On Christmas Day I catched the bus to Bariloche in the Lake District. Bariloche and its surroundings are full of possible day trips and therefore I decided to spend some time here. I arrived after another 20 hour bus drive and got into a really nice hostel with an astonishing view over the lake and the mountains in the background. I took it easy and relaxed for the day before checking out all the possible trips. The first trip the next day lead me to Mount Tronador (Thunder Mountain). After pick up we drove to the National Park and stopped first for a little hike to a waterfall. Following that the road lead further into the park along the shore of a lake, where we stopped for taking pictures of the views. Finally after lunch we ... read more

Before I started this trip, I was sure that I wanted to see Machu Picchu and do the Inca trail, but there is a 3 months in advance reservation required. After further investigations I decided to join a tour for 3 weeks, so that I was sure to do the Inca Trail and have some company for a while. Even though I must say it is very easy to travel around Southamerica alone, I always meet people heading the same direction. So there we go, a group of 7 meet in Lima to join this 3 weeks tour through Peru to Bolivia. After a day in Lima, which was just another city, we headed down south to Paracas and to the Ballestas Islands. We got up the next morning and took a cruise around the islands ... read more

I decided to stay a couple of days in Bogota not only to catch up with emails and blog entries, but also to meet a friend who was on business in Bogota. The first day I spent more or less in the internet cafe and in the evening we discovered the night life of Bogota, going to the Zona Rosa for dinner. I felt save in Bogota, against all the stories I heard before, because at any corner there was a police man or military guy. I really enjoy the city even though it was high up and I needed to adjust to the altitude a bit. On the following day I was lucky with the weather and enjoyed blue sky and sunshine while going up to Monserrat for a spectacular view over the city. I ... read more

After the 2 weeks in Florianopolis, a rather sleepy town, it was time to see the famouse places of Rio! I was looking forward to Ipanema, Copacabana, the Christ and many more. But first I stopped at Sao Paulo, as it would have been a 18 hours journey going direct to Rio. Sao Paulo was really just a stop over, it is an industrial city and not much to see. Also it was time to adjust to higher prices again, it seems nearly as expensive as in Switzerland! I just stayed for one night and wasn't too sad to leave the next day as it was pouring down with rain (the following days were even worse, glad I left before the big storm came...). Rio welcomed us with sunshine! We started off with a meeting with ... read more

It has been a while since my last blog entry and in the meantime I have started the volunteer programm. After enjoying 3 weeks of the touristy side of BsAs, I was about to learn a different side of this city. I have been travelling through many countries in this world and have seen a lot of poverty. Most of the time you just see the poor people on the street but not what is happening behind these streets. This time I got the opportunity not only to better understand and learn what actully is done (or not) to help the poor people of a country but also to be hands on where help is needed. One of BsAs quarter, La Boca, is known for football but also the famouse colored houses in El Caminito. Every ... read more