Where am I?! I spend my nights sitting around camp fires drinking Savanna's (really good South African cider), roasting marshmallows, braii-ing (equivalent of a bbq) and talking to other travelers. Everything is absolutely gorgeous. The streets are perfectly paved, the hostels better than any other country I've been to, and the people incredibly nice. Last I checked, I did not sign up to be in Europe, the US or some other first world country, but South Africa's Garden Route (from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth) is basically that. I'm definitely enjoying backpacking in relatively cheap luxury, but [View Full Entry]

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1) REFUGEES & XENOPHOBIA: Imagine being from the DRC, Somalia, or Rwanda. Imagine having watched your family burn to death in front of you. Imagine the hardships you went through to get all the way to South Africa, sometimes entirely on foot. Imagine getting to South Africa and meeting your husband, a man whose family was shot in front of his eyes. Then, imagine the happiness of starting over in a peaceful place until South Africans start attacking you during and after the xenophobic attacks that took place. Imagine 5 men walking into your house, stabbing your husband, then holding him [View Full Entry]

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HOME STAY: After my internship with the Cape Times (see below), I moved to the suburbs. I lived with a family and a few other volunteers while interning in Human Rights (next blog). Immediately after arriving, I regretted having gone to Mama Africa, the famous African food restaurant in Cape Town. Though happy to have tried crocodile (tastes like chicken and fish), ostrich (healthy tasting dark meat) and springbok (my favorite - just like steak), my host mom cooked delicious African food every night. Most included a lot of vegetables, meat, rice and potatoes. I also got to try "boboti" when [View Full Entry]

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8 months into my travels, I'm a bit exhausted. I haven't exactly been spending my days relaxing at nice resorts in tropical paradises with a strawberry margarita in hand as some people seem to think when they hear the word "travel". Instead, I've been backpacking - figuring out my next destination as I go and every day needing to find a hostel, find out bus times to the next destination, book tickets, walk around to multiple tour agencies to find the lowest fare, book a tour, sleep not enough hours in a dorm, wake up and repeat. No it's not a [View Full Entry]

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I love Buenos Aires! It represents the Argentina that people love and hate - love because of its lifestyle and beauty, and hate because of its pretentiousness. For me, however, it was something else that made me like it less. For a while, I wanted to move there. I mean, there are really nice parks everywhere, good cheap wine, some of the best steak in the world, the best ice cream (gelato brought over by Italians and perfected), dulce de leche, really attractive people (don't know what is going on in this country but everyone is really hot! Must be the [View Full Entry]

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Whether because I missed the group of people I'd been traveling with for the last three weeks, saw northern Argentina after Bolivia's amazing sights, felt that I was repeating things by visiting places that reminded me of Bolivia, or was just getting a little tired of traveling, I can't say I felt as great about doing northern Argentina as I did when I extended my trip to see it. It is definitely a great place to see, but your impression of places depend on where you've been and what you've seen before. For that reason, I only REALLY liked Mendoza despite [View Full Entry]

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Instead of going back to Argentina as planned and spending my day drinking good wine, eating good steak and enjoying life, I decided to climb Huayna Potosi in Bolivia because it looked awesome, 7 of the people I was traveling with were doing it, AND it only cost $120US for 3 days (so cheap compared to the 1/2 hour ice climbing I did in Patagonia for $50US). Although I knew it would be somewhat difficult, I had NO idea what I was getting myself into... And, let's just say that the next time I hear a pilot tell me we have [View Full Entry]

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LA PAZ, BOLIVIA - Originally, it wasn't even a stop on my list, but after being convinced by the people I was traveling with to go, I can't believe I almost skipped it. 1) SAN PEDRO PRISON: San Pedro prison is the largest prison in La Paz. Once you get past the gates, it´s supposed to be a community with hotel like accommodations. By that I mean that there are restaurants, children playing (because families live together in here to help support those in jail), and poor but decent living conditions. The catch? To stay there, inmates have to pay for [View Full Entry]

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Back in my IAS 45 World History class at Berkeley (Go Bears! :) ), I learned about Potosi as an example of Spanish exploitation of the native population they conquered. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to see this city and the mines first hand. Unfortunately, I had just about the worst tour group I´ve ever encountered in my life. HISTORY OF POTOSI AND ITS MINES: Potosi was founded as a mining town by the Spanish around 1546. Despite being the highest altitude city in the world (then and today), its altitude adapted population grew to become one of [View Full Entry]

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*Aside from the first 3, the pics are in the following order: Uyuni, Tupiza, Bus Scenery. All are worth a look. 1) WORST TRANSPORTATION; BEST SCENERY: I arrived in Bolivia from Brasil on the death train route. Although I opted for the air conditioned train instead of the death train (known as such because merchandise and animals sat inside while people sat on top and fell to their death during the train ride), my ride ranked the worst in South America at the time. Aside from the mariachi music and cheesy Mexican films they showed, the train was more like a [View Full Entry]

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