Puerto Viejo and Bocas Del Toro BEACHES

The hostel we were staying at in Puerto Viejo was wonderful. A Canadian couple moved here and opened it up a month ago. There are only 4 rooms open currently so there was another American couple there too. It was nice to be able to communicate accurately for a change. We stayed there three nights in a private room as a bonus! Puerto Viejo is like a different country than San Jose. It's more like a tropical island. Bob Marley would have been right at home. In fact every block you see ten pictures of him in various stores and restaurants. The history of this place has been explained to me that when the Spaniards came over, they brought slaves with them from Jamaica and Africa to build trains and homes. So when the slaves were freed, they inhabited the area. The town is super laid back and people commute on bikes or quads on the streets, there are not too many cars. Everyone seems to know everyone, in the few days we have been here, we can already walk down the street and recognize many people. There are dozens of hostels and restaurants on the one main street they have but the hostel we stayed at was the best. They even had a dog named Friday who came from Canada. Our first day here we went to a jam night at a local bar. Everyone went up and sang or played an instrument. Even our very own, Tyson McLellan made an appearance and ironically sang a song called "Costa Rica". The audience was very supportive and full of compliments for him. There were even some fire dancers who used burning instruments to entertain the crowd. I have posted photos of this on my Facebook page. This was a fun bar that we frequented during our time here for their ping pong, pool tables, fooseball, friendly crowds and overpriced pop. Actually the crowd was so friendly that they did not even laugh or ridicule me when I fell on my but in the middle of the room! We stayed out until 2am which is a rare occurance these days!

The next day we cooked breakfast and ate at the bar in the hostel under palm trees. Then we head out for a walk to the next town. We walked along the warm yet refreshing beach all day stopping to enjoy a splash every few mintutes. There are the cutest stray dogs and puppies everywhere. We befriended many of them but one in particular (Jasper) who followed us (mainly Tyson) all day. He obeyed every command Tyson verbalized including sit, stay, dig, heel, speak and be cute. Tyson began to believe that this dog was his and was quite disappointed when the dog took off at the end of the day. Just before he left though, he started to dig into the sand in response to Tyson's command. He continued to do so until he found a large crab which he attempted to eat. He admitted defeat on this mission after the crab snapped at his nose a few times. There were small crabs all over the beach that would crawl at alarming speeds into already prepared holes in the sand. At one point in the day Tyson picked up a coconut type shell laying in the sand in an attempt to prove that he could hit it against a tree that was a distance away. While we discussed which tree was far enough away to be proof of talent, what appeared to be tens of thousands of ants began pouring onto his hand. Each of them bearing a surprisingly sharp bite that caused Tyson to shreak and throw the fruit.

The beaches here are a tropical heaven on earth. It is warm and beautiful, the people are friendly and the culture is vibrant. We met several people who guided us in their own way and shared some knowledge. There was large stretch of beach where we did not see a single person. Tyson took one of these times as an opportunity to relieve himself of a number two, unfortunately, Jasper was so attatched to him that he ran up to him and started barking. By the time we got back it was dark, we cooked at the hostel and passed out quicker than we had intended to.

The next day we decided against leaving, but rather slept on the beach all day. We stayed in Puerto Viejo and saw what I believe to be the nicest beach we have seen yet this trip. It was picture perfect and the water was warm. We swam around the natural pool in the ocean and layed on the beach from morning until night. I woke up to a lobster red husband swimming in the water. He looked up to me and asked "did I get any sun today?"

That night we tried to save some money (which is hard to do in the tourist traps we keep ending up in). We tried out the couchsurfing thing but one miscommunication lead to another and it did not work out. So we rented a tent in a campsite, however within about 15 minutes Tyson had me lying to the owner to get out of there. I had to pretend I was afraid of bugs and spiders to get our money back and run back to our Canadian hostel. The truth may or may not have been Tyson's discomfort with spiders that could possibly have brushed up against our tent. So we spent our last night at the same hostel and left to catch the bus to Panama after breakfast the next morning. Of course we missed the 10:30 bus for no reason that I can clarify into words. So we hopped on the 12:30 and got to the border two hours later.

The border was not really a border at all but rather a very old, small, rickety bridge. Once you cross the bridge, you are in Panama. "Immigration" was a small room where we paid a guy $3 each and had our passports stamped. He asked to see our return bus ticket but we did not have one which was not a big deal. At this point we got scammed out of $20 USD. The ridiculous part was that we were fully prepared with detailed instruction on how to get where we were going including what NOT to do. Somehow and I cannot explain it, we ended up paying $20 for a ride that everyone else paid $1 for. We were quite upset that we got tricked even with our prep work but we got over it...kind of.
We took a taxi boat over to an Island in Bocas Del Toro that is also very popular with tourists in Panama. The boat ride was awesome because as soon as we got on, we were handed life jackets that they mentioned became mandatory after the "incident" last year. So we hung on tight for a fast and wet ride to the island. Once we got there, it was similar to Puerto Viejo with the caribean influences. In fact, everywhere we went Bob was playing on repeat. In Panama the currency is US dollars so it instantly became significantly more expensive for us to survive. The prices here are extraordinary from $4 for a small bag of chips to $12 for a small thing of instant coffee. We explored the town and some of the hostels until we picked one that was clean and descent but covered in cute geckos. It was a four bed room but we had it to ourselves which was nice. We cooked dinner and sprung for pringles which I polished off by myself without meaning to. We are trying to be a bit careful with our budget here because there are no banks around for a few days but we are failing miserably. Transportation is our main unavoidable expense followed by shelter and coke a cola.

This morning we caught up with a couchsurfing friend who offered us some advice on places to go in the area. We followed his advice and took a $12 crammed bus ride to the other side of the island to star beach where star fish line the bottom of the ocean. In fact it is a lovely place to see fish and sea urchins because they do not seem intimidated by the swimmers. They swim right up to people and say hello (in fish). This beach puts up a fair fight for top beach of our world trip. Water stretches out as far as the eye can see and the shore is dotted with palm trees and covered in powder white sand. It's hard to complain when we're here. We alternated between sitting in the water and in the sand all day until dark. I have to admit that I spent a while typing this blog while sitting on the beach since Tyson got proof of it on camera anyway.

We checked out of the cheaper hostel and into one that cost a bit more for the all you can eat pancake breakfast. This is by far the busiest hostel I have ever witnessed in my existense! There are people everywhere, Tyson and I are not even in the same room! As soon as we got here they closed the kitchen and locked us in the hostel because all the staff were going to thanksgiving dinner (American). We managed to get out using a discreet backdoor but the wierdness and unprofessionalism sucked.

Tomorrow we will take a $20 water taxi five minutes away to red frog beach and then take a bus into David where we will hopefully find a bank. Then the night bus for 10 hours to Panama city!


"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

Tico Love

Dear blog,
Sorry I have not been attending to your needs lately but sometimes a girl needs a break. Anywho I'm back with a few extraordinary stories that should make up for lost time. I do not know what day of the week it is, the date or the time but I know we are in Costa Rica. We just arrived in Peurto Viejo, Limon on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. It was a four and a half hour bus ride from San Jose, but with company like Tyson, I cannot complain.
Couchsurfing in Ciudad Colon was one of the best experiences we have had. The family we stayed with were warm and kind and very accustomed to having strangers in their home. During the day we ate a great breakfast courtosy of our surfing friends and head out for a "hike". The only difference was that this hike was not in a park but rather it was private property in the jungle, so their were no trails or paths. It was all forest with knee high bushes and grass that we walked through oblivious to the living predators hidden within. The area is riddled with tarantulas, lethal viper snakes, alligators and jaguars among other potantially fatal animals. These animals and more are pictured on my facebook page. Regardless of this minor factor, we forged on like soldiers on a mission to prove our bravery to the world. We were also warned to watch out for the trees with thorns that house fighter ants. If this trees is touched, thousands of the ants will drop on us and bite their way free. It had happened plenty of times to the owners of the property. Luckily we made the hike, got to the river and back up to safe lands with only minor scratches and lots of sweat.
We walked into town and explored for a while so that the maid could have space to clean and such. Their maid of 17 years now gets paid a whopping $2 an hour and their gardener the same. Walking around the area reminded me of every movie I had seen that was set in a tropical paradise. It is peaceful and green and lovely. The homes are humble but beautiful. It seemed that most people built their own places. There was an organic fruit market and craft area. As a bonus, Costa Rica is one of the only countries who does not have an army! No military, guns or soldiers and it is still safe, imagine that! Ticos (Costa Ricans) are very proud of this fact and are quick to brag about it. I would be too.
After our walk we went to visit a Bahai friend who happened to live up the road. Our hosts were good friends and neighbors with them, it is a very small and interesting world. Their home was like a dream. The property was huge and they had bought it bare. They planted every flower and tree that was now present and built the two homes. It is diffifult to explain except that the garden was gorgeous and the bamboo was now over 60 feet tall. The house had great detail and design and even included a prayer room at the very top in the form of a tree house. The bedroom doors opened up into a large balcony with a view of lush green forests and water. I could live there. We tried some Costa Rican desserts and pastries along with the world famous coffee. During the walk home I lost my dreading tool so over the next few days until I purchased two more, my hair began to look like a freakish monster until I was able to kind of tame it to reasonable human standards again.
That night we had beans and rice for dinner which is the staple diet of a large majority of Costa Ricans. Then we had brownies and apple cake. Everything we ate was home made and home grown.
Our host told us many bedtime stories of common occurences in her home. She also made it clear that she does not want to hear anything about any living animals or insects in her home. For example there are many scorpians that hide in shoes or folded towels because they like the warmth and security. She also said to watch for the tarantulas that hide under the bed and on the ceiling fans. One time she turned on the fan and a large tarantula fell into her mouth. She also warned that many of the snakes we would see are poisonous. Lastly she warned us not to kill the six by four inch cockroaches we see around because they are harmless. So with this we went downstairs and Tyson insisted that I do a check of every nook and cranny of the room before he could sleep.
The next day we fussed over some errands and caught a bus back to San Jose where we ate way to many empanadas and caught another bus to Heredia. Here we met with another guy off of couchsurfing. He worked at the university which was really neat. They were having some kind of event where they were handing out condoms and drawing pee pees and yoo hoos everywhere. We hung out with our awesome new friend for a few hours. He offered us a place to stay but we had already made arrangements to stay with someone else we didn't know. We did plan to travel with him next weekend to Arenal Volcano though. Then we got picked up by a brother and sister of a friend of my mothers. In the home there was a mother with her two grown children. They had kindly invited us over to spend a few nights with them. Here we tried the famous Tico fruit called Guanawana. We both fell deeply in love with it. The next morning we had a huge delicious breakfast and rushed off to explore. We got driven around in a fancy sports car all day. We saw the La Paz waterfall which were lovely but sadly Iguazzu falls has ruined waterfalls for us since nothing can compare. Then we saw the highlight of the day, Poas Volcano and crater. One of the active volcanos in the area. Unfortunately a huge earthquake a couple of years ago trashed most of the access to this area so we had to get creative and use alternative means to get to the park. We saw many animals here and hiked to a lake that decievingly looks wonderful to swim in but it is composed of toxins and acids. This lake is 4000 meters deep.
Then we drove to another volcano but did not make it before closing so instead our generous guide took us to a typical tico restaurant where we tried many dishes. We tried a flat bread topped with sour cream and cheese. Then we tried a tamale that I caannot describe adequately but I shall try: corn bread wrapped in a leaf with cheese and pork..? Another dish that I also cannot name was a huge plate of fried sweet plantains, thinly cut steaks, seasoned potatos, soft taco shells, beans, rice and salsa salad. Then for dessert we tried typical sweets like sweetened coconut shavings and peanut cakes. I hope there were no calories in all of this.
We stopped on the way home to see the biggest cathedral in the country. It was beautiful and we took many pictures. We also drank holy water, some of which I rubbed on my funky arm to heal it. The ticos were rubbing the water everywhere and filling bottles with it. I hope it works. While stuck in some mild traffic on the way home, we watched many entertainers working for change. There were several jugglers and one truely impressive man using flaming trick sticks to shine.
We also did laundry for the first time in two months so that was a luxury that we appreciate immensely. The next morning we feasted on french toast, coffee and fruit and fled to the carribbean beaches whilst stopping at the bank and another empanada stand. At one point we were lost trying to find the bus and a very concerned boy left what he was doing to rush us to the correct bus stop a fifteen minute walk away. He was kind and over the top with his assistance.


"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

Made it to Costa Rica

Each country we have travelled to has been so different from the last. When we landed in San Jose, Costa Rica we instantly met many English speaking people from North America. Some were here for work and some for pleasure. As soon as we stepped foot outside of customs we were swarmed by the regular group of taxi drivers that hang out outside every airport we have been to so far.
The currency here is difficult to translate because every 500 colones is equal to one dollar. So the smallest bill they have is the 1000 colone bill and their coins are huge and each worth 100-500 colones. We had taxi offers starting at $15,000 all the way down to 6000 colones to take us to our hotel. We chose the cheapest of our choices and a very nice man drove us to our first destination called Heredia. We stayed the first night in a hotel that we purchased with our credit card points. When we left the airport the weather was beautiful but by the time we got to the hotel we were in the middle of a terential downpour. The five second walk from the taxi to the reception area managed to soak every single item we had with us. The rain drops are huge and there are zillions of them targertting our bags and clothing. The hotel was huge and in the middle of a rainforest. It had ziplining, ATV`s, beautiful pool area with slides, waterfalls, horses, tennis courts, rock climbing and more. It was a gorgeous and fun place to walk around (when the rain stopped) and explore. We had a lovely view of the city from our room and cable TV!

We know that we are coming back towards home because we dont even have to use connections for the power plug and we`re only two hours ahead now. Plus we could look on a map and it would show it.
That night we ate at the hotel restaurant. We had chicken and beef fagitas and chicken wings and french fries and salad. It actually had flavor! In the areas we have travelled so far they do not use seasonings or marinades for their dishes. But here in Costa Rica everything has been very flavourful and delicious.
Anyhow, we had a relaxing first day and the buffet breakfast the next morning was stellar. We had rice and beans, sausages, omelettes, fresh juices, coffee and pancakes. A lot of it. We then used the resort-like pools and hot tubs before checking out. It was sprinkling a bit on and off during the day in Heredia. The owner of the hotel kindly gave us a ride into town where we caught a bus to San Jose. In San Jose things were a bit crazy. There are lots of people and we had our huge bags and couldnt really share the sidewalk with the many people who wanted to use it. We stopped and ate tacos and burgers for lunch before catching another bus to Ciudad Colon.

We came here because for the first time in the trip and in my life I am couchsurfing. We wrote to several people in the area and they all responded with different offers but the one family that we chose are perfect. They offered their home for two nights which works our well with the non existent schedule that we have. To use the public pay phones here you cannot pay with change, you must buy a phone card. So due to the time it took to do this and all the other mumbo jumbo we ended up two and a half hours late but they were not worried about it. They man picked us up from the main plaza with his daughter and drove us home. They live on a humungous farm in an old rustic and awesome looking house. The woman is a retired doctor and the man in a retired geology professor and they also have a 21 year old daughter who still lives with them. It is a fascinating place. We ate dinner with them and talked for many hours into the night. They have been hosting couchsurfers and worksurfers and home exchange people for years. Needless to say they have been many people and shared some great stories. They travel most of the year and have never paid for a place to stay EVER. I think we have been doing it wrong....

They gave us a key, gave us our own room with a bathroom and told us to come up for breakfast whenever we wanted in the morning. I think this couchsurfing community will suit us just fine. The lady actually said ``being bahai and a nurse got you the room``. She had been booked up before but someone cancelled and she chose us to stay for those reasons, pretty lucky I guess.

"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

Leaving South America (until we meet again)

Our last few days in Buenos Aires we relaxed, slept in, ate food, and met tons of fun travellers in our hostel. We got our last night in the hostel for free because we had already stayed so many nights so that was a nice bonus. We walked around the city some more and even caught up on all of this season's Modern Family. It was the first time we really had a chance to slow down and chill out. On our last day we went back to the Indian embassy and FINALLY GOT OUR INDIAN VISAS!! I have been working on these visas for many months and I was very nervous about it. Even though we spent the next 8 hours at the bank sorting out a prior issue and fighting with the staff there, I was still happy.

During the last day in each country we have fun trying to balance the last of our money so that we get what we need without having to take out more cash and not having much left over because it becomes worthless. In the last couple of countries we have ended up with extra so we get an extremely overpriced treat at the airport. In Argentina we got a big AERO type chocolate bar (even though hours earlier we had sworn off chocolate for three months).

Since our flight to Costa Rica left at 06:30, we would have had to be at the airport around 04:30 meaning we had to leave the hostel at 02:30 which is not safe in Buenos Aires (or anywhere) so we ended up sleeping over at the airport. We were not alone, all the shops were still open through the night and many other travellers had the same idea as us.

Tyson had bought some super glue to glue his sunglasses and "accidentally" (so he claims) he took a big sniff of the stuff. Apparently this is not a good idea because he was a bit loopy for a while. It was hilarious payback for gluing my foot to my sandal earlier.

Our time in South America has come to an end and I already cannot wait to come back. Mainly we loved the people. They are so kind, friendly, warm and helpful that we would become suspicious of them. To clarify, I mean they would go so far out of their way every time to show us directions or explain the answer to our questions that we would question their real motives. And everytime it was just to assist a lost and frustrated tourist. For example just on the way to the airport three people offered us bus information without us asking. Then the bus supervisor was notified by a concerned civilian and they ensured we got on the correct bus. Then the bus driver only charged us half price for the ride. Then the people on the bus indicated when it was time for us to get off, and finally when we looked lost outside the "arrivals" section an armed guard walked us all the way to the otherside of the airport to where we needed to be. No exaggeration. Plus the guy at the concession at the airport patiently pointed out every single item we could get for the amount of pesos we had.

I want to see Columbia, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile and Patagonia. Three months should do it. Now that we got Spanish down pat it should be a cinch. South America has been dirtier than what we are used to. There are stray dogs, graffiti and garbage everywhere but they have cheap public transport, great food, cool architecture, awesome beaches, wonderful wonders, and lovely people. It has overall exceeded our expectations by a longshot. I have learned a great deal from the countries, cultures and the people here and we are leaving with many new friends. South America has been kind to us and definitely not the dangerous, crime-infested place we read about.

We are less than one month away from our re-coup stop at home and time seems to be flying by. Everyday I try to slow time down but it just seems to speed up in rebellion. We are off to explore a small fraction of Central America. I have been poking around couchsurfing sites to find the inside scoop on where to check out, since the bus system appears reasonable out there. We have a fancy hotel booked for our first night through our credit card points so we are looking forward to that. There are very vague addresses and directions in Costa Rica because apparently they do not have street signs and twelve cities and areas can have the same name.

We flew from BA - Lima - Costa Rica with an awesome airline that gave us real meals, reclining seats and movies. Time to switch gears a bit and enjoy our new temporary home.


"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

Poor Niagra

Today we went to Iguazu falls which is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. The myth behind how the falls came to be is that there was a God who fell in love with a mortal. Sadly, this mortal loved another mortal so the God, with all his anger, scored the river down the middle condemning them to an eternal fall. That is why the earth is cut down the middle at the falls. Anyhow, however the waterfalls came to be, they are breathtaking. The first person who discovered the falls is quoted as saying "poor Niagra".

We woke up at 06:00, went back to sleep until about 06:30, struggled to get out of bed and had a big breakfast at our hostel before heading out to take the bus to the National park. The bus cost ten times the amount of normal busses but we would expect nothing less of the kind Iguazu falls people. When we got to the falls we bought our tickets at the door and had secret directions from a friend at the hostel about how to manuever around the park in an effort to avoid the crowds but still see everything. All that went to crap quite quickly when a school group and two seniors groups snuck ahead of us. So we missed the first train that takes people to the "Devil's Throat" which is the biggest waterfall. We managed to get on the second train but it was too late, there were tourists everywhere. Our first view of the falls was amazing and when compared to our first view of Machu Picchu, they are tied. I am starting to believe that the "wonder of the world title" is something special.

At the Devil's Throat waterfalls, we could see a panormic view of all the falls. After our first gasp at seeing the sight (that many people say puts Niagra Falls to shame) we were left speechless. The mist created by the extreme force of the falls made it difficult to see at times but when the mist parted or thinned, we could see the its full grandeur.

The Agentine side of the falls is by far the biggest and most extensive. There is a lower trail where we could walk right up to the waterfall and get soaked and an upper trail where there are more panoramic views of the whole event. There are also dozens of other smaller waterfalls throughout the park. In the lower trail there are many viewpoints for photos but the coolest by far was one point where the trail leads into the falls and we can walk right up to it. Anywhere near any of the falls we would get wet because of the mist.

Of course there are many more ways to blow hundreds of dollars in the park. We chose to pay 125 pesos ($35 US) each for a 12 minute boat ride. I have to be honest and admit it was pretty awesome. We got into a small speed boat and it drove us way to fast up to the falls and then through them. Then everyone shouted uno mass (one more) and the driver took us two more time through other falls. We were soaked and laughing our faces off by the end of it.

We went for a seven kilometer hike to another waterfall and natural pool. This is where we encountered many of the wild animals that we have posted photos of. There are several of the animals, insects and birds that I cannot name. Amongst some that I think I can name are: lizards, snakes, monkeys, toucans, anteaters, big ants, crocodiles, wierd bugs,butterflies

After the hike we rushed back to the falls where there were clear signs indicating that they were closed. Being the good honest folk that we are we walked right past it and snuck back to the falls. Luckily we saw the view for a few more minutes before a frustrated man in a red shirt told us that the park was closed. We begged him for a few more minutes or just one more picture to which he replied a stern NO. So we obeyed and walked away. But then we snuck back in to where we thought he couldn't see us, but we were wrong and he started yelling Vamos! Vamos! Then he got onto his walkie talkie and called the sherrif who escorted us out of the park. It was a little funny and a little embarrassing.

For this reason we went back for another day at the falls which was not a financially good decision but we are happy we did it. The second day we got to take our time a bit more and capture more experienced pictures. We swam in the natural pool again and met some other travelling youth. There were many school groups full of obnoxious kids that we tried to avoid. There are also lots of mosquitos there that did not seem to mind the expensive OFF that we had purchased to scare them. We left the park at closing and caught the bus home. For normal bus travel it is one fifth of the price it is to get to the falls even though the falls are closer.

We had prepared six salami and cheese sandwhiches for our lunch the next day at the falls but when we went to grab them in the morning someone had stolen them and left only some crumbs in a bag in the garbage!! We were disappointed and hurt that someone would do that but we took some lunch from the free breakfast and winged the rest. The breakfast at the hostel we were at was elaborate with fruits, cereals, toast, eggs, cakes, juices and more.

On our walk back to the hostel we bought our bus tickets back to Buenos Aires which ended up being 200 pesos cheaper than our bus tickets to Iguazzu. This should have made us happy us happy and it did but also annoyed that we obviously overpayed on the first tickets. As we left the bus station we heard hundreds of cars honking, sirens of police cars, fire trucks and ambulances going off. People were waving flags and clapping and dancing in the streets. Argentina had just beat Bolivia in soccor and the people were going nuts. There was a parade of cars as far as the eyes could see. It was exciting to watch.

Tyson bought some super glue at the hardware store because my sandals and his sunglasses were coming apart. He glued my sandals and told me to stand on them to seal it. I stood on the sandals with my left foot and it stuck. It took about half an hour to peel my foot off the sandal and it hurt too.

For dinner we decided that we should spring for the best cut steak of Argentina called Bife de Loma. We cooked it with only salt and a huge side of potatos and salad. We also bought a mystery sauce which turned out to taste similar to honey mustard. All in all it was a little soul food that we enjoyed.

We met a couple from Montana who we got along with quite well and had a lot in common with. We spent part of the day with them the next day while we were waiting for our bus. Our bus ride was nearly twenty hours but we watched movies and slept. It was comfortable and the dinner was nice. We got back to Buenos Aires to the same hostel at around 10am for our second to last day in South America.

"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

Trip to Iguazu Falls

The night I got my hair done was a painful one. Then on the whole bus trip to Iguazu Falls (minus eating and sleeping time) Tyson and I had to keep pulling the frizzies through the dreads. Since I have never had any hair upkeep problems in my life and I dont even own a hair comb or blow dryer, dreads are not the easy going hairstlye I had envisioned. We went back to the street dread guy who had originally said he would do my hair and took all our money only to do one third of my dreads which looked like a horrible mess. Tyson asked for our money back but as we had expected he did not have any money but rather a fresh pack of smokes, bottle of beer and likely a few joints in his pocket. Tyson even got the police who were quite kind and sympathetic but couldnt not do much since we did not have a reciept and he had no money on him. On the other hand the second guy from our hostel who ended up doing my hair was from Columbia and did a great job. He was very kind and even gave me dread tools as a souvenier.
We have made many friends at the hostel in Buenos Aires. Many of them are vacationing from other parts of South America, many are students from Europe or the States here to learn Spanish, an Irish guy trying to find work, a guy from Egypt, but still no Canadians to be seen. We have been staying up late hanging out, playing music and chatting with some very interesting people.
I have a friend that I met while volunteering in Haifa who is from Argentina but she does not live here right now so she put us in contact with one of her friends from the Bahai Community. We went to a dinner with him and several of his Argentine friends to his cousin's home. They were all young people living in Argentina. One guy was from the States and had moved to Argentina about a year ago and actually cooked Persian food which was cool because it tasted like home. We also had home made apple pie and fancy ice cream. It was a nice night and even though we had to take a night cab (more expensive) it was well worth it. They invited us out to a soccor game on Friday night but we are not sure if we will be back from Iguazzu by then. They also invited us to the birth of Baha u llah holy day celebration on Friday night at the Bahai center so we will see if we can make it back to attend. Additionally one lady and one guy there were obsessed with tango and wanted us to go to a local tango event with them so we will try to do that too although I have never danced in that style in my life.
We then spent another day at the bank because the HSBC ATM screwed up and gave us 1000 pesos instead of the 200 we had asked for, and since we had already paid for our hostel, food and bus trip/entrance fee to Iguazu we did not need that much cash before we will be leaving Argentina. We tried to get them to reverse the withdrawal which took all day between talking to our home branch and the Argentine one. Every time we withdraw money we are paying an extremely high exchange rate to the bank to exchange Canadian dollars for the currency we need. So to transfer the money back to Canadian we had to pay the exchange again plus a fairly high service charge. So all in all their ATM's mistake cost us over $50. Not impressed.
We ran to catch the bus to Iguazu falls because even though we bought tickets to the later bus we somehow managed to lose track of time again. The bus tickets cost us 1800 pesos equivalent to about $500 which is a significant amount of money here in Argentina. However, doing tourist activities means agreeing to be gouged for all your financial worth so we expected it. It was a long bus ride but we slept for most of it so it was tolerable.
We are now in Peurto Iguazu, we are staying at a really nice hostel that is ripping us off a bit but we are letting it go. My new hairstyle has brought with it a new relaxed me...We cooked a huge dinner, ate it, and then spent the rest of the night looking for "lost keys" to our bags which were never really lost at all. They were under our groceries, but at least now we know that picking the locks to our bags is not easy at all.
Tomorrow we go to the National Park where the famous Iguazu falls are located.

"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

Dreading this part

Yesterday we went out with our new friends from the hostel. They are two students from the States who are studying Spanish at a school in Uruguay and they are here in Buenos Aires for the weekend. They took us to many of the same places we had already been but they could actually explain the significance of why we were going there.

There is an important part of Argentine history that you have to know to understand many of the important sites. In the 50's-80's their were many people, especially young college-aged students who were starting to form groups and wanted changes from the government. These students started dissappearing throughout this time. It was later discovered that over 40,000 people were kidnapped tortured and their bodies hidden all over the place. For example we went to one site where they had began digging to create a building and uncovered hundreds of bodies. The mothers of these people are now old but they are still alive and trying to inform the people of what happened. Some of the lost people also had children who are now older. These kids were taken by the government and raised but they were never told who they were. Lately there has been DNA testing available and people can get tested to find out if they are a child of a murdered person. Every few weeks there is an article in the paper that another `child of the taken` has been found. It`s a really sad story and some of the people who did the torturing and killing have come forward and told their story that their lives had been threatened if they did not do as they were told. It is a very sad story. There are many memorials set up for them and the mothers still sit in front of the `Pink House` which is the government buidling and provide information to the public.

We retunred to the Pink House yesterday with our friends and had a tour of the inside of the building. It was very nice, the president works here Monday to Friday 9-5 but they have free tours on the weekends. We even got to go to the balcony where Evita Perron made her famous speach. Unfortunately we forgot to charge our camera and we do not have many pictures of this day.

Afterwards we went to San Telmo and saw the skinniest house in the world according to the Guiness Book of World Records. A man freed his slave and built him this home where the slave lived next to his previous master for the remainder of his life. We also saw the biggest match cup in the world. A matcha is a very popular drink here that is made in a special cup and drank out of a special straw with a strainer on the end. It is extremely caffinated and tastes nothing like i can describe accurately. Perhaps it is most similar to tea.
We also went to an art market where all items sold must be handmade by the seller. There was a man who had no arms and painted beautiful pictures using a paint brush in his mouth. There were also many tango dancers. There were also a couple of boys who had come to Argentina two years ago and noticed there are no spices here, so they created a hot sauce and have been selling it at this market until now. Apparently they do very well and love living here.

For dinner, we bought five pieces of pizza which was not enough to fill out gigantic stomachs so Tyson had to run out and buy four more. Then I had to run out to buy chips and several chocolate bars. Calories do not count on vacation. We also bought what we thought were a bag of chips that were actually croutons.
Today we slept through breakfast because we got confused with the time change in Canada (I`m not sure why). We walked back to the bank where they were supposed to have Tyson`s new bank card but of course it still was not there. Then we went to buy our bus tickets to Iguzzu falls but we couldn`t bring ourselves to do it because they are so expensive. So we still have to do that tomorrow morning.

The whole time I have been writing this blog, I have been getting my hair dreaded. I started getting it dreaded by a greasy sleaseball off the street last night and paid him all my money. When I woke up this morning it looked like there were spider webs all over my head. It was an absolute disaster to the point that everyone was staring at me on the streets. To make it worse. it hurt like hell and he had not even finished! He asked us to come back the next day to get the other half done. When we went to find him today he was not there. So I returned to the hostel where a guy who had pretty rad looking hair offered to do it again. So I repaid for my hair and I`m sitting here all day getting it done. Tomorrow morning I will sit here again because it takes about 12 hours to do. Yes it hurts more than a tatoo, no it is not worth it but here we are anyway.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

Dont cry for me Argentina

We have spent the past few days exploring Buenos Aires. We are getting to know the people, streets, foods, prices, sights and sounds of Argentina. We spent part of our second day in a very famous cemetery. I thought it was odd at first that everyone was suggesting we go to a cemetery but after spending a few hours there, I understand its attraction. It is by far one of the most extravagant things I have ever seen. This cemetary contains the remains of the richest and most powerful people to ever live in the country. It is difficult to describe, but basically each grave has a huge building on top of it complete with several rooms and levels with stairs. This is the area where family can go inside and visit their loved one. Sometimes there is one person in the site but there are others that have whole families in the same grave. I have posted pictures of some of the grave sites but I do not even know if the pictures can fully express the magnitude of the extavagance. I can estimate that many of these statues, stones and shrines cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you are a history buff then I am sure you would recognize many of the names of the people resting here, but since I am not, I just looked at the pretty sites. The one person I did know of was Evita Peron. Madonna did the musical for her story and the song "Dont Cry For Me Argentina" is based on her speach. She was the daughter of (I believe) a very rich businessman and her mother was a prostitute. She grew up very poor and but became wealthy as an adult because the man she married became the president. When she became rich she regularly gave great amounts of money to the poor and to the unions to help out the working class. Her husband however was supported by anti-union groups. So she was very loved by millions of people in Argentina and they wanted her to run for vice-president. Her husband did not give his blessing for her to run for office because of their conflicting views and the fact that their supporters were two comepletely different groups. During this time Evita also got diagnosed with cervical cancer. So the song was a part of the speach she gave to her fans in Argentina. She is a very famous and loved woman here, her photos are found all over, and her final resting place is in this cemetery. Her grave looks similar to the rest, the only difference is that there are always fresh flowers at her site because her supporters are older but still kicking so they remember all that she did for them.
After the cemetery we walked to a history museam where there was a lot of art on display. It was nice to walk through but there were many people so it took quite a while to see all the portraits. We then walked through a famous national park where they also had Japanese gardens. Apparently there was an entrance fee but we did not understand this until after we left the park so we ended up not paying. I suppose there is a benefit to language barriers. We of course had the same bondiolas for dinner because we cannot seem to get enough of the meat here.
The next day we met quite a few new friends. This hostel we are staying at is one of the dirtiest places I have ever seen but it is also very fun and PACKED full of people. It is five levels and every room is booked up and full. There are people from all over the world and everyone is friendly. We slept in yesterday and did some errands such as research for Iguazu falls busses, and places to stay in Costa Rica. We tried to pick up Tyson's new bank card but the banks here close at 15:00 and we got there at 17:00 so it did not work out. It rained this day for the first time since we have been here. The rain drops are huge but the rain lasts only a few minutes and then its over. We went with our new friends for bondiolas tonight, they are from the states but studying in Uruguay and here on break. While I am loving Argentina and the people here, the one thing that is difficult to take is the litter and garbage all over the place. There are huge garbage bags unsealed on the side walks and staff go through the bags to seperate recycling ect with their bare hands. You have to remember that we do not flush toilet paper here because their systems cannot break it down so we throw it in the trash. So these people go through ALL of this. It is pretty hard to stomach, in addition it is very common to throw your trash on the ground here and people do not clean up after their dogs so there is also doggy doodoo everywhere. In fact Tyson stepped in a heaping pile of it yesterday in sandals and he was not pleased. The other thing is that I have never seen so many smokers in my life. I don't think the lung cancer memo has made it here yet.
Tyson made our first non food, non transport ticket purchase the other day. He bought a loose fitting hippie linen shirt. We are now officially backpacker hippies. While he was picking out the shirt and trying it on, we lost each other and I spent a year trying to find him but that's ok.
Today we went to Tigre, another city a train ride away. It was quite a nice city with many canals and most places you can only get to by boat. For example the kids here take water busses home from school. There is also a very large market that started out as a fruit trading site but now they sell very cool authentic Argentine crafts, food, furniture, clothing, decorations and more. Unfortunately we are stingey with how much stuff we can carry home otherwise there are really good deals for neat things that we could only buy here. We also had our first steak dinner here. Steaks and meat is very famous in Argentina and while they do not marinate or spice their foods, the plain taste of the meat is very delicious. We are not used to such bland tastes and carry salt in our pockets. After dinner we got caramel ice cream because caramel is more popular than chocolate here. Of course one dessert was not sufficient so we also stopped at the chocolate store and gave them some sales as well. As I am typing this I am eating cake..this is not good.
It was the pride parade here today so it is nuts outside. There are gizzilions of people walking around with loud music, fireworks and more. It may even be bigger than the Vancouver events that we all enjoy. Tyson just finished winning some ping pong matches in the name of Canada but we are old and tired so its bed time. Tomorrow we plan to spend the day with our new friends to go to some markets and art shows. We also may check out a soccer game because they are apparently quite the thing here. Tango shows are also famous here and "not to be missed" so we might have to splurge a bit there because they are in the pricier realm of life.

"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

Exploring Argentina

We are feeling very at home in Beunos Aires, there are skyscraper buidings and modern homes. The architecture here is insane! Very large and beautiful buildings that look hundreds of years old mixed in with the new. The streets are very narrow and they are all one way. The driving seems more sane here than other places in South America and the people are very kind and warm (which has been consistent in all the coutries we have been to so far).
We should have been grateful for the prices in Rio De Janeiro because Argentina blows a lot of it out of the water. Accomadation and food is nearly double what we were paying in Brazil. The currency here is pesos and one peso is worth 22 cents but the prices still work out to more than what we pay in Vancouver for many items. For example a 100ml bottle of SPF 20 sunscreen is over 20 USD. However there are other items such as clothes and shoes that you can buy in the markets that are a fraction of what we would pay in Vancouver. Inside of stores though, the prices are again quite high.
Markets are set up on blankets everywhere you look, on the side of sidewalks, in the middle of alleys, in parks ect. They sell all sorts of hippie clothes, household items, jewelery, purses, toys and more. It is very entertaining to walk around and see the different items they have. Most of the time the sellers are making the items themselves as they wait for customers. Drugs, especially pot, was offered to us 2-3 times a block in these markets.
We have been eating the same thing for dinner every night so far, they are huge subs stuffed with pounds of steak called Bondioli. It is so delicious and I can't even finish one, but luckily Tyson is right there to help me out with it. Argentina is famous for its meat and I can see why, its what we think about all day.
We have already switched hostels twice. The first place we were at was ok but it was quite expensive and did not offer much for the price we were paying. So we moved to another place that is very large with tons of people. It is much closer to centro and offers more extras for a lesser price. We will be staying here for a few nights until we organize where we want to go next.
So far in Beunos Aires we have walked for hours and hours looking at the impressive buildings and piers. We saw the "pink house" which is famous for a reason I did not bother to learn. People are dancing tango all over town for donations into little hats and we are thinking of going to a tango show even though they are pretty pricey. We also went to La Boca which used to be a very poor area. When the homes were being built, the people did not have any money to make them esthetically pleasing so they borrowed paints and found free items such as shells, rocks, stones ect to create art all over the place including the sidewalks. It is now an area filled with tourists. All the homes are brightly coloured and creatively decorated, it was fascinating and we took many pictures! Another area we saw was a place called San Telmo a hippie area with markets and cafes. Centro is the area with modern culture, markets, tall buildings and many Starbucks, Burger Kings and McDonalds (although severely over-priced).
Now we are off for the day to see a famous cemetary that only the socially and materially distinguished folks are allowed to be burried in. Apparently it is very extravegant and outragous. Perhaps we will shop some more and eat a steak sub as well.


"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

Finishing off in Rio

What first struck us at first as a sketchy hostel turned out to be one of our favourite accomodations so far. One of the staff members is a guy from North Carolina so we don't have a language barrier. He is a really nice guy and we have been hanging out with him at the hostel quite a bit. There is also a younger girl from Australia who we have spent time with. Our first day back in Rio we slept in, ate breakfast and walked along the beaches of Copacabana, Leblon and Ipanema. We watched the waves crash near our hostel, they were exploding over 40 feet in the air and spraying us with mist.
We made angel hair pasta and sausage with salad for dinner. It was actually really tasty and we finished it off with way to much chocolate for dessert. We spent the evening watching english movies with our new friends until 2am.
Oh and we also spent more than five hours at the bank. It turns out that at the ATM in Paraty someone used a sophisticated copying device planted in the machine to copy our debit card and pin number. They had stolen almost 2000 reals ($1100 US) out of our account over the last few days in several transactions. We found out because when we tried to take out money the reciept said "withdrawal limit exceeded" which was quite suspicious since we had yet to use an ATM that day. Anyway the bank was more than gracious and helped us to call our home branch and block our card and get us emergency money. They began an investigation into the stolen cash and said it would be returned within a couple of weeks. When we got back to the hostel, the bank had also sent a follow up email saying they would be mailing out a new debit card. The next day, we checked our account and the money was returned. Although it was a scary and inconvenient situation we are grateful for all the prompt and efficient work of the bank.
The next morning we woke up to a dozen small monkeys in the trees outside our room. We fed them bananas which they gently took from our hands. They were so small that from a distance I thought they were squirrels but when they came closer it was visible that they were monkeys. They had long striped tails and cute little faces. I would love to have one as a pet! They were jumping around the trees and posing for pictures.
Our plan was to hang out in Rio for a few days since we had moved around so much but one thing lead to another and the next morning we found ourselves on a bus to Petropolis to visit our new Bahai friend that we met a couple weeks ago. The only problem was that we missed the bus we told him we would be on and left him waiting for forty minutes. Also the ATM at the bus station was not working so we were cash-less. The bus ride was about 1 hour and forty minutes during which we ate and slept. It occured to us that for some unknown reason every time we left Rio the weather cleared up and became beautiful.
When we arrived to Petropolis our friend was thankfully still waiting for us at the bus stop. He had ridden his bike into town so we caught a bus and he rode ahead of us. I'll take this moment to make a reccomendation; do not try to cut up and eat a very juicy soft mango on an extremely crowded bus in a short amount of time. There was mango and stickiness everywhere, it was uncomfortable for everyone. Anyhow we got off the bus and walked through town, this is an imperial town so all the roads and buildings are ancient. There are beautiful palaces and mansions everywhere. They are now mainly museams and hotels but the architecture is magnificent. There is water flowing in the middle of the streets because they followed the river when they constructed the roads. There are mountains surrounding the city from every side. It is a city of about 200,000 but it seemed that everyone knew everyone.
After walking through the city we caught another bus back to our friend's home. When you take a bus here they do not give out transfers so even if you get right back on a different bus ten seconds later, you must pay for another trip. Also, when you get on the bus you pay a person who collects money and then you go through a turn-style. After paying, I walked through the turn style but Tyson accidently turned it when the bus stopped without actually going through so we got charged for an extra person. We were slightly choked but later understood that the number of people who go through the turn style has to match the dollars the staff member hands in, if the numbers do not match he or she must pay it out of their own sallary. Anyway the conclusion is that we paid five bus fares in about 10 minutes of travelling. To be fair, no one ever said being a tourist in Brazil is cheap.
Our friend lives in a very large home on a huge lot that is quite private. There are fruit trees and plants everywhere, a tree house that they call their "favela", and a pool. It is a beautiful home in a wonderfully warm city. We relaxed in the sun by the pool for a while and then had a traditional Brazillian lunch with rice, beans, pumkin salad, fruit juice and pumkin cake. It was delicious and we were stuffed. After lunch we fulfilled our vacation duties and napped. Then later that night we rode bikes into town. All the magical buildings that stood with grandeur were lit up in pink to celebrate breast cancer awareness. Apparently normally they are all lit up in different colours that represent different categories. The streets were riddled with young people in halloween costumes going to parties. The costumes were quite elaborate and creative. Unfortunately we forgot our camera at home or I would have snuck photos of this. As our friend explained to us, halloween is for adults here and kids do not trick or treat or dress up. We left our bikes unlocked in the city and walked around, apparently this is safe and sure enough we found the bikes hours later untouched. We got ice cream and walked around to see the sights. We saw the statue of the person who Brazilians believe built the first airplane (not the same person we were taught built it).
As we were picking up our bikes, I turned my head and saw a car stop at a light and the driver behind her smashed his car into hers. It was the first accident I have seen on my travels. Since I was also in an accident recently, this stirred up some anxiety and I had nightmares about car accidents. The handlebars on Tysons bike broke so he had more of a challenge riding home with all the hills and cobblestone roads.
I have noticed that most people here sleep in single beds, as opposed to my experience in Vancouver that one person (myself) sleeps in queen or king size beds. I had a guest with four legs in my bed last night, his name is doo doo and he is the cutest kitten. They have two cats and its nice to see a cute animal that you can actually pet here. Their other cat caught a small bird and was running around with it all day. We have also been seeing small monkeys everywhere. They are so cute and I really want to hold one but for some reason they do not come to me.
This morning we woke up and our friend's whole family was over including one sister, grandparents and parents. His grandparents had just come back from a trip to Peru and his mother had been in Rio for arm surgery. So we all had breakfast together and the family went to a funeral for a family member and dropped us off at the emperor's museam. We saw crowns, gowns and other royal things. We could not take any photos inside but the gardens are beautiful and we have posted photos of this. Outside on the road we saw many horse and carriage forms of transport. We got picked up and all went home for a huge brazilian lunch with chicken, potatos, beans, rice and herbs with salad. We had paveh and jello for dessert with fresh fruit juice and espressos. We all sat together in the living room and played music for hours into the afternoon. Everyone but me had a musical ability or two. I clapped and cheered for my part.
Then our friend and his two sisters took us to see all the attractions of their city. We took many pictures and had lots of laughs. At night we had another Brazilian meal consisting of tapioca flat bread filled with butter, parmesan cheese, cream cheese and other wonderful things. We also had tapioca balls filled with mozzarella. Then we filled the flat breads with chocolate, oatmeal and coconut for dessert. It was so nice of them to prepare all of this for us!
The next morning we got a ride from our friend's father back to the bus station in Rio for our last day in Brazil. It was of course rainy but we still took the bus to Santa Theresa which is an older part of Rio filled with great views of the city and old colourful buildings. We have posted pictures and they explain why this is one of the main tourist attractions in the area. We walked along the beaches again and took photos of sugar loaf mountain.
We feel that there was so much more to see here. What an amazing place!
This morning we caught the bus around 5am to the airport. Even though we were early getting there, somehow Tyson managed to have his name repeated over the loud speaker several times as "the last person to board". I had to get off the plane and find him, the airline staff were not pleased but at least he got the pastries, cakes and cookies he was looking for.
We flew to Uruguay and then to Buenos Aires. In Argentina the first thing we did was take the bus to the Indian Embassy to get our Indian visas. I had prepared everything possible to prepare but still the guy with the power said that "it can't be done in 15 days". We paid him the 420 pesos (110 USD) and took a chance anyway so please pray that it all works out....
Then we walked through Centro to our hostel. The city is filled with huge great old buildings. Tyson kept saying that it reminds him of Vancouver. It is busy, the streets are crawling with markets and people. The food is more expensive here than anywhere else so far but the accomadation and other items for sale are more inexpensive. We have not taken pictures of the city yet but we are both in love with it already. We went out for a dinner full of meat as this is apparently what one is meant to do in Argentina. It is all its cracked up to be.
Sorry for the long post....

"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"