Nico O - 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.

I'll try and get this blog updated once a week, so enjoy...

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Joined on: November 30th 2006
Last Login: January 17th 2008

Blog Entries: 21
Photos: 326

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Blogs & Travel Journals

by Nico O, order by Date newest first.

By Nico O
November 1st 2007

Royalty treatment in the South of Brazil South America » Brazil » Rio de Janeiro » Rio de Janeiro

Maracana

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 [View Full Entry]

By Nico O
September 30th 2007

A gaily journey and blast in the past South America » Brazil » Bahia » Itacaré

Belem Port

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!!” [View Full Entry]

By Nico O
August 22nd 2007

Pablo, plastic and rushing like Mr. white Rabbit South America » Brazil » Amazonas

Medellin buses

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 [View Full Entry]

By Nico O
July 31st 2007

Colombia's guerrilla, coffee and fatness South America » Colombia » Bogota

Sanctuario de Las Lajas

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. E [View Full Entry]

By Nico O
July 15th 2007

Half way through and on the Equator South America » Ecuador » North » Quito

RECOVERED

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. [View Full Entry]

By Nico O
June 15th 2007

Playa, scum and corruption South America » Peru » Tumbes

Huacachina oasis

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. [View Full Entry]

By Nico O
May 30th 2007

Lost in the Peruvian "Groundhog day" South America » Peru » Arequipa

Floating Islands

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. [View Full Entry]

By Nico O
May 15th 2007

La spaz and swamping it South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » La Paz

Elmo and Christo

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. [View Full Entry]

By Nico O
April 20th 2007

In Bolivia Pues South America » Bolivia » Chuquisaca Department » Sucre

Uyuni salt flat

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 [View Full Entry]

By Nico O
April 15th 2007

The Atacama desert and road trip around the North of Argentina South America » Argentina » Salta

Valle de la Luna

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 [View Full Entry]

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