And so it ends, as it began

I felt the need to write a concluding post on the old blog though whoever was reading it will most likely definitely not read it after I have returned from the journey it was supposed to chronicle. I hvae come nack to the homeland now and my wanderlust has been sated for the moment. Real life has recommenced unfortunately but new things await me and I no longer have to make sure I "have space" for an object I wish to possess. This is probably going to be a bit like a museum piece now but I think I'll leave it up in case I forget where I was for the last 4 months. Maybe I should write things like this more often :).

That's it, go home.

New York, New York!

I haven't posted since we got here unfortunately because now I think I've forgotten a lot of the nice things I'd noticed. We're staying in a really lovely part of Harlem in a house where if you put a penny on the ground it rolls rather quickly towards the wall. In all seriousness though it's really lovely, relatively inexpensive (New York accommodation is *very* expensive last minute), quiet and with lots of natural light which I love. There's computer in each room too which is very handy for the laptopless traveller. The pic on the frontpage is of the room I'm in right now. It's lovely. It is called MichaelNY . I could even learn English here if I wanted, how useful :). So we've done some touristy things, walked around Central Park in which Padraig got some good pics for his steps series, went to the MoMA which is really interesting and I think one of the best modern art museums I've been to, tried to get to South Ferry to get the Staten Island ferry to see old Lady Liberty but were thwarted, went to a huge M&Ms shop with every kind of merchandise imaginable, saw some sealions do tricks at the aquarium, went on the boardwalk at Coney Island, had numerous pints in various Irish pubs, saw the Rockefeller centre ice rink covered in tables and marquees, peered at the city from the Empire State Building, went on the Subway at 3 a.m and didn't get mugged, had some lovely icecream in Madison square park, saw the giant Piano in FAO Schwarz and the suicidal Lego people in the nearby lego diorama of New York, ate some beautiful Carribbean, Japanese, French and Chinese food and pizza within days, went to Chinatown, hung out in the Dominican community in Spanish Harlem (well with our Irish friends and their new roommate from L.A), drank some mate and sake with the lads, got peanutbutter M&Ms, saw Carmina Burana at Carnegie Hall, cheap food, cheap drink. Fantastic. So there ends my little summary of the past few days. This could be the last post I make in the blog. I hope not, I'm sure I'm missing something. In short I really like New York, you can truly do anything here at any time of day. Maybe I should live here too :). Til next time! I'm gonna put up some new pics too.

Somewhere in the atmosphere above Northern Argentina

This post is from a programme originally broadcast on the ninth of this month.

We are experiencing rather serious turbulence and some passangers behind me are giving me an earache giving out to people standing up who probably need to go to the toilet -the turbulence is going to last an hour, it's understandable some of us may need to void our bladders - the captain said it was ok. Maybe it's just the tone I dislike, anyway she was pissing me off. Really I was pissed off already because of all the questions we had to go through at Buenos Aires airport and the bag checks that and the fact that the entry form to the U.S makes you sign something which waives your right to appeal deportation for any reason that the immigration officer things is reasonable. Why not just put up mile high metal fences if you don't want people coming into your country. Ah I'm probably being a little harsh but ever since we got mugged on Friday I've been a little on edge and annoyed. Foe those of you who haven't heard we were walking along in a park in , Tigre, a town famed for its peace and tranquility and frequented by old people from Buenos Aires when we were set upon by a bunch of little shits who managed to wrest my bag from me and knock over my brother. Every time some little bastards do something like this (i,e when they stole the wheels off the bike and then stole the bike - twice, broke into my house etc.) I become closer to condoning vigilante justice despite myself. Really I was most pissed off when we were waiting at the police station just about to give the statement when I realised (for a reason unknown still to me and giving me status as one of the most stupid people who has ever lived) the keys to our apartment in Buenos Aires (one hour away by a train that departs every ten minutes or so from Tigre) was in the bag that was stolen. I tried to appeal to the policeman to send someone to the apartment to keep it safe for the few minutes we'd be making the statement but he got a bit pissy and said something like, they won't go there because they know they'll be arrested. Understandable, most likely true but absolutely useless to someone who has a possibility of having all their most important possessions stolen. Anyway we asked to come back the next day and beat a hasty retreat. On returning the next day, as we were told, I was told the policeman wasn't there and that I should come back the day after.So I wasted another 3 hours of my time and became unsure if he would be there the next day even though I was told he would be. He was there the next day but wouldn't talk to us for quite a while some of whihc was spent talking to another of his colleagues and having a laugh. Rage stirred within me. In the end I got the statement I needed for the insurance but it was all rather stressful. The last while in Buenos Aires has been a bit nerve wracking between crazy taxi drivers being assholes and the mugging. Argentina has been a cruel mistress indeed but things could've been much much worse.
Jesus was unfortunately overlooked due to time wasting trying to get police statement. We hadn't actually gotten to see anything in Tigre before we got mugged either so that was a washout too and we decided not to go to Boca because it has a bad reputation for petty theft and we were feeling a bit paranoid. What we did do though was eat dulce de leche pancakes so full of butterscotch it came out the ends in huge lumps! Eat jamaican food and have large tubs of icecream delivered to our door late at night, go to a massive international art fair with an installation featuring an arcade game machine and a portrait of Jesus kissing Superman, go to one of the largest street markets I've ever seen and go to a necropolis filled with very bueatiful burial monuments and one Evita. I found Buenos Aires a very inspiring place and I hope it'll give me good ideas for the portfolio for the design course I hope to do in September.
Now, though it is goodbye to South America as we go further and further north,up to New York and back to long evenings and summertime, warmth and sunshine. I can't say I'm not looking forward to it though there are a lot of things left to do in South America, Machu Picchu, Nazca Lines, Galapagos islnads to name but a few. I hope very much I'll have the chance to do these things in the future but Ireland beckons me back once more and I couldn't say I was anything if not a homebird at heart so I welcome its damp, gren embrace :) We're off to visit a friend (my oldest friend actually at a good 19 years) and I can't wait. It'll be good to bitch about things and relate our marvellous adventures too. This ends chapter one of my round the world travel. I'm not really sure where I should go next, Asia (including Russia, or Afirca. I wish I could put a poll on this. Please post comments, your opinion is important to us! :p. Ciao muchachos, back to the anglophone world I go. Adios.

Pics - It is done

Finally I have sorted and uploaded all my pictures up to the present day. 200 new ones in Rio. I've been trying to upload those for 2 months! Still some to go in Vids. Very glad to ave the lot uploaded. Now I'm gonna go through them as thoroughly as I can titling and descriptioning them before I forget what the hell they all are. This is one way of combatting my chronic amnesia like memory! In other newswe found a museum that was a restaurant and a Holy Land theme park. More to come on that with a real post later in the week. Tourism has been suspended for administrative issues (including possible fixing of suspected whiplash hopefully). Hasta luego!

New Pics

Finally having a decent internet connection has done wonders for my photo album - check out the updated folders (detailed on the right). There's about 300 new ones I'd say. New ones in Buenos Aires will be put up every day. No kidding. It takes about 10 minutes for me to upload 100 pics so it's no prob.

Buenos Aires - Buenos Aires

Just like New York Buenos Aires is so good they said it twice :). Well it's truly a pleasure to be out of Patagonia. Every time I see Patagonia in a travel agent's window or on the cover of a coffee table book I think to myself thank the good lord I've escaped. It's very sad really, I really enjoyed my time there until the whole fiasco wih the car and now that large ancient seabed of an expanse of nothing only reminds me of pain (physical at that!) and a sense of entrapment. Let me elaborate. The last time I wrote gentle reader I was still in Comodoro Rivadavia convalescing. You will remember there had been a volcano which caused havoc all across the country with transport etc etc so flying seemed an impossibility thus we chose to take the 24 hour bus journey instead, all well and good. Up we get to get on our bus at 8.30 in the morning only to find it a little delayed. No matter, I thought, Argentina'a a bit like Ireland like that, it'll be along within the next alf an hour. After 2 hours standing in 0 degrees I began to have second thoughts and eat the face, literally, off the drivers who were sitting in our bus eating croissants and laughing. What the fuck are they doing I asked myself!? Ire rose within me and clouded my weary brain. I was convinced that I was in the village of Prisoner fame except it was not Wales, it was Patagonia. A large village but nonetheless inescapable. You will also remember that due to an immense brush fire a month before we were unable to to go to Buenos Aires from Colonia in Uruguay. This time it was snow. All the time we spent waiting for snow so we could frolic about in the white and now the bastard was trapping us in Patagonia..Again!!! The road was cut off indefinitely. It was all a bit fushy though. We were told the road was cut off in every direction yet Comodoro was completely free of snow. The drifts rose to 60cm in some places we heard and nothing but a film of deep anger lay upon me. I fully expected a large white balloon to appear and swallow me up. Needless to say and to cut a long story short we managed to get a flight the next day having spent another considerable amount of time at the bus station and arrived in the much warmer Buenos Aires that night around midnight. It felt like a deliverance. I really felt that I had been freed. Poor Patagonia, it did nothing to deserve this harsh treatment but that's unfortunately how I felt about it at the time. I really hope I'll want to come back. The placeis really rather awesome in it's way.
So now I'm in Buenos Aires. It's really, well words escape me. It's really something! We managed to rent an apartment here which is lovely and homey and right beside Plaza de Mayo while still being a haven of peace and quiet (difficult to come by in the city). We'rea 5 minute walk from the subway too. It's great. It kind of feels like I live here. The previous place we were in was the Casita de San Telmo. This is quite a place. For one it's a beautiful house, if you read the website you'll get the details. There is also a cat that tries to invade your room but likes a good sword fight :) But the nicest thing about it is how friendly it is. We only saw the proprieter once suring our stay. It really felt like a friend had just given you the key to their house. The kind of house where everyone comes to hang out. Everyone is very friendly, always willing to have a chat and share some food or drink with oyu. It reminded me of living in student accomodation :). We met a lovely Swiss lady who had come to Buenos Aires to write a book and a very nice, interesting and cool irish guy called John. We spent some time with John in out few days in the casita and had a great time. I taught him about dulce de leche and a couple of Spanish words and he taught us about tango, gave us lots of handy advice and brought us to a great Milonga (Tango show, open to participation) where we met another interesting chap called Andrew who packed in his vegetable growing in Wales for a life of tango in Buenos Aires. If you're reading this, John, thanks for everything mate and we hope to see you in Toronto if we get the chance!Sound man as they say. Here's a link to his business website. He knows about cranes. If you're around Toronto and want a crane give him a bell!
The area we were staying in was San Telmo, very historic and ,I've realised, a source of Art Nouveau antiques!! Now, those who speak to me about art will know that I adore Art Nouveau and the prospect of owning such a thing makes my toes curl with delight. The relative cot of things is about a fifth of what it is in Ireland - I may be able to procure such an item without selling a kidney. I'm thinking of it strongly. There's loads of art nouveau architecture everywhere too. It's really great!
Today is the 25th of May as some of you who are keep up with the passage of time will know. Today is alos Argentinian independence day and so we expected the streets of the capital (and the main square) to be thronged to capacity with proud (rabid, or whichever way you look at it) Argentinians but no! The streets were empty, much quieter than a normal day. It was like the Marie Celeste in some places. Very strange. We did see a sort of variety show in the local cafe though. It reminded me of the entertainment you get on those ferries to France but there was a dance to the music of Cinema Paradiso which was really good.
I must mention ,before I go, the sculpture park we found whilst wandering along looking for something else. Giant metal lizards, cows and dinosaurs made out of bits of cars, typewriters, circuitboards, anything solid it seemed and preferably metal or plastic. There was even some giant ants climbing a telegraph pole. All the work of Carlos Regazzoni who is from Comodoro as well. If you've ever been to the town you would wonder how an artist could come out of it. It's like the Argentinian equivalent of Leitrim or something. It's also a city of knowledge we were told by a lady in the airport. Curious. Anyhow the sculpture park was completely unexpected and one of the reasons which I like Buenos Aires so much. It's very very different from Rio but I love them both in different ways. Viva Sudamérica! Hasta la vista!

Comodoro Rivadavia - Chubut

The time has come to end my silence! Suitably dramatic I hope :) For those of you who haven´t heard me and my travelling companions were involved in a car crash about a week and a half ago in the middle of nowhere in Patagonia. I´m disgusted that a boy who gets knocked off his scooter and sustains no injuries except a possible punishment beating from his da gets news coverage in the local paper and we don´t. Our car is now similar(in the front at least) to one of those cars you see in a little cube in a scrap yard. The other two have put pictures up of thier injuries and all sorts but I still find that a bit disturbing so I´ll try get a pic of the car to put here (not the one with the blood on the door frame.) You may have guessed, gentle reader, from my flippant tone that none of us is seriously injured. Indeed that is true although my back is at me something terrible and makes me feel like some sort of geriatric every so often :). The other two have fashionable bent noses (but only a little, don´t get offended if you read this! :p )
Head on collision can put a bit of a damper on travel plans though and due to the temporary messed uppedness of muscles involved in carrying large objects (i.e backpacks) and those involved in any serious walking or climbing we´ll have to be a bit more sedate for the next while. I think Macchu Picchu may be off the list but we´ll see, still dore now but might have cleared up by then. For the moment we will be leaving Comodoro Rivadavia on Sunday. I can´t say I´m not glad - bad memories of stressful waits in hospitals I´d rather leave behind. Off to Buenos Aires we go. Unfortunately we´ll have to go on a bus for 24 hours because where a huge tract of fields on fire was stopping air travel before a Chilean volcano has stepped in and covered everything to the east in ash. Sometimes the wind whips up the ash and makes flying not so safe. I get the feeling someone is trying to tell us not to go there! Whoever you are - if it was you who put that 4x4 on the wrong side of the road you´re a bastard!
Having said that though we got better accommodation in the little hopital in Perito Moreno than we got in some hotels! Breakfast in bed, free transfers to the bus station, television, adjustable beds! Even free, really stong painkillers!. It was all free. God bless Argentina. The cops also sorted out te car thing completely for us, it was great. *And* they gave us tea. It´s a pity really, we were making such good progress towards weird gnome town in the north. Maybe they were warding me off!
On our way while we still had an intact car we stayed in Baja Caracoles. It´s a town of 31 inhabiatants. Yes, you read right, I didn´t miss a zero. I was wonderng why everyone looked at us funny when we got in. Seems to me now that half the population of the town was in the bar of the hotel we stayed in. Literally. God it was remote. It was at least an hour from anywhere else in any direction.
On the upside we did get to see the "Cueva de los Manos" the ancient handprints on a rock wall in an an equally ancient canyon. That was pretty cool, couldn´t get over the idea that someone just came down with an airbrush and did it in their spare time, there being a lot of it in the Patagonian wastes I imagine. Actually after that we ran out of petrol on the way to Perito Moreno too (another sign!?) but after only about half an hout of waiting a nice couple came along and sold us some. On arriving in Perito Moreno to fill up properly we discovered we´d rimmed one of the wheels and petrol was leaking from the car. So we fixed it adn it only cost about 20 euro. We met the nice couple there again anf they told us to divert off the road and head east (to where we ended up having to go anyway!) because of the volcano. After checking the news we decided o head on the way we were going anyway. "Great", we thought,"the rental agency will never know we messed up their car and we managed to escape a scary accident!" Ah if speaking too soon was a sport we´d get a gold medal. It was the next day we ran into the other car. Still lucky are we to escape with pretty minor injuries and the hospital did some excellent soup! I think I´ll leave it there for today and relate to you again my adventures when I am in the capital. Hasta lluego mi amigos!
P.S Happy Birthday Ferd! Sorry we´re late on the pressie, we´re getting our heads together now. With superglue!!