Just a quick update for you all: the last two bikes arrived yesterday morning! We can now really get cracking. We spent most of yesterday putting the bikes back together and setting them up, then went for a little ride out to the Tierra Del Fuego National Park. We still haven't been able to get any photos up yet, but when we do, hopefully they'll give you some idea of how beautiful this part of the world is! The scenery is truly spectacular.
Last night was also the inaugural meeting of 'Meat club'. All sorts of meat are cooked in front of the diners over an open wood-fire, and for the meagre sum of 25Pesos (5Pounds) you can eat as much as you like (which we obviously take to mean 'as much as you can'). So during this massive dinner, 'Meat club' was formed.
The first rule of Meat club is: You do not talk about Meat club.
The second rule of Meat club is: no smoking (until after the meat)
Third rule: anyone goes limp or taps out, the meat is over.
Finally: If it's your first night at Meat Club... you have to have meat.*
The plan is now to get everything ready to go today, take tomorrow to go and see the penguins and then head off on Sunday morning with fully-loaded bikes and even fuller stomachs!
* If you haven't seen the film 'Fight Club', this will make no sense. Our apologies!
The chariots have arrived...
November 10, 2006, 6:53 pmFirst Impressions of Ushuaia
November 8, 2006, 3:46 pm
The thirty minutes preceding our landing in Ushuaia, or "The Promised Land" as I have taken to calling it were the most amazing minutes of any flight I have ever been on. The view from the window as we flew alongside the Andes over the craggy scubland of the foothills was breathtaking. Snow capped every peak and was evident even at lower levels.
The final descent into the airport involved some aerial acrobatics that are mind boggling and have a tendency to leave the stomach firmly lodged in the base of the cranium! Arriving in the airport there is a very Nordic feel to the whole place. Wooden slats line the walls and wooden beams support the roof. Outside the terminal resembles a chalet rather than an edifice of modern transportation. We catch a couple of taxi´s to our new home for the next few days. Passing through the town the Nordic feeling of the airport continues - these are not the white walled Spanish buildings I was for some reason expecting, they look Scandinavian and the snow capped mountains which loom all around the town reinforce this.
We take lodgings at the Hostel Albergue "Abre Ushuaia" - a lovely little hostel where the owner welcomes us with open arms. The owner seems as keen to practice her English on us as we are keen to practice our Spanish on her! We reach an accomodation and I agree to write a couple of signs in English for her if she will try and speak in Spanish with us - explaining where we don´t understand.
Having unpacked and then taking the best shower in the history of mankind, each of us unashamedly ignoring the sign exhorting us to keep our "showers short", the idiots hit the town. The first thing that is apparent is that this is a tourist town. Accordingly it´s a little more expensive, there are loads of excursions to go on and there are lots of travellers and tourist hanging around. Not surprisingly given the stunning scenery of the Tierra del Fuego national park is only 12km away, and the islands of Penguins just out in the bay. As everyone in this town seems keen to tell us we really are at the "Fin del Mundo" (The end of the world).
We grab a couple of beers in a little bar over some shops - where we drink European lager, but only because they don´t have Quilmes (The very tasty local brew) We then head down to an all you can eat restaurant which set us back about five quid. The food was incredible - Fuegian lamb (a spatch-cocked sheep cooked over an open fire), chicken, black pudding, pork, chorizo and finally something which I tried but must confess did not enjoy - Chinchurene. That my friends is intestine. It did not taste good. It didn´t help when Blenk looked over at me and asked if we were meant to eat the outside or "just suck the stuff out of the middle" - he was of course referring to the semi-digested food in the poor animals guts when it was slaughtered.
We leave the restaurant full, finally sated. We head back to that little bar and have another couple of beers before heading off to bed.
Our first impressions of Ushuaia? We love it!
Hasta Luego.
(Due to techinal problems we will be bringing you fotograficos tomorrow - gracias.)
The final descent into the airport involved some aerial acrobatics that are mind boggling and have a tendency to leave the stomach firmly lodged in the base of the cranium! Arriving in the airport there is a very Nordic feel to the whole place. Wooden slats line the walls and wooden beams support the roof. Outside the terminal resembles a chalet rather than an edifice of modern transportation. We catch a couple of taxi´s to our new home for the next few days. Passing through the town the Nordic feeling of the airport continues - these are not the white walled Spanish buildings I was for some reason expecting, they look Scandinavian and the snow capped mountains which loom all around the town reinforce this.
We take lodgings at the Hostel Albergue "Abre Ushuaia" - a lovely little hostel where the owner welcomes us with open arms. The owner seems as keen to practice her English on us as we are keen to practice our Spanish on her! We reach an accomodation and I agree to write a couple of signs in English for her if she will try and speak in Spanish with us - explaining where we don´t understand.
Having unpacked and then taking the best shower in the history of mankind, each of us unashamedly ignoring the sign exhorting us to keep our "showers short", the idiots hit the town. The first thing that is apparent is that this is a tourist town. Accordingly it´s a little more expensive, there are loads of excursions to go on and there are lots of travellers and tourist hanging around. Not surprisingly given the stunning scenery of the Tierra del Fuego national park is only 12km away, and the islands of Penguins just out in the bay. As everyone in this town seems keen to tell us we really are at the "Fin del Mundo" (The end of the world).
We grab a couple of beers in a little bar over some shops - where we drink European lager, but only because they don´t have Quilmes (The very tasty local brew) We then head down to an all you can eat restaurant which set us back about five quid. The food was incredible - Fuegian lamb (a spatch-cocked sheep cooked over an open fire), chicken, black pudding, pork, chorizo and finally something which I tried but must confess did not enjoy - Chinchurene. That my friends is intestine. It did not taste good. It didn´t help when Blenk looked over at me and asked if we were meant to eat the outside or "just suck the stuff out of the middle" - he was of course referring to the semi-digested food in the poor animals guts when it was slaughtered.
We leave the restaurant full, finally sated. We head back to that little bar and have another couple of beers before heading off to bed.
Our first impressions of Ushuaia? We love it!
Hasta Luego.
(Due to techinal problems we will be bringing you fotograficos tomorrow - gracias.)
The First Leg - London to Ushuaia (Argentina)
November 8, 2006, 3:22 pm
After some emotional farewells at Heathrow airport we set off on our "Gran Viaje Trans-Continental!" As we climbed out of London we knew that we were about to catch our last glimpses of the UK for the next few months. It was perhaps fitting that as we gazed out of the window of the plane fireworks were bursting over the capital. A fanfare of blasts and colour wishing us well on our way. The flight from Heathrow to Charles De Gaulle went off without a hitch and it seemed that no sooner had we taken off that we were landing in Paris. "This travelling lark is easy!" I thought to myself.... I was in for a rude awakening!
The real marathon leg of the journey was the trip from Paris to Buenos Aires - although all it involved was sitting. Not really much to report about the flight except that I got chatting with an elderly Argentinian chap who was very friendly and helped qualm my fears about South American hospitality! The only other note in my diary that is worth mentioning is this sentence - "We are due to land at Pistarini at 9am - which I think is about 12pm UK time. Either way I am knackered and not looking forward to catching this last connection to Ushuaia!" As it turned out my apprehension was prescient. After passing through passport control and immigration without a hitch we strolled through to baggage claim - then something happened that I have never experienced in the entire time I´ve been travelling on planes - the first bags that we see are mine, Blenks and Rich´s! Then we see Blenka´s bike.... excellent. Now we wait for mine and Rich´s.... and we wait..... then wait a bit more..... we top this off with a little bit more waiting. Then the conveyor belt stops and the doors are shut. Hang On Senor there must be some mistake. ¿Donde Esta Mi Bicicleta? Apparently still in France.... The plane had reached it´s freight capacity and we would have to travel on without them. Air France will be forwarding them onto us here in Ushuaia. Not to big a problem really as we get to enjoy this beautiful city - but I digress.
So now with just Blenk´s bike - but fortunately all our luggage we start trying to get to the other side of the city to Jorge Newbury Airfield to catch out connection. This is a forty minute drive at the best of times. After sorting out our baggage with Air France we were left with barely an hour to make hour connection - the leisurely three hours originally built into our itinerary had been massively eaten into. Cue "El Conductor Loco" (The crazy driver) - those of you who have travelled abroad before know how crazy regular cab drivers are so this should give you some flavour of exactl how "Loco" this dude was! After telling the minibus driver of our predicament (and paying a small premium on our fare to go straight away rather than wait to fill up the bus) we were off. The man drove like a demon, weaving in and out of traffic, forcing other cars out of the way, squeezing into gaps literally too small for the minibus to fit into. What was meant to be a forty minute journey took only half an hour - a whit knuckle ride but the driver had done it. We arrived in time to catch our connection to Ushuaia.
We have arrived! Viva Argentina! Viva Las Idiotas!
The real marathon leg of the journey was the trip from Paris to Buenos Aires - although all it involved was sitting. Not really much to report about the flight except that I got chatting with an elderly Argentinian chap who was very friendly and helped qualm my fears about South American hospitality! The only other note in my diary that is worth mentioning is this sentence - "We are due to land at Pistarini at 9am - which I think is about 12pm UK time. Either way I am knackered and not looking forward to catching this last connection to Ushuaia!" As it turned out my apprehension was prescient. After passing through passport control and immigration without a hitch we strolled through to baggage claim - then something happened that I have never experienced in the entire time I´ve been travelling on planes - the first bags that we see are mine, Blenks and Rich´s! Then we see Blenka´s bike.... excellent. Now we wait for mine and Rich´s.... and we wait..... then wait a bit more..... we top this off with a little bit more waiting. Then the conveyor belt stops and the doors are shut. Hang On Senor there must be some mistake. ¿Donde Esta Mi Bicicleta? Apparently still in France.... The plane had reached it´s freight capacity and we would have to travel on without them. Air France will be forwarding them onto us here in Ushuaia. Not to big a problem really as we get to enjoy this beautiful city - but I digress.
So now with just Blenk´s bike - but fortunately all our luggage we start trying to get to the other side of the city to Jorge Newbury Airfield to catch out connection. This is a forty minute drive at the best of times. After sorting out our baggage with Air France we were left with barely an hour to make hour connection - the leisurely three hours originally built into our itinerary had been massively eaten into. Cue "El Conductor Loco" (The crazy driver) - those of you who have travelled abroad before know how crazy regular cab drivers are so this should give you some flavour of exactl how "Loco" this dude was! After telling the minibus driver of our predicament (and paying a small premium on our fare to go straight away rather than wait to fill up the bus) we were off. The man drove like a demon, weaving in and out of traffic, forcing other cars out of the way, squeezing into gaps literally too small for the minibus to fit into. What was meant to be a forty minute journey took only half an hour - a whit knuckle ride but the driver had done it. We arrived in time to catch our connection to Ushuaia.
We have arrived! Viva Argentina! Viva Las Idiotas!
How I lost five pounds in one day!
November 3, 2006, 2:48 pm
Those of you who know me will be fully aware that I have (had) some of the biggest hair known to man. That all changed on Thursday 26th October - the day that Samson (Me) lost the source of all his powers!
(Me before my traumatic experience! )
I'd been planning on cutting my locks for quite some time. I knew that it would be a practical necessity when I got out to South America. There was no way that I could go out there with my hair as long as it was. Just to explain - I'm planning on not cutting my hair whilst I'm in South America and if I didn't hack it back before I went then by the time I reach Venezuela it will be vying for independence from the United States of Me!
I decided that a good way to raise money from my misery was to get the lovely people who worked with me at Barking College to pay me to do it! In the end I teased about £200 out of them. I was happy to have raised so much, but this was tinged with the realisation that I would acually be losing my lovely hair!
So at Midday on the 26th October at precisely 12pm my good friend Vicky started the process of hacking back my locks..... As you can see I wasn't very happy at the time!
(What a horrific sneer! )
I soldiered on and eventually became resigned to the idea that my hair was going forever, well at least until I got out of this country of hair cutting fascists and made it to the hair growing Shangri-La of Argentina!
After much pulling of hair, wailing and gnashing of teeth my ordeal was over - my hair was gone - and I was bald.
You can find some more pics of my harrowing ordeal in our photo gallery HERE
This is going to be the first blog of many - and I can pretty much guarantee that it will be the most boring.
who really wants to know about me cutting my hair ay?
I'm looking forward to getting the first "proper" diary entry up very soon. Just to let everyone know that we are leaving the UK at 20.15(GMT DST) on Monday 6th November. We arrive in Ushuaia on the 7th.... After we have ourselves nicely set up and ready to go we will probably be posting our first entry - chronicling our first impressions. Then after that we'll be bringing you one about our first few days on the road. Hopefully with some pictures rather more spectacular than a chubby bloke having his hair cut in an office in Barking!
Anyway, that's enough for now!
Peace and prosperity.
BigJay
(Me before my traumatic experience! )I'd been planning on cutting my locks for quite some time. I knew that it would be a practical necessity when I got out to South America. There was no way that I could go out there with my hair as long as it was. Just to explain - I'm planning on not cutting my hair whilst I'm in South America and if I didn't hack it back before I went then by the time I reach Venezuela it will be vying for independence from the United States of Me!
I decided that a good way to raise money from my misery was to get the lovely people who worked with me at Barking College to pay me to do it! In the end I teased about £200 out of them. I was happy to have raised so much, but this was tinged with the realisation that I would acually be losing my lovely hair!
So at Midday on the 26th October at precisely 12pm my good friend Vicky started the process of hacking back my locks..... As you can see I wasn't very happy at the time!
(What a horrific sneer! )I soldiered on and eventually became resigned to the idea that my hair was going forever, well at least until I got out of this country of hair cutting fascists and made it to the hair growing Shangri-La of Argentina!
After much pulling of hair, wailing and gnashing of teeth my ordeal was over - my hair was gone - and I was bald.
You can find some more pics of my harrowing ordeal in our photo gallery HERE
This is going to be the first blog of many - and I can pretty much guarantee that it will be the most boring.
who really wants to know about me cutting my hair ay? I'm looking forward to getting the first "proper" diary entry up very soon. Just to let everyone know that we are leaving the UK at 20.15(GMT DST) on Monday 6th November. We arrive in Ushuaia on the 7th.... After we have ourselves nicely set up and ready to go we will probably be posting our first entry - chronicling our first impressions. Then after that we'll be bringing you one about our first few days on the road. Hopefully with some pictures rather more spectacular than a chubby bloke having his hair cut in an office in Barking!
Anyway, that's enough for now!
Peace and prosperity.
BigJay
Welcome to our diary!
September 6, 2006, 1:38 pmHello everyone, welcome to our all new website!
The nice people at Beat the Brochure have been kind enough to sponsor us which means we have now got this snazzy new website to document our descent into madness over the next 9 months! I hope you enjoy reading about it!
Only 34 days to go now until blast off and we are just about ready to go. I use the term 'ready' quite lightly, and only in the sense of having all our gear together, training is another matter entirely! Once again, as we have been throughout much of our preparation, we are relying on 'mindless optimism' - something that i'm sure will get us through many a tough time in the coming months!
Many thanks to everyone who has sponsored us so far, those who havn't please donate what you can to the MS Society here http://www.justgiving.com/Cycle-for-MS
Please check back regularly to get updates and photos and stuff, even better still, sign up to the mailing list on the right to be informed whenever we have updated the site.
Bye for now..
Rich
