http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ADB/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from ADB en-us Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:44:39 +0000 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:44:39 +0000 This is the route I rode on my Enfield from Goa to Kathmandu. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Jaisalmer/blog-380125.html This will probably be the final entry in this blog.I'm back in Geneva and as it's midFebruary the weather's cold. I've enjoyed about a year of summer with the exception of a few cool days in the Australian and New Zealand spring so I'll have to get used to it again. It's good to sleep in my own bed again not in a dormitory bunk bed with half a dozen others in the room with me. It's nice not to http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Switzerland/South-West/Geneva/blog-373085.html Rio....football samba beaches crime pollution beauty traffic jams poverty wealth it's Buenos Aires on crack New York in a bikini Vancouver on speed Istanbul on illi. All superlatives apply. I went to a football game in the world's largest stadium able to hold 200 000 people to watch Botafogo and Flamengo battle it out to a draw.I hung out on Copacabana and Ipanema beaches where bikin http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-371871.html From Salta it was a 20hour trip across the pampas to one of the chief destinations in South America Iguazu Falls pronounced EeGWAHsoo consisting of 275 separate waterfalls stretching 2.7 kilometres along the Iguazu River on the border between Argentina and Brazil. The highest is 82 metres while the majority drop about 64 metres. The annual peak flow of water is calculated to be 6 500 cubic m http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Misiones/Puerto-Iguaz-/blog-371869.html Humahuaca pronounced HOOMahwalkah is a small dusty town of cobblestone streets laid out in a grid and it reminds me a little of San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. There's a bit of Incastyle construction at the base of the town hall shaped stones fitted neatly together without cement that's imitated less perfectly in many of the other low buildings. Town hall is a tall white building with a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Salta/Salta/blog-371864.html Early one morning I went up the the Bolivian border to La Quiaca. Here the buses have been demoted from the longdistance service out of BA to the shorter routes of Northwestern Argentina so they're a bit older shabbier smell of diesel fuel in the seats at the back.Leaving Salta we crossed a broad plain of green fields. In the distance stood green rumpled fuzzy hills. The bus climbed and cli http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Salta/Iruya/blog-371862.html Mariana Navarro is a bus station tout for a pair of hostels Sol Huasi and Iskay Huasi. She approached me as I stepped off the bus and as she's bright energetic speaks great English and is so friendly she easily convinced me have a look at her hostels. I chose the second because it was quiet airy and very clean.Salta is a pleasant city of about 300 000 people set in a valley surrounded by the l http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Salta/Salta/blog-371860.html I don't know if that title is true or not as I haven't ridden every bus in the world but these are the best ones I've ever been on. Apparently they have five classes but I've only ever seen three economy semirecliner and full recliner. As I was heading for Northwestern Argentina and the ride would take about 18 hours I chose full recliner. Steward aboard departure announcement over the microp http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Salta/Salta/blog-371962.html Given the location La Recolta cemetery I found this to be entirely incongruous and I don't mean to be irreverent here but shouldn't it read Died http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-371959.html Massive manic by turns charming and frustrating Buenos Aires is one of the world's great cities. Broad boulevards a great deal of neoclassical architecture highrise offices dangerous barrios it's all here and all superlatives apply. Florida Street a pedestrian shopping street so dense with people it's impossible to walk down it in a straight line during the day or at a steady pace. Aveni http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-366968.html As you move south from Brazil into Uruguay the land changes from verdant hilly country to gently rolling land of dry brown grass that's been grazed short. A few islands of dark green trees occasional groups of cattle nosing the ground this is the pampas. Apparently they're having a very dry year with dead livestock now there's an oxymoron lying here and there in the fields. Punta del Este http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/East/Punta-del-Este/blog-366965.html You KNOW I hadda go in. They wouldn't let me take pictures but there was a great selection. Something for everyone. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/East/Punta-del-Este/blog-367956.html I took a 20hour bus ride one of those eternally monotonous journeys from late afternoon night and into rain the following morning from Rio to Florianopolis on the island of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil. Motels along the highway on the outskirts of Rio had Swiss names Motel St. Moritz Motel Lugano. Curiously out of place at first in this tropical setting but really no more curious tha http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Santa-Catarina/Florian-polis/blog-366034.html Hightest please...and don't forget to fill the case of empties in the trunk. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Santa-Catarina/Florian-polis/blog-366972.html A blue bay a strip of beach a village with no cars green hills as backdrop...reminds me of Perhentian Kecil and little of Gili T. The community here is larger than the first yet there are no horses and carts here as on the second. It's also a much bigger island than either of them. It's a couple of hours south of Rio.I spent three days here hanging out with some of the gang from Arraial Joaqu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Ilha-Grande/blog-364706.html Being in Brazil is like being in a country full of Fernando Botero's work come to life plenty of amazingly big fat people. And at the seaside they're not reticent about putting it all on display. Sides of beef in bikinis and speedos. Clearly this is informed by a point of view that values a slim figure and health and it's just an observation it's not meant pejoratively. But it's beach life it http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Arraial-do-Cabo/blog-359292.html The person who was subletting my apartment has found someone to replace her for the final month of the agreement so the world tour continues. Instead of returning to Geneva early I'll be going to Argentina after all although it's very unlikely that I'll retrace my steps toward Bolivia. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Arraial-do-Cabo/blog-362356.html Pronounced DooNEEdun the word means Edinburgh of the South. It was settled by Scots in the mid1800s and there's a big Scottish Presbyterian Church here along with a statue of Robert Burns. Apparently the town is even laid out to match Edinburgh which locals call the Dunedin of the North. This kind of humour is one of the characteristics of being Kiwi. One of the Magic Bus drivers mentioned th http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Dunedin/blog-347439.html Big gothic cathedral in the middle of a town set on the broad flat Canterbury plain this is a city of 380 000 people. Plenty of neoclassical architecture here set amongst contemporary glass and concrete cubes and blocks. There's a very European feel to this city as the cathedral sits on a large open square of granite paving stones where buskers entertain you and small temporary stands sell je http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/South-Island/Christchurch/blog-349738.html I returned to Cuzco and spent a few days getting ready for the next part of my trip. I'd planned to go through Bolivia and then on to Argentina before heading for Brazil and the end of my voyage. Che Guevara had joined me in China had been with me every step of the way since then and I wanted to bring him home to Argentina. I'd sublet my apartment to someone and we'd each made a commitment to the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/Cusco/blog-358986.html