Ramblings of an Addict

Sorry for lack of updates

mikko — Mon, 8 Oct 2007 03:23:00 GMT

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

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Sorry for lack of updates about the last weeks of my trip. Sadly I've been busy since I got back to Finland and I haven't been able to recover the photographs yet, I'll probably have to send it to a professional data recovery service.

Yuni, Bolivia, 31 August - 2 September

mikko — Thu, 6 Sep 2007 00:15:00 GMT

We arrived to Yuni at around 0130 in the morning and the temperature was almost below zero so we decided to get ourselves a good hotel with heating, sadly there were only two of those in town and the cheaper one was full so we ended up paying 60USD for a night in the best hotel in town, but it was worth it.

The next day we booked our tour of the salar and our train tickets from Yuni to the Argentinian border. I don´t know what´s wrong with me but I had developed a serious case of constipation, even though diarrhea should be the thing, so I wasn´t feeling the best and basicly rested and tried some medicine from the local pharmacy which didn´t work for me.

On saturday morning we were picked up from our hotel for the tour by our driver in his Toyota Landcruiser and our journey of the salar started. The tour took us to a local salt processing plant where they clean the impurities from the raw material gathered from the salar etc. After that we went to the flats, sadly words can´t describe the views, so you´ll have to wait for pictures. In the afternoon we stopped by an coral island in the salar for lunch, the island was topped by loads of really high cacti. After this we ended our day just outside the salar at the root of a 5400m high volcano in a small village.

The next morning we went up to the volcano, had a look at some mummies in a cave and then continued towards the top, sadly I was still suffering from the constipation so I had to surrender to the pain and return back to the car after a little bit of climbing and enjoy the sun. So I guess I was only up to 4800m-5000m or something. While tanning myself I got a great look at a condor attacking it´s prey just 30 meters from me, how I wish I would have had my camera out of it´s bag.

After we returned to Yuni at 6PM we still had 8 hours to kill before our train left so we booked ourselves into a cheap hotel for shover, shit & sleep, the shit part was maybe a bit too wishfull thinking atleast for me.

The train arrived at the argentinian border at around 12.00 and it took us 2.5 hours to get trough the border formalities, after this we took a 30 hour buss ride to Buenos Aires from La Quica and now we are here relaxing. And I actually feel relaxed after my stomach started to work again.

Potosi, Bolivia, 28 August - 29 August

mikko — Wed, 5 Sep 2007 23:55:00 GMT

Sorry for having such a long break from writing, after potosi we went to Yuni and the net there was frustratingly slow so I didn´t feel like it.

Potosi was a nice colonial style town, the highest city of it´s size, 4070m above the sea level. It is famous for it´s mines, which sadly weren´t made for fat people to visit as I really couldn´t fit trough the tunnels there and there fore couldn´t take one of the usual tours, and couldn´t be arsed to pay for a custom one.

I was really surprised about the beauty of the town and how rich it seemed to be compared to everything else I had seen in Bolivia, I guess the mining is still bringing in the dough even though they don´t mine silver anymore.

This is where our trip startet to get situated in the surroundings of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with all of the Bolivian army after their blood, this actually is the place where they did their business. And what views there were, sadly we took a night buss to Yuni so we missed some of them, but on the positive note we couldn´t see out the windows and shit our pants from fright most of the time because of the darkness, the roads really are a bit dangerous and badly maintained. Atleast it was the dry season.

La Paz, Bolivia 22 August -

mikko — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 04:32:00 GMT

So we arrived to La Paz a day early, and what a city it is, it´s so different to everything I´ve seen on this trip so far. I guess some might find it a bit intimidating, especially the amount of people and traffic, but now that I´ve gotten used to it I really enjoy it here.

I must admit that I´m a bit surprised about the amount of tourists here as it´s supposed to be one of the most dangerous capitols of the world.

Yesterday we decided to use the services of a 5 star hotel and went to their gym, sauna and pool, which was nice and relaxing after a too long time without them. We also decided to shell out some money for a nice dinner at their rooftop restaurant with a great view of the city. By money I mean 35USD for 3 course meal for two.

Heikki decided to go a bit crazy and ordered a tailor made suit for 1500 bolivianos, which is about 200USD, I would´ve ordered one too, if they´d just had a cream colored cloth to make it :).

On friday we had a walk around the town, checking out the stores, and I shelled out 90 bolivianos for a nice sweater, after that we went looking for a new bag for Hessu so he can bring his suit back home in a reasonable shape, we didn´t find a suitable bag but bought three pairs of shoes in total.

Later in the evening we went clubbing, we started at a nice club which was decorated in really amazing industrial style, after that we continued on to a jazz joint and listened to a set while sipping scotch. Now as the evening was starting to get going as it was already past midnight we decided to make a stop at a club that was recommended to us by a couple of aussies whom we met in Salta.

I guess some might describe the establishment as a bit shady, even the front entrance was closed and totally dark, to avoid generating attention. We found the entrance, which was basicly a heavily gated metal door with no name that you had to bang. We were let in and showed trough their kitchen to the actual club which was a nice lounge. After getting oriented I noticed that booze wasn´t all that was on offer, there was some kind of white powder, I´m quite sure everybody knows what I´m talking about, then there were the ladies of the night... Propably the shadiest joint I´ve ever been to and will be to, but a great experience.

Copacabana, Bolivia

mikko — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 05:01:00 GMT

We arrived to Copacabana yesterday night after just 10 hours of traveling by buss and a minibuss, the views of lake Titicaca on the way over here were quite amazing, as it had snowy mountain tops as a back drop.

Our luck continued to hold and we even got a room in the hotel we wanted, which is a really nice one, had the best showers I´ve seen on this continent so far, original artwork, warmly decorated, its own great restaurant with lake view.

There is not much to do here, which is great since I feel like my flu is coming back or then it´s the height of 3700m above sea level, I don´t know but last week was kinda hard as we went to Machu Picchu etc. Well better get myself checked out in La Paz, oh my insurance company is gonna love me.

I really would like to go swimming in the lake, but no can do, well maybe I´ll do a round of golf at the worlds highest golf course in La Paz. 37USD, including caddie, club rentals etc. We´ll stay and chill here for 2 more nights.

The weather is really nice during the day, I just think I burned myself. During the night it almost goes to freezing.

Update - 22.8.2007

We left Copacabana a day early for La Paz, arrived safely and got a nice hotel room.

Aguas Calientes / Machu Picchu - 16 August to 17 August

mikko — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 06:34:00 GMT

The least important and most disappointing news to many. We didn´t get killed by the earthquake, actually I didn´t even feel it. It supposedly hit the area we were staying at around 4 richter scale, so nothing near the 7 at the epicenter.

Aguas Calientes is a really nice though a bit too touristy town in a valley quite near the Machu Pichu, we have scenic views of the mountains covered in jungle and the river running trough the valley just out of our hostel room.

Machu Picchu

We woke up at 5AM, had breakfast and went to the buss queue at 6AM, everything you wanna do after having just three hours of sleep for some reason. After we got to Machu Picchu it was time to queue again as we wanted to go to Wayna Picchu and they only let the 400 first there each day. We arrived at the end of the queue at 7AM and got our numbers, 193 and 194. After this it was queuing again, for over an hour until we got on the trail up. They write up the details of everybody going up so that deaths are easy to notice and report and everybody has to sign out when they´re done.

The climb was amazing, the views were fantastic and my breath not. I was sweating like a pig all the way up which took about 85 minutes for us, even though it was quite chilly as we were climbing inside a cloud. The steps where quite treacherous after it had rained during the last night, and ofcourse they weren´t a wonder of modern engineering, really uneven and different in sizes. Before reaching the top we had to crawl trough a cave entrance, which was not designed for fat people, actually the whole place isn´t designed for fat people. But we made it to the top safely and toasted it with a sip of whisky.

The view from the top was simply mind bending, the photos can´t describe it, words can´t describe it, you really have to experience it yourself to truly understand it.We spent about and hour on the top waiting the clouds to disappear so we could shoot some aerial shots of Machu Picchu and the surrounding area.

The way down was even more scary than coming up as you´re always watching down and it´s a bit harder to keep your balance, but ofcourse it was easier going and faster. We reached the bottom in about 45 minutes, after which we enjoyed a small lunch and continued on to the ruins of Machu Picchu and took some more photos.

At 2.30PM we took the buss down to Aguas Calientes, got our backpacks from our hostel and got the 16.20 train back to Ollaytambo and from there it was a 1.5 hour buss ride back to Cuzco.

Oh yeah, I forgot, the camera decided to develop a memory card error so if my luck is bad and I can´t recover the pictures back in Finland, well I´m screwed as I didn´t do any CD backups as I trust them even less than memory cards.

Gallery: Cuzco

mikko — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 03:57:00 GMT

Cuzco, Peru 8 August to...

mikko — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 08:50:00 GMT

It´s a nice place, a bit cold during the nights, but what do you expect when you´re at 3300 meters above sea level during the winter. The first 2 days have been nice and sunny. The city is beautifull, full of life and full of sights.

Haven´t been able to do anything really yet other than to acclimatize myself, well atleast the coca leaves and the coca tea work just fine. Seems like the bronchitis I had while in chile didn´t go away with the medication they gave me there so I checked myself in at Cuzco´s best hospital, got to love having the insurance. After they x-rayed me and took a blood sample it was clear that the infection hadn´t died yet, and if left untreated I´d have pneumonia in a few days.

They recommended that I´d stay a night enjoying the drugs from an IV drip, so that I´d recover faster and I took that option. Why the hell not, the rooms here are warmer than our hostel and I actually have a TV and really great view.

After getting out of here tomorrow I´ll take it easy for a few days and then we´ll go to Machu Pichu etc. We´ll probably stay in Cuzco and the surrounding area for 6-8 days before going to Bolivia.

Update...

Well, seems like the infection was a bit more stubborn than the doctors first thought, even though my fever never reached over 37.5C they recommended that I´d stay here a bit longer and recuperate just to make sure I´m healthy enough to continue to bolivia. It looks like we might be around Cuzco til the end of the next week. Well atleast the hospital is nice, food is ok, they´ve got a chef here for the foreigners who takes orders, internet, and everything.

Update - 14 August

After just lying down in the hospital for a few days it was really nice to get out, but then again when you haven´t done anything in three days and start walking around the town at this altitude you really notice it after just a 100 meters, but it´s been fun to finally to be able to do something.

Yesterday we had a nice big dinner with some spanish guys and girls we met while buying our train tickets to Machu Pichu for thursday. It must be hard to believe back in Finland that our dinner of quite traditional catalonian food for two cost about 16USD and included, 2 beers, 2 glasses of wine, a rum and a maté de coca, starters and main courses

Update 15 August

Yesterday we did some sightseeing, visiting tourist attractions like the local cathedral, which was huge, had amazing artwork and the altar was made of pure silver, weighing quite a few tons.

I did some shopping and ended up with a nice alpaca wool sweater and some souviniers. In the evening we enjoyed the traditional peruvian dishesh such as roasted guinea pig and fried guinea pig. There are some pictures in the Cuzco gallery for all the pet lovers.

Tomorrow we´ll head down to Machu Pichu at 6AM and spend a night there.

Arica, Chile - 3 August to 7 August

mikko — Sat, 4 Aug 2007 06:17:00 GMT

Having a needle stuck in your...

...well to be politically correct let´s just say rear end at 7AM isn´t the best way to start your stop here, but as we both had a flu that had lasted for a few days we went to the hospital to get ourselves checked out. As it turned out we both had a mild case of bronchitis (keuhkoputken tulehdus in finnish), so we got a shot with antibiotics and prescribed some paracetamol & something that should clear up the flem building up.

We´ll take it easy here for a few days before heading up to peru and Cuzco as it probably isn´t the best idea to go to 3000m while sick.

Our journey from Salta to Arica took us driving over the Andes, and what a great views there were, snow capped mountains, salt lakes, hours and hours of this, really desolate but beautifull, too bad I was too tired to take my camera out. We went all the way up to more than 4000m on that trip and you could really feel it, especially the pressure changes when your head is full of crap because of the flu.

Well, I`m already feeling better, so nothing to worry about at home, shame we`ll miss all the great body boarding and other activities here, but going to the pacific with bronchitis and just a wet suit on isn`t maybe the smartest thing to do.

I´ll post some pictures of the Beach etc. later.

Gallery: Iguazu Falls

mikko — Wed, 1 Aug 2007 04:09:00 GMT

Salta, Argentina 28 July to 1 August

mikko — Wed, 1 Aug 2007 03:51:00 GMT

A Fine or a Bribe is there a difference?

As I mentioned in my last post we didn´t get entry stamps going into Paraguay as the buss just drove trough the borders, looks like they care more about people exiting the country near Asuncion... Anyway as we didn´t have the stamps the border guards asked us to wait for a minute as they processed other passangers before taking us to their office, closing the door and windows, the official fine would`ve been 328 000 guaranis which is US$ 65 but they courteously gave us a group discount so we only had to pay US$ 100 to their refreshment fund or something.

That small problem solved we were on our way to Salta trough Resistencia, sadly our buss was about 1.5 hours late and we didn`t get tickets for our direct connection and had to take another buss to Tucuman and from there to Salta, in all it took 24 hours.

In Salta we are staying in a nice hostel as just about everything else was full, it`s nice to meet other travellers too and hear about their experiences. We both have a flu now so we haven`t been too active for the past few days, just a bit sightseeing, like taking a cable car up a mountain for a really amazing view of the valley where Salta lies.

We are leaving Salta on thursday to Arica in Chile as we decided to change our route for practical reasons. It`s really cold now in the mountains of Bolivia so we wanna go to Chile and Peru first hoping that after a few weeks it`s a few degrees warmer in Bolivia too.

Paraguay, Asuncion 26 July to 27 July

mikko — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 04:07:00 GMT

Welcome to the Wild Wild West

That was the feeling I had when we first arrived in Paraguay from Argentina. There weren´t even any border formalities for some reason for other, not that there were any in brazil either, only the argentinian customs seems to bother with stamping our passports, on other borders the busses just drive trough and don´t stop.

In Ciudad Del Este people were trying to cheat us into buying expensive tickets to asuncion from them when you only had to walk 30 feet to the buss company office and get them 30% cheaper, I guess the guys were disappointed that we couldn´t be cheated that easily.

The drive trough the country side was fun, the country side wash lush and beautifull now as it´s winter, I can´t imagine what it´s like in the summer when it´s 40 degrees celcius.

We arrived safely to Asuncion at about 6PM and got to our hotel which could do with a better heating as just about everything here, but was otherwise nice and clean and reasonably priced.

We spent the evening in a nice bar called "Britannia Pub" supposed to be an expat hangout, though we really didn´t see any westerners there we enjoyed a few liters of beer there and a huge platter of food for 17$ total, not bad.

Even with all that travel we did the day 20$ under budget which feels great after all that spending in argentina. I should say that our budget goal is 90$ a day for 2 persons, including all travel and sights. Which really isn´t that much when we usually just stay 2 to 3 nights in a place for about half of the journey.

Today Asuncion is nice and warm, you can wear a T-Shirt! We´ve been wandering around the town seeing just about all the sights, as there aren´t that many in the town worth mentioning, atleast according to our guide book. My bulging wallet is still in it´s place in my back pocket, I´m really wondering will it survive the whole trip, and no it´s not bulging with money, just receipts and stuff to make it look juicy, call this an empirical experiment into safety of South America.

Tomorrow we´ll cross the border again to Argentina and head to Salta for 2 nights before heading to Bolivia, which I´m really waiting for, it´s really a shame we didn´t plan for a Gran Chaco road trip but then again it´s known to take up to 7 days instead of the advertised 24 hours when the buses break down, well I guess we could survive that now, but imagine having that in the summer when the temperatures can reach close to 50 degrees celcius.

BTW. If you´re the guy who has been trying to call me at 4-6AM for the past few nights, please, send me an SMS, or maybe I should learn to shut down my mobile.

Puerto Iguazu and Iguazu Falls 24 July to 25 July

mikko — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 03:53:00 GMT

I wish they knew...

...that it is possible to set the air conditioning in busses to other positions than ON/OFF, it´s not too fun to do a 18 hour buss journey when you´re either shivering and then 15 minutes later trying to breathe in air that you could cut with a knife. Other than that the buses are great, we travelled in "semi cama" which means that seats recline to almost horizontal, meals are served during the journey, seats are big and comfortable, even a bit better and with more leg room than business class with most aerolines.

Timing is everything, seems like we timed our arrival to Argentina at the same time as their winter holiday season is, now when we arrived to Iguazu Falls the hotels were packed and we were forced to go into a bit overpriced but nice hotel. We checked out the Brazilian side of the falls the day we arrived as it only took a few hours. On the second day we spent about 6 hours wandering around the argentinian side of the falls, taking fotographs and gawping in awe.

The falls have to be the most incredible thing I´ve ever seen in nature, their scope was simply huge and the power of the biggest fall "devil´s throat" is almost scary when seen from just a few feet away.

Sadly I can´t upload any pictures now as I´m writing this in Asuncion Paraguay with a very slow connection, maybe later.

Gallery: Buenos Aires

mikko — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 01:05:00 GMT

Gallery: Ghetto Hotels From Hell!

mikko — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 00:49:00 GMT

...

Gallery: Madrid

mikko — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 00:47:00 GMT

...

Buenos Aires, finally 20 July -

mikko — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 07:27:00 GMT

We Finally Got Here

And it´s a such a nice town, a bit down trodden, you can see people living on the streets and begging, but it still feels safe. After getting to our hotel which was a bit more expensive than planned as the one we were supposed to go to was fully booked and we were too tired and pissed off to look for another one and took the easiest option available.

What the hell, if we are already going over budged we figured out that going for a good dinner was a good idea and spent 140 pesos on huge slabs of grilled beef and exceptional red wine. Sleep came easily.

Day around the town - 21 July

Today our plan was to book us on a buss to Puerto Iguazu for monday, and we managed to do that, 137 pesos each for a 18 hour journey in a luxurious buss. Had some breakfast in a local cafeteria and lunch at a great pizzeria, finnish pizzerias really have a long way to go to reach that level of quality.

Later in the evening we hooked up with a local, a really nice guy called Maximillian who promised to show us the night life in BA when we met on our tour of the airport hotels. We started the night at a small house party his friend was having near Palermo district, and I think I smelled something else than tobacco in the air :) Had some beers, played pool and talked bull for a few hours. Later on we continued to a graduation party of logal gymnastics teachers (I think), so a lot of good looking ladies in their twenties and cheap booze.

The night ended at 6AM when we went for a breakfast before heading back to our hotel for some well deserved sleep. tomorrow we are heading to Iguazu falls which is a 17 hour buss journey.

I´ll follow up with updates and photos later when I have a proper computer in front of me, which I´m not sure will happen soon.

El Capinato Tortilla Strikes - 18 July to 21 July

mikko — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 07:12:00 GMT

On Time... NOT!

Never fly on Spanish airlines, that´s the lesson we learned. We were supposed to fly at midnight, in the end they sent us to a hotel (well atleast if was a four star one, but still) to sleep for 3 hours before waking up and getting transported back to the airport where the flight was supposed to leave at 7AM and ended up leaving sometime after 9AM.

Well ofcourse we missed our connecting flight in Santiago De Chile and again we were sent to the local holiday in to sleep and eat on their dollar... suited us quite well actially at this point as it was too late to arrive in Buenos Aires and we were tired as hell and angry as hell too.

We actually finally arrived in Buenos Aires yesteday, only about 30 hours late. I must reiterate, never fly on spanish airlines, you wouldn´t bend over and take it in the arse either.

The airlines to avoid: Aerolines Argentinas, Air Comat and all the others belonging to the same consortium.

Spain, Madrid 16 July - 18 July

mikko — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 06:50:00 GMT

Arrival - 16 July

We had decided to stop by Madrid for a few days on our journey to South America, due to flight arrangements etc. And we actually managed to arrive there on time, with no fuss at all.

Sadly the hostel we were supposed to go didn´t do bookings over phone and was already full when we arrived so we went for a walk and found another one for 30€/night. After getting our luggage stowed at the hotel we went for some tapas and vino tinto in a small corner bar and took a walk around the town. For dinner we were too knackered to eat a multi course meal and did the cultural act of the year and enjoyed the chow in local McD.

Too much Goya, Velazquez etc. culture isn´t fun - 17 July

Today started with a nice walk along the sunny boulevards of Madrid admiring the architecture as we were on our way to Museo De Prado which houses the biggest collection of paintings and sculptures in Spain. On the way there we stopped by a local cafe for some tortilla espanol for breakfast.

The museum was quite nice, but in the end the repetitive themes of the paintings got boring, well atleast we can say that we were there. I must admit that atleast I learned some too, the difference between works from such artists as Goya and Velazquez compared to Rembrant is simply huge, the attention to detail Rembrant paid is amazing.

In the evening we had a walk about the barrios of Lavapies and La Latina, enjoying the atmosphere and the beer, for dinner we had a buffet of local dishes, hint for other visitors, avoid anything touristy if you really wanna enjoy yourself.

Last day in Madrid... ...Almost - 18 July

We were lucky enough that the family running our hostel was nice and they agreed to hold our luggage after check-out so we could wander around the city unhindered.

I think we walked about 7 hours, stopping for lunch by a funky place called FAST GOOD, which offered a selection of traditional fast foods cooked in a healthy way, like hamburgers with whole wheat buns, ofcourse with a bottle of good wine.

The heat wasn´t nice 34 degrees celcius, I was sweating in places I can´t mention in public, I guess we downed 10 liters of water during the 3 days each and some beer too.

Getting there...

mikko — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 05:19:00 GMT

We are actually doing it for real!

For long going to South America for a longer period has been a dream for me as I feel there isn't much for me to experience at the touristy hells of Asia and now it's coming true, we booked our tickets today!

In the classic Hollywood style I'd like to thank God, Country and Mom for everything, even though none of them had much to do with the trip, damn, my mom didn't even pay for it.

People

We were planning to go as a threesome with two friends, but sadly one of us didn't get away from the pressures of work and has to suffer reading about our adventures on this journal.

I'll be travelling with Heikki, who is a truly spontaneous and fun guy to spend time with. I'm afraid what we'll get into during our trip as neither of us is not really of the quiet and calm type that considers everything twice, and after that rechecks. Well atleast it won't be boring to us or our readers.

Tickets

The biggest part of getting there was booking the tickets, we were aiming for Buenos Aires (Argentina) as the starting point of our trip and Rio De Janeiro as the end point. Sadly this didn't come true because of airlines and their incomprehensible logic.

In the end we ended up booking two different trips and combining the tickets as the availability of some of the cheaper tickets happened to end just a day before we were supposed to book them. We are going from Helsinki to Madrid on 16th July and spending there two days, on 18th of July we will fly to Buenos Aires and Travel around the continent for 8 weeks until we return to Finland.

I'm sure not anybody, even if they're working for airlines can explain to me how their ticket pricing works as the cheapest trip from Madrid to Buenos Aires goes trough Santiago and the Cheapest trip from Madrid to Santiago goes trough Buenos Aires. Same airline, same day, somebody must be on really good mushrooms.

Planning

Now is the time for planning of the travel iteniary, if you readers would like to give any hints, comments etc. regarding that, please post them as I'll be more than happy.

The rough outline should be something along the lines of Buenos Aires (Argentina) -> Santiago (Chile) -> Cusco (Peru) -> La Paz (Bolivia) -> Something (Somewhere)-> Buenos Aires. We are planning to visit Machu Pichu, Lake Titicaca and Salar De Yuni, what other places should we consider that aren't too far off the trail?

Cheers!

- Mikko