Rodyssey

Si quieren ver fiesta, vengan a La 12 Porque esta es la hinchada mas loca que hay Con bombo y trompeta, todas sus banderas todos Los Borrachos se quieren matar. Vamos los Xeneizes, vamos a ganar Esta es tu hinchada que te va a alentar Vamos los Xeneizes, no podes perder Porque a Los Barrachos los vamos a correr If you want to see real celebration, come to see La 12 (Boca supporters) Because it is the only and craziest supporter group of all With flags and bass-drums and trumpets All of the Borrachos (River Plate supporters) want to kill themselves Come on the Xeneizes (Boca players/supporters) we are going to win These are your fans that cheer you up Come on the Xeneizes you can't lose Because we are going to chase Los Borrachos This ... read more

Crossing the Andes Having loved Patagonian Chile so much, I decided to return to the country to explore the central and northern regions. In retrospect this logic was flawed as the south is so different to the rest of the country. Where the south had wonderful landscapes and great beers, the north has uninspiring towns and cities and Crystal/Escudo drinking hordes. Nevertheless the trip started well with the lake and road trip across the Andes. This is how Che and Alberto crossed into Chile in The Motorcycle Diaries although the beautiful isolation of that scene was tempered by the hordes of tourists on my trip. We drove from Bariloche to Puerto Pañuelo, bordering the Nahuel Huapi Lake where we boarded the Victoria Andina catamaran to sail along the lake to Puerto Blest. The sun shone through ... read more

The next few days were spent in and around Los Glaciares National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site and the pearl of Argentine Patagonia, a spectacular region of mountain peaks, lakes and glaciers. We drove from Puerto Natales to El Calafate, staying at the Hostel del Glacier Libertador. El Calafate was originally founded to set up an Argentine presence in a region disputed with Chile but recently has developed as a tourist hub, primarily to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier. The next day we went on a day trip to visit the glacier, one of the few in the world that's still expanding. The glaciers here are formed when clouds from the Pacific rise when encountering the Andes, dropping huge quantities of snow which over time compresses to form glaciers that carve valleys down to the ... read more

My 4 flight/7 airport trip from Cork to Ushuaia always had the potential for problems but I didn't think it would be the very first leg that caused them. The Aer Lingus flight to Heathrow was delayed by four hours so I missed the onward flights to Madrid and Buenos Aires and had to rebook everything for the next day. I ended up flying Air France via Paris (not an impressive airline) and had to fly business class on Aerorlineas Argentinas south to Ushuaia. I eventually arrived at about nine on New Year's Eve and met up with Terry at the La Posta hostel. I always like the idea of getting away from all the New Years nonsense at home and going somewhere different and the city at the end of the world seemed like an ... read more

Days 24, 25 and 26 - Swakopmund Today we left the isolation of Spitzkoppe and travelled to the coastal town of Swakopmund where we’re spending the weekend. This is an old colonial town which retains much of its original German character. Whilst it’s a very pretty town with some great shops and restaurants, there’s something a little strange about it - it feels a little out of place in Africa. After unloading our stuff into dorms at Swakop Lodge we had an activity briefing for things to do for the weekend. Swakopmund has tried to become the Victoria Falls of the desert with loads of adrenaline activities available. The main ones are quad biking through the dunes, sandboarding (standing on a snowboard and lying on a sheet) and tandem skydiving over the desert. I had been ... read more