Carnaval Argentine Style and a lot of riding

I left off last saying that Gualeguychu did not seem like much of a party.  I don`t think I could have been more wrong.  In my first night in the hostel, I heard some noise on the roof.  My catlike curiousity sent me up the staircase where I found a group of Argentines grilling and being jovial.  I joined in and instantly had a new group of people to run with.  We went out to a bar around 1 am. At this point I am exhausted because 1) lack of sleep from the day before, 2) several hours riding in the scorching sun, and 3) just ate a ton of meat.  As expected, I fell asleep at the table for over an hour before they woke me up and dragged me back to the hostel.

The next morning, the 10 person room was boiling hot so I could no longer sleep.  I headed to the kitchen and joined the group again for some breakfast.  However, there is a new person there.  He is a Korean American from Chicago.  I now had to share my token Americaness and Koreaness with this guy.  In any event, the Argentines advised me and the additional intruder to go to Solar del Este with them.

As I walked in Solar, this was the scene.  A huge metal contraption about the size of a football field misting water on the dancing masses below.  There is a stage in front of the mist where the most attractive girls fought for attention by dancing to the beats of the electro mixed with Spanish music.

After a hard day at the beach, it`s time to feast.  This cut of meat is between the inside of the ribs and the internal organs of a cow.

After the second parrilla night in a row, I joined the chef at a reggae show.  I couldn`t understand anything the singer was saying, but I still did my best to enjoy myself.

After the show, there was a massive street party.  I pretty much got split up with my new friends immediately, but it wasn`t hard to make new ones.

After returning from the street party around 7am, I got a solid 4 hours of sleep before being kicked out of the hostel.  I rode around to Solar and other campgrounds but everything was booked solid.  I was on my way out of town when I decided to give one more look-see.  I found a random house with a yard and asked her if I could camp there.  She let me do so for 40 pesos.

Since the Solar beach was at capacity, I went back to the tranquil free beach in front of my `campsite`.  I guess this scene wasn`t too bad.

After wasting away the day on the beach, I walked across town to the Carnaval Parade.  It cost 70P to enter.

Einstein rocking his stuff.

Amadeus Wolfgang Mozart

I took a lot of photo of course, but I think this one exemplifies how fantastically little the girls wear.

The catwalk.

As I leave Gualeguychu on Sunday morning, I am greeted by more headwinds.  About 25 km into my ride, I realize I left my iPhone charging inside the house of the lady.  I give 2 seconds worth of thought as to whether or not to return, and the Pollyanna in me thought, at least you will get to ride downwind.

One comment of interest, I passed the same guy out, back, and out again.  The third time I saw him, he was looking rather famished and called for my help.  He looked like the 7 Minute Abs guy from There`s Something About Mary so I was cautious.  I didn`t have my mace or my knife handy, but I figured I could still take him as long as he didn`t pull a gun.  It turns out that he just wanted water.  I had a full 1.5L spare, and I hand him the bottle expecting him to pour some in his mouth.  Instead, he goes into his bag, pulls out some Tang, pours the Tang in the bottle then drinks about half of it.  He then offers it back to me.  I tell him to keep the bottle and the best of luck.  He was planning to walk to Conception del Uruguay (more on this later).

The road leaving Gualeguychu was under major construction.  This was a good thing for me because the road I biked on was the one under construction.  The actual thoroughfare is over on far left in this photo.  However, the construction road was sometimes paved, sometimes soft sand, and sometimes covered in obstacles to keep cars off.  In any event, I will trade this condition for watching my mirror ready to bail off the road at any moment.

Since I mindlessly added 50km to my ride, I only made it to Conception del Uruguay, which should have been a 72km ride.  I made it to town with about an hour left of sunlight, so I am sure that walking guy fared much worse unless a half blind person let him hitchike.  Since I am without proper camping geat, I asked around if there was a hostel.  Instead, the best I can find was a free campground.  After I set up camp and showered, I explored my site.  There was a family setting up a parrilla, and I wanted to join in for a 3rd feast in a row.  They were not so friendly but suggested I go buy meat and use the grill after them.  The kiosko on site was worthless. The guy had no meat and no change for a 20 so I couldn`t even buy a beer.  I am about to give up and call it a night, when I spot a group of young people on the beach.  I broke into their group with a stupid question, `Is that Uruguay on the other side of the bank`.  The answer turned out to be yes, and they offered me some Fernet and Cola.  Eventually we were on our way to eat Pancho (hot dogs), and then dance all night at a club.  This group of people was from Rosario, which is well known by Porteños to have the prettiest girls in all of Argentina.  I opted to skip Rosario for Gualeguychu due to Carnaval. Judging by this group, I made a wise decision.

We packed into a VM Gol and parked right in front of the club Taj Mahal.  It was not impressive in size or style, but the club played music I could understand and liked.  The girls bought a bottle of Frizze, which is a wine cooler in a regular wine bottle.  I usually make fun of guys that drink them, but it seems to be socially acceptable in Argentina.  I had to step up our wine coolers with a bottle of Champagne.  It costs 90 pesos so I naturally gave a 10 peso tip with the remained of my 100 peso bill.  Three bartenders stopped and individually thank me.  I`ve never felt so special for $2.50.  Unfortunately, my camera had died so I don`t have any photos of the night because everyone else was getting papparazzi in there.  I left the club on foot around 6:30 in the morning.  It took me over half an hour to walk back to my camp on the other side of town.  I wake up because the sun is beaming on my rainfly effectively turning my tent into sauna.  Even with oppressive heat and gross amounts of sweat pouring out of me, I couldn`t rouse myself until midday.  

Struggling to get out of town, I grabbed some food in the center plaza and set back on the road.  About two hours into the ride, I had an unwanted but familiar feeling.  My stomach was starting to tell me get off the bike.  I hoped into a ditch and squat into a the Taiwanese bathroom position.  I saw gnats and other bugs all over the place, but I didn`t have time to change locations.  I finished my business only to realize that I put the toilet paper just out of arms reach.  I lose my balance and step backwards.  Now I managed to skirt around dog poop in Bs As for a full month, but I couldn`t manage to avoid my own!  I only logged 92km and took a hotel in Ubajay to make sure I was properly clean for the next day.

I stopped at a gas station to wash my hands after the last incident and found these.  What, something spicy?  What, something peanut related?  Actually, the crackers were spiced with black pepper and left not even the slightest twinge on my tongue.  Notice how Cheese is mentioned before the Chili.  I have no idea what was in the cookies, but it was not peanut related.

After riding an hour out of Ubajay, I came across another bike tourist heading to Rio.

This is Fernando.  He posts videos at 

http://www.youtube.com/user/elojotvbikes I should show up on there speaking some broken Spanish.  After about 40km of riding together, I had to set him free.

I put in 132km on the day.  I planned to stay in Chajan but missed the city entirely.  This city had a decent sign but that was the highlight.

I am either very bored or very scared on the road when I take a photo of myself.  See how the scenery is just flat and green.  The biggest excitement happens when I ride under the shade of a cloud.

March 9th, I rode from Mocoreta to Bonpland.  There is nothing exciting to report during the ride, as I put in 130km of flat 2 lane highway.  I rode 2km off the highway down a crazy rugged dirt path to go into the town.  As I pull into concrete portion and take a quick look around town, I feel tons of eyes on me.  I notice that an entire family has quit talking and is staring and pointing at me.  I wasn`t sure if this was Night of the Living Dead or what.  But I was still determined to find some food that is not from a gas station.  I went to three different kioskos before I could find cold water.  Not feeling the optimism I arrived with for a square meal, I get pointed in the direction of a house that happens to make hamburgers.  I get real comfortable with the owner over coversation about travel and beer then he lets me camp and shower at his place.  The sunset this night is unique.  The sun is setting with Orange and Pink hues to the left, the moon is shining a tiny sliver straight ahead, and there is a lightning storm to the right.  

The owner has a daughter who speaks some English.  She tells me (all in Spanish) that she is in her third year of English courses.  Her effort to say the days of the week went like this, `Monday....Saturday...` 

During my 2nd liter of Quilmes, two other guys come up and buy beers.  One of them is very flaming.  I was super surprised to see one in this tiny town.  Later a third guy shows up on a moped.  The gay guy keeps patting his wallet suggesting that he is going to keep buying beers. At some point, I declare time for bed and the group dissolves with the moped guy and gay guy going on a tour of the town via moped.

More exciting scenery.

I was 170km into a ride, and noticed that the nearest town is 45km away.  However I only have 30 minutes of light before the sunsets.  I see a driveway and pull into a farm with the intent to ask if I can camp.  There are a lot of ways to approach this situation.  I decided to say hi, look as exhausted as possible, chug a liter of water, then ask for a chair.  We start chatting for a bit while the sun has almost gone all the way down.  I broach the question and next thing I know, I am getting a free bag of cookies and sleeping in my tent under the stars.  I am rudely awaken about 4:10am by a rooster.  It calms down in about 5 minutes but gets back on the alarm an hour and a half later.  I end up getting any early start.

  This farm had chickens, dogs, cats,

sheep,

horses,

and a cool owner. This guy had never been to Iguazu or Brasil.  You are so close, just go!

I got off Ruta 14 in Santo Tome and took Ruta 94.  When I first got to the road, I was thinking this could be bad if it goes totally unpaved.  However, I have been tested worse.

I thought this was the largest ant mound in the world.  I took a stick and tried to aggrivate whatever was inside.  The stick broke.  I tried to kick it, but it was just a mound of clay.

I was running low on water, when a mystical kiosko appeared.  They gave me liters of free cold water and only charged 4 pesos for the Fiambre and bread.

I have cross Provencial Lines into Misiones, which is the last one before Brasil.  The winds have calmed, but I have to contend with hills.

These signs are totally unneccessary, but I still get very happy when I see this one.

A sign in Apostales.  I can do the trip to the Iguacu Foz in 2 long days or 3 easy ones.  Considering that it is the weekend and there is the boliche in this town, it will likely be 3.  I even paid the 12 peso upgrade for AC in my room so I sleep that much more soundly.

Today`s ride from nowhere farm to Apostles was roughly 147km.  This will be the last time that I have any true statistics.  While I was going down this hill, there was a group of boys walking their bikes up the hill.  In order to show off, I put my head down and started peddling hard.  While doing so, I knocked my bike computer off.  After 20 minutes of fruitless searching, I cut my losses.

I should post next with photos of the Foz (Portugues) / Cataratas (Castelleno) / Waterfalls.

Back in the Saddle, Small Setback, and a Rough Night

I left Bs As with hugs, kisses, and a handshake then took a short 1.5 hour ride to my friend`s place in Tigre. 





Sunset in Tigre











View of Water Taxis in Tigre from Rooftop 

We charted out a route that night, and I decided to head to Gualeguaychú, which was 210km according to the interweb.  It was aggressive, but I figured I would have more daylight than riding in Mexico, and I was previously able to make close to those distances in more challenging terrain.  We ate at a parrilla and stuffed ourselves with wine and meat, but I was left with only 20 pesos in my wallet.   



Last photo before heading out.  Best hosts ever.  Thanks Julia and Nick.



Not even an hour into my ride, I meet a guy that has a blog about dancing Tango and biking to Ecuador! http://travesiadiariosdebicicleta.blogspot.com/ We were actually talking about this guy at dinner.  It was so random that he happened to stop me in the road while I was checking my map.

I have learned from my Baja experience that I should always carry cash so I decided to venture into the first reasonably sized town (Campana) in search of an ATM.  Additionally, turning toward this town appeared to be a shortcut.   According to my non detailed map, there is a highway through the middle of town which put my route more on a hypotenuse.  Instead of a convenient bank and quick get away, I found myself roaming in circles and tangents until I crossed some industrial train tracks.  The tracks were significant for two reasons. First, my rear tire pressure was so low that I felt the rim hit the track which is the cause of pinch flats.  Second, these kind of train tracks are a sign that I screwed up and need to turn around.  I stopped to pump up my tire and got my gear back in order.  As I was backtracking, I was thinking about recommendations for other bike tourists.  The one at the top of my list is to always buckle the loop on your camping gear into a pannier. 

After some more aimless peddling through Campana, I found the hypotenuse but no bank.  As I was appoaching a non distinct bridge, I noticed a 1.5 inch steel lip, and I did my best bunny hop manuever with the 50kg bike to avoid a pinch flat.  As I was performing this stunt, I heard a funny noise like the sound of my tire blowing out.  I quickly looked down and saw no damage.  About this time, a truck gave me some honks.  I assumed it was because I swirved a little as I was looking elsewhere, but then I thought about it a second longer and realized those were quick friendly honks.  Let me digress about honking.  There is the long single `what the hell are you doing in my road` honk.  There is the quick double `I wish I was on a bike too` honk.  Then there is the repeated quick `you dropped something` honk.  When I realized which honk I was hearing, I stopped to notice that I ignored my own advice and saw my sleeping pad basking in the sun on the shoulder.  I set out straight for it going the wrong way on the highway.  When I was about 200 yards away, a moped stopped, the guy on the rear scooped it up, then they turned around and high tailed it down the highway backwards.  Had I just been robbed?  Or was this a case of finders keepers?

In any event, I cut my losses and continued northbound.  I decided that I can manage my way to Iguazu without camping.  Now my original plan was to make it to Gualeguaychú for today`s ride.  With the punishing headwind that began as I crossed the Zarate bridge and my miserably slow 12kph pace, I change my destination to Ceibas. The city of Ceibas only exists because a pair of highways happen to cross there.  



Check out the scenery.  It is brutally flat and boring.  These bridges are the most exciting part of the ride.  Also, check out how low in the water the boat is cruising



My bike adorned with a slightly used 'un auto menos`sign but missing my sleeping mattress.  It`s quite a tight fit on the pedestrian sidewalk which reminded me of the levels in F-Zero where the magnets try to suck you into the walls.  Instead of my hoover car blowing up, my panniers will rip off.

Crossing Provincia Lines

I arrive in Ceibas close to nighfall, without water or much food, and with 9 pesos.  I ask every store and restaurant in town if they accept credit cards, and I get the same unsatisfying answer.  With my meager 9 pesos, I decide to buy the largest and coldest water bottle available, and I quickly enjoy most of my 1.5 liters of slightly chilled water.  I find a desolate gas station and post up my tent behind it.  I am doing this in no light when I start to notice that I am getting murdered by mosquitos.  After swatting swarms of mosquitos, I start to feel ant bites on my feet.  The situation couldn`t be any worse.  Or could it?  I get in my tent and kill what bugs made their way into my tent while setting it up.  I spread out my sleeping bag and lay down.  I thought I found a flat smooth area, but I have all sorts of rocks and really terrible uncomfortable objects poking me.  If only I had an air mattress, this part would be a non issue. 

A friend told me that once he slept against his mosquito net and woke up with 30 mosquito bites and Dengue Fever.  I therefore tried to lay in ways that would prevent me from touching the netting on my tent.  This would be easy if I was inside my sleeping bag. However, there were several factors against me this night.  It was hot and muggy.  I was covered in a combination of sunblock and dehydrated sweat.  And I wanted the extra layer of protection against the earth.  Needless to say, I slept very little this night.

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While I laid there in misery, I decided to write up a pros and cons list of Bs As.

Pro - Super cheap public transit (Subte and Collectivo).  Con - Many people in Bs As have bad BO.  It is especially pungent on the Subte.

Pro - Grass Fed Beef and Cheap Parrillas. Con - Service is non existent, the food is very bland, Cubierto (fee per person for sitting at the table).

Pro - People are really attractive. Con - Porteñas (People from Bs As) are stuck up and can go histerica.

Pro - Rabid soccer fans. Cons - Can`t sell out their stadiums and have to wait to exit the perimeter.

Pro - Endless nightlife options for every day of the week. Cons- Really spread out because the city is very large so bar/club hopping is more difficult. 

Misc Pros - Free 90 day Visa, Fernet is popular, Tasty ice cream, Really cool Ex-Pats

Misc Cons - 50 Cycle electricity, Taxi try to rip you off and give you fake money, humid with bugs, wax paper napkins

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I have made it to Gualeguaychú which is the Carnaval Capitol of Argentina.  I am being kicked out of my hostel so I am not exactly sure when I will leave.  However, I will continue north shortly.

The route I will take most of the way to Iguazu.

Beach at Gualeguaychú.  There is sand and a lot of people to the left, but I was in the shade and didn`t want to snap creepy photos from a distance in the dark.

Bs As Soccer, LCD Soundsystem is Happening, and New Course

During my Spanish lessons, there was a section in our textbook called the 10 corners of Buenos Aires.  It is a sort of tourist guide of things you should see while in Bs As.  I have been to none of them.  Things not mentioned in the 10 corners: attending a rowdy soccer match between two rival in city teams or seeing a band play one of their last shows before breaking up.

Before we headed off to the soccer match, naturally we wanted to find out what time the game started.  Of course the tickets do not the time printed on them, and the two clubs do not have schedules on their websites.  Therefore we depended on Google, ESPN, and random blogs.  The only problem was that the information about the starting time was conflicting.  Some said 7:15, 9:15 and Google even had it on the next day.  We called rabid fans of Boca Juniors, and they were not sure either.  In any event, we took in a few more sources and assumed it was begging at 9:15.  Additionally, we had no tickets.

As we approached the Racing Club stadium, it was certain that we got the time right because there were the signs that you are close: police in riot gear, empty bottles of beer strewn about, and people selling immitation jerseys and flags.  We took a long circuitious path as most of the roads leading to the stadium were blocked and finally found a scalper near an open entrance.  We did not even haggle with the guy as the sounds from the stadium were erupting, and we wanted to get in ASAP.  In any event, we paid a fraction over face value and were now in the stadium.  We were in the Racing section which must be reserved for English speakers but immediately adjacent to the rabid Boca Juniors fans.

The craziest fans are always behind the goals.  Boca was immediately to my right and Racing was across the field from us.  Notice how there is no clock, scoreboard, or jumbotron.  I.E. you have no idea when the game will end nor would you know the score if a goal was scored and you were absent...minded.  Replay, forget about it.

 

Notice the moat and barbed wire fence surronding the field.  I was really hoping to see a ball go in there.  And it did.  I thought for a second that a crazy would jump in and steal it, but instead some guy with a net retreived it and put it back in play.

Here is a video of the Boca Juniors fans.  They were really this loud for the entire game.  It was quite amazing at their passion.  I would say they love their soccer more than the Mexicans, but they still can`t manage to sell out a game.  Their noise basically mute the Racing fans except for the few scoring chances Racing had.  The game ended 1-0 with Boca winning, but it was clear that Boca was a much better team.

One last interesting thing about the game.  When we were leaving, I asked my friends, why is everyone just hanging out in the stadium.  In the US, it is a mad dash out of the stadium as soon as the outcome is decided.  I quickly found out why no one was in a hurry to leave.  The police pin you in the stairwell until the away team fans leave.  With the Boca team winning, we waited well over half an hour just making sarcastic snarky comments to ourselves about the situation.

This Is Happening ---------

LCD Soundsystem has announced that they are quitting.  Luckily for me, they were coming through Bs As.  Tickets were expensive at 180 Pesos, but I was willing to pay it.  However, I waited until the day of the show to buy tickets.  The price had jumped up to 275 at the box office.  I have never experienced a price spike and refused to the pay the money as I assumed there would be scalpers working the street.  Later that night as I came upon the massive line to enter, I asked everyone in line if they had tickets for sell.  There was nothing.  There were no scalper working.  I was baffled at this but was still determined to get in.  I was there with a friend from Berkeley who is a better Spanish speaker than me.  We ended up bribing the door guy and got it for under the original 180 Peso ticket price.  I think this doesn´t teach a positive lesson, but sometimes being shady saves you money and feels pretty cool to get in that way.  The bribe was well worth it as LCD put on an amazing heartfelt show.  The place was packed with fans including myself ready to jump and sing at a moments notice.  

LCD Soundsystem´s last song before the encore.  They rocked for almost 2 hours and left the stage looking teary eyed.

More Random Photos of Bs As -----------------------------------------------------

A friendly rooftop get together.  There was more meat in queue and we were unable to tackle all the meat between the 15 or so people eating.  I did not want to eat until sick as I knew there would be a long night ahead.

Club Niceto aka Club 69 on a Thursday night.  They played strictly German electro music.  My German friend said a memorable quote that night, `They should rename Buenos Aires, Buenos Awesome.`

Overexposed Bs As sunset from a friends balcony in Palermo Alto.  The sky was bleeding orange.

Club One on a Sunday night.  Yes they party til the wee hours of the morning on Sunday too. 

Another view of Club One from the VIP.  I don`t know how I got in there.  I ran into a girl from my spanish class, and she wondered the same thing.  No big deal.

Girls just want to have fun.  Some club in Palermo Hollywood.

Farewell to my crazy crazy apartment. 

-------------------------------------
My New Course

I have decided to head to Brasil.  I went to the Brasilian consulate in Bs As in effor to obtain a visa.  What I saw instead was an American girl adorning a Brasil shirt leave the place crying.  When she looked at me for consolation, I did my best to look disappointed too, but I sometimes when girls cry, I can`t help but laugh.  As I was also turned down for a visa, I have developed a backup plan.  I will travel to Iguacu Foz and get my visa there.  It is rumored that there is a same day turnaround.  If this rumor is not true, I will head across Paraguay and back into the north of Argentina.  If the rumor is true, you should expect photos of the Garotas de Ipanema.

Buenos Aires and Donde Debo Ir?

While in Punte del Este, I met a Korean USC grad from Brasil who told me how terrible Buenos Aires is, but I think the rivalry between the two nations clouded her viewpoint.  Besides this one nay, I was told by a wide variety of people that Bs As is amazing and worth a long stay.  Therefore, I felt inclined to take up residence here.  I explored the town from my hostel in the Centro in search of the best part of town to reside.  I did not like the Centro during the night as the steet were mostly desolate, and the few people actually in the streets were begging for something ranging from monedas (coins) to rolling papers.  In my coed hostel dorm room, I met a girl who was from the north of Argentina but knows Bs As very well.  She took me on the Colectivo number 39 (Bus that costs 1.25 Pesos roughly $0.30) to a part of town called Palermo.  Palermo is a huge area in Bs As and as such there are several areas of Palermo.  The place she showed me was Soho where in the middle is Plaza Serrano.  Plaza Serrano is a huge conglomerate of bars and restaurants where people sit, eat, drink, and dance until all hours of the day (note I did not say night).  I took the first apartment I could locate close to the Plaza for $450 a month.

The view from my bedroom which looks to the North

The weather has been amazingly comfortable so it has been conducive for socializing every night of the week.  The nightlife here seems to have carried over from Punta del Este, or perhaps it is the other way around.  As I mentioned before about my difficulties in communication on this side of the equator, I have enrolled in Spanish classes.  Fortunately my teacher looks like Salma Hayek which makes attending class fun.  However, it starts at 9:30am, and with the aforementioned nights getting started and ending so late, I have to changed to a later starting school.

In my first 2 weeks of being in Bs As, I have noticed several different things about this place than others.

1) Dog shit - people really don`t care that their dog deficates on the sidewalk.  The polite people will pull their dog into the steet so they go off of the sidewalk but never once have I seen someone actually pick up their animal´s excrament.  In Mexico I had to keep my eyes peeled to navigate around uneven sidewalks, but here in Bs As, I keep my eyes peeled for those soft steamy piles of dung.  It is literally on every block in multiple locations.

2) PDA - The people here really love to make out in public.  They will be standing in a bar, sitting on park benches, or riding the subte (Cheaper than the Colectivo at 1.10 Peso or roughly $0.28).  The locals love the public displays of affection.  

3) Sidewalks - In addition to our furry friends` feces, I feel like every 20th tile you step on is loose.  They use the word ´lodo´ for a particular situation when after a rain, dirty water lurks under a loose tile.  When you step on that tile, the mud flies up and attacks your trousers.  It has not happened to me yet, but I am sure my time is soon.  Sidenote - if I lived in Bs As and wanted to redo my floors, I would just walk around and pick up the tiles from the sidewalk instead of buying new ones from one of the many tile stores on Cordoba Ave.

4) Critial Mass - Just like San Francisco, there is a critical mass here.  The mass was larger than the ones in San Francisco and took up all of 9th de Julio, which is the biggest avenue in the world according to a fellow Critial Masser.  During the ride I heard them start a chant, ``Auto no, bici si``.  I quite like this chant and want to bring it back to SF with me.  I also want to see if we can lead critical mass over the Bay Bridge.

Getting ready for Critial Mass Bs As style with the Obelisque in the background

We literally overtook the autopista.  I guess Bs As drivers don´t mind having their highway blocked because they are used to being hassled by numerous protests.

This is her passion.  I love biking but not that much.  I was just thinking, what if she had some freak accident due to biking and loathed her bike.  Would she still want that tatoo? or would that be the ultimate tatoo I wish I never got situation?

5) Food - I really miss Mexican food.  The food here is more bland than I expected.  The grass fed beef is great, but just the flavor of meat does not do it for me after a while.  I need spice.  I found one place with spicy Thai food, and I travel 45 minutes by Subte and foot to eat it.

There is a lot of street graffriti around.  This is not the best I have seen, but I wanted to show Bs As general love for ham which is a meat I have never been too fond of.  Any place that you want to grab a quick bite will always have ham.

6) Monedas - There is a general shortage of change.  People make money by giving you 90 centivos on the Peso for change in front of mercados.  You cannot pay the Colectivos with bills.  Also the 25 and 50 centivos coins are basically the exact same size.  The 50 centivos piece might be a millimeter larger in diameter.  Very strangely, both the 25 and 50 centivos pieces can be either copper or silver.  You literally have to turn the coins on the one side with the value markings to know how much change you actually received.

7) Discoteque - I have harped about the lateness of the nights and mornings so this is not about that.  In Bs As they do something that is rather strange to me.  You have to wait a line with a bunch of frustrated patrons to buy a ticket which you redeem for a drink.  Also if it is your first time in line, or you don´t know the price of what you want, you have to look at the menu taped to the front of the cash register and make the other patrons wait even longer.  I don´t know if this is because of shady bartenders, but it makes me feel like I am at the Texas State Fair.  Also, my money is already put away by the time I am receiving a drink so I never reach back into my wallet for a tip.

The German in the grey shirt is my roommate Max and the other Karsten is his friend from college in Frankfurt.   Including those creepers in the background, this photo sums up the scene at Terraza del Este which is a mega club.  The club is next to the airport, and as the bouncers were kicking us out around 7am, the planes were buzzing only a few hundred feet above, which provided a second wind, literally.

Random Photos -------------------

This is a cool pedestrian bridge that connects San Telmo with Puerto Madero.  Puerto Madero is the most expensive real estate in town and not very accessible by public transit.

I thought Fernet was the San Francisco treat, but I was wrong.  The people here drink it with cola over ice.  In the supermarket, they don´t sell liquor, but somehow this qualifies as a digestivo instead.

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My plans going forward - This is a tough decision.  I really have a lot of options and would appreciate feedback on where to go next.  I have considered going
1) South to Tierra del Fuego
2) North to Iguzu Foz, West through Paraguay, North-West through Argentine and into Bolivia
3) West to Chile, North though Chile and into Peru.

I am in Spanish class for at least 2 more weeks so I have plenty of time to figure it out.

Muggy Mugging in Montevideo, Perpetual Party in Punta, Costly Crossing in Colonia

Before I talk about Uruguay, I forgot to mention something I learned in the Mexico City Airport, my bike is heavier than I thought.  My bike box with my panniers thrown on top was 50kg.  That is roughly 110 lbs before food and water.  With my body weight, bike, and panniers added up, it is at least 300 lbs!  I will drop some weight in Buenos Aires before I continue.

I rode roughly 28KM into the centro and found a mildew smelling hotel for 400 pesos (20 US$) a night.  When I arrived in Montevideo, I quickly realized that my Spanish skills were back to where they were when I crossed into Tijuana.  ´Y´ and ´ll´ is pronounced with a ´Sh´ sound.  For example, Playa is now Pli-Sha and Pollo is Po-sho.  There are a handful of other accents I am working on straightening out as well.

Montevideo is a town of over one million people, but the city is only worth a single day´s visit or maybe two if you have laundry to do.  There is one main drag with nightlife called Mitre.  This is the only place to get late dinner other than pizza or hot dogs in town.

I did a bad job showing this, but the UR money is really huge.

Random Statue, Similar to the DF Glorietas all over the place but not nearly as big.

Yerba Mata is a wildly popular drink.  The way it works: buy the Mata (glass made of dried fruit shown here), fill the Mata with three fourths Yerba Mata (which is like a coarsely ground tea), pour in cold water on the edge, let soak for 2 minutes, pour in hot water on the same edge and drink the Yerba Mata.  It takes three sip to empty the Mata but just refill  the hot water and repeat.  

Graffiti next to the Rio de la Plata

Horse Statue in the Middle of Plaza Indepencia.  It is because I took this photo that I was mugged.

So as I was taking the photo of the horse, a kid comes up to me and asks for a Peso.  I say no.  He comes to my other side and asks again.  I turn and look at him with a second more stern no.  He obviously came around my other side to check my pockets.  I took a firm grip of my camera and sure enough he grabbed the cord and tried to pry it from my hands.  He was unable to do so.  He runs off, and I begin to walk towards my hotel through the plaza again.  15 seconds later there is a girl yelling all kinds of things I can´t understand with another girl trying to hold her back.  The aggressive girl is spitting in my direction but fails to hit me.  As I am watching her actions, another kids runs from behind me.  I am unaware of the kid.  It reminds me of the scene in Jurassic Park where the guy about to get eaten by the Velocirator realizes they work in teams.  In any event, the kid takes a swing at the back of my head with a red motorcycle helmet.  I heard his footsteps just before contact and make about a quarter turn so the blow was directly to my left temple.  I am pretty dazed and run out into the street and stop the first car.  No one seemed interested in helping.  I go to a hotel where the security guard had seen the whole thing.  He calls the police.  The police come and basically ignore me.  I am really pissed that a kid just tried to knock me out to steal my stuff an no one cares.  I definitely learned that I need to be more careful about looking like a tourist. I know when I am walking through a bad part of San Francisco at night alone, I keep my head down and walk fast and no one bothers you.  If I would have done the same, I would not have had the headache for two days and a possible concussion.

Punta del Este is in the distance.  The city is like Can-cun with Vegas style gambling for South Americans.    Hotels line the both shores and the prices are more expensive than San Francisco.  I get to my hostel covered in salty sweat.  I take a shower and am still covered in salt as their shower was is from the ocean (Thanks - Tas D´Viaje)

Partying at 6am at Moby Dick with Americans from the hostel.  Ex-communicated Mormons are my favorite people to party with because they have a lot of catching up to do!  We left at 7am and the place was still packed.

Everyone takes a photo of this so I joined in

My long lost Atlanta fan.  Actually, she didn´t know who the Braves were or where Atlanta was for that matter.

You can tell how long a car has been in Punta by the amount of stickers.  Apparently it is okay for people to apply corporate stickers to your rear windshield.  I saw people actively doing this in broad daylight.  I imagine people would go crazy if  the same was done to their car in the States.

 I left Punta and returned to Montevideo on the same road.  I have dinner, but a ticket to Buenos Aires, and pass out in one of the deepest sleeps I have ever had.  I wake up over 12 hours later and can still barely move.  I finally get out of Montevideo and when on the road still in MVD a major storm rolls in.  In a matter of 2 minutes, it goes from calm to brisk wind to torrential downpour.  I am soaked head to toe and take refuge for an hour until the storm calms.  I put on my jacked I bought in San Quintin, Baja California and put it to the rain test.  It failed and will now go in the trash.  After the rain stopped, I was greeted by major head winds.

The flags were going crazy.  People could barely open the door to get in the store due to the wind.  I battled this for close to 10 hours and barely made over 100KM.

The sun is setting or has already set, and there is 10 minutes left of light.  I pull of the highway and go down a random road.  I start scouting for places to camp, but everywhere is fenced off with barbed wire.  I find some hay bails, hop the barbed wire, and decided to find another location since the grass is really tall, which makes me feel uncomfortable.  It is pitch black now, and a guy on a motorcycle approaches me.  He asks me a few questions then offers to let me camp.  He actually takes me to another persons farm.  I meet the farmer who is only wearing a bikini style pair of underwear and he allows me to pitch my tent on his porch.  The farmer (whose name I never understood) gives me a steak and cheese from his cow, and tomato and potatoe from his garden.  He told me he has 10 children that grew up here and had never left the country of Uruguay.  The house is as meager as it gets with a caved in roof, no running water, and trash everywhere.  In the night, the winds were blowing and knocking out apples from his tree which were crashing onto the tin roof above the porch.  Between the cold wind, hot sleeping bag, and apple on tin crashes, I did not sleep like I did in Montevideo.

I gather my belongings and head to Colonia del Sacramento.  I ponder most of the day if my online purchase actually went through.  I booked a ticket for 2pm because I expected to be in Colonia a day earlier and would make the morning to my time to explore.  Plans don´t always work out as I make it to the ferry port at 1:40 or just in time to go through immigration and catch my ferry.  The ticket cost me $50 for an hour long boat ride.  I paid under $100 for a 12 hour ride in Mexico.  I felt like I had been robbed by a legitimate company worse than the little punk kids.

Even though I never got to explore it, I have one photo of Colonia del Sacramento from the Buquebus Ferry

I have now made it safely into the depths of Buenos Aires!