Hey guys.

Well, where to start, I thought that these 4 weeks would be a proper opportunity to relax and chill out but it seems our personalities do not allow us to do that too much, we've still managed to be quite busy, hence the lateness of this blog.

We're volunteering. That's the main reason for spending so long here so I'll start with that. We're doing it through an organisation called Voluntario Global (check out the website http://www.voluntarioglobal.org/en), an Argentinean NGO. It seems like a really good organisation - quite small and well run without hierarchy (we had a good informal chat with the founder). Everything has been well organised for us.

We're volunteering 3 days a week in an orphanage just outside of the main city and so have to get a tube and then a train to get there - it takes about an hour. The trains are fun with people selling stuff and buskers. The orphanage is in a nice neighbourhood but is very sparse. There are 11 kids in this small house with basically 2 large rooms downstairs and their bedrooms upstairs. What really surprised us is how truly little they have; the rooms are really bare with crumbling walls and ceiling, they did have a TV but it broke as did the sofa and so just have the wooden floors and a few books. What toys they do have one child is either really protective over or they get broken/chucked on the roof. When we first arrived it was a bit of a shock but we'd been prepared for the worst by the coordinator and one of the other volunteers so I didn't really think it was too bad. I've done quite a lot with kids so just getting down and messing around with them came quite naturally, of course the language barrier is a bit of an issue but they're kids so it doesn't matter too much.

The lack of discipline is quite bad. The women in charge of the children, the 'Tias' (aunties - I'm a Tio) don't really know how to properly discipline them so they slightly run riot. When the Tias do step in they just restrain the child until they have stopped crying or give them what they want. These kids have come from tough backgrounds - they're not orphans in the sense that their parents are dead but they have been taken away from them for one reason or another.

So what are we there for? Well we slightly wondered this a the start but the Tias are essentially low paid staff and don't really properly interact with the kids, our role is to entertain them, give them attention and make them feel loved. In that way it's not quite what we expected, we thought there would be more practical tasks for us to do. There isn't really much structure - it's up to us to think of stuff to do which isn't easy when conversation is limited. There's a nearby park which we take some of the kids to most days and play on the swings, in the sand pit or play a running around game. Of course there's also been ample opportunities, in this football loving country, for me to indulge in some kickabouts. And then we have to think of things to do in the enclosed space of the house, we've played hours of piggy in the middle, they love rock, paper, scissors and we've brought bits of paper, played hangman, noughts and crosses which they love but then rip up the paper when they're bored of it. I have made a snakes and ladders board for them (I have to say with my lack of art skills I'm quite proud of it) and the last few days they've really got into that which has been fun, they've actually sat down for a prolonged period of time!

Now alongside the volunteering we had spanish lessons in our second week. We were meant to have 20 but because of bank holidays we got 25 which was a good bonus though it meant long days - Wed, Thurs, Fri we had spanish 9 - 2 and then had to leave at like 2 45 to get to volunteering for 4 and wouldn't get back till after 9! I was a bit apprehensive about the lessons, we had a few before we came but I still didn't fell particularly confident. They turned out to be absolutely fine of course, we were in different classes (Briony has a GCSE and is doing most of the talking) and i was with 2 complete beginners which was nice confidence wise but after a bit got a bit frustrating as I wanted to be moving a bit faster! The teachers were really good fun and the lessons were well structured so I came out of it feeling a lot more confident, just need to keep it up now and write down all the vocab!

BA, the city, is quite easy to live in. We've adapted to the lifestyle quite easily and as everyone says it is a bit European but it also has quite different, South American traits and culture. The volunteer house is in a great location pretty close to the centre with a subway a couple of blocks down the road. The house is definitely one of the big plus points of voluntario global, it is a great base where you are together with other volunteers from the other projects and is nice and sociable, not to mention has given us good opportunities to practice our cooking for uni.

BA is good for plazas, there are lots of nice squares with greeny bits and pretty buildings round the edge (the one in the photo is the one nearest to the house - it's actually one of our photos this time). We spent a day just chilling out in some of the parks and went to the Sunday market in San Telmo which was interesting. The Recoleta cemetery has been one of my highlights, it's from the golden years of the city and is more than just the graveyard we expected. It's like a city of incredible, ornate mausoleums which all tower above you. The grid like structure makes it like a maze which we wandered marvelling at the craftsmanship and wealth. On a less cultural note, we also thought it would make an incredible setting for a paintball or tracker game!

Now as always and rightly so in my view, food has played a big part in our time here. Argentinean steak is everything it's cracked up to be and I've really enjoyed having a bit of a meat gorge. Also we are addicted to dulce de leche which is hard to describe but incredible and they have it in all sweet things (or you can just buy tubs and eat them straight like we have.)

It's going to be weird when we leave here on Monday as despite what I said at the start and our hectic lifestyle we have settled in and got used to everything. We got a taste of what moving on will be like when we headed over to Uruguay last weekend. It's really close and worked out s a relatively cheap weekend away, (we also like being able to tick off another country) we got a ferry over and then a bus to Montevideo (the capital.) Our hostel was supposedly on the main square but when we arrived everything was abit grey (partly the weather) and not too appealing. There were some nice buildings but when we wandered along the pedestrian bit it just seemed empty and this was a Saturday evening! Bit weird. On the Sunday we hired bikes and went along the promenade on the front which was really nice as the sun was now shining. However, my highlight of Uruguay was the port of Colonia whch is just across from BA and we stopped at on the way back. It has a really lovely old town with cobbled, tree lined streets and a lovely waterfront. We spent a nice day just walking around enjoying the tranquility and then had steak again (had to compare the Uruguayan variety - it was as good.)

So there you go. We've got 2 more days volunteering and then a weekend before we head on to Iguazu (exciting) and beyond. Hoping buses all work out and we make it to Cusco in time for the Inca Trail (Briony says I'm worrying too much) and back to travelling after living in BA for a month xxx