http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Mark1981/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Mark1981 en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:55:27 +0000 Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:55:27 +0000 Where is the most expensive place in the world One would hazard a guess Tokyo London Dubai maybe Moscow I have a contender for most expensive place in the world Santiago Airport. I thought I would arrive early to the airport to at least try and see if I could use my charm to get an upgrade from economy. My attempt failed so I was stuck in lsquoDuty Freersquo for ages. After I have part http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/North-Island/blog-455408.html The chicken bus to Potosi only cost me 2.80. I felt somewhat over charged considering the the death trap on wheels which I was about to board would be lucky if it make it to the end of the street never mind Potosi. When I got on the bus a lady was sat in the seat which I had booked. Now under normal circumstances I would have let her sit there without a problem but the amount of times I have b http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/blog-451239.html After leaving Sarah in Santiago Airport it was back to slumming it on my own around South America. Just my rucksack and a stomach full of red wine and steak. For two weeks we had dined on some of the best steak and drank some fantastic red wine. No more steak for me no more red wine I was going to be heading back to Bolivia where the staple diet wouldnrsquot consist of the any of the above. I http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Salar-de-Uyuni/blog-451236.html I was promised a semicama bus from Sucre to Villazon. On purchasing a ticket I was shown this bus which was more than comfortable for the 13 hour trip from constitutional capital of Bolivia. In reality for my 7 paid I received something which was fresh out of the cartoon Wacky races. I had opted for a back seat back right corner next to the window. As this larger than normal lady approached http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Salta/Salta/blog-450058.html The journey from Mendoza to Santiago takes you through the Andes and is a journey which should be done during the day so you can take advantage of the amazing views. After my experiences of crossing borders especially from Bolivia to Argentina I thought this would be a piece of cake. During my visit in Mendoza I had bought a bag of sundried tomatoes and when I bought them the assistant advised http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Mendoza/Mendoza/blog-447043.html It was only four and a half months ago and I am back to where I started. Being back in Buenos Aires seemed like a breath of fresh air compared to some of the places I have visited and certainly after that bus journey from La Paz. After that journey from La Paz the only thing which was keeping me sane was the thought of drinking some nice wine and eating some of the world best steak.As it so happ http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-447034.html It sounds like the start to a bad joke right That is probably the only way to describe the experience I had on the bus down from La Paz to Buenos Aires.Answer is in short 64 hours but it is only supposed to take 48 hours. Incidences which range from the bus waiting for passengers that donrsquot have the correct travel documents to the Argentineans still being bitter over the Falklands. If a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/La-Paz/blog-441875.html Time is running out. I need to be in Buenos Aires in just over a week and I have still to do possibly the one visit which everyone who comes to South America does Machu Picchu. The Inca Trail is one of the ways to get to Machu Picchu but this is very expensive and currently has a waiting list of at least four months. There are alternative treks which you can do the Lares trek and the Jungle Tre http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Machu-Picchu/blog-442308.html After spending eight days in the Galapagos coming back to the lsquorealrsquo world was difficult. Some of the group that I met in the Galapagos came back to Quito so we arranged to have a few drinks on the Friday evening. That turned out to be a few drinks too many and Saturday morning I woke to a feeling of being hit by a train. It must have been the 2 for 1 Cuba Libres. A good night nonethe http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/blog-438791.html I arrived in Huaraz at 6.30am. The weather or should I say the temperature was a chilly 2 degrees outside. From my comfortable semicama seat covered in the blanket I questioned my reasoning for leaving the coast of Huanchaco. Even thought it was overcast the temperature was warmer than Huanchaco. I couldnrsquot judge a town solely on its temperature could I Well the answer was no on this o http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/blog-437390.html Cali was mine penultimate stop in Colombia. I only had Popayan to visit before I needed to leave for Ecuador. I planned to spend about four days in Cali. During my time here I have found that especially in somewhere like Colombia it is the smaller villages which have the most character and definitely the best people. Whilst I Rio I met a guy from Cali Andres who told me to look him up when I http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/blog-431147.html Hi AllHope everyone is well. This is a slightly longer blog than my previous ones. If you havent got a drink of any description then I recommend you grab one. If you have one then as in Jackanory are yu sat comfortably Then I will begin. The Galpagos Islands form the Galpagos Province of Ecuador and are part of the country's national park system. The principal language on the islands is Spa http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Galapagos/blog-430636.html If I am honest I was happy to be leaving Bogota. The weather was overcast and grey the city was huge and I didnrsquot feel safe in La Candeleria. Three days in the capital was plenty. My next stop was San Gil which is supposed to be the adventure capital of Colombia. Before I talk about what happened in San Gil I missed out my previous stalking moment from my Venezuelan part of my blog. So h http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/San-Gil/blog-425130.html God I am sick of buses... Night buses when you are a traveller serve two purposes. One they get you to where you are going and two they save you the cost of a hostel for a night. Unfortunately I was sat next to a guy who even though we were travelling at night wanted to look out of the window at what I havenrsquot got a clue but didnrsquot feel anyway about leaning over me to wipe the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Bogota/blog-423702.html The Medellin Cartel were a network of drug dealers smugglers founded by Pablo Escobar. At their peak they earned 60m a day through narcotics. In 1989 Forbes magazine named Pablo Escobar as the 7th richest man in the world. He was killed on a rooftop in Medellin after a shootout with police. After 16 years of Pablo Escobar Medellin as has Colombia changed lot.I picked a hostel in the Panito B http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Medellin/blog-422771.html Salento is a small town population of about 3500 people in the Zona Cafeteria. You guessed it the area which they grow coffee. Being a coffee lover this was a must see place on my trip around Colombia. From Medellin it would be a five hour coach journey through the Zona Cafeteria climbing mountains speeding down mountain roads to Armenia and then it would be another hour by local bus to S http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Salento/blog-422490.html I arrived in Cartagena one day late due to missing the last bus from Santa Marta. From speaking to other travellers I had met in South America about Cartagena they all described it as this magical city so expectations were high. Cartagena is on the Caribbean coast four hours drive from Santa Marta so the weather was exactly the same as Santa Marta. I met a guy Henry in Santa Marta who left f http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Cartagena/blog-422474.html After going to Rio and Salvador I needed somewhere to go and not spend money and charge the batteries a bit. So after 4 flights I finally got to Georgetown Guyana which is on the north tip of South America. Guyana borders Venezuela to its west Brazil to the south and Suriname to its east. For the whole time I was staying in Guyana I was staying with family so that meant not having to find m http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Venezuela/blog-415415.html The choice was between another 20 hour journey on a coach for 50 or a 2 hour flight for 50. Needless to say the decision was already made for me. I am writing this update sat in a hammock in Guyana whilst the heavens have just opened. This is winter in Guyana but the temp this morn at 7am were 28 degrees and now whilst it is raining the temp has only dropped 2 degrees or so. Arriving in Salva http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-408755.html Arrived in Rio Di Janeiro after another 22 hour coach journey from Puerto Iguau tired and sick of coach travel. Worse I was starting to come down with a cold due to the high powered air conditioning on the Corte Del Norte coach. The penny pinching bar stewards didnrsquot even provide food for the journey. When I arrived at the coach station the last thing I wanted to do was get on another http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-408752.html