How much beef can one man eat?

Time for an update on the meat odyssey. Day four and I am still going strong!!! Or is it day five and am I starting to loose touch with reality...

We'll start at the beginning. I arrived last Friday in the am, checked into my hostel, met up with my friend Oliver who is living over here. He took me to a place called "The Hippopotamus", and I had without a doubt one of the greatest steak sandwiches ever. This was followed up by dinner at "Des Nivel", which in my humble opinion is one of the greatest steakhouse restaurants in the world. I had the biffe...

Day 2 and I found another little place for a steak sandwich. This one was a little cheaper than the one the day before. So I mistakenly assumed that it would be a little smaller, and ordered a chorizo (sausage) to go with it, kind of like a side salad, but better. Well I was wrong and the sandwich was even bigger, it was a struggle. But I made it. That night they threw on an Asado (BBQ) here at the hostel where I consumed even more meat.

Then day 3 (Christmas Day), we had another Asado around at Oliver's place. This was a 12 hour affair, with me in charge of the Asado. Not the cooking bit, but the making of fire. It was a thing of beauty. The following day (4) I decided it might be a good idea to stay off the beef for a day, just to make sure I didn't over do it. No chance of that, I dropped round to Oliver's again that night and we fired up the asado again and cooked up what can only be described as a small roast which someone had kindly left behind the day before.

Now here is where things get blurry. Yesterday... Ah it was day 5. Yesterday I went back for another of the greatest steak sandwiches in the world at the hippo place. The plan was to try and find some where that did fish for dinner so I thought a steak at lunch wouldn't be a bad idea. Well the plan fell through and I ended up eating a full mixed grill...

I had a little moment after this where it occurred to me that over the past five days I have consumed an obscene amount of meat not to mention the stupefying amount of alcohol I have drunk to go with this orgy of meat. That possibly, just possibly this wasn't the healthiest thing in the world to be doing. And to be honest my body is starting to show a few signs of fatigue and I am not sure if I can sustain this kind of self abuse for the remaining 6 days. But then it also occurred to me I have no other option. I can't help it. If there is a biffe de chorizo on the menu, then I am going to order it. It is inevitable. And this is I think why as much as I love this city, the people, the clubs, the shopping (don't even get me started) and of course the food, I couldn't live here, it would kill me. I have no self control when it comes to a big fat juicy steak. I am an addict, and here my addiction runs rampant...

Will I survive another 6 days of this? Only time will tell...

I feel the earth move under my feet...

I feel the sky tumblin down...

Well maybe not, but I felt the earth move. There was a minor tremor here on Monday, lasted all of 10 seconds and I am told registered about 2 on the scale. Nothing major, but it was enough to freak me out. The whole idea of living on the 24th floor no longer seems as appealing to me...

I am told they have tremors similar to this one at least every month or so, but this is the first one I have noticed.

In further news I am planning to head back to Buenos Aires (the land of meet) for Christmas and New Year. I am calling this trip the "Odyssey of Beef". The challenge, to eat as much beef as I possibly can, the proof... Right here, I will take a photo of every steak or sausage or meat product I consume and put it up here on the blog, along with a description and a rating (rating system to be advised). Ham sandwiches, chicken and seafood won't be counted, only things that once went moo. In fact I will try my best to avoid these tasty distractions…

Anyone want to join me ?

I think I am having a meat stroke...

MEAT!!!!

I went over the boarder to Mendoza, Argentina on the weekend. Yes Argentina, the land of Beef. Beef with a capital B for By golly it was good. Ok so maybe I am raving a little, but it is to be expected. I spent three days in Mendoza and ate over 2kg of steak. Seriously. I worked it out. The average steak was around the 500 gram mark. I had one on Friday night, another one and a half on Saturday night (I finished off someone else’s) and a pair on Sunday. All told that comes to about 2kg of steak. Then to put it up over the 2kg beyond doubt I went to a all you can eat joint on Saturday for lunch, and I had another bit of beef there. I weighed myself when I got back to Santiago and I think I am about 3kg heavier after the weekend. Not bad eh? I am impressed, by the Sunday I was just ordering the steak with out anything else, no need for distractions. I am pretty sure the only things I ate on Sunday were steak and bread.

What else... I saw Judas Priest play here last month! That was amazing, they were supported by Whitesnake, who were incredible as well. One of the best gigs I have ever seen. And Pearl Jam are coming down here in November, so I will go and check that out as well.

Later
Zac

Cold and wet...

Ok, no more photos... Well not for a while at least. I have had my camera stolen. So I can't share with you all the great view from my new appartment. I have finaly moved out of the hostel into an appartment with some other teachers from my work. The buliding I live in looks a lot like a Soviet era appartment block, and the inside isn't all that better. But it has a few advantages. It's on the 24th floor. Let me repeat that for you. It's on the 24th floor. It's so high that I have to pop my ears on the way down in the elevator. The elevator itself is more than little scary, but the upside is I have and amazing view. When it's not raining, or when the smog isn't too thick, I can see all the way to the mountains. Absolutly incredible. It's also conviently close to a couple of bars. And I have found a decent beer here in South America at long last.

Zac

Oops...

I've been in Santiago for almost 2 weeks now, so I can now offer a more informed opinion on the place. The first week that I was down here on holidays, it was overcast and grey, I justed assumed it was a rainy week and thought nothing more of it. Well now that I have been here for a little longer, it's still grey. Turns out it wasn't really overcast, it was the smog. I can't tell the difference, I am living a world that is permantly gray, I don't recall the last time I saw the sun... I am staying in a hostel for the first month which is ok if you don't mind sharing a room with 5 other guys. Though to be fair there are only 3 of us there at the moment, and I haven't seen the other two in days. It is in a pretty cool area full of cafes and cool bars, only problem is I am on a tight budget until I get paid at the end of the month. So all the cool bars and cafes are wasted on me.

I have also become a convert to the way of the hotdog, or completos as they call them here - happy Orb? I know I said I wasn't going to try one, but I caved. I am still holding out on going to McDonalds, but only just. They are also mad about ice cream here, it's the middle of winter and everywhere I look there are people eating ice cream. There are almost more ice cream shops than hotdog joints, almost.

The other thing you will notice if you ever come down to Santiago is that people here love to get in on in public places. I can't step out side with out seeing at least one couple making out, and if you go down the plaza on the weekend, it's everywhere. They are mad for it.

Oh yeah, and somehow in a city of almost 6 million people I have managed to run into the one person who knows me as Doodle twice in two days. It's just not fair.

Later
Zac

The devil and road safety.

I've made it back to Santiago. And on the way back I saw the coolest cross walk sign. The little red man telling me to wait had a tail and horns. No way I was crossing til that went green. Then the little green man, well he was either a 3 legged man or really well hung... Either way it had me laughing for days.

So back in Santiago, I've been hanging out with some friends from Aus. Finally check out one of the coffee shops I have been eyeing off in the center of town. They are not so much coffee shops as gentleman's clubs. There are no seats, you pay for your coffee and then take your ticket over to the bar, where there are girls in tight mini skirts. Conviently they have this raised platform so you can check out the girls legs better. It was defiantly a men's club, ashing on the floor was allowed and there was not a single woman in there who wasn't working there. Also I think we might have been the youngest people there. It seems more a hang out for old dudes in suits. But hell, I'll be going back.

Onto Friday night. Firstly though I need to explain one little thing. At my hostel I have given up trying to get them to pronouce my name correctly, so they think my name is Jack. Even though it is spelt Zachary on the book. I figured I wasn't going to be there long so close enough was good enough. Looks like I might be there for a month now, so I am going to have to live with that... Anyway, Friday night I went out with Alex. We were enjoying a quite drink when we started talking to a couple of locals. Alex then introduced himself as Jack, I figured he would then tell them I was Alex, no problem I can play along with this... Didn't quite work that way, after telling them his name was Jack, he told these poor guys my name was Doodle. I then had to spend the rest of the night not only responding to Doodle, but also correcting pronucination on it. I even had to write it out for one of them. I will get you for that Alex. Somehow, someday, I will.

Later
Doodle.

(sorry about the speeling, but the spell checker here doesn't wok).

46 hours, 3 buses, 1 taxi, 14.5 movies...

I just made the run from Santiago to Cusco in one go, crazy, my arse is so sore. And to top it all off I am about to do it all again... Why? Well I have decided to move to Santiago. Why? Cause I can. I am back in Cusco for a day and a half just to grab my back and it's back onto the bus tonight and back to Santiago. I have a new job lined up and start as soon as I get there. Figured I could do with a change, so beening slighly mad as I am I decided to move. Will keep you all up dated on how it goes, but for I have to go finish packing.

Later
Zac

Santiago report

Moon
Originally uploaded by Jungle Zac.

What to say about Santiago... Well if you like Hotdogs, this is the place for you! People here seem to live on a diet of Hotdogs and steak sandwiches. Except the steak sandwhiches aren't that good, it's like steak that went through the deli slicer. How can you call that steak, ok so they pile it on and load the thing with avacado, but really... They also load the hotdogs with avacado and tamato and mayonase, so much that you can't see the dog. I haven't had one yet, and I don't think I will. You can also buy beer in a food court at a shopping center, from KFC! I like that, not just a beer, but picters (jugs for those of you normal folk from Australia). I am struggling to find a normal kind of meal, it seems to be all fast food junk everywhere I go. Other than that Santiago is very nice, beutifull. This photo was taken about half an hour ago, the moon looked bigger in real life. Also it is very cold, you can see the mountians covered in snow from pretty much anywhere. I am told the skiing is good, but I am not much of a skier so I will save the money and go to the beach. Hopefuly it will be a little warmer down there.

Later
Zac

The tour continues...

Update. I am now in La Serena on my way to Santiago tomorrow. Spent a day in San Pedro de Atacama, which was nice. Little oassis up in the Atacama desert, very touristy. Interesting but also a little unimpressive after spending 5 days driving around the dessert without any other tourists in sight. On the way there we stopped in a minning town called Calama, it was 5am and very COLD. So we found somewhere open and went in out of the cold. Now what would be open at 5am on a Monday morning? Well it was a bar, so we bought some beers as you can't go into a bar and not buy anything. I figured it was close to closing time and we would get the boot shortly, but the place livened up around 6am and really started to get going, which was a bit strange. It did close eventualy at 7am and we were back out on the street, it was daylight by this time and slightly warmer. I found out later that Calama has a reputation as a fairly rough town, know for prostitues, drugs and alcholics. Probably not the best place to be wandering into bars at 5am on a Monday morning...

Anyway I am going to spend the day wandering around La Serena, it looks pretty from what I have seen, and I've also spied a shopping mall. I think there might be a cinema there, will go check that out as I haven't seen a movie in ages...

Later
Zac

If you don't Rock and Roll, don't Rockin come...

DSC02133
Originally uploaded by Jungle Zac.

Hmm Chile... What to say... Been here for a week and been having a great time. I met a couple of guys from Canada on the bus down from Cusco, and have been traveling with them for the past week.

The week started off in Arica, nice city next to the beach. Being the first day/night of my holiday myself and one of the Canadian lads set out to find some night life and party with the locals. Easy said than done. It was a Tuesday night and the crappy guide book doesn't list discos or places to party. So we started out wandering around looking for bars and beer, which was easy enough. Even found a place serving beer in a Rocket. A Rocket is a giant beer dispensing thingy they fill with beer and put on your table, serve yourself, perfecto. A bit of asking around found us the name of a good place to go and so we were off. Or so we thought. Turns out the place was closed on, not to be discouraged we asked out taxi driver to take us to a disco that wasn't closed. And she thought about it for a second then drove down to the bus station to ask someone else. Now I should have know something wasn't quite right when the this second person took a look at the pair of gringos sitting in the back and laughed. But at the time I thought nothing much of it, I wanted to party, and we were on our way, again. After a good 10 minutes or so in the taxi, my companion noticed that we had left the city, this was confirmed by the appearance of small farms. Just as I was about to ask the driver where the hell we were she pulled up at a disco. And guess what, it too was closed. But it was set to open in about half an hour or so we were assured. So we decided to get out and wait around to see if it picked up. Which it did, slowly. By this time it was around 1.30am and I was starting to get a little tired. The taxi driver had assured us that the place got going around 2am, but I wasn't going to wait around that long. So we found another taxi and headed back into town, figured we'd get another beer then go back to the hostel. On the way back our new taxi driver suggested a place for us to go, so in we went to what I assumed was a bar. Well I should have know when I saw a dancing Nun that it wasn't a normal bar, but the flashing lights were a little distracting. Anyway the nun kept dancing and slowly started getting her gear off, and I started to slowly get the idea that this wasn't a normal bar. So we hung around for a little while longer just to be sure, then gave up for the night and headed on home. All this on just my first day in Chile.

Day 2. The Canadian lads and I had hired a car for 5 days, and planned to drive up into some of the national parks around Arica, arriving in 5 days time in Iquique. Sounds like fun, no? Well I recently had my wallet stolen (two weeks ago in Peru) and no longer have a drivers license, the 2 Canadians had licenses but no experience driving a manual. So I got the job of driving us out of town and giving driving lessons. The first day was great, saw some amazing looking dessert and made it to Putre in good time. So with time to spare we decided to check out the local hot springs and mud baths. Great decision, we were the only ones there and spent a good couple of hours smearing mud all over ourselves and generally relaxing in the hot springs. Sooooo relaxing.

Day 2 saw us off to check out some lava flows. This was meant to be a 3 hour round trip hike. Only problem was we didn't find any lava flows. Found some nice lakes, but no lava flows. In hind sight we should have found the Spanish word for lava flows and check that out a bit more. But the lake was nice and the walk was good. Though I wouldn't want to be up there after dark. The park is at least 4000m about sea level and when the sun goes down, it gets real cold real fast.

On the third day we set off to check out the highest lake in the world (I think). Our trusty map showed a nice little track that ran round the back of the lake, so having a 4wd we decided to check it out. The map had the road/track marked as "good". Well I am not sure what scale that is on, but it was more of a track than a road. I missed the turn off and only realized we had gone to far when the sign said Welcome to Bolivia and beware of the land minds. So we headed back into Chile found the track and set off cross country to check out the back of the lake. I am pretty sure the track is only used by people trying to smuggle things into the country and avoid the boarder post, because it hadn't been used in a long while. Anyway we wasted a good half day tearing around cross country, then we set of for Colchane supposedly 200kms south along another "good" track/road, with one section marked as 4wd only. We were heading along this track late in the afternoon in a bit of a hurry as we wanted to make it to Colchane before dark (wasn't much chance of that), and one of the Canadians was at the wheel when the car got a little sideways and I am pretty sure we were on 2 wheels for a bit. Well after that I took over the driving again... Know my driving skills? Wondering why I was the driver of choice? Well I learnt to drive on dirt, if it was ice I would have deferred to the Canadians. Any way I was doing good, making good time no problems. Then we cam across a little bit of water, no problem. Then there was the second bit of water... Well after the first had proved shallow I didn't think much of it and hit it a bit faster than I should have. End result I stalled the car in the middle of a stream with water coming in at the bottom of the doors. Cold water, sun gone down, middle of no where, very very cold night if the car doesn't start again. Which it didn't, well not at first. After a heart panicking few minutes it got going and we got the hell out of there. Made it into Colchane well after dark.

4th day we headed down to Iquique (where I still am now), strange place. But went out last night and good and drunk, spent the 5th day looking around the beaches here. And now we are on our way to hand the car back to some guy at the bus station. Figure while I am there I will catch a bus somewhere. Not sure where yet, but south is the general direction.

Anyway gotta run.
Zac

Oh and if you are wondering about the title. Well I saw this slogan on a jumper in Arica and have kind of taken it for a motto. Not sure what it means, or is meant to mean. But as they say, if you don't rock and roll, don't rockin come...

Green rocks...

DSC02190
Originally uploaded by Jungle Zac.

Porn King

I am off to Chile tonight, so I figured I should give you all an update on the last month. I've still been working as an English teacher, and loving it. But I've also been doing a bit of other work on the side... I was having lunch with a guy at Uriel's resturant one day, and we were chatting away when I mentioned I knew how to make a web page. Well this guys eyes lit up and he asked me to make a web page for a bussiness he was involved with. I said yes with out really know what I had agreed to as the whole conversation was in Spanish. Now my Spanish is getting better, but I still don't always understand exactly what is going on. Anyway during the conversation that followed there was mention of an Escort Agency and a few other things, so I wasn't quite sure what I was agree to make a web page for. Well a couple of days later the guy comes back with this design layouts of how he wants the web site. And sure enough, it's porn. So I've spent the last 2 weeks make a web page for an Escort Agency. Funny to think I lived in Canberra the porn capital of Australia for 5 years and only now do I become involved in the porn industry...

Anyway I'll be traveling for the next 2 or 3 weeks, so I'll try and put some more updates up. Check back later.

Zac

The life of a teacher...

zac at work
Originally uploaded by Jungle Zac.

It's a hard life isn't? Marking day. Got my beer, got my red pen. What more do I need? And to think I once thought being a teacher would be hard work... But it's actually pretty cool, I get recognized everywhere and called Teacher in the middle of the street.

Still alive...

Hey all, haven't written in a while so I figured it was time for a little update.

To be honest no much is going on, still working for now. But looking at packing it in and going traveling next month, haven't planned it out to much but going to head north and see where it takes me. After that I am not sure, going to come back to Cusco for a short while at least. Though I am not sure if I will stay on here til the end of the year or find somewhere else. I've given up trying to make up my mind as I keep changing it 3 times a day at least. I'll work it out when I get back.

Later
Zac

bday

bday
Originally uploaded by Jungle Zac.

Ok so this was the first cake I got, well slice of cake. Notice the clean shaven look?

Zac

Never trust a one eyed barber...

Happy Birthday to me! So yesterday was my birthday. Had an awesome day, my students in the morning threw me a party. Ok so a bottle of coke and a pack of bisscuts isn't exactly a party. But it was a nice gesture, espeicaly as I haven't been able to remember any of their names (I've been teaching them for 3 weeks). Then in the afternoon at my Spanish class, I got a cake and a little party. That was pretty cool. Then my next class got me an apple pie, I've made it obvoius that I like apple pie over the last 2 months I have been teaching them. And they remembered, how sweet. Also got a free lunch, and last night I went out for drinks with some friends. Feeling rather tired now as I didn't get home til 2am and had to get up for work at 7am. Also the advnace class I teach found out that is was my birthday and now want me to come out dancing with them this weekend...

Oh yeah and I learned a valuble lesson. Don't let a one eyed barber shave you. I think I lost a litre of blood...

Later
Zac

Milkshake anyone ?

Ok, so I woke up this morning having a dream about drinking milk from my shoes. My smelly shoes... What the hell does that mean?

Yes it hurt

tat2
Originally uploaded by Jungle Zac.

For those who asked to see it, this is the tattoo I got last week. Took about an hour and a half. As soon as the guy began, I remembered why I hadn't gone back for more earlier. It hurt like hell.

Zac

Uriel's Resturant...

uriel
Originally uploaded by Jungle Zac.

Ok so as promised, photos. This is Uriel and his new resturant. I hang out here most days and practice my spanish. Also the food is pretty good, not to mention the location. It's just in front of the University and there is a constant stream of good looking women walking by. It's a hard life...

I am famous!!!

OK on Saturday night I went out in Urubamba to a 'dicotech' called tequila's, I had been to this place once last year in May. So imagine my surprise when browsing the photos on the wall and I saw a picture of me! Yes me! It wasn't a very good photo, but it was definitely me. So if you know the 'discotech' I am talking about, and happened to have visited it some time in the past year, chances are you photo is still up on the wall. I wonder if I go back in another year will they still have a picture of me up...

On the couch.

10
Originally uploaded by Jungle Zac.

Ah, this is the life. Check out the flag!

The Washing Machine!

14
Originally uploaded by Jungle Zac.

Ok, so it's bassicly a bucket with a plunger. But I made it!

On the couch again...

17
Originally uploaded by Jungle Zac.

Enjoying the new flat, watching some Los Magnificos.

Bimbo

bimbo
Originally uploaded by Jungle Zac.

The Bimbo Truck! Guess what's inside? I've seen this thing in Buenos Aires and here in Cusco... Guess!

Los Magnificos!

Ah the joys of black and white television. Like any other jobless bum the world over I have been relaxing on the couch watching TV between bouts of job hunting. I have discovered a couple of really good shows, one of them "Los Magnificos" or in English, "The A Team". Great stuff, I haven' seen it in years, the fact that it is in black and white and dubbed into Spanish doesn't take away from the quality of the show at all... Another gem is "Prisionera", which I though was going to be the Australian show Prisoner dubbed into Spanish, but no. It's a Mexican soap, absolutely tragic, totally over the top, and if it wasn't in Spanish I be right into it. As it is with my limited Spanish skills, I have to make up the story line as I go along. And I must say I think I am doing a great job.

Ok now for some photos!

Tales of a Jobless Hobo

Ok, so I have finished the TEFL course and am now officially jobless. I’ve spent the past week desperately looking for work, and have a few promising leads, but no job yet. I’ll give myself another couple of weeks and if I still haven’t found work by then I will try making my own jewelry and selling it down in Gringo Ally with all the other gringo hippy drop outs... So I have hope yet.

Also I don’t really qualify as a hobo, as I found a home this week. I moved into my new apartment on Tuesday, I am living with a girl I met through the TEFL course. It’s working out great, we have an awesome place. It’s massive and comes completely furnished, it even has an ancient black and white TV. We are going shopping for a colour one on the weekend.

Being jobless has some advantages, I have heaps of spare time. Which I have been using productively, so far I have made a washing machine (more on that in a second) and went for a visit out to Zurite where I did the volunteer placement last year. Those of you who know Zurite will be shocked to hear Jasper got it on with Pequeña, the first puppy is about 4 months old and looks just like Chico did, the second is only days old and looks just like the mother... Such a tragedy, I expected better from Jasper... For those of you who have no idea what I am on about, I am talking about the dogs that live in the volunteer house in Zurite.

Ok on to the fun stuff, my washing machine. I got sick of paying 3.50 (soles not dollars) a kilo for my washing, so I decided I would do it myself. But rather than just grab a tub and scrub away, I thought I would make a washing machine. Basically it is just a bucket and a plunger, but I think it is pretty cool and it saves me the hassle of having to pay for my washing... Ok so I seriously need a job, I have reached the point where making a washing machine is fun... And it only took less than a week of no job and nothing else to do.

I’ve got a few photos which I am going to try and put up here.
Later
Zac

Porkys

Hey all,

The course is going well, it's a lot of work but I will get there. I've been teaching my first class all week, and really enjoying it. It's a lot more fun than I thought it would be, still have a lot of things to improve on, but I'll get there.

Also I have found the greatest lunch place close to the school. Porkys, it's a tiny little shop that sells nothing but pork sandwiches. They have a big lump of pork in the front of the shop, and a guy who just sits there and carves the meat. They make em with tomate, onion and chilli. But I've been in there so many times in the past week that the lady who makes them knows not to put tomate or chilli on my without me asking. What more could you want? A drink? They do fresh squeezed orange juice for a sole. Can't get better than that... Or so I thought, I have heard a rumor of a place that does a hamburger and a coke for s2.50. And I am told it is more a steak sandwich than a hamburger, a massive lump of steak on a roll. Will have to check it out and let you know...

Oh yeah, I just went for a ceviche (raw fish) lunch with the people from the course, and to go with it they served a drink called "leche de tigre" or "milk of the tiger". Turns out it is the juice they marinate the fish in, and it's called "leche de tigre" because it is meant to make you strong like a tiger... Grrr....

Later
Zac

Water World

I got soaked today! The water festival is still going on, I am told today is the last day. I hope so. I went out to get some stuff for lunch, and thought I would be ok. But no. I got soaked by a bunch of girls on the way back. They lined up across the road informs of me and smiling sweetly told me to pass. Not cool. Then this afternoon as we were heading into the plaza, we got to the end of the street and got confronted by a mob of at least 20 odd people all with buckets and cans of spray foam. As soon as they saw us they all started cheering. We turned and went the other way. From what I can tell it seems to be localized around the street I live in. Other parts of Cusco seem to be acting normal, just not my street...

Other than that, it's raining again. Seems to rain every day, I guess that's why they call it the rainy season. The course is going well, learning a lot. Got an assignment due tomorrow, not liking that part all that much. Thought I was done with assignments and homework, well not yet it seems.

Later
Zac

Cusco Cusco Cusco

Update time. I have made it to Cusco at last. After spending a week in the sun in Buenos Aires, Cusco is quite a shock. It's COLD, and it supposed to be the middle of summer. I seem to have arrived in the middle of some kind of festival. I'm not sure exactly what it is meant to be. But as far as I can tell it's a month long water fight. Every where you go kids are running around with water balloons. It's dangerous walking down the street. This morning I walked past a bunch of young girls who decided I was a good target, luckily they missed. I don't want to end up wet in this cold. Did I mention it was COLD ?

Cusco hasn't changed much since I was here last, it's a bit quieter but it is the off season for tourists. Strangely I have only been offered drugs once in three days, not that I want any of course. But last time I was here I couldn't walk down the street with out getting offered at least a half a dozen times. I guess that is an improvement. Oh yeah, there is also a new pub opening up that brews there own beer! I walked past the other day and saw all the fermentation gear going in. I am going to have to go and check it out when it's open.

Other than that not much else to report. I start my course on Monday, I'll let you all know how that goes.

Cheers
Zac

No Bailar!

The only thing I had heard about Buenos Aires other than they have great carne, was that the night life is meant to be spectacular. But so far I have yet to see it. On my second night here, after considerable partying at the hostel. A group of us headed out to look for a club or a bar to continue our drinking. Unfortunately we couldn't find anywhere that was open, admittedly it was 3am by the time we left the hostel. Not dissuaded, we decided to try again a couple of nights later. This time we asked at the hostel where was a good club to go to. And we were told there weren't any, that they were all closed. This was said to be due to a fire in a club here in Buenos Aires around new years, where at least 200 people died. Since then all clubs have been temporarily shut down. We found it some what hard to believe that all the clubs would be closed. We decided to head out and try our luck anyway. Surely something would be open. One of the guys staying at the hostel had a friend here in Buenos Aires, and he gave him the name of a place to try. So off we went. We spent a g00d 20 minutes driving around the dock area looking for the place and eventually had to stop and ask one of the countless police on the street for directions. He told us the place we wanted to go was closed, and kindly recommended another place for us. So off we went again. Success! We had managed to find a club that was open! The next challenge was getting in the door. I was a bit dubious as to whether be let in as we all seemed to be wearing sandals. But this wasn't a problem. The problem it appeared was that you weren't allowed to dance (no bailar). The guy on the door explained that we could go in but we were not allowed to dance. No bailar! Thinking this was bit of a joke we went in anyway. The club was great, well it would have been great. It was 2am on Saturday morning, what should be the busiest time for a club and they weren't even half full. There was about 30 odd people standing around inside dance music pumping out, and nobody dancing. Not one person. The one time a couple of girls got up and started dancing, the door man came over and asked them to stop. It was the weirdest thing, being in a club playing dance music and nobody dancing. We stayed for a drink anyway and got chatting to a few of the locals, who told us we had come at the worst time. They all told us to come back in mid February when it was expected the ban would be lifted and the clubs reopened. But if we were interested Fat Boy Slim was playing a free concert down the cost tomorrow, unfortunately it was somewhere over 300kms down the cost.

luckily I plan to be in South America for a little while, and I will definitely be coming back here to see the night life, and eat more carne! Speaking of the carne we had a BBQ here at the hostel last night, yet more beef and more beer. I am loving here.

Later
Zac

Carne! Carne! Carne!

Okay I have been here for about three days now, so I figured it's time to post a little something. I am currently in Buenos Aires, I landed on Tuesday. The flight over was uneventful, scored the seat up the front with all the leg room so I can't complain too much. Though I did have a brief moment of panic as we touched down and was contemplating not getting off the plane and asking them to take me home. Then I realised that this wouldn't work as the plane probably wasn't going back to Australia. No choice but to get up and get on with it. Before leaving Australia I booked a hostel over the internet, the deal was that they were supposed to be waiting for me at the airport and give me a ride into town. But... me being the lazy bugger I am, I left it to the last minute to do it. So I got no confirmation email to say it had been sorted before I left, but I thought no stress. I'll check my email during the stop over in New Zealand, surely they will have internet termials there. Well they did, but they only took New Zealand $2 coins. I had four different currencies on me, but not a New Zealand anything... So I figured bugger it, I just take my chances. Anyway as you can guess, there was no one waiting for me at the airport, so I grab my bag and jumped on the bus. This worked out great, the bus went to the terminal in the city. And once there I asked how to get to the hostel, and they said they would give me a ride there. Brilliant! Only problem was I gave the guy driving the wrong address, and after driving around and not finding it and yelling at me in Spanish and me not understanding a word, he dropped me off on the foot path along with my 30kg bag. Now this wasn't as bad as it sounds, or so I thought at first. Some guy off the street gave me directions, turns out I was looking at the wrong number on the map, but I was told the street I wanted was only about 4 blocks up the road. So I threw the bag over my shoulder and off I went. Four blocks quickly turned in to about ten. And by this stage I wasn't feeling very well, I was managing about a block at a time and then I would have to put the bag down and catch my breath. I even thought I was going to through up for a little while there. I finally reached the street I wanted and checked the map again, realizing that my hostel was about another 15 to 20 blocks away. So I converted the bag into backpack mode and somehow managed to get it up on my back and set off. By about the 10 block mark I was becoming desperate, I was starting to question everything, I was on the verge of walking into the next hotel or hostel I saw and staying there. But I preserved, and about another 2 blocks on stumbled into my hostel where I promptly dump the back and almost collapsed. Okay so I am exaggerating a little, but I was buggered and could barely stand let alone speak. Anyway the hostel is great and was worth the effort. I can´t remember much else from the first day other than passing out at about 8pm and not waking up till at least 9am the next day.

My 2nd day I spend wandering around the city. It's an amazing place, so big, I can't get over the size of it. I had a few things on my list of things to do for the day. Numero uno was to find travel agent and arrange my flight to Cusco. So I went into the city and picked a street that looked good and walked down that looking for somewhere to get a ticket. And I walked and walked and walked. I've since looked at the map and seen how far I walked that day. I think at the end of the day I'd been wandering around for at least 6 hours or more. And no I didn't find a travel agent. But I did find at least a dozen McDonald's, a few bugger Kings and a chain of Pizza shops that will do a large cheese pizza for $2.99 (about $1.50 AUS).

Yesterday I continued my search for a plane ticket, and found another half dozen McDonald's. One even had an 'Auto-Mac' (drive through). I also managed to find a travel agent, and have now sorted out my flight to Cusco. I am flying there on the 3rd of Fuburary, so I have another whole week to spend here in Buenos Aires.

I intend to spend the week looking around Buenos Aires, there is so much to see. And so much beef to eat! The steak is amazing, and cheap. Last night I found the 2nd thing I was looking for, a steak the size of my head. Okay so it wasn't quite that big, but it was well large and cheap too. The food here is a meat lovers paradise. You can get a steak on it's own without any of that salad crap or anything. Or if you want that I guess you can order it, me I go with steak and chips. Though for lunch today I had steak and eggs. If the hostel didn't provide breakfast I think I would be having steak three times a day. It's so good, so big and juicy and tender... Okay I am getting a little carried away here, but you all know how much I love my meat and this is heaven for me.

That's about it for the moment, I'll try and get a few picture online sometime soon. Though I haven't taken all that many yet. If you want to write to me you can put comments on this thing somehow or just email me.

Later

Welcome

Hi this is my Blog. Wondering what a blog is? Well go look it up, you have the internet. Here I will keep an online journal of my travels. Feel free to read them, share them and make comment as you wish (you can do that here or email me).

This is my second trip to South America. I am currently in Buenos Aires enjoying the beef (I just had the best steak). The itinerary for my trip is vague at best. I intend to spend at least a year here in South America, and for most of that time I will be based in Cusco. While I am here I am going to try and do a trip up to Columbia, Venezuela and Cuba. One through Bolivia, Uruguay, and maybe one down to the south of Chile and Argentina. Whether it works out that way or not is anyone's guess. I guess you will just have to stay tuned to find out.