Greetings from Bueno Aires, Argentina (dont cry for me and all that..............!),
Hi there, don't mention the Falklands .... I mentioned it once and think I got away with it (actually it was mentioned on a city tour we did so I did not mention it first...!) I have not mentioned 'the hand of God' either but we wont mention that just now, have seen a wall mural with a pic of Maradona and THAT other great goal v England!
Since I last sent an email we went from La Paz to Cuzco by bus which took all day, 12 hours.
We had one more day in Cuzco for last minute shopping etc. and we visited a school/kindergarten a friend of mine (Jane Dwivedi from England) had done voluntary work in
a few years ago.
We met the man who runs the school and got a tour of the different classes with children from two to five years old. We met lots of the kids who are disadvantaged and are
getting a head start in life learning to read and write etc that they otherwise would not get. They were so cute and seemed really keen to learn, they sang songs for us and Dave entertained them with impressions of a kangaroo jumping round the classrooms! We made a donation of school supplies and other things and really enjoyed seeing the great work being done there.
We then said goodbye to the Cuzco, Peru and the Andes and flew down to Lima the capital of Peru. As we had a 13 hour wait for our flight to Bueno Aires we went into town and watched one of the first World Cup games there whilst having a pizza for lunch in a tourist area of Miraflores on the coast. We then went into the centre of town and did a double decker city tour of Lima. It was interesting and there are a lot of lovely colonial buildings there (most people recommend not going to Lima and say that nothing is there but for a day we liked and found interesting things) but the main excitement was our tour bus getting driven into by a white minivan! The front spoiler of the minivan came off and it happened right below us as we were on the top deck! Anyway after a half hour delay (yes we did have a plane to catch!!) we were on our way and saw the rest of the city.
We arrived in Bueno Aires after a quick overnight flight two hours before Argentina played their first game! we checked in to our hostel and then found a local cafe/bar to watch the game. Argentina won so there was much excitement. We met some other English people and watched the England v USA draw which I wont mention too much!!
we saw the Australia v Germany game in a bar that had English commentary but the less I mention of that the better too!!
It rained hard the first day we were here which was OK but it has been cool and wintry here. It is like a Sydney winter but a bit colder and in fact the place we are staying is just like Surrey hills in Sydney with lots of cafes and bars and leafy autumnal city streets.
We have had some sunny weather since and have enjoyed a city tour with no bus crashes and have seen Evita's resting place in her mausoleum in the cemetery. went to the Evita museum today before going to the large fan park to watch a game. will do a tour of Boca Juniors stadium on Friday on our way to an English pub for the England game as we went past it in our city tour yesterday and it looked interesting.
Everyone is very friendly and in a good mood which is probably coz Argentina are winning and looking good! We are happy for them to win whilst we are here so everyone is happy!
We have put our flight back to Australia for one week and arrive back on Tues June 22nd as we only had two days here otherwise.
It is a big and lovely city here like Paris or how I would imagine Madrid to be with huge palaces, lovely old buildings and massive wide streets. It definitely has a European feel here.
One of the best things is the steaks are reasonably priced and are of the highest quality as is the wine. Some of the red wines we have had are amazing and a third of the price of back home!
We are spending half of our time watching the World Cup games which are on at 8.30am 11.00am and 3.30pm and fitting in sightseeing when we can!
