settling in.

So, its been about 10 days since I landed on the other side of the world....and the lack of posts can be directly attributed to the fact that Beunos Aires is incredible. Socially, politically, architecturaly, the city is very expressive. They say that on average there is one major protest a day in BA. On Tuesday, it was a special day that remembers the "Dirty War". There were about 500 protests and 5 hours of drums and flag waving... They really know how to kick up a fuss here in argentina...

I had a good 4 days here before Will even got here, and it was really good to meet some great travellers from all over the place. It is much different travelling here than in asia, where its an effort to even run into someone that speaks the same language... my first 5 hours here consisted of downing pints on the rooftop with some brits, germans, aussies and locals, and hitting up a superclub till dawn. Probably not the best way to tackle the extreme jetlag I was feeling at the time. But jetlag isn´t that big of a problem here in BA, you really stand out like a foreinger if you go out for a meal before 10pm, BA time takes a bit of getting used to.
Probably the best two expreiriences i have had here have been the futbol matches... For those who dont know, BA has one of the biggest rivalries in sport... River Plate vs Boca Juniors. I didnt get to see them play each other, but I saw River Plate v San Martin, and the mental state of the locals surely has to be questioned. (See this youtube clip) The party went of for the whole match, and we were lucky enough to see a good match that was decided by a penalty in the final minute. Needless to say the locals went crazy and the away fans threw alot of dangerous inanimate objects at the home fans (ie. us). We also got tickets to see Argentina v Venuzuela in a WC qualifying match. The argentines won 4-0 thanks to Messi. (see clip here)

We are leaving to head north to the falls soon, and it will be sad to leave this city. But I can say one thing for certain and that is that I will definately be back here soon.

126 days.....

126 days..... that's how long I've been waiting to get on the plane since I booked my one-way flight to Buenos Aires. 126 days of flipping through guide books, making lists, and planning itineraries. 126 days of talking about it, reading about it, looking at it. When I booked this ticket i didn't really know what to expect, and despite my avid reading and endless hours online i guess i probably still don't know what its really going to be like, but at least now i have some idea of where this trip might take me (thanks largely to an over sized map on my lounge room wall). What to take on this trip is another question. What do you take to a place that has deserts vaster and higher, jungles denser, mountains taller and rivers larger than nearly anywhere else on the planet? Hopefully I've managed to fit at least a few useful things in to my luggage.

So, here we go, my Spanish is bad, my pack is too full, and i don't really know where I'm going. This should be fun.