I'll tell you when i find it

The end of the Earth

tristanabba — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:15:00 GMT

I`m a slack writer, i know. i cant believe i havent written any stories since Buenos Aires and so much, so many Glaciers, hundreds of Kms of trekking and camping in the freezing cold has happened since. But again, i find myself inspired- perhaps the location, perhaps side winder stories can be attributed. Regardless...

With Antarctica nearly in view (a mere 1000 km)Ushuaia is very nearly the end of the earth. If you travel west on a boat, you get back here. If you travel east on a boat, you get back here... There is nothing but ocean anmd icebergs inbetween.. The town is spectacularly simple though caters well for the ritzy fat tourists heading to antarctica. Unfortunately, im not one of them... not this time.. but.. i am going on a cruise for 4 days in Chile in a week up through some fjords. Why not splash out on something a little different. 4 days of clean fingernails would be nice ;o)

The change conspiracy

tristanabba — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 02:54:00 GMT

There's this tiny, far reached community somehwere hidden in deep Argentina where a dire conspiracy exists i swear. This well-concocted scheme is inbedded in the fiscal pockets of Argentina and has far reaching effects on everyday people. It`s name, `the change conspiracy`.

I`m unsure of the name of this community. It`s secret and noone speaks of it, possibly for fear of further retributions to their commuinity. What happens in this conspiracy though is nothing short of ridiculous and the motivations for it are, at this point in my travels, speculative at best. The ramifications that occur from the conspiracy are simple. A continuous lack of monetary change in all shops from supermarkets to delis to service stations to, in some smaller towns, banks! Yes, thats right, some banks don`t have change. It`s as if when smaller change is procured from an unsuspecting citizen (anything less 10 pesos- AU$4)it is sent directly to this undiclosed location where it is what? hoarded, burnt? melted down into dulce de lecce? who can say. What is clear is that the shop keepers are somewhat in on the conspiracy. If you walk into a shop in Argentina, do not consider to be asking for change directly. No, at this you would be laughed at immediately. At least purchase something and be praying as you hand over that 20 peso note (AU$8) that is accepted and that you are not, as is more often then case sent to another store close by with knowing smirk from the shopkeeper that circumstances are no different there as they proclaim earnestly, "no cambiar" - can`t change. What do you mean, no change!? you`re a shop. and i just saw your till from the last customer full with notes. Oh, and forget going anywhere with a 100 peso note.

There is only one solution to this conspiracy and i would urge you all to follow in my path. To beat a conspirator you must be a conspirator. So, hoard your change. refuse to pay for anything with anything less than that which will give you more change. And when those innocent eyes look up and say, "do you have the 50 centavos?" as you make your purchase, a simple "no cambio" is all that is required. ;o)

Gallery: Graffiti

tristanabba — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:00:00 GMT

graffiti around the place

Gallery: Argentina

tristanabba — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 06:49:00 GMT

few phtos

Iguazu and tout city

tristanabba — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 02:42:00 GMT

Okay, so i´ve just returned from a trip north in Argentina to Iguazu falls- apparently one of the wonders of the world- and to be honest, it deserved this title. No words, pictures, could do it justice... it was awesome. walked all around the waterfall and at one point the path went as close as say, around, say, 10 metres from the actual falls and you had to lean forward to stop yourself falling backward from the wind created by the falls.. huge!!!. anyway, thats the boring travel story... but seriously, it was incredible just nto something i can convey here...

However, i decided to take a side detour to Paraguay (very small country just north of argentina and west of Brazil) and to a town like no other i have seen. Ciudad Del Este )City of the East- really creative i know, is situated right on the border of these three countries and is a dirty, incredibly corrupt town of smugglers, thieves, and the poor where there is no tax on most products... I was warned not to go by my hostel but mmm, i figured with my luck so far, id be fine ;o ... anyway, so met this girl from Argentina, a doctor named Paula, at the hostel who also wanted to go but was too afraid to go by herself.. To be honest, i couldnt have done it without her.... apart from the fact that i dont have a visa for Brazil and you have to pass through Brazil to get to Paraguay, very few people speak any english in paraguay and bartering carries a lot more weight if youve got a fluent speaker with you... Anyway, the town centre is just a few streets lined with touts, stalls, shops selling everything, i mean everything to you from guns to underwear to electric toothbrushes and dildos.. no really,.. and all in the same stall sometimes too! And these guys can tout... it was madness, you couldnt stop still cause youd be bombarded by people with baskets of stuff and then kids selling softdrinks, then touts for electrical gear and all the while trying to hold your backpack in front of you cause its too risky to leave on your back... awesome,,, i laughed the whole afternoon... it was so crazy you just had to laugh...SO, touts arent attached to any one store. they get a commission from anywhere.. it funny as, like one minute their telling you this story is the best and then you see them later at another stall.. great, really friendly guy we fouond though who led us around and even did some bargaining on our behalf ahead of our arrival at a place... so, like he-ll tell the shop, well theyre already down to 180, and then you go from there so less starting ridiculous and walking out of the store 4 times just to get reasonable.

With Paula`s help managed to get a replacement camera from the one stolen last week of much better quality. Plus, the fact that the one they were originally going to sell me he quickly took off the counter and said, oh no, sorry not this one its stolen, made me all the more confident in our salesman, known only as Detroit, cos hed lived there a few years... ;o) uh, ok, sure...??????

trust...¿

tristanabba — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 11:04:00 GMT

there are two possibilities to this story. on is that i had a fit somewhere and managed to make it back to my hostel not toop usncathed-.- the second possibility is that i was drugged, had my camera and keycard stolen and also managed to get myself back to the hostel.. eitherway, here´s how it happened. met this really friendly-venezuelan guy (cmon, im a pretty good judge of character usually) and thought why not, ill spend the day hanging out with him. he showed me around and was just like a typical freidnly backpacker travelling around the country. short story, i ttrusted him. went to play some pool after a few hours and have a beer after walkinga round the city for a few hours and him showing me a few things and thats the last thing i remember till this afternoon when i wake up in my hostel at aorund 12. ¿???? actually, i vaguely remember getting a taxi to the hostel. nothing else ,... fuckn odd... like, if i was to be robbed surely they would have taken my whole bag, or at least my credit card..?? i dunno. im completely stumped and have no idea of the last 12 hours or so... i do feel like ive been drugged though. bit dopey... pfft

let me add to this so i dont look like an amateur traveller idiot.. this guy was a serious professional if this is whats happened (see, im failing to even belivee that this guy actually did this to me). im not angry at all.. very perplexed and just trying to laugh at it though. i realised this morning i also dont have my new boots anymore either... WTF???

Gallery: Capetown

tristanabba — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 03:10:00 GMT

beginning with...

Capetown and onward

tristanabba — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 08:42:00 GMT

spent an awesome few days in CPT with a friend Gerrit. .. he took wicked care of me. Thanks Gerrit!!!. wouldnt have been the same without his help. i had my own apartment to stay in right in the city and although was only there for 3 days got to see a few bits and pieces (guy dead on the side of the road, local rich kid band <Parlotones> in the pouring rain in the botanical gardens, guy wringing out a piss infused mop with his hands,... the usual) .. tell you what though, i could easily spend a couple of weeks in capetown and surround in the future.. the beaches are awesome, waves and wind is immense.. and the food and drink is about half the price if not less than australia.. such a good holiday destination. walked up table mountain couple of days ago and am still sore as from that so was a masssive struggle gettign from the airport to my hostel here in buenos aires after a 10 hour flight yesertday. every step up and down hill is still torture... <BUT, hostel is great. havent really had a chance to look around at all but this city has a beautiful welcomng vibe to it.. i can definitely see me staying for a while..