Blogs from South America - page 5457

Three flights later and we were still in Chile but it felt like another world when we arrived in Calama near the Bolivian border. Our plan was to stay in Calama that night but not for the first time since arriving in South America our plans changed as it seemed easier to get to San Pedro de Atacama 120km away (where we were planning to go the following morning) than into Calama itself. We did wonder on the wisdom of this decision when we arrived in San Pedro just after midnight with no accomodation booked (our driver had assured us that it wouldn´t be a problem) and the first place our driver tried was shut, the second was full and the third wanted $30 each (a fortune in this part of the world)! Our luck was ... read more

Nach dem Ende meines Sprachkurses hab ich mich in Richtung Norden aufgemacht. Ziel der knapp 24-stuendigen Fahrt im Edelbus mit zum Bett umbaubaren Sitzen war San Pedro de Atacama. Ein ziemlich merkwuerdiger Wuestenort. Bestht aus ein paar Sandwegen und unendlich vielen Reisebueros, die Ausfluege in die Umgebung anbieten. Drumherum nur die Atacama-Wueste, die trockenste Wueste der Welt. Die Sonne steht mittags senkrecht am Himmer, weil ich mich jetzt noerdlich des suedlichen Wendekreises befinde. Das Hostal Florida, dass mir von einem Typen in Santiago empfohlen wurde, entpuppte sich als ziemliches Loch. Naja, fuer 7 Euro die Nacht kann man wohl auch nicht allzu viel erwarten. Immerhin ist alles relativ sauber und es soll ja auch nicht fuer lange sein. Am Nachmittag meines Ankunftstages hab ich gleich den ersten Punkt des San Pedro Pflichtprogrammes erledigt. Ein Ausflug ins ... read more

Christie´s back on the bike. Yay!!!!! We did an easy 20km back-tracking into Castro where we spent about three hours mooching around the cafes, two hours fixing my bike (again), and then another 20kms to Chonchi where we are staying in a beaut little hostel (though it appears to be under serious reconstruction) right on the beach. Chonchi is a beautiful little fishing town (ex-pirate stronghold) which reminds me very much of what Strahan would be like without the rain and tourists, but with lots of dogs to keep Christie happy ... In short a paradise. Big news of the day is that Christie has decided to call it quits on cycling the Carretera Austral and so we´re reeling a bit trying to decide what to do. Do we split up, she heads home and I ... read more

Puerto Piramides Latitude: -42.434, Longitude: -63.611 Temperature: 29ºC (84ºF) Altitude: 5m Nearest Equivalent / Equivalencia más aproximada: Pontevedra, Northern Spain ************************************************************** See some movies associated with this blog Another 18 hours on a bus from Buenos Aires and we arrived 655 miles later in Puerto Madryn, our base before we headed for our real reason for being here, the Whales. When we arrived Maria was still suffering from the cold caught in Buenos Aires, so we took it easy for a couple of days whilst she recovered. When we were both fit and healthy again, we hired a car and headed for Peninsula Valdés,... read more

If you are blonde and a girl, be prepared to be stared at constantly, have comments and blokes approach you all the time and even get followed or flashed at in places! This place is INCREDIBLY conservative and pretty hard core on the Catholic religion. Rio Tomebamba divides Cuenca and has, along its banks, old colonial buildings plus washerwomen laying out their clothes. Also, not in the guidebooks, kids sniffing glue and a whole load of perverts. The markets here are all pretty much centrally located. And there are loads of them of various sizes. Markets for fruit and veg, markets for flowers, markets for crafts and, of course, markets for the famous Panama hat. Parque Nacional Cajas A huge park (28,800 hectare) with loads of lakes, mountains to climb and no-one else around. We did ... read more