Blogs from South America - page 5474

So I got up at a ridiculously early time, 4.30am, and got a taxi to the airport. Was a bit stressed about catching the connection in Lima, as I only had less than an hour to do so. The trip, however, turned out to be the easiest flight ive ever caught, full marks to Taca International Airlines! I only waited for about 15 mins in Peru (cant really say ive been to Peru, never got a stamp and didnt set foot on Peruvian soil) The flight to Quito was short and chatted to some middle aged men next to me who couldnt quite believe I didnt even know where i was staying when i got off the plane. They kept on saying 'valiente'. So many people have said im brave im half starting to believe it! ... read more

We were woken this morning by rain. Yay. We were pretty much confined to our tent (being fair weather cyclists and all) until 9am and hence didn´t get on the road until about 11am. Still got some efficiencies to gain in the packing department. The first 5.5kms were perfect cycling country with ever changing views as we rode close to the lakes edge and then climbed fairly steeply up over a small pass and into the next valley. Because the roads are so narrow and slippery we had to stop for every truck, bus and car that came past ... it soon became fairly annoying, but you got into the rhythm of it. If you don´t laugh, you´ll only cry. We stopped for lunch about 13kms down the road (what progress I hear you say). We ... read more

Crossing into Chile from Bolivia, we only had four days left in South America, so we immediately caught a bus from the border town of San Pedro de Atacama to Calama. We stayed one night here, but unfortunately due to time constraints, we couldn't visit the Copper mine to the north, the largest open mine in the world. Instead we then caught another bus to Antofogasta for our flight to Santiago. Northern Chile will have to wait for another trip....(and the south!) In Santiago, we visited San Cristobal hill for panoramic views of the city. The city zoo was also on this hill and went in for a look , although not perhaps the best place to see polar bears! At the top we took a cable car to a wine museum, where we had a ... read more

In den ersten Tagen hab ich viele nette und interessante Menschen hier kennengelernt. Nach ein paar durchzechten Naechten moechte ich Euch die, mit denen ich am meisten mache vorstellen. Richard war der erste, den ich hier kennengelernt habe. Er war mit mir in einem Zimmer, ist aber inzwischen abgefahren. Als ich am Freitag gegen Mittag in mein Zimmer eingezogen bin, schlief er noch. Ist gar nicht so einfach in so einem Hostal so lange zu schlafen. Aber wenn die Nacht vorher kurz genug war... Richard ist Englaender und auf einem Round-the-World-Trip. Gestern ist er weiter nach Neuseeland geflogen. Er ist ein typische Englaender, trinkt unglaubliche Mengen in unglaublich kurzer Zeit, hat einen tiefschwarzen Humor und ist normalerweise, wenn er nicht betrunken ist, freundlich und zurueckhaltend. Als naechstes habe ich Sarah kennengelernt. Als ich am Freitag nach ... read more

I made my way to Latacunga, a rather gloomy town three hours south of Quito. There was absolutely nothing to do there, so I stayed in and watched Mexican Telenovelas. I woke up early the next morning eager to leave before I became extremely depressed. Latacunga just wasn´t going to be the great start to my epic adventure. I hopped on a bus and headed for the Black Sheep Inn, an ecolodge that recently won the Smithsonian Best Ecotourism Site, or at least they told me that. On the way I stopped in Saquisili to check out a famous indigenas market; most of the venders were selling bananas, fried food, or some kind of indigenas crafts. To be honest though, I´ve never been a big fan of markets. I think Dajabon killed any curiousity I once ... read more