You would think that after 2 weeks of Spanish school and already having spent more then a month in Spanish speaking South America, we would have been able to understand basic things like how much a room was !
But when we went to Guaranda, straight after finishing our classes, we enquired about a double room in a hostel recommended by LP. What the guy said to us just didn't sound like Spanish to us at all!
I heard him say "Diez" in a way that sounded like they had rooms but it was in a dorm of 10 beds! Gwen and I consulted each trying to understand what he was saying!
But because of our confusion and us telling each other "diez" with furrowed brows, he then said more to us.
We enquired again if the room was a double because we still weren't sure and he said Si and let us look in the room.
When we went to pay, the cost turned out to be $16 per night. We later figured out he was saying it costs $10 per person and then reduced it for us to $8 per person!
Win for our bargaining skills!!
Friday, 8 July 2016
Wednesday, 6 July 2016
Fresh air taxi
After our "escapade" with the law, we were left at a bus stop waiting to get to Salinas.
We caught the first form of "public" transport that would take us there which was a collectivo (pretty much a shared taxi but a in this case a shared ute).
There was a school girl waiting for the truck as well. When it arrived, the people sitting in the front made some room for Gwen as they saw she had the baby.
I went around the back with the school girl to climb onto the back. It covered so I only realised how full it was once I saw inside. There were 4 men already inside as well as a schoolboy. Also there were 2 crates of what looked like tofu but I presume was a cheese.
The girl climbed inside and sat on the rear edge of the trailer. I couldn't do the same as there was someone in the way. I assumed they might make some room for me but the truck started to roll off.
So I did what I could only do. Hop onto the bumper and hang on for the ride!
Luckily I didn't have to stay in that spot for the entire ride. Just for 15 minutes and then I was able to half sit inside and eventually get all the way in once the men got out - some old farmers that were playing a drinking game while they waited to get home!
We caught the first form of "public" transport that would take us there which was a collectivo (pretty much a shared taxi but a in this case a shared ute).
There was a school girl waiting for the truck as well. When it arrived, the people sitting in the front made some room for Gwen as they saw she had the baby.
I went around the back with the school girl to climb onto the back. It covered so I only realised how full it was once I saw inside. There were 4 men already inside as well as a schoolboy. Also there were 2 crates of what looked like tofu but I presume was a cheese.
The girl climbed inside and sat on the rear edge of the trailer. I couldn't do the same as there was someone in the way. I assumed they might make some room for me but the truck started to roll off.
So I did what I could only do. Hop onto the bumper and hang on for the ride!
Luckily I didn't have to stay in that spot for the entire ride. Just for 15 minutes and then I was able to half sit inside and eventually get all the way in once the men got out - some old farmers that were playing a drinking game while they waited to get home!
Saturday, 2 July 2016
A brief encounter with the law
We've spent the last few days in Guaranda - a small town located in the highlands.
It's not really a touristy town but we had to come here to visit the village of Salinas, further up the mountain!
Salinas is a village located high up in the mountains at an elevation of 3500 metres. Our plan was to catch the bus up there but we didn't know the exact location to catch the bus in Guaranda. We started looking for it in the main square but a local women there suggested to go to the main bus station as catching it in the square would be too complicated for us.
On our way there, some police officers stopped us and requested to see our passports. We were both cautious about this but figured it was OK as there were two of them in uniforms, one was a woman, and they had gotten out of a police truck.
So we showed them our passports. They enquired as to where we were going, informed us that the bus leaves from the square only. But requested us to get in their truck as they wanted to take some photos first (we didn't quite understand what they wanted to take a picture of). They told us they would get us to the bus afterwards and reassured it was all ok.
We hesitantly got into the truck and they drove to the police station. The woman officer jumped out with our passports, ran in and then returned to the truck quickly. She had grabbed her phone and used that as we drove onwards to take pictures of our passports.
Rather then taking us back into town, they drove us down the road towards Salinas hoping they'd overtake the necessary bus so we could get on board. It was actually quite pleasant in the end.
After it was clear they weren't going to find a bus on the drive, they dropped us off at the split in the road where one path is the road to Salinas and told us we can hail the bus.
The thing that topped the whole experience off is once we got out, the woman officer asked if she could have a photo with us!! I think we were the only tourists she had ever seen!!
It's not really a touristy town but we had to come here to visit the village of Salinas, further up the mountain!
Salinas is a village located high up in the mountains at an elevation of 3500 metres. Our plan was to catch the bus up there but we didn't know the exact location to catch the bus in Guaranda. We started looking for it in the main square but a local women there suggested to go to the main bus station as catching it in the square would be too complicated for us.
On our way there, some police officers stopped us and requested to see our passports. We were both cautious about this but figured it was OK as there were two of them in uniforms, one was a woman, and they had gotten out of a police truck.
So we showed them our passports. They enquired as to where we were going, informed us that the bus leaves from the square only. But requested us to get in their truck as they wanted to take some photos first (we didn't quite understand what they wanted to take a picture of). They told us they would get us to the bus afterwards and reassured it was all ok.
We hesitantly got into the truck and they drove to the police station. The woman officer jumped out with our passports, ran in and then returned to the truck quickly. She had grabbed her phone and used that as we drove onwards to take pictures of our passports.
Rather then taking us back into town, they drove us down the road towards Salinas hoping they'd overtake the necessary bus so we could get on board. It was actually quite pleasant in the end.
After it was clear they weren't going to find a bus on the drive, they dropped us off at the split in the road where one path is the road to Salinas and told us we can hail the bus.
The thing that topped the whole experience off is once we got out, the woman officer asked if she could have a photo with us!! I think we were the only tourists she had ever seen!!
Thursday, 30 June 2016
Montañita
So back when we were in Buenos Aires, we decided to scrap our original itinerary and head up north to a warmer climate.
I thought it would be nice to stay put for a little while learning Spanish, ideally by the beach. After a bit of research, we found Montañita in Ecuador as the best option.
It was a big effort to get there. There weren't any direct flights to the nearest city Guayaquil from where we were in Uruguay. So we ended up taking 3 flights and a 3 hour transfer to get to the town. But it was nice to hit 25+ degree temperatures and even nicer to be by the ocean!
The town itself was ok. A little too much a young party town with lots of young twenty somethings looking to party all week long.
We stayed in the Cabañas owned by the school we registered with. It was a really nice environment as they had a pool and lots of tropical plants making the garden area a lot cooler then outside.
School was tough but quite good. I still think my Spanish is crap but there is definitely an improvement. School did get fun when my classmate started talking about wanting to kill the school intern - who she'd been seeing - because he was sleeping with another student who she was friends with! The atmosphere in the Cabañas wasn't the same after this happened.
The best thing about staying there was taking Aatya swimming almost daily in the swimming pool. It felt at the end she was back to the level she reached at the end of her swimming classes. I just hope she doesn't forget everything again in the next 3 months.
We discovered as well that Aatya is scared of the ocean. Maybe it's a natural thing to be scared of it but she would cry every time we tried to put her down to get her feet wet.
We've left Montañita and probably at the right time. We spent 2 weeks there all up and it was starting to feel past its expiry date. I guess when you visit the same restaurant 3 times, it's time to go.
Here are some of pics including a really fantastic sunset!
I thought it would be nice to stay put for a little while learning Spanish, ideally by the beach. After a bit of research, we found Montañita in Ecuador as the best option.
It was a big effort to get there. There weren't any direct flights to the nearest city Guayaquil from where we were in Uruguay. So we ended up taking 3 flights and a 3 hour transfer to get to the town. But it was nice to hit 25+ degree temperatures and even nicer to be by the ocean!
The town itself was ok. A little too much a young party town with lots of young twenty somethings looking to party all week long.
We stayed in the Cabañas owned by the school we registered with. It was a really nice environment as they had a pool and lots of tropical plants making the garden area a lot cooler then outside.
School was tough but quite good. I still think my Spanish is crap but there is definitely an improvement. School did get fun when my classmate started talking about wanting to kill the school intern - who she'd been seeing - because he was sleeping with another student who she was friends with! The atmosphere in the Cabañas wasn't the same after this happened.
The best thing about staying there was taking Aatya swimming almost daily in the swimming pool. It felt at the end she was back to the level she reached at the end of her swimming classes. I just hope she doesn't forget everything again in the next 3 months.
We discovered as well that Aatya is scared of the ocean. Maybe it's a natural thing to be scared of it but she would cry every time we tried to put her down to get her feet wet.
We've left Montañita and probably at the right time. We spent 2 weeks there all up and it was starting to feel past its expiry date. I guess when you visit the same restaurant 3 times, it's time to go.
Here are some of pics including a really fantastic sunset!
Tuesday, 28 June 2016
Breathing is under-rated!
I guess what goes around comes around. After we got our accommodation upgraded in Colonia, our Airbnb accommodation in Montevideo turned out to be ... unsuitable.
The place was nice enough - our host was an artist and her home was very bohemian. However, after the first night, I woke up sneezing, runny nose and, worst of all, heavy wheezing! It was only after having a shower, changing clothes and most importantly, getting out of the house did I feel better.
We were catching an early morning flight the next morning and according to (website), Montevideo airport is great to sleep in. So we decided to forgo the nights accommodation and slum the evening in the airport before we hit sunnier and warmer Ecuador.
The place was nice enough - our host was an artist and her home was very bohemian. However, after the first night, I woke up sneezing, runny nose and, worst of all, heavy wheezing! It was only after having a shower, changing clothes and most importantly, getting out of the house did I feel better.
We were catching an early morning flight the next morning and according to (website), Montevideo airport is great to sleep in. So we decided to forgo the nights accommodation and slum the evening in the airport before we hit sunnier and warmer Ecuador.
Kimchi in Montevideo?!?
Only been travelling for 3 weeks and already had enough of the South American food (vegetarian food here is pretty poor)!
So when we passed by a Korean restaurant on the bus to our Montevideo accommodation, both of us thought the same thing! Dinner tonight!!
And it was worth it. They not only had proper Korean dishes, they also served us large "side dishes" in authentic Korean style!
Well worth it in Montevideo!
So when we passed by a Korean restaurant on the bus to our Montevideo accommodation, both of us thought the same thing! Dinner tonight!!
And it was worth it. They not only had proper Korean dishes, they also served us large "side dishes" in authentic Korean style!
Well worth it in Montevideo!
Thursday, 23 June 2016
Colonia del Sacramento
Is it wrong to use your baby for upgrades?
We arrived in the little town of Colonia Del Sacramento in Uruguay by catching ferry from BA. The town's old centre is a UNESCO world heritage site and it is quite cute but extremely small!
After we disembarked from the ferry, we walked to the hostel we had pre booked a room only to find out they don't allow children (even babies).
However, they were happy to upgrade us to their (much nicer) sister B&B down the road! I should mention I was looking to book the B&B except I took too long to decide and the price rose to be out of our budget! They even put out a travel cot for Aatya!!
Colonia itself is so small, we were pretty much done with the town in about 2 hours!
We arrived in the little town of Colonia Del Sacramento in Uruguay by catching ferry from BA. The town's old centre is a UNESCO world heritage site and it is quite cute but extremely small!
After we disembarked from the ferry, we walked to the hostel we had pre booked a room only to find out they don't allow children (even babies).
However, they were happy to upgrade us to their (much nicer) sister B&B down the road! I should mention I was looking to book the B&B except I took too long to decide and the price rose to be out of our budget! They even put out a travel cot for Aatya!!
Colonia itself is so small, we were pretty much done with the town in about 2 hours!
Sunday, 19 June 2016
Buenos Aires
It'd been a little over a week since we've left Buenos Aires and I've been quite bad at getting around to blogging so best to put something down!
I thought I'd just put my highlights down followed by the "lowlights" -
Highlights
- Taking tango dance classes with a baby strapped into the sling. It made everyone notice us and treat us warmly even if we were not very good. The best place we took lessons was in a ballroom owned by a retired dancer/teacher who taught a whole bunch of celebrities (Bill Clinton & Julio Iglesias for example) in the past.
- Going to a vegetarian supper club in BA. This is here as I was pretty tired of eating bad pizza and bad pasta every day. A lot of people from BA (porteños) have Italian heritage but they don't make Italian food like the Italians! The supper club was run by an American ex pat and she made delicious Mexican food! She also owns and runs a yoga studio and I think we might have met every expat yoga instructor in BA!
- Visiting a vintage camera shop in BA! Was full of different retro cameras and the owner loved talking about them. It just made me feel lucky to be living in London as the stuff in BA was not cheap!
- Learning Spanish. Well I wouldn't say I learnt much as we took private classes and Gwen is at a higher level in her Spanish then I am. It was more revision and stuff that went over my head. But it was nice being able to speak with a local and funding out more about the country. Oh and for anyone thinking about learning Spanish in South America, do not do it in BA. They have their own version of Spanish that is a bit Italian mafia inspired but is completely useless outside of BA.
- Gaining the confidence to "EC" Aatya on the street and realising it's no big deal. If you don't know what I mean by EC, here's a link - http://godiaperfree.com
This is me holding her after her first street EC
- Weaning Aatya in BA and being pleasantly surprised she'll eat anything and everything off your plate!
- Figuring out the bus system in BA! It requires a guide on how to use it !!
Lowlights
- This is a big one - it was pretty cold and rainy in BA and having left the sunshine of London and New York made us feel a bit miserable. That's the reason we decided to scrap our original plans and get up north.
This is me holding her above a fan heater
- Money in Argentina is hard to deal with. They recently changed the "currency controlling" laws but the banks still limit how much money you can withdraw. Made things hard!
I thought I'd just put my highlights down followed by the "lowlights" -
Highlights
- Taking tango dance classes with a baby strapped into the sling. It made everyone notice us and treat us warmly even if we were not very good. The best place we took lessons was in a ballroom owned by a retired dancer/teacher who taught a whole bunch of celebrities (Bill Clinton & Julio Iglesias for example) in the past.
- Going to a vegetarian supper club in BA. This is here as I was pretty tired of eating bad pizza and bad pasta every day. A lot of people from BA (porteños) have Italian heritage but they don't make Italian food like the Italians! The supper club was run by an American ex pat and she made delicious Mexican food! She also owns and runs a yoga studio and I think we might have met every expat yoga instructor in BA!
- Visiting a vintage camera shop in BA! Was full of different retro cameras and the owner loved talking about them. It just made me feel lucky to be living in London as the stuff in BA was not cheap!
- Learning Spanish. Well I wouldn't say I learnt much as we took private classes and Gwen is at a higher level in her Spanish then I am. It was more revision and stuff that went over my head. But it was nice being able to speak with a local and funding out more about the country. Oh and for anyone thinking about learning Spanish in South America, do not do it in BA. They have their own version of Spanish that is a bit Italian mafia inspired but is completely useless outside of BA.
- Gaining the confidence to "EC" Aatya on the street and realising it's no big deal. If you don't know what I mean by EC, here's a link - http://godiaperfree.com
This is me holding her after her first street EC
- Weaning Aatya in BA and being pleasantly surprised she'll eat anything and everything off your plate!
- Figuring out the bus system in BA! It requires a guide on how to use it !!
Lowlights
- This is a big one - it was pretty cold and rainy in BA and having left the sunshine of London and New York made us feel a bit miserable. That's the reason we decided to scrap our original plans and get up north.
This is me holding her above a fan heater
- Money in Argentina is hard to deal with. They recently changed the "currency controlling" laws but the banks still limit how much money you can withdraw. Made things hard!
Saturday, 28 May 2016
Expired fun
Found a vintage camera shop in Buenos Aires selling old expired film. Going to have some fun with some old Ektar 1000 from '94!
Buenos Aires is closed
Our first day in Buenos Aires and the streets are deserted and all the shops are closed.
Turns out we have arrived on Argentina's national day!
We did find where all the people were when we found a large street fair.
Turns out we have arrived on Argentina's national day!
We did find where all the people were when we found a large street fair.
Friday, 27 May 2016
When it rains, it pours
Just when we thought we had managed to navigate through 17 hours of flight time trouble free, Aatya spewed all over Gwen's shirt, followed by spilling wine all over Gwen's trousers with a solid kick to the tray table.
All done in the space of 2 minutes and one hour to go before landing!
All done in the space of 2 minutes and one hour to go before landing!
Tuesday, 24 May 2016
A stalled start (or a lucky break?)
We should be in the air flying to Buenos Aires at this very moment.
But a malfunctioning plane has scuppered that so instead we are still in NYC until tomorrow morning (I'm not sure that an airport hotel counts as NYC though!).
Something similar happened in London but in that case we were further along by being in the plane but stuck on the tarmac!
There is some good that has come out of it. Our lack of an evidence showing we would be leaving Argentina meant that the airline weren't going to let us board since Argentina only allows visa free visits for a maximum of 90 days (less than our itinerary).
Access to the hotel business centre means we are now booked to leave Argentina by ferry in 2 weeks. Hopefully we will actually make it onboard tomorrow morning.
But a malfunctioning plane has scuppered that so instead we are still in NYC until tomorrow morning (I'm not sure that an airport hotel counts as NYC though!).
Something similar happened in London but in that case we were further along by being in the plane but stuck on the tarmac!
There is some good that has come out of it. Our lack of an evidence showing we would be leaving Argentina meant that the airline weren't going to let us board since Argentina only allows visa free visits for a maximum of 90 days (less than our itinerary).
Access to the hotel business centre means we are now booked to leave Argentina by ferry in 2 weeks. Hopefully we will actually make it onboard tomorrow morning.
Location:New York,United States
Friday, 13 May 2016
First Post (again)
Only 3 days left before packing up to go on a 4 month trip to South America (Aatya is excited anyway!).
So thought it would be a good idea to start thinking of some sort of itinerary.
We have flights coming in and out of Buenos Aries (BSAS) so the itinerary is a loop. Being Winter, we will head north first before heading South so that when we are in the deep south (if we do get there), the days will be getting longer.
So after some time in BSAS, we will head north upto Rio, and then head over to the west coast and trek south from there.
So thought it would be a good idea to start thinking of some sort of itinerary.
We have flights coming in and out of Buenos Aries (BSAS) so the itinerary is a loop. Being Winter, we will head north first before heading South so that when we are in the deep south (if we do get there), the days will be getting longer.
So after some time in BSAS, we will head north upto Rio, and then head over to the west coast and trek south from there.
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
An unexpected swim, part dos
Yesterday, I took from Gwen's lead by taking to the waters with a camera still attached to me.
I'm in the tiny village of Tortuguera in Costa Rica. The adjacent beach is the nesting place for more than 100,000 green turtles. Viewing them can only occur at night time so during the day, we went out to view the wildlife in the national park located south of the village.
The standard way to do this is with a guide in a canoe, where only the guide is doing the paddling. We wanted to have a bit more fun so with a bit of negotiating, we managed to convince our guide to let us follow him in some kayaks.
Unfortunately, when I got into my kayak and onto the open waters, I lost my balance, and flipped the kayak over, while I had my camera on me. The good news though was the camera was in my bag, which miraculously, kept the water out.
Unfortunately though, the lens in my bag built up some condensation due to the humidity, and upon drying out, has left an inner lens fogged up.
So in short, my camera and 1 lend works. The telephoto is out of commission. :-(
I'm in the tiny village of Tortuguera in Costa Rica. The adjacent beach is the nesting place for more than 100,000 green turtles. Viewing them can only occur at night time so during the day, we went out to view the wildlife in the national park located south of the village.
The standard way to do this is with a guide in a canoe, where only the guide is doing the paddling. We wanted to have a bit more fun so with a bit of negotiating, we managed to convince our guide to let us follow him in some kayaks.
Unfortunately, when I got into my kayak and onto the open waters, I lost my balance, and flipped the kayak over, while I had my camera on me. The good news though was the camera was in my bag, which miraculously, kept the water out.
Unfortunately though, the lens in my bag built up some condensation due to the humidity, and upon drying out, has left an inner lens fogged up.
So in short, my camera and 1 lend works. The telephoto is out of commission. :-(
Saturday, 2 July 2011
Costa Rica - first impressions
So after a 2 days of travel, I finally landed in San José, the capital of Costa Rica. And based on the airport, it was hard to tell that I had even left the states! It had the same drab 70s metallic look that I assume was designed to look futuristic at the time but seems to always look old and dreary. Sort of like a metallic Barbican :-)
On the streets though, things look a lot different. I'm staying at a Backpackers that's quite central but you wouldn't know it. The streets are deserted with most shops closed although that could be due to siesta. Regardless, the place lacks any charm and for me, seems like a mash between Compton in LA and Havana (without the character).
Tomorrow, we're heading out of town to the only ancient ruins in Costa Rica. They're not grand but hopefully will be interesting. It's rainy season though so hopefully the day won't be ruined by it ;-)
On the streets though, things look a lot different. I'm staying at a Backpackers that's quite central but you wouldn't know it. The streets are deserted with most shops closed although that could be due to siesta. Regardless, the place lacks any charm and for me, seems like a mash between Compton in LA and Havana (without the character).
Tomorrow, we're heading out of town to the only ancient ruins in Costa Rica. They're not grand but hopefully will be interesting. It's rainy season though so hopefully the day won't be ruined by it ;-)
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Monday, 2 May 2011
Going home
I'm in Saigon again and tomorrow morning, we fly to Hong Kong for one night and then it's back to the old dart.
Time has gone by pretty quickly but I am missing home - especially the good Indian food (that doesn't make you sick!).
Time has gone by pretty quickly but I am missing home - especially the good Indian food (that doesn't make you sick!).
Sunday, 1 May 2011
Friday, 29 April 2011
Rain season begins
Looks like the rain season has well and truly begun here in Vietnam. Today we hired a motorbike and headed out to the north of the island (Phu Quoc) only to have to go back after 10 minutes of riding as the rain was bucketing down. Luckily it cleared up in the afternoon, but this is telling us it's almost time to leave and go back to balmy London!
Thursday, 28 April 2011
Gwen gets her own back
No matter how hard we've tried, it's been extremely difficult to like Vietnam. We have been constantly having to deal with the locals trying to rip us off at every turn.
It happened again this evening. We are in the small island of Phu Quoc and after dinner (where again the owner tried to over charge us), we went for a drink at a little stall in the night market. We looked at the menu and I ordered a fruit shake (where the price was listed), and Gwen ordered a "che" drink (no price listed but we had an idea of what the price should be from experience).
After drinking up we paid for the drinks without asking the price hoping they'd be one of the few honest locals. They gave us change which indicated they weren't, although that had already become obvious when a discussion amongst themselves started after we given them our money (knowledge of Vietnamese is not needed as they were clearly discussing what they should charge us).
After we inquired to the costs of the drinks, they gave us a price for my fruit juice that was higher than the menu (looking back now, this was so that the ratio of the prices of the two drinks would remain the same with Gwen's che being cheaper).
I pointed them to the menu price and they proceeded to give us some additional change admitting their mistake however we knew that they were still overcharging us for Gwen's che and she decided she was not having any of it.
So she simply got up, 'accidentally' knocked the table causing her empty glass to fall and smash on the floor. We then walked off with the Vietnamese a little shocked. We knew we were correct in our assumptions as they didn't chase us down or attempt to make us pay for the glass. That felt good! Bit evil though :-)
It happened again this evening. We are in the small island of Phu Quoc and after dinner (where again the owner tried to over charge us), we went for a drink at a little stall in the night market. We looked at the menu and I ordered a fruit shake (where the price was listed), and Gwen ordered a "che" drink (no price listed but we had an idea of what the price should be from experience).
After drinking up we paid for the drinks without asking the price hoping they'd be one of the few honest locals. They gave us change which indicated they weren't, although that had already become obvious when a discussion amongst themselves started after we given them our money (knowledge of Vietnamese is not needed as they were clearly discussing what they should charge us).
After we inquired to the costs of the drinks, they gave us a price for my fruit juice that was higher than the menu (looking back now, this was so that the ratio of the prices of the two drinks would remain the same with Gwen's che being cheaper).
I pointed them to the menu price and they proceeded to give us some additional change admitting their mistake however we knew that they were still overcharging us for Gwen's che and she decided she was not having any of it.
So she simply got up, 'accidentally' knocked the table causing her empty glass to fall and smash on the floor. We then walked off with the Vietnamese a little shocked. We knew we were correct in our assumptions as they didn't chase us down or attempt to make us pay for the glass. That felt good! Bit evil though :-)
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