South America 2005

Thursday, September 20, 2005

08/31/2005  Preparations

Things are falling into place, I received my Hep A, Tetanus, Typhoid, and Yellow Fever shots. I prefer doing shots to getting them, but a small price to pay for the peace of mind.

The flights are booked, we leave Sep 19th, return on Dec 19th. Haven't figured out an exact itinerary, but we fly in and out of Lima, Peru. We would like to hit Brazil->Argentina->Chile->Peru, the grapevine tells me that is pretty aggresive but hopefully we can pull it off.

More to come later!

posted by Mark Kadlec 10:00 AM

 

09/15/2005  3 more days left!

I decided to pack today just to see what I was missing, how everything will fit, and to test out my new pack (alas my last pack lasted 5 good months but was toast after New Zealand).

The pack was surprisingly small, I must be missing some critical items - oh well. Today I also booked our first two nights at the EuroBackpacker hostel in Lima's Minaflores region since we get into Lima at 22:00.

The rest of the weekend will be finishing up loose ends and hanging out with friends.

My next contact will be in South America!

posted by Mark Kadlec 10:05 AM

 

09/20/2005  Lima at last!

Hola,

We finally arrived at Lima's airport last night and were promptly assaulted by 50 or so "vendors" trying to use their taxi services. Luckily my hostal sent over a driver, Max, and we were soon on our way.

I now realized how poor my Spanish is, when asked what I was doing tomorrow, I thought I responded with "I need to go to the Brazilian consulate". Max started laughing and said, "you say something about Brazil and a donkey!"

I have to say that Lima is a very dirty and ugly city, most of the streets are in squallor, and the people live very poorly. I don't know how many diseases I must have contracted sleeping in our hostal/brothell last night, but trying to shower this morning was difficult given there is no hot water. The fact that no toilet has any paper should have been the giveaway that this was no frills. :)

I am off to eat my desayula gratis (free breakfast), the experience has begun!
posted by Mark Kadlec 10:45 AM

 

09/21/2005  Lima - Part 2

Yesterday we set out to get our Brazilian Visa. As an American, Chantelle was asked to fill out more paperwork than I was, and she was charged $100 as opposed to my $40. Which country do you think Brazil likes better? :) We pick up our visas and passports at 16:00, right before our flight, so looks like we just might make it to Brazil after all.

Today we went in search of the Museo de National, a must see, but nobody in Lima seemed to know where it was, but still insisted on sending us all over Lima on foot. We finally got smart and started riding the bus system, but that is an adventure in itself. There are no bus stops, and the buses are private so there are about 50 bus companies. After flagging one down, you jump on in the middle of the street and clap your hands if you want to stop. Chantelle and I have a bet as to how many times each of us will get hit in traffic on this trip.

I now know how a celebrity feels, everyone openly stares at Chantelle and myself, I guess since we look so different. I have a sore forehead because I am constantly banging it on the ceilings of busses, not that I am tall, but still stand a foot taller than most people here.

We also checked out some cool catacombs yesterday, will hopefully upload some pictures in Brazil.

Ciao,
posted by Mark Kadlec 10:48 AM

 

09/22/2005  Oi from Sao Paolo, Brazil

Due to a mixup with Taca airlines, Chantelle and I lost our seats on our 4 hour flight from Lima, Peru to Sao Paulo, Brazil. I ended up sitting next to a smelly annoying drug dealer (he had two cell phones and was carefully guarding his ¨stash¨). With no sleep, I arrived in a heap at 3:00am to Sao Paulo airport, slept on top of my pack in the airport for an hour, then hopped on a bus to downtown.

Sao Paulo is huge, 17 million people, it is bigger and dirtier than New York. Surprisingly, Chantelle and I got a hostel downtown for $20USD, with hot water, luxury compared to Lima! Brazil is vastly different than Peru. First of all, Chantelle and I don´t stand out very much since Brazil is truly an ethnic melting pot. The food is a little different, Peru stresses seafood whereas Brazil is all about the meat. I bought a Gucci watch for $5 (haggled down from an exorbant $7), so now I can actually tell the time since I opted to leave my good watch at home.

Doesn´t look like there is much to see or do here in Sao Paulo, we may check out the nightlife tonight, but have to be very careful, I feel a little more nervous here than I did in Lima. They do have good açucar jugo (sugar cane juice with lime), and the empananas are tasty, so I will eat well here. A typico meal here is $3 - $5, a little cheaper than US/Canada, but still expensive for South America due to the big city prices.

Ciao!
posted by Mark Kadlec 10:53 AM

 

09/24/2005  Santos

Wow, I have seen a lot of the Sao Paolo area in the last couple of days. We checked out the main cathedral in the centro, it is about the size of Notre Dame, very impressive. We also saw the MASP (Museo de Arte a Sao Paolo), it was very good, mostly French art, worth the $5 entry fee.

Around dinner, we decided to go up to the top floor of a skyscraper in the center of town. For $7 each, we could sit and see an entire view of the city. It makes the view from the CN tower look like a little village, I have never seen such a big city, it is enormous. There are thousands of buildings as far as the eye can see, pretty amazing. I took some pics I hope to upload next time.

Last night we decided to hit the town, so we took the metro to Vila Magdelena, a hip area of Sao Paolo with plenty of bars. The scene just started to get going at 11:00pm and the host of the bar we stopped at, Andreas, made us feel like guests of honour. They keep bringing beer to your table, (whether you order it or not), and all you have to do is wink and they will open it. Talk about beer pressure! We left around 1:30am, and the scene was crazy, people spilling out into the street. There are random ¨salsas¨all around the town, it is one big party.

Today we took a bus to a suburb of Sao Paolo called Santos, it is the main port of all of Brazil. A cool little beach town, there are no tourists here so I liked it very much. We ran into a 60 year old local on the beach by the name of Babu, already drunk at 2:00pm from playing cards with his friends, he insisted on buying us snacks and listening to our travel plans. He also insisted we try a Caipenhania, a local drink of crushed Limonas (limes), asuçar, and Pingu (cane alcohol). One drink and I was starting to feel like Babu! He invited us back to his apartment for an awesome view of the entire beach/city, it was kind of wierd but talk about nice locals! He offered us a drink about 10 times and had quite a bar (I think he is an alcoholic). We walked around a bit and finally bid our goodbyes, soon we have to catch our bus back to Sao Paulo because tomorrow morning we are off to Manaus and the Amazon.

 

09/27/2005  Amazonia!

Bom dia,

I haven´t been able to use the internet for a while, there is no power in the Amazon, only brief generator use from 7 - 9pm. This excursion to the Amazon has been incredible.

We arrived in Manaus a couple of days ago and ran into a young couple from France, and a grad student from Poland. We booked a 3 day excursion into the amazon and as bad luck would have it, Chantelle and I both contracted some tropical bug. High fever, muscle pain, etc. I was really worried what the river would have in store for us.

The five of us set out with Daniel, our native guide, and the captain of the old, small vessel we were embarking on. Our first stop was the meeting of the rivers, where the black ¨Negroe¨river meets the ¨Blanca¨white river to form the Amazonia river. It was fascinating. We dangled our feet in the river as we passed, and sure enough, the dark river was much warmer. The two rivers do not mix for a few kilometers, so the pictures I took are amazing. We then stopped at a tourist village and decided to swim, but I must admit to nerves since a local Piranha fisherman was catching Piranha right beside us! Our guide said that as long as we have no open wounds we would be safe, Piranha, like sharks, use smell to feed. Sure enough, I swam without any attacks, pretty nerve wracking swim though.

We then hung our hammocks in the boat and took a two hour ride up the river. The rest in the hammock really helped my fever, by the end of the ride Chantelle and I were feeling much better. We also spotted some pink dolphins swimming beside our boat, fascinating views from the hammock made for an unforgettable experience.

Two hours later we arrived at a family´s village that would host us, our quarters were a few hammocks in a hut in the jungle, the real deal!
posted by Mark Kadlec 11:42 AM

 

09/28/2005  Up the river of the Amazon

We had a busy second day, our tropical bug symptoms finally subsided and none to soon. The 40 degree weather plus humidity was making my temperature soar. We started the day with some piranha fishing, just across the river where we were staying and caught about 14 fish in total, enough for dinner. I have a new respect for piranha, they took our raw meat and devoured it in microseconds, and their teeth are ferocious. On the way back, our local guide Marco found a propeller in the mud, belonging to one of the neighbouring tribes and since a prop costs 200 reals, a weeks wage to the local people, it was a good find.

Later in the day we went on a 4 hour hike to some falls in the jungle. On the way we saw huge poisonous ants, monkeys, drank from vines, and we even ate some white worms that our local guide found in some nuts. They tasted kind of like coconut... The falls were fun, we cooled off from the hike, then headed back to the village for dinner.

Before dinner, we decided to challenge some of the local tribes to a soccer quick match. We won our first game (against a girl's team) and then lost our next 5 matches handily to the skilled locals. Pretty much what I expected, it is easy to see why Brazil are world champions.

The piranha actually didn't really have a fishy taste, just not much meat. Later in the evening we went alligator hunting. We caught a couple of bambinos, but spent at least an hour looking for the big mother, with no luck.

We waited for the ¨midnight¨express to take us up the river, this was one of the craziest rides ever. We took a small boat to the big boat at midnight, and apparently had 5 hammocks waiting for us. There were 80 hammocks strung up in a tiny boat, some hammocks had a mother with naked children, some had ladies with cats, you could barely move. None of our hammocks were together, I was literally beside this one local teen, and they should have given us both condoms considering how close our hammocks were together! To top things off, the guy was kicking and elbowing me all night, as people walking to the bathroom (which did not flush) were hitting their heads on my hammock. I got about an hour of sleep, but was thankful my pack was still with me in the morning. Chantelle got less sleep than I did, if that is possible...

Today we went to a little village and got to swim with the pink dolphins, it was incredible. Darek and myself got lost in the village and almost missed our bus back to Manaus, which is where I am now.

Tomorrow off to Recife!
posted by Mark Kadlec 11:44 AM

 

09/30/2005  Recife bound

Chantelle and I spent our final night in Manaus at the cheap hotel we started in, the Rio Branco. The first night we stayed there I was curious at the 4 or 5 fourteen year old local girls that hung around our floor in the stairwell. They even giggled at me as I passed and I thought that it must be because they rarely see a clumsy big white guy very often. I even wondered what their mother thought of them hanging around the lobby late at night. On our last night I put it all together - our hotel also rents out three hour time slots. The thought made me cringe, but I heard that that sort of thing is pretty common here.

So our flight from Manaus to Recife was crazy, I have never had a flight with 4 connections! On every flight, the same stewardess brought the same ham and cheese sandwich, I don´t know how she could contain her laughter on the 5th leg, I was sick of ham and cheese sandwiches.

I am now in Olinda, a little Duch town by the sea, just north of Recife. We justed booked two wreck dives tomorrow, a lot of Portugese Galleons in the area. This city also has the second most shark attacks in the world since there is a breeding ground just off shore. I´m not sure these statistics make me excited, but should make for an interesting dive tomorrow.

Olinda is a beautiful sea town, the Dutch burned the Portugese town of Recife back in 1620, and rebuilt Recife and also added Olinda. The Portugese won back the towns in a massacre in the late 1600s, and looks very much the same today, very authentic. I am also the only white man in town, there definitely are not too many tourists here - exactly how I like it.

By the way, Chantelle and I decided to do laundry today, and for 6 kilos of clothes they were prepared to charge $30 USD! Laundry is super-expensive here, it is interesting. One could open a laundromat here and charge $20 a load and still be the cheapest around.

Tonight will be spent doing our laundry in the sink - at least the ocean breeze will make the clothes dry faster. :)

 

10/02/2005  Olinda from Maceo

Bon Dia,

I am sitting in a bus station near Recife, waiting to catch my 4 hour bus to Maceo. Last I wrote, we were staying in Olinda, a nice town to the north of Recife. That evening, we climbed a steep road to the original church built there by the Portugese, and caught the sunset over Recife, pretty breathtaking. Olinda is my favourite town so far, beautiful cobblestone streets, nice ocean views, etc.

The next morning I gorged myself on the amazing breakfast served at our Pousada, Pousada Olinda, not a bad deal considering we were paying $20/night. We then set out to the dive operation to begin our wreck dives. 15 of us piled into a tiny boat that resembled a cork and set out into the rough ocean. Right before we got to our dive site, after an hour of gripping the rail for my life, I heaved my delicious breakfast right over the side of the boat. :(

The first dive was of a ship purposely sunk in 1989, it was pretty small and I circled it twice and still had plenty of air left. I saw a cool 6´nurse shark, but not much else than that. I got to the top, puked some more, and then we set off to our next dive. This dive was a big galleon from the 1890s sunk by a jealous husband. It was an amazing dive, I saw a huge Sea Turtle (probably 100 pounds and as big as me) swim from under the wreck, right around me. We also saw 4 huge Stingrays, also as big as we were, swimming all around us and a bright green moray eel. Got to the top, threw up one more time for good measure, and headed back to shore. At any point in time there were half the crew wretching over the side. This was a top notch Dive operation, when we got close to shore, one of the locals dove into the water, swam to a rowboat, rowed to us, grabbed our rope, rowed back to shore and handed the rope to his 50 year old dad, who then pulled us in and probably had a mild heart attack.

That night we met up with a Brazilian named Daniel who was one of the divers, great guy and we all hit the town on a Saturday night. We ate dinner at 11:00pm, drank some Caparienas and Cervejas, listened to some local live music, snacked some more, and ended up back at 2:00am. Boa Noite!

Today we are off to Maceio, another town along the coast, our destination by the weeks end should be Salvador.

 

10/03/2005  Maceio - beach bound 

Maceio has turned out to be a beach stop, palm trees, sun, and surf. I think in 5 - 10 years this will be the next South Beach, but right now I´ve seen more whale sightings than top models.

The specialty here are Tapiokas and there are stands everywhere. For about 4 reals ($2USD) you can get a crepe like dish made of Manioka (a root flour) filled with sweet or non-sweet fillings.

After getting lost around town today, I used my broken Portugese to find out that a bus leaves for Salvador tonight at 23:00, a nine hour ride. Hopefully get some shuteye and get to Salvador after sunrise.

 

10/05/2005  Salvador

Back in Maceio, there must have been a language gap with the bus scheduling, as I was instructed to show up at 11pm, only to find that the last bus to Salvador leaves at 12:30am - an hour and a half later. I smelled like seaweed since I just came back from the ocean, but refused to pay the 2 Reales for a shower.

We met a cool backpacker in the terminal, Felly, a 23 year old Israeli actress and she had been to Salvador a month prior. She was going back to meet a friend and had some awesome tips on where to stay and where to go. Felly also mentioned a cool party that happens on Tuesday night, the same day as we arrive. When we arrived in Salvador after our 9 hour journey, we haggled for a cheap cab that ended up being a 1983 Honda civic that wasn't even a real cab. Reluctant to enter since I have heard of bad stories, we drove for about 10 minutes and on a busy highway on-ramp the car died. If the ¨cab¨ driver had intentions to mug us, his car let him down. We flagged a cab on the side of the highway and were on our way to the youth hostel.

Salvador is a great city, with a distinctly Afro-bohemian feel. I wasn't aware, but Salvador was the biggest port for African slaves, so the whole city has an African culture. That night, we ate a late dinner, had a couple of Capareinas, and joined the festivaties. There is a big drum procession that moves throughout the town, dancing till the late hours of the morning.

Today we checked out a great historical museum, then later will hit Barra, a cool section of town with a good nightlife, food, and a killer sunset..
posted by Mark Kadlec 11:53 AM

 

10/06/2005  Itaparica

A lot can happen in 24 hours! Last night Chantelle and I decided to catch the sunset on the point of Salvador called the Barra district, apparently this is where all the movie stars go to play.

After catching a bus, we just managed to catch a fantastic sunset, and then wandered the streets to get a snack. The area looked pretty tourist, but we read in both our guidebooks that this was the place to get authentic Bahian food - which is exactly what we wanted to experience. After walking around for an hour, we couldn´t find any nightlife or Bahian restaurants, in fact everyone was sending us to different parts of town. We ran into a really cool guy from Holland named Marco, he spoke great English and told us to catch a bus to a great Bahian restaurant called Salaie just on the fringes of town. We rode forever on the bus and the bus driver finally told us to get out, only to find that the restaurant was called Sari, and the menu was super expensive. Dejected, we headed back to our area and ate from a stand. Ironically, Chantelle took one bite of her food and threw it in the garbage - so much for our all night trek for authentic Bahian food. After searching for another half hour we ended up eating pizza!

Today we went to an island called Itaparica, just off the coast of Salvador. I really got to see a lot of culture today, it all started off with our ferry ride to the island. After buying our ticket, we had to board the ferry 45 minutes before departure and had to sit and wait, not sure why they couldn´t board 10 minutes prior to departure, very strange.

After arriving at the island, we were assaulted by people trying to promote everything from Pizza, to bike rides, to taxis. It got so bad Chantelle and I had to run to the side streets, but one pestering soliciter would not leave us alone. I finally got the courage and told him to ¨Sai Fora¨ (Piss off), and he grudgingly left.

We walked around the village, and caught a passing combi heading to the other side of the island. We almost declined since I didn´t think it was possible for Chantelle and I to both fit into the combi. The boy insisted it could be done and we were off. We picked up another 3 people along the way, and at one point the kid´s ass was on the ceiling. I wanted to jokingly tell the kid that he was not wearing his seatbelt, but Chantelle urged me not to, and I am not even sure the kid knew what a seatbelt was. After weaving through dirt roads, we pulled up to a village, and the locals were staring at me, like they have never seen a white man in their lives. It was pretty funny, I just smiled and they smiled back, it was a great experience since we picked up another two people and I got the answer to how many people it was possible to cram into a combi - 14.

We finally got to the main village and clearly this place had never seen a tourist. It is a strange cultural thing here in South America, for in North America it is generally rude to stare at someone for longer than 3 seconds. There is no time limit to staring here, all age groups especially adults, will simply stare endlessly at you. In Itaparica, it was as if I had accidentally landed from Mars.

No tourists - I loved every minute of it. We found the beach completely empty and one local boy ran out to set up an umbrella for us, he ran the vending stand just off the beach. I ordered a beer and Chantelle ordered a Pineapple suco, it was pure heaven. When I was halfway finished my beer, the boy came back and asked if I wanted another. In Portugese I answered ¨I am good¨, apparently with my accent that means, ¨I´ll have another!¨ since he opened and poured me another.

We saw the sunset over Salvador on the ferry ride back, caught a bus back in time to catch an African tribal dance ceremony. Chantelle really liked it, but I thought it was a little like Disney on Ice African style. Don´t get me wrong, the drum beats were great, and the dancers were pretty talented, but the production and costumes wreaked a little of Michael Eisner.

Tomorrow we are off to Rio!

 

10/09/2005  Rio de Janiero

Back in Salvador, I hopped on a bus that took me to the airport bound for Rio. Arriving in Rio in the evening, we then took a bus to Copacobana. On the bus we ran into a middle-aged Aussie, he was telling me about his beach house in Cairns, his estate in Sydney and how he was ¨slumming¨in Rio in a 4 star hotel for ¨only¨$200USD a night. My thought was, why the heck was he riding a public bus and had holes in his sneakers...and why was he telling me all this info? He must have a small penis, I am not sure...

Anyways, we arrived and Copacabana and looked up Mario´s hostel - what a dump! I seriously considered sleeping on the street this place was so bad, one of the beds in our room was covered in tiny ants. That night we decided to hit the Copacabana nightlife scene.

Copacabana´s fall from grace has been a belly-flop (pardon the pun), most of the women should not be wearing bra tops, it was not a pleasant sight. There was a club called ¨Help¨(I am not kidding, who names a club that?) and I think half the girls were prostitutes, and the other half of the girls looked like prostitutes. The guys also looked like pimps and were cat calling everyone on their way into the club. We ended up going to what we thought was an outdoor pub, but it was really a rent-a-hooker establishment (again - I am dead serious). There were prostitutes everywhere, there was even a long bench they were all lined up at and you could window shop. I went to get a beer by myself and a 60 year old women offered me a pretty young attractive girl if I was interested. Normally I would be flattered if it wasn´t for the whole hooker/payment angle. Really wierd, but the night was actually very entertaining. There was even a 70 year old man that ended up going home with two 30 somethings. Needless to say, Copacabana was pretty seedy and trashy.

The next day we secured a nicer hotel in the center of town for $32 a night, only 7 more dollars than the dive we stayed in Copacabana. Later in the day we took a trolley up to the Santa Theresa district, a beautiful bohemian arts community that overlooks the city. It was fun, but I was very curious that no establishment actually served coffee in this supposedly Bohemian neighbourhood. That night we decided to party Brazilian style, eat late and go out even later. We ate at a Churrasceria, an all you can eat buffet that had amazing meat and guess who we ran into - the Aussie guy from our bus. This millionaire not only rides on busses to his $200 night hotel, he eats at $10 meal backpacker joints in the middle of the city. At midnight Chantelle and I went out to the Lapa district, apparently the place to go to party in Rio. The place was crazy, all five lanes going into the area were at a standstill, there were thousands of people crowding the streets and a vendor serving alcohol every 10 feet. I have never seen anything like it. Unfortunately, the clubs we wanted to get into had a wait of over an hour, so dejected, we walked around for a couple of hours and called it a night.

Today we hit the ¨Christ the Redeemer¨statue on top of a mountain in the middle of Rio, some great views of the city. More to come later...

 

10/11/2005  Búzios, Brazil

So after seeing the ¨Christ the Redeemer¨ statue, we checked out the Museum of the Republic in downtown Rio. The museum was really good and informative, it documented the Republic rule of Brazil from 1920 to 1954, whereupon the president killed himself in the upstairs bedroom and it was left untouched.

Later in the evening we tried again to eat some local grub, but couldn´t find any authentic dishes so we ended up eating pizza. The next day we checked out Ipanema beach, then later on the recommendation from a Brazilian friend from Seattle (thanks Xingu) took a 3 hour bus up the coast to Búzios. Búzios is a tropical paradise, there are beautiful beaches, cool turquoise waters, and rock formations jutting out of the water. Last night we again tried to eat some local food, but ended up ordering an expensive currywurst sausage. When I got it, it was a normal sausage doused with ketchup, and a sprinkling of curry. After the meal I was completely unsatisfied so I ordered a burger from the next door vendor and ate it in front of the currywurst place - another meal of cheap American food.

Today we rented bicycles and biked around the island, it was amazing. We would stop at beaches, snorkle, lay out on the beach while vendors brought cheap fruit cocktails - very relaxing. My bike ended up totally falling apart just as I was returning it, the brakes stopped working all together, the back wheel was falling off, I couldn´t change gears and the lock we were using broke. Tomorrow we are going back to Rio and then off to Foz de Aguazu.
posted by Mark Kadlec 11:59 AM

 

10/12/2005  Rio - Part II

So back at Búzios, we decided to go out to dinner on our last night and had the most comical experience. Our waiter was an Argentine immigrant who insisted on speaking English, and along with my brutal Portugese made for a good time. I commented that we were going to Buenes Aires, his hometown, the waiter asked me "So how did you like Buenes Aires?". After five minutes of explaining we still had not been there, he claimed he now understood. Chantelle was deciding on a chicken dish, Frango Velhermos, and when she asked how it was prepared, he answered "It´s chicken!". Upon our blank stares he then pointed to his chest and exclaimed "You know, like beef!". Thoroughly confused, she then asked how one of the fish meals was prepared and our waiter replied "It´s fish. You know, like wheel of fish!". Chantelle got tired of asking and ordered the wheel of fish, which ended up being a fillet of fish. The waiter then asked me two more times how I enjoyed Buenes Aires. I finally asked for the bill and he asked me "you mean right now?"

We caught a bus in the morning and checked into the same cheap hotel we stayed in last time, the owners are very friendly. We headed to Pão de Açúcar (sugarloaf) mountain, a little mountain in the middle of the city on the water. We decided to hike up to the first tram, the quoted one and a half hour hike took 20 minutes, we even ran into some curious monkeys on the way up, they ate right from our hands. Arriving at the top at 4pm, an hour before we expected since we wanted to catch the sunset, we had some drinks and eventually caught the sunset over the city, the sun setting right over the Cordovado, it was a beautiful sight. On the way down, we decided to hike again but forgot that after the sun sets, it gets dark. Halfway down the mountain after nearly cartwheeling to our deaths about 10 times, we saw a headlamp heading our way and it was a friendly local guy probably wondering what the heck we were doing. His name was Josuneu and insisted we go out for pizza and beer, which we gladly did. He took us around his neighbourhood and introduced us to some of his friends, we had a great time. I am now heading to bed soon, we catch a flight tomorrow to Foz de Iguazu.
posted by Mark Kadlec 12:00 PM

 

10/14/2005  Foz de Iguazu - End of Brazil portion

We took a flight to the Brazil side of Foz de Iguazu (Iguazu Falls) and thus ended our time in Brazil that day by crossing to the Argentine side. As with tradition, I will list a top 3 for Brazil.

Worst 3 Brasil:

1. Organization - Lines don´t exist here, it is basically a pushing match to the door/counter you are trying to reach.

2. Prices to tourists - Brazil is doing rather well economically, bad for the American dollar. Still, things were pretty cheap.

3. Buses - There are no bus schedules in this country. Anywhere.

Best 3 Brasil:

1. Sucos - There are fresh fruit drinks everywhere in Brasil. Most of the time you can even choose the individual fruits specifically, with or without sugar or milk.

2. People - Everyone was very friendly towards me. And if I would mention soccer, they would become excited and loved to chat about Adriano, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Robinho (especially in Santos).

3. Beaches - I will miss the gorgeos beaches in Brasil, it was a beach lovers paradise. I never got to buy a Speedo, probably good for the extortion reasons.posted by Mark Kadlec 12:02 PM

 

10/15/2005  Buenos Aires

Back in Foz de Iguazu, we had a busy 24 hours. We arrived on the Brazilian side with our big backpacks and no idea how we will get to the falls, or the Argentine side for that matter. We ended up grabbing what we thought was the right bus, but after realizing our mistake, jumped out into a horse farm and waited for the correct bus. After a good wait, it finally arrived and took us to the Brazilian side of the falls, where to our relief, we could put our big packs into lockers.

The Brazilian side is beautiful, but very touristy. We were shuffled around like cattle and I was almost relieved to finally be leaving. We caught a bus to what we thought was the Argentine border, but the bus driver got confused with my Portugese and took us into town. A guy we asked said we could walk across the border, but when I tried to explain this to the bus driver, he laughed and said it was 5 km. Desperate to get across since it was getting dark, we caught another bus that dumped as at the Brazilian exit point to get our passports stamped. We had to wait for another bus to take us to the Argentine immigration point and luckily the bus driver waited while we got our passports stamped - the whole process was crazy.

Finally arriving in Puerto Iguazu (the Argentine town beside the falls) , we stayed at the bus stop to arrange our night bus to Buenos Aires the next day. I ran into a British couple, Steph and Tim, that were also booking the same journey and afterwards we had dinner with them. I love Argentina already, the beers are 1 liter and the meat comes out grilled on swords! Our half of the delicious dinner came out to 40 pesos ($13USD).

The next day we went to the falls on the Argentine side, I enjoyed this side much better than the Brazilian, simply because you go right to the bottom of most of the falls, and the hikes discourage most of the tourists. I´ve included a picture of me at one of the falls getting thoroughly soaked. The falls are simply spectacular, they really do make the Niagara falls look tiny in comparison, it is no wonder they are considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Thanks to a recommendation from a friend Phil we took a night bus from the Falls to Buenos Aires, a 17 hour journey. It sounds like a long awful ride, but Phil described leather seats, dinner, and a guy in a tux serving you champagne. We got everything but the champagne, and I slept like a baby for most of the ride putting me in Buenos Aires or "BA", where I am now. Upon a recommendation from Alex, we decided to check out a youth hostel Puerto del Sul in the heart of the city but unfortunately it was booked. We got a place right around the corner though, for $17/night, in a very old European style building - great stuff. Going to take a nap now and hit BA on a Saturday night...

Hasta,
posted by Mark Kadlec 12:03 PM

 

10/17/2005  BA - Part II

Buenos Aires has been my favourite city by far, it is a truly a cross between New York and Paris. On Saturday, after taking a nap, had dinner at 22:00 (pretty common here) and met a couple of Brits we met at a hostel for a beer around 23:00. We ended up taking a cab to an area we heard had some good clubs, and after arriving at 1am, noticed a pretty long line. We decided to have a beer at a pub and wait for the line to die down a bit, and after returning at 2am, the line was the same length! Hopping into line, it moved quickly and we were into the club in short order, pretty wierd feeling getting into clubs when you are normally accustomed to already being in bed. We tried our best at the salsa modified dance and left the club at 5am after grabbing some street pastries just before sunrise. It was a great time, but I think I am too old for the Argentine nightlife. :(

The next day we secured tickets for perhaps the biggest soccer game in South America clubs this year Boca versus River Plate, the great rivalry in professional sports. We paid through the nose for these tickets, but it was a once in a lifetime experience. Barely getting any sleep from the previous night, we took the metro to the stadium and at once you knew that something big was about to happen. The stadium was packed with 65,000 screaming fans but unfortunately the game was pretty bad and ended in a 0-0 score. It was still a great experience and one I will never forget.

Today I walked around admiring some of the plazas in BA and saw the greatest cemetery ever (I realize this sounds morbidly wierd) The cemetary holds historical Argentine people the likes of Evita, and I couldn´t pull myself out of there. It is like a small city, and every plot has beautifully build stone monuments and crypts. After eating a buffet at Ulysses Grant´s (the Argentines have a strange fixation on the USA) we walked off the food by shopping and getting ourselves prepared for Patagonia and the higher regions.
posted by Mark Kadlec 12:05 PM

 

10/21/2005 Mendosa, Argentina

Mendosa is wine country, reminds me a lot of Napa Valley with more wineries, this is a great place to grow up. Back in Buenos Aires I have to fill you in on a comical exchange that occurred when I tried to send a package back to the US:

I walked to a post office with a few items to send only to have them send me to another post office claiming my items weighed more than 2 kg (apparently they can judge by looking at the bag). The second place weighed the items at 1.7kg, but claimed that we had to go to a 3rd post office since Chantelle´s scuba mask would not fit in the 2kg box. The 3rd place sent us to a 4th post office saying they did not sell 5kg boxes. When we claimed we could fit our stuff into their 2kg box they scoffed. Sure enough, the stuff fit, but we were then instructed to go buy a large envelope so we could write the address, but the office did not sell these envelopes. When we returned, the post office said we then needed to wrap the already labeled box with a certain type of paper which again, they did not sell. When we returned, they weighed our items in the box and it came up at 1.96kg. The "scoffer" then threw the paper onto the scale and it came up as 2.01 kg and he said we could not mail the package since we were over the 2 kg limit - I am not making this up. We had a miraculous idea and removed a T-shirt and the box came up as 1.92 kg - our 2 hour ordeal was over!

We did a little sight seeing, tried to catch a Tango show only to sip some Sangria in a cool Piazza and next day caught a 14 hour night bus to Mendoza.

I also came to the realization why South American businesses can never compete with US businesses. Consider a scenario where a clothing store employes 4 people. In the US: The first employee lives in NYC and pours over financial data, creates profit reports, and contemplates the takeover of a similar establishment in South America. The second employee handles sales, the third mops the floors and restocks items, while the fourth works the cash register. In South America: The first two employees are security guards that clutch their pistols and stare at you as you peruse the store. The third employee tugs at your shirt and points at things he/she wants you to buy. The fourth employee mops the floors, restocks the items, and works the cash, but is on a 2 hour siesta.

Mendoza is a beautiful city right at the foot of the Andes, check out the picture from one of the walls (you can see my sandal in the shot). It is the wine capital of South America, producing some of the great wines (Merlots, Malbecs, etc...) Last night I went to a huge Assada (Argentine BBQ)/karioke at our hostel. We had some questionable meat and met a couple of guys from Buenos Aires, and a German climber. All of us had a lot to drink and at one point were standing on our table singing "La Bamba" (Which I was told was the unofficial anthem of Argentina) Today off to do some winery tours which is probably the worst thing I could be doing with a hangover, then a bus to the foot of Aconcagua, the biggest mountain in the Americas!
posted by Mark Kadlec 12:05 PM

 

10/23/2005 Santiago, Chile

Another country and already noticing many fascinating characteristics about Chile and its people.

Back in Mendoza, Chantelle and I took a free tour of the La Rural winery and it was very informative and the wine very good. We had a few hours to kill upon our return, so we checked out the huge open market in the town square, bought another fleece (it will be very cold in the mountains) and picked up our night bus to Chile.

At 1am, the bus stopped and we all had to go through customs, the cold mountain air almost petrifying most of the passengers. We all lined up and I thought they were doing some sort of narcotics check, but it was all looking for any illegal fruit. Apparently they take fresh produce quite seriously. Afterwards, our bus took a winding road through a mountain pass that made my hair stand on end. There are huge mountains all around you and no guardrails to protect you from the narrow, icy, windy road! Pretty spectacular views though, got a little sleep to arrive in downtown Santiago at 5am, not sure what we were going to do for the next couple of hours until it was safe to walk the streets.

We met a British guy on our bus, Matt, who was just finishing up his trip here and he chatted with us until it was safe and we could go into town for a cheap Desajuno (breakfast). A street sweeper directed us to what seemed like the only open restaurant in all of Santiago and after Desajuno we decided to find a hostel recommended to us by two Swedish girls back in Mendosa. There directions were very specific, in Placa de Armes you cross a series of Super-Pancho vendors (hot dog) and the hostel should be right there. Great directions, but the vendors do not set up on Sunday - we were lost! Eventually we found a hostel in an 18th century building and set out to see the town.

Chile is definitely more expensive than Argentina, but slightly less expensive than Brasil. We heard that Santiago is a good city but not much to do or see. I am finding that I really like the city a lot and would like to spend one more day before heading south. The weather is very chilly in the mountains, but everyone is eating ice-cream, it is kind of wierd. Look forward to some more exploration tomorrow.
posted by Mark Kadlec 12:09 PM

 

10/26/2005 Curicó and Chillán, Chile

This might be a long blog, I´ve been to two cities since Santiago.

Back in Santiago, the final couple of days were a great experience. First we decided to have an authentic lunch at a typico restaurant and we were in for a surprise. The ambiance was a bad American 50´s country motife, kind of like John Wayne meets Wayne Newton. The music they were playing was Buddy Holly type, and the locals all looked like they were from the 70s Mafia. There was a lot of hair gel in that room, it was one of the wierdest lunches I´ve had in my life.

Chile is a little like a cross between New Zealand and Mexico. The prices are about the same as Brazil (pretty steep for South American standards), has beautiful mountains, Mexican architecture, and everyone loves to eat ice cream even though it is the coldest country I´ve been in on this trip.

We walked around town looking for sleeping bags and then decided to check out an english movie. Before the movie, we decided to try the local fast food - the Completo. The Completo is a simply a hot dog with saurkraut and mayonaise, and the Italiano is a hot dog with guacamole. Now with a rumbling in my stomach I saw the movie "La Llave", or "The Key", a pretty good horror film starring Kate Hudson.

The next morning we walked around the market and I picked up an official wool sherpa hat for my Patagonia portion, along with some thick wool socks. Chantelle and I then decided to split a Lomito Completo for lunch, the biggest burger you have ever seen in your life. Before we entered the restaurant, one of the waiters grabbed us and scurried us up the stairs to the upper floor. On the way, there were about 4 or 5 other waiters that grabbed us and tried to sit us at their table. We actually wanted to sit downstairs and when I told the waiter that we were going downstairs since it was a little chilly upstairs, he signalled some guys to turn up the heat. Pretty wierd since there were about 10 other local businessmen up with us! I finally had enough and ran downstairs only to be pursued but we finally got a seat after the hassle. Funny thing, we watched locals walk in and nobody pays them attention - I guess they don´t tip? As for the meal, The Lomito Completo is basically a loaf of bread cut open and ten or twelve shredded pork chops spread on top of saurkraut, egg, cheese, ten strips of bacon, tomato, mayonaise, and I believe the kitchen sink. I have included a picture for effect. We both nearly finished the burger, and I wasn´t hungry until 4 hours later.

Next we were off to Curicó, a sleepy little town 3 hours south of Santiago. We bought some Chilean wine, some cheese and had a little picnic in the town´s central park. We tried to choose the market´s most expensive wine an $8USD 1999 Merlot that was superb. That night was an unusual experience, I tried to select the most expensive wine, and then Chantelle and I looked for a cop in the park so we could drink near him. We finished half the bottle, then decided to grab some pizza and befriended the pizza parlour´s owner. Not only was he okay with us bringing the wine in, he brought us over 2 glasses!

Today we took a bus to Chillán, a town 3 hours south of Curicó. We almost stayed at a hostal called ¨Canada¨, but the hostess wouldn´t even give me a discount for being Canadian. The place was a dump, it wasn´t even worth the $20 night she tried to charge. I apologize to Canadians everywhere. We ended up staying at a 1 1/2 star hotel for $24/night, but we have an unusual cable running through the middle of our room which the hostess was frantically saying we could not unplug. I wasn´t sure why since she kept repeating strange Spanish words, I can only guess that it lights up the sign out front?

Chantelle and I decided to check out the downtown right now, first we had a very overpriced Chinese meal and then as we were walking down the square we almost got pickpocketed. I noticed a strange guy right up against me to the left and Chantelle signalled me by pulling me to a kiosk. As she pulled me, another guy behind her collided with her and I didn´t even notice him and then both of the guys took off. The guy behind Chantelle managed to open her backpack, but nothing was stolen we must have noticed him just in time.

Today off to do a little more sightseeing, then tomorrow morning taking a bus to Pucón, a village in the mountains where we hope to begin our trekking into the Lakes region.
posted by Mark Kadlec 12:20 PM

 

10/28/2005 Pucon, Chile

It is freezing in the mountains and I am wearing every piece of clothing I own.

Back in Curico Chantelle and I had a bottle of Chilean wine and cheese in the park again (to lighten her pack for our trek to the mountains) and got up early the next morning for our bus ride to Temuco where we hoped to catch a bus to Pucon.

The timing could not have been better on arrival to Temuco, the bus to Pucon left in 15 minutes but the problem was that it left from a terminal a few kilometers away. We grabbed a cab and I must note that cab drivers must never get tipped here. When the cab driver was giving me change and got to about 10%, I said "es bueno", but he looked at me puzzled and gave me the remainder of my change. At least he got a Canadian tip. We managed to just get on our bus to Pucon and were on our way.

Pucon reminds me of a Swiss town, in fact half the signs here are in German. Our first day we spent buying groceries and getting a deal on a guided climb of Volcano Villarica, an active volcano where you can witness magma spewing while perched on the top.

Today was exhausting, we rented bikes in hopes of reaching a Lake in the middle of the mountains. The lake was 25km into the pass but we had high hopes. Going up the mountains, we passed an amazing set of waterfalls and luckily had our SLR camera for some great shots. Most of the journey was uphill and the temperature was around 9°C so when we arrived at the lake we were exhausted. Another 25km back, so tomorrow I can boast when asked how I spent my day preparing for the 5 hour climb of the volcano and respond "by mountain biking 50km!". I will be sore. We are going to soak in some 40°C hot springs that night as a treat.

To "carb up" tonight we hit an Italian restaurant where the chef is Pablo, an Argentine friend we met at our hostel (he is living cheaply there in a closet). He was so nice he gave me his only touque (winter hat for the US contingent) and knew me for only an hour! Tonight he prepared Bruchetta, Lasagna, and a big pizza. We almost ate everything we were so hungry from the Mountain biking.

I am off to bed to prepare for tomorrow, hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can summit.
posted by Mark Kadlec 12:26 PM

 

10/31/2005  Bariloche, Argentina

4 hours ago we crossed back into Argentina and as per tradition I will list my country top 3s:

Top 3 worst things about Chile:

1. Osorno - this town is a hell hole not to be visited. If you are into pesky vendors, construction of entire streets, bad food, and high prices, this is the place for you.

2. Prices - found the country relatively expensive for what you are getting.

3. Spanish - Was a little difficult to follow with their quick talk and slang.

Top 3 things about Chile:

1. Pucón - A gem of a town with a million things to do.

2. Mountains - Cmon, the second highest mountain range in the world? This was a given.

3. Lomito Completo - See my blog from Santiago, nuff said.

Ok, so back in Pucón we were all set to climb the Villarica volcano, but with bad weather in the morning our guide called it off. We went back to bed and decided to do a whitewater rafting trip in the afternoon. The weather took a turn for the better and we had a hell of a ride on a great rio. Normally the rapids are class 3, but with the rain of the previous 2 days and mountain snow melt, the rapids were closer to 4 - it was absolutely brilliant! Chantelle and I decided to "jump" into the rio midway through the trip, only to find out that glacial water is actually quite chilling. When we finished the trip we found out that our van had lost a wheel on the decent, but the owners brought tea and biscuits while we waited for another van - this was the typical hospitallity of the Chilean people. I would highly recommend the rafting here.

The next day we again made the attempt on the Volcano Villarica, and this time the weather was with us. Sunny skies provided stunning photos, I can´t wait to upload some - hopefully tomorrow. We lost half of our party due to fitness concerns, but our core group including myself and Chantelle managed to summit 4 and a half hours from the start which isn´t too bad considering the ascent was 1000 meters, mostly done with crampons. It was a little bittersweet however, since the volcano decided to act up and we were all choking at the top and couldn´t see the magma blasts. You could hear the roar however, it was like a strong ocean-like sound, unforgetable. That night we decided to reward ourselves and went to some hotsprings with a bottle of Chilean wine. The springs were 43ºC and we sat in them for over an hour, definitely recharged the batteries.

Today was spent on a bus, normally a very boring thing to do, but passing through the Andes was spectacular - huge mountains falling into glistening lakes, I didn´t stop staring out the window for hours. It did take 9 hours to get here but I am finally in Bariloche, a very nice town on the edge of a big lake in the mountains. Here we plan to wash our clothes (needs to be done!) and get ready for southern Patagonia and Mt. Fitzroy region.

 

11/04/2005  El Calafete, Argentina

Patagonia at last!

Up in Bariloche we only stayed a couple of days, but was one of my favourite towns. Set in the mountains on a huge lake, you just can't stop staring at all the breathtaking scenery all around you. We stayed in a hostel run by a nice old couple in their 90s, can´t believe they are still running a youth hostel!

The first day in Bariloche we spent getting the last of our supplies for hitting the Patagonia treks, then embarked on what would be a monumental bus ride - 37 hours non-stop. The first leg was a 15 1/2 hour jaunt over to Commodore Riviera and the first hour the cabin must have been 15°C. I kept thinking that at any minute they had to put on the heat before any passengers passed out and alas the vents started blowing - air conditioning! The vents were right below me, so for the remaining 14 hours I felt like I was riding across the North Pole. Even wrapped in my sleeping bag I was frigid. After a brief stop for grub in Commodore Riviera, we got on a new bus and the temperature was a lot better, but this time the torture was a movie called "Justice" starring Jim Belushi. I actually would have endured the cold again if they only turned off the movie. Half in a coma, we finally arrived in El Calafete at 1am, after 37 hours on a bus. Setting out alone on the deserted streets of town, I nervously found one of the cheap hostels on the outskirts of town and settled for the night, although the guy running the door had no idea how much the rate was. The owners awoke us in the morning and asked us to pay but it was really a nice place despite the 20 year old grubby barbie doll that greets you at the entrance.

Today we decided to check out the Moreno Glacier, a spectacular glacier outside of town that calves iceburgs with great force. The tour was not really worth the $30 price tag each, but the tour group was entertaining. It included a lady in a complete ski outfit with fur hat, and a lady with a walking stick for the 400 meter stroll to the glacier. The 60m wall of ice was spectacular to see, hopefully I can upload some pictures shortly.

Tomorrow off to see Fitzroy,

 

11/07/2005  El Chalten - Days 1 and 2

On our last night in El Calafe after the Glacier tour I was very hungry and decided to go to a Argentine Asado for a Tenedor Libre (all you can eat). It was pretty comical since the restaurant was run by a Chinese couple and they put an Asian spin on all the food. All the traditional Argentine food had a Peking flare and I did get to try Javelin for the first time (wild boar).

The next day we boarded an early bus to El Chalten and arrived at 3pm. Instead of grabbing a hostel for the night, Chantelle and I quickly rented a tent and stove and set out for Cerro Torre, a fantastic spire and the second highest point in the Park Nationale. We arrived at the camp spot at 6pm to find only 5 tents in total, it felt like we had the whole park to ourselves. Before we left, a local ranger told us that they have had very poor weather and we were very fortunate to see the sun.

We braved a very cold night with our crappy sleeping bags, it got down to 1C that night and our sleeping bags are rated to +10C. The tent we rented was the equivalent to being covered by newspaper, a strong wind would have blown us away. We awoke from our coma in the morning and did a spectacular hike near the base of Cerro Torre for some fantastic shots. (See above, also, can you spot Chantelle in the second photo?)

After the hike we packed up our things and hiked to camp Poincenot for views of Mount Fitzroy. The 4 hour hike with all of our gear left us pretty tired and after setting up camp we ran into Agustin, a Canadian from Victoria who was originally Argentine. He turned out to be a great guy and had a wealth of knowledge from Torres Del Paine (where we are heading next). We agreed to wake up at 4:30am the next morning for a sunrise hike to see Fitz in all of its glory. I wrapped my legs up with my fleece jacket and had a better sleep, unfortunately, our alarm broke that night and we woke up at 7am but the 3 hour hike was still worth the views.

 

11/09/2005  Fitzroy, Argentina - Days 3 and 4

We packed up our stuff and headed on what was supposed to be a 3 1/2 hour hike. We took a side trip to see a Glacier (see pic of me drinking), and arrived at the campsite 5 hours later. We were pretty tired and passed out from exhaustion. Luckily the sky was a little overcast and we had a much warmer and comfortable sleep.

The next day we were dreading the 7 hour hike back and with Chantelle´s feet severely blistered, we decided to alter our route to hit a gravel road just outside the park and try to hitchhike back. The road was 22 km from town so before starting the walk with thumbs extended, we decided to have our remaining food (two slices of bread with tomato paste) and start the walk. We were laughing at the thought of getting picked up since it didn´t look like the road was used for days. Just as we were finishing up our bread, a truck came by in the opposite direction and we cursed our bad luck. The truck stopped 50 meters beyond us, let 2 hikers out, then turned around in our direction! The driver was nice to pick us up, he was paid by the hikers to drive them out there so they could get a head start, our good fortune.

I am back in El Calafate, tomorrow we are off to Puerto Natales in Chile to do Torres Del Paine.

PS - Chantelle is also keeping a travelogue at http://www.chantellesouthamerica.blogspot.com/ if you are interested.

 

11/15/2005  Puerto Natales, Chile

I am just back from 5 days in Torres Del Paine and I finally got to shower after 6 days of grubbery.

So 6 days ago I arrived in Puerto Natales, a small port town on an ocean bay near the southern tip of Chile. We had to arrange our bus back to Rio Gallegos 6 days later so we could catch our flight to Salta. The bus system here is deranged, there are 3 bus companies that have service to Rio Gallegos but all three only run on Tuesdays! So after some investigation, we booked a trip to Rio Turbio in hopes that we can catch a bus in Argentina that will take us there.

We rented a tent and stove and the next day the bus came to pick us up to go to Torres Del Paine. After a 2 hour bus ride, then a boat ride to our trail head we started the "W" circuit, which takes a minimum of 5 days but gives you great views of the entire park. The first day we hauled butt up to a free camp spot above the Grey Glacier and were the first to put our tent up. There were only 2 other parties there later on, a Dutch couple (that we are going to dinner tonight) and a Brit who was just finishing the circuit. The views were unbelievable, you could even hear and see icebergs calving into the water.

The second day was a long 7 hour hike to our second camp spot, and then on the third day we hiked into the canyon for views that are hard to describe. I sat on a rock at the top of the canyon and saw three spires in front of me, a huge mountain and lake to my left, a huge rock wall with a spire behind me. There a constant avalanches falling all around, the earth rumbles and it looks like huge waterfalls crashing around you.

The fourth day we had another long 7 hour hike to our campspot and the next morning made a 1 hour strenuous hike to catch the sunrise over the Torres. The torres light up reddish in the morning and are pretty spectacular. As you may have guessed, the weather was very good for the entire trip which I hear is unheard of in the windy park (lucky for me).

Chantelle´s blister situation was getting pretty dire near the end but she put on her game face and we hiked the 5 hours out of the park today and even hiked the 1.5 hour road to the bus stop. We found out there is only one bus leaving the area and it was 2 hours later so we threw our pads out hoping to rest but instead fell fast asleep. Luckily the Dutch couple saw us beside the road and woke us up just in time to catch our bus.

Right now I am completely knackered, I will definitely sleep quite well tonight. Maybe after a couple of Pisco sours...

Tomorrow off to Rio Gallegos and hopefully catch some Penquins with their chicks (November is hatching time).

 

11/17/2005  Rio Gallegos, Argentina

I am in the dreary town of Rio Gallegos, which probably has the most prostitutes per capita than any other city in the world. I´m not sure what there is to do here, but I am catching a flight here to Salta tomorrow and making the best of it. I´ve included a couple of pictures from Torres Del Paine from our final day as well.

We arrived yesterday to find out that there is some sort of high school festival and all the cheap hotels were booked. Luckily Chantelle and I found a hotel even too cheap for high school students, I guess even Argentinian students want hot water which this hotel lacks.

After being ripped off at a restaurant we went to our hotel for a nap on the broken mattresses. We were awoken in the morning with free breakfast in bed. Apparently this hotel values breakfast in bed more highly than hot water. Also the bathroom is on the other end of the hotel. :) Sadly, I am quite fond of the breakfast treatment and this hotel.

This morning I went to pick up our laundry from the lavendaria, and mistook the hotel door for the apartment next to it. I was fiddling with the lock and pulling at the door for 10 minutes trying to open it when suddenly the door flew open and a very angry man yells some spanish obsenities at me. I explain that my key is not working and after examining my key with the hotel name on it, points that it is next door. He thought I was trying to break into his apartment...

After that embarrasing incident, Chantelle and I piled into a van with 2 other Argentines our age, and our middle aged Argentine driver. None of them spoke a single word of english which made the 6 hour return journey to the Penguin colony interesting. I speak very basic spanish, but not enough to keep a conversation for longer than 15 minutes so there was a lot of silence. We arrived at Cabo Virgenes and saw thousands of Penquins, it is hatching time. We got to stand about 3 feet from two little chicks that would fit into your hand. I was cracking up at how funny all the male penguins strutted around.

When we arrived back at our hotel my spanish got me in trouble again, I told our hotel maid I thought that the Penquins we saw today were "beunisimo" (delicious) instead of "bonito" (cute). I wonder what she must think of Canadian tourists now...

Tomorrow I hop on a plane and head up to Salta,

 

11/21/2005  Tupiza, Boliva

From the last blog I think I have travelled from the tip of South America to near the equator in a new country, been really busy.

Flew into Salta, Argentina late on Friday night and had to walk through a huge fiesta to look for a hotel. With two huge backpacks on our backs we may as well had targets on us, everyone stared in keen interest. We finally found a place called the Muday hotel, and at $16/night with breakfast included I felt like I was at the Hilton.

Salta is a town in the middle of the Argentina flats, there is no real industry here other than a little bit of wine production. It does have it´s charm however, beautiful hills and a non-touristy culture. Saturday night Chantelle and I decided to hit the town and true to Argentine nightlife, the scene didn´t get going till about 1am. The most amazing thing about Salta is that families (including 5 year olds) are all walking the bar scene after midnight. I ordered a Mojito from a local bar that was strickly hard liquor with a twist of mint. Chantelle and I shared the one drink all night and felt tipsy, not bad for $2.

Next day took a gondola to the top of a hill and had some terrific views of the city along with a view of a big football match that was being played by a local team. We killed some more time by touring the city since our night bus to Bolivia did not leave until 12:30am. We ate at Papa Panchios, a joint that sells Panchos and we had a Calzone that contained about 10 pounds of cheese. Our bus finally departed and we arrived at the Bolivian border at 7am. We had to nervously walk a seedy stretch of barren land and across a bridge to get to the Bolivian immigration - the experience was pretty strange. First, we had to get an exit stamp from an Argentine army officer. He barely looked at us as he literally waved a bunch of people through. The Bolivian immigration was slightly better, but I probably could have flown a small plane in without much fuss.

We grabbed a local bus to Tupiza this morning, a 2 hour ride which has been the most memorable of my life. First of all, Chantelle and I bought 2 seats on the bus, but there were so many people we had to actually stand in the doorway with our backpacks on. I managed to fall into a spot right by the door and the girl next to me said if we had tickets we could go and kick out whoever was sitting in our seats. Chantelle climbed over some people and managed to kick out a couple of kids sitting in her spot. There was no way I could join her since I couldn´t fit through the full aisles with my pack, there were little babies on the floor and 20 or so older people standing in the aisle. We actually even picked up people while driving through the desert, including a sick baby which the parents briefly put on my lap! On another stop, a bunch of school kids just started jumping on and the bus driver just floored it while his co-worker Jimmy, a 10 year old kid was pulling the door shut. The whole journey was done on a dirt road at 60mph. Pretty amazing experience.

We are now in Tupiza waiting to see if we can get a guide for a 4 day trip through the salt desert, things are ridiculously cheap here. If you shop around you can get a hotel for $5/night with breakfast included. The local food here is a "Salteña", a empanada like pastry filled with potato, onion, and chicken/beef. It is extremely juicy and very tasty.

 

11/26/2005  Uyuni, Bolivia

Back in Tupiza, we managed to secure a 4 day jeep ride through the Salar de Uyuni and decided to then relax by the pool of our hotel since we hadn't seen a pool on our trip yet. I started to talk to 2 British guys, Paul and Andrew, only to realize that they were also in our jeep the next day. The 5th guy was a Frenchman named Silvain and the next morning the 5 of us plus our driver Idel and his wife set out for the desert drive.

The first day had a lot of canyons and reminded me a lot of Colorado. We drove up to this quiet village with about 10 adobe huts and Chantelle asked a lady and her husband if she could take a picture of them. They wanted 2 Bolivianos! (25 cents) Instead we took some pictures of some of the villages kids, they only wanted candy which we gladly obliged. That night we ended up in a little town of about 100 people and met up with another great group consisting of an Aussie couple, an Aussie girl, a British lad, and a fellow Canadian girl. We first played the local kids in football and beat them pretty badly, but their average age was about 10 years old. ;) Chantelle and I then played volleyball with some of the locals which was pretty comical.

My body was definitely adjusting to the altitude, our first night we slept at 4200 meters (13800 feet) and I definitely felt out of breath, dizzy, and had a headache that kept with me throughout the night.

The next day we some some cool lagoons in the middle of the desert and got to swim in some hot springs. We stayed in a little hut at Laguna Colorado 4600 meters (15100 feet) and it was cold! Both our groups stayed warm by playing drinking games with the wine and needless to say the game got out of hand. We got about 3 hours of sleep that night and headed out for the 3rd day.

On the 3rd day we passed the highest point on the drive, 5000 meters (16400 feet) and I still felt the altitude effects a little, but barely at all by this point in the trip. After getting our second flat tire and quick repair, we ended up at a small village of about 100 people pretty early on so we were looking for things to do. It just so happened that the locals set up some "mummy tombs" just 400 meters out of the town. We walked into the middle of the desert to look at a bunch of rocks with a couple of human skulls set into some of the holes in the rocks. As we looked back, there was an older lady walking towards us from the village. She walked all the way over to collect the small entrance fee, it was pretty surreal.

Today was our last day and today we finally got to see the Salar, it was pretty fantastic. After we drove through the desert for an hour we came upon an old man, a younger lady and her 3 kids with the hook of his truck open. He asked our driver to pick up his wife who went to get help. We drove another 5 miles and picked up his 70 year old wife in the middle of the desert! I couldn´t believe she drew the short straw to walk the 10 miles to the nearest village.

Unfortunately I can't upload pictures from the internet here but our group must have taken over 5000 photos in the 4 days it will be a chore to sort through them all. I can't decide which of the 4 days were my favourite, they were all great.

Tonight I am getting together with some of the group members at MinuteMan pizza (thanks for the tip Phil!) and we are all catching the midnight express train to La Paz. Unfortunately I can't buy tickets right now because the ticket agent is sleeping and the station attendent is not sure when he will be back. Sadly I am not making this up...

Ciao,

 

11/28/2005  La Paz, Bolivia

Back in Uyuni, I was waiting for the midnight express to Oruro and the ticket agent was sleeping so I couldn´t buy a ticket. Chantelle and I gambled and took all of our stuff at 11:30pm to the train station in hopes he would show up. At 11:45, a sheepish man ran into the station to sell tickets to the angry people waiting. I asked what the difference between 1st class and 2nd class seating was and he told me that the 1st class seats recline. Since this was a night bus I splurged the extra $4 for reclining seats.

When we arrived in Oruro at 7am, we had to walk across town with our packs to the bus station. The station was crazy with hundreds of people scrambling around to get to onto various buses. We finally figured out which bus to get onto and 3 hours later arrived in La Paz.

10 minutes at La Paz and I was struck by a car. I had just left the station, flagged a taxi, and started to put my pack into the cab when my leg buckled and looked back to see that another cab had swiped me. I was shaken but okay and was ready to chase the driver down who had stopped 10 meters in front of us, but after looking around at the 10 armed police guards I decided that less attention was probably better.

Last night I walked around town and I finally got a $5 watch to replace the $8 watch that broke a couple of days ago. (This time I got a high quality Citizen but strangely enough the "water resistant" label is spelt wrong...). Chantelle and I then had a delicious and romantic dinner at a nice restaurant for $8. Bolivia is dirt cheap, quite a contrast to Chile and Brazil.

This morning paid for our Death Road ride tomorrow, we are going to Mountain Bike down the worlds most dangerous road tomorrow, we´ve heard this is a pretty amazing ride - over 2 km elevation drop!

I also just finished a tour of the coca museum, it documents the coca leaf through history - very educational and I would highly recommend it. Later Chantelle and I narrowly missed a huge protest that swept through town, there were thousands of people marching through downtown - it was pretty amazing to see. I really like La Paz so far, there is a lot to see and do here, unfortunately we only have a couple more days before we head north to Lake Titticaca.

Hasta Luego,

 

11/30/2005  Copacabana, Bolivia

Back in La Paz, we rode the world´s most dangerous road (as per deaths per km). 360 deaths/year for the stretch we did, that is an average of 1 per day! The ride was incredible, you see breathtaking views all the way down (like in the first picture) and you actually can get some decent speed on the descent. About half way down our leader pointed out a river below and said they just pulled out a van that killed 8 people the week before. Pretty eerie. Near the bottom the leader handed out cloth masks to help us with the enormous amount of dust coming up on the descent. You can judge by the last picture how dirty we got.

The next day we shopped the market for some Christmas presents and grabbed a local bus to Copacabana. The ride was quite a journey. It first started when halfway through a bunch of army men climbed aboard and ordered all of us off. About half the bus got off and Chantelle and I had no idea what was going on. I asked one of the locals that got off what was happening and she said that we had to take a separate boat for $0.25 to get across the upcoming river while the bus rode on a barge. I asked why we just couldn't stay on the bus and she replied that the barge was very unsafe and that the militia was ordered to remove everyone off for their own safety. I was still confused why the rest of the locals stayed on and she replied that they refused to pay the 25 cents and would rather risk their lives... After the barge got across Chantelle and I had to chase the bus to get back on, then witnessed a spectacular sunset over Lake Titticaca and the surrounding mountains.

We arrived in Copacabana after dark, and were assaulted by locals trying to get us to stay at their hostals. Luckily I already got a tip from some fellow travellers to stay at a new place called the Mirador. We ended up getting a hotel room with private bathroom, breakfast included, view over the lake - for less than $9. That night we met 2 Canadian girls and a Aussie bloke and we all went to a "Mexican" restaurant for dinner. It was only the second time I ate Mexican food on this trip so I savoured every bite. Later that evening we hit a Gringo pub and exchanged stories until the wee hours.

Yesterday Chantelle and I decided to walk 10 miles to a nearby village and catch a boat to the Isla Del Sol that holds many Indian ruins. The walk was great, we walked for about 4 hours through little farm communities and after about 3 hours noticed that a lot of the locals were asking if we would like a boat ride or a place to stay. They were saying outlandish things like we had "hours of painful walking and and no accomodations to be had on the island" and we should pay them to help us. It was a sign of things to come. When we got to the fishing village, we saw a ferry pull up and a older man immediately ran up to us and said the ticket to the boat was 150 Bolivianos. We refused to pay, and he said that he could get someone to row us across for 100B. We again refused, and another local woman said her husband would row us across for 30B. The ferry saw that we were preoccupied and left, leaving us to take the 30B rowboat. When I explained that I only had 40B and no change the woman said that we could get change when her husband dropped us off at the village on the island. After an hour of rowing, we got dropped off at a rocky bluff nowhere near the village and wouldn't let us off until we paid the 40B. Robbery 101. After a half hour walk we came to a village and a boy started following us and wouldn't leave us alone, no matter where we went. We even went for an hour long dinner and he actually had his face pressed against the glass for the full hour. If you made eye contact with a local, they would try and sell you a boat ride, a mule, or some candy. We stayed at a hostal on the island, and feeling thoroughly violated, we left the island this morning and are now back in Copacabana. Tomorrow off to Puno, Peru, and eventually Cusco.

 

12/05/2005  Cusco, Peru

Back in Copacabana, we met back up with our Canadian friends and played "Truth or dare" Jenga till 1am in a pub. I guess I wanted to be as tired as possible for what I thought would be a long ride to Peru - I didn´t know what was waiting for me.

The next morning I decided to buy my last juicy Salteña for breakfast. I asked for Pollo (chicken) and the lady handed me my pastry. Chantelle said she wanted a bite and I obliged, but when I looked at her face I knew this was no ordinary Salteña. I looked and saw half of a wierd looking kidney. When I confronted the lady that she did not give me a chicken Salteña, she replied in Spanish, "¿What do expect for 2 Bolivianos?". Bolivian humour?

Chantelle and I boarded the bus headed to the Peruvian border town of Puno and when we arrived at the border we were both pulled aside by the Bolivian border police. There was a mistake in our passport that we didn´t catch when we entered Bolivia, the agent when we entered Bolivia must have had the wrong date on his stamp and we were now illegally in the country. The Bolivian police wanted money from us, but we bravely held our ground on the fact that we had the Argentine exit stamp to corroborate our story. We argued our way out, but there is nothing like being interrogated by Bolivian border police.

Later were delayed for 1/2 hour since the bus driver stopped to watch a dirt buggy race, and when we arrived in Puno found out we had just missed our bus to Cusco. We caught a later bus and finally arrived in Cusco at 1:30am. Tired, we arrived at our hostel only to find out that they lost our reservation. They managed to find two beds for us however, but it was quite a journey.

The next day we decided to check out the nearby town of Pisac since they apparently have a great Sunday market. My favourite part was the lunch that Chantelle and I sat down to. It was a traditional Peruvian lady that had a bench in front of a big pot. There was some dirty cutlery on the table and she graciously wiped the dirty food onto her dirty apron and put the "clean" cutlery in front of us. She then used her hand to tear some chicken and scoop some meat Saltada on our plate. The meal was delicious but how I didn´t get food poisoning I will never know.

That night we had a great beef dinner at our hostal and met a lot of travellers to exchange tips. This morning we checked out a Cathedral that was converted from Inca ruins by the Spanish in the 1700s, pretty cool stuff. I do feel that Cusco is the Gringo capital of South America as I am constantly approached to buy something, approximately every 10 minutes.

Tomorrow off to Agua Caliente, then see the ruins of Machu Picchu.

 

12/06/2005  Bolivia top 3, bottom 3

I completely forgot to do the top/bottom 3 for Bolivia, so here goes:

Top 3 experiences in Bolivia
-----------------------------

1. World´s deadliest road. Where else can you start above the tree line and end up racing through a rainforest?

2. Exchange rate. I could get used to eating a great meal for $2.

3. Salar de Uyuni. Phenomenal experience.


Bottom 3
----------

1. Buses. When bus drivers throw holy water out the window as they drive you know you are in trouble.

2. Isla del Sol. Extortion at it´s finest.

3. Bolivian border patrol. These guys need to lighten up.

 

12/07/2005  Aguas Calientes, Peru

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After grabbing a couple of local busses from Cusco to a local town nestled in the Sacred Valley, we decided to check out some Incan Ruins with the 3 hours we had to kill. In front of the ruins at the ticket desk, the agent wanted to charge $15 for us to walk for 1/2 hour through the ruins. I protested and the agent's response was that the $15 included 3 other ruins (which were a two hour bus ride away). I just wanted to see these ruins while I was waiting for my train but the agent didn´t budge. Also, if you looked South American you just walked in without buying a ticket. Sound like extortion?

We caught the backpacker special train to Aguas Calientes and arrived to hordes of screaming locals all clutching and grabbing you to stay at their hostal or eat at their restaurant - it was unreal. After running away from them for 10 minutes throughout town, we finally established a hostal for $8/night. Not bad, but we found out that didn´t include hot water so we were defintely in a backpacker place.

At 5am the next morning, Chantelle and I grabbed the first bus up to the Machu Picchu ruins. We were the first of a group of about 20 people to walk through the ruins and they lived up to expectations. We also went on a hike up the mountain next to the ruins, Huanchu Picchu, followed by a hike down to the Templo de la Luna (completely alone) which was amazing. After a great day we hiked back to Aguas Calientes for a hour through a jungle path which felt like a scene from the movie Congo.

That evening we found out the the railway workers were on strike and we were stuck in Aguas Calientes. To pass the time we went out for dinner and tried Alpacca (type of Llama), and went to the railway station the next morning. After arriving at the station this morning, we were informed that the strike would last all day so that is where I am right now - stuck in Aguas Calientes. We did find out that there are some trains slipping out tonight with standing room only if we were interested, but I have been stuck in worse places and will wait until tomorrow morning when the strike will be apparently resolved.

Going to the restaurants tonight will be fun. Last night we would just look at one of the menus and the hustler would say "Amigo, for you 10% off!" and we would start to walk away. Before we took a step, the hustler would say "Amigo, for you 4 drinks for one!". Again, one more step and he would proclaim "Ok, 50% off of your bill and 4 free drinks!". You can definitely tell it is off season...

 

12/09/2005  Arequipa, Peru

We were waiting for a train to get out of Aguas Calientes and asked the train station if there was any progress with the strike. After almost 2 days, the workers agreed to terms and we would have a seat waiting for us at 5:45am the next morning. We decided to enjoy the thermal springs that night for which the town is known for and it was one of the few good experiences of this town. The springs smelled like sulphur, but were nice and warm and pretty reasonably priced at $3.50 (people that look South American get in for half price with a different ticket).

Afterwards we decided to have a pizza dinner and negotiated every single item we ordered to about 1/2 the price. Everything was going well, the hosts were very nice, and I actually thought I would have a good experience in Aguas Calientes. After the meal, we negotiated 1/2 off of our dessert and coffee with the male owner, but he was conveniently absent from the restaurant when his wife came with the bill and the dessert markup. Yet another bad experience in Peru to keep tradition.

The next morning we took the train to Cusco, a town that I liked very much. (You can see a picture above of a random church) Most of the architecture looks like this, buildings completely infused with old Incan foundations. That night we ate at a restaurant that claimed the best burgers in the world and they didn´t disappoint, complete with views of the Plaza de Armas.

That night we boarded a 10 hour night bus to Arequipa. Two suspicious guys sat behind us and I thought nothing of it, this was a pretty nice bus compared to most we had ridden in. As a ritual, Chantelle and I lashed our two daypacks and camera together and then went to sleep. When we arrived in Arequipa this morning, Chantelle noticed that our camera bag was suspiciously light and we realized that our camera was taken from beneath our seats as we slept. We are bummed since the camera was a pretty decent SLR, but luckily no film was taken (we store that separately just for such situations) and we still have our digital camera. They would have also managed to get our digital had we not lashed our bags together since I noticed they tried to pull my bag through but it was caught on Chantelle´s bag.

This morning we arrived in Arequipa, you can see a picture of the Plaza de Armas above. After napping, we took in a museum that holds the frozen remains of "Juanita", a 14 year old Incan girl found perfectly preserved in a volcano a few years ago, she was frozen for around 500 years. The museum was really worth a visit and we plan to explore more of the city tomorrow before we are off to a nearby town called Chivay.

 

12/13/2005  Huacachina, Peru

Back in Arequipa, we hit a Cuban restaurant for lunch and I ordered a Cuban chicken sandwich and a chocolate shake. The sandwich was simply a piece of grilled chicken with no spice on a bun with lettuce/tomato and I was left wondering how this was advertised as Cuban. My chocolate shake tasted like pork and by the time I drank half of it I was feeling a bit ill. I have to note that South America does South American food very well, but if you get any type of ethnic food not from this region, it is pretty comical to see what you are going to get.

The next day we decided to check out another part of town on a hill that gives you an amazing view of the Volcano Misty and we discovered our one remaining camera (the digital camera I bought specifically for this trip) was now broken. From two cameras we were now down to none. :( That afternoon we caught a movie and afterwards boarded a 10 hour night bus to our next destination, Ica. The bus was a constant 40C throughout the night and I lost about 10 litres of water from my body.

From Ica, we grabbed a quick taxi to take us to Huacachina, an oasis in the middle of the sand dunes with a population of about 500. The hostal we are staying at is incredible, it has a pool, hammocks, and poolside bar - all for about $15 per night. Yesterday I was feeling ill so I just lay out in the hammock and read for most of the day. Today we signed up for dune buggy rides to take us sandboarding. The ride itself is insane, the drivers just jump straight down the dunes and I was glad to have travel insurance. The sandboarding was great as well, different than snowboarding in that you have to put more weight on your back foot, but you still get a great rush. I am now sunburned, windburned, and I have sand in every pore of my body, but I would highly recommend the dunes at Huacachina.

 

12/15/2005  Chinchina, Peru

So after finishing sandboarding in Huacachina, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. The next day we decided to check out a local Pisco Bodega in Ica.

After chatting with the locals, we heard that the best way to get to the bodega was via a "collectivo". We had no idea what a collectivo was so we asked a nearby policeman and he took us to a tiny cab. The cop then started yelling out if anyone was going our way and before I knew it, Chantelle was hanging halfway out the window and I had a 300 lb woman halfway sitting on me. The woman also had an interesting characteristic, she talked to me the whole way to the bodega, but instead of talking she screamed everything at the top of her lungs. After the interesting ride we finally arrived at the bodega.

A lady met us at the front gate and took us on a tour of the bodega. Throughout the tour, she explained the process of making sweet wine and Pisco - very informative. Afterwards we got to sample some of the various Piscos. Peruvian Pisco is much better than Chilean, the lady explained it was because the grapes in Peru are much sweeter. (This is not a good trait for their wine making process though).

After the tour we headed back to the oasis in Huacachina and decided to rent sandboards and hike up "El Cerro del Muerte", the hill of death that was right behind our hostal. The hike gave your spectacular views of the desert and Ica nestled within it. Gathering the courage to go down, I pushed off and ended up gliding and carving on the soft sand, it was an unforgettable experience. It was so fun I hiked up to do it a second time!

That night we had yet another humourous South American restaurant experience. After eating dinner we decided to try a nice restaurant near the oasis for dessert and maybe a fruit shake. The waiter handed us a menu with 6 or 7 desserts listed on it. After deliberating, we decided on one and the waiter returned saying he was sorry, but the only dessert they had was fruit salad. We then decided to just have a fruit shake for dessert. The waiter again returned and apologized that they could not make the shakes (I assumed their blender was broken?). We scoured the rest of the menu and finally decided on hot milk with honey, but after a few minutes the waiter sheepishly returned and said the restaurant they had no milk. Sadly, we left the restaurant.

Today we lay in hammocks for the last time, and then boarded a local bus to Chinchina, a town a few hours south of Lima. We got a nice hostal near the Plaza, and the hostel owner proclaimed that she had a couple of Canadian travellers leave for Machu Pichu yesterday. I said that was a coincidence, upon which she gave me their names and wondered if I knew them! I know Canada doesn´t have that many people but....

Tomorrow returning to Lima for the final destination of the trip!

 

12/17/2005  Lima, Peru

Back in Chincha, we decided to go to dinner and found a restaurant that was packed with locals. When we entered you could almost hear the needle slide off of the record and all eyes were on us. The waiter ran over and when I asked for a menu he said, "si, pollo." ("yes, chicken"). Sure enough, everyone in the restaurant was eating a quarter chicken baked on hot wooden embers. It was one of the tastiest chickens I have ever had, along with french fries at a total cost of $1.75.
We checked out the next day, and the senile hotel owner´s husband and son where there to see us off. The son was preparing his run for mayor of the city next month and was chatting it up with us, peppering his conversation with english words. He asked us what we did for a living and just for fun, Chantelle said she was a veternerian, so I followed it by saying that I was a Hockey sobre heilo professionale. (Hockey pro). The father and son didn't really understand for a while since hockey is normally played on grass here, but when I finally made them understand by miming how I skate on the ice, they jumped up in joy and gave both me and Chantelle a hug. I thought the son was going to kiss me, but I moved out of the way.

We caught an afternoon bus to Lima, and settled into a pretty nice place. That evening we went to a recommended Mexican restaurant and I had the best Tex Mex I´ve eaten since living in Texas. It was almost as good as Pappacitos. The next day we decided to check out the Spanish Inquisition museum which was very interesting. They have left a lot of the original torture house intact, complete with catacombs and prison cells. Once the Spanish came to South America with the Christian priests, if you did not believe in their god you were put into one of these houses and the torture tecniques were pretty savage. Later Chantelle and I separated for a few hours so she could shop, so I wandered the city. Later that night we had our last nice dinner of the trip at a fantastic restaurant right on the ocean. (You are literally ON the ocean supported by piers) It was very romantic and the Sea Bass we both had was delicious, along with the Grand Marnier souffle for dessert.

Today we are going to catch the movie "King Kong" while we wait for our flight at 1am tonight to return home.

Sadly, this will probably be my last blog but I am pretty excited to see everyone soon.

Peru Top 3
------------

1. Huacachina. Sandboarding paradise and a great place to chill.

2. Machu Picchu. Aztec ruins that live up to the hype.

3. Pisco. Peru definitely has the best Pisco in South America.

Peru Bottom 3
---------------

1. People. If they are not stealing or begging, most people are pretty rude to you here. Exact opposite of Brazil.

2. Extortion. You have to barter with almost anything because of the markups, and always have to check your change.

3. Tourists. They are everywhere and defintely take away from the authentic experience of the country.

 

South American travels in the fall of 2005

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