Louis' Travels

Pisa and Cinque Terre

2007-11-10T01:49:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday I jumped on the train over to Pisa. There wasnt much in town, so just went across to the Leaning Tower of Pisa to get the obligatory photo infront of it. I didnt know it was the bell tower for the church. After 2 hours in town it was time to continue on to the town of Riomaggiore, a small village on the coast and the starting point for the Cinque Terre trek. I arrived and all the hostels looked pretty full. There was a kiwi girl that was staying with some old guy that had offered his spare room, but she was feeling pretty uncomfortable there so I claimed the other spare room. That didnt stop the old guy from trying to hit on her though. We went to a restaurant for dinner, only to get microwaved pasta for dinner.
The next day the sun was shining so we began the trek. Passing through the five villages which were impressively set on the top of the cliffs. The mountains here dropped suddenly into the ocean. We stopped at Vernazza for lunch at the lookout and then again at the next town for some gelato. Caught the train back and cooked a feed back home. The next day we headed down to the beach where the swell was getting bigger. Enjoyed the sunshine for a few hours and then I jumped on the train to Rimini. This was a gruelling 8 hour trip but I arrived just before midnight and found the Sunflower hostel.

Firenze (Florence)

2007-11-06T02:16:00.000-08:00

I arrived to Florence in the evening. I had planned to stay with some guys in a little village out of town, but couldnt get onto them. So after running around town I managed the last hostel bed in town. However could only stay there two nights before they closed it for winter and turned it into a homeless shelter. Went to watch a band playing on the Ponte Vecchio (the famous bridge with houses on it) before calling it an early night. On Saturday I visited the St Maria Novella church, the Duomo cathedral, the Palazzio Vechio which all had lots of famous paintings that I'd never heard of. In the evening I headed up to the Mechelangelo plaza for a great view of sunset over the city and surrounding mountains.
On Sunday I had to change hostels and got there just in time for the free guided tour around town. It visited most of the same places again but was nice to hear some stories about the stuff. Afterwards a group of us retired to a restaurant for some fantastic italian pizza, then went to see the real Michelangelo sculpture of David which was big. We went back to the terrace at the hostel to enjoy a local wine before heading back to another restaurant for more pizza.
On Monday I went with Yvonne to Siena, only an hour out of town on the train. It was an old medievil town with lots of winding streets and a cool plaza with a big tower. We saw the sights and then got away from the centre to find a nice little restaurant and had some fantastic pasta with meat sauce. We went back to Florence and headed back up to Michelangelo plaza for a view over the city, but it was pretty dark by then. Headed out to an irish pub and then on to the disco which was cranking. Bit expensive though.
Today just have a relaxing day with a trip to Fiesole just out of town, walk back to Florence and enjoy the view over the city again. Spent the evening with a few of the guys for a few drinks in the local Florence establishments.

Rome

2007-11-02T02:01:00.000-07:00

Flew in to Ciampino on Sunday 28 and got the bus and metro into the central station. Found the hostel which is pretty cool with a great party atmosphere. In the evening I went for a walk around the Plaza Venice where there were old roman ruins laying all over the place and around the outside of the Colloseum. At night we went with a big group from the hostel with a few bottles of good Italian wine to drink on the Spanish steps.
The next day it was time to hit up the Vatican. The plaza there was pretty cool, but the queue was enourmous to get into the Museum... took just 20 minutes to walk past the queue to get to the front. The guys at the front had been waiting for 3h, so I formed a new line for Australians and got straight in, followed by crowds of more Aussies. The museum was pretty cool with plenty of painted walls, egyption mummies and fancy paintings and sculptures. The cistine chapel was pretty fancy with some colours on the ceiling and everyone sneaking in some photos. Once they stopped singing in the Basilica I checked that out and also saw the tombs for all the popes underneath.
On Tuesday I visited the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore, Quattro Fountains, Quirinale which appeared to be the presidential palace, the Trevi fountain, the Tritone fountain and the spanish steps. Rome is pretty cool that you can just wonder around and find these cool places.
On Wednesday 31 Oct I visited the ruins near the Colloseum, and came across the San Giovanni church which had some steps from Jerusalem that Jesus had supposedly walked up. Everyone was trying to get to the top by only walking on their knees. I thought they were all crazy and just walked up some other stairs.
With all the americans at the hostel we decided to throw a Halloween party. We gathered several hundred euros and got ourselves a good stash of drinks before getting into the erasmus (exchange student) welcome party.
Thursday was a public holiday in Italy. I visited the Palatine hill which had more ruins. There wasnt too much to see up here, just the foundations for the old palaces, etc. Then went inside the Colloseum which looked just the same as from outside. I came across some church that had a big statue of a mouth with a line of tourists getting photos of their arm stuck down its throat. Apparently some 'mouth of truth'. The hostel found out at 11pm that they had chronically overbooked, so we all had to share beds, but decided just to head back to Trevi fountain and Spanish steps with some wine and then returned to the hostel with more McDonalds than we've ever seen.
In the morning I had I had lunch in a plaza in Rome and then took the slow train up to Florence.

Nijmegen

2007-10-28T02:35:00.000-07:00

On Thursday 25 Oct I got the train from Hilversum over to Utrect. I had a quick walk around town where there was another big church and some nice shopping streets with an old river port running through the centre of town. Then I got the train over to Nijmegen where I checked out the park with the ruins of an old castle but there wasnt much left of it. I met Ewe and stayed at her place.
The next day I borrowed Ewe's bike and went for a ride up to Berg en Daal which must be the only hill in Holland, but is right on the German border. Cruised around some wetlands and then checked out the centre of town. Ewe's mate Christoph came over in the evening to cook up some traditional polish food... was like potato cake but was actually pretty nice. We hit up a little bar in town and found that my pool skills have diminished somewhat.
On Saturday Ewe and I took the car and cruised all over Holland. First stop was Breda so she could do some shopping and I checked out town, we had lunch in a restaurant at Middelburg and then checked out the beach. Drove over some big dykes that stop Holland from going underwater and drove back through Rotterdam to Nijmegen.
The next morning I got the bus over to the airport in Germany for my flight down to Rome.

Luxembourg

2007-10-10T08:04:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I got the train from Trier to Wasserbillig, right on the border, and then the bus over to Echternach. This was a lovely town with a lively market going on in the centre and a great river through town (the german border) which was perfect for a walk along. I met Kevin in the afternoon and went with his family for dinner at a restaurant in Beaufort.

Trier

2007-10-06T22:56:00.000-07:00

On Friday I wanted to leave Hiedelberg for Trier. Most of the trains werent operating due to a train driver strike, but lukily the 2 trains I needed were going, although they were packed full with drunk old german men singing and dancing trying to pick up old german ladies.
The trip from Mainz along the Rhine river to Koblenz was really nice with lots of hills and castles - the perfect place for a weekend of cycling. I arrived in Trier about 1400h and had lunch at the palace gardens. I also visited the Jesuit church which used to be the throne room for the roman emperors when they were in town. In the evening I met Raphael and after cooking up a great meal we headed to the Panic Club party for the night.
On Saturaday, Raphael, his girlfriend Julie, his housemate Julia, and I took the tourist train around town. It was a popular town being the oldest north of the Alps. Every construction site keeps getting shut down when they inevitably dig up some more roman ruins. We relaxed away the afternoon with a few beers in the plaza.

Black Forest, Karlsruhe and Hiedelberg

2007-10-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday 3 Oct it was a public holiday in Germany to celebrate the reunification of east and west. I left Stuttgart and took the train to Bad Wildbad in the middle of the northern part of the Black Forest. It was a nice place with rolling hills and the sun shining in the resort town of Bad Wildbad. There was a huge queue for the fernicular up to Sommerberg so I walked up instead. It would be a nice place to go walking for a couple of days, but I didnt have time so just got to the top and back down again. Then I got the train to Karlsruhe. It had a huge zoo in the middle of town and on the other side another big palace. It had some nice gardens too full of people enjoying the sun, and even an old steam train driving around. In the evening I caught the train over to Hiedelberg which turned out to be really back on the tourist trail. Walked from the train station along the longest shopping street I have come across in a little university town and found a pub with a spare bed.
On Thursday I explored Hiedelberg. It is famous for a huge castle up on the hill overlooking town, so I went up there. It was nice enough but couldnt get inside. I walked up the hill on the opposite side of the valley for a view across town and went to have a beer at one of the terraces in town. In the evening I went out for a few drinks with some Americans, which turned out like any night out with Americans.

Stuttgart

2007-10-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

On Sunday 30 Sept I jumped on the ICE train from Munich to Stuttgart. I met Christoph at the railway station. First stop was the top of the railway station tower for a view over the city. Contrary to what people from Munich say, it was a very nice town set up in the valley. The World Cycling Championships were being held this week, with the Men's grand final just underway, so we headed up and saw them all wizz past, but didnt hang around to see them do all 200 laps. In the evening I went for a walk around the centre of town. The Schlossplatz and the many gardens in town were really nice to lay on the grass and enjoy a beer.
On Monday I went for a walk out of Stuttgart to the 3 lakes area, Pfaffersee, Neuersee, and Barensee. I came across the little castle of Barenschlossle where everyone was enjoying a coffee in the sun. I also enjoyed the sun as it was the first sun since a whole rainy week in Munich. I continued on to Solitude Castle but it was closed on Mondays, however it was nice enough from the outside. Afterwards I got the bus and old tram up to the TV Tower which is one of the most famous landmarks in Stuttgart. From the top of the 150m tower I had a great view over the entire region of Stuttgart and the black forest.
On Tuesday I took the train out to Ludwigsberg to visit a big palace there. The tour was in German so didnt understand too much, but like all the other palaces there were plenty of fancy rooms, paintings and furniture. One interesting fact was how the Queen went to the toilet. Apparently they didnt have toilet paper back then and you werent allowed to wipe, so after doing her business in a bucket so simply sprayed on some perfume and that was it.
In the afternoon I headed back into town and visited the Mercedes Benz museum. Stuttgart is the headquarters of Merc and Porshe so there were plenty of cars here to see. In the evening I went with Christoph to the Kellar Klub to see a local band do their last performance before going on tour around Australia.

Munich

2007-09-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday 25 Oct I got the train from Luzern to Zurich and onto St Margarthen. Here I had a look around town but it was rainy and not much to see. I got the train over to Bregenz in Austria which was a much more interesting place and the rain started to ease up. Lots of old buildings and would have been nice to sit outside for a beer if the sun was out. It is on the shores of Lake Konstance so went for a walk along there, before stocking up on some beers and getting the train up to Munich. I arrived at about 1700 and found the campsite at Thirkichen (Thai Chicken). The place was full of thousands of campers, but the tents all looked like they had been demolished... sleeping bags all in big piles in the rain and tents destroyed, all under a heavy layer of beer bottles. I found a spare spot and put up my $17 tent in the rain, threw my bag inside and headed into the Oktoberfest. Met up with Catt and we made our way to the Lowenbrau beer tent for a couple of beers. Not too big a night since all the tents close at 10:30. The partying continued back at the campsite, and I discovered that my tent was not the most waterproof one around.
The next day I went into Munich to see some sights around town. The centre was quite nice and some big churches and plenty of beer halls around. I caught up with Catt and headed to the roudiest beer tent we could find. The beer tents were very impressive with thousands of people all dancing on the tables. All the locals were dressed in their maid outfits and ledderhosen, and the beer ladies did a good job delivering 8 steins of beer through the drunken crowd. We quickly met some more Aussies and partied on until the tent closed down. Being my birthday, this was too early to finish up with the partying. I headed back to Thai Chicken and along with some more Aussies, we started our new party... security quickly put an end to that but we resumed in the dryness of the toilet block. A busload of Italians turned up almost immediately and started cooking up a huge feed of pasta, and made sure that any girls wanting to go to the toilet were forced to join the party.
On Thursday I visited the Residence Museum which was the old palace for the local kings. It was full of fancy rooms, gold plates and paintings of kings. Called into a couple of the beer tents but decided to not have a huge night.
Friday I visited the Dacau concentration camp just outside of the city. This was the first concentration camp set up my the Nazi's and the only one that operated for the entire duration of their rule. A chilling place with several of the rooms having been reconstructed and the crematorium open for visiting. I then headed back to Oktoberfest but it was too late to get in on a Friday night... all the tents were full and had huge queues. Instead I checked out some of the rides around... one ride was pulling 6Gs and not the sort of thing I would want to be doing after a few drinks. The most popular ride was just an escalator that people had to jump on to get to the top of a slide, but after many drinks they would jump on and end up going head first. This drew a huge crowd and provided entertainment for hours.
On Saturday we knew it would be busy, so along with another few Aussies from the campsite we headed in at 9am. We were worried that all the tents looked full already, with enormous queues, but we quickly found out that the front doors never get opened on the weekend, so we headed round the back and got ourselves a table and a few litres of beer. Unlucky for everyone waiting the whole day at the front door.

Thun

2007-09-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday we were hoping to head up to the mountains, but the weather had turned terrible with rain so Nadine and myself opted to go on a cruise on the Thunersee. This was very enjoyable passing little villages along the way. The rain eased a little so we got off at the far end of the lake and walked through Interlaken and to the Brienzersee. Returned to Thun to have the traditional swiss dish of Racelette for dinner. This is melting bits of cheese under a special grill and then serving them on potatoes and bacon, etc. Banana, potato, bacon and cheese turned out to be a pretty good comination.
On Wednesday the sky had cleared so I went to the train station only to find that the trains where running 20 minutes late, when I finally got to Spiez to connecting train had also gone, so with a spare hour to waste I checked out the local cast on the lake, then caught the train up to Erlenbach. From here the cablecar went up to the top of Stockhorn. Great views out over much of Switzerland. Walked down to Oberstockenalp, then around Oberstockensee, Vorderstocken and to Chrindi. Took an adventurous route back up to the summit via Chummli.
Thursday the weather was perfect so I got the train over to Grindelwald, and the cablecar just short of First, at Schreckfeld. Walked up to First where there were thousands of old tourists having lunch in the sun, so had to escape quickly. Great views out to Grosse Scheidegg, Wetterhorn and Mettenberg. Got to Backalpsee for the postcard pictures of the lake and the snow capped mountains like a mirror image. Continued up to the summit of Faulhorn (2686m) which offered the most amazing views to the Eiger, Monc and Jungfrau, many other mountains, the lakes to Thun and the middle lands of CH. Walked back to Grindelwald via Bussalp.
On Friday I went for a bike ride with Nadine from Thun up to a nearby lake. We were hoping we would be able to get to the lake, but it was still ina pretty natural state and surrounded by mud and reids. Nice ride back through the forrest. In the evening went over to Murten and met up with another of Nadine's mates. We went for a cruise on the lake to Neachatel which was quite enjoyable with a bottle of champagne, some snacks of salami and dips, sitting on the roof looking out to the alps as the sun was setting. We called past Bern on the way home for some drinks in a cool bar that had been setup in an old gym... complete with basketball hoop still intact.
On Saturday I got the train back to Luzern, but had to jump off in Meiringen for a quick trek given the weather was perfect again. Took 4 cablecars up through Hasliberg to get to the AlpenTower (Planplatten). Great views to titlis and Eiger, also jumping point for skydivers. Walked down through Gummenalp and Hasliberg Reuti to meiringen to get the train back over the Brünigpass to Luzern.
On Sunday I visited the school fete where Timo was hanging out then visited Christine in Zurich with Kurt. Went for a walk by the lake before returning to Luzern.
Today the weather was again perfect so took the train up to Engleberg, and then the cablecar up to Trübsee. Had a magnificent walk up to Jachpass, around the ridge to Schaftal, Tannalp, Tannensee, Melchsee-Frutt and down to Stöckalp and got the PostAuto back to Luzern. Tomorrow catching the train up to Münich for Oktoberfest.

Laussane, Vevey and Montreux

2007-09-17T20:08:00.000-07:00

On Friday I got an early train down to Laussane. The locals made sure you never forgot that this is the Olympic capital, whatever that means. I guess it is just the home of the IOC. Visited the cathedral where a bloke was giving the new organ a run for its money, the chateau and the nice tribunal buildings overlooking the lake to France. Saw the last remaining watch tower and climbed up to the sauvabelin viewing tower. Nice pedestrian streets to have lunch and some people watching. I headed to Vevey in the evening to stay for a couple of nights since it was a smaller town and closer to the lake and mountains, however couldnt find any nightlife in town.
Saturday morning i went over to the Chillon castle. This was built back in the 1400's and mostly used by the bernese. It was situated in a great spot next to steep mountains and on a rock in the middle of the lake. Checked out the torture chambers, duke's bedroom, and a pole where some guy was chained to for 4 years.
In the afternoon took the bus up to the village of Jongny, and continued p the hillto the top of Mont Pelerin (1086m). Didnt bother going up the tower on the top, but returned down through the vineyards with great views to the mountains across the lake and to France. In the evening a group of young Americans turned up at the hostel. They just moved to Lugarno to complete their entire 4 year uni course there. They had a bit much sambuka and cointreau so I helped them finish it off. We then piled in to their van and drove over to laussane in search of some nightlife. We hit up a few bars and had a good time onthe dancefloor. Unfortunately Lacie overdid herself a little, and after releiving herself on the front steps of the Swiss Supreme Court, decided it would be best to drop here off back at the hostel. The CHF 255 taxi ride home turned out to be pretty expensive, but glad she was willing enough to pay most of it, and I figured that most of the cost must be from her making a mess out the window anyway.
On Sunday I went for a walk up the gorge from Montreaux all the way through the forest to Les Avants. I continued up from here to Sunloup, and then returned to Montreaux from the other side.
Monday it was time to get traveling again. i took the golden pass Panoramic train through Montreaux, Montbovon, Chateau D'Oex, Saanen and Gstaad. i jumped out at Gstaad for walk up to Eggli mountain. Returned in a rush to catch the train from Saanen back through Zweisimmen, Spiez and to Thun to visit Nadine.

Fribourg

2007-09-13T23:04:00.000-07:00

On Thursday in Fribourg it was time to explore this old university town. There was a big old cathedral which was impressive enough, little medievil alleyways and some huge bridges over the river. Walked through the university with its old buildings, down through the old town and around the old city wall. Walked up the hill, over a huge bridge, nice little church with good view over the city. Had to wait till 11pm until Lara could let me back in, but wasn't much to see around town at night.

Bern

2007-09-12T20:51:00.000-07:00

On Monday morning I took the train over to Bern. The main square, parliament building, cathedral and several other landmarks where all wrapped up in scaffolding in preparation for the hosting of the big soccer competition in town next year. Nevertheless, the buildings in town were very nice built out of greet stone, with arches over all the streets so you can walk anywhere in town without getting wet in the rain. There were some great fountains in town made with big statues, my favorite of course being the soldier in the middle of eating a small child. Checked out the bear pits where the bears where busy rolling on their backs catching grapes that people where throwing down to them. Went to visit Toby and Severin at their place close to the centre. We headed out to a little bar by the name of paradisili. It was set up in an old farm barn. Monday nights were jam sessions which attracted the best musicians in town who were giving some asesome tunes without any pressure to perform. Plenty of people from the crowd were bringing along their own instruments to join in. We retired to a little bar downtown once the music slowed up.
The next day I explored the rest of Bern... more cool fountains, the rose garden overlooking the old city and river, and plenty of green buildings. Went for a walk up the town hill, Gurtenwald where their was a viewing tower on the top. Went down the other side to Gurtendörfli, Kehrsatz and back to town along the River Aare.
On Wednesday I went out to Murten, an ancient town on the shores of the Murtensee. It had the old town wall and fortresses still intact, and very pretty old buildings. Went for a walk from town around the lake and up the Mont Vully hill on the other side. This was a strategic military position in the world war and had plenty of old bunkers and thinks to explore. It was also over in the french side of the country so I practiced my bonjours and then got back to the german speaking side. Relaxed by the lake until 10pm then caught the train down to Fribourg and stayed on campus at the local university. Unfortunately most the students were away on holidays, but still had a good time.

Around Luzern

2007-09-09T20:34:00.000-07:00

On Friday 7 Sept I went over to Zurich to drop off the clothes I'd borrowed. Went for a walk along the Limmat as far as Höngg. There was a big swimming area in the river but was a bit too cold for anyone to brave a dip. Took the tram back through the centre of town to Triemli for another walk up Uetliberg. Back down the bottom took the tram from Albisguetli to the gold coast for a walk along the lake foreshores at sunset. Went for a tram ride out to Oerlikon for something to do then went back to Luzern.
The next day we went to the neighbourhood soccer competition. Everyone was dressed in their team colours and taking the event quite seriously. Timo captained his team to victory and I enjoyed a bratwurst. In the afternoon we went to see Eliane perform at the church, followed be a great dinner with many courses at a nearby restaurant. Finished the night with a party of someones birthday.... could have been Eliane's friends parents or something like this.
On Sunday despite being a nice sunny day I had to spend a few hours planning out the holidays for the upcoming months. In the afternoon went for a bike ride along the lake lake through Horw, Hergiswil and out to Stans. In town I caught the tail end of a local festival and street parade. Everone was dressed in their traditional costumes with plenty of alphorns and flag twirling.

Mythen and Engelberg

2007-09-06T13:16:00.001-07:00

Monday the weather turned back to rainy so spent most the day inside except for a quick walk by the lake to Lido and got drenched. On Tuesday it was time for a haircut by what must have been the only non-english speaking hairdresser in town, followed by lunch with my cousins. In the afternoon the weather was looking better so went for a walk from the hotel across the hill to the little town of Adligenswil, through the Meggwald forest to Meggen and then followed the lake back to Luzern. Still a bit of rain about so couldnt see much of the surrounding alps but was nice to get out nonetheless.
On Wednesday morning the weather was starting to look better so took the train over to Schwyz. The bus driver at the train station said there wasn`t a cablecar but I didn`t beleive him since it was clearly on the map and I`d been on it previously. Walked through town and stocked up with some rations and then on to Rickenbach only to find that they were busy tearing down the cablecar. Now my quick 10 ride to Rotenfluh turned into a 2.5 hour, 1000m ascent up the side of the mountain. Passed through all the farmers paddocks and through plenty of mud to finally make it up to the top of the ridge. Followed it along to Holzegg which was meant to be the start of the walk up the Grosse Mythen mountain. With only 3 hours until the last bus was leaving from Brunni I didn`t have time to make a dash to the top. Instead I followed the panoramic trail for a while and had lunch looking out to the snow capped mountains across the lake. They were properly covered in fresh snow after the heavy dump they had the day before. In the afternoon I caught the bus from Brunni down to Einsiedeln. Here there was a huge monastery hosting some conerts in the evening so checked that out and then got the train back to Luzern.
Today the weather was finally perfect with clear blue skies... an opportunity I wasn`t going to waste. I jumped on the next train straight up to Engelberg, the starting point for the tourist cablecar route up to Titlis. But I went up the Brunni cablecar (www.brunni.ch) on the opposite side of the valley. From here I trekked up around towards Rickenbach but just after the Älplerbeizli Rigidalalp restaurant, near Tüfelstein the snow got too deep and I had to take the trail up to the Brunnihütte (1860m). Here the views to the snow covered mountains of Titlis and the other peaks were amazing. Here there was another restaurant and the little lake of Härzlisee, setup with a foot massage walk where you went in the water and back out walking on different timbers and stones. Followed the trail around past Walenpfad where there were great views to the back of Pilatus and Stanserhorn, and then returned past Ristis and Flübmatt back to Engleberg. Checked out the walk over Jochpass that I also wanted to do but it was really snowed over, but hopefully will be able to do that in a few days once the snow has melted away a little.

Baden

2007-09-03T01:54:00.000-07:00

On Friday the weather cleared up a little. Unsuccessfully searched for a hairdressers that didnt charge CHF50 then went for a walk further up Sonnenberg. Had some great views out to Pilatus and Stanserhorn. At the back of the mountain I came across the blackberry jackpot and settled down to eat for a while. Headed out to see the Luzern nightlife but it was very superficial and pretty boring.
In the morning I headed over to Baden for the annual party of the climbing club. I met Yvonne at the train station and then headed up to the forest behind the city. The party was set in a clearing in the forest by a big cave. We were certainly not roughing it with a fridge for all our beer, party lights, a full band to play a few tunes and plenty of party lights. We tried a new method of cooking chickens... stuffing them, then wrapping them in some cabbage leaves, then a layer of clay. The chickens were then backed in the fire for several hours and came out very tasty. Along will all the salads and swiss desserts none of us 40 partyers were going hungry that night. Late in the night we rolled out the sleeping bags under the stars.
On Sunday morning we enjoyed freshed baked zopf (swiss bread). I called past Wettingen for lunch at Yvonne`s. We then caught up with the others by the river in Baden. They were all mad climbers (with enough injuries to show for it) and did slack rope walking to improve their balance. We hung a rope across the river and 2 of us (not me) managed to walk across the river, while attracting plenty of audience.
In the afternoon I went to see the original Baden fort overlooking the town and then went to Zürich for a quick walk up Uetliberg before getting back to Luzern by 10:30.

Luzern

2007-08-30T07:26:00.000-07:00

Flew into Zürich on Sunday evening, grabbed a nüsgipfel from the nearest bakery and then got the train down to Luzern. In the morning I got myself connected to the world again and then headed to Zürich to borrow some nicer clothes. In the afternoon I got to Optikon, and then back to Luzern after a wander down Bahnhofstrasse and along the lake a little. In the evening I went up to Utenberg just behind the hotel and along the northern side of Vierwaldstattersee. By now the rain had set in an looked like it was going to stay that way for a while.
Wednesday it was still raining constantly but eventually ventured outside and checked out the old town wall which was cool since you can climb up all the towers and get a good view of the town and also the mountains when the clouds parted briefly. continued on around the southern side of the lake and grabbed some bratwurst for dinner.
Today its still raining and so staying inside given its pointless to head up to the Alps with this weather.

Rovaniemi

2007-08-26T22:52:00.000-07:00

Arrived to Rovaniemi in the evening and was glad to get off the train after 9 hours. I went down to the University of Lapland where Venkata let me into the student residences. With many of the students on summer holidays it was easy to find a spare space to sleep.
On Tuesday I went for a walk around the little lake near the uni and crossed over the river to have a picnic lunch looking back over to town. In the afternoon I went to the Arktikum, which contained the Museum of Lapland and the Arctic Centre. Saw plenty of traditional Lappi costumes, and information about climate change, the Lappland culture and the impact of the wars (the germans burnt every town to the ground here as they retreated).
On Wednesday I waited for the rain to clear and then met Anna-mari to stay at her place for a few days. We went for a walk up Ounasvaara hill, a popular place for the locals to go skiing, running and picking berries. We found a whole hillside full of blueberries just waiting to be eaten. This occupied us until it was almost getting dark (11pm) and time to begin the Rovaniemi pub crawl. First stop was a Finnish pub with the local football hooligans to see Finland beat Kazakstan. Then it was onto Irish Times (what town doesnt have an irish pub) and then finished the night off at Hemmingways.
Thursday it was time for me to visit the most famous attraction in Rovaniemi... a visit to the real Santa Claus. The village on the arctic circle was all decked out with plenty of cheesy souvenir shops and christmas carols being blasted out over the plaza. This is also the site of the Santa Main Post Office where they receive thousands of letters each day all addressed to Santa at The North Pole. The highlight of course being the opportunity to meet santa and find out what happened to my christmas orders from the last 23 years. Went for a walk to Santa`s forest to get stuck into some more blueberries.
On Friday I went back to Ounasvaara and treeked along the ridge past Isorakka and found a good clearing in the pine forrest to make a fire and cook up my lunch of Makarra (Finish sausage) with Sinappi (weird sauce). In the evening we headed to see a local band consisting of just a drummer and bass player (but not drum and bass music) who were bashing out some cool tunes.
On Saturday I stocked up on food for the trip back to helsinki and got the 1300 slow train to Oulu and then the Pendolino (super fast, over 205km/h for the last 2 hours of the trip when the driver found the accelerator) through Tampere to Helsinki. I dropped my bags at the EuroHostel and headed into see the nightlife at BarFly.
Sunday enjoyed a huge salmon for breakfast/lunch by the port and then got a plane down to Zürich, CH.

Jyväskylä

2007-08-20T01:23:00.000-07:00

Arrived into Jyväskylä on Friday afternoon and met up with Jaarko. We went for a drive up to the town's ski jump which was up on a little hill but was enourmous. These people who jump must be crazy. From here we had a good view over the town, pine forests and lakes. We then enjoyed a beer in the pedestrian mall in town while the girls bought a huge salmon for dinner which was delicious.
On Saturday I did a lap of the lake which took a couple of hours. All the locals were out on their rollerblades and nordic walking poles making them look like spiderman. In the afternoon I went with Jaarko to see some of the suburbs and visit the water tower in the middle of town to get a better view of town. Enjoyed a great big fondue for dinner, good preparation for going to Switzerland next week.
Sunday was a day to relax. I went for a walk around the other side of the lake, through the centre of town and up the hill behind the house.
The next morning I caught the train to Rovaniemi up on the arctic circle. This was a long 9 hour trip through Pieksämaki, Kuopio, Kajaani, Oulu and Kemi.

Tampere

2007-08-17T07:03:00.000-07:00

On Sunday afternoon I arrived on the train to Tampere. At the last moment I was able to find somewhere to stay with a Finnish bloke called Lari who had an apartment right in the middle of town. I went for a wonder around town. Tampere is between 2 big lakes, with a set of rapids flowing between them. These rapids were the source of energy for the mills, and the town quickly grew as an industrial centre. The city still has enormous brick chimmneys towering over the city centre, but the factories have mostly been converted into modern shopping areas, bars and theatres. I had a look around town then we watched a movie back at home.
In the morning I headed into town and saw the Finlayson old mill, Näsinpuisto park with a view over the lake and theme park, and then relaxed in the sun by the beach at Pyynikki. In the evening we had some drinks in the famous shipyard bar with Lari and a few of his mates.
On Tuesday I met up with Susanna in the afternoon who just returned from a trip to Ecuador. She was an avid salsa dancer so we headed down the the central park in town where everyone had gathered to dance salsa. Afterwards we headed to a little bar where there was a blues band playing with a very energetic singer / harmonica player who would often be laying on the stage blowing on his instrument.
Wednesday morning we went for a drive out to the village of Norda in the area of Vesilahti. This was a really nice spot with just a few houses and on the side of the lake. We went for a walk down to the lake and up some hill that had several russian trenches and bunkers from world war 1. In the afternoon I got my hands dirty painting the balcony fence, but they insisted with staying with the Finnish red rather than my suggestion of an Australian design of green and gold stripes with kangaroo motifs.
The next day we went for a drive to some sights in the local area. This included a big manor from an old guy that used to rule the area, and a nice peninsula where there were cliffs into the lake. We had some mushrooms for dinner then yheaded back to Tampere were we went to Henry's bar to see the live funk band perform.
On Friday morning we went to the local markets and enjoyed a big salmon hamburger for breakfast, and then I jumped on the train to Jyväskylä.

Tallinn

2007-08-13T04:14:00.000-07:00

On Friday morning i headed down to the port and caught the LindaLine ferry over the Baltic sea to Tallinn, Estonia. I met Anna-Liisa (Vivian's cousin whom I met in Helsinki the other day) at the port and went back to her friend's place for some pancakes. They are all just about to head off on a trip to Australia for 12 months so were pretty interested in all sorts of things over there. We drove out to 'The Project' one of the many big clusters of identical soviet buildings that surround the city. here we stocked up on a few drinks and made our way to the beach. Despite everyone claiming the water to be really warm, I was surprised it wasnt frozen over. In the evening we went into the old city centre which had plenty of pretty old buildings on the hill, a huge city wall and plenty of tourists having a drink. We joined them for a few hours until the girls decided to start karaoke which we decided was a perfect time to call it a night.
In the morning I went with Kadyi and Anna-Liisa out into the coutryside where Kadyi was going to go skydiving. The coutryside was really nice with little farms all over the place. The airfield looked dilapedated and the plane looked like it wouldnt get off the ground, but Kadyi survived the jump. Next we called past Anna-Liisa's grandparent's place to fill our bellies with peas and raspberries and then went back to Tallinn. For the afternoon we went to the city beach and then went back home to have a few drinks before heading out. However after just a couple of drinks and a few different games we noticed it was already after 5am and decided to give the clubs a miss for the night. The next morning I caught the 10am ferry back to Helsinki and then got a train out to Tampere (at 160km/h it didnt take long to get there).

More Helsinki

2007-08-09T23:06:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday I went for a walk around the Helsinki foreshores which was very nice. Everyone was out sunbaking to get the most of the summer sun, and there were little red finnish houses amongst the pine trees. I visisted the port where the ferries were heading off to Tallinn and Stockholm (the party boat to Stockholm is a tempting trip). I visited the big white church that towers over the city and must be the landmark of Helsinki. The red russian church was also visited but couldnt get inside there. Further around the shore were some big gardens with plenty of glasshouses and the central square where there were plenty of people out to enjoy a beer in the sun. At night we hit up Fever nightclub to see some drunk locals and get on the dancefloor.
On Thursday I called past the shops in the centre, and then caught up with Vivian for lunch at the local chinese restaurant. I also visisted the church that had been cut into a big rock which looked cool from the inside. Further out of town was some big statue and the city beaches. In the evening we headed in to Iguanas for some margaritas with a group of Germans, Iranians, Tanzanians and an Iraqi guy, before going back up Torni tower for a drink while enjoying the best city view in town.

Helsinki

2007-08-07T09:39:00.000-07:00

On Monday morning I headed out to BCN airport. I got out there nice and early with 2.5 hours to spare so joined the enormous queue to checkin for Finnair. After an hour of waiting the queues were hardly waiting, only to be made worse by them trying to close one of the queues and forcing everyone to join into the next queue, where they were all accused of pushing in. Inevitably the fights started to break out and we had the queues double in length with security guards. After 2.5 hours later I finally got to check in and race on the plane for a nice flight over Germany and Sweden to arrive at Helsinki only 30 minutes late. With all the confusion the airport staff must have forgotten to pack any of the bags onto the plane, and so there was more waiting as plenty of people had to register contact details and bag descriptions.
Then got the bus into town and met up with Vivian and her cousin, and later on 2 mexican girls that were also crashing at her place. We enjoyed a drink in the evening at a local outside bar and then admired the Helsinki skyline from the rooftop bar on one of the towers.
On Tuesday we all took the ferry out to the island of Suomenlinna in the Helsinki harbour. This was an old fort with plenty of big cannons and bunkers to crawl around in. We enjoyed a picnic by the water and laughed as some locals were trying to brave the cold waters for a swim. Now I'm hoping my bags will turn up soon so I have some jeans to wear to the student party tonight.
I am now considering extending my stay in the North to allow a visit through Estonia (only a 1.5 hour boat ride across the harbour), Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, and possibly Sweden.

Barcelona

2007-08-04T13:23:00.000-07:00

On Monday I took the air-bridge over to Barcelona, with only an hour wait in the plane in Madrid when they broke the door trying to close it. Barcelona was a bit cooler at only 30 degrees, so I dropped my bags at HelloBCN and then went had a wonder around the city centre, along the harbour side to buy some new shoes and through the olympic village now turned into a shopping centre. Cooked up a big chicken korma only for the remaining half to be eaten from the fridge the next morning.

On Tuesday I headed out to what must be the most famous attraction in Spain, Gaudi's masterpeice the Sagrada Familiar. A big church that they have been building for the last 140 years and have only just made it past half way. It was full of over-the-top sculptures, columns, and bits and peices sticking out everywhere. Maybe when they finish the building in another 150 years it will look better, but now I think they would do better knocking the monstrocity down. Afterwards walked down past the Placa de Toros, the brightly coloured Torre Agbar and back the the hotel. In the evening I visited the castle overlooking the city at Montjuic, just behind the hotel.

Wednesday was spent on the closest beach with the million other people that had the same idea. In the night we headed down to the harbour front for a few drinks with the danish and swedish guys and the french girls.

On Thursday I checked out a few more of Gaudi's eyesores along with the gothic quarter which was full of ancient buildings and tiny roads only big enough for some tourists and a motorbike. The cathedral was also visited but was being renovated.

Friday was a day to lay on the beach and enjoy the sun with the Swedish cheerleaders, along with a couple of good local vinos in the beach side cafes. The evening was spent playing some weird card games with my previous pomy room-mates.

Saturday I decided to be active again and see some of the sights around town. I took the metro out to Park Guell which was a park designed by Gaudi. It had a big plaza with weird pilons but I thought as little of it as all the other works of Gaudi. Fortunately there were some good panoramas over the city. Next stop was Placa Espanya where the monstrosity of an art museum towered down. Behind here was the 1992 olympic site, with the old torch still standing over the stadium. After a good salami bacquet back at the hostel I headed to the Park Retiro where they had built a rather impressive fountain and everyone was paddling around the lake in their row boats. I returned back home through the gothic quarter down some winding little pathways.

Toledo

2007-07-29T23:28:00.000-07:00

On Saturday it was time to get out of the city. The two girls at the hostel from Uruguay (Helena and Christina) where feeling the same for their last day in Europe so we caught the bus down to Toledo only an hour away. Toledo was an old village set up on the top of a big hill. It was surrounded by a huge wall, with an impressive front gate. The city is famous for its cathedral so we checked that out and wandered the tiny streets past the souvenir shops selling medievil armour and swords. Visited some synagogue and plenty of old chuches and museums. It was stinking hot with 40 degrees recorded for most of the day, so by 5pm we were pretty tired and headed home to Madrid.

On Sunday I visisted the Prada museum with its exhibition of Partini and plenty of Goya´s works on display. In the evening 4 of us, including a fellow canberran, headed out to the Plaza de Torros for the bull fighting. This was serious stuff with 3 fighters competing on the night, each getting 2 bulls to overcome. First there were several guys out with their red cloths getting the bull to run around the field, then it was time for a guy on a horse. The bull would inevitably start ramming the horse, and sometimes evening lifting it up with its horns, and the rider had a big spear that he would stab into the bulls neck and back. Next the bullfighter had to stick 2 spears into the bulls neck while it was charging him. All the running around and blood loss started to tire out the bull, so the action became more intimate between the fighter and bull. The fighter would use his red cloth the make the bull charge until it was too tired to lift its head. At this point the fighter would get a sword and stab it into the bulls back. If it was a good hit, the bull would fall over instantly dead, otherwise he would have to retreive the sword and try again.

Madrid

2007-07-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

After an uncomfortable overnight flight without reclining seats on Iberia, I arrived to Madrid. First stop out of th Arrivals Gate was the ATM to stock up on some euros. Just as the money was coming out a pregnant lady came up asking for money. I shooed her off and then got my receipt from the ATM but no cash. After 5 months in Sth America this girl just picked on the wrong bloke. She was still in sight, so grabbed her, found my wad of cash in her had and then proceeded to drag her kicking and screaming past the queues of people at the check in counter to the cop shop. After only 10 minutes in Europe I experience more crime than in 5 months in Sth America. Once the paper work was done, I metroed into town to my hostel. It was a nice change to have an extra 5 hours of sunlight in the evening, and so I walked around the Plaza Mayor, past the King´s Palace, some parks. All the streets and plazas were filled with outdoor cafes and restaurants with tourists from all over Europe enjoying tapas and beer for their summer holidays.
We headed out to party with everyone from the hostel, which turned out to be a group of 15 of us. All the bar owners were keen to get this big group of people on their dancefloor, so it was free shots all round, then we would hang around for 30 minutes before heading onto some more free drinks at the next disco.
On Friday I went into the King´s Palace where they had gone all out on the interior designing. Plenty of fancy treasures to check out too. In the afternoon I wandered through the huge Retiro park with some fancy monuments of old kings and down Gran Via, the main strip in town.
We headed back out to party with our big group of people, but someone made the mistake of giving the navigation task to a French girl and we ended up walking around a big circle of the city all night. One lesson learnt!

Quito

2007-07-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

I arrived to Quito and walked through the historic centre and kept going to the new centre to find a hotel. Around the old centre the streets were lined with modern bars and restaurants, and before long the discos were starting to crank up. I settled down for a beer with the only problem that they would only sell sets of 3 x 1L bottles.... not to worry. A few locals joined in for a few drinks (Andrea, Jessica, etc) then we headed off to a local rock concert before continuing on to the salsateca to show off the dance moves for the rest of the night.
On Saturday I headed to the old centre to see the sights of town. The various plazas were impressive with all the old colonial buildings, as was the Presidential Palace. The highlight of Quito was unexpectantly the Basilica where they let me climb right to the top of 2 of the church spires. This involved plenty of rickety little ladders but afforded fantastic views of the entire city. In the evening we headed out to see the Saturday nightlife with everyone from the hostel. Needless to say that Sunday turned into a rest day with just a little walk around the cafes and watching a few movies with everyone at the hostel until early Monday morning.
With the remaining days in South America rapidly running out, I made an early start and headed to Mitad del Mundo which is the where the equator runs along just north of the city. First was the french calculated ecuator with a great big monument indicating the compass directions and the obligatory photo with the 0 degree sign. This marked the most northern point of my trip in South America, and plenty of long bus trips. After this was the peruvian gps calculated ecuator about 100m further north where the museum demonstrated the various phenomenans that occur on the ecuator. These are results of the correolis forces and were demonstrated with balancing an egg on a nail, the flow of water down a drain, and the reduction in resistance in your muscles. The museum also had a shrunken human head which looked cool. In the evening I caught up for dinner with Andrea, Jessica and friends, and then went out for a Monday night pub crawl with the hostal crowd. By about 3am we bumped into the Joannas (Giovanna and Yoanna from Lima) as they were knocking off work so we danced on till late in the morning.
Tuesday was my day to go shopping and replace the clothes and shoes that are all getting worn out after 5 months of travelling. Unfortunately after visiting almost every shoe shop in Quito, the biggest size available was consistently 2 sizes too small for me, so the shopping gets to wait until Europe. For the final night in South America I caught up with Jessica, Andrea and Co for a few drinks at our regular cervezeria, before having a food Argentinian parillada for dinner and then called past the bar where the Joannas were working for a few drinks, before moving onto another pub down the street.
Wednesday the Joannas and I headed up to the cable car (teleferico) that goes to the top of the mountain (4100m) on the edge of Quito. Unfortunately I only had a few hours until I had to get to the airport, and there was a very long queue, so instead we headed to the theme park and did a few runs of the loop-the-loop roller coaster and the spinning pirate ship.

The trips I need to come back to America for...
Venezuala, Colombia, Ecuador incl. Galapagos Islands - 3 months.
Central America (Mexico to Panama) - 4 months.
Trekking Patagonia, incl Antarctica - 2 months.
Trekking Southern Peru - 1 month.

Latacunga

2007-07-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

I arrived to Latacunga after the nice drive around the Chimbarozo Volcano, but in town it was miserable and rainy, so I checked into the Chimbarozo hotel overlooking the main plaza in town.
Wednesday morning it was still looking a bit miserable so I opted to join a tour up to the Quilatoa crater rather than do a 3 day trip around myself on the local busses. I piled in the jeep with 3 other yanks and first stopped by the morning market at Pijili for breakfast. We continued on through some villages and farms, stopping off at some guys house that was made entirely from grass. Supposedly it lasts for 20 years. We also stopped off by a canyon before reaching the town of Quilatoa. From here we trekked the 1200m descent from the crater rim to the lake at the bottom. The lake was bubbling away and it was a hard slog of a climb back out again. On the way back we could see all the volcanoes in the region... Chimborozo, Illimiza (?), Cotopaxi, and ?? just behind Baños which was smoking away.
The next day I caught up with the Americans again for breakfast and we got a taxi out to Saquisili for the biggest indigenous markets in the country. They were actually pretty big with 5 plazas around town all packed with vendors. We checked out the animal market where there were plenty of guinea pigs, chickens, goats and turkeys. Also the fruit markets, tourist craft market, and the everything-else markets.
I got back to Latacunga to have my left over pizza for lunch and then enjoyed the sun in the plaza and a lake in a nearby suburb.
I was hoping to find some nightlife in town for the Thursday night, but instead all the restaurants were closed by 9pm so I headed to bed to watch some movies hungry!

Volcan Chimborozo

2007-07-17T22:14:00.000-07:00

Tuesday morning I had a quick look around the centre of Riobamba but there was little to see. I was then heading to Latacunga and decided to take the scenic route via Guaranda.
I got the 9am bus out of Riobamba to Guaranda. This route was very nice passing high up on the desolate flanks of the Chimborozo Volcano. Unfortunately cloud cover obscured views of the summit and only the snow line could be distinguished. Several people got off near the top to hike up to the refuge which would have been nice, but I opted to press on.
After dropping back down into the valley I had lunch in Guaranda and then got a bus around the other side of the mountain. After having some heavy hail we broke through the top of the clouds and could see the glaciers flowing from the western side of the volcano, but still not to the summit.
I arrived to a rainy Latacunga and got myself a room in the Hotel Cotapaxi overlooking the town square.

Cuenca

2007-07-16T23:08:00.000-07:00

After arriving to Cuenca just on sunset on Sunday I walked through town and found a nice hostel with a good bar with music.
On Monday I checked out the town square and what must be the ugliest cathedral anywhere, although the blue domes looked nice enough. I walked along the river to El Barranco where there were some famous `hanging´ houses that looked out over the river and were painted all colourful. Next stop was the museum where they make the famous Ecuadorian Panama hat - a white broadbrimmed hat. The Pumapunga Archaeological site was the other site to see in town. I walked down there and saw it from outside, but have seen many more impressive Inca ruins so didn´t bother going inside.
I caught the 14:30 bus to Riobamba which went through some nice countryside, particularly just before Alausi where the mountains dropped down 2500m to the coastal plains. Finally arrived in Riobamba at 9pm and had a feed from the street vendors and called it a night.

Guayaquil

2007-07-15T18:58:00.000-07:00

The bus trip from Mancora was comfortable but very slow with the border crossing and all the subsequent document checks. The time passed by quick enough by chatting to Veronica, a nice girl from Lima heading up to visit her boyfriend in Guayaquil. An hour after the border we saw Machala surrounded my many banana plantations wizz past. The town wasn`t on the highway so the bus wasn`t stopping, so it looked like I was going to Guayaquil. Upon arriving to Guayaquil Veronica was met by her boyfriend Andrès, whose mum also invited me to crash at their place. Without any plans this sounded like a pretty good offer. We headed home and I claimed the sister, Karla`s bed and then we all headed out to the local parrillado for a good pile of meat for dinner. In the evening we did a lap through the city centre which looked very nice and modern.
The next day we all drove into town to have a better look around the Malecon 2000, the city´s waterfront precinct with plenty of nice gardens, restaurants and various monuments. We grabbed a bite to eat here then headed back home. Andrès` mum went back to grab the car and unfortunately got her handbag robbed on the way. She was a bit upset so being the only other driver around the duty fell to me. Was the first time driving on the other side of the road but this didn`t take too long to get used to, just the crazy ecuadorian driving took some adjusting too!
We chilled out back at home doing some karaoke to the local music and grabbed some dinner from the local hamburger stall about midnight.
This morning we had a big breakfast of omelets and then I headed off to the bus station to get back on track in Cuenca. The whole family decided to come along to see me off. Of course, many thanks to Andrès, Veronica, Karla and family for their very fine hospitality and making my stay in Guayaquil very enjoyable.
The 5 hour bus trip to Cuenca was very nice. Most of this time was spent ascending a single mountain so we really gained some altitude and then passed through the cloud forests and lakes of the Cajun national park.

Mancora

2007-07-12T23:51:00.000-07:00

I arrived to Mancora at 9am on Wednesday. The town was only small stradling the Pan American highway with the beach on one side and desert cliffs to the east. I found a hotel right on the beach and then spent the rest of the beach having a swim and sunbaking.
Thursday I headed straight back to the beach for breakfast and didn`t do much more than the previous day. The wind started to pick up in the afternoon so the kite surfers were out to put on a show.
I headed to dinner with some POM and Irish blokes to the Luna bar and ended up hanging out there with some Aussie and Canadian people who were minding the place till 1am then had to quit so I could get the bus out the next morning at 8am to Machala in Ecuador where I plan to get another bus to Cuenca.

Trujillo

2007-07-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

My overnight to Trujillo arrived at 6am so I walked the 30 minutes into the city centre. The Plaza de Armas was still pretty empty so I enjoyed to colourful architecture for a while before finding the bus station for going up north. I dropped my bags off there and had until midnight to checkout town.
The most important site in town is the ruins of Chan Chan. This was the capital of the Chimu kingdom, and covers 20 square kilometers so I caught the bus out there, had a quick look around the site museum then walked the 20 minutes through the ruins to the centre were the most impressive sites have been restored. The site was huge with mud brick ruins stretching as far as you could see in every direction. Intricate carvings lined the walls of the temples and palaces with fish and birds. The fish net style walls were also interesting.
There was supposed to be another set of ruins on the road back to town, so I walked back along but ended up back in Trujillo without seeing any other ruins. Although an armed holdup of some corner store with a dramatic getaway involving hanging onto the side of a bus did make the trip interesting and was the first crime I`ve seen in South America.
I spend the rest of the day in the city centre. Checked out the old city wall but it was not interesting, lunch in the market and got the bus out at 1am to the beach resort of Mancora.

Huaraz

2007-07-09T13:23:00.000-07:00

My bus arrived to Huaraz in the dark at 5am. I waited half an hour for the sun to come up and then walked around town to find a hostel. To avoid wasting anytime I got the walking shoes on and after a quick taxi ride out of town, started on the walk to the pre-Inca ruins of ****. This walk pasted through some nice little villages on the side of the hill and afforded fantastic views of the 20+ 6000m peaks of the Cordillera Blanca that surround town. The ruins were reasonably impressive with a 3 storey tomb and another set of ruins with a few houses. I returned to town passing through several farms. I headed for some expensive, but very nice thai food for dinner and then hit the sack to get up early the next morning to do some more exploring around the area.
The next day I packed a few sandwhiches for lunch and then caught a combi van up the mountain to Pitec, the starting point of the walk up to the Churrup Lake. The combi trip saved a big walk up the hill and they also threw in a free 40 minute wait in Huaraz. From Pitec I followed the ridge up the the base of the mountain and followed the contours around the mountain. It had been nice and sunny in town when I left off, so I had opted to leave the bulky jackets behind. This now seemed a foolish decision as it started to hail and the clouds appeared to be moving in over the mountains. I almost decided to turn back but pressed on. The next section of the walk required climbing up the climb by the side of the waterfall that led out from the lake above. As much of the water had frozen on the rocks, this was a difficult stretch, however once I reached the top the view over the Lake Churrup, Nevada Churrup and its glacier was amazing. I enjoyed my sandwhiches while perched on a rock to enjoy the view. With the snow starting to fall, it was time for me to get back into town and get a jumper on. I returned pretty quickly to Pitec, but there were no regular busses to this point, so I continued on the trail following the aquaducts to the village of ***, but the last bus had already left, so I continued on towards Huaraz. I met a local couple with a 15 day old dog that were also heading down to find a bus into town so I joined them for all the local shortcuts. The dog died along the way, but fortunately it wasn't far to **** where we caught a combi the final few kilometers into town. From the lake down I had decended about 1500m so my feet were certainly feeling it. I decided it was time to try out the cuy (guinea pig). Unfortunately there weren't too many restaurants serving it, but found a guy wheeling around a crate load of live specimans, so followed him to a local restaurant where he was doing a delivery. I ordered the cuy broaster which turned out to be remarkably similar to a peice of KFC chicken, but with less meat and more small bones. It tasted great and I could have easily eaten a few more, but called it a night.
The next day I had my overnight bus to Trujillo leaving at 8pm so decided to have a day break from the fast travel pace and all the walking. So I checked out the cuy in the local markets, did my shopping in the mercado artesanal and then read a magazine on the roof of the hotel enjoying the amazing view over the city to the montains. This was just interupted to go down to the plaza for a good pasta in the sun. In the evening we had some chifa (chinese food) and then chatted to a few people in the hostel who were all serious montain climbers planning to climb several of the surrounding peaks.

Lima

2007-07-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

I arrived to Lima late on Wednesday night and got a taxi over to the Loki hostel in Miraflores. This is a suburb towards the beach and has all the bars and restaurants, while central Lima is desserted once the sun goes down.
On Wednesday I explored Miraflores. First stop was the Larcomar, which they describe as the face of modern Peru. However it was just a little shopping centre on the top of the cliff that dropped into the Pacific Ocean. Certainly not something I would want to base an entire nation´s hopes on... but then they did have a Hooters there so that´s probably what they are celebrating.
I walked around the top of the cliffs to San Isidro to find the local Qantas office to change the dates on all my flights. This took most the afternoon. Then I walked back to Miraflores past the pre-Inca ruins of Huaca Pucllana. These were just closing so I ran around them quick for free. They were reasonably interesting with a big mound of old bricks.
Friday I caught a mini-bus into Central Lima. There were some demonstrations planned for the day so the main plaza was all blocked off, as was the area around the Congress but the police were happy enough to give me a leg-up over the barriers. I checked out the Cathedral, then it was time for the changing of the guards at the Presendential Palace. They had the usual weird marches, but seemed to enjoy playing their trumpets and big drums. I called past the Congress building and over to China town to have some spring rolls and dim sims for lunch. Next I went to the church for a tour of the catacombs where they piled in the bones of an estimated 25000 people. They didnt seem to like my questions about if they were all the non-beleivers. They did come up with some nice designs with laying out the skulls and leg bones though.
Back in Miraflores I had dinner in Pizza street, and had to try out the local raw fish speciality of Cebiche which was surprisingly nice with the lemon dressing.
Got the 10pm overnight bus to Huaraz.

Nazca

2007-07-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

The overnight bus trip from Cusco to Nazca was uneventful. The bus was nice and comfortable but the winding road through the mountain prevented any sleep for the night. We arrived to Nazca at 5:30am when it was still dark. There were plenty of hawkers waiting for us, so we accepted a free taxi ride out to the airport to find a flight over the lines. We were promised to be a flight at 8am which sounded resonable so we signed up. By 11am we were getting impatient, and with the assistance of the local police, got our flight confirmed at midday... only a 6 hour wait!
The flight over Nazca was very good. We had just a little plane with 5 passengers and we flew over the desert for 30 minutes making sure to swerve back and forth around all the lines. Other travellers had told me they could hardly see the lines the previous week, but they were amazingly clear. We could clearly distinguish the whale, triangles, trapexoid, astronaut, mnkey, dog, condor, spider, hummingbird, alcatraz, parrot, tree and finally the pair of hands.
After a safe landing I headed into town with the koreans, had a feed and jumped on the bus to Lima.

Inca Trail and Machu Picchu

2007-07-03T16:09:00.000-07:00

On Friday I got up bright and early for the start of our trek along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. I got picked up at about 5am and we all headed out to the town of Ollantaytambo in the sacred valley where we had a nice enough breakfast in a restaurant overlooking the central plaza. The locals were all out trying to sell walking sticks to the throngs of trekkers. We continued on to KM82 which was the starting point for our trek. The porters were quick to grab their huge bags and start running down the track. We certainly had enough with our group of 12 people we had 20 porters, a cook and 2 guides. It was a leisurely walk along the river past some small Inca ruins. At lunch we were impressed to find the big tent already made for us, with seats set out. First course was a fancy avacado salad, followed by 2 more courses. We certainly weren't going to go hungry on this trip. From here we veered off the main valley and followed a tributory to our camp only 1 hour away.

In the morning we had an early 4am wake up, but the pain was eased with the guides delivering us hot chocolate in bed for us to wake up. Along with some pancakes for breakfast we were ready for the hardest part of the trek. This was a 1300m ascent to the Dead Womens Pass. Our group was made up of 3 american couples who were all equally slow and struggling even on the easiest sections of the trail, a group of 3 young english lads who prefered to sprint the track, 4 norweigans who powered along, and a kiwi guy and canadian girl. We broke away from the americans and got to the pass in 3.5 hours. Here we got another 3 hours to enjoy the fantastic view while the americans rolled up the hill, but with snow capped mountains all around and the sun shining it was very enjoyable to hang out here for a while. From here we descended almost another 1000m with almost as many stairs to our second nights camp. Here we had the most amazing views down to the valley below. With a nice stream flowing right past the campsite I even enjoyed a dip in the glacial waters.

Sunday we started the morning straight up with another big climb up the second pass. This seemed more difficult than the previous ascent given the fatigue and extra steepness. At the top of the pass we visited another old Inca fort, and then followed original Inca trails that were nicely paved along the ridges and contours. At one point we trekked into the bush and found a ruin that hadnt been restored yet, and was being overgrown by griant trees. Along this stretch we had great views to some of the highest mountains in this part of the woods. Our lunch site was on the top of the ridge looking back down to the sacred valley, the town of Aguas Calientes, and we could even see the mountain of Machu Picchu, behind which was our ultimate destination. From our lunch spot it was a steep descent nicknamed the 'gringo killer'. After 2 hours of continuously going down steps we made it to our final campsite, perched on the side of the mountain.

We decided to make a early start in the morning with the aim of being the first people to Machu Picchu for the day. With this aim we got up at 3am and had everything packed up by 4am. Just outside the camp was a ticket control point which opened at 5.30am so we waited there for 1.5 hours being the first people there by only 5 minutes. By the time the gate opened there was a lengthy queue with several hundred people. We got through and it was everyone for themselves dash in the dark with torches in hand to the Sun Gate. I got to the sungate pretty quickly with our group being the first to set eyes on the Machu Picchu ruins. From the sun gate the ruins were spread out just like in the postcards with the mountain of Huayna Picchu in the background. We continued down to the actual ruins to watch the sunrise. The ruins were remarkable, set right up the top of sheer cliffs and mountains towering all around. There were areas with houses, temples and plenty of terraces. Our guide gave us a tour of all the sites and then just squeezed in as person 388 out of the 400 person daily quota to climb up Huayna Picchu. This was a bloody steep climb up the mountain but gave another fantastic perspective over the ruins and also of the trek we had just completed.

Once I'd seen enough of the ruins at 1am we got the bus down to Aguas Calientas for lunch with the group. The main street in town was the train line, with trains going just 2 meters from our restaurant table. We got the train back to Ollantaytambo and bussed it to Cusco to complete a great trip.

On Tuesday I enjoyed a much deserved massage and visisted the remaining museums in town. In the evening I took the overnight bus to Nazca.

Cusco

2007-06-28T22:38:00.000-07:00

On Monday after all festivities of Inti Raymi, I decided to see some of the sites in Cusco itself. I spent the morning walking around the historical centre of San Blas which had many nice little cafes. It was interesting to see many of the buildings had the first metre or two of the walls still the original Inca masonary work, with the top of the buildings being rebuilt.
The afternoon was spend catching up on some of the work that had been piling up for the last few weeks, had my Inca Trail trek briefing, and then I checked out the local nightlife that cranks 7 nights a week. We found a few good salsa clubs and enjoyed a few free drinks.
Tuesday I visited the premier museum in town, the Convent of St. Domingo, Qorikacha. This had some old Inca ruins that had been excavated, and plenty of religious art works. I then visisted the famous 12 sided stone that the Incas had carved out to use in their constructions. The precision of the Inca masonary work is quite remarkable, with no mortar being used the stones fitted exactly together. I also visited the local cathedral and some churches which were interesting enough, along with the Museum of Religious Art.
By Wednesday it was time to get out of town. The tours to the sacred valley were are rip off, so I jumped on a local bus to Pisaq. Looming over the town were several large sets of Inca ruins, so I caught a taxi up to the top one. The first site was quite interesting with several houses perched on the ridge of the hill. I walked around to some Inca fountains were there were several tour groups. The tour groups then headed right past the bottom of the next set of ruins. I decided to walk into the ruins which consisted of a whole town on the side of a very steep hill. It felt like you were right back in Inca times wondering up small alleys and visiting into different houses.
I continued on to the other 2 sets of ruins which were great, and then walked down through the terraces into the town of Pisaq. I grabbed an almuezo (local set lunch) then caught the bus along the sacred valley to Orubamba, then changed into a combi van with 20 other people for the final trip to Ollantaytambo. Here there was another huge Inca ruins, with a set of terraces going right up the mountain. All the school children were there practicing their Inca singing, dancing and fighting in preparation for performance for a local festival on Friday.
Further around from the ruins were the some aqueducts built by the Incas. These relied on extremely precise stone work with chanels carved into the stones to make fountains and water the fields. As it was getting dark I got the combi and bus back to Cusco.
Thursday I took another bus out to the ruins of Tambomachay on the road to Pisaq. These were pretty small so I walked 5 minutes to the next set of ruins Puca Pucara which were more impressive. Then I headed through a few farmer's fields to the ruins of Q'enqo. This is a huge rock with unusual carvings and tunnels built through it, and supposedly used for sacrificing llamas and some humans. From here I went back to Cusco, but visitied Saqsayhuaman on the way to see it without the thousands of people.
In the evening there was a big stage setup in the Plaza de Armas for a battle of the bands contest, but I didn't get to see much of the show as I was busy getting all my things together in preparation for the Inca Trail trek tomorrow.

Inti Raymi

2007-06-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

I arrived to Cusco just in time for the biggest Inca festival of the year. Inti Raymi (Fiesta del Sol, or Festival of the Sun) is celebrated on the winter solstice each year and everyone comes from all over the world for the party.

My bus arrived on Saturday afternoon, so I checked into the Loki Hostel (yes, back at party central) and headed down to the Plaza de Armas where the warm up parade was already well underway. Groups of musicians and dancers were all dressed up in their traditional costumes. Many of the groups had bands playing the wind pipes and big drums, with the troups of dancing girls doing some pretty energetic traditional dance moves. Each group had anywhere between 30 and 100 people, and since the parade was already up to group 47 I thought it must be almost finished. Yet they kept coming. By group 75 I was getting freezing and had to call past the hotel to grab the beanies They came up the main street, did a lap of the Plaza de Armas past the local politicians and then all piled into the second square. This is where the party started so I headed uickly back here to join in. Plenty of old ladies had turned up with crates of beer, and with all the musicians busting out some tunes and the dancing girls looking for dancing partners, a great night was had. Needless to say my traditional peruvian dance moves have progressed from nothing to pretty good. At about 2am I called past the main plaza again, and was amazed to see the parade still in full swing. The local polititians were showing the effects of all the drinks and dancing around on their podium, but the musicians and dancers (now up to group 218) were still going strong.
The next day was the actual Inti Raymi festival, so I joined everyone else and walked up to the Inca ruins of Saqsawaman (or ´sexy women´ for us english speakers). Everyone was piled in on the hills surrounding the parade ground between the ruins, so I squeezed in and found a tiny bit of rock to park on from where I could see a bit of the festivities. At 1pm a procession of people all dressed up as Inca warriors arrived from their parade through town. They streamed out from between all the ruins, with the Inca king chilling out on a big pile of rocks in the centre, the 4 Inca armies marched out. They were followed by groups of dancers. After a few hours of different dancers and people moving around the field they decided to sacrifice a llama before a bit more dancing. The whole event was pretty slow and could have taken 20 minutes instead of 4 hours. The tour groups that had front row seats must have agreed and just 10 minutes before the show was over they all walked off through the middle of the performance taking some photos as they went. Everyone else then decided they wanted to take close up photos too, and within a few minutes the whole place was inundated with thousands of locals and tourists.

A few of the Inca armies still marched around the parade ground, while we checked out the ruins and then headed back to Cusco.

Lake Titicaca

2007-06-24T21:08:00.000-07:00

Monday morning I took the bus over to Copacabana on the Bolivian shores of Lake Titicaca. It was a nice little town so I checked out the big white church that dominated the main plaza. It was more impressive outside than inside. Next was a quick trek up the Cerro Calvario just to the north of town. The hill has some religious monuments on the top and is used by locals for their pilgrimages, placing rocks at all the crosses on the way up. It proved to be more popular with the tourists who didn´t have to carry rocks up the hill, so they flocked up there to see the sun set over the lake.
The next morning I packed my bags and set of on the 17km trek along the peninsula from Copacobana to the small village of Yampupata. This was a great walk passing through little villages. The locals here didn´t meet many tourists and all wanted to have a chat. Once I reached Yampupata I hired a little boat and a driver to take me across to Isla del Sol. The island is popular since it has several Inca ruins.
The boat dropped me off at the base of the Inca stairs which went straight up the hill to the small village of Yumani. I settled in to a hostel at the top of the ridge, with a great view out one side to Bolivia and the snow capped peaks of the Cordillera Real, and on the other side across the lake to Peru. After relaxing in the sun and enjoying the view I walked down to the main ruins on the south side of the island, Pilko Kaina.
Wednesday morning I had breakfast outside overlooking Peru, then grabbed my bags and trekked along the ridgeline to the northern end of the Island. The first challenge arose just outside of the village at the ticket office, where I had to convince the corrupt ticket salesman that I would not pay B15 for a B10 ticket. The trail followed the ridgeline for the length of the island. I had lunch with some hopeful mountain-bikers at some ruins and then explored the ruins of the Inca palace.
From here I went down to the village of Cha´llampampa and caught a boat back to the Inca stairway to lay in the sun for 2 hours while waiting for the next boat to go back to Copacobana. Enjoyed some good Lake Titicaca trout for dinner with the Kiwis I met a few days before on the bus.
Thursday morning I enjoyed another trout on the shores of the lake, and then caught the bus in the afternooon across the border to Puno, Peru.
Puno was actually quite a nice little town, with a pedestrian mall full of restaurants and bars that we had to check out.
Friday I did a full day tour to visit the main peruvian attractions in the lake. First stop was the Los Oros. These people didn´t seem to like living on land so they built their own floating islands from reeds. This keeps them busy as they have to keep piling on new reeds while the ones on the bottom rot away. The advantage being that if they don´t like their neighbours they just pull up anchor and float away (perhaps the Monc should´ve been on a reed island?). The Oros people also got creative with their reeds and made everything out of them, including their houses and some fancy boats.
We then took a boat for 2.5 hours out into the middle of the lake to visit Isla Taquine. The people on the island all wore their traditional outfits. The guys had to wear red hats if they were taken, and red and white if they are single. Unfortunately the girls didn´t have a similar system.
The 3 hour boat ride back to Puno was passed with several games of cards while sitting on the roof.
Saturday I took the bus over to Cusco in time for the big Inca festival of Inti Raymi (sun festival).

La Paz

2007-06-17T12:45:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday afternoon I headed to the San Sebastian Church where I got a guided tour of the museum and could climb up the bell tower for a view over the city. The next morning I trekked through town and up to the Mirador Killi Killi for a great view over the entire city. The city looks very nice stuck in a big bowl, with mountains surrounding it on almost all four sides. This was a great spot so I spent several hours laying in the sun and enjoying the view. In the afternoon I visited the Coca museum where they showed how to process it to cocaine and had a good stab at the USA for consuming it all. Cocaine seems to be everywhere in this town. There are even bars that ask you how many grams you would like when you order a cerveza.
I moved to the Loki Hostel in search of some more social scene. First stop for the night was the Loki hotel, then we moved on to Mongos and later on we ended up at Traffic for some dancing. I had to crash early at 3am to go mountain bike riding in the morning, but when I got up at 6am everyone else was just arriving back... not bad for a Wednesday night out!
I headed into town and had a quick bacon and eggs with our riding team of 6 people and then drove up to the lake at La Cumbre at 4700m. This was the start of our ride down ´the world´s most dangerous road´. Surrounding us were 6000m + mountains and glaciers so we put on all the warm clothes we had before setting off on the ride. After several kilometers we left the paved road and flew down the original road. The ride was amazing with the road cut into the cliffs and going right under waterfalls. We had 2 guides, the owner of the company and the other was the number 3 mountain biker in Bolivia, so we had a cracking pace and completed the 50km track almost 2 hours ahead of the usual speed. We finished at the animal refuge in Yolosa at 1100m where we enjoyed the warm, humid weather, the extra oxygen, a warm shower, swim in the pool and a big buffet lunch. The animal refuge also had plenty of little monkeys, macaws and other animals they had rescued from the markets.
Since we had plenty of spare time we decided to drive back up the dangerous road rather than the new road which is normally taken. This allowed us to enjoy the scenery without worrying about flying off the side of the road and straight down the big cliffs (which happens regularly!).
Friday morning I was stuck in town for the day so I could get the all clear from the dentist in the morning. This was acheived, then I enjoyed a big lunch near the main plaza and spent several hours burning all the photos of the last few months to CD. In the evening I went with the guys from Loki to Mongos for a big mexican burrito, then back to the Loki bar, back to Mongos and eventually to Traffic for a good night out.
Saturday I got up early to wait to be picked up for a trip to the summit of Chacaltaya. After waiting an hour we discovered the trip had been cancelled. So I headed down to the company to find something to do. All other tours had left so I got a lift with one of the drivers who was heading to the Huayni Potosi (6088m) base camp where he was picking up the team that had just reached the summit that morning. From the base camp I trekked up to the glacier and enjoyed the view of the mountain and the Cordillera Real. I joined the climbers on their return to the bottom where we had a big meal waiting for us.
Back in La Paz I headed to the local pizzeria with another Aussie bloke. We were tempted by the largest pizza available which had a diameter of 1.5m, but opted for a smaller one when they didn´t have a table big enough to eat the giant pizza off. I then caught up with my Bolivian mates from the previous day and a few extra people and cruised over to the Hard Rock Cafe where they had a live band playing through the night.
This morning I had another early start and the tour to Chacaltaya actually showed up. We drove up through the suburb of El Alto at 4000m, and continued up to the highest ski resort in the world. It was out of season for the snow (the glacier has shunk 80% in the last 20 years anyway, so is almost unskiable), so instead we began the trek to the summit. After less than an hour we summitted the 5421m peak of Chacaltaya.
We then drove back through La Paz to the Valley of the Moon where there is a clay valley that has eroded over many years to form a strange landscape of columns and deep holes.
Tomorrow I hope to take the bus over to Copacobana from where I will visit Lake Titicaca.

Bus Ride from Uyuni to La Paz

2007-06-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

After the 3 day trip around the salares, I jumped on the overnight bus from Uyuni to La Paz. The local bus was already full, so I claimed one of the last seats on the cama tourist bus.
We stopped in a small town at 11am for a nice 2 course meal for a whole B$6, and then stopped quick at the petrol station in Oruro at 4:30am.
Shortly after, between 5 and 5:30am we were suddenly awoken as the bus slammed full speed into the back of a truck that was parked on the side of the road. I was sitting in the front row, on the aisle of the left side. This proved to be very lucky, as the korean bloke sitting next to me by the window suffered some severe lacerations to his head from the shards of glass and bits of steel and appeared unconscious, and the israeli couple sitting across the aisle from me were looking at the back of the bus only 20cm from their noses. The girl had her legs broken. In front of me there was previously a glass wall, then another 2 meters of bus where the driver sat along with his son. Now it was just a tangled mess of strips of steel and I could look down between my feet and see the road below.
I was relatively fine so quickly found my shoes, gathered all my belongings which luckily hadn´t dissapeared (many people lost bags, cameras, etc in the confusion). Noticing diesel pouring out the front of the bus, I decided it was a good time to get out of the bus. The 2 guys sitting behind me couldn´t understand why I would want to get out when it was freezing cold outside (still pitch dark) but was nice and warm in the bus.
I headed towards the back of the bus. The scene was quite extreme with people all over the place, blood sprayed all over the bus, and many seats had been ripped from the floor of the bus and tossed around. Towards the back of the bus we smashed open 2 windows and jumped the 2m down to the road. Most people got off the bus, with a couple remaining including the brazilian doctor to assist the girl from the front.
Some people attempted to stop the traffic to get assistance, or call for the emergency services. Much to our disbeleif, and what should be severe embarrasment for all Bolivians, cars and busses would only wind down their window a few centimeters to say they can´t help, while the others wouldn´t even slow down. Some said they would call for help at the next town.
About 15 minutes after the incident occurred, another bus and truck attempted to pass at full speed alongside our accident, causing the truck to fly off the opposite side of the road and almost roll over.
The few natives that were on the bus then decided to start lighting up the tusks of grass along the road. With sparks being blown around and diesel still coming out of the bus, we were in grave fear that the bus would soon go up in flames. First thing we got the last few people out of the bus, then we wanted to retreive our bags from the cargo bays. These were of course locked, so we managed to smash them open and retreive all the bags from the bus and put them a safe distance away.
Since the accident we saw no sign of the driver. We only assume that we was tossed through the windscreen and had taken off. We decided this was excusable given there was little left of his son.
After 2 hours it was clear that no help was on its way. Two guys had just managed to get a lift in a car to La Paz, so I joined the brazilian doctor and the swedish nurse couple and managed to get a lift on another bus for the remaining 3 hours for the journey to La Paz.
On arriving to the La Paz bus terminal 5 hours after the accident, we went to the office of the bus company, who, to our sheer amazement were not even aware of the accident.
The tourist police soon took interest in us since we had blood all over us, and the brazilian guy had a big cut to his lip. This took about 3 hours while they took details, some more people from the bus started to arrive, and I showed the photos I had taken to some police boss with a thousand gold stars on his shoulder.
We dropped our bags at a hostal. I suffered chips to about 6 teeth, so I went for a walk through town to the Australian consulate to see if there were any reputable dentists in town. I was quite impressed by the service they provided. Within 10 minutes they had sent my details to the embassy in Chile and onto Canberra so everyone knew I was OK, had booked me in to see the consulate dentist that evening. Next stop was the tourist police office to get a police report of the incident for the insurance. They were overrun with everyone coming from the bus, and liasing with all the embassies. Apparently the worst injury they were aware of was a guy undergoing serious surgey to his upper nose, but they hadn´t even heard about the girl that had gone to hospital with the broken legs.
With my police report in hand, it was time to head to the dentist. He was a bolivian guy and didn´t speak any english. Unfortunately my spanish does not yet extend to understanding dental diagnosis, but I had the girl from the consulate on the phone the whole time to translate. I got 2 teeth fixed up there and then.
In the evening I met up again with the brazilian and swedish and enjoyed a good meal.
This morning I headed back to the dentist and got the rest of my teeth patched up, so they should be almost as good as new now. Fortunately all the damage was very minor and easily fixed. Only one tooth caused any pain, and another tooth is slightly more exposed from the gum than before so is quite sensative to temperature for a few days. I organised to visit again on Friday just for a final checkup before getting on with the travels, but will no doubt have to visit an Australian dentist on my return home just to check up on his work.
This is actually quite amusing given it was only the day before yesterday that we were joking about the state of bolivan dentistry. We thought that bolivian dentists must only be trained in extractions, and I could almost have been convinced to get a full set of gold teeth like every second Bolivian seems to.

Uyuni and tour to the Salares

2007-06-10T15:55:00.000-07:00

On Thursday I planned to leave Potosi and head to Uyuni. I arrived to the bus terminal at 11am only to find that the only bus leaving before 6pm was already chockers. Despite persistent pestering by me, they wouldn't even let me sit in the aisle for the 6 hour trip. Not to be deterred, I walked to the outskirts of town, flagged over the same bus and got to Uyuni by 5pm. The landscape on the way was spectacular with bare mountains and plenty of llamas.
At 11am Friday I joined a group of 3 german girls and 2 POM lads for a 3 day expedition around the south-west corner of Bolivia.
For the first day we went to Colchani, a small town where they process the salt they collect from the enormous salares (salt lakes). However the main attraction seemed to be a crazy llama that was intent on attacking me by jumping on its back legs and kicking with its front legs. Fortunately a few good kicks to it's neck convinced it to settle down. Next we headed off in our 4x4 to the middle of the salar where there is a hotel built entirely from salt. Next we had llama steaks for lunch at Isla Incahuasi, an island in the salar covered in enormous cactii. The largest was 12m tall and took 1200 years to grow. We spent the night on the edge of the salar in another hotel built entirely from salt. With big salt icicles it felt like we were staying inside a big christmas decoration rather than a hotel. Before dinner we had a quick run up the mountain behind the hotel to see the salar change colours with sunset.
Saturday morning we headed to the Laguna Colorado. A big lake that in the day glows red from the micro-organisms. It also had islands of borax, and several flamingos. We visited in total 4 similar lakes, as well as some interesting rocks that were deposited a while back by the nearby active volcanoes.
We spent the night in a small hut in the middle of nowhere. It was getting pretty cold (-15 degrees that night) so we got a fire going and shared it with the Irish guys from the neighbouring tour group. Before long all the music instruments came out... between the 12 of us we had enough to form a full band. The instruments consisted no less than 2 guitars, drums, harmonicas, a saxaphone and several other unique instruments. It's quite amazing what some people cart all over South America. With all this music we sang the night away, only to be back on the road at 5am the next morning to visit the geysers. Then breakfast was had at the thermal pools. After an hour drive we got to Laguna Verde, then dropped the german girls off at the Chilean border.
The remaining hardy souls drove the 10 hours back to Uyuni, with lunch in a small village and a quick visit to the train cemetery.
Tonight I'm just about to take the overnight bus up to La Paz.

Potosì

2007-06-07T07:29:00.002-07:00

I arrived to Potosì on Monday afternoon. The city is at an altitude of 4060m, but walking up the hill from the bus station I didn`t feel the altitude at all. However, Tuesday morning I was getting out of breath just walking around town. Fortunately by the afternoon I was back to full strength. I went on a tour around the Casa National de Moneda, which used to be the old mint and is now the countries best museum.
On Wednesday I went with Greengo Tours for a trip into the local silver mines. Over 15000 people work in the mines, and they are the backbone of the local economy. The mines have been used for over 500 years and still going strong, but with around 8 million deaths in this period it`s fairly dangerous work. Even today the mines lack any real safety precautions. We got decked out in some gumboots, overalls and helmet. First stop was the miners market to buy some drinks for the miners, some coca leaves to chew on, and some sticks of dynamite to make the tour a bit more interesting.
The entrance to the mine was too small to stand up, but we had to run at full speed to beat the trolleys full of minerals being pushed out of the mine. We explored the caves for several hours, saw the tio (devil) which the miners give cigarettes to so they dont have accidents, and met the miners, the youngest was only 13 year old.
In the evening I headed to the markets to see the local buskers do their comedy performance (as the night before). Inevitably, being the only gringo around, they had to involve me in the show. This was a good test of my spanish, having to speak infront of 200 locals. However, after several minutes the spanish exceeded my knowledge, but this was probably fortunate since all Bolivian jokes seem to revolve around being gay.
Now I´m just about to catch a bus for 6 hours to Uyuni. This is the starting point for the 3 day trip around the salares (salt lakes), lagoons with flamingos and geysers. I´ve had lots of reports that its -15 degrees down there, strong winds, no hot showers and hardly a roof on any of the hostels, so hoping that my jumper will hold up to this test.

The ´Death Train´ to Santa Cruz

2007-06-04T07:14:00.000-07:00

The overnight train trip on the infamous ´Death Train´ was actaully very comfortable, despite being on the worst and slowest train. The train stopped in several small towns where we got off an had dinner. In the morning the fast train that departed 6 hours after us overtook us. It was looking like it was going to be a very comfortable trip until 1 hour out of Santa Cruz the carriage in front of ours derailed. The passengers were telling us that it would take at least a day for the train to be put back on the rails, so we started walking to the nearest village, Cococa. From here we caught the bus into Santa Cruz. I wondered around the sites with Katie (english girl from the train), climbed up the top of the church bell tower for a view of the city, and found some sloths climbing up the trees in the central plaza. We took the 5pm bus overnight to Sucrè. This was the most uncomfortable bus trip I have ever had... the seats were so packed that my knees were almost touching my chin, and I`m sure the old lady behind us was shitting in a bucket and tossing it out the window.
On Sunday we arrived to Sucrè (2700m). Checked out the markets for a big lunch and a couple of fresh fruit shakes for the total cost of about A$2 - it might as well be free. Checked out the local cemetary and walked up to Mirador de La Recoleta for a view over the city. The town is full of students, with over 60% of the population under 23 years old. So as you would expect, there were plenty of lively bars in town to check out.
Monday morning I splashed out on some more fruit shakes, then caught the bus up to Potosì.

The Pantanal e Corumbà

2007-06-01T06:45:00.000-07:00

I left Campo Grande early on Monday morning for a 5 hour drive in the van, then transferred into the back of a truck for an hour down a bumpy dirt road to our base camp for the next couple of days. The sun was out so there were thousands of caimans (aligators) sunbathing by the wetlands. We arrived to camp and claimed a hammock which proved to be very cold at night. The evening was spent by the camp fire, mixing up caparinahs.
In the morning we had breakfast at 6am then headed for a trek through the wetlands. Levi our guide helped Marcel and I track down some monkeys, and caipiburras (largest rodents in the world). We returned to camp for lunch then joined the other groups for a boat trip along the little rivers. We spotted lots of birds, including several tucans, macaws, woodpeckers, hummingbirds, kingfishers, and many more. After dinner, which was the same pile of rice, pasta and beans every day for lunch and dinner, we all piled into the truck for a beer run to the local grocery store. I think he hasn`t had so much business all year.
Wednesday morning we again went hiking through the wetlands but failed to find many animals due to the cold weather. In the afternoon we drove in the back of the truck for 2 hours to a farm and went for a horse ride. We found some armadillos, and enjoyed the ride through the wetlands spotting lots of stalks and jabirus as the sun was setting over the palm trees. We were very happy to find 2 different snakes on the ride.
After surviving another freesing night in the hammock we piled in the boat and went fishing for piranahs. With just the basic equipment of a bamboo stick, some line and meat we quickly hauled in several piranahs and some catfish. This was a welcome addition to lunch and with one guy getting a bite to the finger we were glad to be eating them before they ate us.
I caught a truck back to the main road and waited by the highway for a bus to Corumbà where I enjoyed a good churrascaria after so many days without a good steak. This morning I have just crossed the border to Bolivia and waiting for the train to Santa Cruz. The train with airconditing and meals was all booked out so we are in `first class` with the cows and chickens. Should be a interesting trip across Bolivia!

Rio de Janeiro

2007-05-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

I´ve just had a fantastic week in Rio. Many thanks to Maria and her family for giving me a bed, feeding me and showing me all the sights all week.
I arrived on Friday 18 May, and crashed at Maria´s place at Recreio, which is about an hour bus trip down the coast. That night we headed in to Ipanema to experience the famous Rio nightlife. Unfortunately the club was mostly filled with young gays, but we still had a good night out.
Saturday was rainy so was spent mainly at home. Met up with Maria´s brother Pedro, so we jumped on the scooter with the surfboards and found some good waves for the afternoon. In the evening we headed with some of Maria´s friends to a local bar/restaurant where there was an entertaining MPB band playing.
Sunday we took the ferry across the harbour to Niterói. Maria´s friend´s sister put on a good BBQ for us and all the family. We checked out the beach before it got too dark, stayed the night in Niterói. In the morning we visited Oscar Neimeyer´s flying saucer building and spent the day on a little beach enjoying the sun. In the evening we headed to the good old Shenanigan´s Irish Pub in Ipanema to meet up with Ewa and friends (mates from Ilha Grande) before they headed back to Europe.
On Tuesday we drove further south along to coast to some nice isolated beaches, and then enjoyed the rest of the day at the local beach of Recreio. In the evening we headed for a little bar on the beach for some karaoke.
Wednesday we were treated to the Brazilian meal of Feshuada (?) which was a stew of meat with rice, beans and salad. I could certainly get used to eating meals like this every day! Afterwards I took a drive with Maria´s dad through the Tijuca forest and past Maracaná stadium. I then explored some sights in Centro as it was getting dark, including the Cathedral, Lapa arches and central markets.
Thursday I got up early and caught a combi van into town to go for a tour through Rocinha, the biggest favella (slum) in South America. We caught a mototaxi up to the top, and then wondered down through the little alleyways (or were they open sewers?). First we met the local drug dealers who were busy waving their machine guns around but were happy enough to let us through when we claimed to be Flamengo supporters (the local soccer team that had just won the game the previous night). Visited some art galleries, bakeries and childcare centres in the favella, and went onto the roof of some houses to get a good view of the city.
After the favella I headed up to Christ the Redeemer, which looks over the city from Corcovado. I caught the train to the top and despite the miserable weather or rain and strong winds, I still got an amazing view of the city. In the evening we headed out with Maria and Patricia to a local nightclub which had a good samba band performing and played brazilian funk music.
On Friday I was decided it was time to visit the last few must-see sights in Rio otherwise I would never leave. First thing was to catch the tram from Central up the hill to Santa Theresa. The tram was ancient and felt like it was about to fall apart each time it jerked around a corner. All the locals would run along beside the tram and hang on to the outside as it went up the hill. Up the top were some nice old café´s. I walked down and caught the metro to Botafogo which had a good view of Corcovado and Sugarloaf. Then walked up the first hill of Sugarloaf, then caught the cablecar to the highest peak of Sugarloaf. With the clouds cleared and the sun shining, the view of Rio and Niterói was truly spectacular. I hang around until night fall to see the lights come on then headed back to Recreio. Being a Friday night, and my last night in Rio, it was time to party, so we headed in to the centre. First stop was a club that wasn´t really happening, so we cruised over to Club 6 which was rockin. We picked a floor where the dancing was really happening and partied the night away.
On Saturday the weather was perfect and it was very tempting to head back to the beach for the day, but I jumped on the bus, and after a short stop in São Paulo again, arrived to Campo Grande early this morning. This is the gateway to the Pantanal, so I have organised to go on a 4 day trip to camp in the middle of the wetlands. We plan to find some anacondas, swim with the aligators and catch piranahs for dinner.

Ilha Grande

2007-05-18T18:22:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I took the bus north to Angra dos Reis with 2 girls from the OC (actually the town where Laguna beach is set). With not much to do in Angra we caught a schooner for an hour cruise around the islands to Ilha Grande. The town was full of little cafés and pousadas, so first effort was to track down some Chopp. After scouring the island we resorted to a good steak and beer, then got settled in a hostel up on the hill overlooking the bay.
Wednesday morning we got up early to get stuck into the breakfast before the big group of 19 year old english church builders ate all the breakfast. The guys at the hostel cooked up the breakfast fresh each morning, with bread, cakes biscuits and fresh fruit, so we couldn´t miss out!
Together with a swedish judo champion and canadian couple, we did the 2.5 hour trek over the mountains to Lopez Mendes, supposedly the most beutiful beach in Brazil. It was certainly nice, but with incredibly strong currents wasn´t the greatest place for a swim. Spent the day on the beach then caught a boat back to town with the OC girls.
Yesterday I did the hike up to Pigeon Peak. This was a trek and a half through thick jungle and little remnants of a trail. Saw several little monkeys, squirrels, huge birds and almost stepped on a long snake. Eventually made it to the top with amazing views over the entire island, the bays, mountains on the mainland, and a sandbar reaching almost all the way to Rio. The trip down was a bit faster going, but with my water supplies finished on the summit, I was glad to find a small creek to releive the thrist.
After recovering in the hammock I headed out to see the local island night life with Ewa, the swedish party planner. She needed little encouragement for some corner treatment with the barman, which I understand did evolve to be proper beach treatment.
This morning got the ferry back to Angra, then the bus to Rio de Janeiro where I met Maria and crashed at her place.

Paraty

2007-05-15T06:45:00.000-07:00

The bus trip from São Paulo was amazing. we drove through the forest and down through the mountains to the coast where there were beautiful white beaches, with people sunbaking beneath the palm trees. Paraty was very nice with a historic centre full of restaurants and bars with live music. Monday I checked out the centre again. Fortunately it wasn´t high tide as all the streets in town flood then. The fort on the hill just outside town was unimpressive. I then took the local bus a little south to Tindade which had fantastic beaches. I waded through the river, climbed through the forest and along a few beaches and eventually found a natural swimming pool, which was surrounded with huge rocks. Perfect for a swim. Walked back to the main beach and had a beer at the little beach bar, then back to Paraty. Headed out to the local bar with everyone for the hostel, but that died off pretty quickly being a Monday night, so we borrowed someones boat and hung out there for a while.
Today I´m off to Ilha Grande which everyone is raving about.

More São Paulo

2007-05-15T06:25:00.000-07:00

So on Wednesday evening I headed down to the monastery where the Pope turned up and made a speach to everyone. Seemed to be thousands of people travelling here to see him from all over Sth America.
Thursday I checked out town again.
Friday I headed out to the Butanto Institute where they make all the snake anti-venom and vaccines for Brazil. They had huge snake pits with all the snakes they breed, and a museum with scorpians, spiders and plenty of snakes. The enormous boa constrictors where cool, as well as the rattle snakes. USP (University of São Paulo) was right next door, so checked that out, including MAC, the Museum of Contemporary Arts.
Caught the bus back into Centro and got off at Sé just as the Pope cruised in to cannonise Brazil´s first saint, so got stuck in the crowd, and a packed train trip home.
On Saturday I went with Virgilio to Liberdade which is the Japanese district in town, and then to the flea markets where they were serving up some nice brazillian food and the best sweets, while listening to some old guys play some awesome traditional music. We headed to a a little bar that had its walls plastered with futbal memorilia and met up with one of his mates. She was crazy about Australia and wanted to know everything about the place. Final stop for the day was Gini nightclub where there was a live band playing sambahawk which was going off.
Sunday morning I got up early to catch the bus down to Paraty, but only just got around the corner from Virgilio´s apartment, when the local priest had a big breakfast setup and insisted I get stuck into it. Not one to refuse a free feed, I got to work. They were surprised to find an Aussie out in the suburbs of São Paulo, and so decided they would prey for my safe travels, and for mum, since it´s mothers day. So they preyed for 15 minutes, and then I had to race off to Tiête to catch my ride.

São Paulo

2007-05-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

Arrived to São Paulo at 5:30am on Monday. I waited till the sun started to come out and took the metro into town. Went to explore Centro. Saw the huge Cathedral at Sé with its big green towers. Then I went up to the top of the Torre Banespa, which is the local replica of the Empire State Building. The view of the city was amazing, with skyscapers out to the horizon in all directions. Then I headed over to Edificio Italia where I also went to the top, but this one was a bit more difficult to find the top. I had to take a few different elevators, climbed up some stairs and down little corridors. I´m sure there must be an easier way for people to get to the top, but I finally got there. Next door was another of Oscar Neimeyer´s buildings, but certainly not his most interesting.
I met up with Virgilio (HC virgiliogalvao) down at Ave Paulista where we had dinner and a few drinks, then I had to get the last metro back to the hostel.
Tuesday morning I headed back down to Ave Paulista and saw all the sights. This is the main street in town and is lined with skyscapers. I went into the MASP (São Paulo Museum of Art) where there was an exhibition on Charles Darwin and evolution. Of most interest were the Galapagos turtles and dragons they had there wandering around.
Walked back to the hostel, grabbed my bags and headed out to Lapa on the train to stay at Virgilio´s place.
Today it´s come over drizzly so I just had a look around town. The Pope just landed in town literally 5 minutes ago and is due to drive through town in his pope-mobile in half an hour. He´s staying at the local monestary for a few days, so people from all over the place have crowded around there with all the TV crews and more police and military than I´ve ever seen. Might have to go down and say hi later on.

Curitiba

2007-05-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

Arrived to Curitiba on Friday night. I dumped my bags at the youth hostel and had a walk around the pedestrian malls in town which were nice enough, and dinner in the new shopping mall that was just created from the old train station.
On Saturady I jumped on the tourist bus and visited Jardim Bôtanico which had a waterfall inside a huge greenhouse, the Museo Oscar Niemeyer which was inside ´the big eye´. He is the most famous Brazillian architect and came up with some weird designs, this one included. Parque Tanguá was next where they converted an old quarrie into a big pond with waterfall, and then the Ópera de Arama which was built in another old quarry. They seem to be very imaginative with what to do with old quarries around here. Just on sunset I went to Torre Panorâmica where from the top I had a great view over the entire city.
Sunday I had to get up at the crack of dawn and took the Serra Verde Express to Morrentes. This is the most scenic train trip in Brazil. It had great views at it went through down the mountains with everyone hanging out the windows and hooting whenever we went through a tunnel (which was very often). Morrentes was in full swing celebrating the last day of their fortnight long festival where there were some streets set up with markets, some more streets set up with musicians and performances, and other streets set up with Oktoberfest style tents serving beer and steak. Interestingly the steak tents where run by the local hospital, so I thought it better not to enquire where they sourced their steaks.
Got the overnight bus to São Paulo which was a rough ride as the driver swerved down the mountains.

Ilha Santa Catarina

2007-05-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

Wednesday it turned overcast again, so had a walk up the beach and we spent the afternoon with a big championship of beach volleyball. Fortunately we didnt adopt Brazillian rules where only the feet, chest and head can touch the ball!
Thursday it was still raining so I went into the town of Lagoa and had a look around, then walked down to the main surf beach where the Brazillian leg of the world surfing championships is held.
Today I got a bus out of Florianopolis around lunchtime to Curitiba.

Florianopolis

2007-05-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I crossed back over to Brazil and checked out that side of the waterfalls with the american girls from the neighbouring hostel. This was just as amazing as the Argentine side, but you got a better view of the entire waterfalls. At one point you could walk out on a platform underneath the spay of the main falls. It was mandatory to get a photo underneath the falls, so we were all soaked in seconds, only to have to go back into the downpour because someone had stepped into the photo. I think it was all a plan to get us properly soaked for the day. Walked up to the top of the falls, and met up with Alex of Adelaide from the day before and a few english girls from the hostel and are currently living in Asuncion. Much to their dismay they had no luck in convincing me how great Asuncion is.
Got the overnight bus from Foz to Florianopolis (just 15 hours), checked out the city and then caught the local bus out to Barra da Lagoa where there is an aussie hostel, but the only thing Aussie about the place seems to be the (half) flag flying next to the Brazilian flag. Is a good atmosphere in the hostel with games played early into the morning.
Tuesday I walked up to the lighthouse, then over the hills which gave a great view over the entire island. Then walked down to the next beach which turned out to be a nudist beach and was particularly scary so it was straight past there to Praia Mole. Spent the day on the beach before walking along the lake back home.
Is overcast today so just hanging around town. Will be a soccer match on the beach starting soon so the Aussies will be represented there.
Another 2 nights here before probably staying a few nights in Curitibata, then on to Sao Paulo en route to Rio!

Iguazu Falls

2007-04-28T17:34:00.000-07:00

I arrived to Ciudad del Este (Paraguay) at 4am and it was freezing. Quickly got the beanie out and walked through the nice parks to town, which was just setting up for a busy day of shopping. Caught the bus out to Itaupi Dam, which is the biggest hydro-electric facility in the world and one of the 7 wonders of the modern world. Watched the movie and did the free tour inside the dam wall and around the top. I then walked across the bridge to Brazil, and eventually found someone to stamp my passport. Spent a few hours in Foz which had a nice main street with plenty of cafés, then caught the bus over to Puerto Iguazu in Argentina to stay the night since it was a smaller town and much cheaper. Today I explored the Argentine side of the falls. The island and top walk were closed due to the high water, but the waterfalls were impressive which looked like the chocolate waterfall out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The upper walk was amazing... the walkways went right over the water, and you could look over the edge. The bottom walkway gave a fantastic view of the entire waterfalls. The must have photo was taken in the spray of the waterfalls, where everyone was soaked within seconds.
Tomorrow will see the Brasilian side and will look to take an overnight bus to Florianopolis.

Asuncion

2007-04-27T17:13:00.000-07:00

Arrived to Paraguay after a lot of waiting in bus stations and sleepless overnight busses. I crashed near the bus station and enjoyed a good feed with live music and watched boca juniors smash boliviano. I caught the local city bus into town in the morning, left my bags at a fancy residential (like a hotel, but its actually someones house) and checked out town. Saw the senate, parliament, palace and other government buildings. Other than this Asuncion wasnt super impressive. Town was deserted by 6pm, and finding a feed became a real challenge. Eventually a hamburger cooked on the side of a road was had, which had the special Paraguay taste of diesel fumes from the ancient busses that would accelerate up the hill with the exhuaste pipes centimeters from my cooking hamburgers.
The next day I headed out to the resort town (Lonely Planets terrible description) of San Bernadino. This place was well past its glory days. The main beach was delapidated and flooded, and after 2 hours I was on my way back to the city. Caught the overnight bus to Ciudad del Este.

Montevideo y Salto

2007-04-23T14:59:00.001-07:00

Spent a fantastic few days in Montevideo. Arrived on Thursday night after a day on the beaches in Punta del Esta. I caught up with Meybell, a mexican who is currently on exchange at the university in Uruguay. She was sharing a place with a few other exchange students so I found a spare spot on the floor under the dining table to roll out my sleeping bag for a few nights. We hit up the university´s asado (bbq) for the exchange students that night. Friday I explored the town with Meybell. There wasn´t a whole lot to see in town, but we tried out some new restaurants and found a great one in the centre of town that served up a huge chivito (steak sandwhich) for A$2. In the evening we headed to the Universidad Catòlica to hook ourselves up with tickets to the university´s commencement party later that night. This was held out at the national Polo club (a long way out of town!). Partied all night with live bands and cheap drinks. We also got free umbrellas which was great timing given its been raining almost constantly since.
The next day was wet wet wet, so I walked down to the beach and back, and waited till midnight and headed to the bus stations with the exchange students to catch the overnight bus up to Salto.
I arrived in Salto at 5am in the pitch dark and the heaviest rain I have seen. Sheltered in the bus station for a few hours until it was dry enough to venture out and find a hotel to crash at. By lunch I had made it out of town to the local thermal pools, caught up with other guys again (2 germans, 1 austrian and 3 spanish) for a day of bathing in stinking hot water.
We went into the city for dinner and tracked down the local bar for a cheap cocktail.
This morning I caught the bus over the border to Concordia, Argentina and now waiting the 12 hours for my bus to leave for Corrientes at midnight, on my way up to Asuncion, Paraguay. Hopefully will make it there sometime tomorrow arvo!

Montevideo y Salto

2007-04-23T14:59:00.000-07:00

Spent a fantastic few days in Montevideo. Arrived on Thursday night after a day on the beaches in Punta del Esta. I caught up with Meybell, a mexican who is currently on exchange at the university in Uruguay. She was sharing a place with a few other exchange students so I crashed on their floor. We hit up the university´s asado (bbq) for the exchange students that night. Friday I explored the town with Meybell. There wasn´t a whole lot to see in town, but we tried out some new restaurants and found a great one in the centre of town that served up a huge chivito (steak sandwhich) for A$2. In the evening we headed to the Universidad Catòlica to hook ourselves up with tickets to the university´s commencement party later that night. This was held out at the national Polo club (a long way out of town!). Partied all night with live bands and cheap drinks. We also got free umbrellas which was great timing given its been raining almost constantly since.
The next day was wet wet wet, so I walked down to the beach and back, and waited till midnight and headed to the bus stations with the exchange students to catch the overnight bus up to Salto.
I arrived in Salto at 5am in the pitch dark and the heaviest rain I have seen. Sheltered in the bus station for a few hours until it was dry enough to venture out and find a hotel to crash at. By lunch I had made it out of town to the local thermal pools, caught up with other guys again (2 germans, 1 austrian and 3 spanish) for a day of bathing in stinking hot water.
We went into the city for dinner and tracked down the local bar for a cheap cocktail.
This morning I caught the bus over the border to Concordia, Argentina and now waiting the 12 hours for my bus to leave for Corrientes at midnight, on my way up to Asuncion, Paraguay. Hopefully will make it there sometime tomorrow arvo!

Punta del Esta

2007-04-19T11:50:00.001-07:00

I watched a big electrical storm in Colonia over the river on Tuesday night. With the impending rain, it was a quick run back to the hostel only to find the roof wasnt very waterproof. Watched on TV how the same storm had caused flooding in Mar del Plata and flooded the BsAs subway.
The next morning i caught a bus through Montevideo to Punta del Esta. This is like the gold coast of Uruguay, with plenty of skyscrapers and nice beaches. It is the official point where Rio del la Plata reaches the Atlantic Ocean. These can be seen on either side of the peninsula, but it all looks like ocean to me.
With the high season already finished, the place is very empty, but the water still great for swimming. Now off to Montevideo for a few days.

Colonia del Sacremento

2007-04-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

I left Buenos Aires on Monday morning after a very enjoyable week staying with Any. Many thanks to her and her family for having me stay all this time.
I jumped on the next boat over the river to Colonia del Sacremento, Uruguay. It only took an hour, then another hour to find an ATM that actually worked. I dumped my bags at the Hostel Español then headed into Barrio Histórico which is a UNESCO heritage site protecting the old village that was build by the Portugese to watch to the Spanish, but was then taken over by the Spaniards.
It´s a very nice town, with ancient stone buildings (with walls 1m thick), rough coblestone streets, and little cafés and restaurants on the footpaths. The atmosphere reminds me of Luang Prabang, Laos. It´s very peaceful after all the noise of BsAs.
This morning after breakfast at the panaderia, I climbed up to the top of the lighthouse where I could just make out the skyline of BsAs on the horizon over the river. Then grabbed a pushbike and headed out to the bullring, which appears not to have been used in a few years, then rode around the historic part of town. My bum is now thanking me for riding over all those cobblestone lanes.
Tomorrow I´ll take an early bus to Montevideo, where I will take another bus somewhere else for 2 days. Perhaps up the coast a little towards Punta del Esta or somewhere. I´ll know once I see where the next busses are going!

Tatii´s 15th Birthday Party

2007-04-15T13:16:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to be invited to Tatii´s (Tatiana) 15th birthday party. She is the neighbour here in Wilde. Rather than celebrate the 18th or 21st birthdays like we do in Australia, in Argentina they celebrate their 15th (and the guys miss out completely), and they do it in style!
We arrived there about 8.30. They had the reception upstairs all with fancy lights on the walls, funky music, waiters going around with flash sandwiches, pizza and empanadas, and drinks. Everyone was dressed up with their best dresses and suits. I wiped my sneakers so they weren´t full of mud, so i looked the part also! Then we went downstairs where Tatii had changed into a new dress looking like she was getting married, and walked out with her father and greeted everyone. We sat down and she did the waltz with her dad, then everyone else joined in. She had to dance with all the boys in the room, but didn´t get all the way through them! we then had an entré which was some nice tandoori chicken, and the waiters were serving drinks constantly to us all night.
Dinner consisted of an amazing number of courses. Next was served entré with some omelette things, stuffed eggs, etc, then the main course which was hot chicken, some fancy potato, etc then we had dessert which was icecream and fruit salad (this was about 3am). The next course was cake, they had a big wedding-like cake, and tables full of other cakes. I got stuck into the lemon merangue pie while being filmed by the film crew that were making a DVD of the night. The final course at 5.30am was beer and pizza. All the courses were spread out over the night, with different dancing, and ceremonies like the speaches, candle lighting ceremonies where the candle was presented to 15 special people in her life, 3 videos that were professionally made, and everyone getting dressed in colourful funny hats. The final event almost turned the whole place into a foam party.
So we didn´t get home from the 15th party till 6.30am, and the kids and grandparents were only just winding up!
Feliz cumpleaños tatii!

More Buenos Aires

2007-04-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

Wednesday I headed back into town and walked around the Parque Ecológico, where there were some lakes (the national mosqueto breeding centre) and wild guinea pigs running around everywhere. Had lunch on the banks of the Rio del la Plata.
Thursday I spent some more time in the microcentro then we went out to Cominito, La Boca where the famous colourful houses are, and plenty of cafe´s in the street with live music and tango dancers. Cominito was only very small, and it was winding down when we got there, so we headed home shortly after.
Friday I went back to Cominito and had lunch in the street watching the tango shows and listening to the live music. We then went out to Avellenada to visit one of Any´s friends who cooked up some brownies for us. After calling past home we went to El Balcony restaurant in San Pedro Telmo which had tango, singing and some other folk dances performed. Then it was time to go to the Requim club, an underground place that played 80´s music all night. Any loved this place so we were here till it closed at 8am, and eventually made it home at 10am.

Buenos Aires

2007-04-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

The long bus trip from Bariloche was uneventful, with no signs of the demonstrations in Neuquen. Arrived to Buenos Aires at lunchtime on Sunday and was met by Any (HC any84) and caught the bus for 45 mins back to her place where I will stay for the week.
Monday I went in to the micro-centro. There were huge demonstrations following the death of the teacher in Neuquen, so I had to aviod these. The busses were also shut down for several hours, and many places closed and police barriers blocking many streets. Fortunately didn´t get violent so I walked around the city to Puerto Madryn, saw some famous bridges (Mothers Bridge), some impressive government buildings. The big obelisk was of course seen in the middle of the worlds widest avenue, which took 3 traffic light changes to get across. People have said it takes their whole lunch break to go across the road to get a hamburger - which is very beleivable!

Yesterday I caught the subte (subway) out to Palermo to see the Botanic Gardens which was just filled with thousands of cats, and swarms of mozzies! The zoo was next on the agenda, but being chased my hoards of angry mosquitos it was decided to give this a miss. The rose gardens and Planatarium were seen, and then walked down Ave Liberator to Recoletta seeing many statues and old buildings along the way. Then walked back along the pedestrian mall of Florida where there were some tango dancers performing in the street, and met up with Any once she finished work. We walked up to San Telmo to go to the restaurant where they have tango performances, but they were only happening on the weekend. So we headed out to Avellenada to the local Parilla (steak house) and had all we can eat steak which went down very well!
Today its raining heavily, so have to decide what to do.

Party time in Bariloche

2007-04-07T10:28:00.000-07:00

So we went to the salsa lessons but they were cancelled since there was no salsa music. Thursday was my last day of spanish lessons, so now I can say a couple of words, but lots more practice is required. Finishing at lunch time we headed to the local pub with the Europeans who couldn´t miss watching the UEFA Cup Quarter Finals of Tottenham vs Seville, only for them to be disappointed with a loss my Tottenham.
We then met up again at my hostel, and then rounded up a few recruits from the hostel and headed to check out the nightlife with a small reggae club and the irish pub.
Friday was a relaxing day about town, sampled the chocolate, and then just about everyone from the hostel (about 20 of us) headed back to the bars for some more partying with plenty of jokes about the NZ and South African accents.
Saturday is just bag packing, chocolate shopping for Easter, and running to the bus stop for my 20 hour bus trip to Beunos Aires.
Friday night was some demonstrations in Neuquen by the teachers who complain they don´t get paid enough (must be a common thing among teachers everywhere). With one teacher getting killed when he was hit by a tear gas canister, it was probably a good thing not to stay in Neuquen for Friday night as previously planned.

La Montaña Spanish School

2007-04-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

This week I´ve been learning a bit of español at the La Montaña Spanish School in Bariloche. I have a class just with one other student, Nitay from Israel, and our teacher Silvina who does a good job. So we do some classes in the morning, and then in the afternoon or evening we go to do some activities. Tuesday afternoon a few of us students headed out to a poor barrio of Bariloche where they were teaching some English, and we challenged them to a game of futbal. We retired and headed back into town for a cervesa with a few of the New Zealanders (was good to brush up on the sheep jokes).
This evening we will all go to a local pub for some salsa lessons with the other students.

El Bolson

2007-04-01T16:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning I caught the bus down to El Bolson to spend the weekend (just 2 hours away). When I arrived the local markets were in full swing, so I checked them out, and got a good feed of empanadas and nice stawberry tart. El Bolson was living up to its reputation as a hippie and organic farmer´s hangout, so I escaped out of town and headed to the top of Cerro Amigo which was only 20 minutes walk.
Then I walked the 5kms to the south of town to reach the 42nd parrellel. This is the most southern point in my trip, so from here its all overland to the equator just past Quito, Ecuador to complete the first leg of my trip.
Dinner was had at the local pizzeria. Given I was hungry and the menu was only in spanish, I went for the pizza with the most toppings. This choice was popular I later saw that almost everyone else in the restaurant was eating the same pizza. Turns out that the pizza toppings consisted of a a thick layer of cheese, 3 thin slices of cheese, and then another extra big layer of cheese. There must be a lot of ways to say cheese in Argentina!
Sunday I walked up to Mirador del Rio Azul which had a nice view of the valley and the mountains to the south. Then jumped on the bus back to Bariloche in time for my Spanish lessons tomorrow, which is also the Malvinas Day public holiday.

Cerro Catedral

2007-03-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

So today I headed to Cerro Catedral which is a big ski resort. The guys at the hostel told me the bus to get out there, but it didn´t go all the way, so while I was waiting for the proper bus I started walking up to Villa Catedral. I don´t know how often that bus was meant to run, but by the time it turned up, I only had 500m left to the village of the 10km from where the other bus dumped me.

So once I got to Villa Catedral, I caught the cable car and then a chairlift up to the top of Cerro Catedral. I arrived to the top and trekked along the ridge for a few hours towards the next refugio where a few other people were walking to spend the night there. Had great views over to Volcan Tronador, the biggest one around here (about 3400m) and could just see a bigger volcano on the northern horizon (about 3770m). Would be great to be up there with my snowboard for winter.

Booked a few bus trips before the Easter rush starts. Off to El Bolson for the weekend, and then will spend the Easter weekend doing a 19 hour bus trip to Buenos Aires.

Circuito Chico

2007-03-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

With the plan to give my legs a rest for a day after all the trekking of the last couple of days, I caught the bus 20km out of town to the Circuito Chico and found the bike hire shop. But in all their wisdom they didn´t have any bikes to hire out. So it was back to walking for another day.
Nearby was Cerro Campanario, so I walked up there quick, again meeting all the tourists catching the chairlift up to the restaurant up the top.
I got back down the bottom again, and caught the bus further out to the fancy Hotel Llau Llau. From there I walked around the lake further and eventually found a walking track that went to the summit of Cerro Llau Llau. Had a great view of all the mountains around and the lakes. Trekked back to the bus in Llau Llau and made it back to Bariloche.
The plan for the next few days is to hike up Cerro Catedral tomorrow, then spend the weekend in El Bolson, back to Bariloche on Sunday evening for Spanish Lessons at La Montana Spanish School for 4 days. Then I´ll go to Neuquen on the Friday for easter, and then take an overnight bus to Buenos Aires on Saturday night.

Lago Nahuel Huapi

2007-03-28T16:09:00.000-07:00

A more relaxing day today with a walk along the lake towards the West. No path so was slow going over the rocks on the foreshore. Found a supermarket that had a pile of raspberries that went down well for lunch. Checked out some chocolate shops in Bariloche, but will have to stock up for Easter.

By popular demand, some info about the local beveriges:
Argentina is now officially the place to go if you want to drink. Of course, like Chile it is another big wine region, with a good drop of red mandatory consumption with dinner. An cheap bottle goes for AR$2 (A$0.80). The beer is ok, but certainly nothing special. I think everyone just sticks to the wine. The spirits are surprisingly cheap. At the supermarket today they had 1L bottles of any spirit you can think of for AR$9 (under A$4) and that wasn´t the ones on special.
Drink up kids!

Cerro Otto

2007-03-27T22:32:00.000-07:00

Packed my bag with lunch and walked out of town, eventually found a path that headed towards the summit of Cerro Otto (relatively small at 1405m). Wound back and forth up the front of the mountains, with good views over Lago Nahuel Huapi towards Chile. Checked out the local military trying to practice their rock climbing skills, then called past the Alpine Club´s Refugio Berghof which was quite flash and even served up a cold beer for all the hikers heading to the top.
Made it to the summit to meet up with all the old tourists that came up on the gondola. Went to the revolving restaurant for a few revolutions. Some weird yank bought me a drink so he could tell me that he didn´t like Australians since his last Australian girlfriend was a nazi and didn´t put out.
I left the tourists and found a trail that headed below the summit of Cerro Otto towards Piedro de Habsburgo where I had lunch looking over Lago Gutierres. Made it down to the lake and then the search was on for a bus. Trekked for a few km´s to a supermarket in the middle of nowhere, and waited an hour with some old local guy for the bus back into town.
Staying at Ruca Hueney Hostel and hopefully getting a different room away from the obnoxious poms.

San Carlos de Bariloche

2007-03-26T15:58:00.000-07:00

I have arrived to Bariloche after a fantastic bus trip through the Andes. Left Puerto Montt and went through a few small towns on the way to Osorno, then headed towards the mountains. After the Chilean border post we continued over the pass. Had terrific views of the mountains all around, nice forests, running mountain streams and blue lakes.
Bariloche is a nice enough town. Too touristy but appears to be a good place to use as a base to get into the mountains. Have been checking out some treks into the Andes and to stay at a Alpine Club hut for a night or two. Will see how it goes and if I can pack enough food in my pack.

Volcan Osorno

2007-03-25T20:17:00.000-07:00

Saturday I booked in a tour to Petrahue. Left Puerto Montt at a late 11:00am with a few Chileans, a swedish guy and a few french guys. First stop was at Mirador Manuel Montt for a view over the city. We then headed to Puerto Vares to see the casino and lake. We then followed the lake around for several kilometers and stopped for a boat cruise on the ´green lake´which was only good to stretch the legs. Lunch was had just before Ensenado, by the windy lake, but good views up to the Osorno Volano that was towering above. We then unexpectadely drove towards the top of the volcano, stopping just above the tree line, and then continuing to the ski resort just below the glacial ice. We didn´t have the hour spare to head up the chairlift to the snow, but had a walk up the mountain a bit further. Interesting rocks that were full of air and a great view down to the clouds below, the lake and out to the ocean past Puerto Montt.

We made our way back down and to the National Park to see some huge rapids, and then continued to the lake where we could see through to the Argentinian border. By this time it was getting dark and so couldn´t see much of the lake so we headed home.

Today the weather wasnt great, with rain coming and going. Met up with the university students again for a few hours, then checked out the local mall and booked my bus ticket to San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina for 8:30am mañana (tomorrow).

Puerto Montt

2007-03-23T14:08:00.000-07:00

Had a good flight down from Santiago to Puerto Montt yesterday. Apparently they didnt have the flight I was booked on, so I jumped on one leaving an hour later and made it down here. Got into Puerto Montt and found it full of first year uni students walking around begging for pesos while carrying fish heads, fruit rubbed into their clothes and eggs cracked in their hair, just as in Santiago. Apparently is quite a tradition here in Chile. So I got 2 of these uni students to ditch their fish heads and give me a tour of the town which is nicely perched on the end of the fjord and has some snow-capped volcanoes peering over from the east.

Met up with Mauricio and Claudio (HC caipe) just 15 minutes bus ride out of town and had a good Chilean dinner and got tips on all the national parks worth trekking to.
This morning I moved to a hostel in Puerto Montt and saw the rest of the sights in town.
Still trying to get the damn hot water working in this hostel though!

Easter Island

2007-03-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

After an early start in Santiago i flew out to Easter Island (or Rapa Nui, or Isla de Pascua) and got there around lunch time on Saturday, 17 Mar. Dropped my bags off at a small hostel just 5 minutes from the centre of town, but it was on the coast. Checked out local Hanga Roa where not much happens. A local surf competition was underway which provided some entertainment for the afternoon, but not quite a complete replacement for St Pats Day which hasn´t yet penetrated to this isolated island.

Sunday I packed a few sangers and hiked up the volcano crater just outside town. This trek was a killer with the stinking hot sun beaming down and no shade to take shelter under all day. Getting to the top I was rewarded with great views over Hanga Roa and the entire island. The inside of the crater was extremely steep with a patchwork of reeds and fresh water lining the bottom. Up here there was also Orongo, which is the site of the bird-man ceremonies. They had some cool little stone houses with flat grass roofs, although these guys must have been midgets to fit in the tiny doors.
Most of Monday was spend swimming in the local bay, and in the arvo I walked out to Ahu Tahai were there were several restored maoi, and one with painted eyes that looked great with the sunset behind.

With nothing happening on the island after dark it was an early night after eating yet another meal of pasta and tomato sauce. This seems to be the only food that is not exorbidently priced (dont know why they cant catch some local fish given they´re in the middle of the ocean!).
Tuesday i jumped on a tour with all the old poms and germans. Saw plenty of amazing maoi. First stop was Ahu Vaihu where several of them were fallen over from the islander war. Then to Ahu Akahanga which is where the first king was buried (apparently the statues are headstones for the graves of the islander kings). Walked around Rano Raraku (maoi quarry) which is littered with maoi. After lunch we went to Tongariki where there are 15 maoi lined up, and also Te Pito Kura which at 12m tall is the biggest one they managed to get standing on an ahu.
Great views of maoi at Anakena with the white sand. Nice swim before heading back. Sunset again at Ahu Tahai where there was a local wedding underway complete with the local witch-doctor out in full dress.

Viña Del Mar

2007-03-15T17:53:00.001-07:00

Jumped on the metro this morning for about 15 minutes north to the next city of Viña del Mar. Travelled for the day with a bloke James from South Africa. Visited the old palace of a rich chilean and the surrounding gardens. The house has been changed into a museum now but was fairly uninteresting apart from the ugg-boots we had to wear.

Had a completos for lunch. These are everywhere and seem to be the chilean national food. They are basically a hotdog, with some diced tomatos on top, smothered in quocamole and a huge helping of mayo. Tomato sauce or mustard is usually squeezed on top in a quantity that is reflected on the general populations waist-line.

Walked up the beach for a while, then caught the metro back to Valparaiso.

Exploring Valparaiso

2007-03-14T16:36:00.001-07:00

Spent the day trekking around Valparaiso. Walked up some steep hill to the La Sebastian museum which had some cool paintings of Easter Island and a great view over town. Then explored further round the town. Saw the fernicular elevators that run up all the hills around the centre. Eventually figured out that half the streets on the map are actually not streets at all, but usually just a tiny staircase going down between buildings.

Finally also finished buying everything i need... including the electrical converter so i can charge my camera, and some cheap sunnies so i can see something again.

Off to Vina Del Mar tomorrow for the day to check out the beaches... but apparently the water is freezing.

Valparaiso

2007-03-13T16:01:00.001-07:00

Over in Valparaiso now on the coast. Got the bus from Pajaritos straight over which was actually comfortable - a nice change after the busses in Asia. Was a nice 2hr drive through the vineyards. Valpo is interesting with the bright coloured houses going up the hills until they disappear in the clouds. Staying at the YoYo Hostel close to the centre of town. Plan to stay here for 3 nights to have some time to explore town, and nearby Vina del Mar which has usable beaches (its all ports and naval installations along the foreshores here).

Cajun Del Maipo

2007-03-12T20:28:00.000-07:00

Domingo headed back to La Serena for the weekend, so I crashed at the hostel La Casa Roja in barrio brazil for Friday night. Almost couldnt find the place it was that hidden in amongst the old buildings. Got up at the crack of dawn, caught the metro right down to Bellavista de la Florida at the end of the green line. Found a local bus that went right up to Baños Morales which had a few Chilean climbers aboard, so though that looked like the go.

We left at 8:30 and got up there by midday. Everyone headed straight for the hills, so i found the closest hostel, dumped the bags, bought a few bananas, and headed into the National Park.

Headed up the steep first bit which took a few hours, had a quick bite to eat at the little lake where everyone was setting up there tents to stay the night with a great view of El Morado (5060m). Then the San Francisco glacier was only a few kilometers up the valley so i got back on the trail.

It was getting late in the arvo, with just a few couples at the bottom of the glacier, and a group of serious climbers preparing to head further up for a few days. I got up to the start of where the real glacier begins, when we had to dash out of the path of a 1m diameter boulder that was cruizing down the glacier besides us.

The climbers decided to get further up the mountain, and i decided it was time to get back to town before it got dark.

Got back to town about 6 (5 hours trekking), but the town was dissapointingly dead. Ate a few chocolate biscuits i still had from santiago and called it a night.

Sunday i was expecting the bus to leave about midday again like it did on Saturday. Had a chat to the driver and it turned out it wasnt leaving till 6pm. So the only thing left to do was rest my weary legs in the local mineral-rich termal boaths (22 degrees) for the rest of the day.

Got the bus back to Santiago but not in time to see the Placido Domingo concert in Plaza de Armas (he must have gone straight from Stephs concert in UAE to Santiago, maybe Moruya next!)

Staying again at La Casa Roja for 2 nights, then heading to Valparaiso and Viña Del Mar.

Santiago

2007-03-10T08:25:00.000-08:00

Arrived safely in Santiago after a long flight. Quick stopover for 40mins in Auckland was nice to stretch the legs. Plane seemed to be full of other backpackers.
Arrived in Santiago at lunchtime and just as i was about to resort to catching a bus into town, I bumped into Jose (HC jopepecar) so we jumped on the bus and transferred to the Metro to Providencia to meet Domingo (HC disandov). Stayed at Domingos apartment with 2 other HCers, a swiss bloke Andreas, and an American girl Eve. Domingo was off to a ski patrol meeting, so the rest of us cooked up a feed and then had a beer in one of the many street side bars and cafes in Providencia.
Next day the other HCers were off to other parts of the continent, so i wandered around town and saw all the sights... Plaza de Armas, cerro San Lucia which had a good view over town in the morning but was too much fog to see the surrounding mountains. But by 5pm it had cleared up again so i ran back up and could see the mountains surrounding the city. On the furthest mountain (apparently over 6000m) the snow was clearly visible, and must desired in the head of Santiago.
Went to an small club with Domingo that night but it didnt get cranking until 2pm so we were pretty tired by this stage.
In the morning, Domingo was off to La Serena for the weekend so i transferred over to the La Casa Roja hostel. I then caught the fernicular up cerro San Cristobel and walked to the virgin mary statue which was perched on the summit. Trekked along underneath the cable car towards the swimming pools, but for $12 these were given a miss dispite having a spectacular view.
Got to the bottom of the mountain to Providencia. While walking to the metro station i was impressed by 4 girls that left the window washers along Northbourne Avenue for shame. They were dressed in skimpy bikinis, and proceeded to do fairly amazing acrobatics with throwing one of the girls up in the air and catching her again just centemeters from the concrete. Dont know if our mate in Dickson would be up for this though.

Waiting to leave sydney

2007-03-06T14:35:00.000-08:00

In Sydney airport now - just transferred across from domestic to internation terminals. Already made it through customs and security so just waiting to board the plane and then im virtually in Chile! The plane's already here so only a few minutes to go.
Had a great send off at Canberra airport by mum, dad and han. Cant wait to see you all again soon in europe.

South East Asia

2006-02-10T07:36:00.000-08:00

Travelled to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Macau, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar in January and February 2006.

South East Asia

2005-02-10T07:34:00.000-08:00

Visited to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam in January and February 2005.

Pacific Islands

2004-02-10T07:38:00.001-08:00

Travelled to New Zealand and Fiji from 2001 to 2004.