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Living The Dream
After a very reasonable five and a half hour coach journey through the remarkably flat region of Buenos Aires (Its like Kent but with more cows and less cabbages), I arrived in the city of Mar del Plata. Mardel, as the holidaying Porteños call it, is the Bournemouth of Argentina although it is more like Brighton with sandy beaches and huge skyscrapers. A population of 500,000 ensures a lively atmosphere but for the duration of my stay it was raining so not much was happening until the evening.
On my first night, I checked into the local HI hostel and went straight to sleep without dinner! I woke up to find that I was the only guest! The very helpful woman at the reception waved a few bits of paper in my face which I am sure were the details of all three guests that have stayed since 1997! However, as time progressed a few other people turned up. Notably, Walter - a Uruguayan guy from Colonia del Sacramento.
On my first day I wondered down to the beach before having a general stroll through town. That evening, Walter and I met with a local lad who Walter knew called Pablo. Pablo was turning 24 the next day so we went out and got smashed!
The next day I woke up at 3pm, had brunchinner and went, as invited, to Pablo's pad on the other side of town. There I met Daniel and Sonia who are freinds of Pablo. We had a mini party to celebrate Pablo's birthday. His parents invited me to drink tea which was nice cos I haven't drunk tea since leaving England seven weeks ago! After a while, it was discovered that I had not yet sampled Yerba Mate (local herb tea). Pablo scrambled around in his kitchen and came back with the goods. It was actually quite tasty - similar to drinking sawdust! (see photos). We sat around at Pablo's until the early hours discussing everything from the differences in culture and language to what I thought about Islas Malvinas! Pablo is not your typical Argentinian, he is a very laid back chap. He is into his tai chi and reads books about Budhism. He seemed to agree with the things I had to say about the politics of our home countries and he even drove his car slowly!
Today was my last day in Mardel so Pablo cruised up to the hostel in his clapped-out Renault 18 and took us to a small city 40km down the coast to a place called Miramar. Here we experienced some bad weather and also visited an energy forest where it is supposed that tree trunks balance on each other (see photos). After drinking more Yerba Mate (Jerba Ma-tey) we headed back to say our goodbyes in Mar del Plata.
Mar del Plata has been a time of mixed emotions for me. I was not feeling too well at the start of the weekend and I am beginning to miss my roast dinners and cups of tea! Also, nobody in the city spoke English and a few people have asked me if I am a mormon?! However, thanks to Pablo and the crew it has also been another good experience, cheers Pablo!
Tonight I am sleeping on a bus to a place called Neuquen where I will change buses and head to San Carlos de Bariloche.
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