide book and scribbled list of must do's that we've carried around like a bible. Its all looking pretty worse for wear now but it was great to make sure that we've covered of all of the must see's of the city.
I figured I should probs do a blog on the top things to do and see in BA, we've been here long enough now that its a pretty comprehensive guide.


1. The Nightlife

Is awesome

Don't expect to really sleep at all for the duration of your stay in BA if you come here! Dinner isn't until 10, predrinking begins at 1 and the nightclubs don't pack out until 2:30 ... the night finally ends with a Maccy D's at 7am. EVERY DAY

It's insane, but its amazing. We've been lucky enough to sample quite a few nights out (no shock there I guess) but we've done the touristy thing and hit up 69 (a drag club) and Kika to name a few, and then we've done the local thing with our friends last night which was brillaint, reggeatton central (my new fave genre) and we've also thrown in a few tango clubs to spice it up a bit! Every night has been great and really different which is the best thing. There's so much choice.

2. A Boca Game.

Boca Juniors are the most popular team around in Buenos Aires. Its definitely an experience. Very different to an English match and way more fun! The crowd party all through the game, chanting constantly and drumming insanely!

Even if your not really a football fan its worth going for the atmosphere. Obviously, we had to add to our tshirt collection so that we would fit in with everyone!

We also went to La Boca while we were there, it was heaving with football fans and tourists as its the home of the stadium and also the prettiest little place. Its fully of quaint little art galleries and cafes. Worth a visit in the day for the market and the tango dancers, but im told its not the best place to be at night.

3. A guided tour a la Guido, Lucas and Juliette

We had a lovely drive around the city at night with the Argentinian peeps, great way to get our bearings and digest the ice cream... in the event of no availability, get a bus tour, they're supposed to be good. We aso did a free walking tour around the centre which was pretty cool. They run everyday and last about 3 hours. It was pretty interesting and good opportunity to get all those cultural snaps in one swoop!

4. A Tango lesson

Or 5.

Hannah and I may have gone a bit overboard on the tango having even splashed out on a private lesson but it was well worth doing. Tangos very different from anything that we've done before and we wanted to get a handle on it. Its a much stricter form of dance that doesn't really allow for you to blag it in the same way that we usually do with salsa! So now after a few lessons we've got the basics but theres still a pretty long way to go!

There are loads of places where you can get a lesson before a show with an amazing meal and as much wine as you can drink - hello! AND we got certificates which obviously made it worth it.

4. The Recoleta

We were lucky enough to have a tour a la Lucas for this afternoon so we could have some of the famous names explained to us etc. Obviously there was one name that we didn't need explaining... Evita.

We found Miss Duartes grave which was obviously covered in flowers and tributes.

The whole cemetry was unlike anything I've ever seen before. Its stunning. The tombs tower above the cemetry walls. You definitely get the feeling you had to be VERY important to be buried there!

Obviously this little day trip was topped off with the apple crumble mentioned earlier and the sampling of Freddo ice cream. Its not possible to have a tour a la Lucas without food as we found out today when we visited San Telmo to find some freshly baked bread and butter pudding placed in our hands :) yummmy

5. Palermo

There are lots of cute little shops and parks in Palermo as well as being the location of the amazing steak house that Ive already spoken about. Its also where most of the bars and clubs are. Worth a relaxing wander round.

We hit Palermo with Guido and a group of his friends at Budah Bar and had a wicked night,despite it raining so hard that the roof of the club poured in water and the top floor of the club had to be closed we still danced the night away reggeaton styleee. It was a bit like something out of flashdance. 

6. Art Galleries

Yes you heard right we actually went to a couple of art galleries - very cultural I know!

7. San Telmo Market

Full of literally thousands of antiques and trinkets. There are insane quantities of stands selling everything from jewellery to bottles (dad...) to rocking horses! You can spend hours wandering around getting absorbed in each of the stands and sucked into the maze.

There are loads of other things to do that Im sure will feature in the blog when we return to BA in a few weeks. So relieved that we are going back. Not ready for this overdose to stop.

OD in BA.

So over a week later and we're still in Buenos Aires and still loving it so much. We have extended the leaving day from Friday to Sunday and now to Monday. There's so much to see and people to pack in final nights with so we just keep pushing the date back! We will be extremely sad to leave here... good job that we're returning in a couple of weeks for a final Argentinian fairwell.

What makes Buenos Aires so great?

We've been really lucky out here and met some really great people. Top on the list and people that we need to say a massive thank you to are our friends from BA that we met over a game of UNO in Tulum, Mexico.

They have been able to introduce us to make highlights of the city that we definitely would have missed without them.

Most significantly the ice cream...

Volta has been voted favourite of four places that we have been instructed to try in BA.The flavours that you can get are incredible... dulce de leche with bits of brownie, white chocolate, cookies and cream to name only a few. The choice is fantastic and you can get any topping you like on the top too, meringue, brownie, smarties, EVERYTHING. The need to get these places in England, how we can be a seaside nation without a Volta I don't know. Do you think its possible to post icecream home?

Secondly, the steak in BA. Its famed for it and now I can definitely see why. When we first arrived I couldn't really work out how a steak could be so much better from one place to the next, but i can safely say that it can. The steaks here are amazing, and a must do.

Hannah and I went to La Cabrera in Palermo which is famed for being the best steak in Argentina and it was pretty damn good I have to say. The best thing about it is all the sauces and stuff that you get to go with it. And of course Argentinian red wine is incredible. La Vuelta goes down as the best bottle I have ever drunk. Apparently people queue for about an hour to get into this place in the evening so I would recommend going at lunch time. They also have a set lunch menu which I think probably means that you get a bit more for your money, even though the portions are RIDICULOUS: you order 1 steak, you get two, a million sauces and a huge salad. That combined with the empanadas to start and flan for pudding means that you leave feeling pretty sick!

There is a bit of a theme to our Argentinian meet ups... FOOD... we've also sampled Alfajores, more steak, China Town, homemade apple crumbly biscuit thingys (thanks Lucas!), flan, dulce de batatas (described as like jam, but not jam, cheese, but not cheese thats like butter, but not butter, that is actually sweet potato - sometimes the language barrier has been tres amusant, but tbf having tried it I don't know how on earth I would describe it!), huge quantities of pudding (thanks Agustina's mum!). We have also managed to pass on some desert know how. Lucas has since made a lovely Bread and Butter pudding... we're on the hunt for Argentinian custard at the moment... hopefully it exists somewhere!

Apple crumbly things, by Lucas 'The best'

Dulce de Batatas

Flan con dulce de leche

Alfajores

Chocolate amazingness by Agustinas mum

Bread and Butter Pudding... Lucas learns English cooking!

Everything is also, importantly, con dulce de leche.

All in all to quote Guido, "you haven't had a good time on vacation unless you come back fatter" in the philosophy that we have been embracing.

Homestay.

Whilst in Puno we thought it would be pretty cool to do a homestay with a local family on one of the lakes many islands. We wanted to see a slice of real Peru which is always pretty difficult in the towns near different tourist attractions as they're so geared up for the tourism droves of backpackers bring to the area.

To start with the tour seemed a bit like it may also just the same, a money making idea, as the boat takes you off to the floating islands, the lakes main novelty, that are all made entirely out of straw, as are the houses, boats and pretty much everything you set your eyes on. It was pretty cool to see and as one of the women showed us the inside of their home I got excited that it may be similar to what we would later be staying in.

How wrong I was. We turned up to a beautiful, and solid, island for our homestay, where the fastest form of transport is by donkey and roads don't exist. I have to say I was a little disappointed that there were no reed houses in sight. I was quite looking forward to roughing it and doing something a bit different.

We sprung on the locals by suprise a bit. As usual with Peru nothing was really organised and it appeared that it hadn't actually been communicated to the families that our band of tourists were going to show up.

So much so, in fact, that the parents of the family that Hannah and I were meant to be staying with had gone over to the mainland for a few days leaving only their 11 year old daughter behind who ended up playing hostess with the aid of her grandparents nextdoor.

Betsy did a great job to be fair, she cooked our meals and made conversation where she could. The whole homestay thing felt a bit weird, we were treated like guests, given our own immaculate bedrooms and generally spoilt. Not really entering into family life in the way that I had hoped and expected to.

The highlight of the time on the island was that we were able to dress up in the traditional Peruvian clothing and attend their local 'discotec' as they call it, which, consisted of some locals playing pan pipes and the guitar while the men sat solemly observing the events at the side of the room and the women swishing their skirts, dancing traditionally with the guests.

It was great to enter into the community for  a small period during that evening, and don't worry, there will be photographic evidence of our Perah Chic as we decided to name the style.

The second day we also found ourselves climbing yet more mountains! After our Inca training we were hardcore and led the way to the top, and back down to the bottom. It was nice to have the chance to climb, whilst still looking around, not being concerned about tripping at every step as you do on the Inca trail. The view from the tops of these mountains was great as it allowed you to real see the scale of Lake Titicaca. Its enormous! It took three hours in the boat to get to our homestay island. To  get to the Bolivian side must take days!

We stayed on Amantani and visited Taquille, so you can see to get to Copacabana must be a pretty long boat ride - aparently its possible in a day, but I'm not sure that I believe that.

Hello, Buenos Aires

We've finally touched down in the eagerly anticipated Buenos Aires and I can safely say I've had the Evita soundtrack playing on a loop in my head ever since.

After several family car journeys speant as a child with Evita blaring from the CD player, I can safely say I know most of the words, if not most of the script so Iḿ sure Hannah's going to love it as I recreate the balcony moment when we go and visit the relevant building (I can't remember the name to hand but I think we drove past it on our way here yesterday) ... Iḿ tuning up now... "Don't cry for me Argentina..."

Anyway, within moments of arriving  we were on the hunt for our tshirts that have become a bit of a tradition in each country. We buy a nice tack tshirt and get everyone that we meet to sign them We're going to have hundreds by the end, but they're a really nice little momento of the trip, and do cause for some hillarious evenings... as do our new cards... (photos to be uploaded, I've just realised theres actually a time limit on this PC).

We were also signed up for a tango class, show, and three course meal with as much red wine as you could drink for the same evening. Buenos Aires doesn't stop for the tired at all. We had an amazing night, love the lesson, loved the steak, loved the show and loved Milhouse the hostel that we're staying at.

There are two hostels connected together, at the Avenue theres basically a massive club, Its not for the faint hearted but its a massive laugh. Having been warned that its party central all through our time in Peru it definitely lived up to expectations. So brng on a messy week I think.

Weŕe off for a night out with some people that we met in Mexico tonight. Time to explore China town with some locals which should be awesome. Blog will follow!

Party in Puno.

Having arrived in Puno (home of Lake Titicaca) only a few hours ago, we have found ourselves in the mix of the annual carnival where members from surrounding villages come and dance their traditional dances through the streets in the most spectacular of costumes, I thought they should be shared...

The procession went on for hours, despite the rain, to the sound of hundreds of different bands, that not only marched, but danced as they played. It has got me so excited for Rio. These costumes were so impressive so I can´t wait to see what the Brazillians have in store for us.

Puno´s little unknown gem that we were very lucky to stumble across just at the right time.

The Aftermath.

Having completed the Inca Trail a few days ago, the after effects that it has had on the group have given a few hillar tails that I thought should be documented...

Many of these revolve around a certain group member who shall not be named (Shelley) who has now ended up with

1. The most ridiculous burst sun burn blister I have ever seen
2. Bleeding nails
3. Cankles
4. A grey hair

Each ailment obviously has a brilliant story to accompany it, as follows...

1. Massage chica?

After the gruelling hike on the second day, Shelley decided that a massage would go down a storm. They are dirt cheap out here, so by anyones guess that would be a good idea.

Not when you have blistering sunburn aparently...

The woman managed to burst all the blisters on Shelley´s back, despite being told to steer well clear of them. After about 3 days of heeling time this is what it looked like, so you can imagine the screams when it first happened!

2. Manicure chica?

So the day after Shelleys wonderful massge, the rest of us, with sunburn free skin decided that we would also benefit greatly from such joys. Obviously Shelley wasn´t going to go anywhere near anyone offering ´massage chica´and so instead went for the safer option, ´manicure chica´?´.

She emerged from the ´professional looking´nail parlour with blood dripping from every cuticle. Unfortunately I didn´t have a camera to hand for the initial effects, but this is about a day after, you can still see the blood. If your wondering where the manicure is, it was done so badly that she removed the nail varnish about 10 minutes after leaving the place.

3. Cankles.

Unfortunately I do not have any photographs of these wonders as I was not allowed near her feet, but I have seen the evidence and my they are pretty.

I guess running down thousands of steps has taken its toll on the old girl.

4. A grey hair.

This basically proves the above point. Yesterday whilst involved in a gripping game of Shithead Shelley discovered her first grey hair...

All in all, Shell had a pretty bloody good time with us I think...

To be fair, she wasn´t the only one, about half the group have speant a large majority of the last few days pinned to the toilet. Something to do with exhaustion and altitude I think... Shelley just seemed to produce the best stories along with her problems.

Despite all the after effects, we´re ll proud to say that we survived the Inca Trail (just about).

What happens on the Inca Trail....

We have finally returned to civillization after a rollercoaster week exploring Cusco and all it has to offer, horse riding, hiking 50 km and reaching altitudes of 4,200m atthe peak of Dead Womans Pass, an aptly named stretch judging by how my legs were feeling bythe end of it.

We touched down in Cusco where we stayed at another Point Hostel. These are all over the place in Peru and are definitely a good hostel to try if you want a party - maybe not the most sensible choice for the night before we began our adventures, but after rocking in at 6am I think we could safely say that we did the Brits proud and stayed up till the sun came out.... again.

Feeling a bit hungover and kind of regretting the promise that we would be horse riding my 2 o clock the next day we rocked up ready to be saddled up and embark on our first mini trek. Its amazing how with pretty much no horse riding experience you can just show up, jump on and start going like your in your own western. We started a hack up the really really really steep hills, grippingthe reins tight, but it didnt take too long to get use to it again (I havnt ridden for about 5 years) and set off on a little trot. I had my back to Han and later turned round to find that her and the guy, Mark that we had gone with had disappeared. Organisation is not the Peruvians strong point and somehow they had been taken off opn their own kind of mystery tour with another group! Eventually saddle sore and sufficiently covered in mud we returned from our adventure, typically late for our pre-Inca briefing but still in one piece (you parents I´m sure will be pleased to know).

Inca briefing done, full Peru kit bought and time for the early mornings to begin.

dont have time to orientate ha!

We got off lightly on the first day with a 6:30 wake up call - nothing in comparison to the 4am job that I experienced yesterday. That time should not be seen unless drunk. But early mornings aside it was totally worth it.

When people told me the Inca Trail was goingh to be tough, I believed them, but didn´t think too much of it. I´ve done my fair share of mountain trekking in the past and didn´tthink that it could be too much worse. How wrong I was. The Inca Trail is not for the faint hearted. it is HARD WORK... but totally worth it. The views are stunning and worth every bead of sweat that you ooze (apologies, this computer is rubbish so pictures will have to follow later). Thankfully I had a great group so through the whoozing breaths we had a giggle and luckily no one came down with altituide sickness so we were able to keep a pretty good pace and see some extra things alongthe way.

There were some landslides here recently so we didn´t actually hike Machu Pichu in the end, in any case the other mountains that we did were bigger (ha) so it meant that we got to do a bit of an altyernate route, see some better views AND have a night in a hotel and visit the hot springs before seeing the ruins at Machu Pichu the next day. With a 4am wake up call and legs that felt like lead I certainly wasn´t complaining about a hot shower and a decent bed. Obviously we had an earlyish night afterthe customary few rounds of spoons, shit head and uno that hadto be played every night in an effort to shake the title from our guide who was impossible to beat!

I have to say although GAP are on the pricier side as far as tours go it was worth every penny.Our two guides Dimas (or Demetris) and KiKi made thetrip. They were so much fun and got us there and back in one piece, even if ittook a lot of patcient encouragement to get us up those hills... ´oi lazy what you doin down there?´ being among the best. And I have to commend the porters. There is basically one and a half porters per person on the trip. They carry all of your bags for you so that you actually have a hope of making it up the mountains and cook you the most amazing meals. I have never seen people as fit as them. They would carry about 3 peoples worth of stuff on their backs and a couple of pots and pans, storming up the hills and then running down the ridiculously steep, knee buckling steps on the way down.  It was incredible to watch them even if it did make us feel very guilty. Its worth paying a little bit extra because it means that the porters are getting paid well and that you get the best care when you really need it.

So all in all I am very proud to say that I completed the Inca Trail, and despite not being able to walk up steps now, even after a full body massage, it was definitely worth it.