I apologise to all Australian tourists in future who encounter the La Paloma Tourist information desk at the bus station. I fear that our reputation as mild tourists is shattered. There was tone, pitch and foot stamping. From me. I´m not proud, not one of my finer moments. It happens like Halley´s comet, once every 76 years ,but it´s a cracker. I think only 5 people reading this blog have ever seen it before. What made it worse was how nice they were to me after that. I now have a tent, with a mattress - no less -and proper sheets, out the back of the dodgarama beachside hostel at La Balconada - which I have to admit is actually pretty cool - and three nights accommodation in Punta del Este - next stop.
Kel - the only thing I can think of is that it was incredibly-low-blood-sugar-Kathryn -and if I could insert a semi-colon-dash-open bracket on this foreign keyboard, I would!
I´m too embarrassed to even go into the details, however once I´d pulled myself together, I got chatting to the guy - who was the spitting image of Martin Wagener, my cousin - who was rocking out to very loud Rolling Stones. His favourite band, no less, and his band for which he plays harmonica consider them their greatest influence. I tried to explain in broken Spanish my tortured musical upbringing - tortured by repeats of the Rolling Stones, which I now like a great deal - and he asked me my favourite song. Before I could think to pick another song, ¨you can´t always get what you want¨ was out of my mouth. With irony, I went very red and said, ¨well, actually, apparently you can¨. And he laughed. At me.
After all that, once the tent was erected - which I didn´t have to do, mind, and for the amount I´m paying for a tent I´m pretty sure there should be harems of scantily clad men and peeling of grapes included, as well as a transfer on a Cleopatra type device - La Paloma is a great, great, place. I´m the only Australian in town it seems - and for that, the rest of Australia should be truly thankful. It´s a tiny place, dirt roads, but the absolute biggest waves I´ve ever seen - on both sides of the point. No sooner than I got in, I had to get out.... It was amazing, but very scary. Worse than Narooma surf beach at it´s best - you´d lose your real teeth, not just your false ones. Not the place for a surf lesson. Not the place to swim without a wetsuit.
All the people at the hostel are great - they´re all South American - so lots of opportunities to practice my broken Spanish.
So, lots of beer tonight to try and then I really must try and repair Australia´s reputation tomorrow....
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Sun, sand, surf.... Punta del Este
As predicted, not much to report - sun, sand, surf (rinse and repeat).....
Some interesting cultural observations after people watching on the beach. Punta del Este is the playground for Buenos Aires and Brazil´s rich and famous. The whole place could do with an overhaul though - it´s a bit tired and ¨trapped in the 70´s¨. Same goes for the lay-dees here. All over Uruguay people drive Vntage cars (like, from the 30´s and 40´s) that have been handed down through the family... it´s quite cool!
I´ve seen more plastic surgery than I thought possible. Also, swimwear here is of a very different cut than in Australia. Sophie and Rosa from England told me I´m gonna need to ditch my nanna bikini (which was quite racy by Australian standards, thought I) and step up to the South American standard. I don´t think there´s any need for me to expose one square foot of white hail-damaged skin that has never before seen the sun...... it doesn´t seem to bother the 100,000 ladies I´ve seen so far though who have done just that.....
Sunsets here are very cool. Last night was crystal clear and by the marina you could see the sun set as a disc, slipping over the horizon. You´ll be surprised to hear that I took some great photos!
Tomorrow I´m off to La Paloma, getting more remote, and in a way I´ll be glad to ditch the snobbery - the lay-dees may look a bit dated, but it doesn´t stop them spending up big at all the designer shops here! I think this is what the Gold Coast would have been like in the 70´s!
Some interesting cultural observations after people watching on the beach. Punta del Este is the playground for Buenos Aires and Brazil´s rich and famous. The whole place could do with an overhaul though - it´s a bit tired and ¨trapped in the 70´s¨. Same goes for the lay-dees here. All over Uruguay people drive Vntage cars (like, from the 30´s and 40´s) that have been handed down through the family... it´s quite cool!
I´ve seen more plastic surgery than I thought possible. Also, swimwear here is of a very different cut than in Australia. Sophie and Rosa from England told me I´m gonna need to ditch my nanna bikini (which was quite racy by Australian standards, thought I) and step up to the South American standard. I don´t think there´s any need for me to expose one square foot of white hail-damaged skin that has never before seen the sun...... it doesn´t seem to bother the 100,000 ladies I´ve seen so far though who have done just that.....
Sunsets here are very cool. Last night was crystal clear and by the marina you could see the sun set as a disc, slipping over the horizon. You´ll be surprised to hear that I took some great photos!
Tomorrow I´m off to La Paloma, getting more remote, and in a way I´ll be glad to ditch the snobbery - the lay-dees may look a bit dated, but it doesn´t stop them spending up big at all the designer shops here! I think this is what the Gold Coast would have been like in the 70´s!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Hola from Paradise (at last!)
Hello from Punta del Este - paradise at last
Well, what can I say, I´m on a Point with gorgeous beach on the left, and gorgeous beach all the way to Brazil on my right.... I´m staying in a place on the spit where I have one beach 20m in one direction (surf!! scary surf!!) and another beach 50m on the other (bay! placid bay!). In all, it´s very nice, and I think I´ll be very happy here. I´ve left the dull waters of the Rio la Plata far behind.... Montevideo was worth the pain - although the last day was great. Thank God I met the Carnaval guy who pointed me in the right direction..... or I´d still be suffering in that dirty, stinking hole.
Last night I went to the heat of the Montevidean Carnaval - it was really cool - lots of music, dancing, colour. It goes all night so I had to call it about halfway through - they´d already lost all power once, so I was sitting under the stars, in pitch black, with about 4,000 non English speaking very excited Montevideans..... you´d have to be there to believe it. ¨But, the show went on, in the dark... A very kind policeman put me in a taxi to go home! Service!
Internet has been really accessible so far - all the places I´ve stayed have it gratis. However, I don´t plan on doing much for the next 15 days until I hit Rio, except beachhopping (eg. reading, swimming, surfing (maybe if I can find a calm enough beach - it´s scary here), eating seafood and drinking cerveza cerveza cerveza) my way up the coast, so there may not be the action in my posts that there has been until now.... but you never know. From here on in it´s getting off a bus, and wandering around tiny villages trying to find a cabana...... So for the next 15 days all you people working probably won´t want to hear about what a boring time I´m having ; )
In more exciting news, I did get ¨attacked by wild dogs¨ a couple of days ago. In Colonia there are a lot of strays and I was cornered by a couple of snarling ones. I was really terrified - until this dottery old 80 year old lady beat them off with a stick, and then I was just embarrassed..... better than being shat on though.
Yes yes to you all nagging me - I´m going to try and post some photos soon!
Well, what can I say, I´m on a Point with gorgeous beach on the left, and gorgeous beach all the way to Brazil on my right.... I´m staying in a place on the spit where I have one beach 20m in one direction (surf!! scary surf!!) and another beach 50m on the other (bay! placid bay!). In all, it´s very nice, and I think I´ll be very happy here. I´ve left the dull waters of the Rio la Plata far behind.... Montevideo was worth the pain - although the last day was great. Thank God I met the Carnaval guy who pointed me in the right direction..... or I´d still be suffering in that dirty, stinking hole.
Last night I went to the heat of the Montevidean Carnaval - it was really cool - lots of music, dancing, colour. It goes all night so I had to call it about halfway through - they´d already lost all power once, so I was sitting under the stars, in pitch black, with about 4,000 non English speaking very excited Montevideans..... you´d have to be there to believe it. ¨But, the show went on, in the dark... A very kind policeman put me in a taxi to go home! Service!
Internet has been really accessible so far - all the places I´ve stayed have it gratis. However, I don´t plan on doing much for the next 15 days until I hit Rio, except beachhopping (eg. reading, swimming, surfing (maybe if I can find a calm enough beach - it´s scary here), eating seafood and drinking cerveza cerveza cerveza) my way up the coast, so there may not be the action in my posts that there has been until now.... but you never know. From here on in it´s getting off a bus, and wandering around tiny villages trying to find a cabana...... So for the next 15 days all you people working probably won´t want to hear about what a boring time I´m having ; )
In more exciting news, I did get ¨attacked by wild dogs¨ a couple of days ago. In Colonia there are a lot of strays and I was cornered by a couple of snarling ones. I was really terrified - until this dottery old 80 year old lady beat them off with a stick, and then I was just embarrassed..... better than being shat on though.
Yes yes to you all nagging me - I´m going to try and post some photos soon!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Ok Ok I´ve given it another 24 hours, and Montevideo is not as bad as I first thought... The inner city is pretty vile - if you imagine that the whole of Melbourne looked like Elizabeth St b/n Collins and Flinders you´ll get what I mean. Anyway, out of town a bit I found a great (airconditioned!) shopping centre, with a very snobby dress store named ¨Tits¨which I thought was just absolutely hilarious. In four foot high letters ¨TITS¨. Yes, I´m immature, and yes I took a photo, and yes everyone wondered why. And nearby the Chapel St of Montevideo, where I felt a lot more at home - nice houses, nice shops. Perhaps it´s going to take a little longer to shed my yuppyness than I thought..... It was right near the beach, so in all, a pleasant day!
Not one marriage proposal today - a slow day, but it´s only 5pm so I´m sure some suave Uruguayan will squeeze one in before the night is out.....
Not one marriage proposal today - a slow day, but it´s only 5pm so I´m sure some suave Uruguayan will squeeze one in before the night is out.....
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Hola from Montevideo
First impression: dirty, stinking, dangerous hole full of people trapped in the 70´s - the do's, the cars, the hotels...
Then I went to the tourist office, where the lady took an hour to explain to me (they move and speak ever so slowly here) that Montevideo is safe, but full of people, kids especially that will rob me, that the hotel will have already copied my passport and sold it to drug runners, and while it a hole, its actually a beautiful dirty stinking hole.
Luckily, the guy next door in the Carnaval museum set me straight. That lady is cuckoo, Montevideo is safe, and my biggest problem will be keeping the Uruguayan men away - durrrrrr. Since then I´ve had a slightly kinder opinion of the city.
Next Stop - to buy a ticket to the Carnaval heats tonight - where the dude couldn´t believe I´d come all the way from Australia on my own, and he said he´d be delighted to join me for the rest of my trip. Well, I´d be just delighted if he stayed in the Abitab stand selling tickets. And after all that, heats cancelled due to weather (rain - which I haven´t seen, só it may be predicted rain). Disappointing.....
I wandered around (the dirty, stinking hole that is) Montevideo for most of the day, and found some interesting things. Art especially here is good. The African influence is starting to creep in the further north I go. The beer and coffee are just as good (and cheap) here. And, the beach is only a few blocks from the centre of town, not far away with great games of soccer and volleyball to watch.
Anyway, I´m off back to my dirty, stinking dive of a hotel to check my passport. Ergo, low point #1 of 189 days around the world. Can´t wait to hit Punta del Este (beaches! surf!) where I can rest my tired feet and relax my hypervigilance somewhat.
Then I went to the tourist office, where the lady took an hour to explain to me (they move and speak ever so slowly here) that Montevideo is safe, but full of people, kids especially that will rob me, that the hotel will have already copied my passport and sold it to drug runners, and while it a hole, its actually a beautiful dirty stinking hole.
Luckily, the guy next door in the Carnaval museum set me straight. That lady is cuckoo, Montevideo is safe, and my biggest problem will be keeping the Uruguayan men away - durrrrrr. Since then I´ve had a slightly kinder opinion of the city.
Next Stop - to buy a ticket to the Carnaval heats tonight - where the dude couldn´t believe I´d come all the way from Australia on my own, and he said he´d be delighted to join me for the rest of my trip. Well, I´d be just delighted if he stayed in the Abitab stand selling tickets. And after all that, heats cancelled due to weather (rain - which I haven´t seen, só it may be predicted rain). Disappointing.....
I wandered around (the dirty, stinking hole that is) Montevideo for most of the day, and found some interesting things. Art especially here is good. The African influence is starting to creep in the further north I go. The beer and coffee are just as good (and cheap) here. And, the beach is only a few blocks from the centre of town, not far away with great games of soccer and volleyball to watch.
Anyway, I´m off back to my dirty, stinking dive of a hotel to check my passport. Ergo, low point #1 of 189 days around the world. Can´t wait to hit Punta del Este (beaches! surf!) where I can rest my tired feet and relax my hypervigilance somewhat.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Hola from Uruguay!
After navigating my way through the port at Buenos Aires, a 1 hour ferry ride away and I´m in Uruguay! It wasn´t just me who who found the whole process confusing - the lady in front complained and she was an Argentinian. The only ticket I could get was in first class, so I enjoyed the champagne, and the top deck view. It´s a little different now, from last time I travelled like this (shared bathrooms, shared rooms, sleeping on overnight trains and boats to save money!!!) - the story may change in a couple of months time (budget permitting).....
Well, Uruguayan men are... interesting..... not sleazy, not amorous, not dangerous - they are a word that defies description in the English language. They are certainly persistent, and maybe chivalrous. I can´t work it out, but I´ve had many an offer to walk me somewhere (even just in the general direction I´m going in) and thankfully they´ve accepted my ¨No, thanks¨ - and I haven´t had to resort to ¨my boyfriend is 8 feet tall and covered in tattoos and rides a motorbike, and he is around that corner and he´s angry so f&%k off¨. I´m going to get the guy at hostel to teach me that one tonight in Spanish, just in case. I think the last bit translates just fine, anyway.
Yesterday I went to La Boca in Buenos Aires, and didn´t get cut up into little pieces (one down, many more like that to go). It´s the home of La Boca Juniors football team, and kind of the Footscray of Buenos Aires... No, actually, more like the Frankston, with a football team. It´s the home of the working class, where the tango was born, and is now as touristy as shyte in the famous tin-house street of Caminito, but it was a lot of fun dancing tango with the Argentinians and wandering around (trying not to get cut up into little pieces).....
I´m in Colonia del Sacramento now - which is heritage listed so pretty cool, cute little place with lots of old stuff to wander round and gawk at. The beaches nearby are nice, but wierd - the water´s brown because it´s a river, albeit the widest one I´ve ever seen (like, an hour on the ferry wide). The beach was the scene of many an offer to be walked home... but watching the kids play soccer on the beach was worth it - amazing.
Apologies for the boring blog. Clearly I didn´t get my 10,000 words in today (I´d have to repeat a lot of Spanish ones over and over again) and am making up for it here.
Well, Uruguayan men are... interesting..... not sleazy, not amorous, not dangerous - they are a word that defies description in the English language. They are certainly persistent, and maybe chivalrous. I can´t work it out, but I´ve had many an offer to walk me somewhere (even just in the general direction I´m going in) and thankfully they´ve accepted my ¨No, thanks¨ - and I haven´t had to resort to ¨my boyfriend is 8 feet tall and covered in tattoos and rides a motorbike, and he is around that corner and he´s angry so f&%k off¨. I´m going to get the guy at hostel to teach me that one tonight in Spanish, just in case. I think the last bit translates just fine, anyway.
Yesterday I went to La Boca in Buenos Aires, and didn´t get cut up into little pieces (one down, many more like that to go). It´s the home of La Boca Juniors football team, and kind of the Footscray of Buenos Aires... No, actually, more like the Frankston, with a football team. It´s the home of the working class, where the tango was born, and is now as touristy as shyte in the famous tin-house street of Caminito, but it was a lot of fun dancing tango with the Argentinians and wandering around (trying not to get cut up into little pieces).....
I´m in Colonia del Sacramento now - which is heritage listed so pretty cool, cute little place with lots of old stuff to wander round and gawk at. The beaches nearby are nice, but wierd - the water´s brown because it´s a river, albeit the widest one I´ve ever seen (like, an hour on the ferry wide). The beach was the scene of many an offer to be walked home... but watching the kids play soccer on the beach was worth it - amazing.
Apologies for the boring blog. Clearly I didn´t get my 10,000 words in today (I´d have to repeat a lot of Spanish ones over and over again) and am making up for it here.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Mate
No, not the Australian ¨mate¨, but a herbal drink that tastes like shyte and is drunk through something that in Australia people smoke other substances from. And, after the first revolting sip, the friendly Brazilians told me it had cocaine it it - and the cultural barrier means that I´m not entirely sure they weren´t joking...........
The friendly Brazilians also made me sing Australian songs - Waltzing Matilda, and Down Under. They know about Australian Crawl and Men at Work - thank god a well stocked ipod meant I didn´t have to sing anymore...... Trying to explain a billabong, a coolibah tree (I had to admit that I actually didn´t know what one was) was interesting. Billy was easy - kettle without a spout¨. And I must be incredibly unAustralian because I don´t even know the meaning of ¨Waltzing Matilda¨¨itself. (Hello Wikipedia).......
Yesterday I got out of town on the train, an hour or so away to Tigre - and then went up a very cool river delta through a collection of islands to this foresty place. It was worth the trip. The train went past the favelas (slums), and then ¨country side¨, very different to BA. Although with 13M people in this town, it wasn´t really ¨countryside¨per se. And it wasn´t as hot - relief!! God knows how I managed it though, I think it was pure arse as the whole thing was in Spanish and incredibly disorganised. There were 10 boats tethered together, everyone else knew where they were going and no one spoke English - made it there and back though!
Mel and Kel - I´ve had my first little accident. It poured rain on Friday, and I´ve discovered my hiking shoes don´t handle urban terrain all that well when it´s wet; they are very slippery on concrete. So I slid down a path and into a gutter.... more öuches¨. I was in a very edgy part of town, full of great boutiques and bars (of all places to fall over). I´d met this guy from Austria and we were laughing how foreigners gets Austria and Australia mixed up all the time, and I was on my way to having a beer with him and a mate of his, which I had to enjoy covered in mud!
Never a dull moment in the life of a traveller.
My very clever nephew understood when I explained that I was going away on a plane - every time he sees a plane, he says Äunty, Aunty!!¨. Not bad for 21 months. Let´s hope he remembers for the next six months!
The friendly Brazilians also made me sing Australian songs - Waltzing Matilda, and Down Under. They know about Australian Crawl and Men at Work - thank god a well stocked ipod meant I didn´t have to sing anymore...... Trying to explain a billabong, a coolibah tree (I had to admit that I actually didn´t know what one was) was interesting. Billy was easy - kettle without a spout¨. And I must be incredibly unAustralian because I don´t even know the meaning of ¨Waltzing Matilda¨¨itself. (Hello Wikipedia).......
Yesterday I got out of town on the train, an hour or so away to Tigre - and then went up a very cool river delta through a collection of islands to this foresty place. It was worth the trip. The train went past the favelas (slums), and then ¨country side¨, very different to BA. Although with 13M people in this town, it wasn´t really ¨countryside¨per se. And it wasn´t as hot - relief!! God knows how I managed it though, I think it was pure arse as the whole thing was in Spanish and incredibly disorganised. There were 10 boats tethered together, everyone else knew where they were going and no one spoke English - made it there and back though!
Mel and Kel - I´ve had my first little accident. It poured rain on Friday, and I´ve discovered my hiking shoes don´t handle urban terrain all that well when it´s wet; they are very slippery on concrete. So I slid down a path and into a gutter.... more öuches¨. I was in a very edgy part of town, full of great boutiques and bars (of all places to fall over). I´d met this guy from Austria and we were laughing how foreigners gets Austria and Australia mixed up all the time, and I was on my way to having a beer with him and a mate of his, which I had to enjoy covered in mud!
Never a dull moment in the life of a traveller.
My very clever nephew understood when I explained that I was going away on a plane - every time he sees a plane, he says Äunty, Aunty!!¨. Not bad for 21 months. Let´s hope he remembers for the next six months!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
