Buenos Aires

We landed in B.A at around 2.30pm local time. There was a massive queue at the imigration. No hassles, got out of the customs, they didnt even bother checking our bags at all.

Tried to ask for a cab, first 2 people said it was 90 pesos, which was quite expensive. Meet a guy on the plane, Hernan and he reckoned it should not cost us more than 60 to 70 pesos to get to the hostel.

We then decided to excahnge our travellers cheques at the airport,which we managed to do, but the fat old man was not happy, changing 3 travellers cheques as it was a long process. Too bad he had too.

Then we found a cab to the city, charged about 70 pesos. The driver didnt speak no English at all so he was saying something in Spanish and i was noding my head with the occassional 'si'. Took about 35 mins to get to the city centre, then the cabbie start ranting in Spanish something that meant there is no place with this street number on the road, points to the building before and then to a park!

I was like you must be kidding, then he goes in Spanish something like 'i cant take you any futher'. So we get booted out of the taxi, and i turn around and say 'Welcome to South America'.

20 mins and counting...

Well we are just killing time at the airport. Just got thru customs and we are sporting some purple's around the place. A few talents on the plane, maybe a crack at the Mile High Club??

36 hours before we land at Buenos Aires. Thats a massive massive flight. Tried to change for some pesos, but this hopeless people dont seem to carry any Argentinian Pesos. Will have to do it in Malaysia.

Arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 8.40 pm and the connecting flight is at 1 am, so we have 4 hours to kill.

30 days to go

Well its finally closing in, still a few things to sort out before we leave. We must be one of the most unorganized bunch of travelers, we have still heaps to plan. But i think its good if we dont plan stuff so we can go there and figure out what to do. Living it as it unfolds perhaps? Only time will tell if we were right to be spontaneous and not stick by any plans.

All we know at this stage is that we land in Buenos Aires on the 30th of Dec and have accommodation booked at Tango Backpackers for 3 nights. So on New Years Day we might be on the look out for a place to crash!


Then we leave for Lima, Peru for 2 weeks. Really looking forward to hiking the Inca Trail to discover the lost city of the Inca's and get to Machu Picchu. Might finally feel like Indiana Jones, maybe not, but its going to be a tough 4 days of hiking, especially carrying a massive 80 liter backpack.

On the 19 of Jan 2008 we leave for Venezuela. Its about time, i reckon for us to checkout some kode purples. There would be plenty of talent for sure. After all they have produced some of the most awesome species we have seen!

Then 7 days later we leave Caracas, Venezuela to go to Rio via Buenos Aires. I know its stupid but we got a packaged deal from Aerolineas Argentinas and it worked out to be the cheapest way to do it.

As soon as we reach Rio we will take the earliest bus to Salavdor da Bahia for the 7 day carnival. The biggest street party in the world. Its going to be awesome.Simply AWESOME.


Once the carnival is over, and hopefully by this point none of us have been mugged, kidnapped or beaten up then we make our way down from Salvador to Rio then to various other (yet to be determined) spots along the Brazilian coast towards Uruguay.

A few days in Uruguay and then back to the starting point Buenos Aires, and finally take the flight home.

This will definitely be a kick ass adventure!

5 weeks and counting...

5 weeks away, on the 29 of December we leave Melbourne and begin our journey to South America. Its a very very long flight, totaling almost 36 hours, a day and a half!!! Well that because we took up the cheapest air tickets, with Malaysian Airlines, cost about $1k less than the others but takes a lot longer, we fly from here to Malaysia and then to South Africa and finally to our destination Buenos Aires, Argentina.

This backpacking trip would take 65 days, covering majority of South America, starting from Argentina, to Peru, to Venezuela, to Brazil, then to Uruguay and then back to Argentina, to catch the flight back home.

Its going to the first backpacking trip for J, T and myself, D. We are all excited. Its going to be a major challenge for us as well as none of us speak either Spanish or Portuguese.