Day to Day

Snorkeling (really tiring actually - was out at sea and the currents were a killer) and turtle sanctuary were good but have no photos unfortunately - not the sorts of activities that agree with cameras

After Isla Mujeres we headed further down the coast to Playa Del Carmen. It was a nice place - very touristy but not as high rise as Cancun seemed. Nice beach Our only excitement was that we were robbed for the first time on our travels (as far as we know). We had gone to the bank machine that morning and had left 1500 pesos in our room (in a purse in a bag) - bit careless maybe... When we returned after a few tacos we were of mixed emotions. We found a very nice towel arrangement on the bed in the shape of two swans, but noticed that 500 of the pesos (about 35 euro) was missing. It wasn't that nice a towel arrangement.

We decided that the best plan of attack was to go down stairs and say that the money had "gone missing" from our room and that we would need to report it to the tourist police so that we could claim the money back on travel insurance (no mean feat to try and explain in spanish - especially to someone who doesn't want to understand you!!!). Luckily there was a nice guy in the lobby who translated for us. The maid was summoned, and all the shaking heads meant that she was claiming total innocence. While discussions of owner liability etc. were going on, the maid disappeared upstairs. On her return, the owner insisted on going up and searching our room - just in case we had simply misplaced the 500 pesos. She asked where the money had been and Aoife duly showed her. The owner then proceeded to rifle through the front of Aoife's bag (musch to Aoife's displeasure ) despite the fact that the money had been in a zipped purse and would have required a Houdini-esque escape from the purse to end up floating around in the front of her bag. Aoife was now getting frustrated with the intrusions into her bag and started to try and wrest the bag from the owners grip. But - lo and behold!!! There it was. The 500 pesos. Magic. We obviously stupidly forgot that we had carefully stowed the rest of the money in a purse and casually tossed two nights accommodation into the front pocket of Aoife's bag. We are backpackers - not idiots. Anyway... Sherlock Holmes didn't need to leave the house that day as we were perfectly aware of what just took place. We said sorry through gritted teeth (is that just an irish thing to apologise in the wrong so as to avoid an unpleasant confrontation? Nothing to be gained from pointing out the gaping holes in the story - besides, we had lost our translator at this stage.. ) and thanked them. At least we got the dosh back!

Soured a little with the hotel we decided it was time to move onto Belize so we decided to go the next day. We didn't quite make it unfortunately as our resolution to send a package home took almost the whole bloody day. Sending a package in Mexico is a complicated business which involves a kind of treasure hunt to get together the bits and pieces required. Finding a box took almost an hour!!! Either way - we got the package sent and made it to the border town of Chetumal that night.

The following day we got a bus down to Belize city. Another city which surprised us - but in the total opposite way to Mexico City. It's highest building was about two stories tall and it only has 80,000 people living there! It was more Dundalk than Dublin. In fact, the whole population of Belize is only about 300,000 - about the population of Cork City. This might explain why everyone on the bus seemed to be constantly waving out the window at mates of theirs. Its a nice novelty to be back in a country where english is the first language - everyone speaks a bit like Bob Marley (very Caribbean). It's "Seriously Easy Going". Where we are now feels like we're actually in a Malibu ad. We only stayed the one night in Belize City (the fact that we couldn't really find a bar didn't help its chances) and came straight down the cost to Placencia - population approximately 800. The mid afternoon rain has just come in so nothing to do but maybe have a siesta. We're going to hang around for the Halloween party tomorrow night before beginning to make our way to Guatemala.

Take it easy (like us )

Tadhg & Aoife

Hello from the Caribbean! We are coming to you from Isla Mujeres - island off the coast of Mexico (beside Cancun).

The day after our last post we went on an open top bus tour of Mexico City. We stopped off at the Anthropology Museum in the hope that we would see lots about the blood and guts past of the Mayans and Aztecs. There was a bit - but not as much as we would have liked... Our only mistake was paying the $6 for the "Audio Guide" (looked like a yuppie mobile phone from the 90´s) - it was rubbish and we looked like wallies carrying it around and sharing it between us

That evening we went to Plaza Garibaldi. We heard tell that there would be Mariachis there and we were not disappointed We met a Dutch couple and an Israeli girl (they somehow picked us out of the crowd of Mexicans as someone who might take a photo for them without running off with their camera). We all had a few beers and were serenaded by some mariachis ("Guantanamera") for the bargain price of $1.70 (between 5 of us) After a while a TV crew approached us (again - we have no idea how they managed to pick us out) and we were all interviewed about our respective countries. Saying your Irish while holding a beer garners a "wink wink, nod nod, having a beer?? " response... Tsch! Anyway... I then got invited to play this bizarre electric shock game with the interviewer. You basically have to hold a metal grip in one hand and your opponents hand in the other. Then the mischievous man controlling the voltage starts cranking it up until somebody breaks contact. Obviously I won - showbiz people are wussy I´m waiting on my offers from Jackass while my career in Mexico takes form...

On Thursday we caught a cheapie flight to Cancun. Our research about Cancun on the plane yielded the information that we couldn't actually afford to stay in Cancun if we wanted to be anywhere near the beach so we decided to come here instead.

It's lovely here. It's really hot and sunny or really hot and wet and stormy (depending on the time of day). Food is good and the sea is beautiful. Hoping to go snorkeling and to visit the turtle sanctuary tomorrow morning. Will let you know how it goes...

Take it easy,

Tadhg & Aoife

(Btw - included the promised photos of white water rafting)

So much for a day or two. Its a long time in coming but here we go - update from Uruguay to present day! Where were we....

So we caught the ferry from Buenos Aires (abbreviated to BA from now on) to Colonia in Uruguay and then hopped on two buses to get us to Maldonado, where Larry lives. Larry collected us from the bus and brought us back to his house and introduced to to the most enthusiastic dog in the world - Manola (name was made up from the names Martin, Noel and Larry - a bit of trivia for ye). Aoife went on to make great friends with the dog as Larry got her to feed the dog every night - the friendship was cemented when Aoife fed her leftovers from pork chops! After settling in Larry then brought us out for steak in town - hooray!

The weather, contrary to expectations, turned out to be gorgeous! Larry gave us a tour of the local area and beaches - one of which was the world famous beach Punta Del Este and its surrounds. We saw some seals where the boats come in with their catches, and we got the obligatory photo with the hand sculture coming out of the sand

On the third day (Saturday) in Uruguay we spent the afternoon baking at Punta Del Este. Only that we were out of season we would have been rubbing shoulders with the glitterati of Argentina and Uruguay (literally rubbing shoulders probably because it gets packed in summer!!) We even managed to get into the water (Atlantic) for a dip. It was FREEZING!! We failed to take into account the fact that seals tend to live in pretty cold water...

On the Sunday we went to mass with Larry - we chose the later mass (surprise surprise). A very different experience to masses at home or (especially) in India. We've never gotten so many kisses and hugs from so many people in a single day! Everyone was so friendly and seemed delighted to see us and our lack of Spanish did not deter them one little bit with chatting away to us. After mass we went to watch the rugby. At least there were no Argentinians around to rub our faces in it...

On the Monday we went with Larry to Montevideo. Larry had a meeting to attend so our plan was to spend a few hours seeing the sights, grab something nice for lunch, and meet up again with Larry in time for the afternoon bus back to Maldonado. We hit a snag.. ALL sights were closed - all of them! Even the gallery that was supposed to be open shut for the morning for renovations!!! We wandered around a bit, walked a lot, got a steak, and then plodded our way back to the bus station in time to meet Larry. Montevideo was definitely NOT our friend.

On Tuesday (2nd of October - my birthday ) we had a real Uruguayan treat - Asado (a big bbq type thing with more meat than you can shake a stick at. Carnivores dream - veggies nightmare). It was great Larry's neighbour Bebe (definitely an ironic nickname!) took care of the cooking and I was his apprentice for the day. I took lots of photos so that one day I will be able to build my own asado (Aoife is delighted... ). When the meat was ready the party was assembled - Myself, Aoife, Larry, Bebe, Christina and Valentina (Bebe's wife and daughter) - and the eating began. A very enjoyable, if sometimes baffling, bilingual affair! There was so much food left over that we all had a second go at it for supper. A great day all in all

The following morning Larry, in great traditional family style, fed us up with a top breakfast before sending us on our way. Its becoming a pattern - its either that we give the impression that we would happily sacrifice our meals for beers or that they are just being really nice We're hoping the latter After breakfast we said our goodbyes and did the trip back to BA in reverse (bus, bus, ferry, taxi).

We only spent the one night in BA before hopping on to a bus to Mendoza. A mere 14 hours later we were there. We were staying in a hostel - the girls were staying in "The Hyatt". The gulf was widening. Fiona gave the address as "The Hyatt, Fancy Pants Street" - was pretty fancy we must concede. We were very jealous. To compensate we were allowed to spend all our spare time there, enough even to convince the doormen that we (they probably referred to us as "those scruffy looking backpackers" - in spanish) were actually staying there. It was cool having them open the doors of our taxis though. Yes - we spent most of our time there with the girls marvelling at the amount of free space in the room, massive beds (none of which were bunkbeds), ordering room service, and demanding that more ice be brought up to room 551.

One of the days we got a bus out to Maipu - an area thick with vineyards. We all hired bikes and went out for the day to do some tasting. Weather was beautiful so it was a very pleasant way to spend a few hours. We visited two vineyards, an olive oil factory and a very nice restaurant. The restaurant was so good in fact that we totally lost track of time and had to make a mad dash back to get the bikes left back in time for 6! We made it (pretty much). We then however had another problem - we needed exact change for the bus. We had exactly no change. It seemed as if there was some kind of small change money racket going on in the town as no single shop would give out more than 1 peso in change at a time. All in all we spent an hour visiting about 10 shops and we ended up buying a bottle of wine, a bottle of sprite, a bottle of coke, two packets of chewing gum (bought individually - Aoife didn't even get a coin back for one of these as she made the mistake of giving a 10 peso note and they were able to give her the change back entirely in notes ), and a set of dodgy looking hair bobbins. Even then we didn't have enough change! We sent Aoife over to the guy who rented us the bikes (she was nominated to go and attempt to charm him) - she earned a peso for her efforts (thats about 25 cent), much to the amusement of everyone. She would like to point out at this stage that she was actually looking for change of a 2 peso note - not begging. We then managed through some wheeler dealing to get some backpackers to give us change as well. The bus arrived exactly as we got the correct amount together - perfect.

The next day we went white water rafting. Not really that much to say about it - nobody fell out but everyone really enjoyed it and we have a load of photos (to follow). The only incident of note was that "we" had to carry the raft back to the truck at the end. I use "we" here because the only one carrying the bloody thing was me!! Being at least half a foot taller than everyone else meant that it rested on my head and was too high up for everyone else - I ended up bearing almost the entire weight and my legs were so shaky at the end I could barely get back in the bus! The girls found it pretty funny though...

We got a REALLY fancy bus back from Mendoza to BA. Champagne, plenty of movies in english, seats that recline fully flat, and.... wait for it... BINGO! Yes - they played Bingo with the passengers on the bus. Bizarre - yes. Fun - definitely

The afternoon we got back to BA we were meant to meet the girls. It transpired however that they were planning a Pretty Woman type shopping expedition. It was raining as well so we decided we'd meet for dinner later instead We went to the famous "La Cabrera" restaurant in Palermo. We had serious problems getting a taxi due to the weather - we arrived an hour late and soaked to the skin! It turned out that there was no rush - we had to queue for another hour before we got in. On the plus side there was free champagne and snacks while we waited.. I'm only sorry neither me nor Mary had a camera with us. I got the biggest steak I have ever seen and maybe the only steak I have ever not finished. Wow. The food and wine were great and as if that wasn't enough - the girls treated us (in true fancy pants style). If we didn't say thank you enough on the night - thanks again!!! Yum yum.

As the next night was due to be our last night we decided to do it in style - we went for one last steak in the place that Padraic showed us on our first night (everyones favourite steak in Argentina), and then caught a taxi to Recoleta to hit a nightclub. We found somewhere where the girls all got in for free so I was overruled. It started a bit surreal - an Argentinian drag queen doing stand up (yep - we didn't understand a word) before judging an impromptu dance competition. Then the music started and a good night was had by all.

Maybe too good a night.... The next morning we were due to fly to Mexico City at 11:40. You can imagine the scenes when we awoke at 10:45 - we had slept through both our alarms and the Airport was about 40mins away. It was looking bad. Cue major panic (by Aoife - I was cool as a cucumber... ). A few minutes later it was all sorted out - Aoife rang our buddies in Qantas and arranged for us to get on a later flight - phew!!

So Mexico City is where you find us (thankfully). Not what we expected at all at all - very nice place so far and the weather is scorching. We are going on a city tour tomorrow to see all the sights so we should have plenty of photos of Mexico City for ye then. Apologies for such a looooonnnng post - will try really hard to update this again sooner.

Take care - Tadhg & Aoife

We arrived into Buenos Aires on the 19th. According to the "LP", the best way to get into town was via bus - we obediently bought tickets and waited outside for it. We found out after a few minutes that the next one was due in over an hours time as opposed to the 10 minutes we were expecting. Luckily for us, the two Argentinian ladies beside us kicked up such a fuss they got a car for the 4 of us so we arrived (direct to our hostel) in style.

Or what we thought was our hostel. I (Aoife, Tadhg has asked me to point out) had screwed up the booking so there was no room at the inn - oops! Luckily we got digs next door and got a room there the following day...

On our first night we were due to meet John, Sorcha and Padraic. John had kindly emailed us while we were flying with instructions to be in a particular tango club within a one hour window. It didn't work out, we found it alright (no thanks to his directions - down on the map doesn't always mean south), wandered through dancers looking for them - oh we looked cool. Turns out they didn't even get there till a few hours later - we were not impressed. We tried to ring Padraic on the number John had given us. He neglected to mention that Argentinians found Padraic a bit challenging to say (he got sick of being called Pork) so everyone here only knows him as Sean... It went a bit like this:

Argentinian: Hola
Tadhg: Eh.... Padraic? (sounding hopeful)
Argentinian: Que?
Tadhg: Eh.... Padraic? (sounding less hopeful)
Argentinian: Pork? (followed by some chinese or greek.. or something)
Tadhg: Not "Pork"... Padraic.
Argentinian: Pork?
Tadhg: Forget it.
Argentinian: Que?
Tadhg: (Hangs up)

Anyway... We managed to meet up the following day which was great. John and Sorcha went home in the afternoon and Padraic brought us to a place for the first of many great steaks we would have here.

The following day we had one priority - watch Ireland v France. We all know how that worked out. We also know how the next match went so we won't discuss that either!

The day after that the girls (Fiona, Mary & Grainne) arrived into the hostel. They were all wearing matching rugby jerseys. If they hadn't gotten us up at the crack of dawn (10am) we'd have gotten a photo In the next few days we were mainly shopping. Three leather jackets and a lot of shoes up the girls seemed pretty happy. We visited the famous cemetery here in Recoleta. After that Fiona heard her sister had had a baby - she was very happy (see photo). We had champagne to celebrate
That night Tadhg got a mohawk done by some Irish guys we met in the hostel - nothing to do with the champagne. Hee hee. It's mainly gone now but it was funny while it lasted. He was getting A LOT of dirty looks from old ladies on the street - looked like a trouble maker or something We also caught a Boca Juniors match (for those not in the know.. like two ladies we won't mention, it's not a kids team). It was great - the crowd were crazy - almost as good to watch as the game! Unfortunately Tadhg didn't have his camera but we hope to get some pictures from Fiona who was snap happy at it!

On the 26th the girls headed off to El Calafate for lots of hiking and that kind of stuff. We went to Uruguay the day after that to visit Larry (my uncle). We will devote a whole post to that though so we'll fill you in in a day or two. We're off to Mendoza this evening where we'll meet up with the girls again and perhaps drink a bit of wine

Its not really much of a competition since one of the group has had a beard since he was about 12 but I said I'd put this up for the craic. You can vote for the best beard on the panel to the right. Check out the photos below!

In other news... We are currently in La Paz (Highest Capital CIty in the world!).We caught the bus here yesterday for the sole purpose of watching the Ireland v Georgia match. As we all know it was awful so we just won't talk about it. We've got the rest of todayto knock about La Paz before we catch an epic 27 hour long bus direct to Lima so that we'll be in time for our flight to Buenos Aires on the 19th! Wish us luck!!