The Winter Wonderland that is London

It's well and truly winter here in London - looking at the weather report for tomorrow - a high of 1 and a low of -1. And freezing fog - what is this, Gotham City?

It's definitely not my favourite time of year weather-wise, and it's my first really cold winter in quite some time. The last full winter I had was in Perth, which isn't really a winter like it is over here. Before that it was Sydney, again, still not as cold as it is here, so that means my last proper winter was mid 2006 when I was working in Thredbo in New South Wales on the mountain. So it's been a while. And I haven't been looking forward to it. There are however, a few good things about winter, so in order to buck the spirits up, let's make a list! Because lists make everyone happy.

Awesome things about winter:

Boots - gumboots are super cool and there are some great patterned ones out there at the moment. They can get pretty pricey though, so I haven't found myself a pair I like that fits with my budget yet. I do however have a nice pair of black leather boots which are keeping me pretty warm and dry. I don't even want to talk about uggs. Ugh!
Pubs - not that I need an excuse, but what's better than a cosy pub, preferably with a fire and a roast dinner. Maybe even a hot apple cider....which brings me to....
Winter Pimms and other hot alcoholic beverages - hot mulled cider is so nice on a cold night, especially as I am not such a fan of mulled wine. Winter Pimms has so far eluded me....but I will find it and I will DRINK it! I enjoyed some lovely 'Christmas Punch' at the Manchester Christmas Markets a couple of weekends ago. I'm still not totally sure what was in it and the name is suitably vague. It was pretty damn good though.
A new winter coat - I was totally prepared to have to shell out £60 + for a new winter coat, but on a Camden market mission one Saturday, I went to Traid and found myself a nice 80% wool, long, black winter coat for....wait for it.....£25! Score.
Soup - I love soup at any time of the year, but it's that much nicer in winter. And so easy to make too. So far I've made two batches from scratch - broccoli and cauliflower and good old fashioned vegetable. I also do the ready made stuff too. Pea and mint is highly underrated.
Slippers and pyjamas - I practically live in these in winter. Especially when I am working from home. Thank goodness my colleagues can't see me - it would ruin the high professional esteem in which then hold me.Really. My slippers are actually sort of woollen socks I was given as a gift, but they have plastic dots on the bottom so I don't slip....in my slippers.

Snow - ok so it's cold, And wet. And it makes getting to work on the tube a nightmare. But it's pretty. And fun to play in. Check out the little beauty my flatmate and I made during the particularly snowy week that was last week.
Gloves - I just bought myself some pretty cool gloves. Purple. Fingerless....BUT they have a little flap for your fingers. Are they mittens? Or are they fingerless gloves? By gosh, they're both!
Ice skating - London has a few ice skating rinks around the place and I will definitely be heading for one in the next month or so. And there are many exciting locations to choose from such as the London Eye, the Natural History Museum, Somerset House and....Westfield.
Planning trips away to warmer shores - in approximately 57 hours (just a rough guesstimate), I am off to Morocco for 10 days. Warmer weather and tripping around again....bliss.

And just one more for good luck....Christmas! I always think I am one of those people who doesn't make a big deal about Christmas. But I actually get insanely excited about it. This year, I'm having a few friends over to my place for a pot luck lunch, complete with turkey, secret Santa and a Christmas tree. Ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch check it out......

Being laid up

Last Friday I had the very painful experience of having my two lower wisdom teeth removed. Although the actual procedure wasn't painful - I was sedated so happily, have no memory of the actual extraction - I have been cooped up at home for the last four days. I have barely left the house in this time, mainly due to my freakish, somewhat chipmunk like appearance, with quite swollen cheeks, and although I have some lovely painkillers, I've had to find some interesting ways to keep myself entertained.

So here are my top ten saviours of the last few days and would highly recommend them to anyone stuck at home for a few days, for whatever reason.

Smash - considering I fancy myself as somewhat of a decent cook, I don't usually resort to instant things, but instant mashed potato is my new best friend, especially given that chewing is difficult and I can't open my mouth enough to fit more than a teaspoon in there at the moment. My favourite combos are wholegrain mustard with butter and cheese with sweet chilli sauce.
Audiobooks on iTunes - I recently downloaded a book I've been waiting to be released into paperback - a bestselling thriller, so not exactly life altering reading, but good all the same.
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? Remember this awesome game from the 90s? I figured out how to download the original MS DOS version and have been playing it quite a bit. It's fun AND I'm learning. I was just promoted from Rookie to Sleuth thank you very much!

Source: www.cookdandbombd.co.uk

My flatmates - giving me sympathetic looks, buying me stuff I need while they're out, lending me magazines, feeding me homemade pumpkin soup and letting me have sole ownership of the TV remote - legends!
Skins - a UK television series that I can watch for free online. It's good, if a little disturbing at times - the things these high school students get up to seem a little scandalous, even for someone my age! I'm a bit slow on the uptake though - I just finished series one, which premiered back in 2007!
Ben and Jerry's - enough said. Chocolate Fudge Brownie I love you.

Source: www.mysupermarket.co.uk

DVDs - thanks to my LoveFilm subscription and borrowing from friends, I had quite a stash. I got to watch Boy, as one of my friend's parents sent it to him from home. Such an amazing film and really made me miss New Zealand, and remember fondly growing up in the 80s, in Petone. You egg.
Trivial Pursuit - Family Edition, so you can win quicker if you opt for the kids questions. This is a new discovery in the flat and I am sure will be a good source of entertainment for many cold evenings to come.
Online shopping - I probably got a bit carried away with this one. I bought myself a high vis backpack cover for cycling and some winter boots....as well as four dresses, two tops and a pair of pants.Oops.
Friends - who, although they laughed at me in my drugged and swollen state, also took me home from the hospital, took care of me, checked up on me, brought me flowers and watched DVDs, ate porridge and played Trivial Pursuit with me - thanks you guys!

So suffice to say, without all these things, I would've gone mad - and although my weekend was relaxing and cheap, I am thoroughly bored and hoping the swelling will have gone down enough to return to work tomorrow.

The London Commute

Work has been really busy for me lately - hence my lack of posting over the last month.....ok, couple of months. One good thing about working long hours however, is avoiding the rush on the tube. I've always been a fan of the tube - it's quick, it's easy, it's convenient....when it runs a 'good service' that is. However, I live on the busiest tube line in London, the Northern line, and because of the point at which I get on, the tube is usually pretty crowded - and that's on a good day. On a bad day, someone will push their own mother onto the tracks to get onto the train - even though the next one is only a minute behind. I tend to just keep my head down, my elbows out and grit my teeth for the duration of the journey. Sometimes the trip can make for some interesting entertainment though - some recent events include the driver who came over the loudspeaker to inform us that "someone's got their bits in the door - everybody, mind your bits!" or the drunk who wished everyone many happy returns at 8am on my packed carriage. My favourites are when people get into space fights ("that was my foot!", "move down please!", "there's no more room!") and then spend the rest of the journey having to stare each down with about 2cms between them while everyone else waits for one to swing a punch or call the other a bitch. Hey, you've got amuse yourself somehow!

I have begun to hate the daily commute with a vengeance and usually I find the best way to deal with it is just to zone out and bury myself in my book. However, quite unexpectedly, I have recently started cycling to work.

Cycling is something I've really missed since leaving Vancouver but I wasn't planning on being a cycle commuter in London as, let's face it, it's pretty scary - if you think tube commuters can be rude, try London drivers. A few people I know had been involved in accidents so that made me a bit reluctant. I hadn't got around to getting a bike but my friend was returning home to New Zealand a couple of months ago and offered me hers, with almost everything I needed included, for a tidy sum of £30. So once I'd taken that off her hands, I started to look into how I would go about doing the commute. In London, there has been a recent push toward cycle commuting, with the mayor, Boris Johnson, introducing the Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme, where for an access fee and usage charges, depending on rental duration, you can hire (and return) bikes at various docking stations around the city. As I had my own bike, I didn't need to participate in this, but was pleased to discover, that as part of this new cycling initiative, a new cycle 'super highway' (bright blue painted cycle lanes on major routes into the city) had been launched that ran the majority of the route I needed to take to work. So off I went, on a Monday about three weeks ago, and joined the cycle to work trend - not that I would call it trendy, I've discovered there is no way to look cool in a hi vis cycling vest and helmet! I was initially surprised at the number of people cycling, and found it actually made it easier for me, as I could just join the pack at busy intersections where I was unsure what to do. It only took me a couple of days before I felt comfortable - I guess all the cycling I did in Vancouver made me a pretty confident cyclist - and now I cruise to work in about 25 minutes, with my iPod in ("Danger Mouse!" my friend exclaimed when I told him this) and can even negotiate around the three part Elephant and Castle roundabout in rush hour - go me! So not only does it save me time in the morning, it's good exercise, environmentally friendly and a really enjoyable start to my morning, it also saves me about 60% on my usual tube fares. So now I'm in the process of kitting myself out with a few winter essentials - a high vis, waterproof backpack cover and some good cycling gloves - and converting people to the cycling revolution. Although I must admit, I don't think I'm going to be one of the hardcore few who keep cycling through the winter - I plan on doing it as much as I can until the proper harsh weather sets in and then.....back to the hell that is the tube until Spring I think! Ah well, enjoy it while it lasts I say.

Getting my ocean fix - a weekend in Norfolk

The evolution of reading

I grew up in a house filled with books and my parents are avid readers, so I've had a love of reading for as long as I can remember. Some of my favourite books when I was a kid included Where the Wild Things Are, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Patchwork Cat, Cops and Robbers, Fungus the Bogeyman.....I could go on.

Although I love it, reading is something that I go through stages of doing a lot of and not so much of, depending on what I'm doing. While travelling I read a lot - I took five or six books with me and continually swapped them at hostels and with other travellers. It sure made for a heavy bag, but the idea of being without a book on some of those long bus rides was not inviting. I've managed to continue this habit here in London, mainly because I spend 30 minutes on the tube each way to work. I'll usually see at least one person on my carriage with one of those Kindle things. I must admit, I view them with disdain - it's probably not particularly environmentally friendly of me, but I think one of the greatest pleasures of reading is the actual book. The feel and smell of them. So many of my childhood books were wrecked with love - probably because I took most of them to bed with me. The idea of using an electronic tool to read a book just doesn't appeal to me. Although I must admit I seldom buy newspapers or magazines anymore since it's almost all available online. And on a Sunday morning when I want to read the papers, can I really face getting up, getting dressed and walking the ten minutes to the corner store to get the Sunday Times and come back and get into bed with it? As with most people, I am not a pretty sight on a Sunday morning - see, I'm not just thinking of myself here. It would be nice though - there's something about letting the sun stream through the curtains as you sit there with a cup of tea and the paper dismantled and spread out around you. But when I can lean out of bed and pick up my laptop and have it instantly at my finger tips, why bother? And no smudgy fingers.

One thing about London that is conducive toward a society of keen readers is that the books are relatively cheap here. Many of the high street bookstores offer '3 for 2' deals and with Amazon having both new and used books online, you can always find a good deal there. I am still a big fan of books being lent, exchanged and handed on.....and this makes me slightly more environmentally friendly (take THAT Oprah!) - it's always great to share a good read with someone else. I was pretty happy yesterday to find a local store with £1 second hand books and bought My Year of Meat, by Ruth L. Ozeki, which my cousin recommended to me recently. The best books I've read recently would have to be Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman (a great selection by my Dad who has always had an incredible knack for being able to pick books for me that I've never heard of but end up loving), The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb and Sydney Bridge Upside Down (Dad again), a wonderfully written book by a New Zealand author David Ballantyne, first published in 1968, it has been out of print for 30 years until recently but very artfully written. All of these books are currently in the hands of friends. One of the books I carted around South America with me was The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield - I finished the book right at the beginning of my trip but the edition of the book was somewhat unique and it was such a great story, I carried it on the rest of my trip so I could send it to my sister when I got back. In this modern age, I'll happily use the internet for my news, weather, jobs, flatmates and movie times, but as far as reading goes - give me a good book any day.

My summinter holiday

Right now it's summertime in London, which is awesome. It doesn't get dark till 10pm, there is an abundence of enticing beer gardens, the Clapham Common is covered with half naked people, Pimms and bbq become my staple diet and everyone is just generally so much happier. Usually at this time of year, people go away for one, or several, holidays. My summer holiday was a visit back to New Zealand. Where it's winter. So I like to think of it as my summinter holiday.

I went back mainly for my cousin's wedding, the one who was proposed to by sheep. Considering I have not been back at work long, and I'm still recovering financially from South America, two weeks was all the time that could be spared off, so I headed off on an almost 36 hour journey for the land of chocolate fish, jandals and Flight of the Conchords. Initially, I must admit, I wasn't really excited about the prospect of going home - it's such a long way to go for such a short time and the weather in London was amazing just before I left. Of course I was looking forward to seeing family and friends, but I was last home in February of last year, and in my mind, not that long ago.

I had a great time - I spent almost a week in Canterbury on the family farm, the wedding was near Rakaia, almost at the base of Mt Hutt, so I got to enjoy some of the spectacular scenery New Zealand is famous for and the wedding itself was lovely. I also spent five days in Wellington, my home city. A lot of my friends there now seem to be doing the settling down thing. One particular evening, of the five girls there, I realised I was the only single one - all of them were either buying/selling houses, living with long term partners, thinking about babies, renovating, divorcing....and I suddenly wondered when we all got so grown up. I still use the expression 'when I grow up'. Apparently, I'm already there. I also saw two of my friends who are pregnant, one of which I was bridesmaid for a few years ago, so that was pretty special. For some reason I get insanely excited being around pregnant woman. Weird I know, but I can't help it!

By the time I left New Zealand, I had made the most of my two week summinter holiday - there was plenty of booze and food involved and I relished the cheap sauvingnon blanc, incredible lamb and perfect flat whites. And I actually left feeling quite sad, which I was surprised about - and I don't think it was domestic bliss envy. London is home for me right now, but I've always felt that I have one foot back home and this was well and truly confirmed on this trip back. Maybe it won't be as long as I thought until I'm back for good....we'll see.

A damn fine chocolate mousse recipe

I love chocolate mousse. And I love this recipe because, a: if doesn't take long, b: you can make it somewhat healthy and c: it is goooo-oooood!

100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
300ml double cream (I used low fat single cream)
2 tbsp Amaretto or other liqueur (optional) (I used cassis)
1 large egg white
50g caster sugar
handful of amaretti biscuits, to garnish (yuck! I ommited these)
white or dark chocolate shavings, to garnish

Break the chocolate into small pieces and set aside. Maybe sample a little, just to make sure it hasn't gone bad. In a small saucepan, heat half of the cream until it begins to boil. Turn off the heat, add the chocolate pieces and stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Again, just to be safe, it's best to make sure it tastes ok.
Pour the mixture into a bowl set over a large bowl of iced water and add the rest of the cream and Amaretto, if using - I reckon next time I'd give Frangelico a go - it tastes awesome in hot chocolate. Using a handheld electric whisk, beat the mixture to soft peaks - now this took a lot longer than expected, probably because of the low fat cream, so this 4-minute-mousse recipe became more of a 20-minutes-and-I'm-not-seein'-no-peaks kinda mousse recipe. But when you do get those peaks, remove the bowl from the iced water.
Meanwhile, whisk the egg white with a handheld electric beater until stiff peak. I'm not really sure what is meant by 'meanwhile' - I don't know about anyone else but I can't be whipping soft peaks and stiff peaks at the same time! Add the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, and continue whisking to a soft meringue. Carefully fold the meringue through the chocolate mixture, then spoon or pipe into chilled serving glasses.
This recipe is meant to make 4 mousses, but I put them into smaller dishes, and I think I ended up with 7.
Place the amaretti into a bowl and lightly crush with the tip of a rolling pin. Sprinkle over the chocolate mousse and garnish with chocolate shavings, if you like - I just went for the chocolate shavings. I mean, who needs to go messing that up with almond?? Serve immediately or chill for up to two days.

These set pretty quick - they just need about half an hour in the fridge. They are super good and I reckon, if you make them a bit smaller like I did, not more thatn 150 calories each - if anyone cares. They sure don't taste like that though!

I wish I could take credit for this recipe.....well I'm gonna take credit for some of it, but it was originally written by Mr F-Word himself, Gordon Brown. But he said it was ok for me to use it when we had dinner last week*


*The dinner may or may not have taken place in my head

The amazingness that is the internet

Not having internet at home for the last couple of months has really made me realise just how reliant we are on our wee computers - mine being especially wee as it's a netbook. Since my return from South America, I`ve had a lot of stuff to organise and, although organising makes me happy (totally sad, I know), it has been extremely frustrating how much I really required the internet to do said organising.

Thinking about it today, there's a lot of stuff I`ve needed the internet for over the last 3 months:

1. Looking for a job - pretty much the only way to get a job these days is through online job boards and emailing your CV to agencies. 200 + job applications and five weeks later I finally landed a good one
2. Finding a flat - Gumtree is one of the only decent places to find what you`re looking for in London, and then most of the time you have to email people with what can only be described as something akin to an online dating profile: "I like cooking, going to the gym and a enjoying a glass of wine with friends"
3. All online banking in the four countries I've now accumulated accounts in - trying to get my Canadian tax refund to the UK was a bit of a hassle and in the end I had to use Western Union. Suffice to say I will never be using them again - their website says 'Can sending money be easy? Yes!'. Well, I say 'Apparently not!'
4. I've bought a new camera  - I broke my last one on the last day of my trip, in Mexico, while trying to take a picture of myself in a hammock (having to take your own picture most of the time being one of the joys of travelling alone) - as well as a few books and DVDs from Amazon
5. I`ve used it to buy tickets to, funnily enough, events with a distinctly Kiwi theme, such as Flight of the Conchords, Toast NZ and Fat Freddy's Drop
6. Put all my photos up online from South America - well done to anyone who looked at them all - you get a gold star
7. Booking flights for the blink-and-you'll-miss-it trip back to good ol' Aotearoa for a family wedding
8. Setting up direct debits for the gym, my phone bill, various household bills and most recently, for Love Film - now I don`t even have to leave the house to get a DVD!
10. Skyping family and friends - what a wonderful invention. Except when, due to time differences, I talk to one of my friend's who's fresh-faced and glammed up for a night out when I've literally just rolled out of bed, hungover and still wearing yesterday`s eye make up half way down my face.
10. Looking up random facts, such as Jay Kay, who currently holds the record for the fastest lap on the 'Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car' segment on Top Gear, is in fact that guy from Jamiroquai. Or showing my flatmate the literal music video of Total Eclipse of the Heart (that still cracks me up every time)
11. And yesterday I needed to buy some roofing felt for the hole I melted in the roof when I had a bbq (don't ask) and I could go online, find my nearest hardware store, order it online to be delivered, or even see how many rolls were in stock at my local store (12 in case you were wondering) which I could then reserve to collect - how's that for roofing felt certainty?

So thank you internet, I don't know what I would do without you - seriously, the bathroom would be flooded, I'd never speak to my mum, my bills would never get paid and I wouldn't be able to entertain my friends with random YouTube videos. So this my shout out to you, internet - I got yo' back anytime.

Mexican goodness

I flew into Cancun for the final week of my trip, but considering that I wasn't an American teenager, I planned to leave as soon as possible. The airport was a bit of a nightmare with a huge wait in the customs queue and then the information desk told me I could get a bus to the centre of town for US$5, but when I got outside, there only seemed to be shuttles for $15. Here I was, thinking I was being super smart, and basically told the guy I thought he was trying to con me and I was off in search of the $5 bus. Turns out the $5 bus had stopped running for the day (what kind of information desk was this?) and I had to go back to the same guy and ask him if he'd take me for 120 pesos (about $10) as that was all I had in cash. I made it to a local hostel with a really friendly owner, and headed out to look for some Mexican food (first things first and all that). Amongst all the chain restaurants with Budweiser on tap, I stumbled on a really small Mexican canteen with the most amazing (and cheap) fish tacos. I chatted with a local who told me about the area, his daughters who lived overseas and bought me a bracelet from one of the street sellers. Then a young guy who was playing with the band came and sat with me to practice his English and invited me to go to a party with him. Already I had a good feeling about Mexico. I had a horrible night's sleep that night however, as the guy on the top bunk next to me was snoring for England. Literally. I think he may have won some sort of award.

The next morning I went to the bus station to get a bus to Merida. I had the choice of a cheap bus which took seven hours and had no toilet, or an expensive bus with a toilet that only took four hours. Guess which one I picked. When I arrived in Merida, I had trouble getting a taxi to the hostel as there was a carnavale on in the town and a lot of the streets were closed. After getting four different prices from four different drivers, I managed to negotiate a good price to get dropped off a block from the hostel - my Spanish was really coming along! The hostel was excellent, really well set up and I spent the next three days checking out the carnavale, eating way too much Mexican food, drinking rum with cool randoms from the hostel, reading in hammocks strung over the pool, and just generally having a relaxing time - starting to feel the wind down of my trip now. I made the mistake of checking the weather in London - COLD.

Merida is a really cool colonial town. It's a city really - it has the same population as my hometown, Wellington - but it had a small town feeling. It's based around a main town square and the locals are so friendly - many times as I was walking around, people would come and ask me where I wanted to go, or tell me where the supermarket was or what the name of the street I was on. The carnavale was interesting - it was at the same time as the Rio one, so it was like that with the parades and performers, but it was very commercialised - everything was sponsored by Sol or Corona and a lot of the MCs seemed to just get on stage and chant 'Corona, cerveza, Corona, cerveza' and the crowd went nuts when Coke threw free plastic cups to everyone.

After Merida, I signed up to do a tour of Chichen Itsa, the Mayan ruins. The tour was good value as it picked me up from the hostel, spent the day at Chichen Itsa and dropped me in Playa del Carmen, a beach resort town about an hour south of Cancun, where I planned to spend my last few days chilling out before flying to London. Chichen Itsa was pretty impressive. I was glad that you couldn't climb on the ruins anymore, like you used to be able to - it definitely made for better pictures, although it was really hard to get one without any people in it - typical tourist destination. But wow, those Mayans were smart cookies - way ahead of their time.

When I arrived in Playa del Carmen, I got a bicycle taxi to my hostel from the bus station and met a girl from the Gold Coast. We went out for frozen margaritas and she told me she thought my Spanish was really good - score. The hostel was really loud with a few weirdos and no proper communal area so I changed to a better one.....which had a Walmart across the road - awesome. I went to Tulum for the day to see more ruins - this spot is really beautiful as it's right by the ocean, so there's swaying palms and clear blue sea amongst all the crumbling buildings. I bought a really nice silver ring for under half what the guy was originally asking - I told him he was dreaming - I made nachos and went to Taco Mania, drunk lots of Coronas and margaritas, watched Avatar in 3D (amazing), and, even though the weather wasn't amazing, I managed a full day of sunning myself on the beach, getting a tan that would hardly see the light of day in London.

On my last night, I went out for dinner and met some American guys and ended up spending the evening with them. I was somewhat of a novelty to them I think, and they seemed genuinely amazed and impressed with all the travelling I had done on my own over the last few months and my lifestyle in general. And I have to say, I am really proud of myself for doing my trip the way I wanted to do it, and even though it was scary and lonely sometimes, I did it and had an absolutely incredible time - met great people, saw beautiful places and experienced so much. Of course I am sad it's all come to an end and it's back to real life, but at the same time, I'm looking forward to the next chapter of my life back in London.

If absence makes the heart grow fonder

Ok so due to some serious technology issues with my computer which could not be resolved by turning it off and turning it back on again and my flat taking FOREVER to get the internet sorted, I have not been updating this blog as regularly as I would have liked.

I have lots of exciting things to write about as I am now living in London - and have been for almost 3 months. It really doesn't feel like South America was that long ago. I am going to get my final blog up about Mexico (becasue I can't just leave it incomplete like that - it makes me feel funny) and then this blog is gonna change a bit - from intrepid backpacking adventures to more musings about life in general, commentaries on things I love (and don't love) about living in London, as well some travel and foodie stuff thrown in the mix too.

So if you're reading this, and you like my blogs, please follow me. I need more followers as I'd love to pursue this as a little side career . And I promise I won't make you drink the Kool Aid.

The strangeness of Havana

Before I went to Havana, the capital of Cuba, a good friend of mine said to me, 'It's not what you expect'. This was a remark I didn't really consider....until I'd experienced it.

There are a few things I learnt very quickly - don't go without a guidebook, it's probably not the best place to travel alone, don't go if you can't speak any Spanish and don't expect to be welcomed by the general populations. I think most Cubans make the assumption that if you're white, you are an American and therefore you are viewed with some disdain. A lot of the time I felt like they would happily take my money, but I didn't exactly feel like a wanted visitor to their country. I make it sound really bad - let me explain.

Firstly, Cuba has no hostels - not so great when you're travelling on your own. The options for accommodation are resort style hotels, which are expensive and crawling with American tourists, or casas. Casas are Cuban family homes where the owners rent out rooms. These are government regulated and heavily taxed. Staying in a casa is a cheaper and a much more authentic accommodation experience in Cuba. I stayed in a beautiful house with a lovely couple. They spoke almost no English, so my Spanish was really tested and we didn't exactly sit around swapping our life stories - unfortunate as I'm sure they would've had some interesting experiences to share. When I first arrived, there was no-one else staying there, I had no map and they had given me directions to Plaza la Revolucion and the tourist bus in Spanish. But being the savvy traveller that I am, I managed to get there ok. My casa was located in Havana Vedado, which is well out of the main touristy area of Old Havana - a good place to go out at night apparently, but definitely not frequented by many Westerners. Walking around by myself, I got a lot of attention - especially from men. I got stared at, hissed at, kissed at and whistled at. This is something I have experienced all over South America, being a blond, white woman travelling on my own, but I found it to be by far the worst in Cuba, which was something I didn't expect.

I quickly discovered however, that Havana, although a tourist destination, does not cater particularly well for tourists. They have one of those hop-on-hop-off tour buses that goes around town on three different routes, however the stop where I boarded the bus had no route information and when I asked on the bus, they said they had no printed route maps. So I was wondering how I was going to work out where I could go and when, because I didn't have a guide book either. When I got to Havana Veija (Old Havana), it took me quite some time to find somewhere I could get a map from, and I had to pay for it.

Another thing about Havana is that it is almost impossible to self-cater, or to eat very healthily. In fact, none of the food I ate was what I expected and it was a bit of a guessing game. The supermarkets are basically ration stores - there are queues outside, everything inside is behind counters, making it a bit difficult if you aren't a fluent Spanish speaker and in many of them, you can only use the local currency. Which brings me to the dual economy of Cuba - there is one currency for tourists and one for nationals, which makes things a bit confusing and often overpriced. Cuba was by far the most expensive place I visited on my trip - even pricier than Brazil. But back to the food. I spent most of the time eating pizza at the takeaway store down the road from my casa, or eating eclairs form the bakery (mostly because they were only 25c each). The one time I did go out for dinner, and ordered roast pork, what I got was fatty, chewy pieces of oily meat on a plate with a piece of lettuce. Truly disgusting. I did however have an amazing dinner at my casa one night - lobster, rice and beans, sweet potato and salad. I also had a fantatic bowl of pasta for lunch one day, which cost CUC$1.50, compared to the CUC$4.50 for the greasy pork - see what I mean about it being a guessing game.

Now it sounds like it was all bad. It really wasn't - checking out Plaza la Revolucion and the Revolutionary museum was pretty fascinating (if a bit one sided), walking around Havana Veija was cool - there are some beautiful old buildings, however the minute you got out of the central tourist area, things started to get very run down, very quickly. Staying in a casa was a real experience, checking out an Afro-Cuban all women musical show one night (surprisingly not touristy at all) and I spent one day on some gorgeous beaches just outside of Havana. I also visited the famous Real Fabrica de Tabacos Partagas and watched cigars being rolled.....the drunk Havana Club rum and smoked on the roof top patio of my casa (when in Rome...).

So my conclusion is that there are highlights for sure. And I have spoken to a few people who stayed in Cuba for longer than I did, and ventured outside of Havana and their consensus seemed to be that it's the kind of place that takes a little while to warm up to, but it gets better. It certainly wasn't like what I thought it would be and I probably got the biggest culture shock of my entire trip here, which I definitely wasn't anticipating - although I'm not exactly sure what my expectations were. It certainly is an example of Communism really not working, and causing major problems in the country. But it definitely opened my eyes a bit and I learnt a few interesting things - like that Cuban people can't sell their houses, they can only swap them with someone with a house of a similar size. Weird.

I am undecided on my final thoughts on Cuba. On the whole, I found it to be a bit frustrating and confusing, but perhaps if I had stayed longer, or got outside of the capital, or wasn't on my own, I would've enjoyed it more. Would I go back? I'm going to leave that as a maybe.....but by the end of my time in Havana, I was definitely glad to be at the airport and on my way to my next, and final, destination - Mexico....

Colombia - the jewel of South America (just keep it quiet, ok?)

The slogan for the Colombian tourist organisation is 'the only risk is wanting to stay' and I found it to be very true indeed. Colombia was a country I wanted to visit, even before my South American adventure began, however I wasn't sure if it was a realistic option. Mainly because, being a woman travelling on my own, I wasn't sure how safe I would be. But as I travelled I seemed to meet more and more people who told me how amazing Colombia was - very beautiful and relatively safe. So I did a bit of research of my own, and talked to everyone I could that had been there and I learned that Colombia is really trying to boost their tourism industry by making their country more tourist friendly - having better services for travellers, making it safer and of course, through advertising. Another traveller told me that it has become a safer place, even just in the last few years due too a few of the bigger drug cartels being busted. So feeling emboldened by my solo travel thus far, I decided to do it. I'd read that travel by night bus was not the safest (as I write this, some friends I met while travelling Colombia just told me they got robbed at gunpoint, on a night bus between Cali and Ecuador) so I decided to fly around Colombia. Avianca offers a cheap air pass whereby if you book a flight in or out of the country with them, you can book domestic flights with them for just US$70 per flight (except for a couple of destinations that cost US$140). I did some reading up on Colombia and decided where I would go in the two weeks I had. I decided to fly into the capital, Bogota, but nothing to see or do really stood out for me, so I headed straight for Salento, via Pereira. Salento is a small town located in the Zona Cafetera (the coffee zone) and as anyone who knows me will contest - I love my coffee, and I am somewhat of a coffee snob. I stayed in a hostel in a wonderful old plantation house (funnily enough, called Plantation House) which was owned by a very chatty British man, and his Colombian wife. They also owned a small coffee farm down the road, and the owner will quite happily take you on a tour (for a small fee of course) where you can see the coffee growing, and when it's the right season, see it being picked, dried and ground. There was free coffee in the hostel (which I totally overdosed on) and you could buy it to take home. The town is a lovely rural town in a picturesque setting of rolling hills. The quaint town square is surrounded with brightly painted buildings, there are restaurants where you can get a three course almuerzo (set lunch) for 6,000 pesos (about US$3), the locals all say 'hola' to you as you walk the country lanes and it's in close proximity to the Valle de Cocora, where giant wax palms grow, surrounded by little else. To get there, you go to the main square, get in a Jeep Willy and when it fills up (often with about eight people), off you go. When it drops you off, it's a five hour hike to the top of the hill but it was worth it. I got to see some hummingbirds up close, drink some weird tea that was served with cheese, and the view on the walk down from the top was amazing - hundreds of these tall wax palms swaying in the breeze. Salento, funnily enough, was where I met quite a few chicks travelling on their own - the only place I'd come across more was in Brazil. It was also the place where I was introduced to the awesomeness that is the game of tejo - a game involving throwing a metal disc at clay embedded with gunpowder, which explodes if you hit it. I don't usually have a talent for sports of any kind - but for this, I did. I think I need to find a local team and join up. Is it an Olympic sport? I may have found my niche.

After Salento, I flew to Santa Marta on the Carribean Coast. I went straight from the airport to the small fishing village of Taganga, minus my bag because it got left behind again - thankfully only for about 5 hours this time. I spent five days in Taganga, mainly relaxing and doing the PADI open water scuba diving course - something I've wanted to do since the first time I went diving in Thailand in 2004 and Colombia is one of the cheapest places in the world to do it, at a bargain US$300. Taganga was a very chilled little town with plenty of backpackers around and almost as many fresh juice stalls on the main road, where they'd whip up a combo of exotic fruits I'd never heard of for a ridiculously cheap price- a great way to start the day! After I'd been certified (as a scuba diver that is) I headed for

Tayrona National Park. To get to the park, you have to drive for about an hour from Taganga (in a van filled to the brim with backpackers, driven by a bung eyed, slightly sleazy Colombian who spoke no english) and then hike into the jungle for another hour and a half. But man, was it worth it. Beautiful beaches lined with coconut palms, crystalline blue water, and the only decisions that need to be made are whether to sleep in a a tent or in a hammock, and what to order for dinner from the one little cafe. I spent four great days here lying on the beach, trying to crack open coconuts in order to fill them with rum, hiking to the top of a massive hill, in jandals, to see some ancient ruins and.....not too much else. How's the serenity.

After my week on the Carribean coast, I flew to Cali. Cali is near the west coast of Colombia and has a reputation as a party city but I wasn't feeling so well when I arrived on a Saturday, so I didn't go out that night and I only stayed one more night, which was a Sunday and the hostel was almost completely empty. So I caught up on a few DVDs I've been wanting to see. Woah there - easy does it.

People ask me all the time what my favourite place in South America is, and I find it a pretty tough question to answer, but in the end I have to say Colombia. Despite the fact that the New Zealand travel advice website lists many of the places I visited in Colombia as being 'high risk' and the country in general as having a high incidence of kidnapping and a risk of terrorism, I never felt anymore threatened than I did anywhere else. The people are friendly, the landscape is beautiful, it's less well-trodden than all the other countries I'd been to so I felt like I was getting a bit more off the beaten track and there's great variety - whether you want to party, lie on a beach, hike, drink coffee, eat.....it's all there. And the more I saw of the country, the more I added to my list for next time - Cartagena, Medellin, Bogota - I will be back again for sure! Havana however, my next destination, was a different story altogether......

Beautiful Brasil

The first three things I noticed about Brasil: it`s hot, it`s expensive and man, is Portugese hard!

I started my two weeks in Brasil by crossing the border from Argentina. This was a lot easier than my last border crossing - I just got a taxi from one hostel to one on the other side and the taxi driver simply passed my passport through the window at each border, they took a look at me, gave me a stamp and we drove on. It was a bit of a pricey experience (about US$25) but it was either a nice comfortable, quick taxi ride. Or a mission on three buses with a backpack, which could quite easily have taken all day. Being a budget counscious traveller (read: tight arse) I would usually have taken the bus option, but I don`t think I could have handled another hellish border crossing experience. I may just have stayed in Argentina.

I actually preferred Iguacu Falls from the Brasilian side. Although in Argentina you get up close and personal with the water, on the other side you get much more of an idea of the scale of the falls - which is MAS-SIVE  - very impressive and beautiful. Niagara Falls has got nothing on these bad boys. This side was also a bit more organised, slightly cheaper, didn´t take a whole day to navigate and didn`t have nearly as many bloody tour groups. The only draw back was being chased by wasps at the cafe.

After a couple of days in Iguaca, I got the bus to Florianopolis (an 18 hour bus ride, on a less comfortable and more expensive bus than Argentina - welcome to Brasil). Florianopolis is situated on an island off the coast, connected to the mainland by a bridge. It`s stunningly beautiful with clear blue water, decent surf, white sand and a chilled out, beach town atmosphere - my kind of place. I stayed in a hostel that could only be described as an party hostel - and it was awesome. So I spent four days hanging out with a really good bunch of people (including more Kiwis than I have met anywhere else on my trip so far, and strangely, half of Melbourne seemed to be there too), relaxing on the beach and drinking very strong caipirinias. I also spent a day white water rafting for the first time, which was fantastic. It was a bit of a struggle to organise (we`re on Brasilian time now, man) and to get there, but luckily I went with some people who spoke Portugese. Score.
I would have liked to have stayed longer in Floripa (as it`s affectionately known) - in fact, when I originally checked in just for two nights, the guy on reception said "I`ll check you in for three nights. Trust me" and oh, how right he was. I`ve been flying by the seat of my pants so far on this trip and staying where I pleased for however long I pleased (one of the benefits of travelling on my own) but as I had recently booked a flight to Colombia from Rio, I had to sacrifice a day in Rio to stay an extra day in Floripa and I could sacrifice no more. So I got my last ever (thank the sweet baby Jesus) overnight bus to Rio de Janeiro. I sat next to a very nice man on the bus and, although he spoke no English, we had a nice chat about where I should visit in Rio and he showed me some pictures on his laptop and pointed then out to me in my guidebook. Thanks Ivo!

I arrived in Rio de Janeiro at about 8am and being the gung-ho backpacker that I am, I decided to do a

favela tour at 9.30am. A favela is like a slum or shanty town and there are more than one hundred in Rio alone. Now, you may question my motives (and sanity) in my decision to visit a favela but my reasoning is this: first, I selected an organisation that was approved by the community it ran tours to, and I made sure that some of my money went back into the community to help them - this particular organisation ran a daycare centre within the favela. Second, I think it`s an important part of traveling to not just be a tourist who enjoys the good stuff places have to offer, but also to learn more about the cultures and ways of life of different groups of people and do what you can (however small) to help. Our guide, Marcelo, was very passionate about this favela (Rocinha) and as we walked around the community, he showed us the good and bad sides. There is an incredible amount of gang related gun violence and drugs, which is very sad, and there is some work that can be done to help (thanks to Marcelo and organisations like his) but some things are unlikely to change (thanks, in part, to a pretty corrupt police force). But moslty, it´s just normal people, living normal lives - they have jobs and families just like everyone else. There were plenty of drug dealers around and brick walls imbedded with bullets, but I never felt unsafe. One of the best parts was visiting an art studio where I bought a canvas from one of the local artists.

I spent my remaining time in Rio (all of three days) eating Brasilian barbeque (so good), attempting to samba (so bad), checking out Christ the Redeemer, hanging at the beach (Copacabana was a bit dirty so I went to Leblon instead) and drinking fantastic and fresh tropical juice blends....and more caipirinias of course. The it was off to Ilha Grande, an island about four hours south east of Rio. The island is car free and therefore is very chilled out and somewhat unspoilt, with an odd fondness for Reggae. I spent three days here doing much the same as I did in Floripa. On one day I did a boat tour to some far flung beaches as well as Laguna Azur and Laguna Verde (guess what colours they were!) and snorkelled a bunch, and even swam with a turtle - a bit of a dream come true. I did, however, not see any monkeys. I seem to miss them wherever I go that they are supposed to be! Stupid monkeys. I also spent a morning hiking to Lopes Mendes beach and I have never sweated so much in my life. Oh the humidity!

After a somewhat relaxing few days on an idyllic island of secluded beaches (I say somewhat, as I should have listened to the inner voice that said "You`re on an island, it`s probably not a good idea to eat chicken - where do you think it came from?"), I got the boat and bus back to Rio. My flight to Bogota, Colombia was the following morning at 6am so I decided to not shell out for a hostel and stay up all night. I returned to the hostel I had been staying at in Copacabana to collect my backpack, and no-one seemed to notice that I just hung around. I watched some movies and managed two hours sleep on the couch, before getting the receptionist to call me a cab at 3am. Nice work.

And now Colombia.....the land of coffee and cocaine.....but oh so much more.....

Why I love Argentina

Ok, so Argentina is not exactly what I would call authentic South America and I found it quite different to Peru and Bolivia. It´s definitely a lot more westernised than the previous two countries but it was nice to get a change of scene. After my nightmare border crossing from Bolivia, I proceeded to Salta for new year. The hostel I stayed in wasn´t much but they did have a pool and they did have a new year´s eve party - 150 pesos for bbq and unlimited (yes, that´s right, unlimited) alcohol. If there´s one thing Argentinians (or is that Argentines?) do well, it´s bbq, or asado. Great cuts of meet, cooked to perfection and not over priced. Sorry vegetarians out there but it´s amazing! I didn´t see too much else in Salta as I was only there for two days over the new year period and a lot of stuff was closed (even McDonalds, which - shame on me -  I really wanted the next day, after the unlimited alcohol). I got an overnight bus from there to Mendoza on January 1st. Another things Argentina does well is long bus journeys. The buses are so comfortable, and on this ride, we got meals, DVDs (in English - yay!) and, wait for it, bingo! Yup - the waiter that delivered our meals to our seats, also doubled as a bingo caller. A great way for me to practise my Spanish numbers. However, while I was asleep on this bus, someone stole my alarm clock and light. More inconvenient than anything else - perhaps they had trouble getting up in the morning and needed it more than me.

Mendoza was absolutely a highlight for me. After hectically trying to fit things in before Christmas, and then between Christmas and new year, I was ready to chill out. I stayed in a fantastic hostel - small, with a pool, hammocks, and best of all, free wine five nights a week. I met some great people here and relaxed for a few days - I liked it so much I even stayed a fourth night - the longest I´ve stayed in one place on this trip. Mendoza is a wine region, famous for Malbec, so I got together a group of people from the hostel and we spent a day cycling around a few wineries and sampling the local tipple. Thankfully, we didn´t get robbed at gunpoint like two guys I met the day before.

After Mendoza, I headed for Buenos Aires. I spent a very hot four days here - did a great free walking tour of the city, met some Kiwi guys from Otago, went to a steak restaurant where I ate the best steak of my life, walked around colourful local neighbourhoods, ate lots of dulce de leche and emapanadas (but not together), had coffee at the famous Cafe Tortoni, watched locals tango in the streets and even went to an Andy Warhol exhibiton.

From Buenos Aires, I headed for Iguazu Falls, right on the border between Argentina and Brazil. Since this was my last overnight bus trip in Argentina, I decided to splash out and get the next class up on the bus, which meant I got wine with my hot dinner, followed by coffee and champagne (which was a bit of a weird order), a super comfy chair that reclined just that little bit extra and a nice pillow and blanket. Luxury for a backpacker. Iguazu Falls was amazing. I spent a day there doing all the walking paths and the boat ride that takes you right under some of the falls - I got absolutely soaked. The hoards of tour groups were a bit of a downer, but that´s to be expected. I went back the next day to do the Macuco trail, a 3.5 km trail into the jungle within the national park. The hike went to a waterfall with a swimming hole at the end. I was hoping to see capuchin monkeys, but unfortunately I didn´t. I did, however, see three toucans together in a tree - that was pretty incredible.

I´ve now crossed the border into Brazil to see the falls from the other side and I´m looking forward to the next two weeks of beaches and sun as I head up to coast to Rio de Janeiro. I´m hoping I´ll be ok given that I don´t speak any Portuguese!