Advertisement
Published: November 5th 2006
Hola chicos y chicas and welcome to the latest instalment of Jonnys south american adventures. Since I last wrote I have done the proverbial shit loads!!
I left Mendoza and spent 2 days in Cordoba, a nice little student University town full of nice buildings and little cafes everywhere. Did not get up to much other than wander around and play chess in the square with the locals as surprise surpise it was some sort of bankholiday; the day after Mothers Day! Not much to do so I headed to the capital for some free accommodation! Buenos Dias Buenos Aires!
My first impressions of Buenos Aires were of how nice the city is, but I leant later that was because my Norwegian friends, Inga and Ina from my spanish school, were living in the most swanky of suburbs called Recoleta. As Inga kept telling me, Norway has the number one standard of living in the world and so Norwegians must be minted! Their apartment was on the 7th floor of the busiest road and thus I felt like living the life of the rich and famous. The apartment was amazing- with a swanky kitchen, balcony, lounge, dining table and
2 bedrooms. They even had a laptop for free internet! Ina was away travelling so I got her room, with a double bed, TV and ensuite bathroom- complete luxury!!!
I spent 6 days in Buenos Aires, generally not doing too much. We visited the Recoleta cemetary, hosting Eva Perons grave, but it did feel weird walking past tonnes of gravestones. Recoleta is an absolutely beautiful suburb of Buenos Aires full of beautiful shops, ice cream parlours and fancy restaurants, and I did feel like a bit of a trendy geezer!!!! Palermo, similarly is a beautiful suburb but less posey than Recoleta. I visited the bars one night and there was such a great atmosphere with bands playing traditional argentine music everywhere and little stalls selling jewellery. Palermo also has a really nice Japanese garden which makes a nice change from the speed, hecticness and pollution of the city. The third really nice suburb of Buenos Aires is San Telmo, which hosts a huge market on Sundays full of antique crap! There was tango dancers everywhere on the streets and groups playing tango music on every street corner. In the very centre of Buenos Aires lies the main plaza, opposite
You´ve been Tangoed
Showing some leg are we!the Royal Palace, which was where Evita made her famous Dont Cry for Me Argentina Speech. That Sunday afternoon I visited there was even a concert for the family and on the back of the stage was a poster saying "thankyou grandparents"! One day we also left the hustle and bustle of the city and went to a suburb just 28km away but 2hours on a bloody bus, called Tigres. Its a favourite weekend stop for the Buenos Airians and is like a small Venice (not quite!). We took a boat trip around the channels which involves going past all these big houses of the rich and famous and important people in Argentinian politics. A few markets are nearby selling the usual crap; naturally Inga bought a bread basket!!
Inga´s flat was perfect for dinner parties and she had some Norwegian friends round for one night and then had an Argentinian friend round another, cooking traditional Norwegian food for them all. Was very nice but nothing like a traditional English breakfast! On the Tuesday Inga was supposed to have her doctor friends round for dinner, so I think that was the reason why she chucked me out of the
flat on the Monday! Was a bit shocked but it just shows you how weird women are!!! I nevertheless had a great time in Buenos Aires and thanks Inga for letting me stay for free.
I left BA and headed for Puerto Iguazu in the very north of the country close to the border of Brazil. Mama mia what a place. I visitied the Iguazu Falls first from the Argentinian side and my god what an environment. I have never been to a more beautiful and incredible natural place in my life. There are just so many waterfalls and so big. One waterfall was probably the biggest thing I have ever seen. I wandered all the viewpoints so I could see every single one of the falls, and left the biggest to last, the Devils Throat. You stand on the edge of this massive waterfall and you cant see the bottom because the spray is so high, and there is a constant rainbow there. If anyone has the chance to go here, do it as I cant put into words how utterly incredible it is!!! Its not bad like! There is just soooo much water everywhere, and it never
Dog Walkers
In Buenos Aires there are professional dog walkers everywhere, walking up to 15 dogs at a time! The dogs must all be mates. ever stops. I cant believe it myself frankly, and it makes me think why do people have hosepipe bans when there is this much water in the world!
That day, however, was soo bloddy hot and I was sweating like Holtby in a playground. Deany, you wouldnt survive. I think it reached 43 degrees- almost Ankor Wat levels, and thus I couldnt stand the heat any longer and returned home knackered yet completely satisfied. The next day I left for Brazil and saw the Brazilian side of the falls, which are not as close but you get a great landscape view and can see the sheer scale of the falls. Finally I had left Argentina after almost predominantly 2months there. It really is a fantastic country of different landscapes and peoples, and some of the most beautiful natural wonders imaginable. Ive had a fantastic time there!
When I crossed into Brazil I got dropped off by one bus to get my passport stamped. I then had to wait 45mins for another bus to come by to pick me up and give me a lift to Foz do Iguazu. Why didnt the 1st bus just wait for 5minutes the
impatient bugger?! Arriving in the town, I had no Brazilian currency so I had to trudge to a cashpoint and get some cash, before paying to get into the bus station (I thought)- was actually my fare! I left my rucksack with an old shopkeeper as there are no lockers before going and returning from the falls. Then I had to head to the International Bus Station. Basically it was a nightmare, I was really hot and sweaty and had to carry my rucksack around. Finally I managed to have a shower at the bus station, before jumping on a bus heading to Campo Grande for a bit of jungle adventure!
On the way there I met 2 English girls, Kate and Hannah, and a dutch guy, Diedrick, who were heading to the Pantanal also and had booked onto one of the tours. As I hadnt got anything sorted as yet I decided to tag along with them. To get to our camp, we took a mini bus for 4 hours and then a 4x4 truck down THE bumpiest road ever for another hour. Our guide, Gabriel, spotted alligators on the side of the road, but when we approached
he said run away quickly as there were killer bees around the head of the alligator- they didnt tell you this in the blurb!! We arrived at out camp and it was nice little place of a few huts for sleeping in hammocks, a small dining hall and kitchen, and a bar near to a bonfire where we could drink!
The first day there we rose at 5am due to the heat and the sound of the squarking birds. In the morning we went trekking across teh flatlands and woods of the Pantanal- normally in the wet season it is completely flooded with millions of mosquitos everywhere. I think we timed it well as the wet season begins in a few weeks. The flatlands could easily be Burbage Common but for the various swamps hosting alligators, trees with monkeys and loads of types of birds. At one point within the woods, our guide disturbed a nest of bees which looked lik dragonflys. Anyway, they seriously didnt want us there and looking venomously all flew out and stung a few of us. I got stung on my arm and it really really hurt! I had a dead arm and a
rash for 3hours, even though Gabriel tried to remove the poison with his knife! What had I let myself in for here?! It was too hot to do anything between the hours of 10 and 2 so we had lunch and sat around. In the afternoon we went on a boat ride up the river and got to swim in it. Apparently there were no Barry Gators or piranhas here, thankfully!! In the evening I developed a tast for the traditional Brazilian drink Caprinis, which blow your head off. I had 3 and was a gonna!
Day two began again at 5am with a real dodgy head and a slap from Hannah as she accidentily fell out of her hammock!! In the morning we went piranha fishing and I was the first to catch one, but then had no luck after that and caught no more. They swim around your legs and you can feel having a little nibble at your legs as you stand up to your waist in piranha infested waters! For some reason they dont strip the skin off you though! That night we were to sleep at a second camp in the middle of nowhere
Good icecream
Even better waterfalls! so we ate our piranhas there, including the teeth and eyes which taste a bit like eating glass! Me and Diedrick even made a chess board from wood and toothpaste to pass the time! In the afternoon we trekked though a different part of the pantanal and saw wild biffalo, armadillos and ant eaters as well as the usual barry gators and monkeys! There was no electricty at this camp, so we made a bonfire and a had a few candles. We slept under the stars in the hammocks, but were awoken 4times by the screams of the howling monkeys, the jungle is so noisy at night, and we even saw the eyes of some wild pigs roaming the trees looking for food scraps!! It was amazing!
The third day began with horse riding in the morning ( I named my horse Pantan-Alan!) Was really good fun as we got to do some galloping even though an Austrian lady from our group fell off whilst galloping and smackerd her back and leg on the floor, luckily not her head as we werent wearing helmets! Was great fun though and riding on a horse was something I wanted to do
all trip. Tick. In the afternoon we trekked again across the flatlands before getting a lift home in a 4x4 truck in the dark. Was like a night safari as we saw nature in another light (no pun intended.)
I only intended to stay for 3 days but it was soo good I satyed for another 2! The food generally was pretty similar of rice and beans, but it was accompanied with some meat sometimes, salad and chips.
The 4th day began slowly as we were all shattered from the previous days exploits and all the early mornings, but again we went walking where we found some natural materials to make jewellery and found some natural water sources- these guides know everything! We spent most of the day relaxing in the hammocks until we went fishing for piranhas again where I caught another 3, and again ate them with a hint of lime!
The final day of the trip Gabriella caught an alligator, far too easily in my eyes, and we all got to stroke/wrestle it on the bank. Overall the only animals we didnt get to see were pumas and anacondas, and as I am not
Armadillo
soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside, Dime! the biggest snake fan I wasnt too arsed. Overall though the experience was incredible and loved it. We left the camp and travelled to Corumba close to the Bolivian border that night.
The following day we left Brazil and enterest Bolivia. My first impressions of Bolvia were quite funny, as first we ahd to wait for ages for the man with the passport stanp to return to the border- he carries around it a special bag and I dont think anyone else is allowed to use it! Then the money exchange place consisted of a big fat Bolviian woman sitting on a bench, who gave a good exchange rate! We caught the "death train" (not sure why its called death but it was a bit rickety in places!) to Santa Cruz. The 16hours sped by fast but at one point I jumped off with a Bolivian guy to look for beers amongst the many sellers of food and drink on the side of the tracks, We ran all the way down and couldnt find anything and then the train began to move so we jumped back on. When I returned to my seat the girls were stressed out as
they thought I hadnt got back on the train and it had left without me. Luckily they didnt stop the train and reverse!!
Santa Cruz was a nice little place, the second biggest city in the country, and we spent 2 days there recharging the batteries. Bolivia is a lot poorer than all other South American countries, and there are far more beggars on the streets. There is also tonnes of police around; a Canadian lady who works alongside the Bolivian government told me it was a case of damage limitation regarding controlling the country. Hopefully nothing breaks out in the next few weeks! In the evening we went for a final meal together before Diedrick headed to Peru, in a fancy arty cafe where a blues band played covers. I was supposed to travel to Sucre with the girls but they left their clothes in the laundrette and it doesnt open till Monday, the dizzy plonkas, so I headed to Sucre on my own- they will catch me up in Potosi. I arrived at the bus station at about the time all the buses were leaving for Sucre. Feeling dejected thinking I´d missed them all, there was one
Hard bark?
Aardvarks in aplenty! bus at 5pm, which i somehow made by running with the company guy as it had already left the platform. I jumped on just as it was leaving the station having not paid! The guy then put me in a seat that was already occupied- dont know where the person who was sitting there went- then tried to charge me 15o bolivianns (about a tenner!). The cheek of the bugger as it was completely over priced, so I impressed myself and stodd my ground, refusing to pay more than 100bols. He lost and I paid, probably still over the price! The 15hour bus ride went ok as I slept most of the time (there was one guy who paid for the isle so stood there all the trip- unbelievable jeff!) except it stopped once to change a tyre and all the Bolivians got out and pissed ina nearby bush, even the women!! As you approach Sucre its really nice as the town is built on a big hill, with mountains surrounding everywhere.
This morning I went to the Musuem where the Declaration of Independence was signed for Bolivia back in 1875- cant believe theres only been a Bolivia for
Dont get snappy with me!
Barry Gators everywhere! 130 years!
I really must stop typing as my hands are about dead right now!!
I have reached that stage where I have less than 6weeks of travelling left! A scary thought that I will be flying home for christmas in no time at all!!
Hope everyone is good back home and your not too bored of this absolute epic opf a blog. Ill be happy to retire from this nonsense in 6weeks!!!
Ciao for now
Jonny x
Advertisement
Tot: 0.056s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 35; dbt: 0.0334s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Tubs
Dan Holtby
General Wetness
Absolutely cracking blog Splodge, including some of your very best Sprigenisms ever. "Was like a night safari as we saw nature in another light (no pun intended.)" no pun achieved more like. Also nice to see your still proudly wearing your bungy jump t shirt. Mine has become my offical gym t shirt - went this morning for the first time in ages and almost died. Starting to get a bit nip tuck back here. Can't believe chistmas is just around the corner already. Looking forward too your next installment. Dan. P.S. I definately owe you one shinning for that nasty jibe about me! P.P.S. Smith has been jibing you.