Rio de Janeiro

Hola chicos,

The last week has gone by very fast, it is hard to believe that I have already been in Rio for a week. The weekend was spent catching up on sleep and lounging on the beach (every time I don't mention what we did during the day, you can assume we spent it on the beach). We were staying in a hotel in Copacabana for two nights before moving to our hostel, our last two nights of comfort for 2 and a half months. On Saturday night we decided to go out to a club recommended by a barman. This was to be our first night out in Rio so we were very excited. Unfortunately it did not live up to expectations. We ended up gate crashing a Birthday Party and had pretty much found the Rio de Janeiro equivalent of "Fusion" (some people may not understand this reference). Our last night in the hotel was spent on the roof eating pizza, watching friends and enjoying the view of the Christo Redemptor lit up at night.

We are now living in a place in Rio called Vidigal, it is first and foremost a favela. Weirdly enough I feel very safe, especially as there is a constant police presence outside our hostel. One of the other guests of the hostel was saying that the reason the police are there is due to Rio hosting the World Cup and the Olympics. Brazil has to be seen to be cutting down on crime. It is highly unlikely that after 2016 the policemen will remain. Walking back to our hostel in the dark can be a bit intimidating though. However, I feel safer in our favela than I do walking through Copacabana and Ipanema. We have gone for a couple meals in favela and all the residents are very friendly and welcoming towards us. I feel we are definitely getting more of the cultural experience, living in the same place as the locals. One of the most outstanding things about this hostel is the view we have from our room. It looks out directly over ocean, and it is possible to see the whole of Ipanema beach sprawling out across the seafront - very beautiful.

On Tuesday night we went to a bar in Copacabana and listened to some live salsa music. There was a great atmosphere, especially when people got up and started dancing. South American dancing is light years ahead of Europe. When they dance they actually move their feet. I feel my robot and sprinkler aren't quite so well appreciated here. 

We rented bikes to go visit the botanic gardens on Wednesday. The rain started to fall about 5 minutes into our trip. When it rains here, it rains very very hard. Any plans to enjoy the plants, the trees and the impressive waterfalls disappeared extremely quickly. When the rain ebbed a bit we went for a cycle around the lake in the middle of Rio. We enjoyed some stunning views and scenery on the ride round, even with the rain soaking us through.

On Thursday our group of 2 became 3 as Tom has finally arrived. Thursday was a bit of a lazy day with little done. The highlight was when Ed ordered a hamburger, instead he received the most pitiful piece of meat, stuffed between bread that looked very sorry for itself. Today we went to see Christo Redemptor (the huge statue of Jesus Christ looking over Rio). Although it took us a very long time to get to actual statue, it was so worth it. Amazing panoramic views over the whole of Rio de Janeiro while being at one of the wonders of the world.

Then a two hour lunch eating the typical Brazilian fried chicken, chips, rice, beans and salad. I cannot explain how good this dish is, it is like eating a rainbow.

If you have ever had a Caipirinha, you will realise they are quite strong, I am writing this after three Caiprinhas, I think this is justified as it is Friday night. We are about to go out for night in Lapa.

Will be blogging in a few days. 

Last week in Cordoba!

Hola Chicos,

When I last left you on Saturday I was about to go to a fundraiser selling alfajores. For those of you who know me well, you know I'm slightly impatient (only slightly) - fortunately, so were the rest of my group. We had a total of 26 packets of alfajores to sell. Our group (the people selling the goods) bought 12 of these packets ourselves... 

However, it was a good thing we did sell them all so fast as I then went off to watch a local football match. I have no idea which teams were playing but I found myself standing with the away fans. I am now an expert at swearing in Spanish, and some of the insults being thrown around were extremely imaginative. Nothing like the unoriginal stuff you get in English football stadiums. The highlight of the match was when the away team scored. All the fans seemed to turn into spiderman and scaled the fencing blocking the stands from the pitch. Some of them were about 7 metres off the ground. They clearly hadn't thought it through though and watching them try to climb back down was one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

As everybody probably knows, last Sunday it was Saint Patrick's Day. Being abroad with an Irish sounding surname is absolutely epic. Each bar or club I entered on Saturday night were more than willing to give me a free drink once I had fooled them with my terrible Irish accent and showed them my driving license with my surname on. Understandably, the next day was spent nursing a pretty horrific headache. 

I'm sure if you're reading this you will have seen the pictures of my skydiving on Tuesday. I don't want to sound like the guy from the "Gap Yah" video, but honestly it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life.  Having lived in Britain all my life, I'm used to extreme levels of health and safety - its a little bit different in Argentina. As soon as we arrived we had to sign a form saying in the event of injury (lets face it, death) the skydiving company could not be held reliable. This is understandable. However, the next thing the instructor said to us was "Alright, lets go to the plane". Eh? We don't know what to do, what about training, what about safety procedures. Not to worry, we were then shown four torn pictures of the body positions we should be in at each stage of the jump. 5 minutes later we were pounding down the runway. Nothing can describe the feeling when the door of the plane opens and the wind rushes in. Absolute terror but excitement at the same time. Then you jump. 20 seconds of the most exhilarating feeling, then the parachute is pulled and it is completely calm. As soon as we got to the ground I already wanted to do it again, maybe give it a while though. I'm sure people saw the pictures of my hair - it still hasn't quite recovered yet.

It sounds like I've been having a bit of a jolly for the past month, and to rectify this, on Tuesday afternoon I went into the slums with the other Human Right's volunteers. We held a meeting with the women from the slum about what we can do to help them. Their main desire was for a community centre to be set up to give them legal representation. The main problem is that only 20% of the houses in the slum are legally recognised as houses. Therefore only these houses can get electricity and water. Obviously the other houses nick this water and electricity yet the 20% are paying for all the water and electricity that is consumed. I'm not going to go into all the issues with it (mainly because I couldn't understand a word they were saying) but it is going to be a mammoth task to achieve what they want. 

Wednesday and Thursday passed by in an absolute blur, saying goodbye to everybody and packing all my stuff. Fittingly I spent my last night at the same bar I spent my first night - all the other volunteers were there and it was a great opportunity to say goodbye to them. I'm really going to miss the other volunteers, I've had some great times with them. My last dinner was spent with my host family. They have been absolutely lovely to me and made me feel very welcome. For my last meal one of my host mum's friends was round; she is one of the eccentric women I've ever met. She also taught me a new Argentine swear word which she very kindly wrote down for me on my phone.  "La concha de la lora". Concha in Spain is a totally innocent word meaning shell, not in Argentina though... Lora means parrot. I'll leave you to find out what concha means in Argentina.

And so now begins the second leg of my trip. I arrived in Rio de Janeiro about 6 hours ago. Dear god is it hot. I had just got accustomed to the Cordoba heat (about 35 degrees on a hot day and then cool evenings). Here it is a step above. I have just got back from an outside gym. I don't want to be too graphic, but I don't think I've ever sweated so much in my life. Ed arrives early tomorrow morning and I cannot wait, think we're going to have a chilled day tomorrow on the beach.

Chao

Skydiving!!!!!!!

Penultimate week in Cordoba.

Hola Chicos,

I am sorry I haven't posted for a while. Been really busy this week with work (and a lot of sleep).

I said in my last post that I was going to go skydiving last weekend. Unfortunately this never materialised, we tried again on Tuesday but again it was not possible. For the last week the weather here has been absolutely awful meaning its impossible to go skydiving. Been raining and cloudy almost every day, its almost like being back in England. I am absolutely desperate to go, so hopefully I will be going skydiving next Tuesday instead.

So, last Sunday instead of Skydiving, I visited a small town called Alta Gracia with a few other volunteers. Alta Gracia is the town where Che Guevara grew up so we visited his childhood home. It had been turned into a very small museum which had on display his motorcycle which he rode around large parts of South America (Pictures to follow). Argentina is absolutely in love with Che so this museum didn't have a bad word to say about him. It was very interesting but unfortunately we were all a bit flat at not being able to go skydiving.

Two big events have happened relating to Argentina this week. At the beginning of the week, the Falklands voted to stay British - I couldn't help but laugh when the newsreader read out that only 3 people voted to become Argentine. Wasn't too well received by my host family. Thankfully the second big event this week got rid of any hostility. The new Papa (Pope) is an Argentine, and for the past week it is all the locals have been speaking about.

I mentioned earlier that I had to write an essay on the Dirty War in Argentina, all 9 pages of it are now complete. To help me with my essay, on Wednesday with my Human Rights placement I went to visit La Perla. This is one of the clandestine detention centres that were used during the rule of the military junta in the 70's. In total, it is estimated that about 30,000 people were "disappeared". People either died in captivity in detention centres similar to La Perla, or they were taken in planes and dropped in the ocean with weights tied to their feet.

I have now started an essay on Prisoner's voting in Britain. I'm sure many people remember David Cameron's comments last year about how the idea of Prisoners having the vote makes him "physically sick". It really shows the contrast between Argentina and Britain; in Britain we're worrying about whether or not our prisoners can vote, in Argentina prisons are horribly overcrowded and the use of torture is still widespread. However, it has been very amusing trawling through the absolute garbage that the Daily Mail has written about Prisoner's votes.

On Wednesday, my Australian housemate and I organised for some of the volunteers to go to a steak restaurant called Alcorta in the centre of Cordoba. Surprisingly even though I am in Argentina, the home of the gaucho, this was to be my first steak of my trip. It was absolutely amazing, but nothing could beat how cheap this meal was. Alcorta is the nicest restaurant in the whole of Cordoba. However, having grown up in and around London, where prices are extortionate, this restaurant was a bargain. A huge steak and chips, enough wine to last me for 4 hours, lovely surroundings; came to a grand total of £20.

Thursday and Friday were largely uneventful. All the volunteers went bowling on Thursday night, then out afterwards to a bar/club. Clubs here are bizarre. They don't really open until 2.30, then they close at 5, not a very long time to be open. So having been out every night this week except Monday I am absolutely shattered. However, this is my last weekend in Cordoba so I need to make it a good one. Tonight some of the volunteers are off to a place called Carlos Paz, about 20 minutes outside Cordoba, its meant to have some really fun bars and clubs.

In about an hour I am taking part in a fund raising event in the park opposite my house. Some of the Projects Abroad volunteers are selling Alfajores to raise money for the girls prison where they work. Alfajores consist of two round sweet biscuits joined together with dulce de leche (slowly heated milk which tastes like caramelised sugar). They are the number one snack here, however my name for them is "Heart Attack Biscuits", they're like eating a solid block of sugar.

Pictures will be up in a couple days when I have access to my office wifi.
Next time I post I will probably be in Rio in Brazil, I am getting more and more excited!

The Slums

Hola Chicos,

I'm sure everybody is aware of the travesty that occurred this week and the subsequent mourning. Yes, I am talking about the loss of Manchester United in the Champions League. I think the whole situation is summed up perfectly by the man who phoned up the police, asking for the ref to be arrested for sending off Nani. He considered (correctly) the decision to be a crime. And in other, less interesting news, Hugo Chavez died this week.

Anyway, back to my trip now. Before I came to Argentina I was having Spanish lessons for 3 months. I cannot explain how useful they have been. Especially as, on Monday morning I spent 3 hours arguing in Spanish with my colleagues at the boys institution. As a Brit in Argentina there are some touchy subjects, one of these being The Falklands. On my first day here I was told by my supervisor to avoid ever mentioning them and also never to call them the Falklands. In Argentina they are called Las Malvinas. One of my colleagues at work has some very strong feelings about Las Malvinas. He questioned me, in Spanish, for 3 hours about why Britain won't give the islands back to the "rightful owners".

On Tuesday I spent pretty much the whole day glued to BBC Sport, checking all the updates for the match. Ten of the other volunteers and I found a bar to watch the match in, 8 of us were supporting United. The screaming and shouting at the TV was not appreciated at all by the waitresses, who were insisting that we calm down. There is no way to calm down when an injustice of that scale occurs.

I had an extremely interesting day on Wednesday as I spent the morning in the slums of Cordoba. Now the slums are not like the ones you get in India, where the houses are all made by the inhabitants out of whatever materials they could find. The Argentine slums are concrete buildings with electricity and running water. However, the poverty is obvious. Upon entering the slum, the road instantly disappears and is replaced with dirt tracks, along which horses and carts are moving. We went into the slum to visit the boys who go to the institution. They are all about my age. We entered one of the boy's house where there were about 12 people living in a very small room. In the middle of the room there was parked a knackered car - I have no idea why and didn't think asking was the best idea. The smell is pretty damn awful and the flies buzzing round doesn't help. I felt very out of place dressed in my designer jeans and t shirt, yet all the boys were very welcoming and friendly. I could do without the staring though. They see a white person and just stare.

Later in the day I did a bit of sightseeing around Cordoba. My opinion of churches and cathedrals remains the same: Once you've seen one, you've pretty much seen them all.

On Wednesday evening Projects Abroad had its Social. The idea was that all the volunteers had to prepare some food from their own country and then we would eat it. I have to say some of the food was brilliant, I was a big fan of the mac and cheese from the States and also the carbonara from Italy. In typical English fashion we decided that our contribution to the event would be some drinks. We decided on Gin and Tonic, they went down very well.

Unfortunately today I have fallen a bit ill and had to take the day off work. My housemate is also very ill. Think it's a combination of going out every night and not having the healthiest diet. Going to have to start eating more fruit and veg. Its a shame as today I was meant to visit the bakery in the slum where the boys are learning to bake bread. The idea is that when they leave home, they will have a skill to use to help them find a job. Hopefully next week I will get another chance to go.

I'm very excited because hopefully this weekend I am going to go skydiving. I should get some awesome pictures which I will add to the blog.

A few pictures from Mendoza

Vineyards in Mendoza.

Wine tasting 

Miss Mendoza Parade

The Vendimia show in the Andes... far too cold

My bed in the First Class Bus

Mendoza Wine Festival

Hola Chicos,

I know its been a while and I apologise for the length of this entry.
Last Wednesday I had my first "social" in a reggae bar with the rest of the Projects Abroad volunteers. Was great to meet some other people who can speak English and I think I'm going to have a lot of fun over the next month with them all. None of the locals here can speak any English so my Spanish skills are coming on very fast.

The only slight problem I am having with the Argentinian culture is their meal times. Breakfast here consists of next to nothing. I'm having to get by with biscuits every morning, at the moment I would die for a bacon sandwich of some fried eggs. Also, the Argentinians eat their dinner very late, often not until 10.30 in the evening. I currently have a hidden stash of food in my room, which I pick from at about 7 o'clock to get me through to dinner time. One aspect of the Argentinian culture which I am starting to love is their obsession with a tea-like drink called mate (pronounced mah-te).

As I mentioned in my last post, this weekend I went to a wine festival in a city called Mendoza. I went with 5 other people volunteering with Projects Abroad. We went on a wine tasting tour around Mendoza. I wish I could say I am now an expert wine taster. However, the hints of chocolate, berries and almonds that I should be tasting in the wine elude me completely!

We were very fortunate with our trip to Mendoza as it occurred at the same time as the Vendimia (the first week of grape-picking in the year). There is a show held to celebrate with two parts to it. The first two hours is long dance about the history of Argentina. The next section is a Miss Mendoza competition. You can guess which part I was looking forward to. However, I never made it far enough through the show. The event was held in the Andes mountains. To most sensible people that would mean wearing a jumper and jeans. I was dressed in flip flops, shorts and a thin t shirt in 5 degree weather. I had been warned it would be cold but I told my host family not to worry, I'm British. I left the show 2 hours early to search out the comforts of a warm bar.

I know I moaned in my last post about how poor the buses are here. Well I had to take a coach to Mendoza.... I was dreading it. You can imagine how pleased I was when we had seats which reclined to 180 degrees and were as soft as beds. It was like a first class cabin in an aeroplane.

This week I start working full time with the young offenders, so I should have some interesting stories to tell next time I blog. Pictures will be up tomorrow after I've had a chance to use the faster wifi at the office.