Growing Roots in Hostel Estoril

Dear Friends,

week 2 in BA has been a mix of shopping for the bike, sunbathing, socializing with hostel mates (with wine), little siteseeing and a bit of cycling around BA.

- Shopping for the bike: Finally got the bike with the travel bags. Amazingly, my stuff (25kg plus 5kg of backpack) does fit in the 4 bike travel bags and I got some spare space. I'm still waiting for my bike Sigma Computer which arrives friday. The camping gear that I want is hard to find due to the low season approaching. What I need is a simple stove that burns on petrol, camping head light, cooking equipment for 1 and the simpliest item which is becoming a nightmare to find are simple elastic cords with hooks to tie up backpack and tent to the rear bike bags.

- Sunbathing: 2 weeks of glorious sunshine and I'm still white as a ghost. While biking and shopping around I'm exposed to sunshine, plus I sunbathe on the hostel terrace for a hour every 2 days, taking a day of rest from the sun as I do burn a bit. Anyway, I'm starting to change color so I'll not look like a white sheet on a black bike.

- Cycling: My new black Vairo (local brand) is working well and as most of you know I did call her "All Black" for colour and nationality reasons. Traffic in BA is a life threatening experience, it's full of buses that go at high speed, breaking and accellerating as if they were in a f***** F1 race. They turn fast with no indicator and if they have an indicator on they will turn the other way, as the indicator is on by mistake. Being hit by a bus is not the only risk. Buses choke the city with their black exhaust fumes and cycling behind a bus for 2 hours is like smoking 1000 fags. During the weekend there is little traffic and it's enjoyable to cycle around the city. This weekend I'll test the bike fully loaded with the travel bags and camping gear and on Monday I'll be ready to go. By the way, I've decided to go via Uruguay and South of Brazil. Next week I'll cross the Rio de la Plata to Colonia in Uruguay. The first cycling stage will be Colonia towards Montevideo, 150km which I should cover in 2 days.

- Socializing in the hostel: It's part of the fun when living in a hostel. BA is a port for most travellers entering or leaving South America, so in hostels you have a high turnover of travellers each day. But not in the Hostel Estoril where travelers seem to stay longer than planned. It's a cool, clean and well managed hostel, where the staff remember your name and have a real interest you. As said, travellers stay longer than planned, they're solo travellers travelling South America or the world, be it for 2 weeks, a month, 6 months or years. When travelling solo socializing becomes easy, natural and it's fun. That is why at the Hostel Estoril a big group of solo travellers have become friends, enjoying the asados, siteseeing and the bars and clubs of the city, like the great night out to the Club 69, partying till 8am. In 2 weeks I had the privilege to share travelling experience, fun and friendship with the following:

- Miriam Perritt (UK)"The Geezer Lemon Squeezer", my best friend in the hostel
- Chris Cox (Australia) "Mr lasagna from down under", always there for a drink.
- Mark Brown (York) "The Doctor from York", dorm mate plus cork tricks.
- Marina Rodriguez (Portugal) "Portugesa do Dublin", terrace mate.
- Jenn Farrell (IRL) "didn't kill me after snoring", dorm and party mate.
- Jenny Bernardskaya (UKR) "true passion for culture", dorm and terrace mate.
- Marcin Domaszckynski (POL) "The bartender", party mate.
- Kelly Inglis (CAN), party mate.
- Giulia Stammer (Swiss), party mate.
- Thais Martinho (BRA), party mate.
- Samir Saini (USA) "die hard party animal"
- Eamonn Martin (UK), party mate.
- Abdulazz Maraffi (Qatar), dorm mate that didn't kill me after snoring.

Thank you to all for the great time.

Easyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Gueezers lemon squeezers.


jimbo