Merry Christmas From The Gauchos!!!

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all warm and happy Christmas. If you can, spend it with your families. We can't and at times like this one we learn to appreciate the presence of the people we care about most in the world. This goes out to all of our families in Poland and Hungary, our moms and dads, who - although it's hard for them - never, even for a second stopped us from chasing our dreams and fully supported us all the way. This goes out to my brother Michal, who - I am sure - does what he can to substitute me while I'm away.

This also goes out to all of you, people that we met in Budapest or any other part of the world - our friends. Especially in my case, having such a fantastic crowd around me for so many years was like having another family. We shared many great moments and in times of doubt we could always count on all of you. We miss you all like mad, but we're sure to see you soon.

We wish you to have the faith in your dreams and the courage to fulfill them. Dare to raise the level for yourselves every time. We wish you to have the patience when things don't turn out as you planned and tolerance not to blame others for digging holes under you. Remember that every failure is a lesson bound to make you stronger and wiser. Remember that everything happens for a reason. We wish you all to achieve your goals, whether it is to become successful, famous or simply a better person. To all those who want to make the world a better place to live we send extra strength, we hope it will guide you along the righteous path, please remember that no one is truly evil, and even your worst enemies were kids one day. We wish you lots of love, because in the end all that's left of us are memories in the hearts of those who loved us. Whatever you do and wherever you are don't forget where you come from and who you met along your way.

Sending all the love from World's End,

Niki & Marcin a.k.a. The Gauchos

Uruguay: Grilled Hungarians, Los Santos and Sexy Underwear.

Hola locos!

Yesterday we returned from our little trip to Uruguay. We didn't have much time, because we both work and can only use the 2 free days a week that we have. Either way Niki did a splendid job planning the trip (and moaning about me not helping her :)), an effort worth of the attention of the most advanced logistics companies. We took a ferry from Buenos Aires across the Rio de la Plata to Colonia de Sacramento, then a quick transfer to Montevideo and another bus to Piriapolis, which was our destination. Niki didn't sleep the night before our trip, because we had to leave very early in the morning and she still had to do one late night show for Telemedia, which left her pretty much no options whatsoever. We drank a quick coffee and off we went. The ride to Colonia is only 50 minutes with a ferry, then some 2 hours to Montevideo and a bit more than an hour to Piriapolis. Our dream would have been to go to Punta Del Diablo, but it's too far out north, we didn't have time for that.

Anyway Piriapolis is a cool little town on the southern coast of Uruguay. Niki found a small hostel for us to crash there for one night. It's still very early into the season so it was almost empty (except for one American dude and a Polish chick that we never met). We also had luck with the weather - it was very hot while we were day, it only got a bit worse the next day when we were leaving anyway.  

It was great to get out of Buenos Aires, my first time ever since we arrived here. It felt like just about time to lay around on a beach and scorch our skin in the mid-day sun. And so we did. Uruguay is a bit more expensive than Argentina, but as we found out later the salaries are not necesarily higher. As one old man told us: 'it's always been this way'. I didn't get deeper into that.

Curious thing that day was, that already when we arrived we noticed a huge smoke in the middle of the town, but we thought that it must be under control since no one showed any sign of interest. It was only until some 5 hours later that the Bomberos (firemen) woke up from their siesta and pulled out all their heavy water artillery, driving in a frenzy to the site in question and spilling impressive amounts of water on their way. At that time we were comfortably seated in a nearby bar, sipping on cold beer, watching the spectacle with growing astonishment, as soon helicopters joined in. I guess the pilots must have been a bit excited about their assignment as at times, they descended towards the sea to refill the water tank, but then hurried right away, probably thinking that it's already full. In my humble opinion it was far from it, but then again perhaps that's why I don't reinforce the ranks of Uruguayan Bomberos.

The next day we had a plan to rent some bikes and cycle out of town to some more natural beach. We ate a quick breakfast (how long can you eat bread with butter, eh?) and went to the city to rent the bikes. The bikes, as expected, were of the commonly known 'playera' brand (read: plashera). For some strange reason they enjoy a cult status in both Argentina and Uruguay (I assume it's no different in other countries on South America), and even though the name suggests that they're suitable for riding even in loose sands of a beach, they sink in just as nicely as any other bicycle. Mine hardly had any breaks too, but I enjoy a challenge :). We found a nice beach and continued to scorch our skins from where we abandoned this activity the day before. We fulfilled this task with great success, even today my back and face is completely red...

Around 4 o'clock we got on a bus back to Montevideo to spend our last night there. I must say that the city is quite nice. I would even say that perhaps it's more enjoyable than Buenos Aires, simply because it's smaller but then again, due to lack of time, we didn't explore it too much, especially it's outskirts. We visited the old town though and even went down to check out the sea. It's interesting that walking the streets of the old town you can see the sea in 3 directions. There are plenty of old buildings, and it would be a cool place to open a hostel, some of those buildings are in fact deserted. The hotel where we stayed was also an interesting one, situated in an old house, few blocks away from the old town. It gave me an impression of being in some movie about Cuba or another exotic place - high ceilings, minimum furniture and all of it quite old. Lots of people live in such hotels for months, I imagine... Some workers or bohemian travelers that don't identify themselves with the 'backpackers hostel' accommodation. 

During our walk through the city we saw a couple of eyebrow raising things. First of all we found a small shop that, according to it's information, sold religious stuff. A quick glance at the shopping window allowed us to discover that side by side with little figures of saints, the shop offered a variety of sexy tangas. The second thing we discovered was when we went to eat and in the menu we spotted a familiarly named dish called Hungaras. After an inquiry with the waiter we learned that it's a type of grilled sausage, very popular with Uruguayans. Is it possible that fame of Hungarian sausages reached Uruguay?  

Opinion Is Like An Ass. Everyone's Got One.

Hola boludos!

I guess we aren't as prolific about this little space lately as one might think, so first of all apologies (again) for not giving a sign of life for some time. It doesn't mean that there's not that much happening, I suppose it just means that we simply are lazy, but to justify this, we would say that we just work a lot.

'The sun is shining! The weather is sweet..' and that's exactly what's happening here. Actually it gets hotter every day, even now, at 20:48 pm the temperature is around 27 C. I have a funny feeling that we're down for some suffering in the upcoming months as we don't have air condition in our flat.. The good thing is that we're in shadow more or less, so it's still cooler than outside. Everyone I know says that in from January it will be impossible to compute simple mathematical tasks, and it's not really due to the temperature but due to humidity that kicks in around that time.

To cut the long story short: we've been here for almost 3 months now, so I figure it's time for some honest opinions about life in Buenos Aires. I can say straight away that it's not as peachy as one might have thought (if there is such a person). I must say that it's kind of awkward for me, because when I come to think about it we had just unbelievable luck with the way things worked out for us - Niki's job, the flat, etc. However there's this strange thing about human nature, that no matter what we have, it always leaves us wanting for more. There's always something to complain about. Now, I don't want to be an ungrateful prick, but as I said, I will write honestly about the way we feel.  

Some of you asked me about the people here.

I have some Argentine friends still from Hungary, and if they are reading this I hope they don't get offended by what I am going to say, after all it's not my intention to hurt someone, but I do want to speak my mind directly and state my opinion. Please remember that it's an early opinion, that formed itself after only 3 months, but nevertheless it's an opinion and I wouldn't be honest with myself if I wrote something else. I hope it will change though..

I wouldn't say that I dislike Argentines, but there are definitely some things about them that annoy me, or - perhaps - I haven't come to understand them fully. First of all, after all this time we've been here we really don't have Argentine friends... and shoot me but I don't know why. I have some theories, though. As I go back in time and recall the first years of my stay in Hungary, I didn't have any Hungarian friends neither. It took some 2 years to 'break the spell'. For a long time I thought that Hungarians are just cold people, but I wouldn't be the first one to sign such a statement now. Now I think that it simply takes some time to understand the culture, learn the way people talk, and the way they tend to think. All in all it's a lengthy process and I can understand that it's not easy for a person to come from another corner of this planet and blend in straight away. 

The Argentine culture is a bit different. It's not that people here are cold, at least not at first sight. I would say they are reserved with outsiders. When you come here, the first thing you notice is that people are open, that they don't lurk in the corners and talk quietly for you not to overhear their precious secrets. They like to talk loud (just like Croatians.. hehe), shout even, and the way they talk Spanish has much more melody than in Spain, for instance. But when you're an outsider it all comes to a sudden halt. I consider myself to be a rather tolerant person and I always try to understand the differences, so I am not mad or disappointed at this, in fact in fuels my determination to 'break the spell', just as it happened in Hungary. The bottom line is that in a country that was built by immigrants, one can still be considered an outsider. Sure, people will be nice to you. You can go out and meet some folks in a bar and have a good chat with them, but that's it. Once the night comes to an end you both go your separate ways and there's no 'hey what's your phone number, we should do this again sometime'. Yes, I am generalizing, because there's no other way for me to show you the vibe that I feel is present here, the vibe that I feel when I am around Argentines. 

Niki tells me from time to time, that she's kind of disappointed about atmosphere in Telemedia here. In Hungary there's just a bunch of foreigners working there and although she's Hungarian she was always open with people coming from all over the world. She thought that it must be kind of hard for them to blend in - new workplace, new faces, people talking language that you can't really place, language that all in all is very difficult to learn. So she always tried to make it easier for them, take them to places, make them meet her friends and give them an opportunity to see life in Budapest from a perspective of a Hungarian. Hell, I can honestly say that it was the moment I met Niki that opened many doors for me. That was the moment I met many of you guys, who are my friends now. On the other hand, here it's different. There is no feeling of community, that sort of we're-all-in-the-same-boat vibe. To say the truth, as I was given a chance in Telemedia too, I felt like we aren't really welcomed there. Of course not from all the people, but still I felt like some strange species that everyone is looking at, wondering what am I doing there. No one really asks us out and most of the plans about going out are made without us taken into consideration. It's a little bit sad for us, but I am sure that once we've spent enough time here, it will change.

Another thing I noticed about Argentines is that they are always helpful. But don't get too excited yet. I realized after about 2 months here, that everyone would say that they were willing to help you. I met many people that offered their help and talked about possibilities, people they know and places they can get me in, but unfortunately it ends right there. When I was looking for a job, I met many people that wanted to help me find something more suitable to my abilities, so I sent my CV to a whole lot of them, but I never heard from them any more. After a while I stopped believing them. There's a good word for that here: 'chamullo'. It's not to say 'lie'. It rather means a harmless, little, white lie that doesn't really hurt anyone, it's just something meant to upgrade the reality as opposed to what it actually is. There's a similar phenomenon that I remember from Spain - if you're lost and ask for directions, no Spaniard will ever tell you that he/she doesn't know, instead they will tell you to the best of their abilities, which unfortunately often is quite wrong. They don't mean anything wrong, they actually do want to help you, but either because of their actual knowledge or their mentality, they can't and they won't admit it.

To end this on a lighter note: we are invited to a new year's party at a beach somewhere outside Buenos Aires by a girl who works with Niki - Cecilia. It seems like things are slowly changing :D 

Another thing that bothers us is that we really work a lot here. Most of the people work a lot in Buenos Aires. The working day ends around 20.00 and it is then that the subte is packed with people going home from their work. The problem with this is that we don't really have time to see anything in Buenos Aires, let alone Argentina, where you have to travel for a long time to get anywhere. This is especially valid for Niki's job as she has a quite weird schedule. Some days she has programs until 6 am and is the single person with the most shows per week. I can understand that she's the new one, and it's the freshmen who get screwed the most, but sometimes it's a bit over the top. I hope that it will change soon. On the other hand, I work 7 hours a day, which is still all right (if it wasn't for what I do), but this way we hardly ever see each other with Niki - she doesn't work during the day when I am at work, but when I come home, she has to go and do some shows and comes back when I am already asleep. There's not much we can do about it, the money Niki earns with Telemedia is incomparable to anything else. I still look for another job, as TM decided that I am 'too quiet' to handle this job (this is actually a subject I am not going to elaborate on at this point).

We plan to go to Uruguay next week. My visa expires around that time, and I have a choice either to pay to prolong it or just re-enter the country. The second option is better as at least I will finally get out of Buenos Aires, after 3 months of continuously being here.  

Be good and dress up warm! We'll be reporting to you shortly.