Well... Uruguay didn´t exactly happen. The night before we were supposed to leave for Montevideo a group of Australians came to the hostel in Buenos Aires. They were absolutly raving about a beach town 5 hours south of Buenos Aires called Villa Gesell (pronounced Bee-la He-zell). So, the Aussies I´ve been traveling with and I completely threw the Uruguay plans out the window, and here we are in Villa Gesell.
click here for info on Villa Gesell- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Gesell
The first really crazy story on this trip happened on the way here. I´m traveling with two Aussies, Ben and Paul. While at the bus station in Buenos Aires Paul´s backpack was stolen by two nasty Brazalian women. His pack is extremely heavy, maybe 65 pounds. The two women were both very small by comparison and couldn´t get the pack out of the door even though they were both carrying it. If there was ever a good reason to overpack this is the one. The police nabbed them as they were trying to run out of the door. Meanwhile, Paul flipped his lid on the two women while they were in custody. He was screaming at the top of his lungs in the bus terminal "amour en putas". He though he was calling them thieves and bitches. What the actual translation of what he was screaming at the top of his lungs is "I love bitches". ... We didn´t realize until later why the people in the terminal were laughing. It turns out that Amor isn´t even close to the spanish word for thief... What the moral of this story? Don´t leave your pack down for even a second anywhere. Thank god it all worked out for the best. Some of the people down here are so unbelievably poor.
Villa Gesell is a beautiful beach town. Its population in January swells from 60,000 to 200,000. There are people everywhere. All the roads for the most part are covered by sand, people on four wheelers zip around everywhere as a part of mainstream traffic, and on every corner you can find a dog or two completly passed out asleep on the side of the road. I´ve never seen so many free roaming dogs anywhere. They all are well fed, well behaved, and extremely sleepy all the time. The local residents simply let them roam the streets.
Its been great as there are only five backpackers in the whole town. We are forced to speak Spanish, and the locals seem really happy to teach us. Its almost like we are local celebrities, as we are the only gringos here. Groups of girls approach us quite frequently to practice their english. Its also been great as we have met many Argentinians from Cordoba, Rosario, and Buenos Aires. You definitely get a feel for how different the people are from each of Argentinias provinces.
sidenote: People down here are nuts about the Simpsons. The two people I get asked about most often are about President Bush and Homer Simpson. Guess which one they like more. More on Argentinian hatred of Bush later.
The beach is spectacular. The surf is rough and attracts many surfers and body surfers. The locals sit on the beach in packs sipping Mate (a local tea like drink). Many of the guys sit in circles playing guitar and singing classic rock songs (rolling stones, pink floyd, zepplin) and spanish rock songs. The vibe is beyond chill, and beyond anything I´ve experienced in the States.
As I blog I want to give updates of the people traveling with me. Here´s my first profile.
Ben Vears
Ben´s an Aussie from Perth that just finished up 6 years in the Australian Navy. He was the equivelent of a US Navy Seal. His specialty was as an Underwater Scuba Diver. His unit diffused bombs. With that said, hes a really good time. We went out to dinner in a big group the first night in Buenos Aires and ended up hanging quite a bit. I was planning on going to Uruguay with him until we heard about this place. He´s travelling with another Aussie Navy buddy for a year and half. They will be in south america for 9 months, then on to Canada to work at a Ski resort, possibly Banff. His buddy is currently on a three week, hard core mountain climbing trip in the Andes.
I think we are getting out of here at the end of the week. 7 days at beach heaven should do. Right now I´m planning to get an Apartment in Buenos Aires for a three weeks or so and enrolling in Spanish class.
That being said, things seem to change on the dime on trips like this. I have no idea what is going to happen.
The first really crazy story on this trip happened on the way here. I´m traveling with two Aussies, Ben and Paul. While at the bus station in Buenos Aires Paul´s backpack was stolen by two nasty Brazalian women. His pack is extremely heavy, maybe 65 pounds. The two women were both very small by comparison and couldn´t get the pack out of the door even though they were both carrying it. If there was ever a good reason to overpack this is the one. The police nabbed them as they were trying to run out of the door. Meanwhile, Paul flipped his lid on the two women while they were in custody. He was screaming at the top of his lungs in the bus terminal "amour en putas". He though he was calling them thieves and bitches. What the actual translation of what he was screaming at the top of his lungs is "I love bitches". ... We didn´t realize until later why the people in the terminal were laughing. It turns out that Amor isn´t even close to the spanish word for thief... What the moral of this story? Don´t leave your pack down for even a second anywhere. Thank god it all worked out for the best. Some of the people down here are so unbelievably poor.
Villa Gesell is a beautiful beach town. Its population in January swells from 60,000 to 200,000. There are people everywhere. All the roads for the most part are covered by sand, people on four wheelers zip around everywhere as a part of mainstream traffic, and on every corner you can find a dog or two completly passed out asleep on the side of the road. I´ve never seen so many free roaming dogs anywhere. They all are well fed, well behaved, and extremely sleepy all the time. The local residents simply let them roam the streets.
Its been great as there are only five backpackers in the whole town. We are forced to speak Spanish, and the locals seem really happy to teach us. Its almost like we are local celebrities, as we are the only gringos here. Groups of girls approach us quite frequently to practice their english. Its also been great as we have met many Argentinians from Cordoba, Rosario, and Buenos Aires. You definitely get a feel for how different the people are from each of Argentinias provinces.
sidenote: People down here are nuts about the Simpsons. The two people I get asked about most often are about President Bush and Homer Simpson. Guess which one they like more. More on Argentinian hatred of Bush later.
The beach is spectacular. The surf is rough and attracts many surfers and body surfers. The locals sit on the beach in packs sipping Mate (a local tea like drink). Many of the guys sit in circles playing guitar and singing classic rock songs (rolling stones, pink floyd, zepplin) and spanish rock songs. The vibe is beyond chill, and beyond anything I´ve experienced in the States.
As I blog I want to give updates of the people traveling with me. Here´s my first profile.
Ben Vears
Ben´s an Aussie from Perth that just finished up 6 years in the Australian Navy. He was the equivelent of a US Navy Seal. His specialty was as an Underwater Scuba Diver. His unit diffused bombs. With that said, hes a really good time. We went out to dinner in a big group the first night in Buenos Aires and ended up hanging quite a bit. I was planning on going to Uruguay with him until we heard about this place. He´s travelling with another Aussie Navy buddy for a year and half. They will be in south america for 9 months, then on to Canada to work at a Ski resort, possibly Banff. His buddy is currently on a three week, hard core mountain climbing trip in the Andes.
I think we are getting out of here at the end of the week. 7 days at beach heaven should do. Right now I´m planning to get an Apartment in Buenos Aires for a three weeks or so and enrolling in Spanish class.
That being said, things seem to change on the dime on trips like this. I have no idea what is going to happen.
1 comment:
It was 21 degrees when I woke up for work this morning. Sounds like you're having a blast so far!!
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