For my dear family, friends and all the other people that read my blog for the past 6 months

It is still a bit hard to believe but this will be my very very last update from South America (for now

). After 6 incredible months of visiting the most specteculair places (from 23 meter beneath sea level to almost 5000 meter above sea level) and meeting lots of interesting and cool people it is time to leave South-America.
First of all I really want to thank all the people that read my blog during those 6 months. I really appreciated the comments left on the website... I hoped you all enjoyed it. When I start travelling again I will make sure I will keep writing on this blog. So you can expect more in the future (if you want to).

Oke so Buenos Aires.....I had to get used to Buenos Aires. After 3 months travelling through the beautiful, quiet, friendly and safe Patagonia to the big famous city where it is busy, where everybody is in a hurry and where people have little time for you. The first place I encountered this was in the hostel, they had no time to answer some little questions, very frustrating. However in the end the hostel turned out to be a nice place for meeting new people and getting to know the artistic scene of Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires is called 'the Paris of South-America' and it really does feel like a European City, however it took me some time before I realized that it is still a city in SOUTH-AMERICA. So streets/buildings can be kind of crappy/dirty, you have to be careful and going out by yourself at night is not a good idea.

All the warnings I got from other travellers and people living in Argentina actually became true the second day I was in the city. I witnessed 2 guys on motors chasing another guy on a bike. I don't know what the guy on the bike had done, but it was clear that the people that chased him weren't happy with him. Hunking there horns, driving against the traffic, and crossing intersections while the traffic light was on red, trying to close in on the guy with the bike. They almost caught him and started talking to the guy. But then the guy on the bike took of again and drove between 2 cars (hitting one of the mirrows) where the motors never could pass. One guy screemed PUTA and that was the end of that. Eventhough I had nothing to do with this I was kind of shaky and it made me feel pretty unsafe. An Argentinian man said to me ow probably a robbery in a way like, don't worry this is quite common here. An Argentinian women gave me a look like yes this is also Buenos Aires. Afterwards I spoke to a Argentinian guy that lives close to Buenos Aires and he told me, yes Buenos Aires is not safe....Nice to know...Bienvenido a Buenos Aires!!! However this was the only incident I had seen during the 26 days I was in the city....so I guess it is a big city like any other big city.

So you might understand after this incident and getting such a reception at the hostel that in the beginning I didn't like Buenos Aires at all. However the first Sunday changed everything and since then I started to appreciate Buenos Aires more and more, I was from that day on able to see the beauty of the city (even through the rubbish) and to enjoy its neighbourhoods. What happened.....

Each Sunday there is a market in San Telmo (also in other neighbourhoods). The main street Defensa is full with people selling lots and lots of stuff. But not the crappy stuff as we see on the queen day markets (some things where of course crapppy), clothes, shoes, jewerelly, things for in your house and many many more things, made by artists, well hand made. It was really difficult to not spend any money, but I will be in Buenos Aires for 3 more Sundays and buying stuff would be kind of deadly for my financial situation (and I also kind of hoping that my parents wouldn´t mind to go shopping with me

).
Besides the little stalls there where also street musicians, mimic artists, people selling food&drinks, people dancing, puppeteers and so much more things that where going on that it was almost impossible to experience it all. It was absolutely amazing!!!
The entire day you could just walk and enjoy all the things that where going on and then in the evening more music bands came on to the street to promote there music or just to play music because they love it. The result was that people where dancing Cumba on the street with a bottle of wine or beer in there hands, taxi's had to wait or could only pass slowely and on the famous plaza Dorrego there was a life band playing traditional Argentinian music, people dancing traditional dances with as ending TANGO! It was beutiful, the atmospheer was something I never experienced before. This was the reason I wanted to visit Buenos Aires, this is definetly Buenos Aires at her best and most beutiful. Ow and there was also a Brazilian drumband to end the evening. Every corner music, dancing, booze and people just being on the street talking, smoking and enjoying themselves...Me gusta bohemian Buenos Aires .

There is much more to Buenos Aires besides the artist/music scene. The city has an impressive history and I wanted to learn more about this, because you all know by now that I'm interested in history, politics and all the serious issues that are going on in a country. To start my 'research' I went to Casa Rosada, the presedential office in the centre of the city. The current president is Christina Fernandex de Kirchner. The fact that Argentina has a female president interests me (femenist as I am...). The most impressive of the tour was the cuarto de mujeres, the room of the women. In this room there where 14 pictures of Argentinian women that where important in the history of the nation. Most famous off course Eva Peron (Evita; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Per%C3%B3n) and the madres de playa de Mayo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothers_of_the_Plaza_de_Mayo). The room was iniciated (not suprising) by the current president. It is a sign of respect to all the women in the Argentinian society. In my eyes an example for other countries in the world, yes also in Europe and yes also in the Netherlands. A short history lesson about Eva Peron, the wife of formal president Juan Peron. She played a very important roll in the time that her husband was president. She was the link to the minorities in Argentina (the children, the women, the elderly) with her foundation. Thanks to her the women in Argentina got a right to vote, an important lady for the emancipation. She died when she was 33 years old (I think that is also a reason why her story is a kind of myth). She is loved and hated just like her husband. I got to learn much more about her during a walking tour through the city. The tour was all about the history of Argentina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires), about the arrival of the first Spanish people, the struggle with the indigenous, the establishment of Buenos Aires, the development of the different neighbourhoods, the political history (development of Peronism, the coup d'etat supported by the USA (again the USA, it is incredible how big there part is in the South and Central American history, and I can say easily not a part to be proud of), the dictatorship, the disappearance of 30.000 people) and the current political situation (the crises in 2001, the demonstrations that where repressed violently, 5 people died, the resignment of the president). A very very interesting tour and I would recommend it to anyone who goes to Buenos Aires.

Just a quick sidestep about the respect for women, because what was showed in that room in Casa Rosada, doesn't mean that it is showed on the street. I know that Latin American men are full of passion and fire. Well, that's fine with me and I don't think it really bothered me before, because it was never really an issue, but here in Buenos Aires is the very first time that I felt intimidated by men, a feeling that I don't experience easily. I refuse to generalize but a part of the men here are really horrible and kind of scary. In Peru 'they' would only wissle, in Bolivia just stare, Chile was a combination of the preface with sometimes a comment which I could foil with a smile or something, but here in Buenos Aires pfffff. You know what 'men' (again I don't want to generalize) do when they see you coming: they turn towards you so they can really watch/review you, they look for eye contact, and once you (almost) pass by they will say something like you are a nice piece of meat, something like mmmmm I love you. It absolutely repulsive, what is wrong with men that do that, where did they get it from? You would think that in a society where women play such an important role things would be different. But hey what do you do about it, right? Just look to the ground and keep walking, listening to music when you are on the street also really helps!

Oke back to my story, as you all might have read in my previous blog updates is that my parents and a friend of my mom would come to visit me in Buenos Aires. Before they would arrive I had 13 days for myself. What did I do? Walk around in the city, visit museums, go on tours, go out.......a lot (concerts, clubs, music things), you know the usual stuff that you can't do with your parents

. The 18th of July came near quickly and before I knew it I was on my way to the airport to pick up my parents and a friend of my mom. A special day, also because 6 months ago on the very same day I took my plane to Lima. I was kind of nervous to see my parents again after 6 months, but as soon as I saw them entering the arrival hall my nervousity switched to excitement and happiness. It was great to see them again after such a long time, off course lots to talk about. They rented an appartment in San Telmo and my hostel was only a 5 minute walk (always good to keep your own place ).

I won't go into too much details about there visit, you can compare it with having a descent city trip. The first day I showed them around in the centre and told them all about I knew or had learned in the time I already spent in Buenos Aires. Off course I hardly could shut up about all my experiences from the last 6 monts, but they were all very interested and they let me talk all day. On Friday I organized a private city tour to show them La Boca and Recoleta.
La Boca is one of the poor areas in the city. The people that love football might know it from the team that is located there Boca Juniors! It is incredible to see how important football is in the live of these people. An example, everybody knows the CocaCola logo to be red and white. CocaCola is a sponsor of Boca Juniors...However these colours of there sponsor is a problem because these are also the colours of there biggest rival River (the rich club) so they made a deal with there sponsor and the colours changed to black and white, especially for Boca!!! La Boca is also known for there outdoor musuem Caminito, a local artist that wanted to do something for his community. This area is super touristy but outside that area you have to be extreem careful. Next we went to Recoleta where we saw Recoleta Cementry and the grave of Evita. The tour was very interesting, the guide knew a lot and we got tons of information about the city (which I won't bother you with).

On Saturday I planned a trip for myself. It is off course great to spend so much time with my family but you know....after six months of by yourself it can also be an overkill. So I went on a streetart tour (super cool, would recommend it to everybody who goes to Buenos Aires). Sunday was San Telmo Market (and a week later as well so ended up visiting this market 4 times!!!). The other days we spent on visiting musea (Belles Artes, Arte Decorativo, Malba and Xul), having dinner (gosh it is great to eat some proper meals), seeing some tango with live music in one of the Milongas (evening where people can go to watch or dance tange), went to the bookstore El Ateneo, we saw a piano play in the famous Colon theater, went to a rural livestock exhibition in Palermo (big bigger biggest meat cows), went to the botanical garden and and and and....we went a day to Uruguay, Colonia del Sacramento (great weather and just one hour boat trip away from Buenos Aires)..... To conclude we did a lot!!!! But it was totally fun and I loved every moment of it.

In the mean time I kept on going organizing things for Canada. So just a quick update, I found a place to stay and my aunt will pick me up from the airport. I cannot wish for a better start! However it is kind of weird to leave South-America. I mean Canada will be thrilling as well but the last six months have been so good (I truly never felt so happy in my entire life!) and interesting that I feel a little bit sad to leave. However if I stick to my plan I will be working for a year and then go travellig again. I hope to be able to visit some friends I made on the way and to come back to South-America (I will speak fluently Spanish then

)....I don't know I can get really nostalgic about the last 6 months if I want to but there is no point in that...I am totally looking forward to Canada, seeing my family again and refil my bank account. This journey will always be in my mind (the places, the people, the travelling) and it even might have changed me in some (hopefully good) ways, who knows?!?

Well I am going to pack my back for the last time. Again, thanks for being so interested in all my adventures and off course I will keep in touch. However I am not planning on blogging in Canada because I guess it won't be as interesting as my adventures in South America (the usual stuff, work, football, study, etc). But I can give you this update I kind of already know what and when my next travel will be...So be prepared for an update somewhere in the future...

Big hug and besos

IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!