Blogs from South America - page 4836

Hey my lovely people! I´m in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador! Waiting at Lima airport was probably the worst experience of my life, by the time I started to feel sleepy during my wait, my flight was only a few hours away so I didn´t want to risk it sleeping.. and now I can see how sleep deprivation is a torture method! Felt like crying and throwing up, FINALLY got on the plane and passed out the second I hit the chair... after only two hours I was in Quito! The place that I´m staying at is called The Secret Garden and its amazing, its like a tree-house that goes up and up, really narrow and windy with tons of stairs and brightly coloured walls, and at the very top it opens up into a ... read more

Wir fliegen am 30.11.2006 via Mailand nach Buenos Aires. Bis dann haben wir zuhause noch gut 2 Tage für die letzten Vorbereitungen. Das Reisefieber ist schon entsprechend hoch und die Vorfreude enorm. Wir werden das erste Wochenende in Buenos Aires verbringen und dann mit dem Bus nach Bariloche fahren. Im Seengebiet wollen wir die ersten Wanderungen unternehmen, Zelt und Kocher "life" testen und erfahren, wie gut wir mit den schweren Rucksäcken vorwärts kommen. Und ob wir auch das Richtige eingepackt resp. zu Hause gelassen haben. Von Bariloche aus wollen wir über Puerto Montt und die Insel Chiloè auf die Carretera Austral, weiter über den O'Higgins-See nach El Chalten in den Glaciares, dann über El Calafate zum Perito Moreno Gletscher und in den Torres Del Paine-Park. Vielleicht fahren wir von Puerto Natales auf der Ruta 40 nochmals ... read more

Well, another year older, another year closer to being a quarter of a centuary old. Thank you to all those that sent all the well wishes. And thanks mum for the new underwear! I had a really nice day filled with so much birthday cake. Cake for breakfast, cake for lunch and then cake for dinner. The kids got together and I received some sweet gifts of key rings and necklaces. Elvis took me out to my "missing home" restaurant where they cook the most succulent roast chicken, with roast potatoes, coliflour cheese, peas, gravy, the whole lot. DELICIOUS! We visited my favourite market where they make fresh juices for only S/ 2.50 per jug (That's about US$1) (BOOST eat your heart out!), we visited the Incan-Spanish church and lazed around on the green grass (I ... read more

As of late, it has come to my attention that I am a person of rituals, that is to say, I like them. I believe that one reason that I enjoy being in Argentina so much is because of its rituals and traditions. If you will recall, I have mentioned that I would like to bring kissing as a greeting back to the US. This is a ritual that is strictly maintained. It applies to everyone all of the time. For instance, you WILL completely stop your telephone conversation to kiss your sister good bye. You WILL climb over two chairs (with people in them) and the coffee table to kiss hello a complete stranger. You WILL kiss good bye a bunch of your boyfriend´s friends, who(m?) you do not know, dancing crazily in a boliche ... read more

I have been dashing around quite a bit in the past week. From Pucon I travelled east to Valdivia, a town with an unremarkable centre but some attractive gardens and a pleasant riverside, where well fed sea lions lap up the sunshine and pose for tourists. I spent only a night in Valdivia - there really wasn´t that much to see there - and then made my first border crossing by taking a bus east to the Argentinian lakeside resort town of Bariloche. Crossing the border was simple enough but I am sure it could be simpler - we had to stand around for ages waiting for our names to be called out. Even back home my name is rarely pronounced correctly, so listening out for my name here becomes something of a guessing game. Then, ... read more