Oh la la ‘la Boca’

Buenos Aires was not just all about partying, mostly, but not just! After a night of watching an outdoor drumming band, the gals decided that there was no way we were eating Burger King, but jumped in a taxi and headed to Palmero for lovely dinner and tasty red vino. We made a pact early on in the evening, ok midnight, that the following day we were going to do the ‘hop on, hop off’ bus tour and see the sights.

True to our word, we managed to get ourself sorted and headed out, armed with our trusty map, to find the bus. Yep, we saw the bus but it was full… No room for three little ones. Plan b, we headed to La Boca. Ok this did involve lunch and beers, but we got there and I’m glad we did!

The intrepid adventurers, aka Faye and Nicole.

We also took in a live band and tango show.

The city that doesn’t sleep

Hola, well I’ve been a week in Buenos Aires and what a week, as from the lack of posts you may have gathered. This is a city that doesn’t sleep, well not through the night anyway. As such, I’m a little down on pix, which seems a shame given how delightfully beautiful and charming (mostly) the city is. But, don’t fret, on my first day I was out with my camera, but I am too sure what it was I photographed.. You’ll just have to use your imagination x

Slumming it in Buenos Aires

As per my last post, the Art Factory hostel in Buenos Aires looks the bees knees; but you’d imagine it would have to given its name 😉 here’s some pix. You see, hostel dwelling doesn’t have to be all about the ‘Young Ones’.

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I have gone all out here, given I'm here for a week, and have booked a four bed dorm. Just the one bunk, and hurrah I'm on the bottom again! Looks mostly smart I'd say.

Grease lightening

Sorry, John Travolta suddenly popped into my head for this post! You’ll notice there has been very little activity regarding Montevideo… One, my memory stick on my camera has given up the ghost and two I spent the whole time there looking for a bank which would give me cash!!!! Actually, it was not a bad little city, some lovely architecture in the old end of town and quite a nice vibe, oh and once i managed to get cash I did get to sample the wine 🙂 unlike travellers in Brazil, it all seems about eating in, yeh cooking. Day 1 pizza, day 2 i did roast some peppers to accompany my cheese, salami,bread and olives (where’s Lotje and lincoln when you need then?) Hoping there’s doing to be some serious food action in Buenos Aires.

Yep, I arrived here about midnight last night, the last stage of my trip was on the Buquebus; from Colonia to BA. What a ride! I watched the sun setting as we headed to BA…

Then the clouds went into Orb like, ‘little fluffy clouds’…

From pink, to purple, to red… I know, not quite the correct lyrics, but I am allowed some artistic licence.

Pretty stunning, eh? The sky then blackened and there was the most stupendous lightening storm. It must have lasted at least 90 minutes. I did endeavour to get some shots, but I thought I’d have better odds winning the lottery, so I gave up after 10 minutes and just stood at the back of boat watching it in all it’s glory. Totally phenomenal!

So that was my entry to Buenos Aires, quite a spectacular welcome. I’m here now for a good week, hurrah, looking forward to being in the same place for a while. The hostel looks awesome, well it is called the Art Factory, so I expected little else. Sure more pix will be forthcoming once I get myself sorted x

Hola Montevideo

Ciao, ciao Brazil and your beautiful beaches and hola Montevideo. Mind, it was a feat and half to get here, 22 hours on a bus, but arrived safely at lunchtime. Typically too early to check in, so left bags and went for a wander down to the beach. I did not do my research, so I did not even realise there was a beach!!! Ok, it’s not ipanema, but pretty enough. Plus, I believe there are lots of history and delightful buildings to see; beaches are so last week 😉

I’m staying in Live MVD hostel, it’s a bit quirky with some lovely all features and lots of 1920s prints in the bar, but I’m staying in the mother all dorms, 11 beds – although I did bag the only single bed in the room; result!

Well, it’s about time I rid my body of the last 24 hours of travelling… There’s an art fair close by this evening, so thinking might have a dander there later. Later x

Vegetarians avert your eyes

After a late start, and a little encouragement, I made it to the beach and what a lovely beach it was (you’ll have to use your powers of deduction as I did not take my camera!) we got a boat ride back which was just so lovely, as we disembarked there was a rainbow 🙂

But to be fair, Florianopolis was all about food for me! Lincoln had already muted having a BBQ, steak and red wine; hey i did not need any persuasion.

Check out the size of these beauties!

This time it was a team effort in the kitchen, well I cut the garlic and mushed the avocado for the guacamole, oh and I also kept the wine glasses topped up!

Did I say there was wine involved?

I think, too date, this had been my favourite stay; not just because there was delicious food and wine on the go, but it was lovely sitting around the big table just chatting, and getting to know some lovely folks ❤

Ps. Lotje has, so I hear, a fantastic hostel in Amsterdam (cocomama), so if you fancy a weekend in the Dam and are looking for lodgings let me know!

A veritable banquet

I am catching my tail a little, so a few tales to tell. The first, my stay in Submarino hostel in Florianopolis, or my pet name for it ‘florrybottomless’! I arrived at the hostel tres late, it did not help that I departed from my bus two hours away from my desired location… Mmm, it was about the scheduled time for arrival and most people were disembarking so I followed the crowd and went to get a taxi. The taxi driver looked a bit startled and checked that was where I really wanted to go… “si, si”. However, it felt a bit odd so I asked the price and knew something was up when he said £100; the hostel guide said it’d be £15. Somehow, between me and a couple of very kind taxis drivers I realised this was not Florianopolis… Somehow, they managed to get me on another bus and two hours later I arrived. Hey, did I need a beer?

Next morning I made it down to breakfast and met Lotje and Lincoln who were discussing dinner that evening. I may have alluded to this, but the food in Brazil is not the best, even I can have too many fried products! So, pushing my luck I asked if I could join them, alas yes, food glorious food (pix soon come)… After a trip to supermercado and getting myself sorted, I headed out to the lake where I was staying next too to pick up a few rays. It was quite lovely and chilled.

But onto the main event, dinner… Lincoln spent a most of the afternoon preparing chicken (knives in hostels aren’t made for be-boning) and then between him and Lotje this fabulous feast was created.

My part of the bargain was the washing up! Actually, Darren did the washing and I wiped.

Aside from the food, I also had red wine, so it was obviously time to meet everyone else in the hostel. It was a late one, I believe we got to bed three ish… Well it was Saturday night, I think 😉

Batman alley

There is no disputing that Sao Paulo has its’ fair share of graffiti, it’s everywhere; even the outside of a cemetery has been tagged…

But, is San Paulo an ‘open air museum’ or is the city brimming with a plethora of street art?

I am no expert on the subject, but I’ve done a bit of research and to be honest not much came up aside from a New York Times article expressing the graffiti as ‘class warfare’ a battle between the haves and have nots…I also found out that it’s called ‘pichacao’ from the Portuguese verb ‘pichar’ – to cover with.

I’m Staying in Vila Madalena, a bohemian suburb of Sao Paulo and the guy who runs the hostel im staying at suggested I visited graffiti alley, or as I since have found out its called ‘batman alley’. What a visual treat, not sure how I’d feel if the back of my flat was covered in it; actually to be honest it might make an improvement.

See what you think…

Hostel heaven

I’ve had a mixed bag with the quality of hostels so far, and I’m sure it’ll continue as I travel forth. However, how lucky was I to find this hidden gem? Think kitsch 50s, graffiti, art installations and jazz… What more could a gal want? This place rocks, just sorry to spend so little time here 😦

it even had Hairdryer; result!

This last pix leads me nicely onto the next post. I’m off to graffiti alley while it’s still light; street art Sao Paulo styleee will be with ya soon x

The only way is up!

Wowsa, everywhere you looked there was fab architecture in Sao Paulo. Maybe not to everyone’s taste, but I played the proper tourist card and my camera stayed in my hand the entire time. Enjoy x