Si0906
Simon Lewin Joined: September 20th 2008
Logged in: January 11th 2009
Logged in: January 11th 2009
Travel Blog Posts
Dont look down!
Since traveling through South America tales of the road from La Paz to Rurrenbaque have been many and varied. Most tell stories of the biting cold, aching calf muscles, sore behinds and of the stunning scenery. A few too many, however, tell stories of close shaves, sheer drops, injury and the reason why this highway has become known as the 'Death Road.' Opened around 70 years ago 'Death Road' was the main route between the Bolivian Amazon and it's administrative capital La Paz. Scores of trucks, lorries, vans and cars would make the winding route to the city carrying timber, fruit, minerals and livestock from the Amazon Basin along the high mountain pass around 60 kilometers long and 5 meters wide. Last year a new 'death road' was completed after more than 20 years of construction ... read more
Fonte Boa - Amazonas
We woke up early to catch our flight from Sao Paulo to Manaus, an arduous ordeal to say the least. The flight ran smoothly however and once in Manaus we found our hostel, read, watched a film and bedded down for the night. Wednesday was again an early start, and we headed to the ferry port, not the airport our taxi driver had misinterpreted, to catch the 2 day boat to Tabbatinga, a small port on the three frontiers between Peru, Brazil and Colombia. Much to our dismay it transpired that the 2 day boat leaves Manaus west only once a week. That day was Tuesday and Manaus was a dive. F***k! Was the word of the hour. So resigning ourselves to the 6 day cargo boat trip we went about packing, grabbed a hammock each ... read more
This blog was written back on the 1st November. Finally I have a moment to upload it. Its been a long time since my last blog which, if I remember correctly ´finished up at the Christ Redeemer statue in Rio. A lot has happened since. We spent a little longer in Rio than we had first hoped, mostly lazing on Ipanema beach or wandering the streets of Copacobana, by the following Monday we felt it was about time to head south along the coast to the island of Illah Grande. We woke up around 4.30 that morning, my head still a little sore from the Saturday previous, we clambered, half unwittingly into the back of our minibus and left on the 3 hour journey. The idea of sleep on that journey was soon substituted by the ... read more
Its been a couple of weeks now since my last update and i now have a few moments to let you know what ive been up to since then. After leaving Cordoba I originally intended to stay in Iguazu for 5 nights in order to see the falls and have a few days lounging by the pool. This however turned into nearly a fortnight due to unforseen reasons, i.e. my card was eaten by an ATM machine. Fortunatly I had taken all the necessary steps to assure I wouldnt be forced to become the latest member of a Rio favella gang and all is fine. As a result however I had to stay in iguazu for a few extra nights under the assurance that I would be able to get my card back the day I ... read more
Another week down and plenty more to write about. This week,s entry is a little belated so apologies in advance. We left Buenos Aires for Cordoba around 12 o clock local time, the journey was tedious. 10 hours in sweltering heat and not a drink in sight. Not to mention the discomfort of my unreclinable seat. None the less we arrived on time in Cordoba at 1am and successfully negotiated a taxi to the hostel. The hostel was nice, nice people, nice bedrooms and all the mod cons. We stayed up for a little while and played some pool, then we went to bed and slept for a very long time. Cordoba is the second city in Argentina, slap bang in the middle of La Pampas in North Centro, basically amongst low lying flood plains, highly ... read more
Well, One week down, 30 or so to go and already so much to report. We arrived in Buenos Aires around 11 o'clock local time last Sunday after a 3 hour delay and 2 hours on the ground in Sao Paulo, completely nackered, Day 1 was a write off but we managed to get booked in to our hostel, which is really good considering the 8 or so pounds a night it costs to stay, and got some sleep. The next morning we were up early and met a friend of Joels whois living in BA for the year, studying at the university. We went to visit the cemetary where Eva Peron and Juan Duarte are buried, sounds odd but it was the best grave yard ive ever been to! The graves wernt graves like UK ... read more
Im basically all packed now, pretty excited although i dont think it will hit home until take off. Ive packed my back, unpacked it and repacked it so im pretty sure i have everything i need. Next stop Buenos Aires!!! ... read more
