Blogs from South America - page 5206

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many geographical hotspots have their own motto. for example, belize's is "you better belize it!" connecticut's is "connecticut:we're full of surprises." the united states is apparently the "land of the free," whoever that's supposed to be referring to. argentina's is "argentina: un pais, en serio!" which translates roughly to "argentina: seriously, we're a country!" in our three weeks in this "country," we have come up with a few more...how should i say this...appropriate mottos. here's one: Argentina: Your Unreliable Friend because here's the thing. everyone has that unreliable friend, right? you know who i'm talking about. he says he'll be there at 8, but you call at 10 and he says he's not coming. she borrows a cd and only after you've forgotten you ever owned it does she return it, if ever. or, say, he's ... read more

South America » Peru » Puno May 18th 2006

Spending two nights in Puno we took the time to visit the Uros floating Islands . A lot of people refer to this as a tourist trap but the way I see it they are welcoming us on to their home and you can't blame them for earning a living by selling their beautiful inexpensive crafts to tourist. While on one of the islands I picked up six small flutes for a whopping two dollars. An enjoyable visit considnering we wren't planning to visit the islands but we had walked down to the water front stopping at a naval museum allong the way - a man, seeing two non-locals, approached us and asked if we'd like to visit Urus. So we're like, how much? He says ten Soles which is roughly three dollars eacc. Then we ... read more
Sean mistakenly thought this was
nice and green
marina

South America » Argentina » Misiones » Puerto Iguazú May 18th 2006

After hotel check out and entrusting our surplus luggage to the Marriott’s concierge, we took a short taxi ride to Aeroparque, the local airport dedicated to flights within Argentina. As it was now common for us on this trip, this taxi driver also had several recommendations for us once he learned that we were going to Iguazú. He warned us to stay away from a place named “Tres Naciones” (Three Nations) close to the border with Paraguay and Brazil where several tourists had been victims of crime in the recent past. The check in and security process at Aeroparque was straightforward and we soon reached the gate area. Our Aerolineas Argentinas flight was scheduled to depart at 12:55 PM from Gate 7, located almost at the center of the long terminal. When the time came for ... read more
Long Wait at Aeroparque
Ready for Catamaran Tour
Rush Hour River Traffic

South America May 18th 2006

Well, finally got off my arse to organise a blog. Not too sure how long this will last for, especially considering my extreme penchant for bone idleness. So you are either reading this because you are exceptionally bored or, god forbid it, actually interested in what I'm doing. Right, here's my origianl travel plan : - * South America (Peru & Chile) - 23rd May 2006 until 04th July 2006 * New Zealand - 05th July 2006 until 31st July 2006 * Australia - 31st July 2006 until 11th September 2006 * South East Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia & Laos) - 11th September 2006 until roughly 03rd November * India (hopefully Nepal) - roughly 03rd November until January 2007 Mainly for my own interest to see how much my travels change during my time away. ... read more

South America » Peru » Cusco » Sacred Valley May 18th 2006

The Sacred Valley is a pretty common day tour that visitors to Cusco head out on. The tour itself leaves from Cusco town and takes in the sights of the Urubamba Valley, which is about an hour from Cusco and includes the area between the Inca communities of Pisac and Ollantaytambo. On the list of sights for the day are the markets of Pisac, several Inca ruins, lunch, a church, the town of Ollantaytambo and sunset over the hills. On the tour the first stop was Pisac and the markets and the option to walk up a hill and look at some ruins. I was more fascinated at the colourful markets and wandering through the little village of Pisac rather than a ruin on this particular morning... I just didn’t think it would compare to Machu ... read more
Pisac Markets.. busy market place
Pisac Markets.. busy market place
guinea pig anyone???

South America » Peru » Cusco » Cusco May 18th 2006

Heading back south of this massive continent Ive found myself in Cusco.... arriving on the 13th and all by my lonesome once again.... it feels wierd not to have a travelling buddy now and someone to share ALL the experiences with...!!.... although am happy to hear that Owen got back home safe and sound to his little Island.. and with his 6ft paddles!!.. My (second) camera (first and my good one was stolen while in Brazil) died the morning of the trip up to Machu Pichu so all of my artistic flair is now on the 3 x 27 800film in the disposible cameras that cost $20 OZ dollars a peice! .. it is with these that i will be finishing my trip on, hence the delay (and failure) of photos at this point.... The first ... read more
proof that i really was there!
llamas on the hillside at Machu Pichu
pretty gardens at the top.

South America » Argentina » Mendoza » Mendoza May 18th 2006

The main reason for coming to Mendoza for me was mountain Aconcagua and the park in which it lies. Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the world outside of Asia, 6962m. At first I wanted to do just some treks in the park, but than I found out that it's possible to climb it without any special technical skills, just with warm enough equipment and 2 weeks of time. Before coming to Mendoza, I even called to insure that the park is open, since I heard it's the end of the season and it might be closed. But after arriving, I found out that it's impossible to climb because of bad and cold weather. On top of the mountain it went down to -45C at night - a little bit too cold for me. Than I ... read more
A typical street in Mendoza
A trolley bus
Promenade just for us

South America » Brazil » Paraná » Foz do Iguaçu May 18th 2006

Firstly, the title does not have much relevance to anything, we just liked it! Things have been quite hectic since the last blog. We made it to Sao paulo after a 6 hour coach journey, a City we had heard so many bad stories about. We would have avoided going there to be honest except that we really wanted to go to Skolbeats. It is a massive City! so big in fact that its difficult to describe. Basically, its not very pretty, too big to get anywhere quickly and clearly dangerous. The people living there live in fear, apartment blocks (with mesh over windows/balconys) have 24 hour security sitting behind 2 or 3 huge iron gates. We spent 3 nights there. The first in search of Skolbeats tickets (quite a challenge), the second to find somewhere ... read more
Shower
Spray
Bleugh!

South America » Chile May 18th 2006

OK folks. This is an upcoming trip we're planning and would love feedback. It will be the first running expedition from the southernmost point in South America (Terra del Fuego, Chile) to the northernmost point in North America (Cape Morris Jesup, Greenland). The idea is that I will fly down to the start in Chile and run all the way up to Greenland. Hopefully I can find trails and backroads the whole way. It would be a super help if anyone out there that has done anything like this or who has info on any of the trails I might consider taking could help direct me on where to get specific info/maps, etc. The expedition should start in 2008 if all goes well with sponsorship. Also, fellow travelers interested in accompaning us or volunteering to act ... read more


Yesterday we spent our last night in La Paz with Mauricio´s uncle and his family. The greatest adventure of the evening was the unbelievable taxi ride from the travel agency to his uncle´s house! Okay, let´s summarize by saying that it was like a rollercoaster. The driver skillfully drove the wrong way on a one way street, executed an illegal turn and almost killed several people from what I could see from the backseat. Mauricio and his uncle assure me that this is normal driving in La Paz and throughout Bolivia. The entire taxi ride cost 1 dollar! Yup 1 dollar! We even sat in traffic. I could live a very good life here on a not-for-profit salary! This morning we arrived in the BEAUTIFUL city of Sucre. His mother and brother met us at the ... read more




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