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How to get from Phuket Airport to Krabi (fast, comfortable and safe)
If you have any questions or comments regarding the trip from Phuket Airport to Krabi, please do not hesitate to leave a comment below. If you need more information about Thailand, see our Thailand section.
Auschwitz - the black mark in our history
We started our tour in Auschwitz I which served as an administration center of the complex and nowadays has a museum in almost every building in the area. Starting with the history of WWII and its effects on the Polish people, continuing to
examples on how the buildings were setup for sleeping, pictures of the ghettos and transports and finally finishing with the gas chambers and areas of execution of the prisoners. Some of the buildings are lined with pictures of the prisoners' headshots with their name which makes you shiver all over when walking by the thousands of tormented faces. The tour of the complex can take anywhere from 2 - 4 hours, depending on your patience to deal with huge amounts of tourist groups and your interest in the history.The second, much larger camp, Auschwitz II (Birkenau) is only a few kilometers away at the end of the town. You can take any of the plentiful taxis in the area or of course use your own transportation to get there (Turn right out of the gate of the
first camp and then just follow the signs). Once you get there, be prepared to be in awe as to the size of the area. The tourist count is a bit less than in the first camp as some people don't even make it here and the area is larger, so they get dispersed around. You can walk through the camp, visit the insides of the buildings to see how the prisoners lived, where they slept in, where they went to bathroom etc. At the far end of the complex, there are the infamous baths aka gas chambers where the prisoners were horded right off the trains, stripped off their clothes and gassed to death. The gas chambers are nowadays all torn down and also half the camp's barracks are gone with only the heating chimney's left behind. The visit to Auschwitz will leave you wondering for days how something like this is even possible in our world and how any human being could even be part of such an atrocity.
Helsinki and Spicy Chicken Wings part 3
The first restaurant, with a promising name of Colorado, which serves supposedly great steaks had chicken wings on a menu. So far so good. However, when reading a bit more, they were marinated in honey-chili sauce, so obviously not what we are looking for. Anyway, we stayed and order a small portion. The wings were nice and juicy, but the sauce and the dip, just horrible,so if you are after good wings, this is definitely not the place to go.
Our next stop ended up somewhat rock clubish looking Henry's Pub, which was located in the
old bus station in Kamppi. When first looking at the menu, this seems our hearts started to beat faster and faster. The only thing we found was wings with multitude of sauces. Unfortunately, they didn't have XXHot sauce that day, so we had to downgrade to only XHot. Anyway, the wings sauce was the closest to a Buffalo wing so far, however, on the bad note, the wings were very dry. I am not sure if this was due to the fact that they probably freeze the hell out of them or they just had a bad batch coming out of the oven. We do have to go again to confirm which theory it is. The blue cheese dip and the fries were excellent, so this is definitely the place to go visit. Our wing hunt is not over yet, will keep you posted with our next endeavors.
Buffalo Wings in Helsinki Continues
Newly discovered frozen marinated wings in a German type grocery store called Lidl might just be the ideal wings out there.
So far it has been impossible to find naked wings without a marinated in Finland. Actually, there is more marinated meat out here than anywhere else I have ever lived in. Only some stores can get you a good naked meat, so you can marinate it yourself.
You know you have been in Finland too long, when..
- Your nice Armani suit has a fluorescent thingie hanging off of it, so cars see you in the winter
- Glögi becomes your daily drink on Christmas and you no longer consider it an alcoholic drink
- You find yourself silently waiting for a green light to cross a street that has not seen a car in the last 5 minutes.
- The panic sets in when you are on a bike in a town with no or only 1m wide biking lanes
- When somebody asks you in a supermarket "do you want a pussi?", you no longer giggle or even find it a bit weird
- When someone comes late to a meeting, you automatically assume, they don´t care and are rude
- Gloves and warm hat becomes your best friend in preparation for winter already in October, when the weather is definitely not a glove weather yet
- You became lactose intolerant or at least don´t bother asking what milk to buy if you bring groceries to a friend.
- Attending a Christmas party in early November comes natural and does not strike you as weird.
- "Cash" is a word you have not used in a long time and your wallet has only plastic in it.
- You no longer question why stores are closed on Sunday
- You become annoyed when somebody speaks Swedish to you
Top 10 Things to Do When Moving to Finland
1.) Find a place to live such as an apartment or a house
2.) In order to rent a place you need to get a home insurance. This is not that expensive and will cost you about 200 euro/year. For this you can go to Pohjola
3.) Get internet service. Finland is more connected than most places on
earth :). This highly depends on where you live, but Welho seems to have good deals. 4.) Now, you need to get registered into the population registry and this is done at your local Maistraatti office. All you need is a passport and a couple of weeks later you will receive your social security number which is more important than your name in Finland.
5.) If you are in Helsinki, you might want to ask for a temporary SSN when in Maistraatti, so you can get a travel card right away. Travel cards are used on all public transports in Helsinki and you can either put money on the card or pre-pay monthly etc. etc.
6.) Once you have a job, you should register with the immigration police. This is called registering the right of stay in Finland. Fill in and sign the form "The Registration Information on a Foreigner". If you are an EU citizen you just need your passport, 40 euro, your contract and a lot of patience as it can take many hours waiting to get to actually drop your stuff of. Come at 8am to avoid long queues and do not come after 2pm as they will not serve you. It takes them about 2 months to get a decision on your application.
7.) Now you want to get paid right? So, get a bank account. You probably just need a passport and again your contract for this. Some banks to try are Osuuspankki and Nordea. By the way, the OP bank doesn't have the greatest English interface, but good service.
8.) After you have worked for a couple of weeks
and if you are form the last EU countries to join the union, you should submit a form to the employment office to notify them of your employment. The office is located at Mikonkatu 7, 3rd floor (helsinki.kluuvi@mol.fi) and the form is here. However, be wary that nobody will have a clue what you are talking about as they have never seen this form, yet they will be nice and take it off your hands :).9.) If you are working you don't want to have 60% tax taken out right? You need to apply for a tax card. This process is very simple. If you are in Helsinki, go to Vuorikatu 14, right in the metro station. More information can be found on the tax site.
10.) Last, but definitely not least, you will have to pay a visit to your local Kela office. Kela is a sort of social security in Finland. Find out more about Kela here.
Kela FPA
One site that is very helpful and has a lot of collected information is the Expats Finland page, so give it a shot. And if you are bringing your car with you, don't forget to visit the custom's site for official forms and regulations. You will be looking for a form which will tell you how to bring vehicle as part of removal goods.
Tervetuloa and good luck!
Buffalo Chicken Wing Hunt in Helsinki, Finland
Our first stop was the hip restaurant in the center (Kamppi) called Memphis. The chicken wings here weren't the real deal, however, the spicy dip that came with them was not bad at all. Otherwise, the wings were a bit too dry. The next place we went to was a typical American restaurant called Chico's. With that name, one would assume they would have great buffalo wings, however, big mistake. There was no sign of chicken wings on the menu and the burgers we ordered were little to be desired, so this is one is a no go.
Third try was the Southern Fried Chicken fast food joint in Kamppi again. Who else would know how to make some wings than this place. And it wasn't far from the truth. The chicken wings came already dipped in a spicy sauce which was not that bad for Finland, but it still left a bit more to be desired for the real Buffalo wings.
After the different restaurant dining, we decided to visit local supermarkets to see if we can make the spicy chicken wings we desire ourselves. Finland is actually known for having a lot of different already marinated meats available in the stores, so it didn't take long to find two different chicken wings packets soaking in delicious red spicy sauce. After about an hour in the oven, we were munching on probably the best wings we have had in a while. They weren't perfect, but were damn good. Especially if we can add some cayenne pepper and some Thai spicy chili sauce.
Our quest is of course not over yet, so stay tuned for more delicious spicy sticky wing stories.
Hang on now. Breaking news :). Just came across the finnish society of spicy sauces (in Finnish) and got the original Buffalo Wing Sauce from them, so will have to try it out. Will probably be the winner there.
Chinese English Courses
To start you off nice an easy, here is an example of a pretty big and visible advertisement for an international arts school which was hanging in Xi'an on the train station (at least I think this is where it was - It was so long ago:).
The next item is one of a kind and the title of the following example is, I quote now "Touris Guide to Mingshan Scenic Area of Ghost City". Note the omission of a letter in the first word already. And under item 6 in the guide we find the following :).
Now we are getting to a bit more heavy stuff with a big poster advertising a tour to a wide audience (which is probably not English speaking to their benefit). See for yourselves.
The next sign, we saw in ChongQing, is even more prominent, but in this case, I might incline to a weathered condition where the connecting line might have just disappeared, but one never knows. 
And finally, the most beautiful pearl at the end. Let's see if you can spot the real crab. Perhaps the Russian confused them :). We actually orded it and it was very very good.
Travel Budget for Around the World Trip
Our budget for the trip was set to about 1000 euro per person for one month. Now remember, this was just the actual cost of a month while on the trip already. Before you embark on your journy, there are other expenses that one needs to take into account. Such expenses could be the flight tickets (if you are buying around the world ticket), visas, travel insurance, miscellaneous vaccinations (ouch:)) and necessary equipment if not owning it already. The flight tickets can be usually bought directly from one of the airline alliances such as Qantas in One World etc.. Don't forget to set up a frequent flier program to collect them miles :). We got ours from a travel agent Kilroy which was quite nice. For some visa information see our Visas section where you might find some information, but the price is minimal here, it is more just paperwork and waiting. Insurance usually comes to about 1000 euro/year, but the options here also depend on what country you are from. One of our insurances was from Allianz which has a good offer in a lot of countries. Start your vaccinations at least 4-6 months in advance, so you have enough time to get them all, for more info check out the Tropical Medicine Center.
Now back to the budget, as mentioned above the plan was 1000 euro/month/person, however, this didn't end up being our overall spend as we got hit hard a few times by costs for extra diving, van/car rental, organized tours etc. So, the overall spend became more around 1300 euro per month. However, that is not to say, it cannot be done cheaper if you stick to cheap hostels/campgrounds, do not take part in a lot of organized tours and don't succumb to activities such are bungee jumping, diving etc. :). It definitely can be done much cheaper and also much more expensive. Each continent is also quite different, the 1000 euro/month can be easily achieved in South East Asia and South America, but in Australia that would be difficult without buying a car and then selling it back. In New Zealand it is also possible to manage especially if one buys a car. The common rule is that if you stay over 2 months in a country, buy a car. :)
And here is a little grid which will give you a better understanding of the costs in each country and continent. Our goals was 33 euro per day per person, so you can make your own conclusion how we did here :).
Buffalo Chicken Wing Hunt in Prague
In the true sense of the chicken wing fashion, we decided to explore Prague's
restaurant scene and see if the Czechs have mastered the art of the chicken wing. After a short search on the internet we found a few restaurants around the center (Wenceslas Square) which advertised spicy chicken wings on their menu. Equipped with empty stomachs, carefully selected chicken wing criteria (1.spice-level 2.meat 3.dips 4.price 5.service and other factors), the optimism that we will succeed in our mission and a few crowns, we embarked on the Chicken wing tour de Prague.(Needless to say, this is once again one of those non-vegetarian posts. Viewer discretion is advised.)
The first restaurant we visited was called Amigos and was portrayed as a real Mexican joint. From the menu, one could tell that they were serious about the Mexican dishes, so I'd definitely go back to try some of the food from our latin brothers. However, since our focus were the spicy wings, we went right to the business and ordered a big plate to share with couple of Gambrinus beers along with a plate of fries. The waiting staff did not seem to be the most enthusiastic bunch, nevertheless, they did manage to get our order in and out quite fast (10 mins tops). The order was 12 wings for 99 Czech crowns which is about 8.25 crowns per chicken wing. Very reasonably priced for center of Prague. Well, if the price was good, the wings were lacking a bit. It is true that the wings themselves were very tasty and crispy, but they were not marinated in a sauce. Instead, it came with a separate spicy dip which was nothing more than a Tabasco sauce poured right out of the bottle, so obviously that does not constitute a good chicken wing experience. Furthermore, the fries were taken out a bit too early out of the pot, so weren't the crispiest. The wings did come with a blue cheese dressing which was actually made out of the real deal cheese, but was quite thin. The only thing that was quite well served were the carrots :).
Our second victim was an American western style restaurant called Buffalo Bills. This place really has some attitude and the decor is just great with the American country music playing in the background. Sets the mood just right for some wings. Since we were here for the wings, all the other distractions were secondary though. Buffalo Bills advertised 8 spicy wings for 136 Crowns called Annie Oakley's. This puts the price per wing at about 17 Czech crowns, about double from Amigos, so quite pricey. Nevertheless, we got some Corona and waited for our order. We did have to ask for extra blue cheese on a side as the wings were advertised with ranch dressing only. Long story short, the wings came out very quickly, so that was good, however, the spiciness would be at zero as they looked more like a BBQ or Jack Daniels sauce wings. After asking the waitress if these are really the spicy wings we ordered, the answer was a disappointing yes. The only thing that was right with these suckers was that they actually were marinated in a sauce and not served with the sauce on the side. The fries were very very good, but that was offset by the carrots which were quite tasteless and old. The waiters were nice and spoke English, so that was a plus.
After running into a couple of already closed restaurants which were advertising spicy wings, we found another Mexican place, called Czech-Mex. Our hopes were very low at this point. The wings we tried so far were so close, but yet so far from the original spicy buffalo wings. Czech-Mex had 16 spicy wings for 115 crowns which puts the price per wing at 8.25 Czech crowns, so the price was right. The wait time was not too bad either about 10-15 minutes and the waitresses pleasant. You can probably guess now though what the result is going to be :). Not wanting to break out of the pattern, we received good looking wings which were dry and the sauce was of course where else than on the side. Furthermore, the so called spicy sauce was nothing more than a few spoons taken straight out of a Sweet Chili sauce bottle. So spiciness very low. The fries was too thick and they did not even have the blue cheese dressing, so we decided to try tartar sauce on a side which was ok.
So, in conclusion of our first chicken wing escapade in Prague, Amigos was probably the closest as far as the true chicken wings go, however, still very very very far from the original stuff. Quite a disappointment so far, but we promise we will keep looking until the ultimate spicy buffalo chicken wing joint is found or established. If you know of some places that might qualify, even outside of Prague around Europe, PLEASE do let us know in the comments as we are wings crazy and want to satisfy the craving :).
Daytripping in Vienna
Jawohl! Two hours driving and we were there. Parked the car and got out into a gorgeous sunny weather. We decided to start our action-packed day with the number one in most "top Viennese sights" -lists, the Schönbrunn palace.
After entering the gates, we spent the next two hours in awe, trying to find synonyms to "amazing". The palace and its
gardens were indeed very impressive. After buying the ticket we got a free digital audioguide and were able to wander in the rooms at our own pace. There was plenty of information and really interesting details in the decor, so after our visit we were not wondering anymore why people were able to buy full-day tickets to the palace. Highly recommended.
Since we only had a day in Vienna, we then decided to move downtown to see some other sights. It soon became clear that Vienna is the home for an impressive amount of historical, massive and breathtakingly beautiful buildings. Get yourself a comfortable pair of shoes and tour the center - your esthetic eye will surely be impressed. We admired the glass windows of Votiv church, visited the St Stephen´s cathedral, saw the magnificent parliament building, Rathaus and Hofburg castle, stopping occasionally in the many parks to get a break from the heat.Some ad hoc details: Plenty of biking and bike roads in this town. Also, I found it quite affordable compared to, say, Ireland or Nordic countries.
One day in Vienna was a scratch in the surface and left us hungry for more. On the next visit, we could visit the Belvedere palace and many others that we just walked by this time. Also, we did not eat Sacher-cake - unforgivable. We hope to come back here one day soon.
Hamina Tattoo
might say, they used to have them for marching or to intimidate their oponent with the wild beat of drums in the past centuries. We all remember the red coats fighting the blue coats (If you don't, get a clue and watch "The Last of the Mohicans":)) However, the question still stands, why would our modern military need a musical group? What is the purpose of tax payers money going to some shmuck playing violin instead of him/her defending our country. If anybody has an explanation, I'd like to hear it, feel free to leave us a comment.Anywho, today's post will take us to our good ol' brothers up north, the mighty Finns. It is there, in a quite small and tranquile city of Hamina, almost by the
Russian border and about 200 km from St. Petersburg, where each year get together military wind orchestras and perform for entire week in and around the city with the main concert taking place in the local Bastion. This even carries a good sounding name Hamina Tattoo. I have to say, I have never seen anything like it. This years Hamina Tattoo had orchestras from Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, Lithuania, Hungary and of course mother Russia. The orchestras put on daily concerts in the city park or by the harbor called TervaSaari (which in translation means "Tar Island" hehe). These concerts are usually about 1-2 hours long, so just right.
There were a few highlights at this year's Hamina Tattoo that I thought were quite cool. First would have to be the Swedish Mounted Band of the Royal Guards which performed on horses. Can you imagine playing a trumpet while trying to control a horse, dressed in thick military dress in 25 degree heat? No thank you, but they were impressive. Second, would have to be he final concert at the Bastion where all the bands go one after another and perform musical numbers with marching, dancing and whatever they want to throw into the mix. It was very very impressive what these guys can do. Last, I'd have to mention the Russian orchestra. This year it was 
the Central Band of Leningrad Military District which was accompanied by the 165th Honorary Rifle Company. The soldiers would move with utmoust precission as one would expect of the Russian colossus. I also do not think it was just a nice thought to bring the rifle company, mother Russia like to show that she still can be the boss :). Well, that is it for the Hamina Tattoo experience. If you are in that area next year, I suggest you spend a day in Hamina and listen to the tunes. It was very nice.
One day in Zurich
I would suggest the route along the river Limmat, right by the Bahnhof Quai. The river is so crystal clear, makes you stop in awe. Quite a difference from some rivers like the Liffey in Dublin. I guess the main difference is that Limmat is probably being fed by a
glacier. Limmat is crossed by many smaller or bigger bridges and along the route you will be able to observe the City Hall, St. Peter's church and other beautifully architected buildings. Once you pass the outdoor swimming hall, the lake is in your sight. There daily cruises leave to explore the sights along the large Zurich lake. If you turn right and go along the bank of the lake, you will end up in a small park where you can catch a glimps at a water fountain and the babysitters walking along with many small children decorated with orange fluorescent outfits. 
From the lake take one of the smaller roads to the right and you will find out how tranquile can Zurich be. Literally, not that much traffic once of the main road and the houses are quite nice. Make your way pass the Enge train station until you arrive to Bederstrasse where a big business park is located. Many companies have their buildings amongst the biggest ones you will find Google's European engineering center. Now it is just a matter of crossing the railroad tracks and walking along the Sihl river towards the botanical gardens and the local swimming hall. In the small canal you can notice the kayak polo area, quite interesting sport to watch.If you are into some posh love, why don't you browse down to the Sihl Mall where a
shopping spree can begin. And the Japanese sushi restaurant on the mall square can be quite nice ending touch to your busy Zurich afternoon. Right before you decide to head back to the airport, why not visit the National Swiss Museum which is situated right behind the main train station. If you do not feel like going back home yet, why not catch a quick train for another day in Bern or Geneva and let me know how it was :).
Closing note at the end. Did you know that Switzerland allowed women to vote only in 1979. So, before you are all excited about moving to Switzerland with your family, make sure you study upon how the system works there as I believe the title "best standard of living" might not take into account sex equality and other vital spices in our todays society.
Attractions close to Prague
You can start by taking a bus from metro station Andel in Prague to Pribram. Some of the buses stop in a picturesque small town of Dobris which has a wonderful small chateau with picturesque garden which is worth the visit. You can either make stop in Dobris first or on the way back. Once in Pribram, you have several choices.
First, if you are a music lover, you will more than likely want to visit the nearby memorial and museum of Antonin Dvorak, the famous Czech composer. His memorial is situated in a nearby village called Vysoka u Pribrame where you can get with one of the local buses at the main bus station. Second choice and one of the most popular ones is to visit the Holly Mountain which has been overseeing the happenings in
Pribram over 300 years now. There are basically two ways to get up there, either follow the regular road or take the Holy Mountain steps which are located in the Dlouha street. The steps are not the easiest to find, but if you ask, everyone in that area will show you where to go. After you have explored the church, you can decend back to the main shopping street and grab a cheap bite to eat in one of the local joints. If you are still hungry for some more information about this region, why not pop into the Mining Museum where you will find out what it was like in the early years. And finally, after all the walking and sweating, you can relax and cool off your brain in the Aquapark before you head back to the mother Prague.
The Moravian capital - Brno
Anyway, so now you are probably asking me why the hell would I want to sit on a bus to go see Brno. Well, I tell you why, because you can. :). As I said, Brno is the capital city of Moravia and it even though it is not as achitecturaly phenomenal like Prague, it has its own. Above Brno, there is a Spilberk castle which became famous as a prison during the 30 year war and today you can visit its catacombs and get a great panoramic view of the town. 
Close to the train and bus stops there is a St. Peter and Paul cathedral overlooking the city. You cannot miss its two pointy towers on the Petrov hill. The view from the towers is just spectacular and inside the cathedral you can wander around exploring the catholic church's wealth or sometimes local exhibits with different motifs. 
Brno has recently become a lot more internationalized, so you might not be the only foreigner walking in the streets, but do not assume that everyone will speak English. A good Czech phrasebook is always handy. If you are a musically talented individual, Brno has one of the best music school in Europe and a quite large number of cultural institutions are active here as well. So why not study in Brno at the Janacek Academy of Music and Arts. Also, if you made it all the way this far, why not take a trip to Vienna, Austria or Bratislava, Slovakia which are only about 2 hours away.
Czech Republic and its treasures
One of the most visited and the closest to Prague is the renown Karlstejn, the retreat home to Charles IV. The trip there is quite simple, via a 40 minute train ride and then about 30 min walk up a beautiful little town with its food and crafts stall. The castle itself has English tours, but to tell you the truth is much cooler to look at from outside than to actually visit inside. It all depends what you like and how many castles you have visited before. If you are a virgin in castle hoping, Karlstejn can offer a quick and easy start. 
I am more of a hunting trophy freak, so this won't do it for me. If you are similar and need more decoration in the castles themselves, you can try the Orlik chateau which belongs to the Schwarzenberg family. The Czech prime minister is the proud father of his son Jan, who currently owns this exquisite site. Orlik sits on a cliff above the Vltava river and before the Orlik dam was build, it was about 60m about the water level. Its halways are full of miscellaneous weapons and hunting trophies which add the chateau wonderful decor. 
Near Orlik sits another Schwarzenberg castle called Zvikov. It is even possible to take a boat ride from Orlik to Zvikov or vice versa. Zvikov offers self guided tour with a quide written in English and is full of exhibits from the times of castle's prosperity. Zvikov is for sure one of the nicest places out there and with its georgeous view over the Vltava river provides a great retreat for every day tourists. To get to Orlik or Zvikov, you can take a bus, but you will have to transfer in one of the bigger cities. You can check out the bus or train schedules here.
Back to the beginning
Last friday we flew to Helsinki, where the whole adventure started 8 months ago. My family took good care of us scruffy travelers - picked us up from the airport, cooked a great meal and heated the sauna. As I petted the dog everything felt a bit unreal - is it true that our days with diarrhea really are over?
Libor flew to Czech Republic on sunday and ever since we both have been concentrating on our native cuisines, which we often missed during the travels. Slowly we are also moving on to job hunting and decisions on where we might live in the future. Any suggestions?
Earlier I thought that we would be able to summarize the trip into one intellectual sentence that would make violins play and mothers cry. However, it doesn't seem that we have thoroughly changed or that we have learned something dramatically life-altering, so let's forget about intellectual sentences. It was great and we are happy we went.
If you are interested in doing something similar yourself, we are happy to answer any questions you might have. Just shoot us an email.
Thanks for reading the blog:) Over and out.
Wondering Around Buenos Aires
As our trip was inevitably nearing the end, for the last few days we chose to stay in Buenos Aires and explore this big metropolis. Our first stop was the Museum of modern latinamerican art in Recoleta, better known in Buenos Aires as MALBA. As the name suggests, the museum is very modern insideout, however, looking at some of the paintings or pieces of art, as someone would call them, I can´t keep myself from wondering what goes on in the heads of some of the so called ¨artists¨. Some of the works look like a 2 year old could do a better job if he/she took a stab at it and others have the constant resemblance of something found on a garbage pile. If this is where our art is going, we are in deep shit.:). If anything else, you get a good laugh at the museum, so I´d recommend it. 
Weekends in Buenos Aires belong to local fairs and the always entertaining street performers. On Saturday, there is an intriguing arts and crafts fair right in front of the famous Recoleta cemetery. On Sunday, there is a unique arts and antique fair on the Defense street in San Telmo where you can make your day by munching down on some great empañadas off the street sellers and flushing them with cool liter of Quilmes. Another place we paid a visit was the local Planetario in Palermo. The night sky show is very good, however, I wouldn´t recommend it if you are not very proficient in the Spanish language. We couldn´t make much out of the commentary:).
The Holocaust museum in Recoleta is on the other hand very well documented with a guide written in English. It is the only museum of this sort in South America and it gives its visitors a good view in to the life of Jewish communities during the war and also how it affected Argentina. There are also on display the falsified documents of Adolf Eichmann who was one of the mastermind in the Jewish extermination during the world war. He was luckily captured by the Israeli folks after living normal life in Argentina for a few years and put to trial and hanged. During our stay in Argentina we couldn´t escape the famous Parillada in one of the local restaurants. The meat lovers special consists of pretty much anything and everything that can be harvested from cows starting from glands, kidneys, blood sausages to tender steaks. Though Jenni started off as being very hungry and interested, it slowly dwindled out as she explored the grill. Thus salad became the food of choice. However, I have to say that the tripe was probably the least favorite, but the glands were a very pleasant surprise especially if dipped into the hot chimichurri sauce. Well that is about it from our travels, tomorrow we are off back to Europe to attempt to reunite with the everyday hussle and bussle of life.
Ibera Wetlands aka A Guide to Colonia Carlos Pellegrini
If you are a nature lover or just like the peacefulness of countryside without the hussle and bussle of big cities and many people, this is the place for you. The
animal life in the wetlands ranges from plentiful cayman crocodiles, capybaras, swamp deer to many, many, many species of birds. It is just a paradise at your fingertips out there. The many posadas or hospodajes (your accommodation options - about 20 of them) arrange for day or night boat trips to the lake and its marshes, horseback riding and trekking trips and probably other ones as well. So, once you book your accommodation and transport you can sort everything else once you get there. There are luxurious posadas and also the most rudimentary hospodajes in Colonia Carlos Pellegrini, so you have plenty to choose from. We stayed in a mid level price
range posada called Ypa Sapukai where the owner Claudia, speakes fluent English, so booking and arranging transport is not a problem. You can choose from half board (breakfest + dinner) or full board options to begin with. Beware though, there is not much cell phone coverage, so you either might get lucky and your phone works or it doesn´t (like ours). Well, if you don´t have a tri band phone, it will not work anyway :). We did manage to find an internet place as Ypa Sapukai´s was broken at that time, at Hugo Boccalantro´s house (just go to the tourist office and ask for a map, his house is on it).Now about how to get to this place. To and from Posadas there is supposedly one sort of
transport that goes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but you definitely have to have the hotel in Colonia Carlos Pellegrini book it for you (I was told it was 90 pesos per person). The other option is to take a private transport in 4x4 vehicle which is around 550 pesos per car. We unfortunately had to opt in for that one which put a hole in our pockets, however, was very fast (2.75hrs) and the driver waited for us at the bus station when our bus arrived. I asked him what was the longest time he drove from Posadas to Pellegrini and he implied that in a heavy rain it took him once 7 hours (ouch).
From Mercedes there is a bus in the afternoon around 2pm, I think . To Mercedes there is a bus in the morning between 3:30-4am and in the afternoon between 4-5pm (about 25 pesos per person). The trip takes between 3-4 hours, but can be longer or might not be happening at all if the rain is heavy. In that case, you might want to arrange for a private 4wd vehicle for 300 pesos with your accommodation manager.Bus from Buenos Aires gets into Mercedes at about 6am and on the way back it leaves back for Buenos Aires at 9pm and 11pm I think. The companies to check for times are Fletcha bus, San Cristobal and San Jose. Trip costs between 85-100 pesos depending on the luxury.
Well now, what are you waiting for. You don´t have an excuse not to go now:).
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