Diaries etc

Fun times this evening with some of my students. They were discussing memory and how people recall or forget things (as least that was what they were supposed to be doing). Anyway the talk turned to diaries and it turned out that one of the students keeps a diary (although he denied it when the others started teasing him). They then asked me if I kept a diary - they are always trying to find out more about me but then they're not really interested in the answers, it's just a way of putting off doing any work - anyway, I told them I have a blog but there was no way I was telling them the name. Of course they believe I write about them all the time (Do I? Eh? Thought not) so if they can be bothered, and if the search engines turn up this blog - here we are boys!

Enjoy.

Back to the holiday Part 3

So after spending a very windy but very enjoyable afternoon wandering along the Quebrada de Cafayate, we retired to a local restaurant, ate local food and drank local wine - muy bueno (or is it bien? who knows? not me).

The next day we were up early and in a jeep to The Ruins at Quilmes. As well as being a town in the province of Buenos Aires (not to be confused with the city of Buenos Aires, called by the locals Capital Federal), Quilmes is one of the national beers (and a very nice one too). It seems that the Quilmes were a tribe of indigenous people who were driven out of a very fertile valley by the invading Spanish so that they (the Spanish) could exploit the mineral wealth. They did this by cutting off the water supply. The Quilmes were relocated to a place in Buenos Aires province - hence the name of the town (where the connection to the beer came from I'm not sure).


Anyway, in the morning we went to the ruins, the weather was cold and overcast but that was a pleasant contrast to the previous day. The site was enormous but it's difficult to give a clear impression of the scale because the living area hasn't been fully excavated. Although most of the buildings were stone, they've been buried by the movement of soil in the (don't know how many) years since the place was abandoned. I only took a couple of digi-photos. Here we were on a hill looking down over the main part of the settlement.

Here's another shot from a little higher up. We walked up this pathway (with stone steps at various points) following a guide who said he was one of the team who originally excavated this site. He gave some information (in Spanish) and then left us to it. The others in the group, including L, decided they wanted to walk further up the hill (or mountain as I preferred to call it) and down the other side. I decided not to join them. Remember my 'going down' problem? Well, if I'm with other people, I tend to get whiney and annoying. If I'm alone I talk myself down, counteracting my fear with sensible words. In this case I'm glad I didn't go further up because they couldn't find the path and ended up coming down the way I did but from considerably much higher up.

While they were wandering around the mountain (ok, technically not a mountain but a long bloody way up), I was wandering around the ruins themselves. It was very interesting. It seems likely that the inhabitants spent most of the time outside, retiring inside to sleep etc. Now you may have noticed the prevalence of cacti in the photos. This is quite easily explained, wherever there is or was human habitation, there will be cacti. This is because humans eat the cacti fruit, the seeds pass through the body and are deposited with ready made fertiliser. You may even recognise the cacti as the kind seen in Western movies. What you may not realise is just how big they get.....




I'm just there to provide scale and, despite what the photo might indicate, I was as close to that plant as any human could be without injury. They range from small and cute to bloody ginormous. They start as a single column and then bud off the main one to form the familiar 'hands up' shape.

At the site, the government have also built a beautiful hotel. It is truely lovely, with lots of detail in the design. I didn't take any photos but you can see some pictures here. It's the sort of place I'd like to spend my honeymoon (unlikely as I am to ever have such an excuse).

In the afternoon we went back to Cafayate, shopped, ate and drank, slept like babies and, the next day, boarded the bus back to Salta.

I've been a good girl

Remember here, I told you about my plans to get my life back on track? Well, phase one is complete.

This week I've been getting out of the lift on the fifth floor and walking up to the seventh. Tomorrow I move down to the fourth (eek).

Today I got up really early (for me) and visited three gyms, compared facilities, prices etc and then this afternoon I joined one of them! So for 80 pesos a month, I get all the classes I was doing back in the UK (although I won't be able to get to most of them), plus the machines and a personalised program. It's open six days a week (not Sunday) and I am soooo looking forward to getting sweaty and achey all again.

Also, remember I wrote about my plans to change my diet? Well, I drew up a set of menus and today I did the shopping - and guess what? It was much cheaper than my usual random shop. So I'll have something healthy to eat everyday, I've saved money and I'm feeling really pleased with myself.

What more could anyone want?

Heads Up

I have so much I want to say but I had a migraine yesterday and it's left me fuzzy headed.

More tomorrow (especially the rest of the holiday! - bet you can't wait)

Back to the holiday Part 2

So, where was I? Ah yes, in Salta.

Well on Thursday we travelled down to Cafayate (pronounced ca-fa-sha-teh) on the bus, comfortable enough, with a brief stop on the way. We went through the Quebrada de Cafayate, which was beautiful and which we revisited the next day on a tour. Cafayate is a small town surrounded by vineyards and we had some wonderful wine.

As you know I only drink white wine and Argentina is not world famous for its white wine. I found out why recently: it seems that white wine is less robust and therefore more likely to be 'damaged' when travelling. Hence it doesn't really get exported. Well, all I can say it thank god for that! More for me. I haven't had a bad glass of wine since I've been here, in fact the experiences have gone from 'Mmm that's good' to 'Have I died and gone to heaven?'

Erm...anyway, the next day we did the tour, ten of us in a four-wheel drive type thing (no photos this time). This is when I got to feed the llama and took these photos.



Before you ask, I haven't doctored the photos as such, all I've done is darken them to bring out all the different colours. It was extremely hot and windy. There was little or no cloud in the sky and my darling little digi-camera couldn't cope with the extremely bright light. It is wonderfully beautiful there and reminded me of Petra. The hills and mountains have so many different layers of rock and in so many colours. I took many more and I'm going to try to load them into my flickr account for all to see (but that will have to wait for the weekend).

Enjoy!

Oh Dear God

I've just been to see 'The White Countess' with Natasha Richardson and Ralph Fiennes.

That's 7 peso 50 and two and a half hours of my life I'll never see again.

Back to the holiday Part 1

So what with the recent blogger problems, I've neglected to bore you silly with pictures and tales of my holiday. Let's put that right

The holiday went something like this:

Monday evening - get on coach to Salta. Now when I say coach, don't you start thinking I mean National Stagecoach coach, ohhhh nooo. These coaches are special, luxurious, divine even (ok I'm exaggerating slightly, get used to it). To start with there are only three seats across the width of the bus, a single and a pair; to go on, these seats have so much leg room you could dance in front of them; to finish, these seats recline, fully, as in 180 degrees, flat, like a bed, (am I making myself clear here?). Unfortunately I chose to sit in the aisle seat of a pair and, when the time came, fully recline my seat - I did not sleep well! Anyhow, we had a video, followed by merianda (afternoon tea), followed by a video, followed by dinner (top quality airline food - three courses, I kid you not), followed by another couple of videos, followed by lights out. L slept like a top - mind you the woman can sleep upright on any form of transport, I swear she could sleep standing upright if necessary - but I had a very broken nights sleep, not helped by the people who decided to trundle up and down the aisle to go to the loo all night and by my fear of falling off the bedseat.


We arrived in Salta lunchtime Tuesday and made our way to our previously booked hotel. Not the best place in town but clean and reasonable priced. At this point I crashed out for a couple of hours and L went for a walk. When she returned she warned me that we were in Blackpool (albeit minus the beach). So up and out we went again. Me to see Salta with my eyes open and her to point out the Blackpoolness - and the road we were on was soooo Blackpoolish. Candyfloss, chips in a cone, ice-creams, hotdogs (I was a little bit hungry), amusement arcades, flashing lights, deelybobs (is that what they're called? you know the antennea-like things you put on your head), cheap souvenir stalls, jewellery on a blanket. It was bloody fantastic.

So we spend the rest of that day and all of the next wandering around Salta. There isn't a lot to it and it isn't that pretty a town, although the main square is lovely. It's surrounded by orange trees and the scent of orange blossom was wonderful. The only digi photos I have of Salta are of the pigeons (and I can't upload them at the moment anyway) so you'll have to use your imaginations.

More later...

New Year's Resolutions

I know, I know, it's not the new year. But, it kind of is.

We're in the middle of winter here (albeit not a very cold winter) and we've just had a two week holiday. For me this was a time to catch my breath, think about what has happened since I arrived here and what I want to do next.

Over the last couple of years I have been through some serious stuff. I've fallen in love and realised the love isn't returned (not that it stops my feelings), spent the best part of a year doing a professional qualification (part of which I have to repeat), bought a house (which I'm in the process of selling) and moved continents.

So my two week break was an opportunity to reflect, to think about what I've been doing with my life and what I want from the future. Some of these things are attainable and some are not. Those that are, I have to pursue; those that aren't, I have to accept.

Work: I really, really love teaching. However, I'm starting to hate the paperwork which surrounds it even though I don't have a problem doing it as such (years as an administrator taught me many shortcuts). Interestingly, the paperwork here isn't that onerous but it is repetitive. Also, I teach a lot of exam classes which means marking a lot of written work - incredibly boring. (Sorry, but when you've read one essay about crime, the thought of reading and marking another twelve is so not inviting - and I'm lucky, my students have a high level of English). So:

Resolution Number 1
Mark homework within two days of receiving it

Resolution Number 2
Do the paperwork little and often

Money: The salary here is poor. The idea of saving to travel is a little ridiculous. We do receive a bonus every six months (of about half our monthly salary or 6/12th's) but because we'd only be here since the beginning of March, this time we received 4/12th's which was fair enough. Unfortunately this was barely enough to cover bus fares, let alone accomodation, food, souvenirs etc. The net effect of this was that the cushion of money I bought with me has disappeared. Luckily, when I got back from holiday, I started teaching my private student (a lovely man btw). I had planned to save the money he pays me towards the long holiday but instead I've had to live on it. I am very good a living on a tight budget (I've been living in a cash economy for six years now) so I've adapted BUT I don't like it. I do object to just getting by. I need to save money for new clothes, shoes etc. Also I do want to go to Patagonia in December, if only for a few days. So:

Resolution Number 3
Work out and live on a budget that will allow me to do the things I want to and save for the 'summer' holiday

Health: This covers a whole multitude of things. What I eat, and when; exercise; sleeping; my emotional state. To take them in order.

Eating: as a teacher, my work hours are odd and if I don't get the timing right I can end up going for many hours without food, then I get cranky and end up eating the wrong food (biscuits - readily available, free of charge) which leads to sugar cravings etc. etc. I'm sure you've all been there. Also, I'm a lazy cow. I don't particularly like cooking so I've never developed any form of expertise. I like quick and easy. Sometimes this is good - salad in a bag plus ham/cheese plus olive oil, hey presto! dinner. Sometimes this is not so good - takeaway pizza.

Generally the problem isn't in the evening, it's during the day. I have tried to avoid sandwiches (me and bread don't make a good combination) but lately I've been slipping back in the old, old bad habits (sandwiches and crisps with chocolate for dessert). Having just read a dietblog DietGirl by an Australian women who has spent the last five years shedding half her body weight, I have realised just how lazy I've become. I read all her blog in one sitting but I don't recommend you do that (it took me about five hours) but if you're wondering a) if it's possible and b) how to do it, I suggest you dip your toe in. She's reminded me that there are no magic solutions, just persistence and bloody hard work. This ties into the money thing - if I plan my meals, not only will I buy only what I need but I'll also avoid last minute dashes to the supermarket (where I will buy something processed, quick and easy to prepare ie pizza or sandwiches)

So:

Resolution Number 4
Plan my meals and shop accordingly

Resolution Number 5
Prepare my food the night before

Exercise 1: Before I came out here I was a bit of a gym bunny (difficult to believe I know, but true). I'd found some classes that I really enjoyed doing and which I felt were benefiting me. However, since I've been here, NOTHING. At first the excuse was 'I can't join a gym because I don't know what my timetable will be and I don't want to pay for expensive membership and then not be able to use it', then the enormity of work overtook me and the excuse became 'I'm too tired to go to the gym'. Now my body has started hurting in all sorts of subtle ways, my knees and hips are showing signs of wear (too much weight), my shoulders are tight (too many hours in front of the computer) and my back is painful (bad bed). I was taking tango lessons for a while but gave that up for a whole host of reasons (more on that later). The latest excuse for not joining the gym is the cost - it does seem to be very expensive here. But you know what? enough with the excuses, the truth is I miss it. When I was going to the gym I had a lot more energy, I was happier, my body was better able to cope with all the crap life throws up and I slept better. So:

Resolution Number 6
Join a gym

Exercise 2: I blogged a few weeks ago that I was going to start using the stairs instead of the lift. Well I restarted that after the holiday and I intend to keep going with it. Wherever possible I will use stairs rather than a lift. Additionally I'm going to stop using the escalators when I travel on the underground, from now on it's stairs all the way! Interestingly DietGirl has the same problem as me about going down (stairs that is) which she attributes to not being able to see her feet - I've always been more worried about falling but maybe it's the same thing under a different guise.

Resolution Number 7
Use the stairs

Exercise 3: You may remember that I started taking tango classes soon after I arrived here but that I stopped going. This was mainly because there were no men to dance with. However L and I wanted to continue so I put the internet to work and drew up a list of classes at times we could do and L phoned around and found one. We went on Friday evening. It was packed and there was a whole different attitude to dancing. There wasn't any formal instruction as such (and if we hadn't had those lessons before the holiday we'd have been totally lost) but the atmosphere was great and I really liked the music (although L didn't). So we're going back next week. The interesting thing was I danced in my trainers, rather than heels and that was so much better. I will be getting some tango shoes but only once I've mastered the basics. In the meantime, I might try to get some soft soled lace ups to dance in. No resolution here, just an update.

Sleeping: Most of the time I sleep well but I have the occasional bout of insomnia (luckily they've been at weekends so far). Part of this is due to lack of exercise but it's also due to my emotional state and the lousy mattress I have. I've decided to buy a new mattress. God knows how much it will cost but I'm worth it! This isn't so much a resolution as a reminder to myself.

My emotional state: Most of the time I bumble along fairly happy, no great ups and downs, and I can live with that. But sometimes, I get miserable. I miss my family, my friends and my lovers. (I started writing about this but I've deleted it, maybe I'll expand it in another post). I do get lonely here. I haven't met anyone who's on the same mental wavelength as me and it's tough. Exercise will help with this as it does help keep me on an even keel. Again, no resolution but for your information only. BTW comments are open but I won't be having a discussion with you about how I'm feeling - that generally leads to me spending time and energy reassuring you that I'm not suicidal (I never have been) and I don't want to spend that time or energy - accept this and move on.

My Social life: this leads on from the previous section. I don't have much of a social life. I don't speak Spanish and most Argentines are very family/friends oriented, prefering to spend their time in their flats. Most of my students being young enough to be my children doesn't help. However, I've been offered the chance of an 'intercambio'. This is a language exchange, we spend one hour talking in English and one hour talking in Spanish. I've been in two minds because I don't think I can spend one minute speaking in Spanish but I've decided to give it a go. I've also decided to take learning Spanish seriously which means actually doing my homework and trying to use the language (eekk). So:

Resolution Number 8
Take learning Spanish seriously and do the homework

OK that's enough I think. I't taken me the best part of four hours to put this together, thanks for sticking with it through to the end.

Such a loooong time

Hello there beloved people.

I know it's been a while since I last published but this time it's not my fault. The people who provide the software decided it would be a good thing to update the program and that has caused me all sorts of problems. Right now I can only write this using IE rather than Firefox (and they sooo desperately want us to not use IE). Anyway I'm fine and will be writing more very soon.

Animals

I have a new favourite animal.

My top three used to be:
1) Bears - as adaptable as us, can run faster, climb better, swim further, could be the dominant species but we got there first!
2) Goats - will eat anything, give you wool, milk and meat, just the thing you need on a dessert island (as long as you keep them under control)
3) Cats - absolutely no useful qualities at all except they are good to stroke and don't pester you all the time.
But now all that has been changed.

Ladies and gentlemen we have a new number one. Zooming in from nowheresville, North West Argentina (and other points on the South American map), the new number one is LLAMAS

Delightful creatures:

• give you wool;


• will carry your heavy loads (but not you);


• give you milk;


• and meat.

Don't you just love their ears, the way they curl inwards. I think that's what makes their faces so sweet.

As a member of the camelid family (and distant cousins of the camels of Africa/Asia) they have a reputation for spitting. It's true they do spit, but only when you get in their face. If you're close enough to be spat at by a llama, then you're probably annoying it. Offer some food and a little respect and you'll probably be able to touch, hold, hug them unspittled (they're not stupid either).

Now in English we say 'larmer' (rhymes with calmer) but here in Argentina they are called 'sham-a'(rhymes with rama-lama-ding-dong). So I should have called this post Shiralee and the Llamas.

Oh btw here's some photos....

This is a llama we nicknamed spitty - because he spits


and here's a shot of his backside


This one was a little shy...


but it didn't stop me from trying (and failing) to get a good shot


But here is the piece de resistance

Shiralee feeds Llama (I'm the one in blue). Don't you love our matching hairstyles?

Indeed the cycle of life was completed on this holiday. On Friday I fed the llama (see photo above), on Saturday I bought a llama wool ruana...


...wonderfully warm. Then on Monday I bought some llama wool gloves and finally, on the following Tuesday, the cycle of life was indeed completed - llama fed Shiralee. Oh yes, we have no time for sentiment in this blog. Llama is very good eating - the meat is slightly chewy but it's light and tasty - highly recommended.

Where to begin....

OK I'm back. Now where to begin. Should I tell you about the amazing scenery in North West Argentina? How about the things I bought? or the animals and plants? Of course I could just give you a day by day account of everything I saw, did and said (but that could be boring). Oh what the heck! - here is what I did: Monday got on coach; Tuesday got off coach; Wednesday walked around Salta; Thursday got on bus; Friday got into four wheel drive; Saturday got into four wheel drive; Sunday got on bus; Monday got onto specially adapted four wheel drive; Tuesday got into specially adapted four wheel drive; Wednesday got onto bus; Thursday got onto bus; Friday got onto coach; Saturday got off coach. Pretty snazzy eh?!

As you may have worked out, a lot of the time was spent in (or by) various forms of transport - that's because Argentina is a BIG country and it takes time to get from one place to another. The upside of this is that most of the time the scenery is pretty spectacular and the buses are comfortable.

Here are the only pictures relevant to this post.


This is Federico who drove us on Monday and Tuesday of the second week


and this is the specially adapted four wheel drive that he drove us in.

BTW they are changing the wheel here - a common occurance because the majority of the roads here are unsealed - we were on the salt lake at the time.

Ooops I did it again

Actually I haven't done it again and that's the problem!

I've been back four days now and I still haven't blogged. I haven't uploaded any photos, I haven't composed my thoughts and I haven't sorted out the small bits of paper one accumulates while on holiday.

Keep coming back, there will be more (and better) soon.

BTW This month contains the birthdays of three of my favourite men. One I've already spoken to, the other two might get lucky (but no promises) - of course it would help if one of them (no names mentioned but he'll be 29 this year and lives with a woman, two cats and [now I believe] two dogs - oh go on, you've forced it out of me, ow my arm's hurting from all the twisting, I'll tell, I'll tell, please stop, it's PHILIP!) got his act together and went online with a messenger address I could use!

If not, well there might not be any birthday wishes from big sister.