Hair today, gone tomorrow!

From start to finish in several photos and many laughs.

Every man should grow a beard at least once in his lifetime. With four months of unrestrained follicle freedom, Phileas doesn't think he'll ever get such an opportunity again!

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Please feel free to add names to the styles that particular take your fancy!

Have you ever looked in a mirror in the morning and actually recoiled because you didn't recognise the person there? Hmm, it's peculiar!

And the only question that remains - which weighed most? The hair on my head or my chinny chin chin?

Tempus fugit... and so do we.

A final evening about Buenos Aires saw us wander the streets of Recoleta and take in a film before retiring to the Art Hotel to reflect on the past year. Thanks to Steve for providing the perfect focus in his 100-question inspeckted bloggers' quiz!


Then morning came. Time to eat, pack and be a foreigner for the final time!


And how to feel about it all being over? It's hard to describe but perhaps some understanding comes in imagining having eaten the best meal ever. There comes a time when you're happy to stop eating and simply appreciate what you've tasted.


A fitting sunset over Brazil on our final flight.

3.5 films, the lightest of reading, a smudge of writing, inconsistent sleeping and most importantly 15 hours later..


Home. Of sorts. The journey continues...

Adios!

And so our Argentinian dalliance came to an end with a final fling with the Sanchez family. Two nights and three days of fun, laughter, and good (from Lucrecia) and bad interpretation.


It's good to share the finer points of linguistics over a coffee, looked over by an indoor merry-go-round...


And share a fine meal, whilst on the joyful translation merry-go-round!


But we did alright!!


Phileas even understood the Paddle game - he may even consider playing it if he could find any similar Real Tennis courts in the north...


But all good things must come to an end... How good it was to spend time with lovely people once again. New people. People who didn't 'exist' before but who now we will never forget.

Happy Birthday Hilda!

Sorry we can't be with you, but we're thinking of you all those miles away! Hope you have a great day! Counting the days till we see you again...

Lots of love,

Phileas

Mixing with the locals

Yet more lovely Argentinians we are mixing with. They say they don't speak English, apart from what they learned at school. Well, it's obviously not a bad standard of education then! But that's not to say the translating machine doesn't get well used more than a poquito!


Phileas, Andy, Lucy, Aurora and Orlando. (Some names are easier to Anglicise than others!)



With Orlando being a teacher, we had the opportunity to tour a school in Cordoba. Nice staff, good kids, just a bit disturbing that classrooms tended to resemble a toilet block.



We had some fun with these 15 year olds as they practised their English and voiced their desires to have girls in school. They even recorded a video message for Phileas' class back home. Somehow, I doubt the reply will be in Spanish!

Forgive and forget?

Our Argentinian experience is enveloped in the hospitality of good people. Andres and Camile have shown us great kindness in opening their home, and simultaneously provided and encouraged laughter.

Andres and Camile, hosts for our longest stint of 'stay still'.

Tania

But this is not to say that we haven't reciprocated. Phileas tried to tell them that they had 200,000 people in Cordoba. Instead, he managed to tell them that people in Cordoba have two teeth!

But like some of Andres' stories, some tales are not a joke...


There are some things you can forgive.


But there are some things you can never forget! (It's the T-shirt of Homer Simpson handling the ball that really catches my eye!)

Carnival of Carnivorous Carnage

Wherever we've been and met someone who's travelled to Argentina, they've always recommended the meat. Meat to us is every animal put together but to them, it's the cow, the whole cow and nothing but the cow.



Australians like a good barbeque but the Argentines, rather than approaching the sport delicately, are definitely in the heavyweight class. Muscle, intestines, glands and blood to name but a few of the delights thrown on our grill. Fortunately, the more sensitive parts did not appear at our table!



One BBQ for the day and one Disco for the night. When the meat arrived in the afternoon, we knew we were in for a feast. As the last morsals were finished, we were perfectly satisfied. We'd tried the nastier bits and our stomachs had passed the test. F.T.B. Full to bustin. We'd heard a rumour that our hosts planned an evening meal. By 10.30pm we doubted. By 11.30pm as the circular dish was bubbling with the beginnings of a chicken stew, we believed.



A very good evening with several pounds of meat, Camile, and friends.

It would never happen...

It would never happen in the UK. But this is the centre of Buenos Aires so that´s alright!

Mate, Mate?

There is a tradition in these ére parts. As important as a nice cuppa to the English, the Argentinians love to suck on a cup of Mate. Don´t take any notice of the picture above to gain any insight as to what this strong, herby drink looks like - not knowing anything of the stuff, our home attempt at preparation was, in a word, terrible! Adding milk to ours (no doubt a cardinal sin in Argentina) did nothing to placate our tastebuds!

Much more Mate required. Much less water. Suck on the metal straw and hopefully you won´t get any nasty bits. If you like strong black tea, you may well enjoy a bit of this.

Still a bit unusual seeing so many flasks of hot water served up in trendy cafes though.

A typical cafe scene, although not so much that of the Gringo drinking the Mate.

Uruguay not?

Well, it was only across the river so we thought we´d tag on another country to the list. A quick ferry ride took us to Colonia in Uruguay, a stark contrast from the developed bustle of opposing Buenos Aires.



There was sunshine, it really was ´good air´ and ¡Wow! only two bits of hand luggage to carry!



Nice architecture, cobbled streets and no-one else around!



The local car hire gives you some indication of the pace of life...





the lack of need for modern machinery...



...and alternative fashions!