Off to Iguazu Falls!

It’s taken an 18 hour bus ride through Northern Argentina up to Iguazu Falls to get me to finally sit down and update this blog. I’m in a little bit of heaven right now as I sit in a very comfortable semi-cama (chair/bed) with 12 hours ahead of me to do nothing i.e catch up on sleep! It’s been another hectic week and I’ve continued to have a ball on this amazing holiday. Since I last wrote, I popped over to Uruguay for the weekend, had my first tango lesson, sipped the famous Malbec at a wine tasting, pulled 2 consecutive all-nighters at the boliches (nightclubs) like a real Argentinean and graduated at Spanish school! haha…woo!

So we spent the long weekend (Monday was Argentina’s Independence Day) in Uruguay and we thoroughly enjoyed our mini vacation from our vacation. Claire (my French housemate) and I nearly missed the ferry, as we had gotten home at 4am that morning and slept through our alarm clocks. Claire’s reaction when I urgently banged on her bedroom door was brilliant – I could see her in bed through the window and as soon as my fist hit the door she seemed to levitate out of the bed and onto her feet in an instant. We were both obviously panicking as it only took us about 5 minutes to pack a bag and get out the door. Showers were not an option. Thankfully we made it and were rewarded with a glass of bubbly in first class. Our first stop was Colonia, a pretty little coastal town. We did all the touristy things and finished the day off in a gorgeous Italian restaurant where you had the choice to dine in vintage cars (unfortunately they didn’t have any vintage cars that could cater for a group of 9). We then went to the capital Montevideo which I have to say wasn’t the most attractive city but luckily I picked an awesome hostel. The guys who owned it were having a BBQ on the rooftop when we arrived and we feasted all afternoon! They took us to a drumming parade that night where heaps of people gathered in the streets to drum, dance and do all things festive. The next night was spent in the common area playing music and practicing our Spanish. I did a LOT of listening but it was great fun.  Before we knew it we were heading back home and back to class. Apparently it doesn’t take me long to get attached to a place because I couldn’t wait to be back in Buenos Aires! I’ll be really sad to leave Argentina and the great group of friends I’ve made here in BA but of course there are so many exciting things ahead!

Another highlight of the week was an evening of music and dancing. My first tango lesson was fun but mainly consisted of learning how to ‘walk to the beat’. I remember saying to Lea “I think we’ve got this move” but I quickly stood corrected as the teachers proceeded to point out how everyone was doing it wrong. Posture seemed to be a big problem amongst the foreigners! After the lesson we watched an awesome 10-piece band play traditional tango music and couples got up now and then to dance. It was lovely to watch locals dance tango naturally rather than a big showy performance. The best tango watching was still to come though when “The best tango partners in all of Argentina!” were announced as the finale – the perfect Wednesday night.

Apart from that Spanish classes went well and I was very sad to be handed my leaving certificate on Friday. However, good news…my teacher is moving to London and I’ve already locked her in for some tutoring! I’ve also seen quite a bit of BA nightlife as well and enjoyed being a chica in the nightclub world – girls usually get in free. On Thursday night we went one of the most famous places Puerta Madera and us girls got a 3-course dinner (that was surprisingly delicious) and a drink for free! The only problem with being a girl in these boliches though is that it takes about an hour to go to the bathroom – not only because there are heaps of girls but because you get stopped every 2 minutes by a guy who wants to dance with you. Fernanda - I finally understand what you mean about South Americans being so complimentary and forward with their advances. Where else do you constantly get wolf whistles, revving engines and winks. Well at least it’s not quite like that in Australia. This week there seemed to be a whole lot of construction sites set up in our neighbourhood and it made an interesting walk to school as they literally stop what they are doing to smile and nod at you while you walk past – kind of ‘How you doing?’ Joey style. I don’t know how they get anything done!

So back to being on the bus…I am currently listening to the safety video on the bus for the 4th time. Should I worry that it plays every hour and that it must date back to the 80s? J