Here it is, our very last video diary.

Not only does it have a clip of me on horseback (unawares), it also shows more of the estancia in San Antonio de Areco, some truly fabulous tango dancing, and clips from the Carnival in Gualeguaychu!
Irresistible!

Check it out on YouTube, or simply watch it below:

PS: We’re home! So happy!! So tired…

Last night we had an absolutely marvelous dinner at the Faena Bistro. Seriously, it was one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten – a glorious mix of molecular gastronomy and Argentinean traditional. So so delicious.

But I thought I’d use it as an example to show you what the difference is between going out for dinner with a working pancreas, and going out for dinner as a diabetic:

* 7.30pm: We arrive early to shoot a few of the dishes before the other guests arrive (nothing like a bright flash going off every 30 seconds to spoil the mood). I haven’t eaten for a few hours (in preparation of the big meal), and I suddenly start feeling a little light-headed. Turns out that walk to the subway station (which was supposed to be 5 blocks and ended up being 10) was more strenuous than I thought, and I’m going low. Fast. There’s nobody else in the restaurant and everybody in the kitchen speaks Spanish. I have extremely limited Spanish skills. I mutter the phrase, “Soy diabetico, quiero jus de frutas,” which I think means “I’m diabetic, I need fruit juice” to myself a few times, then brave the kitchen.

Thank goodness one of the chefs understands a little English and can get me a Coke. Crisis averted.

* 8.15pm: Our first course arrives – candied spiced walnuts, homemade pretzels, miniature cheese scones and a white martini smoothie (in a shot glass). While I’m enjoying the range of extraordinary flavours, I’m thinking to myself, “How many carbs are in this, I wonder?”

* 9pm: I decide to simply take the plunge and take a rough amount of insulin that will ‘probably’ cover most of the 6 savoury course tasting menu (I’ll deal with dessert later). Roughly two carbs per course, perhaps? Fried egg foam has me flummoxed. But there’s rice and breadrolls, both of which I recognise.

* 10.20pm: I realise I way under-calculated the amount of insulin I should take, and take a second jab, this time hopefully including the dessert, a modern-day interpretation of lemon meringue pie with a soft biscuit base, lime ice-cream and lemon cream (that looks a lot prettier than it sounds – see below).

I am given some top-class stares from the waiting staff and the other guests as I jab into my stomach as discreetly as possible while lifting my already-rather-mini-skirt. I calculate in the 10 blocks we’ll have to walk after taking the subway home, so take a little less insulin than necessary.

* 10.25pm: More dessert! Mini Magnums and three raspberries on a stick. It’s a once in a lifetime meal, so I eat it all…

* 10.30pm: And now it’s time for my long-acting night-time insulin, so another public injection. They must think I’m a heroin addict!

* 10.45pm: The subway that was supposed to close at 11pm actually closes at 10.45pm… So there goes my 10 blocks of walking! We’ll have to take a taxi.

* 11pm: Hop out of the taxi a few blocks early so we can walk off some of the feast. The few blocks are further away than we thought, so end up walking around our neighbourhood for half an hour; but with full bellies and happy hearts, we’re not complaining.

Let’s talk about exciting, shall we?

* In the last week, Mark and I have stayed at the lovely Casa Sur Hotel in Recoleta, and visited the somewhat-crazy Recoleta Cemetery (check out these insane mausoleums – beautiful and a bit creepy).

*We’ve travelled to Gualeguaychu (3 hours each way, at 5pm and 3am!) for the Carnaval, Argentina’s largest carnival and an impersonation of Rio Carnival (which we’ll be missing, alas).
It was incredible – such excitement and passion and energy in the air! I’ve never experienced anything like it. Check out our very abbreviated Best Moment (the battery died) and Mark’s pics – ooh la la!

* We stayed at the pretty amazing Faena Hotel and Universe, in Puerto Madero (also in Buenos Aires), where we watched a breathtaking tango show (truly – it took my breath away). Here are another couple of pics, and a moment – see them tango in action!

* And THEN, as if that wasn’t excitement enough, we find ourselves at the simply stunning Jardin Escondido, Francis Ford Coppola’s very own villa, and recently voted one of Tatler’s 101 Best Hotels in the World.
Wow.

* Tonight, we’re eating at the Faena Bistro, with a chef who trained and worked with Ferran Adria at El Bulli, for seven years.
Next week, it’s back to the real world.

But the excitement is not quite over!

I think the part I love most about the videos we record (apart from the very obvious perk of being able to watch them in a year’s time, when we’ve forgotten some of the tiny details), is that it gives you a chance to see what we’re seeing, only-slightly-second hand.

So here’s this week’s video diary, with some extraordinary views of Iguassu Falls, a glimpse of our helicopter ride, some streetside tango in Buenos Aires, and a quick look at the estancia we stayed at:

And while you’re at it, here’s an Empanada Tour we took in Buenos Aires (totally informally – we wanted to see where the best empanadas were to be found. Empanadas are delicious meat-filled pies. Yum!)

You can also take a look at our version of the Best Steak in Buenos Aires (we’ve been eating a lot, can you tell?) and Horse Riding on an Estancia (Mark on a horse for only the second time in his entire life!)

And, lastly, take a look at the El Ombu Estancia itself… Just lovely.

Everyone told us we would love Argentina, and Buenos Aires in particular, but I didn’t really believe them… Neither of us are city people, and so far on this trip we’ve tried to skip out of most cities as soon as we can. Too much noise / pollution / traffic, not enough charm.

Not so with Buenos Aires. We’re staying in the charming barrio of San Telmo, which is all cobblestoned and run-down-colonial, and it’s full of cafes and antique stores and markets and fresh fruit and bread and meat and cheese. Everyone seems to wake up at 10 or 11am, and it all feels very laid-back and chilled. A real treat after all our travels.

Now that we have a return date (10th of February, even earlier than anticipated because we could only change our flights to that date or the beginning of March, and our budget won’t give us till March), it seems to have sunk in just how far we’ve travelled and how much we’ve seen. Mark and I have been taking it reallllly easy for the last couple of days – the easiest we’ve taken it in months, in fact. We’ll do something in the morning, rest during the hottest time of the day (it is HOT), and then do something late afternoon, early evening, slipping into a late dinner and a couple of hours wandering around the various areas of the city. Of course, the heat has been a problem again (with such temperature-sensitive insulin, why is that not a surprise?) We made the foolish mistake of walking around during the hottest time of the day on our first day here, which deactivated my insulin… Only I didn’t realise till the next morning, when I woke up high and figured out that my night insulin wasn’t working. Which led to a whole day of upside down blood sugar. Bring on a fridge! Please.

The fact remains, though: this is a cool city. There’s the tango, of course, and the steak (simply superb), and the people drinking coffee at every turn, but there’s also a lot of character and charm, and it feels like you can get up close to it, like you can have an emotional connection to it (unlike Paraty, in Brazil, which was just too pretty to connect to). We’ve also had the rare pleasure of a friend for the last few days! Our dear friend Steve is in Buenos Aires at the moment, so we’ve spent the last couple of days wandering around the city, eating empanadas (these delicious pie-like creations), going out for long dinners, and generally talking talking talking. Steve’s also been travelling for months, so it’s been really interesting discussing how we all feel about our travels and our imminent return home.

More on that later.

For now, here’s a taste of San Telmo, where we’re staying:

And if you’re curious about our wonderful stay at the Hotel das Cataratas, right across from Iguassu Falls, here’s a little clip to show you just how close to the falls we actually were!

PS – Remember our crazy experience with the Reincarnated Beatles in Indonesia for New Year’s Eve? For some reason the clip didn’t load properly, so if you’re still curious about them (and you should be!) check them out here.

Seriously.

Yesterday we flew in a HELICOPTER over Iguassu Falls!!

It was incredible.

Thrilling.

Awe-inspiring.

Without doubt, the ten most exhilarating minutes of my life.
And a Dream. Come. True.

I have ALWAYS wanted to fly in a helicopter, and it didn’t disappoint!

Here’s the Best Moment of the Day we recorded as soon as we landed (we weren’t allowed cell phones in the helicopter, but I took some amazing video footage – well, I think it was amazing. I’ll let you know soon once I’ve had a chance to look at it properly!)

Also check out the Iguassu Falls I keep talking about, and take a look at the charming town of Paraty we spent a few days in last week.
Most excitingly, though, is the fact that I flew in a HELICOPTER! You can see so much from up there, it really is the closest thing I’ve ever felt to flying….
Wow. Still kind of in a suspended state of disbelief.

So here’s the first of our South America video diaries (we skipped out a week of video diaries while we jetted back to South Africa for insulin- and family-time, so we’re now on Week 17).

I must admit, the beginning of our time in Brazil had me feeling a little discombobulated – mind in one place, emotions in another, body somewhere else entirely. I suppose that’s what you get for trying to visit 3 continents in 1 week! And now? You’ll have to watch to find out…
As well as to see some of the truly amazing sights that we’ve been lucky enough to see since we got here.

Really cool. I promise.

Some of the best, in fact:

First of all, we saw the sun rise over Cape Town, as we were about to catch our plane (at 6am, yawn!)

Then we visited the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro… Wow.

Caught some amazing views on top of Sugar Loaf Mountain in Rio…

And finally, my favourite, we discovered a slice of Brazilian forest heaven in the mountains near Petropolis. Take a look:

And finally, in case you’ve been curious about the amazing hotels we review for Just the Planet, we’ve started a new kind of video – Luxury Hotel Moments.
Here’s one from Copacabana Palace, the fabulous hotel we stayed at in Rio:

And click through to this one from the lovely Green Bridge House.
All in all, a pretty special week, I’m sure you’ll agree!

I know I’ve been a little slack with the blogging lately, but there’s been so much going on (i.e. our ENGAGEMENT! Which I still can’t quite believe!)

We’ve also been out of internet contact for the last 2 weeks or so… So to catch you up on everything I’m going to give a quick run-down with links to our Best Moments from all over so you can see what we’ve been up to:
Two weeks or so ago, we headed to the island of Lombok, below Bali, for a couple of heavenly days by the black sand beach (crazy – black volcanic sand!)

Then we went to the Gili Islands for three days of decadent beachside lazing about… And diving. Incredible diving! Extraordinary coral and marine life, really like diving in a gigantic aquarium. And I saw my first giant turtle! Wow.

From Gili Air we headed to Amed, where we spent Christmas (and got engaged! Did I mention that? Is it getting annoying yet?)

Amed is a charming little fishing village, very un-touristy, where we spent five nights and had a whole heap of lovely experiences – We went diving around a shipwreck (wow! unbelievable) and I did my first drift dives (very exciting, past the most amazing coral pyramids and over a coral wall into vast blue nothingness);
We swam with a turtle on Christmas Day (it was my Christmas wish – giant turtles are simply amazing in real life and when we went out to snorkel I told Mark all I wanted for Christmas was to swim with a turtle. And we did! He found one and we swam wit it for twenty miraculous minutes);
We indulged in a Balinese feast, with all kinds of traditional dishes and bamboo wreaths that signify ‘forever love’ (a mere two days before our engagement – it obviously worked);
We hired a motorbike for a day and drove past some incredible views and vistas – the real Bali as far as I’m concerned;
We visited the Royal Water Palace and swam in cold spring water baths built for the king (cold water! A rare thing in these parts);
And then….

We flew to Jakarta (yesterday afternoon) and decided to splurge on a nice hotel to properly celebrate our engagement and ring in the New Year in style. And what style it was! A gala dinner with TURKEY (heaven heaven heaven! We didn’t get any for Christmas and I was so sad) and piles of delicious food with… An Indonesian Beatles cover band! They were amazing. Check them out. Seriously cool.

If you’re looking for some more in-depth footage of all we’ve seen (rice paddies, beaches, islands, me in a wetsuit and some incredible views) as well as how the last two weeks have been for both of us, check out our latest video diary, live on YouTube here.

And now it’s 2010! And we’re flying out of Indonesia tonight (at midnight) and heading home for 3 days to refuel on fresh insulin (which I desperately need – my night-time insulin hasn’t worked properly the last two nights) and then we’re off to South America! So when next we speak I’ll be saying ‘Hola!’

Till then – HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Our latest video shows our most eventful two weeks so far…

As Mark puts it, “After flying in to Jakarta, Indonesia, we travel to Yogyakarta to see the Hindu temple of Borobudur. A diversion to the Bromo region to see the active volcano Gunung Bromo and then off to Bali. Add to this the drama of failing insulin due to exposure to heat while traveling and the past week or so has been a roller-coaster of highs and lows.”

Check it out here, or click on the video below: