The house in Pucon was infested with young male kayakers. In every dark corner there was empty garbage and food. In the darkest corners, some tired soul would be napping.

The house, which was meant to be cozily inhabited by 5, had accomodated to 12 by the evening I left.
This meant a continual flow of paddler's through the living room, a barely usuable kitchen and broken toilet.

What firmly united everyone was the desire to paddle difficult and fun rivers around Pucon.
For lack of gear, infected ear and my own inclination towards safety, I only paddled one day around Pucon.
Jackson, Alex Davies and I met two Americans to paddle the Maichin River. I hastily borrowed the $1500 worth of gear needed and we left at 6:00 p.m.

The area around Pucon quickly became rural and then refreshingly natural. It is lush, rocky, moist and green. The landscape hides the many waterfalls and creeks which draw these crazy kayakers.
Upon arrival we geared up with dry suits, helmets, elbow pads, rescue belts and more. I was asked about my creeking experience which was virtually nil.

As I've been told and would soon discover, creeking is a different beast. For those with me, I was a straight forward run.
My description of this run would have to include big boulders, limited opportunities for scouting and some large continous sets.
There were several class 4 sections but nothing most Canadian paddlers would call class 5.

I flipped over more than 5 times but was always able to roll up. A lot of adreneline, but no swim, no lost or broken gear.
I felt elated, redeemed and relieved at the end of the 2 hour run.
I know as well that the level of whitewater in Pucon in out of my league for now. These guys are running 70 foot waterfalls.

Jackson was ready to leave Pucon when I arrived. Something about the lifestyle in Pucon and the inauthentic feel of the city made him ready to leave. So we have left and are less than halfway to the bottom of South America.
So we sit, drinking Pisco in a campsite, in slow transit for our 30 hour bus ride tomorrow.
In a few days, ideally for Christmas, we will hiking in Torres del Paine. It is the most popular National Park in South America which is amazing considering it's isolation. We hope it is worth the trip and will be celebrating with potatoes and gravy!!!

Uruguay : Montevideo, Punta del Este, Punta del Diablo

The adventure has picked up significantly since leaving Buenos Aires.
I headed to Montevideo, Uruguay with the sole intention of meeting people to go surfing with. Uruguay is a huge summer destination for Argentinians. The preferred method of travel is ferry from downtown BA to Colonia. 

I had dinner with a young guy from the West Indies, he complains that people constantly mistake him for being Brazilian. He says this while wearing a Brazilian soccer jersey/ We met in the hostel and went through the normal exchange of figuring out what languages we both speak. He speaks French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Creol and some English. So we settle on Spanish and head out to the supermercado. We can't find it. An asian convienence store owner tried to convince us her store was the supermarket, but I'm 70% sure she was lying. It was cramped, tiny and dusty, the only real food was pasta.

When we return to the hostel, I start talking to a group whose nationalities are a variety of commonwealth countries. Within an hour, I've made plans to go to a beach destination with the group in the morning.

At this hostel as well, I met a South African family. A mother with two beautiful daughters with beautiful names, Khiyara and Ayesha. They are from Capetown and fiercely proud of their hometown. I was at the same Oasis concert in Capetown with Khiyara earlier this year. Through some good luck but mostly bad luck, I spent sometime with this family over 4 days.
The first bit of bad luck was for them, that they hated a different hostel they went too.
The second bit of bad luck was mine, missing a bus twice and losing all opportunity to leave Punta del Este yesterday.
My good luck is that they consoled and provided dinner for me. I felt very comfortable with them and enjoyed intelligent conversation above all else. 
There was a rampant commonwealth party that occurred as well. I was reamed out by another South African for saying that I felt on edge in Johannesburg. We both had valid points, though her points were made more forcefully.

Today I made the several bus transfers (8 hours travel time) to come to Punta del Diablo. Punta del Diablo is a small community surrounding a beautiful beach. White sand, good surf. Two or three hostels are scattered around as well but it is still very isolated. When the bus arrived in on dusty road, a group of young school kids were focused on their soccer game. There is one main road, unpaved and heading to the ocean.

In my travel, people were very friendly and helpful with directions. I find it very gratifying to travel alone when things go well. Even small things like transfers feel like big successes. The Spanish you use is the base communication but it is damn important practice.
I went boogie-boarding fairly unsuccessfully. Tomorrow I'm getting up early to surf and biting the bullet to just rent a hostel board.

Birthday and End of Buenos Aires

I have finished up my time in this homestay and Buenos Aires. I am sitting in my room, with two portenos playing Beatles songs, packed up and ready to leave tomorrow.

My 24th birthday was memorable. Through out the day, I was able to smile and take in my surroundings. By my own choice, it was quiet and a bit self indulgent. The Los Angeles native, Katrina, who was is in my Spanish class brought a package of birthday baked goods. After class, I rushed home to meet Susana. She had promised to take me to La Boca. The trip was not what I expected.
The scale of Buenos Aires downtown is impressive. It is not due high buildings or business districts, to me it is the expansive area of urban neighborhoods. They sprawl out in every direction without a break. 
When in La Boca, I expected that Susanna and I would walk around discreetly, have a coffee and leave. Instead, we hurried through a very touristy area, then she informed me that she needed to work.
I knew where to catch the bus and she left me. The final directions were to not stray from the 6 block area we had walked.
I didn't feel safe walking around and had no intention of staying in that area. So I bought a coffee on the street, obtained change for the bus with an embarrassing amount of confusion and prepared to leave. Once on the bus, it dawned on me that I am much happier silent on public transport than to walk through a  bubble of a tourist destination and photo opportunity.
For the evening, little occurred until friends came over at 11:30. We drank and relaxed until far to late until the evening.

Tomorrow I am headed to Uruguay with the complete intention of surfing as long as I can. I will take a 3 hour ferry from Buenos Aires and I will be there. The country is small and I will travel along the coast. The first stop (after the capital Montevideo) is a surfing area called La Palamo. After this, the tiny Punta de Diablos, with 700 people which I heard about from avid Uruguayan traveler.