Nico Oyarzun
This is a plan I had for years and it is finally becoming reality. I decided to temporarily ditch the life I had between Glasgow and Geneva to go back to my roots. From the 5th of Dec, I'll be heading back to Chile to spend some time with the family. Then, starting from mid Jan and for the next 12 months, I'll be off for a grand tour of the continent. The initial plan: Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and back to square one, Santiago. From there and if time and money enables it, my last two and a half months will be spent in southern Mexico, Guatemala and Cuba. Nico O
I'll try and get this blog updated once a week, so enjoy...
Travel Blog Posts
Royalty treatment in the South of Brazil
Published: November 9th 2007South America » Brazil » Rio de Janeiro » Rio de Janeiro
November 1st 2007
After Itacare and my peaceful surfing break, I put my board aside and went down to Rio to meet the Original Oyarzún himself, who seems to finally enjoy his retirement life. I took advantage of my last weekend alone to taste the Rio night life and see a football game at the Maracana, one of the world’s biggest stadiums. It’s an impressive feeling sitting among 50 000 fans and knowing that it wasn’t even near its full 100 000 seated capacity. After a mad weekend, my dad and I finally met up on a Sunday in the hotel lobby in Copacabana after not seeing each other for 10 months. Our first few days together were spent catching up, visiting all the different sites of Rio and beach hoping between Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon. These 3 neighborhoods ... read more
A gaily journey and blast in the past
Published: October 5th 2007South America » Brazil » Bahia » Itacaré
September 30th 2007
At my arrival in Belem I had quite a special welcome party. Walking in the city I was surprised by the amount of little clothing people wore and most worryingly coming from the male gender. When I started seeing more and more transvestites and drama queens running loose at each corner street, I thought to myself “where on earth am I??” I asked some guy, with make up overzealously spread out on his face, the reason why he was wearing pink fishnet pants, a thong and some feathers stuck to his bum. His answer was: “It’s the gay parade my love!!” With an Argentinean couple that I met on the boat, we decided to tag along the parade. It was Sunday and everything was closed, another good excuse to party. After that very special event and ... read more
Pablo, plastic and rushing like Mr. white Rabbit
Published: August 23rd 2007South America » Brazil » Amazonas
August 22nd 2007
Medellin in the early 90’s was known as a lawless land. At the time it was home of one of the biggest and most expensive manhunt the US ever invested for one man. The cartel of Medellin was headed by the notorious drug baron Pablo Escobar, who at his peak was in the top 10 world’s richest man. He represented then 70% of the total Colombian cocaine exported. After two full on wars with the government and the US that lasted almost three years and thousands of people killed, Pablo was finally gunned down and with it the cartel dismantled. Medellin is back to its normal self even though it still suffers of bad publicity. The paisas (people of Medellin) try to change that image and are the most helpful and warm Colombians in the country. ... read more
July 31st 2007
Firstly I just realised that their was a major crash down of the site. Unfortunately my last 5 entries were lost, as well as some of my pictures. All apologies for those who have missed reading them but it will be too much work to write it all down again. -------------------------------------- Colombia is nothing like what foreigners imagine. You need to visit the country and see it with your own eyes that guerrillas and narco-trafficants only represent a small percentage and are very much isolated from the main tourist areas. Even though they have severely tarnished the country’s image and history, the situation has surprisingly improved in the last decade thanks to drastic actions from the actual president. For many backpackers it has become the hidden gem of the continent. I wouldn’t go as far but ... read more
Half way through and on the Equator
Published: August 6th 2007South America » Ecuador » North » Quito
July 15th 2007
Apologies - currently unable to restore. If you have a backup please edit this entry and save/publish. There is a small possibility that this entry will be restored - only small. ... read more
June 15th 2007
Apologies - currently unable to restore. If you have a backup please edit this entry and save/publish. There is a small possibility that this entry will be restored - only small. ... read more
May 30th 2007
Apologies - currently unable to restore. If you have a backup please edit this entry and save/publish. There is a small possibility that this entry will be restored - only small. ... read more
La spaz and swamping it
Published: August 6th 2007South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » La Paz
May 15th 2007
Apologies - currently unable to restore. If you have a backup please edit this entry and save/publish. There is a small possibility that this entry will be restored - only small. ... read more
April 20th 2007
My first impression of Bolivia when I crossed the border on the 1st of April was...what kind of jungle I got into? Not in a pejorative way but compared with Chile and Argentina, the country just seems like a mess and that is when I really felt that I was in the heart of South America. For the moment I haven't seen one supermarket, you can only see street vendors at every corner and selling random junk. If you need some shampoo you just need to ask one street vendor and they'll point you a hundred metres further at a women with a bowler hat on, chewing coca leafs and with a baby rapped on her back who will solely sell toiletries, nothing else. On the boarder town of Villazon met 3 aussies and we had ... read more
The Atacama desert and road trip around the North of Argentina
Published: August 6th 2007South America » Argentina » Salta
April 15th 2007
After Iquique my next and last port of stay in Chile was San Pedro de Atacama. As the name shows, it’s right in the middle of the desert and at the feet of the Andes. After hardly seeing any tourists since Bariloche, it felt weird being back in a backpackers gathering spot. I only stayed there two days because of its cash-cow hostels and greedy tour agencies. However, the whole lot was still enjoyable. As soon as I got to San Pedro, I went off on a tour to see the sun set in the Valle de Luna. It’s a spectacular place that just looks like being on the moon with the mix of light and its unusual rock formation. On the next day, I had no time to rest and went on a tour that ... read more
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