S. American Sorjourn 2013

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Preface

<strong style="text-align: center;">Details/Outline of S. American Sojourn, 2013

Setting the Stage for My Travels

Ottawa June 30, 2013 Pre-departure Entry

(Jul3 Departure for Lima)

Well here we go again! I am, yet once more, off down the road travelling S. America and I will be doing what I can to blog my trip, laptop/1TB external hard-drive, camera/long lens and 50mm prime at hand, and minimum gear, almost only carry-on, but still a little too heavy for my own good. I will need to whittle this weight down some.

I'm travelling on the cheap, staying mostly, if not almost entirely, at hostels and looking to stay on the road for as long as I am enjoying myself; the only other factors at play are rain and cold, humidity and heat. I will do my best to move about in order to dodge these climate problems. I have already learned to love the shoulder seasons for travelling.

Not quite happy that things did not work out for me last time to extend my Jan 11, 2013 birthday leg beyond Rio and Sao Paulo Brasil, I now make best efforts this time around to visit as much as possible of the the south American continent. I am leaving Toronto Canada Jul3 and landing in Lima Jul4 (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/500/video and http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/500/gallery/) -- sorry for the trivial information here¹; however, I also need to do this for documentation purposes - have a terrible memory.

I have attended Travel Meet-Up groups and found what people offer as summaries of their trips is not of much value to me. Why exactly this is the case, I am not really sure? Maybe because I use hostels and travel without a schedule or a tight itinerary in large part so I have really learned little from others' experiences staying in 3-4 Star hotels and dining out at nice restaurants at night with their wives or girlfriends. I have also found newspapers like Canada's Globe & Mail Travel Section and the National Post travel articles offer some interesting information, albeit useful only if I were a millionaire and could afford to live in 5-Star hotels, really? G&M once outlined a $300 rain pancho by the Swiss knife-makers, Equinox, really! I am every bit as happy with my $5 pancho picked up in Katmandu, Nepal, really.

Anyway, I will endeavour to offer a bit of personal narrative while traipsing around the continent and I will also offer some understanding of the places I visit, pictures included I trust will possibly help to enlighten and satisfy your interests, regardless of whether you propose to visit these destinations. I hope you will delight in what I have to say as I dish up tidbits of information, some of this and some of that; I will try to suggest what to see/do as I go forward; and, I will try my best to describe how life unfolds on the road for me. Ideally, you will be able to use some of this information for your own purposes should you venture into the countries, cities, the same neighbourhoods, treks/trails and locals I cover in my itinerary.

I think it would be wonderful if I somehow managed to make it to the Falklands (Las Malvinas) as well as Easter Is., not to mention going north to south, earning my Patagonia stamp for my passport, see the Strait of Magellan and Terra del Fuego, Cape Horn (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/500/gallery/), and Emperor penguins and whales and more. However, that could very well be considered to be the topping on the cake, or what they call the pièce de la resistance n'est-ce pas? !Ya veremos! ¿Ves lo que quiero decir?

In short and for the most part, the first 5 to 6 weeks will have my niece and I travelling Lima-Cuzco-Machu Picchu- La Paz- L. Titicaca- Uyuni Salt Flats- Quito-Galapagos-Quito, where upon she will depart for Toronto and then home, leaving me to continue the adventure a solas, pero me gusta estar solo. So, follow my journey from the equator and the dry season into the cold and rain ands beyond². Let's see where I go and just how long I last this time out.

I look to stay in Quito for a time (month of August or so, and a bit more possibly), where I have discovered I will be able to kick back taking life easy on my own during my stay at the Secret Garden Hostel³ , all the while enjoying the benefits of old and quaint Quito⁴ and the Spanish lessons offered by my hostel before venturing further into the north, likely Columbia, possibly Venezuela before going south into Chile and tentatively then into Buenos Aires; this itinerary is all really up in the air at this time but will, no doubt, solidify in time.

NOTE: I pre-purchased tours for Machu Picchu and for Galapagos from gAdventure Tours, both on the expensive side if you need to know, done in order to guarantee both of us assured memories and a completely positive outcome⁵ . You need tour groups for both destinations though the Trail can be done if you go the easy tourist route and train and bus to MP.

Were I alone, I might have done MP differently; on the other hand, in my view, Galapagos has little in the way of alternative options. I am sure that there might be some who might take issue with my choices.

So, faced with a number of problems prior to leaving including; needing more US$ in case, questioning what adapters are 'actually' needed (http://www.kropla.com/electric2.htm for full layout of what is necessary as some of the countries use various adapters for us from N. America).

(Next blog entry from Lima, Jul4.)





1. excruciating details will be footnoted to avoid boring recapitulation.
2. my ticket has also been extended to the 1 yr. permitted by Air Canada with associated costs for change and fare differences.
3. The Secret Garden Hostel, Calle Antepara E4-60 y Los Rios, Sector San Blas, Quito, Ecuador
4 Beyond Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, there is now Quito to add into the mix of must-see exciting cities.

5. About $1,200 for 7-day trek for the former and almost $4,000 for Galapagos and a 10-day boat trip (http://gadventures.com/tour/SPIT/2013/ and Explore Galapagos - Central Islands onboard the Xavier (G4) starting in Quito on July 30, 2013 finishing in Quito onAugust 08, 2013 http://gadventures.com/tour/EV10MC/2013/, respectively).

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