24 April 2010 - Eating, drinking and sleeping like royalty

Mendoza turned out to be quite a treat. Firstly our accommodation was a family run B&B rather than the usual hostel fare and secondly it was Lisa's birthday whilst we were in town which meant that we could take our eyes off the budget for a little while. The next few days included:

• A delicious meal for Lisa's birthday made up of a huge pork steak, morcilla (blood sausage) and chorizo as well as an excellent bottle of red;
• A full day touring the vineyards of the region including wine tastings at three vineyards and an enormous Jacobean banquet of a lunch;
• A day recovering from earlier excesses in the wonderful and enormous public park in town.

It was excellent to take our first adventures in wine tasting (especially having previously passed up the opportunity in Napa, California) and it thoroughly lived up to my expectations as our driver took us down dusty roads to huge wineries where we nodded patiently through explanations of the wine making process anxious to get our hands on a glass of the good stuff. And good stuff it was, I'll definitely be searching out Mendoza Malbec when we come back to the UK.

The journey out of Mendoza was in style. Having endured some nasty journeys on our travels so far we decided that for the overnight bus to Rosario we would push the boat out. So we ignored the semi-cama (literally 'half-bed') class of bus and its upmarket cousin cama ejecutivo and went right in at the top - we were travelling royal suite. This involved sitting on huge leather armchair-like seats, eating an inordinately large three course meal, drinking a glass of wine with dinner and then champagne as a digestif, enjoying a movie on our personal plasma screen TV, then the coup de grace, reclining our seats completely flat in order to get a surprisingly good night's sleep - see pic of Lisa snoozing as evidence. A worthy investment.

Rosario was a pleasant if slightly non-descript town but it was nice to be released from the pressures of 'must-see' sights for a couple of days. This meant we could wander the streets, drink coffee, eat pizza and go to the movies (Clash of the Titans - truly awful but hilarious for all of the references to 'saving Argos'). The town wasn't completely replete of sights though - we checked out Che Guevara's birthplace (and accompanying groovy mural - see photo), a huge monument to the designer of the Argentine flag and a rather disconcerting monument to the Falkland Islands (or Islas Malvinas as they are known here) that declared that the islands are 'always Argentina's.'

Rosario provided some much needed respite as next up was the rather full on Buenos Aires, an international mega-city to happily compete with London, New York or Paris. We have just completed our first full day here and already we've explored the famous Recoleta cemetery which features some family vaults that make Vegas look tasteful and taken in a tango show that varied in quality from excellent to confusing - c.f. a tango to Sweet Dreams by Annie Lennox featuring light up feather boas, bewildering. Tomorrow we move it up a gear with another big one, a visit to La Bombonera for a Boca Juniors match. Very, very excited.

16 April 2010 - Take me down to Panama City where the grass is green and the girls are pretty...

Boquete turned out to be a very nice place to relax and we easily filled our days exploring the small town and taking in the Easter week celebrations (including the obligatory procession). Christina and I spent a day hiking the Senderos los Quetzales, a path that extends through the rain forest to connect Boquete with the town of Cerro Punto. It was a nice hike and as always, I quickly started reminiscing about the Appalachian Trail. It was fascinating to learn more about Christina's job during our hike - she works as a back-country ranger at Sequoia National Park in California which means that she lives in a cabin deep in the woods for six months of the year getting to known the local terrain by going hiking everyday. Sounds incredible.

Following lots of games of table football and an ill-judged game of Monopoly (surely the meanest game in the world) it was time to go our separate ways - Christina back to San Jose and Lisa and I further south to Panama City.

Panama's capital was quite a contrast from the other Central American cities we experienced. It is the region's richest city and it wears its wealth with pride throwing up high rise buildings and designer shops all over the place. Nowhere is this feeling of new found wealth more apparent than in the Casco Viejo neighbourhood. Once the heart of the city, this area was abandoned and left to rot for years before more recent attempts at restoration and gentrification. The result is a fascinating mix of tumble down buildings that look as if a decent breath of wind would knock them over next to brand new swank-a-dank restaurants and boutique hotels. It was a unique place and the changes going on were so dramatic that it almost felt that if we came back the next day it would have changed dramatically.

During our cab ride back from Casco Viejo, we noticed (on the enormous video screen that sits on the waterfront) that there was something of a big event taking place in the city that evening - Guns 'N Roses were in town. After some speedy internet searching, Lisa found out where to buy tickets (strangely, the Panamanian equivalent of Boots the Chemist) and by early evening we had secured our place in the company of Axl Rose for the evening. We wolfed down dinner and hot-footed it to the venue on the outskirts of town.

We arrived just ahead of the scheduled 8pm start time ready for an evening of classic rock tunes. We took our spot in the crowd and were quickly approached by a girl gabbling away in Spanish about having seen me before in Boquete - she had been hiking the trail the same day as Christina and I and remembered me (the ginger beard makes me pretty memorable in these parts). So now equipped with a new group of friends for the evening we were introduced to the legends of Panamanian rock, Trente-Tres fronted by a chap who (in direct contravention of Rock's anti-establishment rules) is now a member of the countries national congress. They cranked out a few tunes (and a few ill-advised dance moves) and then made themselves scarce.

It was from here onwards that the night got frustrating. The next band, Sebastian Bach, played a full two hour set, long outstaying their welcome and pushing the time to around 11pm. This was followed by an awful lot of waiting around before finally at 12:30am, Guns 'N Roses took the stage. So, after keeping his loyal fans waiting for hours, many of whom have waited for years for his bands first visit to their country, how did Axl Rose repay them? By coming on stage and immediately having a hissy fit about somebody throwing a plastic water bottle that landed close to him. His first words to the crowd were to tell them to 'play nice boys and girls' or he wouldn't be continuing with the show. Agonisingly this did not sour the Panamanian crowd who seemed to be endlessly forgiving (either that or their English wasn't too sharp) and still cheered him along albeit a little sheepishly.

Despite the early bad blood, the distinct lack of guitar legend Slash and the insistence on playing a large number of 'hits' from their new record, when the band finally got around to cranking out some of their classics I couldn't help but smile. Sweet Child O' Mine, November Rain, Paradise City - classics every one. The show, delayed again by Axl Rose making more costume changes than Lady Gaga (how many check shirts does one man need?), finally drew to a close at 2am. We were exhausted and very glad to make it home to our beds.

Now, it's safe to say that Panama is famous for two things. Having established in Boquete that it was going to be difficult to find a Panama hat big enough to fit a Waggott sized head, it was necessary to make a visit to the country's other point of international notoriety, the Canal. Being a Birmingham boy, I fancy I know my canals, but the Miraflores locks rather put the Gas Street Basin in the shade. We arrived just in time to see a huge container ship passing through the locks and it was impressive just how quickly they get them through and how tight a squeeze it is (the ships are built to fit the locks almost exactly). We hung around for a couple of hours taking in the excellent museum (including a simulator version of the bridge of a container ship for which Lisa developed quite an affinity) and watching more ships pass through including a huge US Navy transport vessel, the Watson.

The next morning it was time to say farewell to Panama City, Panama and Central America as we took our seats on our flight to Santiago, Chile and the South American leg of our trip. Much like my emotions on leaving the US for Mexico (see here) I looked back with fondness on our time in Central America, but was ready for a change, not least towards more developed countries where simple things like using public transport are less of a trial.

Santiago couldn't have delivered this any more perfectly. Despite having suffered a pretty hefty earthquake just a month earlier, the city and all of its services were fully functional which was a delight having endured the defunct US school buses that often pass as public transport in Central America for about as long as I could bear. But it wasn't just the basics that cheered us up, Santiago felt like a thriving young city that seemingly had a university on every corner. Equally prevalent, much to our delight, were shops selling the South American favourite, empanadas. Similar to Cornish pasties from back home these half moons of delight come stuffed with cheese or meat with onions and olives (as well as various other flavours). Put this alongside decent bottles of wine for a couple of pounds and strawberries and other soft fruit at incredible prices and you have the recipe for a pretty delicious place to stay. One particularly happy morning Lisa and I ate a kilo of strawberries for breakfast for the princely sum of 60p.

We spent a couple of days taking in the city including the beautiful Cerro Santa Lucia, a hill covered in fountains and small parks affording a great view of Santiago and its spectacular back drop of the Andes. To put the icing on the cake of a great visit, we spent our final evening in the city watching a football match in the Copa Libertadores (the South American version of Europe's Champions League) something I had desperately hoped to be able to do on this trip. The match between Universidad Catolica (of Santiago) and Flamengo (from Rio de Janeiro) was a cracker. There was plenty of goal mouth incidents and the home side ran out 2-0 winners (always best, atmosphere-wise). The win kept Catolicas hopes of progressing to the next round of the competition alive and inspired a whole lot of singing in the stand behind the goal where we were sat (or rather, stood). After something of an Olympic bus journey back into the city, we returned to our hostel after midnight, tired but satisfied. After the awful football we watched in Guatemala, the game helped to rebuild some of Lisa's faith in the beautiful game.

From Santiago we headed west towards the coast and the port town of Valparaiso which also surpassed our expectations. What at first appeared to be a fairly grim port town turned out on closer inspection to be something of a bohemian enclave complete with brightly coloured suburbs in the hills surrounding the harbour with graffiti murals on just about every wall. Lisa's camera went into overdrive and we had fun riding the creaky funicular railways that run up and down the hillsides. We also sampled the local speciality chorrillana - a heart stoppingly greasy pile of french fries topped with onions, eggs, spicy pork and cheese (and served with a massive beer). We both agreed it was the Chilean equivalent of the Teeside after-pub delicacy, the Parmo.

Our final evening before leaving we went to the docks to see the spectacular tall ships moored there as part of some sort of round the Americas race to celebrate Chile's bicentennial. The ships, with their towering masts all decked out with lights were incredible and it seemed that all of Valparaiso had turned out to see them in all their glory.

Sad to leave the town and the country behind, we boarded a bus the next day to cross the Andes and head for Argentina. I feel that we only scratched the surface of Chile and it is definitely somewhere that I would like to return to and get to know better (particularly the wilder areas in the south). But for now we are climbing up and up into the mountains headed towards Mendoza and more delicious wine.

1 April 2010 - The sweet taste of liberty

We're free! We left the farm the day before yesterday under a cloud of negative energy. Maji asserted that there would be no further volunteers at the farm after us, something that in it's current state would probably be a good thing. We are definitely glad to have our liberty again and it is nice not having to get up at 5:30am or wrack our brains for ways to fill the day any more.

After leaving Costa Rica (including a border crossing where the staff in passport control were watching the Manchester United vs Bayern Munich game whilst issuing tourist visas) we spent one incredibly hot night in Panama's second city David before moving on to the mountain town of Boquete. We have been joined here by Christina, one of our fellow inmates at Earth Rose Farm, who met us following an incredibly speedy visit to San Jose to replace a stolen passport. We will stay here for the Semana Santa (Easter Week) celebrations and hopefully take in some hiking amongst the cool mountain air.

P.S. As a last reminder of the crazy wildlife on the Farm, our last day saw an encounter with a huge scorpion in our lean-to toilet (see picture - click into it and then zoom in to see the full horror). The little blighter was tucking into an enormous cockroach, a meal that proved to be his last...

28 March 2010 - The pantomime continues...

Last night saw some fireworks as Sarah and Darien informed Maji that they wanted to leave the farm early and would not be completing the minimum stay of three weeks (or 15 working days). Maji had a genuine tantrum including a string of expletives and then stormed off like an angry teenager. He drove off the farm and spent the night in his car (not least because he managed to get it stuck in a ditch). There were more arguments this morning but things seem to have died down now. This place is really something of a soap opera and it sometimes feels like we are here against our will as we talk of 'just doing our time'.

Anyway, there is just one more day of this madness until we can get back on the road and, hopefully, to some measure of normality.

27 March 2010 - Abandon hope all ye who enter here...

Since the last entry my opinion of the farm has gone downhill (if that were possible). The lack of direction has continued and we have increasingly been making ourselves scarce rather than risking being put to work on mind-numbing or ridiculous tasks. Today took the biscuit as we attempted to drag some large freshly cut trees uphill using the farm's two dilapidated horses. This was both impossible and very dangerous and something we quickly gave up on. This was part of an unplanned, uncosted and generally ill-conceived project to build a new kitchen and dining room on the farm, a project that Maji seemed to think could be completed in 2 days but would take more like 4 weeks.

Some positive highlights of the last week have included:

• A visit to the local town of La Rivera for a dance. We had envisioned a quaint, traditional fiesta but were greeted with a full on disco complete with smoke, lights and dance music choicely selected by the local equivalent of Fatboy Slim, DJ Danny;
• Walking to the neighbouring farm, La Chinchilla, to see how real Costa Rican farming is done. The farm had emus, hundreds of chickens and beautifully kept vegetable gardens (as well as wonderful owners, Guillermo and Luz);
• More amazing smoothies and juices including the almost freakishly orange mandarina juice.

As I said before, the other volunteers continue to be a source of positivity and our ranks have been swelled this week by the arrival of two newcomers, Sarah and Darien, two Floridians. We were also briefly joined by Joaquin, a Spanish chap who wisely decided to scarper after two days on the farm having quickly assessed that Maji was chronically difficult to work with and the farm a directionless mess. We have stuck it out largely because it provides us with a low cost option in a relatively expensive country and because we have paid a deposit that we would forfeit if we left early (something not particularly in agreement with the principles of the WWOOF programme).

Ah well, we only need to bear with it for a couple more days before we have our liberty restored and can return to a more normal sort of traveling.

P.S. The latest addition to the menagerie of creatures on the farm is an incredibly huge cockroach - about the size of the head of a ladle - that has taken to frequenting our toilet at night. Think the attached picture just about does him justice.