Only a few days away from leaving Argentina. Spent the last five days in Salta, in the northwest of Argentina - a warm place just at the beginning of the wet season, so it is very humid as well. Went on a road trip yesterday with four guys from the hostel, to visit Cafayate and passing through the Quebrada de Cafayate, which has absolutely amazing rock formations and an almost lunar scenery most of the way. Unfortunately the weather turned out to be quite grey and drizzly, so the colour were not as intense as they are ususally, nonetheless it was [View Full Entry]

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Just some pics of my night camping at Colonia Carlos Pellegrini. Arrived at sunset to set up camp by the lagoon. I had the whole place to myself, so it was lovely and quiet.... The weather was fantastic - about 27C and a light breeze. Took some time to chill out and take some photos before it got dark. I was expecting a barrage of mosquitos and other creepy crawlies at dusk, but they didn´t eventuate (quite disappointed really, after all of those injections and antibiotics). Had a semi-decent night´s sleep after so may bus rides, and woke up pretty early [View Full Entry]

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Didn´t get time to load the Uruguay pics yesterday, so here goes... [View Full Entry]

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Hola! Spent yesterday over the border in Uruguay, taking in the sights. I'm not sure if it was because I had come from Buenos Aires, but Uruguay seemed very relaxed and laid back; maybe a little too laid back, it seemed a little off-kilter simehow. Anyway, it was full of cobbled streets, old spanish and portuguese buildings, lots of bougainvillea and people zippig around on scooters. Not having sealegs, the three hour ferry ride was mostly spent on the upper decks in the fresh air, and within running distance of the lee-side of the boat (just in case). The view on [View Full Entry]

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After some terribly hot weather, finally anice 23C day to wander the streets of Buenos Aires. It is very much a combination of Melbourne and any of the grand European cities. There´s heaps of plazas, parks and green spaces to break up the city blocks, the pollution is quite low considering the population, and the architecture and statuary are amazing. Buenos Aires is by far the most beautiful city I´ve every seen. I spent my first day at the zoo, takign a few pics,which I´ll put in this post. Most of my other BA pics (very few, I wasn´t too keen [View Full Entry]

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In any Chilean town you are sure to find a statue of Bernardo O'Higgins, the man with the sideburns... Punta Arenas really has a thing for sculpture though, which is probably why I like it so much. Here's a few examples of satues from Chile - enjoy! [View Full Entry]

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Hola! Crossed the border yet again, from Argentina to Chile, witha small kids vomiting every five seconds - not my best trip. Made my way to Puerto Montt, a town in many respects similar to Portland - a nice foreshore, but not really uch else. I had intended to stay there for a week but decided to keep moving after one night. Travelled from Puerto Montt (black and white photos) to Chiloe (colourful houses on stilts and boats stuck after low tide)) via ferry to visit the National Park near Cucao. Passed masses of gunnera on the beach, the last place [View Full Entry]

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Took the teleferico (cable car) up to Cerro Otto today for a look. It actually started snowing while I was up there, which I was very excited about. Took some pics: [View Full Entry]

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Mostly animals, plants and buildings... [View Full Entry]

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These snowy pics are of the trek on Monday to the summit of Cerro Catedral. It was a tough climb, especially when we hit snow half way up. Luckily I was wearing my hiking boots that day ( I only joined the guys hiking when I met them at the bus stop). Two of the other guys were only weraing sneakers, so they would have had freezing feet! I stopped about 500m short of the summit, where the other guys continued to a rocky outsrop to check out the view. The view was pretty amazing from where I was, though, so [View Full Entry]

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