I’ve been completely overtaken with Football Fever. To the point where I have accepted that it’s called Football and forgotten how AFL even works (short tight shorts, arm muscles are all I’m recalling). 

As the girl who couldn’t name a single Socerroo’s player a few weeks before the World Cup started, and proudly and embarrassingly called Mile Jedinak ‘Miles’, I’ve come a long way. I can almost have an impressive conversation with people who have grown up with the fever. Almost. Every now and again I have a completely embarrassing moment and say something dumb, such as: “Is this being played at the Macarena?”. (Mum: the stadium in Rio is called the Maracana… See where I went wrong?). 

But, those moments aside, I am getting really good at this and also enjoying it. Today watching Australia play Netherlands I have never felt so stressed by a football game in my life! I was even coming out with things like “Australia need to have more cracks at goals and stop faffing about in the goal square passing it too each other”. I was quite proud of that one. And it was true, well done Cahill!

Interestingly, but probably not surprising for those who know me well, the most moved I get in a football game however, is when the players come out holding little children’s hands. Tears in my eyes every time. And when they all run off holding hands I just about break down. Lucky most of the time I’m wearing sunglasses and no one can see me. So embarrassing! 

This picture just about had me sobbing:

But I think that my favourite part of the fever might actually be the one massive party we have attended since arriving. I suddenly like rum, I can start drinking at 4pm and wander home at 5am and then get up and do it again, and the best part is making new friends constantly, watch out Supers!!

We’ve collected a few Aussies, a Brazilian, some Scots (and if any of you Scots are reading this you’ll be pleased to see I didn’t put ‘Scott’s’ this time… 😉 winky face) some Americans, a Cuban (whose mum is spanish and whose dad’s Turkish who learnt English from a South African in Alabama, that was an accent like no other) and some English… But we have given back most of English!

But, back to the main reason I came to the World Cup, Torres. I have seen him only briefly from the nosebleed section but I am 99% sure he saw me and winked. I am certain we will meet up in Curitiba and it will be love. Spain will most likely be out of the race by then so then he can totally party with me after the game and come along to Rio. Win, surely that’s better than winning the World Cup?!?

So I think that just about wraps part one up, stay tuned for part(y) two! 

Oh yeah Salvador is beautiful, weathers good, beach is good, food is good. Football. 

MISS YOU MUM X

So we took the 17 hour bus from BA to Puerto Iguazu to see the falls from the Argentinian side, with the intention of crossing the boarder to Brazil and seeing them from the Brazilian side.

But it went a little bit like this:

We arrived in PI feeling a little bit sheiiit. I had felt car sick the entire 17 hours and had woken up with a cold. It was raining and within the 50 meters we had to walk to the hostel we got saturated. It was warmer though so we were happy about that.

The hostel we stayed at, called Mango Chill was great, and they did a dinner for 120 peso’s that was entree (more Choripan!), main (steak, what else?) and dessert. There was a group of about 10 English guys, let’s call them ‘lads’ with two ‘ladettes’. At dinner they played a very loud game that was sort of fun, but should have been an indications of the rest of the night.

We had a few drinks at the group dinner, chatted to some foreigners and made another Aussie friend and went to bed. At 6am the lads and ladettes came home and continued their party in and around the hostel. So. Much. Fun.

The next day we braved the pouring rain to go the the falls, new Aussie friend and a German dude in tow.

Side note, the German dude, who was 20, regaled us with stories of his German girlfriend and the girlfriend in Cordoba who he’d been dating for 7 weeks but had only physically been with for 2 weeks but he was going back to Cordoba to see again soon but whom did not know about one and other. And later we learned that the German girl did not, in fact, know she was even his girlfriend.

Anyway, we arrive at the falls to find that the top track, the one that leads to ‘Devils Throat’ was closed as there had been too much rain, this also meant that the boat ride down from there we had booked was also cancelled. But the boat ride against the current and ‘under’ the waterfalls was still going ahead. Yay. Not.

We got on an open topped jeep, in the rain, and 20 wet minutes later we arrived at the dock. We get on the boat and had to wait for the next car it arrive for the other boat goers. In the rain.

Boat takes off and it was raining so hard (and horizontally) that I couldn’t even open my eyes. Anyway, picture this: some of the strongest currents in the world, MORE water than usual in the waterfalls / rivers, me, a boat (I don’t like boats) and rain. Lots. Of. Rain. So you ‘ride the currents’ (the boat nearly tips) then you go up to the water falls (I think, I had my eyes closed) then you go under the waterfalls (I know for sure because I got FUCKING SATURATED).

But you all know how I felt about this boat, you’ve seen the photo.

After that we hopped off and got changed, we smartly bought a change of clothes. Then, after some food, I quietly declared to Matt that I didn’t think I could go on. I was feeling shit; cold, snotty, wet and worn out. He kindly gave me his jumper (being the hot legend Bass Dogg is) and the sun came out, so I decided to go on a bit longer. And thank god I did!! We did the Superior walk first which is the walk across the top to the falls, it was sensational!

Standing over waterfalls that were gushing 16 million litres of water per minute (normally it’s 2 million, that gives you an idea of how much rain there had been!!) was unreal. With the sun out there were rainbows everywhere.

The following pictures are great but they really don’t do justice to how amazing it is to be there.

After the Superior walk we did the inferior where you stand in front of the waterfalls (and get a bit wet again!). Which was also good, but some of the walk ways started to be closed off.

Anyway, after about 5 hours we head home to a shower and another 120 peso dinner.

The next day they closed the falls due to too much water! We were pretty lucky!!!

So boarder crossing time, with the Aussie guy (Rohan) still in tow, we hopped on a bus for Foz Do Iguaçu. At the boarder we met a lovely guy from England who decide to be our friend. Did I say lovely? I mean drunk, creepy and smelly English guy that decided to latch onto us and try to grab our passports. And kiss my hand.

After the crossing we eventually get to our hostel and have a walk around. We were intending to go to the Brazilian side of the falls the next day but again, most of it was closed. Instead we went to the Parque des Aves which is a bird park where all the birds that are saved from smuggling are kept if it is that they can’t be released into the wild there’s also a few crocs, a couple of boa constrictors and anacondas too. Who the hell is trying to smuggle those bastards out?!?!

It was pretty cool as you could walk through a lot of averies and I got to hold a Macaw!!!

We’re now at the airport on our way to Salvador!!!!

For those playing at home we have the following games:

Spain v Netherlands (Salvador)
Germany v Portugal (Salvador)
France v Switzerland (Salvador)
Australia v Spain (Curitiba)
France v Ecuador (hopefully, Rio)
Round of 16’s (Salvador)

So Iguazu Balls, Iguazu Fails, how ever you see it, at least we got to see some of it!!

Bye bye from Foz!

 

So, Mendoza was lovely, Crodoba was beautifully boring but Buenos Aires was superb.

So far my favourite place, this city gave us everything we needed. Matt got a shit load of Empanadas and I got to go shopping.

We stayed in San Telomo which is BA’s oldest Barrio and has cobbled streets and the most sensational architecture.

We had a market close by that sold fresh fruit and veg as well as meats, cheeses, eggs, bread and soccer jerseys. All your essentials. Matt picked up an old school Argentinian jersey for 150 peso’s (about $20), didn’t even bother bartering he was just super stoked about it.

On Sundays they have a fantastic market that runs the whole length of Defensa St (1.6km) selling amazing antiques and hand made stuff (from leather bags to friendship bracelets) including people just walking up and down selling empanadas, churros, and any other food Matt or I could possibly want. We had a 65peso Parrilla lunch (steak, chips and a coke, that’s about $8 for those playing at home) and it was better than any steak I’ve ever had in Australia, but not our best Argentinian steak.

At the markets I bought heaps; a scarf, some earrings, a hoodie, two necklaces, a ring, a little ceramic box thing, pair of old school Ray Bans (circa 1990’s, quite possibly fake) and a headband. All for under $150. Matt bought chimichuri sauce.

 

I think I could probably write a whole post that was a blow by blow account of all the food we’ve eaten but I’ll just say this; we’ve had amazing steak at dirt cheap prices, we buy beer by the litre, have had empanadas you can only dream of (they cost about $1), tried fugazetta (an onion and cheese pizza big enough to feed a family of about 10!!), ‘hot dogs’ that are chorizo that has been cooked over coals in yummy crunchy bread slathered in chimichuri sauce called ‘choripan’ as well as churros, doughnuts filled with ‘Dulce Leche’ and the worlds best halados (ice cream). Roll me to Brazil.

 

We visited the Barrio of Palermo on a drizzly day, we caught the subway there, hand on bags at all times (I’m over cautious but so far have not been pick pocketed. Touch wood.). Palermo is a slightly wealthier suburb, trees everywhere and beautiful boutique shops up and down all the streets.

We’ve visited Plaza de Mayo and Casa Rosada where are Evita sang to the people of Argentina from the balcony, I believe she sang ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’, followed by an encore of ‘Non, Je ne Regrette Rien’.

We went to a cool bar that’s underground in a Florist, it’s hidden and unless you knew it was there you would have thought people were walking into a fridge! (Elle, maybe a business idea?!? Secret bar???).

We also visited the famous Recoleta Cemetery where Eva Peron is buried. The cemetery is unreal, with huge mausoleums for the wealthy families for BA, some relatively new (around the 60’s) and some falling down from the 1800’s. There were feral cats everywhere which added to the eeriness of the cemetery!

I will mention one meal we had specifically though. Matt found this hole in the wall place, that was filthy and consisted of a giant grill (full of different meats) and a few bar stools against a wall covered in yellowing notes written on hundreds if different bits of paper, napkins and news clippings. We ordered a Choripan each and, of course, a litre of beer. Matt gets to chatting to the guy in his limited Spanish and the guys limited English and discovers one of the meats on the grill is Pork. Matts favourite. So he orders the pork in a roll. The meal was sensational! The guy keeps giving us bits of meat off the chunks on the grill to try and after, when our bill was tallied up, it totalled about $6. We tipped him 100% and he shook our hands. It. Was. Delicious. We went back again the nest night. And then the best day for lunch!!!!

 

 

We also visited the zoo where the highlight was this weird sort of ant eater animals schlong. It was weird. 

 

We spent the last fee days wandering around before we boarded a bus for Iguazu Falls. A 17 hour bus. Which is where I will leave you for now! And take up our story again at the falls!!

Adios Argentina! Don’t cry for me, we’ll cry for you!!

We arrived safely today only to pay a reciprocity fee of $117(US) for staying here 3 days. Seems fair, the Albanians, Canadians and Mexicans have to pay it too (although it’s significantly cheaper for them, and the Albanians?! What the??)

The first thing I’ve learnt is that the one word I know in Spanish ‘una manzana’, an apple, is not very helpful!! And bizarrely all the French I learnt has come rushing back to me so in an incredibly unhelpful move by my brain I am now trying to speak a mix of French and English to someone who understands neither! I’m going to have to dedicate some time to learning a bit more Spanish and get a phrase book!!

We’re pretty jet lagged as it’s been about 27 hours since we left Adelaide and we’ve had limited sleep since then. We did take a nice afternoon nap, wake up for dinner and now I think we’ll go back to bed!!!

It’s been a bit of a culture shock too, not necessarily in a bad way just in a ‘how much does $4700 pesos equal, why is there scones and a tomato salas served with every meal, why is the ATM charging me $9 every time I withdraw, I miss googling everything’ kind of way. But we will get used to it. And also I already hate my back pack. Ugh maybe I am the princess I thought I wasn’t. Oh well, I’m sure I will work out a system soon.

Anyway, I’ll do a Santiago post after the next few days and then we are off over the Andes (I’ve always wanted to climb over Andy! Soy-ah!!!!) and we’re I to Argentina!!

Someone make sure mum reads this so she knows we’re ok!!

xx

Thursday 8th May
With 11 days to go I decided to get a bit organised with packing. I am starting to keep the clothes clean that I want to pack and I got some toiletries from the shops the other day.

In that shop I bough about 45 million tampons. I don’t even know why. I’m sure South Americans have tampons but it seemed like the right thing to do. So I will be lugging 45 million tampons around. I also bought two of everything, two deodorants, two dry shampoos, two hand sanitisers. Look I know there’s something wrong with me, we’ll see if they all get packed.

I’m now developing this into a process, right now I’m now organising everything into boxes / piles / washing baskets so I can sort out what I am going to pack. Anal? Yes. I know. Next step will be a test pack which will happen on Saturday or Sunday. My god I’m not looking forward to the reality.

On a side note I was driving to mums on the weekend and I started thinking about saying good bye and I burst into tears. Cried the whole length on Oaklands Rd. So I’d say that bodes well for the airport about 5:30am Monday week. Uh oh.

Saturday 10th May
8:43am
I need to do my test pack soon. But I think I’ll just stay in bed and watch Spooks for a little bit longer.

10:15am
Ok so I attempted to pack and round one was a bit of a failure. Now it’s time to cull.

10:30am
Success I managed to get it all in, and on my back so that’s a start! But there’s no room for any travelling purchases.

Sunday 11th May
Upon reflection I think one warm jumper just is not going to cut it. I’ve swapped the bulky warm jumper out for multiple thinner jumpers and also culled some more. But not the hair dryer or straightener. They are staying (and the 45 million tampons!).

Sunday 18th May
Packing SUUUUUUUUCKS. The 45million tampons have got to go.

It’s 6 weeks now until we embark on our four months in South America, the Caribbean and North America and I said a while ago that I thought I would blog while we were away.

This was for a few reasons, one being I didn’t want to clog up everyone’s Facebook feed with our adventures, another being that I thought it would be a good way for mum to know that we were still alive. But the main reason was because I’m pretty funny.

Haha no (yes), it will be a good record of our trip.

So the first thing I’ve been told that I need to do is think of a name for my blog. Apparently not only is ‘That Travel Bitch’ a terrible idea, the idea came about at the same time the idea that mum and dad should recreate the Bound 2 film clip, post Uncle Kari’s 60th where I accidentally got drunk (for those of you unfamiliar with said films clip, YouTube it) but it’s already taken.

So what should my blog be called? I’ve decided to call in Jess vs The World. Why? Because I can (the domain wasn’t taken!).

So here’s my blog, my next post will be on the joys of packing. In case you’re wondering how that will go: I’m in Melbourne for 7 days and I packed 18kg’s. And still didn’t pack the right things.
So for now Buenas Noches
X