Buenos Aires - Iguazu - Montvideo

hey,
I am so sorry for not writting for so long, but the reason has been that there isnt really much to write about.
Arriving in Buenos Aires was scary as hell. A city double the size of London was a very frightening prospect. Also all the stories i had heard about people getting robbed at bus stations, on the streets.. i was petrified.
In fact it wasnt so bad. Not at all like London. It is muchmore organised. The streets are organised in the usual quadratic structure as everywhere else in SA, there is a fantastic one waysystem, and a 9lane each way main road, meaning that i never saw any traffic in my week that i stayed there.
Argentina is generally quite european and civilised, so there isnt much that happens 'out of the ordinary' so i feel i have nothing to say about it. It is also well know for its night life, but i only went out twice and didnt really think it was anything special. Went to Pacha... a veryfamous club, which was along the motorway somewhere in the middle of nowhere, justfull of pill heads, and completely lacked atmospfere. I also attended a drum and bass night at another club.. and what a disappointment... very liquid, completely undancable.
However... there wierdest thing was that loads of people at night justwent round the streets collecting paper.. tearing apart rubbish bins to collect it for money. kind of made the town look poorer than it actually was.
I attended a Boca match on sunday... absolutly froze myarse off.. but soon warmed up singing along with the locals, and chanting... but bit of a disappointing game, coz no one scored.
On monday headed up to iguazu. bloody17hour bus journey. I then stupidly got talked into staying at the Hostel International.. apparentlythe best hostal in the world. I have to admit it was beautiful. Huge. had a nice outdoor pool, pool tables, table tennis tables, the works... but justtoo big.. and miles out of town... eneded up spoending a fortune on traveling to town and back. Myfirst day there i headed to the brazilian side to see the falls. AMAZING!! But had to put up a fight to get there, because the woman working at the hostal insisted that it wanst possible to do... it was too late (12pm).. really, she justwanted me to pay for the hostal transport the next day.
he next day went to the Argentinian side. very different. you stand more on top of the falls and see them all close up. Even took a boatride almost under one of the falls, and got lovely and wet.
Glad i say both sides, because from the brazilian side you could see all the falls.. but in Arg, ony one at a time. that evening i went back to BA on the bus. Very tiring journey.. and as soon as i arrived there, jumped on the boat to Montevideo in Uruguay. here is very cool, but verysimilar to Argentina.
Overall haveloved Argentina... the land full of cows, whichare cheaper than chips, yet in mywhole time here i havenever seen a live cow.
steak has been fabulous... and verycheap... all their leather products also fantastic, and verycheap.. and so is their Dulce de Leche..mmmmmmm
the one other thing they are obsessive about is drinking MATE... a wierd herby tea... and here in uruguay they take it a step furthur... they have pocket sized thermos flasks.. and they all walk down the street with thermoses tucked under their arms, and drinking Mate..
anyway... flying to Quito tomorrow... so best go to bed... ciao. x