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Monday, January 30, 2006

BA: you don´t stop!

I was gonna upload a photo or 2 until I realised (just now) that we have probably found the joint with the worst internet connection in town and if I try I will probably be here all night, so your just going to have to wait, again.

Buenos Aires on the other hand has completely exceeded our expectations. This place is kick arse! Spent the first 4 nights in that serviced apartment that I was telling you all about but then because we decided to stay here longer we moved out to the burbs, well hardly, to a place known to the locals as Palermo Soho! It´s full of fashion, restaurants, shops, cool stuff & cool people. It´s really leafy compared to the microcenter and is surrounded by parks and trees, unusual for a city this size (9 million) with the lack of cash flow that the country suffers from.

Tango on Friday night was really an awesome experience with live music, singing (not that either of us had a clue what was going on) and of course TANGO. We had a great night, but kept it relatively short as we were quite exhausted. The move occured on Saturday morning before meeting Shotty´s sister Asuka her husband and newborn baby girl Risa for a delicious lunch under the famous balcony where Evita gave a speech to the masses some 50 years ago. (Lilla took about 20 photos of it, bloody japanese tourists)

We headed back to the hostel to meet Martin in this park down the road from us where every weekend they clear out the tables and chairs from the bars that surround the park and set-up temporary clothing shops filled with clothes from young fashion designers trying to get into the big business. Everything was really cheap too but considering my backpack is already exploding i had to hold back. Lil on the other hand made the most of it and had a field day.

Next was drinks and dinner. We were finally able to find a wine bar which I had been searching for since we got here where we enjoyed some fine Argentinian Viognier, before heading to this restaurant at around 10 (empty in comparison to what it was like at 11), that was full of crazy stuff on the walls and that. They also had board games available for use which everyone was getting into so whilst waiting for dinner we were able to sneak in a game of Pictionary. Off to the Congo Bar for drinks and home to bed.

Today was the biggest sleep in we have had since we´ve been here, when we finally rolled out of bed at around 1 and decided to head to Tigre for the day. Tigre is like an outer northern suburb/holiday town of BA situated on a river. We went for a boat ride throughout the river system, not too much unlike in Melbourne on the Yarra, but with all these camping grounds, hotels, cabins and restaurants set-up which were only accesible by boat. What threw us even more was the amount of people in the water swimming. I mean it was a hot day but the water still did not look too appealing if you know what I mean. We checked out some markets, ate some ice-cream before deciding that it was too hot to sit on the hour long train to get back to BA and opted for a chauffered air conditioned vehicle (actually Lilla begged me to take this option, it was pretty hot though - 39C + 65% humidity - and seeing as I had sweated all that I possibly could I couldn´t really argue with her, especially for $15).

Off to Uruguay tomorrow morning to hit the beaches, but I´m gonna miss BA, we could definitely stay here for a while longer and might even look into work opportunities to return once we're bored in the UK.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

The big smoke

We'll I made it, the bus ride was a killer, the bus driver wanted to stop every hour 1/2 for some ungodly reason so the expected sleep I was kind of banking on got thrown out the window. Did get about 2 solid hours in, when I awoke and realised that we were at the first stop in Rio Gallegos; the airport. I thought I would jump off here, either check my bags in or store them in the custodia, jump in a taxi and get my sorry, tired arse into town for some breaky.

The driver seemed shock when I wanted to get out at the airport, why I soon figured out when I walked in and realised that I was 1 of 4 people in the terminal. Except for the bodyguard, there was no-one working yet and the only other people that were there were asleep in the corner (it was just after 7 in the morning). I checked what time the next flights were so I knew when the check-in counter would open up, but the news got worse. My flight was the first for the day for Aerolineas Argentinas and that was in 4 1/2 hours. The airport was modern, clean and seemed safe so I pulled together some chairs and nestles in for some beauty sleep to pass the time.

I woke about half an hour later, still with about 3 1/2 hours to go. It was pointless to head into town with all my shit so I just plugged the great time killer i-pod in and got stuck into my book. About 5 minutes before I could of been legally declared insane, the check-in counter opened and I was able to rid myself of my belongings. Co-incidently, so did the airport cafe and seeing as I only had 2 hours till departure, it was a much easier option than heading into town, plus the Australian Open was on live, much more interesting than the book I had been reading for the last couple of hours. Great to be back in the land of cheap eats (even in airports) and real coffee, not this nescafe shit you get everywhere in Chile.

We landed late, which isn't surprising considering when I asked the flight attendant what time we got in she replied with 'Could be 2:20, could be 2:30 mas o menos (give or take)', a standard answer you get to every how long question (we got in 5 before 3). I raced to get my bags, grabbed a cab, had a shower (no time to shave), bought some flowers and chocolates, made a dinner reservation, grabbed another cab to the international airport with 5 minutes to spare before Lilla walked out to greet me.

Dinner was awesome, our 4 star apartment is awesome, this city is awesome! Since then we have caught up and gone out with my main man Martin who I met in Mendoza and David from Israel, another guy I was travelling with for a while. We went to our first 'superclub' which was a giant replica of the sydney operah house on the bay. We have dined, checked out cool suburbs, shopped, eaten away and soaked up the sunshine on our rooftop spa and today at a massive public outside swimming complex where we needed medical inspections before being abled to enter the water (fucked up, I know).

I have finally been able to upload some photos, but not yet up to date. I am off to a tango show tonight so need to get back to the apartment to get ready, but will hopefully have them completed tomorrow. But check'em out anyway, they're awesome!

Anyway, till then, signin out

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Torres del Paine: Mountains, Glaciers, Forests, Lakes, Trekking & Tired Legs!

Well it's been a while since I`ve updated this sucker, but that's because I have been on the best journey ever through Mountains, Forests, Lakes, Lagoons, Rivers and just some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever been amongst. If you are ever down in Southern Chile/Patagonia, you gotta get into it!


Torres del Paine is the name of the park and hiking your arse off is pretty much the game. 90km over 5 days, 50% of the time sportin a 15kg backpack. If I was really tough i could of camped at any of the beautiful campsites they have throughout the park, but I really could't be arsed lugging food, a tent, a mattress and cooking gear around with me so I went for the much softer option of staying in the refugios throughout the park. These things were alot more than what i expected, certainly no mountain shack that's for sure!

Day 1 saw me boating it into the park, what an awesome journey that was; up the River Serrano on a rubber dingy through some awesome forest and past some big arse glaciers.
Day 2 saw me heading up 1000m worth of boulders to the Mirrador (Lookout) of Los Torres (pictured above), 3 giant granite peaks; the tallest hitting 2850m. After battling rain & wind to get there before waiting 2 1/2 hours for the sky to clear, I was a little disapointed that I couldn't view the peaks, but in the end if I wanted to see that, I can just buy a postcard. You gotta work to see what I saw!
Day 3 was very mellow although it was the first day with the pack. I trekked 2 hours with 2 guys from Barcelona through some pretty fierce rivers before they had to turn back so I chucked the old i-pod in for the remaining 2 hours and trekked on. Fantastic scenery, very beautiful and some excellent air guitaring! Arrived at Los Cuernos, siesta in the arvo, book by the lake, lots of red wine with 2 aussies I met, what a life.
Day 4 was tougher, 22 km with the pack. I ran into a German girl and a Chilean guy I had met back in Natales so we trekked some of it together. Valle de Frances was the name of where we were headed and we were not disapointed when we got there. Sunshine, Mountains, Glaciers & Forest! Awesome! I know had to get back down and across the park to my luxurious refugio at Lago Pehoe though, so it was time to make tracks. Not as luxurious as first thought. They were't going to let me stay there although I had paid and had a voucher for the room because I didn't have my passport with me, some crazy Chilean thing. It took me half an hour arguing with them in Spanish (not so easy) to convince them to let me stay there. Shower time, or maybe not when the hot shower turned to icy cold direct from the glacier fed lakes abound. Always when your completely soaped up, time to move on.
Day 5 saw more beautiful weather and another mellow day, heading up to Glacier Grey. Check into a very cosy refugio (the first of it's kind), a quick siesta and then an excursion to another mirrador right on top of the glacier, very cool. Watched the sun go down over the iceberg filled lake (at like 11pm) with my German and Chilean amigos before heading to bed.
Day 6 up early for some ice-hiking, i love this stuff! Bad weather at first had me a little worried but by the time we got accross to the Glacier, everything had settled. The climbing's the best, I gotta get myself some of those pick axes and head to the mountains!


Then it was time to head back, I swear that the many hills that I had to walk up weren't there before. My body and the elements were against me, my left leg started to cramp up, it started to rain and I ran out of battery on my i-pod. All just another challenge that El Grande was to overcome, making it to the port in time for a beer and a chat before the ferry was off to the bus and back to civilization.

The need to eat saw about 10 of us at the local pizza joint where I consumed the best pizza yet in South America, better than in Argentina (sorry Hernàn) and a very refreshing Ale.

That brings me here, heading out on a crazy overnight bus wait bus combo to Rio Gallegos that sees me waiting around for 5 hours in a tiny town called Rio Turbio until 2 in the morning for my transfer. Time for some dinner and something else, not exactly sure what yet. Got a few hours to kill in Gallegos tomorrow morning before jumping on board a plane to Buenos Aires for a few days. I get into BA around lunch time, just enough time to tidy myself up (I haven't shaved in 5 weeks), make some dinner reservations and head out to the other airport to meet Lil.

It`s gonna be a rocking time in Argentina, can't wait!

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Retarded

That´s right, don´t bother looking for those photos that I promised cause I uploaded them to someone else´s site. I guess you will just have to wait until I hit Buenos Aires after all.

I am about to head off on a 5 day trek through Torres del Paine tomorrow morning so will be out of touch for a few days. I´m sure I will have plenty to update you on when I get back though!

Take it easy now,

Monday, January 16, 2006

Are you serious? This things a monster!

That´s what came out of my mouth this mornng when I first saw the Perito Moreno Glacier. Once again way too impatient to add photos, I´ve got liter bottles of beer awaiting, not to mention chunks of juicy steak!

This thing is massive, chunks falling off the side of it as big as houses, causing waves in the lake of which we were boating big enough to throw a few people on their arses. AWESOME!

I have added a few extra photos into flïckr though (of which are the awesome views of the lake from the best hostel in the world, Bariloche) and other than being stoked about the glacier, I´m pretty much adding this to kill a bit of time while they upload.

There will be plenty more to write about soon, Torres del Paine is only 2 sleeps away, its gonna be mad!

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Don´t Trust the Swiss: Too Neutral

OK, so the 25km walk that I headed out for this morning turned into about 60km when I decided to take advice from a Swiss guy that travelled down from Bariloche on our tour. I stated walking down the road that he suggested, I even confirmed the road on the map, which unfortunately for me didn´t show distances. I walked for about an hour before I decided that I might as well hitch to the path entrance.

The first car that drove past decided to stop and give me a lift. They knew the entrance that I was talking about so I thought all was good and that I was actually saving time as I did not have to walk as far so I would definitely be able to make the bus tonight. The guy pointed me in the right direction and I was off.

The path seemed a little less busy than the others I have been on throughout Patagonia and was not exactly marked, but I trekked on. After about 45 minutes I came across someone who I was able to chat with and find out exactly what I was supposed to be doing. He told me that the trip I was taking was definitely possible, but was about 5 hours from where I was, which was a little frustrating considering the original trek commencing 5 minutes away from where I was staying was only 4 hours in each direction and it had taken me over 2 hours to get to where I was now. Some shortcut?!

Fuck this, I thought as I headed back to the road, I haven´t got time for this; I´ve got to be on a bus to Calafate in 6 hours. I headed back to the road where I thought it would once again be easy to grab a ride, but ended up walking about 1 1/2 hours before anyone even shot past. It could be worse I guess, I could still be sweating, struggling with tired legs and only half way back to the hostel by now.

My advice to you: Don´t trust the Swiss & only ever ask a local for directions.

All was not lost; I was able to catch a glimpse of Mount Fitzroy before it clouded over which possibly may have been missed should I have gone the original way into the park due to the angle of the track. Hey, you gotta look at the positives.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Patagonia: The land of Glaciers, Mountains, Ice Trekking/Climbing and a Shitload of Walking

30km, are you serious? Was my reaction last night when I got off the bus (the one I had been on for 2 days) at 11:30 at night, in the pouring rain, with no food or beer in the belly when I checked in to the hostel in El Chalten (the first of many stops in Patagonia), confirmed my booking for the glacier hike today and found out that there was no bus to the glacier, no, your in Patagonia now boy!

The trip today was absolutely unbelievable though! (I promise photos are on their way) Even if I did it on no dinner but a liter of beer (kitchen was closed), 4 1/2 hours of sleep and cramped legs from the long bus ride. We trekked through the forest, bush and over mountains and rivers to get to the glacier (Glacier Grande), where we chucked on our Crampons (I think that that´s waht they were called), jumped onto this massive million year old hunk of ice and trekked around. It was fantastic!

We also went for an ice climb using ice axes and stuff and it was amazing, a real rush. The walk back was defintely the killer, once we had gotten off the ice we had 5 hours of walking to get back to El Chalten.

I´m steaked and showered up now and ready to head out on another 20 or so km trip tomorrow to go check out the majestic mountain of Fitzroy. That´s if my legs haven´t turned to jelly by the morning. Just all in a days work of the wandering traveller.

The real test will be Torres del Paine in Chile when I have 6 days straight of this sort of crazy exercise, whilst lugging my own bedding throughout the ranges and staying in local refugios. I think I will make it?

The best hostel in the world!

I never knew that a hostel could be more like a 4 star resort with some of the best views I have ever seen! I am going to wait until I get to BA before I try and upload anymore photos, but when I do some will go right about here:

Sorry about those crappy photos of Bariloche but the internet sux here and that was the quickest way to get them on the system! At least I actually have some photos now to prove that I am not just hiding out in Melbourne.

Relaxed in front of the window, brushing up on my spanish (which has improved quite considerably and I have now become an interpretur for other gringos who have no idea what´s going on) and polished off a bottle of red after I trekked to the top of the mountain where the hostel is located and checked out Bariloche from the heights.

A 2 day bus trek down Ruta 40 followed the next day, 30 hours is a long time to spend in 1 bus, the scenery was beautiful though, the towns definitely gaucho, and considering 2/3 of the trip was on dirt road (if you could call it that), my body has never felt so tenderised.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Switzerland? Stop 7

Well I´m actually in Bariloche, which is in the lake district of Argentina, the gateway to Patagonia.
But if they weren´t all speaking spanish, I would of thought I was in Switzerland!

This city rocks! They even named shops after me.


I need to get back here for winter as South America´s largest ski field is down the street and around the corner with about 300 runs with costs coming in around 50% of what they are back in Australia.

Let me start from the beginning though. I actually updated this page when I had a stopover in Puerto Montt on my way from Isla de Chiloe to Bariloche but either I´m going crazy (which is probably more likely) or it hasn´t worked.

Isla de Chiloe was awesome. My whole intentions of going there was to check out the National Park that makes up 35% of the island or something along those lines, but I hardly left the hostel. The weather was poor 90% of the time, so I commited myself to nothing more than seafood, wine, beer and lots of relaxation. I met some great guys from Germany with whom we got absolutely wasted (thanks for the scotch Linda), consumed some of the best seafood I ever eaten, checked out a Chilean Rodeo, cooked up some damn good steaks and chilled out.


There were some really inspirational people in Chiloe, the Germans mentioned above are trekking throughout Chile and Argentina, basically heading where no other man has gone before and getting lost along the way. Another couple that where in our Hostel on the shore were Ben (German) and Mel (Aussie), who on the morning that I took off were on their way to being dropped off in a lake in the middle of the island to make their way back to the ocean by inflatable boat they had purchased in Santiago from a South American version of K Mart. They were giving themselves 20 days to do the trip, but only taking enough food for 10 as they plan to hunt and fish for the rest of it. What I couldn´t belive was that they were only taking 5 liters of wine to last them that whole time (especially if you had of seen what the consumed the previous night).

So anyway after doing nothing for 2 days in Chiloe, which is exactly what I needed, I bussed it back up to Puerto Montt and then across the border to Bariloche. Got in late last night, but have been around the city today and it is just beautiful. The owners of the hostel where I am staying have another hostel on a lake, on a mountain, in the middle of nowhere, so I am gonna take off there this afternoon for a bit before heading back into town for one last night and taking the bus down the treturous (no idea how to spell that) Ruta 40, which is basically a gravel road that hugs the Argentinian Southern Andes and takes you through several small quaint and out of control towns before ending up in El Chalten, where the hiking begins.

Am uploading pictures as I type so if all goes according to plan, after 3 cameras in 2 weeks, I may just have published my first photos of South America.

Let the good times roll!

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Feels like stop 20: Chile (again)

After retuning to Chile from Argentina, it really hit home how much more expensive this country is! I´m sitting in the quaint Port town of Puerto Montt, waiting for the bus down to the folklorish Isle of Chiloe. The place where I will be staying for the next 2 nights is an abolone, salmon and oyster farm. Should be great!

My last night in Mendoza was good fun, not much sleep involved, before I headed back to the airport for destination Santiago where I spent the day perusing the many shops of the center for a new camera. Headed back to the airport just in the nick of time to find out my flight was delayed. Killed some time by eating before I was off once again, headed for PM. The place I stayed last night was a little more than my budget allows, but cable TV was good and so was the quitness of having a room to myslef.

I seem to have a problem with either forgetting or misplacing things at the moment, realising thismorning that I had left some important documents back in Mendoza, luckily they are still there and mi amigo Martin is going to bring them to Buenos Aires for me. Off to Bariloche for 3 nights when I return from Chiloe where I plan on pretty much doing nothing but sip on some matté and chill out. Who said travelling the world was easy!?

Should have some photos for you soon.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Absailing, 7000m Montañas & mas Carne y Vino

Mendoza has been great, plenty of Action stuff to do! Went Absailing yesterday which was loads of fun but bloody hard work considering you have to walk up the mountains before you trek down them. Headed from there to the thermal baths which was great but got a little too burnt.

Last night a group of 10 of us from the hostel that I am staying in thought that we would head out for some more Carne y Vino and I wasn´t disappointed! That saw us to heading to an Irish pub for a drink and back to the hostel at about 4 this morning. Im starting to adapt more to the Argentinean way of life. Dinner at 10, bars and clubs open at 1, back in the swing of things at a standard time of 9, but then siesta it up between 1 & 4:30.

It was little more difficult to get into the swing of things this morning when I got up at 6:30 to prepare for another day of adventure. I ensures that I made it up for it though with multiple siestas throughout the day on the bus.

We were off to Ancoragua, South America´s largest mountain of just short of 7000m, makes kosi look like the dandenongs! We couldn´t get all the way to the peak of course but we did get to a couple of decent vantage points of about 4500-5000m ourselves! We also stopped of at a few other things on the way there and back, mainly some Inca Ruins and a couple of other historic landmarks, but was really the best was simply the landscape.

Off again tomorrow, was originally heading to Isla de Chiloe to hang out in a National Park, but after chatting to a few people it kinda sounds about too tranquilo for what I am after at the moment so I will probably head to Pucon - the adrenaline junkie campital of Chile.

Stay tuned!

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Carne y Vino (Steak & Wine): What more need I say!?

The flight over the Andes to Mendoza was spectacular. It´s hard to believe that when it´s hovering around 35 degrees in town, the nearby mountains can still be so snow covered. I almost wish I was here in winter so I could board the mountains to absolute pieces! I guess that will have to be another trip.

I checked into the hostel and headed straight to the streets to find myself my favourite food & drink. Hey, Argentinia is famous for it + Dave told me that I should migrate here because of it so I had to check it out.

The wine was fantastic (a half bottle of local Argentinian Malbec for AU$4) & the steak was also splendid, exactly what you prescribed David, well done mate! Basically the restaurant I ended up at, which was recommended by all the Mendozians I asked was like this big open BBQ and you just go up and order different parts of the cow. I never knew ribs could be so good. I don´t think I´ve ever eaten so much meat in one sitting, but I´m sure I will before the next stop. All this set me back a whopping AU&10, and apparently it gets even better in Buenos Aires.

Off to the mountains and hot springs tomorrow, will be good to get some exercise into me before the big 6 day hike down South.

Will let you know how my next Carne y Vino experience goes soon.

Good Company, Vertical & Horizontal Out of Control Tram Thingies, Green Sea, Artificial Fire, NYE, Big Party, Larger Hangover, No Buses, 1 Long Taxi

So where do I start, it seems that so much happens so quickly when your on the road and living out of a bag (which is way too much when your lugging it from destination to destination).

Firstly, I would like to apologise to Adelle, I never really blamed you at all, just like to take the piss! Secondly, the place I ended up staying in Valparaiso was so worth the cash, if not for the chiled hostel, for the awesome company of fellow trekkers hangin out. I met some great, down to earth companions from the UK, NZ, Australia, Switzerland, Brasil, Israel & Ireland. If your reading this, thanks for making my express stay in Valpi so memorable.

Valparaiso was not really what I expected at first, but the more I got to know the town, the more I really started to dig it. Viña del Mar is another superb spot some 8 or 9km away but completely different from Valpi (Rich vs Poor). The first day I spent wandering the streets, checking out these crazy vertical cable cart things that get you up and down the montaña, drinking Pisco Sour before hitting the town for an AU$10 Cuba Libre (with Havana Añejo of course) but no lime and about 3/4 rum vs 1/4 coke. Trust me, you only need 2 for the night.

The following day I headed to the beautiful gardens of Viña, before wandering down to the ocean for a bit of a looksee when I discovered the bright green ocean. Even freakier to see the thousands of Santigens (or something like that) that migrate to Viña y Valpi sprawled across the beach, swimming. I didn´t ask why it was that colour as I didn´t want to offend. Someone told me later though that it could be that Chile is right on the edge of an Inter-continental plate and after stepping out from the beach about 10m, it pretty much drops away to thousands of meters of nothing. And I just thought that there was alot of pollution.

NYE was to follow. the hostel got into full swing with invisible cocktails and a very good latin band in the lounge. By 11 we were heading to the foreshore to check out the artificial fire, known as fire works to the rest of us, which were amazing. The biggest display I think I have ecer seen. I was blown away by the massive temporary Ministry of Sound club that was completely open air, set-up on a pier, very cool. We opted for another club that was set-up in an old warehouse with an attached annexe pumping out 80´s & 90´s all night which was plenty of fun.

I don´t know whether i need to say anything more about NYD, tired and hangover. The adventures of the missing camera didn´t help matters, but I´ve already moved on from that. We came up with the idea of a BBQ to cure those NYD blues. A few of us headed into town to organise some vital ingredients when I thought I should wander down to the bus station to get myself a ticket for later that evening; no go! The tickets were completely sold out and considering I had to fly from Santiago to Mendoza quite early in the morning I had to figure something out. I jumped in a cab back to the hostel to grab my things, said good-bye and settled the account in about 30 seconds before heading back to the bus station to get some sort of a plan together.

I was directed to a line which i thought was for temporary buses that don´t usually do the trip to Santiago, but after half an hour of waiting there I figured out it was for buses that happened to have a spare seat on it to pick up the randoms. I was somewhere near the back of the evergrowing line. My patience (which I have little of) wore thin before I decide to do a bit of investigating. Tried to hitch a ride with a couple of people, stopping buses to see if they would let me sit in the aisle and asking random people whether they knew how I could get to Santiago when I decided on renting a taxi and selling the remaining 3 seats to other Chileans trying to get home also. None of them were really prepared to pay equally, but I didn´t really have a choice in the matter as I had to get back to Santiago and what they were offering was better than nothing.

1 last night in La Casa Roja and then off to Argentina!