Well, the inevitable happened and of course my year in Central and South America drew to an end, and I found myself heading back home to Australia to spend a week with my family over Christmas and then onto the UK, hopefully ready to start work after a year of adventures abroad… 

It was absolutely fantastic flying into Sydney, seeing the beautiful harbour and the sun trying to poke it’s head through, unfortunately it wasn’t a typical sunny summers day! I then managed to get through immigration and customs super fast and found myself at the domestic airport in time to catch the early plane down to my parent’s, rather than the afternoon plane. With only enough time to ring mum and dad and say to get to the airport for 10:30 am … I was back in the air again and zooming down to the gorgeous south coast to spend 7 short days with my family over Christmas. 

Being home with the kids and the kids!
Bega was in a picturesque state when I arrived as the drought had finally broken with recent rains, and everything was lovely and green as we drove home. Mum’s flower garden was in full bloom out the front of the house and Dad’s veggie garden out the back was producing at a rapid rate, so I was surrounded by a wonderful oasis of greenery as I settled back in at home. We almost has the whole family back over the Christmas period as well, with Lizzy and Catherine being able to come home and only Felicity not being able to make it to Bega. It was also great seeing Lily and Will, my niece and nephew again, and witnessing their hilarious entertainment! They weren’t the only ‘kids’ around the farm though as mum and dad’s goat herd had recently multiplied and the kids were absolutely gorgeous and jumping around everywhere. Lily and Will loved feeding one of the little goats every morning with a bottle of milk and it became part of the daily routine while I was at home. 

Home brew happy hour at the Northcotts!
With Dad’s recent experiment with home brew being an absolute success, we enjoyed a wonderful ‘happy hour’ of sorts each night around 5 pm, where we treated ourselves to the home brew beer, along with a few biscuits and cheese (‘Bega’ of course!), it was the hour  of the day I thoroughly enjoyed as the sun was still high in the sky and there was nothing to do except enjoy a beer at the end of the day! 

Christmas Day
We had Christmas at our place this year, along with Dad’s sister’s family and we had a fabulous day. We had a great lunch, with Cath doing a great whole baked salmon and of course Mum’s Xmas pudding that never fails to hit the spot! Having the kids around certainly made Christmas special and the other highlight of the day was seeing John giving the kids bucking horse rides on his back for a good hour in the afternoon, even if he might have needed a chiropractor the next day! Lily and Will were very cute leading up to Christmas as well, being worried that Santa wouldn’t find them if they were at Grandma’s house! So they dutifully put up ‘Santa please stop here signs’ in the garden, and lucky for them, Santa managed to drop by with a sack of presents! 

Boxing Day
On Boxing Day we went up to Brogo Dam and joined by Marie and John, we had a great day playing football and picnic-ing in the sun. It was also by chance that my cousin Karen came along with a boat they’d been lent for a few days, so we were able to spend the rest of the afternoon lazing on a great boat cruising up and down all the nooks and crannies of the dam and finding places to stop and swim. It was a really great afternoon. 

Surfing on the south coast
It was also at Tathra beach that I was so happy to be able to get on a surf board again, after a break of over 6 months! I hired a long board and took to the smallish surf in Tathra at the time, but the size of the waves didn’t bother me and I had a ball catching wave after wave and getting my technique back. I also bought a very thick full length wetsuit with the aim of getting into the surfing back in the UK, will be slightly more on the chilly side though! 

Time to leave…
I had such a fantastic week at home, always too short but I guess that’s the reality of living so far away from home! So, sadly my time in Australia quickly came to an end and I found myself back on the plane and flying up to Sydney ready to fly out that night to London. This was it, stepping on this plane was the end of a year of adventure and excitement that hopefully will not fade into the distance as I get back into the routine of life back in London. 

In summary …
As most of you will know, taking a year off and learning a language was something I had wanted to do for a while and I have finally realised this dream. Although my Spanish is by no means fluent, I am happy in the knowledge that I can now communicate and make myself understood in a foreign language, which was a goal I’d set for myself to achieve by the time I turned 30, so I guess I achieved that goal just in the nick of time! 

I have met some amazing people during my travels, who have made my trip memorable and who I know I will continue to be in contact with in the future. In fact, one of my favourite people, who I met in my first week in Guatemala, Tamara (yes another one!) came over to spend New Years with me in London. So the wheel has come full circle hey, we were both hanging out in a school in Guatemala together at the same time last year and now here we are in London, quite a surreal experience really! 

I can’t begin to say what my favourite places or experiences were during my year off… just too many to mention !! Anyway, I have learnt a lot during my time off about the politics of those countries I visited, history, things about myself, about other cultures etc. and hopefully all my new knowledge will stay with me as I return back to a ‘normal’ life. 

Surfing and salsa are two new passions that have developed from my time off, so I’m making it my new year’s resolution to keep these up back in London. I’m thinking of continuing my blog with my goings on back in London, but haven’t worked that out as yet. But anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this chapter of my blogs, I’m hoping they’ll be great to look back through and reminisce when I’m back at work and feeling a long way away from an adventurous back-packing trip! 

So, that’s it, no grand finale, I just hope you’ve enjoyed this year of blogs!! Happy 2008 and please keep in touch, 

Tamara xx

So … as I mentioned at the end of my last blog, Fran and Hannah recommended me a fantastic place in Chile to spend my last few days in South America. The only problem being that, from where I was, it was quite a distance to get there. And so it was that I spent two nights and around 40 hours travelling on buses to get to Talca, all in a bus with seats that barely reclined as there was nothing else available! With only movies such as transformers (in Spanish) as entertainment and only ham and cheese sandwiches for food, I definitely felt each and every one of those forty hours! I am now a very well-trained bus traveller and will never complain that going anywhere in the UK takes time again! 

Chilling in Casa Chueca
I won’t dwell on my epic bus adventure anymore, except that I added my last border crossing to my record, this time at 3 am in the morning, which I wouldn’t recommend to anyone thinking of taking the trip from Mendoza to Santiago! And so it was that I arrived in the hostel called ‘Casa Chueca’ … immediately I felt the stress of my trip escape my body as I was shown around what could better be described as a rural resort. It’s situated 5 km out of the nearest town and on 10 acres of land, and with most people getting around on bicycle, it was just so quiet and perfectly peaceful!

There was a gorgeous swimming pool surrounded by colourful flowers and inviting deck chairs in the sun. There was a beautiful outdoor setting with views down to the river and the acreage below. The dormitory room was the nicest I have seen in all of my travels and really, was just like home, except that there were 6 people sleeping in the room! The dorm room itself was absolutely HUGE and even had a lounge setting and bathroom inside. There was also hammocks everywhere, a gym, book exchange and massive breakfast buffet on offer. So .. all in all, Casa Chueca was amazing and I knew I was in the perfect place to spend my last few days. 

A glass of vino and a vegetarian buffet as the sun sets … 
My first night there couldn’t have been any more perfect. I sat outside with the Austrian hostel owner and we chatted over a glass of red wine as the sun slowly set… I was so interested in hearing the background of his hostel and how he came up with the vision for this idyllic relaxing place, which is also next door to his family home. 

The restaurant in the hostel in vegetarian, which is not only unusual for South America, but was also a nice change from the meat-overload in Argentina! So every night, there is a big communal dinner cooked and everyone sits outside around big old wooden tables sharing stories and having a drink. 

Time to drag myself from the pool for a spot of wine-tasting …
It was with much difficulty that I managed to drag myself off the deck chair beside the pool! However, if anything was going to detach me from the deck chair, it would be the offer of wine tasting! As we were situated in the heart of the Chilean wine district, it would be rude not to at least have a try, so off I went. I headed off with a couple of others from the hostel to a few of the nearby wineries, where we enjoyed a tour of the vineyard and wine production area, followed by the obligatory wine tasting! It was definitely a sensational way to spend a lazy afternoon.  

And a Chilean cooking course … 
It was with great joy the next night that two new-comers joined the big dinner table and I overheard them speaking in English!! This was only remarkable as for the previous few days the hostel was mostly occupied by German speakers and so I felt like I was constantly obliging them to speak English in my presence! So Gemma, James and myself were united on the basis of language and we enjoyed the next few days chilling out in Casa Chueca and having a good laugh. 

It was these guys that inspired me to do a Chilean cooking course with them the next day. We joined the chef of the hostel, Danny, for an afternoon of entertainment as he demonstrated how to make empanadas and sopai pillas whilst we observed and copied his technique at the same time as drinking red wine, chatting and generally making a bit of a mess of the kitchen! But it was a great afternoon, not only for learning a few new culinary skills, but also because we got to celebrate by sampling our creations over yet another glass of red … Another tough afternoon! 

Lazing by the pool, with just a massage missing from the picture 
And so I spent the next few days in much the same fashion … lying in the sun, having a swim when it got too hot, reading in the hammock, catching up on a few blogs on the internet and settling in with a glass of red in the evening as the sun set. We also met Fanny from the US who joined our dorm room and the four of us relaxed in the sun, with the only missing element being the masseus who had gone walkabout and couldn’t help us out with the ‘missing link’ massage! 

Before I arrived here, I was so worried that I wouldn’t have my hiking boots (refer to my previous blog) and therefore wouldn’t be able to enjoy the trekking in the area … however with the heat and also the ease of just staying put by the pool, even after one of the hostel workers lent me her shoes, needless to say, they didn’t get much use!! 

So, it was, that after four days, and with some semblance of a tan and a relaxed mind and body, my time in Casa Chueca was over. 

The end of a year in South America
This blog marks the end of my time in South America and with just one instalment left of my brief visit to my family in Australia for Christmas, I am almost back to the UK where my adventures began about a year ago, pretty hard to believe! Anyway, I headed about 3 hours north of Talca on a bus to Santiago where I boarded my plane bound for Sydney … My last South American bus! Until the next brief instalment about Christmas in Oz. Hasta luego, Tamara 

PS .. thought I would add the words of a mural that was in the hostel about Chile … 

“As God looked at the world he had created in seven days, he realised that there were still some things left over: volcanos, virgin forests, deserts, fjords, rivers and ice. So, he ordered the angels to dump all this behind a long mountain range. The mountains were the Andeans and so Chile was born … the most diversified country in the world”

Well, I am now into the last 10 days of my year-long adventure, it’s crazy how time flies! So… since the very beginning of my trip I had been looking forward to seeing the whales and their calves in Argentina during their breeding season. And finally the time came when i arrived in Puerto Madryn, hoping these gigantic mammals had not yet migrated to Antarctica. 

Oh my god, the whales are a jumping!
I was INCREDIBLY lucky with the boat tour I went on to see the whales as they put on quite a performance for me! Sitting in just an oversized rubber boat, we headed off the coast in search of the whales, with our ‘whale-spotter’ Carlos at the helm. At first we were simply awed when the whales swam alongside the boat. There were lots of mothers and babies, we even saw a white calf, with there only being 7 white babies out of the 184 calves born that year, we were rather lucky to spot the albino-looking whale. At one stage the calf even swam right underneath our boat! However, apparently they are incredibly accurate with their positioning so our guide assured us we were not in danger of being upended into the ocean by the whale choosing to come up for breath underneath us! 

But, then the whales really turned it on and decided to bring out the big guns for a spectacular finale … it was simply breathtaking and hard to describe in words when one of the whales started breaching (jumping)! The guides we had on our boat were so skilful with the whales spotting that they even knew exactly where the next jump would be, and we watched in joy and ooh-ed and arr-ed as the whale hauled its mammoth 100 tonnes of body weight right out of the water and dived gracefully back under, producing a thunderous crashing noise and a massive great splash as it re-entered the water and then flipped its picture perfect tail at us before preparing itself for the next jump! This went on and on for minutes at a time, while we waited with baited breath for the next spectacular jump. Even the guides said it was one of the best performances they’ve seen! 

The whales we were watching are southern right whales, which are mostly black in the body and each whale can be  identified from its individual callosities or formations of crustaceans on its body. They are absolutely massive and, an interesting fact I learnt that may be of use in a trivia quiz at some point … apparently the male southern right whale has the largest testicles of any animal, with each one weighing a massive 500kg!! Needless to say, we didn’t want to get too close to one of these jumping beauties, and at one stage Carlos, the driver, thought we were getting a bit too close for comfort … so without any warning whatsoever, he suddenly spun the boat right around and out of the path of the breaching whale, not worrying at all that I was standing up on the seat at the time, with camera poised, and nearly ended up in the sea with the whales! 

Hanging out in Puerto Piramides
Anyway, the whales jumped numerous times and it was simply magical. Definitely a highlight of my trip without a doubt. It proved to be a great decision to stay the night at a hostel on the peninsula, meaning that we had a night and the next day to chill out and absorb how wonderful our whale-watching 

experience really was! And even better that I was joined by Hannah and Fran, some hilarious English girls I met in Puerto Piramides, and we had a ‘whale of a time’ sharing travel stories over a glass of vino or two.

I was also fortunate to meet up again with Robyn and Cedric (i’ll refer you back to my previous blogs where we’ve been hanging out) and I was able to join Robyn in celebrating her birthday after we luckily met up in Puerto Piramides. We went to a great restaurant, actually we went to the same place a number of times as it was only a small town, and caught up on what we’d each been doing since we parted in Torres Del Payne National Park. All in all, the five of us had a fantastic night and enjoyed many a laugh. 

Sea lions, curtain rods and missing shoes … 
The tour we took also drove us around the peninsula where we saw colonies of sea lions and fur seals, as well as penguins. These were all lovely, however the whales were definitely the highlight of the day. I also managed to incense the bus driver a little (or maybe a lot) as I unfortunately ripped the curtain rod out of the wall of the bus after mistaking it for a handrail …. he wasn’t very pleased with me and this might also explain how magically one of my hiking boots ‘disappeared’ off the bus from under my seat (obviously situated next to the broken curtain rail) … hmmmm … well he managed to get me back by stealing my shoe, if it was his grand revenge!! Guess it’s an excuse to replace my boots that were barely hanging together after all the recent trekking. 

As the driver at the time, I was faced with the dilemna of what to do as we approached the roadworks … normally for traffic control there are red and green signs or lights for indication … but not in Argentina. So, does a guy standing on the road madly waving a non-descript orange flag up and down mean for me to go or to stop? I decided to keep driving… then he changes from waving it up and down to waving it from side-to-side, what do I do now? Is that a different signal or is his arm getting tired? I decided to keep driving (egged on by the backseat drivers of course!) … Then, suddenly and just when it looked like I was almost through, I see cars coming in the opposite direction, and there’s just one lane for both of us, what the hell was happening now? It was like we were on a computer game with obstacles flying from every direction and all at full speed … it was confusing but absolutely hilarious. When we made it through the kilometre of chaos, with only a minimal offroad diversion, there was a lot of cheering in 

A Road Trip to Remember
The next day, Hannah, Fran, Neil (our latest recruit!) and I hired a car and headed down the coast on a very memorable road trip in search of the 400,000+ Magellanic penguins that inhabit Punto Tombo, just south of Puerto Madryn. Actually just getting to the penguins was about as entertaining as the penguins themselves as the Argentinian roadworks employees entertained us with their skilful range of flag-waving skills, that had absolutely zero indication of the required action for the driver! I don’t think I have ever laughed so hard in my life and I was probably a danger in my hysterical condition! 

Penguins every which way
So after a couple of hours of driving we finally arrived at the penguins. This colony, as I mentioned above is home to over 400,000 Magellanic penguins and rather than living in the snow or by the water as I had previously assumed, they make their nests for the young by digging holes in a rather barren and desolate area of land, in some places nearly a kilometre from the ocean. We saw so many penguins that in the end I had finally had enough of taking their photos, as cute as they are, especially the babies that were learning to swim at the time! 

When we got back to our state of the art hire car, a GOL, not to be confused with its higher quality cousin, the GOLF … we found that none of the doors could be opened, not even using the rather strange techniques demonstrated by the car rental guy as were we leaving! So Hannah ended up having to climb into the car through the boot, much to the amusement of an old Argentinian couple having a picnic just a few metres away, who I’m sure were convinced we were stealing cars and sandwiches … 

Tea and cakes in a welsh village anyone?
On our way back to Puerto Madryn, we of course made the obligatory stop to a little town called Gaiman (pronounced ‘gay-man’), an old welsh settlement famous for high-tea. So, after we’d finished with ‘the only gay man in the village’ jokes, we found a suitable welsh tea house and settled in for a cup of tea and a sugar rush. We had a little taster plate of about five or six different types of cake, although the apple pie was definitely my favourite. As well as a massive pot of tea for the table, complete with a knitted tea cosy. All in all, it was very quaint indeed and a lovely finish to our day. 

Sadly, this was the end of my time with Hannah, Fran and Neil and that night we all parted company as we boarded our respective buses. The girls however had given me a great tip for a relaxing place to spend my next and ultimate few days, so I’m heading back to Chile … involving two nights on a bus and 40 hours door-to-door of travel … but that’s for my next blog.  Hasta luego, Tamara 

So … it was after a day of rest in Puerto Natales after the big ‘W’ walk, that I headed across the border, again, this was crossing number five at this point! I arrived at the town of El Calafate, which is a town that is built solely on the basis of the Perito Moreno glacier that is nearby! 

Catching up with Emma and Andrew in El Calafate
It was great timing that my old flat mate from London, Emma, was also in Calafate with Andrew on the same day we arrived! So of course that evening we met up for a drink and a traditional Argentinian parrilla, the huge all-you-can-eat BBQ that can be found everywhere here. It was definitely a random catch-up and made my stay in Calafate very memorable! 

Seeing the world famous glacier
The Perito Moreno glacier is probably the most famous glacier in the world, mostly due to its regular and dynamic changes that produce spectacular ice falls from the front walls that are visible to the public. So, although I was getting to the stage where I was a bit ‘glaciered out’ … Perito Moreno was a must-see. I also decided to do the boat trip around the glacier, which meant getting to see the ice-falls up quite close. But definitely the best view for me was from the walk-ways that were quite elevated above the glacier, giving a fantastic view and allowing a perspective of the length and depth of this massive glacier, something I hadn’t seen before. The ice falls were frequent and massive and brought back memories of the glacier experience on the Navimag, with the deafening noise as the chunks of ice crash down into the lake. 

Off trekking again … this time to see Mt Fitzroy in nearby El Chaltén
I hadn’t quite finished with the whole camping and trekking experience yet, so the next day, I headed off to nearby El Chaltén to conquer the famous Mt Fitzroy, which I suppose is Argentina’s equivalent of Torres del Payne. 

El Chaltén is a tiny tiny town of only about three or four streets, there is no cash-point within a four hour driving radius and the dirt roads through town, combined with the gale force winds create a very unpleasant dust storm to greet you as you try to make your way down the main street! 

However, the town and its people are so endearing and I quickly made friends with the local butcher, from whom I bought some lovely lamb and steak that I cooked up for dinner back at the hostel that night, some of the nicest meat I’ve had in all of Argentina! 

Cooking and camping in the snow …
So, on the day I was to set off trekking to Mt Fitzroy, it was raining, overcast, windy and generally pretty miserable, so I had doubts. But after walking around town and seeing a few brave trekkers heading off into the mountains, I decided to tough it also and proceeded to get ready for a night of camping at the Mt Fitzroy base camp. 

On the way to the first camp I met up with Nick and Carol again, who’d been in the hostel the night before. So we trekked, camped and shivered together as we persevered in cooking as the snow flakes drifted down around us. It was definitely nothing like anything I’ve done before! Carol and I kept ourselves warm by doing step-ups onto some logs in the campsites. I had a little routine of stirring the cooking pot, then doing 50 step-ups, then checking the pasta again. It was the only way to keep some degree of warmth in my body!! And I think the coldest my hands have ever been was just after dinner when I was using the freezing cold river water to wash our cooking pot … my hands felt like they were about to fall off, they went bright red and it was a long time before I got any sensation back in them! 

So … not long after dinner, I was forced to take refuge in the tent, and I went to bed VERY sceptical that we would have any view, other than clouds, over Mt Fitzroy the next day! 

But what a surprise … 
At dawn the conditions were just like the night before, so I snuggled up in my sleeping bag for another few hours kip … however, upon crawling out of the tent very late, around 9.30 am or so … I was completely surprised to see that the conditions had changed so dramatically. There was only brilliant blue sky to be seen and there was Mt Fitzroy in all her glory, in the space above the campsite where only grey clouds were hovering the afternoon before. 

So, I quickly cooked breakfast and then powered up the hill to the viewpoint in case the conditions changed again! The climb up was actually quite tough, much harder than any trekking I’d done in Torres Del Payne, but again, it was definitely worth it for the magical view at the top. Not only was Fitzroy there in all her glory, but also there was a beautiful lake and a fresh virgin snow all around. We hung out at the top for quite a while, shared our amazement with Nick and Carol at the change in conditions and beauty of the place. 

We then continued doing a bit of a loop with the trail and headed back into town that night after about 7 hours of trekking, ready for a shower and a nice meal! So sadly, this is end of my glacier and camping adventures, as my long trip draws to an end. That night, I had to hang around in El Calafate until 3am to catch a bus. I was trying to find bars and restaurants that stayed open late, but finally gave up and headed to the bus station, where thankfully I managed to have a little kip, sitting upright of course, as the army dude prohibited me from lying down on the seat to sleep, talk about crazy rules! Hasta la proxima, Tamara 😊

Well … my time in Buenos Aires has sadly come to an end and although my first two weeks were amazing, my time here has only got better and in the last few weeks I’ve been having such an great time that’s it’s tough to leave!! So … a few things that I’ve been up to of late … 

A day trip to Uruguay
Dymutsja and I embarked on a day trip across the giant mouth of the river separating Argentina and Uruguay, to the city of Colonia. We went on the slow boat that took 3 hours, but it was sooooo comfortable and more like being in a hotel than on a boat and meant that we were able to catch up on a few hours of sleep before we arrived.

We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day as well. Not only was the weather absolutely divine but there was a festival in Colonia that day and so we were treated to free museums and a festival in the city. We climbed the lighthouse for spectacular views over the coast, had a great lunch in the cute little colonial village, listening to the military band both playing instruments and firing their guns and were even treated to a drum parade where there was a little girl about 3 years old that had her own custom made tiny bongo and was banging along with the group! 

Also in Uruguay, it is not uncommon to see the people walking around with a 1L flask or thermos of hot water and their little mate mug. ‘Mate’ is a kind of tea that EVERYONE drinks here and it seems to be just so addictive that it’s impossible to leave the house without your mate leaves and a flask of hot water at the ready! All in all, this was a very chilled out day and it was nice to visit the neighbours across the river seeing they’re so close. 

Watching the football … Argentina 2 v Chile 0 
Well, I would have to say this would be one of the highlights of my time in Buenos Aires. Sitting in the crowd at the Riverplate football stadium with thousands and thousands of crazy Argentinian football fans watching their national team beat Chile two to nil, was pretty incredible. I went to the football with Mike and Dan, two almost my first experience buying tickets from a scalper!guys I have been hanging out with a lot in Buenos Aires, and who have definitely made my time in the city so much fun. 

We decided to head to the football stadium about 4 hours before the game started to ensure that we were actually able to buy (well really ‘scalp’) tickets. Luck was on our side and we successfully purchased ‘populares’ tickets, these are to sit on cement benches in the very top part of the stadium where all the true fans sit … they are not only the cheapest seats and but also those where usually the most trouble is with the fans. For this reason, they have put massive metal barricades at the front of the section to prevent people climbing down or throwing things over … so it did sort of feel like we were in prison, but other than that, the feeling could only described as electric. The Chilean supporters were sitting right below us, so everyone was constantly screaming out insults to them, including a little 5 year old boy that was screaming “Hijo de puta” or ‘son of a bitch’ to the Chilean fans at every possible opportunity … 

If you’re familiar with Argentina´s national colours, you can imagine that I was right at home … I was definitely supporting the Argentinians as I was proudly wearing every blue item in my wardrobe, blue t-shirt, blue jumper, blue scarf, blue bag … I was certainly supporting the right country! Every time Argentina scored the people went truly crazy, running down and jumping against the metal mesh barricade and screaming out … I really can’t describe in words what the atmosphere was like and this is definitely something I would recommend to everyone visiting Argentina! 

Hanging out in Buenos Aires
I have been having so much fun enjoying the city that NEVER sleeps … infact i think actually this city might just have beaten me as I’m not sure I had any more energy left for partying when the time came to leave! There are so many great things to do in Buenos Aires, and you can see the pics of what I’ve been up to … here’s just a few of the highlights: 

* Cycling around the ecological reserve – One sunny afternoon Dan, Dymutsja and I hired bikes for a few hours and headed off around the ecological reserve close to Buenos Aires. It was so nice to cycle by the coast line and in a relatively non-manicured park, was the closest thing to getting out of the fast pace of a big city. 

* Visiting the beautiful parks – Buenos Aires is definitely not short on ‘green spaces’ and it’s been so nice since the weather warmed up to go and hang out in the parks on the weekends. Dymutsja and I also visited the quaint little Japanese gardens one weekend which I would also recommend. 

* Dancing samba in the streets in San Telmo – One afternoon we found a fantastic Samba group playing drums and dancing along the streets in San Telmo, so Dymustja, Dan and I joined the crowd and danced for over an hour with the band until I was too tired to continue. It was definitely one of the most random things I’ve done here and certainly one of the most fun! 

* Visiting the Museum of Modern Art – Definitely a treat in Buenos Aires was going to the museum that has been hailed as being the best art museum in Latin America, and not only that, but also have our personal guide (thanks  Dan!) who is a modern art critic and was able to give us the background and gist of the pieces of art we viewed. My favourite you can see in the photos, below was a sculpture painting of a guy clinging to the edge of the metro. 

Birthday Celebration (#2) in Buenos Aires
Well, I know I already had a grand 30th Birthday celebration in Australia when I was visiting, but I of course, had to have another (slightly early) birthday celebration and combined farewell on my last night in Buenos Aires. I had such a fun night and was truly sad to say good bye to all the great friends I’ve made here, especially Dymutsja, Milagros, Mike and Dan. I decided to have the party in a really local tango place, although I think I may have heard enough tango to last me a lifetime after spending 4 hours in that place! 

Anyway, that sadly concludes my time in Buenos Aires, the city that I loved but that also thoroughly exhausted me!! 
Hasta Luego, Tamara

So it was in Buenos Aires that I decided to stop backpacking for a month and try to live the life of a Porteña (a person from Buenos Aires). And all I can say is that my first two weeks here have just been totally crazy (or ‘Loco’ as they say in Spanish)!  I have been going to Spanish classes for 3 hours a day, going to the gym, exploring the city and trying (big emphasis on the ‘trying’) to party like a Porteño … which is near impossible for me!  So anyway, here’s a little about my life here in Buenos Aires as well as a few things about the city that I’ve discovered in the first two weeks … 

Where I’m living … Recoleta
I have a great little apartment (well actually it’s only a studio so it’s really just one room) in a suburb called Recoleta. It’s funny that in the advertisement for my apartment, the ad says “and only 4 blocks from the Recoleta Cemetery”. Never before has proximity to a cemetery been a selling point for an apartment! But it is slightly more understandable if you consider that this cemetery is more like a suburb of grand houses; is apparently the most expensive ‘real estate’ per square metre in the country; and that it also houses the grave of the famous Eva Perón. So I live in a very nice neighbourhood, where it’s not uncommon to see a dog with a diamante collar walking around. I can also walk to school in 20 minutes and I have everything I need within a stone’s throw, perfection! 

Dogs … Dog Walkers … Dog Poo … 
There must be more dogs per person in Buenos Aires than any other city in the world, there are dogs and DOG POO everywhere!! People just don’t pick up their dogs poo either, it’s like they are too good to be seen picking up poo, and they don’t seem bothered that it ends up smeared all over the footpath. Dog walking is also a huge business here and it’s not uncommon in the parks to see one person with 10 or 12 dogs on a leash walking around. There are also special enclosures in nearly all the parks just for dogs … crazy stuff. 

Gym … Argentinian Style
So I’ve been back into going to the gym nearly every day here and absolutely loving it! It’s also good Spanish practice, so I have been experimenting with going to a few different classes and find my spinning class the most hilarious, the instructor starts the music and then goes around the room to every single person and gives them a kiss on the cheek and has a bit of a chat about life in general … every now and then he remembers that we’re actually cycling and tells us what to do! He rarely cycles and I’ve seen him get on his bike just once. Then at the end of the class he gives everyone another kiss goodbye on a somewhat more sweaty cheek at this point … all quite different to what I was accustomed to in the UK. I also do a Latin beats dance class which is a mix of salsa, reggaetone and cha cha, very good fun and doesn’t really feel like I’m working out at all! 

Crazy nightlife
The nightlife in Argentina certainly takes a LOT of getting used to. I heard a New Yorker say last week that this is the first city he’d found that had a night life later than New York. People here only go out to dinner around 10pm at the EARLIEST and then the clubs only start pumping around 3am in the morning, so the majority of people usually party until 7am or so in the morning. It is way too crazy for me. I was quite proud of myself staying out at salsa one night until 6.30am, but then my body didn’t recover for over a week … I definitely can’t bounce back like I used to! 

Meeting some cool people and getting out and about
I have been having such a great time in Buenos Aires mostly thanks to meeting some great people in my first week here. One chica in particular is Dymutsja, from Suriname (that’s the country at the top of South America that is a dutch colony). We’ve spent many hours speaking Spanish, exploring the city, partying, going to the gym etc … and Buenos Aires wouldn’t have been the same without her! 

Black Eyed Peas … Dymutsja and I were so stoked to go to see Black Eyed Peas live in concert on my second weekend here. It was part of the Pepsi Music Festival, so we also got to see a few other local bands, where we were the only 2 people in the entire audience that didn’t know and weren’t screaming out the words to the songs. There was nothing we could do to try to pretend to be a local in this situation! Then when the black eyed peas came on the crowd went absolutely crazy! I was actually fearing for my life at one point and got myself out of the mosh pit and slightly further back where I wouldn’t get trampled to death! But black eyed peas were amazing in concert and we could at least sing along to the words of their music!! 

Tigre: We also did a day trip to a nearby town of Tigre on the outskirts of Buenos Aires where the pace definitely drops a notch and we we eating ice cream in the blazing sun by the river, perfectly tranquilo. We also took a boat ride around the islands which was nice and explored the markets. But we headed back to Buenos Aires for a great Indian meal in the evening. 

Tango baby
Well Buenos Aires is the city of tango and so I of course fitted a night of tango into my first two weeks in the city. I went to a tango show at the very famous and traditional ‘Cafe Tortoni’ where I watched in awe as the couple moved around the stage so quickly, gracefully and elegantly, all the while with legs flying in every direction, while they performed this sensual dance of love. But I warn any guy that wants to have kids to take precaution learning this dance, it looks quite precarious … 

Speaking Spanish … with an accent
Well just when I thought Spanish couldn’t get any harder, I arrived in Buenos Aires where the accent is just so different from the rest of South America. For example, the word for street in Spanish is ‘Calle’, which is normally pronounced ´Car-yeah´whereas here in Buenos Aires it is pronounced ‘Car-Sheh’… completely disorientating and definitely has taken my first two weeks just to acclimatise my ear again to this strange accent. However my Spanish classes have been going really well, my school is great and I have a lot of fun in my classes, so the 3 hours really flys by. 

And that’s only my first two weeks, you can understand why life here is pretty exhausting hey! I will hopefully get another blog done of my latest adventures soon, including football games and a trip to nearby Uruguay.  Please keep in touch, Tamara 😊

Well, after the bliss of being at home with my clothes all laid out in a wardrobe and sleeping undisturbed in a proper bed … I once again am getting around with all my earthly belongings on my back and sleeping in a dorm room with 6 others, most of whom find it necessary to rustle their plastic bags of clothing at ungodly hours of the night !!! Yes, I am back in the backpacking game !! 

My first stop is Santiago de Chile. I stayed in Santiago for three days at a great hostel (eco hostel) exploring the city, getting out into the countryside and drinking great red wine with some fellow travellers in the hostel in the evenings. 

Exploring Santiago
I spent one beautifully sunny day walking the length and breadth (and height) of the city !! If you can get past the pollution or smog like clouds loitering around, the views of the snow-capped Andes and surrounding mountain ranges, from the city, is absolutely breathtaking. I also met 3 very fun fellow travellers in the hostel, Sam, Nicole and Santiago (which was quite an easy name to remember given our location!). One evening we climbed a monument in the city at sunset, not only to view the mountains as the sun lowered, but apparently also to see all the amorous young couples in Santiago that maybe have no where else to go for a bit of ‘privacy’, except to a public park! 

Getting back to nature with a bottle or two of vino!
We decided to head out of the metropolis of Santiago on one of the days for a trek in the nearby mountains, apparently to view the Andes in all their glory … however unfortunately the day clouded over, so all we saw as we ascended into a cloud itself was a great wall of whiteness, a little disappointing but our tour guide was kind enough to explain the amazing scenery in front of us that we could have seen if it wasn’t for the clouds! 

Before we started the (one day) trek, our tour guide started dividing up the food that we needed to carry. Then he came to a very important question …

How many bottle of wine will we take on the trek … two or three?

At this point all of us started to wonder what sort of a tour guide we had especially when, over a bottle of wine and cheese (yes this was sophisticated trekking!), I asked him “And what about drink driving in Chile?” (obviously meaning, what are the rules or limits? etc) to which he responded “Oh it´s great fun!!”. This was slightly unnerving as he was really getting into the vino and we knew he had to drive us 3 hours back to Santiago in the dark that night !! Anyway, obviously we arrived in one piece and apart from the lack of visibility had a great day of trekking! 

Hanging out in the Andes at the Argentinian/Chilean Border
Sadly, this little visit to Santiago was rather short and I hope to be returning soon especially to catch up with some friends there. But I was starting Spanish classes in Buenos Aires the next week, so after only three days, I boarded a bus for 18 hours with chairs that didn’t recline (my only option as it was the national holidays in Chile and EVERYONE was leaving the city and had booked their tickets earlier than me!). 

I must say that this bus trip would have to be the most spectacular in all my life. Zig-zagging my way through the Andes to Argentina was simply breathtaking and something that I’m sure I wouldn’t have appreciated on a flight (that’s what I keep telling myself anyway!). However unfortunately as it was the Chilean national holidays, there were just so many buses and cars at the border crossing that we waited for over 5 hours to get through immigration… but I couldn’t have hoped to wait in a more beautiful place, we were nestled in the middle of the Andes, snow covered mountains everyone, beautiful blue sky and crisp mountain air. I enjoyed kicking back and reading, listening to music and sleeping in the sun until we got past the very rigorous border checks … 

So an 18 hour trip turned into almost 24 hours by the time I arrived in Buenos Aires but it definitely was a journey I won’t forget. 

So .. until the next blog from Buenos Aires, Ciao and keep in touch, Tamara 😊

Well … here I am home sweet home in Australia, just in time for my sister, Felicity’s wedding! I have decided to put mostly just photos of my trip in Oz as I think that sums up my trip! It has been wonderful catching up with family and friends, even if I was home for winter in Oz .. who said it doesn’t get cold here?? 

Before I get onto the highlights of my trip, I thought I would just mention a few of the creature comforts that I’m really appreciating or noticing now I’m back at home and off the backpacker circuit for a month. So here we go:

• Drinking the water straight from the tap
• Flushing the toilet paper
• Driving a car
• Washing my clothes whenever I want
• Cooking, but also washing up
• Sleeping in a great bed with a doona, and, most of all,
• Eating my favourite foods!!

I have however suffered from terrible hay fever since I’ve been back though, one of the joys of Australia that I had forgotten about! So, here would have to a few of the highlights from my trip, in chronological order:

Felicity and Jason’s Wedding: It was truly a spectacular day for their wedding and in the perfect backdrop of Sydney harbour, their day was gorgeous. I was a bridesmaid along with my other sisters Cath and Lizzy and my little niece Lily was flower girl. I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction back to Sydney and it was great to see my family and relatives. It was also a lovely excuse to be in Sydney for a few days where I really appreciated how amazing Sydney harbour is … and also enjoyed a day out with the kids to Bondi Beach. 

My (early) 30th Party: I had a fantastic night in Sydney catching up with all my friends and relatives at a very early 30th birthday party at Centennial Hotel, right in the heart of my old stomping ground in Sydney. It was so great to see everyone, and a special thanks to Trace and Cath for organising this hen I was on the other side of the world! 

Ski Holiday to Perisher Blue: I had such a fun four days of skiing at Perisher Blue with my sisters, Lizzy and Cath, her hubby Jason and my friends Maria and Sparry. We stayed right on the slopes at Guthega Pub for perfect access to the slopes and we had sun drenched skiing in great conditions for the four days, ending each day relaxing in the hot tub! We also had a very memorable karaoke night in the pub where the highlight would have to be doing back-up dancing with Lizzy to Kung Foo Fighter, using our co-ordinated Boxacise class moves! Of course I also pumped out my favourite, ‘I will Survive’! 

Visit to Cath’s Place and the Big Strawberry: Lizzy and I then headed across the mountains to our sister Cath’s place in Barooga. Here we had a great few days being entertained by her gorgeous kids Lily and Will, as well as making a visit to the ‘Big Strawberry’! For those of you not aware, Australia has an obsession for ‘big things’ and a lot of small towns have a big object that their town is famous for, so there exists a big prawn, a big banana etc . Anyway, back to Barooga, we also had a great girls day out to the famous Rutherglen wineries where we enjoyed fantastic cheese plates and wines and lunch amongst the vineyards, my perfect day.

Being home in Bega: It had been a year and half since I’d been home, so it has been so nice to have time just relaxing at home with Mum, Dad and Lizzy on the farm. They have now got the cutest little goats since I was last here which you’ll see in the photos. Mum and Dad also have an amazing garden, so I’ve been enjoying so many fruits and vegetables fresh from the garden, my favourite treat being a glass of freshly squeezed home grown orange juice waiting for me every morning when I woke up, thanks dad! Down in the Bega Valley we did beautiful walks along Tathra beach, fishing at Bermagui for Father’s Day, fish and chips on the water at Narooma, we went up the coast to visit my Nanna and relatives in Moruya and have had some beautiful meals and red wine in the evenings! 

My friends Mal and Althea also made the mammoth trip down from Sydney (7 hours driving) to visit me for the long weekend! We had great fun being tourists in the Bega Valley, including, of course, a visit to the Bega Cheese Factory, as well as a walk along Tathra beach, lunch at a cute cafe overlooking the beach and of course meals made from the freshest ingredients straight out of my parents’ garden along with a nice glass of red wine. All in all, a perfect weekend! 

Well my time in Australia has sadly drawn to an end and the last chapter of my trip begins as I head off to Chile tomorrow to travel around Chile and Argentina for 3 months. So, until my next instalment from Chile, 

Hasta Luego, Tamara xx 

I know this has been a VERY long time coming but here is the next instalment of my travel blog …
So, with great reluctance, I knew it was finally time to leave the cosy Costa Rican beach where I had been surfing for the previous month, and being so close (or so I thought) to Nicaragua I thought I should head north and check it out. 

Late night border crossings … never again!
My first adventure in Nicaragua would have to be the border crossing. I broke all the rules in the book of travelling and, on the advice of a fellow traveller and without a trusty lonely planet in my possession, I thought I could make it all the way from where I was in Costa Rica to Granada (in Nicaragua) easily in one day … how wrong I was. So I ended up by myself at a very lonely border crossing after dark, without any local currency (infact not even knowing what the local currency was!), without any local buses running, not a tourist in sight and just truckies all lined up as far as the eye could see whistling at the stupid gringa girl who didn’t know what she was doing!! To say the least, I was quite freaked out! To top it off I had a very determined taxi driver following me on the lonely 600 metre walk from the Costa Rican side to the Nicaraguan side offering me the services of his taxi to take me to the next town. Due to my stupidity, I had to succumb to the taxi driver as there were no more buses running but he decided to drop me off at the dodgiest hotel in town where the lock was so flimsy that I didn’t even want to leave the room to get food so I went to bed on an empty stomach and with hardly any water … and I slept with my bag up against the door for fear of intruders … It was definitely something I’ll never do again and has taught me a lesson on timing border crossings!! 

Chilling out in Granada and getting high in the church!
So the gorgeous colonial town of Granada was the place I chose to stop for a few  weeks. Here I went back to school to study Spanish, lived with a Nicaraguan family, chilled out in cafes during the day studying and got back into salsa! 

It was also in Granada that I met the dutchman Bas who became my travel buddy, salsa buddy and (almost) surfing buddy! Together we explored the colonial city that is famous for its churches and cathedrals. At sunset one night we climbed La Merced Church for fantastic views over the city. However we were a little bit naughty, as we were just given the key to climb up by the church tower by ourselves, from the ‘safe’ viewing area, we could see that there was this tiny tiny little gate above that had been left unlocked … so of course we decided to be daring and climb out onto the ledge around the top of the cathedral that had absolutely no railing or protection between us and the 50 metre drop to the ground below! However it was worth it for the spectacular views and of course the adrenaline rush!! Watching the sunset from this position was truly amazing. We also took a few photos with the church bells that you can see, all the time keeping an eye on our watches that we weren’t inside the bell on the hour or half hour incase there was some automated ringing that was going to start up! 

I again had the ‘family living’ experience when I was in Granada where I was placed with a very well meaning family for a week of my stay. It was quite a change though from the lovely hostel I was in previously where you can see from the picture there was even an indoor swimming pool in the hostel. It was definitely the best hostel I’ve been in in all of my stay! So, back to the family, I loved their company but their food left a lot to be desired … they served me fried everything for every meal, definitely not my idea of healthy or even edible food. The worst however was when the day before I left I filled in the comments sheet at the school on my family and I made a comment regarding the terribly fatty food, and the school decided there was no time like the present to let the family know my views and so they rang  the family up to tell them my opinions !! It was terrible and definitely one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my trip where I had to live with the family for another 24 hours whilst they all knew and were commenting on the fact that I didn’t like their food, definitely not ideal! 

Also in Granada, Bas and I did a morning cruise around the unusual isletas in Lake Nicaragua just close to Granada. These 300+ isletas were formed some 20,000 years ago from the explosion of Mombacho volcano. It was on these islands that we got to see the lives of the rich and famous from Nicaragua that all own isletas and build grandiose mansions so their wealth is on display for all to see, including helicopter pads for easy access! 

Relaxing at Apoyo Lagoon
Just out of Granada is a fantastic retreat called Apoyo Lagoon where Bas and I stayed the night and spent the days relaxing by the lake, swimming out to the floating dock, having a beer whilst floating in the water and reading books on the deck, it was very tough indeed! Here I also met fellow Aussie Suzanne who kept me  entertained back in Granada as well. There was a fabulous hostel at the Lagoon called Crater Lodge where we relaxed and had dinner by candlelight and a fantastic buffet breakfast whilst having the magnificent view of the lagoon. However it was also here that I’ve come the closest to doing any ‘work’ in the 6 months of my trip when the owner found out I was an accountant and wanted some assistance with a spreadsheet .. luckily after an hour of discussion I must not have convinced her sufficiently of my excel skills so I escaped the task … of course she was offering me a free $10 night stay in the hostel for my efforts!! 

Surfing in San Juan del Sur
Of course, I was again drawn to the surfing mecca in Nicaragua of San Juan del Sur. So I embraced the bumpiest bus ride of my trip thus far (there was a lot of records set in Nicaragua as you can see!) into Madera Beach where I knew there was a hostel right on the beach, perfect for surfing!! Here I reunited with Bas as we’d agreed to meet up that day, however by the time I  got there on the later bus the only accommodation left was the 
the dog house! So with much reluctance I settled into my dog kennel which had only enough room for sitting up and required a bit of manoeuvring to get in and out and get changed whilst dripping wet or covered in sand … not well ventilated and not really my favourite accommodation! You can see in the pictures how tiny these were. 

Back to surfing, it had been a while since I’d been out on the waves as I’d taken a break due to hurting my ribs. Hoping I was OK I paddled out, but soon realised that even the adrenaline of catching waves couldn’t mask the pain I was in each time I tried to sit up on the board or especially going for a wave! So, reluctantly I realised that surfing and me weren’t meant to be for at least a little longer until the ribs were fully repaired. 

Heading to Panama with Queen Latifah
So after only 2 days at the beach, I had to say goodbye to Bas and the beach and made the bumpy trip back to San Juan del Sur, ready to embrace a 36 hour bus ride through to Panama city!!  I caught the trusty TICA Bus which connects city to city within Central America. I was extremely lucky with the entertainment on the bus trip as well, as I was able to see not one, not two, not three but four Queen Latifa movies in a row!! I didn’t actually realise she’d done that many but anyway I definitely was not a fan of the Queen Latifah marathon … the only downside of the TICA bus. 

So here ends my Nicaraguan adventures …

Well, I know that I signed off my last blog as though I’d left Bolivia, but I have to make a short entry about our final day in Bolivia, where Lizzy and I embraced the challenge of climbing to 5,400 metres and reaching the summit of Austria Peak. 

We were advised that this was a hard day of trekking, although I think we thought that with all the walking we’d been doing, we’d be fine. However when our guide Julia stopped the car and pointed out a snow capped mountain lingering well into the distance … Lizzy and I started to quickly lose confidence and imagined ourselves aborting the trip half way up !! 

But we persisted with the steep and in parts treacherous climb, scrambling across loose rumble on vertical drops and battling the raging icy wind on the numerous passes … and getting to the top after 4.5 hours was truly one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever experienced. From the top we could see right out to Lake Titicaca and also across the the highest point in Bolivia, absolutely spectacular. 

Our guide Julia even surprised us by unloading a still warm chicken and rice, complete with serviettes and a tablecloth and we ate lunch with 360 degree views from 5,400 metres, definitely a first time for everything hey! I would thoroughly recommend our guide and the company we organised it through, called Zigzag Bolivia.

Anyway, Lizzy and I arrived back to La Paz exhausted after 8 hours of hiking and a 2 hour drive back to La Paz, but with an amazing sense of achievement!! 

So .. that (definitely) ends my stories from Bolivia and the next instalment will be coming to you from Costa Rica … 

Until next time!!