End of the world

End of the world

We bank left and the mountains are spread before me. My first view of the majestic Andes. We land on a hill over looking Ushuaia and I step out of the warm airport and am blown back by how cold and windy it is. The winds are relentless here but when the sun is out the temperature is beautiful, lots of characters in Ushuaia. It's a town where journeys start and journeys end, journeys to Antartica and to Chile, journeys from Buenos Aires and El Calafate. 

The first few days were tough. The immensity of the mountains and the foreboding skies has made it an incredibly lonely beginning. But I seem to be feeling a bit more up and met some weird and crazy people in the hostel. All with their own interesting stories of why they are here at the end if the world. 

The Belgium, a pastry chef who travels the world when he can and is super sweet, talked for hours on end about the most random of subjects (he was a big fan of Canada) and it was super lovely to spend time with him and I was sad when he left the day before New Years.  

The German, a crazy and fun loving girl who gives the best hugs and who is up for doing pretty much anything :) had the best conversations with her and card games were twice as hilarious and loud then they usually are. 

 The Brazilians a trio of guys travelling by car around Argentina. All very lovely and up for some crazy partying! Weird but great conversations. 

The Argentinas, two girls down from Buenos Aires for 2 weeks. They were incredibly welcoming and talked to me on the first night and included me in plans that they had for the next days. One of them has invited me to stay at her house in Buenos Aires if I am in the area. 

The Brazilian, I have never laughed so hard or felt so light on life them when I'm with this darling of a Brazilian. He is kind yet up for anything and took a dip in the southern sea to welcome in the New Years! 

Brief descriptions of people who truly helped me feel more included and alive in Ushuaia. So much laughter, conversations beyond the normal and just plane crazy ideas :) xx

Penguins.... So this entry was going to be super sophisticated and clever because I was going to be productive and write it on the day but I don't seem to have that motivation, so I am currently on a bus to El Calafate from Ushuaia to see some pretty spectacular  glaciers but I first have to get through 18 hours on a bus :) 

But anyway, back to penguins. I was up till 2am talking with people in the hostel, so getting up at 7 seemed super unappealing but there were penguins waiting so up I got and dressed myself really warmly as the wind on the water was supposed to be incredibly cold. The sun was shining and it was way warmer then I imagined it would be as we all climbed into a small van and drove and hour along the Beagle channel. The scenery was amazing and the Andes just stretched ever higher into the sky. We boarded a small sail boat called Pauline, an American couple, a German family and me. We set sail and sailed between Chile and Argentina stopping at varies cormorant colonies. They are incredible heavy birds as they hunt by diving in the water and so watching them take off was amusing :) especially as once they were in the air they were beautifully graceful. 

Penguins are the cutest creatures, they waddle around up and down the sandy beaches and flop onto each other for cuddles. They were really cute and little and the best swimmers so elegant and agile in the water yet clumsy on land. They played in the wake of the boat and just seem like the happiest animals. I could spend hours watching them! 

The weather started to play up as we were heading back but before we sailed into the bay we stopped by a sea lion colony and watched them flop around and grunt at each other, sort of like a bunch of frat boys at a party, pushing each other and then swearing as one lands on another during a squabble. Quite funny to watch and see the incredible comparison between species ;) 

Once back at the hostel I had my usual tea at 4:30 with a lovely Argentinian lady before joining my Belgium friend for pizza and then we were joined by the German girl and Brazilian dude for drinks and more odd conversations :) it was a great night and we went to an odd bar called Viagro because it was the Belgians last night. It was super fun, the music was ok but the conversation was great. 

The Belgian disappeared in the morning and I went up to the glacier the next day but that's for another post. 

Ps. The Argentinians are classy people they don't just shag they have an 'imperial shag' 

:)

Off and away

I am sitting on the first plane down to Ushuaia, the southern most city/town in the world. It is on the edge of the Beagle channel and where all the boats depart from for Antarctica. It will be my first time in South America and the furthest south that I have ever been. Luckily it's summer time there so it gets to about 15 degrees during the day! I have heard that seals and penguins frequent these southern seas and if I could choose to be reincarnated into one mammal, it would be the penguin. If I had the choice of any animal I would choose to be a tiger shark. I wonder what types of sharks dwell in the cold waters off the tip of Argentina? 

 

The plane is bumping through some terbulence as I watch the sunset over the orange clouds. We are probably over Ecudor or even Peru as we only have 40 mins left. 

Enough of my rambling. I must get back to my fascinating book about the London gangs and there crimes along the river in the 1800's. Only about 12 hours left of travel!! 

More soon.

Besos 

Xx 

M 

Why the title??

Well... Why the title, it's quite simple and so I won't bore you with a long winded story as I am sure there will lots of them later on when I decide to be creative or I'm bored. 

Ok, so the reason for the title. I wasn't planning on writing a blog at all until over some cider and gin with my fellow cheekettes Lady Cheek suggested that I take my tassels all over the world and stick them on odd and interesting objects all around South America. I decided that because this idea would need me to post photos I might as well write a blog, especially because I enjoy telling stories and giving waay too many details ;)

Example A of tassels travelling:

TADA!!

😉

Home away from home

Costa Rica. The place I was born and where there will always be a piece of my heart. 

When I touched down in Liberia and stepped off the airplane into the swelling heat I could just feel my body relaxing. After a short drive to Nosara I arrived at the home of a local family who greeted me with open arms especially when I talked about living in Costa Rica. 

My Spanish was pretty rusty and I felt frustrated at times trying to join in conversations and answer certain questions. But I soon got back into the swing of things and my confidence improved immensely even if my grammar wasn't necessarily very good. But hey I was there to do two weeks of intense Spanish so I won't be completely at a loss when stuck in the middle of Argentina. I asked my host family how to get into town which is 7km away and she just looked at me and told me "ride" which I couldn't quite understand until she stuck out her thumb. 

Ah, I would hitch hike to class each day, interesting way to start travels as a single women but hey if it was the norm around Nosara I was just going to tuck away that voice that nagged away about the dangers and just go with it. Next morning I woke up before the sun and think that I'm the only one awake until I hear my hosts upstairs and in the kitchen, I look at my watch and it's 5am, wow I've forgotten that this country is filled with early risers.

After being stuffed full of Gallo Pinto (rice and beans fried in lots of oil and usually served with a fried egg, platanos and cheese) I set off down the road to catch a ride into town. After about 15 meters I heard a motorcycle behind me start to slow down and the adventurous part of me was hoping that he would stop and the other part (the more sensible side) looked at the skiddy road and worried. He did indeed stop and ask me if I needed a ride. I threw caution to the wind and hopped on, it was absolutely terrifying, riding over pot holes and loose rocks definitely made my legs shaky but it was also incredibley fun and thrilling :) I kinda looked like I'd been pulled through a bush backwards as I walked into class with dust hardened frizzy hair, but so worth it! 

For a week I would hitch hike in and hitch hike back usually before dark and it was actually pretty easy to get used to. Everyone who gave me a ride was lovely to talk to and it was very good practice for my Spanish :) 

Family friends from when we lived in Cayman had moved to Nosara in the early 2000s and it was amazing to see them again and so nice to be in the same town as they are the sweetest family and made me feel at home and allowed me to be included briefly in their busy life in the pueblo. It was super fun and I had some amazing conversations with all of them :) xx

Now I am sitting on the balcony of Lauren's house. She is an amazingly lovely young women who I met by chance actually. She sat down near me at the table in the Spanish school and was simply inquiring about lessons when she overheard me talking about needing a place to stay in town, she glanced over at me and just offered her spare bed to me. We got on like a house on fire and talked about every subject imaginable and over the week I spent with Lauren we've become super comfortable around each other and allowed ourselves to simply be without needing to dress up or pretend to be someone else. It was great and I felt like I have known Lauren for years rather than days. 

Sunset from Lauren's 

We had such random laughs and on one particularly boozy Tuesday we decided to adopt a puppy that we had seen wandering the streets earlier that day. We called him Sandia (watermelon in Spanish), and after Lauren bathed him and I cooked some rice for him, he settled in and once he was asleep he conked out till morning. He is adorable and as Lauren is in Costa Rica for 3 months he will have a stable and safe home till he gets adopted. 

Here is a cute photo of him:

Now onto seeing my family and friends and then off I fly to Argentina on the 27th. 

Besos

Xx 

M 

So...London?

Between pub, dance and planning I was pretty busy to say the least. But I enjoyed each part and met some incredible people along the way. London is such an amazing city that I loved getting to know even more. It's a city that is charged up on the people that move through it. 

Contemporary dance led me to learn the north near Angel tube and the area around it. The people I met dancing were amazing dancers and even though the Saturday morning trek across the city was gruesome the day always improved once the dancing started. 

The pub assured that my schedule for three months was wake up at 10am and sleep at 1am. Made it interesting to have friendships or meet up with people as the hours between a normal working day and the pubs hours were vastly different but enough of my grumbling, the pub was an amazing experience and I worked with lovely and interesting people. 

Shoreditch and Bethnal Green, areas of east London which I had previously only visited a few times became my haunting places as I spent every Tuesday in a basement behind a kebab shop, off Shoreditch High street practicing Burlesque and learning to become empowered with 8 other incredible women. It was amazing, the laughter, ideas and glitter that filtered out of that basement would have shocked any passers by. 

But hey, we were having fun and adoring ourselves. And a few weeks ago we performed our graduating performance. 'The Mount Olympus Mynxes' was our troupes name and as we stepped on to the stage my heart was pounding and I felt it would fall out of my chest, which would have been pretty gory and not quite the glittery effect I was hoping for. But alas that did not happen, showers of glitter rained down and it was such a brilliant moment standing on the stage with the girls all of us wearing ridiculously big grins! Burlesque was an incredible journey that I plan to continue...maybe over in NY, one never knows quite what the future holds. 

The People

Now that the circumstances in London have been nattered on about, I want to talk about the people who entered my life and who will hopefully be a part of my life in some way or other when I get back to civilisation from this crazy trip. 

London itself is incredible, and a city that I loved wandering at night, (Although not many close to me were keen on my wanderings at 1am). It is a beautiful city and the closest I've come to calling a place home since Costa Rica. And not to sound too cheesy but it was truly the people in the city that made me peer ever closer at the hidden secrets that London has to offer. 

My Atlantic College friends were just awesome especially as all my friends from London had disappeared to uni so the few close friends from AC that were London helped me keep sane in my planning of South America and balancing work and dance. They were always up to chat about life and all the weird crazy ideas and revelations that one has at 2am. 

Oh just quickly if I do use names of people they will either be used with permission or I'll change them :) I feel like a journalist writing that! 

The family I gained through burlesque was incredible, the group of girls that I graduated with I trusted wholly and miss seeing every Tuesday. I did a photoshoot with Dasha who is an incredible photographer and it was so amazing, and something I wouldn't have felt comfortable doing had I not been doing burlesque. Dasha is fantabulous and I miss our long chats so much but I know our paths will cross again. 

The hours in the pub went by due to the coworkers who become friends and having the odd conversation while polishing cutlery or waiting on a busy table made the hours pass in a blur. The after work drinks in the pub often led to drinks elsewhere and when you work till 11:30 there aren't many places open so we frequented Belushies a club/bar/hostel after work or on the weekends as it was close and convenient. Although it's grungy it has it's odd charm and I met some lovely people and frequently danced all night. It was an interesting club although I would suggest not to go alone, it's way more fun with friends :) 

My last 5 weeks in London were really fun, my burlesque graduation and the excitement to start travelling going really set in. I went out, explored London and did things I'd never done and really just enjoyed myself and appreciated everything mainly because I was leaving home. 

Now.. Hopefully more weird travels to come, people to meet and places to explore. 

Lots of love to those who made London special. Ciao and keep in touch. I'll be around. 

xxx

<3 <3 

Tassel Travel

TasselTravel 

Welcome...cheesy I know ;) 

Here I will write down thoughts, amusing antics and things I notice along the way on my travels. 

Through my tales you will be spun through random and exciting plots and events, while figure of eight(ing) half way across the world.  But remember arms up, bounce, twirl and smile - right Lady May?  Honestly I am not sure what I'll encounter but that's the fun of it. So read occasionally or read every time I post (I can't promise to write regularly but I will try!)

Take care of yourselves and email me/message me if you want. I'll try to answer when I can <3

Besitos. 

xx

M