Travels through South America

Yesterday evening, I was sat in a battered, old, art deco, tan leather armchair in the courtyard just outside my hot-pink and yellow coloured bedroom as the torrential rain punded against the corrugated tin awning two floors up.

A light spray would reach me once in a while, refreshing me in the humid heat. Our hostel, Morada Hostel on Humberto Primero, is such a change from the glum, oddly oppressive Downtown Maté Hostel in buenos aires. The staff here are friendly and relaxed and the buliding is painted in a cornucopia of vibrant colours,with modernist and expressionist paintings adorning the walls.

Potted plants and wooden furniture bring the outside inside and the original patterned floor tiles hint at the building’s past. The whole place conveys a gloriously shabby sensibility and was the perfect hideaway in which to rest our weary bones.

We left Buenos Aires at 1.30am after a wonderful final day in the city. We strolled around aimlessly before the rain forced to seek shelter where we chose to feast on a delicious slab of prime Argentinian meat. Our appetites sated, we set off to stroll again and ended up chatting to a guy called Esteban. He’d spied us earlier in the day with our backpacks and was intrigued to see what we were doing. He was really nice and talkative and madea nice change from the crazy older lady who’d stopped us in the street to query why on earth we would chose to visit Buenos Aires. “Go to Nicaragua or Costa Rica,”she said, “not this god-awful city!”

Esteban had livved for three years in the world’s southernmost city, Uchuaia, and i found myself longing to visit the south and see the whales and Patagonia… I was really impressed to be able to chat to him in Spanish – my first proper conversation!

The bus journey wasn’t quite the 9 hour direct service we had been promised, instead taking 11.5 hours and stopping at every small town. Thankfully, though, the seats were very comfortable adn I managed to doze for most of the trip.

Cordoba seems nice but, being a Sunday, everywhere is closed. Today we don’t have time to see the sites but hopeto return after our stay in the Eco Village and have a guide we can now call on – Paula, the lovely receptionist at the welcoming hostel Morada.

Hasta la proxima!