Hola Chicos!

We haven`t written for ages, very sorry but we`ve been busy and without internet. I can`t remember where we left off.

We spent a week in a gorgeous hostel in Buenos Aires. On the first night we were chatting in our PJs in bed (twin room) with our door open (not sure why) when in walks Katie from Parati. You may not realise the miracle of this event. They weren`t supposed to be in BA, let alone in our hostel in the room next door (there are 13 million people in Ba, a third of Argentina's population so what are the chances)?! So.... we spent our week doing...a city tour, a trip to the zoo, the Evita museum, the Mussoleum where Eva Peron (Evita) is buried, a tango show, the markets in San Telmo - fantastic, a big night out on the Friday (here they only go out at 2 am, so we were at some friends house first, got in very late).

We decided to book internal flights down to Patagonia, it is just too big an opportunity to miss. So we flew in a storm down to El Calafate in the south of Argentina for 3 nights. It was a shock leaving the airport, it was freezing, we were surrounded by the Andes and the air was just dead. The town itself was small, filled with little wooden lodges and lots of horrible wolf and bear like dogs about. Heck! Our hostel was barnd new and we had cornflakes and hot milk for brekkie! In El Calafte we went to the national park where the Monero Glaciar was. I`m going to sound like a TK now (in joke) but it was just amazing, the pictures will never sum it up. Pieces of it break off all the time and it sounds like thunder! On our second day there we went trekking on the glaciar - fantastic. Although me and Ruth had our second big row but made up shortly after!

We then flew North East to Trelow and Puerto Madryn. We stayed ina dorm room for 4 nights with 4 men, hmm. But, when you stand on the beach of Puerto Madryn you can see whales, 4 or 5 all the time, wow!

We spent our first day on a tour with 2 Irish boys and the guide (who we nicknamed Dad) driving us round all day, we covered 300km! We went on a boat whale watching, they come right up to the boat and the baby rubs abainst it being playful. It was another of those moments that is unforgettable.

On the second day we went down to Punta tombo to see the penguins, 300,000 to be exact. We weren`t supposed to touch them but they were coming up so we felt it was wrong not to pet them. Warning:they are quite vicious! Fact:Argentina is the biggest Welsh speaking country in the world! They Welsh came over in boats in the 1800`s to get away from English rule! So we went for afternoon tea in a Welsh speaking village. We had a pot of tea, scones, bara brith, the works!

On our last full day Ruth and I went for a really long walk along the beach to some caves and discussed our futures. Very deep! haha.

We have now been back in BA since Monday. We met Ruth`s brothers girlfriend, Florencia whioch was lovely. I am now having a mental block and can`t remember what else we`ve done. Neither can Ruth. Worrying.

Oh yeah! Yesterday we were up at 6am to go to Uruguay for the day (3 hours by boat in 1st class)! We visited Colonia which was beautiful. Had a lovely lunch followed by a city tour. But it was during our 3 hours free time that the fun really started! We had some comedy old fashioned pictures taken - I`m not sure if they`ve come out on here but take a look. And then we hired a golf buggy for an hour. We got lost on the way back and I was in a right panic. Luckily we stumbled on the right street with a minute to spare (that`s the sencond time I`ve had a bad experience on a golf buggy after nearly getting arrested with Craig in Mexico)!

So, the bad bits of news - Ruth has had a tummy upset for a few days but we think she`s coming through it. I have had an allergic reaction to my anti-biotics, see pics (I know it looks sick but I felt you should share my pain)! I have some new pills to help now, Happy Days! Ooh, I also forgot to mention, 2 weeks in we had our first bone break of the holiday (my toe taking a hit for the team) but not to worry, all is healing well!

Right, this has been an essay and I hope it makes sense! We are now going for an 18 hour coach journey up to the Iguazu Falls. Although we get a bed and meals so it should be ok. And we`re heading back to the sun, excellent. We are also thinking of missing our flight to Chile, will fill you in in our next blog.

We hope everyone is well and not missing us too much! Bye for now,

Ruth says hi, look at her photos on facebook (Ruth Gazeley).

Ciao,

With love from Carolyn and Ruth xx