Travels in South America

Gallery: New York

steph_dave — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 02:32:00 GMT

New York, New York

steph_dave — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:53:00 GMT

We left the very hot and humid Brazil behind and flew straight into a freezing, icey cold New York. When we walked out of the airport and stood by the side of the road for 10 minutes waiting for the bus, I thought my face was going to fall off it was so cold.

So, bus and subway (thanks to the really helpful worker there "I aint got no maps here!")to the hostel, nap and then out to explore. A very nice pizza in Little Italy, walked through the underwhelming China Town and got the ferry over to the Statue of Liberty. She's quite a lot smaller than I had imagined but impressive nonetheless. Then on to the high point of the trip for Dave - the Nicks v. Wizards at Madison Square Garden.

It was a bit of a rush to get there but it was a lot of fun. We had excellent seats and a few REALLY expensive beers and burgers. I tried to buy Dave a foam finger thingy but he was having none of that. The Nicks won, woohoo!

The next day we went shopping and Dave was really, really happy about this. I made him stand in Victoria's Secret for about an hour and then another hour or so in H&M. I was pleased with my purchases, Dave was pleased that I was pleased so he didn't have t put up with me being annoyed on top of all the shopping. I did buy him some trainers though, so I think it was all fair!

We also went to the Empire State Building. The view was better than I thought it would be, plus we got to watch them trying to keep that plane afloat that crashed into the Hudson River.

Next day we flew home, sad to leave, happy to be going home for a while. Very much looking forward to the joblesness, homelesness and severe lack of money!

Last Stop (in South America) – Sao Paulo

steph_dave — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:50:00 GMT

We've heard lots of different things about Sao Paulo. Most of them have been quite negative but a few positive, so we wanted to give it a go and see for ourselves. And...It was good. Finally the sun came out, we did a bit of walking around, had a couple of nice meals and went to the top of a tower to get a view across the city. It's not exactly the best place in the world for tourists as there isn't that much to do, but it is good for shopping, eating and going out.

This Island Bites!

steph_dave — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:49:00 GMT

In Ilhabela we got lucky with a really nice hostel (Bonns Ventos), had a swimming pool and a pool table and a really good breakfast. As we were only there for a few days we didn't want to waste any time. The first day was spent organising bus tickets, doing laundry and sorting out a tour for the following day. The best beach, Castelhanos, was on the other side of the island and only accessible by boat or 4WD. We decided on the slightly cheaper, but still expensive 4WD option. Sitting in the back of a really old but well looked after Ford we drove for 2 hours to get to the other side. Definitely needed a 4WD here, a massive amount of mud. Lots of sliding around and very bumpy, the Brazilians seemed to find the whole thing completely hilarious and couldn't stop giggling. We got to the beach and then walked for a couple of KM to get to a waterfall with a natural pool. By then it had clouded over and it wasn't exactly hot any more so I allowed my whoosiness (do'nt know how to spell it) to prevail and decided not to get in. Dave did brave the water and obviously said it was good and refreshing, not bloody freezing! It was a fairly good waterfall, though after Iguazu Falls we're pretty hard to impress. Walked back down to the beach and spent an hour in the sea. Couldn't spend much time on the beach as there were millions (that isn't much of an exaggeration) of biting flies.

The next day we went to another nice beach, just a short bus ride away and hoped the sun would come out, but it couldn't be bothered and I finally gave up on the sunbathing. Although Ilhabela is quite pretty, it wasn't as nice as Ilha Grande and the bugs were murder. By the time we left I had well over 60 bites. Itchy!

Party in Parati

steph_dave — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:44:00 GMT

When we finally left Ilha Grande on 31^st January we went to Parati. We had thought we would stay on Ilha Grande for New Years but it wasn't possible. Apparently all Brazilians go to the coast at New Years and the WHOLE island was booked out, even the camp sites. So, on we went to Parati and we were lucky to get beds there!

We hopped on the local bus (something the bus companies like to pretend you can't do) and 2 and a bit hours later we were in the Historic Centre of Parati. Old colonial buildings and crazily cobbled streets. We hit the town for New Years Eve. There was free (but not great) music on a big stage on the beach and at midnight they let loose a ton of fireworks. They were pretty cool, wandered around for a while more and went back to the hostel at about 2. Very early as the party was continuing on the streets but Dave had definitely had enough to drink and had is heart set on sleep, so off to bed it was.

We spent the next few days in Parati, hoping the weather would be good but there were quite a few drizzly days and we spent a lot of time watching TV. Which was good, we hadn't had one for a while. We did get one really nice day though and a few of us from the hostel went down to the dock and hired a boat for the day, it took us to a couple of pretty beaches and allowed us to see, from a distance, some of the houses belonging to rich people. We also had some really good Thai food in Parati, the best we've had on our trip so far. Wanted to go back again but it was well over our budget and so had to settle for pasta and sauce, again.

When we finally managed to get a bus ticket out of Parati (not only is it difficult to book hostels, you also have to book buses in advance) we went to Sao Sebastio to get the bus to another island – Ilhabela.

Gallery: Brazil

steph_dave — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 22:59:00 GMT

Sun, sand, Santa and snakes

steph_dave — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 11:08:00 GMT

An island 150KM south of Rio and off of the coast, Ilha Grande is supposed to have some of Brazil's best beaches. We had managed to find an apartment to rent for a week over Christmas. It's really nice with a good view of the sea, the one problem being it's really damp. Today it's raining (which is why I'm writing this) and we found out why it's damp. The roof isn't too great at it's job! Anyway Ilha Grande is lovely. It only has a few small settlements, we are staying in the largest, Abrao.

We spent the first full day (23^rd) preparing for Christmas. They don't seem to be that into it over here, even though they're all religious, so we had to make our own decorations, which I think are pretty good. On Christmas Eve we went to a beach called Lopes Mendes. We decided to walk there through the forest as there is a well-trodden path to it. After about 10 minutes Dave was worried when I started swearing and gasping. A HUGE bloody snake went across the path right in front of me. A local guy who walked past us a minute later said not to worry as the green ones aren't dangerous, he tried to pick it up, thankfully the snake got away. This snake was really skinny but must have been a metre and a half long. It scared the crap out of me. The local guy told us that the brown ones are dangerous and we should watch out for them, easier said than done when walking through a rainforest where EVERYTHING looks like a brown snake. We spent the next 2 and a bit hours walking and watching for snakes. Thankfully we didn't see any more, although we did see some kind of monkey thing, haven't worked out what it was yet. The beach was definitely worth the walk. It was beautiful. 2KM of perfect white sand and a really blue warm sea with big waves. Needless to say we both spent too long in the sun and got burnt but it was a great day.

Christmas day. What to do? Skype the family, send a couple of e-mails. Drink. Drink. Drink. We cooked a nice roast dinner (although they don't have turkeys here, or gravy apparently) and had a substantial amount of beer. Just like home. What wasn't like home was that we ate outside on a balcony looking out to sea. Have to admit I missed the cold weather a little bit as it didn't seem Christmasy without it but I'm over that now and looking forward to the sunshine tomorrow.

Warm Welcome in Rio

steph_dave — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 11:05:00 GMT

From Foz do Iguacu (on the Brazilian side of the falls) we decided to get a bus straight to Rio de Janeiro. What a long bus journey that was. We couldn't even get a good bus. Just 25 little hours later we arrived in Rio's extremely busy bus station. While Peru and Bolivia had been dominated by Indian Andean types and Argentina and Chile could easily have been European, as soon as we got to Rio it was very apparent that Brazil was something else. There seem to be no two people that are the same colour, it ranges from pale people with blond hair to the blackest of black people and all of these different influences have made Brazil really different to the other countries we have visited. Plus, they speak Portuguese here, just when we were getting used to the Spanish. It's supposed to be similar and in written form they do look similar, but spoken they are so different. Right back to square one. Anyway, obviously we had to get a taxi to our hostel. We both agreed that the R$30 that the drivers were trying to charge was completely unreasonable, even though we had only just got here, didn't know how much things cost or how long it would take to get to the hostel. So we got a less official taxi that only charged R$20. After 10 minutes I realised that our driver was definitely on drugs, he was obviously having a little dance party in his head even though there was no music. I couldn't say anything to Dave as he was in the front and besides, we couldn't get out anyway, who knows where he would have left us. Eventually the guy found our hostel and by this time he had decided he wanted R$25 instead of 20. Dave was not happy about this. He waited for me to get the bags out of the car and then said to the driver, “Ok, I'll give you R$21”. He gave the driver a 20 and a 1, the driver tried to swap the twenty for a two and make it look like Dave had underpaid him, at which point Dave lost his temper and gave him his standard “Get f*****d!” as he slammed the door. I prayed that the driver would A. drive off B. be too drugged to fight and C. did not have a gun. Luckily he did A so we didn't have to find out about B and C. Nice introduction to Rio.

We spent the first two nights in Rio Hostel, which was ok. The staff were really good but the place was filled with Children of the World types who just get on your nerves. We went out one evening to an area called Lapa and although it was pissing down it was quite good. Lots of the bars have Samba bands and people just stand out in the streets dancing. We went back to the hostel after a few drinks. In the morning Dave got out of the top bunk and said to me “Don't turn around”. Why? Because the slightly smelly Child of the World who was sleeping in the bed across from mine and who hadn't bothered to put the sheets on his bed, had also decided to sleep naked! Dave tried to wake him up, but the guy was too drunk so Dave threw a spare pillow over the offending parts. Unable to sleep we got up to have a shower. When we got back to the room, the guy had decided that he really did want to be naked and discarded the pillow on the floor. This time Dave did manage to wake the guy up and he politely told him to “Put some f***ing clothes on.” Luckily we went to a different hostel that day. The other hostel was pretty good. It had the same name and was owned by the same people but was in a completely different location, right on Ipanema beach, the slightly cooler beach adjoining Copacabana.

What did we think of Rio? Well to be honest we probably didn't give it a fair chance as we weren't there for long enough. But, it was definitely a hassle to get around and the statue of Christ the Redeemer was a little disappointing for me, although the views were good. Some people who had been there longer were having a great time and so the city does seem to have a lot to offer if you give it a chance . To be honest I think we were bored with cities and ready for some time on a good beach. So off we went to Ilha grande.

Bits and Bobs

steph_dave — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT

After leaving Puerto Natales we travelled 12 hours to get to Ushuaia, the southernmost town in South America and the point from which the rich people go on trips to Antarctica. We expected Ushuaia to be cold and windy and wild, just like the end of Earth should be, however we were a little disappointed. The hostel we stayed in (Hostel Freestlye) was really good. New and clean with a really huge room that you could lounge around in, listen to music or play pool. The National Park near Ushuaia is Tierra del Fuego and this is largely the reason people go to Ushuaia. So we went there and (whoopy!) did some more walking. Tierra del Fuego was nice but was like a poor man's Torres del Paine. There were less trails, smaller mountains, less impressive lakes and no really amazing views. But, still it was good to see it for ourselves. From Ushuaia we wanted to go straight to Buenos Aires. To save us a coach journey that would have taken 2 days, we decided to fly. Much quicker and not really that much more expensive.

So Buenos Aires. We got in late and spent the first night in a fairly crap, over-priced hostel. The next day we went to the centre of BA (that's what they call it here) to find somewhere better and we got really lucky. We went to a well-established hostel called Milhouse which had recently opened up a new hostel on the next block. The place looked like a hotel inside. It had a big bar, brand new pool table, big TV and lovely rooms, so we happily spent the next few nights there, and thanks to some birthday money from mum and dad we even managed to pay for a few nights in a private room. Staying in a dorm in BA is not that much fun considering how late people stay out. BA was really nice. We met up with a couple we met at the animal sanctuary (hello Gui and Kelly!), we went on some long walks around the city, ate a lot of cheap pizza, saw a few crappy sites and some good ones, had a fantastic steak and chips dinner and to top it off the weather was fantastic! Where did we visit? Well on one day which resulted in a particularly long walk, we saw the unimpressive dock, the even more unimpressive imitation Big Ben, the amazing Recoleta Cemetery and a Japanese garden. The cemetery was really good. The town's rich people have had big sarcophagi and statues built here for many years and the result is a cemetery that looks like a tiny town of tiny houses. It's really very odd. Unfortunately this long walk of mixed value also resulted in us being very sunburned as it had looked cloudy when we left and didn't bother to put any sun lotion on – Big Mistake! A few days later we went to La Boca one of the supposed slums of BA, however, this place is so touristy now it can hardly be called a slum. The coloured houses were pretty nice and Dave enjoyed the pre-football match excitement.

From BA we got a long 18 hour bus journey to Puerto Iguazu. Time to see another one of the big reasons for coming to South America – Iguazu Falls. Puerto Iguazu is a nice little town and we both really enjoyed the feeling of being back in the jungle. The hostel (Residencial Uno) had a swimming pool which was a welcome relief from the heat, plus seven fluffy and fat little puppies which is a bonus for anyone. The next day we set off for Parque Nacional Iguazu, which apparently has more to offer than just waterfalls but like everyone else we didn't bother to find out what. The first trail shows you the waterfalls from a distance and the view is brilliant. You get quite close to some of the waterfalls and some people enjoyed getting saturated by their spray. The next trail takes you across the top of these waterfalls and you really get a sense of how huge the rivers are that are feeding in to them. The park has a little train that we got on to take us to the piece de resistance Garganta del Diablo (the Devil's throat). This waterfall is ginormous and really, really loud, we had to shout at each other to hear ourselves. Although we had done well so far, there was no avoiding the spray from this waterfall and we both got pretty wet, me more so than Dave as he kept using me to block the water. The fall was also so big it seemed to create its own wind and a girl waved goodbye to her hat as it was swept off of her head and into the froth. The falls were really very impressive and it was definitely well worth the trip. The next day we bid farewell to the puppies and got a bus across the border into Brazil.

4 Days and 80 Ks

steph_dave — Sun, 7 Dec 2008 14:29:00 GMT

From El Calafate we got the bus to Puerto Natales, Chile. So we had to cross the border again. From Puerto Natales we wanted to go to the Torres del Paine National Park and do some walking and camping. The plan was to walk what is known as 'the W', a series of walks that create a W shape. It went pretty much like this:

Day 1.

Bus and Catamaran to the West side of the W. Set up tent. 2p.m. Leave camp and walk for 3 hours to get to Glacier Grey. Very pretty. Not as impressive as the Moreno glacier but still very cool (as Dave would say). Walk 3 hours back. Cook food, (Here we discovered our first mistake, while you can hire tents, mats, sleeping bags and buy food and drink, you CANNOT hire cooking equipment. Bugger. Luckily the first campsite sort of had equipment we could use.) go to bed, get very little sleep because the ground is hard and it's very cold at night.

Point of interest - it was possible to see how super fit others are when we passed them coming back and we still had an hour to go before we got there.

Day 2

Take down tent, pack bags, eat cereal with a fork. Walk for 2 3/4 hours with all of our stuff. Get to the campsite at the bottom of the middle bit of the W. Set up tent. Walk for 3 1/2 hours to a look out point. It's supposed to be a lovely, pretty walk. And it was pretty but we were both tired from the lack of sleep and it seemed really tough. Walk 3 hours back. Sandwiches for tea. Into bed at 9. Slightly more comfortable night as Dave ingeniously padded our mats with our spare clothes.

Point of interest - whilw crossing a little muddy stream via stepping stones, I slipped, jumped to avoid getting covered in mud, and ended up head butting a tree.

Day 3

Cereal eaten with a stolen fork (couldn't find a spoon) for breakfast. Pack tent. Leave camp at 8. Day 3 was always going to be more difficult because we had to walk a long way to the next camp, carrying all of our stuff. So, a mere 9 hours later we arrived at the last camp site on the eastern side of the W. Although this walk was difficult it was prettier than the walk the day before and having to cross many rivers made it interesting. It was actually quite enjoyable until the last two hours when we were just to knackered to care. Arrived at 5 ish, set up the tent, took a long awaited shower (there weren't any at the previous camp site), eventually cooked some food and went to bed.

Point of interest - there were a lot of fairly big rivers to cros this day. Most of them you could eventually find a way across by stepping stones. We got to one pretty big and fast one and couldn't see and bvious way across. An Australian couple had just crossed and the lady indicated that you had to take off your shoes and socks and wade across. The water was bloody freezing. Really, really freezing, like ice water. Dave was not happy.

Day 4

Left camp at 7:45 to walk to the Torres del Paine, big pointy towers after which the park is named. The first hour was ok, the next 40 minutes were basically climbing up a cliff. Tough. The towers did look amazing. We had seen them at different angles from other parts of the park, but here they looked really cool and there was a nice lagoon at the bottom of them. When we were at the top we realised that if we hurried we might actually be able to catch the half two bus instead of the half seven one (we really wanted to do this as the next day we had to be up early again to catch a bus to Ushuaia). So we climbed back down and then walked extrememly quickly the hour back to camp (got it down to 45 mins by occasionally breaking into a downhill jog). Took down the tent and left for the hostel from which the connecting bus picks you up. It was such a relief to get there.

Point of interest - despite my clumsiness it was Dave that fell over on the way down from the towers, he landed on his arse where there is little padding but he was ok.

Overall we walked somewhere between 80 and 85 KM in around 28 hours. The Torres del Paine park is very, very bautiful and we did enjoy it. The mountains are high and you see the occasional mini avalanche at the top. The lakes and lagoons are amazing colours. There are loads of rivers and little streams and waterfalls. The forests provide some welcome shade and cover the lower slopes of the mountains. However, if we could do it again we would leave ourselves more time so that we could walk a bit slower and enjoy the views a bit more. Plus we'd take cooking equipment and inflatable beds.

So cool, it's a glacier.

steph_dave — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:48:00 GMT

From Puerto Madryn we got a bus to Rio Gallegos (18 hours) where we had to wait a couple of hours to get another bus to El Calfate (5 hours). We were pretty nackered by the time we got there but as we're limited on time we had to rush around sorting out a trip to the glacier for the next day.

The only reason why tourists go to El Calafate is because it is the closest town to the national park containing a good few glaciers. Just an hours drive from El Calafate is the Perito Moreno glacier, the biggest in South America (30 KM long).

We quickly discovered that as with everywhere in Argentina, all bus companies and tour agencies charge exactly the same rate and more often than not it's a rip off. We couldn't afford to do an ice trek as we'd hoped (but later agreed would have been pointless) and decided just to get the bus there the following morning. (Stayed in a hostel called De Los Manos, the CRAPPEST breakfast in the whole of Argentina, stupid rules and an amazingly ill-equipped kitchen.)

So Friday 28th November we got back on a bus and drove the hour to the glacier. While you're on the way there you start to see bits of ice in the lake and realise you must be getting close and then you go around a bend and it's just there. Even from a big distance it looks so huge and impressive. Like nothing else in the world. It is so much more than a block of ice. When you get to the park you can view the glacier from a few hundred metres and it is just immense. It goes back so far it melts into the snowcapped mountains. It is 60m hire and a few hundred metres wide. As you walk along the path to view different areas you can hear bits of the ice cracking,it's so loud, like thunder. Then every now and again there's a really big crack and a wedge of ice falls off the side and thuds into the water. It is just so amazing.

We walked down to the jetty and paid for a boat ride to take you alongside the glacier in the lake. You probably don't really get much closer (sometimes really big bits fall off so the boats can't get too close) but you can feel how cold it is and you get a better sense of how high it is. For an hour the boat just drives backwards and forward along the wall of the glacier and you don't get bored at all because it looks so amazing.

It is definitely one of the best things we've seen on the whole trip. I felt a little sad when we had to get the bus back. Dave thought it was cool too. So cool it's a glacier, as he kept saying throughout the day.

A Whale of a Time (how predictable)

steph_dave — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:24:00 GMT

The purpos of going all the way to the Argentinian coast and Puerto Madryn was to go whale watching. But did we see any? Were we happy or disappointed? The suspense is killing you I'm sure.

Puerto Madryn is an ok town on the coast. Nothing special and we had to walk across the bloody thing about 4 times to find a hostel which really didn't endear it to me. We only wanted to stay long enough to go whale watching and then get back on the bus. (I love the buses so much, the cramped legs, the smelly people, the shit food. Excellent.) So we sorted the whales for the next day.

Not wanting to waste an afternoon we decided to hire bikes for an extortionate amount of money and visit a sea lion colony at Punta Loma. It was only 17KM from town and everyone said it would take just over an hour. My arse! (Have you noticed a deterioration in my language. I think I must be a bit grumpy today. Maybe that's why Dave's been asleep since 9) 17 KM along a dirt road into which you sink and fall off every few hundred metres. It took oer two hours and I don't even like cycling. To top it off when we go there the tide was pretty much in and most of the sea lions had swam off. But the tight, money-grabbing people in Patagonia still charged us a fiver each anyway. Not impressed. Then we had to cycle back. Woohoo. Our butts were so sore we couldn't sit down properly for two days.

The next day we got the public bus to Puerto Piramide which is on Peninsula Valdes (where all the whales are). We got a couple of boat tickets (£40 each, Patagonia is so expensive)and headed out to sea, looking beautiful in yellow waterproofs. It took a while but eventually we saw some whales and it was pretty amazing. We pretty much followed a mother and her calf for the next hour. It was even more amazing because 3 dolphins were playing with them. At one point the mother came up right next to the aide of the boat where me and Dave were standing, this huge, ugly, bumpy head, just looking at you. It was fantastic. From a distance we saw a good few other whales too. Yes it was expensive but it was definitely worth it.

The only problem was that we had to wait around for 5 hours for the bus back. It was pretty dull except for a few minutes which were probably the most rewarding of the day. Earlier on while we were waiting for the boat we were wondering around and notices a seal on the beach. At first we thought it was dead, but every few minutes it flicked it's tail a bit. There were a couple of park wardens keeping an eye on it and we figured it was probably dying. Later that afternoon, we checked up on it and it had moved a few metres but was still miles away from the sea as the tide was out. Another couple of hours later the tide was coming in and we saw the seal pulling itself to the sea. It took about 15 minutes and the poor thing looked so exhausted, but eventually it made it. It reached the sea and began to swim around. It was perfectly happy and only minutes earlier it had looked like it was close to death. How cool.

Speaking of cool...next stop El Calafate.

Bariloche

steph_dave — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:07:00 GMT

I've got an early start so here come 3 quick stories (probably with lots of spellings mistakes, especially place names).

After leaving Puerto Varas we crossed the border back into Argentina and went to a town called Barilcohe. It has a pretty similar stting to Puerto Varas, lots of hills and lakes. For some reason Bariloche looks kind of Swiss and lots of people have St. Bernards. No idea why.

We stayed in a hostel called Pudu which is run by an Irish couple(can't get away from the bloody people) and an Argentinian. It was pretty good, the breakfast was nice and there was a really good crowd of guests.

We made two outings while we were there. One highly unsiccessful and one fairly succesful. Plus we had what was only our third proper night out of the whole trip!

We went to Cerro de Catedral on the Saturday (22nd). We thought it would be an easy trip to the top of a hill, bus then cabe car. Then we'd have a wonder around and admire the view. First of all we couldn't find the bus stop, after waiting at the wrong one for half an hour we went to find the right one and the bus drove right past us. Boo. 1 1/2 hours later we got the right bus. Yay. When we got to Cerro de Catedral everything was closed excet for one cable car. This wouldn't have been a problem if we could have actually afforded to get on it. It was £10 each. Rip off. The afternoon wasn't a complete disaster though. We had a really nice hot chocolate while we were waiting for the bus back.

That night we went out on the town to laugh at Argentinian dancing and drink some beer. The evening (I say evening, we didn't leave until 10 o'clock, Argentinians lve their late nights) got off to a bad start when I had to go back and change my shoes. I was wearing flip flops and it was raining, and my feet got wet and it was really icky and I hate it. But then we found a nice pub had some drinks and then went to a rock and reggae club. It seemed to only play reggae. Dave was so drunk he started to fall asleep and so we were home by half 3. Early apparently!

Sunday we went to cerro de campanario. Another hill. Apparently the view from the top is one of the top 10 in the world according to National Geographic. I have to say it was a very rewarding view for only half an hour of climbing.

Monday we hopped on the bus for a quick 14 hour journey to Puerto Madryn.

Gallery: Argentina

steph_dave — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:01:00 GMT

The Tent. At Last!

steph_dave — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:34:00 GMT

We finally left Pucon (one day late thanks to Mareike and her Cuba Libres) and headed for Valdivia, a small town that the guide books said was really nice. The guide books failed us again. It wasn't that nice and we stuggled to find somewhere to stay. Eventually we found somewhere, stayed the night and left early in the morning for Puerto Varas. This time the guide books were right (well they have a 50/50 chance) and Puerto Varas was lovely. We stayed a couple of nights (Hostel Casa Mawenco, really nice, bright, clean and friendly) and then headed to Petrohue, a small, nearby village in the national park, to finally test out the tent.

Village might be a bit of a stretch. There was one hotel, one campsite and a tiny little shop. However, the views from the camp site were amazing. We pitched our tent so that we could see out onto Volcan Osorno, it was pretty amazing. We watched the sun go down and made a nutritious dinner of Pate sandwiches. The whole thing was marred only by the presence of millions of fecking flies doing their best to eat us alive.

After a fairly uncomfortable nights sleep (camping mats are no good, blow up mattresses are the way to go apparently) we set out for a 12km walk. I hadn't realised how much uphill climbing there would be and was after a few hours completely knackered. We made it to the top of the ridge between the two mountains and yes it was a good view. However, I could appreciate exactly the same view an hour before! We walked back. A total of 7 hours walking.

That evening we decided to treat ourselves to dinner in the hotel, mostly to get out of the way of the flies. Our campsite was on the otherside of the river to the hotel and so you have to get a boat across. When we were dropped off we asked the guy if he could pick us up mas tardes. He said sure at 9:30, just shout across for him. We ate dinner, 9:30 came and we went out to get the boat. He wasn't there. So we really did shout for him. Half past nine, all was quiet, a beautiful still night in a very quiet village and Dave is shouting 'Hola, cruzar' at the top of his voice. It was very funny. Eventually someone shouted something back and a boat appeared. Another night with little sleep and we packed up the tent to head back to Puerto Varas.

Petrohue is pretty and the camping was fun but there are better walks in other places I'm sure.

The Hills are Alive - with the sound of moaning

steph_dave — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 21:12:00 GMT

On Monday 10th November our bus pulled into beautiful Pucon. What we have seen of the lake district so far is just stunning. So many huge clear blue lakes, mountains everywhere, green forests, clean tidy towns with cute little wooden houses.

In Pucon we stayed in Hostel Donde German which is pretty much perfect. It is the cleanest hostel you have ever seen with nice little rooms, a good kitchen and a big garden with views of Volcan Villarrica. Plus there is a lovely little dog who always wants a belly rub.

We've come to this area of Chile for the views and to do some hiking, rafting and horse riding. All the expensive activities! After speaking to some of the other people in the hostel we all decided that on Tuesday we would 'do the volcano' and a couple of the others went off to book it. Now, it's not like I didn't think about this. I had been told that it wasn't easy and that you needed to be fairly fit but how many chances do you get to look into a smoking active volcano? However, I was really unprepared for the climb.

Nice and early in the morning we went to the tour company and they fitted us out with all the gear, including special boots. The heaviest shoes the world has every known. Ridiculously impossible to walk in. After having difficulty making it out to the car I wasn't sure how I was going to walk up a volcano in them. The mini van took us up to the base of the volcano, we got out, realised it was boiling and took off most of the extra clothing we had been given (but not the shoes). The climb started and when I was already quite tired after only 10 minutes, I realised I might be in a bit of trouble!

Volcan Villarrica is 2800m high, it is covered pretty much all the way to the bottom in icy snow. It is not a technically difficult climb as there is no need for ropes and stuff, but it does take an average of five hours. This is because the volcano is steep and obviously slippery so it is not possible to climb straight up, you have to zig-zag your way to the top, therefore covering much more than 3km.

We climbed our way up to the half way point, stopping a couple of times for a quick break in order to drink and apply yet another layer of sun cream. At the half way point we stopped for around twenty minutes. It is so steep there that it is difficult to sit down and it is particularly icy so everything tries to slide away from you. I was exhausted at this point. Dave and the others were all tired, but me and another girl were just absolutely knackered. When the guide told us that the next hour was the most difficult section I almost thought he was joking, for me it couldn't get more difficult. But he was right.

For the next half hour we climbed on very steep very icy snow. It was difficult to stay standing. You may think, does it really matter if you fall, it's only snow, it does matter. When at one of the resting points I put my hand into the snow and it cut my finger. It is not soft and fluffy! We came up over a ridge and the guide told us we had two hours left. At this point I seriously considered turning back but I didn't want the last 3 hours of walking to go to waste. We carried on (still steep and slippery) and it seemed ages before the guide stopped us for another break. At this point I was getting deperate. I was exhausted and the top still seemed to be so far away. When at the next stop he said there was still half an hour left I wanted to cry. I just didn't think I could make it. With 15 miuntes left we had another rest.

There was another group at this resting point too. Their group only had 3 people in it but two of them couldn't go on they were just too tired. I felt so sorry for them having to give up when they were so close. The last 15 minutes seemed to take forever, but we slowly plodded along and eventually got to the top. The views were spectacular; lakes, volcanoes, mountains, Argentina. Really good. The crater of the volcano looked cool too, although it was emitting throat-ripping gas.

Everyone was so relieved to have made it to the top (gut gemacht the Donde German massive!) and we were all looking forward to the slide back down. Yes, slide. All of the groups sit down to slide down the mountain and eventually this leaves a little chute through the snow. We had some very attractive plastic nappy type things tied around us, we sat in the chutes and slid down the hill. It was like the best sleigh ride ever. 5 and a half hours to get up and only one hour to get down.

Was it worth it? Yes. The views were amazing, I got to look inside a volcano and the sliding was excellent. Would I do it again? No way in hell. Dave on the other hand probably would, although he'd probably put a bit more sun lotion on. A new meaning for the term red neck (although I can't talk because I forgot to put lotion on my ears and they are currently covered in blisters)!

Gallery: Chile

steph_dave — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:01:00 GMT

Travelling, travelling, travelling.

steph_dave — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 11:27:00 GMT

So we decided that we wanted to go all the way down to Tiera del Fuego. This is a long way. Argentina is over 5,000 KM long. So we needed to get moving and cover some ground. From Uyuni we wnt to Tupiza, from there we crossed the border into Argentina and went to Salta.

What a difference it makes just going a few hours into a different country. Salta is so much more European and developed than anywhere we went in Peru and Bolivia. There are proper restaurants and shops, good roads, clean streets. Seems so strange after 2 and a half months. We stayed in Salta for a couple of nights and then got the bus to Mendoza. This was a very long bus journey, 18 hours. Luckily Argentina has excellent buses (although expensive, it cost £40 each) and we managed to get some sleep.

Mendoza is a really lovely city. It has pretty parks and loads of nice restaurants and bars. You can also do rafting, climbing and horse riding there. Unfortunately the hostel we stayed in wasn't that great. It was a bit lacking on the cleanliness front, particularly in the bathrooms. From Mendoza we got another bus to Santiago, crossing the border into Chile. Country number 4. (We will be going back to Argentina.)

Santiago seems like any other city. It's very big, has some nice parts and some bad parts. Bits are pretty, other bits are ugly. We stayed in what is essentially a good hostel, although the receptionist was so stupid we wanted to strangle him. On Friday night we went out. In Chile and Argentina the locals eat late and go out late. We didn't leave the hostel until 1 a.m. We went to a salsa bar. One of the girls from the hostel tryed to teach me how to salsa, alas I think it is impossible. Dave, of course, refused to attempt it. Shame on him! Eventually we got home at about 5:00 a.m. Ridiculous. In Santiago we also visited a couple of galleries (the museum of contemporary art is SHIT), a museum (lots of pots), a ginormous statue of Mary (the cable car up to it was good) and we used the metro (way nicer than the underground in London).

That brings us up to date. Tonight (9th November) at about 10 O'clock we are getting a bus to Pucon. Interestingly the buses in Chile are a lot cheaper, although of the same quality. Pucon is in the Lake district which is where we want to be so for a little while we'll stop covering so much ground and actually spend some time in places.

Ups and downs on a Flat

steph_dave — Sun, 9 Nov 2008 11:20:00 GMT

On the 26th October we arrived in Uyuni. A very small town in Bolivia but a popular destination for travellers because it's a jumping off point to do a tour of the salt flats and the south west corner of Bolivia.

The tour stared at 10:30 a.m and just a few minutes later we were at our first stopping point. A not very exciting 'train cemetry'. A load of rusty trains stuck in the desert. We quickly moved onto the next place, a small town where they process the salt. This stop was basically so that the locals could try and sell us things made from salt, but we did also get to see houses and furniture made from salt.

Next stop Isla Pescado. After driving across the salt flats for about an hour, we came to an island absolutely full of cacti. It was so strange to see them in the middle of this completely white area. We walked around the island and then came back down to the car for lunch. Our guide Omar had cooked us a really nice lunch of Llama and quinoa.

The car. There were four other people on our tour. A Belgian couple and a Dutch couple. All of us had been told by the tour company that we would have a new car. They even showed us a picture of the 4x4 as 'evidence'. As soon as we started the trip we obviously saw that the car was not new. When we got to the train cemetry we realised that not only was it not new, it was also older than all the other 4x4s giving people tours. At the Isla Pescado we knew that all was not well when Omar had to call out a fuel truck and no one else did. Hmmmm.

After stopping on the salt flats to take some stupid pictures where people seem tiny, we drove on, and on, and on, and on. Several hours later we got to the salt hotel that we were stopping in for the night. How they could possibly call it a hotel I don't know. From the outside the place looked like a barn so we were all pleasantly surprised when we got inside. The building was made from blocks of salt, the floor was covered in loose salt so it was like walking on sand and the furniture was made out of salt blocks too. The place was nice and clean and Omar made some good food again. But still, it wasn't a hotel, just another lie from the tour company.

The second day of the tour was kind of boring. We drove all day from about 8:30 to 4:30 and there was little to see. Of course the general scenery was amazing and we stopped at some lakes, saw some flamingoes, a couple of foxes and some kind of rodenty rabbit thing. It was just a hell of a lot of driving. The car did not like this. Several points during the day the car ground to a halt and Omar had to jump out to fix it. It was quite funny until you realise that you're in the middle of the bloody desert with a car that won't go anywhere. Anyway, obviously Omar was a fairly good mechanic and he managed to get the car working every time. Just about. At the end of the day we came to Laguna Colorado. A huge red lake. It was beautiful. Really amazing and dotted with more flamingoes. However, it was bloody cold and really, really windy so we didn't stop for long and made our way around the lake to the hostel.

Hostel number two was a joke. We were expecting basic, but when we got there the water and electricity weren't working. They fixed the water and got a generator going and Omar cooked us up some more food. The sun went down and it got cold. Unlike the salt hotel, this hostel did not keep a degree of warmth. We all ended up eating dinner with gloves, scarfs, hats and coats on. Lie number 3 - we were promised wine with dinner on the last night. It did not materialise. After dinner Omar disapeared (with wine?) and we had just said that we hoped the generator wouldn't pack up, when it did. 9 O'clock and time for bed.

Next morning. We had agreed to leave at 4:30 a.m. instead of 5 in order to beat the crowds to the hot springs. Unfortunately the Dutch couple (who had suggested beating the crowds) forgot how to use a clock and were dithering around until 5. This whole time we were sat in the car waiting and Omar was on top of the roof freezing his arse off. They must also have been slightly deaf as they didn't hear us beeping the car horn. Eventually we left and about an hour later we arrived at some geysers.

Geysers look fairly impressive. All that smoke and bubbling water. They smell disgusting. Next stop the hot springs. About half an hour from the geysers is a natural hot spring that's been walled in to make a pool. As it was only about 7 in the morning and still VERY cold, we were dubious about stripping down to swimming stuff and sitting in water, but it was brilliant. The water was so hot it was burning my freezing toes. Just like sitting in a bath. Even getting out wasn't so bad because the water seemed to have warmed us to the bone. We had pancakes for breakfast and then hit the road.

Soon we came to Laguna Verde. It was the most beautiful lake we had ever seen. It was a completely still day and the water didn't have a single ripple. The lake was a green colour and the surrounding mountains were reflected perfectly. Amazing.

Then we got in the car for the long drive back. 8 hours.

Verdict - a good tour. The lady was a bit of a liar. The second day was a bit boring. The scenery was amazing.

Do not pass go...

steph_dave — Tue, 4 Nov 2008 16:19:00 GMT

After soaking up the sun in Coroico, we went back to La Paz. We stayed in a different and more central hotel (Hotel Feuntes). La Paz was very laid back. We spent the days just walking around and window shopping (Dave loved that). There was some kind of parade on and we watched the dancing and silly masks for a while. We went to the Coca museum which gave a history of coca use and production. But the most interesting thing we did was visit San Pedro Prison.

Yes, we went inside a Bolivian prison, but this is no ordinary prison. To really understand it you have to read a book called *Marching Powder* by Rusty Young. It's about an English man who was sent to San Pedro for drugs trafficking. The reason why San Pedro is different is that the prison functions like a little town. Prisoners have to pay for their own cells, buy their own food, drink and medicines, they have the keys to their cells/apartments and the police have little influence on what goes on inside. The richer the prisoner, the easier his life inside. Most have their own TVs and kitchen areas and some even have en-suites. Luckiy in-mates are able to continue their trade inside, for exmple doctors, barbers and restauranteurs. At the other extreme are those who can't afford $200 (American) to buy their own cells and have no money for food. These people are forced to sleep in the open court yards and eat the prison food (a soup which does not contain enough nutrients or calories to live on).

So, we were met at the prison gate by our guide (a prisoner) and some bodyguards (also prisoners). He showed us around the different sections of the prison. The prison is sectioned into areas according to the quality and price of the rooms. The poorer sections have very small rooms. We were taken into one of these rooms by our guide and met the prisoner who lived there. He was very young, standing making bracelets to sell to tourists. After we left his cell our guide told us that the young guy was a murderer. That he had killed someone because he "loves the blood". You have to wonder whether everything the guide tells you is the truth. Everyone is high on drugs of some sort.

Bolviva is said to be the best country to buy cocaine and San Pedro prison produces the best cocaine in Bolivia. This is another trade which can be continued on the inside, cocaine production. At night cells are turned into factories. Why don't the police do something about it? For the same reason as we were allowed in, money. We payed 300 Bolivianos each to visit the prison, a massive amount of money in Bolivia. Most of that money finds it's way into the pockets of the police. Many of the poorer addicts are addicted to base. A chemical used in cocaine production. It's cheap and highly addictive. For the others cocaine is easier to get hold of and cheaper than cigarettes and beer. Plus it's familiar. 80% of inmates are in for drug offences.

We continued our tour looking at the different cells, the pool room, the laundry, the different sections and finished in the section that our guide lived in. He pointed out the punishment unit, the area where drugs our produced and the route across the roof that many prisoners use to send things back and forth. Our guide asked us if we wanted any cocaine. We politely declined. It's supposed to be one of the safest places for tourists to do drugs because the police don't go inside the prison often.

Our guide couldn't show us his own cell because his children were sleeping. That's another strange thing about San Pedro, often the prisoner's families move into the prison with them. Although the women and children are free to move back and forth between the prison and the real world, they live with their husbands in their cells. This makes economic sense. The men cannot afford to support their families from prison, it would mean maintaining two houses. It is simpler for the families to move in. From our visit it seemed that even while in prison with their husbands women were still doing most of the work. It was women who were 'manning' the shops and food stalls, looking after the children and no doubt keeping the cells tidy too. To get a better sense of the weird goings on, you really have to read the book. Anyway it was a bizarre day out.