http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/DELFIN/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from DELFIN en-us Sun, 20 Dec 2009 08:52:41 +0000 Sun, 20 Dec 2009 08:52:41 +0000 EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASTime has come for closure. I have been home for more than a month. I have reconnected with family and most of my friends. My backpack is still lying in a corner of my studio but it's empty I think. It's summer time. I have celebrated my return with dignity attended many picnics in Parisian parks splashed in the inflatable swimming pool with my three nieces and enjoyed the http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-413611.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HERED7 before going home. Not hungry for adventure anymore my mission was to get a tan and a rest. I managed to cook up the perfect recipe for a perfect finale to these 345 perfect days and the result was... well... perfect I'll share the recipe with you if you'll allow me... In a hostel right on the water in a lush carfree island reached after a fun speedb http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Ilha-Grande/blog-412512.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREIguazu means big water in Guaran. You bet it does. Big water is actually something of an understatement when you look at these billions of liters of water crash in a thunderous noise. HypnotisinghellipSam and I arrived at the hostel early in the morning after a short morning flight from Buenos Aires almost straight from the Fabulosos Cadillacs concertmdash http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/blog-409223.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREValparaiso is not as touristy and sanitized as I expected given its classification at the UNESCO World Heritage. Its traditional zinccovered houses lean sideways most are not renovated for the tourists' benefit and many are rusty its endless stairs smell of piss and garbage its steep streets are lined with artful improvised graffittis its harbour bustles http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso-Region/Valparaiso/blog-407803.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HERECottonheaded I step out of the subway station wondering if I'm really awake or still asleep in the dusty desert and dreaming of a sciencefiction future where red dust doesn't exist. I almost bump into Tamara and her pololo boyfriend AlejandroCano who came to pick me up and walk me back to their quiet and cozy apartment. Tamara had worked with George a f http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Santiago-Region/Santiago/blog-407782.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREIn the quiet little hostel with its cute patio we sleep soundly until 1100am at least. After the intensity of the past month we not only felt we deserved a little rest we also really needed it physically and mentally. However we weren't going to do nothing either so after taking it easy a few hours having a huge homemade breakfast with eggs and a siest http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Antofagasta-Region/San-Pedro-de-Atacama/blog-406513.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREAs Karine and I arrive in Copacabana we both wonder why on earth our Argentines friends said they literally loved the place and would have wanted to stay a whole week. Apart from the extremely touristy strip where all the restaurants are serving the exact same food for the exact same price the rain and the dodgiest hostels I have seen in all my trip the onl http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Uyuni/blog-406104.html MANY MORE PHOTOS HEREOn our way back from Aguas Calientes to Cusco we stop at Ollantaytambo I would love the place just for its name. We are weary of stairs and visiting any Inca ruin after the Macchu Picchu is like looking at the water flowing from your tap after visiting something like Iguazu or the Victoria Falls... All the same the stones of the altar to the sun are impressively big and w http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Puno/Lake-Titicaca-/blog-405289.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREDAY 1530AMBeep Beep. Hhmmmm. Snooze.539AMBeep Beep. Hhhmmppphhh... Pfff... All right all right. We get up in the dark to finish packing. It's cold. Karine falsely victimizing herself starts But why oh why are we doing this to ourselves Waking up at ungodly hours to willfully go walking in the cold and rain for four days when we could be warm and cozy a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Inca-Trail/blog-404717.html MORE PHOTOS HEREThin Air19 hours and 4562 curves later and 3400m higher I set foot in sunny Cusco. The air is crisp and clear so different from the stifling and dusty humid air in Lima and the sun feels definitely closer to my skin as I wait for Karine a friend from Paris in front of the amazing cathedral. As we both go hostelhunting couchsurfing is tricky in Cusco we understand the mean http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/blog-404232.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREI was expecting so much of Buenos Aires that I apprehended disappointment. Everyone who had gone there and knew me a little had told me I would fall in love with the city and probably with a porteo a Buenos Aires dweller and would end up staying there forgetting about the rest of my trip France and the past... Fortunately for now at least only the firs http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-401934.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREPeru is the reason I added South America and five months to my original itinerary idea. I had always wanted to go but ever since my friend Yamil had gone and come back with stories and pictures of the Macchu Picchu back in 2003 it was a very definite dream and a compulsory stop on this adventure. The stench outside the Lima airport is hardly bearable a mix http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Lima/Lima/blog-388050.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HERETo reach Panama from Mexico I have to go through Miami and overnight there. Originally I would have wanted to go through Central America overland from Mexico to Panama but I would have needed at least two months and my travel agent did not recommend it. ndeed a Chilean girl I met in Mexico reported being abducted by a guerilla group in Nicaragua and though http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Panama/Panama/Panama-City/blog-387446.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREI spent only a week in Argentina half of it trekking in the mountain disconnected from the people and culture. Yet Argentina feels so familiar so known that I cannot help but wonder if I wasn't an Argentine in a previous life. Whatever the case may be my eyes are new to the beauty of Bariloches surroundings. To take it all in from above and enjoy the su http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Rio-Negro/San-Carlos-de-Bariloche/blog-387202.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOSI had the unfortunate idea to make the trip from San Cristbal de las Casas to San Juan de Chamula on horseback but the horses were poorly maintained and hardheaded the guides were nothing short of rude and uncooperative with poor Miriam whose first ride it was her stirrups were way too long and she felt understandably unstable so we ended up taking the combi ba http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Chiapas/San-Cristobal-de-las-Casas/blog-386758.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HERETrue I swear a lot by Couchsurfing but staying at a atmospheric hostel in town one block from the lake and with other travelers also has its perks. As I wonder what to do the one day I have in Puerto Varas before going to Argentina my French roommate invites me to share a rental car for a day trip in the area. Two other travelers an Irish and a BritishGer http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Los-Lagos/Chiloe-Island/blog-386599.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREI thought I needed to be pinched in Valladolid because it looked so much like Old San Juan in Mrida also especially as Carlos was there but I had not seen Campeche yet... Not only could I have easily been mistaken all with its cobblestone streets lined with brightly colored colonial houses but the fortress walls and its garitas were also similar to San J http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Chiapas/Tuxtla-Guti-rrez/blog-385015.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREArrived early morning at the archeological site recently sacred amongst the New 7 Wonders of the World before the hordes I spend more than four hours absorbing the atmosphere of the place. Unfortunately the climb to the main pyramid is now forbidden but the site is huge and impressive enough to fill my head with vivid images of Mayans playing pelota the cl http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-385010.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HEREGoing back in time December 2008...Cancn a word that sounds turquoise like Curacao liqueur and sunny as a decadent Spring Break. A city that just a few decades ago was nothing more than a stretch of white sand between a muddy lagoon and transparent waters over coral reefs and now boasts a shore line that envies nothing to Miami Beach a series of highrise http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Quintana-Roo/Tulum/blog-366663.html EN FRANCAIS PLUS BASMORE PHOTOS HERE C'est mignon comme tout cute as a button maybe was the first thing the French people in the bus said as we arrived in Calafate a small touristy town its tidy streets lined with chaletlike houses surrounded by fragrant roses and lavender. Not much else to do though than go admire the Perito Moreno glacier one of the very few advancing glaciers in t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/El-Calafate/blog-385038.html