Around Buenos Aires

A bit more graffiti which caught the eye whilst walking  the back streets of our district. Averaging about 12 miles a day in preparation for some of the big treks to come so really getting about.

On the tube !

Another couple of unfortunate souls.

About done here in BA with everyone keen to get on the road. I'll post another couple of pictures of the last few days, good practice for me as  I may not be getting a signal for some time.
Tony

Met the crew, team talk and itinerary for the coming weeks. Team meal at Desnival, a classic parrilla where every type of roast meat is available. I had the blood sausage, chorizo, intestines, kidney and tenderloin steak, all delicious. 

Now that I've learnt to upload photos on the I Pad I have attached a couple showing the extremes of the city including graffiti,homelessness, and the quayside.

Expensive quayside docks with polluted waters!

One of the numerous homeless.

Graffiti on most walls / facade

Beautiful coloured soda siphons from a bygone era.

Street Tango performed on many a street corner by all ages.

On the road tomorrow .........finally.

Well here I am ensconced in the Bohemia Buenos Aires, Boutique Hotel,for those of you in the know it relates to the hotel in Marseilles, in the vicinity of the bar of a thousand arseholes.....Been here three days now,the team slowly gathering from around the world. Each day have been up at 0600 and walking different areas of the city before breakfast. Quite an eye opener, masses of homeless sleeping on mattresses just slung at any available bit of shelter, coupled with the most amount of dogs roaming about that I have ever seen, resulting in the most amount of dog shit I've ever seen. Aromas in the midday sun unforgettable, roasting meat, coffee and dog shit hmmmm!!!

On the other hand the affluent areas area stunning like anywhere else in the world, dockside warehouse conversions, fantastic shopping malls, swanky restaurants. We have been visiting the more local areas, the markets where antiques abound including beautiful old coloured glass soda siphons, silver handled sword sticks, solid copper milk churns etc. on most corners there are street tango shows accompanied by some amazing guitarists which really do get the old emotions going, or maybe that was just because we lost at rugby again.

On a lighter note we were offered " powder" Eze to put up you nase mister, yeah right I know it's big but there's nothing going up there, and when at the Polo championships, which was brilliant, a guy was arrested having got through security with a handgun in his rucksack, nice one.

Polo championships were superb, the horses were incredible creatures, very well looked after in fantastic condition. The horsemanship, power, skill to manoeuvre at speed was awesome.

Eating hasn't been a problem, if you like steak there is every cut available and such huge portions, no fat or gristle washed down with a nice little Malbec. Last night found a nice little Tango Bar, good food and an amazing show on a stage ten foot by six, such precision.

As for today have been informed that the truck which is a newly built Volvo eight wheeled drive is still floating off the coast, the cargo ship having missed its docking period so won't be with us for another five days or so. An extra day in Buenos Aires and Pete the owner has hired a coach to hit the road and head South to the Southern most tip and at least get us amongst the wildlife, whales, seal and penguin colonies....although I already thought we were!! Life is hard

Well that's that, emotional farewells, to the airport and awaiting evening flight. Met five members of the team, all very nice. Thanks to all for your kind words, support and just being totally good friends.

Flight was a bumpy ride for most of the 13 odd hours, arriving Buenos Aires 0830. Mini bus to our hotel which is in a run down street just out of town. Stayed awake for lunch but succumbed to an afternoon siesta. Hit the ground running tonight, met 14 team members, a nice selection of Brits, Aussies, French etc Evening meal just across the road consisted of an amazing steak and a bottle of Malbec red wine, all for £12, can't be bad.

Tomorrow starts for me at 1000 to a local bar for a day of rugby, unfortunately there's no Welsh to have a bit of banter with. :(  could they surprise us playing NZ, we'll see.

Well that's it time for lights out, sharing a room with Jeanie (from the Lake District) Robin (from Guernsey) and Ken (from N Ireland) who's asleep and already started farting.....happy days!!!

"Expedition" Not a holiday !!!

This is my opportunity to travel for six months, or thereabouts, with an outfit called Odyssey Overland who specialise in Overlanding. Travelling in a purpose built Scania truck I will be joining twenty two fellow explorers driving around South America in a figure of eight visiting Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Galapagos Islands, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay. 

                                                                        

South America

                                                     

The beauty of this type of travel is that we are able to visit many more places off the beaten track. The living arrangements will be split between expedition tents, mossy nets built in and low budget accommodation. From volcanoes to glaciers, jungle to high altitude grasslands, wildlife to wild carnival, fascinating cultures and amazing activities, too numerous to mention here. I intend to suck the marrow out of it (as Butty would say) and engage in as many activities and new experiences as I can. I suppose Argentina and Samoa beating Wales recently is a new experience for some !! :)

We will be fending for ourselves, visiting local markets, buying local produce and attempting to conjour up gastronomic delights. Washing and probably not a lot of ironing will be done as we go. This is where the Tilley pants come into their own, two pairs apparently can get you round the world. One pair on the other washed and dried overnight ready for clean the next day. I was thinking maybe of stretching that to a week by wearing them normally, inside out, back to front, on my head etc etc we will see. :)

One rucksack, one daypack, ready for the off !!!!

This expedition has been in the planning stages for the last year, slowly accumulating all the necessary equipment, rucksack, Rab sleeping bag, thermarest self inflating mattress, mossy nets, leatherman, trekking boots, electronics, cameras, first aid kit and a medicine cabinet second to none. I am a walking pharmacy, pills for every occasion. Indeed pin cushion springs to mind having had numerous injections including Rabies x 3, Typhoid, Hep A, Hep B, Yellow Fever, Tetanus and a final flu jab yesterday.
Malaria tablets (doxycycline),  Diamox (altitude sickness), Ciprofloxacin (for stomach bugs) and the list goes on........

As far as electronics go I have some new equipment to enable me to record, photograph and edit the trip as I travel. A new I Pad, an early Christmas present from Lu....still getting to grips with the technology. Apps for everything including Skype, FaceTime, access to e mail, photo editing suite, books, music and a thousand and one other things to either read, play or listen to. It's a steep learning curve but I'm getting there, just don't expect miracles.

I aim to update this blog as often as possible,  wifi signals permitting, enabling you all to keep up-to date with my travels and all the activities I hope to be involved in. Hopefully I will work out how to include photos which should be amusing as well as amazing.

Finally a big thank you to Lu for supporting me with this fantastic opportunity and putting up with all the hair brain travel ideas I keep coming up with.

Thanks to all my family and friends for all your support. It is a strange situation I find myself in, mixed emotions. Excited to be off on an amazing expedition, anticipation at whats coming my way and sadness at leaving friends and family. Roll on Thursday evening, Heathrow, terminal 5, BA flight direct to Buenos Aires see you all  in seven months time.

Tony x