LET THE JOURNEY BEGIN

Having gotten used to the queuing system in South America (there isnt one - its a push in, thrust yourself to the front - free for all culture) we waited at the taxi rank after a furiously long journey across the Andes to Barriloche.

Tired to the core, we made sure our places in the front of the taxi queue were well retained and hairy eyeballed anyone who looked like they may "accidentally" step in front of us.

Barriloche is a town which specialises in chocolate making... It is made of Apex wooden ski chalet's, set on a lake that reflects the snowcapped Andes lying behind it. Sounds terrible hey ;-)

But a trip is not a trip unless you have brilliant company..

For Sale: Dan & April (Answer to O Keefe or O Gorman, depending on who your asking). Quality Irish couple who love a pint and a laugh.. brilliant fun for all types of backpacking trips, please enquire within for price list.

It was a brilliant arrangement. Each night someone would cook, we would drink loads of red wine, play cards, speak rot and solve the worlds problems.

And the skiing was brilliant too, We were lucky to catch the last good snowfall of the season. Laura and Dan, two Americans on tour with us were demons down the runs and left us chasing them as they whizzed down any slope type. I guess you have to grow up on the slopes to have that kind of grace as a skier. No intense snow ploughs for those two!

And then there was the bar called mute. Its set at the base of the ski slopes in Barriloche. One would mistake it for the den of Apre Ski. It has a "no ugly chicks can work here" policy and as such only Argentinas next top models seem to serve you beer.

No problem at all for our male counterparts who purposefully placed their glasses across the table so that she would have to lean over to pick them up, they asked for one too many beers, jaws dropped to the floor, and waited for their next pint, panting with the anticipation of her return. Pathetic I tell ya.

Its all good times and good fun, and at the end of the day, its all about the laugh.
And so back to Santiago on a loong loong bus journey.

We had our last "Once's / Elevenses" with Liz and with that we boarded our plane to Auckland.

What a journey.

This part of the trip has certainly been the highlight so far.

We ended up on a tour of the Iguazu falls on the Brazlian side with 3 local Brazilians, one of which was dressed in his suit pant and flashy leather shoes, obviously didnt read the fineprint describing the hiking, kayaking and cycling aspects of the tour.

The area has experienced soo much rainfall in the past few weeks that it was pretty much in flood - this meant in parts on our ¨hike/biking¨we had to get into kayaks and paddle along the pathways. The highlight was when the 1 brazilian chap dressed in his best decided it wasnt too deep and started wading through the water shouting at us in Portuguese expletives to follow him. After seeing him waist deep we opted for the kayak instead!

It was quite an ünplanned adventure¨shall we say and by the time we finished in the surrounding forrests we were quite psyched for the falls... and they didn`t let us down.

Being pretty much in flood - they were absolutely awe inspiring... Our photos do not do the falls any justice - the power of the water raging around us, the deafening roar, the thick spray drenching us and causing rainbows all around us - it was all quite amazing. We snapped up soo many photos as at every turn there was another amazing view of the falls and the size and immensity of them. Apparently (from those that have been!) Niagra is a piss in the park in comparison - to put it bluntly!

Our last experience was getting into a boat and roaring right up to the falls ramping over the rapids, feeling like we were about to capsize at any moment, and actually being dunked under some of the falls. It was a soaking, freezing and yet highly energising experience.

See the itinerary of this trip, and details about each destination.

Hola Amigos

Thats about as far as our spanish reached in the first few days of Buenos Aires.

Our world tour has kicked off in style and at a manic pace in Buenos Aires.

We arrived armed with our 15 KG backpacks and a pocket sized Spanish phrasebook ready to conquer the gauchos and city slickers that roamed the streets of Buenos Aires.

After a 16 hour flight I was making eyes at the taxi driver when Drew a.k.a World Tour Minister of Finance marched me straight past and on to a local bus. Why spend $US45 when you can spend 1 peso 50 for a two hour scenic ride into the heart of BA. Take care of the pennies and the pounds take care of themselves apparently.

Our time in BA improved after that and we booked into a Spanish school and started lessons that same afternoon. Our classmates seemed to breath a sigh of relief when the two class idiots from Sudafrica arrived late and spluttering excuses which sounded more like kitchen zulu than spanish.

The sales lady at the reception did a sterling job
(promotion well overdue) as we swiftly signed up for a 4 day tango course in the afternoons aswell.

Between spanish classes in am and tango classes in pm and uncomprehendable homework we were quite tied up but we did manage to get out and see two tango shows, a local soccer match -La Boca Juniors vs Arsenal (Not that Arsenal - a local side) and have one or two fantastic Argentinian steaks.

The lowlight was without a doubt sharing a dorm with two Israeli backpackers who farted and smoked the room into a mangy hotbox. (I think one of them grabbed my hand during the night.. but Drew seems to think that that was part of my dream) - Lucky for us we swiftly moved into what we thought was the ritz penthouse but then again, anything would look seem like luxury in comparison.

We managed to find the spot where Evita sang ¨dont cry for me argentina¨ .. I do wonder if she had shared a room with some dodgys before she squawked that tune out

Ciao and Adios

Hope work is treating you all well

D&D