Life Safari

2007-05-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

It has been quite a few months since we last posted anything on the blog. Finally, we have managed to get our broadband connected at our flat so we are back on-line...

We have been busy settling into our new life in London. Here are some pics which show what we have been up to over the past few months:

Steve (Jack's Dad) came to visit us for a few days

Mallesons girls' afternoon tea party at Kelly's in Angel

Watching The Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge on the Thames with Pete

Our flat in Exmouth Market (above the Coca Cola sign)

Football in Regent's Park with DC

Picnicking in Regent's Park

The rehearsal dinner for the Hightower weeding in Naples, Florida

The grooms men at the Hightower wedding in Naples, Florida

Maartan visits from the Netherlands

2007-03-05T01:34:00.000-08:00

Our departure from Australia - now over two weeks ago - started well with Suz offering a full service lift to the airport. Full service came in the form of two personalised Nat and Jack packs which included snacks, drinks, chocolate and magazines. We were both very impressed and anybody taking friends/family to the airport in the future would do well to take this great idea onboard.

The midway point of our journey was a stop over in Hong Kong to visit the Hightowers... soon to be Highfields, and we had a great night catching up over Sichuan crab. Andrew and Tara get married in Florida in April so it was a good opportunity to spend time with them before the big event. It was also a chance to sample Tara's air bed complete with inbuilt massage options.

2007-02-16T11:56:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone

The life safari site has been MIA since we reached Australian shores so today, being our second in London, it is time to re-instate our blog.

4 weeks in Australia were spent catching up with friends and family, packing, visiting the ACT and QLD and generally taking care of a lot of personal admin.

Here are a few photos from our stay. The first is with Jack's parents - a kind of farewell as Steve was heading to China the next morning.

The next is with Nat's Dad's family at dinner for her 28th birthday.

This was taken in Maleny Qld, while visiting Nat's mum.

Finally, here are some photos with friends.

It was a great stay and we will miss everyone very much. It goes without saying that everyone should get in touch if they are coming in our direction.

2007-01-16T07:43:00.000-08:00

Only 5 days until Sydney!

Our final week before heading home has been spent in a great apartment in Chelsea (mid-town), New York. The cold is a bit of a change for us as it's the first winter climate we've visited, however, as soon as we hit the streets that NY buzz makes it all worthwhile. Huge thanks to Nat's friends Sophia and Sarah who had us to stay in their beautiful flat and spent time with us out on the town and at the Knicks (a game NY won in the last 15 sec).

On the way from the airport we saw a fight on the bus between the driver and passenger, which ended with the ejected man turning towards the bus and issuing the Donald Trump line "You're fired". I was then kicked repeatedly in the leg by a woman at a subway station seemingly because I had luggage and she didn't want to wait while I got out of the elevator. After the attack she cried "Who do you think you are? some kind of jetsetter?" We couldn't help but think "Welcome to NY".

Most of our time has been spent shopping and eating, with Asian food suddenly an option. The diversity and culture here is endless and it's really interesting to end the trip here after seeing other parts of America and being in countries where many would do anything to live here. Frankly, the life we saw in Queens is tough and if those wanting to leave Central America could only see the faces of the spanish immigrant classes here they might think again.

We also visited a jazz club deep in Harlem called the St. Nicks Pub. It was recommended by an Australian studying at Columbia for some 'real' jazz and as we headed off by subway our two friends admitting they had never been so far north. This feeling of being out of place was compounded when after being asked for directions to the pub the policeman said to his partner "See, I told you white people go there." We survived and had a great time as it was an amateur night full of talent.

One more thing. Last night we were having dinner with two locals when I asked "What are New Yorkers talking about?". The answer: "How stupid our President is!" I then asked whether people thought the same thing 5 years ago and the answer was no. Apparently 9/11 (which is still very raw) shocked people into believing in him.

2007-01-13T16:04:00.000-08:00

Adios Argentina

Leaving Buenos Aires after 2 months is hard because we were just starting to see what living there permanently would be like. More Argentinian friends, more spanish and less tourist spots.

Buenos Aires has been really good to us and is probably our favourite single city of the whole trip. In fact, when we were asked last night about our favourite places we had visited on this trip, we both confidently answered BA for favourite city, and Guatemala for best memories/experiences.

So we are starting the long trip home... A special goodbye to Aaron and Sarah, Jason and Jimena and a huge thank you to James and Wendy who kindly lent us their beautiful apartment in Recoleta. Also thanks to Andrew who flew in for 2 big weeks!

2007-01-13T16:16:00.000-08:00

Cuba II: The Road Trip

After a slightly dissapointing first visit to Cuba due to an over-supply of street husslers we had no hesitation in renting a car and getting out of La habana for a few days - destination Trinidad.

With our excellent guide Daniel we were able to have our endless questions answered. Some of the more interesting things we learned are:

- Rum and coke is called Free Cuba (Cuba Libre) in the latin world and I have enjoyed them throughout central America. However, in Cuba they feel so gipped by Castro's failure that when locals ask for the drink here they ask for a Mentira - a lie.

- Having a free health system sounds great but it's not so good when you have to bribe doctors just to recieve treatment without the usual months long waiting list. Having extra money to be able to do this is only possible for people who either work somehow with tourists, or who steal.

- Free education also sounds great but University placement is determined solely by school results, not by choice.

- Cubans know exactly what is going on in the rest of the world. They get access to the internet through friends with government jobs and read the NY Times and Miami Herald.

- Besides the Florida approach, Cubans also head to Honduras on makeship tube vessels braving shark infested waters. Once there, they can arrange flights/passports for the US where they then discard the new passport and declare their Cuban nationality to US authorities. This automatically entitles them to rights and protection under US law (in an attempt to save them from communism). Unfortunately this means that Cuban ID cards are worth thousands to people in Central America and they are willing to kill for them - so even once they beat the sharks, they still have to get past the Mexicans.

- David took me to a restaurant where locals go - something we had found very hard to find. Customers paid in local currency and dishes were between 1-2 dollars. According to Daniel most Cubans could only afford this treat 1 a month (average salary is around $15/m).

2007-01-07T11:59:00.000-08:00

La Boca!

El Caminito is a block in the working class barrio, La Boca (which is also home to the Boca Juniors). Apparently the resourceful Italian imigrants who used to live in this neighbour got scrap tin from boats docked at the port, which they painted in bright colours to beautify the neighbourhood.

2007-01-07T12:13:00.000-08:00

Now that is a llama!

We spent a fun morning with the animals at the Buenos Aires zoo. Highlights included the world's weirdest looking llama and Nat on top of a shetland pony in a sombrero.

Jack and Andrew agreed it was the best 5 pesos they had spent in BsAs...

2006-12-31T11:51:00.000-08:00

We had an excellent night out at an underground site where we enjoyed an orchestral performance of Tango music. Underground in this case meant being dropped by our taxi at the address with 10 minutes to spare and arriving at a closed garage door with 20 other people milling about...

We´ve also been hanging out with friends throughout the festive season and spent a really nice day at home on Xmas day with Aaron and Sarah from San Diego. The above photo is a selection of Mate mugs (think tea mugs) which young Argentinos pass around as they lie about in shady parks.

2007-01-05T07:31:00.000-08:00

New Years Eve!

NYE in Buenos Aires turned out to be so much bigger than Nat and I had expected if we´d been asked 3 weeks ago. We started at a house party held by friends from our school (again proving how amazingly social Ibero Spanish School is!) where we counted down to midnight, watched amateur fireworks enthusiasts throughout the city from our 19th floor vantage point and began down the slipperly path of communal drinks.

At around 1.30am we were ushered out by our hosts, above, who were keen to move on (and no doubt get everybody out). We headed to Pacha where others in our group had organised VIP entry the night before. After almost an hour standing on deserted streets trying to hail a cab we eventually found someone and arrived at the club which is a stand alone building on the side of River Plate (ie. the ocean).

Inside we met up with Nat´s friends and took full advantage of our VIP area access. Drinks were dangerous as asking for a vodka means a tall glass full of vodka not a shot in a tall glass (Jay, think Bilbao). We were there until well after sunrise and as the picture below shows, so was everyone else! (check out the waves lapping the shore in the background).

2006-12-31T11:59:00.000-08:00

The other news is that Nat´s brother Andrew is in town after making a snap decision to be here for NYE. We spent a day on the delta at Tigre and visited Evita´s tomb at the Recoleta cemetary... but we keep heading back to Palermo where almost everything that involves eating and shopping is centered. As a happy coincidence Nat and Andrew´s friends Mel and Tommy are here with a whole group which means that NYE will be on the bigger side of enormous.

2006-12-22T07:50:00.000-08:00

Puertas cerradas - Restaurants With Closed Doors

Last night we celebrated the Oaxacan Festival of the Radishes with a Oaxcan inspired feast at Casa SaltShaker - a 5 course tasting menu prepared by an ex-NYC chef served in the living room of his BsAs apartment. The idea is kind of like a public dinner party with 10 strangers.

Booking a table at Casa SaltShaker proved a little more difficult than we had anticipated as an article was published in the New York Times' travel section last Sunday on the hip underground club and restaurant scene in Buenos Aires. Our host for the evening, Dan Perlman, was quoted as saying “There’s something kind of cool about knowing what’s behind the secret door ... of being in on something that no one else knows”. He is right!

Our menu for the night was-

Chilled Watercress & Melon Soup
Ricotta & Squash Blossom Empanadas
Shrimp in Pumpkin Seed Sauce
Shortribs in Chatino Mole
Oaxacan Chocolate Lasagna

The food was delicious and we were glad to have another stab at mole (a savoury chocolate sauce) after a not-so-positive experience in Mexico earlier this year. Although Dan´s version didn't include the traditional ingredient of chocolate, it was divine. The company from our fellow diners was also great, although we were flying the flag as the only non-North Americans (this might have had something to do with the NYT article, given that half of them were from the Big Apple).

2006-12-22T07:39:00.000-08:00

No mas español (no more spanish). We are now officially on holidays having finished up our Spanish studies.

In addition to helping us try and make some sense of the subjunctive, our school proved to be a great way to meet fellow travellers as it organised weekly social events. This included drinks at Milion, an old mansion which has been transformed into a trendy bar and restaurant.

We were a little confused by the process for ordering drinks which required you to line up at the cashier to pay while at the same time the cashier was trying to manage all the bills from the restaurant. Then once you had your ticket you could proceed to line up at the bar until you were served. It was a long time between drinks and the more dependent among us (mainly Australians, British and Americans) could not wrap their heads around such inefficiency.

After Milion, we headed to a club where our fellow students received a lot of attenion from the porteños for their raunchy 'American' booty shakin. Argentinian youth, and this has been widely commented on, just don´t throw themselves into it.

2006-12-14T09:12:00.000-08:00

We have spent the last few weeks enjoying our laid back life in Buenos Aires - a few hours of Spanish school, sipping on cafe con leche as we wolf down medialunas (the Argentinian equivolent of a croissant), a spot of shopping - who could complain!

We also met up with Emily and Georgia (Nat's old flatemates), again, who were in town for a few days. We had a delicious parrilla dinner together (Argentinian BBQ) in true porteño style, sitting down to eat at 11.30pm.

The nocturnal lifestyle here does take some getting use to. The other night we went to the opening of a bar with some friends from Spanish school and were surprised to see the Argentines sitting around chatting and sipping their beers in a most civilised fashion at 5am as if they were spending a leisurely Sunday afternoon at the pub! (in contrast, we were rolling out of the place heading home for a day of hungover misery)

Other news from Buenos Aires:

Last night Boca Juniors lost their chance to make history as the champions in three consecutive seasons as they were narrowly defeated by Estudiantes who had not held the champion's title for more than 22 years.
Argentine purse-snatchers have proved themselves a cut above the rest, successfully managing to steal W Bush´s daughter´s handbag from right under the nose of the US secret service, whilst her and her twin were filling their bellies in the San Telmo neighbourhood. Classic!

2006-11-29T10:09:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, thanks to our real estate agent, we managed to get tickets to the La Boca. This is a big deal in Buenos Aires as La Boca (Boca Juniors), the glamour team here, are on the verge of winning the league.

Unfortunately crowd violence is the norm and in the week we arrived the government had just announced that visiting fans were banned from the remaining 4 weeks of the season. We had seats in a non-rowdy section and were fenced in with the spikes turning towards the adjacent section (see below one fanatico trying to provoke our side of the fence). The game was a good one with Boca winning 4-1 and no crowd problems.

The singing was incredible and seemed more inventive than in England where they copy other songs and repeat short lines. Everyone gets into it and waves their arm as if to say ´I spit on your mothers grave´. It all looks very passionate. They also jump up and down in unison which gets the stadium, and your confidence in Latin American enginerring, shaking. Great day!

2006-11-24T12:31:00.000-08:00

Now that we are back in the swing of city life we finally have some contact details should any of you wish to contact us for a chat or some late night texting. Here are our numbers...

Mobile - +54 154 067 6864

Home (Until 15 Dec) - +54 11 48073299

...And some recent pics of us enjoying the funky public art here in Buenos Aires.

2006-11-22T06:29:00.000-08:00

Two points to mention as we leave Cuba. We did make it to the deluxe (official) cigar shop which was lush and included a walk in humidor and smoking lounge. Very impressive... reeked of diplomats and corrupt officials enjoying their spare time. We also spent a night at a Jazz bar called the Fox and the Crow... amazing music that everyone should get to experience at least once in their life!

2006-11-20T11:51:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about Cuba was getting to enjoy it with friends from home. Our trip coincided with that of Georgia and Emily (Nat´s old flatmates from Sydney). We only had one night together, their first in Habana and our last, but we packed a lot in and managed to visit two of Hemmingways old haunts for Mojitos and Daquiris.

The night was also memorable for two other reasons. The first, while we were eating dinner, involved an impromtu magic show at our table which literally blew us away... almost perfect magic right in front of your face is incredibly impressive and left us wanting more. The second, was convincing a hotel to open its rooftop bar for us to enjoy a 360 degree view of Habana at night. While the staff were very accomodating, the elevator wasn´t quite up to scratch and left us stranded between floors. Scrambling over each other, after a night full of drinks, seemed very amusing at the time.

We finished the night by sampling one of the infamous Cohibas which received the thumbs up from the boys.

2006-11-22T06:38:00.000-08:00

We are now in Buenos Aires, Argentina!

This is no mean feat as getting to BA from Central America is a huge leap and means crossing the Darien Gap (look it up)... one of the most dangerous land borders in the world. Of course, we flew so the potential kidnapping/ransom scenarios meant little to us.

It is incredible to be in this city after so many months in Mayan America. BA feels, and acts, European and the Spanish sounds Italian. Steak, football, Tango and corrupt goverment seem to be the local staples... although Nat would probably add shopping which has kept us busy for the first few days.

We ran all over town trying to find and apartment... but we now have one, have found a school, made contact with various people thanks to Suzanne and are starting to settle in.

2006-11-20T10:46:00.000-08:00

Marcel (Nat´s Dad) had given us a mission in Cuba and there was no way we were going to leave without having achieved it - he wanted cigars - the world´s finest. The brief arrived by email and consisted of 4 pages of instructions detailing various brands, sizes and likely prices.

We had come across cigar vendors more regularly as we tracked south through Central America and had refrained from making any purchases due to the probability of fakes... having said that, the packaging was excellent and Nicaragua is now home to a reputable cigar industry of its own.

In Habana we planned to only visit official habano stores. However, as we walked through the backstreets on our way to old Habana our day took a turn.

A local couple bumped into us in a gritty non-touristy sort of area and after guessing that we were Australian offered to take us to a music festival. We found ourselves in a Chinese bar having a mojito when they (Alan and Jennifer) discovered we were looking for cigars. Alan informed us that he worked at a cigar factory and that he could get us any of the cigars we wanted at a significantly reduced price.

He offered to bring the cigars to the bar but we insisted on being taken to the cooperativa hoping that some kind of impressive backroom presentation would fill us with enough confidence to make a purchase. We were then led through streets the tour agencies don´t go and ended up on a couch in a private home that resembled a drug dealers house - think random people knocking for access and being admitted after inspection though the door within a door... think also two german shepards straining on their leashes while we sat uneasily, our bodies emitting fear.

The cigars were presented, we were assured of their authenticity (and provided with the 3 seals required by Cuban customs) and were then pressed to make a decision. Our hesitation, and many questions, caused increasing impatience and menace on the part of Alan and we were made to feel like fools who didn´t know a good deal when they had one.

Despite pressure to buy our entire order then and there we agreed to one box of Cohiba Robustos on the condition that we would have to visit a bank. They sealed the box and then began our journey to the bank. The first 4 ATMs declined our cards and as we had yet to draw any money in Cuba we were starting to doubt the logic behind buying first and paying later. As Alan, who was by this stage highly agitated made clear, once the box was sealed there was no way they could take it back.

Walking now in silence, under the midday sun, through blocks and blocks of unknown territory the whole situation became increasingly tense and when bank number 7 gave us a negative response Nat just about lost it on the street. The four of us, two locals, two foreigners, outside a bank must have looked a picture.

There was only one way to bridge the impass... a trip back to our house to get our passports and make a bank teller withdrawal. As you can imagine we had fought long and hard to avoid this and as we got in the cab (with our new friends) tourist horror stories were flowing hard and fast through our exhausted, beaten minds.

With passport in hand we went to one of Cuba's top hotels and finally withdrew the money... by this stage the four of us were barely speaking and god knows where it would have led if we hadn´t got the money.

As Nat and I pondered over the days events we almost went crazy trying to work out if it was just a complete scam or if we were just in the right place at the right time and that our suspicion and banking problems turned the deal ugly.

Points in favour of it being a scam include: they knew we were Australian, they never took us to the music festival, they never took us to the factory, they barely knew how to fill out the receipt required for customs (although this also suggests they weren´t doing this often), they were able to pay for 2 cab rides.

On the other hand the box was perfect complete with seal, holographic seal and beautiful cigars that one local we later met said were real. It is of course possible that they were husslers with access to the real product... but we just don´t know. Marcel, you be the judge!

2006-11-07T19:10:00.000-08:00

On crossing the border between Nicaragua we were given strict instructions that the bus would stop, we would all get out to pass through immigration, and then our bags would be searched.

Stage 1 passed without incident... then they said that if everyone on the bus paid US$1 dollar our bags wouldn´t be searched. Everyone on the bus agreed immediately. Not sure if this would be called a bribe, but we were not complaining.

2006-11-19T10:13:00.000-08:00

Check out the enormous billboards positioned outside the US relations office (unofficial embassy). Luis Posada Carriles is a Cuban born anti-Castro militant who is accused of terrorist acts against Cuba including bombing a Cubana flight in 1976 and killing 73 people. The other Villian needs no introduction...

2006-11-17T10:04:00.000-08:00

Costa Rica, being the next country south of Nicuragua, is known for its environmental beauty, American tourists and higher prices... This didn´t make it a priority stop for us, and as we soon found out, it´s all true!

Far more developed than the other countries we have visited in this region we headed for San Jose more to get a ticket to our next destination than to experience CR. Unfortunately we arrived on a weekend and had to wait until offices opened, which meant 5 days in total in our friendly youth hostel. Still, personal admin has to get done somewhere.

Having finally worked out our next steps, we booked a tour to the Tortuguero National Park, known as a mini Brazilian rain forest. This took us via the Chiquita banana factory which Nat loved, an injured animal park where we met our first Toucan, and a roadside sighting of a two toed sloth spotted by our expert driver who pulled over so that we could check it out.

The main part of the tour was by boat and we saw a huge amount of bird life, crocodiles, and another sloth. We were also surrounded by Manatees (also known as sea cows) but they were below us so no snaps were taken.

(By the way, apparently in the 80s the Costa Rican government decided to scrap its army and direct all military funding to education and health... it is now known as the Switzerland of Central America)

2006-11-18T13:10:00.000-08:00

La Habana, Cuba.

We`ve hoped all along that we would make it to Cuba and it just depended on finding the right flight. While the price was right, Cubana Airlines isn´t exactly keeping boeing busy with orders, although as the Cold War demonstrated, there´s nothing wrong with Soviet technology. As I kept telling Nat, what was lost on onboard entertainment was made up for with reliability.

From the moment we arrived and met our driver we were exposed to the patent dissatisfaction and desperate urge for change felt by the Cuban people. Just like the story goes Orlando (our driver) was a University educated professional who earned a few dollars a month as an engineer and worked as a driver to supplement his income. This was the case with our guide (also an engineer) and our landlord (lawyer) who paid the government for the right to host tourists.

The hassling on the streets is intense and even people we met who we were already giving money to asked for extra. The Cubans made Central American street hawkers seem like those patient gentlemen who attend the David Jones menswear section.

Despite this, it has to be about the most interesting place we have been to on this trip, probably with South Africa as number two. It is beautiful... best described as a decaying, crumbling beauty from another era. The people admit that free education and health care is great, but everyone we spoke to wanted to the chance to earn more money and to travel.

2006-11-07T18:46:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note on the Nicaraguan elections. Frankly when we arrived we had no idea there was about to be a national election. However, one road trip left us in no doubt that something was up. It was pretty impressive... every house, car, and shop displayed some kind of sticker, colour, flag or poster to express their affliation.

In comparison to Australia it was quite a change to see political positions so openly expressed by the general public. Then again, they have good reason to get involved. Nicaragua only has national elections every 6 years and as the poorest country in the region they need effective goverment. It is also a country that has struggled to shape its own future with the US generally not liking left wing leaders, and funding the infamous contras. We read a brief history while on one of our routine 7 hour bus trips and Nicaragua is the best example of the hypocracy of the US who says it wants democracy, but only if it delivers a leader of its choosing. (The above photo is of a painting in leon and shows Ronald Regan sitting on the shoulders of a Mayan woman)

We spoke to an American living in Nica who said that US land owners were worried that if Ortega won office he might reclaim foreign owned land (as he did a similar thing in the 80s when he took power, and Chavez nationalised foreign owned national resources recently in Venezuela).

We now know that Ortega has won but I will be suprised if he does anything radical as foreign investment is so crucial to Nicaragua´s future. Still, it´s interesting to be here, in 2006 when the same issues are being fought over in Central America that have dominated here for the last 2 decades, only this time the US isn´t funding a war.