My Ramble

So yesterday someone tried to mug me. It was a pretty crazy experience.

Bjorn and I went to a poorer part of town for a look around. I knew from the guide book that you had to be aware but I didn´t realize how bad it was I guess. We were on our way out of the suburb about 10/15mins away from safety when a guy came up behind me and grabbed my backpack. He started pulling it backwards and of course I went with it, he was tugging me and I was thinking just take the fucking backpack, you have to take the straps off the side not pull it straight backwards! I was also thinking you are a pretty shitty thief, get off me and leave me alone! All the time I couldn´t even see him.

Eventually I went down. I fell on the concrete on my side and was screaming. Bjorn turned around the opposite way as he thought there was someone else with the guy who jumped me and there was another guy behind him. At that point he said the cops had heard me scream and were turning around to come back. The two wannabe thieves were taking to each other trying to decide what to do next since they hadn´t got the backpack. then we think they saw the cops and slowly walked off. All the locals around were staring at me and I was still registering what had happened.

My elbow and arm was pretty sore as I landed on them but my arm is not broken, I have a massive graze that was bleeding (still sore now). I was so glad were were ok and they weren´t armed. It took about 20 mins for it to really hit me what had happened  and how much worse it could have been. When I got back to the hostel one of the other gals said her friends had a similar experience but it was much worse, the girl was kicked and hit and her boyfriend had his jacket cut with a knife (it missed his arm) and all their stuff was stolen.

We went to get some food and a couple of drinks to calm the nerves. It was strange because everywhere else here is so safe even at night for me on my own. I think I had relaxed my guard a bit. Before I was attacked I went to a lovely market and brought a bracelet, It will always remind me that someone was on my side yesterday. It has an eye on it.

When we got back to hostel one of the other travellers had had his wallet pick pocketed on the subway and the other had her debit card copied and $1400 Aussie dollars stolen from her account. Fuck what a bad day for us.

I am still a little nervous but am trying to not let it ruin the rest of my travels. We partied hard again last night and I stayed with a French boy I met at the hostel 9 days ago. He is beautiful but is staying here for 4 months so I have to leave him behind and continue my travels

Off to  new city overnight tonight so things looking up.

Here I come Mendoza!

Ciao

So today I waked for hours. Bjorn and I walked to the port - he wanted to see the water and walk around the park. I went to a gallery that had a millionaires private collection of artworks. Among the works he had a Dali, gustav Climt & an Andy Warhol, man he must be very wealthy!

Along the way I saw 3 homeless adults with children begging. WTF. Either they had borrowed the children to get more money (the children all looked really clean) or they were insane and bringing up children on the street or they didn`t live on the street at all. I am not sure which.

On the way home I wandered around a suburb next to ours which is very trendy and expensive. There were some very funky clothes, bags and jewellry. It was hard for me not to buy things when I know I may never come back here, but I have no room in my pack and I don`t need more things!

Then I got lost for about 40mins in the dark! Luckily it is really safe here. I wasn`t scared but I was very tired and ready to sit down after walking around for about 7 hours!!!

During my walk I was thinking about what makes Buenos so enjoyable. What`s so great about it? The city is really dirty, noisy like most big cities and not particulary good looking either.

It`s the people, what you can do, the nightlife and the vibe that I love. It has a certain chilled out addictive energy about it.

Last night we went to another club. It is a loungy pub/club. Again people were smoking cigs and pot and drinking cocktails and 500ml beers outta the bottle. There were two small rooms with different DJ`s in each, the music was pretty cool. As usual we went out at 1:45am so I had a nap from 9pm-midnight so I could feel a bit refreshed.

Today I got up around 1 or 2pm made some breakfast and rallied the boys into going to the market with me. One of them only came because he could get his favourite snack nearby! Mostly they were bored but one of the girls from the hostel came too so I could check out the stalls with her. The boys are very good at waiting and ever the protectors making sure we didn`t get lost, which is nice!

I started my hippy bracelet collection which I have been longing to do. I brought a wooden ring, two cotton bracelets, and a small brightly coloured small bag for my camera and a few bits so I don`t have to carry a backpack all the time.

I tried my first Choripan (chorizo and french bread with sauce sandwich) it was delicious! I took some photos of the man making them for Facebook as it was so authentic. We ate in te street and the boys drank beer with it. They even had bar stools on the footpath for people to sit, eat and chat.

We finished up in a square where locals danced the tango, it was night time by then and they had colourful lights in the square.

Buenos is so safe, full of friendly people and it is so nice to be able to eat local food and not get sick.

Tomorrow I will probably head off to the bus station with my buddy Bjorn to get our bus tickets to Mendoza (14hour bus trip overnight). Then some more sight seeing as I still have 5 more days here!

Until tomorrow x

So I went to bed really early yesterday to get up and go and see some sights. However I didn´t get much sleep as everyone was coming in and out of the dorm pissed and yelling and smoking on the landing upstairs. I didn´t really mind as I was lying down but it was a little bit much when one of the girls tried to get into bed with one of the boys in my dorm and was telling him to take his clothes off. He didn´t seem too impresed either. Travellers sleep more in the day and party all night here. Arh the dorm life!

I went back to the gym today and have been cooking lot´s of healthy food, nice also not to have a hangover! Was all ready to go sight seeing only to find out the makets are probably not open because of the rain and that the whole town shuts down when Argentina plays soccer which is on now. So not much is going to happen today!!

So I am going to plan my next destination, maybe Mendoza which is known for it´s wine and I am not sure what else yet! my new buddy Bjorn is off there two days after I was planning to go somewhere so thought I would tag along as he speak Spanish which is good for me and I like his company as he likes a joke.

Still pretty cold here but slowly getting used to it.

My tattoo will be 2 weeks old tomorrow and is still healing and peeling but seems all good.

The travelling life is so awesome so far, better than I remember! I am in an awesome hostel so that helps heaps, really don´t want to leave to go anywhere else. Haven´t started planning my trip yet!

We went to a crazy nightclub - club 69 last night with a drag show and hip hop dancers. There were also cute boy and beautiful girl dancers. I wasn´t sure who was straight and who wasn´t! Very fun tho as nothing like you would ever get at home it Kicked Caluzi´s ass. We had to get our names on the door. There was confetti and massive balloons that went out into the audience at the end of the show. People were smoking pot and cigarettes in the night club which ment my clothes stunk this morning but not something you get every day! Pretty tired and hungover not much sleep in the dorm.

Not sure what I will do today pretty low on energy, what I do know is I have to start eating salads as my pants are getting tighter with the amazing beer and food!

Think I might try to do some Yoga, there is a place next door if I can ask them how much and what time, seems simple right but they speak so fast here I can´t even pick up any words! Apparently Paris my new friend at the hostel said that Equador will be good for me to learn Spanish as they speak slowly and none of them speak English! She is currently looking for her shoe as she always leaves them around and can only find one. She is amazingly fun and loves life and the boys love her!

The world cup soccer starts here today so it will be mayhem for a month, could be great fun tho

Write soon

Hola,

Last night we went to the beer tasting which was awesome. 8 little pint shaped glasses filled with different beers and a description which I made my new friends translate. I liked the honey beer best it tasted like it had Manuka in it, the boys hated it and like the darker ones.

After that had another cooked shared meal at the hostel from Melvin (awesome cook and quite cute too) he works at the hostel at nights and is wickedly friendly. It was a traditional mexican meal - chicken cassorole, the best Guacamolie I have ever eaten, rice and fresh salsa + lot´s of beer, wicked.

Got up today and caught the free breakfast which is pretty shitty so will catch it if I get up in time if not I haven´t missed out.

Then I went to the local gym which was interesting trying to communicate. Everyone is so patient and helpful even though I don´t understand. The cute trainer helped me out I think it was my nice smiling and the fact I could use the machines unlike the 3 other rather lazy locals that were there too.

I am starving so am about to cook up an awesome lunch with Andrew who is at the shop buying supplies and says he is a good cook - sweet.

Then we are going to go to the cemetry which is the place to visit, so will see, get to hang with Melvin some more so that is all good.

Tonight we are off to a nightclub called 76 that is surposed to be good fun. They don´t get going until 2am here tho so that is tomorrow out!

Chao

it is my second day in Buenos Aires and I love it! It is not what I expected but still amazingly safe, friendly and parts are very beautiful.

Last night we had a hostel BBQ shared dinner and I ate Pork and Pork sausages which is very unusual for me but they were amazing, it was all you can eat food and red wine for around $10 US! We drank and talked till 3am and I woke up today at noon with a hangover having missed my free breakfast - arh well must have needed a sleep!

Me and my two new friends (Andrew from LA, living in Calafonia & Bjorn from Germany, living in Canada) went to a local cheap eatery for breakfast/lunch and tried to make sense of what there was to order. I had salami and cheese with bread and some of Andrews fries.

Then Bjorn and I walked around the town and went to the Art Gallery which was awesome. We spent about 1.5hours in the gallery. It was all South American art dating back from the early 1900s. It seemed to follow the same movements as the Picaso´s of the world but was all from the continent.

Now the three of us are off to have local beer tasting platter - which is a whole lot of shots of local beer. Getting a bit of a fatty with no exercise and all this booze and food. Hopefully since it is pretty cold here I will burn some of it off! Missing exercise so might try to go for a run tomorrow if I can get up early! Or maybe go to the gym I saw down the road.

My spanish isn´t improving with all the English speaking tourists helping me!

write soon xxx

NY rocked! You can get anything you want anytime of the day and everything is so convient. Things like you leave the subway and you don´t need to swipe your metro card again you just leave - genius. Everyone is so friendly and holds doors open for you. The shopping and the sales were amazing but I restrained myself. So many fabulous galleries and it was so hot. To be honest I could have moved there in a second!

Now however I am in Argentina, at a pretty trendy, chilled hostel. Everyone speaks English and Spanish fluently, which I don´t, maybe tomorrow as my brain is a bit fried today!

Getting into the swing of the travelling thang.. Think this could be awesome for me…

 More soon x

I have realized a few really important things lately.

I am not perfect. I am not responsible for other peoples lives or happiness, I am not defined by other people or their insecurities. I am not defined by my moods, my appearance or my actions.

I am not my job, I don’t need my job (what I mean is that there are other things in life and there are always other jobs), I am only responsible for me and my own well being.

I am the only one who can make me happy, I need to love me for me, I am ok with my loneliness, sadness, hurt and pain. I am also more than ok with my body, it’s appearance and I am safe in my body.

I am most happy and comfortable when I am authentic. I don’t need anything from anyone.

I don’t need to be anything to anyone.

Why does facebook have to go to everything? It’s like people can’t go to a wedding, a birthday party, away for the weekend without facebook coming too! facebook is the uninvited guest. Can’t you go to the event like you used to and tell everyone about it later? Does everyone have to fucking tweet or make facebook updates in the middle of events these days just because they have an iphone? Is anyone really present at the event or are they secretly waiting for the wedding ceremony to end so they can get back online? 

When does this become too self indulgent and pretentious?

Let’s face it this behaviour is not about excitement or wanting to share the event or moment - it’s about the 5 minutes of fame that most people strive for. It’s about getting attention and it’s a quick fix for people who have a short attention span or get bored easily. Everyone of any real importance is physically at the event - why not spend time sharing the moment with them?

Then you get the updates from people who are never at any event and dribble on about utter crap. I don’t want know what your baby had for dinner or if they have a sore ear….I think people should spend less time writing crap online!

I don’t write this blog so people will read it because they don’t I write it to get it off my chest!