After a long and tiring journey of 30+ hours and 3 flights I´ve arrived!

The homestay, firstly, is great. There´s Ana the "landlady" who is lovely, a very kind and helpful person. Then, her daughter and her husband, who don´t live there, are often round. Equally nice. Then theres us, I´m one of 4 students there; the only English speaker! So I havent spoken any English so far, which is good. But everyone is really, really nice , or resimpaticos in argentine spanish, they´ve made me feel very welcome and at home straight away.

The house sits in an ideal part of the town, easy to walk everywhere. The city is Mendoza, and I´d say it´s the size of Bromley. Set in the desert at the foothills of the Andes, it´s a very green and modern city. The locals say its an oasis. Every where you are the Andes tower over the landscape. The city is very typical and it seems very mediterranean, but generally people say Argentina is very European. Today I walked into town, getting lost loads and ender up in the poorer (dodgier) district, but still the people were very nice and welcoming, and helpful. Everyone is like this, I think it´s because they are very proud with their city, and country as well. The town has loads of plazas with too many places to eat, and lots of shops, like loads of shops (think Bromley hightstreet x10), and a subway and macdonalds!!! At the east of the city is a HUGE park, called Parque San Martin, it´s very green (artifical), with lakes, sports clubs, football pitches, tennis courts, museums, more places to eat. I took a walk there earlier and people where just chilling in the park, and others doing sport. Its obviously a very important part of life here. Everything seems a lot more laid back and relaxed, and recreating is obviously very important.

The food is amazing! Meat, meat and more meat! And very, very cheap as well. I got a large cheese and ham snadwich for about 80p earlier and it was good! I had asados at the homstay yesterday, which is bbq basically and it was great! The whole style of eating here is very european, like eveyrone eats together and it´s a bit of a ritual.

Theres loads of tour operators around, and I´ve booked ontour a 12 hour tour into the Andes tomorrow taking something like 6000ft above sea level, I think, into the mountains. Theres lakes, sights, Inca ruins. Other tours that I´m planning on are abseiling, paragliding, horseriding: theres so much to do! Also there are the tours across Argentina as well, to the Iquaza falls, Buenos Aires etc... which are obviously on my list.

I start teaching on Tuesday, so still have a few days to settle in yet and see everything. Will add some pictures soon! But so fa, I love it!