Galopping around the world

El Calafate, Puerto Natales, Torres del Paine, Ushuaia

stefylein — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:22:00 GMT

hello from Ushuaia, also known as the end of the world. Behind us lie some action packed long days filled with beautiful impressions of stunning Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. After 2 days of trekking in El chalten we made our way to El Calafate. The town itself is nice but a bit too touristy for my liking. The main attraction here is the famous Perrito Moreno glacier which is simply breath taking. To get there we left early in the morning and took a bit of a dirt road where we got the chance to get a better idea of the Patagonian steppe and saw quite a few animals including plenty of eagles, Guanacos ( they look a bit like Lamas and also do spit as one guy from our group found out when he approached one too closely) , plenty of sheep (the area is famous for it) and some birdis that look a bit like Emus. Once we got closer to the glacier we walked the last hour to get there had our lunch there and later on took a boat ride to get really close to it. Not only is the size impressive as well as the way the different ice pieces seem to form this big chunk but also the noise that the glacier makes as big piles of ice fall into the water. Sounds a bit like a thunderstorm and truly is a spectacle in itself... The following day we left Argentina and crossed into Chile heading to a city called Puerto Natales. Here we had lunch hired camping equipment and did our food shopping for the big trek ahead of us. After that we continued our way for another 2 hours to enter the National Park of Torres del Paine which is absolutely stunning.

a park with stunning mountain ranges, lakes etc etc.... We camped the night and started our trek the following day. 10 of us decided to go for the ´real adventure´by doing camping which meant that we did have to carry the gear for quite a bit of gear with us as well as food for a few parts of the trek. The rest of the group opted for staying in Lodges...

The first day we took a Catamaran to the starting point of the famous W trek. and had a long day ( about 7-8 hours) going about to the Greys Glacier covering a distance of over 20km. After our little meal haha we did feel bit like dogs ( I teamed up with a german girl and our irish guide) all eating our pasta out of the same pot but I think it is part of the experience. we all fell into bed( or more like into our sleeping bags) that night which ended up being very cold one as we woke up the next day with frost on our tents.

We tried to have a relatively early start and carried our gear for bout 2 hours leaving it at trhe next camp site. from there it was a nother 6 hours to visit the next attraction The Valle Frances.quite a challenging hike as a large proprition of the trek consists of climbing over huge rocks. we covered another 20k that day... Luckily the night wasnt that cold.

The next day ended up being very long about 8 hours as we didnt see that there was a short cut to the next camp site .. I would just rather think of it as we did the proper trek and the others opted for the easy one out hahaha... the last bit was up this mega steep bit which was even more challening as we had been carrying our gear all day long... we pretty much collapsed once we got to the camp site. The site was directly next to the lodge so we thouyght to treat us to a luxury night and paid the whopping 20 US dollars for a proper dinner.

The following day we left at 6. 30 am to get a head start from t he crowds for teh highlight of the entire trek. The Torres del Paine or as some like to call them the Pain towers... as the climb there is pretty tough especially after the previous 3 days, hureting knees and blisters on our feet. ahahah but it was really fun and we were rewarded with a stunning view of the three redish mountain towers. I will post some picturees on facebook shortly. The overall day was quicker with about 6 h of walking but still about 20ks to cover... Overall the scenary was super nice, there werent as many other people as I thought there would be and you still get a real feeling of nature. its so clean that it was totally fine to drink the water from the streams and rivers which came straight from the glaciers. one of the guys that was one a different trek than us ( he is pretty hardcore) even had a little encounter with a Puma....

We got picked up by the other driver who took us back to the first camp site where not only a long awaited shower was waiting ( yes after 4 days without one we were veeeeeeeeery keen to get in there) but also a very delicious barbecue. We were all quite happy that the next day was a pure driving d ay so that our feet and legs could get a bit of rest... we took the ferry crossing into Tierra del fuego and camped about 10 min from the border to Argentina.

The following day we crossed over into Argentina and finally arrived in Ushuaia. the end of the world. We had a quick wonder round town, got our laundry sorted and had some delicious meat in form of a good bye dinner for tnbe group as the first people started leaving the following day. Wanting to take advantage of Ushuaia activities we heded to the Tierra del Fuego national park for a 3 hour hike which was quite beautiful ( it somehow gives you the feeling of being in an enchanted forrestwhich is created by the combination of light, the cristal clear water and the interesting trees. ) From there we headed back into town and took a cruise on the Beagle channel where we saw loads of Sea lions as well as Pinguins which were simply adorable. .. Most of the people left yesterday which was quite sad as it was an amazing group. The remining 4 of us went to see a nearby glacier ( yes another little hike) and I treated myself to the hairdresser to feel a bit more feminine again.. haha I must admit that I am quite exited to be wearing something else than trekking pans again in a couple of days.

Around lunch time I am off to Buenos Aires where I will stay the night and then leave for London on friday , get there saturday morning and continue on to Amsterdam in the afternoon. I hope you are all well stef

Pucon, Puerto Montt, Puyuhuapi, Coihaique, El Chalten

stefylein — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 07:09:00 GMT

First of all in case some of you are wondering we are no where near the earthquake in Chile, as we are already down in Patagonia... secondly apologies for the long absence but the last few days we have stayed in little places with no access to Internet.. so what have we been up to.. in Pucon we finally got lucky on our last day for climbing the vulcano. we left at 4:30 in the morning to get there before all teh other groups start the climb. it was a bit scary at times at initially it was pitch black and not all of us were provided with head torches. The climb was probably the steepest thing that I have ever climbed! whilst the first part was all loose rocks we had to put on our crampons after a while and zick zack up on the ice. Up there the views were really rewarding though. We were a bit under time pressure because we had to make it to Puerto Montt in order to catch the night ferry.... once we got to Puerto Montt we were however advised that the ferry had been cancelled due to bad weather.. some last minute emergency accomodation ahd to be found which ended up being quite cool actually... we stayed with this family who had a massive house.. it was simply funny as suddnely our entire group was split out in their living room and kitchen.. they were really sweet and adorable and I loved the ´old fashioned´interior with the little stuffed animal dogs over the TV.... it was nice because it sort of gave you a little flavour of the chilean family life... Since we had to wait until the evning until we could take the next ferry we now had an entire free day.

so we went to a really nice National Park nearby with a waterfall and vulcano... we cooked lunch next to a beautiful lake and simply chilled out. In teh evening we caught the ferry and arrived next morning in Chaiten... Chaiten is pretty much a ghost town as a vulcano erruption in 2008 caused a river to divert and flooded the entire town. We then found ourselves in the Chilean Lake district.. it reminded me a bit of Scandinavia.. lots of forrest and lakes as well as wooden houses. quite pretty. we arrived in a little place called Puyuhuapi where we stayed in Cabanas which are little guest houses.

We were supposed to stay in Puyuhuapi for 2 nights but due to the ferry we lost a day there. The next dya we left early and visited another natioal park where there was a nice little lake and a glacier (Colgant glacier)...about an hour from there we had another stop and went for a walk in what our gudie calls ´the magical forrest´ where we had another wonder. At night we arrived in a place Coihaique which was a bit of a bigger town. we all went to the supermarket and I was walking back to our hostel with another German girl and our Irish guide when haha I dont know how we managed to we got lost.. it was so hilarious as none of us rememberd the name of our hostel or the street in which it is located(it was the guides first time on this trip)so after a while of wondering around when it was also starting to get darçk we decided to get into a taxi.. we were just laughing the entire way and I think the taxu driver must have been quite amused when all we could say was that it is a Cabanas place which is red and white.. but we did get there in the end...

The following day was a looooooooooong driving day but the scenary was AMAZING. we were sitting on top of our truck ( there are seats available up there) and took in the breath taking views of lakes, mountains and the more dry surroundings... the plan for the day was to cross the border into Argentina but at the border point the argentinian offical was a pain in the butt and decided to not let us cross... so we had to drive all the way to another border crossing ( it was a veeeeeeeeeeery long day) and then were able to cross there.. we ended up bushcamping in something that looked a bit like a desert.. but we had a lovely barbecue out there and the star filled sky and super big moon were simply beautiful... The moon was shining so bright that it would cast a little circle in the desert.

We had a very early 6:30 start as we had to make up for the distance which we were not able to cover the previous day. it was a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery long 12 hour day on the truk until we arrived in El Chalten.. ( but again super beautiful scenary)..

El Chalten is a trekking heaven and the weather the last 2 days was perfect for it ( after all that rain and cloudy weather after Santiago) So yesterday we went on a 7 hour trek for 24km with beautiful views of Fitz Roy which again is a breatk taking mountain range.. will try and post some picis very soon.... It was a mega tiring climb as it went up quite a bit.... The view point gave us a Panoramic view of the entire mountain range. today we went to the Fitz Roy range another 25km hike... and now I am simply exhausted.. we have tomorrow to recover when we drive down to El Calafate to look at the Perrito Moreno glacier. After that we cross into Chile again to do a 4 day trek the famous W and then finish in Ushuaia on the 8th...I cant believe the trip is almost over... but all good things must come to and end.

Just posted some Chile and Argentina pics which you can find at : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40522&id=272900519&l=0b574663b1

I hope you are all well

Santiago, Pucon

stefylein — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:56:00 GMT

Bienvenidos a Chile..!!! Although let me tell you it did take quite a while to get to Chile...why? Because of the countrys very strict controls about bringing in fruits and vegetables. We pretty much spend 5 borders at the border, where our entire truck and luggage was searched by the staff and a very cute little sniffy snif dog called Max. So it wasnt till late that we arrived on the Valentines day night in Santiago.. where it was a mission to find a restaurant as for some reason most restaurants tend to be closed in sundays in Santiago. The way home was quite funny as we first had 2 stray dogs following our group at the next street corner another 2 joined us, the following corner another 2... so by the time we got to the hotel we had like 12 dogs walking with us. One of the girls (miss you dear Shanny shannone) has a heart for these poorly fed dogs and always strokes them which is why they hung out the hotel in anticipation!... it was so cute in Mendoza she bought a proper Sandwich for a dog because he looked really skinny. There are soooo many stray dogs in South America so I think its actually quite nice that somebody cares.

The next day we went off to explore the city which was nice but definately not one of South Americas jewels. It had quite an american feel to it and we couldnt believe it when we found a Starbucks. wowwwwwwwww. which of course we had to treat ourselves to. A major attraction for the male population are the ;coffee with legs; which are sort of the Hooters of coffee shops.. well not as much but the girls where these really tight dresses which just about cover their bum... There are quite a few alright ones in the main centre and then special ones where you may purchase other services as well.. Unfortunately the option to purchase ;other ; services also seemed to be available at our hotel... I was already slightly suspicious when we saw this group of rather very dressed up sexy looking girls at the hotel lobby a couple of times during the day who spend quite a bit of time using this special phone at reception.. We had to change rooms for that night as new group members arrived but one person from our group said that some of the ladies are in teh room right next to us.... so veyr bizarrly their phone rang then knocks on the door and a hell of a party next door till quite late.... our tour guides asked and apparently they were ;special; peruvian ladies for Peruvian clients... and yes we were lucky enough to we having the room right next to their ;office;...

but back to Chile. It is quite noticable that Chile is a lot richer than the other South American countries. Apparently they are disliked by all their neighbouring countries I think much of it being related to fights over territory. You even have got Wifi at petrol stations!! Yesterdya we stopped at some waterfalls which are named the little Iguassu Falls and made our way to Pucon today. Here the main attraction is to hike up a volcano which we are all very keen to do. Unfortunately it has been raining all day and is forecasted to stay this way for the next couple of days so its not certain that we will be able to go.. but fingers crossed.

we will then head to Puerto Montt to take a ferry and visit a couple of national parks further south.

Cafayate, Estancia de los Portreros, Mendoza

stefylein — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 06:57:00 GMT

hello hello from Mendoza... it is suuuuper warm over here... which is a nice change from the cold temperatures.. I think it will only last for a couple of more days though as we soon will be heading towards Patagonia. From Salta we headed to Cafayate which is where Argentinia´s wine region starts. so a course a visit to a winery and some wine tasting was a must on the programme. The landscape started to change from the stunning dry rocky scnerary ( with different colours of red) and loads of massive cactus which are at times twice my size... The Cafayate area was amrked by the wineyards and lots of agriculture and is quite similar to where we are now in Mendoza...

From Cafayate we headed to a little ranch near Cordoba. This I had marked down as one of my personal highlights of this trip as since (I used to ride quite a bit when I was younger ) I had almost dreamed about riding western style (here they call the cowboys gauchos)on a Ranch... but the lesson that I learned was that expectations are a dangerous thing.. I had imagined a really argentinian ranch but turns out that almost all the staff were English including the couple and on the two rides that we went on we had to take it quite easy.... on the other hand though the ranch was really beautiful and the surrounding area as well... We also had a big barbecue one of the nights and tried our cowboy skills attempting to lassoo a cow.. we first practised on a little tree and the gauchos then send a couple of cows towards us.. hahaha it ws a lot of fun and everything but easy... one of our guides and one of the guys from our group actually managed to capture one!! what seemed more harder though was trying to get the lassoo back off as it was literally a cow running around like a mad cow... it took three of the gauchos to get it back off.. so that was quite a good laugh...We all enjoyed the stay at the farm as it gave us the chance to relax a bit as at times it is quite tiring sitting on the bus for 4-7 hours almost every day...

We were supposed to camp somewhere between Mendoza and Cordoba last night but decided to drive all the way to Mendoza which took over 10 hours... Today we took the opportunity to explore the city which I like very much. with the warm temperatures I have the impression to be in a warmer and more quiet version of a spanish city in South America. I absolutely adore this country.. The cities so far all had a bit of a European flair, the people are simply wonderful ( sooooo friendly and open and I simply love their accent) and the food is also very nice....I think I can easily picture myself living here...

Tomorrow we have another day in Mendoza and will then cross over to Chile and stay in Santiago where our group will change again ( a lot of new people are joiing, apparently 9 new girls which our guys are very excited about hahaha they keep on hoping for the swedish netball team)...

hope you are all well

Uyuni, Salt Flats, Laguna Colorada,Verde&Blanca, Susques, Salta

stefylein — Sat, 6 Feb 2010 07:16:00 GMT

Hello hello from Sunny Argentina.. The cold Peruvian and Bolivian days at high altitude are over and I think we are all happy to change the warm fleece for a skirt and a top! You have no idea what a difference there is between these two countries and Argentina. You cross the border and it is like stepping into another world. The cars are more modern, the shops, the way the people dress... Everything is way more modern in Argentina. In bolivia I sometimes had the impression that the concept of a supermarket does not really exist but that you buyy everything on the street... Likewise BIG change in toilet quality.... I never thought that I would appreciate a loo that much... but trust me after having had so many stomach problems with the Bolivian food we are all very excited to be using what we would describe as a ´normal´toilet´.. likewise eating whatever we want.. in Bolivia and Peru you tended to have to stay away from uncooked vegetables and fruit as their water quality and hygiene are not as good as in other countries...

So what have we been up to? After a long drive from Potosi we arrived nin Uyuni from where you can take excursions to the Salt flats which was absolutely AMAZING. we had so much fun out there as you can take loads of funny pictures and the effect on the salt was really cool. As we are still in rain season the sky and the nearby mountains reflect on the salt which looks really beautiful... The next day we had another full day drive climbing again up to almost 5000 meters to visit the Laguna Colorada, Verde and Blanca in the very southern bit of Bolivia.. The Scenery is absolutely breath taking. I think it was probable one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. No pictures or comments do this place justice, you pretty much find yourself driving in this desert surrounded by mountains and then there are these 3 lagoons. (only 2 of them are close to one another) onje has red waters, the other is turquoise green and the last one has whitish colour.. On them are loads of two different types of pink flamingos.. Its simply stunning. But let me tell you the drive to the Lagoons was not a fun ride… mud roads ( not real ones) with loads of potholes and mud everywhere… the truck broke down a couple of times as well! After a night at one of the Lagoons we crossed over to Argentina and stayed in a little village called Susques and left from there the next day in direction of Salta which is in the Northern part of Argentina.

I absolutely LOVE Salta. Its like the perfect city. Seems really safe, not too big, has parks, is warm, beautiful buildings and cafes and a very nice lake and mountains nearby.- And I love the Argentinians.. They are so friendly and lovely… so easy to get chatting to people.. I thought that this trip is the perfect occasion to try new things so yesterday we all went rafting which was really good fun and after that we went to do canope which was freakin scary… pretty much you roll over this big canyon only being attached to this little cable.. the whole things is about 300m high… you need to keep your concentration otherwise you start spinning which didn’t seem to be like a good idea as you are only tied around your legs and bum… Even after crossing the bloody canyon the 4^th time I was still shitting myself. But hey we did it!! Today we went for a little wander in Salta and are heading for Cafayet tomorrow….

This is the link to my Bolivia photos http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40112&id=272900519&l=8c6cb27e0d

Potosi

stefylein — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 06:54:00 GMT

on our last night in La Paz we went to the movies.. it was like enteriing into a different world. outside poverty and inside you had the impression you were in Europe... The highlight of the evening wasnt so much the film but the visit to the toilets which had automatic flushes and automatic ater for the hand basin... kind of crazy how suddnely you appreciate these luxuries of our world... It was like we stepped into another world for a couple of ours... Leaving the building it was like stepping back into reality.. the taxi ride back to the hotel a bit scary as we took a very different route but I was grateful that 2 of the guys from our group were with us...

After a 10 hour drive from La Paz we arrived in Potosi, which is a town famous for mining.. there are about 5000 mines here. Whilst we were all a bit nervous about visiting the mines ( the rough guide and Lonely planet did both not present it as the safest of activities to do) 4 of us girls and one guy went on the quest to discover one of the mines... Before heading to the mines we stopped to get a proper outfit including the hat with torch, some boots, pants and a jacket.. was sooo weired so as we had to walk through this butcher shop with half a dead cow hanging there before getting to this little backyard where they gave us our gear. Our next stop was the miners market where we purchased gifts for the miners including: DYNAMITE, yes you read correctly, Coca leafes ( the usually have a whole big ball of them in their mouth), crackers as well as 96% alcohol again yes you read correctly 96%. They use this alcohol as an offering to Pachamama which is their kind of god/mother earth. After they spil a bit on the floor they do have a zip of it.. crazy stuff that is...

So loaded with dynamite we went off to the mines and made our way most of the time bend over through these little tunnels. The air (which apparently is pretty toxic) was really dusty and you had to watch your step ( quite a few holes down there) as well as your head ( as it is pretty low)-. We watched the miners work and gave them our gifts... The minimum age to start working there is 12 and due to the bad working conditions the miners dont tend to get older than 50... once they have extracte minerals ´helpers´carry bags weighing 50kg sometimes for more than even 2 hours... outsid ethe mine women will sort the minerals until they are send to to be processed. It quite a shocking experience down there... by the end of it we were all quite happy to be back in the daylight.

Whats also intersting is that the miners worship the devil... in every mine there is a devil statue. they will sprinkle it with coca leafes, alcohol and light a special cigarette and stick it in his mouth.. he is also dressed like a miner. another remarkable feature is his manhood which if you touch it you may make a wish.. the size was so big to ensure that the Pachama ( mother earth represented by another little statue) would be interested in him and they would thus produce ¨fertile¨in other words mineral rich mines. Thats also the reason why the miners give so many offerings to the devil in order to keep him ´happy´...

Bolivia has not been easy on our stomachs... I am starting to feel it again.. it really sucks that it sort of doesnt matter what you eat... One of the guys who was the one with the 2 parasites is down again.. so as much as this country is beautiful ( especially the lamas and alpacas which stare at our bus as we drive past) we are kinda excited to be in Argentina in about a week. haha.

I finally uploaded a few photos from Peru still not many as the internet is very slow. but here is the link

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=39969&id=272900519&l=466615e1b5

La Paz

stefylein — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:28:00 GMT

For some reason we got stranded in La Paz for an extra day.. We werent really told why which we were all a bit upset about but hey at least it gives me some more time to update you guys a bit about the city and the little adventures we have had along the way...

As I mentioned in my earlier post La Paz is packed with people and we have had plenty of mugging experiences within our group already...one of our guys who has got this really big professional filming camera got thrown dirt on from the top of a roof and then 6 old ladies came along trying to clean him... He just held on to his camera and kept walking,.... another guy from our group got spat on and they wanted to take his stuff while he was wiping it off... Similarily they tried to get into his jacket pocket .. he pushed the woman on his left aside while his girlfriend hit the other person who was trying to get into the pocket....
A new guy in the group wasnt as cautious and left his camera in the top pocket of his back pack... and off it went...

You can really notice a difference between Bolivia and Peru in terms of poverty. we all felt a lot safer in Peru and you see way more people begging for money on the streets in Bolivia. The buses are really really old and quite often you find yourself caughing since the fuel smoke is so bad on the streets. When shopping for souvenirs like in Peru you need to bargain with the people.. it always goes> but for you my friend a special price!!! ... On the witch market you can buy all sorts of funky things.... like soap of Aloe Vera with SNAIL slime, candles for finding a partner, Hate potions, some weired dried worms, talismans and of course the dead dried baby lamas&alpacas..... The locals do seem to buy this stuff though.

Another special adventure in both countries have been the toilets which is even more an experience given that we have all had stomach problems... you usually need to hold your breath going in and most of the time there isnt a flush but just a bucket of water... we have all become quite big fans of the Bushpee.. Overall the whole thing just makes me laugh and I find these little things simply entertaining.

I find it fascinatng how things are different in these countries.. whilst some may get annoyed it simply makes me laugh.. its all part of the experience... whilst most of you probably think that we ae in sunny South America here it has been freezing cold and wet in the mountains.. over the next few weeks we will move south and lower when temperatures should be warmer until we get to Patagonia.

Another cool fact about La Paz is the prison here.. I really want to read the book´the marching powder´which has been written about it. Apparently theinmates have taken over the prison and have this whole little society within the prison.. where you can even start your own business but also need to pay rent for your own cell... a few guys on my tour knew about it and it sounded like a fascinating place. Some tourists have managed to get in and have a look around.

Community trail, Machu Pichu, Cusco, Puno, Copacabana, La Paz

stefylein — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 09:10:00 GMT

Apologies for the long silence but I really didnt get a chance to write beforehand because we were trekking in the wilderness for 5 days and then off on the road again with either no or crap internet access. .. but here it comes !!! From Cusco we left on a 5 day trek to Machu Pichu which was probably the most tiring and physically challenging experience I have ever had... like most of the others. We didnt do the classic Inca trail which leads directly to Machu Pichu but instead did a community one which was beautiful in terms of scenary and interesting as we camped in local communities. These people really dont have anything. They only got electricity about 5 years ago and still don't have toilets. They live in houses made out of clay and stone, the roof being made water proof with lama greace.. The floor is earth and animals come in and go out as they please.. quite funny we were in somebodys house and the chicken was wondering around us and suddenly a sheep tried to get in through the open door... quite funny... The locals tend to wear traditional clothes> women with skirts a little vest and a hat and men often with ponchos.... their shoes are made out of old car wheels cost about 1 pound and last for 10 years... I have no idea why their feet arent cold (it got freeeezing at night(and how they manage to climb up the steep hills...

The trek itself was very tiring due to the altitude... you need to catch your breath like crazy and after all we climbed up to 4800m trust me that was a looooooooong and very steep climb.. we had to cross over little rivers and most of the stones were loose so you had to look in front of your feet all the time in order not to loose your balance... besides the rocks the trail is covered in lama, alpaca and donkey poo which is why I suggested to rename it to Rocky Poo Trail rather than Community trail.. We also had a landslide on our track which forced us to walk quite a bit through the jungly forrest and then cross the river over some pieces of wood ... unfortunately it is rain season so it was pouring down!! thank god we had bought some rain pans and rain ponchos before the trek.... it was pretty damn wet and cold though.. one day we hiked for 8 hours and pretty much fell into bed The other days tended to be around 5 hours of trekking.

On the first days we visted some INca ruins... a fascinating culture! They had an amazing arregation system as well as communication system. for example they used runners to communicate messages. so every 8km there would be a person who would run to the next to pass on the message. Through this mechanism they managed to get fish from the coast to Cusco within 24h which is pretty impressive... Many of the ruins are badly destroyed most of this happened when the spanish arrive.. its sad to see how much of the cultural heritage got lost on this way and you can certainly sense a tension towards the spanish...They seemed to live very much as equals for example they didnt use slaves but every Inca had to do work for the government for about 1 to 3 months in his life like for instance for building temples etc.

The last day of the track I sensed a bit of a stomach ache which in the evening turned into a fever and the first stomach cramps and poops in my life.. !! In the morning I thought that I would not be able to do the highlight Machu Pichu... so at 6.30 am we went off to the doctor... who wasnt there but only this guy in a track suit who wrote down whatever the doctore said over the phone... in short it was> for fever this pill for cramps this one.. haha my first consultancy over the phone.. but hey drugged up I made it up there... Beautiful and speechless is probably the best to describe it as the ruins are surrounded by stunning mountain ranges!!!! Definateky worth a visit!!!
Back in Cusco I went to see a real doctor who ran some test on me and turns out that I managed to get a Parasite, Bacteria and a Fungus... What an experience!!! it is quite funny how Poo has become a key topic of conversation in our group as it seems that every day at least one of us has it.. another guy and me are comparing which pills we are taking haha he had 2 parasites.. Its all part of the adventure and I just had my last pill today!! Toilets in Peru and Bolivia are a real pain though.. trust me anybody would prefer to pee in a bush once you see and smell them.. one guy from the group suggested a charity toilets for Peru....

From Cusco which is very nice but veeeeery touristy we left for Puno which is on the famous Lake Titikaka... and yeeees it was raining again... it was an over 7 hour drive with a flat tire on the way!!! The next day we took an excursion to the Uros islands which are floating islands in the lake. They are entirely build out of reeds... they add layers and layers and eventually have this entirely island. there are about 50 of them with about 5 families living on each.. its really weired as you sort of sink in a little when you are walking on the island.. its also really damp and wet there. The locals live from selling fish and crafts ....

From Puno we crossed the border to Bolivia and continued our journey along Lake Titikaka. We stayed in a little town called Copacabana from where we took and excursion to Isla del Sol the biggest island in Lake Titikaka.. we visited some Inka ruins there and enjoyed the nice view of the lake.... Quite funny , for some reason people take their new cars to this town and get it blessed.. it is then covered in flowers....

This morning we arrived in La Paz.... and overwhelming city.. SOOOOOOOO many people the streets are simply crowded and dirty smelling of diesel fuels ... the city looks like a big market as literally everyhwere are little stands with people selling stuff ranging from staplers to chickens.. The local market veyr much seems like the one we visited in Cusco... people sitting on the floor selling unwrapped cheese and mushrooms... chickens and meat lying out in the open... NO I did not get my parasites there.... Another interesting fact about La Paz is the witch market... They sell dried baby alpacas and lamas to keep you safe on your journey and all sorts of different potions and funky looking things... Most of the group will be finishing their tour here in La Paz including my friend Marieke... For the next leg of the journey which goes until Santiago in Chile we will only be 10 and for instance visit the salt flats in Bolivia and spend 3 days horse riding on an Argentinian ranch. so plenty of things to look forward to.

until then I hope you are all fit and well

Stef

Chivay, Colca Canyon, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Rachqi, Cusco

stefylein — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 03:32:00 GMT

quite a few adventurous days lie behind us....From Arequipa we started to go up to a place called Chivay... it was a pretty scary drive as it was really foggy and next to the road it just went down really steep. Whilst I tried very hard not to get altitude sickness by drinking loads of water , having coca tea and coca candy it hit me straight away... you pretty much get really bad headaches, need to throw up, feel like you dont have any energy at all and get dizzy.... so there I was hugging the oxygen bottle.. it was not fun... I was down with this for about 3 days and could hardly eat anything... it would have been alright but we sometimes travelled for like 5 hours on the most horrible roads filled with massive potholes, crossing through rivers... not the best feeling when you are feeling sick already... but it is all part of the adventure!!! and it feels even better to feel alright again!

As we were going up the scenary started becoming greener and greener and you started to see quite a lot of agriculture as well as cattle farming. It seems like the traditional sheppard is still in use over here.. often you will see a woman dressed in traditional clothing in the middle of the field watching over cows, Alpacas, Lamas, donkeys, sheeps etc.... all of this wonderful little animals also happened to like to walk in front of our bus.. so you will have this donkey who just wont move.. quite funny.... There is still a lot of poverty.. people in these tiny villages live off whatever they produce. You see them washing their clothing in the local river...

Chivay is really close to the Colca Canyon which is the deepest canyon in the world... The drive to the canyon itself was already really stunning as you pass along this massive rock formations and mountain ranges... ( except on the way back when suddenly this rocks fell down just in front of our bus which was pretty scary). At the Canyon you can see the big condor birds flying which have a wing span of 12feet ... very impresisve little birdies.. From the canyon we hit that horrible road that I mentioned earlier but it really was worth the pain as the scenary was breath taking .. we even so some flamingos!! We only arrived at our campsite in the dark at an altitude of 5200m... pretty high up.... I was very upset that I missed 2 amazing meals that day... but hey.... When we woke up the next morning I was wowed by the beauty of the place as we were in the middle of this canyon ( I know I really ought to post some pictures but internet is ridicoulously slow over here).... we continued on from there ( the scenary now being all green , definately no more desert).... and we arrived at a little town of 80 families called Racqui wich is known for its pottery.. over there we had a bit of a different stay as we all spend the night in peruvian families... quite an interesting experience... the cook with fire in clay ovens ( the food was delicious)... and there was no running water ... not a good one as my stomach got a little unhappy in the middle of the night... They also keep their little guinee pigs.. sooo cute but they are a local traditional food... poor things. In the evening we all dresed up in traditional clothing and attended a local ritual.. haha the boys looked like lama tamers with their panchos and hats.. we girls were wearing a littl vest a big skirt and a round hat... we had quite a laugh.

After visiting some Inca ruins and a pottery workshop we headed to Cusco where we just had a wonder in the afternoon. I also met my friend Marieke who will be travelling with me until La Paz.. Cusco is really touristy but its from where all the treks to Machu Pichu start.. Tomorrow we will leave on a 4 day trek on which we will also stay in local communities and finally end up at Machu Pichu.. Very exciting but I think it will be quite hard as the altitude is very tiring and you feel like an old lady just from walking up some stairs.. we will be going as high as 4800m... the other thing is that we are in the middle of rain season.. so we bought some rain pants and ponchos which will hopefully help a little. I am really enjoying the trip although it has been extremly tiring as we tend to gtet up at 5.30 and have an action packed day. Peru is very beautiful which its very savage beauty.. beautiful mountains, valleys, and interesting plants.. will try to get some picis up soon!

Nasca, Puerto Inca, Arequipa

stefylein — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 08:18:00 GMT

After a night of camping in Nasca we headed to Chauchilla cemetery which is also in Nasca.. Over there you can see some mummies from the Nasca civilisation. Since it only rains 2 hours a year in Nasca the very dry climate has preserved the mummies very well... unfortunately 50 years ago grave robbers destroyed quite a bit.... but there were still quite a few interesting things to see like that people used to have hair ( in particular priests) which was 3m long given that people were only about 1.6 m tall... Warriors tended to keep the heads of their victims dangling as a belt around their hip... some interesting way that was done... I won{t go into details about brain removal and a rope being tied to the tongue... lets leave it at that.. From there we headed to Puerto Inca a little place on the coast and all you could see was desert, rocks, sand and a few cactus... Ever since we left Lima its just sand sand... some beautiful scenary though..

In Puerto Inca there was a cute little walk along the coast with the rock formations looking a bit like sea monsters ( like the bits that dinosours have on their back).. once again I did not know that I could get that excited about rocks... Camping was quie fun as well and our group meals have been pretty good. The group is really nice.. unfortunately once we get to Cusco and from there downwards our number goes from 13 to 21 ... But my friend Marieke will be joining me in Cusco until La Paz which I am very much looking forward to. :) The next day it was a really long drive to Arequipa 7hours... we were all quite tired... and you guessed right it was once again desert, sand and rocks and then suddenly you have a little green vally and following that desert again..

In Arequipa we have a 2 night hotel stay to recharge our batteries.. I had a quick wonder around town yesterday and we went for a group meal.. Today we went sight seeing and some silver shopping.. We also visited the local Monastery of Santa Catalina and the Cathedral which are the two key attractions here. The city is quite big and cute.. Its really weired to have a whole city flair as pretty much every city we drove though on our way here has just been little houses and shanty towns... We are all starting to feel the altititude as we slowly get higher moving towards Cusco.. haha the entire group is still with an uneasy stomach which I think will stay this way until we head Chile in a couple of weeks as Bolivia is supposed to be not too easy on the stomach either...

Tomorrow we are headed to the Colca Canyon where we will see the big Condor birds fly and apparently the canyon is pretty impressive too.

Islas Ballestas, Huacachina Desert, Nasca

stefylein — Fri, 8 Jan 2010 09:21:00 GMT

The Trip has officialy started and it started full on with plenty of adrenaline and adventure... We are a group of 13 people mainly Americans and Australians average age is around 30... really lovely people!!! We left Lima early on the 5th and I do know now why everybody says LIMA is so dangerous... pretty much you have like a little rectangle between the 2 main plazas.. there everything is clean, pretty, loaded with police officers... once we drove out of that zone you are hit by poverty... houses that are falling apart poor people on the street.. its as if almost the modern Lima airport and thise 2 blocks zone is a mask that the city puts on for the tourist... we experience dthe full on traffic with plenty of street vendors winding their way through the lanes packd with cars constantly pullng the horn... leaving the city it gets drier and drier becoming a desert and the shanty towns start.. one after another... people living in ruins of what may be called a house or in some sort of box put together out of different materials.. had a toilet stop at one of those places which was quite an experience.... I leave it at that..haha

After a few hours we arrived at a little touristic city and took a boat to the Islas Ballestas or also known as the poor mans Galapagos island... MY GOD the rocks were filled with birds and seals as if there as no free stop to be seen. AMAZING.. also so some tiny Humbold Pinguins AMAING. I thought I sw wildlife in NZ but this soooo many!!! These lovely animals in in particular birds obviously produce a lot of Poo poo (Guana) over which Peru ad Chile had quite a dispute in the past.. yes, over poo.. why? because every 7 years they clean it off the island and i gets made into faboulous fertiliser.

From there we were off to a little Oasis in the desert (pretty much the entire area was really try and sand everywehere). from this little town the fun ride started.. we went on these BUggies which are 4 by 4 vehicles and the driver went like a manic up and down the sand dunes.. SOOOOO much fun. we were all screaming and laughing like crazy... then we were sandboarding.. again NZ sandboard was nothing .. I am so glad I didnt look down before getting on the board.. we went steeper and steeper as the continued boarding and you pick up quite some speed... SCARY but loads of fun... sunset in the desert was beautiful as well..

We all just had our sleeping bags and after a barbecue (super delicious chicken)and some chatting we slept under the stars... really cool. Next day we had breakfast in the little town and then headed to Nasca where we are staying on a camping site... IN Nasca is where the famoue Nasca lines are... an astronaut, spider, tree etc figures carved in the stone... nobody quite knows how they got there.. we took a flight over the lines in this tiny aircraft... fun as well and interesting to see the lines.... once again my stomach wasnt too happy about it.. I think I was just too tired and exhausted when I got on the plane.. hey I lasted till the last figure haha...

Tomorrow we are off to Puerto Inca to visit a famous cemetery and will be Bushcamping meaning that it will be in the wild... Having a great time so far! hope you are all well

Stef

Lima

stefylein — Wed, 6 Jan 2010 04:49:00 GMT

Hello Hello from Lima... After an early start yesterday at 4am we left Holambra I was off to Lima Peru.. a much longer flight than I thought but everything went well.. The hotel is right in Lima downtown which once again according to Lonely PLanet is not the best part of town... But being out there on the street it doesn´t really feel that unsafe... but then again there is police everywhere and at the main plaza , Plaza de las Armas you even have police with those big plastics things which are used during demonstrations and stuff.... also loads of police officers with dogs which I guess are for finding drugs.

My first impression was that I am a head taller than everyone and seem to be the only blondi in a one block radius , that is until you bump into another tourist... So far my experience with the Peruvians are that they are a lot more reserved than the Argentinans, Uruguyans and Brazilians.. but hey this is the first stop so that might change. The centre is a bit of a mixture between nice old buildings and not so nice ones... The main shopping street is a block from my hotel and directly leads to the Main plaza.. A little further on you get a glimpse of the poor Lima Chanty towns with coulourful houses piling on the mountains outside the city... Generally the roofs of the houses are flat which is as I was told because it hardly ever rains in Lima.. This is unlike Cusco where we are in the middle of teh rain season upsssss I think that will be a wet 4 day hike in a couple of days.

Food is incredibly cheap I paid less than 2 pounds for a quarter chicken with fries, salad and a drink... The place looked really clean but guess my stomach didnt like it too much... I shall have a second go at it today.. Also tried the local national fizzy drink... Inca Kola, which is bright yellow and tastes like bubble gum.. I love how Coca Cola seems to be number 2 to this drink, similar to Brazil where the local fizzy drink Guarana is quite dominant as well.

Tonight I will meet my group and as of tomorrow I think I will be back into the Travel mode... It was nice to have a bit of a holiday in Brazil... Renato´s family was really lovely and the fooood so good. I miss my morning passion fruit and mango...

Hope you are all well

Stef

Diamantina, Seite Lagoas, Mariana, Ouro Preto, Lavras Novas, Tiradentes, Sao João del Rei

stefylein — Mon, 4 Jan 2010 09:03:00 GMT

and whops it is already my last day in Brazil, more like my last evening after a very sunny afternoon at the pool accompanied by a barbecue. Tomorrow morning at 8:30 am my flight to Lima will leave so it will be an early start... but first of all a little recap of my trip with Renato. We left on the 25th for the State of Minas Gerais which is the neighbouring State of Sao Paulo... Minas Gerais is where many mines were located and it is filled with beautiful little colonial cities. We visisted Diamantina, Ouro Preto, Mariana, Lavras Novas,Tiradentes, Sao Joao del Rei.. all quite similar some more touristy others less so (which I prefered)

Most of these were build back in the days by African slaves and a lot of fights against the Portuguese took place in this area. The cities are all quite charming characterised by cobblestone streets, white little houses painted in blue/yellow or red/green etc...the colonial style one of my favourites Discovering the cities is quite a hike as they tend to be quite steep like the region which surrounds these cities... mountain ranges covered in green. My favourite was when we took the roads which were marked as yellow on the map which quite often are the red earth dirt roads where a times you feel like you are driving through a national park. There is sooooo much space and nature in Brazil... and everything is green!haha but often also a lot of potholes on the road ( thank god I have my local Renato darling driver)

You also never know what might cross the road... on one of the streets (and this was a major one) we suddenly had a bull in front of our car... or you have a dog lying in the middle of a 3 lane round about.... in the smaller cities you often have (besides chickens) horses just walking around in front of the houses on their own... I love it...

The Brazilians seem to love observing the streets as you often find them sitting at the door step of their home or leaning out of the window. They are incredibly friendly and welcoming and everything rotates around positive energy and *CALMA* being relaxed and calm.. oh yes we Europeans do stress quite a bit in comparison to them. Another marking feature is that these people can move and dance. buffffffffffffffffff.... I was embarassed to move on the PLaza with live music at new years eve.

And now I shall enjoy the last remaining hours of this evening with Renato who unfortunately I won´t see for 9 weeks. I hope you all had a wonderful new years eve and a good start into the new year!

until very soon from Peru

Stef

Holambra, Ubatuba

stefylein — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 02:32:00 GMT

First of all MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone. I hope you all have a wonderful time with your family and friends. Secondly apologies for the lack of ews I think it is probably going to sound weired if I say that I was on holidays hey... But that is sort of what I have been doing. And let me tell you it feels soooo good to sleep in a normal bed, eat proper food, be surrounded by Renato and his loveky family and to sleep in tranquility (besides the occasional moskito attack..) My last day in Buenos Aires I spend at San Telmo market where they sell lots of jewellery and crafts.. of course I couldn´t resist... and somehow everything magically fit into my luggage. and then off I was on monday the 14th to Sao Paulo where I spend the night in a hotel at the airport. Renato arrived tuesday morning at 7am and I met him and his family directly at the airport. Off we went in direction of home ( which is in the state of Sao Paulo about 2.5 h drive land inwards from the airport). Renato is from a dutch colony called Holambra (Hol-Holanda, AM-America, BRA- Brasil) a cute little town with lots of Dutch houses and Dutch immigrants ( quite a few blonds around here).. We spend tuesday and wednesday relaxing at the pool. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh and eating the so delicious fruits. My breakfast always consists of Mango and Passion fruit.. but not the tibny weeny ones like back in Europe but BIG JUICY, SIMPLY DELIC. Whilst it looks like you guys in Europe are having one of the coldest winters in years over here it is one of the hottest summers. It is boiling hot and very humid. simply put quite tropical.

On thursday (until sunday) we left for Ubatuba which is a beach town on the coast. To get there you cross through quite a few mountain ranges with stunning views. Though much to my regret the Brazilian government has not catered for viewpoints where you can stop to take a picture ( there is loads of cars behind you so a bit of a mission impossible).. It was really nice to unwind at the beach, go for walks and play loads of games like UNO with the entire family.. takes quite a while with 11 players. I also went Bikini shopping with Renatos sister and sister in law.. quite an experience.. haha I would rather like to call it MINI Bikni what people wear here.. good to ly at the beach but on wave and it is all gone... I feel like every time I buy a Bikini here ( tis is the third time) the size goes down.. I cannot picture myself with a string tanga next year haha... Renatos mum said if she sends a picture to my parents they will not let me come here again hahah. Well I like to call it *adapting to the culture*.. well and its not that bad but takes some time to get used to. another thing is that the Brazilian women are very emotional when it comes to shopping... so every few minutes you hear a ay que LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINDO.... que BONITIONHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. haha with my german reserveness it did cost me a bit to join in the exclaims of joy about every other item.. but hey I am getting there.

Back in Holambra we simply relaxed, went to the cinema etc... a big highlight was however the CELEBRITY encounter... me not being Brazilian of course didnt have a clue of who this person is.. one of Renatos university friends is going out with Ana Paula Arosio who apparently is a Brazilian super start starring in films and and soap operas and who has also worked as a model... We had lunch with them and they came over to renatos house.. I am telling you I am sooooo glad that I am not famous...During lunch every 5 min somebody came and wanted to take a photo or have her autograph. CRAZY.. I was already getting annoyed after the 3rd one. But after all she is just a normal person.. very nice by the way... Renato showed me some pictures of her on the Internet later.. and that was kinda weired though..

Tonight its christmas time and tomorrow we are headed to the state of Minas Gerais where there are plenty of beautiful little colonial cities. We will come back on the 1st of January and then on teh 4th I am already leaving for Lima.. time flies by.

I wish you all a Merry christmas

Back in Buenos Aires

stefylein — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 09:49:00 GMT

I think today I had the best piece of meat in my life.. simply amazing... so sooooooooft, juicy and delish... sorry for all you vegetarians out there. I arrived back in Buenos Aires on thursday evening and stayed in a minihostel which I strongly recommend to anyone travelling in South America www.minihostels.com... they are a group of small hostels ,much more quiet than the big at times 300 bed hostels.. What I like about this particular hostel is that it is directly in the centre and I think that I am the only European that is currently staying here. Everyone is latino, from Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, Uruguay etc.. I love it. Tried different meats when the guys were cooking and finally had a go at the MATEE Tea which the Uruguyan couple staying in my room of course had with them,, weired kind of stuff.. quite an interesting taste.

I am starting to fall for Buenos Aires. Whilst I was a bit tense from a lack of sleep, jet lag and I admit securit paranoya although I still continue to hear some nasty stories, I am enhoying the city much more. There are some beautiful buildings and corners. its all about finding them... and not being seen with the camera...or it may disappear very quickly...There is a lot of street performance ranging from Tango dancers to magicians and music...quite cool.

I dedicated my day to some shopping. Leather shoes oh ever so cheap.. I do admit I went a bit crazy but hey 4 super quality leather shoes for less than 90 pounds sounds like a pretty damn good price to me. I already tried to pack my bagpack for monday just to make sure I can squeeze everything in.. And I have somehow managed.. yeayyyy.. Tomorrow I am off to the San Telmo market where they sell lots of jewellery and little things...

I love the Argentinians.. they are so friendly, welcoming and lovely. It is so easy to meet people. I met for instance Albina´s friend´s brother for a coffee. kinda funny meeting and absolute stranger that you know around corners. But thats the way it works around here. Whilst I have very much enjoyed my time here I do look forward to seeing Renato in Brazil very soon, to relax and unwind.

p.s do feel free to leave a comment I do wonder at times who reads my bla bla

Punta del Este

stefylein — Wed, 9 Dec 2009 08:37:00 GMT

ahhhhh finally summer! Leaving Montevideo yesterdy the city did seem quite a bit more lively so the quiteness must have really been because it was sunday. After 2 hours on the bus I arrived in Punta del Este a big beach resort area.. pretty much where all the Argentines and Brazilians go on holiday.. The hostel is just a 5 min walk from the beach.. perfect. it was a bit windy yesterday but today was a beautiful day.. spend most of it at the beach sun bathing and swimming and then went for a walk along las Ramblas ( the coast line).. it was really beautiful. I am really lucky because the High Season is just about to begin so it is still pretty quiet.. Give it a few more weeks and I think this place will be packed. Punta del Este is really quite touristy but at the moment I don´t mind at all as he hostel is realy quiet, I can relax at the beach and re-charge my batteries a bit noisy Buenos Aires.

An interesting thing in Montevideo was that I saw all these people walking around with these weired things looking like pipes with some green stuff in it... At first I thought what the hell is that? Turns out it is tea.. MaTe. They carry these things around with them together with a Thermo under their arm.. looks quite random at times... I met some really lovely Argentines and a Brazilian Couple in the Montevideo hostel who taught me the basics of Argentinian meats... trust me there are sooooo many different types.. You´d be surprised how many parts there are to a cow... Here in Punta del Este I hung out with a lovely Austrian girl who unfortunately was heading to Argentina today..

Fingers crossed the weather will be good tomorrow so I can enjoy another beach day... I will pretty much spend all thursday travelling back to Buenos Aires...Monday I am off to Brazil and then meet Renato at the airport on tuesday

Montevideo

stefylein — Mon, 7 Dec 2009 08:22:00 GMT

This morning I left Colonia and after about 2.5h got to Montevideo.. I am staying in a hostel in the Ciudad Vieja which is the old part of the city... There are some beautiful old buildings and I feel that the city has even more character than Buenos Aires... What a little bit of money could do however to improve this part of town... it could be a major tourist attraction with some reparations... and then ugly signs or shops kill a bit the beautiful style of the building. Unfortunately like in Buenos Aires this appears to be no the best part of town...but once again it is the most beautiful... the centro itself is quite commercial.

It is really weired because there is no one on the streets today. maybe because it is sunday but I didn´t like that part... some interesting looking people you come across glad I didn take much money with me... Whilst in Buenos Aires the male population just pulls the horn here you get quite a bit of hissing and calling words after you hermosa, princesa.... not so nice when you are on your own.. I just tried to stay on the main road. For lunch I went to the Port which is 2 min walk from my hostel.. there are lots of steak places. AMAZING. for like 6 pounds you get a huge fillet. sooooooo good!! simply delishhhhh.

Back in the hostel I met some Argentinians who are here for an art event. One of them hadnt seen the city before either and he had a car so we drove outside the city to the the beaches and the part of town called Pocitos... driving along las Ramblas which is the beach promenade.. nice but unfortunately brown not blue water as it is a river rather than the ocean.. So that was my bit of adventure..

Like in Argentina people don t like dealing with large bank notes.. but a large bank note actually not being worth more than like 10-20 pounds... really weired. At least there is plenty of coins in Uruguay unlike in Argentina. Somebody decided to horde alll the coins and eventually sell them which is why there are hardly any coins in Argentina and everybody holds on to them.. the problem is however that for taking the bus you can only use coins... you see the problem here.. quite a bit of a mission to be able to get hold of change for using the bus.

Tomorrow I am off to Punta del Este which is a big beach resort area.. unfortunately it has not been that summer warm yet but we shall see. hoping to get the bikini out...

Colonia del Sacramento, BA

stefylein — Sun, 6 Dec 2009 07:39:00 GMT

Yesterday I went on a quest to further discover the city. I took the bus to La Boca which is not the best part of town ( you certainly don´t want to go there at night as apparently the slums start right next to it) but there are 2 beautiful little streets ( very touristy) with very colourful houses. You can sit outside at the cafes and watch tango performances or shop around at the many little stands. This certainly was one of my favourite places as it was not like most of Buenos Aires which is dominated by large skyscrapers. After I thought I´d check out the shopping opportunities and couldn´t believe the soooo cheap prices and gorgeous things but I leave that to my last few days here and hope that my wonderful boyfriend will be so woooonderful and take some stuff back for me to Europe ( Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease) !!!! ;) pleeeeeease... There were also some street Tango performances and many little street acts on the main shopping street.. really liked it

You see quite a few people trying to sell you stuff on the public transport like hairbands.. my favourite was however a pair of sicors.. you do notice the poverty ( I think we were asked for money about 10 times a day)When we went for lunch the other day even the waitress was a bit astonished though as this little girl first very bored asked for money and then if she could drink the rest of our Coke.. We said sure and up she took the glass and downed it.

Buenos Aires is a city that never sleeps or maybe it is more like I never sleep in Buenos Aires... First 2 nights I was still pretty jet lagged anyways but then the music in the hostel is so loud that today once again I didn´t make it until 4am.. So when the receptionist asked me why on earth I plan to spend 5 days in Uruguay ( according to her it is sooo quite and nothing going on) I was simply thinking: thats exactly what I want. And that´s also what so far I have found! This morning I took the ferry across to Colonia (whooo hoo one more stamp in the passport lol) I really like Colonia as it is this tiny colonial town (Unesco heritage) and it is soooo quiet.. you can even hear the trees move... I charmed the guy at the reception so fingers crossed I will be on my own in the dorm for 8.. in exchange I am dealing with a only half finished bathroom.. ´Sounds good to me in exchange for some tranquility... Unfortunately it was raining a bit but luckily I managed to escape most of it while having lunch.. I simply wondered through the streets and went pici taking.

Tomorrow morning I am heading to Montevideo.

Buenos Aires

stefylein — Fri, 4 Dec 2009 07:48:00 GMT

Buenos Aires it is... After quite an early start from Auckland ( 6.30 am flight) with a connection via Sydney it was off to a 13h flight to Buenos Aires. The funny bit was that at Syndey airport I met a guy who I had seen on my bus tour in NZ and he was on the same flight to Buenos Aires two rows behind me. He didn´t have a hostel yet so he joined me at mine. I thought it was quite good because that way I wasn´t alone for the first day and a half and gave me a bit of time to get used to the new setting.. First things first after dropping the bags at the hostel we headed straight for some late lunch some nice Argentinian meat in a really cute restaurant around the corner. I liked it because it wasn´t the standard modern design of the restaurants you have nowadays but it was more unique with black and white tiles and a bit of an old style.. After that we went walking in town then along the water front and then back to the area where we are staying ( San Telmo).. so far I have a bit of mixed feelings about Buenos Aires.. I like how things are still very individual by that I mean all the different little stores you sell from nothing to everything which is really nice given that in Europe mainly everything are shop chains now.. There are a lot of skyscrapers and many parts of the city haven´t wowed me yet. on the other hand you have really nice little corners with European architecture which are quite cute. Like the little square in teh area of the hostel where they tend to danc eTango in the street ( unfirtunately when I was there :( For dinner some Empandas which are little meat meat filled pouches like bread.

Today we went to Recoleta where there is an old cemetery with some beautiful stones and tombs from there we took the subway to Palermo viejo which so far is my favourite part of the city. Mainly flat buildings a bit more colourful and simply a relaxing atmosphere hangs in the air. There is lots of clothing stores heheh I think I will go back there and everyhting is really cheap.. ;))) I really liked that part of town..

The Swiss guy is off to Brazil tomorrow so I will have a wonder on my own tomorrow. wa quite good to slowly get used to the city people made me a bit paranoid with all their stories about mugging and drugging.. but so far it looks alright.. Decided to stay off the road at night though. The day after tomorrow I think I will head over to Uruguay. The plan is to take the train to an outside part of Buenos Aires ( El Tigre) and then cross over to Uruguay by ferry from there. Rather than going to the big cities that boat takes you a bit to the pampa and a small town called Caramelo so I am hoping to see a bit more of the country and its people... we´ll see if that plan works ;)

hope you are all well

Rotorua, Auckland, bay of Islands

stefylein — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:47:00 GMT

Can't believe I have almost completed my trip in New Zealand! Time went by so quickly! From Taupo I headed about an hour north to Rotorua. We were supposed to get there in the morning but apparently our driver was down with food poisening ( too bad somebody saw him doing shots at 4am in the local bar) so we had to wait for a driver to come down all the way from Auckland. in the end it didnt matter that much because Rotorua is pretty much not exciting at all.. its famous for thermal activity and blubbing mud pools... but it did stink of sulpher

next day we were off to Auckland with a quick stop in Matamata where they filmed Hobbiton from Lord of the Rings..and then hit the big city. I was positively surprised by Auckland. i thought that I wouldn't like it at all. but first impressions were quite positive given that it is such a big city. reminded mea bit of big US cities. We had a wonder around town and treated ourselves to some lovely Japanese dinner. The next day (today) we left early heading to the BAy of Islands. the winterless part of NZ (in the very North of the North Island). unfortunately it is a bit cloudy so the views weren't as good. but at least it is nice and warm./ I took a boot trip to discover the 100+ islands which are in the Bay. We once again saw dolphins and a tiny winy baby one. adorable. These type of dolphins were massive though in comparison to the ones that I saw earlier during my trip. big papas. but simply beautiful animals. Sweet as...Just met my "roomate" for this evening.. an old Dutchman.. I guess around mind 70s... thats what you meet at YHA hostels a very diverse age group. Tomorrow I am doing a day trip to cape Reinga which is a spiritual place for the Maori people. Apparently that's where the souls of the dead leave the island. Unfortunately rain is forecasted but fingers crossed it will be sunny because then we go sand boarding. whoooooo hoooooo