Paaaaaatttttttaaaaaaaagggggggoooonniiiaaaa!!!

Hola Chicas,
Well we left B.A a week ago and headed South to Patagonia. This is truly an amazing part of the world. We flew 4 hours south of B.A to El Calafate. Here we stayed in a cheap little hostel, well someones house really. El Calafate is a little like a European ski village and is the base for visiting the Perito Moreno glacier. This was one of the most incredible things we have ever seen. The Glacier has two faces one that is 2km long and the other 1.8km long. In parts the glacier wall is 60 meters high above water and 110 metres below water. We went on a boat to get a closer look, you can hear the ice creaking and it makes an amazing sound when the ice falls into the water. It is one of the few glaciers that is not receding. We spent a day wandering around the town, the lake that flows to the glacier borders the town and is home to some pink flamingoes. It is impossible to go anywhere without been followed by at least 5 stray dogs, one of which we named Patch who seemed quite loyal!

After El Calafate we went on a bus ride for 5 hours further south to Puerto Natales (this is now in Chile) , this place felt a little bit more authentic compared to El Calafate. Again we stayed in someones home for a night and then went to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, we stayed in the park for two nights and did several really long walks. The ¨Refugios¨in the park were more plush than the hostels we had been staying in. We met some great people that we hiked and ate dinner with. Small tip, when in the presence of Brazilians and French men do not introduce yourself as Nigel. This invariably leads to Nigel Mansell and then a very lengthy debate about whether Alain Prost was better than Ayrton Senna, this got quite heated at times but was very entertaining for the neutral!!!

Today we arrived 3 hours further south and are now at the most southern part of our travels. We are still in Chile, in Punta Arenas. Arriving on Sunday during siesta time means that not a lot is going on! We have had a walk around and checked out the park, had lunch on a bench with the obligatory stray dog and have been catching up on deleting the crap from our email in boxes. We are hoping to do some kind of tour tomorrow, although the penguins have all gone for the winter, we are not sure where, the Brazilians were trying to convince us they have gone to Brazil but we are not sure!!! We found a thermometer in the town that ranged from +5C to -4C, it is a little above freezing at the moment, it is a good job we have plenty of warm clothes!!

Anyway folks we hope you are all keeping well and looking forward to seeing at least some of you in a few weeks time!
LOL
K&N
xxxx

Finally.......

Hola Senors and Senoritas,
I have finally arrived in Argentina, it was a long flight but I arrived feeling pretty good. The city was filled with smoke as the farmers in the North have been burning their fields, it looks like the wind has changed today and I can see blue sky.

Today we go towards the South of Argentina and Patagonia. We hope to go and see the glaciers and maybe a stray penguin or two, we are expecting them to have left by now though.

I have been on Nige`s whistle stop tour of the city. We did a lot of walking around different neighbourhoods, we went to the cemetry where Evita Peron is burried, this is very famous but also a little weird. We went to a local street market where we could have spent plenty of money but decided against trawling more things around with us for nearly 6 weeks. We sat and watched a guitarist play in a park, we were hanging out with all the locals drinking their mate`s. This is a local hot drink, people carry around their thermos, mate powder and special cup and what can only be described as a metal straw, I am yet to try one.

Last night we also had a tango lesson, it was a lot of fun but quite tiring! I think we were getting the hang of it by the end and we only trodd on each others feet a couple of times!!!

Well folks that`s all for now, we have to go catch our flight!

Much love to all
Katie and Nige
xxxx

Volunteering, San Telmo & Uruguay

Ola mi Chico´s!! Well I cannot believe that almost two weeks have already gone, I have learnt to Tango, been to a 5 star restaurant (with 1 star prices), partied at Pasha until 5am (yes 5am!!) popped over to Uruguay for the day, hung out in some very cool neighbourhoods, checked out local cinemas, art galleries & theatres, made lots of new friends from all over the world and most importantly have made lots of very poor children smile!!

This place is so amazing, so individual, so vibrant & so full of colour, every turn on every street brings a new experience. San Telmo market on Sunday was one of the highlights - the live bands performing on the street were fabulous, so talented and passionate, very Argentinian.

Well, Katie arrives on Friday (18th), I have lots of plans for showing her around the city & then on Sunday we fly to Patagonia for the start of our big adventure.

Hasta Luego

Nige

Nige in Buenos Aires!

Nige in Buenos Aires

Hi Guys,

Well, I (Nige) am finally here in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I left my Katie and a sunny San Francisco :( on Monday morning and after three flights, three extensive body searches through security I made it to Buenos Aires 10am Tuesday morning. I was greeted by Lili, Victoria and Simon (the driver) all from L.I.F.E. in their rickety old van. We headed straight to the produce market to get some supplies - this took about 1 1/2 hrs as Lili & Simon just kept disappearing and coming back with bags of veggies. They said the market was very quiet as there was a national farmers strike going on at the moment - no top quality Argentian beef coming into the country!!!

They then took me to the LIFE office where I found out that my room was upstairs - nothing like rolling out of bed into the office!!! I had my induction and then I was straight into the thick of things. Our first afternoon we (the volunteers) all took taxis out to a very poor neighbourhood where we were greeted by lots of smiling children. Once a week the government gives poor families food to cook for the children. At this time LIFE also sends volunteers there to teach the kids to read and write. It was truly amazing, the children have nothing but the clothes on their back but they are so ambitious and willing to learn and are so friendly and caring for eachother. I worked with one little girl Daylma who was very smart & also remembered me when I went to teach there two days later. She ran over to me and gave me a big hug and asked if I could be her teacher!!! What an experience!!!

Today we took a bus, then a train out to the country to teach young children English. Jessica my new little friend was so cute & also very bright!! The trains are so funny, men get on with their stereos and play Dionne Warwick "heartbreaker" and try and sell you the CD - only in South America!!

Tomorrow, more Spanish lessons and a cookery class for the kids, evening am going to an "Argentinian dance club" open until 7am!! & then to a futball match at "La Boca" on Sunday

Can´t wait for Katie to get here and join me, Buenos Aires is such a cool, vibrant city & LIFE is a wonderful organisation I know that she will love it!!

Hasta Luego muchachos

Nige