So this will probably be our last post...sad for us!!! So the grand plan was to leave from Rio but unfortunately we didn't quite make it back so we are leaving from Lima...TONIGHT!! Its a very bittersweet departure , we are excited to see friends and family and celebrate Christmas yet I don't think we are finished with South America.
To put everything in perspective...as we were packing today we realized that neither one of us had the camera it was the biggest HOLY FUCK moment we have experienced and we have had a few! So this has turn the day from sad to fucking depressing! We have basically lost a month of pictures and some of the best...everything from the pampas in Bolivia to trekking the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu is gone.... all in all we are horribly depressed!
Since we didn't post anything about the Inca Trail let me say briefly....it was HARD!!! Nicole and I have both agreed it was probably the hardest thing we;ve done. Firstly, Nicole was dying from the flu and at the last minute decided to do the trek...mucho props to her , not sure how she did it to be honest. And I, not sick but had an extremely hard time with the altitude , oh did we mention we hike to 12000 ft above sea level aka not easy especially with my asthma. As well the stairs which some were half our body to step up and the pouring rain which I thought I was going to lose a finger. There were times we literally didn't think we were going to make but luckily our beloved walking sticks ...Wilson ...got us through! Machu Picchu was gorgeous...words cannot describe and now I wish we had the pictures to prove it unfortunately we do not...very sad!!!
The trip has been amazing...besides losing the camera on the final days I don't think we could have asked for anything more but TIME!!!
So I guess here we are about the leave to the great USA and embark on whatever is next...the personality will be in California and the looks will be ...welll .... not sure... but for the holidays you will find her in Missouri...
Hope you guys have enjoyed the blog and our adventures , we have enjoyed sharing them with you!!! Thanks for all the comments!!!
Signing out....
-The looks and the personality , Katie and Nicole
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Quick Update...
So yes we have been slacking at keeping this updated...kinda lack of computer time. So briefly hear it goes:
Worked on a farm in Chile, the closest town was 200 ppl. There was no heat, electricity, hot water had to cook on a open fire stove...definitely interesting experience. Was one with nature. The second night there we encountered rats...nibling and scratching at the exterior wall which kept us awake and frighten..so we had to spoon the whole night for fear of the rats...Also learned alot about the male and female role..definitely don´t think i could marry someone with that mentally had to bite my tongue alot.
Then went to Viña del Mar and stayed with Katie´s friend from high school Ali Sherman who is teaching english there. It was AWESOME to see her. We loved Valpo and Viña, Ali and Katie May, her roommate were great tour guides. It was soo nice to stay and lounge for a bit...definitely was sad to leave.
Then went to San Pedro, desert town in the north of Chile. Visited the Valle de Luna, the Geysers which we had to wake up at 4 am...not that enjoyable. Tried to leave a day earlier but couldn´t so we were stuck in the town for a day of thumb twiddling.
Next, Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia...wasn´t sure we could get in bc you need a visa bc basically America is assholes to everyone. So went on 3 day 4x4 jeep tour of the salt flats and desert in the south of Bolivia. AMAZING!!! and we saw flamingos!
Uyuni the town itself....kinda weird but we got our passports back ok! no thanks to them not accepting one $20 bill cuz it was a lil ripped....
Went on a crazy bus to Sucre with friends we went on the Uyuni tour with....lots of pan flute music and high alititude = kid throwing up on our friend on the bus. Sucre is a beautiful town...we went to a dinosaur museum thing...which has the largest and longest known dino footprints...kinda cool...we were also regulars at this one bar/resaurant....kinda sick we had the same table everytime.
Traveled to La Paz with our friend Phil...got in at 7am....got a crappy hostel...visitied the witches market (lots of llama fetusses) and visist the cocoa museum which was very informative....went to an open air market...got some juice which led to nicole having a bad couple of days...ugh....our friends from uyuni and sucre met us up...nicole broke her glasses....did some sight seeing. and headed to rurrenebaque...the JUNGLE!
the ride down was absolutely beautiful! lush jungle surronding you on windy narrow roads....not so cute is a kid playing with ur head and then wanting to play peekaboo at 2am...we had thanksgiving dinner on this bus...it consisted of fried chicken, platanos and french fries ...in a bag. num num num...it was actually pretty good. we arrived the next day at 5am and decided to do the pampas tour straight away....yes.
drove in a jeep with a couple from denmark, a couple from france and this dude from the uk....took a canoe slash boat for 2 hours and saw tons of alligators and birds and pink dolphins along the way. we saw beautiful sunsets....went paranah fishing....katie 3, nicole 0...and ate them...we also walked in the acutal pampas (wetlands) which smelled like shit...literally...and found an anaconda and got to hold it!! wooo hooo. we also got to feed/get attacked by monkeys. it was amazing basically. bisquit was a great tour guide-....hhaah
then took a crazy bus back to la paz...where 5 ppl sat in back of us...3 being kids under the age of 4 and them bitching the whole night...yay....got into la paz at the lovely hour of 3 am to rain....then caught a bus at 8am to copacabana on lake titicaca. the bus was more of a van filled with a high school group...we were the only toursits....yay ....we wanted to kill them when they started singing.
got our very own hotel room with TV!!! we watched svu...aka uve...on tv and went to isla del sol....the ruins were a lil iffy ...and we went on a killer 3 hour...16 mile hike across the island...but we survived!!! p.s. lake tit is the highest lake in the world ....supposedly.
whew anyways that is very breif but ya....there is an outline for ya! tomorrow we are headed to cusco...we are super stoked but kinda freaking out we have less than 2 weeks left!! WTF!!! ahhhh.
xoxo
-The looks and the Personality (Katie and Nicole)
Worked on a farm in Chile, the closest town was 200 ppl. There was no heat, electricity, hot water had to cook on a open fire stove...definitely interesting experience. Was one with nature. The second night there we encountered rats...nibling and scratching at the exterior wall which kept us awake and frighten..so we had to spoon the whole night for fear of the rats...Also learned alot about the male and female role..definitely don´t think i could marry someone with that mentally had to bite my tongue alot.
Then went to Viña del Mar and stayed with Katie´s friend from high school Ali Sherman who is teaching english there. It was AWESOME to see her. We loved Valpo and Viña, Ali and Katie May, her roommate were great tour guides. It was soo nice to stay and lounge for a bit...definitely was sad to leave.
Then went to San Pedro, desert town in the north of Chile. Visited the Valle de Luna, the Geysers which we had to wake up at 4 am...not that enjoyable. Tried to leave a day earlier but couldn´t so we were stuck in the town for a day of thumb twiddling.
Next, Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia...wasn´t sure we could get in bc you need a visa bc basically America is assholes to everyone. So went on 3 day 4x4 jeep tour of the salt flats and desert in the south of Bolivia. AMAZING!!! and we saw flamingos!
Uyuni the town itself....kinda weird but we got our passports back ok! no thanks to them not accepting one $20 bill cuz it was a lil ripped....
Went on a crazy bus to Sucre with friends we went on the Uyuni tour with....lots of pan flute music and high alititude = kid throwing up on our friend on the bus. Sucre is a beautiful town...we went to a dinosaur museum thing...which has the largest and longest known dino footprints...kinda cool...we were also regulars at this one bar/resaurant....kinda sick we had the same table everytime.
Traveled to La Paz with our friend Phil...got in at 7am....got a crappy hostel...visitied the witches market (lots of llama fetusses) and visist the cocoa museum which was very informative....went to an open air market...got some juice which led to nicole having a bad couple of days...ugh....our friends from uyuni and sucre met us up...nicole broke her glasses....did some sight seeing. and headed to rurrenebaque...the JUNGLE!
the ride down was absolutely beautiful! lush jungle surronding you on windy narrow roads....not so cute is a kid playing with ur head and then wanting to play peekaboo at 2am...we had thanksgiving dinner on this bus...it consisted of fried chicken, platanos and french fries ...in a bag. num num num...it was actually pretty good. we arrived the next day at 5am and decided to do the pampas tour straight away....yes.
drove in a jeep with a couple from denmark, a couple from france and this dude from the uk....took a canoe slash boat for 2 hours and saw tons of alligators and birds and pink dolphins along the way. we saw beautiful sunsets....went paranah fishing....katie 3, nicole 0...and ate them...we also walked in the acutal pampas (wetlands) which smelled like shit...literally...and found an anaconda and got to hold it!! wooo hooo. we also got to feed/get attacked by monkeys. it was amazing basically. bisquit was a great tour guide-....hhaah
then took a crazy bus back to la paz...where 5 ppl sat in back of us...3 being kids under the age of 4 and them bitching the whole night...yay....got into la paz at the lovely hour of 3 am to rain....then caught a bus at 8am to copacabana on lake titicaca. the bus was more of a van filled with a high school group...we were the only toursits....yay ....we wanted to kill them when they started singing.
got our very own hotel room with TV!!! we watched svu...aka uve...on tv and went to isla del sol....the ruins were a lil iffy ...and we went on a killer 3 hour...16 mile hike across the island...but we survived!!! p.s. lake tit is the highest lake in the world ....supposedly.
whew anyways that is very breif but ya....there is an outline for ya! tomorrow we are headed to cusco...we are super stoked but kinda freaking out we have less than 2 weeks left!! WTF!!! ahhhh.
xoxo
-The looks and the Personality (Katie and Nicole)
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Los Lagartos..wtf
So we are still alive....we are in Los Lagartos working on an organic farm with no electricty, fridge or hot water. But it is amazing and kind of lierating....it is also VERY INTERESTING (to say the least)...more to come...but we are headed to see katie´s friend on friday in vina del mar!
-The personality & the looks (nicole and katie...)
-The personality & the looks (nicole and katie...)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Uruguay - You can never leave...
So orginally we were only going to stay in Uruguay for maybe 4 days but ended up staying a week and a half...and it was difficult to leave.
We started in Colonia, a small port town with cobblestone and colonialesque building. Because of the recent storms and sediment mixture the sea was a nice shade of brown. The first day there we wandered around the town, and ate at a place called the ¨Drugstore¨ which is where we experience the deliciousness that is Alfajores and mate. Alfajores is 2 short bread cookie or sugar cookies sandwiched dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is like a caramel or toffee basically Katie can´t get enough and is determine to master the recipe on her return home. Nicole is very excited to be the taste tester. Mate is basically like green tea but is more of a stimulant and people drink it out of a gourd or a hoof. Nicole wants the hoof... The one downside to Colonia was that it was freakin cold! I mean very cold...also we didn´t realize we had heat the first night so that just made it even better! At the hostel, we met some really great people and we ended up traveling with most of them for the reminaing of our trip... two of them being Argentinian, Yam [pronounciated Cham] and Romi, Nicole worked on her spanish and I think got very far! We also met this English guy name Rob who was completing a year long round the world trip, Nicole was smitten with his accent and lingo..bloody hell..her new favorite saying. As well as this English girl, Lara, who just started traveling on her own and was a english teacher to foreigners back at home. We made dinner both nights in the hostel, so we would eat and drink together. So we are beginning to realize that every American we met we frankly do not like....they are annoying, arogant and assphalt turtles. There were these guys, one was a engineering working for facebook in silicon valley and the other lived in virginia. OMG...they wouldn´t shut the hell up and they were talking about the stupidiest things...america this and that...
After taking in the sights, we traveled to Montevideo with Lara. Montevideo is the capital city. The first day we went to the Mercado del puerto where it was basically an old dock that housed several of the same parilla [uruguayian bbq] restaurants. after being hasseled by several people we chose a restaurant and after several minutes were given the english menus.....thank God. Parilla is special because it is cooked over a huge bbq...we have pictures. we got types of Chorizo and some ribs....we ate ourselves into a food coma basically....we just hung out after because we were exhausted. The next day was pouring rain and we decided ....why not walk around in the rain...so we collectively decided we needed more long-sleeves and nicole made a scene trying to get some flats out of the window display because they were the last ones in her size....that night we went out to a street that `supposedly` had 18 clubs on it but we only made it to 2. Nicole befriended a local boy that harrassed her....and knocked a chair into katie trying to get to nicole. the next day we went to the shore and hung out with Lara, Yam and Romi and ate lunch together. We viewed the ashes of some important old dude....so important that two armed guards stood motionless on either side....super creepy....that night we had all you can eat pizza...not that great...and met this couple from new mexico whom we played spades with...and josh and brie....WE KICKED THEIR ASSES!)!) enough that we thought their domestic bliss might end then and there. the next day we headed out to punta del este with rob.
Punta del este is said to be the Monaco of South America...president...not W...bush has vacationed there...and shakira owns a house there. Little did we know that the hostel we booked was opening for the very first time EVER that day. When we arrived we passed by it due to painters and scaffolding....there were no mattresses or sheets when we first arrived...and were among two of the first 8 guests! the owners were VERY nice and gave us free pizza and booze and took us to bar, moby dick. It was still the off season so it was pretty quiet but we could imagine what it was like during the summer especially since the streets were lined with stores like Versace, Fendi and Dolce and Gabbana, etc...oh and their taxis are Mercedes Benz...hello life of the rich and fabulous! also while waiting at the bus station we saw this cougar making out with a young stud muffin who at first we contemplated whether it was her son untill her tongue was down his throat.creeepy. we ventured to La barra for lunch....a bus ride away and passed by the houses of the rich and famous..and went over the craziest bridge ever....it was a series of dips and hills across a small creek. quite fun to cross actually...Nicole had the cheesiest pancho [hot dog] of her life....and not the greatest either...fyi. and katie tried chivitos...like a steak sandwich. We were supposed to wake up at 6am but when our alarm went off there was terrential rain, thunder and lightning...and there was no way Nicole was getting out of bed...katie neither. we decided to take the 4pm bus to punta del diablo.
The very nice but very wrong guy at the hostel gave us bad directions on where to catch the bus so it took us an hour to actually get to the bus station. So we finally made it and once we arrive at punta del diablo the owner is actually on our bus and is like so i guess you are coming to my hostel and we are like uhhhh and that would be.....el diablo tranquilo....we didnt realize quite how small the town was. pretty freakin small. all sand roads...no street lights...heaven basically. Nicole and katie are both looking for investors if anyone wants to go in on building a house down there...prime real estate! how to describe heaven...well....punta del diablo was serene...you could actually see the stars at night and the sunsets were unlike any other. the beach was a mixture of tide pools, sandy beach, and bluffs with surronding forrests. we literally had the beach to our selves most of the time and found some bad ass sea shells! Nicole found one and made it into a gnarly ring! so the place was perfect...and the people and staff were even more interesting. soooo the owner is from the USA as is 4 of the staff. one of the girls...from NY...was absolutely ridiculous, think long island. we made fun of her the whole time....and we didnt care if she knew it....well nicole didnt at least. there was a fun loving rasta from uruguay who played rugby for 6 years at Texas A and M with a canadian who was super bi polar in his interactions with everyone. Ryan from chicago was super friendly and personable but one never really knew his motives...it was mainly to score free beer from us....whatever it was amusing. Rob was also at the hostel for a bit. Uvi who was an amazing cook from germany fed us every night. we met a friendly virginian who was a complete ham told us numerous stories about himself. Sara an adorable and sweet englishwoman gave us chapstick for our burnt little lips. So we basically explored the beach and the surronding woodland area the days we were there...we made tuna sandwhiches and sat in hammocks in the sun. One day Nicole attempted to surf with one veteran surfer from san diego, alex and ryan. She was very apprehensive but with some pushing from katie she did it. and damn was that wet suit skiiiiin tight! but it was successful and she stood up twice! more than any of the other first time boys! take that for girl power! We also mastereed the game of poker and attempted to learn batgammon....we also played asshole and president along with a jam session on the harmonica. all in all it was perfect except that our camera broke. screw technology!
We had to tear ourselves from Punta del diablo and embarked on a 14 hour trekk back to buenos aires....taking 3 buses, a ferry and a taxi. it was basically the trip from hell...mr.pollo...no es bueno pollo....mcdonalds would have been better than that crap that we ate. and then we had some jerks drinking and playing horrible techno on the bus. the only good thing was the alfajores we consumed for lunch. alfajores is basically the reason we did not kill ourselves that day...no lie... in buenos aires we feasted on some mediterranean food and once again was amazed at the stupidity of americans. we eves dropped on a bizarre convo about race and the south and hoped to God we didnt ever come off that way. We bought a new camera...after hours of contemplation....and got a bus ticket to Puerto Madryn. We also got the best sausage ever from a street vendor...and nicole still lived to tell the tale!
We will explain Patagonia on our next fairy tale! Be ready!
miss you mucho
besitos
Nicole and katie [the personality and the looks]
p.s. happy bday ali and mike and ramon!
p.s.s. we finally got our laundry done today after close to 5 weeks! let just say nicole was getting grossed out...4 days with the same shirt...yum.
We started in Colonia, a small port town with cobblestone and colonialesque building. Because of the recent storms and sediment mixture the sea was a nice shade of brown. The first day there we wandered around the town, and ate at a place called the ¨Drugstore¨ which is where we experience the deliciousness that is Alfajores and mate. Alfajores is 2 short bread cookie or sugar cookies sandwiched dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is like a caramel or toffee basically Katie can´t get enough and is determine to master the recipe on her return home. Nicole is very excited to be the taste tester. Mate is basically like green tea but is more of a stimulant and people drink it out of a gourd or a hoof. Nicole wants the hoof... The one downside to Colonia was that it was freakin cold! I mean very cold...also we didn´t realize we had heat the first night so that just made it even better! At the hostel, we met some really great people and we ended up traveling with most of them for the reminaing of our trip... two of them being Argentinian, Yam [pronounciated Cham] and Romi, Nicole worked on her spanish and I think got very far! We also met this English guy name Rob who was completing a year long round the world trip, Nicole was smitten with his accent and lingo..bloody hell..her new favorite saying. As well as this English girl, Lara, who just started traveling on her own and was a english teacher to foreigners back at home. We made dinner both nights in the hostel, so we would eat and drink together. So we are beginning to realize that every American we met we frankly do not like....they are annoying, arogant and assphalt turtles. There were these guys, one was a engineering working for facebook in silicon valley and the other lived in virginia. OMG...they wouldn´t shut the hell up and they were talking about the stupidiest things...america this and that...
After taking in the sights, we traveled to Montevideo with Lara. Montevideo is the capital city. The first day we went to the Mercado del puerto where it was basically an old dock that housed several of the same parilla [uruguayian bbq] restaurants. after being hasseled by several people we chose a restaurant and after several minutes were given the english menus.....thank God. Parilla is special because it is cooked over a huge bbq...we have pictures. we got types of Chorizo and some ribs....we ate ourselves into a food coma basically....we just hung out after because we were exhausted. The next day was pouring rain and we decided ....why not walk around in the rain...so we collectively decided we needed more long-sleeves and nicole made a scene trying to get some flats out of the window display because they were the last ones in her size....that night we went out to a street that `supposedly` had 18 clubs on it but we only made it to 2. Nicole befriended a local boy that harrassed her....and knocked a chair into katie trying to get to nicole. the next day we went to the shore and hung out with Lara, Yam and Romi and ate lunch together. We viewed the ashes of some important old dude....so important that two armed guards stood motionless on either side....super creepy....that night we had all you can eat pizza...not that great...and met this couple from new mexico whom we played spades with...and josh and brie....WE KICKED THEIR ASSES!)!) enough that we thought their domestic bliss might end then and there. the next day we headed out to punta del este with rob.
Punta del este is said to be the Monaco of South America...president...not W...bush has vacationed there...and shakira owns a house there. Little did we know that the hostel we booked was opening for the very first time EVER that day. When we arrived we passed by it due to painters and scaffolding....there were no mattresses or sheets when we first arrived...and were among two of the first 8 guests! the owners were VERY nice and gave us free pizza and booze and took us to bar, moby dick. It was still the off season so it was pretty quiet but we could imagine what it was like during the summer especially since the streets were lined with stores like Versace, Fendi and Dolce and Gabbana, etc...oh and their taxis are Mercedes Benz...hello life of the rich and fabulous! also while waiting at the bus station we saw this cougar making out with a young stud muffin who at first we contemplated whether it was her son untill her tongue was down his throat.creeepy. we ventured to La barra for lunch....a bus ride away and passed by the houses of the rich and famous..and went over the craziest bridge ever....it was a series of dips and hills across a small creek. quite fun to cross actually...Nicole had the cheesiest pancho [hot dog] of her life....and not the greatest either...fyi. and katie tried chivitos...like a steak sandwich. We were supposed to wake up at 6am but when our alarm went off there was terrential rain, thunder and lightning...and there was no way Nicole was getting out of bed...katie neither. we decided to take the 4pm bus to punta del diablo.
The very nice but very wrong guy at the hostel gave us bad directions on where to catch the bus so it took us an hour to actually get to the bus station. So we finally made it and once we arrive at punta del diablo the owner is actually on our bus and is like so i guess you are coming to my hostel and we are like uhhhh and that would be.....el diablo tranquilo....we didnt realize quite how small the town was. pretty freakin small. all sand roads...no street lights...heaven basically. Nicole and katie are both looking for investors if anyone wants to go in on building a house down there...prime real estate! how to describe heaven...well....punta del diablo was serene...you could actually see the stars at night and the sunsets were unlike any other. the beach was a mixture of tide pools, sandy beach, and bluffs with surronding forrests. we literally had the beach to our selves most of the time and found some bad ass sea shells! Nicole found one and made it into a gnarly ring! so the place was perfect...and the people and staff were even more interesting. soooo the owner is from the USA as is 4 of the staff. one of the girls...from NY...was absolutely ridiculous, think long island. we made fun of her the whole time....and we didnt care if she knew it....well nicole didnt at least. there was a fun loving rasta from uruguay who played rugby for 6 years at Texas A and M with a canadian who was super bi polar in his interactions with everyone. Ryan from chicago was super friendly and personable but one never really knew his motives...it was mainly to score free beer from us....whatever it was amusing. Rob was also at the hostel for a bit. Uvi who was an amazing cook from germany fed us every night. we met a friendly virginian who was a complete ham told us numerous stories about himself. Sara an adorable and sweet englishwoman gave us chapstick for our burnt little lips. So we basically explored the beach and the surronding woodland area the days we were there...we made tuna sandwhiches and sat in hammocks in the sun. One day Nicole attempted to surf with one veteran surfer from san diego, alex and ryan. She was very apprehensive but with some pushing from katie she did it. and damn was that wet suit skiiiiin tight! but it was successful and she stood up twice! more than any of the other first time boys! take that for girl power! We also mastereed the game of poker and attempted to learn batgammon....we also played asshole and president along with a jam session on the harmonica. all in all it was perfect except that our camera broke. screw technology!
We had to tear ourselves from Punta del diablo and embarked on a 14 hour trekk back to buenos aires....taking 3 buses, a ferry and a taxi. it was basically the trip from hell...mr.pollo...no es bueno pollo....mcdonalds would have been better than that crap that we ate. and then we had some jerks drinking and playing horrible techno on the bus. the only good thing was the alfajores we consumed for lunch. alfajores is basically the reason we did not kill ourselves that day...no lie... in buenos aires we feasted on some mediterranean food and once again was amazed at the stupidity of americans. we eves dropped on a bizarre convo about race and the south and hoped to God we didnt ever come off that way. We bought a new camera...after hours of contemplation....and got a bus ticket to Puerto Madryn. We also got the best sausage ever from a street vendor...and nicole still lived to tell the tale!
We will explain Patagonia on our next fairy tale! Be ready!
miss you mucho
besitos
Nicole and katie [the personality and the looks]
p.s. happy bday ali and mike and ramon!
p.s.s. we finally got our laundry done today after close to 5 weeks! let just say nicole was getting grossed out...4 days with the same shirt...yum.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
'Tonite is Gonna Be a Good Night - 'Mazel Tov''
Getting to Buenos Aires
- For starters Nicole could not put her pants on fast enough and we missed the bus to get to the bus station in puerto iguazu...so we took a shady taxi...which katie freaked out a lil bit. So we decided on a ´´cama´´ style bus which means the seats recline 160º and we get a blanket, pillow, and hot dinner. Dont be foooled. the food was completely suspect...breaded ´´mystery meat´´ and a crustless ham sandwhich...katies fav! we also were served acid wine...and the best were the music videos in the morning (nicole was stoked to wake up to her music video rituals) R. Kelley was the best....we slept well...except for the half a dozen interruptions by the argentinian police who inspected everyones passports except ours. After 20hours we arrived in buenos aires in the afternoon. we finally found the ´´subte´´ subway and then proceded to get ourselves lost for 45minutes within 2 blocks from our destination....apparently we make the immpossible ...possible. we failed to book the hostel in buenos aires because we thought it would be vacant...we were wrong. so we were referred to their sister hostel...Milhouse avenida.
Milhouse was a very spacious clean hostel....although nicole thought she was going to collapse the bunk bed on katie everytime she moved. we got our shit together...ate lunch...nicole had a tortilla espana(fyi it is not what u think...it is egg and potato...frittata) and katie had a chicken sandwhich...with the neck still attached...yum! we visited casa rosada (the pink palace which evita gave her speech on the balcony) and saw many historic buildings. Buenos aires is famous for having the widest street (about 12 lanes) and we never managed to cross it all at once...despite our many attempts.
Our first roommate and the ever continuing roommate: Shay (from holland and interning at a law firm) and Asaf (which nicole always called ahkmad- is Israeli and just got out of the army, he also loved the BUffet)FYI Israelis are all over South America. They took us to our first club in buenos aires...Crobar. We arrived at the club at 2am!!!! We had to borrow our new roommates shoes... nicole only made it until about 5:30am due to pre-gameing and being tired. Katie lasted until 7am and saw daylight as she left the club. RIDICULOUS! Nightlife here is crazy...you could go out till noon everyday pretty much. We went to out of couple of times which killed us the next day...slept till like 2 pm. Nicole was the biggest sweetheart bc Katie never made it to breakfast so she would get it for her...TRUE LOVE RIGHT THERE!!
Since we were in Buenos Aires for 9 days here is what we did accorinding to the neighborhood:
City Center¨: Where our hostel was...we ventured to a tango show one night. It was spectacular...although we could have done without the middleage soloist singers...ONLY DANCING PLZ! There was this amazing routine in which the girl was blindfolded the whole time... the guy was throwing & swinging her all over the place. It was amazing!! So to minimize on cost we made dinner a few times at the hostel. On our way home one night from the grocery store... one guy yelled in broken english to Katie..¨Hey those clothes look good on you...they look even better...on my floor¨...umm best compliment ever but really???? she be breaking hearts....haha One day, there was this crazy protest...we think it was bc of the union or something no one seemed to know. But they were shoot off canons and light fires all over the place.
San Telmo: Sunday we checked out the huge market and paroused the crafts and katie got the sweetest bag ever!!! we had lunch at this amazing restaurant, called vintage bar. Nicole had the best pork ribs! a couple nights later we went back and ate parailla (argentinian bbq) with tons of different cuts of meat, potato medley,salad, wine and a chocolate tower...we were stuffed. and we almost got mugged for our doggy bag on the way home by 2 teenage boys, which katie saved nicole by pushing him well in to next week and told him to get the fuck off....yahhhh katie is one bad mama jama!!!!
Palermo: Super cute posh neighborhood (think soho) it hurt katie´s wallet pretty bad...she bought 2 of the cutest dresses!! and nicole bought pants (bri and josh..yes nicole bought the dump pants!) which she wears all the time! and rocked at a bar. we had coffee and lemonade and an apple tart at a cute cafe...very posh. when nicole went to pay...it turned out the bank in puerto iguazu gave her a fake 100....and now has an expensive souvenir. We also had lunch (very late) at Bio an adorable veggie restaurant we stuffed ourselves silly...it was so delicious. we layed out at the botanical gardens one sunny day and watched a teen photo shoot...haha. they also had some very interesting statues...by interesting i mean a boar tits being suckled by 2 children....whatever argentina.... there was the most adorable cupcake store that we ate red velvet cupcakes at....scrumptious!
Puerto Madero: (think soma) We walked along the docks and envied the cutest family with 3 blond little hippie boys. So....we never really figured out the acceptable eating times in B.A (Buenos Aires) they eat dinner at 10pm and lunch around 2ish....and coffee and cake around 4pm...needless to say we seemed to eat lunch at 4pm....so there were usually vacant resturants when we ate. We ate at Sushi Club...a nice change from eating meat. the next time we went here we were drenched from walking in the rain to the ferry terminal to try to buy tickets to Uruguay....needless to say we didnt get the tickets and walked home in the rain. not a good day to say the least...
Recoleta: The richy-rich area (Pac heights). We travelled to the cemetary where Evita is buried and walked among the beautiful/eerie tombs of BAs elite. On our quest to find evita we encountered 2 older men also in search of evita, they were quite the dynamic duo and very stoked when we finally found her. They had 1 digital and 2 back up disposable cameras for the occasion. they had a 10minute photo shoot with the tomb. CLASSIC. We were freezing so we popped into the design center and then found the huge metal flower sculpture that opens and closes with the sun. Katie passed up on a beautiful pair of boots...shes still bummed.
People we met: We met alot of people in Buenos Aires...some good...some bad..but always great stories. So besides Shay and Asaf. We also had some other great roommates later in the week. Our two favorites hand down were Fabi and Maycal (Micheal), designers from Sao Paulo. They were super welcoming and as Nicole would say we were vibing with them...We really want to go back to Sao Paulo to see them!! There was also a french canadian that stayed with us for a night, he was a odd duck! Then ¨the shitter¨ replaced him...ahhh William.. 32 year old profession French skiier. And yes, he was the typical true to form frenchman..arrogant and self centered..who loved nicole´s butdunkadunk especially in the dump pants! He also liked to clog up the toilet early in morning. Luckily for us we were still asleep...but the handyman had a plunger 12 ft long he was use to the french! Nicole found her edward...although several inches shorter then she hoped but he could definitely keep up with her on the dance floor. She also felt her heart twitter over one of the workers in the hostel, Augustine. Unfortunately he was a man whore and she reminded him of his ex-girlfriend which he actually called her name to Nicole´s face..which killed it! We had a couple of resurface encounters like usually: Mike, the english man from Ilha Grande we saw again for the millionth time at a dance part at the hostel. The paramedic, Simon resurface as well at another dance party. And this guy from Igauzu who we never actually met but definitely remembered us and refered to us as the ¨nerdy girls¨ from Igauzu. Though when Katie tried to call him out on the backhanded compliment, he said no take it as a compliment like ¨hot libraians¨...wtf!!! Though he is the owner of a bar in Austin if we ever want to hit that up. Nicole did threaten a london guy´s life by stating she would bomb his ass...that ended the convo. There was this super weird old asian guy staying at our hostel would just watch tv and make himself dinner.
The last day sucked...it was so rainy and we couldn´t do anything! We were suppose to leave but the ferry was full. After the day from hell...we arrived in Uruguay...fyi very cold...fill u in, in a few!
-Katie and Nicole (looks and personality)
ps - We have been gone 1 month!!! woo hoo!!
Might have malaria from Igauzu bc apparently we were suppose to take the pills...opps! We will find out in 2 weeks! hhahahha nicole is freaking out...
- For starters Nicole could not put her pants on fast enough and we missed the bus to get to the bus station in puerto iguazu...so we took a shady taxi...which katie freaked out a lil bit. So we decided on a ´´cama´´ style bus which means the seats recline 160º and we get a blanket, pillow, and hot dinner. Dont be foooled. the food was completely suspect...breaded ´´mystery meat´´ and a crustless ham sandwhich...katies fav! we also were served acid wine...and the best were the music videos in the morning (nicole was stoked to wake up to her music video rituals) R. Kelley was the best....we slept well...except for the half a dozen interruptions by the argentinian police who inspected everyones passports except ours. After 20hours we arrived in buenos aires in the afternoon. we finally found the ´´subte´´ subway and then proceded to get ourselves lost for 45minutes within 2 blocks from our destination....apparently we make the immpossible ...possible. we failed to book the hostel in buenos aires because we thought it would be vacant...we were wrong. so we were referred to their sister hostel...Milhouse avenida.
Milhouse was a very spacious clean hostel....although nicole thought she was going to collapse the bunk bed on katie everytime she moved. we got our shit together...ate lunch...nicole had a tortilla espana(fyi it is not what u think...it is egg and potato...frittata) and katie had a chicken sandwhich...with the neck still attached...yum! we visited casa rosada (the pink palace which evita gave her speech on the balcony) and saw many historic buildings. Buenos aires is famous for having the widest street (about 12 lanes) and we never managed to cross it all at once...despite our many attempts.
Our first roommate and the ever continuing roommate: Shay (from holland and interning at a law firm) and Asaf (which nicole always called ahkmad- is Israeli and just got out of the army, he also loved the BUffet)FYI Israelis are all over South America. They took us to our first club in buenos aires...Crobar. We arrived at the club at 2am!!!! We had to borrow our new roommates shoes... nicole only made it until about 5:30am due to pre-gameing and being tired. Katie lasted until 7am and saw daylight as she left the club. RIDICULOUS! Nightlife here is crazy...you could go out till noon everyday pretty much. We went to out of couple of times which killed us the next day...slept till like 2 pm. Nicole was the biggest sweetheart bc Katie never made it to breakfast so she would get it for her...TRUE LOVE RIGHT THERE!!
Since we were in Buenos Aires for 9 days here is what we did accorinding to the neighborhood:
City Center¨: Where our hostel was...we ventured to a tango show one night. It was spectacular...although we could have done without the middleage soloist singers...ONLY DANCING PLZ! There was this amazing routine in which the girl was blindfolded the whole time... the guy was throwing & swinging her all over the place. It was amazing!! So to minimize on cost we made dinner a few times at the hostel. On our way home one night from the grocery store... one guy yelled in broken english to Katie..¨Hey those clothes look good on you...they look even better...on my floor¨...umm best compliment ever but really???? she be breaking hearts....haha One day, there was this crazy protest...we think it was bc of the union or something no one seemed to know. But they were shoot off canons and light fires all over the place.
San Telmo: Sunday we checked out the huge market and paroused the crafts and katie got the sweetest bag ever!!! we had lunch at this amazing restaurant, called vintage bar. Nicole had the best pork ribs! a couple nights later we went back and ate parailla (argentinian bbq) with tons of different cuts of meat, potato medley,salad, wine and a chocolate tower...we were stuffed. and we almost got mugged for our doggy bag on the way home by 2 teenage boys, which katie saved nicole by pushing him well in to next week and told him to get the fuck off....yahhhh katie is one bad mama jama!!!!
Palermo: Super cute posh neighborhood (think soho) it hurt katie´s wallet pretty bad...she bought 2 of the cutest dresses!! and nicole bought pants (bri and josh..yes nicole bought the dump pants!) which she wears all the time! and rocked at a bar. we had coffee and lemonade and an apple tart at a cute cafe...very posh. when nicole went to pay...it turned out the bank in puerto iguazu gave her a fake 100....and now has an expensive souvenir. We also had lunch (very late) at Bio an adorable veggie restaurant we stuffed ourselves silly...it was so delicious. we layed out at the botanical gardens one sunny day and watched a teen photo shoot...haha. they also had some very interesting statues...by interesting i mean a boar tits being suckled by 2 children....whatever argentina.... there was the most adorable cupcake store that we ate red velvet cupcakes at....scrumptious!
Puerto Madero: (think soma) We walked along the docks and envied the cutest family with 3 blond little hippie boys. So....we never really figured out the acceptable eating times in B.A (Buenos Aires) they eat dinner at 10pm and lunch around 2ish....and coffee and cake around 4pm...needless to say we seemed to eat lunch at 4pm....so there were usually vacant resturants when we ate. We ate at Sushi Club...a nice change from eating meat. the next time we went here we were drenched from walking in the rain to the ferry terminal to try to buy tickets to Uruguay....needless to say we didnt get the tickets and walked home in the rain. not a good day to say the least...
Recoleta: The richy-rich area (Pac heights). We travelled to the cemetary where Evita is buried and walked among the beautiful/eerie tombs of BAs elite. On our quest to find evita we encountered 2 older men also in search of evita, they were quite the dynamic duo and very stoked when we finally found her. They had 1 digital and 2 back up disposable cameras for the occasion. they had a 10minute photo shoot with the tomb. CLASSIC. We were freezing so we popped into the design center and then found the huge metal flower sculpture that opens and closes with the sun. Katie passed up on a beautiful pair of boots...shes still bummed.
People we met: We met alot of people in Buenos Aires...some good...some bad..but always great stories. So besides Shay and Asaf. We also had some other great roommates later in the week. Our two favorites hand down were Fabi and Maycal (Micheal), designers from Sao Paulo. They were super welcoming and as Nicole would say we were vibing with them...We really want to go back to Sao Paulo to see them!! There was also a french canadian that stayed with us for a night, he was a odd duck! Then ¨the shitter¨ replaced him...ahhh William.. 32 year old profession French skiier. And yes, he was the typical true to form frenchman..arrogant and self centered..who loved nicole´s butdunkadunk especially in the dump pants! He also liked to clog up the toilet early in morning. Luckily for us we were still asleep...but the handyman had a plunger 12 ft long he was use to the french! Nicole found her edward...although several inches shorter then she hoped but he could definitely keep up with her on the dance floor. She also felt her heart twitter over one of the workers in the hostel, Augustine. Unfortunately he was a man whore and she reminded him of his ex-girlfriend which he actually called her name to Nicole´s face..which killed it! We had a couple of resurface encounters like usually: Mike, the english man from Ilha Grande we saw again for the millionth time at a dance part at the hostel. The paramedic, Simon resurface as well at another dance party. And this guy from Igauzu who we never actually met but definitely remembered us and refered to us as the ¨nerdy girls¨ from Igauzu. Though when Katie tried to call him out on the backhanded compliment, he said no take it as a compliment like ¨hot libraians¨...wtf!!! Though he is the owner of a bar in Austin if we ever want to hit that up. Nicole did threaten a london guy´s life by stating she would bomb his ass...that ended the convo. There was this super weird old asian guy staying at our hostel would just watch tv and make himself dinner.
The last day sucked...it was so rainy and we couldn´t do anything! We were suppose to leave but the ferry was full. After the day from hell...we arrived in Uruguay...fyi very cold...fill u in, in a few!
-Katie and Nicole (looks and personality)
ps - We have been gone 1 month!!! woo hoo!!
Might have malaria from Igauzu bc apparently we were suppose to take the pills...opps! We will find out in 2 weeks! hhahahha nicole is freaking out...
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Don´t Go Chasing Waterfalls
DISCLAIMER: THIS IS A VERY LONG POST
abridged version- paraty---sao paulo---foz de iguaçu---argentina. boom.
We left Ilha Grande on Friday to go to Paraty. The bus ride to Paraty was quite interesting...2 hours in a basic local bus. We had a little bit of a mind fuck, half way through the ride these 3 english girls with gigantic rolling suitcases started to cause a ruckus because they thought the young boy sitting next to him was going to rob them. Yes, they should have been worried and cautious but geez what a scene did they create!!! They began to talk to the bus driver and they seemed they wanted action to be done against this young boy. Eventhough they were freaking out the girl sitting next to him still stayed there eventhough there were many open seats. They were worried of their gigantic rolling suitcases....hmmm because those don´t make you a target at all. So basically, we were sittnig behind listening and watching this all happen so this just cause us to be a little scattered brain coming off the bus.
After the bus experience, we arrived really not sure where we were going. So we began to wonder around looking for this hostel. We had a map of the city but it was only of the historic square area which unknown to us was not where we were trying to stay. So after asking directions, being lost and finally a young women took pity on us and helped us out, we arrive at your hostel. It was this cute, funky place that had a sweet courtyard filled with hammocks. We have definitely decided hammocks are where it is at! Paraty main square has the most amazing colonial style buildings with the worst streets. I swear, I was paying more attention to the road then my surroundings for fear of falling from the uneven cobblestone. The place reminded us both of Sausalito, it had amazing art and artisan crafts. I swear if I become rich and want to decorate my house this is where I will come. We walked around the town wondering in and out of shops wishing we had money or space to bring stuff back. We found this cute creperie with the nicest people who worked there. I think we liked them more for the fact that at first they thought we were portuguese....yes tricking the locals! Much like Europe and far from the US, people love PDA!!! Oh especially in parks! It kinda unsettling watching two teenagers with braces making out on benches...those uncomfortable moments where you should look away but just can´t help to stare and make a ongoing commentary like a sports announcement! Paraty is also known to havwe amazing surrounding beaches though we decided that we should move on and that should be kept for an another time. Can´t go everywhere!
The next day, we took a bus to Sao Paulo. And man traveling is a small world! We keep running into people we have seen at previous hostels and such! Brie and J, Slash from Rio and some others were in Ilha Grande staying at the same hostel but unfortunately no ginga! We finally talked to them right as we were departing...slash is from LA and works in PAsadena! small world! Then on the bus to Sao Paulo we ran into the South African and the Englishman. The bus was quite nice... Katie had a row to herself and Nicole had the luxury to sit next to a very large man with roomy elbows. We stayed at this place called LimeTime. We were able to navigate the metro with ease and found the place with no worries...actually katie walked right by and then nicole actually saw the gigantic lime on the side of the building. For my defense, it was dark and I couldn´t tell it was a lime!!! The bus ride was longer then we thought, and we were absolutely exhausted. So we had plan to go out and grab dinner and drinks in this section called Villa Magadalena. Though after getting off the bus, we got lost and we wondering around dark streets going down stairs where streets should be! Nicole swears she had a vision earlier that we might get shanked on the streets especially when the pizza delivery man asked for directions! Luckily enough katie had her clipped on woodcutter, knife and nail filler on hand for protection! Finally we managed to find a restaurant to eat at and it was a mexican restaurant, which surprisily enough the food was really tasty and flavorful. Though the waitress was a bitch and a half. We could figure out if it was because they were about to close, after all it was like 11:30 but then more people came to eat so it wasn´t that. So who knows, but she didn´t like us! After finally eating, we were soo tired and katie was coughing up a lung of green mucus so we decided to go back to the hostel. Nicole proceeded to get harassed by one of workers of the hostel for not going out on a Saturday night in Sao Paulo.
Sunday, we went to the Asian street market. It was amazing!!! Ate delicious food for cheap! We had a bean paste pancake, fresh squeezed jucies, shrimp tempura pancake and a soba noodle thing that wasn´t too hot probably had alot of msg. Nicole once again got harassed by a deaf man as Katie was peeing in MacDonalds. Apparently she is beautiful and asking where her beautiful short hair friend was...Slightly creepy! We wondered around the ¨mall¨ which was filled with everything from phones, watches and shoes that had obviously falled off the back of the truck to japanese anime shops and then a out of place gothic shop where I tried to convince Nicole to by a corset! Unfortunatly she doesn´t listen to me. Load up on MSG, we decided we need to take a nap so we TRIED to find this park which is suppose to be like Central Park. Lets just say, we walked ALOT and went on many detours bc maps do not like to give you all the strees!!! We did find the place and took a nice relaxing break by the pond surrounded once again by spandex filled PDA.
Later that night, we took a overnight bus to Foz de Igaçu. We thought we would have time prior to go to the market and grab some provisions but our time management wasn´t that great. And we had to eat at the bus station, not to bad ate some Bob´s, fast food chain and at this pasta place. Though when we arrived on the bus we were embraced by the smell of salami from our neighbors who had gone to the market prior. The smell of salami and feet is really not pleasent. The 20 hr bus ride was not bad though I think we made some enemies because Nicole was reading with her light on at 9 pm while everyone else was trying to fall asleep or watch the indiana Jones movie dubbed in portuguese.Taking the bus, is always a fun game of ¨do we get off here?¨. Bus stations never seem to say like hey this is Foz de Igaçu, there are no welcome to the cornfield signs here. We opted to take a taxi to our hostel instead of taking three different buses. The hostel was ok though since it is the off season when we arrived it felt alittle like the hotel in the Shining...vacant. We dropped our shit and head the falls on the Brazilian side. Foz de Igaçu are these enormous waterfalls that are located in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The Brazilian side is has the best overall view.. great panoramic shot of the vast size of these water falls. It made Nicole speechless...a nice surprise! haha jk! We were both dumbfound by the beauty, I don´t think either one of us expected it! The pictures we took will probably not even do it justice. Thank god, Katie had her raincoat and Nicole her emgerency pancho because we got a little wet! We had some first hand experience with Coatis basically a cross between a racoon and an anteater. Man, so they enjoy garbage!! They are little scavengers for food so if you had any you better eat it fast or run...THEY ARE KNOWN TO BITE!!
That night we taught a Brazilian to play the card game speed. We have settled on speed for we have not found any other players for spades and also Katie is kicking Nicole´s ass in speed. So we might be sticking with this game for a bit!!! Too fast for her! The next morning, we woke up bright and early to go to the Argentina side fo the falls. We had the most amazing/ hilarious bus driver from Paraguay who would not stop humming the tune from the Beatles, Yellow Submarine...ahh it was great! We were able to past the Brazilian border with no problem..relief considering our falsified documents to obtain our visas. The falls in Argentina are amazing you could literally spend a couple of days going through all the trails and seeing all the waterfalls. The first couple of hours we were there was alittle bit of a cluster fuck... think schools of childrens running around. It kinda took away from the experience at first. BUT THEN, as we broke away from the tours we got to get up close and personal with DOS HERMANAS. You literally stand like 2 ft away from the waterfall, shooting out water with such velocity that you get soaking wet and barely can keep your contacts in. IT IS SUCH A RUSH!! Everyone that comes out of it is insanely happy. Since we still had a couple of hours before heading back, we decided to take this scenic trail which is good for spotting animals. Once again maps lie! It said it was only 3 km to the waterfall but we didn´t even make it (bc of time) to the fall and it was encrouching on like 6 km. Though along the way I think we found a new species...it was a cross between a rabbit and pig. And of course this was the moment our camera decided it was going to die though we do have a picture of its ass. We basically hauled ass and ran back to the bus for fear of being ¨those people¨ who like to hold up everyone by being late..we were really hoping the mexicans wouldn´t be on time but once again stereotypes fail and the Japanese ended up being last. We had planned on staying on the Argentine side so the bus driver was gracious enough to let us off at our hostel.
Our hostel, Hostel Inn is like a resort. And that night they were celebrating there anniversary and having this big shindig. Lets say, caiprinha and cerversas were had, Nicole got DOWN on the dance floor and Katie woke up with a huge bruise on her leg. So of all the nationalities we have met, everyone seems to be living in the Caymans. We have met like 10 people who live there (haha basically the whole island), all of which are accountants from Australia, South Africa or England. The next morning thank god it was raining so it gave us an excuse to not do much and helped Nicole nurse her hang over. We were a bit productive and went to town mainly bc we needed a bank. Though not thinking ahead, we had no clue where the bank was nor did we have a map of the town. Also, we did not realize that in Argentina they take siesta so nothing was really open. We did eat lunch at this restaurant. The main attraction was the crazy Chilian man who keep talking to everyone. At one point, he took Katie´s hat and was taking about how fashionable he was with the hat, his button down shirt, board shorts and socks and sandals. After lunch, we tried to find a marekt but it was closed due to siesta unfortunately not knowing this we let the bus to go home past us...so then we were stuck in the downpour rain for 20 minutes waiting for the next. Since we were unable to go to the market we ate the hostel. They had a giant bbq, I was really proud of Nicole she ate two large piece of beef and throughly enjoyed it! Ahh the beef, more will come! At dinner, Nicole had the pleasure talking to a Irish man about carbon footprints...basically had a gigantic smile on her face the whole convo. Katie volunteered Nicole to perform some dance routines with the man in the flashy shirt and his two samba dancers wearing very little. Then a giant congo line broke out...it was like an aerobics class mixed in with the limbo. Afterwards we both losted a few games of pool and fooseball.
Now, we are taking a break and relaxing a bit. Tomorrow, I think we are going to Buenos Aires!!! We can´t wait we keep hearing amazing things.
- Nicole & Katie ( the personality and the looks)
ps - Nicole actually said this in referring to herself and her quirks: ¨she is an enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a rhymth¨ oh yes!! this is the girl I´m traveling with!
Sickness update: pink eye clearing for Nicole we finally found her eye drops. Katie is no longer hacking up green mucus. So all that is left is lots of itchy bug bites and massive bruises.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS WE GOT LAUNDRY DONE!!! WOO HOO SUCH AN EXCITEMENT!!
abridged version- paraty---sao paulo---foz de iguaçu---argentina. boom.
We left Ilha Grande on Friday to go to Paraty. The bus ride to Paraty was quite interesting...2 hours in a basic local bus. We had a little bit of a mind fuck, half way through the ride these 3 english girls with gigantic rolling suitcases started to cause a ruckus because they thought the young boy sitting next to him was going to rob them. Yes, they should have been worried and cautious but geez what a scene did they create!!! They began to talk to the bus driver and they seemed they wanted action to be done against this young boy. Eventhough they were freaking out the girl sitting next to him still stayed there eventhough there were many open seats. They were worried of their gigantic rolling suitcases....hmmm because those don´t make you a target at all. So basically, we were sittnig behind listening and watching this all happen so this just cause us to be a little scattered brain coming off the bus.
After the bus experience, we arrived really not sure where we were going. So we began to wonder around looking for this hostel. We had a map of the city but it was only of the historic square area which unknown to us was not where we were trying to stay. So after asking directions, being lost and finally a young women took pity on us and helped us out, we arrive at your hostel. It was this cute, funky place that had a sweet courtyard filled with hammocks. We have definitely decided hammocks are where it is at! Paraty main square has the most amazing colonial style buildings with the worst streets. I swear, I was paying more attention to the road then my surroundings for fear of falling from the uneven cobblestone. The place reminded us both of Sausalito, it had amazing art and artisan crafts. I swear if I become rich and want to decorate my house this is where I will come. We walked around the town wondering in and out of shops wishing we had money or space to bring stuff back. We found this cute creperie with the nicest people who worked there. I think we liked them more for the fact that at first they thought we were portuguese....yes tricking the locals! Much like Europe and far from the US, people love PDA!!! Oh especially in parks! It kinda unsettling watching two teenagers with braces making out on benches...those uncomfortable moments where you should look away but just can´t help to stare and make a ongoing commentary like a sports announcement! Paraty is also known to havwe amazing surrounding beaches though we decided that we should move on and that should be kept for an another time. Can´t go everywhere!
The next day, we took a bus to Sao Paulo. And man traveling is a small world! We keep running into people we have seen at previous hostels and such! Brie and J, Slash from Rio and some others were in Ilha Grande staying at the same hostel but unfortunately no ginga! We finally talked to them right as we were departing...slash is from LA and works in PAsadena! small world! Then on the bus to Sao Paulo we ran into the South African and the Englishman. The bus was quite nice... Katie had a row to herself and Nicole had the luxury to sit next to a very large man with roomy elbows. We stayed at this place called LimeTime. We were able to navigate the metro with ease and found the place with no worries...actually katie walked right by and then nicole actually saw the gigantic lime on the side of the building. For my defense, it was dark and I couldn´t tell it was a lime!!! The bus ride was longer then we thought, and we were absolutely exhausted. So we had plan to go out and grab dinner and drinks in this section called Villa Magadalena. Though after getting off the bus, we got lost and we wondering around dark streets going down stairs where streets should be! Nicole swears she had a vision earlier that we might get shanked on the streets especially when the pizza delivery man asked for directions! Luckily enough katie had her clipped on woodcutter, knife and nail filler on hand for protection! Finally we managed to find a restaurant to eat at and it was a mexican restaurant, which surprisily enough the food was really tasty and flavorful. Though the waitress was a bitch and a half. We could figure out if it was because they were about to close, after all it was like 11:30 but then more people came to eat so it wasn´t that. So who knows, but she didn´t like us! After finally eating, we were soo tired and katie was coughing up a lung of green mucus so we decided to go back to the hostel. Nicole proceeded to get harassed by one of workers of the hostel for not going out on a Saturday night in Sao Paulo.
Sunday, we went to the Asian street market. It was amazing!!! Ate delicious food for cheap! We had a bean paste pancake, fresh squeezed jucies, shrimp tempura pancake and a soba noodle thing that wasn´t too hot probably had alot of msg. Nicole once again got harassed by a deaf man as Katie was peeing in MacDonalds. Apparently she is beautiful and asking where her beautiful short hair friend was...Slightly creepy! We wondered around the ¨mall¨ which was filled with everything from phones, watches and shoes that had obviously falled off the back of the truck to japanese anime shops and then a out of place gothic shop where I tried to convince Nicole to by a corset! Unfortunatly she doesn´t listen to me. Load up on MSG, we decided we need to take a nap so we TRIED to find this park which is suppose to be like Central Park. Lets just say, we walked ALOT and went on many detours bc maps do not like to give you all the strees!!! We did find the place and took a nice relaxing break by the pond surrounded once again by spandex filled PDA.
Later that night, we took a overnight bus to Foz de Igaçu. We thought we would have time prior to go to the market and grab some provisions but our time management wasn´t that great. And we had to eat at the bus station, not to bad ate some Bob´s, fast food chain and at this pasta place. Though when we arrived on the bus we were embraced by the smell of salami from our neighbors who had gone to the market prior. The smell of salami and feet is really not pleasent. The 20 hr bus ride was not bad though I think we made some enemies because Nicole was reading with her light on at 9 pm while everyone else was trying to fall asleep or watch the indiana Jones movie dubbed in portuguese.Taking the bus, is always a fun game of ¨do we get off here?¨. Bus stations never seem to say like hey this is Foz de Igaçu, there are no welcome to the cornfield signs here. We opted to take a taxi to our hostel instead of taking three different buses. The hostel was ok though since it is the off season when we arrived it felt alittle like the hotel in the Shining...vacant. We dropped our shit and head the falls on the Brazilian side. Foz de Igaçu are these enormous waterfalls that are located in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The Brazilian side is has the best overall view.. great panoramic shot of the vast size of these water falls. It made Nicole speechless...a nice surprise! haha jk! We were both dumbfound by the beauty, I don´t think either one of us expected it! The pictures we took will probably not even do it justice. Thank god, Katie had her raincoat and Nicole her emgerency pancho because we got a little wet! We had some first hand experience with Coatis basically a cross between a racoon and an anteater. Man, so they enjoy garbage!! They are little scavengers for food so if you had any you better eat it fast or run...THEY ARE KNOWN TO BITE!!
That night we taught a Brazilian to play the card game speed. We have settled on speed for we have not found any other players for spades and also Katie is kicking Nicole´s ass in speed. So we might be sticking with this game for a bit!!! Too fast for her! The next morning, we woke up bright and early to go to the Argentina side fo the falls. We had the most amazing/ hilarious bus driver from Paraguay who would not stop humming the tune from the Beatles, Yellow Submarine...ahh it was great! We were able to past the Brazilian border with no problem..relief considering our falsified documents to obtain our visas. The falls in Argentina are amazing you could literally spend a couple of days going through all the trails and seeing all the waterfalls. The first couple of hours we were there was alittle bit of a cluster fuck... think schools of childrens running around. It kinda took away from the experience at first. BUT THEN, as we broke away from the tours we got to get up close and personal with DOS HERMANAS. You literally stand like 2 ft away from the waterfall, shooting out water with such velocity that you get soaking wet and barely can keep your contacts in. IT IS SUCH A RUSH!! Everyone that comes out of it is insanely happy. Since we still had a couple of hours before heading back, we decided to take this scenic trail which is good for spotting animals. Once again maps lie! It said it was only 3 km to the waterfall but we didn´t even make it (bc of time) to the fall and it was encrouching on like 6 km. Though along the way I think we found a new species...it was a cross between a rabbit and pig. And of course this was the moment our camera decided it was going to die though we do have a picture of its ass. We basically hauled ass and ran back to the bus for fear of being ¨those people¨ who like to hold up everyone by being late..we were really hoping the mexicans wouldn´t be on time but once again stereotypes fail and the Japanese ended up being last. We had planned on staying on the Argentine side so the bus driver was gracious enough to let us off at our hostel.
Our hostel, Hostel Inn is like a resort. And that night they were celebrating there anniversary and having this big shindig. Lets say, caiprinha and cerversas were had, Nicole got DOWN on the dance floor and Katie woke up with a huge bruise on her leg. So of all the nationalities we have met, everyone seems to be living in the Caymans. We have met like 10 people who live there (haha basically the whole island), all of which are accountants from Australia, South Africa or England. The next morning thank god it was raining so it gave us an excuse to not do much and helped Nicole nurse her hang over. We were a bit productive and went to town mainly bc we needed a bank. Though not thinking ahead, we had no clue where the bank was nor did we have a map of the town. Also, we did not realize that in Argentina they take siesta so nothing was really open. We did eat lunch at this restaurant. The main attraction was the crazy Chilian man who keep talking to everyone. At one point, he took Katie´s hat and was taking about how fashionable he was with the hat, his button down shirt, board shorts and socks and sandals. After lunch, we tried to find a marekt but it was closed due to siesta unfortunately not knowing this we let the bus to go home past us...so then we were stuck in the downpour rain for 20 minutes waiting for the next. Since we were unable to go to the market we ate the hostel. They had a giant bbq, I was really proud of Nicole she ate two large piece of beef and throughly enjoyed it! Ahh the beef, more will come! At dinner, Nicole had the pleasure talking to a Irish man about carbon footprints...basically had a gigantic smile on her face the whole convo. Katie volunteered Nicole to perform some dance routines with the man in the flashy shirt and his two samba dancers wearing very little. Then a giant congo line broke out...it was like an aerobics class mixed in with the limbo. Afterwards we both losted a few games of pool and fooseball.
Now, we are taking a break and relaxing a bit. Tomorrow, I think we are going to Buenos Aires!!! We can´t wait we keep hearing amazing things.
- Nicole & Katie ( the personality and the looks)
ps - Nicole actually said this in referring to herself and her quirks: ¨she is an enigma wrapped in a riddle wrapped in a rhymth¨ oh yes!! this is the girl I´m traveling with!
Sickness update: pink eye clearing for Nicole we finally found her eye drops. Katie is no longer hacking up green mucus. So all that is left is lots of itchy bug bites and massive bruises.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS WE GOT LAUNDRY DONE!!! WOO HOO SUCH AN EXCITEMENT!!
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