Alannah's News!

Mexico City

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:32:00 -0400

We arrived at the Mexico City airport early this morning at 7:00 am (Mexico City time) and we got approached by a Tour Booker for a Tour Company. He had perfect English and gave us all these suggestions for getting to Puerto Escondido. ” If you go here first, it would be cheaper to get to Escondido…” Blah, Blah, Blah!!!! We all knew were this was going! Next he said something along the lines of ” I also have a wonderful city tour of Mexico City, if you’d like. I have a large van. You can go for 2 hours, whatever you want….”. Ya, no thanks!

So, we got in a very, very large TAXI to go to the Mexico City Bus Station. Don’t worry, we booked through a company so it was a real TAXI… But the funny thing is, is that we thought it was going to be at least 1 hour. It was around 45 minutes. So, as we arrived at the Bus Station, I had just fallen asleep… My Mom gently woke me up and I was totally out of it! I snorted when she woke me up! I snorted!!!!! I was really groggy. Kinda like when you first wake up.

Anyway, the Bus Station is actually really nice! I had maple syrup with pancakes!! Am I still sleeping? Maple Syrup!!!!!! After that, we played a game of Cribbage. I won! Yay! I read a bit, did some time on the computer, read more, came back to the computer and now I am typing this!

Not much else has happened…

Bye

-Alannah

Snowfree Blog

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 08:24:25 -0400

Snowfree Blog: This is just to make it easier to get back and forth from the two sites.

Our plan

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 08:23:19 -0400

This is our plan for the next few weeks.

June 11- In Patagonia
June 15- Check into hotel in Buenos Aires
June 16- Fly out of Buenos Aires
June 17- Arrive in Mexico City
June 18- Arrive in Puerto Escondido

July 3- Fly to Calgary
July 19- Fly Winnipeg-Ottawa!!!!
In between the 18th and 3rd we don’t really know what we are doing! All we know is that we fly out of Mexico City to Calgary on the 3rd. Then from Calgary we have rented a car to drive to Winnipeg and then once in Winnipeg, we fly to Ottawa. We arrive in Ottawa in the afternoon of July 19. Yes, we miss Canada Day…

Hope to see you soon,

Alannah

-Alannah

Whales, Sea lions and Sea elephants...

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 08:13:00 -0400

We saw whales!! Whales!! One stuck his head out of the water fully and we saw some jump! Although I can’t even start to believe that all that fat and blubber can actually get that far out of the water… They were amazing!! Now, I think that the word “amazing” can only be used for the whales. They would come right up to the boat and swim around. We saw them from shore too. They are massive! They come to Puerto Madryn for pregnancy. So, many have their babies with them. I didn’t take pictures because it was very wet. Very wet! And cold. Very, very cold…. But sometimes the whales had picture perfect tails. You know when they dive and their tails come up? It is extremely beautiful…

It got very wet and cold on the boat. I was very sea sick on the boat, so being wet and cold took away from the vomit in my nose. But I loved it! Even if I was throwing up. But people were very nice. Even Mom who grew up by the sea in Halifax wasn’t feeling great. But she got through it.

As we were heading back to shore, the captain was going very fast to get back and the waves were quite big. Actually, they were very, very big… And I got very, very wet and cold. Very, very cold… Of course, the captain was having a great time in his water proof snow suit going over 3 metre high waves at full speed. Lucky for him, he got Alannah vomit on the side of his boat. At least someone had a great time. Don’t get me wrong! I loved seeing the whales but being cold and wet, very cold and wet, stranded on a boat surrounded by grown whales, very curious grown whales, who knock your boat is not exactly the nicest thought!

Then we get in a van to drive to a spot were you can see seals and sea lions. Ya, that was cool. They weren’t a very active group but they were definitely alive. They were cute too. I could tell today was going to be wet and cold, but seeing all those animals still in the wild made the day! Usually you see these animals in zoo’s and reserves but they were in the wild!

Sea elephants… These are the ones that you can’t tell if they are dead or alive. They didn’t move one bit. Oh, I shouldn’t say that. One moved his tail up and down once. I’ll give that one some credit! They also look really funny! One group had some action though. One got up and did that sea elephant thing. You know when they throw their heads/neck back and forth. Yes, head/neck because you can’t tell where their heads start! So, that is it for now.

-Alannah

The Salto Hot springs and Some Other Neat Stuff!

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:05:00 -0400

In the Salto bus terminal, I wasn’t feeling very good and thought that I probably couldn’t go to the Hot springs. But I was wrong! They were really nice! I can’t use “awesome” because we have reserved that word only for the Iguazu Waterfalls. But, the water in those pools were just the right temperature. There were hot pools, medium hot pools and super-hot pools aswell as a nice cold pool. I felt really good after so I thought I had magicly cured myself or something! Then we got on the bus at 12:00 midnight and I started to have another fever. Mom gave more Cipro. Do you know where we got the Cipro from? It says Thomas Southworth on the container. Thomas Southworth gave us those pills in India. So I am taking someone elses perscribed pills. Oh My!

Now in Puerto Madryn, I feel really good and healthy while Dad seems to have a bad cold. Today we are going out on a boat to see whales, sea lions and seals. They say the whales come so close they can knock your boat! They also flip right infront of you. The man running our hotel, Gaston, says they aren’t very smart because that makes them easy to be hunted. So, I can’t wait to see them! I just hope they won’t flip our boat over!! It is only 8:00am to we haven’t left yet. Bye!

-Alannah

We haven’t been able to take a good picture of a maté, so...

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:07:00 -0400

We haven’t been able to take a good picture of a maté, so I just got one off the Internet. South Americans fill it 3/4 full of those maté leaves and pour in a bit of hot water, drink it, pour more, drink it, pour more and so on. Just thought I would post one.

Our friends El Jefe, House and Wilson.

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:26:33 -0400

So far in Uruguay and Argentina, we have made 3 doggie friends that follow us around. El Jefe was in Puerto Iguazu. And when we left him his face was showed that his heart was broken. We really sealed our bond when we gave him a whole piece of cheese! I will have to get a poster of my dog Jefe for my room!

Now, House and Wilson… I bet you know the T.V show House? Well, the lead guy, House, has a limp and is the leader. And our doggie friend has a limp and is the leader. Wilson is Houses freind in the T.V show and hge is more down to earth. As I write this, Wilson has been at the Internet Cafe Door for over 30 minutes.

Man! I want a dog!

Bye!

-Alannah

"The Maté has to Maté the Maté to Maté.Translation: The person who drinks a maté ( a popular south..."

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:18:33 -0400

“The Maté has to Maté the Maté to Maté.
Translation: The person who drinks a maté ( a popular south american hot drink) has to make the populer hot drink to drink the popular hot drink.”

- Porteño tour guide. (A Porteño is a person from Buenos Aires.)

Sick me...

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:16:25 -0400

On the night of June 4th, I was not feeling to great. W e were watching an Argentinian/Brazilian soccer match. I went to bed early and when my Mom came in she said I was delusional and talking about how I was a cheetah and burning up with a fever. Now I feel better but I am very tired. I gotta go now.

-Alannah

"I’m a cheetah in a burrow…"

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:09:29 -0400

“I’m a cheetah in a burrow…”

- Me while I had a fever and was delusional.

Iguazu Waterfalls...

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:19:36 -0400

The Iguazu Waterfalls were amazing! Mom says they are better than Niagara Falls. There are even wild guinea Pigs and jaguars and monkeys. The falls themselves are great! The sound of them are like a gazillion mothers saying “shhh…”. There is one group of waterfalls that are the best by far and they are like a hole in a lake. Seriously. Like a lake with a hole in it with waterfalls. Of course, it isn`t but I would recommend the Iguazu Falls to anyone! Especially if you want to get wet! It was raining most of the time but that didn`t stop me from taking pictures of the wild guinea pigs and waterfalls! I really can`t say much because it is just indescribable!

-Alannah

"Jefe!! Phew.."

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:07:13 -0400

“Jefe!! Phew..”

- Alannah when Jefe, the dog, would run at a motorcycle.

Puerto Iguazu- Jefe y Emple

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:05:32 -0400

When our 20 hour bus ride was over we found our hostel and went to the Brazil, Paraguay and Argentinian border and also met a little friend along the way. We named him El Jefe or The Chief. He followed us there while carrying an empty carton of wine. He eventually buried it and then he started to try to pee on everything he could but after the first two times nothing came out. We also learned about his favourite hobby! You know how dogs are supposed to chase cars? Well, Jefe here chases and barks at motorcycles! The first time we saw him do it I thought he was a suicidal dog or something!!! Then when we saw him after supper with a brown wiener dog he followed us to our hostel. When he realized we were not coming back out his tail stopped wagging and went to sniff his friend`s….who we named El Empleado or The Employee. Who ,in short form, is Emple. I hope we see him again.

Drunk Man in Buenos Aires Bus Station

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:49:22 -0400

We were waiting in the Buenos Aires Bus Station when a drunk man who was maybe not to well, came up to us and started wapping in Spanish! Ofcourse we just let him do his thing and we tried to ignore him but it wasn`t easy when this man was drawing hearts and pulling his bottom eyelid down while swearing in Spanish at you! Eventually a nice shopkeeper went up to him and started talking and then when the man didn`t leave the shopkeeper called security. Security asked him to leave and then forcefully pushed him out. I am sure the security guys would take out their baton things in a sflash if the drunkard wanted to come back in! No doubt though, Buenos Aires is a great place and we were very sad to leave. Just walking around Buenos Aires you can learn!

Our last few hours were spent in San Telmo looking at street performers and markets.

Bye BA!! (Buenos Aires)

-Alannah

This poster was seen at a pet store and says the...

Sat, 31 May 2008 17:37:00 -0400

This poster was seen at a pet store and says the following:

LOOKING FOR A GIRLFRIEND: My name is BARTOLO, I am a boxer who has white boots and is one and a half years old. I live in Martinez with my family, and I like to play. I carry myself well. Please call or email.

This would be one of many puppies in a pet store. I think...

Sat, 31 May 2008 17:27:00 -0400

This would be one of many puppies in a pet store. I think puppies are super adorable! This one was very cute!

Yes, this is the same dog as in the picture below but this time...

Sat, 31 May 2008 17:22:00 -0400

Yes, this is the same dog as in the picture below but this time he is not drooling. Well, he is kinda… He has a very cute face. Don’t you think?

Ok, so it’s a bit out of focus but I think you get it....

Sat, 31 May 2008 17:16:00 -0400

Ok, so it’s a bit out of focus but I think you get it. Yes, that dog is drooling but I just had to take the picture!! He has such a cute face!

This is a dog that is part of a dog walking group. A chow-chow....

Sat, 31 May 2008 17:08:00 -0400

This is a dog that is part of a dog walking group. A chow-chow. How cute can a dog get?

These would be the more “trusted” dogs. Ofcourse...

Sat, 31 May 2008 17:02:00 -0400

These would be the more “trusted” dogs. Ofcourse there are still the dogs that need to be kept away from the rest, like a boxer nearby that needed to be tied to a tree. Notice the dog walker with his arm in a sling? I wonder how he got that? Hmmm.. maybe walking the dogs?