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South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » Yungas Road February 12th 2006

I have to wonder how places named such things as "The Death Road" can prove to be so alluring to travellers. For me, I think places like this are a means to shock myself out of the complacency of wandering around churches and grazing through touristy markets. After a few days in La Paz, that kind of shock treatment was definitely in order. Regardless, some might question the sanity of willingly hopping on a mountain bike to ride down a road that has more fatalities than any other in the world. But that is exactly what we did, and it was a blast. The road itself goes from La Paz, high in the altiplano, crosses the Andes, then drops over 4000 metres to Coroico and the tropical lowlands. In honesty, the road isn´t nearly as dangerous ... read more
Getting Ready....
Blue Bird Conditions
La Cumbre...

South America » Peru » Arequipa February 12th 2006

So the flight is booked. I am leaving the 29th of March for Madrid, where I will spent one night and have some nice wines and tapas. The next day I am flying to Lima only to fly the next day to Arequipa, Peru. Here I will spent one month to learn Spanish, which is well needed for my volentary work, which I will do in Cuzco. Here's my route more or less: Map ... read more

South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires February 12th 2006

we have uploaded soem more pictures..... read more
merav&shiri
merav
gil

South America » Argentina February 12th 2006

Once more off into the great unknown…north Argentina and the crossing on freshly graded ripio, the worst sort, but speccy views. ….and another couple of terminally challenged bicyclists making their way to nowhere…..but they waved. It is soo like parts of northern and central Oz, red hills, gravely soil, scrubby brush and beautiful gums, the view this morning of the range out west of Villa Union, framed by a couple of big gums, could have been a piece of Uluru or somewhere in the Macdonnel Ranges! The road from Cordoba to Villa Union was an uninspiring 500 plus kms with only a few patches of curvery to make it bearable. Vast valleys, miles and miles wide, gravely, rocky red dirt and occasionally a ridge of ranges that had to be negotiated. And along the way several ... read more
Another river crossing
After the Rain
Self portrait thru the Bugs

South America » Bolivia » La Paz Department » Copacabana February 12th 2006

During our jeep tour we met Matthew and Martina, a really nice british-swiss couple who had the same plans as us so we decided to travel together through Bolivia and Peru. This hopefully also makes us less prone to getting robbed. We had heard many stories of people getting robbed in La Paz and Cuzco so we tried to do everything we could to avoid that. From Uyuni we took train to Oruro and from there a bus to La Paz. We stayed there just one night before taking a bus to Copacabana. Copacabana is a small town by the lake Titicaca close to the border of Bolivia and Peru. The hotel we stayed at was at a magnificent location overlooking the town and the lake and they also had nice hammocks which were perfect for ... read more
Cathedral
Lake Titicaca
Hill next to Copacabana

South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » El Chaltén February 12th 2006

I have backdated this entry and it will speed through several locales with the most important being Mount Fitzroy located in El Chalten, Argentina. This is Sara by the way. We last left you at the Torres del Paine in Chile following an expensive lunch and a dusty bus ride. We then spent two nights in Peurto Natales eating wonderful vegetarian food, getting our laundry done, and doing some serious R & R following our tough trek. Our hostel was wonderful, with a great breakfast and the manager was extremely helpful and nice. We left on Peurto Natales on February 14 for Calafate, another touristy town but this time in Argentina. We were worried that our food would get confisgated in Argentina if we had anything fresh since the border crossing to Chile had been so ... read more
Sara and Jill. . .on a Glacier
Magellanic Woodpecker
Mount Fitz Roy

South America » Chile » Magallanes » Punta Arenas February 12th 2006

Nearly the end of the world, Punta Arenas actually feels worse than Ushuaia. After a tough 12 hours bus ride in rainy weather (meaning that we couldn't even SEE anything and who's read the homepage knows what that means to me!!), we got to Punta Arenas round about Chile's Dinnertime (so that's about 10.00 pm). I had been too lazy to book accomodation ahead of time and I wasn't worried either since Punta Arenas didn't seem to be a major destination; I was tired and didn't care too much anyway so that I was quite happy to plod along with the first hawker that grabed me. And so I happened to end up in a quite filthy (but really cheap) place just outside the city centre. For the first time I actually HAD to speak spanish, ... read more
"poor(er) peoples house"
"better" house in Punta Arenas
Pengiuns

South America » Chile » Santiago Region » Santiago February 12th 2006

How to start... i know that´s cliche but that´s all i´ve got! This week has been great although I´m constantly reminding myself not to think of Bolivia. After arriving on Monday morning we went pretty much straight to Linares, this little town an hour or two outside of Santiago. There are 20 of us from ND, 2 from Marquette and 3 from Milwaukee. I almost feel like I´m at summer camp, although this happens to be at the foot of the Andes and takes place in a new culture and involves fun new Chilean modismos.. it´s a new group of people getting to know each other, amazingly warm days, plenty of down time for soccer, cards, a swim in the river, napping, journaling, talking, whatever. The classes are great because we´re learning all the double meanings ... read more
Pre-program "cabin"
Our soccer field
Lunchtime

South America » Chile » Magallanes » Puerto Natales February 12th 2006

Hallo allerseits, Sorry, dass wir uns so lange nicht gemeldet haben. Wir sind inzwischen in Chile und waren gerade 10 Tage in den "Torres del Paine" wandern. Jetzt aber erstmal der Reihe nach... USHUAIA Am 21. Januar sind wir von B. Aires nach Ushuaia geflogen und irgendwie scheint Boris immer Pech mit seinem Gepaeck zu haben. Dieses Mal ist der Rucksack zwar angekommen dafuer war er aber etwas feucht und dreckig... Im Klartext: Das Ding hat irgendwo unter der undichten Boardtoilette gelegen und hat etwas "Fluessigkeit" abbekommen. Zum Glueck hat der Packsack (Danke, Schwesterherz) das meiste abgehalten und in den Rucksack ist auch nichts eingedrungen, trotzdem eher eine ecklige Angelegenheit! Die Dame am Schalter der Fluggesellschaft war dann auch noch ziemlich unfreundlich. Immerhin durfte ich meinen Rucksack auf Kosten von Aerolinas waschen lassen. Sie weigerte sich ... read more
typical tourist picture
Blick von der Terrasse / Näköala rappusilta
In den Strassen von Ushuaia / Matkalaiset Ushuaiassa

South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires February 12th 2006

Unfortunately the best times come to an end and I had to leave Easter Island but hey who cares if your next destination is Buenos Aires. Many who have been there hyped BA and I have to say there were completely correct. This place rocks! If you ever look for a place in South America that is not too different from back home but is still interesting then this is the place to be. Lets start from the beginning. I managed to get a shuttle bus to my hostel after arriving at 2am in the night! The day after I arrived I started my Spanish lessons. After realizing how limited my Spanish is I was really looking forward to the lessons. My teacher Martin is a real wiz kid and studies literature, speaks English, can ... read more




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