Bariloche and El Calafate (Argentina)

13 November 2010
Got up at the house and we took it extremely easy. The flight was at 2pm, so plan was to have lunch at the airport and use our food voucher. Stephanie also phoned Adriaan to get an internet sight so we could whatch the first half of the Bok test against Wales (not too exciting stuff). Arrival at airport and booking in went surprisngly easy and there were no hickups. We managed to get a stunning view of the Andes as we started to ascend and it kept going for quite a while. There was one very high one, which I believe was probably Anconcugua. All in all, a really nice flight with a clear sky and stunning view of mountain tops covered with snow. Bariloche is a stunning litte town on the edge of a lake and has one of the best ski resorts in South America (so even more annoyed that we missed the one day there). It reminds me a lot to a Swiss Alps ski town, lost of houses with a unique stone and wood architecture, chocolate shops etc. We arrived in the afternoon, so we immediatly booked our excursion for the next day and then tried to see as much of the town as possible on foot. We stayed at the TangoInn, which was a very nice hostel and we ended up with a great view on the lake and hight up against the mountain on the lake. While walking around town, you do get the impression that in ski season the place will be extremely busy. We had a very nice Swiss cheese fondue for dinner and for dinner, jip, more chocolates (and you are allowed a samle when you walk into the shops as well).

14 November 2010
Went to the Nahuel Huapi National Park for our day excursion. The place is filled with beautiful landscapes, composing of lakes forests and snow capped peaks (oldest park in Argentina). We were in a bus driving around and looking at the landscape. Also some interesting people on the bus and our tour also included a hike up to a waterfall. The afternoon we stopped at Cerro Trenedor, the highest mountain in the area (3478m). It was named this, becasue of the thounderous sounds made by the chunks of ice falling off the glacier (which I saw and heard and yes, it does sound like thunder). In all, a very nice day and we went back to the same restaurant as the night before but this time we both had some trout, which was also extremely good (and I ended up with a big bowl of ice cream for desert at one of the local ice cream shops - the ice cream here is also devine!). Mental note, visit Bariloche in ski season, it should be brilliant!

15 November 2010
We hoped that Aerolineas could deliver on our first fligth that would work out according to the booking (and yes, it did! Could not believe it). El Calafate is a smaller town than Bariloche, but it definately has more trekking activities than Bariloche. There is just one main street, but the town is expensive for Argentina standards and "tourist" prices are applied to everything. We are staying till Thursday afternoon, so we have the most time of all the cities, except in BA. Tried to book soemthing in the afternoon, but there are not a lot of half day excursions. Most of it is for full days. But in the end, we booked a trip to El Chalten the next day, and then a BigIce trip to Perito Moreno glacier and then a half day 4x4 trip.  So we spent the afternoon just exploring the town and walking about. The sun only goes down here at 10pm, so activities can be done till late and dinner normally only starts at 9pm. I booked a dinner through the hostel, 55 pesos, and it was a eat all you can barbecue with side dishes. It also tasted very good and this was the first proper barbecue I have had until now (cant believe it took so long). Just before dinner, we also took a walk down to the flamengo lagoon and we managed to get some great pictures. Met very nice guy from Morocco, Medhi, who was also travelling by himself. Medhi was also going to El Chaltan in the evening, so we decided that we would do the walks etc together for the day.

16 November 2010
Got up early and to take the 3 hour bus ride to El Chalten (smaller town than El Calafate). The town is in the park Los Glaciers (yes, you guessed it, there are numerous glaciers in the park). The bus ride there and back for a day bascially gives you 6 hours to do whatever trekking you please. All of the passes are well marked (or so they say, although the initial to get to the starting point is not) and you can do your own walking, just keeping track of time. Medhi was also doing the day trip, so he walked with us. We decided that we would do the Fitz Roy viw point trek first and if time permitted it, do the Cerro Torre (the two mountain ranges), although everyone said that it will not be possible in 6 hours. First we got lost in town and actually ended up taking the wrong route (like I said, not everything was well marked....). Then we started walking to the view point of Fitz Roy, which one way according to the locals should take 2 hours. It is a lovely walk with nice scenery, and we ended up getting there after 1 hour. I think we were keeping a good pase and we also had the beenfit that we did not have big back packs (which make a big difference). Unfortunately the view to the Fitz Roy mountain was a bit overcast which made it difficult for good sightseeing. We then walked back and decided that we would attempt Cerro Terro as well, giving ourselves a cut off time. The map said 1.5 hours to reach, but I thought that based on our previous walk, we could beat it. We started walking at decided that on this route, no matter where we are, we have to turn around 4.30 pm, which would give us 1 hour to get back and then half hour to get bus back at 6pm. We made the walk in 45 minutes! But again, the view was a bit dissapointing, as it was very foggy, although it did clear up a bit later. All 3 of us were quite tired at the end of the day, and we covered a lot of ground in little time. Bus ride back and we decided to try the famous Patagonian lamb, which ended up being a big dissapointment (again the meat!). The meat was very rough and difficult to chew, and this was suppose to be at one of the better restaurants in town! I was getting desperate for that elusive Argentina steak!

17 November 2010

Big, big day for us! We were going to the Perito Moreno glacier! This has to be one of the most famous sites in Argie, and one of the more famous glaciers in the world! The pictures we have seen are stunning and the stories of people that have been there were even better, with many people describing it as the highlight of their trip. The weather was looking good, so the trip was on and both me and Stephanie quite excited about the trip. It worked it better that we did the El Chalten trip first, as it gets your legs used to the walking that we will be doing. It was a 1.5 hours drive from town to the park with the bus. We were getting very excited in the bus ride, and I have to admit, I just love this Patagonia area (with Torres del Paine in Chile). We were going to do the Big Ice trip, which would entail walking along the glacier on steps (most of the tourist do this), from one side to the other (only the front part of the glacier, as it stretches for km`s in), then take ferry ride to island which is also basically next to the glacier, and then do some good old fashioned ice walking/trekking on the glacier to the centre spot of it (will be for around 3 hours walking on top of the glacier with crampons on). The first sight we had from the glacier was with the bus ride, and it was amazing! What a sight and one of my highlights of the trip and ranks right up there with Iguazu Falls! You will not find anything like this in Africa! It is just an endless stretch of gigantic ice with the occasional thunderous sounds of ice breaking off and falling into the lake. We did the walk along the path for about an hour, getting various great view of the glacier from the side, and then the ferry ride was also a good experience, with different views again. Once we arrived on the island, we had to take another hike for about an hour effectively next to or along the glacier, as we walked to get to a point where we could start walking on the glacier itself in order to get to the middle spot to have our lunch. It was very weird at first to put crampons on and walk on it, but as I realized later on, those are essential if you want to do some trekking on the ice. Saying that, once you do a bit of walking and the guides show you some technique, you get the hang of it (sort of). Our group was split into 2, so we had 2 tour guides per group. I am still a bit puzzled about how they actually navigate on the ice, because I could not figure out where we were. But the whole ice walking was pretty surreal and very special, not something a boytjie from Africa or the Caribbean to on a daily basis! It is one of the most dramatic and beautiful sights that I have ever seen in my life. The way you see the ice just for km’s ahead, and then how the scenery changes in front of you as well. And you can also take the coolest pictures as well. All I can say is WOW!!!!! We walked to the centre of the glacier and then turned around and walked a different route back (which at times was quite difficult places to walk on). The lunch in the middle was also great! It was also very nice to take the crampons off our shoes at the end, and suddenly our feet felt so much lighter! We hiked back to the base camp on the islands, and then had the traditional shot of whiskey on the boat heading back to the mainland park and bus. Wow, what a fantastic day and something I would recommend to anybody. I have been pretty lucky with the scenery that I have seen on this trip, but this one was right up there!

18 November 2010

We decided to do the half day trip, just because of the way that our flight worked out and also to keep ourselves busy in the morning (so basically a “time filler”). In the end, the trip turned out to be a bit snorny, but met a nice couple from Brazil and also saw Lake Argentina, which gets a lot of its water from the Perito Morino area. Surprise, surprise, when we got back after the trip, our flight was cancelled (again). Later on it was put back on, but only flying later in the evening, so we actually could have done a whole day trip instead of a half day trip. So the stupid airlines caused us delay again! And to add further insult, our direct flight from El Calafate to BA was late and also flew first toUshuaia (most southern city in the world) and then only to BA. So we got there at 4:30 am in the morning, and then went to bed at 5 am! (man, I hate this airline!!!). The hostel we are staying in, Hostel Milhouse however looks great and the rooms super nice and spacious!

Mendoza (Argentina)

10 November 2010
Arrived something like 3 in the morning (thank you supid Aerolineas) and we sayed in the Monkey Inn Hostel (where I had a little inceden with the toilet and managed to block it). Because we arrived so late, we could not book any excursions the day before, or at least the excursions hat start early in the morning, so a "walking around day and getting to know the city day it would be"! We will leave the wine tasing for tomorrow....The town reminds me a lot about Stellenbosch, student town in SA, where wine is king as well. The place is also a lot bigger than I was expecting it to be. Stopped over at a nice coffee shop (Havana Cafe) for a great cookie and fabolous coffee. Stephanie was looking around for clothes, and I was walking in and out of the hiking shops getting information on Aconcugua (highest mountain in South America). I was really just a chill out day. Biggest dissapointment of the day was he steak a ordered in the evening for dinner, which was terrible. Big let down!

11 November 2010
It was wine tasing day today! We decided on Mr Hughes wine tasting, as this was the recommendation that I go from Richard. The bus to Mr Hugo was a real pain in the back side and took a lot longer than I had anticipated, meaning we would have less time to get through all of our vinyards and tasting. The wine area was very weird, and completely not what I was expecting. It is also located ouside of town, but in a very what seems to be a dirty and poor area. The wine tasting basiclaly works that you rent a bike and then bike to the various vinayrds and slurp away on the wine. Cycling around on he rode was a bit dodgy, as the roads are very small and there was a constant stream of trucks and cars driving bye pretty quick, so not the best area to be cycling (let alone with wine in your system as well). The smart move is to cycle to the furthest vinyard and then make your way back to Mr Hughes. First time on the trip with Stephanie that we met some South Africans at the wine tasting, which we had a very nice chat to. Our trip started around 2pm, and the vinayards close it 6pm, and in the end, we could only visit 3 (our plan was to do 5). When we finsihed at Mr Hugo´s, ge have us some really cheap red wine which later really hit me for a 6. Also trying to go out for meat and wine in the evening afer a wine tasting is not a god idea and would not recommend! In general, the wine quality was very good and cheap. I also blocked the toilet (again)..... I am however still looking for the perfect Argentina steak.....

12 November 2010
Because of all of the mess with our flighs, I headed to the Aerolineas office in town to confirm our flights. Surprise, surprise, the fligh from BA to Bariloche was cancelled (we were travelling to BA and then to Bariloche the same day). So the lady could at leats give us a direct flight from mendoza to Bariloche, but it meant we had to saty another day in mendoza and loose out on a day in Bariloche (which both of us were not happy about, as there is no much else to do in Mendoza other than drink wine, which we have had more han enough at this stage). We got some free vouchers for dinner and accomodation that night. The owner of the hostel put us up at his bb in town, which was nice becasue it had a pool, nice nig bed, kicthen etc... There was not much to do this day as we bascially already saw and did everything we waned, so we ended up having another chil day (which was good afer the heavy day of wine drinking the day before). I just collcted the laundry in town and then we headed for a few casual beers at 6. Ended up staying a lot later than planned and only left around 12 ish (at least having a better steak this time). Amazing to see how late people go to dinner here in Argie, where people will still come sit down at 11pm to have dinner (normally the time I am in bed!). And the other weird thing mnetioning, is the siesta in Mendoza. Everything shuts down from 11 to about 3 or  in the afternoon, as people are taking their sleep (apperently the weather is too hot to work during his time - please, do not come to Cayman!)

Iguazu Falls (Argentina)

7 November 2010
After great dinner the nigth before at this excellent buffet restaurant, we headed to the airport with high hopes. But when we got to the airport, it was a bit chaotic - the domestic airport was closed for construction, so we had to go to the interntaion airport. Becasue of the stupid book in procedures they have (tahnk you Aerolineas), we missed our flight for the morning and had to get another fligth in the afternoon, which was cutting into our Iguazu time. Again, not ideal, but not much you can do at that stage. At least we got some more vouchers for lunch :) Arrived late in the afternoon at Hostel Inn, which was a very nice hostel, but more like a mini hotel (not that we were complaining after the Rio accomodation). We took the bus to town (hostel is just outisdeof it) so we could get some much needed cash. Not much to do except chill for evening and then come up with a plan on how to maximize our time at the Falls and try and see both sides (our time was cut down from having two full days to see the Falls, to now just a day and 3 hours).

8 November 2010
Off to the Brazil side of the Falls. We though this would be the best, as our flight was the lunch time the next day, so if there were any delays etc, then it should rather be on the Argie side than on Brazil side. Took a bus to the Falls at Brazil side, having to stop to get our passport stamped out of Argie and in Brazil. Met a nice german couple that was also going to visit our side. Argies side is known to be better, but the way that it worked out, it was a good choice to do the Brazil side first. Once gets a more general overview of the falls, not so much in detail, but a nice perspective, and then the Argie side is more detail. But both sides offer different views and I would certainly recommend to see both sides, you will not waste your time or moeny. The Brazil sides view almost reminded me of the Sugarloaf view, as it gives you this total perspective, which is what I prefer more. Because of time contrainsts, we cut down on all of the other excursions available (like speed boat, trekking etc) and just went for the main thing, the water falls. The view of the Falls was stunning, and is really something to look at. I feel quite privellaged that I have also been able to see the other great waterfall in South America, Angel Falls. Aslo the funny thing was that everyone was willing to take photos of me and Stephanie (a couples worst thing, because most photos only have one of us in, diffcult to get both of us in or in general the people we ask just take crap pictures) - and the pics came out very nice. The Falls have been shortlisted on the Natural Seven Wonders of the World, and I am sure after seeing it, it will either be among them or come very close.

Then took bus back at 13:00 to go to the Argie side, or a section of it (because of our time constraints). We decided that we would do Devils Throat, which is the main thing on the Argie side, and you need to use a tram to get to it. Met a very nice Bristish brother and sister traveling, Ricarhd, who has been travelling for a year, and then his siste, Isla, who is just stated with her travels. Both Stephanie and myself were a bit sceptical of the view from the Argie side at first, just becasuse we saw the Brazil side, but we were both very revlieved that the view was completely different, and again, stunning!!! A great day of sightseeing were we were just so luckly to see this (I compare it to similiar to the Rio day when we saw the Christ statue and Sugarloaf). Wow.

9 November 2010
Pretty tight morning with just a 3 hours to see the rest of the Argie side of Falls and then get our flight back to BA onwards to Mendoza. There is definately more waling routes available on the Argie side, but we just decided to stick ot the basics again, and do the routes with the falls in (there are also jungle ruites etc).  The view again was stunning, but unfortunately after the first upper section, the rain started coming down (the day before was perfect waether, today was very overcast). We decided to leave the other route we had planned to do, as this one takes you to the bottom portion of the falls (our previous on was a view from the top), and we believed that we saw the best sectiosn of the Falls. After some mishaps with the stupid train in the park, (we only realised afterwards that you actually have to get off at one station on the track and get onto another train to go to the main exit gates) we arrived at the gate, ran our butts off to catch the 11:15 bus so we could make it to the hostel in time and catch a taxi at 12 to the airport (well worked out). Stephanie had this weird feeling the whole time that the flights or one of them would be cancelled ro delayed. Unfortuantley she was right! Our flight to Mendoza was cancelled and instead of flying at 19:30, we would now be flying at 22:30. Vouchers here we come again! Not a good track reecord thus far with Aerolenias, 3 flights, all 3 a mess! Hopefully some better luck from here on it with the flights! At least now I have some time to update this blog :)

Rio da Janeiro and Parati (Brazil)

30 October 2010
Met a very nice guy from Chile and his girlfriend that were on their way to Ri for the long weekend. he gave me some helpful hints about Rio and also some safety tips and also some quick Portugese lessons. However, when I arrived at the hostel, what a shocker! Crummy little place and a misundertsanding on hostel world website, I thought I had booked for 2 people, but they gave me a one bed room, which was more like a prison. And my shared bathroom was also not that high tech. Litterally the shower was same place as the toilet..... So needless to say I was not going to sit up with this accomodation and it was a problem for 2 people to stay there.  So I sat up till 3am that morning trying to look for new accomdoation until Thursday, when we would be going to Parati. This hostel room costs 85 real per nigth (so it is approx 60USD per nigth) and I can honestly say this was the worst place that i have ever slept in for that price. But I had to do it for one night.

Woke up at 6 in the morning, as the kitchen is basiclaly next to my "room". But very excited, as Stephanie was only a few hours away (I was like a little kid waiting to open his present). I unfortunatley had to take a shower in the toilet, while some people was eating in the kicthen, not cool! I was feeling very negative at that stage, as I was not happy with the hostel and I was struggling to find a place to stay at a reasonable price (everything was booked for that weekend). I managed to find accomodation in Copacana at Hotel Atlantico, which was in total only 85 USD more expensive over 3 nights that the hostel stay would have worked out, but the comparison in quality between the two could not be more different (like a Porsche and old skedonk - honestly)! But I had to wait for Stephanie to get to Rio before I could make the booking. What seemed like hours from the time that she told me she would land (it was only 1 hour and 20 minutes later) she arrived! Finally!!!! Wow, it was such a nice feeling and I was so glad to see her again after this long. I showed her the room, she had a good laucgh, and then we made the booking.

We just walked around on the stunning beaches of Copacabana and worked out our plans of sights to see and things to do in Rio (which there are quite a few). Topped off the evening by having a great dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse, which is basically all you can eat meat! The meat was off very good quaility and we both had quite a bit to eat. One thing to note thought that we very quickly realized, Rio is expensive!

31 October 2010
Woke up in hotel (lot better than the night before) and had a great breakfast (best one thus far on the trip). And yes, I was extremely happy with our update that we made!  We decided on doing the Chist the Redeemer statue in the morning, and then head off to Flamengo Park and then to Sugarloaf Mountain (similiar to Table Mountain in Cape Town). Took a taxi to the base on the statue in the morning, and made use of the busses uop to the top (you can als use this railway vehicle). First stop was at a heli pad, which was a nice appetizr for the view that was about to come. Both of us were really looking forward to this, as both of us thought this would be one of the highlights of the trip! And I can honestly say that it was, the view from the statue is amazing and just the statue itself is also very nice. It is really one of those things that you just have to try and see if you possible can. Stunning!!!! One tricky thing was that it was quite difficult to get in a clear picture of the statue and yourself, without having other people in it!. It was also just nice to observe the view and take in the moment, so we styaed for a while (the statue probably had the best view possible if I can think of a few around the world). After that off to Flamengo Park, where we walked along the beach front to Sugarloaf, which ended up being a VERY long walk. It was however very nice, as you get a different view from Sugarloaf, which reminded me more and more about Table Mountain as we got closer and you can see the cable cars to the top. It takes 2 cars to get to teh top, but once there, again, the view is spectacular. The thing i enjoyed was that it gives you a very good indictaion of how Rio looks, as you get a view from the sea in towards the land area.We wanted to saty for sunset, but unfortauntey the weather did not play along. We did however see the city light up, as we satyed there at the top form 4 to 7 pm, and had a great beer at the top (with great company!). It was truley a fantastic day and one that i will remember for a very, very long time. And it was so nice to spend it with great company!

1 November 2010
We had the hanglgiding booked for 11 the morning, but the waether did not look very good. And later our fears were confirmed, as the hang glidign was cancelled for the day (and it is acually a pain, as we only heard the news very late, so we alreayd missed a whole morning). So we decided to do a Vavela tour instead, which is basically the slums of Rio (see the movie City of God, very good and you get a good idea of how live is in the Vavela). Still great having Stephanie with me, and I did not really mind the trips not working out as planned (or hoped). The Vavela tour in the afternoon was very interesting, as it reminded me a lot of back to home in South Africa (where you have this big devide between rich and poor). There was a number of similiarities between these here and those back home (although I do think the people here are better off than back home - not proud of it though!). We had a very good and informative guide, and we were also not allowed to pictures that were we wished (the people selling drugs think you are taking pictures of them). The tour included going to a good and bad Vavela. Some intertsing things that we were told, some being that people in the Vavela do nto have an adress, so the are quite imagantive in getting their post, their is a law in Brazil that states that if you live in a place for 5 years, soemone cannot kick you off that property, so you get living rights, but still not property rights. Afterwards we had some beers at one of the many seaside cafes in Copa that sell beer (although there was not a lot of poeple there because of the waether).

2 November 2010
Woke up early to pack for Parati and also so that we could do the hang gliding in the morning. Again, the waether did not look to good, but this time it was a go ahead. The guy collected us at 10am sharp, and then off to the top of the mountain.... (apperantly the wind direction was perfect for hang gliding in the morning, but because it was quite cloudy and a bit of fog, the view not that great). But this our last chance to do it, so we were not left with much of a choice. We aslo wanted to go to Centro afterwards (centre of the city), but because itr was a public holiday, we were advised not to go (street kids smoke crack and get very high and agressive). The jump was great! Stephanie went first and I was second. I had a very good instructor which was one of those crazy guys (he had been in SA surfing the garden route). The initial view from the ramp where you take off was very foggy, and unfortunately not good, but once you clear that, it was stunning! I could see the whole beach line. Probably sounds stupid, but yes, I felt like a bird! I think my instructor was better than Stephanie°s, because mine was a lot more focussed on getting good pcitures while we were hang gliding, where as Stephanie ended up with very very few pictures (and she was not happy about that). The only thing that was not that good was the price, which ended up with pics and video at 390 real - ouch! We had the bus trip in the afternoon to Parati, with Stephanie almost sleeping the whole way. Arrived at nice hostel, Che Lagarto, and ended up going to a very nice restaurant the evening and having a very good pizza (which would serve as lunch for the next day as well).

3 November 2010
Parati is a town on the coast of Brazil, west of Rio (about 4 hours with the bus and very nice scenic route along the coast). We decided that we would just have a chill day, and not do any excursions, but rather just walk around and see the old part of the city, which has been coppled stone streets (reminds me a lot about Antigua in Gautemala). We were basically just walking around the town trying to take some pictures and now and then have the occsional beer (why not, we are on holdiay!). We also brought some nice souvenirs.It was also a very special day for the two of us, as we have now been going out for 6 months! Yay!!!!!!!! We ended up going to a restaurant, and went for the slightly cheaper option for food, just becasue Rio really put us back a bit, but in the end, the dinner was actually ddissapoitning (soemtimes you do get what you pay for when tryin gto go down a slighly cheaper route). In all, it is a pleasant town and you only need one full day to see everything (exlcluding doing any excursions).

4 November 2010
Took the bus back to Rio in the morning, and we actually realised the busses on Rio run on a very strict timeframe (we were a few minutes late, and the bus was actually on time, so we missed our bus and had to wait for the next one, although when it arrived, we thought it was stil our initial bus!). Lesson learnt in Brazil and busses. Arrived back in Rio in aftrenoon and tyhis time we stayed in Ipanema beach (hostel Karisma). We spent the afternoon just wlaking around the beach, with more people being on it because of the nice waether. Walked to the edge of Copa and Ipanema, which is like a corner, where there was quite a few people that was looking at the sunset (which was fanstastic). It felt very nice being back in the city again and Ipanema definately has more restaurants and bars than Copa does. We had some cold ones at one of the beach shops and whached some people play volleyball. Also had a very nice and cheaper dinner that evening, baby chicken in a garlic sauce. We were also luckly because we got an upgrade at our hostel, because of a leak in the floor, we were put in a 4 bed room, but only the two of us were staying in it (so it is bigger - nice!).

 5 November 2010
Last full day in Rio. Decided we would go to Centro (middle of city) for a walk around town. We used the metro, which was very easy, cheap and convenient to use. It is a pretty new metro.We also went to the supermarket the previous evening and made a nice lunch for ourselve. We actually got off at the wrong station (bioth of us were not concentrating were to get off), so we ended up having to do quite a bit of wlaking to get to the pleces where we wanted to start off at. There were some old buildings in the city, but nothing really that stood out for us. But you do get the feeling walking through the city that it is not a place to walk around after dark. Also wnet to Santa Theresa (section of Rio), which is best viewed from a little tram (ala San Francisco) that you take. Going up on the tram does offer some very nice views and luckily there was also a French guide witha tour group that helped us a bit as well (she knew exactly were we were going, were to get off etc). The tram could not go all the way to the end, because of some electricity problems. We also had a littel mini breakdown, and if it was not for that lady, both of us would not have known what was going on. She was kind enough to show us the get off stop for the famous stairs in Rio, Escadaria Selaron. Long line of steps with tiles of various forms and patterns on, and it makes for some really pretty photos. Afterwards we headed back to Ipanema, as boit of us wanted to spend more time on the beach again.

We walked to Lebon in the afternoon, and both of us had some great frozen yogart. Walked in the streets looking at some shops (Stepahnei bought some earbells etc at one of the shops), and the along the beach back (this time in the water, wanted to get a feel for the temperature of the sea water). What amazed us both was the number of people on the beach, all locals, on a Friday, but around 4pm. Does nobody work around here? And it is very apparent that Brazillians love games involving balls, as all along the beach, you would see people with balls (football, volleyball, bat and ball etc). You can also see why they are so good in football if I look at some of the people skills.... We whatched the beach for a few hours, and it is very nice to see how tailored the beaches are fro sport, with playing facilities being provided all over (nets etc). The people of Rio live a very healty lifestyle. The evening we spent going to a great Mexican restaurant, and we decided that we would not go to the locals hotspot, Lapa, becasue of the time that the bus would go there and also having to make our flight the next day. We also had to move back to ourt first room ,which was very small.

6 November 2010
Our flight to BA was delayed  from the morning to the afternoon, and our Iguazu Falls flight for the same day cancelled. So we would have to stay overnigth in BA, and then fly the Sundaty from BA to Iguazu. Not great, but at least our travel dates allowed us a little flexibility and also we got some very nice vouchers from the airline, Aerolienas Arhentinas. Free buffet lunch (great!) and free accomodation in BA for the night, with transport and dinner paid for as well! But Rio was great, and a fanstastic city to visit. One can easily see why it is the most visited city in the Southern Hemisphere! It does have the wow factor!

San Pedro da Atacama (Chile)

27 October 2010
Woke up this morning, and luckily, feeling a lot better. The medecine is definately working! I decided not too do any excursions in the morning, as I was not sure how I would feel when I woke up. Made it an admin day and caught up with all of my blogging, facebook pictures etc. Had a very nice steak at one of the restaurants in the main road, delicious! You can already feel the difference betweem Bolivia and Chile!

28 October 2010
Getting very excited about Stephanie joining up with me one of these days (not that I was not before, but now it just seems like more of a reality). Doing 2 excursions for the day, and I must admit, they are the weirdest times that I have come across. Morning one is pick up at 4:30 am till lunch time and then afternoon is from 16:00 to 20:00 - very weird. So I had to wake up at 3:30 am to be ready for the sunrise, as we were going to the Geysers del Tatio (best viewed at sunrise). It was pretty similiar to Bolvia´s, but since I had my stomach incident at that stage, decided that I wamted to do this again (and the fact that we did not have a very good guide before). Our guide on this trek was tour was very good and first one that could speak proper Eglish (although all of the other tours I have been on before atvertise it).Great sight seeing the boiling water come out of the ground and then also all of the smoke up in the air (coming out of the ground). It is a continous process that just keeps on repeating itself, water boils, then spoils over, cools down and then starts boiling again...... I also managed to do my swim in the hotsprings, which I could also not do at Bolivia´s side (and the water was a lot colder than it looked). The trip was also very nice in that I sat on the bus netx to this old American guy, Bill, who was very chatty and introduced me to his wife and their travel friends. Just before lucnh time, we visited this old little town and then some cactusses that grow out in the desert. At the cactus area, there was this very nice hill that you could climb and then you had this amazing view of the mountains and also the canyons (with the lava marks). Bill (out of the blue) made this remark that really stuck to me. When I returend from climbing the hill (I was the only one out of our tour group that got to the top), I tolded him that I climbed to the top and he said "that is great, as you only had one chance to do it"........ Similiar to other advnetures that lie waiting ahead of me......like a little cycle trip..... Very nice FB messaging between Stephanie and myself over lunch.

Afternoon was off o the Moon Valley, and yes, it does actually look like the moon. It is made up of very cool formations that look brown, but it is actually made up of salt (the brown colour is due to the dust). But when it rains, the dust washes away and it looks white, like the moon.........It ows its different stratifications and salt formations to naturual environmental factors. The tour started off at Death Valley and we learnt about the 3 tehories of why it is called Death Valley (nothing that grows or lives there). Then off to the Moon Valley. Part of this trip was also that we saw the Great Dune Path (as you climb to see the sunset) and the Amphi Theatre (opposite side of the Great Dune Path).  And there was the Three Maries, which are formations that are the result of the intense erosion process. As the sun goes down, all the mountains get this red colour for a few moments.

Went to the same restaurant in the evining as the night before, to order another fillet. Only problem was that when i was finished, i was still hungry and had a salad, loaded with oninions (not good for the stomach, whcih was still very sensative and recovering). Cannot remember when last I was so bloated and windy...... Very excited about meeting up with Stephanie now, cannot wait. In all, it is a great experience travelling alone as well, as it forces you to reach out to people (and out of my comfort zoen in Cayman). Chile is a great place and SO much more advanced than Bolvia (similair for me to South Africa).

29 October 2010
Stomahc still feeling a blit bloated, but main thing now is to get to Rio.Took a mini bus from San Pdero to Calama, from where I would fly to Santiago and then off to Ri (plance stopped over in Sau Paulo as well). Learnt again that it is a very small world, as while I was walking around in the Santiago airport, I bumped in the German guy that I met on the bus from Copacabana to La Paz, Thomas, and this time, I got his contatc details (I was quite annoyed with myself that I did not get his details the previous time).  So off to Rio and I arrived at around 1 am the Saturday morning.

Potosi and Salar de Uyuni

22 October 2010
Made it in Potosi with my belongins! This mining town used to be the largest town in the Americas back in the 16 and1700's due to the silwer that was discovered there by the Spanish. Today they mainly mine tin and -------. I did the mine tour in the morning, which includes getting gear to wear in the mines (hard hat, overall, boots and light) and also a quick tour at the local shops where the miners buy their coca leavs and dinamite (yes, they sell it on the street!). The conditions inside the mine leave a lot to be desired for and hopefully it is a bit better back home for our miners there! The tunnels are very small (I bumped my head a few times - thank you hard hat - and I had to bend down a few times to walk and get past), and there are these consistent fumes and gasses that hang around in the air. So not sure how the miners manage it, but after 30-40 minutes inside the mine, that was it for me! The mine tour is certianly not for people who dislike small places! The miners work really very hard and you can see it is very physical work that they have to do. Funny thing is that they also built/carved out small little rest rooms inside the mines to they can rest and smoke and drink beer (yes, crazy!). There is also a small little devil like statue at the entrance of the mine, which is for good luck and the miners bring the statue coco leaves and sigarettes. I was very glad to see the light again at the end of our tour.

In the afternoon, I did the city tour, which was acually quite painful, as my guide could bearly speak English and he would say¨"yes" to any question I aksed, and I could see he did not have a clue about the question that I had asked him. The only real highlight of the city tour was the one meseum, where they still have various paintings from the old days, which are stunning (and I am not even a big art fan) and then also old mahcines that were used to produce coins (due to all of the silver that Potosi produced back in the dasy). Also met my firts Carribean traveller from Trinidad on the tour. Off to Uyuni ("Uni") on the bus tomorrow.

23 October 2010
My bus to Uni was only leaving at lunch time, so i had some time to do some admin work (including updating my blog and also booking accomodation in Chile). I also realised that nto being able to speak Spanish can e tricky as well, as I got my Nike shoes repaired after the bicycle trip, but it almost made me miss my buss, as I was waiting for these 2 clowns to fix it, after I thought I had specifically asked them to have it fixed by 11! Then onto the bus to the town of Uni. I realised again that in Bolvia, specifically on the local busses, that they dont aply the rule of one ticket for one person, as various people were sitting on each other¨s laps or in the pathway (which was very annoying). I also did not realise that a hen made it onto the bus with a local lady that was sitting behind me - I did not hear a thing as the hen "behaved" itself. Realised again how careful you have to be with our belongins, as a french guy"s bag got stolen while we were at a stop for drinks and to strech our legs (mental note for Rio and BA). It was a 6 hour bus ride to Uni, and I was very glad when we got there. I met, Nate (an American) and we went out for dinner that evening to a awesome restaurant, that is owned by a guy from Boston, and is part of a hotel. Had an amazing pizza and also my first desert for the trip!

24 October 2010
Had a very nice breakfast at my hotel (bets thus far in the trip) at Hotel Tambo Aymara (met up with Nate again as he was also staying there). Went down to Kantuka Tours to get ready for our 3 day/2 night trip to Salar de Uyuni and also got my exit stamp at immigration. While I was wiaiting for the tour to begin, met a very nice Auzzie couple (we discussed the Pablo Escabar tou in Medellin in Columbia - which was very interesting for me, as I just finished reading his brothers book called "The Accountant") and we had a good few laughs. I also wondered down one of the steets to take some pics of Uni, and then bumped into Pieter and Nadia van Heerden (small world) - they were also going on the Salat trip and heading to San Pedro - same trip as mine, but just with a different company. Tour started and off we went in our 4x4 to the salt flats. The salt flats are all actually a lake, but the salt moves to the survice and becomes very hard (so you can drive on it, although in specific areas). Our group had 7 people and 1 driver (who could not speak a word English and was actually very frustating). There was 3 Isrealis, 1 Kiwi (18 years old), American (who was also our guide as he could lucklily speak Spanish) and then an old man from the UK (60 years old). You can aslo take the coolest pictures on the salk flats, as there is no "perspective" from a camaras point of view, so if your creative, wha-la........ It really is something amazing to see these salt flats and is something I am not used to. Had lunch at the salt hotel (yes, hotel made from salt blocks except the walls outside), and then headed to this "island" in the middle of the salt flats with its huge cacti, Isle Incahuasi. Arrived in Sun Juan in the afternoon, and stayed at a hostel that can house 3-4 groups, but becasue we were the nly group there, all of us got our own room! Isrealis taught us some card games in the evening and then off to bed. An amazing day with stunning scenery!

25 October 2010
Slept very comfortably, which was nice, as we were heading towards our firts full day of the trip. Our driver was late with our departure, as he waited till everyone was finished with packing, before he decided to fill the 4x4 with gas (only in Bolivia). Our morning part took us to a semi active volcano, Ollague Volcano, which all the cars stop at to take some pictures. Later in the morning and up just after lunch time, we stooped at 3 beuatiflull lagoons with 3 different kinds of flamingos. very surreal, there is nothing for kms on end, and then wha, lagoons with flamingos with this great back drop of the mountains........ One of the funny moments for me was that at one of the lagoons, the Isrealis (2 guys and 1 girl) asked the rest of our group if we could move away and go a bit further, as they wanted to take some nude pics! At our lunch stop, I met up with Nadia and Pieter again. In the afternoon, some sections felt like we were riding on the moon, just flat lanscape with rocks. We stopped at some very cool rock formations with various shapes and sizes. Our day ended when we entereted the nature park Eduardo Avaroa Fauna National Reserve and our last stop of the day was at Lagina Colorada, which basically means "red lagoon". The lagoon is as it names implies, red, cuased by algie. Slept at this hostel style place again in the park, but Dan (old British guy) and myself were not impressed with the room that was allocated to our group. It only had 6 beds (they wanted two of us to share a bed) and the room between the beds were so narow that I could not even fit my backpack inbetween them! So we arranged that we get another room so we could split the group and Dan paid for the extra room (75 Bolivianos, which is just over 10USD, and in the bigger sceam of things, nothing and worth the extra space that we were given). At night, I brouhg myself my last beer in Bolivia (tomorrow I was heading off to Chile). Hostel were we slept was actually terrible, there was 3 other groups with us, and the toilets were terrible (smell was unbearable).

26 October 2010
Last day in Bolivia, and to be honest, I was glad. Not that I dont like the place, but it just gets to you after a while the poorness and how far behind they are in certain things. So I am glad to be heading towards Chile today, whcih is very modern and completely different to Bolvia. We woke up at 4 am to be on the rode at 4:30 am in order to see the geysers with sunrise, but that plan went haywire when the driver only woke up at 4:50 (we were all standing ready to go at 4:30) and the 4 x 4 broke down. At least the driver managed to fix it, and we arrived at the shooting geysers (still in the Nature Reserve). Truely a very nice sight. My only problem was that I was developing stomach problems and I was in need of a toilet badly. So off we went to the hot springs with safe bathing temperatures, which was 20 minutes from the geysers, and as we were driving along, I was analysing eveyr posisble rock to see if I could potencially do my "business" there. We arrived at the hot springs and I made a rin for it to the toilets! We also had breakfast at the hotsprings, and this is where I could feel my stomach really going bad. Dan and myself then got onto another 4x4 to make our way to the border for San Pedro. On our way, we also stopped at Laguna Verde, which means "Green Lake" and again, literaaly green. We waited at the border for about hour and 30 minutes for the other people from the other tours to arrive at the border post (there is only 2 busses that take you from the border to San Pedro).  At this stage I could also feel that I was getting a bad fever, and combined with my stomach problem, was not putting me in avery good position. I wanted to go to the bathroom at the border post, but in true Bolivian standard, there was none, so I just had to deal with it. The ride took about 1 hour from the border to get to San Pedro, at which stage we stopped to at immigration. This turned out to be a pain as well, as we had to wiat an hour becasue they were looking through all of the busses and bags of the people (our bus was last to arrive). So when I eventually made it to the hostel, I just want straight to the toilet and then off to my bed to get some much needed sleep. I woke up and felt very waek, but decided that I just had to get out of bed and do something. Took some pills for my stomach, but was looking for soemthing for the fever. Luckily Pieter saw my FB post, and the evening they stopped by at my hostel to give me some much needed medication (thanks guys!!). In all, Salar was a great trip and I would just go to Bolivia to see it again, it is amazing and there are some breathtaking views and scenary!!!! (even thoug the drivers are actually supposed to be your guides as well, but in reality, they are just drivers!).