http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/BerLM/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from BerLM en-us Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:33:21 +0000 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:33:21 +0000 We continued onward to San Martin de los Andes plainly San Martin from here onwards. We were slowly making our way towards Buenos Aires to meet LMs dad and Karen. We had ample time so we took it. San Martin de los Andes is a smaller version of Bariloche and is much more tranquil. The village is also built on the shore of a big and beautiful lake houses are made of stone and wood and the str http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Neuquen/San-Martin-de-Los-Andes/blog-408563.html We arrived in Bariloche on the 12th of February after a long grueling bus journey. Bariloche is a beautiful village on the shore of Lake Nahuel Huapi in the lakes district of Argentina. The lake is huge has a deep blue colour and has an average surface temperature of 7 degrees Celsius and still people are snorkeling Apparently this area of Argentina reminds people of Switzerland. We would not http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Rio-Negro/San-Carlos-de-Bariloche/blog-400846.html After the W hike in the Torres del Paine National Park we returned to Puerto Natales and stayed there for 1 night. The following day we departed for the long drive to El Chalten in Argentina.El Chalten is a small village in a pretty valley within the Los Glaciares National Park at the base of the famous Cerro Fitz Roy 3.375 m and Cerro Torre 3.128 m mountains. El Chalten exists purely as a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Chalten/blog-400325.html Torres Del PaineWe first tried to organise our Torres trip from El Calafate in Argentina but this was unsuccessful. After being ripped off by a nasty woman at a gear rental shop long story do not use El Barraco rental we took the bus to Puerto Natales in Chile to organise our trip from there.We stayed in an extremely cheap room at Hospedaje Olguita basically a woman's Olguita's house wi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Torres-del-Paine/blog-399780.html El CalafateEl Calafate is a small village population 6000 in Patagonia. Its economy is almost solely driven by tourism as it lies on the borders of the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the second largest park in Argentina. An aside this park contains a giant ice cap in the Andes range that feeds 47 large glaciers. This is the largest ice cap outside of Antarctic http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-388782.html Ushuaia We left Punta Arenas by bus on the 20th of January. Part of the journey took us over the Strait of Magellan where we saw many beautiful Commerson's Dolphins playing in the water and swimming along the ferry. See the video posted for the dolphins swimming along the ferry.Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world havent we heard that before. Puerto Williams in Chile is farther sout http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-375103.html Punta ArenasAs our goal was to get down south as fast as possible we flew down to Punta Arenas from Santiago. We had glimpses of the Chilean lakes district and many snowcapped volcanoes along the way.According to Wikipedia Punta Arenas is located on the Brunswick Peninsula and is the southernmost city of its size in the world. Ushuaia Argentina also makes this claim and is further south but http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Magallanes/Punta-Arenas/blog-374602.html After the hike in Colca Canyon it was time to say goodbye to Darran after travelling with him for two months as he was on his way to Bolivia. The two of us and Linsey then set off to Arica in Chile.From Arequipa we took a bus through the Atacama Desert to Tacna a Peruvian town close to the Chilean border. The Atacama Desert is a virtually rainless plateau and is the driest desert in the world http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-373989.html Colca CanyonAfter being very lazy in Cusco over the Christmas and New Year period we decided to head to Arequipa and Colca Canyon for some hiking.The four of us us Darran and Linsey booked bus tickets for the evening of the 3rd of January. LM developed some stomach trouble through the day and we decided not to leave that evening. We said goodbye to Linsey and Darran and went for a quick dinne http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-374599.html Cusco againJust to catch up from our last entry From Iquitos we flew to Lima on the way we hit an air pocket which was no joke spent 3 days there and then bussed to Cusco. Since we have been in Cusco in August last year at the beginning of our trip this is a very short entry detailing our activities over the Christmas period. We arrived absolutely exhausted in Cusco after a 22 hour bus drive http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/Cusco/blog-373987.html This blog entry details our journey from Vilcabamba in Ecuador to Iquitos in Peru. It is not a very common route and is definitely off the Gringo Trail. Backpacking at its best For other tourists we have a summary of where to go duration and costs below the bulk of the entry.The two of us and Darran left Vilcabamba at 700 in the morning on a bus headed to a town called Zumba close the the Peru http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Loreto/Iquitos/blog-368412.html From Cotopaxi we travelled to Baos via Latacunga. The seven of us took a double cab pickup truck bakkie for the South Africans from Secret Garden to Baos. Three people had to sit at the back with all the backpacks and it was very cold. We were exempt from this duty as we were bloody sick at this point. We drove through many hills alongside local farms. A very scenic journey. One of the highli http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Centre/Banos/blog-358639.html QuitoSince we are so far behind in our blog publishing we have decided to combine two destinations for this entry and the next. As stated in the previous entry we spent a couple of days in Quito went to the Galpagos and returned for a further three days. Quito is an old city that originally formed part of the Incan Empire. It is now the capital of Ecuador and while it is on the equator it is http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-358627.html Before flying out to the Galpagos Islands we spent a week in Quito the capital of Ecuador. We will add a separate blog entry for Quito after our Galpagos entry.The Galpagos Islands were most definitely the highlight of our trip so far. While being expensive we think that they were worth every cent. The Galpagos is a surreal place with strangely tame animals lazing around everywhere. The an http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Galapagos/Santa-Cruz-Island/blog-349984.html SalentoThe road between Bogot and Salento was a nightmare not as a result of unsafe driving but rather cockroaches and a million trucks on the road. We finally found out why bus drivers always turn the air con up high this keeps cockroaches out of the bus We coped by singing La Cucaracha Salento is one of the little towns in the Zona Cafeteria the Colombian coffee zone. There are hundreds http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Salento/blog-347015.html BogotArriving in Bogot after a twisty journey through many mountain passes we followed the advice of Shaun our previous host and stayed at the Cranky Croc hostel in La Candelaria the oldest neighborhood in Bogot the Colombian capital.Our next week in Bogot was to be one filled with awesome sights and many rumbasthe colombian word for party as described belowWalking tour Our Lonely http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Bogota/blog-340622.html The trip to San Gil took 14 hours on the bus. This included a change of bus in a city called Bucaramanga. The bus trip in itself is an adventure and you need nerves of steel. We checked in at a hostel called Macondo owned by a very friendly and helpful Australian named Shaun. This was to be our home for the next 10 days.San Gil is located in the Santander province of Colombia The heart of Colom http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/San-Gil/blog-335583.html Cartagena After the beaches in Tayrona we took a shuttle to Cartagena on the 21st of September. Cartagena is an old city founded in 1533 and is very beautiful and charming at least the historic town is. It was an important colonial port town in the good old pirate days of the Caribbean. Because of its importance and prosperity it was constantly attacked by pirates Sir John Hawkins and Sir F http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Cartagena/blog-331238.html After lounging on beaches for some time we decided we needed some physical exercise and booked for the Ciudad Perdida hike. Ciudad Perdida Lost City is an archaeological site of an ancient city in the forest of the Sierra Nevada. This city was apparently built in 800 AD and was only discovered in 1972. The hike takes 6 days in total and is about 40 km of walking round trip. Our hike started o http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Santa-Marta/Ciudad-Perdida/blog-329801.html Santa MartaWe reached Santa Marta after a very early departure 4AM from Maracaibo Venezuela. The trip was uneventful except for police blockades many passport checks and a maniac driver in our Por Puesto Shared taxi basically an old Chevy or Ford with a 5 litre engine. We booked into a very nice hostel called Hotel Nueve Granada. This is probably one of the nicest places we have stayed u http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Santa-Marta/Parque-Nacional-Tayrona/blog-322105.html