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Hello everyone - long time no blog!! much news and updates!
So from Arequipa I was working my way north towards Lima. On the way I stopped at huacacina, a small town in the dessert surrounded by sand dunes. I liked it alot there, it was very relaxed. We went sandboarding (like snowboarding but on sand). this was very fun but to get to the dunes we went by sand buggy aka contraption of death. i have never been so terrified, they were jumping up into the air and everything. but i have learned an important lesson - never get into a vehicle with a rollcage, its there for a reason. Next we headed to Lima. There is not much sightseeing there but its strange as it is alot more modern than the rest of peru. we tried to see an ancient mound but it was closed for cleaning (quite funny in a country were literaly nothing is cleaned), btu instead went to see the worlds largest fountain. It was in a really cool park of interactive fountains with sound and light shows. we got very wet and it was fun.
We then caught a flight from Lima to Buenos Aries. There is such a contrast between these two countries, arriving in Argentina was like stepping from the third world to the first world again. Buenos Aires is amazing, there is so much to see and do and its beautiful. plus the weather was wonderful. They have lots of amazing architecture and history, such as the famous graveyard in Recolletta where you can find the great and good of Argentinas past eg Evita.Also just out of town there is a lovely area called tigre made of rivers and waterways lined with lovely houses. There is also fantastic nightlife with loads of great bars and clubs, although they dont finish until 9am in the morning! Xmas eve we sat in the park in Palmero and bought some coal for some homelss people who were having a xmas bbq. in return they got us some cake and we all sat around and ate it! then we went ot a house party held by some of the argentinians that working in our hostel. xmas day was quite strange - we had pizza for dinner! New year was very fun as we went to a really big club called Pascha.
I kinda got trapped in ba and ended up spending two weeks there! Sarah left for Australia but our friend hazel (we met in rio) was there and many friends she had met in peru so there was a really nice group. Howvever coem the 2nd of January it was time to leave and head to Uruguay. I crossed the Rio del Plata by Ferry and took a bus from la colonia to Montevideo (the capital). I had arranged before I left to work on a turtle conservation project for two weeks in a small town on the north coast called la coronilla. However it is high season for holidaying here so when i arrived in the bus station at montevideo all the buses were full for 2 days!
so i made an impromtu stop at montevideo. Its actually a lovely city with beautiful colonial architecture and pretty beaches. also they have horses and carts that collect the rubbish and the horses wear little hats!!!!!!! :) Uruguay is the holiday destination for Argentinians and Brazilians, so iot was packed. In the hostel there was only one other english pseaker, a texan who played the eucalayly (spelling???) and sang beautifully. I met 5 argentinians and despite a massive language barrier we got on famously - they were really fun and crazy. The next day amy and I hired bikes and cycled tot he beach. I fell off so spectacularily that the police came to help me!!
I finally escaped and headed to la coronilla on the 4th jan. The tortuga project, named Karumbe, is run by 3 researchers that work for 6 months a year collecting data from turtles and the other 6 months analysing it in Montevideo. The aim is to monitor the population via tagging, look for the effects of pollution such as plastics and the use of long line nets in fishing and study changes in the ebibiont colonies (such as barnacles). They also raise awareness about tortugas to tourists to try and prevent sale of turtle meat/turtle products eg carapaces for decoration. We were staying in a wooden hut on the beach in la coronilla, sleeping on the floor and only had cold water, but it was really fun. There were 12 volunteers in total. When I first arrived there was only one other english speaker and everything was carried out in spanish - making me realise just how terrible my spanish is. However oevr the two weeks there i improved alot as i was forced to practice! most of the volunteers were argentinos and brazileros. I love the argentinians theyre all so funny really nice and we all became good friends despite sizable language gaps.
We did lots of different activities. Sometimes we were on site improving things eg building a new shelter out of palm leaves. Often we did Captura, catching the tortugas in a net in the water. I was very terrible at this as the sea is very string there and im not a good enough swimmer. i was usually allocated such important jobs as watching the anchor or holding some rope! lol! however after a tortuga was caught we would measure and tag it and release it again. one day we caught 11 in one day! Also we had tortuga liberation at the local tourists spots when we would sell things and play games with the kids to teach them about conserving tortugas. Again i sucked at this as the holiday makers all spoke spanish which was a massive shame - but it was till fun. and i managed "no trocar la tortuga por favour", please dont touch the turtle. Also we did sightings, avistiemento and censo. this involved walking along the beach looking for dead animals that were washed up and finding out how they died and taking samples for various researchers. we saw dolphins, penguins, petrels, sea lions and many tortugas. we also sometimes did tortug necrosies which was very interesting. There was also much excitment one day as a poisonous snake slithered intoour camp one day as we were having dinner and had to be beaten to death with a spade. when another one was found the next day it prompted a total refit of the camp, making new concrete floors, cleaning and cutting the grass. eeek.
Anywho, I had a really good time and was very sad to go but i have to catch a flight in santiago soon. so i headed back to la coronilla and accross to mendoza. this journey took 37hours in total, on bus. this is a pretty big place! anywho i plan to do some wine tasting here in mendoza and maybey meet up with my friend hazel again.
Hope everyone is well at home and the weather is not too cold
lots of love
Trine
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