astrid

Carnival in RIO 2008....

was TOTALLY amazing... and I already want another one... :)

have a look at my favorite Samba school of this year.... GRANDE RIO..

http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ8LBfEx5Kc&feature=related


BEIJA-FLOR - the winning Samba school for the 2nd year in a row - was really good as well...

http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=C7JDBnniiH0&feature=related


xoxoxoxx

posted by Astrid @ 4:01 PM 3 comments

I went to the "End of the World"....

and spent some wonderful days in USHUAIA... visiting friends... and also the amazing National parks there... even managed to dance some Salsa there.... and had a really great time... :)

Then did a fantastic, crazy road-trip back to Buenos Aires with my good friend Joaco... stopping in Rio Gallegos and Puerto Madryn on the way back...

will try to post some pics of this trip to Patagonia as well some time soon...

beijos...xx

posted by Astrid @ 3:35 PM 0 comments

tttttaaannntttooo tiempo...!!!

oooii.... shentshi... gente.... where do I start...?!?!? so much time has passed... so many months.... so many things have happened.... tantas cosas that I´ve seen and done.... don´t even know where to start writing.... been too busy living life... jajja... ;)

y entonces.... let´s see....

I had come back to Buenos Aires in April... Easter weekend... 3 great nights here....dancing... salsa... seeing old friends again....

and then I went on this amazing trip around ARG and Chile... first to Mendoza and Santiago with Jesi.... amazing... crossing the Andes by bus was spectacular...!! Mendoza was really beautiful... and I just lloovveeddd USPALLATA... Bachata.... jajja... ;)

Santiago really nice as well.... met some really nice people there... saw some wineries... Valparaiso... Vina del Mar....

and then from there I continued the trip on my own... further down South to Puerto Montt, Puerto Varas.... Chilean Lake District.... BEAUTIFUL...!!

from there CRUCE de LAGOS to Bariloche... amazing as well...!! I just never had enough time in none of the places I visited....

really have to take up Olayo´s invite and go back to Peulla some time.... and also my 15 hours in Bariloche were NOTHING....!!
this place is ssssooooo nice.... even though it´s ssssoooo German.... (or Swiss) really wanna go back there some time.... too bad it didn´t work out in July when Mariano went there for a week.... bueno... next time... ;)

then another quick stop to see the glaciars in El Calafate... spectacular...!! I had never seen any glaciars in real like before... WWWOOOWWW...!!!
and met some really nice people there too....

bueno.... then I had 2 days in BUE before flying to Germany for Beate´s wedding.... and that was just enough time to have my suit-case with all my stuff stolen...!!! by a BS- Buenos Aires- taxi-driver... aaahhhh - ssssoooo annoying... !!!!
I was really upset.... pero bueno... ya esta... y ya paso.... und aendern kann ich´s jetzt auch nicht mehr... only learn from it.... oh well....

then 6 weeks in Germany.... wonderful..!! Beate´s wedding was great.... and so was the time I spent with my family and friends en Alemanha...!! :)

even though I was missing my life and my friends in South America as well, I had a really fantastic time back home...

and then came back to Buenos Aires in June... and am still here....hahaha.... ;)

having a great time living and working here again... :)

was looking after Regina´s house for 9 weeks while she was in Europe and living here with some other nice, friendly, some a veces rather complicated, y well... ever-changing people....

pero bueno.... all is fine... the house is great... and I´m having a great time in Argentina again... or still..(?!?) todavia... whichever way you wanna see it... ;)

Salsa here is still really good... but now I wanna learn some Tango as well....

took a short trip to Peru last month.... to finally visit Machu Picchu...!!
it was amazing....!!!
and sssssooooo good to see all my friends in Lima again...!!
aaaahhh - I wish I could have spent more time there... well... hopefully next year some time... :)

and coming back to BUE always feels like coming home....so this was really nice too... :)

next month I´ll be going to ¨The End of the World¨ for a few days.... USHUAIA.... visiting some friends who live there.... and to get to know the Southern-most city in the world...!! :)

y bueno.... till then I have another month to enjoy here in Buenos Aires....:)

aaahhh - and it was mi cumple hace 2 semanas...!! :)

muchas great fiestas aki...!! y asados na minha casa.... everything was perfect... :)

thanks to everyone who was here to celebrate with me... who thought of me.... sent me Glueckwuensche.... called.... emailed... etc. etc. love you all...!!! xxxxxx

bueno... ya es tarde aki.... tengo que dormir un poco....

les mando besos y abrazos desde Buenos Aires...!!! :)

hasta la proxima...xxxx

posted by Astrid @ 9:10 PM 0 comments

Finally having to leave Rio…!!!

Ooohh jjjeee…..the last time I wrote here on my wonderful blog was BEFORE CARNIVAL….!!

Ggggggg…..that is aaaaagggggeeesss ago... almost 2 months now…WWWOOOOWWW…!!

My time here in Rio has been flying by…well… and got extended and extended and extended once again…. Until right now… today… I really HAD to leave… and am actually sitting right now on the bus back to Buenos Aires…

Aaahhh – este Crucero del Norte bus is wonderful….!! Ssssooo comodo…!! Huge Coche Cama seats…. If you’ve never been on a long-distance bus in Argentina - or anywhere in South America before - those are like business class seats on a plane that you can fold back and convert into beds…. Wonderful… ☺


Y bueno…. Soooo my time in Rio was nice enough in the end that I stayed 4 weeks longer than I had planned originally…

CARNIVAL was totally amazing…!! Parties, fiestas, blocos, concerts on the streets, na praia, nas pracas, clubs and bars constantly and everywhere for almost a week….

Also the official Winner’s Parade that we went to see with Filip and Melanie at the Sambodromo was amazing…!!
We had negotiated some pretty good seats for VERY reasonable rates and actually got to see this Champions Parade from the Sector where most fans of the Samba School Mangueira were sitting…. All Brazilians….great…. not touristy at all…!! ☺

And the presentation of the winning Samba school BEIJA-FLOR was….WWWOOOWW… fantastic…!! So beautiful everything… so many details…. In the costumes, the huge themed and decorated trucks….!! Amazing…!!

We had seen the dancers and bateria of Beija-Flor a couple of weeks before when they were doing a practice-run on Avenida Atlantica…. And Marcelo and I had been dancing all night long in the rain… hahaha… ;)

That was fun already…!! But to see the final presentation and outcome of the year-long hard work and practice… outra coisa…!! It was great…!! Wanna come back again for this next year… ;)


Also had a really nice time with Miguel and Nacho - 2 of Joaco’s friends from Rosario who came to visit for a couple of weeks in FEB - and took them around to some nice places in Rio…. Just too bad they don’t like salsa….jajajj… ;)

With Jesica, Nahuel and Joaco we had done some other nice day- and weekend trips in FEB…. to Paraty, Itacuraca and some tropical islands, Jeep-Tour in the Tijuca forest, la Cidade de Samba.… all really nice too….

At the beginning of March my friend JoseLuis from Lima finally made it to Rio….after he never got here during carnival…. Now he came with some other friends…. We took them to CUBA LIBRE - a salsa place in Ipanema - the night they arrived…. And then met them again in Buzios over the weekend….


Aaahhh Buzios…. That was probably the most wonderful weekend of all my time in Rio this year so far…

I finally got to use the free flight from RIO to BUZIOS that I had won at a function last year…. And my great colleague Simone had also arranged 2 nights at the beautiful Pousada VILA BOA VIDA for me… Flavi could only get there on Saturday, but then we had a wonderful time on a few of the 17 different beaches of this beautiful peninsula…. And also with JoseLuis and his friends in the Rua das Pedras at night…. Some great Caipirinhas there… ;)

Y bueno… e verdade – ever since I met Flavio at the beginning of March my time in Rio had been a lot more fun…. ☺

Finally a great Salsa-dancer and very sweet guy (whenever he wants to be….jajajja…) to hang out with, spend some amazing and very fun times with… ;)

i.e. great nights dancing in Lapa, Ipanema, Ilha dos Pescadores y la casa de Mari… having Acai and Pizza in Leblon…. Sleeping on the beach and watching some super-beautiful sunrises over Arpoador and Ipanema beaches… y bueno… el finde en Buzios… etc. etc. ;)


Sssoooo…. I stayed in Rio till today… met some more, very nice people… danced MUCH more than before… got to know some other and MUCH BETTER salsa places…. And dancers…. Who are now great friends… Thanks guys…!!

And all this made it much, much harder to leave Rio…. Much harder than I would have ever imagined…

Pero bueno… I have so many nice things to look forward to now in April… and if I hadn’t left now, none of them would have worked out…

After this weekend in Buenos Aires, I will be flying to Mendoza with Jesica on Monday…. Stay there for 3 nights… then continue on to Santiago de Chile, Puerto Varas, Puerto Montt, Bariloche and El Calafate….

I will have one more day in Buenos Aires before I gotta fly home to Germany at the end of the month for Beate’s wedding… ☺


Uuuiii….this bus is shaking too much now…. Gotta stop typing… jajaj… bbbuuuuuttt…. Well…. It’s tough to put 2 months pf my life in Rio into 2 A4 pages…
Mais, melhor que nada… at least a few updates on here again… ;)

Hugs… und bis bald… xxx

Astrid

posted by Astrid @ 7:23 PM 0 comments

Carnival in Rio..!!

oohh jjeee... this blog has been so so so abandonado for over 2 months now... hhmmm...

a short review...?? last year I left Buenos Aires on 14th DEC after 6 great weeks there... then spent X-Mas and New Year in Germany and had a wonderful time there with my family and friends... :)

and now I've already been back in Rio again for a month... time is flying by...!!

y ahora ya esta todo aki carnival y samba, fiestas, musica, blocos, ensaios... y mas CARNIVAL...!! re loco... but todo also a lot of fun...!! :)

have been living with Jesi and Nahuel in Arpoador since I got back to Brazil, and apart de unas cositas con la gente who lived in our Apto antes it's all really great... funny sometimes, when I think back to May last year when Jesi and I had a not so nice argument in Buenos Aires, I would have never thought that one day we'd be really good friends and living together en Rio pasandolo re bien... :)

y bueno... last weekend we all went together with Joaco to Paraty, a nice little Colonial town in between Rio and Sao Paulo... (about 4 hours from here by bus)

very cute little place to spend a weekend...!!

we went into la mata / selva / type of rainforest con las bicis to see the cachoeiras (waterfalls, cascadas)... really nice... and great to get out of Rio for a weekend and spend some time in the nature...!!
took a Schooner cruise to some beaches and islands... and got really sunburned..!! Pobrecito Joaco - he really was the worst off... :(

and then just spent some time en la piscina de nuestra pousada, walking around las calles coloniales de Paraty, on the beaches close by, seeing some local samba bands / groups... really nice weekend... :)

y ahora - como arriba - aqui en Rio ya esta TODO CARNIVAL...!!

everywhere is Samba y fiesta y dancing... yesterday con el bloco SIMPATIA en Ipanema... thousands of people dancing en la avenida na praia... amazing..!! :)
then later last night un concierto de un grupo de Forro... na praia tambien... nniiicceee... :)

also found a new little Salsa place in Ipanema that Ricardo took me to 2 weeks ago when he came over from London and was visiting his family here... nada del otro mundo, but nice enough... ;) faltan solamente unos buenos bailarines...

y bueno, hoy bastante lluvia todo la tarde.. :( pero igual... la escuela de Samba de BEIJA-FLOR was still having su ensaio en la Avenida Atlantica... and great...!! went there with Joaco and another friend Marcelo... and we were dancing 3 hours in the rain con otros locos Brasileiros... jjajaajja... si, got home totally wet... pero igual - was fun...!!


so yeah - the real official Carnival only starts next weekend, but in reality it's already everywhere now... :)

hhhmmm.... there are a lot of people coming to Rio this week to visit and spend carnival here as well... Filip and Mel from Wiesbaden... Miguel y Nacho from Rosario... y JoseLuis from Lima... soooo, I will try to write some more about the Carnival here... just not sure when I'll find time to do so... might be a while... ;)

beijinhos desde la Copacabana... na cidade maravilhosa...
xxxx

posted by Astrid @ 11:27 PM 0 comments

Just some stuff to keep this space here a bit more updated... :)

Last weekend I had MON off and went to Rosario for 3 - 4 days... FRI night - TUE morning... nice to go back there again after my first visit in June... and really good to see Miguel y Maxi y Joaco´s family again...

y bueno - even though it rained a lot on SUN and MON morning too... y ademas Miguel had to go into hospital on SAT night to have his appendix taken out the next day... it was still a nice wekend and I had a great time hanging out with Cristina, Agustina, El Chino, la abuela, Facu, Lisandro... and of course Cabo... :)


Tuesday morning I got back to Buenos Aires and went to the FIT with Luciana, Waggy and Diego in the afternoon... FERIA INTERNACIONAL de TURISMO...
bastante interesante, but the ABAV in Rio was a bit more fun...jajjaj.... pero oh well - we really only spent 1 hour at the FIT... so for sure, next year it´s gonna be better...!! :)

Then Luci and I had some Pizza y Vino con Waggy en un bar/ resto in Palermo, que s queda justamente opposite de Regina´s GARUFA guest-house... so we met her and her sister Martina as well... :)

Later we went to a house-party that Waggy had invited us to... y bueno, interesante, very tranquilo la musica... y tembien en general, very relaxed the whole atmosphere there... hhhmmm...


Wednesday - Really good night at SUDACA...!! SALSA... Claro... ;)


Thursday - Went to "Fin del Ano" party at hotel Dazzler Splendor con la gente de la ofi... y encontramos Pato y Pablo por alla tambien... nice enough fiesta... we stayed till Luci had won an MP3 player and then went to Shamrock... to teach Diego how to dance to some house-music...jajja... very funny... :)


Friday night - We went to Patricio´s apartment with the guys from the office and had some pizzas y vino y cerveza there... very nice evening / night... and great to hang out with some old friends again..!!
y bueno... nada... but everyone was already kinda tired and getting a bit sleepy on his nice Futon... so when Pato gave Pabli a ride back home, I convinced Luci to stop at SHOW-CENTRE on the way back to her house and even though she doesn´t really like Salsa she went there with me por un rato while I was dancing... nice...

hhhm... SAT... vamos a ver que hacemos tonight... y manana por la noche tengo unos invites to a Tango Show at MADERO TANGO...!! :)


hugs y besos from beautiful Buenos Aires..!!
xxx

posted by Astrid @ 5:28 PM 0 comments

More reasons to love Buenos Aires...

So even if I don't have beautiful beaches only 2 blocks from my apartment anymore, there are still quite a few reasons why I do really love being back and living in Buenos Aires :

- Here I can leave my friend's house in Nunez (where I'm living at the moment) at 1.45am tranquilamente, take el colectivo (the public buses here) en la esquina (something I wouldn't even do in Germany, London or NYC..!! and for sure NOT in Brazil...!!! ) ,
get to a really good Salsa place in 20mins, have a great night dancing till 6.30am, then a wonderful breakfast with Medialunas & Cafe con Leche... and walk home in the sunshine...!! :)

- Salsa here is sssoooooo much better than in RIO...!!

-Yes, my Portuguese has been getting better and better in Rio, but it's still great to be back in Argentina where I can understand petty much all people again...!! ;)

- The weather..!! Beautiful sunshine and a great weekend hanging out and sun-bathing in Tigre and los parques y lagos del Palermo... :)

- Even though many things have changed and are still changing in our office in BUE it's still a lot of fun working here again... Thanks Jesi...!!

Sometimes I just wish somebody could MAKE IT BE JULY AGAIN...!!!


well... sometimes...?? actually pretty much cada dia de LUN a VIE... casi siempre... hhhmmm...

and in a month I'm already flying back to Germany for X-Mas...!!

Abrazos from Argentina...xxx hasta siempre.... ;)

posted by Astrid @ 4:34 PM 0 comments