Bolivia to Chile to Argentina!

First off, Feliz Año nuevo!!! I hope you guys had an awesome celebration, and I wish you all the very best in 2009!

Alright, so yup im in Buenos Aires right now...got here a few days ago, and I had a great New Year's eve party last night. Nothing too crazy, just ended up getting smashed at my hostel. I wanted to go out, but there wasn't too much happening in the city, and the clubs are really expensive, and getting a taxi to the clubs...almost impossible! New year's in B.A. isn't like back home, here most people spend the evening with the family and then around 2 am, they head off to the club. Nonetheless, I ended up having an amazing night with friends.

So catching up... I ended up touring the saltflats of Bolivia and it was extraordinary! Seriously, I think it was the best tour I've done in South America so far. I had an amazing tour group who were tons of fun, and an awesome guide! The sights and scenery were truly amazing.

We ended up finishing our tour in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. The border crossing was hilarious, basically a shack in the middle of the desert! I just spent one night there in the Chilean desert oasis town, and then took off to Salta, a beautiful city in northern Argentina! I was expecting a small town in the desert, but it's actually a really cool tropical city. I spent Christmas there, and it was great! We had an amazing supper on Christmas Eve and Day! Had roast pig, awesome argentinian food and of course, lots of wine and champagne!

I'm just so happy to be in Argentina! It's just so much easier to travel than the Andean countries. Finally, I can flush the toilets (no more stinky bins by the toilets!), there's actually hot water, there are traffic lights, recycling bins, cross walks, and oh so much more! It's just nice to have the basics from back home! Oh and the safety issues, I just feel so much safer here. Now when I take a taxi, I don't have to be scared of being kidnapped or robed or molested (like oh so many travellers I've met in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia - yup, im serious! There's so much crazy stuff like that all the time, I just didn't tell you guys coz i didnt want u to worry!) lol So yup, I'm just happy to feel safe!

So from Salta, I headed off to Cordoba in the centre of the country and spent one night there. Then I hurried off to Buenos Aires! So here I am, in this amazing city. I'm seriously in love with this town! It's a huge city, with close to 13 million people! It's busy, loud, crowded, rich, poor, snobby, but oh so beautiful! It has amazing architecture, and most of the time I feel like I'm in Europe! Oh and you can have a huge argentinian steak meal for like 10 dollars! The people are very special, they have siestas, eat supper around 10pm and party in the clubs until 8 in the morning! It's just such a different and fantastic city!

As for my plans here, not quite sure. I think I might study spanish, but we'll see how that goes (seeing how I always change my mind). So I'm just gonna go with the flow of the city, and see where it takes me!

You guys take care and have a wonderful year!!!

Ciao!