Jeff´s South America

Gallery: Santiago

jiff — Sat, 4 Aug 2007 11:47:00 GMT

Santiago

jiff — Sat, 4 Aug 2007 11:41:00 GMT

On my way home I had a quick stop in Santiago before flying home to Australia. It's a nice enough city but not very exciting. I stayed in a nice area and there were lots of restaurants and bars. Everyone would sit outside to eat and drink even though it was almost freezing.

I pretty much saw the city in a day and met a few friends that I had met in Cusco.

On the Sunday I decided to go skiing for the day and it was superb. Beautiful perfect powder snow and clear visibility. I spent the day skiing until about 3.30 in the afternoon when the weather turned really cold and then it started snowing. It was a great day, but didn't do my cold much good.

Gallery: RIO de Janeiro

jiff — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 07:23:00 GMT

RIO de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

jiff — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 10:57:00 GMT

From Uyuni, it was a long journey to Rio in Brazil. I stopped in Sucre (Bolivia), Santa Cruz (Bolivia), Bonito (Brazil), Iguazu Falls (Brazil and Agrentina) then after many overnight buses, trains, planes etc, I finally made it to Rio de Janeiro. What a beautiful city. Beautiful harbour, beaches, climate, great bars, restaurants and beautiful people. I have barely been in a city for the last 3 months, then this one has 11 million people. That´s big.

I stayed at Ipanemma beach where all the young and hip Caroica´s hang out. The Pan Pacific Games are also on here so the place is just buzzing, like Sydney during the Olympics.

I went sight seeing for a day, checked out the Big Jesus, Macarana stadium, downtown and the Sugarloaf cablecar. The views were stunning everywhere. Friday night I went out to the Lapa district to check out the bars. Went to a favella festival, did some samba in the street, and got home after 8am. (I was the first one home to my room at the hostel).

Sunday at the beach was 30 degrees. It was great to be hot again. This is what I´ve been missing. Then the weather changed and went cold and I caught a cold and have been sick ever since.

I also visited the Ihla Grande, a beautiful tropical island 2 hours off the coast, and stayed there to recover before heading back to Rio.

I decided to make Rio my last stop as everywhere south from here is just too cold. Buenos Aries has had snow for the first time in 80+ years, and I just can´t take the cold anymore. So in a few days, I´ll fly to Santiago for a few days, before I fly home ariving on the 8th August.

But for one last treat before I leave, I went tandem hang gliding over Rio which was superb. You have to run off a ramp then you just glide gracefully over the beautiful mountains and beaches. I was very scared before I jumped off, but once in the air it was great.

Looking forward to catching up with you all soon.

Jeff

Iguazu Falls

jiff — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 10:56:00 GMT

It was a long haul to get here, about 24 hours on 4 different buses, but finally made it. I crashed for a night, then went to see the Brazil side of the falls first. It was overcast and rainy but still very impressive. The next day I crossed the borded into Argentinaand visited their side of the falls which was even more impressive. You can get closer and there were some nice walking trails there.

I stayed the night at a hostel in Argentina and they had a $7 all you can eat BBQ. This was not to be missed. For starters there were free Caipirinhas, then a lettuce leaf and slice of tomato, and Meat, Meat, and more Meat. It was the best quality beef I´ve had in ages, all cooked to perfection, no sauces required as the beef had so much flavour. After about half a kilo of meat, I had to get some more lettuce to wash it down.

Then back to Brazil the next day to catch my TAM flight to RIO in the rain on the day of the big plane crash here. Lucky I paid the extra for the direct flight, not the one with the stopover in Sao Paulo.

Gallery: Iguazu Falls

jiff — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 12:03:00 GMT

Iguazu Falls

Gallery: Uyuni Salt Flats

jiff — Sun, 1 Jul 2007 07:22:00 GMT

Uyuni Salt Flats

Gallery: Worlds Most Dangerous Road 2

jiff — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 10:59:00 GMT

Worlds Most Dangerous Road 2

Uyuni Salt Flats

jiff — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 10:54:00 GMT

From La Paz I headed south to Uyuni to visit the largest salt plains in the world. This place is spectacular but at night in winter the temperature drops to below -20 degrees.

The bus there was one of the worst I´ve ever taken. Cost $9 for a 13 hour night bus trip. The bus was a clapped out tin can, and the road was just dust and rock. I wore all my thermals and took my beanie, scarf and gloves as I suspected in could be a cold trip. When I got on there were 2 really thick blankets for each seat. No heating of course. The ride started ok and we had a few stops for food / toilet etc. I got some sleep but then after midnight it started to get really cold. I put on my gloves, beanie, scarf, fleece, alpacca socks, and another jumper and wrapped the thick blankets around me. That was ok for a while. I had a window seat and about 2am the whole side of the bus froze with thick ice on the windows and the tin walls. I was basically sitting next to a block of ice. From about 3am until we arrived at 7am I just sat there and froze. It was unbearable. That night the temperature was -25 degrees outside. During the day it got to about 5 degrees so I thawed out, until I went on the 4wd jeep trip.

I did a 3 day 3wd trip through the salt flats, deserts, and volcano country visiting amazing landscapes, lagoons and deserts. It was a harsh environment, dry and cold during the day, and absolutely freezing at night, oh and at altitude as well. My skin and lips have never been so dry.

The first day we visited the salt flats and fish island which was covered in Cactus. The salt flats were beautiful and we made the obligatory illusionary photo´s. That first night we stayed in a hotel made of SALT. Yep, bricks of salt. You could lick the walls.

Day 2 we went through beautiful landscapes, rock formations, and lagoons, saw pink flamingo´s, lama´s, and lost of snow dusted mountains. The 2nd night we stayed at a cheap hostel at 4350m altitude. That was the coldest.

On the 3rd day we got up at 4am to go and visit the guisers and mud pools before sunrise. That was freezing cold. Then some hot springs before breakfast, then the return journey through the desert home.

As you will see from the photo´s the scenery was amazing, but it was a cold and harsh place.

Gallery: Worlds Most Dangerous Road

jiff — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 03:05:00 GMT

Worlds Most Dangerous Road

Mountain Biking the Worlds Most Dangerous Road

jiff — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 07:38:00 GMT

I signed up for a bike ride on the Worlds Most Dangerous Road which goes from La Cumbria (4800m altitude) all the way down to Yosolo 1200m just near Coroico. That was a 3600m decent and 64km downhill. That´s the type of bike ride I like.

They took us by bus from La Paz up to the top of the pass where we got all our bikes and gear and they spelled my name incorrectly on my vest so for the day I was called JETT. I kind of liked the name so I think I´ll use it from now on. The bikes were fantastic, brand new Iron Horse dual suspension bikes with hydraulic disk brakes. They sure soaked up all the bumps.

The road started at the top of the pass where it was freezing. At 4800m that was the highest I´ve been so far and there was almost no air. There was snow nearby and the windchill riding down was really harsh. The first 32km was on sealed road but still lots of fun, except for the 1km of uphill. Do you know how hard it is to ride a bike uphill at 4500m altitude? We passed through the cocaine checkpoints and through beautiful valleys to get to the start of the old Coroico Road (the worlds most dangerous road).

This was a single lane gravel road that hugs the side of the mountains while you drop down to 1200m. No guard rails or anything safety related of course. There used to be over 100 deaths per year on the road with busses and trucks often going over the edge with 500m drops as they try to reverse up to the turnouts to allow one to pass the other. There is a new road now, so the old road is used mostly by mountain bikers.

From the start it was all clouds and we decended into the cloud forrest, coming out the other side into the upper jungle. From there we decended further into the lower jungle where we rode through waterfalls and through many creek crossings. The last hour was just a dust bowl, but all 32km were downhill. It was a fantastic ride. Not hard, but beautiful scenery and really enjoyable.

Coroico at the bottom was a nice escape from the altiplano and did a few more hikes and stayed at a nice resort with Pool, sauna, pool table etc for $9/night.

It was a great trip until I had a dodgy meal and ended up sitting on the toilet for 2 days. Oh well. They say if you go to Bolivia you either get sick or robbed so I guess I was lucky.

See also http://www.bside-adventures.com/flash/window.html

Jett

Lake Titicaca

jiff — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 07:36:00 GMT

From Cusco I caught a bus to Puno on the Peru side of Lake Titicaca. This is a giant inland lake at 3820m altitude. The highest navigatable lake in the world it was claimed.

Puno was pretty non descript place, but I joined a tour and caught a boat out to the floating islands of Uros. These were islands made of reeds, that were anchored into place. Everything was made of reeds, the island, the huts, the shops, the boats. They even eat the reeds. Legend has it that the escaped to the islands to avoid having to pay taxes to the invading Spanish. Today it was a very tacky tourist destination.

We got on the boat again, and motored out to another island of Amantani where we staked overnight with families. This really tested my spanish as my host could not speak a word of english. Lucky I was also staking with a Korean man who had studied spanish in Cusco for 6 weeks. We had a very boring dinner of boiled potatoes and corn, then went for a hike to the top of the mountain just before it got dark. Naturally we had to find our way back in the dark. That night the locals but on a show and played local music (did I tell you how much I can´t stand those peruvian pipes) and we all dressed up in their local costumes and had a dance. Not that exciting really.

The next day we went to another island where we did some more hikes, had lunch then got the boat back.

Next day I crossed into Bolivia and stayed at Copacabana on the Bolivian shores of Lake Titicaca. This place was beautiful, and much more relaxed than Peru. I stayed at a nice place on the hill overlooking the bay, sat in a hammock and read my book. I climed to the top of the hill to watch the sunset (4100m so not really a hill). Next day went for a 3 hour walk along the shore then caught a row boat to the Isla de Sol, had a look around there and caught the tourist boat back.

Copacababa was really nice, great food and Bolivia is half the price of Peru. I had soup and a whole trout, plus salad and fruits for $1.50. Another chillout day in the hammock before hitting the big smoke of La Paz.

Gallery: Lake Titicaca

jiff — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 03:06:00 GMT

Lake Titicaca

Gallery: Manu Jungle Trip

jiff — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 03:52:00 GMT

Manu Jungle Trip

jiff — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 03:25:00 GMT

Hi again,

After a few days in Cusco recovering from the Inca Trail, I headed off into the Peruvian Jungle for a few days of walking, mountain biking, white water rafting and doing some crazy flying fox jungle canopy tour on suspended cables.

The first day was a hell bus ride. Got a flat tyre 30 mins onto the single lane gravel track over the mountains. The bus had no jack and the spare was balder than my head. After an hour and a half changing a bus tyre on stones and rocks (very interesting), we continued to the next town only to discover we had another flat. 2 hours later one of the tyres was repaired and we had another 9 hours in the bus to get to our first stop. The driver tried to make up time by overtaking trucks on blind corners on gravel roads with no barriers and sheer drops to certain death. Best just not to look.

Day 2 was better. We started off by mountain biking down the last 1000m of altitude through beautiful cloud forrest and lush jungle for 3 hours. It was a tough road and only 3 of the 6 bikes survived, the rest having punctures and brake failures. We then transferred to a raft for some white water rafting down through the rapids for a few km. Finally we joined a small long boat for the last few hours to our remote jungle lodge. That night we also went for a tour of the jungle canopy on a series of flying fox type cables. It was really fun, even though I think I´m pretty scared of heights. Finally, after the 5 cables we had to rapell down on a rope to the jungle floor. That was really scarey but lots of fun.

The third day we went for some jungle walks and bird watching. It was 98% humidity and we just sweat like nothing else. Saw lots of birds and even a giant Cayman (very rare). Explored lagoons and managed to avoid the mosquito´s.

The last day we were returning to Cusco. Being the dry season the river was low and the boat was struggling so all the guys had to jump out and push the boat against the flow for a few km. Hard work. Then we found our bus which had become bogged in a river crossing and had to be pulled out by a truck. We finally got on the road for our 10 hour bus trip back to Cusco.

As usual, getting there and back is often more of an adventure than actually being there. There was even an American family on the trip taking their 2 and 5 year old kids which was pretty impressive. They were going to live in the jungle for 3 months.

Now I´m back in Cusco suffering a bit of altitude sickness after going from the jungle (500m), over a 4200m mountain pass, back to Cusco (3500m) all in the space of 12 hours. Need to chill out for a few more days to re-adjust to the altitude before heading off again.

Cheers

Jeff

Gallery: Cuzco & The Inca Trail

jiff — Tue, 5 Jun 2007 12:20:00 GMT

Cuzco & The Inca Trail

Cusco, Machu Picchu & The Inca Trail

jiff — Mon, 4 Jun 2007 11:48:00 GMT

From Quito I flew to Lima and then to Cusco and the first thing that hits you is the altitude. I had no problem in Quito at 2850m but Cusco is nearly 3500m and I really had trouble breathing. Had headaches and did stupid things for the first few days until my body adjusted.

Cusco is a beautiful city, full of Inca ruins, Cathedrals, churches etc, as well as all the bars, restaurants, nightclubs and internet cafe´s a tourist could want.

After 2 days to adjust to the altitude we started walking the Inca trail, 4 days, 44km, 10,000 steps and 4 mountain passes, the highest of which was 4215m. The walk was beautiful and amazing, and our guide and porters were excellent.

We had 20 porters, chefs and guides, to support 10 of us on the tour. (Norwegians, Danish, French, English and me). While on the trek we had 3 course restaurant quality meals each day, and the porters would bring us coca tea to our tents in the morning, and hot buckets of water to wash our face and hands when we finnished each days trek. They did an amazing job and really looked after us.

Along the way we saw lots of Inca ruins, birds and villages and our Guide explained lots about the Inca history. They were great astronomers, designed great plumbing and performed experimental agriculture at high altitures.

On the 4th day of the trail, we woke at 4am and were on the trail before 4.30 to get there early. After waiting for the checkpoint to open at 5.30 we basically ran the last hour of the trek up to the sun gate to Machu Picchu to get there before sun rise. We then saw the sun rise and illuminate the whole site. After an excellent tour by our guide we just explored the site before heading back to Cusco by train and bus.

The hike took it´s toll on me with 4 days walking on cobbled stones ensuring my legs were aching for a few days. It was pretty hard to breath up high and I think I had to stop every 5 minutes to get the last 100m up Dead Woman´s pass (4215m), but it was a great experience and all worth it.

Gallery: Galapagos Islands

jiff — Mon, 28 May 2007 12:20:00 GMT

Galapagos Islands

Galapagos Islands & Ecuador

jiff — Mon, 28 May 2007 11:22:00 GMT

First stop in South America was Quito for a night, then travelled by minibus, plane, bus, ferry, taxi and dinghy to our cruise boat in the Galapagos Islands. There were 15 of us on board and all got on well. The boat, crew and guide were all fantastic. We had 3 x 3 course meals a day, and went to about 5 of the islands to observe the wildlife which was just amazing.

The animals at Galapagos just have no fear, and you can get right up close to them. Each island is it´s own unique ecosystem, that is almost completely untouched with no introduced species, and you can see evolution happening between the different islands.

The first day we went to the Charles Darwin Centre and saw the giant turtles, iguana´s and many others, then overnight we would cruise to the next island ready for a morning landing.

Next day we saw plenty of sea lions and went snorkelling with them. They were so playful, they would just swim up to you and check you out, before doing some fancy tricks to show off. Also saw lots of birds including the blue footed boobie bird. I resisted the urge to buy an "I love boobies" T-shirt which were selling well.

We also saw land iguana´s, sea iguana´s, sea turtles, manta rays, and many more amazing wildlife.

After Galapagos it was back to Quito for another night before heading on to Peru. I also visited the equator and a museum there which was really facinating. We did experiments like seeing the water go down a drain in different directions, 1m either side of the equator, and balancing an egg on a nail which you can only do on the equator.

The Galapagos Islands was a really unique experience.

Gallery: California

jiff — Tue, 22 May 2007 01:57:00 GMT

California