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Flattened foot or cheesy illusion?
These bus drivers gotta watch where they´re going. Well my blog has really gone down the tubes but for those wondering what I've been up to I'll spout it all out here for ya.
I traveled up through Columbia from the south, all the way up to the Carribean coast. Such a cool culture up there on the coast. I felt like I was in Jamaica or something. Everything is so relaxed and hot, hot, hot! The major highlights of Columbia were....well, I pretty much liked all of Columbia. It was just a great place to be overall. I don't know where the country gets its reputation for being so dangerous. Yes, they have kidnappings and wars with the guerillas in certain parts. But just don't go out into the jungle too far and you're OK. Well I guess I didn't really respect that rule cuz when we trekked to the Lost City it was pretty out there and there were Columbian military stationed all over in the bush. It was funny, they wanted to trade and sell stuff like army hats and pants and stuff. If you had a flashlight or knife you could get yourself a pretty good trade.
So Columbia was great, and some friends and
Mouthy rock.
Looks a bit like a snapping turtle with an underbite. I went to some beaches (amazing beaches) up in the north. There were some national parks and stuff to see but I was a bit worried we couldn't go because they had a big oil spill nearby out at sea. Turns out it didn't make it as far as the place we were headed so it was a great time just enjoying the deserted beaches, and sleeping in hammocks at night. We brought our own food and I thought I could get by solely on canned tuna. Never want tuna again.
I decided it was time to speed up a bit and make it down to Argentina to visit my buddy Aco, who I met in Peru. I figured the easiest way would be to hop quickly through Venezuela and go down by river through Brazil. It couldn't have been a quick enough hop through Venezuela. That's a place I'll never go back to. At first I liked Venezuela because it had a real different feel about it. The cars were amazing! Old muscle cars and big old boats like most of the cars I've owned. That is how I pictured all cars in South America to be. Just old
beat up wrecks with no paint and held together with duct tape. The country is now run by Hugo Chavez, a bit of a nut and a real socialist. Political demonstrations are common in the streets but I never saw anything get out of hand. Venezuela is growing economically because they have a lot of their own oil and it's obvious that Chavez is trying to turn Venezuela into a powerful nation.
But really, it sucks for backpackers....no hostels, just semi-expensive hotels and really, really bad food. I was losing hope, just plain skipping meals because I was sick to death of grease. Deep fried everything! And eating was twice as expensive as Columbia so it was a bit of a bummer. One nice point was that since fuel prices are so low (have you heard?) that buses are cheap. I mean, fuel is in the low cents per litre. There's actually a big issue with gasoline smuggling along the Columbian border.
So I blew through Venezuela (had a lousy birthday there too) and headed to the Amazon in Brazil. I found myself in Manaus, the only real city up north. It was a hot hell hole and I don't
recommend ever checking it out. Originally it was only accesible by river so it's pretty impressive that they brought in all the materials to build a huge city by boat. I had the idea that I'd take a river boat journey down the Amazon and end up back in Peru. Then I could take a tragically long bus all the way to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Nah. I booked a flight to Rio de Janeiro instead! The boat would have taken at least two weeks and although maybe a good journey, that's just too much time for me.
Ok now I can't even afford Brazil, it's really out of the budget in every way. It would cost me more as a traveler to stay a month in Brazil than a month living back in Canada. And what city in South America more expensive than Rio? But I have to say it was worth every dollar. The city of romance is absolutely incredible. You couldn't find a better place on Earth to build a city. Even the city beaches were immaculate, the place is clean and efficient, and really fun to go out at night and dance a little Samba. I planned
to stay 2 days and ended up getting stuck for almost 2 weeks. Just too many fun people...days seemed to whiz by.
You've seen the famous "Christ the Redeemer" statue on TV or in a book somewhere. The big Jesus on top of the big hill. Yep, paid the mega tourist dollars and went to hang out with a 200 foot Jesus for an afternoon in Rio.
Anyways, when all's said and done, I had to simply book a bus ticket against my own will and get out of Rio de Janeiro. The bank account would thank me for it. So after staying over a week in Ipanema and a few days in world-famous Copacabana, I took a 24 hour bus to the Brazilian-Argentinian border.
Buenos Aires bound!
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Jamesy G
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Your so rad McDadd!
Hey dude, it looks so cool... I'm so jealous of you now, haha. I'll definitly be on your next adventure.. so it better be a good one!