http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ciotog og/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from ciotog og en-us Mon, 12 May 2008 08:59:34 BST Mon, 12 May 2008 08:59:34 BST Some time before 8pm the regular cacophany of car horns began to take on an unusual insistency. Then another voice joined in. It sounded like cowbells but not the tinkling accompaniment of an Alpine idyll this was the steady mounting soundtrack of a thousand fervent Friesians. I opened the balcony window onto the fivelane avenue that streaks past our living room. Our eighth floor location provi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Buenos-Aires/blog-259802.html Determined to make one more tourist stop before returning to Mexico City we spent New Year's Eve in Puebla. Given the cityrsquos population of over a million and its claim to fame as home to amongst other things the chocolatebased sauce mole pronounced 'mohlay' a retired Popemobile and a local Oktoberfest we imagined that New Year's Eve would prove a lively date on the calendars of http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Puebla/Puebla-City/blog-237474.html Mridarsquos Plaza Grande was a Tippi Hedren nightmare. Swarms of birds blanketed the trees of the square their individual shapes barely distinguishable in the nebulous mass and their macabre chorus almost deafening. Had the carpet of bird droppings not suggested otherwise I would have been convinced that the highpitched screeching was produced by an army of bats not birds. Bathed in the glo http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Merida/blog-234804.html Arriving in Valladolid at night we fell victim to its inhabitantsrsquo amiability. Everyone was eager to tell us where the hotel was even when they had no idea. Dawn revealed a modest town more or less built on a grid system and the fact that we had unwittingly passed our accommodation by about five times the night before. Ostensibly chosen for its proximity to the Mayan ruins of Chichn Itz http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Yucat%E1n/Valladolid/blog-233900.html I'd been having a week of shattered myths. First Irsquod learnt that itrsquos never tequila that has the worm but mescal. Then after a visit to the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City I discovered that the trumpet is not in fact a traditional mariachi instrument. Cooped up in a hotel in the Santa Fe neighbourhood I had come across little evidence of the clichd Mexican male http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Quintana-Roo/Playa-del-Carmen/blog-232972.html Before the Mother of God began making appearances in grottos and pastures around Europe she turned up on a hilltop near Mexico City. It was December 1531 the Spanish conquest of the Aztec empire had begun 12 years before and Catholicism was being peddled to the indigenous population. The apparition of the Virgin to a recently converted local man named Juan Diego led to the subsequent evangeliz http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Distrito-Federal/Mexico-City/blog-232913.html ldquoYo soy Miss Colombia.rdquo The bold claim leapt defiantly from the text. My eyes flicked back up to the accompanying photograph. Catalina the septuagenarian fruit vendor undoubtedly had the poise of a beauty queen and certainly wore her age well but I wasnrsquot entirely convinced. Reading an inflight magazine from cover to cover on a grounded plane I had chanced upon an article a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Cartagena/blog-219081.html For a political cartographer the island of San Andrs is Colombia. For some nicaragenses itrsquos Nicaragua part of an archipelago unfairly allotted to Colombia by a 1928 treaty which Nicaragua claims was signed under duress during U.S. occupation of the Central American country. And for a tribunal in The Hague currently dealing with the dispute it ishellip to be decided.The archipelago http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/San-Andres/blog-219067.html It seems it wasn't guerrilla groups or murderous drug barons that we were to be wary of in Colombia but rather the weather. The ominous clouds blanketing Bogot we assumed were typical of the rainy season the temporary closure of El Dorado airport due to flooding as we sat on the runway a brief barely remarkable hiccup. One flooded hotel room and another closed airport later and we began to e http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Bogota/blog-217727.html When I was young I had an article about an English convict torn from a newspaper pinned to a corkboard in my room. All I knew was this man had taken part in something called the Great Train Robbery escaped from jail and was now living happily in Rio de Janeiro. Something about this seemingly insouciant rogue appealed to my preteen self. I decided I would one day go to Rio and visit this Ronni http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-182827.html Salta and JujuyOne of the many things I like about Buenos Aires is getting lost in the crowd. And by that I don't mean wandering down Calle Florida on a Saturday afternoon. Whereas in Spain my skin and eyecolour gave me away as a likely 'guiri' and any time I opened my mouth I merely confirmed this in Buenos Aires as well as other parts of the country European ancestry and not just Spani http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Salta/blog-144834.html Well since I haven't got round to doing a barriobybarrio breakdown of the city yet here are some photos from different neighbourhoods barrios in Buenos Aires taken during my time here so far... http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/blog-141987.html Yay Finally we made it to Tierra del Fuego I had always wanted to see this place based solely on the fact that as a kid I thought the name was cool. C'mon You can't say 'Land of Fire' doesn't have a good ring to it Actually Magellan called it Tierra del Humo or Land of Smoke but as we all know there's no smoke without fire... After accidentally oversleeping on our first morning we man http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Tierra-del-Fuego/Ushuaia/blog-141054.html Boarding a bus before sunrise and settling down to a 10hour round trip we wondered if the halfday we were going to spend in Chile's Parque Nacional Torres del Paine would in fact be worth it... Oops sorry for doubting We were lucky again with the weather which definitely contributed to the experience as did our guide who related his encounter with one particular visitor to the park a bo http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Torres-Del-Paine/blog-140896.html Flying to Calafate we had our first glimpse of glacial milk greenishblue opaque water that resembles some kind of artificial colouringladen icing. It's somewhat healthier however this shade is a result of mineral input from the glaciers. We later discovered that the milk has even spawned an icecream flavour in a convincing turquoise hue. But enough about icecream for the moment and bac http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Santa-Cruz/Perito-Moreno-Glacier/blog-139345.html Bariloche in the province of Ro Negro in Patagonia is known as 'the Switzerland of the South' due to it's Alpineinspired architecture popularity as a skiing destination and numerous chocolate shops. Located at the foothills of the Andes the city faces the Lago Nahuel Huapi a lake of 557 square kms with an indigenous Mapudungun name meaning Isle of the Tiger. Our first day saw us sailing on http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Rio-Negro/San-Carlos-de-Bariloche/blog-138659.html Across the Ro de la Plata from Buenos Aires lies Colonia del Sacramento one of Uruguay's tourist spots. A ferry service links Argentina's capital city with Uruguay's oldest town. Step out of the UNESCO World Heritage Site historical centre and there's not a whole lot going on in Colonia though this is what seems to appeal to the Porteos who visit the place for a bit of rr. Beyond the barrio h http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Uruguay/West/Colonia-del-Sacramento/blog-129474.html There isn't a whole lot I can say about the Iguaz Falls that wasn't already succinctly conveyed by Eleanor Roosevelt in her phrase Poor Niagara This wasn't one of the destinations at the top of my personal list eh why you might ask but one short plane ride later I was sweating my way through the jungle wholeheartedly agreeing with good old Eleanor. The falls straddle Argentina and Brazi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Misiones/Iguazu-National-Park/blog-125431.html On our way back from Easter Island we had an afternoon to kill in and around Santiago. Having visited the city on our first stopover we decided to try a quick trip to Valparaso. The bus journey took a little longer than we had been led to believe however and in our rush to discover our destination once we had arrived we forgot our bag in the vehicle. Chasing after the bus to its depot further a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Chile/Valparaiso/blog-125062.html Ral having missed out on most of the summer in the Northern Hemisphere we headed down the coast of Buenos Aires province to the Interbalnearia an area which comprises a number of beachside resorts. Staying in Villa Gesell and with access to a car we hoped to explore some of the settlements along the Atlantic seaboard.Given the time of year Villa Gesell was not yet in full swing. Quite a few o http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Argentina/Buenos-Aires/Villa-Gesell/blog-122271.html