Buenos Aires: 15 April - 1 May

Back to backpacking
Returning to backpacking has taken some getting used to. I was prepared for living in a dorm, ready for the slightly grimey communal bathrooms (flip-flops mandatory!), and up for meeting random people. But when I arrived in Argentina on Sunday in the wee hours of the morning, I was in a state of shock.

Having failed to failed to find a bed at the three other hostels nearby, Hostel Clan was my final attempt before giving up and heading for the Intercontinental down the road. I rang the doorbell. A buzzer sounded as if I were entering a prison, and I stumbled up to the steps in darkness to the front bed. I was in luck - they could fit me in. I was led me to a big room full of slightly smelly, snoring bodies. I groped for my bed, found it, and then scrabbled around in the dark to get into my bed sheet. Finally, I collapsed in a heap and drifted off.

The next day I found that I had entered the rank of middle schooler in the backpackers' pecking order: I was certainly an older and more experienced traveler than the many gap year students I met, but as I was straight off the plane and on a career break, I was completely unqualified to join the ranks of the quarter-life-crisis-wanderers, let alone the gnarled permanent drop-outs.

As ever, there are people here from all over the world - Brits, Yankees, Spanish, Japanese, Peruvians, Chileans, Israelis - reminding me of how small the world is and how much people now travel. I've enjoyed hearing their stories, and of course talking about politics! It's fascinating to see how everybody has a different take on the Iraq conflict and the wider Middle East. O-Ded, an Isreali with a huge mass of curly hair, told me that the Palestine-Israeli conflict would work itself out at it's own pace because both sides want peace, but that it would take many decades to marginalise the extremists in Israel and Palestine. I had a long debate with Carlos about whether Andorra really is a country (it is, I was wrong). And I've discussed the ins and outs of the latest steps in Northern Ireland with a hardcore Republican.

Survival skills
I decided to equip myself if some survival skills for South America, and have signed up for one week of intesive Spanish classes. It's a small class - just me an a really nice Aussie from Melbourne who is off to Insead to do an MBA - and Virba, my teacher, has been pushing us along at a heck of pace.

On an intial inspection, it looked pretty similar to French, but it's harded than it looks. Grappling with irregular verbs, imperatives, and a whole bunch of new vocabularly has been exhausting but great fun. I'm not convinced that I'm making progress despite the "moy bien" that Virba keeps bombarding me with. I wish I had more time to learn properly, but at least I'll have some basics by the time I leave.

BA: Thesis and antithesis
In many ways, Buenos Aires is not what I expected. I thought I'd find a genteel, European-type city, with leafy boulevards, cafe culture, and old colonial architecture. Instead, it's a curious mix of old world architecture from France and Italy and new concrete blocks more akin to China. It has wide leafy boulevards but the streets are full of buses and cars belching choking fumes. It's people are genteel and stylish, but also poor and (some of them) angry at the government (I've seen two demos since I've been here, one by teachers who are upset with their poor pay, and the other by some left-wing groups).

In fact, what I realised is that the city is all of the things I expected and their antithesis depending on what area you are in. Recolleta and Palmero are monied and trendy, full of nice clear streets, flash shops, and cool cafes. I wandered the streets in the warm early evening sun and felt like I was in Barcelona or Madrid. People sat outide in cafes chatting on their mobile phones, and shops sold expensive clothes. But then down in San Telmo or La Boca, and many other neighbourhoods you see a different city. These colourful latin suburbs have throbbing street cultures where you can see open-air tango shows, experience delicious smells as they waft from the restaurants, and feel the pulse of the city.

Buenos Aires has definitely grown on me as I have discovered new places, found the best coffee shops, learnt how to order my favourite factura, and just generally settled in. It has an inexplicable sort of charm: laid back yet interesting, bustling yet not over-powering.

Dinner is more like a midnight feast
Whilst I've been here the Bustelos, friends of mum and dad and BA residents, have very kindly hosted me a few times. Once at a fabulous restaurant (where the steak comes in slices a big as a brick!) and then again on Wednesday evening for "dinner". I say "dinner" because the invite was for 10pm and of course that meant we wouldn't eat until about 11pm.

Frederic and his sisters cooked up delicious crepes filled with ham, cheese and tomatos, and then bananas and dulce de leche (a kind of liquid caramel). I happily scoffed them whilst sipping on a nice malbec, chatting away in a mixture of French, Spanish, and English (okay, so no Espanol for me).

By the time I left at about 1.30am, my body was completely confused. Had I just eaten dinner? Or was that an inprompitu midnight feast? But I hadn't been asleep. I don't think I'll quite figure it out, so I'm just doing as the Romans do.

Miami: 15 April

I sat high in the cab of the Super Shuttle next to Rodriguez doing 60mph down the I-95. The Super Shuttle was more tank than taxi, the great gas guzzling engine giving off a gigantic roar as we tried to overtake a Mercedes SLK. To no avail. The blonde at the wheel gave us one glance and then stepped on the gas, leaving us in the dust.

I was in Miami for under 24 hours, just passing through on my way to Buenos Aires. I decided to stay at the Miami River Inn which bills itself as the Mimai's only B&B (pretty obvious why it's Miami's "only" B&B, and likely to stay that way). Location was rubbish, but the price was soothing.

I showered, put on my white suit (I wish!), and escaped the Inn's drab decoration for swanky South Beach. I cruised down Ocean Drive (one my own two feet as opposed to Crockett and Tubbs's Corevette) soaking in the party atmosphere. The arte deco buildings frame the plethora of restaurants and bars lining the boulevard. If partying is you thing, then you'll find something for every taste: tacky shot bars, outdoor lounges with live reggae, and slick establishments for post-prandial drinks.

If you were going to design a glitzy city by the sea, then you'd build Miami. And at times is does seem dream like, as if you've stumbled into a supersized movie set. On Sunday I hopped on a harbour cruise that takes you past "Star Island" where the rich and famous live. The boat hovers outside this enormous multi-million dollar homes where Sylvester Stallone, Shaquille O'Neill, Julio Iglesias and many more have built the pad of their dreams. All seem to come equipped with gigantic yatch and jet skis. My favourite was definitely Puff Daddy's, I mean P-Diddy's, I mean Diddy (what's the dude's name?).

I have to admit there is something superficially attractive about Miami. It's warm, there's lots of water and beach. And if you have enough money, you can probably have the star life style too. But if you scratch beneath the surface what would you find? Anything beyond the hype and glitz? I didn't stay long enough to find out...

Turks & Cacos: 7 - 14 April

Well, it's been a tough week. I struggled from bed to beach. I sipped cold drinks and ate grilled fish that had just been plucked from the sea. I swam in crystal clear water, lying on my back to just watch the sky. I read a few pages of my book, and then drifted off into a day dream. The days slipped by. Evenings, I watched the sun drift down to the horizon and disappear into the ocean turning the sky hues of orange and pink. Sun-downers have never tasted so good. A total trip-out-and-relax holiday.

The perfect start to two months of bumming about!

And we're off!

So, this is where it all begins. Today, I'm launching my blog. It will be part travelogue, part b-school-log. My aim to to write short missives to provide some colour and depth to the snippets of news that you will undoubtedly hear from time to time. It will contain my musings and hopefully make you giggle. And I apologies up front for boring you to death, and pontificating from this virtual pulpit.

Right, enough already! Let's go!

MP