----
Quick links:
Argentina/ Bolivia/
Brazil/ Costa
Rica/ Ecuador/ Peru/
Uruguay
ON
COSTA RICA ...
2005-07-04
Hi
guys
Apologies
for not being able to update my blog earlier but I was
having extreme difficulties in finding internet that
had not just come out of the late eighties.
Anyway
as most of you know I travelled round Costa Rica from
11/5 - 14/6.
Costa
Rica was good fun if a little heavy on the wallet (primarily
from the fact its just another suburb of America). I
started out in San Jose, Costa Ricas capítal
city, its a pretty scummy dirty city crammed full of
prostitutes and thus I was only there for a couple of
days (visiting a few museums) before I hopped it over
to a town called Arenal.
Arenal
was pretty spectacular as it sits underneath a rather
(unnervingly) active volcanoe that glows at night like
the tip of a cigarette. There were also natural hot
springs under the volcanoe that I visited which got
up to 42 degrees ... which believe me is bloody hot.
One memorable night was watching the footie at a bar,
2 top teams, playing each other in a deciding match
only to be nearly shot when the favourite lost. Its
one thing using air horns to celebrate but when they
got pistols out and started shooting towards the sky
I legged it back to the hostel.
From
Arenal I got a bus and boat to Monterverde, a pretty
town up in a cloud forest. This place was a good stop
for activities including the infamous "sky trek",
which is a series of zip lines (or suicide leaps as
we called them in the cadets) from one mountain to another.
You literally speed at around 40mph through the trees
and clouds thousands of feet in the air ... as you know
I have a little vertigo so proper shat it! After that
there was a more peaceful "skywalk" where
you strolled like a monkey on platforms above the trees.
There are shots of me whizzing through the trees on
zip lines but I am still waiting for this American geezer
to send them to me.
After
all that excitement I needed to chill and headed to
Samara, a small peaceful beach town. There was not much
to do there but chill in the sun and go to one of only
two bars at night and play pool (Costan Rican rules,
which is bloody challenging). This is also where I attempted
surfing ... and failed miserably. At this point I must
say hi to Jodie for chilling with me and putting up
with all my ailments.
After
a week at Samara it was time to visit one of Costa Ricas
national parks on the Pacific coast and I headed down
to Manuel Antonio. This place is absolutely gorgeous
and it beats any beach that I have seen in terms of
its idyllic views. White sand, fat iguanas, deep emerald
green jungles and frothy surf ... not to mention numerous
monkeys and birds. Manual Antonio was also the place
where I encountered two fat snakes, one who slithered
by me in the rain (a 7ft python) and a few hours later
a fat green and yellow cobra fell out a branch and almost
onto my head ... lucky me. I also met two fit Sweedish
girls (one of whom looked liked Rachel Stevens) who
unfortuantely for me where lesbians ... but we had a
good time playing cards and getting hammered.
After
a couple of days in Manuel Antonio I headed back to
San Jose from where I targeted the Caribbean coast.
Thankfully the food was four hundred times better than
the black beans and shitty rice they served on the Pacific
side (named Cassado). I must say though that the cutting
out of sandwiches, chocolate and other fatty stuff has
resulted in a slim jim :)
The
first town I ventured to on the Caribbean was a party
town named Puerto Viejo. This place was full of day
time zombies who morphed into ganga selling rastas by
night. This place was where I met two girls Lauren and
Sarah. Sarah coincidentally was going out with an old
school friend (Cobi Leher) and Lauren lived a couple
of doors down from my aunt Jackie. Nuts. This was also
the place where I met 4 London lads about to go uni.
Here comes a story ... one night they wanted to get
stoned (as you know I was purely a spectator) and purchased
2 ounces of ganja. The law being written by sod himself
the old costan rican bill arrive less than 10 mins later.
The guy who bought the weed just kept it in a bag next
to him and thus it was pretty obvious that after the
police had finished searching us all they would look
in the bag ... which they did. The young lad was quickly
frog marched to the local jail where it was $150 or
a night behind bars. The lad paid up but was offered
his weed back for a further $15. Of course he bought
the parcel back from the bill only to find when he returned
that it was a lump of palm bark ... one expensive night
for him.
From
Puerto Viejo I headed North to Cahuita. This place was
more chilled out and I went walking around the national
park (similar to the one above) and went snorkelling
and annoyingly (and rather painfully) cut up the palm
of my hand on bloody coral.
From
there I went back to San Jose and got a flight out to
Ecuadors capital Quito ... but thats another story.
As
you can see I was pretty active and in the most part
had a good time in Costa Rica. Other than the food being
duller than dish water, the bloody mossies and expense
of doing anything, this place is recommended ... especially
if you are a nature enthuisast.
I
do have some photos of Costa Rica which Sarah kindly
sent me via email but the system does not want to load
them up. Apologies, I will try later on. I hope I have
kept this short enough not to bore you.
---
On
Ecuador ...
2005-07-10
Just
to freshen your minds ... I left Costa Rica on the 14/6/05
after a months travel round this fascinating country
and landed at Ecuadors capital Quito.
Over
the course of three weeks I can boldly say that these
two countries are a world apart; one (CR) is a peaceful,
laid back but expensive country, the other (Ec) is the
opposite!
I
really did not want to spend too much time in Ecuador
as there are plenty of countries to visit and only 5
months left but I did need to take a course in Spanish
and thus enroled for a weeks intensive training in a
Spanish school in Quito. As some of you know I can be
a studious (and at times introvert) individual and thus
did not hit the bars of Quito for a week. However during
time off I managed to explore the fascinating colonial
architecture of Quito´s old city ... which was
my first real taste of South America.
During
one weekend in Quito I did go on an organised tour to
the North of Ecuador including the Otavalo market ...
the biggest market in S. America. There were all sorts
of ´ínteresting´ items for sale that
I am pretty sure you would not find in Barnet market
including a shruken human head on an antique stall(which
I was tempted to buy, post back home and feed to Reggie!).
Check some of the attached photos for views of Otavalo.
The tour also went to the worlds Equator line (yes I
happily hopped from one to the other), Ecuadors largest
lake as well as an extremely picturesque lagoon inside
a volcanoe (please dont ask for their names as they
all have 10 sylables each).
One
last thing about Quito ... try to refrain from having
your hair cut there. For some reason they also include
an ear hole inspection!!!
From
Quito I got a bus down to the Southern town of Banos
···· interuption .... buses
in Ecuador have to be the most horrendous method of
transport anywhere in the world. Not only is there pitiful
leg room (as you know I am not exactly the tallest person
in the world), but they have no toilet, stop for every
peasant (who always happens to want to sit next to me)
and the worst part is their obligation to play at, immensely
loud volumes, poorly dubbed (into Spanish) Jackie chan
films from speakers whose cones are broken and thus
sound like thundering traffic on the M1! As you can
tell the journey was uncomfortable.
However,
Banos was a reflief. Unlike its name sake ´toilet´,
Banos was a delightful little town located in a huge
green valley. They were a very friendly bunch who bathed
in the natural waters of the neighbouring waterfall.
One day I decided to climb one of the surrounding hills
... bloody hard work ... but I was rewarded with one
of the most spectacular scenes of deep blue azur sky,
rolling countryside and tranquility (which was rare
in Ecuador). I also tried fresh sugar cane, which is
an unbeatable snack for long, torrid coach journeys.
From
Banos I headed to Guayaquil, Ecuadors biggest city.
In the most part this was a stop off for towns to the
coast but I explored it as well as I could and found
it to be a pleasant, clean city. One highlight has to
be the park near San Francisco church that is literally
crawling with 100´s of iguanas. Watching one of
these ´chicken of the treés´ pee
from a high hight onto a business man´s leg will
forever stick in my mind. The stuff falls to the ground
like thick ecoplasm!
After
Guayaquil I decided to try the coastal town of Montanita,
which was basically a cold day in Bognor. So after spending
a day there I got on a bus back to Guayaquil and then
onto Cuenca ... one of Ecuadors prettier colonial towns.
Not much too report there really as it was a weekend
and most things were shut so I got a bus to Machala
(the banana capital of the world ... supposedly) and
on through the boarder to Peru.
To
be honest Ecuador was in the most part grubby, noisy
and rather impersonal (at times I went for days without
seeing another gringo) and I can say that I am glad
to be out of there. It did have its highlights but I
have a feeling that the rest of South America has a
lot more to offer.
I
am currently still in the Northern area of Peru and
thus Peru´s update will not be for a while.
Pura
Vida,
On
Peru ...
2005-07-30
I
have now finished my journey through the country of
Peru and am currently waiting for a bus in Copacabana
to take me to Bolivia´s capital, La Paz.
Overall I found Peru to be many more times more enjoyable
than its Northern neighbour Ecuador. It seemed Peru
offered up a lot more and was a lot friendlier.
I
started at the beach resort of Mancora ... a great,
chilled out resort where I met a few cool people whom
I was to meet later on whilst travelling South. I was
also offered the honey moon suite for $8 a night with
its own porch and hammock. I really did not want to
leave. Mancora was the last time I actually felt warm
during the day and night as it has been getting progressively
colder (currently around minus 5 at night).
After
sunning myself at Mancora I got a bus to a town called
Trujillo. There is not much to mention about this time
other than I recieved the worst hair cut of my life
... the guy had to be 80, deaf with shakey hands and
left me looking like Gary Rhodes. I can´t
really mumble though as it cost me 50p. I did however
have to go next door an hour later and get another haircut
to make myself look "presentable".
Anyway
after Truijillo I got a bus to the capital city of Lima.
Now some peeps have told me that Lima was a grimy, smelly,
dangerous city but in fact I found it to be a safe,
fun and interesting one. Thankfully fate played me a
good hand as I had met a Peruvian lady who lived in
Lima, Marlene and a Swiss lady, Michelle, who also lived
in the same suburb whilst in Mancora. So during the
week I was at Lima I was taken around the city, away
from Gringo ally, into the depths of Lima. There were
a few memorable events worth talking about including
a HUGE parade that went on for at least 4 hours in Lima
with an astronomical fireworks display that was unparelled
to any I have seen before (soirry dad) that went on
for at least 20 minutes to a sound track from Star Wars.
One night I was also invited to Marlenes flat and decided
to buy and cook them a typical English dinner ... avocadoes
and prawn mayonaise to start then stir fried beef with
mixed vegetables in hoi sin sauce. The meal cost me
under 8 pounds to buy ... and it served 5! Special thanks
have to go to the Marlene, Michelle and Fabiola for
their hopsitality.
After
exploring Lima it was time to travel to Cusco. I decided
to get a plane up there as it would have been a butt
clenching 32 hrs by bus. Cusco was certainly a shock
to the system not only because of the inflated prices
but also the fact it was over 3,000 mtrs above sea level
and bloody freezing at night ... I decided to not bring
my sleeping bag and indeed any warm clothes. High altidue
really does smack me hard and it felt like I had asthma
and a dicky heart after climbing only 10 steps to the
hostal. When I got to Cusco however I met a girl whom
I had spent time with in Lima called Emily (from Palmers
Green). She had already been at Cusco for a while so
knew a few people thus we all went out in a big group
and got pissed. One thing I did not heed was to go slowly
on your first night in Cusco and thus I woke in the
morning with a mini lightning storm actively engaging
my temples and half my torso frozen to the bed. Cusco
itself is a very beautiful town with cobbled narrow
alleyways and a spectacular grand plaza but the hostels
I stayed in where nuts ... literally a shed with no
hot water or radiator.
Whilst
in Cusco I did the gringo tours and went to a days worth
of ruins surrounding the town, which according to the
guides all look like Pumas and Condors ... you need
to be chewing a lot of Cocoa leaves to imagine this.
After three days it was time to see the grand-daddy
of Inca ruins, Macchu Pichu. Unfortuantely I was not
able to do the 4 day tour as you needed to book at least
3 months in advance so decided to do it in a day. After
getting up at 5.00 am, catching a bus, then train, then
another bus I arrived to see the MP ruins in blazing
sunlight. A fantastic experience and one which I shall
not forget. I have not yet developed my photos but I
am sure there are a few gems.
After
Cusco I travelled South (passing more ruins) to the
Sourthern town of Puno. Puno is a bloody freezing town
(I´ll never take a radiator for granted
again) sitting beside the worlds highest lake, Titicaca.
After meeting up with Emily again I spent my first and
only day in Puno exploring the floating islands which
have been man made from the lakes reeds. The natives
have an interesting and tranquil life where they can
move the islands to different spots if need be. From
Puno I got a bus to the Bolivian boarder.
Overall
Peru was a great country with diverse communities and
interesting, exciting activities and I can easily say
has been my favourite S. American country thus far.
Lets see what awaits in Bolivia.
Just
to let you know the blog site is not working and thus
I cannot download photos or update the site but it shall
be done soon.
Pura
Vida,
On
Bolivia ...
2005-08-19
Hola
Well let`s see .... I am currently writing
to you in humid and sweaty Manaus after a 3 day stint
living in the depths of the Amazon rain forest in Brazil
eating pirahana and hunting crocs ... this story and
I am sure more from this fascinating country will have
to wait for the next time. In the meantime - Bolivia!
Bolivia was a fantastic little country
(pop. only 8 million) full of friendly people and pyschedellic
landscapes. In total I travelled Bolivia for just over
2 weeks. My first stop in Bolivia was an idyllic little
boarder town called Copacabana (not the same one old
Barry M sings about). Copacabana has Bolivia´s
share of Lake Taticaca ... and I feel the more attractive
side. I spent a few days exploring this town and trekking
the ISLA DE SOL (a beautiful island 4,500 mtrs high)
after which myself, Emily and a lad from S. Hampton
called Andy grabbed a grimy mini bus to the capital
city La Paz.
The
unfortunate thing about Bolivia is that La Paz is in
the centre whilst all the interesting places to visit
are either North, South or East of the capital. This
meant I travelled through and stayed in La Paz many
times. La Paz itself is quite laid back and at a O2
deprived altitude over 4,000 mtrs. Over the first few
days in La Paz there were a number of festivals and
parades and it was during one of these parades that
I met Mariela (a great local gal) and friends, who showed
me round the racuous nightlife of La Paz. Hi guys and
thanks for everything. La Paz was also the main city
from where I bought an abundant amount of souvenirs
... the place is unbelievably cheap. Where else can
you buy a steak with 2 eggs, rice, potatoes, a side
salad, fizzy drinks and desert for under 3 pounds! In
total I sent over 12 kilos of items back home (must
have pleased the Barnet postie) including a poncho,
wooden snake and a large number of mint condition 50´s
pulp books which I itend to sell on Ebay.
From
La Paz I travelled on the worlds most dangerous road
North towards Coiroco. It is named the most dangerous
as it has the highest number of fatalities per annum
... this is forced into your head from all the crucifixes
attached to the cliff where some poor fella met their
maker and the fact that the bus you are travelling on
has only a 3 mtr, gravel track for it to ´race´
down (there are no safety barriers between road and
1000ft fall). Thankfully I survived the journey and
enjoyed a few days in Coiroco. Coiroco is an eden over
looking the rainforest and a great place for photogrpahy,
especially when I went horse riding over the mountain
range. This place was also the one and only time I got
to mix coca leaves with some black enzyme ... which
certainly gives you a buzz (as well as numbing your
whole mouth). From Coiroco I headed to its grimy neighbour
Chullimani - a rather dumpy town which happened to run
out of water whilst I was there. This place was however
the first time I had experienced REAL S. America as
it had no gringos, no internet, no hotels, no restaurants
but plenty of poverty and many bored looking villagers
staring longingly into the nights sky ... I only spent
a night. My original plan was to visit the Amazon from
Bolivia and Rurrenbuque but that would have meant two
15 hr bus rides on unpaved roads, so I changed my mind
and decided to viisit the Amazon in Brazil ... a good
call. It was then back on to the dangerous road again
and back to La Paz.
I spent a couple of days in La Paz and
then went South to the butt clenching freezing salt
plains of Uyuni. I got a 3hr bus ride to Oruro and from
there a 7hr picturesque train journey to Uyuni. The
next day I woke early (literally frozen to the sheets,
serves me right for not listening to the guys about
taking a sleeping bag) and went down to the ´locomotion
cemetary´, a fantastic place full of decrepit,
rusting trains and locomotives; a photographers dream.
From there I went on a tour to the Uyuni salt plains
with a couple of Italian lads. The plains were pretty
unbelievable. It looks like you are driving on ice but
it is actually miles and miles of pure white salt. We
went to the´fishing island´full of rather
large cacti and the place where I frist ate llama ...
tastes like a good steak. We also checked out the mummies
of Uyuni (a rather grim cave full of corpses), flamingoes
of the salt marshes and watched the sunset over this
outerworldly landscape ... perfect tranquility and silence.
From Uyuni I got a 10hr bus back, once
again, to La Paz. The next day I took a tour to see
the Tiahuanaco ruins just outside of La Paz. It was
pretty dispapointing after witnessing the grand daddy
of ruins Machu Pichu but we did get to view a recent
discovery of canablised corpses! This culture (from
which the Incas originated) was not one to mess around
with.
The
next day I caught a 4.00 am flight to Brazil.
Bolivia
may have been short on sights but it was not short on
friendliness and I had a good couple of weeks there
which I shall not forget in a hurry. I plan to spend
over a month in Brazil due to the vastness of this country
and shall write another email when I get the opportunity.
Remember to keep on checking the blog.
On
Brazil ...
2005-09-28
Hi
I
hope all is well with you.
In
two days I turn 28 and have come back to La Paz, Bolivia
to celebrate with some friends there. I shall spend
about a week in Bolivia before heading to the North
of Argentina and then heading South towards Patagonia.
However, this email details the month and a half I spent
travelling around Brazil ... so I shall not divulge.
I
arrived in Manaus, Brazil on 14/8/05 which is smack
bang in the middle of the Amazon and one of the furtherst
Northern points in Brazil. Travelling from a very chilly
La Paz many 1000´s of mtrs high to the rather
sweltering, humid climate of Manaus took a while to
get used to (so did the Portugese language). However,
on the second day I booked myself on a three day jungle
tour that unlike other tours was located on one of the
Northern tributaries of the Amazon ... which meant isolation,
tranquility and going back to basics. After a 3hr bus
ride and a one hour boat ride I arrived (along with
2 Italian lads both named Andrea) at the camp. The camp
was simplicity itself with the sole use of hammocks
as your bed (thankfully mosquitoes were scarce due to
the acidity of the water), a large hole in the ground
for private business and a table with buckets of water
where you could wash (rather unnervingly they also washed
the meat there aswell). After our short tour of the
camp we jumped onto a canoe and rowed out to a quiet
part of the river and went for a refreshing dip and
then told that we had to go catch our dinner ... pirhana
(thankfully I was told this after I had gone for a swim
in the same place we were to fish). We were supplied
with a line, weight and hook along with large chunks
of meat and were told to tug HARD after the second bite.
After the space of an hour our guide had caught around
20 of these brutes, my companions at least one each
and my turn came just before we took the decision to
return to camp. Pirhana itself is a rather tasty fish
and catching and cooking the creature yourself added
to its flavour. Unfortuantely pirhana tend to be a smallish
fish with numerous bones thus eating them can be a frustrating
task.
After satsifying our hunger we jumped back onto the
canoe at midnight and went to hunt alligators by torch
light. These creatures were by no means plentiful in
our tributary and it took a good hours silent rowing
and shining our torches onto the banks of the Amazon
before a pair of ruby red eyes refelected back. Our
guide skillfully rowed up to the alligator and quick
as a flash threw his hands into the waters and pulled
out a 3ft caman. Some what to my alarm he then tunred
round and asked me to hold it whilst he pulled away!
I gingerly held it by the neck and it was suprisingly
not as slimy as I thought. The creature stayed perfeclty
still for a moment as if posing for a picture but then
began to struggle viciously and I panicked and threw
it overboard. We then headed back to camp guided by
the light of the full moon. The following day we went
for a trek through the Amazon rain forest but no wildlife
was forthcoming due to the density of the trees and
foilage. However the guide did point out various interesting
fauna that had different effects including sap that
burned like wax, mint tasting bark and a vine, which
when cut, would supply fresh water. We spent the rest
of the day pirhana fishing and dolphin watching whilst
the sun set on the tranquil, mirrored water. The night
was not spent at camp but at a isolated beach. We watched
the bright stars, grilled our pirhana and listened to
the noises of the jungle (including Pumas). In the morning
we got up whilst the sun rose majestically over the
waters. Back at camp we were taught how to make a blow
pipe and darts and various pieces of jewlerry and later
I was picked up and taken back to the city of Manaus.
By far and away this adventure made the Brazilian trip
and it will certainly stay in my memory for a good few
years. Apologies if I have rambled on but this was certainly
different to anything I have ever done before.
Anyway
from Manaus I got a flight to the city of Recife, a
grimy, rainy, industrial city for which I only stayed
a day before heading to the more comfortable surroundings
of Natal. Natal would have been a very pleasant beach
town had it not been constantly raining. However one
day when it had cleared up slightly I went on a sand
buggy excursion. Along with two Brazilians and our guide
we sped along miles of beautiful beaches. These sand
buggys are marvellous creations and everytime we were
launched over a 70ft sand dune the thing managed to
stay on four wheels. A rather scary sandy rollercoaster.
During that day I also went on a ´death slidé´
that landed in the coldest lake ever and sand boarding.
You couldn`t get any simpler, sit on a board of wood,
fly down a 90 degree hill and land in a lake ... probably
one of the scariest rides I have ever experienced.
Following
Natal I headed to the picturesque town of Praia de Pippa
for some sunshine. Unfortunately it was raining here
aswell but the scenery was pretty spectacular. Perched
above three gorgeous white sand beaches and crystal
clear waters with frollicking dolhins this place would
have been ideal had it not been for a number of occcurances
... I broke my sunglasses, my watch suddenly died on
me, I lost my UK to Brazil electrical adapter (which
I can tell you was impossible to replace) and found
out that due to the over development of this town the
prices were astronomically high.
I
only spent a couple of days in Pippa before I continued
my Southward journey to the capital of the Bahia regio,
Joa Pessoa. Conflicting with reviews in various travel
books I actually enjoyed Joa Pessoa. Yes, it was a large
city with high rises but I found the atmosphere more
tranquil and laid back. One memorable night was when
I hired a guide who took me to see a true life Guiness
world record holder. Every single day over the past
five years this man had been going on to a canoe and
with saxophone in hand played the same song (which I
cannot remember) whilst the sun set over some dramatic
scenery. Interesting bloke, he looked like a rather
fat ewok with dreadlocks. Unfortunatelty whilst taking
his photo my camera mysteriously broke and it was not
until Salvador that I could get it fixed.
From
Joa Pessoa I flew to the city of Salvador. Throughout
my travels so far this has to be the sketchiest city.
Once in Salavador I was constantly accosted by beggars
and bored people wanting money or trying to sell cocaine.
Probbly my fault for staying in the historic centre.
However, unlike the other towns of Brazil Salvador had
the most magnificent colonial buildings and narrow cobble
stoned steets ... unfortunatly one could not take many
photos through fear that your camera would get stolen.
I only spent a couple of days in Salvador as I was uncomfortable
by the underlying menace that pervaded the city. One
good example was when a friendly fellow (they often
initially appear so) greeted me with an open hand. Halfway
through shaking his hand he said the word ´present´
and I felt a package of cling film wrapped cocaine enter
my fist. Before I was able to argue two rather large
policemen strolled around the corner and straight for
me and the guy. The first thing that came into my mind
was ´sting´, they knew about this exchange
and would throw me into a grotty Brazilan jail. With
my heart trying to escpae from the enclosure of the
rib cage I continued walking with the drugs in my hand
past the police. After they went by and we had walked
around the corner, fear led to anger and I approached
the guy and threatened to throw the cocaine into the
street, so he pounced up, grabbed his package and ran
off!
During
my stay in Salvador I was told about an island, Morro
de Sao Paolo, that was meant to be a haven away from
this city. So, the next day after a 2 hour boat ride
I arrived on this island ... and what a good decision
that turned out to be. The island was almost an idyllic
paradise with four great beaches surrounded by palm
trees and a large red mountain that rose into the distance.
I spent a week on the island soaking up the sun, diving
for shells (of which I found many and have been sent
home) and drinking dangerously potent cocktails. Also
by good fortune I found an electrical adapter that some
English guy had left in his room and thus was able to
charge up my mp3 player and phone.
After
reluctantly leaving the surroundings of Morro de Sao
Paolo I got a boat to Valenca from where I took a ´torturous´
overnight bus to Arrial Dájuda. Arrial Dájuda
was another great beach fronted town that had endless
lengths of pristine white sand. I particularly liked
the apartment I rented that had its own kitchen (so
I could cook some noodles), lounge area and porch. From
Arrial Dàjuda I took a number of excursions to
different places including the rustic beach town of
Transcoso and the more developed town of Puerto Seguro.
It also has to be documented that the most attractive
women I have ever encountered were found around this
area of Bahia ... a visual treat for the eyes. That
particular Brazilian myth is certainly true.
By
this time it was 17/9 and so more headway had to be
made so I hopped onto a flight to Rio de Janiro. After
a recommendation from a fellow in Morro de Sao Paolo
I headed to Ace Hostel in Botafago (a suburb North of
Copacaban). A good recommendation it was too for I had
come at the weekend and many parties were being organised
by the hostel. Even though I had very little sleep from
the morning flight I ended up back in the hostel at
6.30am after drinking and dancing in the Lapa neighbourhood
(I do have photos but they seem to take forever to upload).
The next night was spent listening to DJ Scooby Doo!
spin tunes at a club in the centre. After clubbing it
the previous night I spent a day at a football match,
Botafago (club from Rio) Vs a rather hopeless team.
The atmosphere of a Rio footie match, especially after
the home side scored certainly beats that of any UK
club. The fans constantly jump up and down shaking the
dodgy scaffold stand, waving gargantuam flags and lighting
flares. Our team won 3-1. The next day I moved to Ipanema
beach where I got a taki up to the Sugarloaf mountain
and the large statue of Christ. The panaramics from
these two attractions were magnificent but unfortunately
the weather tended to be overcast and grey which I am
sure will rather dilute the photos. The next day I jumped
onto a tour of Rio´s infamous favellas - literally
slums located on the mountains of Rio where those too
poor to live in the city live instead. At first I was
worried about the danger of these areas (having seen
´City of God´) but was suprised to learn
that crime is not allowed in the favella, a law introduced
by drug barons, for crime brings police and the last
thing any drug lord needs is police knocking on the
door. It was certainly an interesting day and allowed
me to view the other side of Brazilian life.
From
Rio I flew to Foz de Igucua which is home to ´arguably´
the worlds most beautiful waterfall. In the morning
I first went to see the falls from the Brazilian side
which gave a spectacular panoramic. I then made my way
to Argentina and checked out the falls from this side
which allows for a more close up inspection. In fact
I jumped into a speed boat and was absolutely drenched
to the bone when it went almost underneath one of the
largest waterfalls. Forget Maids of the mist (Niagra)
this trip was 100 times better.
I
left Foz after three days and landed at Sao Paolos airports.
Sao Paolo is a city like no other. It is HUGE and with
over 17 million people is the third largest in the world
... a sprawling mass of favellas, high rises and parks.
This was also the weekend of the Forumla One Grand Prix
which I would like to have gone to had it not been booked
out. Instead I spent a day looking at various markets
and then (after one cancelled flight) headed to La Paz,
Bolivia.
All
in all the Brazilian experience was fantastic and the
range of different locations and back drops, from pristine
jungle to sprawling cities, treated me to diversity
I had not expected. A highly recommended country to
visit.
On
Argentina (& Uruguay) ...
2005-11-18
Hola
amigos
Hope
all is well
Firstly,
you may have heard on the grapevine that I have got
engaged after just 3 and 1/2 weeks of meeting Ohlivia
in Argentina and I can confirm that this it true. Of
course, it does feel a bit weird after such a short
time of knowing her but what can I say ... it was love
at first sight!
Nah
only kidding but I wanted your attention for the email
on Argentina!
Currently
I am writing from the Chilean city of Vina Del Mar after
travelling over the Andes yesterday. As its been nearly
two months since my last correspondence let me recap
on what has been going on. I left Brazil a couple of
days before my birthday so that I could celebrate with
style in Bolivia. Once again I met up with Mariela and
chums in La Paz and we spent a good week getting drunk
and visting places I did not manage to get around to
seeing during my last spell there including La Paz´s
poor attempt at a zoo; bears chewing on coke bottles,
king cobra displays with cracked glass panels and kids
hand feeding pringles to the chimps was just some of
the higlights. Just before I flew to Cordoba, Argentina
I went to a two day rock concert in La Paz and saw the
infamous ´Cumbia Kings´, the unforgetable
´Molotov´´and the eight time Brit
winners ´Attaque 77´ ... hey, but at least
a pint of beer was only 0.17p!
I
arrived in Cordoba on 11/10/05. Cordoba was a very quaint,
leafy student city and had (I can now confirm) the most
beautiful people on the planet. With my eyes constantly
spoiled by all the eye candy my legs did want to move
on ... but move on I did. Three days after arriving
in Cordoba I found myself in Rosario which was again
a quaint, leafy student town with slightly less-beautiful
people. However my goal was to get to Buenos Aires and
its surrounding areas so I went straight there.
I
arrived in Buenos Aires on the day (unknown to me) that
Boca were playing River Plate (a bit like Man Utd Vs
Man City or Arsenal Vs Spurs) so the streets, shops
and cafes were devoid of life. At this point I decided
to travel to the neighbouring country of Uruguay for
a few days and come back to Buenos Aires when there
were a few more people around.
The
next day I boarded a ferry which two hours later arrived
at the Uruguain capital of Montevideo. I must say I
was not too impressed by this city which seemed rather
drab and shabby. It was the dinner that night that confirmed
my continuation to the neighbouring city of Colonia.
The restaurant itself looked clean but after digging
up various bugs in my salad and then watching with startled
eyes as a chef turned, grabbed a rather large cockroach
off the wall and hastily threw its wriggling body into
the coals (above which my steak was being grilled) that
I knew I had made one of the worst culinary choices
of my life.
Colonia
however was a gem of a city. I recall sitting at a cafe
watching the sun set whilst cars from the 40s rotted
slowly away on the cobbled streets and thinking to myself
that this was the perfect place to retire. I spent a
couple of dayswandering the streets of Colonia before
I headed back to the hedonistic hostal in Buneos Aires.
When
I returned to Buenos Aires I felt like a student again
and spent most days nursing a hangover (from the effects
of Fernet) and most nights partying until 4 in the morning.
Of course I did spend some time flitting through the
cultural delights of Buneos Aires including various
museums, the hugely grand cemetry and other important
buildings (Evitas balcony, the monolith etc.). At this
point let me just confirm that the best thing about
Argentina (other than the women) were the steaks (and
in Patagonia, the lamb). One night in BA, whilst out
with a couple of lads from the hostal, I ate the biggest
and best steak I had ever seen. The restaurant itself
was a parilla which I belive translates as "eat
as much meat as you can possibly force down". The
steak itself was served by a Roy Walker (geezer from
Catchphrase) lookalike and weighed approx 2 kilos with
bloody flesh still crawling in the middle. Thankfully
the good man bought me a personal heater to cook the
centre of the meat but boy it was good ... and only
cost a few quid!
After
partying hard in BA I made my way by bus (thankfully
they were pretty good throughout Argentina as I spent
a few 18hr journeys on them) to Mar del Plata. Mar del
Plata was pretty disappointing as I was expecting a
fun beach resort but got a grey washed out Brighton
instead. That day several ´Boston´ banks
had been bombed with red paint in expectation of Bush´s
visit and the atmopshere was bordering on violence.
I only spent a night here at a hostal whose staff seemed
to be a collection of extras from Cocoon before getting
a bus down to Viedma.
Viedma
(and its neighbouring city Patagne) were pleasant enough
and full of bright green parks and rowers racing with
each other on the river but my real target was the fabled
area of Patagonia. After spending a couple of days in
Viedma I took a bus to Puerto Madryn ... and from this
point on Argentina became touristy. Puerto Madryn is
most famous for its marine life especially whale watching.
A day after arriving at Puerto Madryn I booked myself
onto a tour to a peninsula near the city full of sea
lions, penguins and whales. However the next day I was
told that the port had been closed due to high winds
so I was not able to see the big boys in action and
had to put up with some gargantuam elephant sea lions
(look like rather large slugs) and some cute waddling
penguins. Feeling dismayed at not seeing whales (especially
when everyone is showing you pics on their digital cameras
of these creatures) I decided on having a Welsh tea
at a town called Gaiman, originaly founded by our leek
munching neighbours. The cup of tea and tasty scones
certainly hit the spot (being only my second cuppa in
half year) and I decided to make a move to the snowy
lands of Patagonia.
The
following day I took a flight from Trelew to Ushuaia,
the Southern most city in the world. Ushuaia was orginally
a penal colony (you have to feel sorry for the prisoners
sent here) and is now a tourist mecca surrounded by
the snow capped mountains of the Andes. The days here
seemed to last forever as the sun set at around half
ten at night and the light was always very soft and
great for photography. During my days at Ushuaia I spent
time on a boat that travelled the Beagle channel which
stopped at islands crammed full of many varities of
sea birds and sealions. I also spent one day on a 10k
trek with some German pals through a national park that
resembled a back dop from a Tim Burton film (Sleepy
Hollow meets Blair Witch).
From
Ushuaia I took a 15 hour bus to the Southern Chilean
city of Puerto Natales. Puerto Natales itself is simply
a stop so hikers can reach the beautiful scenery of
Torres de Paine (a Chilean national park). Torres de
Paine consisted of idyllic Andes, deep blue lagoons
and a large beach with floating icebergs ... one of
the last things you expect to see on a beach. It was
however bitterly bitterly cold and nearly lost my little
finger through frost bite. From Puerto Natales I took
a another butt numbingly long bus trip back to Argentina,
more specifically El Calafate.
El
Calafate certainly held one of the higlights of Patagonia
... the Moreno glacier. Moreno is a glacier over 15
storeys high that is constantly moving (around 2 mtrs
a day) and thus large chunks of ice break off and fall
into the surrounding river. I watched with awe as tons
of ice break off and smashed into the frozen river,
a fantastic natural phenomena.
From
El Calafate I caught a flight out of Patagonia to the
town of Bariloche (located in Argentinas lake district).
After disembarking the plane I almost believed I had
been warped to Austria. Consisting of chocolate shops,
icy cold blue lakes, an abundance of pine trees and
St Bernards with tacky whisky barrels strapped to their
collars, Bariloche was not the stereotypical picture
of a South American town. I spent my time here hiking
though beuatiful trails (getting lost with a ´fiery´
French girl) and kayaking in the lakes.
Originally
from Bariloche I intended to take a bus across the Andes
and travel North up through Chile however I decided
to stay in Argentina and took a 12 hr bus to Mendoza
(on the same latitude as Santiago). Mendoza has streets
lined with beech trees, good weather, nice parks but
dodgy hostals ... especially when some blighter stole
100s of pound worth of currency from my room mates!
The wine here was however top notch and I spent one
day on a tour around various atmospheric wineries getting
tipsy on tasters.
After
spending a few days in Mendoza I took a bus through
the Andes and here I am writing this email.
Overall
I can say that I really enjoyed Argentina. From basking
in the sun up North to watching ice bergs float by down
South, Argentina kept providing visual highlights. Not
only was the food the best in South America but the
people were very friendly indeed (with the one exception
being in a shop where I was booed by the customers after
England won 3-2). Of course I took many 100s of pictures
in this country but these shall be developed once I
return to good old blighty. In fact I would like to
display my pictures one night where people can buy prints
with a percentage going to charity ... location yet
to be decided.
I
now only have a couple of weeks before I head back to
the reality of Christmas in London (6/12/05) and hope
to see many of you then.
Take
it easy,
James
|
